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Climate change has become an issue of great relevance in society in recent years, and the data provided by the scientific community recommend acting as soon as possible and forcefully. Scientists, politicians, the media, and thanks to the new media, citizens and other social agents participate in the debate on this issue. Despite the data and general consensus in the scientific community, the climate change debate is highly polarized, with skeptical voices denying or questioning climate change and using social media to amplify the reach of their message. This can encourage misinformation and polarization. This study tries to identify the key indicators of social skepticism around climate change through the analysis of users' social activism and behavioral patterns on Twitter. We analyze keywords, frequency, topics, and categories from a sample of 78,168 tweets. The results show, first, that there is an overlap of topics, with 24 of the 28 topics grouped in the intertopic distance map; second, that the size of the topics is relatively small and linked to specific events; and, third, that there is a significant political presence, especially from the United States. This work therefore contributes to the analysis of communication on Twitter about opinions against climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We characterized spa types, SCC mec types, and antimicrobial resistance patterns of 516 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates, collected between 2011 and 2014 from nares and blood cultures of United States patients. Among nares isolates, 45 spa types were observed; 29.9% were t002/SCC mec II and 30.9% were t008/SCC mec IV. Among blood isolates, 40 spa types were identified; 24.4% were t002/SCC mec II and 39.9% were type t008/SCC mec IV. Compared to data from our 2009–2010 survey, the percentage of t008/SCC mec IV isolates from nares increased significantly (20.4%–30.9%; P = 0.004) while the percentage from positive blood cultures remained similar (39.2% versus 39.9%; P = 0.921). There were also significant changes in the overall antimicrobial resistance patterns observed, including the decrease of the clindamycin, erythromycin, levofloxacin and moxifloxacin multidrug resistance pattern, likely the result of t002/SCC mec II strains being displaced by t008/SCC mec IV strains. Rates of high-level mupirocin resistance did not change significantly from our past study (4.1% compared to 4.7%; P = 0.758) but an increase in low-level resistance, particularly among t002/SCC mec II isolates, was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a human pathogen that has diverse molecular heterogeneity. Most MRSA strains in the United States are pulsed-field gel electrophoresis USA100 sequence type (ST) 5 and USA300 ST8. Infections with MRSA ST239-III are common and found during health care-associated outbreaks. However, this strain has been rarely reported in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent reports highlight the incursion of community-associated MRSA within healthcare settings. However, knowledge of this phenomenon remains limited in Latin America. The aim of this study was to evaluate the molecular epidemiology of MRSA in three tertiary-care hospitals in Medellín, Colombia. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted from 2008-2010. MRSA infections were classified as either community-associated (CA-MRSA) or healthcare-associated (HA-MRSA), with HA-MRSA further classified as hospital-onset (HAHO-MRSA) or community-onset (HACO-MRSA) according to standard epidemiological definitions established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Genotypic analysis included SCCmec typing, spa typing, PFGE and MLST. Results: Out of 538 total MRSA isolates, 68 (12.6%) were defined as CA-MRSA, 243 (45.2%) as HACO-MRSA and 227 (42.2%) as HAHO-MRSA. The majority harbored SCCmec type IVc (306, 58.7%), followed by SCCmec type I (174, 33.4%). The prevalence of type IVc among CA-, HACO- and HAHO-MRSA isolates was 92.4%, 65.1% and 43.6%, respectively. From 2008 to 2010, the prevalence of type IVc-bearing strains increased significantly, from 50.0% to 68.2% (p=0.004). Strains harboring SCCmec IVc were mainly associated with spa types t1610, t008 and t024 (MLST clonal complex 8), while PFGE confirmed that the t008 and t1610 strains were closely related to the USA300-0114 CA-MRSA clone. Notably, strains belonging to these three spa types exhibited high levels of tetracycline resistance (45.9%). Conclusion: CC8 MRSA strains harboring SCCmec type IVc are becoming predominant in Medellín hospitals, displacing previously reported CC5 HA-MRSA clones. Based on shared characteristics including SCCmec IVc, absence of the ACME element and tetracycline resistance, the USA300-related isolates in this study are most likely related to USA300-LV, the recently-described 'Latin American variant' of USA300. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]