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El lupus eritematoso sistémico (LES) es una enfermedad crónica, autoinmune, de etiología desconocida, que afecta a cualquier órgano o tejido. La nefritis lúpica (NL) es la causa más frecuente de compromiso renal en LES. Aproximadamente el 50% de los pacientes con LES presentan NL en algún momento de su enfermedad, siendo un factor de riesgo para morbimortalidad.

The vertical growth of cities is a general phenomenon in many countries, aiming to address a more efficient use of space, due to the high cost of the urban area. In the Dominican Republic, approximately 11% of households are apartment buildings, being the second predominant group of residential buildings. According to the National Statistics Office (ONE), the construction of this type of residential buildings is growing significantly, especially in the biggest city of the country. This research has analyzed the interior thermal behavior of these types of households using DesignBuilder®, an energy and environmental simulation software, searching for passive alternatives to allow the reduction of interior temperatures, as a result of overheating because of the tropical climate conditions. The most common type of four levels buildings have been analyzed in this study, through the evaluation of different parameters, such as the optimal orientation, the effect of using sunshades in the windows, and the modification of the building envelope. The objective of the study if to identifying the best alternatives to achieve the thermal comfort of the building, without the use of active control climate techniques such as air conditioning.

The utilization of host-cell machinery during SARS-CoV-2 infection can overwhelm the protein-folding capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum and activate the unfolded protein response (UPR). The IRE1α-XBP1 arm of the UPR could also be activated by viral RNA via Toll-like receptors. Based on these premises, a study to gain insight into the pathogenesis of COVID-19 disease was conducted using nasopharyngeal exudates and bronchioloalveolar aspirates. The presence of the mRNA of spliced XBP1 and a high expression of cytokine mRNAs were observed during active infection. TLR8 mRNA showed an overwhelming expression in comparison with TLR7 mRNA in bronchioloalveolar aspirates of COVID-19 patients, thus suggesting the presence of monocytes and monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDCs). In vitro experiments in MDDCs activated with ssRNA40, a synthetic mimic of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, showed induction of XBP1 splicing and the expression of proinflammatory cytokines. These responses were blunted by the IRE1α inhibitor MKC8866, the TLR8 antagonist CU-CPT9a, and knockdown of TLR8 receptor. In contrast, the IRE1α-XBP1 activator IXA4 enhanced these responses. Based on these findings, the TLR8/IRE1α system seems to play a significant role in the induction of the proinflammatory cytokines associated with severe COVID-19 disease and might be a druggable target to control cytokine storm.

Hyperglycemia is very common in hospitalized patients and is associated with worse clinical outcomes.

La cirrosis es una enfermedad hepática crónica difusa e irreversible caracterizada por la presencia de bandas fibróticas y nódulos de regeneración que alteran la arquitectura vascular y la funcionalidad del hígado. A pesar de los avances en la medicina, sigue siendo una de las principales causas de muerte en el mundo. Las infecciones bacterianas en pacientes cirróticos son más graves que en la población general, conllevan un mayor riesgo de complicaciones e insuficiencia orgánica, lo que resulta en estancias en la unidad de cuidado crítico y en un alto riesgo de mortalidad a corto plazo. Las infecciones más habituales son la peritonitis bacteriana espontánea y las del tracto urinario, seguidas de las neumonías y las celulitis. El diagnóstico y el tratamiento precoces son fundamentales para mejorar el pronóstico y la sobrevida del paciente. La elección del tratamiento empírico debe basarse tanto en el sitio, en la gravedad y en el origen de la infección como en los patrones de resistencia antibiótica local. La procalcitonina es un biomarcador útil para evitar el uso innecesario de antibióticos e inducir resistencias. Se presenta una revisión narrativa de las infecciones bacterianas en pacientes cirróticos, destacando la importancia diagnóstica, la guía de terapia antimicrobiana y las perspectivas en vista al desarrollo de nuevas herramientas de identificación temprana debido a que es una enfermedad que implica una alta morbimortalidad potencial.

ObjectiveThe main aim of this network meta-analysis is to identify the empiric antibiotic (Em-ATB) with the highest probability of being the best (HPBB) in terms of (1) cure rate and (2) mortality rate in hospitalised patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) .MethodInclusion criteria: (1) adult patients (>16 years old) diagnosed with CAP that required hospitalisation; (2) randomised to at least two different Em-ATBs, (3) that report cure rate and (4) are written in English or Spanish. Exclusion criteria: (1) ambiguous antibiotics protocol and (2) published exclusively in abstract or letter format. Data sources: Medline, Embase, Cochrane and citation reviews from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2018. Risk of bias: Cochrane’s tool. Quality of the systematic review (SR): A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews-2. Certainity of the evidence: Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Statistical analyses: frequentist method performed with the ‘netmeta’ library, R package.Results27 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) from the initial 41 307 screened citations were included. Regarding the risk of bias, more than one quarter of the studies presented low risk and no study presented high risk in all domains. The SR quality is moderate. For cure,two networks were constructed. Thus, two Em-ATBs have the HPBB: cetaroline 600 mg (two times a day) and piperacillin 2000 mg (two times a day). For mortality,three networks were constructed. Thus, three Em-ATBs have the HPBB: ceftriaxone 2000 mg (once a day) plus levofloxacin 500 (two times a day), ertapenem 1000 mg (two times a day) and amikacin 250 mg (two times a day) plus clarithromycin 500 mg (two times a day). The certainity of evidence for each results is moderate.ConclusionFor cure rate, ceftaroline and piperaciline are the options with the HPBB. However, for mortality rate, the options are ceftriaxone plus levofloxacin, ertapenem and amikacin plus clarithromycin. It seems necessary to conduct an RCT that compares treatments with the HPBB for each event (cure or mortality) (CRD42017060692).

There is no proven specific pharmacological treatment for patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The efficacy of corticosteroids in ARDS remains controversial. We aimed to assess the effects of dexamethasone in ARDS, which might change pulmonary and systemic inflammation and result in a decrease in duration of mechanical ventilation and mortality.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a lung inflammatory process caused mainly by sepsis. Most previous studies that identified genetic risks for ARDS focused on candidates with biological relevance. We aimed to identify novel genetic variants associated with ARDS susceptibility and to provide complementary functional evidence of their effect in gene regulation.

Time efficiency is a critical concern in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of industrial applications. Despite the extensive research to improve the underlying numerical schemes to reduce the processing time, many CFD applications still need to improve on this issue. Reduced-Order Models (ROM) appeared as a promising alternative for significantly enhancing cost-effectiveness. The dimension of the initial problem is reduced significantly while keeping an acceptable level of accuracy. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), a data analysis technique, is widely used to construct a ROM to solve Euler and Navier-Stokes equations in CFD. Many aspects, however, need to be improved. In this paper, first, a general upper-bound error formula is derived, and second, a mesh-adaptivity based algorithm for snapshot locations in parameter space is provided (a sensitive step for POD-based ROM) in the context of Partial Differential Equations (PDE). The method’s efficiency is demonstrated through numerical tests by comparison to exact solutions and numerical results of a finite volume scheme on inviscid flow over a NACA0012.

We report a surface x-ray diffraction study of the crystalline structure changes and critical behavior across the (3√2×2√)R45° ↔ (√2×√2)R45° surface phase transition at 360 K for 0.5 monolayers of Sn on Cu(100). The phase transition is of the order-disorder type and is due to the disordering of the Cu atomic vacancies present in the low temperature phase. Two different atomic sites for Sn atoms, characterized by two different heights, are maintained across the surface phase transition.

The use of statins in non-selected type 1 diabetes (T1D) populations is low. We assessed the prevalence and factors associated with statin treatment in patients meeting criteria for this therapy for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

We have shown that nanoparticles (NPs) can be used as ligand-multimerization platforms to activate specific cellular receptors in vivo. Nanoparticles coated with autoimmune disease-relevant peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (pMHC) blunted autoimmune responses by triggering the differentiation and expansion of antigen-specific regulatory T cells in vivo. Here, we define the engineering principles impacting biological activity, detail a synthesis process yielding safe and stable compounds, and visualize how these nanomedicines interact with cognate T cells. We find that the triggering properties of pMHC–NPs are a function of pMHC intermolecular distance and involve the sustained assembly of large antigen receptor microclusters on murine and human cognate T cells. These compounds show no off-target toxicity in zebrafish embryos, do not cause haematological, biochemical or histological abnormalities, and are rapidly captured by phagocytes or processed by the hepatobiliary system. This work lays the groundwork for the design of ligand-based NP formulations to re-program in vivo cellular responses using nanotechnology.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology that affects any organ or tissue. Lupus Nephritis (LN) is the most common cause of kidney involvement in SLE. Approximately 50% of patients with SLE suffer LN at some point in their disease, being a risk factor for morbidity and mortality.

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•A Multi-Criterion Decision Making approach for substructure selection is proposed.•The current installed offshore wind capacity could be increased by a factor of 615.•Floating offshore wind could cover 61.55% percent of the exploitable area.•The accuracy of the results has been proven with up-to-date empirical data.

Neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA) are a controversial therapeutic option in the approach to the critically ill patient. They are not innocuous, and the available evidence does not support their routine use in the intensive care unit. If necessary, monitoring protocols should be established to avoid residual relaxation, adverse effects, and associated complications. This narrative review discusses the current indications for the use of NMBA and the different tools for monitoring blockade in the intensive care unit. However, expanding the use of NMBA in critical settings merits the development of prospective studies.

Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we show that coronene molecules form supramolecular structures upon room-temperature deposition on Ge(111), in full commensurability with the c(2 × 8) reconstruction of the clean surface. The molecules are not adsorbed in a planar manner in the first layer; the balance between lateral intermolecular interactions and directional bonding to the surface forces them into a tilted configuration. Further coronene deposition leads to the formation of large domains of weakly bonded molecules adsorbed on top of the first layer. The ordering of the second layer is dictated by both, the first layer of molecules and the unaltered reconstructed substrate underneath. We provide a detailed analysis of the encountered molecular periodicities and discuss the mechanisms that lead to long-range ordering in these layers.

ABSTRACTEnterotoxigenic Escherichia coli(ETEC) is an important cause of diarrhea. Three adhesins (Tia, TibA, EtpA), an iron acquisition system (Irp1, Irp2, and FyuA), a GTPase (LeoA), and an autotransporter (EatA) are ETEC virulence-related proteins that, in contrast to the classical virulence factors (enterotoxins and fimbrial colonization factors) have not heretofore been targets in characterizing isolates from epidemiological studies. Here, we determined the occurrence of these nonclassical virulence genes in 103 ETEC isolates from Chilean children with diarrhea and described their association with O serogroups and classical virulence determinants. Because tia, leoA, irp2, and fyuAare harbored by pathogenicity islands inserted into the selCand asnTtRNA genes (tDNAs), we analyzed the regions flanking these loci. Ten additional tDNAs were also screened to identify hot spots for genetic insertions. Associations between the most frequent serogroups and classical colonization factor (CF)-toxin profiles included O6/LT-STh/CS1-CS3-CS21 (i.e., O6 serogroup, heat-labile [LT] and human heat-stable [STh] enterotoxins, and CFs CS1, -3 and -21), O6/LT-STh/CS2-CS3-CS21, and O104-O127/STh/CFAI-CS21. The eatAand etpAgenes were detected in more than 70% of the collection, including diverse serogroups and virulence profiles. Sixteen percent of the ETEC strains were negative for classical and nonclassical adhesins, suggesting the presence of unknown determinants of adhesion. The leuX, thrW, and asnTtDNAs were disrupted in more than 65% of strains, suggesting they are hot spots for the insertion of mobile elements. Sequences similar to integrase genes were identified next to the thrW, asnT, pheV, and selCtDNAs. We propose that the eatAand etpAgenes should be included in characterizations of ETEC isolates in future epidemiological studies to determine their prevalence in other geographical regions. Sequencing of tDNA-associated genetic insertions might identify new ETEC virulence determinants.

We report an easy synthesis strategy for the incorporation of carbon-coated Ni nanoparticles within the pores of a highly porous carbon matrix. An advantageous feature of this process is that it is able to provide large amounts of magnetic Ni composite by means of an easy-to-follow one-pot reaction. While a typical chemical route based on a conventional pyrolysis procedure gives rise to NPs with Ni@NiO (core@shell structure), the addition of sucrose to the synthesis mixture and its subsequent transformation to carbon endows the Ni-NPs with an effective protection via the formation of a thin carbon layer around the metallic nanoparticles. This protective shell stabilizes the inserted metallic particles by preventing the aerial oxidation of Ni-NPs (i.e., NiO) and their dissolution in an aqueous acid environment. The macroscopic magnetization values of these nanocomposites (up to 6 emu/g) and their superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature allow them to be easily manipulated with conventional magnets. This makes them ideal candidates for use in applications that involve magnetic separation (i.e., heterogeneous catalysis, adsorption of contaminants in aqueous media, etc.).

Since the first description of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in 1967, no specific clinical sign or diagnostic test has yet been described that identifies ARDS. Its diagnosis is based on a combination of clinical, hemodynamic, and oxygenation criteria. The purpose of this review is to examine the current definition for ARDS and to discuss why this definition may not be the most appropriate definition for this syndrome.

A sample of Mg-vermiculite from Santa Olalla (Spain) was studied by X-ray powder diffraction, electron microprobe, and thermo-gravimetry. The 3D structure is described as a disordered stack of two types of 2D building blocks, which are made up of one talc-type layer and one interlayer space containing hydrated Mg2+cations. We have succeeded in the refinement of both the atomic positions and occupancies of exchangeable cations and water molecules in the interlayer space of this vermiculite using the program package DIFFaX+. The position of the Mg2+cations is the only difference between the two layers. Besides the water molecules associated to the octahedrally coordinated Mg2+, we also located water molecules in the interlayer space. The structural analysis confirms that vermiculite is a semi-ordered crystalline material characterized by the existence of a large density of defects due to random ~±b/3 translations along the crystalline [010] direction. In this way, this structure can no longer be described by means of a unit cell repeated in 3D space. Instead, long-range order is only recognized in the a-b plane. The 3D structure is described by means of a recursive method.

Two new phosphate compounds, KNiPO4·6H2O and NaNiPO4·7H2O, have been synthesized, identified and their crystal structure studied by powder X‐ray diffraction. KNiPO4·6H2O crystallizes in the monoclinic system, with lattice parameters a= 6.8309(3) Å, b= 11.0610(4) Å, c= 6.1165(2) Å, and angle β= 91.045(2)°, volume of the unit cell V= 462.07(3) Å3, space group P21, and Z = 2, while NaNiPO4·7H2O does so in the tetragonal system with a= 6.7390(2) Å, c= 10.9690(4) Å, V= 498.15(4) Å3, space group P42/mmc, and Z = 2. KNiPO4·6H2O has the structure as the struvite analogue KMgPO4·6H2O, whereas NaNiPO4·7H2O is isostructural with the compound NaMgPO4·7H2O. Neither material presents a magnetic order in the range of temperatures measured from 300 K down to 1.8 K.

Polycrystalline intercalated TiMxH2−nx(PO4)2· yC3H7NH2·wH2O compounds with transition metal (TM) ions (Mn+= Co2+, Ni2+, Fe3+or Cr3+) have been prepared by means of an indirect route and characterised using X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, chemical and thermal analysis, X‐ray absorption and magnetic measurements. These novel pillared layered materials, which were obtained from the monoclinic (P21/c space group) α‐Ti(HPO4)2·H2O phase, lose its crystallinity after intercalation. However all the TM ions are octahedrally surrounded by 6 oxygen atoms, although the X‐ray absorption spectra evidence a clear dependence on the temperature. Surprisingly, all the materials behave as paramagnetic down to 1.5 K, but they exhibit different colours, what means that they are optically active (Co2+: violet; Ni2+: pale green; Fe3+: yellow; Cr3+: dark green).

Spread of Verticillium wilt into newly established olive orchards in Andalucía, southern Spain, has caused concern in the olive industry in the region. This spread may result from use of Verticillium dahliae-infected planting material, which can extend distribution of the highly virulent, defoliating (D) pathotype of V. dahliaeto new areas. In this study, a molecular diagnostic method for the early in plantadetection of D V. dahliaewas developed, aimed especially at nursery-produced olive plants. For this purpose, new primers for nested PCR were designed by sequencing a 992-bp RAPD marker of the D pathotype. The use of the specific primers and different nested-PCR protocols allowed the detection of V. dahliaepathotype D DNA in infected root and stem tissues of young olive plants. Detection of the pathogen was effective from the very earliest moments following inoculation of olive plants with a V. dahliaepathotype D conidia suspension as well as in inoculated, though symptomless, plants.

Rhizobium melilotilarge plasmid pRmeGR4b carries the nodulation competitiveness locus nferesponsible for the nodulation efficiency and competitive ability of strain GR4 on alfalfa roots. We report here the nucleotide sequence and characterization of a 3345 base-pair DNA section of the nferegion. Sequence analysis revealed four open reading frames (ORFs), two of them with rightward polarity, termed nfe1and nfe2, are preceded by functional nifconsensus sequences and NifA-binding motifs. An additional, NifA-independent, transcriptional start site for nfe1was also found. Two other ORFs with leftward polarity, designated ORFA and ORFB, were indentified upstream from nfe1and nfe2but no nifconsensus sequences were found. However, expression of ORFA might be indirectly coupled to the NifA-NtrA regulatory network. The gene products of nfe1and nfe2were identified using in vitrotranscription/translation and bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase/promoter system, respectively. A high degree of homology between the amino terminal domain of Nfe1 and the nifHgene product was found. In addition, nfe1shows homology with the upstream non-coding DNA region of the fixABCXoperon. Furthermore, the putative ORFB encoded protein contains a helix-turn-helix motif that resembles the DNA-binding consensus sequence proposed for many prokaryotic regulatory proteins.

A field study was carried out with the objective of investigating the prevalence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli(EPEC) with the eaegene in diarrhoeic rabbits. EPEC eae+were isolated from 60 (74%) of 81 diarrhoeic rabbits sampled in 30 industrial fattening farms localized in the four provinces of Galicia (northwestern Spain). Attaching and effacing lesions were found in 44 of 50 animals processed for histology. The 111 E. colistrains identified belonged to 19 different O serogroups and 13 biotypes. However, 53 (48%) of the strains belonged to serogroup O103 and 36 (32%) showed the serobiotype O103:B14. The eaegene was significantly more frequent (100%; 47 of 47) among the highly pathogenic rhamnose‐negative strains of serobiotypes O103:B6 and O103:B14 than among the E. colistrains belonging to other serobiotypes (36%; 23 of 64) (P< 0.001). In this first report about the prevalence of EPEC with the eaegene in rabbits, we conclude that the class of E. colistrains observed is a common cause of diarrhoea in Galician rabbit farms, and that highly pathogenic rhamnose‐negative strains of serotype O103:K‐:H2 and biotype B14 are specially predominant.

In this study it has been shown that in samples prepared by mechanical mixing of titania and sepiolite, greater titania coverages could be obtained when the mixtures were kneaded in a concentrated acid medium. The distribution of sepiolite and titania at the surface of the mechanical mixtures was studied by the electrophoretic migration technique. The samples were further characterised by nitrogen adsorption, XRD and thermogravimetric techniques. The electrophoretic migration results showed that the addition of sepiolite to titania, kneaded in water, had a dramatic effect on the quantity of titanium oxide present at the support’s surface, both strongly decreasing the molar fraction of titania at the surface, and altering the electrophoretic properties of the mixtures. When kneaded in concentrated acid (HCl, 37%, m/m), the effect of sepiolite addition was greatly reduced. The XRD patterns and BET surface areas of the water-kneaded samples agreed with previously reported results. However, kneading in acid medium induced a slight increase in the BET surface areas of sepiolite and mixtures, but a small decrease for titania. This acid treatment did not alter the XRD patterns of titania and mixtures, compared to the water-kneaded samples. Although the XRD pattern of sepiolite was partially altered, a large part (71%) of sepiolite remained unchanged.

The relationship between the presence of bacterial virulence factors and the severity of urinary tract infection (UTI) was analized in this study. The production of a-hemolysin (Hly), the expression of P-fimbriae and the mannose-resistant hemagglutination (MRHA) type IVa (associated with the presence of P-fimbriae), were all detected more frequently in Escherichia coli strains from acute pyelonephritis than in strains isolated from cystitis and asymptomatic bacteriuria. In contrast, the production of cytotoxic necrotizing factor type 1 (CNF1) and the expression of MRHA types III and IVb were distributed uniformly between strains causing different clinical categories of UTI. Thus 88% of the E. coli strains from acute pyelonephritis showed some of the virulence factors investigated in this study, whereas only 60% (p < 0.01) and 56% (p < 0.01) repectively of the strains isolated from cystitis and asymptomatic bacteriuria possessed virulence factors. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of virulence properties between strains isolated from patients with or without complicating factors. Only 16% (p < 0.001) of the fecal isolates from healthy individuals showed virulence factors. The virulence factors were concentrated in strains belonging to 10 (O1, O2, O4, O6, O7, O14, O18, O22, O75 and 083) of the 12 serogroups most frequently detected in uropathogenic E.coli strains. The majority of uropathogenic O4, O6, O14, O22, O75 and O83 E.coli strains were Hly+CNF1+ and expressed P-fimbriae or MRHA type III, whereas the strains of serogroup O18 were Hly+CNFI- and P-fimbriated. Among O1 and O7 strains we found Hly- CNF1-strains that expressed P-fimbriae. Among O2 strains we found Hly+CNF1+ strains that expressed P-fimbriae or MRHA type III and other Hly-CNF1-strains that possessed P-fimbriae. We conclude that E.coli strains isolated from pyelonephritis show virulence factors more frequently than those from cystitis and asymptomatic bacteriuria, and that strains that cause urinary tract infections in Spain belong to the same serogroups as uropathogenic E.coli isolated in other areas of the world. Our results support the special pathogenicity theory and suggest that many cases of serious urogenital disease may be caused by a limited number of P-fimbriated E.coli strains that usually produce a-hemolysin.

Rhizobium meliloti strain GR4 harbours two cryptic plasmids sharing extensive regions of homology between them and with other non-symbiotic plasmids of different strains of R. meliloti. They both are very stable showing a segregation rate of less than 0.1% loss per generation. pRmeGR4a (115 MDa) is a self-transmissible plasmid at a variable frequency to other species, and it is also responsible for promoting, at low frequency, the contransfer of pRmeGR4b (140 MDa), the other cryptic plasmid of the strain. A 4.8 kb PstI fragment of pRmeGR4a, responsible for the high stability in cis of this plasmid, has been isolated and several recombinant plasmids have been constructed showing different segregation rates in the strains used in this study. Their stabilities can be considerably improved by insertion of the stabilization mrs/par region of RK2.

The large plasmid, pRmeGR4a, of Rhizobium melilotiGR4 is a nonsymbiotic, self-transmissible replicon that shows a high degree of stability. Plasmid replication and stabilization functions are located on a 4.8-kb PstI fragment. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of this DNA region revealed the presence of six open reading frames (ORFs) with coding capabilities; all are transcribed in the same direction. Only one of the ORFs (ORF3) seems to be essential for replication. Its predicted protein sequence shows homology with RepC, a protein that has been suggested to be involved in the replication of AgrobacteriumRi and Ti plasmids.

Introducción: La diabetes, o la hiperglucemia, es altamente prevalente en pacientes hospitalizados, asociándose con peores resultados clínicos.

ABSTRACTFecal microbiota transplant (FMT) is a highly-effective therapy for recurrent Clostridioides difficileinfection (rCDI), and shows promise for certain non-CDI indications. However, at present, its mechanisms of efficacy have remained poorly understood. Recent studies by our laboratory have noted the particular key importance of restoration of gut microbe-metabolite interactions in the ability of FMT to treat rCDI, including the impact of FMT upon short chain fatty acid (SCFAs) and bile acid metabolism. This includes a significant impact of these metabolites upon the life cycle of C. difficiledirectly, along with potential postulated additional benefits, including effects upon host immune response. In this Addendum, we first present an overview of these recent advancements in this field, and then describe additional novel data from our laboratory on the impact of FMT for rCDI upon several gut microbial-derived metabolites which had not previously been implicated as being of relevance.

Abstract: We have studied the electron-quasiparticle interaction in low symmetry rare-earth intermetallic compound NdCu with an antiferromagnetic ordering at T N =10 K by the point-contact (PC) spectroscopy. We have performed the study of NdCu−Cu heterocontacts in the near ballistic regime above and below T N . We have observed crystalline-electric-field (CEF) transition peak at }3 meV. Below T N this structure becomes complicated due to the exchange interaction and crystallographic orientation of PC. The structure above 6 meV is connected with phonons

Pandemic A/H1N1/2009 influenza causes severe lower respiratory complications in rare cases. The association between host immune responses and clinical outcome in severe cases is unknown.

Sepsis is a leading cause of admission to non-cardiological intensive care units (ICUs) and the second leading cause of death among ICU patients. We present the first extensive dataset on the epidemiology of severe sepsis treated in ICUs in Spain.

Eight hundred and nineteen strains of Escherichia coli isolated in Spain between 1986 and 1991 from extraintestinal infections and feces of healthy controls were investigated for expression of P-fimbriae using a particle agglutination test. Among strains causing urinary tract infections, sepsis and other extraintestinal infections, P-fimbriae were found in 31% (130/420) (P < 0.001), 25% (30/118) (P < 0.001) and 12% (11/92) (P < 0.5) respectively. In contrast, only 7% (14/189) of feacal isolates from healthy individuals carried P-fimbriae. According to two more common toxic markers detected this study (α-haemolysin and cytotoxic necrotizing factor type 1), P-fimbriated E. coli strains were grouped into three categories: haemolysin+cytotoxic necrosing factor+ (Hly+CNF1+) (68/185; 37%), haemolysin+cytotoxic necrosing factor− (Hly+CNF1−) (61/185; 33%) and Hly−CNF1− (56/185; 30%). The 185 P-fimbriated strains belonged to 17 different O serogroups. However, 148 (80%) were of one of six serogroups (O1, O2, O4, O6, O7 and O18). The most frequent serogroups determined in the Hly+CNF1+ strains were the O4 and O6 (53/68; 78%), in the Hly+CNF1− strains it was the O18 (27/61; 44%) and in the Hly−CNF1− strains the O1, O2 and O7 (41/56; 73%). The majority (160/185; 86%) of P-fimbriated E. coli expressed the mannose-resistant haemagglutinin type IVa.

The serogroups of 396 necrotizing Escherichia coli of human and bovine origin isolated in Spain between 1979 and 1991 have been determined. The 270 cytotoxic necrotizing factor strains belonged to 22 different O serogroups; however, 84% (226 of 270) were of one of seven serogroups (O2, O4, O6, O14, O22, O75 and O83). Although necrotizing E. coli producing cytotoxic necrotizing factor 2 belonged to 28 different serogroups, only six of them (O1, O3, O15, O55, O88 and O123) accounted for 60% (76 of 126) of cytotoxic necrotizing factor 2 strains. Furthermore, only 3% (4 of 126) of cytotoxic necrotizing factor 2 strains belonged to serogroups most common among strains producing cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1. The majority of necrotizing E. coli producing cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 were obtained from human extraintestinal infections, whereas cytotoxic necrotizing factor 2 strains were isolated from stools of healthy and diarrhoeic calves.