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Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPn) colonizes multiple anatomical sites and is a leading cause of invasive disease and death in African children; however, there is no comparative genomic analysis between colonizing and invasive strains. This study investigated the genomic relatedness of KPn colonizing and invasive isolates in South African infants; and evaluated the relative invasiveness of KPn isolates based on sequence types (ST), capsular (KL), and lipopolysaccharide (O) loci by calculating case-carrier ratios (CCRs). There was less genomic diversity amongst invasive (22 ST, 17 K-loci) than colonizing isolates (31 ST, 29 K-loci), with invasive isolates being 8.59-fold and 3.49-fold more likely to harbour genes encoding for multi-drug resistance and yersiniabactin production compared with colonizing isolates. The CCRs for KL102 and O1/O2v2 were > 1, and < 1 for KL8, ST1414, and O1O2v1. Identifying high-risk strains, including KL102 and O1O2v2, that may have a higher potential to cause invasive disease, could enhance risk assessment and management strategies in vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global rise in mental health issues underscores the critical importance of assessing the mental health benefits of engaging with nature. Beyond their primary aim of involving citizens in scientific data collection, nature-based citizen science initiatives offer significant potential for enhancing outcomes related to conservation (e.g., connection to nature) and human health and wellbeing (e.g., emotions, depression, stress, anxiety). However, the effectiveness of various types of initiatives in achieving specific outcomes remain unclear. This study evaluates changes in eight outcomes related to nature connection and health and wellbeing before and after participation in five initiatives in Australia and Germany. These initiatives varied in ecosystem type (urban parks, terrestrial forests and freshwater streams) and the participation duration (from 15 min to 48 h). We assessed three dimensions of connection to nature (Self, Experience and Perspective) measured by the Nature-Relatedness scale, mental health outcomes (symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety) using the DASS-21 scale, and emotional states (positive and negative emotions) using the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE). We found that while participants generally reported improvements across all measured outcomes, only participation in the Queensland Trust for Nature initiative, characterized by its extended duration and social interactions, demonstrated statistically significant enhancements in mental health and emotions after controlling for socio-economic confounders. These findings suggest that while short-term nature-based interventions can effectively alleviate anxiety and stress symptoms and boost emotions, significant changes in nature connection and depression may require more intensive interventions than what is available through typical citizen science experiences. We advocate for reframing nature-based initiatives as integral components of broader health-promoting strategies. By aligning citizen science efforts with health promotion frameworks, these initiatives can achieve greater impact and simultaneously advance scientific understanding, support conservation strategies while improving human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paretic and paralyzing syndromes affecting wild birds are widely described in the literature, with outbreaks showing an increase in frequency and intensity worldwide during recent years. In the Iberian Peninsula, a paretic clinical picture without known etiology affecting mostly gulls has been reported during the last few decades. This paretic syndrome (PS) affects waterbirds and is characterized by a set of signs of ascendent flaccid paralysis, dyspnea, and diarrhea at different levels of severity. This study presents the first macro-analysis of some potential etiological PS agents in wild birds in southern Portugal. Other possible etiologies of PS related to nutritional deficiencies and environmental pollutants were not studied but are also discussed here. A total of 571 samples, belonging to 377 individuals with (n = 336) and without (n = 41) PS signs, have been tested for seven different toxins groups (botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs), domoic acid (DA), anatoxin-a (ATX-a), cylindrospermopsin (CYN), tetrodotoxins (TTXs), and microcystins (MCs)) and three viral infections (gull adenovirus (GA), Newcastle disease virus (NVD), and highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV)). Of all the birds tested for botulinum neurotoxin, those with PS signs were positive (100%) and those without PS signs were negative (0%), confirming an association between PS and botulism. Some samples were positive for PSTs and MCs, but the prevalence in birds with PS signs was not significantly higher (2.5% and 5.3%, respectively) than in birds without signs (5.4% and 5.4%, respectively). Two birds without PS signs were positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. The presence of the rest of the toxins and viruses was negative for all the samples tested. Our results support the relevant contribution of botulinum neurotoxin in the PS outbreaks observed in several species of aquatic birds in the last decades in southern Portugal, suggesting it could be one of the main causes of mortality in waterbirds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]