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The study of intestinal microbiota in vector insects like triatomines is paramount in parasitology because many parasitic species inhabit the vector's gut. Although knowledge on the gut microbiota in various vectors of the parasitic flagellate Trypanosoma cruzi has grown, research efforts have focused on South American triatomines. This study reports the isolation of bacterial microbiota in the anterior and posterior gut of Meccus pallidipennis (a triatomine species endemic to Mexico) by culture, as well as its identification by phenotypic and biochemical tests and its quantification by counting colony‐forming units. The study was performed on fifth‐instar nymph and adult specimens of M. pallidipennis, either laboratory‐bred or collected in the field and either infected or not with T. cruzi. Overall, 17 bacterial species were identified, with the genera Bacillus and Staphylococcus being the most prevalent regardless of the origin of the insects. No differences were observed in the number of bacterial species in the gut of laboratory‐bred and field‐collected insects, neither with respect to life stage or infection status. In general, the Shannon‐Weaver diversity index was higher in non‐infected insects than in infected ones. Further studies using non‐culture methods are required to determine whether bacterial species diversity is modified by laboratory breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although the majority of thyroid nodules are benign in nature, 5% of them can contain a malignant tumor with an incidence of 25,000 new patients with thyroid cancer per year, causing more than 1,400 annual deaths. Materials and methods: The present study was performed at the Dr. Enrique Garcés General Hospital (HEG) during the period between January 2005 and December 2015. 150 patients who had a thyroidectomy performed due to thyroid nodules findings were studied. Serologic markers were determined in order to establish a diagnosis prior to the surgery and histopathological tests were performed as a diagnosis after the surgery. Furthermore, the most frequent type of cancer and recurrence was also studied. Results: The majority of nodules were present in the female sex with a greater prevalence of benign pathology (59.3%). It was demonstrated that thyroid cancer usually presents with normal thyroid hormones levels. The papillary type was the most frequent. Medullary and anaplastic thyroid cancer were the ones with the highest risk of recurrence. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of thyroid cancer in the thyroidectomies performed at the Dr. Enrique Garcés General Hospital in Quito, presenting typically as papillary cancer with an intermediate recurrence risk. Therefore, an increase in research regarding risk factors associated to its incidence is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lizbeth Soto Jacome,1 Sachin Kumar Deshmukh,2,3 Padmamalini Thulasiraman,1 Nicolette Paolaungthong Holliday,4 Seema Singh2,3,5 1Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Allied Health, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA; 2Cancer Biology Program, Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36604, USA; 3Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36617, USA; 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36604, USA; 5Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USACorrespondence: Seema SinghDepartment of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, 1660 Springhill Avenue, Mobile, AL 36604, USATel +1 251-445-9843Fax +1 251-460-6994Email seemasingh@health.southalabama.eduAbstract: COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus disease 2019, is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) declared pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). As the world faces the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis, the oncology community is being impacted by unprecedented challenges. During this trying time, patients with ovarian cancer (OC) have been affected by a delay in diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and oncology follow-ups being conducted via telemedicine instead of in-person visits. OC patients and their oncologists are balancing the fears of COVID-19 and cancer treatment with the consequences of delaying cancer care. The delay in treatment care that women with OC are experiencing has resulted in higher levels of cancer worry, anxiety, and depression. In this article, we succinctly review the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and treatment and ongoing clinical trials of OC. We also discuss the psychological effects of COVID-19 on women with OC and alternative therapeutic strategies to limit in-person hospital visits to reduce the spread of the disease, and the impact of COVID-19 on OC patients.Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, ovarian cancer management, pandemic, cancer care delay

The management of cattle ticks, particularly Rhipicephalus microplus, poses a global challenge in subtropical regions like Ecuador due to its impact on meat and milk productivity, leading to economic losses. Misuse of acaricides has resulted in resistance and multi-resistance, diminishing their effectiveness. This study evaluated resistance to amitraz, alpha-cypermethrin, and ivermectin using the Larval Packet test, laboratory-reared tick larvae collected from cattle were tested. Data on farm management and tick control practices were gathered via a questionnaire in Northwest Pichincha and Quijos River Valley over two years. Resistance rates in the first year (2020-2021) were 67.21% for amitraz, 57.38% for ivermectin, and 67.21% for alpha-cypermethrin. One year later (2021-2022), resistance levels were 59.57% for amitraz, 57.45% for ivermectin, and 68.09% for alpha-cypermethrin, with multi-resistance rates at 67.21% and 65.96% respectively. No significant differences were found between years or locations. Analysis of larval survival data determined lethal doses for tested acaricides. The study emphasizes the association between the lack of acaricide rotation, the incorrect dosage, and the absence of non-chemical measures in tick management could be associated with the development of resistances in ticks. Likewise, this study promotes the need for collaborative efforts to improve control practices and maintain acaricide efficacy.

Since the transmission electron microscope (TEM) has the capacity to observe the atomic structure of materials, in situ TEM synthesis methods are uniquely suited to advance our fundamental understanding of the bottom-up dynamics that drive the formation of nanostructures. E-beam induced fragmentation (potentially identified as a manifestation of Coulomb explosion) and electron stimulated desorption are phenomena that have received attention because they trigger chemical and physical reactions that can lead to the production of various nanostructures. Here we report a simple TEM protocol implemented on WO 2.9 microparticles supported on thin amorphous carbon substrates. The method produces various nanostructures such as WC nanoparticles, WC supported films and others. Nevertheless, we focus on the gradual graphitization and gasification of the C substrate as it interacts with the material expelled from the WO 2.9 microparticles. The progressive gasification transforms the substrate from amorphous C down to hybrid graphitic nanoribbons incorporating W nanoparticles. We think these observations open interesting possibilities for the synthesis of 2D nanomaterials in the TEM., (© 2023 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

This contribution contains the raw data used to compare experimental results with thermodynamic calculations using the CALPHAD method, which is related to the research article "The AlMo 0.5 NbTa 0.5 TiZr refractory high entropy superalloy: experimental findings and comparison with calculations using the CALPHAD method" [1], and therefore this article can be used as a basis for interpreting the data contained therein. The AlMo 0.5 NbTa 0.5 TiZr refractory superalloy was characterized in the cast and annealed condition (1400 °C for 24 h) in order to measure grain size and to identify and measure the size and area fraction of the phases present. The raw data of this article include X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, microstructural characterization by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), and elemental analysis by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). XRD includes the determination of phases and the lattice parameters (A2, B2, and hexagonal structure). Microstructural analysis by scanning and transmission electron microscopy includes (1) identification of composition, size, and volume fraction of the present phases and (2) determination of grain size. Based on these experimental data, it is possible to identify similarities and discrepancies with the data calculated using the CALPHAD method for the alloy under study in Ref. [1], which provides the basis for better and more efficient development of reliable databases., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors.)

A major obstacle for reusing and integrating existing data is finding the data that is most relevant in a given context. The primary metadata resource is the scientific literature describing the experiments that produced the data. To stimulate the development of natural language processing methods for extracting this information from articles, we have manually annotated 100 recent open access publications in Analytical Chemistry as semantic graphs. We focused on articles mentioning mass spectrometry in their experimental sections, as we are particularly interested in the topic, which is also within the domain of several ontologies and controlled vocabularies. The resulting gold standard dataset is publicly available and directly applicable to validating automated methods for retrieving this metadata from the literature. In the process, we also made a number of observations on the structure and description of experiments and open access publication in this journal.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most worrisome infectious bacteria due to its intrinsic and acquired resistance against several antibiotics and the recalcitrance of its infections; hence, the development of novel antimicrobials effective against multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa is mandatory. In this work, silver nanoparticles obtained by green synthesis using a leaf extract and fungi were tested against a battery of clinical strains from cystic fibrosis, pneumonia and burnt patients, some of them with multidrug resistance. Both nanoparticles showed a potent antibacterial effect, causing severe damage to the cell wall, membrane and DNA, and inducing the production of reactive oxygen species. Moreover, the nanoparticles derived from fungi showed synergistic antibacterial effects with the antibiotics meropenem and levofloxacin for some clinical strains and both kinds of nanoparticles were nontoxic for larvae of the moth Galleria mellonella, encouraging further research for their implementation in the treatment of P. aeruginosa infections., (© 2022 The Authors. Letters in Applied Microbiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Aim: As options to treat recalcitrant bacterial infections which are increasingly limited due to multidrug-resistant strains, searching for new, effective antibacterial compounds is necessary. One strategy is to generate treatment alternatives by drug repurposing., Methods and Results: In this work, phenotypic microarrays were used for the screening of miscellaneous compounds against the growth and biofilm formation of Acinetobacter baumannii, an important emergent multidrug-resistant opportunistic pathogen. The results showed that the phenothiazine derivatives, such as promethazine, trifluoperazine, thioridazine, and chlorpromazine, inhibited the growth of antibiotic-sensitive and multidrug-resistant strains (showing minimal inhibitory concentrations ranging from 0·05 to 0·6 g l -1 and minimal bactericidal concentrations ranging from 0·1 to 2·5 g l -1 ). All phenothiazine derivatives were active against biofilm cells (with minimal biofilm eradication concentrations ranging from 0·5 to >3 g l -1 ). Chlorpromazine promoted reactive oxigen species (ROS) production, and cell membrane and DNA damage. Chlorpromazine showed synergy with antibiotics such as ceftazidime, meropenem, and colistin and was an effective treatment for experimentally infected Galleria mellonella when combined with ceftazidime., Conclusions: It was demonstrated that phenothiazine derivatives, especially chlorpromazine, are drugs with attractive antibacterial properties against nosocomial MDR strains of A. baumannii, by generating ROS and cell membrane and DNA damage., Significance and Impact of the Study: The present study indicates that repurposing phenothiazine derivatives for treating recalcitrant infections by A. baumannii could be promising., (© 2021 The Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Emerging contaminants (EPs) represent a significant risk to human, ecological and environmental health. Although progress has been made in establishing monitoring in environmental matrices, health effects, legislation and control, there are still problems associated with regional bias and the types of EPs commonly assessed, which may underestimate the risk to health. In Latin America there are limited reports on environmental monitoring of EPs and it is generally focused on wastewater. This review identifies the current research deficiencies for emerging contaminants in the Latin American region, and we address the case of nonylphenol as an under-studied EP in the region. Nonylphenol is a degradation product of nonylphenol ethoxylate, which is a surfactant widely used in the manufacture of detergents in Latin America, environmental concentrations have been reported, predominantly in water, and the possible effects on species in this region have been also described. The importance of the review of this compound in the region lies in the fact that the Rotterdam Convention has catalogued nonylphenol as a severely restricted compound, so it is necessary to establish measures for its restriction and change to a sustainable technology. Finally, the example of NP presented in this review highlights the lack of regulation in Latin America regarding to EPs, resulting in the contamination of wastewater, effluents, rivers and drinking water. It is imperative to determine the potential effects, occurrence and concentration levels to improve the regulation of these pollutants in a timely manner., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interest or personal relationships the could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Alquilphenols are considered to be endocrine disruptors and are mainly found as 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) in ecosystems. A chromatographic analytical method was developed using solid phase microextraction (SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the extraction and quantification of 4-NP in sources of water in Mexico to establish environmental concentrations. A derivatization process with N-Methyl-bis(trifluoroacetamide) (MBTFA) was carried out in order to increase sensitivity in the method. The method was validated with a correlation coefficient above 0.99, and a limit of detection and quantification of 0.01 μg L -1 and 0.15 μg L -1 respectively, which were determined by a linear curve at low 4-NP concentrations. After demonstrating the feasibility of the method, an analysis in water samples was performed. Eighty-three percent of samples had detectable concentrations of 4-NP with a maximum concentration of 12.61 μg L -1 , 12.2 μg L -1 and 6.08 μg L -1 in recreational water, wastewater discharges and drinking water respectively. Sixty-five percent of the samples presented concentrations above the limit established by the European Union (2 μg L -1 ) and 17% above the limit by the Environmental Protection Agency (6.6 μg L -1 ). Although the number of samples is not representative for the assessment of the real-world scenario, our data presents a general overview of the exposure levels and possible environmental and health risks. Continuous monitoring and regulation of this pollutant in Mexico is important in order to prevent exposure and thus, ecological and adverse health effects., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Understanding the interaction between boehmite and epoxy and the formation of their interphases with different mechanical and chemical structures is crucial to predict and optimize the properties of epoxy-boehmite nanocomposites. Probing the interfacial properties with atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based methods, especially particle-matrix long-range interactions, is challenging. This is due to size limitations of various analytical methods in resolving nanoparticles and their interphases, the overlap of interphases, and the effect of buried particles that prevent the accurate interphase property measurement. Here, we develop a layered model system in which the epoxy is cured in contact with a thin layer of hydrothermally synthesized boehmite. Different microscopy methods are employed to evaluate the interfacial properties. With intermodulation atomic force microscopy (ImAFM) and amplitude dependence force spectroscopy (ADFS), which contain information about stiffness, electrostatic, and van der Waals forces, a soft interphase was detected between the epoxy and boehmite. Surface potential maps obtained by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM) revealed another interphase about one order of magnitude larger than the mechanical interphase. The AFM-infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) technique reveals that the soft interphase consists of unreacted curing agent. The long-range electrical interphase is attributed to the chemical alteration of the bulk epoxy and the formation of new absorption bands.

With the advent of high-throughput sequencing of immunoglobulin genes (Ig-Seq), the understanding of antibody repertoires and their dynamics among individuals and populations has become an exciting area of research. There is an increasing number of computational tools that aid in every step of the immune repertoire characterization. However, since not all tools function identically, every pipeline has its unique rationale and capabilities, creating a rich blend of useful features that may appear intimidating for newcomer laboratories with the desire to plunge into immune repertoire analysis to expand and improve their research; hence, all pipeline strengths and differences may not seem evident. In this review we provide a practical and organized list of the current set of computational tools, focusing on their most attractive features and differences in order to carry out the characterization of antibody repertoires so that the reader better decides a strategic approach for the experimental design, and computational pathways for the analyses of immune repertoires.

A great amount of material properties is strongly influenced by dislocations, the carriers of plastic deformation. It is therefore paramount to have appropriate tools to quantify dislocation substructures with regard to their features, e.g., dislocation density, Burgers vectors or line direction. While the transmission electron microscope (TEM) has been the most widely-used equipment implemented to investigate dislocations, it usually is limited to the two-dimensional (2D) observation of three-dimensional (3D) structures. We reconstruct, visualize and quantify 3D dislocation substructure models from only two TEM images (stereo pairs) and assess the results. The reconstruction is based on the manual interactive tracing of filiform objects on both images of the stereo pair. The reconstruction and quantification method are demonstrated on dark field (DF) scanning (S)TEM micrographs of dislocation substructures imaged under diffraction contrast conditions. For this purpose, thick regions (>300 nm) of TEM foils are analyzed, which are extracted from a Ni-base superalloy single crystal after high temperature creep deformation. It is shown how the method allows 3D quantification from stereo pairs in a wide range of tilt conditions, achieving line length and orientation uncertainties of 3% and 7°, respectively. Parameters that affect the quality of such reconstructions are discussed., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)