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Introduction: The hilum of the kidney leads into a central renal sinus filled with the renal pelvis and renal vessels. The classical arrangement of the structures present is the renal vein, renal artery, and renal pelvis, from anterior to posterior. Previous studies have shown many variations in the arrangement of the structures in the renal hilum; however, there is a lack of literature on this topic in the North-east region of India, where many communities and tribes reside. Aim: To evaluate both the classical and anatomical variations in the arrangement of the renal hilar structures in human cadavers. Materials and Methods: The present study was a cadaveric cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Anatomy at Assam Medical College, Assam, India, involving 160 specimens from 80 cadavers, both adult and foetal (≥36 weeks), from July 2013 to June 2014. Among these, 15 were adult cadavers and 65 were perinatal cadavers (11 male and 4 female adults; 28 male and 37 female perinates). The relations of the structures, i.e., renal artery, renal vein, and renal pelvis present in the renal hilum, were studied in an anterior-posterior manner after meticulous dissection. Results: In the present study, the majority of specimens exhibited hilar structures arranged in a VAP pattern (67 kidneys, 41.88%), with a higher occurrence on the left-side (37 kidneys, 23.1%) compared to the right-side (30 kidneys, 18.7%). This was followed by a VAPA pattern (28 kidneys, 17.5%). Variations in the arrangement of hilar structures other than the classical arrangement were observed in more than 59% (93 kidneys) of the specimens. It was noted that the anterior and posterior divisions of the renal artery and the anterior and posterior tributaries of the renal vein occupied the pre-hilar and hilar regions rather than the main trunks. Conclusion: It was observed that the arrangement of the structures present in the renal hilum exhibits a wide spectrum of variations. Knowledge of these variations may be beneficial not only for anatomists but also for urologists and radiologists, as it may help prevent or at least minimise the incidence of intraoperative injuries and post-operative complications. Urological procedures such as nephrectomy and renal transplant operations require careful dissection and separate ligation of the renal vessels present in the renal hilum to prevent arteriovenous fistula and massive haemorrhage. Prior knowledge of unusual arrangements of the hilar structures may assist surgeons in avoiding inadequate ligation of vessels and minimising complications.

Abstract Metallic copper is a potent antimicrobial agent with high efficacy against a range of microorganisms. Whilst it is commonplace for objects such as door handles and hospital bedrails to be made of or to be coated with copper, other high-touch surfaces such as those of screens and monitors would lose their optical transparency. Herein, we report the design of a transparent antimicrobial nanostructured copper surface obtained by dewetting ultrathin metal copper films on glass. Antimicrobial effectiveness of >99.9 % was obtained within 2 h against Staphylococcus aureus following the US Environmental Protection Agency Test method. Moreover, the proposed surfaces show an average transmittance between 70–80% with little color in the visible range. Additionally, they maintain optical and antimicrobial properties after abrasion and chemical exposure tests designed to replicate physical wear and repeated exposure to biocidal cleaning materials. With the demonstrated surfaces’ antimicrobial, colorless, and durability properties, they have potential in applications such as touch-enabled public or personal displays once higher transparency is achieved.

Due to its high sensitivity to numerous variability sources, it is hard to define the typicity of a monovarietal virgin olive oil (VOO) according to its phenolic profile. In this study, we aimed to identify the features of phenolic composition that are persistent and minimally affected by variability sources, making them potential varietal markers. We separately analyzed three databases of monovarietal VOO phenolic compositions, determined by liquid chromatography, from three different cultivars. The first database was produced from the original data of the Bosana cultivar. The other two were obtained through a systematic analysis of scientific literature on Coratina and Frantoio cultivars. Several statistical tools, including coefficient of variability, correlations, and linear regression models, were used to find recurring proportions or ratios unaffected by variability sources suitable to define typical varietal traits. Some proportions between molecules, mostly within the same phenolic class, remain constant. Strong correlations between (i) flavonoids were observed in Bosana and Frantoio VOOs (R2 = 0.87 and 0.77, respectively), (ii) oleacein-oleocanthal (Bosana, R2 = 0.81) (iii) oleuropein aglycon-ligstroside aglycon (Frantoio, R2 = 0.88), and (iv) lignans (Coratina, R2 = 0.84). These traits could be useful tools for defining the typicity of monovarietal VOOs.

Abstract Background Salmonella enterica serotype Gallinarum (S. Gallinarum) remains an important pathogen of poultry, especially in developing countries. There is a need to develop effective and safe vaccines. In the current study, the effect of crp deletion was investigated with respect to virulence and biochemical properties and the possible use of a deletion mutant as vaccine candidate was preliminarily tested. Methods Mutants were constructed in S. Gallinarum by P22 transduction from Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) with deletion of the crp gene. The effect was characterized by measuring biochemical properties and by testing of invasion in a chicken loop model and by challenge of six-day-old chickens. Further, birds were immunized with the deleted strain and challenged with the wild type isolate. Results The crp deletions caused complete attenuation of S. Gallinarum. This was shown by ileal loop experiments not to be due to significantly reduced invasion. Strains with such deletions may have vaccine potential, since oral inoculatoin with S. Gallinarum Δcrp completely protected against challenge with the same dose of wild type S. Gallinarum ten days post immunization. Interestingly, the mutations did not cause the same biochemical and growth changes to the two biotypes of S. Gallinarum. All biochemical effects but not virulence could be complemented by providing an intact crp-gene from S. Typhimurium on the plasmid pSD110. Conclusion Transduction of a Tn10 disrupted crp gene from S. Typhimurium caused attenuation in S. Gallinarum and mutated strains are possible candidates for live vaccines against fowl typhoid.

Due to its high sensitivity to numerous variability sources, it is hard to define the typicity of a monovarietal virgin olive oil (VOO) according to its phenolic profile. In this study, we aimed to identify the features of phenolic composition that are persistent and minimally affected by variability sources, making them potential varietal markers. We separately analyzed three databases of monovarietal VOO phenolic compositions, determined by liquid chromatography, from three different cultivars. The first database was produced from the original data of the Bosana cultivar. The other two were obtained through a systematic analysis of scientific literature on Coratina and Frantoio cultivars. Several statistical tools, including coefficient of variability, correlations, and linear regression models, were used to find recurring proportions or ratios unaffected by variability sources suitable to define typical varietal traits. Some proportions between molecules, mostly within the same phenolic class, remain constant. Strong correlations between (i) flavonoids were observed in Bosana and Frantoio VOOs (R2 = 0.87 and 0.77, respectively), (ii) oleacein-oleocanthal (Bosana, R2 = 0.81) (iii) oleuropein aglycon-ligstroside aglycon (Frantoio, R2 = 0.88), and (iv) lignans (Coratina, R2 = 0.84). These traits could be useful tools for defining the typicity of monovarietal VOOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella spp. cause healthcare-associated infections with high mortality rates, and the rise of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp) poses a significant threat to human health linked to community-acquired infections and increasing non-susceptibility. We investigated the phenotypic and genetic features of 36 Klebsiella isolates recovered from invasive infections at Hospital Central of Maputo in Mozambique during one year. The majority of the isolates displayed multidrug resistance (MDR) (29/36) to cephalosporins, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole but retained susceptibility to amikacin, carbapenems, and colistin. Most isolates were ESBLs-producing (28/36), predominantly carrying the blaCTX-M-15 and other beta-lactamase genes (blaSHV, blaTEM-1, and blaOXA-1). Among the 16 genomes sequenced, multiple resistance genes from different antibiotic classes were identified, with blaCTX-M-15, mostly in the ISEcp1-blaCTX-M-15-orf477 genetic environment, co-existing with blaTEM-1 and aac(3)-IIa in five isolates. Our results highlight the presence of polyclonal MDR ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae from eight sequence types (ST), mostly harbouring distinct yersiniabactin within the conjugative integrative element (ICE). Further, we identified susceptible hvKp ST23, O1-K1-type isolates carrying yersiniabactin (ybt1/ICEKp10), colibactin, salmochelin, aerobactin, and hypermucoid locus (rmpADC), associated with severe infections in humans. These findings are worrying and underline the importance of implementing surveillance strategies to avoid the risk of the emergence of the most threatening MDR hvKp.

Modeling phenological phases in a Mediterranean environment often implies tangible challenges to reconstructing regional trends over heterogenous areas using limited and scattered observations. The present investigation aimed to project phenological phases (i.e., sprouting, blooming, and pit hardening) for early and mid–late olive cultivars in the Mediterranean, comparing two phenological modeling approaches. Phenoflex is a rather integrated but data-demanding model, while a combined model of chill and anti-chill days and growing degree days (CAC_GDD) offers a more parsimonious and general approach in terms of data requirements for parameterization. We gathered phenological observations from nine experimental sites in Italy and temperature timeseries from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reanalysis v5. The best performances of the CAC_GDD (RMSE: 4 days) and PhenoFlex models (RMSE: 5–9.5 days) were identified for the blooming and sprouting phases of mid–late cultivars, respectively. The CAC_GDD model was better suited to our experimental conditions for projecting pit hardening and blooming dates (correlation: 0.80 and 0.70, normalized RMSE: 0.6 and 0.8, normalized standard deviation: 0.9 and 1.0). The optimization of the principal parameters confirmed that the mid–late cultivars were more adaptable to thermal variability. The spatial distribution illustrated the near synchrony of blooming dates between the early and mid–late cultivars compared to other phases.

In large and stratified lakes, substantial methane stocks are often observed within the metalimnion. The origin of the methane (CH4) accumulated in the metalimnion during stratification, which can sustain significant emissions during convective mixing, is still widely debated. While commonly attributed to the transport of methane produced anaerobically ex situ, recent evidence suggests that oxic in situ methane production could also contribute to metalimnetic methane peaks. Here, we assessed the origin, that is, pelagic CH4 production or transport of sublittoral CH4 through the interflow, of metalimnetic methane in Lake Geneva, the largest lake in Western Europe. Microbial diversity data do not support the hypothesis of oxic methane production in the metalimnion. In contrast, both spatial and temporal surveys of methane show that maxima occur at depths and sites most affected by the Rhône River inflow. Methane δ13C values point to an anaerobic sublittoral methane source, within a biogeochemical hotspot close to the river delta region, and an efficient transport across several kilometers in a vertically well‐constrained metalimnion. Our current findings emphasize the indirect role of river interflows for the long‐range transport of CH4 produced in sediment biogeochemical hotspots, even for large lakes where sublittoral habitats represent a fairly limited fraction of the lake volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new measure for assessing an individual's perception of the dyadic difficulties in emotion regulation with a romantic partner is tested. The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale–Dyadic (DERS‐D) was obtained by adapting some items of the previous Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) to the dyadic context. The scale was administered both to a sample of university students (N = 835) to explore its factorial structure and to a convenience sample (N = 833) together with the DERS, the DERS‐Positive, the Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ), and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) to confirm the factorial structure and to explore its construct validity. Results highlight that DERS‐D measures two distinct features, namely the lack of dyadic awareness and the lack of dyadic clarity, and that configural invariance across genders was met. DERS‐D subscales' internal consistency was high. The correlations between the DERS‐D and the other measures demonstrated its construct and criterion validity. The promising nature of these results is discussed in light of the potential clinical and empirical uses of the DERS‐D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how individualism, collectivism and conformity are associated with parenting and child adjustment in 1297 families with 10‐year‐old children from 13 cultural groups in nine countries. With multilevel models disaggregating between‐ and within‐culture effects, we examined between‐ and within‐culture associations between maternal and paternal cultural values, parenting dimensions and children's adjustment. Mothers from cultures endorsing higher collectivism and fathers from cultures endorsing lower individualism engage more frequently in warm parenting behaviours. Mothers and fathers with higher‐than‐average collectivism in their culture reported higher parent warmth and expectations for children's family obligations. Mothers with higher‐than‐average collectivism in their cultures more frequently reported warm parenting and fewer externalising problems in children, whereas mothers with higher‐than‐average individualism in their culture reported more child adjustment problems. Mothers with higher‐than‐average conformity values in their culture reported more father‐displays of warmth and greater mother‐reported expectations for children's family obligations. Fathers with higher‐than‐average individualism in their culture reported setting more rules and soliciting more knowledge about their children's whereabouts. Fathers who endorsed higher‐than‐average conformity in their culture displayed more warmth and expectations for children's family obligations and granted them more autonomy. Being connected to an interdependent, cohesive group appears to relate to parenting and children's adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trichophyton mentagrophytes complex comprises a group of dermatophyte fungi responsible for various dermatological infections. The increasing drug resistance of this species complex, especially terbinafine resistance of Trichophyton indotineae , is a major concern in dermatologist practice. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of T. mentagrophytes complex strains isolated from patients in Hue City, Vietnam, focusing on their phenotypic and genetic characteristics, antifungal susceptibility profiles, and molecular epidemiology. Keratinophilic fungi from dermatophytosis culture samples were identified morphologically and phenotypically, with species and genotypes confirmed by internal transcribed spacer sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Antifungal susceptibility testing was carried out to evaluate their susceptibility to itraconazole, voriconazole, and terbinafine. The 24% (n  = 27/114) of superficial mycoses were phenotypically attributed to T. mentagrophytes complex isolates. Trichophyton interdigitale , mainly genotype II*, was predominant (44.4%), followed by T. mentagrophytes genotype III* (22.2%), T. indotineae (14.8%), T. tonsurans (11.2%), and T. mentagrophytes (7.4%). While all isolates were susceptible to itraconazole and voriconazole, half of T. indotineae isolates exhibited resistance to terbinafine, linked to the Phe397Leu mutation in the SQLE protein. This study highlighted the presence of terbinafine-resistant T. indotineae isolates in Vietnam, emphasizing the need to investigate dermatophyte drug resistance and implement effective measures in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence (SSIPV) among lesbian women has been underestimated until few decades ago. While the association between romantic attachment and SSIPV has been widely demonstrated, mechanisms that mediate this association and the complex relationships between romantic attachment, SSIPV, and SSIPV-specific risk factors have not been adequately investigated to date. The current study assessed the influence of romantic attachment on SSIPV perpetration among lesbian women, exploring the mediating role of internalized homonegativity within this association. Three hundred and twenty-five Italian lesbian women with a mean age of 30 years were recruited and completed the following self-report measures: the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R), the Measure of Internalized Sexual Stigma, and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale Short Form. The results showed a positive association between attachment anxiety, and general and psychological SSIPV perpetration. Similarly, attachment avoidance was positively related with general, psychological, and physical SSIPV perpetration. The association between romantic attachment, and general and psychological SSIPV was partially mediated by internalized homonegativity. These findings have theoretical implications and provide valuable information to implement services and interventions tailored for SSIPV, to date scarce and not effective.

Rare information is available on clinical Enterococcus faecium encountered in Sardinia, Italy. This study investigated the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles and genotypic characteristics of E. faecium isolated at the University Hospital of Sassari, Italy, using the Vitek2 system and PCR, MLST, or WGS. Vitek2 revealed two VanB-type vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) isolates (MICs mg/L = 8 and ≥32) but failed to detect vancomycin resistance in one isolate (MIC mg/L ≤ 1) despite positive genotypic confirmation of vanB gene, which proved to be vancomycin resistant by additional phenotypic methods (MICs mg/L = 8). This vanB isolate was able to increase its vancomycin MIC after exposure to vancomycin, unlike the “classic” occult vanB-carrying E. faecium, becoming detectable by Vitek 2 (MICs mg/L ≥ 32). All three E. faecium had highly mutated vanB2 operons, as part of a chromosomally integrated Tn1549 transposon, with common missense mutations in VanH and VanB2 resistance proteins and specific missense mutations in the VanW accessory protein. There were additional missense mutations in VanS, VanH, and VanB proteins in the vanB2-carrying VREfm isolates compared to Vitek2. The molecular typing revealed a polyclonal hospital-associated E. faecium population from Clade A1, and that vanB2-VREfm, and nearly half of vancomycin-susceptible E. faecium (VSEfm) analyzed, belonged to ST117. Based on core genome-MLST, ST117 strains had different clonal types (CT), excluding nosocomial transmission of specific CT. Detecting vanB2-carrying VREfm isolates by Vitek2 may be problematic, and alternative methods are needed to prevent therapeutic failure and spread.

The goal of the present study is to explore the perception of the relationship with parental figures, traumatic experiences, personality traits and psychosocial characteristics of the participant sibling caregivers. The sample was composed of 30 sibling caregivers recruited at psychiatric facilities in Italy, and of 30 control siblings. The battery of instruments administered included Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2), and The Inventory of Traumatic Experiences (TEC). This research found that sibling caregivers of patients with severe psychiatric pathologies are distinctly different from the siblings of the control group with respect to the perception of their relationship with parental figures more frequently regarded as dysfunctional, and were also characterized by a higher presence of traumatic experiences. The problematic relationship with parental figures, some traumatic experiences, and the burden of taking care of a sibling with psychiatric disorders are probably important variables with regards to the individual’s overall psychological condition.