Cluster of legionnaires’ disease in an Italian prison

Background: Legionella pneumophila (Lp) is the most common etiologic agent causing Legionnaires’ Disease (LD). Water systems offer the best growth conditions for Lp and support its spread by producing aerosols. From 2015 to 2017, the Regional Reference Laboratory of Clinical and Environmental Surveillance of Legionellosis of Palermo monitored the presence of Lp in nine prisons in Western Sicily. During this investigation, we compared Lp isolates from environmental samples in a prison located in Palermo with isolates from two prisoners in the same prison. Methods: We collected 93 water samples from nine Sicilian prisons and the bronchoalveolar lavages (BALs) of two prisoners considered cases of LD. These samples were processed following the procedures described in the Italian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Legionellosis of 2015. Then, genotyping was performed on 19 Lp colonies (17 from water samples and 2 from clinical samples) using the Sequence-Based Typing (SBT) method, according to European Study Group for Legionella Infections (ESGLI) protocols. Results: Lp serogroup (sg) 6 was the most prevalent serogroup isolated from the prisons analyzed (40%), followed by Lp sg 1 (16%). Most of all, in four penitentiary institutions, we detected a high concentration of Lp >104 Colony Forming Unit/Liter (CFU/L). The environmental molecular investigation found the following Sequence Types (STs) in Lp sg 6: ST 93, ST 292, ST 461, ST 728, ST 1317 and ST 1362, while most of the isolates in sg 1 belonged to ST 1. We also found a new ST that has since been assigned the number 2451 in the ESGLI-SBT database. From the several Lp sg 1 colonies isolated from the two BALs, we identified ST 2451. Conclusions: In this article, we described the results obtained from environmental and epidemiological investigations of Lp isolated from prisons in Western Sicily. Furthermore, we reported the first cluster of Legionnaires’ in an Italian prison and the molecular typing of Lp sg 1 from one prison’s water system and two BALs, identified the source of the contamination, and discovered a new ST

Evaluating techniques for sampling stream crayfish (paranephrops planifrons)

We evaluated several capture and analysis techniques for estimating abundance and size structure of freshwater crayfish (Paranephrops planifrons) (koura) from a forested North Island, New Zealand stream to provide a methodological basis for future population studies. Direct observation at night and collecting with baited traps were not considered useful. A quadrat sampler was highly biased toward collecting small individuals. Handnetting at night and estimating abundances using the depletion method were not as efficient as handnetting on different dates and analysing by a mark-recapture technique. Electrofishing was effective in collecting koura from different habitats and resulted in the highest abundance estimates, and mark-recapture estimates appeared to be more precise than depletion estimates, especially if multiple recaptures were made. Handnetting captured more large crayfish relative to electrofishing or the quadrat sampler

Signal recognition and background suppression by matched filters and neural networks for Tunka-Rex

The Tunka Radio Extension (Tunka-Rex) is a digital antenna array, which measures the radio emission of the cosmic-ray air-showers in the frequency band of 30-80 MHz. Tunka-Rex is co-located with TAIGA experiment in Siberia and consists of 63 antennas, 57 of them are in a densely instrumented area of about 1 km\textsuperscript{2}. In the present work we discuss the improvements of the signal reconstruction applied for the Tunka-Rex. At the first stage we implemented matched filtering using averaged signals as template. The simulation study has shown that matched filtering allows one to decrease the threshold of signal detection and increase its purity. However, the maximum performance of matched filtering is achievable only in case of white noise, while in reality the noise is not fully random due to different reasons. To recognize hidden features of the noise and treat them, we decided to use convolutional neural network with autoencoder architecture. Taking the recorded trace as an input, the autoencoder returns denoised trace, i.e. removes all signal-unrelated amplitudes. We present the comparison between standard method of signal reconstruction, matched filtering and autoencoder, and discuss the prospects of application of neural networks for lowering the threshold of digital antenna arrays for cosmic-ray detection.Comment: ARENA2018 proceeding

Rab7b modulates autophagic flux by interacting with Atg4B

Autophagy (macroautophagy) is a highly conserved eukaryotic degradation pathway in which cytosolic components and organelles are sequestered by specialized autophagic membranes and degraded through the lysosomal system. The autophagic pathway maintains basal cellular homeostasis and helps cells adapt during stress; thus, defects in autophagy can cause detrimental effects. It is therefore crucial that autophagy is properly regulated. In this study, we show that the cysteine protease Atg4B, a key enzyme in autophagy that cleaves LC3, is an interactor of the small GTPase Rab7b. Indeed, Atg4B interacts and co‐localizes with Rab7b on vesicles. Depletion of Rab7b increases autophagic flux as indicated by the increased size of autophagic structures as well as the magnitude of macroautophagic sequestration and degradation. Importantly, we demonstrate that Rab7b regulates LC3 processing by modulating Atg4B activity. Taken together, our findings reveal Rab7b as a novel negative regulator of autophagy through its interaction with Atg4B

Pathwise Sensitivity Analysis in Transient Regimes

The instantaneous relative entropy (IRE) and the corresponding instanta- neous Fisher information matrix (IFIM) for transient stochastic processes are pre- sented in this paper. These novel tools for sensitivity analysis of stochastic models serve as an extension of the well known relative entropy rate (RER) and the corre- sponding Fisher information matrix (FIM) that apply to stationary processes. Three cases are studied here, discrete-time Markov chains, continuous-time Markov chains and stochastic differential equations. A biological reaction network is presented as a demonstration numerical example

An update of the evolving epidemic of blaKPC carrying Klebsiella pneumoniae in Sicily, Italy, 2014: Emergence of multiple Non-ST258 Clones

Background: In Italy, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase producing K. pneumoniae (KPC-Kp) strains are highly endemic and KPC producing CC258 is reported as the widely predominating clone. In Palermo, Italy, previous reports have confirmed this pattern. However, recent preliminary findings suggest that an epidemiological change is likely ongoing towards a polyclonal KPC-Kp spread. Here we present the results of molecular typing of 94 carbapenem non susceptible K. pneumoniae isolates detected during 2014 in the three different hospitals in Palermo, Italy. Methods and Results: Ninety-four consecutive, non replicate carbapenem non susceptible isolates were identified in the three largest acute general hospitals in Palermo, Italy, in the six-month period March-August 2014. They were characterized by PCR for β-lactam, aminoglycoside and plasmid mediated fluoroquinolone resistance genetic determinants. The mgrB gene of the colistin resistant isolates was amplified and sequenced. Clonality was assessed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing. Eight non-CC258 sequence types (STs) were identified accounting for 60% of isolates. In particular, ST307 and ST273 accounted for 29% and 18% of isolates. CC258 isolates were more frequently susceptible to gentamicin and non-CC258 isolates to amikacin. Colistin non susceptibility was found in 42% of isolates. Modifications of mgrB were found in 32 isolates. Conclusions: Concurrent clonal expansion of some STs and lateral transmission of genetic resistance determinants are likely producing a thorough change of the KPC-Kp epidemiology in Palermo, Italy. In our setting mgrB inactivation proved to substantially contribute to colistin resistance. Our findings suggest the need to continuously monitor the KPC-Kp epidemiology and to assess by a nationwide survey the possible shifting towards a polyclonal epidemic

The ANTARES Collaboration: Contributions to ICRC 2017 Part I: Neutrino astronomy (diffuse fluxes and point sources)

Papers on neutrino astronomy (diffuse fluxes and point sources, prepared for the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2017, Busan, South Korea) by the ANTARES Collaboratio