Trends in drug resistance, serotypes, and molecular types of Streptococcus pneumoniae colonizing preschool-age children attending day care centers in Lisbon, Portugal: a summary of 4 years of annual surveillance

Of the nasopharyngeal cultures recovered from 942 day care center (DCC) attendees in Lisbon, Portugal, 591 (62%) yielded Streptococcus pneumoniae during a surveillance performed in February and March of 1999. Forty percent of the isolates were resistant to one or more antimicrobial agents. In particular, 2% were penicillin resistant and 20% had intermediate penicillin resistance. Multidrug resistance to macrolides, lincosamides, and tetracycline was the most frequent antibiotype (17% of all isolates). Serotyping and molecular typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis were performed for 202 out of 237 drug-resistant pneumococci (DRPn). The most frequent serotypes were 6B (26%), 14 (22%), 19F (16%), 23F (10%), and nontypeable (12%). The majority (67%) of the DRPn strains were representatives of nine international clones included in the Pneumococcal Molecular Epidemiology Network; eight of them had been detected in previous studies. Fourteen novel clones were identified, corresponding to 26% of the DRPn strains. The remaining 7% of the strains were local clones detected in our previous studies. Comparison with studies conducted since 1996 in Portuguese DCCs identified several trends: (i) the rate of DRPn frequency has fluctuated between 40 and 50%; (ii) the serotypes most frequently recovered have remained the same; (iii) nontypeable strains appear to be increasing in frequency; and (iv) a clone of serotype 33F emerged in 1999. Together, our observations highlight that the nasopharynxes of children in DCCs are a melting pot of successful DRPn clones that are important to study and monitor if we aim to gain a better understanding on the epidemiology of this pathogen.     

Compound 48/80 and substance P induced release of histamine and serotonin from rat peritoneal mast cells

The effect of substance P and compound 48/80 on histamine and serotonin release from not isolated and isolated mast cells have been compared in experimentsin vitro. The response of not isolated and isolated mast cells were virtually identical. The release of both amines, in response to 48/80 and substance P, was dose-dependent. The percentage of histamine released by 48/80 was significantly higher than the percentage of serotonin, the difference being higher at lower concentrations of compound 48/80 after 15 min of incubation. Substance P also showed a tendency to higher efficiency for histamine than for serotonin release. In contrast to 48/80, the dose-response curves for histamine and serotonin release were parallel. These results support the view that the ratio between histamine and serotonin release depends on the liberator used. They also showed that this ratio can depend on the concentration of the agent inducing secretion. The results indicate that substance P as well as 48/80 act rather selectively as histamine liberators and that there is some difference in releasing properties of 48/80 and substance P.     

Evidence on major gene control of cortical index in pedigree data from Middle Dalmatia,Croatia

It was recently reported that the inheritance of the metacarpal cortical index (CI) in the Chuvashian population can be described in terms of a major gene (MG) model. By applying transmission probability tests, the hypothesis was accepted that not only baseline level of CI but also its sex‐specific dependence on age were under control of the same putative large‐effect gene. Using a pedigree sample from the population of the islands of Middle Dalmatia, Croatia (847 observed individuals in 278 pedigrees), data are presented to support the above findings. The following hypotheses were accepted: (i) inheritance of baseline CI in the Croatian population can be attributed to the effect of a MG responsible for about 42% of the variation; (ii) the same MG takes part in the control of the dependence of CI on age, particularly the age at onset of involutive bone changes (inflection point), and of the rate of decrease in CI with age (slope coefficient). Issues related to the assortative mating effect on CI and the determination of the most parsimonious model are discussed. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 13:398–408, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Retinoic acid is required for endodermal pouch morphogenesis and not for pharyngeal endoderm specification.

Because tissues from all three germ layers contribute to the pharyngeal arches, it is not surprising that all major signaling pathways are involved in their development. We focus on the role of retinoic acid (RA) signaling because it has been recognized for quite some time that alterations in this pathway lead to craniofacial malformations. Several studies exist that describe phenotypes observed upon RA perturbations in pharyngeal arch development; however, these studies did not address whether RA plays multiple roles at distinct time points during development. Here, we report the resulting phenotypes in the hindbrain, the neural crest-derived tissues, and the pharyngeal endoderm when RA synthesis is disrupted during zebrafish gastrulation and pharyngeal arch morphogenesis. Our results demonstrate that RA is required for the post-gastrulation morphogenesis and segmentation of endodermal pouches, and that loss of RA does not affect the length of the pharyngeal ectoderm or medial endoderm along the anterior-posterior axis. We also provide evidence that RA is not required for the specification of pharyngeal pouch endoderm and that the pharyngeal endoderm consists of at least two different cell populations, of which the pouch endoderm is sensitive to RA and the more medial pharyngeal endoderm is not. These results demonstrate that the developmental processes underlying pharyngeal arch defects differ depending on when RA signaling is disturbed during development.     

Cross-Sectional Associations between Mothers and Children’s Breakfast Routine—The Feel4Diabetes-Study

Positive influences of family members have been associated with a high probability of children’s daily breakfast consumption. Therefore, the aim of this study was to scrutinize the association of breakfast routines between mothers and their children. The baseline data of the Feel4Diabetes-study was obtained in 9760 children (49.05% boys)–mother pairs in six European countries. A parental self-reported questionnaire gauging the frequency of breakfast consumption and of breakfast´ foods and beverages consumption was used. Agreement in routines of mothers and their children’s breakfast consumption was analyzed in sex-specific crosstabs. The relationship of breakfast routine and food groups’ consumption between mothers and their children was assessed with analysis of covariance. The highest proportion of children who always consumed breakfast were those whose mothers always consumed it. Children consuming breakfast regularly had a higher intake of milk or unsweetened dairy products and all kind of cereal products (low fiber and whole-grain) than occasional breakfast consumers (p < 0.05). The strong similarity between mothers and children suggests a transfer of breakfast routine from mothers to their children, as a high proportion of children who usually consume breakfast were from mothers also consuming breakfast. All breakfast foods and beverages consumption frequencies were similar between children and their mothers.     

Lycium barbarum polysaccharide fraction associated with photobiomodulation protects from epithelium thickness and collagen fragmentation in a model of cutaneous photodamage

Lasers in Medical Science - Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is the major etiologic agent of cutaneous photoaging, and different strategies are used to prevent and treat this condition. The...     

Unusual distribution pattern of telomeric repeats in the shrews <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sorex araneus</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sorex granarius</Emphasis>

Sorex araneus and Sorex granarius are sibling species within the Sorex araneus group with karyotypes composed of almost identical chromosome arms. S. granarius has a largely acrocentric karyotype, while, in S. araneus, various of these acrocentrics have combined together by Robertsonian (Rb) fusions to form metacentrics, with the numbers and types of metacentrics differing between chromosomal races. Our studies on telomeric sequences in S. araneus and S. granarius revealed differences between chromosomes and between species. In S. araneus (the Novosibirsk race), hybridization signals were present on the telomeres of all the chromosomes after FISH with a PCR-generated telomeric probe. In addition, hybridization signals were observed at high frequencies in the pericentric regions of some but not all metacentrics formed by Rb fusion. There were fewer signals on those metacentrics formed earlier in the evolution of S. araneus. This suggests that S. araneus chromosomes retain at least some telomeric repeats during Rb fusion, but that these repeats are lost or modified over time. These results are critical for the interpretation of the well-studied hybrid zones between chromosomal races of S. araneus, given that Rb fission has been postulated in such hybrid zones and that the likelihood of Rb fission will relate to presence/absence of telomeric sequences at the centromeres of metacentrics. In S. granarius, there were strong signals at the proximal (centromeric) telomeres of the acrocentrics after FISH with a DNA telomeric probe. FISH with a PNA telomeric probe on S. granarius acrocentrics showed that the proximal telomeres were 213 kb on average, while the length of the distal telomeres was 3.8 kb on average. Two-colour FISH, using a telomeric DNA probe and a microdissected probe generated from the pericentric regions of the S. granarius chromosomes a and b, revealed regions on distinct chromatin fibres where telomeric and microdissected probes were colocalized or localized sequentially. The proximal telomeres of S. granarius are highly unusual both in their large size and their heterogeneous structure relative to the telomeres of other mammals.