Identification by PCR of Non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica Serovars Associated with Invasive Infections among Febrile Patients in Mali

Background

In sub-Saharan Africa, non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) are emerging as a prominent cause of invasive disease (bacteremia and focal infections such as meningitis) in infants and young children. Importantly, including data from Mali, three serovars, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Dublin, account for the majority of non-typhoidal Salmonella isolated from these patients.

Methods

We have extended a previously developed series of polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) based on O serogrouping and H typing to identify Salmonella Typhimurium and variants (mostly I 4,[5],12:i:-), Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Dublin. We also designed primers to detect Salmonella Stanleyville, a serovar found in West Africa. Another PCR was used to differentiate diphasic Salmonella Typhimurium and monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium from other O serogroup B, H:i serovars. We used these PCRs to blind-test 327 Salmonella serogroup B and D isolates that were obtained from the blood cultures of febrile patients in Bamako, Mali.

Principal Findings

We have shown that when used in conjunction with our previously described O-serogrouping PCR, our PCRs are 100% sensitive and specific in identifying Salmonella Typhimurium and variants, Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Dublin and Salmonella Stanleyville. When we attempted to differentiate 171 Salmonella Typhimurium (I 4,[ 5],12:i:1,2) strains from 52 monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium (I 4,[5],12:i:-) strains, we were able to correctly identify 170 of the Salmonella Typhimurium and 51 of the Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- strains.

Conclusion

We have described a simple yet effective PCR method to support surveillance of the incidence of invasive disease caused by NTS in developing countries.     

Cryptococcal Meningitis in Senegal: Epidemiology, Laboratory Findings, Therapeutic and Outcome of Cases Diagnosed from 2004 to 2011

Background

Cryptococcal meningitis is one of the most important opportunistic infection and a major contributor to early mortality. In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Senegal, prevalence of cryptococcal meningitis remains high. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology, laboratory profile, therapeutic and outcome of cases diagnosed in Dakar.

Methods

We analyzed the cryptococcosis cases diagnosed at the department of parasitology–mycology in Fann Teaching Hospital in Dakar from 2004 to 2011. The diagnosis was confirmed by culture on Sabouraud’s dextrose agar and/or by India ink preparation and/or by cryptococcal antigen detection. The diagnosis methods were assessed by using culture as reference.

Results

A total of 106 cases of cryptococcal meningitis were diagnosed. The prevalence of cryptococcal meningitis was 7.8 %. The mean age of the patients was 40.17 ± 9.89 years. There were slightly more male (53.8 %) than female (46.2 %) patients; 89.6 % were found to be infected with HIV, and the median CD4+ count was 27/mm³. Approximately 79.5 % of the patients had <100 CD4+ lymphocytes/mm³. India ink staining presented sensitivity at 94.11 % and specificity at 100 %. Sensitivity and specificity of cryptococcal antigen detection in cerebrospinal fluid were, respectively, 96.96 and 15.78 %. The most frequently used antifungal drug was fluconazole (86.7 %), and the mortality rate was 62.2 % (66 deaths).

Conclusion

Early diagnosis is essential to control cryptococcosis, and countries should prioritize widespread and reliable access to rapid diagnostic cryptococcus antigen assays. But it is important to make available conventional methods (India ink and culture) in the maximum of laboratory in regional health facilities.     

(Sub)clinical cardiovascular disease is associated with increased bone loss and fracture risk; a systematic review of the association between cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis

Introduction  

Both cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis are important causes of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The co-occurrence of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis prompted us to review the evidence of an association between cardiovascular (CV) disease and osteoporosis and potential shared common pathophysiological mechanisms.     

Induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with Huntington's disease show CAG-repeat-expansion-associated phenotypes

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded stretch of CAG trinucleotide repeats that results in neuronal dysfunction and death. Here, The HD Consortium reports the generation and characterization of 14 induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from HD patients and controls. Microarray profiling revealed CAG-repeat-expansion-associated gene expression patterns that distinguish patient lines from controls, and early onset versus late onset HD. Differentiated HD neural cells showed disease-associated changes in electrophysiology, metabolism, cell adhesion, and ultimately cell death for lines with both medium and longer CAG repeat expansions. The longer repeat lines were however the most vulnerable to cellular stressors and BDNF withdrawal, as assessed using a range of assays across consortium laboratories. The HD iPSC collection represents a unique and well-characterized resource to elucidate disease mechanisms in HD and provides a human stem cell platform for screening new candidate therapeutics.     

Cancer du pénis au Sénégal : aspects cliniques et thérapeutiques

Objective

Describe the clinical and therapeutic aspects of penile cancer in Senegal.

Patients and methods

We conducted a retrospective study that looked at records of patients followed for penile cancer in the urology service of the Aristide Le Dantec hospital between January 2000 and December 2011.

Results

Eight patients of mean age of 51.5, with extremes of 27 and 77 have been identified. They were all circumcised in childhood. Clinical examination had highlighted ulcerated and burgeoning tumor affecting glans and a part of the penis in five cases; in two cases, it concerned the entire penis, while one case was limited to the glans. Patients were thus classified according cT3 (three cases) and cT1 (one case). The histological type of the tumour was, in all patients, squamous cell carcinoma. There was no secondary location in the thoracic-flow-pelvic scanner. Therapeutically, a partial penectomy was conducted in five cases, a total penectomy with ganglionic flushing in one case. Two patients refused surgical treatment. There was no recurrence in five patients who underwent a partial amputation of the penis. Overall survival was therefore of 83.3 for surgical patients.

Conclusion

cancer of the penis is rare in Senegal. The support is delicate because of late diagnosis associated with advanced lesions, hence the importance of awareness of the population.     

Factors associated with the prevalence of circulating antigens to porcine cysticercosis in three villages of burkina faso

Background

Little is known about porcine cysticercosis in Burkina Faso. We conducted a pilot study to estimate the prevalence of antigens of Taenia solium cysticercosis and to identify associated factors in pigs of three villages in Burkina Faso, selected to represent different pig management practices: one village where pigs are allowed to roam freely (Batondo), one village where pigs are penned part of the time (Pabré) and one village with limited pig farming (Nyonyogo).

Methods/Principal Findings

A clustered random sampling design was used. Data on socio-demographic characteristics (source of drinking water, presence of latrines in the household, type and number of breeding animals) and pig management practices were collected using a standardized questionnaire. Blood samples were collected from one pig per household to determine the presence of antigens of the larval stages of T. solium by the B158/B60 Ag-ELISA. The associations between seropositivity and socio-demographic and pig management practices were estimated using logistic regression. Proportions of 32.5% (95% CI 25.4–40.3), 39.6% (31.9–47.8), and 0% of pigs, were found positive for the presence of circulating antigens of T. solium in Batondo, Pabré, and Nyonyogo, respectively. The results of the logistic regression analyses suggested that people acquire knowledge on porcine cysticercosis following the contamination of their animals. The presence of antigens in the pigs'' sera was not associated with the absence of latrines in the household, the source of drinking water or the status of infection in humans but was associated with pig rearing practices during the rainy season.

Conclusions/Significance

The results suggest that education of pig farmers is urgently needed to reduce the prevalence of this infection.     

A haplotype map of allohexaploid wheat reveals distinct patterns of selection on homoeologous genomes

BackgroundBread wheat is an allopolyploid species with a large, highly repetitive genome. To investigate the impact of selection on variants distributed among homoeologous wheat genomes and to build a foundation for understanding genotype-phenotype relationships, we performed population-scale re-sequencing of a diverse panel of wheat lines.ResultsA sample of 62 diverse lines was re-sequenced using the whole exome capture and genotyping-by-sequencing approaches. We describe the allele frequency, functional significance, and chromosomal distribution of 1.57 million single nucleotide polymorphisms and 161,719 small indels. Our results suggest that duplicated homoeologous genes are under purifying selection. We find contrasting patterns of variation and inter-variant associations among wheat genomes; this, in addition to demographic factors, could be explained by differences in the effect of directional selection on duplicated homoeologs. Only a small fraction of the homoeologous regions harboring selected variants overlapped among the wheat genomes in any given wheat line. These selected regions are enriched for loci associated with agronomic traits detected in genome-wide association studies.ConclusionsEvidence suggests that directional selection in allopolyploids rarely acted on multiple parallel advantageous mutations across homoeologous regions, likely indicating that a fitness benefit could be obtained by a mutation at any one of the homoeologs. Additional advantageous variants in other homoelogs probably either contributed little benefit, or were unavailable in populations subjected to directional selection. We hypothesize that allopolyploidy may have increased the likelihood of beneficial allele recovery by broadening the set of possible selection targets.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-015-0606-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

A Spatio-temporal Model of African Animal Trypanosomosis Risk

Background

African animal trypanosomosis (AAT) is a major constraint to sustainable development of cattle farming in sub-Saharan Africa. The habitat of the tsetse fly vector is increasingly fragmented owing to demographic pressure and shifts in climate, which leads to heterogeneous risk of cyclical transmission both in space and time. In Burkina Faso and Ghana, the most important vectors are riverine species, namely Glossina palpalis gambiensis and G. tachinoides, which are more resilient to human-induced changes than the savannah and forest species. Although many authors studied the distribution of AAT risk both in space and time, spatio-temporal models allowing predictions of it are lacking.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We used datasets generated by various projects, including two baseline surveys conducted in Burkina Faso and Ghana within PATTEC (Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomosis Eradication Campaign) national initiatives. We computed the entomological inoculation rate (EIR) or tsetse challenge using a range of environmental data. The tsetse apparent density and their infection rate were separately estimated and subsequently combined to derive the EIR using a “one layer-one model” approach. The estimated EIR was then projected into suitable habitat. This risk index was finally validated against data on bovine trypanosomosis. It allowed a good prediction of the parasitological status (r² = 67%), showed a positive correlation but less predictive power with serological status (r² = 22%) aggregated at the village level but was not related to the illness status (r² = 2%).

Conclusions/Significance

The presented spatio-temporal model provides a fine-scale picture of the dynamics of AAT risk in sub-humid areas of West Africa. The estimated EIR was high in the proximity of rivers during the dry season and more widespread during the rainy season. The present analysis is a first step in a broader framework for an efficient risk management of climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases.     

L’ectopie testiculaire pénienne: à propos d’un cas

Penile ectopic testis is a rare congenital abnormality. The aetiopathogenesis is still not well known.We report a case in a two-years-old child. The diagnosis was easy and required no exploration. The orchidopexy in dartos after lowering the testis was easy due to the sufficient length of the spermatic cord. Three years later, the lowered testis appeared normal. We review the other forms of penile ectopic testis reported in the literature and those requiring further exploration.     

Rumen-protected conjugated linoleic acid supplementation to dairy cows in late pregnancy and early lactation: effects on milk composition,milk yield,blood metabolites and gene expression in liver

After 27 years with no detected cases, an outbreak of anthrax occurred in a beef cattle herd in the south of Sweden. The outbreak was unusual as it occurred in winter, in animals not exposed to meat-and-bone meal, in a non-endemic country. The affected herd consisted of 90 animals, including calves and young stock. The animals were kept in a barn on deep straw bedding and fed only roughage. Seven animals died during 10 days, with no typical previous clinical signs except fever. The carcasses were reportedly normal in appearance, particularly as regards rigor mortis, bleeding and coagulation of the blood. Subsequently, three more animals died and anthrax was suspected at necropsy and confirmed by culture and PCR on blood samples. The isolated strain was susceptible to tetracycline, ciprofloxacin and ampicillin. Subtyping by MLVA showed the strain to cluster with isolates in the A lineage of Bacillus anthracis. Environmental samples from the holding were all negative except for two soil samples taken from a spot where infected carcasses had been kept until they were picked up for transport. The most likely source of the infection was concluded to be contaminated roughage, although this could not be substantiated by laboratory analysis. The suspected feed was mixed with soil and dust and originated from fields where flooding occurred the previous year, followed by a dry summer with a very low water level in the river allowing for the harvesting on soil usually not exposed. In the early 1900s, animal carcasses are said to have been dumped in this river during anthrax outbreaks and it is most likely that some anthrax spores could remain in the area. The case indicates that untypical cases in non-endemic areas may be missed to a larger extent than previously thought. Field tests allowing a preliminary risk assessment of animal carcasses would be helpful for increased sensitivity of detection and prevention of further exposure to the causative agent.