Características clínico-epidemiológicas del COVID-19 en población de altura de Perú

Introducción: La COVID-19 ha cursado con una gran variabilidad clínico-epidemiológica. Objetivo: El objetivo fue describir las características sociodemográficas y clínico-epidemiológicas del COVID-19 en población de altura de Perú. Materiales y métodos: Estudio observacional y retrospectivo. La población estuvo conformada por pacientes ambulatorios con diagnóstico de COVID-19, de un establecimiento de salud del primer nivel de atención, ubicado a una altitud de 3850 m.s.n.m. Se realizó el análisis documental de los registros médicos. El análisis de datos fue descriptivo porcentual y medidas de tendencia central. Resultados: Se incluyeron en el estudio 154 pacientes, en su mayoría de sexo femenino (56,5%), grupo de edad adulto (51,3%), y ocupación ama de casa (37,0%). Los síntomas más frecuentes y de mayor duración fueron la tos (80,5%, 6,3 días), dolor de garganta (61,7%, 3,6 días) y cefalea (58,4%, 3,5 días). La clasificación clínica más frecuente fue la leve (69,5%). Las comorbilidades más habituales, fueron el embarazo (14,5%), la hipertensión arterial (8,25), y la obesidad (5,5%). La saturación de oxígeno en la etapa de adulto mayor en promedio fue la más baja (84,5), en el adolescente en promedio la más alta (90). Conclusión: Los más afectados fueron mujeres, de edad adulta y ama de casa, las comorbilidades más habituales fueron el embarazo, hipertensión arterial y obesidad, los síntomas más frecuentes y de mayor duración fueron la tos, dolor de garganta y cefalea, a mayor edad la saturación de oxígeno fue menor.

Introduction: COVID-19 has shown great clinical and epidemiological variability. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the sociodemographic and clinical-epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in a high-altitude population of Perú. Materials and methods: Observational and retrospective study. The population consisted of ambulatory patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from a primary care health facility located at an altitude of 3850 meters above sea level. Documentary analysis of medical records was carried out. Data analysis was descriptive in terms of percentages and measures of central tendency. Results: The study included 154 patients, mostly female (56.5%), adults (51.3%), and housewives (37.0%). The most frequent and longest-lasting symptoms were cough (80.5%, 6.3 days), sore throat (61.7%, 3.6 days), and headache (58.4%, 3.5 days). The most common clinical classification was mild (69.5%). The most common comorbidities were pregnancy (14.5%), hypertension (8.25%), and obesity (5.5%). Oxygen saturation in the elderly was on average the lowest (84.5), while in adolescents it was on average the highest (90). Conclusion: Women, adult housewives, and those with comorbidities such as pregnancy, hypertension, and obesity were most affected. The most frequent and longest-lasting symptoms were cough, sore throat, and headache. Oxygen saturation decreased with age.

Vigilancia del desarrollo del niño sano de 1 a 12 meses de edad mediante la Escala Escrutinio del Desarrollo Denver II / Monitoring of the development of the healthy child from 1 to 12 months of age through the Denver II Development Screening Test

Una de las alternativas para prevenir retrasos en el desarrollo del infante menor de tres años de edad lo constituye la vigilancia y seguimiento del desarrollo a través de escalas de tamiz, El objetivo del presente estudio fue hacer un análisis minucioso de los niveles de desarrollo que alcanza la población que asiste por primera vez al programa de vigilancia del CIETEP de la FES Iztacala-UNAM a través de la Escala de Escrutinio de Denver II (DDST II). Participaron 271 infantes de 1 a 12 meses de edad, aparentemente sanos, del ciclo 2004-2005. Se les aplicó una batería de pruebas entre ellas el DDST II. El estudio fue cuantitativo descriptivo. Se analizaron los datos obtenidos de los expedientes en el programa SPSS-22. Los resultados mostraron que el 54% obtuvo diagnostico normal, el 31% dudoso y el 15% anormal. El área con mayores retrasos fue la de motricidad gruesa, y las edades con mayor riesgo fueron 4, 6 y 12 meses. Se concluye que la escala Denver II es un instrumento útil en la detección de problemas en el desarrollo

One of the alternatives to prevent delays in the development of the infant under three years old is the surveillance and monitoring of the development through sieve scales. The objective of the present study was to make a thorough analysis of the levels of development that reaches the population that attends the FES CIETEP surveillance program for the first time at Iztacala, UNAM through the scale of scrutiny of Denver II (DDST II). 271 infants participated from 1 to 12 months of age, apparently healthy from the 2004-2005 cycle. Applied to a battery of tests including the DDST II. The study was a quantitative descriptive. We analyzed the data obtained from the records in the program SPSS-22. The results showed that 54% had normal, diagnostic doubtful 31% and 15% abnormal. The area with further delay was gross motor skills, and the ages with the highest risk were 4, 6 and 12 months. Delays were also found in the personal social and fine motor areas. It is concluded that DDST II is a useful instrument in the detection of problems in the development

Application of bacterial cytological profiling to crude natural product extracts reveals the antibacterial arsenal of Bacillus subtilis.

Although most clinically used antibiotics are derived from natural products, identifying new antibacterial molecules from natural product extracts is difficult due to the complexity of these extracts and the limited tools to correlate biological activity with specific molecules. Here, we show that bacterial cytological profiling (BCP) provides a rapid method for mechanism of action determination on plates and in complex natural product extracts and for activity-guided purification. We prepared an extract from Bacillus subtilis 3610 that killed the Escherichia coli lptD mutant and used BCP to observe two types of bioactivities in the unfractionated extract: inhibition of translation and permeablization of the cytoplasmic membrane. We used BCP to guide purification of the molecules responsible for each activity, identifying the translation inhibitors bacillaene and bacillaene B (glycosylated bacillaene) and demonstrating that two molecules contribute to cell permeabilitization, the bacteriocin subtilosin and the cyclic peptide sporulation killing factor. Our results suggest that bacillaene mediates translational arrest, and show that bacillaene B has a minimum inhibitory concentration 10 × higher than unmodified bacillaene. Finally, we show that BCP can be used to screen strains on an agar plate without the need for extract preparation, greatly saving time and improving throughput. Thus, BCP simplifies the isolation of novel natural products, by identifying strains, crude extracts and fractions with interesting bioactivities even when multiple activities are present, allowing investigators to focus labor-intensive steps on those with desired activities.

Impact of a transposon insertion in phzF2 on the specialized metabolite production and interkingdom interactions of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

In microbiology, gene disruption and subsequent experiments often center on phenotypic changes caused by one class of specialized metabolites (quorum sensors, virulence factors, or natural products), disregarding global downstream metabolic effects. With the recent development of mass spectrometry-based methods and technologies for microbial metabolomics investigations, it is now possible to visualize global production of diverse classes of microbial specialized metabolites simultaneously. Using imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) applied to the analysis of microbiology experiments, we can observe the effects of mutations, knockouts, insertions, and complementation on the interactive metabolome. In this study, a combination of IMS and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to visualize the impact on specialized metabolite production of a transposon insertion into a Pseudomonas aeruginosa phenazine biosynthetic gene, phzF2. The disruption of phenazine biosynthesis led to broad changes in specialized metabolite production, including loss of pyoverdine production. This shift in specialized metabolite production significantly alters the metabolic outcome of an interaction with Aspergillus fumigatus by influencing triacetylfusarinine production.

Membrane and core periplasmic Agrobacterium tumefaciens virulence Type IV secretion system components localize to multiple sites around the bacterial perimeter during lateral attachment to plant cells.

UNLABELLED: Type IV secretion systems (T4SS) transfer DNA and/or proteins into recipient cells. Here we performed immunofluorescence deconvolution microscopy to localize the assembled T4SS by detection of its native components VirB1, VirB2, VirB4, VirB5, VirB7, VirB8, VirB9, VirB10, and VirB11 in the C58 nopaline strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, following induction of virulence (vir) gene expression. These different proteins represent T4SS components spanning the inner membrane, periplasm, or outer membrane. Native VirB2, VirB5, VirB7, and VirB8 were also localized in the A. tumefaciens octopine strain A348. Quantitative analyses of the localization of all the above Vir proteins in nopaline and octopine strains revealed multiple foci in single optical sections in over 80% and 70% of the bacterial cells, respectively. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-VirB8 expression following vir induction was used to monitor bacterial binding to live host plant cells; bacteria bind predominantly along their lengths, with few bacteria binding via their poles or subpoles. vir-induced attachment-defective bacteria or bacteria without the Ti plasmid do not bind to plant cells. These data support a model where multiple vir-T4SS around the perimeter of the bacterium maximize effective contact with the host to facilitate efficient transfer of DNA and protein substrates. IMPORTANCE: Transfer of DNA and/or proteins to host cells through multiprotein type IV secretion system (T4SS) complexes that span the bacterial cell envelope is critical to bacterial pathogenesis. Early reports suggested that T4SS components localized at the cell poles. Now, higher-resolution deconvolution fluorescence microscopy reveals that all structural components of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens vir-T4SS, as well as its transported protein substrates, localize to multiple foci around the cell perimeter. These results lead to a new model of A. tumefaciens attachment to a plant cell, where A. tumefaciens takes advantage of the multiple vir-T4SS along its length to make intimate lateral contact with plant cells and thereby effectively transfer DNA and/or proteins through the vir-T4SS. The T4SS of A. tumefaciens is among the best-studied T4SS, and the majority of its components are highly conserved in different pathogenic bacterial species. Thus, the results presented can be applied to a broad range of pathogens that utilize T4SS.

Agrobacterium type IV secretion system and its substrates form helical arrays around the circumference of virulence-induced cells.

The genetic transformation of plant cells by Agrobacterium tumefaciens results from the transfer of DNA and proteins via a specific virulence (vir) -induced type IV secretion system (T4SS). To better understand T4SS function, we analyzed the localization of its structural components and substrates by deconvolution fluorescence microscopy. GFP fusions to T4SS proteins with cytoplasmic tails, VirB8 and VirD4, or cytoplasmic T4SS substrate proteins, VirD2, VirE2, and VirF, localize in a helical pattern of fluorescent foci around the perimeter of the bacterial cell. All fusion proteins were expressed at native levels of vir induction. Importantly, most fusion proteins are functional and do not exhibit dominant-negative effects on DNA transfer to plant cells. Further, GFP-VirB8 complements a virB8 deletion strain. We also detect native VirB8 localization as a helical array of foci by immunofluorescence microscopy. T4SS foci likely use an existing helical scaffold during their assembly. Indeed, the bacterial cytoskeletal component MinD colocalizes with GFP-VirB8. Helical arrays of foci are found at all times investigated between 12 and 48 h post vir induction at 19 degrees C. These data lead to a model with multiple T4SSs around the bacterial cell that likely facilitate host cell attachment and DNA transfer. In support, we find multiple T pili around vir-induced bacterial cells.

VirB1* promotes T-pilus formation in the vir-Type IV secretion system of Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

The vir-type IV secretion system of Agrobacterium is assembled from 12 proteins encoded by the virB operon and virD4. VirB1 is one of the least-studied proteins encoded by the virB operon. Its N terminus is a lytic transglycosylase. The C-terminal third of the protein, VirB1*, is cleaved from VirB1 and secreted to the outside of the bacterial cell, suggesting an additional function. We show that both nopaline and octopine strains produce abundant amounts of VirB1* and perform detailed studies on nopaline VirB1*. Both domains are required for wild-type virulence. We show here that the nopaline type VirB1* is essential for the formation of the T pilus, a subassembly of the vir-T4SS composed of processed and cyclized VirB2 (major subunit) and VirB5 (minor subunit). A nopaline virB1 deletion strain does not produce T pili. Complementation with full-length VirB1 or C-terminal VirB1*, but not the N-terminal lytic transglycosylase domain, restores T pili containing VirB2 and VirB5. T-pilus preparations also contain extracellular VirB1*. Protein-protein interactions between VirB1* and VirB2 and VirB5 were detected in the yeast two-hybrid assay. We propose that VirB1 is a bifunctional protein required for virT4SS assembly. The N-terminal lytic transglycosylase domain provides localized lysis of the peptidoglycan cell wall to allow insertion of the T4SS. The C-terminal VirB1* promotes T-pilus assembly through protein-protein interactions with T-pilus subunits.