TENI: A comprehensive battery for cognitive assessment based on games and technology.

TENI (Test de Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil) is an instrument developed to assess cognitive abilities in children between 3 and 9 years of age. It is based on a model that incorporates games and technology as tools to improve the assessment of children's capacities. The test was standardized with two Chilean samples of 524 and 82 children living in urban zones. Evidence of reliability and validity based on current standards is presented. Data show good levels of reliability for all subtests. Some evidence of validity in terms of content, test structure, and association with other variables is presented. This instrument represents a novel approach and a new frontier in cognitive assessment. Further studies with clinical, rural, and cross-cultural populations are required.

Genome diversification within a clonal population of pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus seems to depend on the life circumstances of each individual bacteria.

BACKGROUND: New strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus that cause diarrhea in humans by seafood ingestion periodically emerge through continuous evolution in the ocean. Influx and expansion in the Southern Chilean ocean of a highly clonal V. parahaemolyticus (serotype O3:K6) population from South East Asia caused one of the largest seafood-related diarrhea outbreaks in the world. Here, genomics analyses of isolates from this rapidly expanding clonal population offered an opportunity to observe the molecular evolutionary changes often obscured in more diverse populations. RESULTS: Whole genome sequence comparison of eight independent isolates of this population from mussels or clinical cases (from different years) was performed. Differences of 1366 to 217,729 bp genome length and 13 to 164 bp single nucleotide variants (SNVs) were found. Most genomic differences corresponded to the presence of regions unique to only one or two isolates, and were probably acquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Some DNA gain was chromosomal but most was in plasmids. One isolate had a large region (8,644 bp) missing, which was probably caused by excision of a prophage. Genome innovation by the presence of unique DNA, attributable to HGT from related bacteria, varied greatly among the isolates, with values of 1,366 (ten times the number of highest number of SNVs) to 217,729 (a thousand times more than the number of highest number of SNVs). CONCLUSIONS: The evolutionary forces (SNVs, HGT) acting on each isolate of the same population were found to differ to an extent that probably depended on the ecological scenario and life circumstances of each bacterium.

Comparison of chalcopyrite bioleaching after different microbial enrichment in shake flasks.

The bioleachings of chalcopyrite ore were compared after inoculating different cultures enriched from the original acid mine drainage sample. The results showed that the higher bioleaching performance was achieved for inoculation with the enrichment D (0.5 % S, 2 % iron and 1 % chalcopyrite) compared to other enrichment systems. The generated ferric precipitation during bioleaching had a key influence on the final copper extraction. After enrichment, higher ratio of iron-oxidizer and higher ratio of sulfur-oxidizer existed in enrichment B and C, respectively. These caused the different bioleaching behaviours from other systems. Maintaining a suitable equilibrium between iron- and sulfur-oxidizers is significant to decrease ferric precipitation or postpone its formation, finally prolong efficient bioleaching period and improve copper extraction.

Rise and fall of pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus serotype O3:K6 in southern Chile.

Seafood consumption-related diarrhoea increased drastically in Chile when the pandemic strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus serotype O3:K6 reached Region de Los Lagos, where most of Chile's seafood is produced. Outbreaks peaked in 2005 with 3725 clinical cases in this region and gradually decreased to fewer than 10 cases in 2010 and 2011. We show here that the pandemic strain concurrently vanished from mussels; we also report further environmental data. Integration of the 2010/2011 data with those obtained since 2004 suggests that after its arrival in southern Chile, the pandemic strain grew in mussels, likely facilitated by a minor rise in surface seawater temperature and by warming of the mussels in the intertidal region due to frequent sunny days. However, since these environmental parameters probably equally affected the pandemic strain and more than 30 V. parahaemolyticus DNA restriction clusters that inhabit local shellfish, a selective effect of bacteriophages is proposed. Lytic bacteriophage VP93 may have favoured the growth of the pandemic strain versus similar phage-sensitive strains, as shown here in a particular case. However, the pandemic strain's decline may have been promoted by temperate phage VP58.5, which kills the pandemic strain and increases the UV sensitivity of lysogenized phage-resistant cells.

A new 20-membered macrolide produced by a marine-derived Micromonospora strain.

A new 20-membered macrolide named as levantilide C was isolated from the Micromonospora strain FIM07-0019 recovered from shallow coastal waters near the island of Chiloe, Chile. The chemical structure of levantilide C was elucidated on the basis of one- and two-dimensional NMR analysis. Two known indole derivatives were also isolated from this strain. Levantilide C exhibited moderate antiproliferative activity against several tumour cell lines.

Enfermedad de Letterer-Siwe: diagnóstico dermatológico de una enfermedad sistémica / Letterer Siwe's disease: dermatological diagnoses of a sistemic disease

Se presenta el caso de una paciente de 8 meses de edad, con masa en el mediastino, lesiones líticas en sacabocado en la radiografía de cráneo, pápulas y máculas violáceas en palmas y pliegue infraumbilical y leve esplenomegalia. Los hallazgos histológicos e inmunohistoquímicos confirmaron el diagnóstico de una histiocitosis de células de Langerhans del tipo Letterer-Siwe.

Dynamics of clinical and environmental Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains during seafood-related summer diarrhea outbreaks in southern Chile.

Seafood consumption-related diarrhea became prevalent in Chile when the pandemic strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus serotype O3:K6 reached a region in the south of Chile (Region de los Lagos) where approximately 80% of the country's seafood is produced. In spite of the large outbreaks of clinical infection, the load of V. parahaemolyticus in shellfish of this region is relatively low. The pandemic strain constitutes a small but relatively stable group of a diverse V. parahaemolyticus population, composed of at least 28 genetic groups. Outbreaks in Region de los Lagos began in 2004 and reached a peak in 2005 with 3,725 clinical cases, all associated with the pandemic strain. After 2005, reported cases steadily decreased to a total of 477 cases in 2007. At that time, 40% of the clinical cases were associated with a pandemic strain of a different serotype (O3:K59), and 27% were related to V. parahaemolyticus isolates unrelated to the pandemic strain. In the results published here, we report that in the summer of 2008, when reported cases unexpectedly increased from 477 to 1,143, 98% of the clinical cases were associated with the pandemic strain serotype O3:K6, a change from 2007. Nevertheless, in 2009, when clinical cases decreased to 441, only 64% were related to the pandemic strain; the remaining cases were related to a nonpandemic tdh- and trh-negative strain first identified in shellfish in 2006. Overall, our observations indicate that the pandemic strain has become a relatively stable subpopulation and that when the number of diarrhea cases related to the pandemic strain is low, previously undetected V. parahaemolyticus pathogenic strains become evident.

Preparation and analysis of an expressed sequence tag library from the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella.

Dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium are photosynthetic microalgae that have an extreme importance due to the impact of some toxic species on shellfish aquaculture industry. Alexandrium catenella is the species responsible for the production of paralytic shellfish poisoning in Chile and other geographical areas. We have constructed a cDNA library from midexponential cells of A. catenella grown in culture free of associated bacteria and sequenced 10,850 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) that were assembled into 1,021 contigs and 5,475 singletons for a total of 6,496 unigenes. Approximately 41.6% of the unigenes showed similarity to genes with predicted function. A significant number of unigenes showed similarity with genes from other dinoflagellates, plants, and other protists. Among the identified genes, the most expressed correspond to those coding for proteins of luminescence, carbohydrate metabolism, and photosynthesis. The sequences of 9,847 ESTs have been deposited in Gene Bank (accession numbers EX 454357-464203).

Effect of associated bacteria on the growth and toxicity of Alexandrium catenella.

Saprophytic bacteria in cultures of the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella were removed to assess their effect on growth and paralytic shellfish poisoning toxin production of this dinoflagellate. The actual axenic status was demonstrated by the lack of observable bacteria both immediately after treatment and following extended incubation in the absence of antibiotics. Bacteria were measured by counting CFU and also by epifluorescence microscopy and PCR amplification of bacterial 16S-23S spacer ribosomal DNA to detect noncultivable bacteria. Removal of bacteria did not have any effect on the growth of the dinoflagellate except for the inhibition of A. catenella disintegration after reaching the stationary phase. Toxicity was determined in dinoflagellate cell extracts by different methods: high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); an electrophysiological test called the Electrotest, which measures the inhibition of saxitoxin-sensitive Na(+) channels expressed in a cell line; and a mouse bioassay, which measures the toxic effect on the whole mammal neuromuscular system. A lower toxicity of the dinoflagellates in axenic culture was observed by these three methods, though the difference was significant only by the mouse bioassay and HPLC methods. Altogether the results indicate that axenic cultures of A. catenella are able to produce toxin, though the total toxicity is probably diminished to about one-fifth of that in nonaxenic cultures.