The role of military forces in emergency management (civil-military interaction).

Those involved in emergency response and recovery, including the military, require an acute level of awareness of livelihoods that rely on livestock and their associated implications for human security. Emergencies cause injury and death and devastate livestock-based livelihoods, a key characteristic of the lives of many of the world's rural poor. The role for military forces in emergency management is expanding, and this can cause friction during an emergency due to competing agendas and objectives. Opportunities exist to make greater use of the military, such as providing support to livestock-based livelihoods, but there are challenges and barriers that must be overcome. A common framework for civil-military interaction may help to coordinate response efforts and enhance local and international responses to emergencies. The Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards and the proposed livelihood security model are constructs that can help to develop a shared understanding of the security environment during a livestock emergency response. Examples from the Philippines' response to Typhoons Sarika and Haima and Sri Lankan military agricultural engagements provide context for a proposed common operational framework.

Les intervenants dans la réponse et le redressement suite à une situation d'urgence, forces armées incluses, doivent avoir une conscience aiguë du fait que les moyens d'existence des populations affectées sont souvent tributaires du bétail, ce qui a des conséquences en termes de sécurité humaine. Les urgences humanitaires font des blessés et des morts mais elles ont aussi un effet dévastateur sur les moyens d'existence basés sur l'élevage, qui constituent une caractéristique essentielle d'une grande partie des populations rurales pauvres de la planète. Le rôle croissant des forces armées dans la gestion des situations d'urgence peut donner lieu à des frictions pendant les interventions en raison des priorités et des objectifs concurrentiels des différents intervenants. Des perspectives existent pour une utilisation accrue des forces militaires, par exemple pour soutenir les moyens d'existence basés sur l'élevage, mais pour cela il faut résoudre un certain nombre de difficultés et lever certains obstacles. Un cadre commun d'interactions civilo-militaires peut contribuer à coordonner les interventions et améliorer ainsi les réponses tant locales qu'internationales aux situations d'urgence. Les Normes et directives pour l'aide d'urgence à l'élevage (LEGS) et le modèle qu'il propose pour sécuriser les moyens d'existence sont des outils conceptuels qui visent à forger une vision commune du contexte sécuritaire pendant les interventions d'urgence auprès des éleveurs. La réponse des Philippines suite aux typhons Sarika et Haima et l'aide apportée aux agriculteurs par les forces armées sri-lankaises offrent des exemples qui pourraient inspirer un tel cadre opérationnel commun.

Todas las partes que intervienen en la respuesta a situaciones de emergencia y en la recuperación tras ellas, incluidos los cuerpos militares, deben conocer a fondo los medios de sustento que dependen de la ganadería y la forma en que estas actividades repercuten en la seguridad humana. Las emergencias no solo hieren y matan, sino que también devastan los medios de sustento basados en la actividad ganadera, que son una característica básica de la vida de muchos de los pobladores pobres de zonas rurales del mundo. Las fuerzas armadas intervienen cada vez más en la gestión de emergencias, hecho que durante estos episodios puede generar fricciones por la existencia de planes y objetivos discordantes. Existe margen para aprovechar en mayor medida la intervención de los cuerpos militares, por ejemplo para respaldar los medios de vida de quienes dependen de la ganadería, pero para ello hay dificultades y barreras que salvar. La existencia de un marco común que encuadre la interacción de civiles con militares puede ser útil para coordinar las actividades de respuesta a situaciones de emergencia y mejorar esta labor a escala local e internacional. Las directrices y normas para emergencias ganaderas [Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards, LEGS], así como la propuesta de un modelo para la seguridad de los medios de sustento, son creaciones teóricas que pueden ayudar a llegar a una concepción común de lo que deben ser las condiciones de seguridad durante la respuesta a una emergencia ganadera. Los ejemplos de la respuesta de Filipinas a los huracanes Sarika y Haima y de la participación de militares esrilanqueses en tareas agropecuarias sirven para contextualizar una propuesta de marco operativo común.

Lose to win: marT pseudogenization in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi contributed to the surV-dependent survival to H2O2, and inside human macrophage-like cells.

The difference in host range between Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) can be partially attributed to the gain of functions, to the loss of functions (i.e. pseudogenization), or to a combination of both processes. As previously reported, the loss of functions by pseudogenization may play a role in bacterial evolution, especially in host-restricted pathogens such as S. Typhi. The marT-fidL operon, located at the SPI-3, encodes the MarT transcriptional regulator and a hypothetical protein (i.e. FidL) with no significant similarities to known proteins, respectively. Even though predicted S. Typhimurium FidL exhibit 99.4% identity with S. Typhi FidL, marT has been annotated as a pseudogene in S. Typhi. In this work, we found that S. Typhi expressing S. Typhimurium marT-fidL exhibited an increased accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to a decreased survival in presence of H2O2. Moreover, we found that that the presence of a functional copy of S. Typhimurium marT-fidL in S. Typhi resulted in a repression of surV (STY4039), an ORF found in the S. Typhi SPI-3 but absent from S. Typhimurium SPI-3, that contribute to the resistance to H2O2 by decreasing the accumulation of ROS. Finally, we observed that the presence of S. Typhimurium marT-fidL in S. Typhi negatively affected the survival inside macrophage-like cells, but not in epithelial cells, after 24h post infection. Therefore, this work provides evidence arguing that marT pseudogenization in Salmonella Typhi contributed to the surV-dependent survival against H2O2, and inside human macrophage-like cells. This is a good example of how the loss of functions (marT pseudogenization) and the gain of functions (presence of surV) might contribute to phenotypic changes improving virulence.

Near-infrared chemical imaging and its correlation with the mechanical properties of chitosan-gelatin edible films.

Plasticizers influence the physical properties of edible films by their interaction with the film-forming polymers. Using near-infrared chemical imaging, it is possible to characterize the interaction between compounds through the analysis of their relative presence throughout the film (abundance) and their variability. These parameters and standard mechanical properties were used to characterize the interaction between gelatin, chitosan and several plasticizers, pure or in binary combinations. Triacetin showed the least interaction with the polymers, while polyethylene glycol 400 and glycerol showed high interaction with them. In addition, we observed that the tensile strength of the film was well correlated with the variability of gelatin and chitosan.

Pseudogenization of sopA and sopE2 is functionally linked and contributes to virulence of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi.

The difference in host range between Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) and S. enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) can be partially attributed to pseudogenes. Pseudogenes are genomic segments homologous to functional genes that do not encode functional products due to the presence of genetic defects. S. Typhi lacks several protein effectors implicated in invasion or other important processes necessary for full virulence of S. Typhimurium. SopA and SopE2, effectors that have been lost by pseudogenization in S. Typhi, correspond to an ubiquitin ligase involved in cytokine production by infected cells, and to a guanine exchange factor necessary for invasion of epithelial cells, respectively. We hypothesized that sopA and/or sopE pseudogenization contributed to the virulence of S. Typhi. In this work, we found that S. Typhi expressing S. Typhimurium sopE2 exhibited a decreased invasion in different epithelial cell lines compared with S. Typhi WT. S. Typhimurium sopA completely abolished the hypo-invasive phenotype observed in S. Typhi expressing S. Typhimurium sopE2, suggesting that functional SopA and SopE2 participate concertedly in the invasion process. Finally, the expression of S. Typhimurium sopA and/or sopE2 in S. Typhi, determined changes in the secretion of IL-8 and IL-18 in infected epithelial cells.

Salmonella Typhi shdA: pseudogene or allelic variant?

ShdA from Salmonella Typhimurium (ShdASTm) is a large outer membrane protein that specifically recognizes and binds to fibronectin. ShdASTm is involved in the colonization of the cecum and the Peyer's patches of terminal ileum in mice. On the other hand, shdA gene from Salmonella Typhi (shdASTy) has been considered a pseudogene (i.e. a nonfunctional sequence of genomic DNA) due to the presence of deletions and mutations that gave rise to premature stop codons. In this work we show that, despite the deletions and mutations, shdASTy is fully functional. S. Typhi ΔshdA mutants presented an impaired adherence and invasion of HEp-2 pre-treated with TGF-ß1, an inducer of fibronectin production. Moreover, shdA from S. Typhi and S. Typhimurium seem to be equivalent since shdASTm restored the adherence and invasion of S. Typhi ΔshdA mutant to wild type levels. In addition, anti-FLAG mAbs interfered with the adherence and invasion of the S. Typhi shdA-3xFLAG strain. Finally, shdASTy encodes a detectable protein when heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli DH5α. The data presented here show that shdASTy is not a pseudogene, but a different functional allele compared with shdASTm.