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Die erfolgreiche Behandlung der Sepsis ist bis heute eine Herausforderung in der Intensivmedizin. Antikoagulantien stellen eine neue Therapieoption dar, denn das Gerinnungs- und Immunsystem sind eng miteinander verknüpft sind. Thrombin scheint eines der wichtigsten verknüpfenden Enzyme zu sein, da es sowohl an der Gerinnungskaskade und auch an der Leukozytenrekrutierung und der darauffolgenden Störung der Mikrozirkulation beteiligt ist. In dieser Arbeit wurden die Effekte des direkten Thrombininhibitor Argatroban auf die intestinale Kapillarperfusion und die Endothel-Leukozyten-Interaktion von Ratten während experimentell induzierter Sepsis untersucht. 40 männliche Lewis Ratten wurden in 4 Gruppen eingeteilt (n=10): Schein-Operation (SHAM), experimentelle Sepsis (colon ascendens stent peritonitis – CASP), CASP-Gruppe mit Argatroban-Gabe (CASP+ARG) und SHAM-Gruppe mit Argatroban-Gabe (SHAM+ARG). 16 Stunden nach Einsetzen des Stents oder der SHAM-Operation erhielten die Tiere der CASP+ARG und SHAM+ARG Gruppen 2 mg/kg Argatroban (ARG) intravenös. Die Tiere der anderen Gruppen erhielten einen volumenäquivalenten Bolus an isotonischer 0,9 % Natriumchloridlösung. Anschließend erfolgte nach 60 Minuten die Intravitalmikroskopie. Die Gabe von Argatroban verbesserte statistisch signifikant im Vergleich zu unbehandelten Tieren bei CASP-Tieren die Kapillarperfusion, besonders der Mukosa und verringerte statistisch signifikant in Venolen mit einem Durchmesser von 50-80 µm die Anzahl von aktivierten Leukozyten in der intestinalen Submukosa. Die funktionelle Kapillardichte, als Marker der kapillaren Perfusion, wurde durch Argatroban in septischen Ratten verbessert und gleichzeitig wurden durch die verminderte Leukozytenadhärenz am Endothel antiinflammatorische Eigenschaften nachgewiesen. Die Therapie der Sepsis mit Argatroban könnte durch die verbesserte intestinale Kapillarperfusion vorteilhaft für das Outcome sein.
Infections are often caused by pathobionts, endogenous bacteria that belong to the microbiota. Trauma and surgical intervention can allow bacteria to overcome host defences, ultimately leading to sepsis if left untreated. One of the main defence strategies of the immune system is the production of highly specific antibodies. In the present proof-of-concept study, plasma antibodies against 9 major pathogens were measured in sepsis patients, as an example of severe systemic infections. The binding of plasma antibodies to bacterial extracellular proteins was quantified using a semi-automated immunoblot assay. Comparison of the pathogen-specific antibody levels before and after infection showed an increase in plasma IgG in 20 out of 37 tested patients. This host-directed approach extended the results of pathogen-oriented microbiological and PCR diagnostics: a specific antibody response to additional bacteria was frequently observed, indicating unrecognised poly-microbial invasion. This might explain some cases of failed, seemingly targeted antibiotic treatment.
Global and even national genome surveillance approaches do not provide the resolution necessary for rapid and accurate direct response by local public health authorities. Hence, a regional network of microbiological laboratories in collaboration with the health departments of all districts of the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (M-V) was formed to investigate the regional molecular epidemiology of circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineages between 11/2020 and 03/2022. More than 4750 samples from all M-V counties were sequenced using Illumina and Nanopore technologies. Overall, 3493 (73.5%) sequences fulfilled quality criteria for time-resolved and/or spatially-resolved maximum likelihood phylogenic analyses and k-mean/ median clustering (KMC). We identified 116 different Pangolin virus lineages that can be assigned to 16 Nextstrain clades. The ten most frequently detected virus lineages belonged to B.1.1.7, AY.122, AY.43, BA.1, B.1.617.2, BA.1.1, AY.9.2, AY.4, P.1 and AY.126. Time-resolved phylogenetic analyses showed the occurrence of virus clades as determined worldwide, but with a substantial delay of one to two months. Further spatio-temporal phylogenetic analyses revealed a regional outbreak of a Gamma variant limited to western M-V counties. Finally, KMC elucidated a successive introduction of the various virus lineages into M-V, possibly triggered by vacation periods with increased (inter-) national travel activities. The COVID-19 pandemic in M-V was shaped by a combination of several SARS-CoV-2 introductions, lockdown measures, restrictive quarantine of patients and the lineage specific replication rate. Complementing global and national surveillance, regional surveillance adds value by providing a higher level of surveillance resolution tailored to local health authorities.
Theodoxus fluviatilis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Gastropoda: Neritidae) is an oligohaline aquatic gastropod that inhabits most of Europe and adjacent areas of Asia. Two different ecotypes can be distinguished: One in freshwater (FW) and another along the Baltic Sea coast in brackish water habitats (BW). Individuals of either ecotype use free amino acids and urea as organic osmolytes to adjust body fluid osmolality to the external medium; however, the BW ecotype is able to accumulate them in larger quantities. The use of urea as an organic osmolyte in aquatic gastropods such as T. fluviatilis has only recently been initially described and raised the question of how urea transport between body fluids and the environment is balanced. Upon examining transcriptome and preliminary genome sequence data of T. fluviatilis, we identified putative homologues of DUR3 genes, which code for urea transporters (UTs) in other organisms. In this study, we provide evidence for the presence of four different subtypes of DUR3-like UTs that belong to two distinct families. Two of the UT subtypes were subject to qRT-PCR analyses to investigate differences in mRNA expression during the acclimation of individuals of both ecotypes to different salinities. Our results indicate that only BW animals regulate DUR3 gene expression in the context of osmoregulation.
The neritid snail Theodoxus fluviatilis is found across habitats differing in salinity, from shallow waters along the coast of the Baltic Sea to lakes throughout Europe. Living close to the water surface makes this species vulnerable to changes in salinity in their natural habitat, and the lack of a free-swimming larval stage limits this species’ dispersal. Together, these factors have resulted in a patchy distribution of quite isolated populations differing in their salinity tolerances. In preparation for investigating the mechanisms underlying the physiological differences in osmoregulation between populations that cannot be explained solely by phenotypic plasticity, we present here an annotated draft genome assembly for T. fluviatilis, generated using PacBio long reads, Illumina short reads, and transcriptomic data. While the total assembly size (1045 kb) is similar to those of related species, it remains highly fragmented (N scaffolds = 35,695; N50 = 74 kb) though moderately high in complete gene content (BUSCO single copy complete: 74.3%, duplicate: 2.6%, fragmented: 10.6%, missing: 12.5% using metazoa n = 954). Nevertheless, we were able to generate gene annotations of 21,220 protein-coding genes (BUSCO single copy complete: 65.1%, duplicate: 16.7%, fragmented: 9.1%, missing: 9.1% using metazoa n = 954). Not only will this genome facilitate comparative evolutionary studies across Gastropoda, as this is the first genome assembly for the basal snail family Neritidae, it will also greatly facilitate the study of salinity tolerance in this species. Additionally, we discuss the challenges of working with a species where high molecular weight DNA isolation is very difficult.