Prevalence of anhedonia in women with deep endometriosis.

Anhedonia, characterized by diminished motivation and pleasure sensitivity, is increasingly recognized as prevalent among patients with chronic pain. Deep Endometriosis (DE), the most severe endophenotype of the disease, is commonly presented with chronic pelvic pain. This cross-sectional study reports, for the first time, the prevalence of anhedonia in a sample comprised by 212 premenopausal women with suspected DE referred to a tertiary hospital.

Assays for Studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa Secreted Proteases.

Proteolytic activity plays an essential role in Pseudomonas aeruginosa adaptation and survival in challenging environments, including the infection site. Here, a short review of the eight known proteases secreted by P. aeruginosa and of the methods used to detect their activity is provided.

Synergistic Activity of Colistin in Combination with Clofoctol against Colistin Resistant Gram-Negative Pathogens.

Colistin is a bactericidal antibiotic identified decades ago which is active against a number of Gram-negative pathogens. After early elimination from clinical use due to toxicity issues, colistin has been reintroduced as a last-resort treatment for antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative infections lacking other therapeutic options. Inevitably, colistin resistance has emerged among clinical isolates, making the development of colistin adjuvants extremely beneficial.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa DksA1 protein is involved in HO tolerance and within-macrophages survival and can be replaced by DksA2.

In Gram-negative pathogens, the stringent response regulator DksA controls the expression of hundreds of genes, including virulence-related genes. Interestingly, Pseudomonas aeruginosa has two functional DksA paralogs: DksA1 is constitutively expressed and has a zinc-finger motif, while DksA2 is expressed only under zinc starvation conditions and does not contain zinc. DksA1 stimulates the production of virulence factors in vitro and is required for full pathogenicity in vivo.

PqsE Expands and Differentially Modulates the RhlR Quorum Sensing Regulon in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

In the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, many virulence traits are finely regulated by quorum sensing (QS), an intercellular communication system that allows the cells of a population to coordinate gene expression in response to cell density. The key aspects underlying the functionality of the complex regulatory network governing QS in P. aeruginosa are still poorly understood, including the interplay between the effector protein PqsE and the transcriptional regulator RhlR in controlling the QS regulon.

Activity of Antivirulence Drugs Targeting the or Quorum Sensing Against Cystic Fibrosis Isolates.

The chronic lung infection caused by is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Antivirulence drugs targeting quorum sensing (QS) systems are intensively studied as antibiotics substitutes or adjuvants. Previous studies, carried out in non-CF reference strains, showed that the old drugs niclosamide and clofoctol could be successfully repurposed as antivirulence drugs targeting the and QS systems, respectively.

The two Pseudomonas aeruginosa DksA stringent response proteins are largely interchangeable at the whole transcriptome level and in the control of virulence-related traits.

The stringent response regulator DksA plays a key role in Gram negative bacteria adaptation to challenging environments. Intriguingly, the plant and human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is unique as it expresses two functional DksA paralogs: DksA1 and DksA2. However, the role of DksA2 in P.