Publications by authors named "Allard M"

Context: The genomic surveillance of foodborne pathogens in the United States has grown exponentially in the past decade, grounded in a powerful combination of novel sequencing technologies, bioinformatic approaches, data-sharing networks, and metadata harmonization efforts. This practice report examines recent advances in genomic epidemiology as applied to food safety programs and delineates State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial infrastructure necessary for continued life-saving improvements in public health.

Program: National databases of foodborne pathogen genomes, along with data sharing and evaluation networks such as GenomeTrakr and PulseNet, have transformed how connections are made among isolates and how root causes of outbreaks are determined, allowing much more timely interventions to protect public health.

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Introduction: Granulocyte concentrates (GC) are leukocyte preparations enriched in neutrophils that can potentially save neutropenic patients from life-threatening, antimicrobial-resistant infections. The main challenge of GC transfusions is preserving the viability and antimicrobial activity of neutrophils beyond 24 h to reduce the logistical burden on collection centers and increase the availability of this cell therapy. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore extending the ex vivo viability and antimicrobial activity of GC neutrophils up to 72 h with a unique combination of the clinically-approved additives Plasma-Lyte, SAGM, AS-3 and Alburex.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated the genomic characteristics of different serotypes of bacterial isolates (Agona, Braenderup, Muenchen, and Panama) found in surface waters of Chile, Mexico, and Brazil over three years.
  • Mexican isolates showed a higher prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes compared to those from Chile and Brazil, with specific patterns of ARG distribution across the different serotypes and countries.
  • The research highlights the intricate relationships between the isolates, including gene sharing and clustering patterns that point to surface waters as potential reservoirs for multidrug-resistant bacteria, underscoring the need for ongoing monitoring and research.
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Recent clinical trials targeting tau protein aggregation have heightened interest in tau-based therapies for dementia. Success of such treatments depends crucially on translation from non-clinical animal models. Here, we present the age profile of the PLB2 knock-in model of fronto-temporal dementia in terms of cognition, and by utilising a directly translatable magnetic resonance imaging approach.

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Background: Campylobacter spp. have been reported as a common cause of gastroenteritis in humans in many countries. However, in Brazil there is insufficient data to estimate the impact of Campylobacter in public health.

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Group B (GBS) is one of the most common bacteria responsible for placental and neonatal infection and inflammation resulting in lifelong neurobehavioral impairments. In particular, GBS-induced chorioamnionitis is known in preclinical models to upregulate inflammatory pathways, primarily through the activation of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) pathway, leading to brain injury and subsequent neurodevelopmental issues. Previous studies from our laboratory using Lewis rat pups have shown that male offspring exposed in utero to GBS chorioamnionitis develop brain injuries leading to neurobehavioral impairments such as autistic traits.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A unique megaplasmid, called pESM, associated with multidrug resistance and virulence has been identified, carrying genes that provide resistance to important antibiotics and enhance tolerance to environmental stressors like mercury.
  • * The study reveals that pESM likely contributes to the emergence and spread of Minnesota, which poses significant risks for human and animal infections due to its high virulence and antibiotic resistance.
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This document outlines the steps necessary to assemble and submit the standard data package required for contributing to the global genomic surveillance of enteric pathogens. Although targeted to GenomeTrakr laboratories and collaborators, these protocols are broadly applicable for enteric pathogens collected for different purposes. There are five protocols included in this chapter: (1) quality control (QC) assessment for the genome sequence data, (2) validation for the contextual data, (3) data submission for the standard pathogen package or Pathogen Data Object Model (DOM) to the public repository, (4) viewing and querying data at NCBI, and (5) data curation for maintaining relevance of public data.

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This study examined the diversity and persistence of in the surface waters of agricultural regions of Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Research groups (three in 2019-2020 and five in 2021-2022) conducted a long-term survey of surface water across 5-8 months annually ( = 30 monthly). On-site, each team filtered 10-L water samples with modified Moore Swabs to capture which were then isolated and identified using conventional microbiological techniques.

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Background: Glioblastoma (GB), the most aggressive brain cancer, remains a critical clinical challenge due to its resistance to conventional treatments. Here, we introduce a locoregional targeted-α-therapy (TAT) with the rat monoclonal antibody 9E7.4 targeting murine syndecan-1 (SDC1) coupled to the α-emitter radionuclide astatine-211 (At-9E7.

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Objective: To analyse outcomes after adult right ex-situ split graft liver transplantations (RSLT) and compare with available outcome benchmarks from whole liver transplantation (WLT).

Summary Background Data: Ex-situ SLT may be a valuable strategy to tackle the increasing graft shortage. Recently established outcome benchmarks in WLT offer a novel reference to perform a comprehensive analysis of results after ex-situ RSLT.

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Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific condition characterized by gestational hypertension associated with proteinuria or organ dysfunction after 20 weeks of gestation. It complicates 2 to 8 % of pregnancies worldwide and represents the leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality in developed countries. The only definitive treatment remains termination of pregnancy and delivery of the placenta.

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Yersinia is an important genus comprising foodborne, zoonotic and pathogenic bacteria. On the other hand, species of the so-called group Yersinia enterocolitica-like are understudied and mostly characterized as non-pathogenic, despite of some reports of human infections. The present study aimed to provide genomic insights of Yersinia frederiksenii (YF), Yersinia intermedia (YI) and Yersinia kristensenii (YK) isolated worldwide.

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Unlabelled: Wastewater surveillance has emerged as a crucial public health tool for population-level pathogen surveillance. Supported by funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the FDA's genomic epidemiology program, GenomeTrakr, was leveraged to sequence SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater sites across the United States. This initiative required the evaluation, optimization, development, and publication of new methods and analytical tools spanning sample collection through variant analyses.

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Salmonella enterica serovar Infantis (S. Infantis) is a globally distributed non-typhoid serovar infecting humans and food-producing animals. Considering the zoonotic potential and public health importance of this serovar, strategies to characterizing, monitor and control this pathogen are of great importance.

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Background: Despite the ongoing trend of increasing donor ages in liver transplantation (LT) setting, a notable gap persists in the availability of comprehensive guidelines for the utilization of organs from elderly donors. This study aimed to evaluate the viability of livers grafts from donors aged ≥85 years and report the post-LT outcomes compared with those from "ideal" donors under 40 years old.

Methods: Conducted retrospectively at a single center from 2005 to 2023, this study compared outcomes of LTs from donors aged ≥85 y/o and ≤40 y/o, with the propensity score matching to the recipient's gender, age, BMI, MELD score, redo-LT, LT indication, and cause of donor death.

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Background: serovar Infantis ( Infantis) is a zoonotic, ubiquitous and foodborne pathogen of worldwide distribution. Despite Brazil's relevance as a major meat exporter, few studies were conducted to characterize strains of this serovar by genomic analyses in this country. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the diversity of 80 Infantis strains isolated from veterinary, food and human sources in Brazil between 2013 and 2018 by comparative genomic analyses.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Diabetes is a significant public health issue influenced by genetic and environmental factors, with some models, like monogenic forms in mice, helping to understand the disease better.
  • - A study involving NOD mice with a specific genetic mutation (Akt2 invalidation) showed that these mice developed severe hyperglycemia early on, particularly in males, without the influence of an autoimmune response.
  • - The research found that the HYP mice exhibited hyperinsulinemia before hyperglycemia and had lower insulin levels in their pancreas compared to NOD mice, suggesting that failure of beta cells is a key factor in the development of diabetes.
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Background: Hypothermic liver perfusion decreases ischemia/reperfusion injury during hepatectomy under standard total vascular exclusion (TVE) of the liver. This surgery needs venovenous bypass and is hampered by high morbi-mortality. TVE preserving the inferior vena cava (IVC) flow is hemodynamically well tolerated but remains limited in duration when performed under liver normothermia.

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Surface waters are considered ecological habitats where can persist and disseminate to fresh produce production systems. This study aimed to explore the genomic profiles of serotypes Typhimurium, Newport, and Infantis from surface waters in Chile, Mexico, and Brazil collected between 2019 and 2022. We analyzed the whole genomes of 106 .

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The purpose of this study was to propose an innovative intraoperative criterion in a liver transplantation setting that would judge arterial flow abnormality that may lead to early hepatic arterial occlusion, that is, thrombosis or stenosis, when left untreated and to carry out reanastomosis. After liver graft implantation, and after ensuring that there is no abnormality on the Doppler ultrasound (qualitative and quantitative assessment), we intraoperatively injected indocyanine green dye (0.01 mg/Kg), and we quantified the fluorescence signal at the graft pedicle using ImageJ software.

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In this study, an automated, targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) assay to detect and serotype Salmonella from sample enrichments was evaluated. The assay generates millions of reads to detect multiple Salmonella-specific genes and serotype-specific alleles, detecting all Salmonella spp. tested to date, and serotyping 62 common Salmonella serotypes.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study presents draft genome sequences for two bacterial serovars, Saintpaul ST50 and Worthington ST592, both isolated from raw milk in Northeastern Brazil.
  • - The Saintpaul ST50 genome has 4.7 million base pairs and 4,628 genes, while the Worthington ST592 genome is larger at 4.9 million base pairs and contains 4,951 genes.
  • - Worthington ST592 features a specific plasmid linked to antimicrobial resistance and a mutation in the ParC gene that could inform future research on the evolution and spread of these organisms.
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Antibiotic resistance in Citrobacter freundii is a public health concern. This study evaluated the closed genome of a C. freundii isolated from the stool of a hospitalized patient initially related to a Salmonella outbreak.

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