A plain language summary of how some fungi samples that show resistance to antifungal medicines have changes in their genes.

What Is This Summary About?: (shortened to ) is a fungus (plural: fungi) that can cause a serious infection in some people. can become resistant to medicines known as azoles (isavuconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole, and voriconazole). This means they stop working and are not able to kill the fungus.

In Vitro Selection of Enterobacter cloacae with Cefepime, Meropenem, and Ceftazidime-Avibactam Generates Diverse Resistance Mechanisms.

Five Enterobacter cloacae isolates were subjected to 10-day serial passage in broth microdilution with cefepime, meropenem, or ceftazidime-avibactam to evaluate increases in minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and resistance mechanisms after exposure. Post-exposure isolates displaying >2-fold changes from the parent isolate were analysed alongside the parent isolate. Increases in MIC were 4- to 256-fold (median: 16-fold) after cefepime exposure, 16- to 128-fold (64-fold) after meropenem, and 2- to 32-fold (8-fold) after ceftazidime-avibactam.

Political ideology and pandemic lifestyles: the indirect effects of empathy, authoritarianism, and threat.

Background: In this paper, we integrate theory and research from sociology, psychology, and political science to develop and test a mediation model that helps to explain political conservatism is often associated with pandemic behaviors and lifestyles that are inconsistent with public health recommendations for COVID-19.

Methods: Using national data from the 2021 (n = 1743), we formally test the indirect effects of political conservatism (an index of Republican party identification, conservative political orientation, right-wing news media consumption, and 2020 Trump vote) on pandemic lifestyles (an index of social distancing, hand sanitizing, mask usage, and vaccination) through the mechanisms of empathy (concern about the welfare of others), authoritarian beliefs (authoritarian aggressiveness and acquiescence to authority), and pandemic threat perceptions (threats to self and to the broader society).

Result: Our results confirm that political conservatism is associated with riskier pandemic lifestyles.

Azole resistance in Candida glabrata clinical isolates from global surveillance is associated with efflux overexpression.

Objectives: We evaluated the azole resistance mechanisms and epidemiology of fluconazole-resistant Candida glabrata from a global survey.

Methods: A total of 2992 Candida spp. isolates collected during 2018-2019 were susceptibility tested by the broth microdilution reference method following CLSI guidelines.

Characterization of and species complex isolates with decreased susceptibility to cephalosporins from United States hospitals and activity of ceftazidime/avibactam and comparator agents.

Objectives: To evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility and resistance mechanisms to β-lactams among and from United States medical centres.

Methods: 2571 and 1008 species complex isolates were consecutively collected from 77 medical centres and susceptibility tested by broth microdilution method. Isolates displaying MIC values ≥16 mg/L for ceftazidime or ≥2 mg/L for cefepime (914) were tested for β-lactamase-encoding genes using whole genome sequencing.

Isavuconazole nonwildtype Aspergillus fumigatus isolates from a global surveillance study display alterations in multiple genes involved in the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway not previously associated with resistance to other azoles.

Objectives: We evaluated 35 azole nonwildtype Aspergillus fumigatus isolates that were collected during 2017-2018 using whole genome sequencing (WGS) to detect alterations in the genes involved in the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway as well as other genes associated with azole resistance.

Methods: Among 297 A fumigatus isolates collected worldwide, 36 isolates displayed nonwildtype MIC values to isavuconazole, itraconazole, or voriconazole when tested by the CLSI reference broth microdilution method. Isolates were submitted to WGS and results were compared to 2 azolewildtype isolates.

Charismatic authority and fractured polities: A cross-national analysis.

Sociological research has overlooked the political consequences of charismatic leadership that arises in existing democratic political bureaucracies. In this article, we theorize the consequences of charismatic leadership in democratic nations by revisiting Max Weber's theory of charismatic authority. Our extension of Weber's theory of charismatic authority helps to address a gap in the political polarization literature concerning the role of charismatic leadership.

Social scientists' testimony before Congress in the United States between 1946-2016, trends from a new dataset.

Congressional hearings are a venue in which social scientists present their views and analyses before lawmakers in the United States, however quantitative data on their representation has been lacking. We present new, publicly available, data on the rates at which anthropologists, economists, political scientists, psychologists, and sociologists appeared before United States congressional hearings from 1946 through 2016. We show that social scientists were present at some 10,347 hearings and testified 15,506 times.

Happiness is a warm gun? Gun ownership and happiness in the United States (1973-2018).

Although there is no empirical evidence linking gun ownership with happiness, speculation is widespread. In this paper, we assess the association between gun ownership and happiness. We use 27 years of national cross-sectional data from the General Social Survey (1973-2018) and logistic regression to model self-rated happiness as a function of gun ownership (n = 37,960).

In vitro activity of Plazomicin against Enterobacteriaceae isolates carrying genes encoding aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes most common in US Census divisions.

Aminoglycoside-nonsusceptible isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, and Enterobacter species (480/3675) from US hospitals collected during 2014-2015 were screened for 16S rRNA methyltransferase and aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme (AME) genes. Only 5 isolates had high aminoglycoside MICs and carried 16S rRNA methyltransferases. AME genes were observed among 89.

Aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme and 16S ribosomal RNA methyltransferase genes among a global collection of Gram-negative isolates.

Objectives: The prevalence of genes encoding aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes (AMEs) and 16S rRNA methyltransferases among 200 Gram-negative clinical isolates resistant to different aminoglycosides and collected worldwide during 2013 was evaluated.

Methods: Selected AMEs and 16S rRNA methyltransferase genes were screened by PCR/sequencing among 49 Acinetobacter spp., 52 Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 99 Enterobacterales.

Analyses of a Ceftazidime-Avibactam-Resistant Isolate Carrying Reveals a Heterogenous Population and Reversible Genotype.

A -carrying isolate developed ceftazidime-avibactam resistance during treatment with this agent. The initial and follow-up isolates exhibited ceftazidime-avibactam MICs of 4 and 64 µg/ml, respectively. Overexpression of AcrAB-TolC and porin alterations were detected in both isolates, but no other resistance mechanism was observed.

Activity of Plazomicin against Gram-Negative and Gram-Positive Isolates Collected from U.S. Hospitals and Comparative Activities of Aminoglycosides against Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae and Isolates Carrying Carbapenemase Genes.

Plazomicin and comparator agents were tested by using the CLSI reference broth microdilution method against 4,825 clinical isolates collected during 2014 and 2015 in 70 U.S. hospitals as part of the ALERT (Antimicrobial Longitudinal Evaluation and Resistance Trends) program.

Case report of transient mcr-1-haboring Escherichia coli with concurrent Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in Long Beach, California.

A 55-year-old man with history of chronic hepatitis B cirrhosis presented to an emergency department in California with abdominal pain, constipation, and jaundice. The patient developed methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteremia with a concurrent transient E.

A social ecology of civil conflict: Shifting allegiances in the conflict in Sierra Leone.

Drawing on data from a survey of 1043 ex-combatants who took part in the civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002) this paper explores the conditions that predict a key outcome in the conflict literature: defection, or side-switching between the various organizations at war. This paper advances arguments drawn from the organizational ecology school and works to extend key theories related to "Blau Space" to the study of civil war. Using a series of logistic regression procedures, this paper tests various competing hypotheses against key contributions of the organizational ecology school.

Monitoring Antifungal Resistance in a Global Collection of Invasive Yeasts and Molds: Application of CLSI Epidemiological Cutoff Values and Whole-Genome Sequencing Analysis for Detection of Azole Resistance in Candida albicans.

The activity of 7 antifungal agents against 3,557 invasive yeasts and molds collected in 29 countries worldwide in 2014 and 2015 was evaluated. Epidemiological cutoff values (ECVs) published in the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M59 document were applied for species with no clinical breakpoints. Echinocandin susceptibility rates were 95.

A fully adjustable suture for trabeculectomy.

Most approaches to improve the control of intraocular pressure (IOP) in the early postoperative period following trabeculectomy involve irreversible alterations of the flap sutures, which carry subsequent risk of overfiltration. A new technique using a fully adjustable suture that can be incrementally loosened or tightened is described. Eighteen eyes underwent trabeculectomy using a fully adjustable suture.