Relations Between Executive Functions and Reading Comprehension: A Study of Fourth-Grade Students with and Without Reading Comprehension Difficulties.

Background: The role of non-linguistic factors, such as executive functions, in the reading comprehension process has been analyzed. The present research sought to investigate the relationship between executive functions and reading comprehension.

Methods: In an exploratory cross-sectional study, a group of 89 fourth-grade students were evaluated, considering a balanced number of children with and without reading comprehension difficulties.

Environmental Proteomics Elucidates Phototrophic Biofilm Responses to Ornamental Lighting on Stone-built Heritage.

Recent studies are showing that some lights suitable for illuminating the urban fabric (i.e. that do not include the red, green and blue sets of primary colours) may halt biological colonisation on monuments, mainly that caused by phototrophic subaerial biofilms (SABs), which may exacerbate the biodeterioration of substrates.

Defining the Secondary Metabolites in the PBL3 Secretome with Antagonistic Activity Against .

Rice production worldwide is threatened by the disease bacterial panicle blight (BPB) caused by . Despite the threat, resources to control this disease, such as completely resistant cultivars or effective chemical methods, are still lacking. However, the need to control this disease has paved the way to explore biologically based approaches harnessing the antimicrobial activities of environmental bacteria.

New insights on the degradation of polystyrene and polypropylene by larvae of the superworm Zophobas atratus and gut bacterial consortium enrichments obtained under different culture conditions.

This study aims to deepen knowledge of the biodegradation of plastics, focusing on polypropylene (PP) fabric from surgical masks and polystyrene (PS) by larvae of Zophobas atratus as well as of specialized bacterial consortia from their gut, which were obtained in different enrichment conditions (aerobic, anaerobic, presence or absence of combined nitrogen). Plastics ingested by larvae obtained in Spain did not show any signs of oxidation but only limited depolymerization, preferably from the lowest molecular weight chains. Gut microbiota composition changed as an effect of plastic feeding.

Selective Liquid-Liquid Extraction of Thorium(IV) from Rare-Earth Element Mixtures.

One of the major challenges in processing rare-earth element (REE) materials arises from the large amounts of radioactive thorium (Th) that are often found within REE minerals, encouraging enhanced metal separation procedures. We report here a study aimed at developing improved systems for REE processing with the goal of efficient extraction of Th(IV) from acidic solution. A tripodal ligand, TRPN-CMPO-Ph, was prepared that utilizes carbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) chelators tethered to a tris(3-aminopropyl)amine (TRPN) capping scaffold.

Comparative genomics of Vibrio toranzoniae strains.

Vibrio toranzoniae is a marine bacterium belonging to the Splendidus clade that was originally isolated from healthy clams in Galicia (NW Spain). Its isolation from different hosts and seawater indicated two lifestyles and wide geographical distribution. The aim of the present study was to determine the differences at the genomic level among six strains (4 isolated from clam and 2 from seawater) and to determine their phylogeny.

Altering operational conditions during protein fermentation to volatile fatty acids modifies the associated bacterial community.

In recent years, the production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) through mixed culture fermentation (MCF) has been gaining attention. Most authors have focused on the fermentation of carbohydrates, while other possible substrates, such as proteins, have not been considered. Moreover, there is little information about how operational parameters affect the microbial communities involved in these processes, even though they are strongly related to reactor performance and VFA selectivity.

Comparative genomics of Vibrio toranzoniae strains.

is a marine bacterium belonging to the Splendidus clade, originally isolated from healthy clams in Galicia (NW Spain). Its isolation from different hosts and seawater indicated two lifestyles and wide geographical distribution. The aim of the present study was to determine the differences at genome level among strains, as well as to determine their phylogeny.

Occurrence and fate of CECs (OMPs, ARGs and pathogens) during decentralised treatment of black water and grey water.

Decentralised wastewater treatment is becoming a suitable strategy to reduce cost and environmental impact. In this research, the performance of two technologies treating black water (BW) and grey water (GW) fractions of urban sewage is carried out in a decentralised treatment of the wastewater produced in three office buildings. An Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR) treating BW and a Hybrid preanoxic Membrane Bioreactor (H-MBR) containing small plastic carrier elements, treating GW were operated at pilot scale.

Insights into the circular: The cryptic plasmidome and its derived antibiotic resistome in the urban water systems.

Plasmids have been a concern in the dissemination and evolution of antibiotic resistance in the environment. In this study, we investigated the total pool of plasmids (plasmidome) and its derived antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in different compartments of urban water systems (UWSs) in three European countries representing different antibiotic usage regimes. We applied a direct plasmidome approach using wet-lab methods to enrich circular DNA in the samples, followed by shotgun sequencing and in silico contig circularisation.

New Preventive Strategy against Oral Biofilm Formation in Caries-Active Children: An In Vitro Study.

Quorum quenching (QQ) is the inhibition of bacterial communication, i.e., quorum sensing (QS).

How efficiently does a metabolically enhanced system with denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidizing microorganisms remove antibiotics?

In this work, the novel N-damo (Nitrite dependent anaerobic methane oxidation) process was investigated at high biomass activities for its potential to remove simultaneously nitrite and methane, as well as selected antibiotics commonly found in sewage in trace amounts. For this purpose, two MBRs were operated at three high nitrite loading rates (NLRs), namely 76 ± 9.9, 161.

Thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment has no positive influence on volatile fatty acids production from sewage sludge.

The study compares the potential to produce volatile fatty acids (VFA) from sewage sludge, both raw and thermally pre-treated in two modes of operation. In batch mode, raw sludge at pH 8 obtained the highest maximum VFA yield (0.41 g COD-VFA/g CODfed) whereas pre-treated sludge achieved a lower value (0.

Evaluation and Clinical Impact of Biofire FilmArray Pneumonia Panel Plus in ICU-Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients.

Microbiological diagnosis by using commercial multiplex quantitative PCR systems provides great advantages over the conventional culture. In this work, the Biofire FilmArray Pneumonia Panel Plus (FAPP+) was used to test 144 low respiratory tract samples from 105 COVID-19 patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), detecting 78 pathogens in 59 (41%) samples. The molecular panel was evaluated by using the conventional culture (CC) as comparator, which isolated 42 pathogens in 40 (27.

Influence of metabolism and microbiology on organic micropollutants biotransformation in anoxic heterotrophic reactors.

There is scarce information about the biotransformation of organic micropollutants (OMPs) under anoxic conditions. In this study, a heterotrophic denitrifying bioreactor was set up to study the fate of several OMPs from metabolic and microbiological points of view. Primary metabolic activity was increased by adding progressively higher nitrogen loading rates during the operation (from 0.

Sulfamethoxazole Enhances Specific Enzymatic Activities under Aerobic Heterotrophic Conditions: A Metaproteomic Approach.

The growing concern about antibiotic-resistant microorganisms has focused on the sludge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as a potential hotspot for their development and spread. To this end, it seems relevant to analyze the changes on the microbiota as a consequence of the antibiotics that wastewater may contain. This study aims at determining whether the presence of sulfamethoxazole (SMX), even in relatively low concentrations, modifies the microbial activities and the enzymatic expression of an activated sludge under aerobic heterotrophic conditions.

Revealing AMP mechanisms of action through resistance evolution and quantitative proteomics.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant public health issue that threatens our ability to treat common infections. AMR often emerges in bacteria through upregulation of proteins that allow a subpopulation of resistant bacteria to proliferate through natural selection. Identifying these proteins is crucial for understanding how AMR develops in bacteria and is essential in developing novel therapeutics to combat the threat of widespread AMR.

Clinico-radiological related to early brain death factors.

Objective: To identify clinical and radiological factors associated to early evolution to brain death (BD), defined as occurring within the first 24 h.

Design: A retrospective cohort study was made covering the period 2015-2017.

Setting: An adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Elimination of SARS-CoV-2 along wastewater and sludge treatment processes.

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is shed in the feces of infected people. As a consequence, genomic RNA of the virus can be detected in wastewater. Although the presence of viral RNA does not inform on the infectivity of the virus, this presence of genetic material raised the question of the effectiveness of treatment processes in reducing the virus in wastewater and sludge.

Evolution of Polymyxin Resistance Regulates Colibactin Production in .

The complex reservoir of metabolite-producing bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract contributes tremendously to human health and disease. Bacterial composition, and by extension gut metabolomic composition, is undoubtably influenced by the use of modern antibiotics. Herein, we demonstrate that polymyxin B, a last resort antibiotic, influences the production of the genotoxic metabolite colibactin from adherent-invasive (AIEC) NC101.

Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase and Carbapenemase Genes are Substantially and Sequentially Reduced during Conveyance and Treatment of Urban Sewage.

Urban wastewater systems (UWSs) are a main receptacle of excreted antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and their host microorganisms. However, we lack integrated and quantitative observations of the occurrence of ARGs in the UWS to characterize the sources and identify processes that contribute to their fate. We sampled the UWSs from three medium-size cities in Denmark, Spain, and the United Kingdom and quantified 70 clinically important extended-spectrum β-lactamase and carbapenemase genes along with the mobile genetic elements and microbial communities.

The fate of SARS-COV-2 in WWTPS points out the sludge line as a suitable spot for detection of COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 genetic material is detectable in the faeces of a considerable part of COVID-19 cases and hence, in municipal wastewater. This fact was confirmed early during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and prompted several studies that proposed monitoring its incidence by wastewater. This paper studies the fate of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in wastewater treatment plants using RT-qPCR with a two-fold goal: i) to check its presence in the water effluent and in the produced sludge and ii) based on the understanding of the virus particles fate, to identify the most suitable spots for detecting the incidence of COVID-19 and monitor its evolution.