Landscape and Senses in a Portuguese Municipality on the Way of St. James: Potential Impacts on the Well-Being of Pilgrims.

The Portuguese Way of St. James is traveled by people seeking well-being, self-therapy, or answers to their personal and religious/spiritual issues. The evaluation of the landscape and its senses and how these may contribute to the well-being of pilgrims are subjects that have been little explored.

The Impact of the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Elderly and Very Elderly Population in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Portugal.

Background:  COVID-19 poses a significantly more serious threat to adults aged 65 and above, with a higher mortality rate. This study aims to describe the outcome of COVID-19 patients in the elderly and very elderly population admitted to a tertiary care Portuguese hospital. The authors defined the elderly population (65 to 79 years) and the very elderly population (≥ 80 years).

Shinella fusca sp. nov., isolated from domestic waste compost.

A bacterium, designated strain DC-196(T), isolated from kitchen refuse compost was analysed by using a polyphasic approach. Strain DC-196(T) was characterized as a Gram-negative short rod that was catalase- and oxidase-positive, and able to grow at 10-40 degrees C, pH 6-9 and in NaCl concentrations as high as 3 %. Chemotaxonomically, C(18 : 1) was observed to be the predominant cellular fatty acid and ubiquinone 10 (Q10) was the predominant respiratory quinone.

Sphingobium vermicomposti sp. nov., isolated from vermicompost.

Strain VC-230(T) was isolated from homemade vermicompost produced from kitchen waste. The isolate was a Gram-negative-staining, catalase- and oxidase-positive, motile rod-shaped bacterium able to grow at 15-37 degrees C and pH 6-8. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain VC-230(T) was determined to belong to the family Sphingomonadaceae by its clustering with type strains of the genus Sphingobium, with Sphingobium chlorophenolicum ATCC 33790(T) (97.

Microbacterium invictum sp. nov., isolated from homemade compost.

Strain DC-200T was isolated from homemade compost produced from kitchen refuse and characterized using a polyphasic approach. The isolate was a Gram-positive motile short rod, facultatively aerobic, catalase-positive and oxidase-negative, and was able to grow at 10-37 degrees C, pH 6.0-9.

Antibiotic resistance in coagulase negative staphylococci isolated from wastewater and drinking water.

This study reports the antibiotic resistance patterns of coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) isolated from a drinking water treatment plant (WTP), a drinking water distribution network, responsible for supplying water to the consumers (WDN), and a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), responsible for receiving and treating domestic residual effluents. Genotyping and the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated a higher diversity of species both in the WTP (6 species/19 isolates) and WWTP (12 species/47 isolates) than in the WDN (6 species/172 isolates). Staphylococcus pasteuri and Staphylococcus epidermidis prevailed in the WTP and WDN and Staphylococcus saprophyticus in the WWTP.

Paenibacillus humicus sp. nov., isolated from poultry litter compost.

Two bacterial strains, PC-142 and PC-147(T), isolated from poultry litter compost, were characterized with respect to their phenetic and phylogenetic characteristics. The isolates were endospore-forming rods that were reddish in colour after Gram staining. They were catalase- and oxidase-positive, were able to degrade starch and gelatin and grew at 15-40 degrees C and pH 5.