Identification of NDM-1 producing and colistin resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ST11: A highly drug-resistant strain detected in intensive care unit of a Greek tertiary care hospital.

The spread of NDM-1-harboring Klebsiella pneumoniae is a worldwide concern. In this study the whole-genome sequence (WGS) of a carbapenem- and colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae 838Gr strain is presented.

NDM-1 and KPC-3 co-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae ST512 in bronchial secretion from a patient in an intensive care unit of a Greek Tertiary Care Hospital.

This study investigated a strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae, identified as GRTHES, which exhibited extensive antibiotic resistance. The strain was resistant to all beta-lactams, including combinations with newer agents such as meropenem/vaborbactam and imipenem/relebactam, as well as to aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, fosfomycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and colistin. It remained susceptible to tigecycline.

Hepatotoxicity assessment of innovative nutritional supplements based on olive-oil formulations enriched with natural antioxidants.

Introduction: This study focuses on the assessment of extra virgin olive-oil and olive fruit-based formulations enriched with natural antioxidants as potential nutritional supplements for alleviating symptoms and long-term consequences of illnesses whose molecular pathophysiology is affected by oxidative stress and inflammation, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: Besides evaluating cell viability and proliferation capacity of human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells exposed to formulations in culture, hepatotoxicity was also considered as an additional safety measure using quantitative real-time PCR on RNA samples isolated from the cell cultures and applying approaches of targeted molecular analysis to uncover potential pathway effects through gene expression profiling. Furthermore, the formulations investigated in this work contrast the addition of natural extract with chemical forms and evaluate the antioxidant delivery mode on cell toxicity.

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms' Causal Structure Robustness within Coronary Artery Disease Patients.

An ever-growing amount of accumulated data has materialized in several scientific fields, due to recent technological progress. New challenges emerge in exploiting these data and utilizing the valuable available information. Causal models are a powerful tool that can be employed towards this aim, by unveiling the structure of causal relationships between different variables.

Targeted genotyping of COVID-19 patients reveals a signature of complement C3 and factor B coding SNPs associated with severe infection.

We have attempted to explore further the involvement of complement components in the host COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease-19) immune responses by targeted genotyping of COVID-19 adult patients and analysis for missense coding Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (coding SNPs) of genes encoding Alternative pathway (AP) components. We have identified a small group of common coding SNPs in Survivors and Deceased individuals, present in either relatively similar frequencies (CFH and CFI SNPs) or with stark differences in their relative abundance (C3 and CFB SNPs). In addition, we have identified several sporadic, potentially protective, coding SNPs of C3, CFB, CFD, CFH, CFHR1 and CFI in Survivors.

Robust SARS-COV-2-specific T-cell immune memory persists long-term in immunocompetent individuals post BNT162b2 double shot.

Background: A robust efficiency of mRNA vaccines against coronavirus disease-2019 has been demonstrated, however, the intended long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2 has been challenged by the waning humoral and cellular immunity over time, leading to a third vaccination dose recommendation for immunocompetent individuals, six months after completion of primary mRNA vaccination.

Methods: We here measured humoral responses via an immunoassay measuring SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies and T-cell responses using Elispot for interferon-γ 1- and 8- months post full BNT162b2 vaccination, in 10 health-care professionals. To explore whether the declining abundance of coronavirus-specific T-cells (CoV-2-STs) truly reflects decreased capacity for viral control, rather than the attenuating viral stimulus over time, we modeled ex vivo the T-cellular response upon viral challenge in fully vaccinated immunocompetent individuals, 1- and 8-months post BNT162b2.

Immune Response of Adult Sickle Cell Disease Patients after COVID-19 Vaccination: The Experience of a Greek Center.

Vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are essential weapons to control the spread of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic and protect immunocompromised patients. With a greater susceptibility to infection, sickle cell disease (SCD) patients are considered as "high risk" patients during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In our study, we try to determine the immune response of adult SCD patients monitored at our center after the first and second dose of the qualified mRNA vaccines available and correlate them to several disease-specific markers, as well as complement activation.

Dissecting miRNA-Gene Networks to Map Clinical Utility Roads of Pharmacogenomics-Guided Therapeutic Decisions in Cardiovascular Precision Medicine.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) create systems networks and gene-expression circuits through molecular signaling and cell interactions that contribute to health imbalance and the emergence of cardiovascular disorders (CVDs). Because the clinical phenotypes of CVD patients present a diversity in their pathophysiology and heterogeneity at the molecular level, it is essential to establish genomic signatures to delineate multifactorial correlations, and to unveil the variability seen in therapeutic intervention outcomes. The clinically validated miRNA biomarkers, along with the relevant SNPs identified, have to be suitably implemented in the clinical setting in order to enhance patient stratification capacity, to contribute to a better understanding of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, to guide the selection of innovative therapeutic schemes, and to identify innovative drugs and delivery systems.

Invariable Ribosome Stoichiometry During Murine Erythroid Differentiation: Implications for Understanding Ribosomopathies.

Heterogeneity of the main ribosomal composition represents an emerging, yet debatable, mechanism of gene expression regulation with a purported role in ribosomopathies, a group of disorders caused by mutations in ribosomal protein genes (RPs). Ribosomopathies, mysteriously relate with tissue-specific symptoms (mainly anemia and cancer predisposition), despite the ubiquitous expression and necessity of the associated RPs. An outstanding question that may shed light into disease pathogenicity and provide potential pharmacological interventions, is whether and how the ribosomal composition is modified during, the highly affected by RP mutations, process of erythroid differentiation.

mcr Genes Conferring Colistin Resistance in Enterobacterales; a Five Year Overview.

The present review aims to study and detect the global emergence of mcr genes in E. coli, K. pneumoniae and Salmonella spp.

A Risk-Stratification Machine Learning Framework for the Prediction of Coronary Artery Disease Severity: Insights From the GESS Trial.

Our study aims to develop a data-driven framework utilizing heterogenous electronic medical and clinical records and advanced Machine Learning (ML) approaches for: () the identification of critical risk factors affecting the complexity of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), as assessed via the SYNTAX score; and () the development of ML prediction models for accurate estimation of the expected SYNTAX score. We propose a two-part modeling technique separating the process into two distinct phases: (a) a binary classification task for predicting, whether a patient is more likely to present with a non-zero SYNTAX score; and (b) a regression task to predict the expected SYNTAX score accountable to individual patients with a non-zero SYNTAX score. The framework is based on data collected from the GESS trial (NCT03150680) comprising electronic medical and clinical records for 303 adult patients with suspected CAD, having undergone invasive coronary angiography in AHEPA University Hospital of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Greece Reveals Low Rates of Onward Virus Transmission after Lifting of Travel Restrictions Based on Risk Assessment during Summer 2020.

The novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spread rapidly during the first months of 2020 and continues to expand in multiple areas across the globe. Molecular epidemiology has provided an added value to traditional public health tools by identifying SARS-CoV-2 clusters or providing evidence that clusters based on virus sequences and contact tracing are highly concordant. Our aim was to infer the levels of virus importation and to estimate the impact of public health measures related to travel restrictions to local transmission in Greece.

Awareness, knowledge and trust in the Greek authorities towards COVID-19 pandemic: results from the Epirus Health Study cohort.

Background: To assess the level of knowledge and trust in the policy decisions taken regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic among Epirus Health Study (EHS) participants.

Methods: The EHS is an ongoing and deeply-phenotyped prospective cohort study that has recruited 667 participants in northwest Greece until August 31st, 2020. Level of knowledge on coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) transmission and COVID-19 severity was labeled as poor, moderate or good.

The GEnetic Syntax Score: a genetic risk assessment implementation tool grading the complexity of coronary artery disease-rationale and design of the GESS study.

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide and is associated with multiple inherited and environmental risk factors. This study is designed to identify, design, and develop a panel of genetic markers that combined with clinical and angiographic information, will facilitate the creation of a personalized risk prediction algorithm (GEnetic Syntax Score-GESS). GESS score could be a reliable tool for predicting cardiovascular risk for future adverse events and for guiding therapeutic strategies.

Ceftazidime/avibactam and eravacycline susceptibility of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in two Greek tertiary teaching hospitals.

The present study evaluated the carbapenem resistance mechanisms of Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated in two Greek tertiary teaching hospitals and their susceptibility to currently used and novel antimicrobial agents.Forty-seven carbapenem resistant K. pneumoniae strains were collected in G.

Silencing of ascorbate oxidase results in reduced growth, altered ascorbic acid levels and ripening pattern in melon fruit.

Ascorbate oxidase (AO, EC 1.10.3.

Towards analyzing the potential of exosomes to deliver microRNA therapeutics.

Exosome selectivity mechanisms underlying exosome-target cell interactions and the specific traits affecting their capability to communicate still remain unclear. Moreover, the capacity of exosomes to efficiently deliver their molecular cargos intracellularly needs precise investigation towards establishing functional exosome-based delivery platforms exploitable in the clinical practice. The current study focuses on: (a) exosome production from normal MRC-5 and Vero cells growing in culture, (b) physicochemical characterization by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and cryo-transmission electron microscopy; (c) cellular uptake studies of rhodamine-labeled exosomes in normal and cancer cells, providing to exosomes either "autologous" or "heterologous" cellular delivery environments; and (d) loading exogenous Alexa Fluor 488-labeled siRNA into exosomes for the assessment of their delivering capacity by immunofluorescence in a panel of recipient cells.

Clonal outbreak caused by VIM-4-producing Proteus mirabilis in a Greek tertiary-care hospital.

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales have become a major public-health issue worldwide. Here we report an outbreak caused by a clonal multidrug-resistant Proteus mirabilis strain producing VIM-4 metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) and TEM-2 β-lactamase in a Greek tertiary-care hospital. From July 2015 to February 2016, 27 imipenem-resistant P.

First Report of Isolation and Genome Sequence of L. petauri Strain from a Rainbow Trout Lactococcosis Outbreak.

Lactococcosis is a disease encountered in a wide variety of fish species causing mortalities and having great economic impact on farmed fish. In this study, we report for the first time the isolation of a strain of the recently described novel species Lactococcus petauri, from rainbow trout suffering from lactococcosis. The aim of this study was to determine the complete genome sequence of L.