Deciphering the genetic landscape of enhanced poly-3-hydroxybutyrate production in Synechocystis sp. B12.

Background: Microbial biopolymers such as poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) are emerging as promising alternatives for sustainable production of biodegradable bioplastics. Their promise is heightened by the potential utilisation of photosynthetic organisms, thus exploiting sunlight and carbon dioxide as source of energy and carbon, respectively. The cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp.

Autotrophic poly-3-hydroxybutyrate accumulation in Cupriavidus necator for sustainable bioplastic production triggered by nutrient starvation.

Cupriavidus necator is a facultative chemolithoautotrophic bacterium able to convert carbon dioxide into poly-3-hydroxybutyrate. This is highly promising as the conversion process allows the production of sustainable and biodegradable plastics. Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate accumulation is known to be induced by nutrient starvation, but information regarding the optimal stress conditions controlling the process is still heterogeneous and fragmentary.

Transcriptomic and photosynthetic analyses of sp. PCC6803 and sp. PCC6912 exposed to an M-dwarf spectrum under an anoxic atmosphere.

Introduction: Cyanobacteria appeared in the anoxic Archean Earth, evolving for the first time oxygenic photosynthesis and deeply changing the atmosphere by introducing oxygen. Starting possibly from UV-protected environments, characterized by low visible and far-red enriched light spectra, cyanobacteria spread everywhere on Earth thanks to their adaptation capabilities in light harvesting. In the last decade, few cyanobacteria species which can acclimate to far-red light through Far-Red Light Photoacclimation (FaRLiP) have been isolated.

A unified compendium of prokaryotic and viral genomes from over 300 anaerobic digestion microbiomes.

Background: The anaerobic digestion process degrades organic matter into simpler compounds and occurs in strictly anaerobic and microaerophilic environments. The process is carried out by a diverse community of microorganisms where each species has a unique role and it has relevant biotechnological applications since it is used for biogas production. Some aspects of the microbiome, including its interaction with phages, remains still unclear: a better comprehension of the community composition and role of each species is crucial for a cured understanding of the carbon cycle in anaerobic systems and improving biogas production.

Cupriavidus necator as a platform for polyhydroxyalkanoate production: An overview of strains, metabolism, and modeling approaches.

Cupriavidus necator is a bacterium with a high phenotypic diversity and versatile metabolic capabilities. It has been extensively studied as a model hydrogen oxidizer, as well as a producer of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), plastic-like biopolymers with a high potential to substitute petroleum-based materials. Thanks to its adaptability to diverse metabolic lifestyles and to the ability to accumulate large amounts of PHA, C.

Analysis of the anaerobic digestion metagenome under environmental stresses stimulating prophage induction.

Background: The viral community has the potential to influence the structure of the microbiome and thus the yield of the anaerobic digestion process. However, the virome composition in anaerobic digestion is still under-investigated. A viral induction experiment was conducted on separate batches undergoing a series of DNA-damaging stresses, in order to coerce temperate viruses to enter the lytic cycle.

Preliminary investigation of microorganisms potentially involved in microplastics degradation using an integrated metagenomic and biochemical approach.

Plastic pollution is becoming an emerging environmental issue due to inappropriate disposal at the end of the materials life cycle. When plastics are released, they undergo physical and chemical corrosion, leading to the formation of small particles, commonly referred to as microplastics. In this study, a microbial community derived from the leachate of a bioreactor containing a mixture of soil and plastic collected during a landfill mining process underwent an enrichment protocol in order to select the microbial species specifically involved in plastic degradation.

KEMET - A python tool for KEGG Module evaluation and microbial genome annotation expansion.

Background: The rapid accumulation of sequencing data from metagenomic studies is enabling the generation of huge collections of microbial genomes, with new challenges for mapping their functional potential. In particular, metagenome-assembled genomes are typically incomplete and harbor partial gene sequences that can limit their annotation from traditional tools. New scalable solutions are thus needed to facilitate the evaluation of functional potential in microbial genomes.

Valorization of household food wastes to lactic acid production: A response surface methodology approach to optimize fermentation process.

Lactic acid is a valuable compound used in several industrial processes such as polymers, emulsifiers manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic formulations. The present study aims to evaluate the potential use of food waste to produce lactic acid through fermentation, both by indigenous microbiota and by the bio-augmentation with two lactic acid bacteria, namely Lactobacillus plantarum BS17 and Lactobacillus casei BP2. Fermentation was studied both in batch and continuously fed anaerobic reactors at mesophilic conditions and a Response Surface Methodology approach was used to optimize the bioprocess performance and determine the environmental parameters (namely pH and time) that lead to the enhancement of lactic acid production during the batch fermentation by indigenous microorganisms.

Anxiety, depression, and pain in burning mouth syndrome: first chicken or egg?

Background: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is an idiopathic and chronic pain condition for which patients may experience high levels of pain, anxiety, and depression. So far, it has not yet been well investigated whether specific psychiatric features (anxious traits, personality disorder, or somatization) may play a role in the BMS pathogenesis or whether some BMS symptoms, or BMS itself, may cause secondary psychiatric symptoms.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between pain, depression, and anxiety in BMS and healthy patients in order to hypothesize a possible underlying pathogenetic model.

Use of psychiatric inpatient services by heavy users: findings from a national survey in Italy.

Purpose: To analyze factors associated with a patient's probability of being a Heavy User (HU) of inpatient psychiatric services and to compare the HU inpatient population with Non-Heavy Users (NHUs).

Patients And Methods: The survey was conducted among inpatients enrolled in the PROGRES-Acute-project, an Italian nationwide survey of public and private inpatient facilities. Patients with three or more admissions over the last 12 months were considered HUs, and patients who had undergone one or two admissions during the same period made up the NHU group.

Systematic reviews to support evidence-based psychiatry: what about schizophrenia?

Objective: To assess whether systematic reviews (SRs), the gold standard for scientific research, can offer valuable support in evidence-based psychiatry in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Methods: We used three database services (Ovid, PubMed and Cochrane) to identify SRs related to schizophrenia, found 163 reviews and grouped them by topic. We then evaluated each study's conclusions and divided them into three groups based on results (ranging from certain to null conclusions).

First contact with psychiatric services: who leaves and who remains.

Objective: The objective of this study was to obtain information on patients in their first contact with community mental health departments in the south of Italy, particularly on dropout patients leaving care without a previous agreement.

Method: A 3-month cohort of 265 "first-contact" psychiatric patients assisted at four different community mental health centers (CMHCs) was examined and followed up at 6 months.

Results: The overall dropout rate after 6 months was 38.

Drop-out rate in eating disorders: could it be a function of patient-therapist relationship?

Objective: The factors influencing drop-out in eating disorders (ED) are still unclear. The aim of the present study was to determine whether compliance is strongly related to the patient-therapist relationship.

Materials And Methods: During 14 months all new patients affected by EDs referring to our Specialist Service Center, were assessed and followed up, they underwent EAT 40, EDI II, and computerized case history for ED.

Worldwide access to evidence-based mental health literature: how useful is PubMed in Anglo-Saxon and non-Anglo-Saxon countries?

The aim of this study was to verify the presence of cultural variety among the psychiatric journals available on PubMed, the major online tool for accessing literature. Data for analysis were taken from a survey of the world psychiatric journals indexed in Index Medicus 1999 (IM), the alphabetical list used by PubMed, and from the mean impact factor (IF) values of the journals. Approximately 80% of international psychiatric literature available on PubMed is published in Anglo-Saxon countries, especially in the USA (59.

Publication trends of papers on schizophrenia. A 15-year analysis of three general psychiatric journals.

Background: We assessed the publication trends of papers on schizophrenia through an analysis of the articles published by three general psychiatric journals (Archives of General Psychiatry (AGP), the British Journal of Psychiatry (BJP), and the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (ANZJP) from three continents.

Method: For each of the journals, we covered the period between 1980 and 1994. We carried out both a quantitative analysis, assessing the trends over time in the publication of papers on schizophrenia, and a qualitative analysis, classifying the articles into eight scientific fields.

Patients dropping out of treatment in Italy.

The aim of this study was to explore the extent and the specific features of drop-out for patients having a first contact with an university psychiatric outpatient clinic in Italy over the course of 1 year and to determine which variables were associated with early termination of treatment. Of the 158 patients selected for this study, there was an overall 3-month drop-out rate following the first visit of 63%. Of the 59 patients who had returned once after the initial contact, 28 interrupted subsequently the treatment, although the therapist's plan included further visits.

[Bilateral hyperplasia of the coronoid apophyses. A clinical case].

The authors report on the case of a young patient affected with bilateral hyperplasia of the coronoid apophyses, who presented a serious reduction of the mandibular excursion. Normal mouth opening was re-established by a bilateral osteotomy with endoral removal of the coronoid apophyses.

[Admission to private psychiatric institutions: reliability of official data for epidemiological purposes].

The authors have collected clinical data regarding patients admitted to a private psychiatric institutions in the Naples hinterland. The aim was that of determining the reliability of official data collected from the central regional statistical office of patients admitted in 1988. The duration of stay and the "revolving door" phenomenon of the cases as well as the nosographic classification at dismissal of the patients is influenced by variables not strictly of clinical nature.

Psychiatric disorders as first symptom in AIDS patients. A three-case report.

The authors report three cases of AIDS presenting with psychiatric symptoms. In two cases the initial symptoms were behavioral disorders and grandiose delusion; in the third case, which started with depression, an opportunistic infection of the central nervous system was diagnosed.