The Diaries of Besieged Leningraders (1941-1944): Representations of a Mass Famine during World War II.

During the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis and their allies between 1941 and 1944 (one of the most deadliest events of World War II), famine caused hundreds of thousands of deaths among the civilian population. How did people react to malnourishment and its impact on the body and mind? The diaries kept by hundreds of ordinary men and women provide an insight into the intimate perception of the famine as these events were unfolding. While the extent of food deprivation is heavily downplayed (even concealed) in Soviet propaganda, it is absolutely central in the diaries.

Acoustic separation in plastic microfluidics for rapid detection of bacteria in blood using engineered bacteriophage.

A more effective treatment of bacteremia requires a diagnostic platform that is both sensitive, accurate and rapid. Currently, clinical laboratory techniques require growth of bacteria prior to diagnosis, take days to complete, and leave empiric therapy and broad spectrum antibiotics as the only option at the onset of treatment. In order to bypass this growth requirement, we engineered a system that purifies bacteria from blood to improve performance in a bacteriophage-based luminescence assay.

Rapid resistome fingerprinting and clonal lineage profiling of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates by targeted next-generation sequencing.

Thirty-two carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates, representative of different resistance mechanisms and clonal lineages, were analyzed with the Pathogenica HAI BioDetection system, based on targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. With most strains, the system simultaneously yielded comprehensive information on relevant β-lactam resistance determinants and accurate discrimination of clonal lineages, in a shorter time frame and in a less labor-intensive manner than currently available methods for molecular epidemiology analysis. Results supported the usefulness of targeted NGS-based technologies for similar applications.

Variation in clinical phenotype of human infection among genetic groups of Blastomyces dermatitidis.

Background: Blastomyces dermatitidis, the etiologic agent of blastomycosis, has 2 genetic groups and shows varied clinical presentation, ranging from silent infections to fulminant respiratory disease and dissemination. The objective of this study was to determine whether clinical phenotype and outcomes vary based on the infecting organism's genetic group.

Methods: We used microsatellites to genotype 227 clinical isolates of B.

[Isolated pulmonary eosinophilic granuloma].

One clinical case of pulmonary eosinophilic granuloma were followed-up during 10 months of chemotherapy. Clinical and radiological symptoms of disease were described. Series of 4 HRCT examinations revealed improvement of pulmonary changes.