Search

Ready-to-eat (RTE) foods are the most common sources of Listeria monocytogenes transmission. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) enhances the investigation of foodborne outbreaks by enabling the tracking of pathogen sources and the prediction of genetic traits related to virulence, stress, and antimicrobial resistance, which benefit food safety management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of WGS in the typing of 16 L. monocytogenes strains isolated from refrigerated foods in Chile, highlighting its advantages in pathogen identification and the improvement of epidemiological surveillance and food safety. Using cgMLST, a cluster was identified comprising 2 strains with zero allele differences among the 16 strains evaluated. Ninety-four percent of the isolates (15/16) were serotype 1/2b, and 88% of them (14/16) were ST5. All strains shared identical virulence genes related to adhesion (ami, iap, lapB), stress resistance (clpCEP), invasion (aut, iapcwhA, inlAB, lpeA), toxin production (hly), and intracellular regulation (prfA), with only 13 strains exhibiting the bcrBC and qacJ gene, which confer resistance to quaternary ammonium. The pCFSAN010068_01 plasmids were prevalent, and insertion sequences (ISLs) and composite transposons (cns) were detected in 87.5% of the strains. The presence of various antibiotic resistance genes, along with resistance to thermal shocks and disinfectants, may provide L. monocytogenes ST5 strains with enhanced environmental resistance to the hygiene treatments used in the studied food production plant.

More than a century of impoundments in the Penobscot River, Maine, USA, has contributed to population declines in migratory fish in the system. A decade of change, research, and monitoring has revealed direct and indirect ways that dams have influenced the river habitat, connectivity for migratory fish, and the food web. The removal of two main-stem dams (in 2012 and 2013) and bolstering of fish passage have been part of coordinated restoration efforts in the watershed. Integral to this undertaking was support for short- and long-term monitoring and research that included physical habitat, fish passage, and broad scale ecological assessments. Herein we discuss the seven interconnected and complex ways that dams have affected the Penobscot River ecosystem, particularly for migratory fish. These include familiar influences ascribed to dams: i) impaired access to habitat, ii) injury and mortality, and iii) delays of migration. Other ecological influences are less studied and more subtle: iv) facilitation of predation, v) community shifts, and vi) demographic shifts. Lastly, dams result in vii) a loss of ecosystem services that would otherwise be intact in an unimpounded system. We draw on both direct examples from the Penobscot River and broader information to characterize how impoundments have transformed this ecosystem for more than a century. Recent dam removals and mitigation efforts have reestablished some of these ecological functions.

Artisanal fisheries are essential, but for most the status of the stock supporting the fishing activity remains unknown due to lack of data and difficult access to sampling. For example, the artisanal fishery of sea silverside Odontesthes (Austromenidia) regia, in the Los Lagos administrative region of Chile, requires a data-limited approach to determine its status because the fishery administration has not invested in its monitoring. The approach consisted of estimating the spawning potential ratio (SPR) from length-frequency data collected in 2019 using length-based spawning potential ratio (LBSPR) and biological reference points using the only-catch optimized method (OCOM) to catch data covering from 1960 to 2020. In addition, five age-structured sea silverside populations were simulated considering uncertainty in recruitment and utilizing life-history parameters estimated by FishLife. According to LBSPR, the SPR was 0.58 (95% confidence intervals: 0.5-0.7), suggesting a fully exploited fishery status. The OCOM result was inconsistent with the life-history parameters and was discarded as a valid sea silverside stock assessment. The age-structured population simulations indicated evidence of a reduction in the spawning stock biomass close to 75% of the unexploited condition in 1960. Thus, the underexploited status reached a probability close to 49.4%, and the fully exploited status was 41.2%. The framework for a data-limited stock-assessment approach and results obtained here for the sea silverside are starting essential steps that may be emulated in other artisanal data-limited fisheries.

Listeria monocytogenes is causing listeriosis, a rare but severe foodborne infection. Listeriosis affects pregnant women, newborns, older adults, and immunocompromised individuals. Ready-to-eat (RTE) foods are the most common sources of transmission of the pathogen This study explored the virulence factors and antibiotic resistance in L. monocytogenes strains isolated from ready-to-eat (RTE) foods through in vitro and in silico testing by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). The overall positivity of L. monocytogenes in RTE food samples was 3.1% and 14 strains were isolated. L. monocytogenes ST8, ST2763, ST1, ST3, ST5, ST7, ST9, ST14, ST193, and ST451 sequence types were identified by average nucleotide identity, ribosomal multilocus sequence typing (rMLST), and core genome MLST. Seven isolates had serotype 1/2a, five 1/2b, one 4b, and one 1/2c. Three strains exhibited in vitro resistance to ampicillin and 100% of the strains carried the fosX, lin, norB, mprF, tetA, and tetC resistance genes. In addition, the arsBC, bcrBC, and clpL genes were detected, which conferred resistance to stress and disinfectants. All strains harbored hlyA, prfA, and inlA genes almost thirty-two the showed the bsh, clpCEP, hly, hpt, iap/cwhA, inlA, inlB, ipeA, lspA, mpl, plcA, pclB, oat, pdgA, and prfA genes. One isolate exhibited a type 11 premature stop codon (PMSC) in the inlA gene and another isolate a new mutation (deletion of A in position 819). The Inc18(rep25), Inc18(rep26), and N1011A plasmids and MGEs were found in nine isolates. Ten isolates showed CAS-Type II-B systems; in addition, Anti-CRISPR AcrIIA1 and AcrIIA3 phage-associated systems were detected in three genomes. These virulence and antibiotic resistance traits in the strains isolated in the RTE foods indicate a potential public health risk for consumers.

A partir de un estudio de caso, este trabajo se centra en las posibilidades que tiene un adolescente varón de reflexionar, cuestionar y hacer rupturas sobre sus propios ejercicios de violencia y sobre las interpelaciones que ha vivido con las mujeres y el feminismo. A pesar de las consecuencias negativas que conlleva, la repetición de los rígidos roles de género y de los mandatos masculinos asociados a la violencia suelen mantenerse como parte de una identidad masculina marcada por la dominación. Sin embargo, la socialización de género, como proceso en continua construcción, abre la posibilidad de que los adolescentes varones cuestionen el rígido aprendizaje adquirido en la infancia. Se concluye que los adolescentes que ejercen la violencia pueden cuestionarse a sí mismos y romper con los mandatos previamente adquiridos asociados con la violencia.

En este texto proponemos posibles razones por las cuales el tema de la violencia sexual hacia los sujetos del sexo masculino no es tan estudiado, nombrado y abordado en investigaciones, políticas públicas y campañas para atender y prevenir la violencia que ellos ejercen y la que reciben de otras personas. Combinamos razones teóricas y semióticas con razones políticas e ideológicas. Discutimos la falta de agencia de quienes reciben la violencia, al no reconocerse como posibles víctimas de dichas agresiones sexuales. Consideramos el discurso religioso y jurídico, al reproducir imaginarios de los delitos sexuales y al definir a víctimas y victimarios. Reflexionamos sobre el consentimiento, la frontera entre una agresión y un encuentro sexual acordado y las secuelas emocionales en la persona que vive la violencia. Cada una de las razones comentadas sugiere vertientes de investigación, diálogo y reflexión colectiva sobre la interacción y violencia sexual entre las personas.