Storm Gloria (January 19–24, 2020) hit the NW Mediterranean Sea with heavy rainfall, strong easterly winds, and very high waves, causing structural damages and 13 fatalities. The low-lying Ebro Delta (ED) region was severely inundated, ruining rice fields and seaside promenades. A variety of Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) modeling and observational products were jointly used to examine the fingerprint of Gloria and the response of the upper oceanic layer. According to the results, Gloria can be interpreted as a high-impact once-in-a-decade metocean event where various historical records were beaten. The 99th percentile of several parameters (wind speed, significant wave height, wave period, and surface current velocity), derived from long-term observational time series, was persistently exceeded. The atmospheric surge, albeit not negligible, exerted a secondary role in ED. The ability of a high-frequency radar deployed in this region (HFR-ED) to characterize the striking features of the storm was quantified from both waves and circulation aspects. Consistent radar current observations were subsequently compared against the 5-day-ahead forecast of CMEMS Iberia-Biscay-Ireland (IBI) regional ocean model to determine, from an Eulerian perspective, the strengths and shortcomings in its predictive capabilities. Time-averaged maps of surface circulation, superimposed with fields of Instantaneous Rate of Separation (IROS), were derived to resolve flow features and identify areas of elevated particles dispersion, respectively. The mean and P99 values of IROS almost doubled the historical statistics in the vicinity of the northern Ebro hemidelta. Although IBI predicted moderately well basic features of the storm-induced circulation, results suggests that coastal transport processes, likely modulated by wave-current interactions, were not fully captured. Furthermore, current estimations from other two radar systems, overlooking immediate choke points like the Ibiza Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar, evidenced Gloria’s remote-effect in the anomalous circulation patterns observed, that altered the usual water exchanges between adjacent sub-basins. Finally, three-dimensional outcomes from IBI were used to elucidate the impact of this moving storm at different depth levels. Data analyses illustrated that Gloria caused a large increase in kinetic energy and a significant deepening of the mixed layer depth.

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We pretreated with SDS 71 urine samples with bacterial counts of >10 5 CFU/ml and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) identification scores of <2, in order to minimize failure rates. Identification improved in 46.5% of samples, remained unchanged in 49.3%, and worsened in 4.2%. The improvement was more evident for Gram-negative (54.3%) than for Gram-positive (32%) bacteria. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common human bacterial infections (1).Tests developed for UTI screening include urine dipstick testing, urinalysis, and Gram staining. The urine culture remains the "gold standard," but the use of this method, without any previous screening procedure, is time-consuming and expensive, because of the high cost of unnecessary testing of negative samples (2).Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been shown as a fast and reliable method for bacterial identification both from culture plates (3,4) and from blood cultures vials (5, 6), and also from some other samples, such as infected urine, especially when Gram-negative bacteria with high bacteria counts are involved (7).We described recently a procedure for processing urine samples (7) which begins with a centrifugation step (2,000 ϫ g for 30 s) to remove leukocytes. Thus, the 7 to 8% of identification failures reported in culture-positive samples might be associated with the removal of intraleukocytic microorganisms in these first steps of processing. We have developed a further study, including a sample pretreatment with SDS, because this compound can lysate cells and then release microorganisms, thereby increasing method sensitivity.Processing of urine samples. We analyzed 71 urine clinical samples with bacterial counts of Ն10 5 CFU/ml on blood agar after 18 h of incubation in an aerobic atmosphere at 37°C and with a score of Ͻ2 in MALDI-TOF MS identification. Samples showing mixed cultures were discarded.Routine urine samples were initially processed for direct microorganism identification with MALDI-TOF MS, according to previously reported methods (7). An aliquot of each sample was stored at 4°C. When the bacterial count was Ն10 5 CFU/ml and the MALDI-TOF MS identification score value was Ͻ2, the stored aliquot was spread again on blood agar for checking that bacterial count had not changed significantly (count modifications of Ͻ5% were considered acceptable) and processed again for MALDI-TOF MS identification, after SDS pretreatment, always before 24 h of storage. Comparison between improvement rates in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria was performed by using the Fisher exact test with the mid-P method. Statistical significance was considered when the P value was Ͻ0.01. Differential procedure. (i) MALDI-TOF MS.Samples were processed as described before (7). Briefly, urine (3 ml) was centrifuged at 2,000 ϫ g for 30 s to remove leukocytes. The supernatant was centrifuged at 15,500 ϫ g for 5 min to collect bacteria. The pellet was washed once wit...

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Background Vancomycin-resistant enterococci are an important cause of healthcare-associated infections and are inherently resistant to many commonly used antibiotics. Linezolid is the only drug currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat vancomycin-resistant enterococci; however, resistance to this antibiotic appears to be increasing. Although outbreaks of linezolid- and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (LR-VRE) in solid organ transplant recipients remain uncommon, they represent a major challenge for infection control and hospital epidemiology. Methods We describe a cluster of 4 LR-VRE infections among a group of liver and multivisceral transplant recipients in a single intensive care unit. Failure of treatment with linezolid in 2 cases led to a review of standard clinical laboratory methods for susceptibility determination. Testing by alternative methods including whole genome sequencing (WGS) and a comprehensive outbreak investigation including sampling of staff members and surfaces was performed. Results Review of laboratory testing methods revealed a limitation in the VITEK 2 system with regard to reporting resistance to linezolid. Linezolid resistance in all cases was confirmed by E-test method. The use of WGS identified a resistant subpopulation with the G2376C mutation in the 23S ribosomal RNA. Sampling of staff members’ dominant hands as well as sampling of surfaces in the unit identified no contaminated sources for transmission. Conclusions This cluster of LR-VRE in transplant recipients highlights the possible shortcomings of standard microbiology laboratory methods and underscores the importance of WGS to identify resistance mechanisms that can inform patient care, as well as infection control and antibiotic stewardship measures.

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RESUMENEl principal objetivo de las universidades es educar en términos de adquisición de capacidades, habilidades, competencias y valores, con el fin último de promover el empleo.Numerosos autores han llegado a la conclusión de que la inteligencia emocional forma parte de las competencias que requieren las personas para desarrollar con éxito su labor profesional. En este trabajo se realiza una comparación de perfiles de competencias socioemocionales, mediante un análisis multivariado de la varianza, para el cual se dispuso de la opinión de una muestra de 148 maestros en ejercicio y de la medida en dichas competencias de 139 estudiantes de magisterio. Los resultados indicaron que existen diferencias en los perfiles de ambos grupos; siendo esta diferencia significativa para 11 de las 13 variables socioemocionales analizadas. Los estudiantes tienen menos desarrolladas las competencias socioemocionales que requieren según los profesionales. Parece, por tanto, necesario que desde los currícula universitarios se promueva el desarrollo de estas competencias para un desarrollo profesional eficaz. ABSTRACTThe main purpose of universities is to educate in terms of knowledge, abilities, skills and values adquisition, with the ultimate aim of promoting employment. Many academics have concluded that intelligence is part of the social-emotional skills needed by individuals to successfully develop their professional work. In this article we undertake an analysis of socio-emotional