A Baker\u27s Dozen of Top Antimicrobial Stewardship Intervention Publications in 2017

With an increasing number of antimicrobial stewardship-related articles published each year, attempting to stay current is challenging. The Southeastern Research Group Endeavor (SERGE-45) identified antimicrobial stewardship-related peer-reviewed literature that detailed an actionable intervention for 2017. The top 13 publications were selected using a modified Delphi technique. These manuscripts were reviewed to highlight the actionable intervention used by antimicrobial stewardship programs to provide key stewardship literature for training and teaching and identify potential intervention opportunities within their institutions

THE SAMI GALAXY SURVEY: GALAXY INTERACTIONS and KINEMATIC ANOMALIES IN ABELL 119

Galaxy mergers are important events that can determine the fate of a galaxy by changing its morphology, star formation activity and mass growth. Merger systems have commonly been identified from their disturbed morphologies, and we now can employ integral field spectroscopy to detect and analyze the impact of mergers on stellar kinematics as well. We visually classified galaxy morphology using deep images (μr = 28 mag arcsec- 2 ) taken by the Blanco 4 m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. In this paper we investigate 63 bright (Mr >-19.3) spectroscopically selected galaxies in Abell 119, of which 53 are early type and 20 show a disturbed morphology by visual inspection. A misalignment between the major axes in the photometric image and the kinematic map is conspicuous in morphologically disturbed galaxies. Our sample is dominated by early-type galaxies, yet it shows a surprisingly tight TullyFisher relation except for the morphologically disturbed galaxies which show large deviations. Three out of the eight slow rotators in our sample are morphologically disturbed. The morphologically disturbed galaxies are generally more asymmetric, visually as well as kinematically. Our findings suggest that galaxy interactions, including mergers and perhaps fly-bys, play an important role in determining the orientation and magnitude of a galaxys angular momentum

Assessing behavioural changes in ALS: cross-validation of ALS-specific measures

Objective: The Beaumont Behavioural Inventory (BBI) is a behavioural proxy report for the assessment of behavioural changes in ALS. This tool has been validated against the FrSBe, a non-ALS specific behavioural assessment, and further comparison of the BBI against a disease-specific tool was considered. This study cross-validates the BBI against the ALS-FTD-Q. Methods: 60 ALS patients, 8% also meeting criteria for FTD, were recruited. All patients were evaluated using the BBI and the ALS-FTD-Q, completed by a carer. Correlational analysis was performed to assess construct validity. Precision, sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of the BBI, when compared to the ALS-FTD-Q, were obtained. Results: The mean score of the whole sample on the BBI was 11.45±13.06. ALS-FTD patients scored significantly higher than non-demented ALS patients (31.6±14.64, 9.62±11.38; p<.0001). A significant large positive correlation between the BBI and the ALS-FTD-Q was observed (r=.807, p<.0001), and no significant correlations between the BBI and other clinical/demographic characteristics, indicating good convergent and discriminant validity, respectively. 72% of overall concordance was observed. Precision, sensitivity and specificity for the classification of severely impaired patients were adequate. However, lower concordance in the classification of mild behavioural changes was observed, with higher sensitivity using the BBI, most likely secondary to BBI items which endorsed behavioural aspects not measured by the ALS-FTD-Q. Discussion: Good construct validity has been further confirmed when the BBI is compared to an ALS-specific tool. Furthermore, the BBI is a more comprehensive behavioural assessment for ALS, as it measures the whole behavioural spectrum in this condition

The SAMI galaxy survey: Can we trust aperture corrections to predict star formation?

In the low-redshift Universe (z < 0.3), our view of galaxy evolution is primarily based on fibre optic spectroscopy surveys. Elaborate methods have been developed to address aperture effects when fixed aperture sizes only probe the inner regions for galaxies of ever decreasing redshift or increasing physical size. These aperture corrections rely on assumptions about the physical properties of galaxies. The adequacy of these aperture corrections can be tested with integral-field spectroscopic data. We use integral-field spectra drawn from 1212 galaxies observed as part of the SAMI Galaxy Survey to investigate the validity of two aperture correction methods that attempt to estimate a galaxy's total instantaneous star formation rate. We show that biases arise when assuming that instantaneous star formation is traced by broad-band imaging, and when the aperture correction is built only from spectra of the nuclear region of galaxies. These biases may be significant depending on the selection criteria of a survey sample. Understanding the sensitivities of these aperture corrections is essential for correct handling of systematic errors in galaxy evolution studies

Understanding the yeast host cell response to recombinant membrane protein production

Membrane proteins are drug targets for a wide range of diseases. Having access to appropriate samples for further research underpins the pharmaceutical industry's strategy for developing new drugs. This is typically achieved by synthesizing a protein of interest in host cells that can be cultured on a large scale, allowing the isolation of the pure protein in quantities much higher than those found in the protein's native source. Yeast is a popular host as it is a eukaryote with similar synthetic machinery to that of the native human source cells of many proteins of interest, while also being quick, easy and cheap to grow and process. Even in these cells, the production of human membrane proteins can be plagued by low functional yields; we wish to understand why. We have identified molecular mechanisms and culture parameters underpinning high yields and have consolidated our findings to engineer improved yeast host strains. By relieving the bottlenecks to recombinant membrane protein production in yeast, we aim to contribute to the drug discovery pipeline, while providing insight into translational processes

Choirs, HI galaxy groups: Catalogue and detection of star-forming dwarf group members

Hα observations centred on galaxies selected from the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS)typically show one and sometimes two star-forming galaxies within the ~15 arcmin beam of the Parkes 64 m HI detections. In our Survey for Ionization in Neutral Gas Ga

Signature of a massive rotating metal-poor star imprinted in the Phoenix stellar stream*

The Phoenix stellar stream has a low intrinsic dispersion in velocity and metallicity that implies the progenitor was probably a low mass globular cluster. In this work we use Magellan/MIKE high-dispersion spectroscopy of eight Phoenix stream red giants to confirm this scenario. In particular, we find negligible intrinsic scatter in metallicity ($\sigma(\mathrm{[Fe~II/H]}) = 0.04^{+0.11}_{-0.03}$) and a large peak-to-peak range in [Na/Fe] and [Al/Fe] abundance ratios, consistent with the light element abundance patterns seen in the most metal-poor globular clusters. However, unlike any other globular cluster, we also find an intrinsic spread in [Sr II/Fe] spanning $\sim$1 dex, while [Ba II/Fe] shows nearly no intrinsic spread ($\sigma(\mathrm{[Ba~II/H]}) = {0.03}^{+0.10}_{-0.02}$). This abundance signature is best interpreted as slow neutron capture element production from a massive fast-rotating metal-poor star ($15-20 \mathrm{M}_\odot$, $v_\mathrm{ini}/v_\mathrm{crit} = 0.4$, $[\mathrm{Fe/H}] = -3.8$). The low inferred cluster mass suggests the system would have been unable to retain supernovae ejecta, implying that any massive fast-rotating metal-poor star that enriched the interstellar medium must have formed and evolved before the globular cluster formed. Neutron capture element production from asymptotic giant branch stars or magneto-rotational instabilities in core-collapse supernovae provide poor fits to the observations. We also report one Phoenix stream star to be a lithium-rich giant ($A(\mathrm{Li}) = 3.1 \pm 0.1$). At $[\mathrm{Fe/H}] = -2.93$ it is among the most metal-poor lithium-rich giants known.Comment: Accepted to ApJ 2021-07-0

Recommendations for a core outcome set for measuring standing balance in adult populations: a consensus-based approach

Standing balance is imperative for mobility and avoiding falls. Use of an excessive number of standing balance measures has limited the synthesis of balance intervention data and hampered consistent clinical practice.To develop recommendations for a core outcome set (COS) of standing balance measures for research and practice among adults.A combination of scoping reviews, literature appraisal, anonymous voting and face-to-face meetings with fourteen invited experts from a range of disciplines with international recognition in balance measurement and falls prevention. Consensus was sought over three rounds using pre-established criteria.The scoping review identified 56 existing standing balance measures validated in adult populations with evidence of use in the past five years, and these were considered for inclusion in the COS.Fifteen measures were excluded after the first round of scoring and a further 36 after round two. Five measures were considered in round three. Two measures reached consensus for recommendation, and the expert panel recommended that at a minimum, either the Berg Balance Scale or Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test be used when measuring standing balance in adult populations.Inclusion of two measures in the COS may increase the feasibility of potential uptake, but poses challenges for data synthesis. Adoption of the standing balance COS does not constitute a comprehensive balance assessment for any population, and users should include additional validated measures as appropriate.The absence of a gold standard for measuring standing balance has contributed to the proliferation of outcome measures. These recommendations represent an important first step towards greater standardization in the assessment and measurement of this critical skill and will inform clinical research and practice internationally

Galaxy and mass assembly (GAMA): A deeper view of the mass, metallicity and SFR relationships

A full appreciation of the role played by gasmetallicity (Z), star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass (M*) is fundamental to understanding how galaxies form and evolve. The connections between these three parameters at different redshifts significantl

The GALAH survey: a catalogue of carbon-enhanced stars and CEMP candidates

Swan bands - characteristic molecular absorption features of the C-2 molecule - are a spectroscopic signature of carbon-enhanced stars. They can also be used to identify carbonenhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars. The GALAH (GALactic Archaeology with Hermes) is a magnitude-limited survey of stars producing high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise spectra. We used 627 708 GALAH spectra to search for carbon-enhanced stars with a supervised and unsupervised classification algorithm, relying on the imprint of the Swan bands. We identified 918 carbon-enhanced stars, including 12 already described in the literature. An unbiased selection function of the GALAH survey allows us to perform a population study of carbon-enhanced stars. Most of them are giants, out of which we find 28 CEMP candidates. A large fraction of our carbon-enhanced stars with repeated observations show variation in radial velocity, hinting that there is a large fraction of variables among them. 32 of the detected stars also show strong Lithium enhancement in their spectra.KC, TZ, and GT acknowledge financial support of the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P1-0188 and project N1-0040). JK is supported by a Discovery Project grant from the Australian Research Council (DP150104667) awarded to J. BlandHawthorn and T. Bedding. DMN was supported by the Allan C. and Dorothy H. Davis Fellowship. SLM acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council through grant DP180101791. Parts of this research were conducted by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013. KF is grateful for support from Australian Research Council grant DP160103747. DS is the recipient of an ARC Future Fellowship (project number FT140100147)