Identification and analysis of genomic islands in Burkholderia cenocepacia AU 1054 with emphasis on pathogenicity islands

published_or_final_versio

Characteristics of neonatal near-miss in hospitals in Benin, Burkina Faso and Morocco in 2012-2013.

: The objective of this study is to explore the usefulness of neonatal near miss in low- and middle-income countries by examining the incidence of neonatal near miss and pre-discharge neonatal deaths across various obstetric risk categories in 17 hospitals in Benin, Burkina Faso and Morocco. : Data were collected on all maternal deaths, maternal near miss, neonatal near miss (based on organ-dysfunction markers), Caesarean sections, stillbirths, neonatal deaths before discharge and non-cephalic presentations, and on a sample of births not falling in any of the above categories. : The burden of stillbirth, pre-discharge neonatal death or neonatal near miss ranged from 23 to 129 per 1000 births in Moroccan and Beninese hospitals, respectively. Perinatal deaths (range 17-89 per 1000 births) were more common than neonatal near miss (range 6-43 per 1000 live births), and between a fifth and a third of women who had suffered a maternal near miss lost their baby. Pre-discharge neonatal deaths and neonatal near miss had a similar distribution of markers of organ dysfunction, but unlike pre-discharge neonatal deaths most neonatal near miss (63%, 81% and 71% in Benin, Burkina Faso and Morocco, respectively) occurred among babies who were not considered premature, low birthweight or with a low 5-min Apgar score as defined by WHO's pragmatic markers of severe neonatal morbidity. : Whether the measurement of neonatal near miss adds useful insights into the quality of perinatal or newborn care in settings where facility-based intrapartum and early newborn mortality is very high is uncertain. Perhaps the greatest advantage of adding near miss is the shift in focus from failure to success so that lessons can be learned on how to save lives even when clinical conditions are life-threatening.<br/

Thirty years of heart transplantation at the University Medical Centre Utrecht.

PURPOSE: To analyse patient demographics, indications, survival and donor characteristics for heart transplantation (HTx) during the past 30 years at the University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU). METHODS: Data have been prospectively collected for all patients who underwent HTx at the UMCU from 1985 until 2015. Patients who were included underwent orthotopic HTx at an age >14 years. RESULTS: In total, 489 hearts have been transplanted since 1985; 120 patients (25%) had left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation prior to HTx. A shift from ischaemic heart disease to dilated cardiomyopathy has been seen as the leading indication for HTx since the year 2000. Median age at HTx was 49 years (range 16-68). Median waiting time and donor age have also increased from 40 to 513 days and from 27 to 44 years respectively (range 11-65). Donor cause of death is now primarily stroke, in contrast to head and brain injury in earlier years. Estimated median survival is 15.4 years (95% confidence interval 14.2-16.6) There is better survival throughout these years. CONCLUSION: Over the past 30 years, patient and donor demographics and underlying diseases have shifted substantially. Furthermore, the increase in waiting time due to lack of available donor hearts has led to a rise in the use of LVADs as bridge to transplant. Importantly, an improvement in survival rates is found over time which could be explained by better immunosuppressive therapy and improvements in follow-up care

Ethnic differences in ovulatory function in nulliparous women

African-American women have a long-standing approximately 20% higher breast cancer incidence rate than USA White women under age 40 while rates among Latinas are lower than those of Whites. The reasons for this are not clear, however they may be due to ethnic differences in circulating oestradiol and progesterone levels. In a cross-sectional study, we investigated whether anovulation frequency and circulating serum oestradiol and/or progesterone levels vary among normally cycling nulliparous African-American (n=60), Latina (n=112) and non-Latina White (n=69) women. Blood and urine specimens were collected over two menstrual cycles among healthy 17- to 34-year-old women. Frequency of anovulation was greater among White women (nine out of 63, 14.3%) than African-American women (four out of 56, 7.1%) or Latina women (seven out of 102, 6.9%), although these differences were not statistically significant. African-American women had 9.9% (P=0.26) higher follicular phase oestradiol concentrations than Latina women and 17.4% (P=0.13) higher levels than White women. African-American women also had considerably higher levels of luteal phase oestradiol (vs Latinas, +9.4%, P=0.14; vs Whites, +25.3%, P=0.003) and progesterone (vs Latinas, +15.4%, P=0.07; vs Whites, +36.4%, P=0.002). Latina women were also observed to have higher follicular oestradiol, and luteal oestradiol and progesterone levels than White women (follicular oestradiol: +6.8%, P=0.48; luteal oestradiol: +14.6%, P=0.04; luteal progesterone: +18.2%, P=0.06). These results suggest that exposure to endogenous steroid hormones may be greater for young African-American and Latina women than for Whites

Evaluation of psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Internet Disorder Scale (IDS-15)

The internet in modern society has impacted individuals of all ages, especially youth. Over the past 25 years, internet has become increasingly accessible, affordable, and available to a large proportion of individuals worldwide. Despite the clear advantages the internet has brought, adverse effects including potential disordered internet use have been noted among a minority of users. This has led to an increase in the development of screening instruments and numerous validation studies in many countries. Although Arabic is spoken in 25 countries worldwide, little research has been carried out, probably because there is a lack of Arabic instruments assessing problematic internet use. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the 15-item Internet Disorder Scale (IDS-15). A cross-sectional study was conducted among 327 active internet users (35.5 % male; mean age = 21.49 years [SD = 3.06]) using a pen-and-paper-based survey. All participants completed the IDS-15, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The concurrent validity of the Arabic IDS-15 was satisfactory as its total score was significantly correlated with scores on the BSMAS (standardized coefficient [β] = 0.382), time spent online (β = 0.310), time spent on social media (β = 0.368), time spent on sleep (β = 0.176), and SWLS score (β = 0.281). The internal consistency indicated good internal reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factor structure of the IDS-15. The Arabic version IDS-15 is a psychometrically sound and robust instrument for assessing internet disorder due to its excellent concurrent validity, good reliability, and satisfactory construct validity

SUMO chain formation is required for response to replication arrest in S. pombe

SUMO is a ubiquitin-like protein that is post-translationally attached to one or more lysine residues on target proteins. Despite having only 18% sequence identity with ubiquitin, SUMO contains the conserved betabetaalphabetabetaalphabeta fold present in ubiquitin. However, SUMO differs from ubiquitin in having an extended N-terminus. In S. pombe the N-terminus of SUMO/Pmt3 is significantly longer than those of SUMO in S. cerevisiae, human and Drosophila. Here we investigate the role of this N-terminal region. We have used two dimensional gel electrophoresis to demonstrate that S. pombe SUMO/Pmt3 is phosphorylated, and that this occurs on serine residues at the extreme N-terminus of the protein. Mutation of these residues (in pmt3-1) results in a dramatic reduction in both the levels of high Mr SUMO-containing species and of total SUMO/Pmt3, indicating that phosphorylation of SUMO/Pmt3 is required for its stability. Despite the significant reduction in high Mr SUMO-containing species, pmt3-1 cells do not display an aberrant cell morphology or sensitivity to genotoxins or stress. Additionally, we demonstrate that two lysine residues in the N-terminus of S. pombe SUMO/Pmt3 (K14 and K30) can act as acceptor sites for SUMO chain formation in vitro. Inability to form SUMO chains results in aberrant cell and nuclear morphologies, including stretched and fragmented chromatin. SUMO chain mutants are sensitive to the DNA synthesis inhibitor, hydroxyurea (HU), but not to other genotoxins, such as UV, MMS or CPT. This implies a role for SUMO chains in the response to replication arrest in S. pomb

Static fracture and modal analysis simulation of a gas turbine compressor blade and bladed disk system

This paper presents a methodology for conducting a 3-D static fracture analysis with applications to a gas turbine compressor blade. An open crack model is considered in the study and crack-tip driving parameters are estimated by using 3-D singular crack-tip elements in ANSYS. The static fracture analysis is verified with a special purpose fracture code (FRANC3D). Once the crack front is perfectly defined and validated, a free vibration study is conducted by analyzing the natural frequencies and modeshapes for both a single blade and bladed disk system. Taking advantage of high performance computing resources, a high fidelity finite element model is considered in the parametric investigation. In the fracture simulation, the influence of the size of a single edged crack as well as the rotational velocity on fracture parameters (stress intensity factors and J-Integral) are evaluated. Results demonstrate that for the applied loading condition, a mixed mode crack propagation is expected. In the modal analysis study, increasing the depth of the crack leads to a decrease in the natural frequencies of both the single blade and bladed disk system, while increasing the rotational velocity increases the natural frequencies. The presence of a crack also leads to mode localization for all mode families, a phenomenon that cannot be captured by a single blade analysis.The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Qatar National Research Fund through Grant number NPRP 7-1153-2-432. The authors also thank Texas A&M at Qatar?s Advanced Scientific Computing (TASC) for access to the RAAD Supercomputer.Scopu

Ambulatory intravenous furosemide for decompensated heart failure: safe, feasible, and effective.

AIMS: This study aims to establish the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of outpatient intravenous (IV) diuretic treatment for the management of decompensated heart failure (HF) for patients enrolled in the HeartFailure@Home service. METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively analysed the clinical episodes of decompensated HF for patients enrolled in the HeartFailure@Home service, managed by ambulatory IV diuretic treatment either at home or on a day-case unit. A control group consisting of HF patients admitted to hospital for IV diuretics (standard-of-care) was also evaluated. In total, 203 episodes of decompensated HF (n = 154 patients) were evaluated. One hundred and fourteen episodes in 79 patients were managed exclusively by the ambulatory IV diuretic service-78 (68.4%) on a day-case unit and 36 (31.6%) domiciliary; 84.1% of patient episodes under the HF@Home service were successfully managed entirely in an out-patient setting without hospitalization. Eleven patients required admission in order to administer higher doses of IV diuretics than could be provided in the ambulatory setting. During follow-up, there were 20 (17.5%) 30 day re-admissions with HF or death in the ambulatory IV group and 29 (32.6%) in the standard-of-care arm (P = 0.02). There was no difference in 30 day HF readmissions between the two groups (14.9% ambulatory vs. 13.5% inpatients, P = 0.8), but 30 day mortality was significantly lower in the ambulatory group (3.5% vs. 21.3% inpatients, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Outpatient ambulatory management of decompensated HF with IV diuretics given either on a day case unit or in a domiciliary setting is feasible, safe, and effective in selected patients with decompensated HF. This should be explored further as a model in delivering HF services in the outpatient setting during COVID-19