Gut microbiome of helminth-infected indigenous Malaysians is context dependent

Background: While microbiomes in industrialized societies are well characterized, indigenous populations with traditional lifestyles have microbiomes that are more akin to those of ancient humans. However, metagenomic data in these populations remains scarce, and the association with soil-transmitted helminth infection status is unclear. Here, we sequenced 650 metagenomes of indigenous Malaysians from fve villages with diferent prevalence of helminth infections. Results: Individuals from villages with higher prevalences of helminth infections have more unmapped reads and greater microbial diversity. Microbial community diversity and composition were most strongly associated with different villages and the efects of helminth infection status on the microbiome varies by village. Longitudinal changes in the microbiome in response to albendazole anthelmintic treatment were observed in both helminth infected and uninfected individuals. Inference of bacterial population replication rates from origin of replication analysis identifed specifc replicating taxa associated with helminth infection. Conclusions: Our results indicate that helminth efects on the microbiota were highly dependent on context, and efects of albendazole on the microbiota can be confounding for the interpretation of deworming studies. Furthermore, a substantial quantity of the microbiome remains unannotated, and this large dataset from an indigenous population associated with helminth infections is a valuable resource for future studie

Recommendations for effective documentation in regional anesthesia: an expert panel Delphi consensus project

Background and objectives: Documentation is important for quality improvement, education, and research. There is currently a lack of recommendations regarding key aspects of documentation in regional anesthesia. The aim of this study was to establish recommendations for documentation in regional anesthesia. Methods: Following the formation of the executive committee and a directed literature review, a long list of potential documentation components was created. A modified Delphi process was then employed to achieve consensus amongst a group of international experts in regional anesthesia. This consisted of 2 rounds of anonymous electronic voting and a final virtual round table discussion with live polling on items not yet excluded or accepted from previous rounds. Progression or exclusion of potential components through the rounds was based on the achievement of strong consensus. Strong consensus was defined as ≥75% agreement and weak consensus as 50%-74% agreement. Results: Seventy-seven collaborators participated in both rounds 1 and 2, while 50 collaborators took part in round 3. In total, experts voted on 83 items and achieved a strong consensus on 51 items, weak consensus on 3 and rejected 29. Conclusion: By means of a modified Delphi process, we have established expert consensus on documentation in regional anesthesia

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is a group of students from UW Milwaukee who are designing and building a payload that will be flown to space on a NASA sounding rocket as part of the RockSat-C 2019 program. The payload will test the shielding ability of materials during space flight. On the payload, there will be tubes of plasmids, along with sensors to record the radiation, temperature, and acceleration. Each tube of plasmid samples will be wrapped in a different shielding material, and will be flown with an unshielded control sample tube. Post-fight, the plasmids will be mixed with bacteria to evaluate the efficiency of gene transmission after space flight compared to control sample. The last two summers similar payloads were built to test the same effects of shielding on plasmid DNA. Unexpectedly, it was found that the gene transfer efficiency improved for the unshielded samples. This is the opposite of what was predicted, so this 2019 project will be used to further study why this occurs

Infection with hepatitis C virus genotype 3 - Experience of a tertiary health care centre in south India

To analyse the response rate and the predictive values of virological, biochemical and histological factors on HCV antiviral therapy in HCV genotype 3 infected patients, we retrospectively studied 21 HCV genotype 3 infected patients, who underwent HCV antiviral therapy. Low (57%) sustained viral response (SVR) rate and significant association of SVR with normalization of alanine transaminase (ALT) levels were observed in our study. Absence of early viral response (EVR) showed high (80%) predictive value on SVR. Absence of EVR and normalisation of the ALT levels can predict the outcome of HCV antiviral therapy

Baseline characteristics of the BAL patients.

<p>Baseline characteristics of the BAL patients.</p

Production of extracellular traps is associated with ROS production and is inhibited by DNase.

<p>Panels A shows that neutrophils expressing NETs have a four-fold increase in ROS fluorescence compared to NET negative (-ve) cells (NET-ve 16 706 (5879–42 332), NET+ve 64 146 (44 738–122921)), (n = 7, p = 0·008). Panel B shows that macrophages expressing MET-like structures have a two-fold increase in ROS fluorescence compared to MET negative (-ve) cells (MET-ve 45 644 (6257–118907), MET+ve 93 636 (28 113–392 973)), (n = 8, p = 0·023). Panels C and D demonstrate inhibition of NET (NTHi 44 (24–53), NTHi &amp; DNase 3 (0–10)), (n = 6, p = 0·004) and MET-like structure (NTHi 19±5, NTHi &amp; DNase 0.1±0.1)), (n = 8, p = 0·008) formation by the addition of DNase.</p