Temperate airborne grass pollen defined by spatio-temporal shifts in community composition

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Research via the DOI in this record.Grass pollen is the world’s most harmful outdoor aeroallergen. However, it is unknown how airborne pollen assemblages change across time and space. Human sensitivity varies between different species of grass that flower at different times, but it is not known whether temporal turnover in species composition match terrestrial flowering or whether species richness steadily accumulates over the grass pollen season. Here, using targeted, high-throughput sequencing, we demonstrate that all grass genera displayed discrete, temporally restricted peaks of incidence, which varied with latitude and longitude throughout Great Britain, revealing that the taxonomic composition of grass pollen exposure changes substantially across the grass pollen season.Natural Environment Research CouncilBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC

2019 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation has initiated a continuous review of new, peer-reviewed, published cardiopulmonary resuscitation science. This is the third annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. It addresses the most recent published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. This summary addresses the role of cardiac arrest centers and dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the role of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adults and children, vasopressors in adults, advanced airway interventions in adults and children, targeted temperature management in children after cardiac arrest, initial oxygen concentration during resuscitation of newborns, and interventions for presyncope by first aid providers. Members from 6 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the certainty of the evidence on the basis of the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, and their statements include consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence to Decision Framework Highlights sections. The task forces also listed priority knowledge gaps for further research

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p<0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p<0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p<0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP >5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

Report, after an inspection of the Mount Trenchard Estate, for the purpose of awarding agricultural prizes [electronic resource] /

"Not published"; Electronic reproduction. Canberra, A.C.T. : National Library of Australia, 2010

Dimethylacetamide can be used as an alternative to glycerol for the successful cryopreservation of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) spermatozoa

Swelling of koala sperm chromatin following cryopreservation has largely been attributed to the absence of intermolecular disulfide cross-linkages in the marsupial sperm nucleus. Fish spermatozoa also lack disulfide bonds within their chromatin, but have been successfully cryopreserved. The present study examined the hypothesis that the cryoprotectants used for fish sperm cryopreservation would confer a similar degree of protection on koala spermatozoa. Three concentrations each of five cryoprotectants (dimethyl sulfoxide, methanol, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol and dimethylacetamide (DMA)) were evaluated. Each treatment was compared against an established koala sperm cryopreservation protocol that uses 14% glycerol. Post-thaw assessment of progressive motility, plasma membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) revealed that protocols using 15% DMA achieved 62.2 ± 3.6% (P < 0.05) sperm survival, of which 79% (P < 0.05) had high MMP, an improvement of 32% and 40%, respectively, over sperm frozen in 14% glycerol. The percentage of spermatozoa with swollen nuclei was also lowest when frozen in 15% DMA, both immediately after thawing (18.0 ± 3.5%; P < 0.05) and after 2 h incubation at 35°C (35.8 ± 4.4%; P < 0.05). A second study was conducted to determine the optimal concentration of DMA for use in the cryopreservation of koala spermatozoa. High DMA concentrations (17.5% and 20%) resulted in significantly lower proportions of live spermatozoa showing high MMP immediately after thawing compared with spermatozoa frozen in the lower concentrations. The percentage of koala spermatozoa with swollen chromatin following cryopreservation was not affected by DMA concentration. © CSIRO 200

Seasonal reproduction in wild and captive male koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) populations in south-east Queensland

The effects of breeding season (late spring to early autumn) on south-east Queensland male koala fertility were examined to improve the efficacy of the AI procedure and to determine the practicality of using free-range animals as semen donors for a genome resource bank. Seasonal changes in male koala reproductive function were assessed in a wild free-range population (n = 14; obtained every 6 weeks from January to November 2005), a necropsied healthy wild population (n = 84; obtained monthly from September 2004 to August 2005) and a captive population (n = 7; obtained monthly from October 2005 to October 2006). Reproductive parameters investigated included bodyweight, coat score, sternal gland area and activity, testosterone secretion, reproductive anatomy volume and semen quality (before and after cryopreservation). Collectively, these findings show that reproduction in male koalas from south-east Queensland changes seasonally and that winter appears to be the optimal season in which to collect semen samples by electroejaculation. While it was possible to repeatedly collect semen from free-range koalas for future genetic management via potential storage in a genome resource bank, the survival of these spermatozoa after cryopreservation was poor and will require further improvement