Nematode Symbiont for Photorhabdus asymbiotica

Photorhabdus asymbiotica is an emerging bacterial pathogen that causes locally invasive soft tissue and disseminated bacteremic infections in the United States and Australia. Although the source of infection was previously unknown, we report that the bacterium is found in a symbiotic association with an insect-pathogenic soil nematode of the genus Heterorhabditis

Increasing frailty is associated with higher prevalence and reduced recognition of delirium in older hospitalised inpatients: results of a multi-centre study

Purpose: Delirium is a neuropsychiatric disorder delineated by an acute change in cognition, attention, and consciousness. It is common, particularly in older adults, but poorly recognised. Frailty is the accumulation of deficits conferring an increased risk of adverse outcomes. We set out to determine how severity of frailty, as measured using the CFS, affected delirium rates, and recognition in hospitalised older people in the United Kingdom. Methods: Adults over 65 years were included in an observational multi-centre audit across UK hospitals, two prospective rounds, and one retrospective note review. Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), delirium status, and 30-day outcomes were recorded. Results: The overall prevalence of delirium was 16.3% (483). Patients with delirium were more frail than patients without delirium (median CFS 6 vs 4). The risk of delirium was greater with increasing frailty [OR 2.9 (1.8–4.6) in CFS 4 vs 1–3; OR 12.4 (6.2–24.5) in CFS 8 vs 1–3]. Higher CFS was associated with reduced recognition of delirium (OR of 0.7 (0.3–1.9) in CFS 4 compared to 0.2 (0.1–0.7) in CFS 8). These risks were both independent of age and dementia. Conclusion: We have demonstrated an incremental increase in risk of delirium with increasing frailty. This has important clinical implications, suggesting that frailty may provide a more nuanced measure of vulnerability to delirium and poor outcomes. However, the most frail patients are least likely to have their delirium diagnosed and there is a significant lack of research into the underlying pathophysiology of both of these common geriatric syndromes

Interaction networks for the most significantly differentially expressed genes resulting from the expression of female mating costs.

<p>The interaction network was seeded with the most significant differentially expressed genes under ANOVA P<10^-4 (red squares). The interactions shown include known genetic interactions and <i>in vitro</i> interactions (e.g. yeast-2-hybrid data) but not orthologous predictions from other species. Secondary interactions are not shown unless they include genes that were also differentially expressed at P<10^-3 (blue diamonds). The network was assembled using the IM Browser at <a href="http://www.droidb.org/IMBrowser.jsp" target="_blank">http://www.droidb.org/IMBrowser.jsp</a> and drawn with the aid of Cytoscape 2.6.2 [90]. ‘non-DE’ = non differentially expressed between high and low treatments.</p

Survival curves for replicate biological experiments 1-4 against time in days for females held under high and low mating treatments.

<p>Survival curves are all drawn on the same axes for convenience, but were conducted under identical conditions over a period of 2 months. Samples of 40-60 females were drawn at random from both treatments from all 4 experiments at day 10 (horizontal dotted line). 30 of these females from each sample were then used for RNA extraction and mRNA profiling.</p

Average relative lifespan (high lifespan divided by low lifespan, mean days ± 95% confidence interval) of high relative to low mating <i>CG11486</i> and <i>eyegone</i> mutant females.

<p>(a) Experiment replicate 1: average relative female lifespan (mean days ± 95% confidence interval) for <i>EP</i>[<i>CG11486</i>] <i>x Act5C Gal4</i> (<i>CG11486</i> overexpressing), Dahomey (control), <i>EP</i>[<i>CG11486</i>] <i>x wDah</i> (control), and <i>Act5C Gal4 x wDah</i> (control) females. (b) Experiment replicate 2: average relative female lifespan (mean days ± 95% confidence interval) for <i>EP</i>[<i>CG11486</i>] <i>x Act5C Gal4</i> (<i>CG11486</i> overexpressing), <i>eyegone</i>¹ (<i>eyegone</i> knockout), Dahomey (control), <i>EP</i>[<i>CG11486</i>] <i>x wDah</i> (control), and <i>Act5C Gal4 x wDah</i> (control) females.</p