A blueprint for an inclusive, global deep-sea Ocean Decade field programme

The ocean plays a crucial role in the functioning of the Earth System and in the provision of vital goods and services. The United Nations (UN) declared 2021–2030 as the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The Roadmap for the Ocean Decade aims to achieve six critical societal outcomes (SOs) by 2030, through the pursuit of four objectives (Os). It specifically recognizes the scarcity of biological data for deep-sea biomes, and challenges the global scientific community to conduct research to advance understanding of deep-sea ecosystems to inform sustainable management. In this paper, we map four key scientific questions identified by the academic community to the Ocean Decade SOs: (i) What is the diversity of life in the deep ocean? (ii) How are populations and habitats connected? (iii) What is the role of living organisms in ecosystem function and service provision? and (iv) How do species, communities, and ecosystems respond to disturbance? We then consider the design of a global-scale program to address these questions by reviewing key drivers of ecological pattern and process. We recommend using the following criteria to stratify a global survey design: biogeographic region, depth, horizontal distance, substrate type, high and low climate hazard, fished/unfished, near/far from sources of pollution, licensed/protected from industry activities. We consider both spatial and temporal surveys, and emphasize new biological data collection that prioritizes southern and polar latitudes, deeper (> 2000 m) depths, and midwater environments. We provide guidance on observational, experimental, and monitoring needs for different benthic and pelagic ecosystems. We then review recent efforts to standardize biological data and specimen collection and archiving, making “sampling design to knowledge application” recommendations in the context of a new global program. We also review and comment on needs, and recommend actions, to develop capacity in deep-sea research; and the role of inclusivity - from accessing indigenous and local knowledge to the sharing of technologies - as part of such a global program. We discuss the concept of a new global deep-sea biological research program ‘Challenger 150,’ highlighting what it could deliver for the Ocean Decade and UN Sustainable Development Goal 14

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Competitiveness, Creativity, and Place-Based Development

This paper seeks to make a link between the concepts of competitiveness and the `creative class' at a place-based level. The paper explores the relationship between creativity and competitiveness at the local level across the UK using a rural ^ urban framework. A growing competitiveness divide between rural and urban areas is found. Also, the creative class is found to be more evenly distributed than might be anticipated a priori. In conclusion, we argue that city-region approaches to economic development are having a detrimental impact on the competitiveness of rural regions

Longitudinal changes in personal wellbeing in a cohort of people who inject drugs

© 2017 Scott et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Aims To determine whether the self-reported personal wellbeing of a cohort of people who inject drugs (PWID) changes over time, and to identify longitudinal correlates of change. Methods We us ed Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) scores reported between April 2008 and February 2015 by 757 PWID (66% male) enrolled in the Melbourne Injecting Drug Use Cohort Study (2,862 interviews; up to seven follow-up waves). A mixed-effects model was used to identify correlations between changes in temporal variables and changes in individual PWI scores while controlling for demographic variables. Results The cohort's mean PWI score did not significantly differ over time (between 54.4/100 and 56.7/100 across the first four interview waves), and was 25-28% lower than general Australian population scores (76.0/100). However, there were large variations in individuals' PWI scores between interviews. Increased psychological distress, moving into unstable accommodation, reporting intentional overdose in the past 12 months and being the victim of assault in the past six months were associated with declines in PWI scores. Conclusions Participants experienced substantially lower levels of personal wellbeing than the general Australian population, influenced by experiences of psychological distress, assault, overdose and harms related to low socioeconomic status. The results of this study suggest a need to ensure referral to appropriate housing and health support services for PWID

Climate, Ticks and Disease

This book brings together expert opinions from scientists to consider the evidence for climate change and its impacts on ticks and tick-borne infections. It considers what is meant by 'climate change', how effective climate models are in relation to ecosystems, and provides predictions for changes in climate at global, regional and local scales relevant for ticks and tick-borne infections. It examines changes to tick distribution and the evidence that climate change is responsible. The effect of climate on the physiology and behaviour of ticks is stressed, including potentially critical impacts on the tick microbiome. Given that the notoriety of ticks derives from pathogens they transmit, the book considers whether changes in climate affect vector capacity. Ticks transmit a remarkable range of micro- and macro-parasites many of which are pathogens of humans and domesticated animals. The intimacy between a tick-borne agent and a tick vector means that any impacts of climate on a tick vector will impact tick-borne pathogens. Most obviously, such impacts will be apparent as changes in disease incidence and prevalence. The evidence that climate change is affecting diseases caused by tick-borne pathogens is considered, along with the potential to make robust predictions of future events. This book contains: Expert opinions and predictions. Global coverage of trends in ticks and disease. In-depth examination of climate change and tick distribution links.This book is suitable for researchers and students studying zoology, biological sciences, medical entomology, animal health, veterinary medicine, epidemiology, parasitology, and climate change impacts; and for those concerned with public health planning or livestock management where ticks and tick-borne pathogens pose a threat

Using clinical research networks to assess severity of an emerging influenza pandemic

BACKGROUND: Early clinical severity assessments during the 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic (pH1N1) overestimated clinical severity due to selection bias and other factors. We retrospectively investigated how to use data from the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials, a global clinical influenza research network, to make more accurate case fatality ratio (CFR) estimates early in a future pandemic, an essential part of pandemic response. METHODS: We estimated the CFR of medically attended influenza (CFRMA) as the product of probability of hospitalization given confirmed outpatient influenza and the probability of death given hospitalization with confirmed influenza for the pandemic (2009-2011) and post-pandemic (2012-2015) periods. We used literature survey results on health-seeking behavior to convert that estimate to CFR among all infected persons (CFRAR). RESULTS: During the pandemic period, 5.0% (3.1%-6.9%) of 561 pH1N1-positive outpatients were hospitalized. Of 282 pH1N1-positive inpatients, 8.5% (5.7%-12.6%) died. CFRMA for pH1N1 was 0.4% (0.2%-0.6%) in the pandemic period 2009-2011 but declined 5-fold in young adults during the post-pandemic period compared to the level of seasonal influenza in the post-pandemic period 2012-2015. CFR for influenza-negative patients did not change over time. We estimated the 2009 pandemic CFRAR to be 0.025%, 16-fold lower than CFRMA. CONCLUSIONS: Data from a clinical research network yielded accurate pandemic severity estimates, including increased severity among younger people. Going forward, clinical research networks with a global presence and standardized protocols would substantially aid rapid assessment of clinical severity