Reporting animal research:Explanation and elaboration for the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0

Improving the reproducibility of biomedical research is a major challenge. Transparent and accurate reporting is vital to this process; it allows readers to assess the reliability of the findings and repeat or build upon the work of other researchers. The ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments) were developed in 2010 to help authors and journals identify the minimum information necessary to report in publications describing in vivo experiments. Despite widespread endorsement by the scientific community, the impact of ARRIVE on the transparency of reporting in animal research publications has been limited. We have revised the ARRIVE guidelines to update them and facilitate their use in practice. The revised guidelines are published alongside this paper. This explanation and elaboration document was developed as part of the revision. It provides further information about each of the 21 items in ARRIVE 2.0, including the rationale and supporting evidence for their inclusion in the guidelines, elaboration of details to report, and examples of good reporting from the published literature. This document also covers advice and best practice in the design and conduct of animal studies to support researchers in improving standards from the start of the experimental design process through to publication

Superior performance of National Early Warning Score compared with quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment Score in predicting adverse outcomes: a retrospective observational study of patients in the prehospital setting

Background Early intervention and response to deranged physiological parameters in the critically ill patient improve outcomes. A National Early Warning Score (NEWS) based on physiological observations has been developed for use throughout the National Health Service in the UK. The quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment Score (qSOFA) was developed as a simple bedside criterion to identify adult patients outwith the ICU with suspected infection who are likely to have a prolonged ICU stay or die in hospital. We aim to compare the ability of NEWS and qSOFA to predict adverse outcomes in a prehospital population.Patients and methods All clinical observations taken by emergency ambulance crews transporting patients to a single hospital were collated along with information relating to mortality over a 2-month period. The performance of the NEWS and qSOFA in identifying the endpoints of 30-day mortality, ICU admission and a combined endpoint of 48 h. ICU admission or 30-day mortality was analysed.Results Complete data were available for 1713 patients. For the primary outcome of ICU admission within 48 h or 30-day mortality, the odds ratio for a qSOFA score of 3 compared with 0 was 124.1 [95% confidence interval (CI): 13.5–1137.7] and the odds ratio for a high NEWS category, compared with the low NEWS category was 9.82 (95% CI: 5.74–16.81). Comparison of qSOFA and NEWS performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the primary outcome for qSOFA was 0.679 (95% CI: 0.624–0.733), for NEWS category was 0.707 (95% CI: 0.654–0.761) and for NEWS total score was 0.740 (95% CI: 0.685–0.795). Comparison of the receiver operating characteristic curves between NEWS total score and qSOFA using DeLong’s test showed NEWS total score to be superior to qSOFA at predicting combined ICU admission within 48 h of presentation or 30-day mortality (P = 0.011).Conclusion Our study shows qSOFA can identify patients at risk of adverse outcomes in the prehospital setting. However, NEWS is superior to qSOFA in a prehospital environment at identifying patients at risk of adverse outcomes

Metabolic effects of access to sucrose drink in female rats and transmission of some effects to their offspring

The aims of this study were, first, to examine the metabolic consequences for female rats of having unrestricted access to 10% sucrose solution and, second, to test for effects of this dietary intervention on their offspring. In Stage 1 females were mated following a 4-week period in which one group was given the sucrose in addition to their normal chow and a control group was given chow and water only. Sucrose was removed at parturition and the pups monitored until weaning. Despite the development of glucose intolerance in sucrose-fed mothers, no effects were detected on litter size or pup weights. In Stage 2 voluntary activity of offspring was assessed over postnatal days (PND) 51-60 and their glucose tolerance measured at PND89-94. Again no effect of maternal diet was detected. Only male offspring were used in Stage 3, which began when they were 13 weeks old. Four groups were given 10% sucrose solution for 48 days in a 2 x 2 design, in which one factor was maternal diet and the other was whether they were given 2-h access to an activity wheel on alternate days. Higher fasting glucose levels were found in offspring of sugar-fed mothers. Exercise increased insulin sensitivity in these rats but not in offspring of control mothers. Behavioural measures of memory in Stage 3 did not reveal any effects of maternal diet or exercise. Overall, this study suggested that, while providing 10% sucrose solution ad-libitum was sufficient to impair maternal metabolism, the impact of this dietary manipulation on offspring may be revealed only when the offspring’s diet is similarly manipulated