Incontinence-associated dermatitis: reducing adverse events

Incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) is a common problem in patients with faecal and/or urinary incontinence. Urine alters the normal skin flora and increases permeability of the stratum corneum and faecal enzymes on the skin contribute to skin damage. Faecal bacteria can then penetrate the skin, increasing the risk of secondary infection. However, IAD can be prevented and healed with timely and appropriate skin cleansing and skin protection. This includes appropriate use of containment devices. This article also looks at HARTMANN incontinence pads that have been developed to absorb the fluids that cause IAD and maintain the skin's acidic pH. The acidic pH of the skin contributes to its barrier function and defence against infection. Therefore, maintaining an acidic pH will help protect the skin from damage

Changes in IPCC Scenario Assessment Emulators Between SR1.5 and AR6 Unraveled

The IPCC's scientific assessment of the timing of net-zero emissions and 2030 emission reduction targets consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C or 2°C rests on large scenario databases. Updates to this assessment, such as between the IPCC's Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR1.5) of warming and the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), are the result of intertwined, sometimes opaque, factors. Here we isolate one factor: the Earth System Model emulators used to estimate the global warming implications of scenarios. We show that warming projections using AR6-calibrated emulators are consistent, to within around 0.1°C, with projections made by the emulators used in SR1.5. The consistency is due to two almost compensating changes: the increase in assessed historical warming between SR1.5 (based on AR5) and AR6, and a reduction in projected warming due to improved agreement between the emulators' response to emissions and the assessment to which it is calibrated

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Diversity in CO2 concentrating mechanisms among chemolithoautotrophs from genera Hydrogenovibrio, Thiomicrorhabdus, and Thiomicrospira, ubiquitous in sulfidic habitats worldwide

Members of Hydrogenovibrio, Thiomicrospira and Thiomicrorhabdus fix carbon at hydrothermal vents, coastal sediments, hypersaline lakes, and other sulfidic habitats. The genome sequences of these ubiquitous and prolific chemolithoautotrophs suggest a surprising diversity of mechanisms for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) uptake and fixation; these mechanisms are verified here. Carboxysomes are apparent in transmission electron micrographs of most of these organisms; lack of carboxysomes in Thiomicrorhabdus sp. Milos T2 and Tmr. arctica, and an inability to grow under low DIC conditions by Thiomicrorhabdus sp. Milos T2 are consistent with an absence of carboxysome loci in their genomes. For the remaining organisms, potential DIC transporters from four evolutionarily distinct families (Tcr0853/0854, Chr, SbtA, SulP) are located downstream of carboxysome loci. Transporter genes collocated with carboxysome loci, as well as some homologs located elsewhere on the chromosomes, had elevated transcript levels under low DIC conditions, as assayed by qRT-PCR. DIC uptake was measureable via silicone oil centrifugation when a representative of each of the four types of transporter was expressed in Escherichia coli. Expression of these genes in carbonic anhydrase-deficient E. coli EDCM636 enabled it to grow under low DIC conditions, consistent with DIC transport by these proteins. The results from this study expand the range of DIC transporters within the SbtA and SulP transporter families, verify DIC uptake by transporters encoded by Tcr_0853 and Tcr_0854 and their homologs, and introduce DIC as a potential substrate for transporters from the Chr family. IMPORTANCE Autotrophic organisms take up and fix DIC, introducing carbon into the biological component of the global carbon cycle. The mechanisms for DIC uptake and fixation by autotrophic Bacteria and Archaea are likely to be diverse, but have only been well-characterized among "Cyanobacteria". Based on genome sequences, members of Hydrogenovibrio, Thiomicrospira and Thiomicrorhabdus have a variety of mechanisms for DIC uptake and fixation. We verified that most of these organisms are capable of growing under low DIC conditions, when they upregulate carboxysome loci and transporter genes collocated with these loci on their chromosomes. When these genes, which fall into four evolutionarily independent families of transporters, are expressed in E. coli, DIC transport is detected. This expansion in known DIC transporters across four families, from organisms from a variety of environments, provides insight into the ecophysiology of autotrophs, as well as a toolkit for engineering microorganisms for carbon-neutral biochemistries of industrial importance

Viral ecogenomics across the Porifera

BackgroundViruses directly affect the most important biological processes in the ocean via their regulation of prokaryotic and eukaryotic populations. Marine sponges form stable symbiotic partnerships with a wide diversity of microorganisms and this high symbiont complexity makes them an ideal model for studying viral ecology. Here, we used morphological and molecular approaches to illuminate the diversity and function of viruses inhabiting nine sponge species from the Great Barrier Reef and seven from the Red Sea.ResultsViromic sequencing revealed host-specific and site-specific patterns in the viral assemblages, with all sponge species dominated by the bacteriophage order Caudovirales but also containing variable representation from the nucleocytoplasmic large DNA virus families Mimiviridae, Marseilleviridae, Phycodnaviridae, Ascoviridae, Iridoviridae, Asfarviridae and Poxviridae. Whilst core viral functions related to replication, infection and structure were largely consistent across the sponge viromes, functional profiles varied significantly between species and sites largely due to differential representation of putative auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) and accessory genes, including those associated with herbicide resistance, heavy metal resistance and nylon degradation. Furthermore, putative AMGs varied with the composition and abundance of the sponge-associated microbiome. For instance, genes associated with antimicrobial activity were enriched in low microbial abundance sponges, genes associated with nitrogen metabolism were enriched in high microbial abundance sponges and genes related to cellulose biosynthesis were enriched in species that host photosynthetic symbionts.ConclusionsOur results highlight the diverse functional roles that viruses can play in marine sponges and are consistent with our current understanding of sponge ecology. Differential representation of putative viral AMGs and accessory genes across sponge species illustrate the diverse suite of beneficial roles viruses can play in the functional ecology of these complex reef holobionts

Analyzing a fake news authorship network

This project synthesizes a set of 246 fake news websites previously identified in three earlier research projects. From this dataset, we extract a set of all authors who have written for these sites in 2016. This authorcentric dataset is itself a contribution that will allow future analysis of the fake news ecosystem. Based on the data we collected, we construct a network of fake news sites, linking them if they shared a common author. Our analysis shows a tight cluster of author-sharing sites, with a small core set of sites sharing dozens of authors

Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research Consortium: Accelerating Evidence-Based Practice of Genomic Medicine

Despite rapid technical progress and demonstrable effectiveness for some types of diagnosis and therapy, much remains to be learned about clinical genome and exome sequencing (CGES) and its role within the practice of medicine. The Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) consortium includes 18 extramural research projects, one National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) intramural project, and a coordinating center funded by the NHGRI and National Cancer Institute. The consortium is exploring analytic and clinical validity and utility, as well as the ethical, legal, and social implications of sequencing via multidisciplinary approaches; it has thus far recruited 5,577 participants across a spectrum of symptomatic and healthy children and adults by utilizing both germline and cancer sequencing. The CSER consortium is analyzing data and creating publically available procedures and tools related to participant preferences and consent, variant classification, disclosure and management of primary and secondary findings, health outcomes, and integration with electronic health records. Future research directions will refine measures of clinical utility of CGES in both germline and somatic testing, evaluate the use of CGES for screening in healthy individuals, explore the penetrance of pathogenic variants through extensive phenotyping, reduce discordances in public databases of genes and variants, examine social and ethnic disparities in the provision of genomics services, explore regulatory issues, and estimate the value and downstream costs of sequencing. The CSER consortium has established a shared community of research sites by using diverse approaches to pursue the evidence-based development of best practices in genomic medicine

Multiplatform Analysis of 12 Cancer Types Reveals Molecular Classification within and across Tissues of Origin

Recent genomic analyses of pathologically-defined tumor types identify “within-a-tissue” disease subtypes. However, the extent to which genomic signatures are shared across tissues is still unclear. We performed an integrative analysis using five genome-wide platforms and one proteomic platform on 3,527 specimens from 12 cancer types, revealing a unified classification into 11 major subtypes. Five subtypes were nearly identical to their tissue-of-origin counterparts, but several distinct cancer types were found to converge into common subtypes. Lung squamous, head & neck, and a subset of bladder cancers coalesced into one subtype typified by TP53 alterations, TP63 amplifications, and high expression of immune and proliferation pathway genes. Of note, bladder cancers split into three pan-cancer subtypes. The multi-platform classification, while correlated with tissue-of-origin, provides independent information for predicting clinical outcomes. All datasets are available for data-mining from a unified resource to support further biological discoveries and insights into novel therapeutic strategies