Genome sequences of 15 Gardnerella vaginalis strains isolated from the vaginas of women with and without bacterial vaginosis

Gardnerella vaginalis is a predominant species in bacterial vaginosis, a dysbiosis of the vagina that is associated with adverse health outcomes, including preterm birth. Here, we present the draft genome sequences of 15 Gardnerella vaginalis strains (now available through BEI Resources) isolated from women with and without bacterial vaginosis

Genome sequences of 12 bacterial isolates obtained from the urine of pregnant women

The presence of bacteria in urine can pose significant risks during pregnancy. However, there are few reference genome strains for many common urinary bacteria. We isolated 12 urinary strains of Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Citrobacter, Gardnerella, and Lactobacillus. These strains and their genomes are now available to the research community

Genome sequences of 11 human vaginal Actinobacteria strains

The composition of the vaginal microbiota is an important health determinant. Several members of the phylum Actinobacteria have been implicated in bacterial vaginosis, a condition associated with many negative health outcomes. Here, we present 11 strains of vaginal Actinobacteria (now available through BEI Resources) along with draft genome sequences

Genome sequences of nine gram-negative vaginal bacterial isolates

The vagina is home to a wide variety of bacteria that have great potential to impact human health. Here, we announce reference strains (now available through BEI Resources) and draft genome sequences for 9 Gram-negative vaginal isolates from the taxa Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Fusobacterium, Proteus, and Prevotella

Confident head circumference measurement from ultrasound with real-time feedback for sonographers

Manual estimation of fetal Head Circumference (HC) from Ultrasound (US) is a key biometric for monitoring the healthy development of fetuses. Unfortunately, such measurements are subject to large inter-observer variability, resulting in low early-detection rates of fetal abnormalities. To address this issue, we propose a novel probabilistic Deep Learning approach for real-time automated estimation of fetal HC. This system feeds back statistics on measurement robustness to inform users how confident a deep neural network is in evaluating suitable views acquired during free-hand ultrasound examination. In real-time scenarios, this approach may be exploited to guide operators to scan planes that are as close as possible to the underlying distribution of training images, for the purpose of improving inter-operator consistency. We train on freehand ultrasound data from over 2000 subjects (2848 training/540 test) and show that our method is able to predict HC measurements within 1.81±1.65 mm deviation from the ground truth, with 50% of the test images fully contained within the predicted confidence margins, and an average of 1.82±1.78 mm deviation from the margin for the remaining cases that are not fully contained

Discovery and characterization of a new class of O-linking oligosaccharyltransferases from the Moraxellaceae family

Bacterial protein glycosylation is commonly mediated by oligosaccharyltransferases (OTases) that transfer oligosaccharides en bloc from preassembled lipid-linked precursors to acceptor proteins. Natively, O-linking OTases usually transfer a single repeat unit of the O-antigen or capsular polysaccharide to the side chains of serine or threonine on acceptor proteins. Three major families of bacterial O-linking OTases have been described: PglL, PglS, and TfpO. TfpO is limited to transferring short oligosaccharides both in its native context and when heterologously expressed in glycoengineered Escherichia coli. On the other hand, PglL and PglS can transfer long-chain polysaccharides when expressed in glycoengineered E. coli. Herein, we describe the discovery and functional characterization of a novel family of bacterial O-linking OTases termed TfpM from Moraxellaceae bacteria. TfpM proteins are similar in size and sequence to TfpO enzymes but can transfer long-chain polysaccharides to acceptor proteins. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate that TfpM proteins cluster in distinct clades from known bacterial OTases. Using a representative TfpM enzyme from Moraxella osloensis, we determined that TfpM glycosylates a C-terminal threonine of its cognate pilin-like protein and identified the minimal sequon required for glycosylation. We further demonstrated that TfpM has broad substrate tolerance and can transfer diverse glycans including those with glucose, galactose, or 2-N-acetyl sugars at the reducing end. Last, we find that a TfpM-derived bioconjugate is immunogenic and elicits serotype-specific polysaccharide IgG responses in mice. The glycan substrate promiscuity of TfpM and identification of the minimal TfpM sequon renders this enzyme a valuable additional tool for expanding the glycoengineering toolbox

Capsular polysaccharide inhibits vaccine-induced O-antigen antibody binding and function across both classical and hypervirulent K2:O1 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae

Klebsiella pneumoniae presents as two circulating pathotypes: classical K. pneumoniae (cKp) and hypervirulent K. pneumoniae (hvKp). Classical isolates are considered urgent threats due to their antibiotic resistance profiles, while hvKp isolates have historically been antibiotic susceptible. Recently, however, increased rates of antibiotic resistance have been observed in both hvKp and cKp, further underscoring the need for preventive and effective immunotherapies. Two distinct surface polysaccharides have gained traction as vaccine candidates against K. pneumoniae: capsular polysaccharide and the O-antigen of lipopolysaccharide. While both targets have practical advantages and disadvantages, it remains unclear which of these antigens included in a vaccine would provide superior protection against matched K. pneumoniae strains. Here, we report the production of two bioconjugate vaccines, one targeting the K2 capsular serotype and the other targeting the O1 O-antigen. Using murine models, we investigated whether these vaccines induced specific antibody responses that recognize K2:O1 K. pneumoniae strains. While each vaccine was immunogenic in mice, both cKp and hvKp strains exhibited decreased O-antibody binding in the presence of capsule. Further, O1 antibodies demonstrated decreased killing in serum bactericidal assays with encapsulated strains, suggesting that the presence of K. pneumoniae capsule blocks O1-antibody binding and function. Finally, the K2 vaccine outperformed the O1 vaccine against both cKp and hvKp in two different murine infection models. These data suggest that capsule-based vaccines may be superior to O-antigen vaccines for targeting hvKp and some cKp strains, due to capsule blocking the O-antigen

Smorgasbord or symphony? Assessing public health nutrition policies across 30 European countries using a novel framework

BACKGROUND: Countries across Europe have introduced a wide variety of policies to improve nutrition. However, the sheer diversity of interventions represents a potentially bewildering smorgasbord. We aimed to map existing public health nutrition policies, and examine their perceived effectiveness, in order to inform future evidence-based diet strategies. METHODS: We created a public health nutrition policy database for 30 European countries. National nutrition policies were classified and assigned using the marketing "4 Ps" approach Product (reformulation, elimination, new healthier products); Price (taxes, subsidies); Promotion (advertising, food labelling, health education) and Place (schools, workplaces, etc.). We interviewed 71 senior policy-makers, public health nutrition policy experts and academics from 14 of the 30 countries, eliciting their views on diverse current and possible nutrition strategies. RESULTS: Product Voluntary reformulation of foods is widespread but has variable and often modest impact. Twelve countries regulate maximum salt content in specific foods. Denmark, Austria, Iceland and Switzerland have effective trans fats bans. Price EU School Fruit Scheme subsidies are almost universal, but with variable implementation.Taxes are uncommon. However, Finland, France, Hungary and Latvia have implemented 'sugar taxes' on sugary foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. Finland, Hungary and Portugal also tax salty products. Promotion Dialogue, recommendations, nutrition guidelines, labelling, information and education campaigns are widespread. Restrictions on marketing to children are widespread but mostly voluntary. Place Interventions reducing the availability of unhealthy foods were most commonly found in schools and workplace canteens. Interviewees generally considered mandatory reformulation more effective than voluntary, and regulation and fiscal interventions much more effective than information strategies, but also politically more challenging. CONCLUSIONS: Public health nutrition policies in Europe appear diverse, dynamic, complex and bewildering. The "4 Ps" framework potentially offers a structured and comprehensive categorisation. Encouragingly, the majority of European countries are engaged in activities intended to increase consumption of healthy food and decrease the intake of "junk" food and sugary drinks. Leading countries include Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal and perhaps the UK. However, all countries fall short of optimal activities. More needs to be done across Europe to implement the most potentially powerful fiscal and regulatory nutrition policies