'If I die, I die, I don't care about my health': perspectives on self-care of people experiencing homelessness.

Self-care, which refers to what people do to prevent disease and maintain good health, can alleviate negative health consequences of people experiencing homelessness. The aim of the study was to apply a theoretically informed approach in exploring engagement of people experiencing homelessness in self-care and to identify factors that can be targeted in future health and social care interventions. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 participants opportunistically recruited from a specialist homelessness healthcare centre of North East Scotland, the United Kingdom (UK). An interview schedule was developed based on the theoretical domains framework (TDF). Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Six aspects of self-care were explored, including (a) self-awareness of physical and mental health, (b) health literacy, including health seeking behaviour, (c) healthy eating, (d) risk avoidance or mitigation, (v) physical activity and sleep and (e) maintaining personal hygiene. Thematic analysis was conducted by two independent researchers following the Framework Approach. Participants described low engagement in self-care. Most of the barriers to engagement in self-care by participants were related to 'environmental context and resources' domain of TDF. Participants often resorted to stealing or begging for food. Many perceived having low health literacy to interpret health-related information. Visits to churches and charities to get a shower or to obtain free meals were commonplace. Participants expressed pessimism that there was ‘nothing’ they could do to improve their health and described perceived barriers often too big for them to overcome. Alienation, lack of social support and the perception that they had done irreversible damage to their health prevented their involvement in self-care. The theme of ‘social circle’ held examples of both enabler and barriers in participants’ uptake of risky behaviours. Health and social services should work with persons experiencing homelessness in designing and delivering targeted interventions that address contextual barriers, multi-morbidity, health literacy and self-efficacy

Antifungal isolates database of amphibian skin-associated bacteria and function against emerging fungal pathogens

Microbial symbionts of vertebrate skin have an important function in defense of the host against pathogens. In particular, the emerging chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, causes widespread disease in amphibians but can be inhibited via secondary metabolites produced by many different skin-associated bacteria. Similarly, the fungal pathogens of terrestrial salamander eggs Mariannaea elegans and Rhizomucor variabilis are also inhibited by a variety of skin-associated bacteria. Indeed, probiotic therapy against fungal diseases is a recent approach in conservation medicine with growing experimental support. We present a comprehensive Antifungal Isolates Database of amphibian skin-associated bacteria that have been cultured, isolated, and tested for antifungal properties. At the start, this database includes nearly 2000 cultured bacterial isolates from 37 amphibian host species across 18 studies on five continents: Africa, Oceania, Europe, and North and South America. As the research community gathers information on additional isolates, the database will be updated periodically. The resulting database can serve as a conservation tool for amphibians and other organisms, and provides empirical data for comparative and bioinformatic studies. The database consists of a FASTA file containing 16S rRNA gene sequences of the bacterial isolates, and a metadata file containing information on the host species, life-stage, geographic region, and antifungal capacity and taxonomic identity of the isolate

Cohort profile: Ngā Kawekawe o Mate Korona | Impacts of COVID-19 in Aotearoa – a prospective, national cohort study of people with COVID-19 in New Zealand

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant health, social and economic impacts around the world. We established a national, population-based longitudinal cohort to investigate the immediate and longer-term physical, psychological and economic impacts of COVID-19 on affected people in Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa), with the resulting evidence to assist in designing appropriate health and well-being services for people with COVID-19.Participants All people residing in Aotearoa aged 16 years or over, who had a confirmed or probable diagnosis of COVID-19 prior to December 2021, were invited to participate. Those living in dementia units were excluded. Participation involved taking part in one or more of four online surveys and/or in-depth interviews. The first wave of data collection took place from February to June 2022.Findings to date By 30 November 2021, of 8735 people in Aotearoa aged 16+ who had COVID-19, 8712 were eligible for the study and 8012 had valid addresses so were able to be contacted to take part. A total of 990 people, including 161 Tāngata Whenua (Māori, Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa) completed one or more surveys; in addition, 62 took part in in-depth interviews. Two hundred and seventeen people (20%) reported symptoms consistent with long COVID. Key areas of adverse impacts were experiences of stigma, mental distress, poor experiences of health services and barriers to healthcare, each being significantly more pronounced among disabled people and/or those with long COVID.Future plans Further data collection is planned to follow-up cohort participants. This cohort will be supplemented by the inclusion of a cohort of people with long COVID following Omicron infection. Future follow-ups will assess longitudinal changes to health and well-being impacts, including mental health, social, workplace/education and economic impacts of COVID-19

Community richness of amphibian skin bacteria correlates with bioclimate at the global scale

Animal-associated microbiomes are integral to host health, yet key biotic and abiotic factors that shape host-associated microbial communities at the global scale remain poorly understood. We investigated global patterns in amphibian skin bacterial communities, incorporating samples from 2,349 individuals representing 205 amphibian species across a broad biogeographic range. We analysed how biotic and abiotic factors correlate with skin microbial communities using multiple statistical approaches. Global amphibian skin bacterial richness was consistently correlated with temperature-associated factors. We found more diverse skin microbiomes in environments with colder winters and less stable thermal conditions compared with environments with warm winters and less annual temperature variation. We used bioinformatically predicted bacterial growth rates, dormancy genes and antibiotic synthesis genes, as well as inferred bacterial thermal growth optima to propose mechanistic hypotheses that may explain the observed patterns. We conclude that temporal and spatial characteristics of the host’s macro-environment mediate microbial diversity.National Science Foundation/[DEB-1146284]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[IOS-1121758]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[DEB-1310036]/NSF/Estados UnidosJohn Templeton Foundation/[]/JTF/Estados UnidosDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/[]/DFG/AlemaniaDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/[VE247/9-1]/DFG/AlemaniaCoordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior/[]/CAPES/BrasilFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo/[#2013/50741-7]/FAPESP/BrasilConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico/[]/CNPq/BrasilSimons Foundation/[429440, WTW]//Estados UnidosDeutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst/[]/DAAD/AlemaniaUniversidad de Costa Rica/[801-B2-029]/UCR/Costa RicaMinisterio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones/[849-PINN-2015]/MICITT/Costa RicaNational Research Foundation of Korea/[2015R1D1A1A01057282]/NRF/Corea del SurUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Biología Celular y Molecular (CIBCM)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Estructuras Microscópicas (CIEMIC

Data Paper. Data Paper

<h2>File List</h2><div> <p><a href="Amphibian-skin_bacteria_16S_sequences.fna">Amphibian-skin_bacteria_16S_sequences.fna</a> (MD5: 4cc9026d1aaa6b3f2481a3094824ae84)</p> <p><a href="Amphibian-skin_bacteria_metadata.txt">Amphibian-skin_bacteria_metadata.txt</a> (MD5: 85b14afa771fd80a6de294ea9b5f991c)</p> </div><h2>Description</h2><div> <p>Microbial symbionts of vertebrate skin have an important function in defense of the host against pathogens. In particular, the emerging chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, causes widespread disease in amphibians but can be inhibited via secondary metabolites produced by many different skin-associated bacteria. Similarly, the fungal pathogens of terrestrial salamander eggs Mariannaea elegans and Rhizomucor variabilis are also inhibited by a variety of skin-associated bacteria. Indeed, probiotic therapy against fungal diseases is a recent approach in conservation medicine with growing experimental support. We present a comprehensive Antifungal Isolates Database of amphibian skin-associated bacteria that have been cultured, isolated, and tested for antifungal properties. At the start, this database includes nearly 2000 cultured bacterial isolates from 37 amphibian host species across 18 studies on five continents: Africa, Oceania, Europe, and North and South America. As the research community gathers information on additional isolates, the database will be updated periodically. The resulting database can serve as a conservation tool for amphibians and other organisms, and provides empirical data for comparative and bioinformatic studies. The database consists of a FASTA file containing 16S rRNA gene sequences of the bacterial isolates, and a metadata file containing information on the host species, life-stage, geographic region, and antifungal capacity and taxonomic identity of the isolate. </p> <p> <i>Key words</i>: <i>amphibian; antifungal; Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis; culture database; disease ecology; microbiota; probiotic therapy; skin pathogens.</i> </p> </div