The Pediatric Sepsis Biomarker Risk Model (PERSEVERE) Biomarkers Predict Clinical Deterioration and Mortality in Immunocompromised Children Evaluated for Infection

Pediatric sepsis and bacterial infection cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide, with immunocompromised patients being at particularly high risk of rapid deterioration and death. This study evaluated if PERSEVERE, PERSEVERE-II, or the PERSEVERE biomarkers, can reliably estimate the risk of clinical deterioration and 28-day mortality among immunocompromised pediatric patients. This is a single-center prospective cohort study conducted from July 2016 through September 2017 incorporating 400 episodes of suspected bacterial infection from the inpatient units at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, a large, tertiary care children's hospital. The primary analysis assessed clinical deterioration within 72 hours of evaluation for infection. Secondarily, we assessed 28-day mortality. Clinical deterioration was seen in 15% of subjects. Twenty-eight day mortality was 5%, but significantly higher among critically ill patients. Neither PERSEVERE nor PERSEVERE-II performed well to predict clinical deterioration or 28-day mortality, thus we derived new stratification models using the PERSEVERE biomarkers with both high sensitivity and negative predictive value. In conclusion, we evaluated previously validated biomarker risk models in a novel population of largely non-critically ill immunocompromised pediatric patients, and attempted to stratify patients based on a new outcome metric, clinical deterioration. The new highly predictive models indicate common physiologic pathways to clinical deterioration or death from bacterial infection

Comparison of whole-genome bisulfite sequencing library preparation strategies identifies sources of biases affecting DNA methylation data.

BACKGROUND: Whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) is becoming an increasingly accessible technique, used widely for both fundamental and disease-oriented research. Library preparation methods benefit from a variety of available kits, polymerases and bisulfite conversion protocols. Although some steps in the procedure, such as PCR amplification, are known to introduce biases, a systematic evaluation of biases in WGBS strategies is missing. RESULTS: We perform a comparative analysis of several commonly used pre- and post-bisulfite WGBS library preparation protocols for their performance and quality of sequencing outputs. Our results show that bisulfite conversion per se is the main trigger of pronounced sequencing biases, and PCR amplification builds on these underlying artefacts. The majority of standard library preparation methods yield a significantly biased sequence output and overestimate global methylation. Importantly, both absolute and relative methylation levels at specific genomic regions vary substantially between methods, with clear implications for DNA methylation studies. CONCLUSIONS: We show that amplification-free library preparation is the least biased approach for WGBS. In protocols with amplification, the choice of bisulfite conversion protocol or polymerase can significantly minimize artefacts. To aid with the quality assessment of existing WGBS datasets, we have integrated a bias diagnostic tool in the Bismark package and offer several approaches for consideration during the preparation and analysis of WGBS datasets

“Submitting Love?”: a sensory sociology of Southbourne

This article seeks to remember the Southbourne building of Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom, which housed students, academics, and administrative staff until August 2014. Data were collected from an ethnographic observation study of students handing in completed coursework. Findings are presented in the form of an audio “soundscape” and a literary narrative. It is argued that these hypermodal tools should form a growing part of qualitative inquiry as sensory social research. The historic application and practical impediments of such sensorial and aural techniques are discussed, alongside the challenge they provide to the received practices concerning how journal articles can be experienced

Prevalence of nonmedical methamphetamine use in the United States

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Illicit methamphetamine use continues to be a public health concern in the United States. The goal of the current study was to use a relatively inexpensive methodology to examine the prevalence and demographic correlates of nonmedical methamphetamine use in the United States.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The sample was obtained through an internet survey of noninstitutionalized adults (n = 4,297) aged 18 to 49 in the United States in 2005. Propensity weighting methods using information from the U.S. Census and the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) were used to estimate national-level prevalence rates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall prevalence of current nonmedical methamphetamine use was estimated to be 0.27%. Lifetime use was estimated to be 8.6%. Current use rates for men (0.32%) and women (0.23%) did not differ, although men had a higher 3-year prevalence rate (3.1%) than women (1.1%). Within the age subgroup with the highest overall methamphetamine use (18 to 25 year olds), non-students had substantially higher methamphetamine use (0.85% current; 2.4% past year) than students (0.23% current; 0.79% past year). Methamphetamine use was not constrained to those with publicly funded health care insurance.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Through the use of an internet panel weighted to reflect U.S. population norms, the estimated lifetime prevalence of methamphetamine use among 18 to 49 year olds was 8.6%. These findings give rates of use comparable to those reported in the 2005 NSDUH. Internet surveys are a relatively inexpensive way to provide complimentary data to telephone or in-person interviews.</p

The nonmedical use of prescription ADHD medications: results from a national Internet panel

© 2007 Novak et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Demographic, Psychological, and Social Characteristics of Self-Identified Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults in a US Probability Sample

Using data from a US national probability sample of self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults (N = 662), this article reports population parameter estimates for a variety of demographic, psychological, and social variables. Special emphasis is given to information with relevance to public policy and law. Compared with the US adult population, respondents were younger, more highly educated, and less likely to be non-Hispanic White, but differences were observed between gender and sexual orientation groups on all of these variables. Overall, respondents tended to be politically liberal, not highly religious, and supportive of marriage equality for same-sex couples. Women were more likely than men to be in a committed relationship. Virtually all coupled gay men and lesbians had a same-sex partner, whereas the vast majority of coupled bisexuals were in a heterosexual relationship. Compared with bisexuals, gay men and lesbians reported stronger commitment to a sexual-minority identity, greater community identification and involvement, and more extensive disclosure of their sexual orientation to others. Most respondents reported experiencing little or no choice about their sexual orientation. The importance of distinguishing among lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men in behavioral and social research is discussed

Should digestion assays be used to estimate persistence of potential allergens in tests for safety of novel food proteins?

Food allergies affect an estimated 3 to 4% of adults and up to 8% of children in developed western countries. Results from in vitro simulated gastric digestion studies with purified proteins are routinely used to assess the allergenic potential of novel food proteins. The digestion of purified proteins in simulated gastric fluid typically progresses in an exponential fashion allowing persistence to be quantified using pseudo-first-order rate constants or half lives. However, the persistence of purified proteins in simulated gastric fluid is a poor predictor of the allergenic status of food proteins, potentially due to food matrix effects that can be significant in vivo. The evaluation of the persistence of novel proteins in whole, prepared food exposed to simulated gastric fluid may provide a more correlative result, but such assays should be thoroughly validated to demonstrate a predictive capacity before they are accepted to predict the allergenic potential of novel food proteins

A MILI-independent piRNA biogenesis pathway empowers partial germline reprogramming.

In mice, the pathway involving PIWI and PIWI-interacting RNA (PIWI-piRNA) is essential to re-establish transposon silencing during male-germline reprogramming. The cytoplasmic PIWI protein MILI mediates piRNA-guided transposon RNA cleavage as well as piRNA amplification. MIWI2's binding to piRNA and its nuclear localization are proposed to be dependent upon MILI function. Here, we demonstrate the existence of a piRNA biogenesis pathway that sustains partial MIWI2 function and reprogramming activity in the absence of MILI