A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

A study of Isolation of Salmonella species from blood culture & it’s Antimicrobial Resistant Pattern

Background: The main aim of this study was to monitor the antimicrobial resistant pattern of Salmonella isolates to select proper antibiotic & prevent drug resistance in Salmonella species. Material and Methods: Total 250 blood culture bottles were collected from patients clinically suspected enteric fever and loaded to BACTEC 9050. Out of them 200 signalled positive samples were inoculated on chocolate and Mac Conkey agar plates and incubated overnight at 370 C in the incubator and identified by colony characteristics, procedures like Gram staining, wet preparation for motility and bio-chemical reactions like oxidase test, catalase test, triple sugar iron agar, Citrate test, using Salmonella antisera like Poly O, O-9, and H-d. The clinical isolates were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity test on Mueller-Hinton agar, using modified Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method as per Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Results: Total 61 Salmonella were isolated. 49 were Salmonella typhi and 12 were Salmonella paratyphi. Overall rate of resistance of 49 S. typhi isolates was 2 % to ampicillin, 4 % to Azithromycin, 4 % to fluoroquinolones and 2 % to cotrimoxazole. S. paratyphi isolates were 100% sensitive to ampicillin, co-trimoxazole, chloramphenicol and 3rd generation cephalosporins. Conclusion: Enteric fever is one such infection which poses challenges in antimicrobial resistance. Continuous surveillance is important to track bacterial resistance and to treat infections in a cost-effective manner

Creating a confident and curious cohort: The effect of video-led instructions on teaching first-year chemical engineering laboratories

On-demand video has become a seamless part of the fabric of information consumption. Initially inspired by the popularity of video guides for practical skills such as cooking and DIY, instructional videos were developed for equipment used in the first-year chemical engineering undergraduate teaching laboratory at Imperial College London. During 2016/2017, the effect of the videos on the students’ learning was measured using video viewership metrics, a survey, focus groups with students and Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and rounded off through interviews with the module teaching team. Student reactions were overall positive, with >90% of students stating they found the videos useful. The outcome of our study indicated that because of access to the videos before, during, and after lab sessions, students were more confident in their own ability, spent more time engaging with theory, applied practical lab skills in a more targeted way, and produced better outputs. Rather than being just a video version of the experiment handout, the video influenced the behavior of both learners and teachers, freeing up time to engage in deeper exploration of topics. The results of the study suggest that the use of video-led instruction in undergraduate laboratory teaching improves student experience, saves GTA time, and decidedly shifts the teaching focus from demonstration to exploration