BHPR research: qualitative1. Complex reasoning determines patients' perception of outcome following foot surgery in rheumatoid arhtritis

Background: Foot surgery is common in patients with RA but research into surgical outcomes is limited and conceptually flawed as current outcome measures lack face validity: to date no one has asked patients what is important to them. This study aimed to determine which factors are important to patients when evaluating the success of foot surgery in RA Methods: Semi structured interviews of RA patients who had undergone foot surgery were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted to explore issues that were important to patients. Results: 11 RA patients (9 ♂, mean age 59, dis dur = 22yrs, mean of 3 yrs post op) with mixed experiences of foot surgery were interviewed. Patients interpreted outcome in respect to a multitude of factors, frequently positive change in one aspect contrasted with negative opinions about another. Overall, four major themes emerged. Function: Functional ability & participation in valued activities were very important to patients. Walking ability was a key concern but patients interpreted levels of activity in light of other aspects of their disease, reflecting on change in functional ability more than overall level. Positive feelings of improved mobility were often moderated by negative self perception ("I mean, I still walk like a waddling duck”). Appearance: Appearance was important to almost all patients but perhaps the most complex theme of all. Physical appearance, foot shape, and footwear were closely interlinked, yet patients saw these as distinct separate concepts. Patients need to legitimize these feelings was clear and they frequently entered into a defensive repertoire ("it's not cosmetic surgery; it's something that's more important than that, you know?”). Clinician opinion: Surgeons' post operative evaluation of the procedure was very influential. The impact of this appraisal continued to affect patients' lasting impression irrespective of how the outcome compared to their initial goals ("when he'd done it ... he said that hasn't worked as good as he'd wanted to ... but the pain has gone”). Pain: Whilst pain was important to almost all patients, it appeared to be less important than the other themes. Pain was predominately raised when it influenced other themes, such as function; many still felt the need to legitimize their foot pain in order for health professionals to take it seriously ("in the end I went to my GP because it had happened a few times and I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who was quite dismissive of it, it was like what are you complaining about”). Conclusions: Patients interpret the outcome of foot surgery using a multitude of interrelated factors, particularly functional ability, appearance and surgeons' appraisal of the procedure. While pain was often noted, this appeared less important than other factors in the overall outcome of the surgery. Future research into foot surgery should incorporate the complexity of how patients determine their outcome Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interes

A survey of the mycobiota associated with larvae of the black soldier fly (<i>Hermetia illucens</i>) reared for feed production

<div><p>Feed security, feed quality and issues surrounding the safety of raw materials are always of interest to all livestock farmers, feed manufacturers and competent authorities. These concerns are even more important when alternative feed ingredients, new product developments and innovative feeding trends, like insect-meals, are considered. The black soldier fly (<i>Hermetia illucens</i>) is considered a good candidate to be used as feed ingredient for aquaculture and other farm animals, mainly as an alternative protein source. Data on transfer of contaminants from different substrates to the insects, as well as the possible occurrence of toxin-producing fungi in the gut of non-processed insects are very limited. Accordingly, we investigated the impact of the substrate/diet on the intestinal mycobiota of <i>H</i>. <i>illucens</i> larvae using culture-dependent approaches (microbiological analyses, molecular identification through the typing of isolates and the sequencing of the 26S rRNA D1/D2 domain) and amplicon-based next-generation sequencing (454 pyrosequencing). We fed five groups of <i>H</i>. <i>illucens</i> larvae at the third growing stage on two substrates: chicken feed and/or vegetable waste, provided at different timings. The obtained results indicated that <i>Pichia</i> was the most abundant genus associated with the larvae fed on vegetable waste, whereas <i>Trichosporon</i>, <i>Rhodotorula</i> and <i>Geotrichum</i> were the most abundant genera in the larvae fed on chicken feed only. Differences in the fungal communities were highlighted, suggesting that the type of substrate selects diverse yeast and mold genera, in particular vegetable waste is associated with a greater diversity of fungal species compared to chicken feed only. A further confirmation of the significant influence of diet on the mycobiota is the fact that no operational taxonomic unit common to all groups of larvae was detected. Finally, the killer phenotype of isolated yeasts was tested, showing the inhibitory activity of just one species against sensitive strains, out of the 11 tested species.</p></div

Antifungal activity of <i>Trichosporon asahii</i>.

<p>Evidence of growth inhibition of the strain <i>T</i>. <i>asahii</i> (BR2.9) (on the top and bottom right of each plate) against the susceptible strains (A) <i>Candida glabrata</i> (NEQAS 8706) and (B) <i>Candida lusitaniae</i> (NEQAS 6208). Inhibition halo of the KT-producing positive control <i>Wa</i>F17.12 (<i>Wickerhamomyces anomalus</i>) is shown on the top left of each plate. No growth inhibition was produced by <i>Wa</i>UM3 (a strain not producing toxins) (on the bottom left of each plate).</p

Taxonomic composition of the mycobiota of BSF larvae.

<p>Histogram represents the fungal diversity at class and genus level (upper and lower bars, respectively). The average abundance of each group is shown; only the fungal genera/classes with an average abundance >1% are reported, those with an abundance lower than 1% are classified as other classes/genera.</p

Identification of yeast isolates by the 26S rRNA D1/D2 domain sequence analysis.

<p>Identification of yeast isolates by the 26S rRNA D1/D2 domain sequence analysis.</p

Experimental design.

<p>Groups of <i>Hermetia illucens</i> larvae (A, B, C, D, E) and the different feeding conditions.</p

Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis.

<p>NMDS of the fungal community structure of the five groups using the Bray-Curtis distance. Open black circles indicate the single organism while red crosses represent the identified OTUs. Blue lines connect the individual mycobiotas to the centroid values of each group.</p

RFLP analysis of ITS region of yeast isolates.

<p>RFLP analysis of ITS region of yeast isolates.</p

DataSheet_1_Serum antibody fingerprinting of SARS-CoV-2 variants in infected and vaccinated subjects by label-free microarray biosensor.pdf

Both viral infection and vaccination affect the antibody repertoire of a person. Here, we demonstrate that the analysis of serum antibodies generates information not only on the virus type that caused the infection but also on the specific virus variant. We developed a rapid multiplex assay providing a fingerprint of serum antibodies against five different SARS-CoV-2 variants based on a microarray of virus antigens immobilized on the surface of a label-free reflectometric biosensor. We analyzed serum from the plasma of convalescent subjects and vaccinated volunteers and extracted individual antibody profiles of both total immunoglobulin Ig and IgA fractions. We found that Ig level profiles were strongly correlated with the specific variant of infection or vaccination and that vaccinated subjects displayed a larger quantity of total Ig and a lower fraction of IgA relative to the population of convalescent unvaccinated subjects.</p