Using nasal povidone-iodine to prevent bloodstream infections and transmission of Staphylococcus aureus among haemodialysis patients: A stepped-wedge cluster randomised control trial protocol

INTRODUCTION: Approximately 38% of haemodialysis patients carry METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will perform an open-label, stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial to assess the effectiveness of nasal PVI compared with standard care. Sixteen outpatient haemodialysis units will participate in the study. The 3-year trial period will be divided into a 4-month baseline period and eight additional 4-month time blocks. The primary outcome of the study will be ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has received IRB approval from all study sites. A Data Safety and Monitoring Board will monitor this multicentre clinical trial. We will present our results at international meetings. The study team will publish findings in peer-reviewed journals and make each accepted peer-reviewed manuscript publicly available. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04210505

\u27How Do I Define Me\u27: The Development of a Black Artistic Identity in the 20th Century

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College. This project investigates into the development of a black artistic identity in the 20th century. Beginning with the exoticizing of the African aesthetic in the works of Picasso and the modernists in the early 1900s, that claimed the black body for themselves. It is then reclaimed by the performance style of Josephine Baker, who defied social normativity in becoming a major figure in the surge of Jazz in 1920s France. It then moves onto the work of Langston Hughes who brought the black literary voice into focus, not only in America, but on a global scale. His contribution is one of introducing the global narrative of individualism in a circumstance of oppression. Out of this we move to the political nature of Fela Kuti, a rebel and a nonconformist, whose music brought the world the image of a modern Africa that was going to approach modernism in its own way. The final piece of the puzzle lies with Afrika Bambaataa and the creation of the Zulu Nation as a spearhead for the coming of conscious rap in the late 1980s and \u2790s. In this we witness a movement that emphasized that before any sort of communal shift to take place, it first had to manifest on a personal level. These are examples of artists that belong to a canon of selfless artists, each contributing to the development and enlarging of the worlds perspective on what is a black artist

Role of trace elements in single and two-stage digestion of food waste at high organic loading rates

This study investigated trace element deficiency and supplementation in mono-digestion of food waste. A single-stage system was contrasted to a two-stage system (hydrolysis followed by methanogenisis). Initial hydrolysis is beneficial as it releases hydrogen sulphide (H2S), while the prevailing pH prevents an associated H2S induced precipitation of trace elements (TE). Stable digestion took place without TE supplementation until an organic loading rate (OLR) of 2.0 g VS L−1 d−1; this was followed by severe instability at an OLR of 2.5 g VS L−1 d−1 in both systems. A major accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) inhibited methanogenic activity. A gradual deterioration of pH, VFA/TIC (ratio of VFA to alkalinity) and specific methane yields provoked reactor failure. The benefit of enhanced TE availability in the two-stage system was not apparent due to the complete absence of essential TE in the feed stock. Supplementation of deficient TE (Co, Fe, Mo, Ni and Se) induced recovery, reflected by an immediate improvement of VFA/TIC and VFA concentrations in both systems. Specific methane yields were restored and maintained at initial levels. At a 16 day retention time, elevated loading rates as high as 5 g VS L−1 d−1 allowed stable digestion with TE supplementation

A Primase-Induced Conformational Switch Controls the Stability of the Bacterial Replisome

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. Recent studies of bacterial DNA replication have led to a picture of the replisome as an entity that freely exchanges DNA polymerases and displays intermittent coupling between the helicase and polymerase(s). Challenging the textbook model of the polymerase holoenzyme acting as a stable complex coordinating the replisome, these observations suggest a role of the helicase as the central organizing hub. We show here that the molecular origin of this newly found plasticity lies in the 500-fold increase in strength of the interaction between the polymerase holoenzyme and the replicative helicase upon association of the primase with the replisome. By combining in vitro ensemble-averaged and single-molecule assays, we demonstrate that this conformational switch operates during replication and promotes recruitment of multiple holoenzymes at the fork. Our observations provide a molecular mechanism for polymerase exchange and offer a revised model for the replication reaction that emphasizes its stochasticity

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BENTHIC MICROPLASTIC DISTRIBUTION IN HUMBOLDT BAY, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SURFACE SEDIMENTS BASED ON PROXIMITY FROM THE SHORE

https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/inrsep_posters/1019/thumbnail.jp