61871 research outputs found
Sort by
Validation of a rapid, saliva-based, and ultra-sensitive SARS-CoV-2 screening system for pandemic-scale infection surveillance
Get PDFWithout any realistic prospect of comprehensive global vaccine coverage and lasting immunity, control of pandemics such as COVID-19 will require implementation of large-scale, rapid identification and isolation of infectious individuals to limit further transmission. Here, we describe an automated, high-throughput integrated screening platform, incorporating saliva-based loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technology, that is designed for population-scale sensitive detection of infectious carriers of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Central to this surveillance system is the “Sentinel” testing instrument, which is capable of reporting results within 25 min of saliva sample collection with a throughput of up to 3840 results per hour. It incorporates continuous flow loading of samples at random intervals to cost-effectively adjust for fluctuations in testing demand. Independent validation of our saliva-based RT-LAMP technology on an automated LAMP instrument coined the “Sentinel”, found 98.7% sensitivity, 97.6% specificity, and 98% accuracy against a RT-PCR comparator assay, confirming its suitability for surveillance screening. This Sentinel surveillance system offers a feasible and scalable approach to complement vaccination, to curb the spread of COVID-19 variants, and control future pandemics to save lives
Pangenomics in microbial and crop research: Progress, applications, and perspectives
Get PDFAdvances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics tools have fueled a renewed interest in whole genome sequencing efforts in many organisms. The growing availability of multiple genome sequences has advanced our understanding of the within-species diversity, in the form of a pangenome. Pangenomics has opened new avenues for future research such as allowing dissection of complex molecular mechanisms and increased confidence in genome mapping. To comprehensively capture the genetic diversity for improving plant performance, the pangenome concept is further extended from species to genus level by the inclusion of wild species, constituting a super-pangenome. Characterization of pangenome has implications for both basic and applied research. The concept of pangenome has transformed the way biological questions are addressed. From understanding evolution and adaptation to elucidating host–pathogen interactions, finding novel genes or breeding targets to aid crop improvement to design effective vaccines for human prophylaxis, the increasing availability of the pangenome has revolutionized several aspects of biological research. The future availability of high-resolution pangenomes based on reference-level near-complete genome assemblies would greatly improve our ability to address complex biological problems
Capturing the value and core concepts of the Clinical Research Nurse
No full textAim
To offer a novel, four-point conceptual model that encapsulates the Clinical Research Nurse’s intrinsic value, active leadership, and direct contribution to high quality, person-centered, safe care, addressing current misperceptions of research nursing.
Methods
This paper describes the provision of ‘care’, safely delivered by the Clinical Research Nurse through a four-point conceptual model and case-driven example.
Discussion
Clinical research nursing is conceptualized within the domains of Care and Trust, Role, Impact, and Integration. The case example demonstrates real-world application of these domains and the expertise required to balance the complexities of clinical needs and research demands in a healthcare environment.
Conclusions
This paper offers a mechanism for understanding the importance of the Clinical Research Nurse and their role in maintaining safety and a high-level view of the care arena. These reflections are considered with an international application for the role
Finding the missing and unknown: Novel educational approaches to warming up cold cases
No full textIn recent years, students in police academies and higher education institutions around the world have worked together to analyse cold cases including long-term missing persons cases in collaboration with investigators and prosecutors. In 2020, three European organisations, the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP), AMBER Alert Europe and Locate International, succeeded in connecting these educational organisations enabling them to work collectively on cases and conduct cold case analyses (CCA) across international borders. The International Cold Case Analysis Project (ICCAP) learning objectives were to 1) collect the necessary information about the victim, 2) reconstruct the crime, and 3) investigate trace control.
In a learning objective-based evaluation using Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing, 76 participating students from the German and International ICCAP teams were asked to complete a pre- and post-review questionnaire to self-assess their personal competence development. Participants reported significant increases in competence in all evaluated areas, thus demonstrating that authentic and relevant collaborations can enrich the learning environment, promote the use of professional skills, and provide significant knowledge exchange opportunities between academia and industry.
Drawing on case studies of cold case missing persons' investigations and unidentified found remains, this article shares how university academics, students and community volunteers can work together nationally and internationally to find out what has happened to missing people and how we can more effectively identify the previously unidentified. In so doing, we share the expertise required to progress these cold cases and provide recommendations to support other institutions and organisations in adopting this innovative approach
Book Review: Handbook of Cumulative Impact Assessment Edited by BlakleyJill A.E. and Daniel M.Franks. Research Handbooks on Impact Assessment Series. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK/Northampton, USA, 2021, ISBN: 978 1 78347 401 1, £166.50 (Hardcover), £48 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783474028.
No full textComspat: an R package to analyze within‐community spatial organization using species combinations
Get PDFThe diversity of species combinations observable in sampling units reflects a species' uneven distribution and preference for specific abiotic and biotic conditions – a phenomenon most commonly expressed in terms of ecological assembly rules of plant communities and other sessile organisms (e.g. subtidal algae, invertebrates and coral reefs). We present comspat, a new R package that uses grid or transect data sets to measure the number of realized (observed) species combinations (NRC) and the Shannon diversity of realized species combinations (compositional diversity; CD) as a function of spatial scale. NRC and CD represent two measures from a model family developed by Pál Juhász-Nagy based on information theory. Classical Shannon diversity measures biodiversity based on the number and relative abundance of species, whereas the specific version of Shannon diversity presented here characterizes biodiversity and provides information on species coexistence relationships; both measures operate at fine-scale within the sampling unit or within the community. comspat offers two commonly applied null models, complete spatial randomness and random shift, to disentangle the textural, intraspecific and interspecific effects on the observed spatial patterns. Combined, these models assist users in detecting and interpreting spatial associations and inferring assembly mechanisms. Our open-sourced package provides a vignette that describes the method and reproduces the figures from this paper to help users contextualize and apply functions to their data
Anthropogenic Disturbances and the Emergence of Native Diseases: a Threat to Forest Health
Get PDFThe next century will almost certainly see an unprecedented rise in forest pathogen epidemics, requiring a proactive rather than reactive response. Diseases caused by native pathogens with complex aetiologies will become more common, and recognising, characterising and managing these epidemics are difficult because native pathogens are frequently already widespread, and eradication is not feasible. We need to start approaching these issues from a ‘whole ecosystem’ perspective, highlighting the many aspects and entanglements of forest declines and allowing us to respond with management options tailored to each scenario. The approach proposed here provides logical steps based on six questions to untangle the direct and indirect environmental drivers of tree declines
Living with rheumatic heart disease at the intersection of biomedical and Aboriginal worldviews
Get PDFRheumatic heart disease (RHD) significantly impacts the lives of First Nations Australians. Failure to eliminate RHD is in part attributed to healthcare strategies that fail to understand the lived experience of RHD. To rectify this, a PhD study was undertaken in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, combining Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing with interviews (24 participants from clinical and community settings) and participant observation to privilege Aboriginal voices, including the interpretations and experiences of Aboriginal co-researchers (described in the adjunct article). During analysis, Aboriginal co-researchers identified three interwoven themes: maintaining good feelings; creating clear understanding (from good information); and choosing a good djalkiri (path). These affirm a worldview that prioritises relationships, positive emotions and the wellbeing of family/community. The findings demonstrate the inter-connectedness of knowledge, choice and behaviour that become increasingly complex in stressful and traumatic health, socioeconomic, political, historical and cultural contexts. Not previously heard in the RHD domain, the findings reveal fundamental differences between Aboriginal and biomedical worldviews contributing to the failure of current approaches to communicating health messages. Mitigating this, Aboriginal co-researchers provided targeted recommendations for culturally responsive health encounters, including: communicating to create positive emotions; building trust; and providing family and community data and health messages (rather than individualistic)
Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) Australian Enterococcal Sepsis Outcome Programme (AESOP) Annual Report 2020
Get PDFFrom 1 January to 31 December 2020, forty-nine institutions around Australia participated in the Australian Enterococcal Sepsis Outcome Programme (AESOP). The aims of AESOP 2020 were to determine the proportion of enterococcal bacteraemia isolates in Australia that were antimicrobialresistant, and to characterise the molecular epidemiology of the E. faecium isolates. Of the 1,230 unique episodes of enterococcal bacteraemia investigated, 93.9% were caused by either E. faecalis (54.2%) or E. faecium (39.7%). Ampicillin resistance was not detected in E. faecalis but was detected in 88.2% of E. faecium. Vancomycin non-susceptibility was detected in 0.2% of E. faecalis and 32.6% of E. faecium. Overall, 35.2% of E. faecium harboured vanA and/or vanB genes. For the vanA/B positive E. faecium isolates, 38.8% harboured the vanA gene, 60.6% the vanB gene, and 0.6% harboured both vanA and vanB. Although the percentage of E. faecium bacteraemia isolates was significantly lower than that detected in the 2019 AESOP (presumably due to the COVID-19 elective surgery restrictions placed on hospitals), it remains substantially higher than that recorded in most European countries. The E. faecium isolates detected consisted of 71 multilocus sequence types (STs), with 81.7% of these isolates classified into eight major STs each containing ten or more isolates. All major STs belonged to clonal cluster 17 (CC17), a major hospital-adapted polyclonal E. faecium cluster. The major STs (ST17, ST1424, ST80, ST796, ST78, ST1421, ST555 and ST117) were found across most regions of Australia. The predominant clone was ST17, which was identified in all regions except the Northern Territory. Overall, 40.9% of isolates belonging to the eight major STs harboured the vanA or vanB gene. The AESOP 2020 has shown enterococcal bacteraemia episodes in Australia are frequently caused by polyclonal ampicillin-resistant high-level gentamicin-resistant vanA- or vanB-positive E. faecium which have limited treatment options
Practical Implementation of Genetics: New Concepts in Immunogenomics to Predict, Prevent, and Diagnose Drug Hypersensitivity
No full textDelayed drug hypersensitivities are CD8+ T-cell mediated reactions associated with up to 50% mortality. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles are known to predispose disease, specific to drug, reaction, and patient ethnicity, with pre-treatment screening recommended for a handful of the strongest associations to identify and prevent drug use in high-risk patients. However, an incomplete predictive value implicates other HLA-imposed risk factors, and low carriage of many identified HLA-risk alleles combined with the high cost of sequence-based typing has limited economic viability for similar recommendation of screening across drugs and healthcare systems. To mitigate, an expanding armoury of low-cost polymerase chain reaction-based screens is being developed, and HLA-imposed risk factors are being discovered. These include (i) polymorphic variants of metabolic and endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase enzymes, towards multi-allelic screening with increased predictivity, (ii) regulation by immune checkpoint inhibitors, enabling de-tolerised animal models of human disease, and (iii) immunodominant T-cell receptors (TCR) on clonally-expanded CD8+ T-cells. For the latter, HLA-risk restricted TCR provides immunogenomic strategies and samples from a single patient to identify (i) novel HLA-risk associations in underserved minority populations, (ii) tissue-relevant effector biomarkers towards earlier diagnosis and treatment, and (iii) HLA-TCR-presented immunogenic structures to aid future drug development