Non-birthing mothers' experiences of perinatal anxiety and depression: Understanding the perspectives of the non-birthing mothers in female same-sex parented families.

Objective: Partners of birthing mothers can themselves experience perinatal mental health (PMH) difficulties. Despite birth rates increasing amongst LGBTQIA+ communities and the significant impact of PMH difficulties, this area is under-researched. This study aimed to examine the experiences of perinatal depression and anxiety of non-birthing mothers in female same-sex parented families.

Converting to an open research platform: community survey results.

Following the Microbiology Society's successful bid for a Learned Society Curation Award from the Wellcome Trust and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Society is converting our sound science, open access journal, , to an open research platform. As part of this, we conducted a survey of our community to gauge current attitudes towards the platform and here we present some of these results. The majority of respondents (57 %) said they would always or sometimes want to remain anonymous on their peer review report, whilst 75 % of respondents said that as an author they would be happy to make the data underlying their research open.

Converting to an open research platform: focus group and AI review tool research results.

The Microbiology Society will be launching an open research platform in October 2021. Developed using funding from the Wellcome Trust and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the platform will combine our current sound-science journal, , with artificial intelligence (AI) review tools and many of the elements of a preprint server. In an effort to improve the rigour, reproducibility and transparency of the academic record, the platform will host both preprints of articles and their Version of Record (VOR) publications, as well as the reviewer reports, Editor's decision, authors' response to reviewers and the AI review reports.

Isolated 'soft signs' of fetal choroid plexus cysts or echogenic intracardiac focus - consequences of their continued reporting.

Background: Choroid plexus cysts (CPC) and echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) are obsolete soft markers found on morphology ultrasound and not a valid reason for adjusting fetal risk of aneuploidy.

Method: We conducted a retrospective audit of women referred to genetic counsellor and fetal medicine services at St George Hospital (SGH) and the Royal Hospital for Women (RHW) for CPC and EIF from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2016 inclusive.

Results: In total, 208 CPC and/or EIF referrals were identified, 118 (57%) of which were for isolated CPC and/or EIF and 102 (49%) occurring in women low risk for aneuploidy prior to morphology ultrasound.

A marine plasmid hitchhiking vast phylogenetic and geographic distances.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays an important role in bacterial evolution and serves as a driving force for bacterial diversity and versatility. HGT events often involve mobile genetic elements like plasmids, which can promote their own dissemination by associating with adaptive traits in the gene pool of the so-called mobilome. Novel traits that evolve through HGT can therefore lead to the exploitation of new ecological niches, prompting an adaptive radiation of bacterial species.