Perceptions and use of phenylbutyrate metabolite testing in urea cycle disorders: Results of a clinician survey and analysis of a centralized testing database.

The nitrogen scavengers sodium and glycerol phenylbutyrate (PB), approved for chronic treatment of urea cycle disorders (UCDs), undergo hepatic conversion to phenylacetate (PAA), which conjugates glutamine to form phenylacetylglutamine for urinary nitrogen excretion. Elevated PAA has been associated with reversible neurological toxicity, with symptoms similar to hyperammonemia. Plasma PB metabolite analysis can assess for toxicity and therapeutic drug levels.

Pooled sputum to optimise the efficiency and utility of rapid, point-of-care molecular SARS-CoV-2 testing.

Background: As SARS-CoV-2 testing expands, particularly to widespread asymptomatic testing, high sensitivity point-of-care PCR platforms may optimise potential benefits from pooling multiple patients' samples.

Method: We tested patients and asymptomatic citizens for SARS-CoV-2, exploring the efficiency and utility of CovidNudge (i) for detection in individuals' sputum (compared to nasopharyngeal swabs), (ii) for detection in pooled sputum samples, and (iii) by modelling roll out scenarios for pooled sputum testing.

Results: Across 295 paired samples, we find no difference (p = 0.

Weather, mental health, and mobility during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the first United Kingdom wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, the first lockdown was announced on March 23, 2020, with a final easing of the restrictions on July 4, 2020. Among the most important public health costs of lockdown restrictions are the potential adverse effects on mental health and physical activity. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study and Google COVID-19 Mobility Reports we find evidence of reduced park mobility during the initial period of the first UK lockdown and confirm existing evidence of worsening mental health.

Experimental nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment stimulates multiple trophic levels of algal and detrital-based food webs: a global meta-analysis from streams and rivers.

Anthropogenic increases in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations can strongly influence the structure and function of ecosystems. Even though lotic ecosystems receive cumulative inputs of nutrients applied to and deposited on land, no comprehensive assessment has quantified nutrient-enrichment effects within streams and rivers. We conducted a meta-analysis of published studies that experimentally increased concentrations of N and/or P in streams and rivers to examine how enrichment alters ecosystem structure (state: primary producer and consumer biomass and abundance) and function (rate: primary production, leaf breakdown rates, metabolism) at multiple trophic levels (primary producer, microbial heterotroph, primary and secondary consumers, and integrated ecosystem).

Assessing a novel, lab-free, point-of-care test for SARS-CoV-2 (CovidNudge): a diagnostic accuracy study.

Background: Access to rapid diagnosis is key to the control and management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Laboratory RT-PCR testing is the current standard of care but usually requires a centralised laboratory and significant infrastructure. We describe our diagnostic accuracy assessment of a novel, rapid point-of-care real time RT-PCR CovidNudge test, which requires no laboratory handling or sample pre-processing.