Multiple introductions of NRCS-A to the neonatal intensive care unit drive neonatal bloodstream infections: a case-control and environmental genomic survey.

The NRCS-A strain has emerged as a global cause of late-onset sepsis associated with outbreaks in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) whose transmission is incompletely understood. Demographic and clinical data for 45 neonates with and 90 with other coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) isolated from sterile sites were reviewed, and clinical significance was determined. isolated from 27 neonates at 2 hospitals between 2017 and 2022 underwent long-read (ONT) (=27) and short-read (Illumina) sequencing (=18).

Fungal community composition predicts forest carbon storage at a continental scale.

Forest soils harbor hyper-diverse microbial communities which fundamentally regulate carbon and nutrient cycling across the globe. Directly testing hypotheses on how microbiome diversity is linked to forest carbon storage has been difficult, due to a lack of paired data on microbiome diversity and in situ observations of forest carbon accumulation and storage. Here, we investigated the relationship between soil microbiomes and forest carbon across 238 forest inventory plots spanning 15 European countries.

Enumerating soil biodiversity.

Soil is an immense habitat for diverse organisms across the tree of life, but just how many organisms live in soil is surprisingly unknown. Previous efforts to enumerate soil biodiversity consider only certain types of organisms (e.g.

Wind and small mammals are complementary fungal dispersers.

Following a disturbance, dispersal shapes community composition as well as ecosystem structure and function. For fungi, dispersal is often wind or mammal facilitated, but it is unclear whether these pathways are complementary or redundant in the taxa they disperse and the ecosystem functions they provide. Here, we compare the diversity and morphology of fungi dispersed by wind and three rodent species in recently harvested forests using a combination of microscopy and Illumina sequencing.

Biotic Interactions in Soil are Underestimated Drivers of Microbial Carbon Use Efficiency.

Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE)-the balance between microbial growth and respiration-strongly impacts microbial mediated soil carbon storage and is sensitive to many well-studied abiotic environmental factors. However, surprisingly, little work has examined how biotic interactions in soil may impact CUE. Here, we review the theoretical and empirical lines of evidence exploring how biotic interactions affect CUE through the lens of life history strategies.

Defending Earth's terrestrial microbiome.

Microbial life represents the majority of Earth's biodiversity. Across disparate disciplines from medicine to forestry, scientists continue to discover how the microbiome drives essential, macro-scale processes in plants, animals and entire ecosystems. Yet, there is an emerging realization that Earth's microbial biodiversity is under threat.

Forest tree growth is linked to mycorrhizal fungal composition and function across Europe.

Most trees form symbioses with ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) which influence access to growth-limiting soil resources. Mesocosm experiments repeatedly show that EMF species differentially affect plant development, yet whether these effects ripple up to influence the growth of entire forests remains unknown. Here we tested the effects of EMF composition and functional genes relative to variation in well-known drivers of tree growth by combining paired molecular EMF surveys with high-resolution forest inventory data across 15 European countries.

Listeria infection in young infants: results from a national surveillance study in the UK and Ireland.

Objectives: To describe the epidemiology, age at infection, clinical characteristics and outcome of listeria infection in young infants to inform management and empiric antibiotic choice in young infants.

Design: Prospective 2-year surveillance of infection in young infants detected through the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit 'orange card' system and triangulated with the public health laboratories.

Setting: National population study (England, Wales, Scotland and the Ireland) PATIENTS: All infants under 90 days with proven or probable invasive listeriosis MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidence, mortality, age of infection, clinical characteristics and outcome RESULTS: During a 2-year period (2017-2019), 27 cases of listeriosis in infants <90 days of age were reported.

Fungal community structure and function shifts with atmospheric nitrogen deposition.

Fungal decomposition of soil organic matter depends on soil nitrogen (N) availability. This ecosystem process is being jeopardized by changes in N inputs that have resulted from a tripling of atmospheric N deposition in the last century. Soil fungi are impacted by atmospheric N deposition due to higher N availability, as soils are acidified, or as micronutrients become increasingly limiting.

Epidemiology and healthcare factors associated with neonatal enterococcal infections.

Objective: To investigate the epidemiology and healthcare factors associated with late-onset neonatal enterococcal infections.

Design: Multicentre, multinational retrospective cohort study using prospectively collected infection data from a neonatal infection surveillance network between 2004 and 2016; this was supplemented with healthcare data from a questionnaire distributed to participating neonatal units.

Setting: Sixty neonatal units across Europe (UK, Greece, Estonia) and Australia.

Increased surfactant protein-D levels in the airways of preterm neonates with sepsis indicated responses to infectious challenges.

Aim: Sepsis is multifactorial and potentially devastating for preterm neonates. Changes in surfactant protein-D (SP-D), phosphatidylcholine (PC) and PC molecular species during infection may indicate innate immunity or inflammation during sepsis. We aimed to compare these important pulmonary molecules in ventilated neonates without or with sepsis.

Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors for Poor Outcome in Infants Less Than 90 Days of Age With Bacterial Meningitis in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Background: To describe the clinical characteristics and risk factors associated with poor outcome in infants <90 days of age with bacterial meningitis.

Methods: Prospective, enhanced, national population-based active surveillance for infants <90 days of age with bacterial meningitis in the United Kingdom and Ireland between July 2010 and July 2011. Infants were identified through the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit, laboratory surveillance and meningitis charities.

Assessment of healthcare delivery in the early management of bacterial meningitis in UK young infants: an observational study.

Objective: To define early presenting features of bacterial meningitis in young infants in England and to review the adequacy of individual case management as compared with relevant national guidelines and an expert panel review.

Design: Retrospective medical case note review and parental recall using standardised questionnaires.

Setting: England and Wales.

Cosmic Bell Test: Measurement Settings from Milky Way Stars.

Bell's theorem states that some predictions of quantum mechanics cannot be reproduced by a local-realist theory. That conflict is expressed by Bell's inequality, which is usually derived under the assumption that there are no statistical correlations between the choices of measurement settings and anything else that can causally affect the measurement outcomes. In previous experiments, this "freedom of choice" was addressed by ensuring that selection of measurement settings via conventional "quantum random number generators" was spacelike separated from the entangled particle creation.

Neonatal listeriosis in the UK 2004-2014.

Objective: To define the clinical features and outcomes of neonatal listeriosis, and identify the maternal risk factors to seek scope for improvement.

Methods: Neonatal listeriosis was identified prospectively from a United Kingdom neonatal infection surveillance network (neonIN) between 2004 and 2014. The participating neonatal units completed a study-specific proforma.

ONCE DAILY GENTAMICIN DOSE BANDING IN NEWBORNS WITH SIGNS OF EARLY ONSET OF NEONATAL SEPSIS (EONS), BASED ON INITIAL BIRTH WEIGHT AND GESTATIONAL AGE.

Aim: Prospective assessment of safety of dose banding of once daily gentamicin in newborns with signs of EONS in their first days of life.

Method: All neonates admitted on the level-3 neonatal unit, with at least three consecutive once daily gentamicin doses, started no later than 48 hrs after birth were included. The dose was based on initial birth weight and not adjusted to daily changes of the bodyweight(W).

High transmission 3D printed flex-PCB-based ion funnel.

In this study a novel fabrication method for a radio frequency (RF) ion funnel is presented. RF ion funnels are important devices for focusing ion clouds at low vacuum conditions for mass spectrometry or deposition-related applications. Typically, ion funnels are constructed of stainless steel plate ring electrodes with a decreasing diameter where RF and direct current potentials are applied to the electrodes to focus the ion cloud.

Enhanced simulation of an RF ion funnel including gas turbulence.

Electrodynamic ion funnels are used to enhance the transmission of ions in electrospray-based ion injection systems in 0.1 to 30 Torr pressure range. Jet disrupters are commonly employed to prevent droplets and high pressure jets from entering subsequent vacuum regions.

Computed tomographic morphometric analysis of cervical pedicles in a multi-ethnic Asian population and relevance to subaxial cervical pedicle screw fixation.

Purpose: Pedicle screw instrumentation provides optimal stabilization of the cervical spine complex, but is associated with risk of neurovascular injury. Sex and ethnic disparities may compromise safe and accurate screw placement. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of pedicle dimensions derived from computed tomography scans is pertinent for our multi-ethnic population.

Incidence, etiology, and outcome of bacterial meningitis in infants aged <90 days in the United kingdom and Republic of Ireland: prospective, enhanced, national population-based surveillance.

Background: Bacterial meningitis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in young infants. Understanding the epidemiology and burden of disease is important.

Methods: Prospective, enhanced, national population-based active surveillance was undertaken to determine the incidence, etiology, and outcome of bacterial meningitis in infants aged <90 days in the United Kingdom and Ireland.