Comparative evaluation of commercial DNA isolation approaches for nanopore-only bacterial genome assembly and plasmid recovery.

The advent of Oxford Nanopore Technologies has undergone significant improvements in terms of sequencing costs, accuracy, and sequencing read lengths, making it a cost-effective, and readily accessible approach for analyzing microbial genomes. A major challenge for bacterial whole genome sequencing by Nanopore technology is the requirement for a higher quality and quantity of high molecular weight DNA compared to short-read sequencing platforms. In this study, using eight pathogenic bacteria, we evaluated the quality, quantity, and fragmented size distribution of extracted DNA obtained from three different commercial DNA extraction kits, and one automated robotic platform.

Anti-retinal Autoantibodies in Hydroxychloroquine Eye Toxicity.

Objective: Autoimmune retinopathy and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)-related retinal toxicity share many similarities, raising the possibility autoimmunity plays a role in HCQ retinopathy. The objective of this study is to determine whether patients diagnosed with HCQ retinal toxicity are more likely to have circulating antiretinal autoantibodies (AAbs) compared to controls.

Methods: We tested plasma samples for the presence of anti-retinal AAbs by immunoblotting in 270 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) receiving HCQ.

Characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes related to Zika virus infection during pregnancy in Northeastern Thailand: A prospective pregnancy cohort study, 2018-2020.

Background: In response to the 2015-2016 Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak and the causal relationship established between maternal ZIKV infection and adverse infant outcomes, we conducted a cohort study to estimate the incidence of ZIKV infection in pregnancy and assess its impacts in women and infants.

Methodology/principal Findings: From May 2018-January 2020, we prospectively followed pregnant women recruited from 134 participating hospitals in two non-adjacent provinces in northeastern Thailand. We collected demographic, clinical, and epidemiologic data and blood and urine at routine antenatal care visits until delivery.

Implication of polymerase recycling for nascent transcript quantification by live cell imaging.

Transcription enables the production of RNA from a DNA template. Due to the highly dynamic nature of transcription, live-cell imaging methods play a crucial role in measuring the kinetics of this process. For instance, transcriptional bursts have been visualized using fluorescent phage-coat proteins that associate tightly with messenger RNA (mRNA) stem loops formed on nascent transcripts.