Experimental Identification of Potential Martian Biosignatures in Open and Closed Systems.

NASA's Perseverance and ESA's Rosalind Franklin rovers have the scientific goal of searching for evidence of ancient life on Mars. Geochemical biosignatures that form because of microbe-mineral interactions could play a key role in achieving this, as they can be preserved for millions of years on Earth, and the same could be true for Mars. Previous laboratory experiments have explored the formation of biosignatures under closed systems, but these do not represent the open systems that are found in natural martian environments, such as channels and lakes.

A Guide to Innovation in Physician Associate/Assistant Education: Using Instructional Technology for Improved Engagement.

For physician associate/assistant (PA) educators, the path of least resistance often is to focus our cognitive energies on topics with which we are most comfortable and to deliver content in the style in which we are most accustomed. The consequence of this approach is that many didactic curricula are delivered in a traditional, lecture-based format, which then aligns with how the faculty were taught. Studies show that lecture-based teaching may not be the most effective and that blending teaching modalities can improve knowledge acquisition.

Habitability and Biosignature Formation in Simulated Martian Aqueous Environments.

Water present on early Mars is often assumed to have been habitable. In this study, experiments were performed to investigate the habitability of well-defined putative martian fluids and to identify the accompanying potential formation of biosignatures. Simulated martian environments were developed by combining martian fluid and regolith simulants based on the chemistry of the Rocknest sand shadow at Gale Crater.

Microbes from Brine Systems with Fluctuating Salinity Can Thrive under Simulated Martian Chemical Conditions.

The waters that were present on early Mars may have been habitable. Characterising environments analogous to these waters and investigating the viability of their microbes under simulated martian chemical conditions is key to developing hypotheses on this habitability and potential biosignature formation. In this study, we examined the viability of microbes from the Anderton Brine Springs (United Kingdom) under simulated martian chemistries designed to simulate the chemical conditions of water that may have existed during the Hesperian.

Improving patient blood management in obstetrics: snapshots of a practice improvement partnership.

Iron deficiency and anaemia are common in pregnancy. Audit data from our tertiary obstetrics unit demonstrated 22% of maternity patients experiencing a postpartum haemorrhage received a transfusion; a third of whom were anaemic on admission intrapartum. Australian Patient Blood Management (PBM) Module 5 Obstetrics guidelines focuses on maximising red cell mass at the time of delivery and reducing the reliance on transfusion as a salvage therapy to treat blood loss.

The effects of illicit drugs on the HIV infected brain.

Evidence accumulating from clinical observations, neuroimaging and neuropathological studies suggests that illicit drug abuse accentuates the adverse effects of HIV on the central nervous system (CNS). Experimental investigation in cell culture models supports this conclusion. Injecting drug abuse is also a risk factor for the acquisition of HIV infection, the incidence of which continues to rise in intravenous drug users (IVDU) even in countries with access to effective therapy.