Comparative analysis of the postadmission and antemortem oropharyngeal and rectal swab microbiota of ICU patients.

Shotgun metabarcoding was conducted to examine the microbiota in a total of 48 samples from 12 critically ill patients, analyzing samples from both the oropharynx and rectum. We aimed to compare their postadmission microbiota, characterized as moderately dysbiotic, with the severely dysbiotic antemortem microbiota associated with patients' deaths. We found that, compared with postadmission samples, patient antemortem swab samples presented moderate but not significantly decreased diversity indices.

Violent Victimization in Emerging Adulthood and Its Longitudinal Impacts on Well-Being: A Study of Ever-Homeless Persons.

Persons who have experienced homelessness have higher lifetime risks of violent victimization relative to the general population. However, the long-term impacts of violent victimization on various facets of well-being are poorly understood among ever-homeless persons, particularly when violence is experienced in early adulthood. Here, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we focus on a subsample of emerging adults who reported ever suffering homelessness ( = 481).

Tracking emergency response actions during COVID-19 leads to development of an innovative public health evaluation tool.

Setting: Early in the pandemic, KFL&A Public Health needed a way to capture, organize, and display COVID-19-related events to be accountable for and evaluate our actions.

Intervention: We used accessible software (Microsoft Office 365 suite, Microsoft PowerBI) to develop a data collection and visualization system. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) developed a timeline and categorization approach for provincial and national COVID-related interventions, which was used to develop a regional version for local events using similar categories.

Twelve months old infants' evaluation of observed comforting behavior using a choice paradigm: The role of animacy cues and self-distress.

Comforting is a prosocial behavior that children start to engage in around their second year of life. There is much less known about their ability to evaluate comforting behavior of others. The current study examined whether 12 months old infants, after having watched animated abstract characters comfort or ignore a third party in distress, would show a preference for the comforting character.

COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Southeastern Ontario, Canada: Monitoring and Addressing Health Inequities.

Context: Implementation of a population-based COVID-19 vaccine strategy, with a tailored approach to reduce inequities in 2-dose coverage, by a mid-sized local public health agency in southeastern Ontario, Canada.

Program: Coverage maps and crude and age-standardized coverage rates by material and social deprivation, urban/rural status, and sex were calculated biweekly and reviewed by local public health planners. In collaboration with community partners, the results guided targeted strategies to enhance uptake for marginalized populations.

Circulating microRNA sequencing revealed miRNome patterns in hematology and oncology patients aiding the prognosis of invasive aspergillosis.

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) may occur as a serious complication of hematological malignancy. Delays in antifungal therapy can lead to an invasive disease resulting in high mortality. Currently, there are no well-established blood circulating microRNA biomarkers or laboratory tests which can be used to diagnose IA.

Individuation of agents based on psychological properties in 10 month-old infants.

What makes agents fundamentally different from each other from the viewpoint of a 10-month-old infant? While infants at this age can already individuate human-like objects from non-humanlike ones and self-propelled agents from inert objects, little is known of when and how they start individuating within the domain of agents. What is clear from previous studies is that differences in surface and dynamic features are not sufficient. We hypothesized that mental properties-in this case the agents' preferences-can serve as an individuating property.

Effects of phytonutrient-supplemented diets on the intestinal microbiota of Cyprinus carpio.

In the aquaculture sector, a strategy for the more efficient use of resources and proper disease control is needed to overcome the challenges of meat production worldwide. Modulation of the gastrointestinal tract microbiota is a promising approach for promoting animal health and preventing infection. This feeding experiment was conducted to discover the phytonutrient-induced changes in the gastrointestinal tract microbiota of common carp (Cyprinus carpio).

Frontal EEG asymmetry in infants observing separation and comforting events: The role of infants' attachment relationship.

The development of social-cognitive abilities in infancy is subject to an intricate interaction between maturation of neural systems and environmental input. We investigated the role of infants' attachment relationship quality in shaping infants' neural responses to observed social interactions. One-hundred thirty 10-month-old infants participated in an EEG session while they watched animations involving a distressing separation event that ended with either comforting or ignoring behavior.

Nutraceuticals Induced Changes in the Broiler Gastrointestinal Tract Microbiota.

Effects of nutraceuticals on the intestinal microbiota are receiving increased attention; however, there are few studies investigating their effects on broiler meat production. The aim of this study was to implement feeding strategies and carry out a comprehensive trial examining the interplay between natural biologically active compounds such as carotenoids, anthocyanins, fermentable oligosaccharides, and synbiotics and the gastrointestinal tract microbiota. Our feeding program was applied to an intensive production system with a flock of 1,080 Ross 308 broilers.

Understanding overdose incidents in Canadian federal custody.

Background: While the community effects of the opioid-related drug crisis in Canada are well documented, limited detailed data is available on overdose trends among custodial populations. Given that this crisis has disproportionate impacts on justice involved persons, research is needed to understand the implications of this crisis within institutional settings.

Methods: We examined all overdose incidents that occurred between the 2012/2013 and 2018/2019 fiscal years in a federal correctional institution in Canada.

Free circulating mircoRNAs support the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in patients with hematologic malignancies and neutropenia.

Fungal infections represent a worrisome complication in hematologic cancer patients and in the absence of disease specific symptoms, it is important to establish new biological indicators, which can be used during mould-active prophylaxis. Recently, miRNAs have appeared as candidate diagnostic and prognostic markers of several diseases. A pilot clinical study was performed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of 14 microRNAs which can be related to invasive fungal infections.

Biosynthesis, Characterization and Mechanism of Formation of ZnO Nanoparticles Using Petroselinum Crispum Leaf Extract.

Aim: The study aimed at synthesizing ZnO NPs using Petroselinum crispum extract, commonly known as parsley, as a source of biosynthesis without utilizing chemical agents for reducing, capping and stabilizing agent.

Background: Recently, the biosynthesis of nanoparticles has been widely explored due to the wide range of vital applications in nanotechnology. Biosynthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles, ZnO NPs, have become increasingly important since they have many applications and are environmentally friendly.

Tendentious effects of automated and manual metagenomic DNA purification protocols on broiler gut microbiome taxonomic profiling.

Here, we developed protocols to improve sensitivity, rigor and comparability of 16S rRNA gene amplification-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) results. A thorough study was performed by evaluating extraction efficiency with respect to the yield, purity, fragmentation of the purified DNA, and sequencing metrics considering the number of quality reads, amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), community structure and biodiversity. We identified batch-effects that significantly bias broiler gastrointestinal tract (GIT) community compositions and made recommendations to improve sensitivity, consistency, and cross-study comparability.

Effect of Carotenoids, Oligosaccharides and Anthocyanins on Growth Performance, Immunological Parameters and Intestinal Morphology in Broiler Chickens Challenged with Lipopolysaccharide.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of carotenoid, oligosaccharide and anthocyanin supplementation in broiler diets under lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. Ross 308 chickens were fed 5 diets: basal diet (control diet), diet supplemented with β-glucan in 0.05% (positive control) and diets with 0.

A Visual Two-Choice Rule-Switch Task for Head-Fixed Mice.

Cognitive flexibility is the innate ability of the brain to change mental processes and to modify behavioral responses according to an ever-changing environment. As our brain has a limited capacity to process the information of our surroundings in any given moment, it uses sets as a strategy to aid neural processing systems. With assessing the capability of shifting between task sets, it is possible to test cognitive flexibility and executive functions.

Mutation in afsR Leads to A-Factor Deficiency in Streptomyces griseus B2682.

Background/aims: A-factor, a γ-butyrolactone autoregulator, in Streptomyces griseus is involved in the regulation of differentiation and antibiotic production. Here we studied the S. griseus B2682-AFN (A-factor negative) bald mutant that harbors a nonsense mutation in the afsR gene encoding a pleiotropic regulator.

Validation of a simplex PCR assay enabling reliable identification of clinically relevant Candida species.

Background: Fungal bloodstream infections (BSI) may be serious and are associated with drastic rise in mortality and health care costs. Candida spp. are the predominant etiological agent of fungal sepsis.

The Wilms' tumour 1 gene as a factor in non-syndromic hypospadias: evidence and controversy.

Hypospadias is one of the most frequent congenital anomalies of the male external genitalia. Its pathogenesis is due to largely unknown or poorly understood genetic factors and is further complicated by environmental-intrauterine-risk factors. One of the genes currently in focus by molecular biologists and clinicians studying syndromic forms of hypospadias is the Wilms' tumour 1 (WT1) gene.

Negative affect is related to reduced differential neural responses to social and non-social stimuli in 5-to-8-month-old infants: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy-study.

Both social perception and temperament in young infants have been related to social functioning later in life. Previous functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) data (Lloyd-Fox et al., 2009) showed larger blood-oxygenation changes for social compared to non-social stimuli in the posterior temporal cortex of five-month-old infants.

Nucleotide Transition 390C-T in the Wilms' Tumor 1 Gene: A Risk Factor of Hypospadias?

Introduction: The gene Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) encodes a unique transcription factor. Its defects are known to cause a wide range of complex genitourinary malformations and may contribute to non-syndromic forms of hypospadias.

Materials And Methods: We performed WT1 mutation analysis and copy number analysis of WT1-interacting protein in 13 Hungarian patients diagnosed with isolated hypospadias.

Attachment quality is related to the synchrony of mother and infant monitoring patterns.

We investigated whether attachment quality is related to infant-mother dyadic patterns in monitoring animated social situations. Sixty 12-month-old infants and their mothers participated in an eye-tracking study in which they watched abstractly depicted distress interactions involving the separation of a "baby" and a "parent" character followed by reunion or further separation of the two characters. We measured infants' and their mothers' relative fixation duration to the two characters in the animations.

DNA Barcoding Coupled with High Resolution Melting Analysis Enables Rapid and Accurate Distinction of Aspergillus species.

We describe a high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis method that is rapid, reproducible, and able to identify reference strains and further 40 clinical isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus (14), A. lentulus (3), A. terreus (7), A.

Prevalence of toddler, child and adolescent overweight and obesity derived from primary care electronic medical records: an observational study.

Background: Population monitoring and surveillance of objectively measured child weight data in Canada is limited to national surveys with poor regional applicability, and no healthy weight data are available for children less than 2 years of age. We aimed to determine the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity using objective measures derived from primary care electronic medical records.

Methods: Observational data included all height and weight records for children less than 20 years of age, between 2004 and 2013, from 3 Ontario primary care research networks.