Development of qPCR methods to detect and quantify the novel Fusarium graminearum 3ANX chemotype variant.

The devastating plant pathogen Fusarium graminearum produces mycotoxins including the novel 3ANX toxin. To detect 3ANX-producing isolates, SYBR Green and locked nucleic acid probe assays were developed, targeting 3ANX Tri1 polymorphisms. Assays were efficient with R > 0.

Use of virtual reality to remotely train healthcare professionals in paediatric emergency tracheostomy skills: protocol for a multi-centre, non-inferiority educational interventional study with historical controls.

Background: The insertion of a tracheostomy is an established technique used to wean patients off ventilatory support, manage secretions in complex conditions, and as a potentially life-saving procedure to bypass upper airway obstruction. Life-threatening complications during aftercare are not uncommon and may be influenced by a lack of education of carers or healthcare providers of children and young people living with a tracheostomy. Education programmes designed and supported by the National Tracheostomy Safety Project are effective, but resources are not available to educate the workforce at scale.

Turner syndrome: fertility, familial clustering, and cancer risk.

Study Question: Is there an increased risk of reproductive or colon cancer in women with Turner syndrome and their family members?

Summary Answer: Our data suggest that there is an increased risk for sigmoid colon cancer in women with Turner syndrome and an increased prostate cancer risk in second- and third-degree male relatives.

What Is Known Already: Turner syndrome has been associated with lower risk of breast cancer, but increased risk of gonadoblastoma and colon cancer in some, but not all studies. There is also evidence for a genetic predisposition to sex chromosome aneuploidy, which may indicate a predisposition to Turner syndrome and the associated cancer risk in family members.