A baseline patch test series for New Zealand.

Background: Patch testing is the gold standard diagnostic test for allergic contact dermatitis and needs to be relevant to the region and the population being tested. The aim of this study was to develop a specific New Zealand baseline series (NZBS).

Method: We performed a retrospective case note review of patients attending four regional patch test centres between 2008 and 2020.

Sustained fitness gains and variability in fitness trajectories in the long-term evolution experiment with Escherichia coli.

Many populations live in environments subject to frequent biotic and abiotic changes. Nonetheless, it is interesting to ask whether an evolving population's mean fitness can increase indefinitely, and potentially without any limit, even in a constant environment. A recent study showed that fitness trajectories of Escherichia coli populations over 50 000 generations were better described by a power-law model than by a hyperbolic model.