Improved resolution of avian influenza virus using Oxford Nanopore R10 sequencing chemistry.

Unlabelled: Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses continue to pose global risks to One Health, including agriculture, public, and animal health. Rapid and accurate genomic surveillance is critical for monitoring viral mutations, tracing transmission, and guiding interventions in near real-time. Oxford Nanopore sequencing holds promise for real-time influenza genotyping, but data quality from R9 chemistry has limited its adoption due to challenges resolving low-complexity regions such as the biologically critical hemagglutinin cleavage site, a homopolymer of basic amino acids that distinguish highly pathogenic strains.

Transformer model generated bacteriophage genomes are compositionally distinct from natural sequences.

Novel applications of language models in genomics promise to have a large impact on the field. The megaDNA model is the first publicly available generative model for creating synthetic viral genomes. To evaluate megaDNA's ability to recapitulate the nonrandom genome composition of viruses and assess whether synthetic genomes can be algorithmically detected, compositional metrics for 4969 natural bacteriophage genomes and 1002 synthetic bacteriophage genomes were compared.

Engaging athletes as research participants. A document analysis of published sport science literature.

Sport science practitioners utilise findings from peer reviewed research to inform practice. Fewer studies are conducted with high performance athletes, however, than those involving recreationally active participants. Noting that research findings from recreational athletes may not be generalisable to the elite, there is a need to engage the latter cohort in research with better potential to influence health and performance.

Trial of Early Minimally Invasive Removal of Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

Background: Trials of surgical evacuation of supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhages have generally shown no functional benefit. Whether early minimally invasive surgical removal would result in better outcomes than medical management is not known.

Methods: In this multicenter, randomized trial involving patients with an acute intracerebral hemorrhage, we assessed surgical removal of the hematoma as compared with medical management.

The UK research ethics committee: Making the case for better serving the underserved - can we do better?

Research ethics committees exist internationally to review research proposals to protect the rights and safety of human participants and researchers involved in research. These committees recruit a panel of expert and lay members, mostly on an unpaid voluntary basis, with relevant scientific experience to appraise these studies. Contemporary data in the UK show that women and people over 55 years old are overrepresented in these committee panels in the Health Research Authority, suggesting that there are potential barriers to inclusivity and participation.