Population-based correlates of COVID-19 infection: An analysis from the DFW COVID-19 prevalence study.

Background: COVID-19 has resulted in over 1 million deaths in the U.S. as of June 2022, with continued surges after vaccine availability.

Structural determinants of health workforce burnout.

COVID-19 has exposed the grim underbelly of a fragmented, regionalized, costly, and inefficient approach to health service that is an engine for health workforce burnout. A matrix framework that defines the nature of system-level structural determinants of burnout and their relationship to service-level wellness can serve as a useful tool to understand workforce burnout causality, and guide meaningful intervention. This could inform a constructive system-level approach to health workforce burnout through the establishment of harmonized principle-based interventions across health sector jurisdictions and stakeholders.

Engineering cofactor supply and NADH-dependent D-galacturonic acid reductases for redox-balanced production of L-galactonate in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

D-Galacturonic acid (GalA) is the major constituent of pectin-rich biomass, an abundant and underutilized agricultural byproduct. By one reductive step catalyzed by GalA reductases, GalA is converted to the polyhydroxy acid L-galactonate (GalOA), the first intermediate of the fungal GalA catabolic pathway, which also has interesting properties for potential applications as an additive to nutrients and cosmetics. Previous attempts to establish the production of GalOA or the full GalA catabolic pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae proved challenging, presumably due to the inefficient supply of NADPH, the preferred cofactor of GalA reductases.

Enhancing the selectivity of optical sensors using synthetic transmembrane ion transporters.

Herein, we introduce a new method to optimize the properties of optical sensors, coined the transporter-liposome-fluorophore (TLF) approach. It is shown that this approach can greatly improve the selectivity of the sensor, increase the dynamic range and maintain the sensitivity of the original fluorophore.

Combinatorial recognition of clustered RNA elements by the multidomain RNA-binding protein IMP3.

How multidomain RNA-binding proteins recognize their specific target sequences, based on a combinatorial code, represents a fundamental unsolved question and has not been studied systematically so far. Here we focus on a prototypical multidomain RNA-binding protein, IMP3 (also called IGF2BP3), which contains six RNA-binding domains (RBDs): four KH and two RRM domains. We establish an integrative systematic strategy, combining single-domain-resolved SELEX-seq, motif-spacing analyses, in vivo iCLIP, functional validation assays, and structural biology.

First Use of a Serogroup B Meningococcal Vaccine in the US in Response to a University Outbreak.

Background: In 2013-2014, an outbreak of serogroup B meningococcal disease occurred among persons linked to a New Jersey university (University A). In the absence of a licensed serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccine in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration authorized use of an investigational MenB vaccine to control the outbreak. An investigation of the outbreak and response was undertaken to determine the population at risk and assess vaccination coverage.