The impact of antimicrobial stewardship ward rounds on antimicrobial use and predictors of advice, uptake, and outcomes.

Objectives: To identify the impact of introducing antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) ward rounds.

Methods: We used an interrupted time-series approach to investigate the impact of implementing AMS ward rounds with in-person feedback from a multi-disciplinary team in Hospital-1, also comparing to Hospital-2 in the same city where AMS ward rounds were not yet implemented. Regression models were used to identify predictors of advice given, whether advice was followed, and associations between advice uptake and length of stay.

Multiple introductions of NRCS-A to the neonatal intensive care unit drive neonatal bloodstream infections: a case-control and environmental genomic survey.

The NRCS-A strain has emerged as a global cause of late-onset sepsis associated with outbreaks in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) whose transmission is incompletely understood. Demographic and clinical data for 45 neonates with and 90 with other coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) isolated from sterile sites were reviewed, and clinical significance was determined. isolated from 27 neonates at 2 hospitals between 2017 and 2022 underwent long-read (ONT) (=27) and short-read (Illumina) sequencing (=18).

Strontium isoscape of sub-Saharan Africa allows tracing origins of victims of the transatlantic slave trade.

Strontium isotope (Sr/Sr) analysis with reference to strontium isotope landscapes (Sr isoscapes) allows reconstructing mobility and migration in archaeology, ecology, and forensics. However, despite the vast potential of research involving Sr/Sr analysis particularly in Africa, Sr isoscapes remain unavailable for the largest parts of the continent. Here, we measure the Sr/Sr ratios in 778 environmental samples from 24 African countries and combine this data with published data to model a bioavailable Sr isoscape for sub-Saharan Africa using random forest regression.

Unweaving the Cognitive Map: A Personal History.

I have been incredibly fortunate to have worked in the field of hippocampal spatial coding during three of its most exciting decades, the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. During this time I had a ringside view of some of the foundational discoveries that were made which have transformed our understanding of the hippocampal system and its role in cognition (especially spatial cognition) and memory. These discoveries inspired me in my own lab over the years to pursue three broad lines of enquiry-3D spatial encoding, context and the sense of direction-which are outlined here.

A case of disseminated autochthonous Cladophialophora bantiana infection in a renal transplant recipient in the UK.

Disease associated with Cladophialophora bantiana infection is uncommon but can be characterised by severe and life-threatening CNS involvement. Diagnosis is challenging due to both the infection's rarity and non-specific clinical presentation, which can mimic malignancy and infection caused by more common organisms. Transmission can occur via inhalation or inoculation through compromised skin, followed by haematogenous dissemination to the brain and other organs.

Genomic epidemiology describes introduction and outbreaks of antifungal drug-resistant .

is a globally emerged fungal pathogen causing nosocomial invasive infections. Here, we use cutting-edge genomic approaches to elucidate the temporal and geographic epidemiology of drug-resistant within the UK. We analysed a representative sample of over 200 isolates from multiple UK hospitals to assess the number and timings of introductions and infer subsequent patterns of inter- and intra-hospital transmission of azole drug-resistant isolates.

The dorsal thalamic lateral geniculate nucleus is required for visual control of head direction cell firing direction in rats.

Head direction (HD) neurons, signalling facing direction, generate a signal that is primarily anchored to the outside world by visual inputs. We investigated the route for visual landmark information into the HD system in rats. There are two candidates: an evolutionarily older, larger subcortical retino-tectal pathway and a more recently evolved, smaller cortical retino-geniculo-striate pathway.

Concerted deletions eliminate a neutralizing supersite in SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.87.1 spike.

BA.2.87.

Retrospective analysis of hospital electronic health records reveals unseen cases of acute hepatitis with unknown aetiology in adults in Oxfordshire.

Background: An outbreak of acute severe hepatitis of unknown aetiology (AS-Hep-UA) in children during 2022 was subsequently linked to infections with adenovirus-associated virus 2 and other 'helper viruses', including human adenovirus. It is possible that evidence of such an outbreak could be identified at a population level based on routine data captured by electronic health records (EHR).

Methods: We used anonymised EHR to collate retrospective data for all emergency presentations to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the UK, between 2016-2022, for all ages from 18 months and older.

The laboratory investigation, management, and infection prevention and control of : a narrative review to inform the 2024 national guidance update in England.

The emergent fungal pathogen is increasingly recognised as an important cause of healthcare-associated infections globally. It is highly transmissible, adaptable, and persistent, resulting in an organism with significant outbreak potential that risks devastating consequences. Progress in the ability to identify in clinical specimens is encouraging, but laboratory diagnostic capacity and surveillance systems are lacking in many countries.

Mechanisms and implications of gamma oscillation plasticity.

A recent study by Hadler and colleagues uncovered a novel form of plasticity of gamma oscillations in an ex vivo hippocampal slice preparation which they term 'gamma potentiation'. We discuss the potential cellular mechanisms of this form of plasticity and its functional and translational implications.

Planning and licensing for marine aquaculture.

Marine aquaculture has the potential to increase its contribution to the global food system and provide valuable ecosystem services, but appropriate planning, licensing and regulation systems must be in place to enable sustainable development. At present, approaches vary considerably throughout the world, and several national and regional investigations have highlighted the need for reforms if marine aquaculture is to fulfil its potential. This article aims to map and evaluate the challenges of planning and licensing for growth of sustainable marine aquaculture.

The plasmidome associated with Gram-negative bloodstream infections: A large-scale observational study using complete plasmid assemblies.

Plasmids carry genes conferring antimicrobial resistance and other clinically important traits, and contribute to the rapid dissemination of such genes. Previous studies using complete plasmid assemblies, which are essential for reliable inference, have been small and/or limited to plasmids carrying antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). In this study, we sequenced 1,880 complete plasmids from 738 isolates from bloodstream infections in Oxfordshire, UK.

Unpacking the navigation toolbox: insights from comparative cognition.

The study of navigation is informed by ethological data from many species, laboratory investigation at behavioural and neurobiological levels, and computational modelling. However, the data are often species-specific, making it challenging to develop general models of how biology supports behaviour. Wiener .

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial.

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF.

The mosaic structure of the mammalian cognitive map.

The cognitive map, proposed by Tolman in the 1940s, is a hypothetical internal representation of space constructed by the brain to enable an animal to undertake flexible spatial behaviors such as navigation. The subsequent discovery of place cells in the hippocampus of rats suggested that such a map-like representation does exist, and also provided a tool with which to explore its properties. Single-neuron studies in rodents conducted in small singular spaces have suggested that the map is founded on a metric framework, preserving distances and directions in an abstract representational format.

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities.

Trees structure the Earth's most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge.

The immunobiology of herpes simplex virus encephalitis and post-viral autoimmunity.

Herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSE) is the leading cause of non-epidemic encephalitis in the developed world and, despite antiviral therapy, mortality and morbidity is high. The emergence of post-HSE autoimmune encephalitis reveals a new immunological paradigm in autoantibody-mediated disease. A reductionist evaluation of the immunobiological mechanisms in HSE is crucial to dissect the origins of post-viral autoimmunity and supply rational approaches to the selection of immunotherapeutics.

A configural context signal simultaneously but separably drives positioning and orientation of hippocampal place fields.

Effective self-localization requires that the brain can resolve ambiguities in incoming sensory information arising from self-similarities (symmetries) in the environment structure. We investigated how place cells use environmental cues to resolve the ambiguity of a rotationally symmetric environment, by recording from hippocampal CA1 in rats exploring a "2-box." This apparatus comprises two adjacent rectangular compartments, identical but with directionally opposed layouts (cue card at one end and central connecting doorway) and distinguished by their odor contexts (lemon vs.

The EPOS multi-disciplinary Data Portal for integrated access to solid Earth science datasets.

The European Plate Observing System (EPOS) is a long-term initiative aimed at integrating research infrastructures for solid Earth science in Europe. EPOS provides a sustainable, multidisciplinary user-oriented platform - the EPOS Data Portal - that facilitates data integration, access, use, and re-use, while adhering to the FAIR principles. The paper describes the key governance, community building, and technical aspects for achieving multidisciplinary data integration through the portal.

Knowledge sharing and discovery across heterogeneous research infrastructures.

Research infrastructures play an increasingly essential role in scientific research. They provide rich data sources for scientists, such as services and software packages, via catalog and virtual research environments. However, such research infrastructures are typically domain-specific and often not connected.

Convergence of location, direction, and theta in the rat anteroventral thalamic nucleus.

The thalamus and cortex are anatomically interconnected, with the thalamus providing integral information for cortical functions. The anteroventral thalamic nucleus (AV) is reciprocally connected to retrosplenial cortex (RSC). Two distinct AV subfields, dorsomedial (AVDM) and ventrolateral (AVVL), project differentially to granular vs.