Adults With Intellectual Disabilities and Incontinence: Assessment and Toileting Issues.

Background: Urinary and bowel incontinence are more common in adults with intellectual disability (ID), compared to the general population. Little is known about their incontinence experiences and toileting issues. The aim was to learn about their experiences and toileting issues.

Urinary Tract Infections Amongst Adults With Intellectual Disabilities With Urinary Incontinence.

Background: Between 26% and 52% of adults with intellectual disability experience urinary incontinence (UI). Little is known about the implications of urinary tract infections (UTIs) for this group. The aim was to screen for UTIs in a sample of adults with intellectual disability and UI.

Interventions for preventing or controlling health care-associated infection among health care workers or patients within primary care facilities: A scoping review.

Background: This review aimed to synthesize the evidence on infection prevention and control interventions for the prevention of health care-associated infection among health care workers or patients within primary care facilities.

Methods: PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and CENTRAL databases were searched for quantitative studies published between 2011 and 2022. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment using Cochrane and Joanna Briggs tools, were conducted by independent review with additional sensitivity checking performed on study selection.

A requirement for astrocyte IPR2 signaling for whisker experience-dependent depression and homeostatic upregulation in the mouse barrel cortex.

Changes to sensory experience result in plasticity of synapses in the cortex. This experience-dependent plasticity (EDP) is a fundamental property of the brain. Yet, while much is known about neuronal roles in EDP, very little is known about the role of astrocytes.

The effectiveness of hand hygiene interventions for preventing community transmission or acquisition of novel coronavirus or influenza infections: a systematic review.

Background: Novel coronaviruses and influenza can cause infection, epidemics, and pandemics. Improving hand hygiene (HH) of the general public is recommended for preventing these infections. This systematic review examined the effectiveness of HH interventions for preventing transmission or acquisition of such infections in the community.

Biofilm-stimulated epithelium modulates the inflammatory responses in co-cultured immune cells.

The gingival epithelium is a physical and immunological barrier to the microbiota of the oral cavity, which interact through soluble mediators with the immune cells that patrol the tissue at the gingival epithelium. We sought to develop a three-dimensional gingivae-biofilm interface model using a commercially available gingival epithelium to study the tissue inflammatory response to oral biofilms associated with "health", "gingivitis" and "periodontitis". These biofilms were developed by sequential addition of microorganisms to mimic the formation of supra- and sub-gingival plaque in vivo.

Dietary nitrate supplementation alters the oral microbiome but does not improve the vascular responses to an acute nitrate dose.

Nitrate (NO) contained in food and beverages can transiently increase nitric oxide (NO) availability following a stepwise reduction to nitrite (NO) by commensal bacteria in the oral cavity. We tested the hypothesis that regular ingestion of dietary NO would influence the oral microbiome, the capacity to reduce NO to NO in saliva, and the vascular responses to an acute dose of NO. The abundance of bacterial species on the tongue, the availability of NO markers, and vascular function were assessed in 11 healthy males before and after 7 days of supplementation with NO-rich beetroot juice and a NO-depleted placebo.

Alopecia areata: A multifactorial autoimmune condition.

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that results in non-scarring hair loss, and it is clinically characterised by small patches of baldness on the scalp and/or around the body. It can later progress to total loss of scalp hair (Alopecia totalis) and/or total loss of all body hair (Alopecia universalis). The rapid rate of hair loss and disfiguration caused by the condition causes anxiety on patients and increases the risks of developing psychological and psychiatric complications.

Variability in nitrate-reducing oral bacteria and nitric oxide metabolites in biological fluids following dietary nitrate administration: An assessment of the critical difference.

There is conflicting evidence on whether dietary nitrate supplementation can improve exercise performance. This may arise from the complex nature of nitric oxide (NO) metabolism which causes substantial inter-individual variability, within-person biological variation (CV), and analytical imprecision (CV) in experimental endpoints. However, no study has quantified the CV and CV of NO metabolites or the factors that influence their production.

Discovery of MK-8318, a Potent and Selective CRTh2 Receptor Antagonist for the Treatment of Asthma.

A novel series of tricyclic tetrahydroquinolines were identified as potent and selective CRTh2 receptor antagonists. The agonism and antagonism switch was achieved through structure-based drug design (SBDD) using a CRTh2 receptor homologue model. The challenge of very low exposures in pharmacokinetic studies was overcome by exhaustive medicinal chemistry lead optimization through focused SAR studies on the tricyclic core.

Salivary nitrite production is elevated in individuals with a higher abundance of oral nitrate-reducing bacteria.

Nitric oxide (NO) can be generated endogenously via NO synthases or via the diet following the action of symbiotic nitrate-reducing bacteria in the oral cavity. Given the important role of NO in smooth muscle control there is an intriguing suggestion that cardiovascular homeostasis may be intertwined with the presence of these bacteria. Here, we measured the abundance of nitrate-reducing bacteria in the oral cavity of 25 healthy humans using 16S rRNA sequencing and observed, for 3.

Adult fly age estimations using cuticular hydrocarbons and Artificial Neural Networks in forensically important Calliphoridae species.

Blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are forensically important as they are known to be one of the first to colonise human remains. The larval stage is typically used to assist a forensic entomologists with adult flies rarely used as they are difficult to age because they remain morphologically similar once they have gone through the initial transformation upon hatching. However, being able to age them is of interest and importance within the field.

Locally Excited State-Charge Transfer State Coupled Dyes as Optically Responsive Neuron Firing Probes.

A selection of NIR-optically responsive neuron probes was produced comprising of a donor julolidyl group connected to a BODIPY core and several different styryl and vinylpyridinyl derived acceptor moieties. The strength of the donor-acceptor interaction was systematically modulated by altering the electron withdrawing nature of the aryl unit. The fluorescence quantum yield was observed to decrease as the electron withdrawing effect of the aryl subunit increased in line with changes of the Hammett parameter.

Implications of Antimicrobial Combinations in Complex Wound Biofilms Containing Fungi.

Diabetic foot ulcer treatment currently focuses on targeting bacterial biofilms, while dismissing fungi. To investigate this, we used an biofilm model containing bacteria and fungi, reflective of the wound environment, to test the impact of antimicrobials. Here we showed that while monotreatment approaches influenced biofilm composition, this had no discernible effect on overall quantity.

Development and characterisation of a novel three-dimensional inter-kingdom wound biofilm model.

Chronic diabetic foot ulcers are frequently colonised and infected by polymicrobial biofilms that ultimately prevent healing. This study aimed to create a novel in vitro inter-kingdom wound biofilm model on complex hydrogel-based cellulose substrata to test commonly used topical wound treatments. Inter-kingdom triadic biofilms composed of Candida albicans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus were shown to be quantitatively greater in this model compared to a simple substratum when assessed by conventional culture, metabolic dye and live dead qPCR.

Age estimation of Calliphora (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larvae using cuticular hydrocarbon analysis and Artificial Neural Networks.

Cuticular hydrocarbons were extracted daily from the larvae of two closely related blowflies Calliphora vicina and Calliphora vomitoria (Diptera: Calliphoridae). The hydrocarbons were then analysed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), with the aim of observing changes within their chemical profiles in order to determine the larval age. The hydrocarbons were examined daily for each species from 1day old larvae until pupariation.

One step closer to understanding the role of bacteria in diabetic foot ulcers: characterising the microbiome of ulcers.

Background: The aim of this study was to characterise the microbiome of new and recurrent diabetic foot ulcers using 16S amplicon sequencing (16S AS), allowing the identification of a wider range of bacterial species that may be important in the development of chronicity in these debilitating wounds. Twenty patients not receiving antibiotics for the past three months were selected, with swabs taken from each individual for culture and 16S AS. DNA was isolated using a combination of bead beating and kit extraction.

The Impact of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CA-UTI) in Critically Ill Children in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

 Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CA-UTIs) comprise a significant proportion of hospital-acquired infections. However, the impact of CA-UTIs on important outcome measures, such as length of stay (LOS) and hospital charges, has not been examined in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) setting.  Single-center, retrospective, case-matched, cohort study and financial analysis.

Astrocyte and Neuronal Plasticity in the Somatosensory System.

Changing the whisker complement on a rodent's snout can lead to two forms of experience-dependent plasticity (EDP) in the neurons of the barrel cortex, where whiskers are somatotopically represented. One form, termed coding plasticity, concerns changes in synaptic transmission and connectivity between neurons. This is thought to underlie learning and memory processes and so adaptation to a changing environment.

A Case-Control Study on the Impact of Ventilator-Associated Tracheobronchitis in the PICU.

Objectives: Hospital-acquired infections increase morbidity, mortality, and charges in the PICU. We implemented a quality improvement bundle directed at ventilator-associated pneumonia in our PICU in 2005. We observed an increase in ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis coincident with the near-elimination of ventilator-associated pneumonia.

P2-quinazolinones and bis-macrocycles as new templates for next-generation hepatitis C virus NS3/4a protease inhibitors: discovery of MK-2748 and MK-6325.

With the goal of identifying inhibitors of hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3/4a protease that are potent against a wide range of genotypes and clinically relevant mutant viruses, several subseries of macrocycles were investigated based on observations made during the discovery of MK-5172. Quinazolinone-containing macrocycles were identified as promising leads, and optimization for superior cross-genotype and mutant enzyme potency as well as rat liver and plasma concentrations following oral dosing, led to the development of MK-2748. Additional investigation of a series of bis-macrocycles containing a fused 18- and 15-membered ring system were also optimized for the same properties, leading to the discovery of MK-6325.

Overcoming mutagenicity and ion channel activity: optimization of selective spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Development of a series of highly kinome-selective spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitors with favorable druglike properties is described. Early leads were discovered through X-ray crystallographic analysis, and a systematic survey of cores within a selected chemical space focused on ligand binding efficiency. Attenuation of hERG ion channel activity inherent within the initial chemotype was guided through modulation of physicochemical properties including log D, PSA, and pKa.

Murine aortic smooth muscle cells acquire, though fail to present exogenous protein antigens on major histocompatibility complex class II molecules.

In the present study aortic murine smooth muscle cell (SMC) antigen presentation capacity was evaluated using the Eα-GFP/Y-Ae system to visualize antigen uptake through a GFP tag and tracking of Eα peptide/MHCII presentation using the Y-Ae Ab. Stimulation with IFN-γ (100 ng/mL) for 72 h caused a significant (P < 0.01) increase in the percentage of MHC class II positive SMCs, compared with unstimulated cells.