Background: Optimum efficiency and responsiveness to callers of mental health helplines can only be achieved if call priority is accurately identified. Currently, call operators making a triage assessment rely heavily on their clinical judgment and experience. Due to the significant morbidity and mortality associated with mental illness, there is an urgent need to identify callers to helplines who have a high level of distress and need to be seen by a clinician who can offer interventions for treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLocal adaptation may facilitate range expansion during invasions, but the mechanisms promoting destructive invasions remain unclear. Cheatgrass (), native to Eurasia and Africa, has invaded globally, with particularly severe impacts in western North America. We sequenced 307 genotypes and conducted controlled experiments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntracellular plant defense against pathogens is mediated by a class of disease resistance genes known as NB-LRRs or NLRs (R genes). Many of the diseases these genes protect against are more prevalent in regions of higher rainfall, which provide better growth conditions for the pathogens. As such, we expect a higher selective pressure for the maintenance and proliferation of R genes in plants adapted to wetter conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Microbial communities living on plant leaves can positively or negatively influence plant health and, by extension, can impact whole ecosystems. Most research into the leaf microbiome consists of snapshots, and little is known about how microbial communities change over time. Weather and host physiological characteristics change over time and are often collinear with other time-varying factors, such as substrate availability, making it difficult to separate the factors driving microbial community change.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman activities are accelerating rates of biological invasions and climate-driven range expansions globally, yet we understand little of how genomic processes facilitate the invasion process. Although most of the literature has focused on underlying phenotypic correlates of invasiveness, advances in genomic technologies are showing a strong link between genomic variation and invasion success. Here, we consider the ability of genomic tools and technologies to (i) inform mechanistic understanding of biological invasions and (ii) solve real-world issues in predicting and managing biological invasions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Natural Language Processing (NLP) is widely used to extract clinical insights from Electronic Health Records (EHRs). However, the lack of annotated data, automated tools, and other challenges hinder the full utilisation of NLP for EHRs. Various Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL) and NLP techniques are studied and compared to understand the limitations and opportunities in this space comprehensively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOn September 1, 2022, CDC recommended an updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccine booster to help restore waning protection conferred by previous vaccination and broaden protection against emerging variants for persons aged ≥12 years (subsequently extended to persons aged ≥6 months).* To assess the impact of original (monovalent) COVID-19 vaccines and bivalent boosters, case and mortality rate ratios (RRs) were estimated comparing unvaccinated and vaccinated persons aged ≥12 years by overall receipt of and by time since booster vaccination (monovalent or bivalent) during Delta variant and Omicron sublineage (BA.1, BA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated invasive group A Streptococcus epidemiology in Idaho, USA, during 2008-2019 using surveillance data, medical record review, and emm (M protein gene) typing results. Incidence increased from 1.04 to 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious reports of COVID-19 case, hospitalization, and death rates by vaccination status indicate that vaccine protection against infection, as well as serious COVID-19 illness for some groups, declined with the emergence of the B.1.617.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: With the emergence of the delta variant, the United States experienced a rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in 2021. We estimated the risk of breakthrough infection and death by month of vaccination as a proxy for waning immunity during a period of delta variant predominance.
Methods: Covid-19 case and death data from 15 U.
De novo domestication is an exciting option for increasing species diversity and ecosystem service functionality of agricultural landscapes. Genomic selection (GS), the application of genomic markers to predict phenotypic traits in a breeding population, offers the possibility of rapid genetic improvement, making GS especially attractive for modifying traits of long-lived species. However, for some wild species just entering the domestication pipeline, especially those with large and complex genomes, a lack of funding and/or prior genome characterization, GS is often out of reach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper describes the development and implementation of a peer-support program Always There in a large public mental health service in Queensland, Australia. The program is modelled on Scott's three tier model of peer support, with trained responders providing emotional support to staff following a traumatic adverse event, or when experiencing acute or cumulative stress. Support is provided in complete confidentiality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA cluster of Achromobacter xylosoxidans, an emerging multidrug-resistant aquaphilic bacterium, was identified in 3 long-term-care facility residents. As Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens were also present in clinical specimens, we conducted an investigation of all 3 water-associated species and identified P. aerguniosa and S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlaine County, Idaho, a rural area with a renowned resort, experienced a COVID-19 outbreak early in the pandemic. We undertook an epidemiologic investigation to describe the outbreak and guide public health action. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified from reports of SARS-CoV-2-positive laboratory test results to South Central Public Health District.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF