The importance of microbiology reference laboratories and adequate funding for infectious disease surveillance.

Microbiology reference laboratories perform a crucial role within public health systems. This role was especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this Viewpoint, we emphasise the importance of microbiology reference laboratories and highlight the types of digital data and expertise they provide, which benefit national and international public health.

Global impact of ten-valent and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines on invasive pneumococcal disease in all ages (the PSERENADE project): a global surveillance analysis.

Background: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) that are ten-valent (PCV10) and 13-valent (PCV13) became available in 2010. We evaluated their global impact on invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) incidence in all ages.

Methods: Serotype-specific IPD cases and population denominators were obtained directly from surveillance sites using PCV10 or PCV13 in their national immunisation programmes and with a primary series uptake of at least 50%.

Prevalence and risk factors of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing E. coli causing urinary tract infections in Iceland during 2012-2021.

Purpose: To investigate the association of potential risk factors for urinary tract infections (UTI) caused by E. coli producing ESBL vs. not producing ESBL in Iceland.

International circumpolar surveillance: update on the interlaboratory quality control program for , 2009 to 2020.

Unlabelled: The International Circumpolar Surveillance (ICS) program is a population-based surveillance network for invasive bacterial diseases throughout Arctic countries and territories. The ICS quality control program for serotyping and antimicrobial susceptibility testing has been ongoing since 1999. Current participating laboratories include the Provincial Laboratory for Public Health in Edmonton, Alberta; Laboratoire de santé publique du Québec in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec; the Centers for Disease Control's Arctic Investigations Program in Anchorage, Alaska; the Neisseria and Streptococcus Reference Laboratory at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark; the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Landspitali in Reykjavik, Iceland; and Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The importance of employee attitude in activity-based work environments and the potential role of personality.

In studies of activity-based work environments, employees' prior attitude towards activity-based work environments has been identified as a potentially essential antecedent to how they perceive the new work environment. Using longitudinal data-collected once before and three times after moving to an activity-based office-we seek to reaffirm the moderating effect of this prior attitude on employee perceptions of privacy and psychological ownership in a sample from two smaller organisations ( = 38 combined). We also explore if employee attitude towards an activity-based work environment is related to personality dimensions.

Increase in invasive M1 infections with close evolutionary genetic relationship, Iceland and Scotland, 2022 to 2023.

Group A isolates of the recently described M1 clade have emerged to cause human infections in several European countries and elsewhere. Full-genome sequence analysis of M1 isolates discovered a close genomic relationship between some isolates from Scotland and the majority of isolates from Iceland causing serious infections in 2022 and 2023. Phylogenetic analysis strongly suggests that an isolate from or related to Scotland was the precursor to an M1 variant responsible for almost all recent M1 infections in Iceland.

Nasopharyngeal competition dynamics are likely to be altered following vaccine introduction: bacteriocin prevalence and diversity among Icelandic and Kenyan pneumococci.

Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria to inhibit other bacteria in the surrounding environment. is a leading cause of disease worldwide and colonises the healthy human nasopharynx, where it competes for space and nutrients. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have reduced the incidence of disease, but they also restructure the bacterial population, and this restructuring likely alters the nasopharyngeal competition dynamics.

Increase in invasive group A streptococcal infections and emergence of novel, rapidly expanding sub-lineage of the virulent M1 clone, Denmark, 2023.

A highly virulent sub-lineage of the M1 clone has been rapidly expanding throughout Denmark since late 2022 and now accounts for 30% of the new invasive group A streptococcal infections. We aimed to investigate whether a shift in variant composition can account for the high incidence rates observed over winter 2022/23, or if these are better explained by the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on population immunity and carriage of group A .

Tough Times Require Tough People: The Benefits of Grit for Reducing Employee Burnout.

Organizations are facing a serious challenge with employee burnout, which leads to a loss of productivity and employee morale. Despite its importance, there is still a knowledge gap in understanding one of the key features of employee burnout, namely, the personal characteristics of employees. This research aims to determine if grit can alleviate employee burnout in organizations.

Determining SARS-CoV-2 non-infectivity state-A brief overview.

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has claimed over 6 million lives, and globally the pandemic rages with detrimental consequences, with the emergence of new more infectious and possibly virulent variants. A clinical obstacle in this battle has been to determine when an infected individual has reached a non-infectious state. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be transmitted under diverse circumstances, and various rules and regulations, along with different testing methods, have been applied in an attempt to confine the transmission.

The sequences of 150,119 genomes in the UK Biobank.

Detailed knowledge of how diversity in the sequence of the human genome affects phenotypic diversity depends on a comprehensive and reliable characterization of both sequences and phenotypic variation. Over the past decade, insights into this relationship have been obtained from whole-exome sequencing or whole-genome sequencing of large cohorts with rich phenotypic data. Here we describe the analysis of whole-genome sequencing of 150,119 individuals from the UK Biobank.

Acetylsalicylic acid use is associated with improved survival in bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia: A long-term nationwide study.

Background: Pneumonia is commonly caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) and associated with subsequent cardiovascular complications and increased mortality. Potential short-term survival benefits conferred by acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) use in pneumonia remain controversial, and long-term outcomes have not been studied.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between ASA use and survival for up to 1 year following bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia.

Longitudinal data on implementing an activity-based work environment.

Using a longitudinal field survey, we collected data on how implementing an activity-based work environment impacts employees across time [1]. The sample consisted of 100 employees in a government organization implementing an activity-based working environment, with each employee surveyed on three time-points. The sample included all employees affected by the implementation.

International links between Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine serotype 4 sequence type (ST) 801 in Northern European shipyard outbreaks of invasive pneumococcal disease.

Background: Pneumococcal disease outbreaks of vaccine preventable serotype 4 sequence type (ST)801 in shipyards have been reported in several countries. We aimed to use genomics to establish any international links between them.

Methods: Sequence data from ST801-related outbreak isolates from Norway (n = 17), Finland (n = 11) and Northern Ireland (n = 2) were combined with invasive pneumococcal disease surveillance from the respective countries, and ST801-related genomes from an international collection (n = 41 of > 40,000), totalling 106 genomes.

Detailed Multiplex Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Specific Antibodies in COVID-19 Disease.

A detailed understanding of the antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 is of high importance, especially with the emergence of novel vaccines. A multiplex-based assay, analyzing IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies against the receptor binding domain (RBD), spike 1 (S1), and nucleocapsid proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was set up. The multiplex-based analysis was calibrated against the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 assay on a Roche Cobas instrument, using positive and negative samples.

Molecular benchmarks of a SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.

A pressing concern in the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic and other viral outbreaks, is the extent to which the containment measures are halting the viral spread. A straightforward way to assess this is to tally the active cases and the recovered ones throughout the epidemic. Here, we show how epidemic control can be assessed with molecular information during a well characterized epidemic in Iceland.

Changes in the incidence of invasive disease due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis during the COVID-19 pandemic in 26 countries and territories in the Invasive Respiratory Infection Surveillance Initiative: a prospective analysis of surveillance data.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis, which are typically transmitted via respiratory droplets, are leading causes of invasive diseases, including bacteraemic pneumonia and meningitis, and of secondary infections subsequent to post-viral respiratory disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of invasive disease due to these pathogens during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: In this prospective analysis of surveillance data, laboratories in 26 countries and territories across six continents submitted data on cases of invasive disease due to S pneumoniae, H influenzae, and N meningitidis from Jan 1, 2018, to May, 31, 2020, as part of the Invasive Respiratory Infection Surveillance (IRIS) Initiative.

The impact and cost-effectiveness of introducing the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine into the paediatric immunisation programme in Iceland-A population-based time series analysis.

Introduction: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a cause of infections that range in severity from acute otitis media (AOM) to pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PHiD-CV10) was introduced into the Icelandic paediatric immunisation programme in 2011. The aim was to estimate the population impact and cost-effectiveness of PHiD-CV10 introduction.

Supervisors' Active-Empathetic Listening as an Important Antecedent of Work Engagement.

Social support from supervisors is a job resource that has been found to be an important antecedent to work engagement. However, there is a knowledge gap in understanding one of the key features of social support-i.e.