Facilitating accessible, rapid, and appropriate processing of ancient metagenomic data with AMDirT.

Background: Access to sample-level metadata is important when selecting public metagenomic sequencing datasets for reuse in new biological analyses. The Standards, Precautions, and Advances in Ancient Metagenomics community (SPAAM, https://spaam-community.org) has previously published AncientMetagenomeDir, a collection of curated and standardised sample metadata tables for metagenomic and microbial genome datasets generated from ancient samples.

An 8000 years old genome reveals the Neolithic origin of the zoonosis Brucella melitensis.

Brucella melitensis is a major livestock bacterial pathogen and zoonosis, causing disease and infection-related abortions in small ruminants and humans. A considerable burden to animal-based economies today, the presence of Brucella in Neolithic pastoral communities has been hypothesised but we lack direct genomic evidence thus far. We report a 3.

Talking with the experts: evaluation of an online discussion forum involving mental health service users in the education of mental health nursing students.

The Chief Nursing Officer's recent review of mental health nursing called for the widespread involvement of mental health service users in the education of mental health nurses. This paper describes an innovative project that involved mental health service users in the education of pre-registration mental health nursing students through an online discussion forum that blended e-learning with enquiry-based learning (EBL). The findings of an evaluation are presented, drawing on quantitative and qualitative methods.

Seasickness in totally-enclosed motor-propelled survival craft: five offshore oil rig disasters.

Five mobile offshore drilling unit disasters--Alexander L. Kielland, Ocean Ranger, Vinland, Ocean Odyssey, and Rowan Gorilla I--were studied to assess the degree to which seasickness occurs and endangers the lives of occupants of totally-enclosed motor-propelled survival craft (TEMPSC). Thousands of other peacetime marine incidents were reviewed and a literature search was conducted to assess the same seasickness problem.

Immersion suit insulation: the effect of dampening on survival estimates.

Immersion suit leakage values were obtained from realistic testing of helicopter passenger immersion suits using eight subjects. Simulated helicopter underwater escape resulted in mean leakages of 198 +/- 103, 283 +/- 127, 203 +/- 179, and 45.7 +/- 31.

Application of weight-height relations for assessing adiposity in a United Kingdom offshore workforce.

Weight (W), height (H), and skinfold thicknesses at biceps, triceps, subscapular, and suprailiac sites were measured in a United Kingdom offshore workforce. Weight and height were used to calculate W/H relations. The percentage body fat was estimated from skinfold thicknesses and the correlations of adiposity with the various W/H relations were evaluated.

Percentage body fat and prevalence of obesity in a UK offshore population.

1. Body-weight, body height and skinfold measurements were taken in 419 adult males working in the UK offshore oil industry. Percentage body fat was estimated from skinfold thicknesses and the Quetelet index (weight:height) determined.

Tuberculosis in pregnancy with fatal congenital infection.

An unusual case of miliary tuberculosis which presented as fever and a tubo-ovarian abscess in a postpartum patient is described. Fatal congenital tuberculosis was also diagnosed in the mother's premature infant. The difficulties encountered in diagnosing the tuberculosis in these patients are summarized, and the need for early recognition and therapy is emphasized.

The thermal protection offered by lightweight survival systems.

The thermal protection offered by lightweight survival systems was evaluated in a mountain environment. When subjects were exposed for 3 h in bags manufactured from polythene, in metallised plastic sheeting, and in a casualty bag incorporating MPS, no significant differences in thermal benefit were found. The protection offered by each system was comparable and the practical experience gained in the field would suggest that the simple polythene bag was superior to the MPS bag when one considers strength, durability, multiplicity of roles, and cheapness.

Cooling responses in shivering and non-shivering dogs during induced hypothermia.

1. Hypothermia to a temperature of 30 degrees C was induced in both shivering and non-shivering groups of dogs. 2.

The thermal properties of a survival bag incorporating metallised plastic sheeting.

Five male subjects were exposed to a cooling environment equivalent to 1082 W/M2. The subjects wore a clothing assembly with insulation properties of 1.55 clo.

Postnatal acquisition of herpes simplex virus by the newborn infant: a review of the literature.

The literature relating to the hazards of herpes simplex virus acquired by newborn infants after birth is reviewed. A total of 24 infants has been reported who have acquired the infection in this manner; 66% of these infants expired. Transmission of virus from mothers, adults (including personnel) other than the mother, and other infants has been reported.

Systemic group D streptococcal infection in newborn infants.

Thirteen cases of group D streptococcal neonatal sepsis and/or meningitis were identified at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital from 1970 to 1976. Ages at onset of disease ranged from 1 to 25 days. The most frequent symptoms were fever (five cases), lethargy (five cases), and respiratory difficulty (four cases).

Accidental hypothermia and rewarming in dogs.

1. Twenty lightly anaesthetized dogs were cooled to 29 degrees C by cold-water immersion. Ventilation was spontaneous and the animals were allowed to shiver freely.

Transmission of herpes-simplex virus type 1 in a nursery for the newborn. Identification of viral isolates by D.N.A. "fingerprinting".

The occurrence of herpes-simplex-virus type-1 infections in two newborn infants in a nursery within a one-month period suggested the possibility of transmission in the nursery. One infant may have been infected by his father, who had active herpes labialis at the time of the child's birth. The source of the second infant's infection was not apparent.

Prune-belly syndrome associated with Potter (renal nonfunction) syndrome.

Three fatal cases of prune-belly syndrome were associated with nonrenal features of Potter syndrome. The abdominal muscle hypoplasia is thought to be a result of large kidneys compression the developing abdominal musculature during a critical phase of fetal development. Thus, Potter syndrome and prune-belly syndrome may coexist when nonfunctioning large kidneys result in oligohydramnios.