Challenges in Geographic Access to Specialized Pediatric Burn Care in the United States.

Background: Geographical access to pediatric burn centers in the US is not well described. Patients may receive care at American Burn Association (ABA)-verified burn centers, unverified burn centers, or non-burn centers. A recent study indicated that most US counties do not have an ABA-verified pediatric burn center within 100 miles.

Complete genome sequence of bacteriophage Godfather isolated from .

Microbacteriophage Godfather was collected from a soil sample in Stephenville, Texas. The 17,452-bp double-stranded genome contains 24 protein-coding genes. The genome shares >99% nucleotide sequence identity with cluster EE microbacteriophages Scamander, Danno, Kojax4, and Burgy.

A sensitivity analysis of methodological variables associated with microbiome measurements.

The experimental methods employed during metagenomic sequencing analyses of microbiome samples significantly impact the resulting data and typically vary substantially between laboratories. In this study, a full factorial experimental design was used to compare the effects of a select set of methodological choices (sample, operator, lot, extraction kit, variable region, and reference database) on the analysis of biologically diverse stool samples. For each parameter investigated, a main effect was calculated that allowed direct comparison both between methodological choices (bias effects) and between samples (real biological differences).

Detecting mtDNA effects with an Extended Pedigree Model: An Analysis of Statistical Power and Estimation Bias.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) plays a crucial role in numerous cellular processes, yet its impact on human behavior remains underexplored. The current paper proposes a novel covariance structure model with seven parameters to specifically isolate and quantify mtDNA effects on human behavior. This approach uses extended pedigrees to obtain estimates of mtDNA variance while controlling for other genetic and environmental influences.

NMR spectroscopy derived plasma biomarkers of inflammation in human populations: Influences of age, sex and adiposity.

Understanding the distribution and variation in inflammatory markers is crucial for advancing our knowledge of inflammatory processes and evaluating their clinical utility in diagnosing and monitoring acute and chronic disease. 1H NMR spectroscopy of blood plasma and serum was applied to measure a composite panel of inflammatory markers based on acute phase glycoprotein signals (GlycA and GlycB) and sub-regions of the lipoprotein derived Supramolecular Phospholipid Composite signals (SPC1, SPC2 and SPC3) to establish normal ranges in two healthy, predominantly white cohorts from Australia (n = 398) and Spain (n = 80; ages 20-70 years). GlycA, GlycB, SPC1 and SPC3 were not significantly impacted by age or sex, but SPC2 (an HDL-related biomarker) was significantly higher in women across all age ranges by an average of 33.