Assessing the Impact of the Leader Peptide in Protease Inhibition by the Microviridin Family of RiPPs.

Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are a growing class of natural products biosynthesized from a genetically encoded precursor peptide. RiPPs have attracted attention for the ability to generate and screen libraries of these compounds for useful biological activities. To facilitate this screening, it is useful to be able to do so with the leader peptide still present.

Screening for diseases versus screening for health status.

Disease screening aims to identify individuals at risk for specific conditions. It is expected that an early detection allows for early intervention, with improved outcomes. However, large scale screening programs may not only have implications on resources, patient outcomes may not improve but may worsen if screening for the targeted disease has not been carefully designed and executed.

Risk related to gestational weight loss among individuals with obesity: a population-based cohort study.

Objective: There is no clear evidence on the risk of gestational weight loss (GWL) for individuals with obesity. Our study aimed to assess the association between GWL and adverse perinatal outcomes among individuals with obesity.

Methods: This population-based retrospective cohort study examined individuals with prepregnancy BMI ≥ 30 kg/m who had a singleton pregnancy, using Ontario, Canada, birth registry data from 2012 to 2020.

Genome sequencing and mining expand the naturalproduct repertoire of Lysobacter.

Background: Compounds produced by living organisms serve as an important source of inspiration for the development of pharmaceuticals. A potential source of new natural products are bacteria from a genus with species that are known to produce bioactive natural products, but are relatively understudied. is a genus of bacteria that have attracted attention as possible biocontrol agents and are known to produce antibiotic natural products.

Association between prenatal air pollutant exposure and autism spectrum disorders in young children: A matched case-control study in Canada.

The direction and magnitude of association between maternal exposure to ambient air pollutants across gestational windows and offspring risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) remains unclear. We sought to evaluate the time-varying effects of prenatal air pollutant exposure on ASD. We conducted a matched case-control study of singleton term children born in Ontario, Canada from 1-Apr-2012 to 31-Dec-2016.

CAManim: Animating end-to-end network activation maps.

Deep neural networks have been widely adopted in numerous domains due to their high performance and accessibility to developers and application-specific end-users. Fundamental to image-based applications is the development of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), which possess the ability to automatically extract features from data. However, comprehending these complex models and their learned representations, which typically comprise millions of parameters and numerous layers, remains a challenge for both developers and end-users.

Temporal Trends in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Associated Risk Factors in Ontario, Canada, 2012-2020: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Objectives: The prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been increasing globally over recent decades; however, underlying reasons for the increase remain unclear. We analyzed trends in GDM rates and evaluated risk factors associated with the observed trends in Ontario, Canada.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study using the Better Outcomes Registry and Network Ontario, linked with the Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database.

Changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on postpartum screening results in Ontario, Canada: The healthy babies healthy children screening tool.

Background: Research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mothers/childbearing parents has mainly been cross-sectional and focused on psychological symptoms. This study examined the impact on function using ongoing, systematic screening of a representative Ontario sample.

Methods: An interrupted time series analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from a province-wide screening program using the Healthy Babies Healthy Children (HBHC) tool assessed changes associated with the pandemic at the time of postpartum discharge from hospital.

Outlier analysis for accelerating clinical discovery: An augmented intelligence framework and a systematic review.

Clinical discoveries largely depend on dedicated clinicians and scientists to identify and pursue unique and unusual clinical encounters with patients and communicate these through case reports and case series. This process has remained essentially unchanged throughout the history of modern medicine. However, these traditional methods are inefficient, especially considering the modern-day availability of health-related data and the sophistication of computer processing.

Infant Infections Following Cesarean Delivery on Maternal Request: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Objectives: Investigations about cesarean delivery (CD) on maternal request (CDMR) and infant infection risk frequently rely on administrative data with poorly defined indications for CD. We sought to determine the association between CDMR and infant infection using an intent-to-treat approach.

Methods: This was a population-based cohort study of low-risk singleton pregnancies with a term live birth in Ontario, Canada between April 2012 and March 2018.

Associations of neighborhood greenspace, and active living environments with autism spectrum disorders: A matched case-control study in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Increasing evidence links early life residential exposure to natural urban environmental attributes and positive health outcomes in children. However, few studies have focused on their protective effects on the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of neighborhood greenspace, and active living environments during pregnancy with ASD in young children (≤6 years).

Ultrasonographic Fetal Nuchal Translucency Measurements and Cytogenetic Outcomes.

Importance: Ultrasonographic measurement of fetal nuchal translucency is used in prenatal screening for trisomies 21 and 18 and other conditions. A cutoff of 3.5 mm or greater is commonly used to offer follow-up investigations, such as prenatal cell-free DNA (cfDNA) screening or cytogenetic testing.

The impact of isolated obesity compared with obesity and other risk factors on risk of stillbirth: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Maternal obesity is associated with stillbirth, but uncertainty persists around the effects of higher obesity classes. We sought to compare the risk of stillbirth associated with maternal obesity alone versus maternal obesity and additional or undiagnosed factors contributing to high-risk pregnancy.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Better Outcomes Registry and Network (BORN) for singleton hospital births in Ontario between 2012 and 2018.

The Transformative Potential of AI in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping diverse domains of medicine. Recent progress, catalyzed by computing advancements, has seen commensurate adoption of AI technologies within obstetrics and gynaecology. We explore the use and potential of AI in three focus areas: predictive modelling for pregnancy complications, Deep learning-based image interpretation for precise diagnoses, and large language models enabling intelligent health care assistants.

AlphaFold Accurately Predicts the Structure of Ribosomally Synthesized and Post-Translationally Modified Peptide Biosynthetic Enzymes.

Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are a growing class of natural products biosynthesized from a genetically encoded precursor peptide. The enzymes that install the post-translational modifications on these peptides have the potential to be useful catalysts in the production of natural-product-like compounds and can install non-proteogenic amino acids in peptides and proteins. However, engineering these enzymes has been somewhat limited, due in part to limited structural information on enzymes in the same families that nonetheless exhibit different substrate selectivities.

Pregnancy, fetal, and neonatal outcomes after a first booster dose of covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy in Ontario, Canada: population based, retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To assess risk of adverse pregnancy, fetal, and neonatal outcomes after a third dose (first booster dose) of covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy among individuals who had completed both doses of primary covid-19 vaccine series before pregnancy.

Design: Population based, retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Ontario, Canada, from 20 December 2021 to 31 August 2022.

Temporal trends and determinants of COVID-19 vaccine series initiation after recent pregnancy.

During the rapid deployment of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, safety concerns may have led some pregnant individuals to postpone vaccination until after giving birth. This study aimed to describe temporal patterns and factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine series initiation after recent pregnancy in Ontario, Canada. Using the provincial birth registry linked with the COVID-19 vaccine database, we identified all individuals who gave birth between January 1 and December 31, 2021, and had not yet been vaccinated by the end of pregnancy, and followed them to June 30, 2022 (follow-up ranged from 6 to 18 months).

Persisting risk factors for preeclampsia among high-risk pregnancies already using prophylactic aspirin: a multi-country retrospective investigation.

Background: Low-dose aspirin is recommended for pregnant individuals at high-risk of developing preeclampsia, but less is known about those that develop preeclampsia even while using prophylactic aspirin for preeclampsia prevention as the best course of treatment.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate the risk factors with the highest risk of developing preeclampsia among pregnant individuals already using aspirin from high-risk obstetrical centers across five countries.

Design: This is a secondary analysis of pregnant individuals from the Folic Acid Clinical Trial (FACT) who were using prophylactic aspirin before 16 weeks gestation.

Augmented Intelligence for Clinical Discovery in Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Using Outlier Analysis.

Objectives Clinical discoveries are heralded by observing unique and unusual clinical cases. The effort of identifying such cases rests on the shoulders of busy clinicians. We assess the feasibility and applicability of an augmented intelligence framework to accelerate the rate of clinical discovery in preeclampsia and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy-an area that has seen little change in its clinical management.

Do Case Reports and Case Series Generate Clinical Discoveries About Preeclampsia? A Systematic Review.

Background: Preeclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. The management of preeclampsia has not changed much in more than two decades, and its aetiology is still not fully understood. Case reports and case series have traditionally been used to communicate new knowledge about existing conditions.

Temporal trends and determinants of COVID-19 vaccine coverage and series initiation during pregnancy in Ontario, Canada, December 2020 to December 2021: A population-based retrospective cohort study.

Background: Population-based COVID-19 vaccine coverage estimates among pregnant individuals are limited. We assessed temporal patterns in vaccine coverage (≥1 dose before or during pregnancy) and evaluated factors associated with vaccine series initiation (receiving dose 1 during pregnancy) in Ontario, Canada.

Methods: We linked the provincial birth registry with COVID-19 vaccination records from December 14, 2020 to December 31, 2021 and assessed coverage rates among all pregnant individuals by month, age, and neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics.