A Distributed Whole Genome Sequencing Benchmark Study.

Population sequencing often requires collaboration across a distributed network of sequencing centers for the timely processing of thousands of samples. In such massive efforts, it is important that participating scientists can be confident that the accuracy of the sequence data produced is not affected by which center generates the data. A study was conducted across three established sequencing centers, located in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, constituting Canada's Genomics Enterprise (www.

Epidermal barrier treatments based on vernix caseosa.

Background/aims: Premature infants lack the vernix caseosa, have an incompetent stratum corneum (SC) barrier and are predisposed to infection. Use of topical agents to improve barrier function has had mixed outcomes. The aim was to determine the effect of vernix versus common barrier creams on the rate and quality of the epidermal barrier repair following controlled wounding.

Improved barrier function observed in cultured skin substitutes developed under anchored conditions.

Background/purpose: The current method of producing cultured skin substitutes (CSS) is focused on providing treatments for severe skin wounds/burns. We have developed a modified growth method to make them more suitable for in vitro product-testing/toxicity-testing purposes.

Method: CSS grown in Petri dishes were either transferred to Franz diffusion cells on day 5 (modified method) or left in the Petri dish (standard method) and maintained in these environments for the remainder of the growth phase.

Improvement of epidermal barrier properties in cultured skin substitutes after grafting onto athymic mice.

Barrier function in cultured skin substitutes (CSS) prepared from human cell sources was measured by noninvasive (surface hydration, transepidermal water loss) and invasive methods (water permeation, niacinamide flux) before and after grafting onto athymic mice. In vitro measurements were made on days 7 and 14. Although three of the four measures of barrier function improved markedly from day 7 to 14, the values obtained were still far from those obtained with native human skin controls.

Mobility of water in human stratum corneum.

At low water activities, stratum corneum (SC) water sorption resembles that in other keratinized tissues (i.e., wool and horn), whereas at high water activities, it resembles that in polymeric hydrogels.

Equilibrium water sorption in human stratum corneum.

The water content of the stratum corneum (SC) is a key factor in skin barrier homeostasis; it is intimately related to both skin condition and skin permeability. Studies of water uptake in excised human SC show strong similarities and allow characterization of the equilibrium SC water sorption isotherm in terms of widely used theoretical models. At low water activities, SC water sorption resembles that in other keratinized tissues (i.