Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution by a centralised pipeline and weekly focused sequencing, Austria, January 2021 to March 2023.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic was largely driven by genetic mutations of SARS-CoV-2, leading in some instances to enhanced infectiousness of the virus or its capacity to evade the host immune system. To closely monitor SARS-CoV-2 evolution and resulting variants at genomic-level, an innovative pipeline termed SARSeq was developed in Austria.AimWe discuss technical aspects of the SARSeq pipeline, describe its performance and present noteworthy results it enabled during the pandemic in Austria.

Preparing Planarian Cells for High-Content Fluorescence Microscopy Using RNA in Situ Hybridization and Immunocytochemistry.

High-content fluorescence microscopy combines the efficiency of high-throughput techniques with the ability to extract quantitative information from biological systems. Here we describe a modular collection of assays adapted for fixed planarian cells that enable multiplexed measurements of biomarkers in microwell plates. These include protocols for RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization (RNA FISH) as well as immunocytochemical protocols for quantifying proliferating cells targeting phosphorylated histone H3 as well as 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporated into the nuclear DNA.

Body size-dependent energy storage causes Kleiber's law scaling of the metabolic rate in planarians.

Kleiber's law, or the 3/4 -power law scaling of the metabolic rate with body mass, is considered one of the few quantitative laws in biology, yet its physiological basis remains unknown. Here, we report Kleiber's law scaling in the planarian . Its reversible and life history-independent changes in adult body mass over 3 orders of magnitude reveal that Kleiber's law does not emerge from the size-dependent decrease in cellular metabolic rate, but from a size-dependent increase in mass per cell.

[Specimen labelling: A complex process with a high error rate].

Unlabelled: Errors associated with the labelling of laboratory specimens repeatedly occur in health facilities and are often described in Critical Incident Reporting Systems (CIRS). The analysis of these error reports and the complexity of the specimen collection process pose major challenges for responsible health care professionals. To examine which errors occur in the labelling of laboratory specimens, and what leads to their detection, the error reports of 42 Swiss hospitals within the Critical Incident Reporting & Reaching NETwork (CIRRNET) were systematically analysed.

Chief physicians' attitudes towards early warning score systems in Switzerland: Results of a cross-sectional survey.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Early warning score systems (EWS-S) have been shown to be valuable tools to recognize otherwise unnoticed clinical deterioration (CDET) of patients. They have been associated with fewer unplanned transfers to the intensive care unit (UTICU) and lower in-hospital mortality. Little is known about their current usage in Switzerland and about the attitudes towards such tools among chief physicians.

Transcriptional regulators form diverse groups with context-dependent regulatory functions.

One of the most important questions in biology is how transcription factors (TFs) and cofactors control enhancer function and thus gene expression. Enhancer activation usually requires combinations of several TFs, indicating that TFs function synergistically and combinatorially. However, while TF binding has been extensively studied, little is known about how combinations of TFs and cofactors control enhancer function once they are bound.

Enhancer-core-promoter specificity separates developmental and housekeeping gene regulation.

Gene transcription in animals involves the assembly of RNA polymerase II at core promoters and its cell-type-specific activation by enhancers that can be located more distally. However, how ubiquitous expression of housekeeping genes is achieved has been less clear. In particular, it is unknown whether ubiquitously active enhancers exist and how developmental and housekeeping gene regulation is separated.

A vignette study to examine health care professionals' attitudes towards patient involvement in error prevention.

Background: Various authorities recommend the participation of patients in promoting patient safety, but little is known about health care professionals' (HCPs') attitudes towards patients' involvement in safety-related behaviours.

Objective: To investigate how HCPs evaluate patients' behaviours and HCP responses to patient involvement in the behaviour, relative to different aspects of the patient, the involved HCP and the potential error.

Design: Cross-sectional fractional factorial survey with seven factors embedded in two error scenarios (missed hand hygiene, medication error).

Effects of an educational patient safety campaign on patients' safety behaviours and adverse events.

Rationale, aims and objectives  The study aims to investigate the effects of a patient safety advisory on patients' risk perceptions, perceived behavioural control, performance of safety behaviours and experience of adverse incidents. Method  Quasi-experimental intervention study with non-equivalent group comparison was used. Patients admitted to the surgical department of a Swiss large non-university hospital were included.

'New perspectives on well-known issues': patients' experiences and perceptions of safety in Swiss hospitals.

Patients' reports of safety-related events and perceptions of safety can be a valuable source for hospitals. Patients of eight acute care hospitals in Switzerland were surveyed for safety-related events and concerns for safety. In workshops with hospitals areas for improvement were analyzed and priorities for change identified.

Patients' and healthcare workers' perceptions of a patient safety advisory.

Objective: To assess patients' and healthcare workers' (hcw) attitudes and experiences with a patient safety advisory, to investigate predictors for patients' safety-related behaviors and determinants for staff support for the advisory.

Design: Cross-sectional surveys of patients (n= 1053) and hcw (n= 275).

Setting: Three Swiss hospitals.