Key clinical findings from the IMPROVE-UK quality improvement projects: an overview.

Introduction: Survival from ovarian cancer in the UK is poor compared with international comparators. The Ovarian Cancer Audit Feasibility Pilot demonstrated variation in 1-year and 5-year survival across the UK as well as significant variation in treatment rates. In 2020, IMPROVE-UK was established as the first major programme to address inequalities in ovarian cancer management and survival across the UK, to develop a legacy of best practice sharing across the country and to establish and evaluate quality improvement projects that could drive care at scale.

Control of neurovascular coupling by ATP-sensitive potassium channels.

Regional blood flow within the brain is tightly coupled to regional neuronal activity, a process known as neurovascular coupling (NVC). In this study, we demonstrate the striking role of SUR2- and Kir6.1-dependent ATP-sensitive potassium (K) channels in control of NVC in the sensory cortex of conscious mice, in response to mechanical stimuli.

Toxin and capsule production by Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis influence pathogenicity in macrophages and animal models.

Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis (Bcbva) causes anthrax-like disease in animals, particularly in the non-human primates and great apes of West and Central Africa. Genomic analyses revealed Bcbva as a member of the B. cereus species that carries two plasmids, pBCXO1 and pBCXO2, which have high sequence homology to the B.

Early changes in spatiotemporal dynamics of remapped circuits and global networks predict functional recovery after stroke in mice.

Significance: Stroke is the leading cause of chronic disability in the United States. How stroke size affects post-stroke repair and recovery is poorly understood.

Aim: We aim to investigate the effects of stroke size on early repair patterns and determine how early changes in neuronal circuits and networks predict functional outcomes after stroke.

Melioidosis in goats at a single Australian farm was caused by multiple diverse lineages of Burkholderia pseudomallei present in soil.

Background: Burkholderia pseudomallei, causative agent of melioidosis, is a One Health concern as it is acquired directly from soil and water and causes disease in humans and agricultural and wild animals. We examined B. pseudomallei in soil and goats at a single farm in the Northern Territory of Australia where >30 goats acquired melioidosis over nine years.