Environmental concentrations of antibiotics induced polymyxin B tolerance in Aeromonas hydrophila.

Polymyxin B is one of the last lines of defense in infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Aeromonas hydrophila are important fish pathogens and the occurrence of polymyxin B-resistant A. hydrophila isolates is increasing.

CALR frameshift mutation detection in myeloproliferative neoplasms by microfluidic chip analysis.

Background: CALR mutation analysis is routinely used to diagnose BCR/ABL1-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms. The 2 most common CALR mutations are a 52-base pair (bp) deletion and a 5-bp insertion, which account for approximately 85% of cases.

Methods: To evaluate our new microfluidic chip assay, we tested CALR mutant and wild-type specimens that were previously analyzed using conventional methods at a reference laboratory.

Manual Dexterity in Open-Water Wetsuited Swimmers: A Cohort Crossover Study.

Purpose: Laboratory studies have demonstrated that manual dexterity decreases with increasing cold, which may adversely affect performance. Dexterity may be impaired by cooling of the hand, cooling of the lower motor neurons, and cognitive impairment. Wetsuits are commonly used in open-water swimming and are mandated in some situations.

Occupational exposures of firefighting and prostate cancer risk in the Norwegian Fire Departments Cohort.

Objectives: Excess incidence of prostate cancer (PC) is frequently observed among firefighters; however, the association with specific occupational exposures of firefighting, as well as the influence of a medical surveillance bias, remains unclear. Our aim was to study PC risk within a firefighter cohort, applying indicators of exposures.

Methods: We used indicators of various firefighting exposures to examine PC risk among men in the Norwegian Fire Departments Cohort (N=4251).

Structure-guided design of a peripherally restricted chemogenetic system.

Designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) are chemogenetic tools for remotely controlling cellular signaling, neural activity, behavior, and physiology. Using a structure-guided approach, we provide a peripherally restricted Gi-DREADD, hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor DREADD (HCAD), whose native receptor is minimally expressed in the brain, and a chemical actuator that does not cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This was accomplished by combined mutagenesis, analoging via an ultra-large make-on-demand library, structural determination of the designed DREADD receptor via cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM), and validation of HCAD function.