Stored elastic bending tension as a mediator of embryonic body folding.

During development, amniote vertebrate embryos transform from a flat sheet into a three-dimensional cylindrical form through ventral folding of the lateral sides of the sheet (the lateral plate [LP]) and their fusion in the ventral midline. Using a chick embryo slice system, we find that the flat stage is actually a poised balance of opposing dorsal and ventral elastic bending tensions. An intact extracellular matrix (ECM) is required for generating tension, as localized digestion of ECM dissipates tension, while removal of endoderm or ectoderm layers has no significant effect.

Comparison of Daily Versus Admission and Discharge Surveillance Cultures for Multidrug-Resistant Organism Detection in an Intensive Care Unit.

Background: Admission and discharge screening of patients for asymptomatic gut colonization with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) is a common approach to active surveillance, but its sensitivity for detecting colonization is uncertain.

Methods: Daily rectal or fecal swab samples and associated clinical data were collected over 12 months from patients in one 25-bed medical intensive care unit (ICU) in Chicago, IL and tested for the following MDROs: vancomycin-resistant enterococci; third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales, including extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales; and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales. MDRO detection by (1) admission and discharge surveillance cultures or (2) clinical cultures were compared to daily surveillance cultures.

Longitudinal genomic surveillance of carriage and transmission of Clostridioides difficile in an intensive care unit.

Despite enhanced infection prevention efforts, Clostridioides difficile remains the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections in the United States. Current prevention strategies are limited by their failure to account for patients who carry C. difficile asymptomatically, who may act as hidden reservoirs transmitting infections to other patients.

Impact of measurement and feedback on chlorhexidine gluconate bathing among intensive care unit patients: A multicenter study.

Objective: To assess whether measurement and feedback of chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) skin concentrations can improve CHG bathing practice across multiple intensive care units (ICUs).

Design: A before-and-after quality improvement study measuring patient CHG skin concentrations during 6 point-prevalence surveys (3 surveys each during baseline and intervention periods).

Setting: The study was conducted across 7 geographically diverse ICUs with routine CHG bathing.

An atypical basement membrane forms a midline barrier during left-right asymmetric gut development in the chicken embryo.

Correct intestinal morphogenesis depends on the early embryonic process of gut rotation, an evolutionarily conserved program in which a straight gut tube elongates and forms into its first loops. However, the gut tube requires guidance to loop in a reproducible manner. The dorsal mesentery (DM) connects the gut tube to the body and directs the lengthening gut into stereotypical loops via left-right (LR) asymmetric cellular and extracellular behavior.