Accelerating surveillance and research of antimicrobial resistance - an online repository for sharing of antimicrobial susceptibility data associated with whole-genome sequences.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an emerging threat to modern medicine. Improved diagnostics and surveillance of resistant bacteria require the development of next-generation analysis tools and collaboration between international partners. Here, we present the 'AMR Data Hub', an online infrastructure for storage and sharing of structured phenotypic AMR data linked to bacterial whole-genome sequences.

The European Nucleotide Archive in 2018.

The European Nucleotide Archive (ENA; https://www.ebi.ac.

The European Nucleotide Archive in 2017.

For 35 years the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA; https://www.ebi.ac.

European Nucleotide Archive in 2016.

The European Nucleotide Archive (ENA; http://www.ebi.ac.

The Status of Honey Bee Health in Italy: Results from the Nationwide Bee Monitoring Network.

In Italy a nation-wide monitoring network was established in 2009 in response to significant honey bee colony mortality reported during 2008. The network comprised of approximately 100 apiaries located across Italy. Colonies were sampled four times per year, in order to assess the health status and to collect samples for pathogen, chemical and pollen analyses.

Non-sclerotic bone involvement in Erdheim-Chester: PET/CT and MRI findings in a 15-year-old boy.

Erdheim-Chester disease is a rare form of non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis with multi-organ infiltration that occurs mainly in adults. Pediatric cases are extremely rare. Here we report a case of multisystemic Erdheim-Chester disease in a 15-year-old boy with central nervous system involvement and skeletal findings.

Biocuration of functional annotation at the European nucleotide archive.

The European Nucleotide Archive (ENA; http://www.ebi.ac.

Content discovery and retrieval services at the European Nucleotide Archive.

The European Nucleotide Archive (ENA; http://www.ebi.ac.

A new system for profiling drug-induced calcium signal perturbation in human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

The emergence of human stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (hSCCM)-based assays in the cardiovascular (CV) drug discovery sphere requires the development of improved systems for interrogating the rich information that these cell models have the potential to yield. We developed a new analytical framework termed SALVO (synchronization, amplitude, length, and variability of oscillation) to profile the amplitude and temporal patterning of intra- and intercellular calcium signals in hSCCM. SALVO quantified drug-induced perturbations in the calcium signaling "fingerprint" in spontaneously contractile hSCCM.

Assembly information services in the European Nucleotide Archive.

The European Nucleotide Archive (ENA; http://www.ebi.ac.

Facing growth in the European Nucleotide Archive.

The European Nucleotide Archive (ENA; http://www.ebi.ac.

A network-oriented perspective on cardiac calcium signaling.

The normal contractile, electrical, and energetic function of the heart depends on the synchronization of biological oscillators and signal integrators that make up cellular signaling networks. In this review we interpret experimental data from molecular, cellular, and transgenic models of cardiac signaling behavior in the context of established concepts in cell network architecture and organization. Focusing on the cellular Ca(2+) handling machinery, we describe how the plasticity and adaptability of normal Ca(2+) signaling is dependent on dynamic network configurations that operate across a wide range of functional states.

Searching for new cardiovascular drugs: towards improved systems for drug screening?

Introduction: The pharmaceutical industry urgently needs new ways of profiling the safety and efficacy of new cardiovascular (CV) drugs and more effectively transitioning these compounds through the stages of CV drug screening. This article reviews new technologies and methodological innovations and assesses whether these frameworks offer improved solutions to the problems facing the contemporary CV drug development.

Areas Covered: The article comprises literature derived from a systematic search (from 2000 onwards) using the US patent office and ESP@CENET search engines as well as through multiple Boolean terms.

Effect of terminal amino acids on the stability and specificity of PNA-DNA hybridisation.

The effect of various charged or hydrophobic amino acids on the hybridisation of fully complementary and mismatch PNA-DNA duplexes was investigated via UV melting curve analysis. The results described here show that the thermal stability and binding specificity of PNA probes can be modified by conjugation to amino acids and these effects should be considered in experimental design when conjugating PNA sequences to solubility enhancing groups or cell transport peptides. Where stabilisation of a duplex is important, without there being a corresponding need for specific binding to fully complementary targets, the conjugation of multiple lysine residues to the C-terminus of PNA may be the best probe design.

The relative efficiency of various fluids in the rapid freezing of protozoa.

The cooling efficiencies of various fluids at low temperature were compared by measuring the temperature decay in 3 microliter water samples plunged into them. A simple model of cooling was used in order to discuss the results. Liquid ethane was found to produce a cooling rate of 660 KS-1, about twice that of liquid propane, while ethanol was almost as effective as ethane between 273 to 223 K.

The measurement of mass, thickness, and density in the electron microscope.

A description is given of quantitative methods using the electron microscope which can be applied to specimens with much smaller dimensions than those which can be used with the established cytochemical methods based on the use of the interference microscope and the techniques of ultraviolet and x-ray absorption. A discussion of electron scattering shows that under chosen operating conditions in the electron microscope the effective total mass-scattering coefficient S of a specimen is almost independent of its chemical composition. An order-of-magnitude agreement is observed at four accelerating voltages between experimental total scattering cross-sections for polystyrene and theoretical values for carbon.

A quantitative estimation of the uptake of two new electron stains by the cytoplasmic membrane of ram sperm.

From microdensitometer measurements on electron micrographs of sectioned sperm heads it has been found that the electron stains, triiodobenzoyl chloride, and triiodophenylisocyanate, increase the image contrast of the cell membrane above its immediate background by about 40 per cent and 70 per cent respectively, while the nucleus remains unstained. Assumptions based on current electron scattering theory have been used to deduce the uptake by weight of the stains in terms of the density of the nucleus, which was estimated from complementary measurements made with the interference microscope and electron microscope. The uptake of the stains was found to be about 7 per cent and 12 per cent by weight respectively.