Clinical and environmental wastewater-based bacteriophage surveillance for high-impact diarrheal diseases, including cholera, in Bangladesh.

Bacteriophages (phages) likely play a critical role in modulating transmission dynamics of diarrheal pathogens. This study investigated the role of phages in modulating the prevalence and seasonal patterns of major diarrheal pathogens, O1 (VCO1), enterotoxigenic (ETEC), spp., and spp.

lineage and pangenome diversity vary geographically across Bangladesh over 1 year.

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by . It remains a major public health challenge worldwide, and particularly in the endemic region around the Bay of Bengal. Over decadal time scales, one lineage typically dominates and spreads in global pandemic waves.

Prevalent chromosome fusion in Vibrio cholerae O1.

Two circular chromosomes are a defining feature of the bacterial family Vibrionaceae, including the pathogen Vibrio cholerae, with rare reports of isolates with a single, fused chromosome. Here, we use long-read sequencing to analyse 467 V. cholerae O1 isolates from 47 cholera patients and household contacts in Bangladesh.

An experimental test of cyanotoxins as a potential driver of microbial community structure.

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are common biological disturbances in freshwater ecosystems, impacting microbial community diversity and composition. While extensive research has focused on these blooms, the direct effects of cyanotoxins on microbial communities remain less understood. In this study, we investigated the impact of various cyanotoxins on the microbial community of an oligotrophic lake in Quebec, Canada (45.

Metagenomic insights into cyanotoxin dynamics in a Mexican subtropical lake.

Valle de Bravo is a vital water supply for part of the metropolitan area of the Valle de Mexico megacity, providing 30% of Mexico City's water demand. This water body has experienced an acceleration in its trophic status, going from oligotrophic to eutrophic in just a few years. This temperate lake (at a tropical latitude) is in a persistent bloom dominated by a variety of co-occurring cyanobacteria, many of which have toxigenic potential based on microscopic identification, that makes it difficult or even impractical to identify the cyanotoxin producers.

Pre-exposure to stress reduces loss of community and genetic diversity following severe environmental disturbance.

Environmental stress caused by anthropogenic impacts is increasing worldwide. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary consequences for biodiversity will be crucial for our ability to respond effectively. Historical exposure to environmental stress is expected to select for resistant species, shifting community composition toward more stress-tolerant taxa.

Within-host genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 across animal species.

Infectious disease transmission to different host species makes eradication very challenging and expands the diversity of evolutionary trajectories taken by the pathogen. Since the beginning of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 has been transmitted from humans to many different animal species, in which viral variants of concern could potentially evolve. Previously, using available whole genome consensus sequences of SARS-CoV-2 from four commonly sampled animals (mink, deer, cat, and dog), we inferred similar numbers of transmission events from humans to each animal species.

TIDieR-WASH: A Guideline for Reporting Implementation of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions.

Introduction: Accurate information on context and implementation of public health interventions is necessary to replicate, adapt, and scale effective interventions and to interpret evaluations. Reporting the context and implementation of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions has been inconsistent and incomplete.

Methods: To improve the reporting of WASH interventions, we developed the Template for Intervention Description and Replication for WASH (TIDieR-WASH) checklist and guide, by adapting and expanding the original TIDieR guide.

lineage and pangenome diversity varies geographically across Bangladesh over one year.

Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease caused by . It remains a major public health challenge in the endemic region around the Bay of Bengal. Over decadal time scales, one lineage typically dominates the others and spreads in global pandemic waves.

Combining Short- and Long-Read Sequencing Technologies to Identify SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Wastewater.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater was used to track the evolution and emergence of variant lineages and gauge infection levels in the community, informing appropriate public health responses without relying solely on clinical testing. As more sublineages were discovered, it increased the difficulty in identifying distinct variants in a mixed population sample, particularly those without a known lineage. Here, we compare the sequencing technology from Illumina and from Oxford Nanopore Technologies, in order to determine their efficacy at detecting variants of differing abundance, using 248 wastewater samples from various Quebec and Ontario cities.

One Health: Urban birds peck up resistant pathogens.

A spatial-genomic analysis reveals that bird species living closer to humans have higher diversity of the pathogen Campylobacter and its antimicrobial resistance genes. This suggests that urbanization could promote pathogen transmission among wild animals and, potentially, humans.

White matter fiber morphology in persisting postconcussive symptoms and posttraumatic headache after pediatric concussion: a fixel-based analysis.

Objective: Posttraumatic headache (PTH) represents the most common acute and persistent postconcussive symptom (PCS) in children after concussion, yet there remains a lack of valid and objective biomarkers to facilitate risk stratification and early intervention in this patient population. Fixel-based analysis of diffusion-weighted imaging, which overcomes constraints of traditional diffusion tensor imaging analyses, can improve the sensitivity and specificity of detecting white matter changes postconcussion. The aim of this study was to investigate whole-brain and tract-based differences in white matter morphology, including fiber density (FD) and fiber bundle cross-section (FC) area in children with PCSs and PTH at 2 weeks after concussion.

Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in wastewater: an assessment of nine computational tools using simulated genomic data.

Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) is an important epidemiological and public health tool for tracking pathogens across the scale of a building, neighbourhood, city, or region. WBS gained widespread adoption globally during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic for estimating community infection levels by qPCR. Sequencing pathogen genes or genomes from wastewater adds information about pathogen genetic diversity, which can be used to identify viral lineages (including variants of concern) that are circulating in a local population.

The Canadian VirusSeq Data Portal & Duotang: open resources for SARS-CoV-2 viral sequences and genomic epidemiology.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a large global effort to sequence SARS-CoV-2 genomes from patient samples to track viral evolution and inform public health response. Millions of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences have been deposited in global public repositories. The Canadian COVID-19 Genomics Network (CanCOGeN - VirusSeq), a consortium tasked with coordinating expanded sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 genomes across Canada early in the pandemic, created the Canadian VirusSeq Data Portal, with associated data pipelines and procedures, to support these efforts.

Snapshot of cyanobacterial toxins in Pakistani freshwater bodies.

Cyanobacteria are known to produce diverse secondary metabolites that are toxic to aquatic ecosystems and human health. However, data about the cyanotoxins occurrence and cyanobacterial diversity in Pakistan's drinking water reservoirs is scarce. In this study, we first investigated the presence of microcystin, saxitoxin, and anatoxin in 12 water bodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Diversity of O1 through the human gastrointestinal tract during cholera.

O1 causes the diarrheal disease cholera, and the small intestine is the site of active infection. During cholera, cholera toxin is secreted from and induces a massive fluid influx into the small intestine, which causes vomiting and diarrhea. Typically, genomes are sequenced from bacteria passed in stool, but rarely from vomit, a fluid that may more closely represents the site of active infection.

Pseudogenes act as a neutral reference for detecting selection in prokaryotic pangenomes.

A long-standing question is to what degree genetic drift and selection drive the divergence in rare accessory gene content between closely related bacteria. Rare genes, including singletons, make up a large proportion of pangenomes (all genes in a set of genomes), but it remains unclear how many such genes are adaptive, deleterious or neutral to their host genome. Estimates of species' effective population sizes (N) are positively associated with pangenome size and fluidity, which has independently been interpreted as evidence for both neutral and adaptive pangenome models.

Longitudinal genomic surveillance of multidrug-resistant carriage in critical care patients.

Colonization with multidrug-resistant strains causes a substantial health burden in hospitalized patients. We performed a longitudinal genomics study to investigate the colonization of resistant strains in critically ill patients and to identify evolutionary changes and strain replacement events within patients. Patients were admitted to the intensive care unit and hematology wards at a major hospital in Lebanon.

Post-traumatic headache pathophysiology in paediatric concussion: A systematic review.

Post-traumatic headache (PTH) represents the most common acute and persistent symptom following concussion in children, yet the underlying pathophysiology remains unclear. This systematic review sought to: (i) rigorously examine the current evidence of PTH pathophysiology in paediatric concussion (0-18 years), (ii) assess the quality of evidence, and (iii) provide directions for future research in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Eligible studies (n = 19) totalling 1214 concussion participants investigated cerebrovascular function (n = 6), white matter integrity (n = 3), functional connectivity (n = 3), electrophysiology (n = 1), neurometabolics (n = 2), biological fluid markers (n = 4), vestibular and oculomotor function (n = 4); two studies used a multi-modal approach.

Examining post-concussion white matter change in a pediatric sample.

Diffusion-Weight Imaging (DWI) is increasingly used to explore a range of outcomes in pediatric concussion, particularly the neurobiological underpinnings of symptom recovery. However, the DWI findings within the broader pediatric concussion literature are mixed, which can largely be explained by methodological heterogeneity. To address some of these limitations, the aim of the present study was to utilize internationally- recognized criteria for concussion and a consistent imaging timepoint to conduct a comprehensive, multi-parametric survey of white matter microstructure after concussion.

Selection for immune evasion in SARS-CoV-2 revealed by high-resolution epitope mapping and sequence analysis.

Here, we exploit a deep serological profiling strategy coupled with an integrated, computational framework for the analysis of SARS-CoV-2 humoral immune responses. Applying a high-density peptide array (HDPA) spanning the entire proteomes of SARS-CoV-2 and endemic human coronaviruses allowed identification of B cell epitopes and relate them to their evolutionary and structural properties. We identify hotspots of pre-existing immunity and identify cross-reactive epitopes that contribute to increasing the overall humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2.

Association of Acute Infarct Topography With Development of Cerebral Palsy and Neurologic Impairment in Neonates With Stroke.

Background And Objectives: Research investigating neonatal arterial ischemic stroke (NAIS) outcomes have shown that combined cortical and basal ganglia infarction or involvement of the corticospinal tract predict cerebral palsy (CP). The research question was whether voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) on acute MRI can identify brain regions associated with CP and neurodevelopmental impairments in NAIS.

Methods: Newborns were recruited from prospective Australian and Swiss pediatric stroke registries.