The hazard ratio for 30-day all-cause mortality over time was 28% higher in those not meeting ETP benchmarks after adjusting for age, triage category, comorbidities, ICU and service-related group (hazard ratio 1.28, 95% confidence interval 1.26-1.30, P  less then  0.001). CONCLUSION Patients with complex and multiple medical comorbidities, and those admitted under certain service-related groups such as psychiatry, surgery and oncology were found to have poorer ETP performance. Overall, failure to meet ETP was associated with increased mortality after adjusting for age, case-mix, comorbidities and acuity. © 2020 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.AIMS The aim of this study was to develop a novel selective agar for the specific isolation and detection of Bacillus anthracis. METHODS AND RESULTS Based on published data on antibiotic resistance and susceptibility of B. anthracis and other closely related species of the Bacillus cereus sensu lato group, a new selective agar formulation termed CEFOMA (Bacillus CEreus sensu lato group-specific antibiotics, FOsfomycin, MAcrolides) was developed and evaluated. All tested strains of B.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/liraglutide.html  anthracis were able to grow on CEFOMA with the same colony number as on non-selective media, whereas CEFOMA inhibited the growth of the other species within the B. cereus sensu lato group. In comparison to other selective agars, CEFOMA had a superior performance and considerably reduced the total amount of accompanying flora in soil. Furthermore, B. anthracis was successfully isolated from deliberately spiked soil samples. CONCLUSIONS CEFOMA is a highly promising selective agar for the efficient isolation of B. anthracis from environmental samples with a large bacterial background flora. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY The isolation of B. anthracis from environmental samples is severely impaired by the lack of adequate selective agars which suppress the growth of other bacteria. CEFOMA agar represents an important improvement and suitable alternative to currently used selective agars. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Applied Microbiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Society for Applied Microbiology.Reported here is a molecule-Lego synthetic strategy for macrocycles with functional skeletons, involving one-pot and high-yielding condensation between bis(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)arene monomers and paraformaldehyde. By changing the blocks, variously functional units (naphthalene, pyrene, anthraquinone, porphyrin, etc.) can be conveniently introduced into the backbone of macrocycles. Interestingly, the macrocyclization can be tuned by the geometrical configuration of monomeric blocks. Linear (180°) monomer yield cyclic trimers and pentamers, while V-shaped (120°, 90° and 60°) monomers tend to form dimers. More significantly, even heterogeneous macrocycles are obtained in moderate yield by co-oligomerization of different monomers. This series of macrocycles have the potential to be prosperous in the near future. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.AIM To investigate whether there are differences in brain fatty acid uptake (BFAU) between morbidly obese and lean subjects, and the effect of weight loss following bariatric surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS We measured BFAU with 14(R, S)-[18 F]fluoro-6-thia-heptadecanoic acid and positron emission tomography in 24 morbidly obese and 14 lean women. Obese subjects were restudied 6 months after bariatric surgery. We also assessed whether there was hypothalamic neuroinflammation in the obese subjects using fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS Obese subjects had a higher BFAU than lean subjects (1.12 [0.61] vs. 0.72 [0.50] μmol 100 g-1 min-1 , P = 0.0002), driven by higher fatty acid uptake availability. BFAU correlated positively with BMI (P = 0.006, r = 0.48), whole body fatty acid oxidation (P = 0.006, r = 0.47) and leptin levels (P = 0.001, r = 0.54). When BFAU, leptin and body mass index (BMI) were included in the same model, the association between BFAU and leptin was the strongest. BFAU did not correlate with FLAIR-derived estimates of hypothalamic inflammation. Six months after bariatric surgery, obese subjects achieved significant weight loss (-10 units of BMI). BFAU was not significantly changed (1.12 [0.61] vs. 1.09 [0.39] μmol 100 g-1 min-1 , ns), probably because of the ongoing catabolic state. Finally, baseline BFAU predicted worse plasma glucose levels at 2 years of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS BFAU is increased in morbidly obese compared with lean subjects, and is unchanged 6 months after bariatric surgery. Baseline BFAU predicts worse plasma glucose levels at follow-up, supporting the notion that the brain participates in the control of whole-body homeostasis. © 2020 The Authors. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.RNA aptamers form compact tertiary structures and bind their ligands in specific binding sites. Fluorescence-based strategies reveal information on structure and dynamics of RNA aptamers. Herein, we report the incorporation of the universal emissive nucleobase analog 4-cyanoindole into the fluorogenic RNA aptamer Chili, and its application as a donor for supramolecular FRET to the bound ligands DMHBI+ or DMHBO+ . The photophysical properties of the new nucleobase-ligand-FRET pair revealed structural restraints for the overall RNA aptamer organization and identified nucleotide positions suitable for FRET-based readout of ligand binding. This strategy is generally suitable for binding-site mapping and may also be applied for responsive aptamer devices. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.Cyanide-resistant respiration in potato mitochondria is an important pathway for energy dissipation. It can be activated by high light; however, it is unclear what roles cyanide-resistant respiration plays in the response to high light stress in potato. We designed a CRISPR vector for the functional gene StAOX of the potato cyanide-resistant respiratory pathway. Agrobacterium tumefaciens GV3101 was transformed into potato. Hydrogen peroxide level, MDA content, antioxidant activity and cyanide-resistant respiratory capacity of potato leaves under high light stress were determined. Photosynthetic efficiency and chlorophyll content were determined. In addition, the operation of the malate-oxaloacetate shuttle route and transcription level of photorespiration-related enzymes were also examined. The results showed that two base substitutions occurred at the sequencing target site on leaves of the transformed potato. Accumulation of ROS and increased membrane lipid peroxidation were detected in the transformed potato leaves and lower photosynthetic efficiency was observed.