Indigenous peoples and local communities as partners in the sequencing of global eukaryotic biodiversity.

The aim to sequence, catalog, and characterize the genomes of all of Earth's eukaryotic biodiversity is the shared mission of many ongoing large-scale biodiversity genomics initiatives. Reference genomes of global flora and fauna have the potential to inform a broad range of major issues facing both biodiversity and humanity, such as the impact of climate change, the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems, public health crises, and the preservation and enhancement of ecosystem services. Biodiversity is dramatically declining: 28% of species being assessed by the IUCN are threatened with extinction, and recent reports suggest that a transformative change is needed to conserve and protect what remains. To provide a collective and global genomic response to the biodiversity crisis, many biodiversity genomics initiatives have come together, creating a network of networks under the Earth BioGenome Project. This network seeks to expedite the creation of an openly available, "public good" encyclopedia of high-quality eukaryotic reference genomes, in the hope that by advancing our basic understanding of nature, it can lead to the transformational scientific developments needed to conserve and protect global biodiversity. Key to completing this ambitious encyclopedia of reference genomes, is the ability to responsibly, ethically, legally, and equitably access and use samples from all of the eukaryotic species across the planet, including those that are under the custodianship of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Here, the biodiversity genomics community is subject to the provisions codified in international, national, and local legislations and customary community norms, principles, and protocols. We propose a framework to support biodiversity genomic researchers, projects, and initiatives in building trustworthy and sustainable partnerships with communities, providing minimum recommendations on how to access, utilize, preserve, handle, share, analyze, and communicate samples, genomics data, and associated Traditional Knowledge obtained from, and in partnership with, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities across the data-lifecycle.

The effect of polymer size and charge of molecules on permeation through synovial membrane and accumulation in hyaline articular cartilage.

The treatment of joint related diseases often involves direct intra-articular injections. For rational development of novel delivery systems with extended residence time in the joint, detailed understanding of transport and retention phenomena within the joint is mandatory. This work presents a systematic study on the in vitro permeation, penetration and accumulation of model polymers with differing charges and molecular weights in bovine joint tissue. Permeation experiments with bovine synovial membrane were performed with PEG polymers (6-200 kDa) and methylene blue in customized diffusion chambers. For polyethylene glycol, 2-fold (PEG 6 kDa), 3-fold (PEG 10 kDa) and 13-fold (PEG 35 kDa) retention by the synovial membrane in reference to the small molecule methylene blue was demonstrated. No PEG 200 kDa was found in the acceptor in detectable amounts after 48 h. This showed the potential for a distinct extension of joint residence times by increasing molecular weights. In addition, experiments with bovine cartilage tissue were conducted. The ability for positively charged, high molecular weight chitosans and HEMA-Co-TMAP (HCT) polymers (up to 233 kDa) to distribute throughout the entire cartilage matrix was demonstrated. In contrast, a distribution into cartilage was not observed for neutral PEG polymers (6-200 kDa). Furthermore, the positive charge density of different compounds (chitosan, HEMA-Co-TMAP, methylene blue, MSC C1 (neutral NCE) and MSC D1 (positively charged NCE) was found to correlate with their accumulation in bovine cartilage tissue. In summary, the results offer pre-clinical in vitro data, indicating that the modification of molecular size and charge of a substance has the potential to decelerate its clearance through the synovial membrane and to promote accumulation inside the cartilage matrix.

Crystal suspensions of poorly soluble peptides for intra-articular application: a novel approach for biorelevant assessment of their in vitro release.

Crystal suspensions of 3 poorly soluble peptides (MSC1, 2 and 3), intended for intra-articular administration were prepared and in vitro release was tested by a modified USP IV apparatus, combined with a dialysis system. Half-lives of release profiles were ∼5 days for MSC1 and ∼0.5 days for MSC2 and MSC3, showing the potential to achieve sustained exposure from crystal suspensions after intra-articular administration. The in vitro release setup discriminated between (i) different formulations, (ii) different concentrations of API and (iii) different APIs. In addition it was shown that this method allows the modification of release conditions in order to gain more biorelevance for in vitro release testing in the field of intra-articular application: the influence of synovial fluid components hyaluronic acid and albumin was demonstrated, showing prolonged half-lives for suspensions containing 2.5% bovine serum albumin (5 days) and accelerated release rates for suspensions containing 1% sodium hyaluronate (2.5 days) in comparison to a suspension in phosphate buffered saline (4 days). Furthermore, it was demonstrated that release rates of a suspension containing an artificial synovial fluid were in accordance with suspensions containing bovine synovial fluid (t1/2∼4 days).

The effects of accommodative facility training on a group of children with impaired relative accommodation--a comparison between dioptric treatment and sham treatment.

The effects of accommodative facility training were evaluated by comparing training with plano lenses and +/-2.00 D lens flipper sets. Thirteen children with symptoms and signs of accommodative dysfunction were included in the study. Seven started with 2 weeks of plano lens training before proceeding to traditional dioptric flipper training; later, one patient from this group was lost to follow-up. The remaining six children used powered flipper training from the start. The positive (PRA) and negative relative accommodation (NRA) were examined every second week. During the initial training period both the PRA and the NRA decreased in the sham treatment group (P = 0.010 and P= 0.102, respectively), while the PRA and the NRA increased during the dioptric training in both groups (P = 0.102 and P = 0.033, respectively). The result of this study indicates that accommodative facility training has a real effect on the amplitude of relative accommodation in patients with impaired relative accommodation.

Accommodative facility training with a long term follow up in a sample of school aged children showing accommodative dysfunction.

The primary aim of this project was to study the effect of flip lens-training on the accommodative function in a group of children with accommodative dysfunction and subjective symptoms such as asthenopia, headache, blurred vision, and avoidance of near activity. We also wanted to measure the accommodative facility among the children in comparison with a control group. Another aim of the study was whether flip lens-training increased accommodative facility, and to find out if it also had a positive effect on their asthenopia and related problems also in long term. Following the training period the accommodative facility and accommodative function significantly increased and two years after finishing the training period no child had regained any subjective symptoms and the objective findings were almost the same as at the end of facility training period. These results suggest that accommodative facility training is an efficient method built on loss of symptoms among children with accommodative infacility.

Changes of visual function and visual ability in daily life following cataract surgery.

We conducted a prospective study of 56 patients aged 70 to 79 years undergoing cataract surgery, in order to determine the impact of surgery on subjective and objective measurements of visual ability. In 46 cases we could obtain all necessary data. Binocular visual acuity, near vision and contrast sensitivity improved due to surgery. Self-assessed ability to perform visually related tasks was examined in form of a questionnaire. The results show that there was no simple relationship between objective measurements and perceived visual ability. An impairment in preoperative visual acuity cannot be related to a specific loss of visual ability. In order to increase the quality of cataract surgery more subtly, subjective aspects of vision must be taken into consideration when operation is decided upon and in the evaluation of the results.

Survival of influenza viruses on environmental surfaces.

To investigate the transmission of influenza viruses via hands and environmental surfaces, the survival of laboratory-grown influenza A and influenza B viruses on various surfaces was studied. Both influenza A and B viruses survived for 24-48 hr on hard, nonporous surfaces such as stainless steel and plastic but survived for less than 8-12 hr on cloth, paper, and tissues. Measurable quantities of influenza A virus were transferred from stainless steel surfaces to hands for 24 hr and from tissues to hands for up to 15 min. Virus survived on hands for up to 5 min after transfer from the environmental surfaces. These observations suggest that the transmission of virus from donors who are shedding large amounts could occur for 2-8 hr via stainless steel surfaces and for a few minutes via paper tissues. Thus, under conditions of heavy environmental contamination, the transmission of influenza virus via fomites may be possible.