P4 had similar effects and the combination P4 and forskolin had greater effects on OTR and NFκB than forskolin alone. While PKA knockdown had no effect on the ability of P4 to repress IL-1β-induced OTR expression it reversed the repressive effect of the combination of P4 and forskolin and resulted in a greater increase than observed with IL-1β alone. These studies suggest that cAMP acts via PKA to repress inflammation-driven OTR expression, but that when PKA activity is reduced, the combination of cAMP and P4 actually enhances the OTR response to inflammation, promoting the onset of labour and suggesting that changes in the cAMP effector system can induce a functional P4 withdrawal.Although non-fatal and mostly self-healing in the case of Leishmania (L.) major, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is mainly treated to reduce lesion healing time. Less attention is paid to the improvement of scars, especially in aesthetically relevant areas of the body, which can dramatically affect patients' wellbeing. We explored patients' perspectives about treatment options and the social and psychological burden of disease (lesion and scar). Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with ten confirmed CL patients at two L. major endemic sites in Southern Tunisia (Sidi Bouzid and Gafsa). Participants were selected using a sampling approach along a spectrum covering e.g. age, sex, and clinical presentation. Patients' experiences, opinions and preferences were explored, and their detailed accounts gave an insight on the impact of CL on their everyday lives. The impact of CL was found to be considerable. Most patients were not satisfied with treatment performance and case management. They expected a shorter healing time and better accessibility of the health system. Tolerance of the burden of disease was variable and ranged from acceptance of hidden scars to suicidal thoughts resulting from the fear to become handicapped, and the stress caused by close relatives. Some believed CL to be a form of skin cancer. Unexpectedly, this finding shows the big gap between the perspectives of patients and assumptions of health professionals regarding this disease. This study provided valuable information for better case management emphasizing the importance of improving communication with patients, and accessibility to treatment. It generated context-specific knowledge to policy makers in Tunisia to implement effective case management in a country where access to treatment remains a challenge due to socio-economic and geographic barriers despite a long tradition in CL control. This study aimed to determine if sequential deployment of a nurse-led Rapid Response Team (RRT) and an intensivist-led Medical Emergency Team (MET) for critically ill patients in the Emergency Department (ED) and acute care wards improved hospital-wide cardiac arrest rates. In this single-center, retrospective observational cohort study, we compared the cardiac arrest rates per 1000 patient-days during two time periods. Our hospital instituted a nurse-led RRT in 2012 and added an intensivist-led MET in 2014. We compared the cardiac arrest rates during the nurse-led RRT period and the combined RRT-MET period. With the sequential approach, nurse-led RRT evaluated and managed rapid response calls in acute care wards and if required escalated care and co-managed with an intensivist-led MET. We specifically compared the rates of pulseless electrical activity (PEA) in the two periods. We also looked at the cardiac arrest rates in the ED as RRT-MET co-managed patients with the ED team. Hospital-wide cardiac arrests decreased from 2.2 events per 1000 patient-days in the nurse-led RRT period to 0.8 events per 1000 patient-days in the combined RRT and MET period (p-value = 0.001). Hospital-wide PEA arrests and shockable rhythms both decreased significantly. PEA rhythms significantly decreased in acute care wards and the ED. Implementing an intensivist-led MET-RRT significantly decreased the overall cardiac arrest rate relative to the rate under a nurse-led RRT model. Additional MET capabilities and early initiation of advanced, time-sensitive therapies likely had the most impact.Implementing an intensivist-led MET-RRT significantly decreased the overall cardiac arrest rate relative to the rate under a nurse-led RRT model. Additional MET capabilities and early initiation of advanced, time-sensitive therapies likely had the most impact.Wheat is one of the best-domesticated cereal crops and one of the vital sources of nutrition for humans. An investigation was undertaken to reveal the potential of novel bio-inoculants enriching micronutrients in shoot and grains of wheat crop to eliminate the hazards of malnutrition. Sole as well as consortia inoculation of bio-inoculants significantly enhanced mineral nutrients including zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) concentrations in shoot and grains of wheat. Various treatments of bio-inoculants increase Zn and Fe content up to 1-15% and 3-13%, respectively. Sole inoculation of Bacillus aryabhattai (S10) impressively improves the nutritious of wheat. However, the maximum increase in minerals contents of wheat was recorded by consortia inoculation of Paenibacillus polymyxa ZM27, Bacillus subtilis ZM63 and Bacillus aryabhattai S10. This treatment also showed a maximum bacterial population (18 × 104 cfu mL-1) in the rhizosphere. The consortium application of these strains showed up to a 17% increase in yield. It is evident from the results that the consortium application was more effective than sole and co-inoculation. A healthy positive correlation was found between growth, yield, and the accessibility of micronutrients to wheat crops at the harvesting stage. The present investigations revealed the significance of novel bacterial strains in improving the nutritional status of wheat crops. These strains could be used as bio-inoculants for the biofortification of wheat to combat hidden hunger in developing countries.Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and their genes (ARGs) have become recognised as significant emerging environmental pollutants. ARB and ARGs in sewage sludge can be transmitted back to humans via the food chain when sludge is recycled to agricultural land, making sludge treatment key to control the release of ARB and ARGs to the environment. This study investigated the fate of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli and a large set of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) during full scale anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge at two U.K. selleck chemical wastewater treatment plants and evaluated the impact of thermal hydrolysis (TH) pre-treatment on their abundance and diversity. Absolute abundance of 13 ARGs and the Class I integron gene intI1 was calculated using single gene quantitative (q) PCR. High through-put qPCR analysis was also used to determine the relative abundance of 370 ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Results revealed that TH reduced the absolute abundance of all ARGs tested and intI1 by 10-12,000 fold.