| 1. |
- Abazajian, Kevork, et al.
(författare)
-
CMB-S4 : Forecasting Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 926:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- CMB-S4—the next-generation ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment—is set to significantly advance the sensitivity of CMB measurements and enhance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe. Among the science cases pursued with CMB-S4, the quest for detecting primordial gravitational waves is a central driver of the experimental design. This work details the development of a forecasting framework that includes a power-spectrum-based semianalytic projection tool, targeted explicitly toward optimizing constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, in the presence of Galactic foregrounds and gravitational lensing of the CMB. This framework is unique in its direct use of information from the achieved performance of current Stage 2–3 CMB experiments to robustly forecast the science reach of upcoming CMB-polarization endeavors. The methodology allows for rapid iteration over experimental configurations and offers a flexible way to optimize the design of future experiments, given a desired scientific goal. To form a closed-loop process, we couple this semianalytic tool with map-based validation studies, which allow for the injection of additional complexity and verification of our forecasts with several independent analysis methods. We document multiple rounds of forecasts for CMB-S4 using this process and the resulting establishment of the current reference design of the primordial gravitational-wave component of the Stage-4 experiment, optimized to achieve our science goals of detecting primordial gravitational waves for r > 0.003 at greater than 5σ, or in the absence of a detection, of reaching an upper limit of r < 0.001 at 95% CL.
|
|
| 2. |
- Chng, Kern Rei, et al.
(författare)
-
Cartography of opportunistic pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes in a tertiary hospital environment
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nature Medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1078-8956 .- 1546-170X. ; 26, s. 941-951
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although disinfection is key to infection control, the colonization patterns and resistomes of hospital-environment microbes remain underexplored. We report the first extensive genomic characterization of microbiomes, pathogens and antibiotic resistance cassettes in a tertiary-care hospital, from repeated sampling (up to 1.5 years apart) of 179 sites associated with 45 beds. Deep shotgun metagenomics unveiled distinct ecological niches of microbes and antibiotic resistance genes characterized by biofilm-forming and human-microbiome-influenced environments with corresponding patterns of spatiotemporal divergence. Quasi-metagenomics with nanopore sequencing provided thousands of high-contiguity genomes, phage and plasmid sequences (>60% novel), enabling characterization of resistome and mobilome diversity and dynamic architectures in hospital environments. Phylogenetics identified multidrug-resistant strains as being widely distributed and stably colonizing across sites. Comparisons with clinical isolates indicated that such microbes can persist in hospitals for extended periods (>8 years), to opportunistically infect patients. These findings highlight the importance of characterizing antibiotic resistance reservoirs in hospitals and establish the feasibility of systematic surveys to target resources for preventing infections. Spatiotemporal characterization of microbial diversity and antibiotic resistance in a tertiary-care hospital reveals broad distribution and persistence of antibiotic-resistant organisms that could cause opportunistic infections in a healthcare setting.
|
|
| 3. |
- Danko, David, et al.
(författare)
-
A global metagenomic map of urban microbiomes and antimicrobial resistance
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Cell. - : Elsevier BV. - 0092-8674 .- 1097-4172. ; 184:13, s. 3376-3393
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a global atlas of 4,728 metagenomic samples from mass-transit systems in 60 cities over 3 years, representing the first systematic, worldwide catalog of the urban microbial ecosystem. This atlas provides an annotated, geospatial profile of microbial strains, functional characteristics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) markers, and genetic elements, including 10,928 viruses, 1,302 bacteria, 2 archaea, and 838,532 CRISPR arrays not found in reference databases. We identified 4,246 known species of urban microorganisms and a consistent set of 31 species found in 97% of samples that were distinct from human commensal organisms. Profiles of AMR genes varied widely in type and density across cities. Cities showed distinct microbial taxonomic signatures that were driven by climate and geographic differences. These results constitute a high-resolution global metagenomic atlas that enables discovery of organisms and genes, highlights potential public health and forensic applications, and provides a culture-independent view of AMR burden in cities.
|
|
| 4. |
- Raehtz, Kevin D., et al.
(författare)
-
African green monkeys avoid SIV disease progression by preventing intestinal dysfunction and maintaining mucosal barrier integrity
- 2020
-
Ingår i: PLoS Pathogens. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7366 .- 1553-7374. ; 16:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- African nonhuman primates that are natural hosts to SIVs can provide us with unique insight into the pathogenesis of HIV disease due to their remarkable ability to avoid progression to AIDS, despite high levels of viral replication. A key question of SIV pathogenesis in natural hosts is whether the lack of disease progression is due to an exquisite ability to repair lesions occurring during the acute infection or to completely maintain the integrity of the mucosal barrier throughout the SIV infection. In pathogenic HIV/SIV infections of humans and macaques, the mucosal integrity is compromised during acute infection, leading to leakage of gut microbial byproducts and to the occurrence of chronic local and systemic inflammation, which plays a crucial role in driving progression to AIDS. Our study shows that the mucosal barrier integrity is never lost in African green monkeys, thereby avoiding the effects of chronic inflammation and disease progression. Unlike HIV infection, SIV infection is generally nonpathogenic in natural hosts, such as African green monkeys (AGMs), despite life-long high viral replication. Lack of disease progression was reportedly based on the ability of SIV-infected AGMs to prevent gut dysfunction, avoiding microbial translocation and the associated systemic immune activation and chronic inflammation. Yet, the maintenance of gut integrity has never been documented, and the mechanism(s) by which gut integrity is preserved are unknown. We sought to investigate the early events of SIV infection in AGMs, specifically examining the impact of SIVsab infection on the gut mucosa. Twenty-nine adult male AGMs were intrarectally infected with SIVsab92018 and serially sacrificed at well-defined stages of SIV infection, preramp-up (1-3 days post-infection (dpi)), ramp-up (4-6 dpi), peak viremia (9-12 dpi), and early chronic SIV infection (46-55 dpi), to assess the levels of immune activation, apoptosis, epithelial damage and microbial translocation in the GI tract and peripheral lymph nodes. Tissue viral loads, plasma cytokines and plasma markers of gut dysfunction were also measured throughout the course of early infection. While a strong, but transient, interferon-based inflammatory response was observed, the levels of plasma markers linked to enteropathy did not increase. Accordingly, no significant increases in apoptosis of either mucosal enterocytes or lymphocytes, and no damage to the mucosal epithelium were documented during early SIVsab infection of AGMs. These findings were supported by RNAseq of the gut tissue, which found no significant alterations in gene expression that would indicate microbial translocation. Thus, for the first time, we confirmed that gut epithelial integrity is preserved, with no evidence of microbial translocation, in AGMs throughout early SIVsab infection. This might protect AGMs from developing intestinal dysfunction and the subsequent chronic inflammation that drives both HIV disease progression and HIV-associated comorbidities.
|
|
