The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands.Each country is either a member of the Commonwealth of Nations or a British Overseas Territory. The aim of the university is to help "unlock the potential for economic and cultural growth" in the West Indies, thus allowing improved regional autonomy. The university was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London.The university has produced students who have excelled in a number of disciplines such as the arts and sciences, business, politics, and sports. Notable alumni and faculty include three Nobel Laureates, 72 Rhodes Scholars, three Gates Cambridge Scholarship winners, one Emmy award winner, one Man Booker Prize winner, one American Book Awards winner, multiple Commonwealth Short Story Prize winners, 18 current or former Caribbean Heads of Government, an Olympic gold medallist, among other award winners. The university's cricket team previously participated in West Indian domestic cricket, but now participates as part of a Combined Campuses and Colleges team.The UWI campus in Mona, Jamaica serves as the headquarters of the UWI system. Aside from UWI Mona, UWI has four major university centres: UWI Cave Hill (Barbados), UWI St. Augustine (Trinidad and Tobago), UWI Five Islands (Antigua and Barbuda), and the regional UWI Open Campus in the UWI-funding Caribbean nations. Lucia, St.
This study reports the whole-genome sequence data and functional annotations of a novel Stutzerimonas marianensis strain LB-0542 isolated from the decomposing pelagic Sargassum biomass stranded on Long Beach, Barbados. The genomic DNA was sequenced with the Illumina NextSeq2000 platform. The genome assembly was performed with the SPAdes Genome Assembler (ver 3.15.5). The assembled genome has a size of 4520,813 bp, a coverage of 110X, a GC content of 63.2 %, a L50 of 2 and a N50 of 1079,143 bp. The genome consists of 12 contigs, 0 CRISPR, 3 rRNA, 56 tRNA and 4166 CDSs (coding sequences) with a coding ratio of 89.4 %. The genome annotation results for the COG (cluster of orthologous genes) and subsystem features indicate that the metabolism and the amino acids and derivatives are the most dominant categories, respectively. The analysis of the genome for the existence of Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes (CAZymes) identified 230 genes encoding four functional classes of CAZymes [glycoside hydrolases (75 genes), glycosyltransferases (95 genes), carbohydrate esterases (9 genes) and carbohydrate-binding modules (51 genes)]. The functional annotation of the genome for plastic degradation revealed the presence of 34 genes, which could catalyse the degradation process of 14 types of plastics, polyethylene glycol [PEG (29 %)], polylactic acid [PLA (11 %)], poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) [PHBV (9 %)], polyhydroxyalkanoates [PHA (9 %)], polyethylene [PE (6 %)], polycaprolactone [PCL (6 %)], polyethersulfone [PES (6 %)], polyethylene terephthalate [PET (6 %)], poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate [PBAT (3 %)], (polystyrene [PS (3 %)], polybutylene succinate [PBSA (3 %)], poly(3-hydroxyvalerate) [P3HV (3 %)], polyvinyl alcohol [PVA (3 %)] and natural rubber [NR (3 %)]. The genome mining for plant growth-promoting traits identified 3175 genes that are associated with the colonizing plant system (26 %), competitive exclusion (21 %), stress control (21 %), biofertilization (14 %), phytohormone and plant signal production (10 %), bioremediation (7 %) and plant immune response stimulation (1 %). These genome mining results are an indication of the biotechnological and ecological significance of the novel strain LB-0542 for sustainable biocatalytic processing of Sargassum and plastic-containing waste. The genome sequence data is available in DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank with the accession number BAAIAE000000000.
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) plays a pivotal role in the renin–angiotensin system, modulating blood pressure and electrolyte homeostasis by deactivating bradykinin and activating angiotensin II. Metabolites from Senecio nutans (1 and 3), a plant indigenous to the Andean region of the Atacama Desert, and their respective oximes, 2 and 4, were subjected to molecular docking analysis, employing six ACE crystal structures. ACE activity assays revealed that oximes exhibited superior inhibitory effects compared to metabolites. Among the compounds investigated, 2 emerged as the most potent ACE inhibitor (2 = 11.5 μM and 4 = 13.4 μM). The vascular contractile response to Angiotensin I showed significant (p < 0.05) reductions in Ang I contraction with 2, 3, and 4 (97 ± 6%, 81 ± 6%, 81 ± 3% compared to control), while 1 exhibited no such effect. These results reinforce the potential of 2 as a promising ACE inhibitor and highlight its impact on vascular contractility. As such, it is a promising candidate for ACE inhibition and hypertension treatment.
Potentially zoonotic Mycobacterium spp. are impacting freshwater ornamental fish in Trinidad and Tobago. Clinical cases presented at the Aquatic Animal Health Unit of The University of the West Indies, School of Veterinary Medicine, from September 2011 to September 2018 indicated the presence of piscine mycobacteriosis in freshwater ornamental fish from locations throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Subsequently, an investigation was conducted from June 2018 to December 2021 to identify the specific Mycobacterium spp. involved. Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify and later sequence the 723 bp of the rpoB. Analysis of region V of the rpoB offers similar discriminatory power as concatenation or whole genome analysis of Mycobacterium spp., and serves as an acceptable method for differentiating and discriminating between species in this genus. With respect to tank-reared freshwater ornamental fish, this study identified M. fortuitum (98.8% identity), M. liflandii (100% identity), M. stomatepiae (97.2% identity), M. pseudoshottsii related (96.9% identity), two M. stomatepiae related (95.4% and 96.7% identity), M. immunogenum related (93.4% identity), and 17 M. insubricum related (91.4%-95.2% identity). Additionally, seven mycobacteria related to M. insubricum were identified in wild-caught guppies. These findings suggest that both known, and potentially novel Mycobacterium spp. are circulating, and adversely impacting the local populations of freshwater ornamental fish in Trinidad and Tobago.
Management support is important for implementation of policies and procedures, and to create an organizational culture for the delivery of safe patient care. This study sought to determine the culture for management and safety support at two tertiary hospitals in Jamaica, and to explore managers' involvement in quality and quality improvement activities. A mixed methods study was done among 328 doctors and nurses (quantitative arm) and 17 senior managers (qualitative arm) from two tertiary hospitals. Data on sociodemographic, work-related characteristics and management support for patient safety were collected and in-depth interviews collected explored managers' involvement in quality and quality improvement activities. The percentage positive score was determined for management support for patient safety and a logistic regression model identified independent predictors of positive scores. Thematic analysis identified themes and subthemes. Overall positive percent score for management support for patient safety was 51.57%. Independent predictors of positive scores were staff position, institution and primary area of work. Doctors were 72.4% less likely than nurses to have positive scores (OR=0.28, 95% CI: 0.14-0.55, p=<0.001). Participants from Institution B were 2.63 times as likely to have positive score compared to participants from Institution A (OR = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.40 - 4.96, p = 0.003). Compared to participants whose primary area of work was medicine, participants from accident and emergency and radiology/laboratory units were 3.15 (95% CI: 1.19-8.35, p = 0.021) and 5.18 (95% CI: 1.82-14.76, p = 0.002) times more likely to have positive scores respectively. Two themes (managers' role in quality assurance/improvement and challenges in quality assurance and improvement) and six subthemes emerged from in-depth interviews. Institutions should ensure that there is a clear strategy for quality and quality improvement and implement appropriate systems and structures to support quality-related activities. Boards of hospitals should make quality a key item for discussion and action, to ensure good patient outcomes.
The relationships between severe malnutrition (SM), rehabilitation weight gain, and cardiometabolic risk in adult survivors have not been fully elucidated. We utilised a previously collected data set to explore these associations in a cohort of adults who were hospitalised for SM as children from 1963 to 1995. We studied 278 adult SM survivors: 60% male; median age (IQR) 26.5(11.3) years; mean BMI 23.6(5.2) kg/m2). Children's minimum weight-for-age z scores after hospitalisation (minWAZ) were analysed against adiposity as adults in sex-disaggregated regression models. Higher minWAZ was associated with greater adult waist circumference (mean difference:1.8 cm, 95%CI 0.7, 2.9, p = 0.001), fat mass (difference:2.4 kg, 95%CI 0.17,1.06, p = 0.007) and android fat mass (difference:0.19 kg, 95%CI 0.09, 0.29, p < 0.001) in bivariate analyses. Approximately 13% of the effect of minWAZ on adult fat mass was mediated by rehabilitation weight gain in g/kg/day (Sobel's p = 0.053). In male and not female adult survivors, rehabilitation weight gain > 12.9 g/kg/day was associated with greater adult fat mass (difference:5 kg, 95%CI 2, 9, p = 0.006) and android fat (difference:0.5 kg, 95%CI 0.1, 0.8, p = 0.006). Female sex was the strongest predictor of adult fat mass (difference:12.7 kg, 95%CI 9.6, 15.7, p < 0.001) and android fat mass (difference:0.9 kg, 95%CI 0.6, 1.2 p < 0.001) and adult age the strongest predictor of adult waist circumference (difference:0.67 cm, 95%CI 0.39, 0.94, p < 0.001). Faster rehabilitation weight gain as an independent, causal risk factor for adiposity in male SM survivors requires further exploration and more modest weight gain targets may contribute to reducing their risk of adult cardiometabolic disease.
