Crossing borders for science.

Exchanging ideas with like-minded, enthusiastic people interested in the same topic is crucial for the advancement of a scientist's career. Several Regional Student Groups (RSGs) of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Student Council have cooperated in the last six years to organize scientific workshops and conferences. With motivated students, it is possible to create a memorable event for fellow scientists; in doing so, the organizers gain valuable experiences. While collaborating across borders and time zones can be difficult, feedback from event organizers was always positive. When limited resources are juxtaposed with great ideas and a network of contacts, the outcome is always an amazing experience, despite organizers being separated geographically across different countries.

Role of retrieval nurse practitioners in safely transferring critically ill adults and children during COVID-19.

This article explores the experiences of South Thames Retrieval Service (STRS) retrieval nurse practitioners in providing inter-hospital transfers of critically ill babies and children during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As well as its usual cohort of patients, the STRS also transferred critically ill and ventilated adults. The authors present a comparative analysis of pre-pandemic and pandemic retrievals over two six-week periods, one year apart. In the first period, from December 2019 to the end of January 2020, STRS retrieval nurse practitioners transported 47 critically ill children. One year later, during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, STRS retrieval nurse practitioners transported 50 critically ill children and 26 critically ill adults with COVID-19 and a premature baby who was a COVID-19 contact. The latter two groups are not usually transported by the service. All of the patients retrieved by the STRS team during the COVID-19 pandemic were safely transported. This initiative demonstrated how nurses worked flexibly during the pandemic within the limits of their professional competence.

Supporting children's nurses to deliver trauma-informed care.

World events, such as the conflict in Ukraine, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, have highlighted the effects of trauma and adverse childhood experiences on children and young people. Adverse childhood experiences can lead to suboptimal health and risk-taking behaviours during adolescence and adulthood, while multiple adverse childhood experiences can manifest as complex trauma, toxic stress, anxiety or depression across a person's lifespan. This article discusses adverse childhood experiences and the concept of trauma-informed care, which involves recognising and understanding the negative events that have affected a person and how these relate to suboptimal health. The author suggests that developing resilience and using self-care strategies can support nurses to adopt a trauma-informed approach to care. This can assist them to recognise, understand and reflect on the effects of adverse childhood experiences in themselves as well as in their patients. The author also outlines a hybrid approach to debrief that can support staff to manage stressful situations and challenging workplace experiences.

Patz1 regulates embryonic stem cell identity.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocysts are pluripotent. Pluripotency is maintained by a transcriptional network in which Oct4 and Nanog are master regulators. Notably, several zinc finger transcription factors have important roles in this network. Patz1, a BTB/POZ-domain-containing zinc finger protein, is expressed at higher levels in the ICM relative to the trophectoderm. However, its function in pluripotency has been poorly studied. Here, we show that Patz1 is an important regulator of pluripotency in ESCs. Patz1 RNAi, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and reporter assays indicate that Patz1 directly regulates Pou5f1 and Nanog. Global transcriptome changes upon Patz1 knockdown largely involve upregulation of apoptotic genes and downregulation of cell cycle and cellular metabolism genes. Patz1 ChIP sequencing further identified more than 5,000 binding sites of Patz1 in mouse genome, from which two binding motifs were extracted. Further, gene ontology analysis of genes associated with the binding sites displays enrichment for proximity to developmental genes. In addition, embryoid body assays suggest that Patz1 represses developmental genes. Together, these results propose that Patz1 is important for ESC pluripotency.