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Shruti Shah

Publications and source records attributed to Shruti Shah.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Integrating multi-omics technologies to decipher microbiome functions.

Multi-omics approaches have revolutionized our understanding of microbial communities by enabling simultaneous interrogation of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data. The systematic integration and analysis of these deep datasets help decipher the functional roles of microbiomes, providing critical insights into microbial activities, interactions, and dynamics across diverse environments. Biological complexity makes multi-omics analysis of a single, isolated organism demanding but highly informative, yet this complexity increases further when samples comprise hundreds to thousands of individual species. As microbiome research continues to expand into clinical, environmental, and engineered systems, standardized workflows, benchmarked datasets, and community-driven initiatives are essential to ensure reproducibility, standardization and interpretability. Establishing and disseminating best practices for experimental design, data processing, and integrative analyses will be critical for maximizing comparability and scientific rigor across studies. This perspective highlights recent advances in multi-omics microbiome research, outlines key obstacles in data integration and metadata harmonization, and proposes a collaborative roadmap for scalable, FAIR-compliant multi-omics investigations and potentially disruptive Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances comparable to those of AlphaFold in the field of microbiome science.

Multiomics↗

Neurologic complication after anterior sciatic nerve block.

The lack of reported complications related to lower extremity peripheral nerve blocks (PNBs) may be related to the relatively infrequent application of these techniques and to the fact that most such events go unpublished. Our current understanding of the factors that lead to neurologic complications after PNBs is limited. This is partly the result of our inability to conduct meaningful retrospective studies because of a lack of standard and objective monitoring and documentation procedures for PNBs. We report a case of permanent injury to the sciatic nerve after sciatic nerve block through the anterior approach and discuss mechanisms that may have led to the injury. Intraneural injection and nerve injury can occur in the absence of pain on injection and it may be heralded by high injection pressure (resistance).

Anesthetics, Local↗

Performance attributes of the LCx HCV RNA quantitative assay.

The LCx HCV RNA quantitative assay (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL) is designed to use competitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA), in combination with a modified Qiagen sample preparation method, to measure the level of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in human plasma and serum. The assay provides quantitative results in international units (IU) of HCV RNA/ml, in copies of HCV RNA/ml, or their log (base 10) equivalents. A conversion study determined that 1IU equals 4.3 copies. The LCx HCV assay detected HCV RNA transcripts representative of genotypes 1-6 with near equal efficiency. The assay did not cross-react with high concentrations of 21 potentially cross-reactive microorganisms or with 100 HCV-negative specimens. The lower limit of detection was demonstrated to be 23IU/ml. The LCx assay had similar sensitivity to the Roche Amplicor HCV (version 2.0) qualitative assay when used to test panels containing 6, 12, 23, and 47IU/ml. The assay linear range was shown to extend from 23 to 2.3millionIU/ml. The intra-assay standard deviation (S.D.) was < or =0.066 logIU/ml for the four HCV positive samples tested, while for the same samples the observed inter-assay S.D. was < or =0.075 logIU/ml. The overall mean assay quantitation value for seven HCV-positive WHO-standardized Acrometrix NAP linearity panel members was within 0.06 logIU/ml of the mean assigned value. The assay was demonstrated to correlate acceptably against the Roche Amplicor HCV monitor test (version 2.0). These data suggest that the assay is standardized appropriately against the WHO standard across its linear range and can be used for quantitation of HCV. In addition, with a sensitivity of 23IU/ml, the assay can be used to determine if post-therapy viral clearance has occurred.

Cross Reactions↗

Combination of intraneural injection and high injection pressure leads to fascicular injury and neurologic deficits in dogs.

BACKGROUND: Unintentional intraneural injection of local anesthetics may cause mechanical injury and pressure ischemia of the nerve fascicles. One study in small animals showed that intraneural injection may be associated with higher injection pressures. However, the pressure heralding an intraneural injection and the clinical consequences of such injections remain controversial. Our hypothesis is that an intraneural injection is associated with higher pressures and an increase in the risk of neurologic injury as compared with perineural injection. METHODS: Seven dogs of mixed breed (15-18 kg) were studied. After general endotracheal anesthesia, the sciatic nerves were exposed bilaterally. Under direct microscopic guidance, a 25-gauge needle was placed either perineurally (into the epineurium) or intraneurally (within the perineurium), and 4 mL of lidocaine 2% (1:250,000 epinephrine) was injected by using an automated infusion pump (4 mL/min). Injection pressure data were acquired by using an in-line manometer coupled to a computer via an analog digital conversion board. After injection, the animals were awakened and subjected to serial neurologic examinations. On the 7th day, the dogs were killed, the sciatic nerves were excised, and histologic examination was performed by pathologists blinded to the purpose of the study. RESULTS: Whereas all perineural injections resulted in pressures < or =4 psi, the majority of intraneural injections were associated with high pressures (25-45 psi) at the beginning of the injection. Normal motor function returned 3 hours after all injections associated with low injection pressures (< or =11 psi), whereas persistent motor deficits were observed in all 4 animals having high injection pressures (> or =25 psi). Histologic examination showed destruction of neural architecture and degeneration of axons in all 4 sciatic nerves receiving high-pressure injections. CONCLUSIONS: High injection pressures at the onset of injection may indicate an intraneural needle placement and lead to severe fascicular injury and persistent neurologic deficits. If these results are applicable to clinical practice, avoiding excessive injection pressure during nerve block administration may help to reduce the risk of neurologic injury.

Anesthetics, Local↗