Author Correction: The landscape of viral associations in human cancers

Correction to: Nature Genetics https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-019-0558-9, published online 05 February 2020

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Guideline-directed medical therapy in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction in Oman: utilization, reasons behind non-prescribing, and dose optimization

Background: Objective: To determine the reasons behind guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) non-prescribing, drug utilization before and after excluding those intolerable to GDMT, as well as dose optimization in heart failure (HF) patients with reduced ejection fraction (<40%) (HFrEF) in Oman. Methods: The study included HF patients seen at the medical outpatient clinics at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, between January 2016 and December 2019 and followed up until the end of June 2021. The use of renin-angiotensin-system (RAS) blockers (angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) or angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNIs)), beta blockers and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) were evaluated as per the European, American, and Canadian HF guidelines. Analyses were performed using univariate statistics. Results: A total of 171 HFrEF patients were enrolled for this study, the overall mean age of the cohort was 63 ± 15 years old and 59% were male. Over 65% of the patients had chronic kidney disease. Almost 55% of the patients were intolerable to GDMT. The proportion of patients on beta blockers, RAS blockers/ hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate combination, and MRAs, before and after excluding those intolerable to GDMT, were 89%, 97%, and 77%, and, 94%, 47% and 85%, respectively, while the proportion of patients on the GDMT combination concomitantly was 41% and 83%, respectively. A total of 61%, 44% and 100% of the patients were prescribed ≥50% of the target dose for beta blockers, RAS blockers/ HYD-ISDN combination and MRAs respectively, while 19%, 8.2% and 94% of the patients attained 100% of the target dose for beta blockers, RAS blockers/ HYD-ISDN combination and MRAs respectively. Conclusions: Reasons behind GDMT non-prescribing were frequent and not clearly obvious in patients’ medical notes. The majority of the patients were prescribed GDMT. However, dose optimization, specifically for beta blockers and RAS blockers/ HYD-ISDN combination, was still suboptimal. The findings should be interpreted in the context of low study power and that future studies, with larger sample sizes, are warranted to minimize this limitation

Conceptualizing a model for the effect of information culture on electronic commerce adoption

There are many vital roles and attributes played by the internal organizational environment in IT adoption. Technological innovations are adopted as a result of the reaction of many organizations to change and for influencing the business environment. For this study, a conceptual model was developed to focus on the effect of information culture as internal organizational factors on Electronic Commerce (EC) adoption on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The proposed model buttressed by four of information culture as internal organizational factors. Specifically, the model constructed from, the information integrity, formality, control and proactiveness variables, evaluated their effects and determined how they can optimally be combined to permit EC adoption by SMEs. To achieve the objectives of the research, a pilot study was conducted with 35 managers of ICT SMEs from Palestine, to assess the proposed model. The proposed model will be assisting SMEs managers better understand and increase predictive capacity on EC adoption. This model will be applied to increase the rate at which EC is adopted among SMEs

Influence of Culture on Knowledge Sharing Attitude among Academic Staff in eLearning Virtual Communities in Saudi Arabia

Knowledge sharing is a significant component of success in knowledge management. In Saudi Arabia, knowledge management is often lacking when it comes to knowledge sharing adoption, especially between academic staff. This research aims to investigate various factors of knowledge sharing adoption for eLearning communities in Saudi Arabia and to examine the effect of culture as a moderating role on the relationships between these factors and academics’ attitude. Therefore, a framework is aimed at sharing knowledge within the eLearning communities is developed. Data has been collected from public universities in Saudi Arabia. Partial Least Square approach has been applied to analyse the data. The results show individual factors (such as openness in communication, interpersonal trust) and technology acceptance factors (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) significantly influence knowledge sharing attitude, while the relationship between people self-motivation and knowledge sharing attitude is insignificant. Subjective norm and attitude significantly impact behavioral intention toward knowledge sharing adoption in Saudi universities’ eLearning communities

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study

Background: Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods: The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18-49, 50-69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results: NNVs were more favourable in surgical patients than the general population. The most favourable NNVs were in patients aged 70 years or more needing cancer surgery (351; best case 196, worst case 816) or non-cancer surgery (733; best case 407, worst case 1664). Both exceeded the NNV in the general population (1840; best case 1196, worst case 3066). NNVs for surgical patients remained favourable at a range of SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates in sensitivity analysis modelling. Globally, prioritizing preoperative vaccination of patients needing elective surgery ahead of the general population could prevent an additional 58 687 (best case 115 007, worst case 20 177) COVID-19-related deaths in 1 year. Conclusion: As global roll out of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination proceeds, patients needing elective surgery should be prioritized ahead of the general population