Isolation and molecular characterization of the Romaine lettuce phylloplane mycobiome

Romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is an important staple of American agriculture. Unlike many vegetables, romaine lettuce is typically consumed raw. Phylloplane microbes occur naturally on plant leaves; consumption of uncooked leaves includes consumption of phylloplane microbes. Despite this fact, the microbes that naturally occur on produce such as romaine lettuce are for the most part uncharacterized. In this study, we conducted culture-based studies of the fungal romaine lettuce phylloplane community from organic and conventionally grown samples. In addition to an enumeration of all such microbes, we define and provide a discussion of the genera that form the “core” romaine lettuce mycobiome, which represent 85.5% of all obtained isolates: Alternaria, Aureobasidium, Cladosporium, Filobasidium, Naganishia, Papiliotrema, Rhodotorula, Sampaiozyma, Sporobolomyces, Symmetrospora and Vishniacozyma. We highlight the need for additional mycological expertise in that 23% of species in these core genera appear to be new to science and resolve some taxonomic issues we encountered during our work with new combinations for Aureobasidiumbupleuri and Curvibasidium nothofagi. Finally, our work lays the ground for future studies that seek to understand the effect these communities may have on preventing or facilitating establishment of exogenous microbes, such as food spoilage microbes and plant or human pathogens

Retained drains causing a bronchoperitoneal fistula: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Bronchoperitoneal fistulas are extremely rare. We present a case where retained surgical drains from a previous surgery resulted in erosion and fistula formation. This condition required an extensive surgical procedure and advanced ventilator techniques.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 24-year-old African-American man presented to our Emergency Department with a one-week history of fever, dyspnea, cough, and abdominal pain. A computed tomography scan of his chest and abdomen revealed bilateral lower lobe pneumonia and two retained Jackson-Pratt drains in the right upper quadrant. He was taken to the operating room for drain removal, a right hemicolectomy, debridement of a duodenal injury, a Roux-en-y duodenojejunostomy, and an end ileostomy. He subsequently became increasing hypoxemic in the intensive care unit and a bronchoperitoneal fistula was diagnosed. He required high-frequency oscillatory ventilation followed by lung isolation, and was successfully resuscitated using these techniques.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To the best of our knowledge, this is the first known case report of a bronchoperitoneal fistula caused by retained surgical drains. This is also the first known report that details successful management of this condition with advanced ventilatory techniques. This case highlights the importance of follow-up for trauma patients since retained surgical drains have the potential to cause life-threatening complications. When faced with this condition, clinicians should be aware of advanced ventilatory methods that can be employed in the intensive care unit. In this case, these techniques proved to be life-saving.</p

Effects of Elevated Temperature on Splitting Tensile Strength of OPC and BLA Pozzolanic Concrete and Mortar

Concrete is one of the most common and widely applied construction materials in the world. It is good in compression but weak in tension. The weakness in tension is been catered for through the use of reinforcement but there is still need to ensure that its  minimum tensile strength  is retained during the course of production and usage to avoid cracks development at the reinforcement cover. Concrete mixes of 1:2:4 (cement: sand: granite) and mortar of 1:6 mix ratio of cement to sand were produced. The ordinary Portland cement (OPC) content was partially replaced with bamboo leaf ash (BLA) from 0% to 12% at 2% interval. They were tested under normal and elevated temperature to know the effect of elevated temperature on their splitting tensile strength. The results obtained showed OPC concrete mix to improve in splitting tensile strength (3.5 N/mm2 to 3.7 N/mm2 at 28 days curing) whereas there was a decrease in the splitting tensile strength obtained for BLA mixes (3.29 N/mm2 to 1.75 N/mm2 for 12% percentage replacement at 28 days curing). The same trend of results was obtained for mortar mix; OPC mix increases from 1.65 N/mm2 to 1.86 N/mm2 while BLA at 12 % percentage replacement decreases from 2.02 N/mm2 to 1.7 N/mm2. OPC concrete and mortar under high elevated temperature (100oC) will improve in splitting tensile strength while elevated temperature decreases the splitting tensile of BLA concrete and mortar mixes at 12%

Depositional and diagenetic constraints on the abundance and spatial variability of carbonate-associated sulfate

Acknowledgment is made to the donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (#57548-ND2) for partial support of this research.Marine carbonate rocks are composed, in varying abundance, of cement, micrite, abiotic grains and fossils, which can provide information about the physical and chemical environments in which they formed. Geochemical analyses of these carbonates are not always interpreted alongside the wealth of geologic (including petrographic) information available, resulting in potentially faulty reconstructions of biogeochemical and environmental conditions. These concerns have prompted closer scrutiny of the effect of depositional lithofacies and diagenesis on carbonate proxies. Here, we have combined X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy and μ-X-ray Fluorescence (μ-XRF) imaging to map the speciation and abundance of sulfur in carbonate petrographic thin sections in Upper Ordovician carbonates from Anticosti Island, Canada and early Silurian carbonates from Gotland, Sweden, across multiple depositional facies. Lithofacies and fossil communities between Anticosti Island and Gotland are similar, which allows for comparison of changes in the dominant S species and their abundance in separate basins, associated with variations in (glacio)eustatic sea level. Sulfide abundance is greatest in mudstone, wackestone and packstone facies, where interstitial micrite hosts abundant pyrite. Sulfate abundance, as carbonate-associated sulfate (CAS), varies within individual fossil fragments, as well as within the same fossil phylum and is particularly high in unaltered brachiopods. In contrast, sulfate abundance is generally very low in micrite (near the detection limit) and generally arises in situ from sulfide that has been oxidized as opposed to true CAS. In different cement fabrics, sulfate abundance is greatest in drusy, pore-filling cements. Organic sulfur compounds are also detected and, although low in abundance, are mostly found within micrite. The detection and characterization of both inorganic sulfur and organic sulfur compounds provides a platform to understand early processes of biomineralization. This approach will broaden our understanding of the source of inorganically bound sulfate in ancient carbonates, as well as the effect of depositional setting and diagenesis on CAS incorporation, (re)mobilization, and ultimate abundance in sedimentary carbonates. Additionally, this work has implications for the CAS isotopic value of individual carbonate components that may affect interpretations of stratigraphic variability of numerous CAS sections throughout Earth history.PostprintPeer reviewe

Accounting for Uncertainty in Ecological Analysis: The Strengths and Limitations of Hierarchical Statistical Modeling

Copyright by the Ecological Society of America.Analyses of ecological data should account for the uncertainty in the process(es) that generated the data. However, accounting for these uncertainties is a difficult task, since ecology is known for its complexity. Measurement and/or process errors are often the only sources of uncertainty modeled when addressing complex ecological problems, yet analyses should also account for uncertainty in sampling design, in model specification, in parameters governing the specified model, and in initial and boundary conditions. Only then can we be confident in the scientific inferences and forecasts made from an analysis. Probability and statistics provide a framework that accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty. Given the complexities of ecological studies, the hierarchical statistical model is an invaluable tool. This approach is not new in ecology, and there are many examples (both Bayesian and non-Bayesian) in the literature illustrating the benefits of this approach. In this article, we provide a baseline for concepts, notation, and methods, from which discussion on hierarchical statistical modeling in ecology can proceed. We have also planted some seeds for discussion and tried to show where the practical difficulties lie. Our thesis is that hierarchical statistical modeling is a powerful way of approaching ecological analysis in the presence of inevitable but quantifiable uncertainties, even if practical issues sometimes require pragmatic compromises

Real‐time imaging reveals distinct pore scale dynamics during transient and equilibrium subsurface multiphase flow

Many subsurface fluid flows, including the storage of CO2 underground or the production of oil, are transient processes incorporating multiple fluid phases. The fluids are not in equilibrium meaning macroscopic properties such as fluid saturation and pressure vary in space and time. However, these flows are traditionally modeled with equilibrium (or steady-state) flow properties, under the assumption that the pore-scale fluid dynamics are equivalent. In this work, we used fast synchrotron X-ray tomography with 1 s time resolution to image the pore-scale fluid dynamics as the macroscopic flow transitioned to steady state. For nitrogen or decane, and brine injected simultaneously into a porous rock, we observed distinct pore-scale fluid dynamics during transient flow. Transient flow was found to be characterized by intermittent fluid occupancy, whereby flow pathways through the pore space were constantly rearranging. The intermittent fluid occupancy was largest and most frequent when a fluid initially invaded the rock. But as the fluids established an equilibrium the dynamics decreased to either static interfaces between the fluids or small-scale intermittent flow pathways, depending on the capillary number and viscosity ratio. If the fluids were perturbed after an equilibrium was established, by changing the flow rate, the transition to a new equilibrium was quicker than the initial transition. Our observations suggest that transient flows require separate modeling parameters. The time scales required to achieve equilibrium suggest that several meters of an invading plume front will have flow properties controlled by transient pore-scale fluid dynamics