“The great source” microplastic abundance and characteristics along the river Thames

This study focused on quantifying the abundance of microplastics within the surface water of the River Thames, UK. Ten sites in eight areas were sampled within the tidal Thames, starting from Teddington and ending at Southend-on-Sea. Three litres of water was collected monthly at high tide from land-based structures from each site from May 2019 to May 2021. Samples underwent visual analysis for microplastics categorised based on type, colour and size. 1041 pieces were tested using Fourier transform spectroscopy to identify chemical composition and polymer type. 6401 pieces of MP were found during sampling with an average MP of 12.27 pieces L⁻¹ along the river Thames. Results from this study show that microplastic abundance does not increase along the river

Simulated Audits to Engage Students in IT Governance and Assurance Courses

IT governance - and its related assurance activities - is important knowledge for information systems students to obtain. This teaching tip describes a six-week simulation involving IT assurance professionals from a major certified public accounting firm (and alumni of Miami University) who lead students in an IT risk and assurance class through a mock IT audit. The lessons we learned as we completed the first semester using this case are discussed. One significant lesson we learned is that students will have varying levels of interest in IT audits and will need to be coached through the significance of the case even if they are not planning to pursue a career in audit

Effect of silver content on the structure and antibacterial activity of silver-doped phosphate-based glasses

Staphylococcus aureus can cause a range of diseases, such as osteomyelitis, as well as colonize implanted medical devices. In most instances the organism forms biofilms that not only are resistant to the body's defense mechanisms but also display decreased susceptibilities to antibiotics. In the present study, we have examined the effect of increasing silver contents in phosphate-based glasses to prevent the formation of S. aureus biofilms. Silver was found to be an effective bactericidal agent against S. aureus biofilms, and the rate of silver ion release (0.42 to 1.22 µg·mm–2·h–1) from phosphate-based glass was found to account for the variation in its bactericidal effect. Analysis of biofilms by confocal microscopy indicated that they consisted of an upper layer of viable bacteria together with a layer (20 µm) of nonviable cells on the glass surface. Our results showed that regardless of the silver contents in these glasses (10, 15, or 20 mol%) the silver exists in its +1 oxidation state, which is known to be a highly effective bactericidal agent compared to that of silver in other oxidation states (+2 or +3). Analysis of the glasses by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and high-energy X-ray diffraction showed that it is the structural rearrangement of the phosphate network that is responsible for the variation in silver ion release and the associated bactericidal effectiveness. Thus, an understanding of the glass structure is important in interpreting the in vitro data and also has important clinical implications for the potential use of the phosphate-based glasses in orthopedic applications to deliver silver ions to combat S. aureus biofilm infections

Interactions of heavy nuclei, Kr, Xe and Ho, in light targets

Over the past few years, the HEAO-3 measurements of the abundances of ultra-heavy cosmic ray nuclei (Z 26) at earth have been analyzed. In order to interpret these abundances in terms of a source composition, allowance must be made for the propagation of the nuclei in the interstellar medium. Vital to any calculation of the propagation is a knowlege of the total and partial interaction cross sections for these heavy nuclei on hydrogen. Until recently, data on such reactions have been scarce. However, now that relativistic heavy ion beams are available at the LBL Bevalac, some of the cross sections of interest can be measured at energies close to those of the cosmic ray nuclei being observed. During a recent calibration at the Bevalac of an array similar to the HEAO-C3 UH-nuclei detector, targets of raphite (C), polyethylene (CH2), and aluminum were exposed to five heavy ion beams ranging in charge (Z) from 36 to 92. Total and partial charge changing cross sections for the various beam nuclei on hydrogen can be determined from the measured cross sections on C and CH2, and will be applied to the propagation problem. The cross sections on Al can be used to correct the abundances of UH cosmic rays observed in the HEAO C-3 detector for interactions in the detector itself

Potential for research on hemp insulation in the UK construction sector

Hemp based thermal insulation has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings and to be 'carbon-negative' in its production and manufacture. Hemp has been in use to produce biobased natural fibre insulation in the UK in recent years. With further development in hemp agronomy, production process and selection of raw materials in the production, hemp-based insulation materials are likely to become environmentally and functionally superior products to other insulation materials developed from petrochemical and mineral based sources. This paper looks at the research works on the present and future housing scenario in the UK, reductions in embodied energy of insulation materials, techniques for increasing thermal performance and ways in which the environmental impact can be lessened

Host genetic susceptibility to mycetoma

Mycetoma is one of the badly neglected tropical diseases characterised by subcutaneous painless swelling, multiple sinuses and discharge containing aggregates of the infecting organism known as grains. Risk factors conferring susceptibility to mycetoma include environmental factors, pathogen factors such as virulence and the infecting dose in addition to host factors such as immunological and genetic predisposition. Epidemiological evidence suggests that host genetic factors may regulate susceptibility to mycetoma and other fungal infections but they are likely to be complex genetic traits where multiple genes interact with each other and environmental factors, as well as the pathogen, to cause disease. This paper reviews what is known about genetic predisposition to fungal infections that might be relevant to mycetoma as well as all studies carried out to explore host genetic susceptibility to mycetoma. Most studies were investigating polymorphisms in candidate genes related to the host immune response. A total of 13 genes had allelic variants found to be associated with mycetoma and these genes lie in different pathways and systems such as innate and adaptive immune systems, sex hormones biosynthesis and some genes coding for host enzymes. None of these studies have been replicated. Advances in genomic science and the supporting technology have paved the way for large-scale genome-wide association and next generation sequencing (NGS) studies, underpinning a new strategy to systematically interrogate the genome for variants associated with mycetoma. Dissecting the contribution of host genetic variation to susceptibility to mycetoma will enable the identification of pathways that are potential targets for new treatments for mycetoma and will also enhance the ability to stratify “at-risk” individuals allowing the possibility to develop preventive and personalised clinical care strategies in the future

Natural variation in immune responses to neonatal mycobacterium bovis bacillus calmette-guerin (BCG) vaccination in a cohort of Gambian infants

Background There is a need for new vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) that protect against adult pulmonary disease in regions where BCG is not effective. However, BCG could remain integral to TB control programmes because neonatal BCG protects against disseminated forms of childhood TB and many new vaccines rely on BCG to prime immunity or are recombinant strains of BCG. Interferon-gamma (IFN-) is required for immunity to mycobacteria and used as a marker of immunity when new vaccines are tested. Although BCG is widely given to neonates IFN- responses to BCG in this age group are poorly described. Characterisation of IFN- responses to BCG is required for interpretation of vaccine immunogenicity study data where BCG is part of the vaccination strategy. Methodology/Principal Findings 236 healthy Gambian babies were vaccinated with M. bovis BCG at birth. IFN-, interleukin (IL)-5 and IL-13 responses to purified protein derivative (PPD), killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis (KMTB), M. tuberculosis short term culture filtrate (STCF) and M. bovis BCG antigen 85 complex (Ag85) were measured in a whole blood assay two months after vaccination. Cytokine responses varied up to 10 log-fold within this population. The majority of infants (89-98% depending on the antigen) made IFN- responses and there was significant correlation between IFN- responses to the different mycobacterial antigens (Spearman’s coefficient ranged from 0.340 to 0.675, p=10-6-10-22). IL-13 and IL-5 responses were generally low and there were more non-responders (33-75%) for these cytokines. Nonetheless, significant correlations were observed for IL-13 and IL-5 responses to different mycobacterial antigens Conclusions/Significance Cytokine responses to mycobacterial antigens in BCG-vaccinated infants are heterogeneous and there is significant inter-individual variation. Further studies in large populations of infants are required to identify the factors that determine variation in IFN- responses

X-ray diffraction studies of the effects of N incorporation in amorphous CNx, materials

The effects of nitrogen incorporation on the atomic-scale structure of amorphous CNx samples have been studied for 0, 5, 20, and 30 at. % N concentration, by x-ray diffraction. Significant differences in the structure are observed on the incorporation of only 5 at. % N, and the changes in structure continue as further N is added. From the experimental data, we are able to obtain directly the average bond distances and then calculate the average bond angles for each of the samples. The average first neighbor distance shows a gradual decrease from 1.55 Angstrom for 0 at. % N, to 1.44 Angstrom for 30 at. % N, and a similar trend is observed in the position of the second neighbor peak. This gives a corresponding increase in the average bond angle from 108 degrees to 114 degrees. The results show an increase in the fraction of sp(2) bonded carbon atoms with increasing N concentration, and there is evidence for the presence of significant numbers of C=N and C=N bonds. These results are also consistent with stress, hardness, and optical gap measurements for these samples. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(98)03907-3]

Synthesis, characterisation and performance of (TiO2)(0.18)(SiO2)(0.82) xerogel catalysts

The synthesis of high surface area xerogels has been achieved using the sol-gel route. Heptane washing was used during the stages of drying to minimise capillary pressures and hence preserve pore structure and maximise the surface area. SAXS data have identified that heptane washing during drying, in general, results in a preservation of the pore structure and surface areas of up to 450 m(2) g(-1). O-17 NMR showed that Ti is fully mixed into the silica network in all of the samples. XANES data confirm that reversible 4-fold Ti sites are more prevalent in samples with high surface areas, as expected. The calcined xerogels were tested for their catalytic activity using the epoxidation of cyclohexene with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as a test reaction, with excellent selectivities and reasonable percentage conversions. FT-IR spectroscopy has revealed that the catalytic activity is correlated with the intensity of the Si-O-Ti signal, after accounting for variations in Si-OH and Si-O-Si. The most effective catalyst was produced with heptane washing, a calcination temperature of 500 degreesC, and a heating rate of 5 degreesC min(-1)