Formation and Reactivity of Biogenic Iron Minerals

This objective of this research is to evaluate the formation and reactivity of biogenic iron minerals produced by dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria, particularly with respect to the solid phase incorporation of metal contaminants (e.g., uranium, chromium, and nickel)

Formation and Reactivity of Biogenic Iron Minerals

Dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria (DIRB) play an important role in regulating the aqueous geochemistry of iron and other metals in anaerobic, non-sulfidogenic groundwater environments; however, little work has directly assessed the cell surface electrochemistry of DIRB, or the nature of the interfacial environment around individual cells. The electrochemical properties of particulate solids are often inferred from titrations in which net surface charge is determined, assuming electroneutrality, as the difference between known added amounts of acid and base and measured proton concentration. The resultant titration curve can then be fit to a speciation model for the system to determine pKa values and site densities of reactive surface sites. Moreover, with the development of non-contact electrostatic force microscopy (EFM), it is now possible to directly inspect and quantify charge development on surfaces. A combination of acid-base titrations and EFM are being used to assess the electrochemical surface properties of the groundwater DIRB, Shewanella putrefaciens. The pKa spectra and EFM data show together that a high degree of electrochemical heterogeneity exists within the cell wall and at the cell surface of S. putrefaciens. Recognition of variations in the nature and spatial distribution of reactive sites that contribute to charge development on these bacteria implies further that the cell surface of these Fe(III)-reducing bacteria functions as a highly differentiated interfacial system capable of supporting multiple intermolecular interactions with both solutes and solids. These include surface complexation reactions involving dissolved metals, as well as adherence to mineral substrates such as hydrous ferric oxide through longer-range electrostatic interactions, and surface precipitation of secondary reduced-iron minerals

Microbial Mineral Transformations at the Fe(II)/Fe(III) Redox Boundary for Solid Phase Capture of Strontium and Other Metal/Radionuclide Contaminants

Determine microbiological and geochemical controls on carbonate mineral precipitation reactions, and identify contributions of these processes to the solid phase capture of strontium and other metal/radionuclide contaminants. The study is relevant to the development of new clean-up strategies for DOE sites where strontium and other metal/radionuclides exist as ubiquitous and often mobile contaminants

Formation and Reactivity of Biogenic Iron Microminerals

The overall purpose of the project is to explore and quantify the processes that control the formation and reactivity of biogenic iron microminerals, and the impact of these processes on the solubility of metal contaminants, e.g., uranium, chromium and nickel. The research addresses how surface components of bacterial cells, extracellular organic material, and the aqueous geochemistry of the DIRB microenvironment impacts the mineralogy, chemical state and micromorphology of reduced iron phases

Formation and Reactivity of Biogenic Iron Microminerals

The overall purpose of the project was to explore and quantify the processes that control the formation and reactivity of biogenic iron microminerals and their impact on the solubility of metal contaminants. The research addressed how surface components of bacterial cells, extracellular organic material, and the aqueous geochemistry of the DIRB microenvironment impacts the mineralogy, chemical state and micromorphology of reduced iron phases

Formation and Reactivity of Biogenic Iron Microminerals

The overall purpose of the project is to explore and quantify the processes that control the formation and reactivity of biogenic iron microminerals and their impact on the solubility of metal contaminants. The research addresses how surface components of bacterial cells, extracellular organic material, and the aqueous geochemistry of the DIRB microenvironment impacts the mineralogy, chemical state and micromorphology of reduced iron phases

Calcite Precipitation and Trace Metal Partitioning in Groundwater and the Vadose Zone: Remediation of Strontium -90 and Other Divalent Metals and Radionuclides in Arid Western Environments

Calcite Precipitation and Trace Metal Partitioning in Groundwater and the Vadose Zone: Remediation of Strontium-90 and Other Divalent Metals and Radionuclides in Arid Western Environment

The fitness consequences of inbreeding in natural populations and their implications for species conservation – a systematic map

Background: Threatened species often have small and isolated populations where mating among relatives can result in inbreeding depression increasing extinction risk. Effective management is hampered by a lack of syntheses summarising the magnitude of, and variation in inbreeding depression. Here we describe the nature and scope of the literature examining phenotypic/fitness consequences of inbreeding, to provide a foundation for future syntheses and management. Methods: We searched the literature for articles documenting the impact of inbreeding in natural populations. Article titles, abstracts and full-texts were assessed against a priori defined criteria, and information relating to study design, quality and other factors that may influence inbreeding responses (e.g. population size) was extracted from relevant articles. Results: The searches identified 11457 articles, of which 614 were assessed as relevant and included in the systematic map (corresponding to 703 distinct studies). Most studies (663) assessed within-population inbreeding resulting from self-fertilisation or consanguineous pairings, while 118 studies assessed among-population inbreeding due to drift load. Plants were the most studied taxon (469 studies) followed by insects (52 studies) and birds (43 studies). Most studies investigated the effects of inbreeding on components of fitness (e.g. survival or fecundity; 648 studies) but measurements were typically under laboratory/greenhouse conditions (486 studies). Observations were also often restricted to the first inbred generation (607 studies) and studies frequently lacked contextual information (e.g. population size). Conclusions: Our systematic map describes the scope and quality of the evidence describing the phenotypic consequences of inbreeding. The map reveals substantial evidence relating to inbreeding responses exists, but highlights information is still limited for some aspects, including the effects of multiple generations of inbreeding. The systematic map allowed us to define several conservation-relevant questions, where sufficient data exists to support systematic reviews, e.g. How do inbreeding responses vary with population size? However, we found that such syntheses are likely to be constrained by incomplete reporting of critical contextual information. Our systematic map employed the same rigorous literature assessment methods as systematic review, including a novel survey of study quality and thus provides a robust foundation to guide future research and syntheses seeking to inform conservation decision-making

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

Blunted endogenous opioid release following an oral amphetamine challenge in pathological gamblers

Pathological gambling is a psychiatric disorder and the first recognized behavioral addiction, with similarities to substance use disorders but without the confounding effects of drug-related brain changes. Pathophysiology within the opioid receptor system is increasingly recognized in substance dependence, with higher mu-opioid receptor (MOR) availability reported in alcohol, cocaine and opiate addiction. Impulsivity, a risk factor across the addictions, has also been found to be associated with higher MOR availability. The aim of this study was to characterize baseline MOR availability and endogenous opioid release in pathological gamblers (PG) using [(11)C]carfentanil PET with an oral amphetamine challenge. Fourteen PG and 15 healthy volunteers (HV) underwent two [(11)C]carfentanil PET scans, before and after an oral administration of 0.5 mg/kg of d-amphetamine. The change in [(11)C]carfentanil binding between baseline and post-amphetamine scans (ΔBPND) was assessed in 10 regions of interest (ROI). MOR availability did not differ between PG and HV groups. As seen previously, oral amphetamine challenge led to significant reductions in [(11)C]carfentanil BPND in 8/10 ROI in HV. PG demonstrated significant blunting of opioid release compared with HV. PG also showed blunted amphetamine-induced euphoria and alertness compared with HV. Exploratory analysis revealed that impulsivity positively correlated with caudate baseline BPND in PG only. This study provides the first evidence of blunted endogenous opioid release in PG. Our findings are consistent with growing evidence that dysregulation of endogenous opioids may have an important role in the pathophysiology of addictions