AMR policy dialogue : driving innovative solutions for antimicrobial discovery

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global strategic priority and sits within the UK Government’s National Risk Register. By 2050, AMR is predicted to cause 10 million deaths, more than cancer. In 2019 alone, there were an estimated 4.95 million deaths associated with bacterial AMR. Although global pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) spend continues to increase year on year, research into antimicrobial drug discovery is not currently an attractive commercial investment. This has had two major consequences: an ongoing decline of human capital for R&D in this field, and a decline over the longer term in availability of therapeutically effective antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. Concerted and coordinated efforts are needed to translate high-level policy commitments into strategic actions for long-term funding and support for the R&D of new antimicrobials

The Impact of an Extreme Storm Event on the Barrier Beach of the Lefkada Lagoon, NE Ionian Sea (Greece)

The present investigation examines the characteristics of a high energy storm event, that took place on November 9-11, 2007 in the NE Ionian Sea (eastern Mediterranean), and its impact upon the barrier beach that separates the Lefkada lagoon from the open Ionian Sea. The storm event was caused by NW winds with speeds exceeding 20 m/s (40 knots), which have an annual frequency of occurrence less than 0.015%. This high energy event produced waves with >5 m significant offshore height and 9.5 s period; these waves developed on 10th November during the rapid rise of barometric pressure (~1.4 hPa/hr), which followed the barometric pressure drop from 1020.5 hPa at 06:00 (UTC) of 9th November to 1001.7 hPa at 06:00 h (UTC) of 10th November. Secondary breaking at the shoreline produced wave heights >1.5 m, associated with a surge of >0.4 m and a run-up capability of >2.4 m. The waves managed to overtop the barrier beach (elevations ~2.5 m), lowering the seaward side of the barrier beach by 10-30 cm and causing a coastline retreat of 0.9 to 2.2 m; these morphological changes correspond volumetrically to a sediment loss of approximately 8 m3/m of coastline length from the sub-aerial part of the beach. During the last three decades a significant change in the frequency of occurrence and direction (from S-SW-W to N-NW-NE) of severe storms with wind speeds exceeding 40 knots has been recorded, affecting the sediment transport pattern and contributing to the erosion of the north beaches of Lefkada

The Effect of Beach Rock Formation on the Morphological Evolution of a Beach. The Case Study of an Eastern Mediterranean Beach: Ammoudara, Greece

The present work investigates the decadal morphological evolution of a microtidal, perched beach and the effect that beach rock formations can have on coastal morphology. Using historical and recent morphological observations from Ammoudara Beach on the island of Crete, Greece, and numerical modeling, the interaction of beach rock formation and retreating coastline are investigated. The principal feature of the morphological evolution of the coastal zone under investigation has been the transformation of a beach rock formation, initially attached to the shoreface (1950s), to a submerged reef that is aligned subparallel to the present-day shoreline. At present, the beach rock is attached to the shoreface at sea level at the western part of the beach, but it has evolved to a submerged reef toward the east, being approximately 40 m off the shoreline at the central part and 70 m off the coastline at the eastern part of the beach. This kind of beach evolution is attributed to the interplay of natural hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes (that. have been changing as the beach rock formation evolved to an offshore submerged reef) and to human intervention. The latter is exhibited mainly as changes in the sediment supply to the coastal zone (e.g., reduction in terrestrial freshwater/sediment influx, deterioration of sand dune field, and arbitrary abstraction of beach material). After a period of readjustment of the nearshore hydrodynamics to the changing morphology and vice versa, it seems that, at present, Ammoudara Beach has attained a new morphodynamic equilibrium where the shore-parallel reef acts as a submerged breakwater

The consequences of a future eustatic sea-level rise on the deltaic coasts of Inner Thermaikos Gulf (Aegean Sea) and Kyparissiakos Gulf (Ionian Sea), Greece

The spatial consequences of future sea-level rise upon the coastal plains of Greece are examined; in particular, those related to the formation and evolution of the river-deltas. For this reason, the fluvially-dominated deltas of the Axios and Aliakmon rivers of Inner Thermaikos Gulf (NW Aegean Sea) together with the wave-dominated delta of the Alfios River (Kyparissiakos Gulf, Ionian Sea), are investigated. Coastal changes are quantified due to the combined effects of the processes of inundation, because of the increased sea level, and subsequent coastal erosion, due to increased exposure to wave action. Predictions of responses to future sea-level rise, of 0.5 to 1 m, are made. In the case of the deltaic coast of the Alfios, exposed to high waves and protected by dune fields, shoreline retreat of up to 700 m is predicted. The low-lying bird-foot type deltas of the Axios and Aliakmon are expected to retreat by more than 2 km. Furthermore, coastline retreat in the case of Alfios is related primarily to the process of shore zone erosion; in the case of the Axios and Aliakmon, it is related to the process of inundation. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Deltaic coastline retreat due to dam construction: The case of the River Alfios mouth area (Kyparissiakos Gulf, Ionian Sea)

The deltaic coast of the Alfios river, and especially its mouth area, is undergoing intense erosion over the last decades. This erosion has been caused primarily by the dramatic reduction of the fluvial sediment fluxes, following the construction of two dams (in 1954 and 1967), with the second dam being located at a distance of only 6 km from the river mouth. A further decrease in sediments reaching the sea is induced by the extended (even not continuous) abstraction of sand and gravel from the river's lower route. The resulting sediment deprivation in association with the highly energetic nearshore hydrodynamic regime has caused a retreat of approximately 450 m (from 1945 to 2003) of the mouth area of the R. Alfios. The northern part of the mouth has been affected more heavily by the erosional processes (shoreline retreat between 200 and 445 m) than the southern part (100-240 m retreat), the sediment losses of which are partially replenished by the northward longshore sediment transport of Kyparissiakos Gulf. Shoreline retreat at distances >1 km on either side of the river's mouth is approximately equal, becoming minimal at distances >2 km. The erosional trend of the Alfios River deltaic coast, that has caused significant property losses and damage to coastal infrastructure, is expected to continue and may become more intense as a response to the anticipated future sea level rise. © Coastal Education & Research Foundation 2013

Sea-level rise trends in the Attico-Cycladic region (Aegean Sea) during the last 5000 years

Sea-level change during the last 18,000 years is a combination of eustatic, isostatic and tectonic contributions. In an effort to minimize the tectonic contributions, our study of sea-level changes in the Aegean Sea within historical times is focused on the aseismic Attico-Cycladic geotectonic zone. On the basis of archaeological information and radiocarbon dating of coastal sedimentological formations, a sea-level curve for the Attico-Cycladic massif has been constructed for the past 5000 years and compared with existing curves. According to this curve, the rapid increase of sea level concluded prior to 5.5 ka and was followed by a slow steady rise at a rate of 0.9 mm/a up to its present stage. The latter is attributed primarily to the process of thermal expansion and secondarily to the residual melting of the glaciers and existing ice-caps. By extrapolation of the curve, the sea level at the end of the 20th century is predicted to be about 9 cm higher than the present level; this value is much lower than the prediction of the last IPCC report (49 cm). If higher SLR rates are realised in the next few decades, then the excess 40 cm of the IPCC prediction can be attributed to human-induced global climatic change. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The role of coastal morphology in influencing sea level variations induced by meteorological forcing in microtidal waters: Examples from the island of crete (Aegean Sea, Greece)

Sea surface variations due to strong (northerly) onshore winds are compared over three different geomorphological settings of the essentially tideless (tidal range < 10 cm) northern coast of Crete (southern Aegean Sea): (i) an open beach zone; (ii) a beach zone with the same offshore characteristics as the previous zone, but protected by a shore-parallel reef; and (iii) a pocket beach located in the cove of a semienclosed gulf. Even though the three beach zones are exposed to similar meteorological forcing (strong northerly winds with speeds > 10 m s-1), they developed different water level variations depending on the local morphological conditions. The beach zone situated in the semienclosed gulf experienced a 3.3 times larger offshore sea surface rise (10 cm) than the unprotected open beach. The presence of the reef, on the third beach, caused a 2.7 times higher increase of the nearshore sea surface elevation (i.e., up to 24.5 cm) than the nearshore sea surface rise (9 cm) measured at the nearby unprotected open coast that experiences similar offshore hydrodynamic conditions. The sea surface variations in the offshore zone are induced primarily by wind forcing and, secondarily, by barometric pressure fluctuations: their corresponding ratios vary from 3.21 in the unprotected open beach, to 2.21 in the pocket beach located in the semienclosed gulf. Sea surface rise within the nearshore zone is controlled mainly by the wave set-up, due to breaking waves; this, at the open coast, is about 1.3 times larger than the wind set-up. Finally, the presence of the reef amplifies sea surface rise along the shoreline, which can easily exceed 0.4 m (15 times the offshore sea surface rise). © 2013 the Coastal Education & Research Foundation (CERF)