A Type 2 A/C2 plasmid carrying the aacC4 apramycin resistance gene and the erm(42) erythromycin resistance gene recovered from two Salmonella enterica serovars

Objective: To determine the relationships between RepA/C2 plasmids carrying several antibiotic resistance genes found in isolates of Salmonella enterica serovars Ohio and Senftenberg from pigs. Methods: Illumina HiSeq was used to sequence seven S. enterica isolates. BLAST searches identified relevant A/C2 plasmid contigs, and contigs were assembled using PCR. Results: Two serovar Ohio isolates were ST329 and the five Senftenberg isolates were ST210. The A/C2 plasmids recovered from the seven isolates belong to Type 2 and contain two resistance islands. Their backbones were closely related, differing by five or fewer single nucleotide polymorphisms. The sul2-containing resistance island ARI-B is 19.9 kb and also contains the kanamycin and neomycin resistance gene aphA1, the tetracycline resistance gene tetA(D), and an erythromycin resistance gene, erm(42), not previously seen in A/C2 plasmids. A second 30.3 kb resistance island, RI-119, is in a unique location in the A/C2 backbone 8.2 kb downstream of rhs. RI-119 contained genes conferring resistance to apramycin, netilmicin, tobramycin (aacC4), hygromycin (hph), sulphonamides (sul1) and spectinomycin and streptomycin (aadA2). In one of the seven plasmids, this resistance region contained two IS26-mediated deletions. A discrete 5.7 kb segment containing the aacC4 and hph genes and bounded by IS26 on one side and the IR of Tn5393 on the other was identified. Conclusions: The presence of almost identical A/C2 plasmids in two serovars indicates a common origin. Type 2 A/C2 plasmids continue to evolve via addition of new resistance regions such as RI-119 and evolution of existing ones

A Type 2 A/C2 plasmid carrying the aacC4 apramycin resistance gene and the erm(42) erythromycin resistance gene recovered from two Salmonella enterica serovars

Objective: To determine the relationships between RepA/C2 plasmids carrying several antibiotic resistance genes found in isolates of Salmonella enterica serovars Ohio and Senftenberg from pigs. Methods: Illumina HiSeq was used to sequence seven S. enterica isolates. BLAST searches identified relevant A/C2 plasmid contigs, and contigs were assembled using PCR. Results: Two serovar Ohio isolates were ST329 and the five Senftenberg isolates were ST210. The A/C2 plasmids recovered from the seven isolates belong to Type 2 and contain two resistance islands. Their backbones were closely related, differing by five or fewer single nucleotide polymorphisms. The sul2-containing resistance island ARI-B is 19.9 kb and also contains the kanamycin and neomycin resistance gene aphA1, the tetracycline resistance gene tetA(D), and an erythromycin resistance gene, erm(42), not previously seen in A/C2 plasmids. A second 30.3 kb resistance island, RI-119, is in a unique location in the A/C2 backbone 8.2 kb downstream of rhs. RI-119 contained genes conferring resistance to apramycin, netilmicin, tobramycin (aacC4), hygromycin (hph), sulphonamides (sul1) and spectinomycin and streptomycin (aadA2). In one of the seven plasmids, this resistance region contained two IS26-mediated deletions. A discrete 5.7 kb segment containing the aacC4 and hph genes and bounded by IS26 on one side and the IR of Tn5393 on the other was identified. Conclusions: The presence of almost identical A/C2 plasmids in two serovars indicates a common origin. Type 2 A/C2 plasmids continue to evolve via addition of new resistance regions such as RI-119 and evolution of existing ones

Low carbon infrastructure investment: extending business models for sustainability

Investment in infrastructure is recognized as a key enabler of economic prosperity, but it is also important for addressing social and environmental challenges, including climate change mitigation and addressing fuel poverty. The UK Government Strategy Investing in Britain’s Future argues that significant investment in “resilient, cost effective and sustainable energy supplies” is needed to meet these challenges. However, current methods of assessing the costs and benefits of infrastructure investment, and the subsequent design of business models needed to deliver this investment, often prioritise partial economic gains over social and environmental objectives. This paper extends the business model canvas approach to allow designing business models and evaluation methods that can incorporate social and environmental value streams and propositions as well as economic values in order to facilitate genuinely sustainable infrastructure investment. It demonstrates the usefulness of this extension through two case studies of the development of smart grids for electricity distribution and local heat delivery networks in the UK. Smart grids are essential for maintaining the security and reliability of electricity systems whilst incorporating increasing amounts of low carbon generation in distribution networks. District heat networks can facilitate the efficient supply of low carbon heat. However, both will require significant levels of investment, co-ordination between public, private and regulatory actors, and will deliver a range of economic, social and environmental costs and benefits to these actors. Drawing on empirical interviews with local actors involved in smart grid and heat network developments, and recent work on valuation and business model canvas analysis, the paper challenges the traditional view of a business model as only creating one form of value. Accounting for multiple types of value helps to identify business models that are more likely to achieve the environmental and social goals of infrastructure transformation and opens the door for new actors. Finally, the paper introduces an approach to complex systems modelling of infrastructure investment decisions to take into account the range of actors and the diversity of motivations of these actors

Evaluation of complication rates after coronary artery bypass surgery using administrative data

Our objectives were (1) to determine if studying hospital complication rates after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery provides information not available when only mortality is studied, and (2) to reexplore the utility of ICD-9-CM administrative data for CABG outcomes assessment. Using data from Massachusetts, we identified CABG cohorts from 1990 and 1992 to respectively develop and validate multivariate risk adjustment models predicting in-hospital mortality and complications. The resulting models had good discrimination and calibration. In 1992, adjusted hospital complication rates ranged widely from 13.0% to 57.6%, while mortality rates ranged from 1.4% to 6.1%. Hospitals with high complication rates tended to have high mortality (r = 0.74, p = 0.006), but 2 of the 12 hospitals studied ranked quite differently when judged by complications rather than mortality. We conclude that (1) complications after CABG occur frequently and may provide information about hospital quality beyond that obtained from hospital mortality rates, and that (2) administrative data continue to be a promising resource for outcomes research

The epiphytic bryophyte community of Atlantic oak woodlands shows clear signs of recovery following the removal of invasive Rhododendron ponticum

Peer reviewedPostprin

Genome Sequence of Acinetobacter baumannii Strain D36, an Antibiotic-Resistant Isolate from Lineage 2 of Global Clone 1.

Multiply antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolate D36 was recovered in Australia in 2008 and belongs to a distinct lineage of global clone 1 (GC1). Here, we present the complete 4.13 Mbp genome sequence (chromosome plus 4 plasmids), generated via long read sequencing (PacBio)

Complete Genome Sequence of WM99c, an Antibiotic-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Global Clone 2 (GC2) Strain Representing an Australian GC2 Lineage.

The extensively antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolate WM99c recovered in Sydney, Australia, in 1999 is an early representative of a distinct lineage of global clone 2 (GC2) seen on the east coast of Australia. We present the complete 4.121-Mbp genome sequence (chromosome plus 2 plasmids), generated via long-read sequencing (PacBio)

Evolution of a clade of Acinetobacter baumannii global clone 1, lineage 1 via acquisition of carbapenem- and aminoglycoside-resistance genes and dispersion of ISAba1.

Resistance to carbapenem and aminoglycoside antibiotics is a critical problem in Acinetobacter baumannii, particularly when genes conferring resistance are acquired by multiply or extensively resistant members of successful globally distributed clonal complexes, such as global clone 1 (GC1) . Here, we investigate the evolution of an expanding clade of lineage 1 of the GC1 complex via repeated acquisition of carbapenem- and aminoglycoside-resistance genes. Lineage 1 arose in the late 1970s and the Tn6168/OCL3 clade arose in the late 1990s from an ancestor that had already acquired resistance to third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. Between 2000 and 2002, two distinct subclades have emerged, and they are distinguishable via the presence of an integrated phage genome in subclade 1 and AbaR4 (carrying the oxa23 carbapenem-resistance gene in Tn2006) at a specific chromosomal location in subclade 2. Part or all of the original resistance gene cluster in the chromosomally located AbaR3 has been lost from some isolates, but plasmids carrying alternate resistance genes have been gained. In one group in subclade 2, the chromosomally located AbGRI3, carrying the armA aminoglycoside-resistance gene, has been acquired from a GC2 isolate and incorporated via homologous recombination. ISAba1 entered the common ancestor of this clade as part of the cephalosporin-resistance transposon Tn6168 and has dispersed differently in each subclade. Members of subclade 1 share an ISAba1 in one specific position in the chromosome and in subclade 2 two different ISAba1 locations are shared. Further shared ISAba1 locations distinguish further divisions, potentially providing simple markers for epidemiological studies