Singing from the Grave: DNA from a 180 Year Old Type Specimen Confirms the Identity of Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens)

Copyright: © 2015 Price et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

“From the edge of the abyss to the foot of the rainbow – Narrating a journey of mental health recovery” the process of a wounded researcher

© 2017: Samantha J. Robertson, Diane Carpenter, Maggie Donovan-Hall, and Nova Southeastern University. In the UK, mental health service users are asked to “tell their stories” within clinical settings as a tool for diagnosis, formulation and treatment plans. Retelling, reliving and reflecting on traumatic and distressing experiences is not a benign activity. Yet the process of reframing lived experience within a personal narrative could support the development of: a more positive identity; self-management skills and improved social connections (Slade, 2009) and therefore contribute to mental health recovery. This is an exploration of my process as a wounded researcher in the development of a version of my narrative as an autoethnography. I developed a series of 54 vignettes that described memories of my lived experience. To start, I used memorable quotes - the voices of others within my narrative. Developing and analyzing my autoethnography was visceral. It highlighted aspects of my process (and the likely process of others) and raised many unresolved dilemmas. For example: what was left out or left unsaid and the issue of “narrative truth” (Craib, 2004); reordering the vignettes for coherence; the role of relational ethics; and the impact on my identity of this difficult on-going process. It impacted on my mental health, but it has been a crucial part of my recovery

Perceived impacts and residents\u27 support for tourism development in Port Dickson, Malaysia

This study evaluates the image that residents perceive of their location and its influences on their understanding of tourism impacts, and their support for the development of the tourism. The data was collected from 422 residents of Port Dickson in Malaysia and were examined by applying PLS-SEM. Results displayed a positive image of place will lead to positive perceptions of tourism development impacts leadings to residents\u27 support for tourism development. Practical implications of these outcomes are also discussed relative to tourism planning and development

A multicopper oxidase (Cj1516) and a CopA homologue (Cj1161) are major components of the copper homeostasis system of Campylobacter jejuni

© American Society for Microbiology, 2008. Post-print version of article deposited in accordance with SHERPA RoMEO guidelines.Metal ion homeostasis mechanisms in the food-borne human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni are poorly understood. The Cj1516 gene product is homologous to the multicopper oxidase CueO, which is known to contribute to copper tolerance in Escherichia coli. Here we show, by optical absorbance and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, that purified recombinant Cj1516 contains both T1 and trinuclear copper centers, which are characteristic of multicopper oxidases. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry revealed that the protein contained approximately six copper atoms per polypeptide. The presence of an N-terminal "twin arginine" signal sequence suggested a periplasmic location for Cj1516, which was confirmed by the presence of p-phenylenediamine (p-PD) oxidase activity in periplasmic fractions of wild-type but not Cj1516 mutant cells. Kinetic studies showed that the pure protein exhibited p-PD, ferroxidase, and cuprous oxidase activities and was able to oxidize an analogue of the bacterial siderophore anthrachelin (3,4-dihydroxybenzoate), although no iron uptake impairment was observed in a Cj1516 mutant. However, this mutant was very sensitive to increased copper levels in minimal media, suggesting a role in copper tolerance. This was supported by increased expression of the Cj1516 gene in copper-rich media. A mutation in a second gene, the Cj1161c gene, encoding a putative CopA homologue, was also found to result in copper hypersensitivity, and a Cj1516 Cj1161c double mutant was found to be more copper sensitive than either single mutant. These observations and the apparent lack of alternative copper tolerance systems suggest that Cj1516 (CueO) and Cj1161 (CopA) are major proteins involved in copper homeostasis in C. jejuni

Decrease in water clarity of the southern and central North Sea during the 20th century

Light in the marine environment is a key environmental variable coupling physics to marine biogeochemistry and ecology. Weak light penetration reduces light available for photosynthesis, changing energy fluxes through the marine food web. Based on published and unpublished data, this study shows that the central and southern North Sea has become significantly less clear over the second half of the 20th century. In particular, in the different regions and seasons investigated, the average Secchi depth pre-1950 decreased between 25% and 75% compared to the average Secchi depth post-1950. Consequently, in summer pre-1950, most (74%) of the sea floor in the permanently mixed area off East Anglia was within the photic zone. For the last 25+ years, changes in water clarity were more likely driven by an increase in the concentration of suspended sediments, rather than phytoplankton. We suggest that a combination of causes have contributed to this increase in suspended sediments such as changes in sea-bed communities and in weather patterns, decreased sink of sediments in estuaries, and increased coastal erosion. A predicted future increase in storminess (Beniston et al., 2007; Kovats et al., 2014) could enhance the concentration of suspended sediments in the water column and consequently lead to a further decrease in clarity, with potential impacts on phytoplankton production, CO2 fluxes, and fishery production

Non-operative management of appendicitis in children

While appendicectomy has been considered the mainstay of treatment for children with acute appendicitis for many decades, there has been a great deal of recent interest in non-operative treatment (NOT) with antibiotics alone. Initial results suggest that many children with appendicitis can indeed be safely treated with NOT and can be spared the surgeon’s knife. Many as yet unanswered questions remain, however, before NOT can be considered a realistic and reliable alternative to surgery. This review summaries current knowledge and understanding of the role of NOT in children with appendicitis and outlines and discusses the outstanding knowledge gaps

Penetrance and expressivity of mitochondrial variants in a large clinically unselected population

\ua9 The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) from large clinically unselected cohorts provides a unique opportunity to assess the penetrance and expressivity of rare and/or known pathogenic mitochondrial variants in population. Using WGS from 179 862 clinically unselected individuals from the UK Biobank, we performed extensive single and rare variant aggregation association analyses of 15 881 mtDNA variants and 73 known pathogenic variants with 15 mitochondrial disease-relevant phenotypes. We identified 12 homoplasmic and one heteroplasmic variant (m.3243A>G) with genome-wide significant associations in our clinically unselected cohort. Heteroplasmic m.3243A>G (MAF = 0.0002, a known pathogenic variant) was associated with diabetes, deafness and heart failure and 12 homoplasmic variants increased aspartate aminotransferase levels including three low-frequency variants (MAF ~0.002 and beta~0.3 SD). Most pathogenic mitochondrial disease variants (n = 66/74) were rare in the population (<1:9000). Aggregated or single variant analysis of pathogenic variants showed low penetrance in unselected settings for the relevant phenotypes, except m.3243A>G. Multi-system disease risk and penetrance of diabetes, deafness and heart failure greatly increased with m.3243A>G level ≥ 10%. The odds ratio of these traits increased from 5.61, 12.3 and 10.1 to 25.1, 55.0 and 39.5, respectively. Diabetes risk with m.3243A>G was further influenced by type 2 diabetes genetic risk. Our study of mitochondrial variation in a large-unselected population identified novel associations and demonstrated that pathogenic mitochondrial variants have lower penetrance in clinically unselected settings. m.3243A>G was an exception at higher heteroplasmy showing a significant impact on health making it a good candidate for incidental reporting

Metagenomics Reveals Planktonic Bacterial Community Shifts across a Natural CO2 Gradient in the Mediterranean Sea.

Bacterial communities at a CO2 vent (pH 6.7) were compared with those at control (pH 8.0) and transition sites (pH 7.6) using 16S rRNA metagenomics. Firmicutes and unclassified bacteria dominated across all sites, Proteobacteria, especially Gammaproteobacteria, declined, and Epsilonproteobacteria increased in the vent with an increase in Bacteroidetes at both the vent and transition sites