Learning together for and with the Martuwarra Fitzroy River

Co-production across scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems has become a cornerstone of research to enhance knowledge, practice, ethics, and foster sustainability transformations. However, the profound differences in world views and the complex and contested histories of nation-state colonisation on Indigenous territories, highlight both opportunities and risks for Indigenous people when engaging with knowledge co-production. This paper investigates the conditions under which knowledge co-production can lead to improved Indigenous adaptive environmental planning and management among remote land-attached Indigenous peoples through a case study with ten Traditional Owner groups in the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) Catchment in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. The research team built a 3D map of the river and used it, together with an interactive table-top projector, to bring together both scientific and Indigenous spatial knowledge. Participatory influence mapping, aligned with Traditional Owner priorities to achieve cultural governance and management planning goals set out in the Fitzroy River Declaration, investigated power relations. An analytical framework, examining underlying mechanisms of social learning, knowledge promotion and enhancing influence, based on different theories of change, was applied to unpack the immediate outcomes from these activities. The analysis identified that knowledge co-production activities improved the accessibility of the knowledge, the experiences of the knowledge users, strengthened collective identity and partnerships, and strengthened Indigenous-led institutions. The focus on cultural governance and management planning goals in the Fitzroy River Declaration enabled the activities to directly affect key drivers of Indigenous adaptive environmental planning and management—the Indigenous-led institutions. The nation-state arrangements also gave some support to local learning and decision-making through a key Indigenous institution, Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council. Knowledge co-production with remote land-attached Indigenous peoples can improve adaptive environmental planning and management where it fosters learning together, is grounded in the Indigenous-led institutions and addresses their priorities

Solid-phase microextraction: investigation of the metabolism of substances that may be abused by inhalation

Purified liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a mixture of butane, isobutane, and propane, is commonly abused by inhalation. Little is known about the mammalian metabolism of these substances. Metabolism of other hydrocarbons, including n-hexane and cyclohexane, has been studied in vitro using a range of liver preparations, with metabolites analyzed by static headspace techniques. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) for sampling metabolites in the headspace of incubates of volatile compounds with activated rat liver microsomes is investigated. Cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone were formed from cyclohexane and 1-, 2-, and 3-hexanol and 2-hexanone from n-hexane as predicted. Secondary alcohols are found for the other compounds studied, except for propene and isobutane, together with 2-propanone and 2-butanone from propane and n-butane, respectively. Samples from three individuals who died following LPG abuse contained a range of putative n-butane metabolites: n-butanol, 2-butanol, 2,3-butanediol, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, and 2,3-butanedione. To our knowledge, the last three compounds have not been proposed as metabolites of n-butane in man. These might be produced through similar metabolic pathways to those of n-hexane and n-heptane. The findings indicate the value of SPME for investigating the metabolism of volatile substances and for detecting and monitoring exposure to these compound

Solid-Phase Microextraction: Investigation of the Metabolism of Substances that May be Abused by Inhalation

Purified liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a mixture of butane, isobutane, and propane, is commonly abused by inhalation. Little is known about the mammalian metabolism of these substances. Metabolism of other hydrocarbons, including n-hexane and cyclohexane, has been studied in vitro using a range of liver preparations, with metabolites analyzed by static headspace techniques. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) for sampling metabolites in the headspace of incubates of volatile compounds with activated rat liver microsomes is investigated. Cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone were formed from cyclohexane and 1-, 2-, and 3-hexanol and 2-hexanone from n-hexane as predicted. Secondary alcohols are found for the other compounds studied, except for propene and isobutane, together with 2-propanone and 2-butanone from propane and n-butane, respectively. Samples from three individuals who died following LPG abuse contained a range of putative n-butane metabolites: n-butanol, 2-butanol, 2,3-butanediol, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, and 2,3-butanedione. To our knowledge, the last three compounds have not been proposed as metabolites of n-butane in man. These might be produced through similar metabolic pathways to those of n-hexane and n-heptane. The findings indicate the value of SPME for investigating the metabolism of volatile substances and for detecting and monitoring exposure to these compound

The Citrobacter rodentium Genome Sequence Reveals Convergent Evolution with Human Pathogenic Escherichia coli▿ † ‡

Citrobacter rodentium (formally Citrobacter freundii biotype 4280) is a highly infectious pathogen that causes colitis and transmissible colonic hyperplasia in mice. In common with enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EPEC and EHEC, respectively), C. rodentium exploits a type III secretion system (T3SS) to induce attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions that are essential for virulence. Here, we report the fully annotated genome sequence of the 5.3-Mb chromosome and four plasmids harbored by C. rodentium strain ICC168. The genome sequence revealed key information about the phylogeny of C. rodentium and identified 1,585 C. rodentium-specific (without orthologues in EPEC or EHEC) coding sequences, 10 prophage-like regions, and 17 genomic islands, including the locus for enterocyte effacement (LEE) region, which encodes a T3SS and effector proteins. Among the 29 T3SS effectors found in C. rodentium are all 22 of the core effectors of EPEC strain E2348/69. In addition, we identified a novel C. rodentium effector, named EspS. C. rodentium harbors two type VI secretion systems (T6SS) (CTS1 and CTS2), while EHEC contains only one T6SS (EHS). Our analysis suggests that C. rodentium and EPEC/EHEC have converged on a common host infection strategy through access to a common pool of mobile DNA and that C. rodentium has lost gene functions associated with a previous pathogenic niche