Microbial community dynamics in the forefield of glaciers

Retreating ice fronts (as a result of a warming climate) expose large expanses of deglaciated forefield, which become colonized by microbes and plants. There has been increasing interest in characterizing the biogeochemical development of these ecosystems using a chronosequence approach. Prior to the establishment of plants, microbes use autochthonously produced and allochthonously delivered nutrients for growth. The microbial community composition is largely made up of heterotrophic microbes (both bacteria and fungi), autotrophic microbes and nitrogen-fixing diazotrophs. Microbial activity is thought to be responsible for the initial build-up of labile nutrient pools, facilitating the growth of higher order plant life in developed soils. However, it is unclear to what extent these ecosystems rely on external sources of nutrients such as ancient carbon pools and periodic nitrogen deposition. Furthermore, the seasonal variation of chronosequence dynamics and the effect of winter are largely unexplored. Modelling this ecosystem will provide a quantitative evaluation of the key processes and could guide the focus of future research. Year-round datasets combined with novel metagenomic techniques will help answer some of the pressing questions in this relatively new but rapidly expanding field, which is of growing interest in the context of future large-scale ice retreat

Evaluating efficacy of a ballast water filtration system for reducing spread of aquatic species in freshwater ecosystems

Biological invasions by non-indigenous species are considered a leading threat to biodiversity, with prevention being a key management strategy. Consequently, numerous commercial ballast water treatment systems have been, or are being, developed to prevent future aquatic invasions. However, most treatment systems are being designed for the many vessels undertaking long transoceanic voyages in marine waters rather than the relatively few vessels operating on short voyages in freshwater, such as those in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Here we conduct testing of the biological efficacy of a 40 µm ballast water filtration unit through shipboard trials. We test the hypotheses that i) filtration will significantly reduce abundance of zooplankton greater than 50 µm in size but not phytoplankton 10 to 50 µm in size; ii) filtration will reduce zooplankton abundances in ballast water below International Maritime Organization discharge standards, but not those of phytoplankton; and iii) filtration will alter the community composition of zooplankton, non-randomly reducing invasion risk of larger taxa. During the summer of 2012, three shipboard trials were conducted. Ballast water samples were collected using a before-after experimental design. Our study showed that filtration significantly reduced abundance of copepods and cladocerans, but not of juvenile dreissenid veligers and rotifers. Contrary to our expectation, phytoplankton densities were also significantly lower after the treatment. Overall, ballast water treated during our tests would not meet proposed international discharge standards. Filtration altered relative abundance of zooplankton, but did not reduce introduction risk of any taxonomic group due to the small juvenile stages and dormant eggs which passed through the treatment. While we do not rule out filtration as a ballast water treatment option for zooplankton in the future, our tests indicate further development is required for meaningful reduction of invasion risk

Ancient Chinese methods are remarkably effective for the preparation of artemisinin-rich extracts of Qing Hao with potent antimalarial activity.

yesAncient Chinese herbal texts as far back as the 4th Century Zhou hou bei ji fang describe methods for the use of Qing Hao (Artemisia annua) for the treatment of intermittent fevers. Today, the A. annua constituent artemisinin is an important antimalarial drug and the herb itself is being grown and used locally for malaria treatment although this practice is controversial. Here we show that the ancient Chinese methods that involved either soaking, (followed by wringing) or pounding, (followed by squeezing) the fresh herb are more effective in producing artemisinin-rich extracts than the usual current method of preparing herbal teas from the dried herb. The concentrations of artemisinin in the extracts was up to 20-fold higher than that in a herbal tea prepared from the dried herb, but the amount of total artemisinin extracted by the Chinese methods was much less than that removed in the herbal tea. While both extracts exhibited potent in vitro activities against Plasmodium falciparum, only the pounded juice contained sufficient artemisinin to suppress parasitaemia in P. berghei infected mice. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of malaria treatment using A. annua infusions

A self-determination perspective of strengths use at work: Examining its determinant and performance implications

We investigate the role of strengths use in the workplace by drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) to propose that strengths use at work can yield performance benefits in terms of task performance and discretionary helping, and that the social context, in the form of leader autonomy support, can promote employees’ strengths use. Further, consistent with an interactional psychology perspective, we contend that the relationship between autonomy support and strengths use will be stronger among individuals with strong independent self-construal. We tested the model using matched data from 194 employees and their supervisors and found evidence for the relevance of strengths use at work, even after accounting for the role of intrinsic motivation. In addition to providing practical implications on developing employee strengths use and how to do so, this study advances theory and research on workplace strength use, SDT, and positive organizational behavior

Characterization of potential biomarkers of reactogenicity of licensed antiviral vaccines: randomized controlled clinical trials conducted by the BIOVACSAFE consortium

Funding text The authors are grateful for the vital contributions of the participating study volunteers, clinicians, nurses, and laboratory technicians at the Surrey study site. The work by Roberto Leone, laboratory technician at Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, is gratefully acknowledged. Finally, they thank Ellen Oe (GSK) for scientific writing assistance. The research leading to these results has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement n°115308, resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) and EFPIA companies’ in-kind contribution. The contribution of the European Commission to the Advanced Immunization Technologies (ADITEC) project (grant agreement n° 280873) is also gratefully acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: © 2019, The Author(s).Biomarkers predictive of inflammatory events post-vaccination could accelerate vaccine development. Within the BIOVACSAFE framework, we conducted three identically designed, placebo-controlled inpatient/outpatient clinical studies (NCT01765413/NCT01771354/NCT01771367). Six antiviral vaccination strategies were evaluated to generate training data-sets of pre-/post-vaccination vital signs, blood changes and whole-blood gene transcripts, and to identify putative biomarkers of early inflammation/reactogenicity that could guide the design of subsequent focused confirmatory studies. Healthy adults (N = 123; 20–21/group) received one immunization at Day (D)0. Alum-adjuvanted hepatitis B vaccine elicited vital signs and inflammatory (CRP/innate cells) responses that were similar between primed/naive vaccinees, and low-level gene responses. MF59-adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine (ATIV) induced distinct physiological (temperature/heart rate/reactogenicity) response-patterns not seen with non-adjuvanted TIV or with the other vaccines. ATIV also elicited robust early (D1) activation of IFN-related genes (associated with serum IP-10 levels) and innate-cell-related genes, and changes in monocyte/neutrophil/lymphocyte counts, while TIV elicited similar but lower responses. Due to viral replication kinetics, innate gene activation by live yellow-fever or varicella-zoster virus (YFV/VZV) vaccines was more suspended, with early IFN-associated responses in naïve YFV-vaccine recipients but not in primed VZV-vaccine recipients. Inflammatory responses (physiological/serum markers, innate-signaling transcripts) are therefore a function of the vaccine type/composition and presence/absence of immune memory. The data reported here have guided the design of confirmatory Phase IV trials using ATIV to provide tools to identify inflammatory or reactogenicity biomarkers.Peer reviewe

Mineral safeguarding areas for North York Moors National Park authority

This report describes work carried out by the British Geological Survey (BGS) on behalf of the North York Moors National Park Authority to delineate draft Mineral Safeguarding Areas (MSAs), the results of which will be used to undertake a mineral consultation safeguarding exercise. The approach taken is in accordance with the methodology outlined in ‘Mineral safeguarding in England: good practice advice’ (Wrighton et al., 2011). National policy for minerals safeguarding, at the time of the study, is contained within the ‘National Planning Policy Framework’ that was published in March 2012. The work undertaken in this study involved the production of maps showing the extent of mineral resources in the North York Moors National Park and the production of a recommended safeguarding methodology for each mineral resource informed by consultation. This report will be used to inform the establishment of MSAs through minerals planning policy, MSAs themselves are not finalised until relevant planning policy is adopted. Data depicted on the maps have been provided in digital format to the authority for use within a Geographical Information System

Microplastics and synthetic particles ingested by deep-sea amphipods in six of the deepest marine ecosystems on Earth

Funding Funding for the laboratory work and analysis was from Newcastle University internal support. This work was supported by the 2007–2010 HADEEP project, funded by the Nippon Foundation (2009765188) and the Natural Environmental Research Council (NE/E007171/1). The 2011–2013 Kermadec Trench sampling was supported by the TOTAL Foundation (France) through the projects ‘Multi-disciplinary investigations of the deepest scavengers on Earth’ (2010–2012) and ‘Trench Connection’ (2013–2015). The Mariana samples were derived from the ‘FISH2017’ expedition (RV Shinyo-Maru SY1615) supported by the Tokyo University for Marine Science and Technology. Acknowledgements We thank the captain, crew and company of the research expeditions who assisted in the collection of the amphipods between 2008 and 2017, namely the Japanese Hakuho-Maru, Tansei Maru and Shinyo-Maru, the German Sonne and the RV Kaharoa in New Zealand. The assistance of David Whitaker and Peter McParlin from The School of Marine Science and Technology at Newcastle University are much appreciated. We are extremely grateful to Bob Keighley and Dan Parnaby at Shimadzu UK Limited for facilitating the FTIR analysis and access to their material database. We also thank Heather Stewart from the British Geological Survey for calculating the distances between trenches.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

‘More willing to carry on in the face of adversity’: how beginner teachers facing challenging circumstances experience positive psychology coaching. An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Positive psychology coaching (PPC) is defined as activating positive psychology (PP) in an applied and systematic way through coaching (Passmore, J., & Oades, P. (2014). Positive psychology coaching – A model for coaching practice. The Coaching Psychologist, 10(2), 68–70). Currently studies looking at how PPC is experienced by coachees are limited. While there has been some early success cited in using a PPC approach in professional development in education with adults (Zwart, R. C., Korthagen, F. A. J., & Attema-Noordewier, S. (2014). A strength-based approach to teacher professional development. Professional Development in Education, 41(3), 579–596. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2014.919341) it is not yet known how teachers experience PPC. The purpose of this paper was to gain an understanding of how PPC is experienced by beginner teachers undergoing challenging circumstances. This initial explorative study adopted a qualitative approach using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, J., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. Sage). Four superordinate themes emerged: ‘perfectly normal to feel this way’; making sense and ‘joining the dots’; increased positive emotion; and, time to think ‘in an easy-going environment’. Further studies of the application of PPC in educational settings are needed

The helicase HAGE prevents interferon-a-induced PML expression in ABCB5+ malignant melanoma-initiating cells by promoting the expression of SOCS1

The tumour suppressor PML (promyelocytic leukaemia protein) regulates several cellular pathways involving cell growth, apoptosis, differentiation and senescence. PML also has an important role in the regulation of stem cell proliferation and differentiation. Here, we show the involvement of the helicase HAGE in the transcriptional repression of PML expression in ABCB5 + malignant melanoma-initiating cells (ABCB5 + MMICs), a population of cancer stem cells which are responsible for melanoma growth, progression and resistance to drug-based therapy. HAGE prevents PML gene expression by inhibiting the activation of the JAK-STAT (janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription) pathway in a mechanism which implicates the suppressor of cytokine signalling 1 (SOCS1). Knockdown of HAGE led to a significant decrease in SOCS1 protein expression, activation of the JAK-STAT signalling cascade and a consequent increase of PML expression. To confirm that the reduction in SOCS1 expression was dependent on the HAGE helicase activity, we showed that SOCS1, effectively silenced by small interfering RNA, could be rescued by re-introduction of HAGE into cells lacking HAGE. Furthermore, we provide a mechanism by which HAGE promotes SOCS1 mRNA unwinding and protein expression in vitro

HAGE (DDX43) is a biomarker for poor prognosis and a predictor of chemotherapy response in breast cancer

Background: HAGE protein is a known immunogenic cancer-specific antigen. Methods: The biological, prognostic and predictive values of HAGE expression was studied using immunohistochemistry in three cohorts of patients with BC (n=2147): early primary (EP-BC; n=1676); primary oestrogen receptor-negative (PER-BC; n=275) treated with adjuvant anthracycline-combination therapies (Adjuvant-ACT); and primary locally advanced disease (PLA-BC) who received neo-adjuvant anthracycline-combination therapies (Neo-adjuvant-ACT; n=196). The relationship between HAGE expression and the tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in matched prechemotherapy and postchemotherapy samples were investigated. Results: Eight percent of patients with EP-BC exhibited high HAGE expression (HAGEþ) and was associated with aggressive clinico-pathological features (Ps<0.01). Furthermore, HAGEþexpression was associated with poor prognosis in both univariate and multivariate analysis (Ps<0.001). Patients with HAGE+ did not benefit from hormonal therapy in high-risk ER-positive disease. HAGE+ and TILs were found to be independent predictors for pathological complete response to neoadjuvant-ACT; P<0.001. A statistically significant loss of HAGE expression following neoadjuvant-ACT was found (P=0.000001), and progression-free survival was worse in those patients who had HAGE+ residual disease (P=0.0003). Conclusions: This is the first report to show HAGE to be a potential prognostic marker and a predictor of response to ACT in patients with BC