Harmful Algal Blooms. A scientific summary for policy makers

What is a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB)? Photosynthetic algae support healthy aquatic ecosystems by forming the base of the food web, fixing carbon and producing oxygen. Under certain circumstances, some species can form high-biomass and/or toxic proliferations of cells (or “blooms”), thereby causing harm to aquatic ecosystems, including plants and animals, and to humans via direct exposure to water-borne toxins or by toxic seafood consumption. Ecosystem damage by high-biomass blooms may include, for instance, disruption of food webs, fish-killing by gill damage, or contribution to low oxygen “dead-zones” after bloom degradation. Some species also produce potent natural chemicals (toxins) that can persist in the water or enter the food web, leading to illness or death of aquatic animals and/or human seafood consumers

Structure of NaFeSiO4, NaFeSi2O6, and NaFeSi3O8 glasses and glass-ceramics

The crystallization of iron-containing sodium silicate phases holds particular importance, both in the management high-level nuclear wastes and in geosciences. Here, we study three asquenched glasses and their heat-treated chemical analogues, NaFeSiO4, NaFeSi2O6, and NaFeSi3O8 (with nominal stoichiometries from feldspathoid, pyroxene, and feldspar mineral groups – i.e., Si/Fe = 1, 2, and 3 respectively) – using a variety of techniques. Phase analyses revealed that as-quenched NaFeSiO4 cannot accommodate all Fe in the glass phase (some Fe crystallizes as Fe3O4), whereas as-quenched NaFeSi2O6 and NaFeSi3O8 form amorphous glasses upon quenching. NaFeSi2O6 glass is the only composition that crystallizes into its respective isochemical crystalline polymorph, i.e. aegirine, upon isothermal heat-treatment. As revealed by Mössbauer spectroscopy, iron is predominantly present as 4-coordinated Fe3+ in all glasses, though it is present as 6-coordinated Fe3+ in the aegirine crystals (NaFeSi2O6), as expected from crystallography. Thus, Fe can form the crystalline phases in which it is octahedrally coordinated, even though it is mostly tetrahedrally coordinated in the parent glasses. Thermal behavior, magnetic properties, iron redox state (including Fe K-edge X-ray absorption), and vibrational properties (Raman spectra) of the above compositions are discussed

Draft genome and description of Corynebacterium haemomassiliense strain Marseille-Q3615(T) sp. nov., a new bacterium isolated from a 59-year-old man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease symptoms

International audienceIn 2020, as part of a diagnosis attempt at IHU Mediterranee Infection in Marseille (France), a blood specimen was obtained from a 59-year-old man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease symptoms, from which we isolated the new bacterial Corynebacterium haemomassiliense strain Marseille-Q3615(T). Matrix-assisted desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) failed to identify this isolate. Analysis of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene and genome-to-Genome comparison suggested that this taxon belongs to a novel bacterial species within the family Corynebacteriaceae in the phylum Actinobacteria. We describe the main phenotypic characteristics, genome sequence and annotation of Corynebacterium haemomassiliense strain Marseille-Q3615(T), a new member of the Corynebacterium genus, which we propose as the type strain. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Complete genome and description of Corynebacterium incognita sp. nov.: a new bacterium within the Corynebacterium genus

In 2020, as part of the diagnosis in IHU-Méditerranée Infection Institute in Marseille (France) we isolated the new bacterial strain Marseille-3630T from a 7-year-old girl blood specimen (= CSUR: Q3630). Matrix-assisted desorption ionisation time–of-flight mass spectrometry failed to identify this isolate. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene and genome-to-genome comparison suggested that this taxon belongs to a novel bacterial species within the family Corynebacteriaceae in the phylum Actinobacteria. We described here its main phenotypic characteristics, genome sequence and annotation of Corynebacterium incognitum strain Marseille-3630T, a new member of the Corynebacterium genus, that we propose as type strain

Draft genome and description of Mixta mediterraneensis strain Marseille-Q2057T sp.nov., a new bacterium isolated from human healthy skin

International audienc

Draft genome and description of Mixta mediterraneensis strain Marseille-Q2057T sp.nov., a new bacterium isolated from human healthy skin

International audienc

Formalization and Processing of Data Requirements for the Development of Next Generation Railway Traffic Management Systems

Railway Traffic Management Systems (TMSs) handle data from multiple railway subsystems, including Rail Business Services (such as interlocking, RBC, maintenance service, etc.) and external services (such as passenger information systems, weather forecast, etc.). In turn, the data from these subsystems are described in several models or ontologies contributed by various organizations or projects which are in a process of converging or federation. The challenge of the Shift2Rail OPTIMA project, which is implementing a communication platform for virtual testing of new applications for railway TMS, is to allow the exchange of data between different services or users and to support new traffic management applications, enabling access to a large number of disparate data sources. In this paper, the core activities of the OPTIMA project related to the formulation and standardization of a common data model are described. A new Common Data Model is developed based on standardized data structures to enable the seamless exchange of large amounts of data between different and heterogeneous sources and consumers of data, that contributes to the building of next generation of a more effective and efficient railway TMS suitable to offer precise and real-time traffic information to railway operators and other end users

Draft genome and description of Microvirga mediterraneensis strain Marseille-Q2068T sp. nov., a new bacterium isolated from human healthy skin

International audienceIn 2019, by culturing a skin swab from the forehead of a 70-yearold healthy woman via the culturomics method, we isolated the new bacterial strain Marseille-Q2068T (= CSUR-Q2068). Matrix-assisted desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) failed to identify this isolate. Analysis of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene and genome-togenome comparison suggested that this taxon belongs to a novel bacterial species within the family Methylobacteriaceae in the phylum Proteobacteria. We describe here its main phenotypic characteristics, genome sequence and annotation of Microvirga mediterraneensis strain Marseille-Q2068T, a new member of the Microvirga genus, which we propose as the type strain

Draft genome and description of Chryseobacterium manosquense strain Marseille-Q2069(T) sp. nov., a new bacterium isolated from human healthy skin

International audienceIn 2019, by culturing a skin swab from the hand of a 35-year-old healthy woman using culturomics methods, we isolated the new bacterial strain Marseille-Q2069(T) =CSUR-Q2069. Matrix-assisted desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry failed to identify this isolate. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene and Genome-to-Genome comparison suggested that this taxon belongs to a novel bacterial species within the family Flavobacteriaceae in the phylum Bacteroidetes. We described here the main phenotypic characteristics, genome sequence and annotation of Chryseobacterium manosquense strain Marseille-Q2069(T), a new member of the Chryseobacterium genus, that we propose as type strain. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd