Ranking the Risks: The 10 Pathogen-Food Combinations With the Greatest Burden on Public Health

Examines food-borne pathogens with the highest disease burdens and the top ten foods most commonly contaminated by them, such as salmonella in poultry, toxoplasma in pork, and listeria in deli meats. Makes policy recommendations for improving prevention

Prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases in the local farm environment and livestock: challenges to mitigate antimicrobial resistance

The effectiveness of antibiotics has been challenged by the increasing frequency of antimicrobial resistance (AR), which has emerged as a major threat to global health. Despite the negative impact of AR on health, there are few effective strategies for reducing AR in food-producing animals. Of the antimicrobial resistant microorganisms (ARMs), extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs)-producing Enterobacteriaceae are an emerging global threat due to their increasing prevalence in livestock, even in animals raised without antibiotics. Many reviews are available for the positive selection of AR associated with antibiotic use in livestock, but less attention has been given to how other factors including soil, water, manure, wildlife, and farm workers, are associated with the emergence of ESBL-producing bacteria. Understanding of antibiotic resistance genes and bacteria transfer at the interfaces of livestock and other potential reservoirs will provide insights for the development of mitigation strategies for AR

Concept development of a Mach 3.0 high-speed civil transport

A baseline concept for a Mach 3.0 high-speed civil transport concept was developed as part of a national program with the goal that concepts and technologies be developed which will enable an effective long-range high-speed civil transport system. The Mach 3.0 concept reported represents an aggressive application of advanced technology to achieve the design goals. The level of technology is generally considered to be that which could have a demonstrated availability date of 1995 to 2000. The results indicate that aircraft are technically feasible that could carry 250 passengers at Mach 3.0 cruise for a 6500 nautical mile range at a size, weight and performance level that allows it to fit into the existing world airport structure. The details of the configuration development, aerodynamic design, propulsion system design and integration, mass properties, mission performance, and sizing are presented

Endophyte Microbiome Diversity in Micropropagated Atriplex canescens and Atriplex torreyi var griffithsii

Microbial diversity associated with micropropagated Atriplex species was assessed using microscopy, isolate culturing, and sequencing. Light, electron, and confocal microscopy revealed microbial cells in aseptically regenerated leaves and roots. Clone libraries and tag-encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing (TEFAP) analysis amplified sequences from callus homologous to diverse fungal and bacterial taxa. Culturing isolated some seed borne endophyte taxa which could be readily propagated apart from the host. Microbial cells were observed within biofilm-like residues associated with plant cell surfaces and intercellular spaces. Various universal primers amplified both plant and microbial sequences, with different primers revealing different patterns of fungal diversity. Bacterial and fungal TEFAP followed by alignment with sequences from curated databases revealed 7 bacterial and 17 ascomycete taxa in A. canescens, and 5 bacterial taxa in A. torreyi. Additional diversity was observed among isolates and clone libraries. Micropropagated Atriplex retains a complex, intimately associated microbiome which includes diverse strains well poised to interact in manners that influence host physiology. Microbiome analysis was facilitated by high throughput sequencing methods, but primer biases continue to limit recovery of diverse sequences from even moderately complex communities

Integrated genomic analyses of ovarian carcinoma

A catalogue of molecular aberrations that cause ovarian cancer is critical for developing and deploying therapies that will improve patients’ lives. The Cancer Genome Atlas project has analysed messenger RNA expression, microRNA expression, promoter methylation and DNA copy number in 489 high-grade serous ovarian adenocarcinomas and the DNA sequences of exons from coding genes in 316 of these tumours. Here we report that high-grade serous ovarian cancer is characterized by TP53 mutations in almost all tumours (96%); low prevalence but statistically recurrent somatic mutations in nine further genes including NF1, BRCA1, BRCA2, RB1 and CDK12; 113 significant focal DNA copy number aberrations; and promoter methylation events involving 168 genes. Analyses delineated four ovarian cancer transcriptional subtypes, three microRNA subtypes, four promoter methylation subtypes and a transcriptional signature associated with survival duration, and shed new light on the impact that tumours with BRCA1/2 (BRCA1 or BRCA2) and CCNE1 aberrations have on survival. Pathway analyses suggested that homologous recombination is defective in about half of the tumours analysed, and that NOTCH and FOXM1 signalling are involved in serous ovarian cancer pathophysiology.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U54HG003067)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U54HG003273)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U54HG003079)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA126543)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA126544)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA126546)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA126551)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA126554)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA126561)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA126563)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143882)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143731)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143835)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143845)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143858)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA144025)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143866)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143867)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143848)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U24CA143843)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R21CA135877

Nothing Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of Past Societies

The study of the collapse of past societies raises many questions for the theory and practice of archaeology. Interest in collapse extends as well into the natural sciences and environmental and sustainability policy. Despite a range of approaches to collapse, the predominant paradigm is environmental collapse, which I argue obscures recognition of the dynamic role of social processes that lie at the heart of human communities. These environmental discourses, together with confusion over terminology and the concepts of collapse, have created widespread aporia about collapse and resulted in the creation of mixed messages about complex historical and social processes

Recent developments in genetics and medically assisted reproduction : from research to clinical applications

Two leading European professional societies, the European Society of Human Genetics and the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology, have worked together since 2004 to evaluate the impact of fast research advances at the interface of assisted reproduction and genetics, including their application into clinical practice. In September 2016, the expert panel met for the third time. The topics discussed highlighted important issues covering the impacts of expanded carrier screening, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, voiding of the presumed anonymity of gamete donors by advanced genetic testing, advances in the research of genetic causes underlying male and female infertility, utilisation of massively parallel sequencing in preimplantation genetic testing and non-invasive prenatal screening, mitochondrial replacement in human oocytes, and additionally, issues related to cross-generational epigenetic inheritance following IVF and germline genome editing. The resulting paper represents a consensus of both professional societies involved.Peer reviewe