A mass stranding of squid Martialia hyadesi Rochebrunne & Mabille (Teuthoidea: Ommastrepidae) at Macquarie Island

A large number of squid, subsequently identified as Martialia hyadesi (Ommastrephidae) was stranded on beaches at the northern end of Macquarie Island, 54°30'S, 158°57'E, on 5 March 1971. The squid were immature, or at least pre-breeding, and had been feeding recently. It is suggested that a sudden change in wind direction, coupled with a rising tide, caused the stranding. This is the first reported stranding of this species, which has not previously been recorded in the Pacific region

Flocculation on a chip: a novel screening approach to determine floc growth rates and select flocculating agents

Flocculation is a key purification step in cell-based processes for the food and pharmaceutical industry where the removal of cells and cellular debris is aided by adding flocculating agents. However, finding the best suited flocculating agent and optimal conditions to achieve rapid and effective flocculation is a nontrivial task. In conventional analytical systems, turbulent mixing creates a dynamic equilibrium between floc growth and breakage, constraining the determination of floc formation rates. Furthermore, these systems typically rely on end-point measurements only. We have successfully developed for the first time a microfluidic system for the study of flocculation under well controlled conditions. In our microfluidic device (μFLOC), floc sizes and growth rates were monitored in real time using high-speed imaging and computational image analysis. The on-line and in situ detection allowed quantification of floc sizes and their growth kinetics. This eliminated the issues of sample handling, sample dispersion, and end-point measurements. We demonstrated the power of this approach by quantifying the growth rates of floc formation under forty different growth conditions by varying industrially relevant flocculating agents (pDADMAC, PEI, PEG), their concentration and dosage. Growth rates between 12.2 μm s−1 for a strongly cationic flocculant (pDADMAC) and 0.6 μm s−1 for a non-ionic flocculant (PEG) were observed, demonstrating the potential to rank flocculating conditions in a quantitative way. We have therefore created a screening tool to efficiently compare flocculating agents and rapidly find the best flocculating condition, which will significantly accelerate early bioprocess development

LEARNING TO TEACH ADVENTURE EDUCATION: PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES AND EXPERIENCES

Feiman-Nemser (2008) noted the importance of teacher education on the development of teachers, and “how teachers acquire, generate and learn to use knowledge in teaching” (p. 698). The purpose of this investigation was to examine aspects of adventure education for which pre-service teachers’ (PTs) planned, and subsequently taught during a teaching practice (TP) placement. We also sought to gain an understanding of the challenges these PTs faced when teaching this content as part of a physical education curriculum. Data were collected through schemes of work (SoW) and lesson plans (LPs), researcher field notes, a focus group interview, and post lesson discussion. Analysis of data sources revealed little alignment between what PTs planned and what they taught. Attempts were made to incorporate debriefing into lessons but no adventure principles were integrated (Full Value Contract (FVC), Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC) or Challenge with/by Choice (CbC). Challenges that impacted the delivery of lessons included lack of resources and facilities, and perceived student resistance. Findings suggested PTs misunderstood the adventure principles and struggled with adapting and applying knowledge during teaching practice. PTs often focussed on ‘filling time’ as opposed to teaching toward student learning. Further study is needed to examine how teacher education is delivered and what adventure experiences PTs enter teacher education with, to understand why and what PTs plan for and teach and what influences their decisions

Discordant bioinformatic predictions of antimicrobial resistance from whole-genome sequencing data of bacterial isolates: an inter-laboratory study.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a threat to public health. Clinical microbiology laboratories typically rely on culturing bacteria for antimicrobial-susceptibility testing (AST). As the implementation costs and technical barriers fall, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has emerged as a 'one-stop' test for epidemiological and predictive AST results. Few published comparisons exist for the myriad analytical pipelines used for predicting AMR. To address this, we performed an inter-laboratory study providing sets of participating researchers with identical short-read WGS data from clinical isolates, allowing us to assess the reproducibility of the bioinformatic prediction of AMR between participants, and identify problem cases and factors that lead to discordant results. We produced ten WGS datasets of varying quality from cultured carbapenem-resistant organisms obtained from clinical samples sequenced on either an Illumina NextSeq or HiSeq instrument. Nine participating teams ('participants') were provided these sequence data without any other contextual information. Each participant used their choice of pipeline to determine the species, the presence of resistance-associated genes, and to predict susceptibility or resistance to amikacin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin and cefotaxime. We found participants predicted different numbers of AMR-associated genes and different gene variants from the same clinical samples. The quality of the sequence data, choice of bioinformatic pipeline and interpretation of the results all contributed to discordance between participants. Although much of the inaccurate gene variant annotation did not affect genotypic resistance predictions, we observed low specificity when compared to phenotypic AST results, but this improved in samples with higher read depths. Had the results been used to predict AST and guide treatment, a different antibiotic would have been recommended for each isolate by at least one participant. These challenges, at the final analytical stage of using WGS to predict AMR, suggest the need for refinements when using this technology in clinical settings. Comprehensive public resistance sequence databases, full recommendations on sequence data quality and standardization in the comparisons between genotype and resistance phenotypes will all play a fundamental role in the successful implementation of AST prediction using WGS in clinical microbiology laboratories

Characterisation of the bacterial and fungal communities associated with different lesion sizes of Dark Spot Syndrome occurring in the Coral Stephanocoenia intersepta

The number and prevalence of coral diseases/syndromes are increasing worldwide. Dark Spot Syndrome (DSS) afflicts numerous coral species and is widespread throughout the Caribbean, yet there are no known causal agents. In this study we aimed to characterise the microbial communities (bacteria and fungi) associated with DSS lesions affecting the coral Stephanocoenia intersepta using nonculture molecular techniques. Bacterial diversity of healthy tissues (H), those in advance of the lesion interface (apparently healthy AH), and three sizes of disease lesions (small, medium, and large) varied significantly (ANOSIM R = 0.052 p,0.001), apart from the medium and large lesions, which were similar in their community profile. Four bacteria fitted into the pattern expected from potential pathogens; namely absent from H, increasing in abundance within AH, and dominant in the lesions themselves. These included ribotypes related to Corynebacterium (KC190237), Acinetobacter (KC190251), Parvularculaceae (KC19027), and Oscillatoria (KC190271). Furthermore, two Vibrio species, a genus including many proposed coral pathogens, dominated the disease lesion and were absent from H and AH tissues, making them candidates as potential pathogens for DSS. In contrast, other members of bacteria from the same genus, such as V. harveyii were present throughout all sample types, supporting previous studies where potential coral pathogens exist in healthy tissues. Fungal diversity varied significantly as well, however the main difference between diseased and healthy tissues was the dominance of one ribotype, closely related to the plant pathogen, Rhytisma acerinum, a known causal agent of tar spot on tree leaves. As the corals’ symbiotic algae have been shown to turn to a darker pigmented state in DSS (giving rise to the syndromes name), the two most likely pathogens are R. acerinum and the bacterium Oscillatoria, which has been identified as the causal agent of the colouration in Black Band Disease, another widespread coral disease

A recessive homozygous p.Asp92Gly SDHD mutation causes prenatal cardiomyopathy and a severe mitochondrial complex II deficiency

Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) is a crucial metabolic enzyme complex that is involved in ATP production, playing roles in both the tricarboxylic cycle and the mitochondrial respiratory chain (complex II). Isolated complex II deficiency is one of the rarest oxidative phosphorylation disorders with mutations described in three structural subunits and one of the assembly factors; just one case is attributed to recessively inherited SDHD mutations. We report the pathological, biochemical, histochemical and molecular genetic investigations of a male neonate who had left ventricular hypertrophy detected on antenatal scan and died on day one of life. Subsequent postmortem examination confirmed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with left ventricular non-compaction. Biochemical analysis of his skeletal muscle biopsy revealed evidence of a severe isolated complex II deficiency and candidate gene sequencing revealed a novel homozygous c.275A>G, p.(Asp92Gly) SDHD mutation which was shown to be recessively inherited through segregation studies. The affected amino acid has been reported as a Dutch founder mutation p.(Asp92Tyr) in families with hereditary head and neck paraganglioma. By introducing both mutations into Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we were able to confirm that the p.(Asp92Gly) mutation causes a more severe oxidative growth phenotype than the p.(Asp92Tyr) mutant, and provides functional evidence to support the pathogenicity of the patient’s SDHD mutation. This is only the second case of mitochondrial complex II deficiency due to inherited SDHD mutations and highlights the importance of sequencing all SDH genes in patients with biochemical and histochemical evidence of isolated mitochondrial complex II deficiency

Movement control tests of the low back; evaluation of the difference between patients with low back pain and healthy controls

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To determine whether there is a difference between patients with low back pain and healthy controls in a test battery score for movement control of the lumbar spine.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a case control study, carried out in five outpatient physiotherapy practices in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Twelve physiotherapists tested the ability of 210 subjects (108 patients with non-specific low back pain and 102 control subjects without back pain) to control their movements in the lumbar spine using a set of six tests. We observed the number of positive tests out of six (mean, standard deviation and 95% confidence interval of the mean). The significance of the differences between the groups was calculated with Mann-Whitney U test and <it>p </it>was set on <0.05. The effect size (d) between the groups was calculated and d>0.8 was considered a large difference.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>On average, patients with low back pain had 2.21(95%CI 1.94–2.48) positive tests and the healthy controls 0.75 (95%CI 0.55–0.95). The effect size was d = 1.18 (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference between acute and chronic (p < 0.01), as well as between subacute and chronic patient groups (p < 0.03), but not between acute and subacute patient groups (p > 0.7).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first study demonstrating a significant difference between patients with low back pain and subjects without back pain regarding their ability to actively control the movements of the low back. The effect size between patients with low back pain and healthy controls in movement control is large.</p

Cognition in Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery Research: Consensus-Based Core Recommendations From the Second Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable

Cognitive impairment is an important target for rehabilitation as it is common following stroke, is associated with reduced quality of life and interferes with motor and other types of recovery interventions. Cognitive function following stroke was identified as an important, but relatively neglected area during the first Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR I), leading to a Cognition Working Group being convened as part of SRRR II. There is currently insufficient evidence to build consensus on specific approaches to cognitive rehabilitation. However, we present recommendations on the integration of cognitive assessments into stroke recovery studies generally and define priorities for ongoing and future research for stroke recovery and rehabilitation. A number of promising interventions are ready to be taken forward to trials to tackle the gap in evidence for cognitive rehabilitation. However, to accelerate progress requires that we coordinate efforts to tackle multiple gaps along the whole translational pathway

Cognition in stroke rehabilitation and recovery research: Consensus-based core recommendations from the second Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable

Cognitive impairment is an important target for rehabilitation as it is common following stroke, is associated with reduced quality of life and interferes with motor and other types of recovery interventions. Cognitive function following stroke was identified as an important, but relatively neglected area during the first Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR I), leading to a Cognition Working Group being convened as part of SRRR II. There is currently insufficient evidence to build consensus on specific approaches to cognitive rehabilitation. However, we present recommendations on the integration of cognitive assessments into stroke recovery studies generally and define priorities for ongoing and future research for stroke recovery and rehabilitation. A number of promising interventions are ready to be taken forward to trials to tackle the gap in evidence for cognitive rehabilitation. However, to accelerate progress requires that we coordinate efforts to tackle multiple gaps along the whole translational pathway