Bioremediation of oil spills: A review of challenges for research advancement

As the demand for liquid petroleum increases, the need for reliable and efficient oil spill clean-up techniques is inevitable. Bioremediation is considered one of the most sustainable clean-up techniques but the potential has not been fully exploited in the field because it is too slow to meet the immediate demands of the environment. This study reviews the challenges to managing oil spills in terrestrial and marine environments to identify areas that require further research. Current challenges associated with bioremediation of spilled petroleum include resistance of asphalthenes to biodegradation; delay of heavy or high molar mass polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) biodegradation, eutrophication caused by biostimulation, unsustainability of bioaugmentation in the field, poor bioavailability of spilled petroleum, inefficiency of biodegradation in anoxic environments and failure of successful bioremediation laboratory studies in the field. Recommendations offered include encouraging asphalthene biodegradation by combining heat application (80°C), biosurfactant (thermophilic emulsifier) and bioaugmentation (using a consortium containing Bacillus lentus and Pleurotus tuberregium as members) but as a temporary measure, adopting the use of "booms and skimmers" and "organic sorbents" for water and land clean-up, respectively. Heavy PAHs may be rapidly degraded by applying nutrients (biostimulation) and biosurfactants to sites that are oleophilic microbe-rich. Oleophilic nutrients may be the most effective strategy to reduce eutrophication in marine environments whilst on land, slow-release nutrient application or organic-inorganic nutrient rotation may help prevent soil hardening and infertility. The use of encapsulating agents and genetically-engineered microbes (GEMs) may increase the efficiency of bioaugmentation in the field, but temporarily, indigenous oleophilic microbes may be employed in the field. Poor bioavailability of crude oil may be eliminated by the use of biosurfactants. In terrestrial anoxic sites, bioslurping-biosparging technology could be used whilst the marine anoxic site requires more research on how to transport nutrients and biosurfactants to oleophilic anaerobes residing in the ocean beds. The involvement of both governmental and non-governmental environmental institutions in sponsoring field studies in order to improve the reliability of bioremediation research. Further studies to test the practicability and cost of these recommendations in the field are needed

The use of ozone to extend the shelf-life and maintain quality of fresh produce

Fresh produce has been recognised as a healthy food, thus there is increasing consumer demand for fresh fruit and vegetables. The shelf-life of fresh produce, however, is relatively short and is limited by microbial contamination or visual, textural and nutritional quality loss. There are many methods to reduce/eliminate microorganisms present in food and ozone treatment is one of them. The use of ozone by the fresh produce industry is a good alternative to chemical treatments, e.g. the use of chlorine. The effectiveness of ozone as an antimicrobial agent has previously been reviewed and has been updated here, with the latest findings. The main focus of this review is on the effects of ozone on the fresh produce quality, defined by maintenance of texture, visual quality, taste and aroma, and nutritional content. Furthermore, ozone has been found to be efficient in reducing pesticide residues from the produce. The treatments that have the ability to reduce microbial contamination of the product without having an adverse effect on its visual, textural and nutritional quality can be recommended and subsequently incorporated into the supply chain. A good understanding of all the benefits and limitations related to the use of ozone is needed, and relevant information has been reviewed in this paper

The Role of Religions and Cults in the Plays of Thomas Middleton.

Most of Thomas Middleton\u27s works, as well as his personal background, indicate that his theological inclinations were Calvinistic. Many of his plays display his regard for protestant morality or his contempt for Roman Catholics and fringe elements of the Reform movement. His early and middle plays also satirize Puritans, who, although basically loyal subjects, were offensive to both Elizabeth I and James I because they urged greater reforms within the orthodox Church and criticized practices of which both monarchs were fond. During the reign of James, Puritans, largely from the middle class, became particularly unpopular among the gentry and courtier classes. Since Middleton associated with these upper classes, he joined in the chorus against Puritans during the early years of James\u27 reign, accusing them of greed, licentiousness, hypocrisy, and even heresy. However, as the king\u27s influence caused the official Church to move away from Calvinism and toward Arminianism, Middleton\u27s attitudes toward Puritans softened. Already in agreement with their basic religious and moral values, he began to sympathize with bourgeoise Puritans, particularly after James attempted an alliance with England\u27s enemy, Catholic Spain, and after many prominent members of the Puritan faction began to support him and his work. While few of Middleton\u27s plays straightforwardly glorify the Genevan ideal, those which address deviant religious philosophies and cults illustrate his Calvinistic tendencies. The plays in which the protagonists view the honor code or romantic love as religious ideals reveal that Middleton\u27s sympathy lay with characters who remained faithful to Christian principles while simultaneously paying tribute to the honor or romantic precepts. The dramatist never championed those who allowed their dedication to those ethics to supercede Christian spirituality. Rather, he portrayed them as immoral, blind, or depraved, and they unfailingly meet their doom because they have ignored the first commandment

Sweet potato cultivars differ in efficiency of wound healing

This paper presents a study on the wound healing in sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) when exposed to tropical conditions typical for marketing (RH 50% to 73%, T 25oC to 30oC). The physiological processes during healing are revisited. Under sub-optimal humidities (65% +/- 10) the depth of the lignified layer i.e. the thickness of the desiccated cell layers is affected by both cultivar and humidity. Some cultivars consistently failed to produce a lignified layer and for others the layer is often not continuous. The continuity of the lignified layer is more important for effectiveness of wound healing than the actual thickness. A method for assessing efficiency of wound healing based on assessing the continuity of lignified layers was developed, and called the lignification index. Would healing efficiency as measured by the lignification index was found to be a major factor for the shelf-life of sweet potato cultivars. Lignification of wounds correlates with reduced rate of weight loss and reduced susceptibility to microbial infection. A high dry matter content in cultivars correlated with a low lignification index. This relationship was consistent for 5 trials, including 34 cultivars

Adult separation anxiety in pregnancy: how common is it?

The present study, the first to examine adult separation anxiety (ASA) in the context of pregnancy, found that ASA is a common yet unrecognized condition. Women attending an antenatal clinic were evaluated for the presence of ASA. A quarter of the women reached an established symptom threshold for ASA, with significantly more primigravida women (P = 0.003) identified as having the problem. There were no significant differences in the sociodemographic characteristics between those with and without ASA. Around one-third acknowledged that ASA was causing significant impairment in day-to-day functioning, suggesting the clinical importance of the pattern. Further research is indicated to explore this clinical entity and its impact on maternal and infant psychosocial wellbeing

Direct evidence for encoding of motion streaks in human visual cortex

Temporal integration in the visual system causes fast-moving objects to generate static, oriented traces ('motion streaks'), which could be used to help judge direction of motion. While human psychophysics and single-unit studies in non-human primates are consistent with this hypothesis, direct neural evidence from the human cortex is still lacking. First, we provide psychophysical evidence that faster and slower motions are processed by distinct neural mechanisms: faster motion raised human perceptual thresholds for static orientations parallel to the direction of motion, whereas slower motion raised thresholds for orthogonal orientations. We then used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity while human observers viewed either fast ('streaky') or slow random dot stimuli moving in different directions, or corresponding static-oriented stimuli. We found that local spatial patterns of brain activity in early retinotopic visual cortex reliably distinguished between static orientations. Critically, a multivariate pattern classifier trained on brain activity evoked by these static stimuli could then successfully distinguish the direction of fast ('streaky') but not slow motion. Thus, signals encoding static-oriented streak information are present in human early visual cortex when viewing fast motion. These experiments show that motion streaks are present in the human visual system for faster motion.This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (G.R., D.S.S.), the European Union ‘Mindbridge’ project (B.B.), the Australian Federation of Graduate Women Tempe Mann Scholarship (D.A.), the University of Sydney Campbell Perry Travel Fellowship (D.A.) and the Brain Research Trust (C.K.)

Changes in Beliefs Identify Unblinding in Randomized Controlled Trials: A Method to Meet CONSORT Guidelines

Double-blinded trials are often considered the gold standard for research, but significant bias may result from unblinding of participants and investigators. Although the CONSORT guidelines discuss the importance of reporting evidence that blinding was successful , it is unclear what constitutes appropriate evidence. Among studies reporting methods to evaluate blinding effectiveness, many have compared groups with respect to the proportions correctly identifying their intervention at the end of the trial. Instead, we reasoned that participants\u27 beliefs, and not their correctness, are more directly associated with potential bias, especially in relation to self-reported health outcomes. During the Water Evaluation Trial performed in northern California in 1999, we investigated blinding effectiveness by sequential interrogation of participants about their blinded intervention assignment (active or placebo). Irrespective of group, participants showed a strong tendency to believe they had been assigned to the active intervention; this translated into a statistically significant intergroup difference in the correctness of participants\u27 beliefs, even at the start of the trial before unblinding had a chance to occur. In addition, many participants (31%) changed their belief during the trial, suggesting that assessment of belief at a single time does not capture unblinding. Sequential measures based on either two or all eight questionnaires identified significant group-related differences in belief patterns that were not identified by the single, cross-sectional measure. In view of the relative insensitivity of cross-sectional measures, the minimal additional information in more than two assessments of beliefs and the risk of modifying participants\u27 beliefs by repeated questioning, we conclude that the optimal means of assessing unblinding is an intergroup comparison of the change in beliefs (and not their correctness) between the start and end of a randomized controlled trial

Proteomic profiling and protein identification by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in unsequenced parasitic nematodes.

Lack of genomic sequence data and the relatively high cost of tandem mass spectrometry have hampered proteomic investigations into helminths, such as resolving the mechanism underpinning globally reported anthelmintic resistance. Whilst detailed mechanisms of resistance remain unknown for the majority of drug-parasite interactions, gene mutations and changes in gene and protein expression are proposed key aspects of resistance. Comparative proteomic analysis of drug-resistant and -susceptible nematodes may reveal protein profiles reflecting drug-related phenotypes. Using the gastro-intestinal nematode, Haemonchus contortus as case study, we report the application of freely available expressed sequence tag (EST) datasets to support proteomic studies in unsequenced nematodes. EST datasets were translated to theoretical protein sequences to generate a searchable database. In conjunction with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), Peptide Mass Fingerprint (PMF) searching of databases enabled a cost-effective protein identification strategy. The effectiveness of this approach was verified in comparison with MS/MS de novo sequencing with searching of the same EST protein database and subsequent searches of the NCBInr protein database using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) to provide protein annotation. Of 100 proteins from 2-DE gel spots, 62 were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS and PMF searching of the EST database. Twenty randomly selected spots were analysed by electrospray MS/MS and MASCOT Ion Searches of the same database. The resulting sequences were subjected to BLAST searches of the NCBI protein database to provide annotation of the proteins and confirm concordance in protein identity from both approaches. Further confirmation of protein identifications from the MS/MS data were obtained by de novo sequencing of peptides, followed by FASTS algorithm searches of the EST putative protein database. This study demonstrates the cost-effective use of available EST databases and inexpensive, accessible MALDI-TOF MS in conjunction with PMF for reliable protein identification in unsequenced organisms

A bestiary of non-linear functions for growth analysis

Plant growth is an essential ecological process, integrating across scales from physiology to community dynamics. Predicting the growth of plants is essential to understand a wide range of ecological issues, including competition, plant-herbivore interactions and ecosystem functioning.
A challenge in modeling plant growth is that growth rates almost universally decrease with increasing size, for a variety of reasons. Traditional analyses of growth are hampered by the need to remain within the structures of linear models, which handle this slowing poorly. We demonstrate the implementation of a variety of non-linear models that are more appropriate for modeling plant growth than are the traditional, linear, models.
Ecological inference is frequently based on growth rates, rather than model parameters. Traditional calculations of absolute and relative growth rates assume that they are invariant with respect to time or biomass, which is almost never valid. We advocate and demonstrate the calculation of function-derived growth rates, which highlight the time- and biomass-varying nature of growth. We further show how uncertainty in estimated parameter values can be propagated to express uncertainty in absolute and relative growth rates. 
The use of non-linear models and function-derived growth rates can facilitate testing novel hypotheses in population and community ecology. Even so, we acknowledge that fitting non-linear models can be tricky. To foster the spread of these methods, we make many recommendations for ecologists to follow when their hypotheses lead them into the subject of plant growth. 
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