Isolation of a Novel Phage with Activity against Streptococcus mutans Biofilms

peer-reviewedStreptococcus mutans is one of the principal agents of caries formation mainly, because of its ability to form biofilms at the tooth surface. Bacteriophages (phages) are promising antimicrobial agents that could be used to prevent or treat caries formation by S. mutans. The aim of this study was to isolate new S. mutans phages and to characterize their antimicrobial properties. A new phage, ɸAPCM01, was isolated from a human saliva sample. Its genome was closely related to the only two other available S. mutans phage genomes, M102 and M102AD. ɸAPCM01 inhibited the growth of S. mutans strain DPC6143 within hours in broth and in artificial saliva at multiplicity of infections as low as 2.5x10-5. In the presence of phage ɸAPCM01 the metabolic activity of a S. mutans biofilm was reduced after 24 h of contact and did not increased again after 48 h, and the live cells in the biofilm decreased by at least 5 log cfu/ml. Despite its narrow host range, this newly isolated S. mutans phage exhibits promising antimicrobial properties

Application of Liquid Chromatography−Tandem Mass Spectrometry To Determine Urinary Concentrations of Five Commonly Used Low-Calorie Sweeteners: A Novel Biomarker Approach for Assessing Recent Intakes?

Although the use of low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) is widespread, methods of assessing consumption within free-living populations have inherent limitations. Five commonly consumed LCSs, namely, acesulfame-K, saccharin, sucralose, cyclamate, and steviol glycosides, are excreted via the urine, and therefore a urinary biomarker approach may provide more objective LCS intake data. A LC-ESI-MS/MS method of simultaneously determining acesulfame-K, saccharin, sucralose, cyclamate, and the excretory metabolite of steviol glycosides, steviol glucuronide, in human urine was developed and validated. Linearity was observed over a concentration range of 10-1000 ng/mL with coefficients of determination ranging from 0.9969 to 0.9997. Accuracy ranged from 92 to 104%, and intrabatch and interday precisions were within acceptable limits with %CV below 8% for all compounds. A double-blind, randomized crossover dose-response study was conducted to assess the usefulness of urinary LCS excretions (from both fasting spot and a full 24-h urine collection) for investigating recent intakes. Both modes of sampling were useful for distinguishing between the three short-term intakes of acesulfame-K, saccharin, cyclamates, and steviol glycosides (p < 0.001), whereas for sucralose, urinary concentrations were useful for distinguishing between low (0.1% ADI) and high doses (10% ADI) only (p < 0.001). In summary, this biomarker approach may be useful for assessing intakes of five commonly consumed LCSs

Is occupational physical activity associated with mortality in UK Biobank?

BackgroundCurrent physical activity guidelines do not distinguish between activity accumulated in different behavioural domains but some studies suggest that occupational physical activity (OPA) may not confer health benefits and could even be detrimental. The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between OPA and mortality outcomes.MethodsFrom baseline (2006-2010), 460,901 UK Biobank participants (aged 40-69 years) were followed for a median 12.0 (IQR: 11.3-12.7) years. OPA was categorised by cross-tabulating degree of manual work and walking/standing work amongst those in paid employment (n = 267,765), and combined with categories of occupational status for those not in paid employment (n = 193,136). Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate sex-stratified hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for mortality from all causes, CVD, and cancer by occupational group, and for working hours/week and non-occupational physical activity stratified by occupational group. Models included adjustment for age and a range of lifestyle, socio-economic and health-related covariates.ResultsDuring 5,449,989 person-years of follow-up, 28,740 deaths occurred. Compared to those reporting no heavy manual or walking/standing work (e.g. sedentary office workers) and adjusting for covariates, retirement was associated with lower mortality in women (HR = 0.62, CI: 0.53-0.72) and men (HR = 0.80, CI: 0.71-0.90), whereas unemployment was associated with higher mortality in men only (HR = 1.24, CI: 1.07-1.45). Within the working population, there was no evidence of differences in all-cause, CVD or cancer mortality by OPA group when comparing those reporting higher levels of OPA to the lowest OPA reference group for both women and men. Working ConclusionsJobs classified as higher levels of OPA may not be as active as reported, or the types of physical activity performed in those jobs are not health-enhancing. Irrespective of OPA category or employment status, non-occupational physical activity appears to provide health benefits

Developing a nature-based coastal defence strategy for Australia

Australia’s rapid coastal population growth coupled with the increased risk of hazards driven by climate change creates an urgent need to start adaptation planning for the future. The most common solutions for protecting the coast (seawalls, breakwaters) are expensive and non-adaptive (i.e., they need to be rebuilt, upgraded and maintained in response to a changing climate). There is international precedence for the development of nature-based solutions (i.e., the integration of natural habitats such as coastal vegetation and biogenic reefs) as a cost-effective and sustainable approach to shoreline protection from erosion and flooding. The development of nature-based approaches has been supported by large interdisciplinary teams to inform policy and decision-making. Nature-based coastal defence is currently not a tool widely used in Australia. Key to their wider implementation is: (1) improved scientific knowledge; (2) effective governance; and (3) social acceptance. Recently implemented pilot trials need to inform industry-accredited guidelines that can be integrated into coastal management and government policy. © 2019, © 2019 Engineers Australia

Use of the prevented fraction for the population to determine deaths averted by existing prevalence of physical activity: a descriptive study

Abstract Background: The disease or mortality burdens of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours are often reported. The positive side of the story, the burden that existing levels have averted, is rarely discussed. We present what we believe to be global application of the Prevented Fraction for the Population to obtain estimates of the percentage of premature mortality and number of premature deaths averted by total physical activity levels for 168 countries. Methods: We combined previously published activity prevalence data (2001-2016) and relative risks of mortality in Monte-Carlo simulations to estimate country-specific Prevented Fractions for the Population (percentage of mortality averted) and their 95% confidence intervals. Higher Prevented Fractions indicate a greater proportion of deaths averted due to physical activity. Using mortality data for 40-74 year olds, we estimated the number of premature deaths averted due to activity levels for all adults and by sex. We presented the median and range of the Prevented Fractions globally, by region, and by income classification. Results: The global median Prevented Fraction for the Population was 15.0% (range 6.6-20.5%), conservatively equating to 3.9 million (95% confidence interval: 2.5-5.6) premature deaths averted annually. The African region had the highest median (16.6%, range 12.1-20.5%), the Americas had the lowest (13.1%, range 10.8-16.6%). Low income countries tended to have higher median Prevented Fractions (17.9%, range 12.3-20.5%) than high income countries (14.1%, range 6.6-17.8%). Globally, the median Prevented Fraction was higher for men than women (16.0% (range 7.8-20.7% and 14.1% (range 5.0-20.4%), respectively). Interpretation: Existing physical activity levels have contributed to averting premature mortality across all countries. The Prevented Fraction for the Population has utility as an advocacy tool to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours as, by making the case of what has been achieved, it could demonstrate the value of current investment and services. This may be more conducive to political support.TS, SJS, and SB are funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12015/1 and MC_UU_12015/3). DD is funded by a Future Leader Fellowship by Heart Foundation Australia (No. 101234). At the time of this work, MT was a member of the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (MR/K023187/1), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UKClinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. MT was also funded on the METAHIT project (Medical Research Council grant MR/P02663X/1)

Specific physical activities, sedentary behaviours and sleep as long-term predictors of accelerometer-measured physical activity in 91,648 adults: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The evidence for the prospective relationships between specific physical activities (PA), sedentary behaviours (SB) and sleep on subsequent total PA levels is scarce. The purpose of this study was to examine prospective associations of self-reported PA, SB and sleep, and changes in these with subsequent accelerometer-measured PA. METHODS: A sub-sample of 91,648 UK Biobank participants reported moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), lifestyle activities, TV viewing, computer use and sleep through screen-based questionnaires at baseline (2006-2010), and provided valid accelerometry data (dominant wrist-worn for 7 days between 2013 and 2015). A further sub-sample of 7709 participants repeated the screen-based questionnaires between 2012 and 2013. RESULTS: In both women (n = 51,545) and men (n = 40,103), positive associations were observed between all self-reported measures of PA at baseline (MVPA, lifestyle/job-related activities, active transporting modes) and accelerometer-measured PA levels at follow-up (median 5.7 years); an exception was 'walking/standing at work' in women. Sedentary time at work, TV viewing and computer use were inversely associated with PA at follow-up. Sleeping either more or less than 7 h/day at baseline was associated with lower PA at follow-up (except for ≤6 h/day in men). In the repeat self-report sub-sample (median 4.3 years), relatively higher physical activity at follow-up was observed in those who maintained or achieved favourable levels of MVPA, walking for pleasure, strenuous sports, other exercises, heavy DIY (in women), heavy physical work, and walking/standing at work (in women), sedentary time at work, getting about methods (in women), commuting methods (in women), TV viewing, computer use or sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Initial levels of PA, SB and sleep, and changes in these variables were generally associated with subsequent accelerometer-measured PA in the expected directions, suggesting these specific behaviours all contribute to the total volume of physical activity over time and could thus be targets for intervention.This work was supported by the UK Medical Research Council [MC_UU_12015/1 and MC_UU_12015/3], the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Cambridge [IS-BRC-1215-20014], an Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship of British Heart Foundation (FS/12/58/29709 to KW), and a PhD studentship from MedImmune (to TW)

Deep three-dimensional solid-state qubit arrays with long-lived spin coherence

Nitrogen-vacancy centers (NVCs) in diamond show promise for quantum computing, communication, and sensing. However, the best current method for entangling two NVCs requires that each one is in a separate cryostat, which is not scalable. We show that single NVCs can be laser written 6–15-µm deep inside of a diamond with spin coherence times that are an order of magnitude longer than previous laser-written NVCs and at least as long as naturally occurring NVCs. This depth is suitable for integration with solid immersion lenses or optical cavities and we present depth-dependent T2 measurements. 200 000 of these NVCs would fit into one diamond

Measurement of Optical Response of a Detuned Resonant Sideband Extraction Interferometer

We report on the optical response of a suspended-mass detuned resonant sideband extraction (RSE) interferometer with power recycling. The purpose of the detuned RSE configuration is to manipulate and optimize the optical response of the interferometer to differential displacements (induced by gravitational waves) as a function of frequency, independently of other parameters of the interferometer. The design of our interferometer results in an optical gain with two peaks: an RSE optical resonance at around 4 kHz and a radiation pressure induced optical spring at around 41 Hz. We have developed a reliable procedure for acquiring lock and establishing the desired optical configuration. In this configuration, we have measured the optical response to differential displacement and found good agreement with predictions at both resonances and all other relevant frequencies. These results build confidence in both the theory and practical implementation of the more complex optical configuration being planned for Advanced LIGO.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, for submission to Phys Rev Letter

Toward Early-Warning Detection of Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Coalescence

Rapid detection of compact binary coalescence (CBC) with a network of advanced gravitational-wave detectors will offer a unique opportunity for multi-messenger astronomy. Prompt detection alerts for the astronomical community might make it possible to observe the onset of electromagnetic emission from (CBC). We demonstrate a computationally practical filtering strategy that could produce early-warning triggers before gravitational radiation from the final merger has arrived at the detectors.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, published in ApJ. Reformatted preprint with emulateap