MICROBIAL PARTNERS IN HEALTH: BROADENING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOST-MICROBIOME RELATIONSHIPS

While microbes inhabit a wide array of environments, their ability to live within host tissue and become tolerated as part of a select microbial community is perhaps one of the most impressive feats of microbial resilience and survival. Host microbiome establishment and maintenance requires both host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions. Among plant hosts, benefits from associated microbiomes are known to include improved growth, development and resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Mammalian microbiomes are known to improve host digestion, influence inflammation and even improve immune response to pathogens. While host-associated microbial communities across all domains of life are incredibly diverse, a growing number of studies are finding host-specific taxonomic trends, suggesting microbiome conservation and evolutionary selection. However, we have come to recognize that there is often functional redundancy between taxa. Therefore, investigative focus on microbiome composition potentially neglects pivotal and influential microbial players. Shifting focus to function over form creates the opportunity to tease apart the driving forces of unique microbiome constituents. This allows for identification of strains and genes of interest as well as microbial selections. To that end, here we describe the relationships between hosts and microbiomes as well as between microbes in two vastly different host systems (Figure 1.1). First, we suggest that plant root-associated Streptomyces isolates harboring genes encoding an enzyme and its co-factor are more tolerant of phenolic compounds generated by roots. Next, we address the capability of these Streptomyces isolates to employ their metabolic repertoires to influence the composition of the root microbiome. Finally, we define a previously under-described role for the gut microbiome in malaria immunology and suggest that gut microbial composition can modulate the severity of malarial disease. Together, these findings demonstrate the broad implications of microbiome composition across diverse hosts and environments, revealing unexplored opportunities for therapeutic interventions aimed at improving plant and human health

Interviewing 'Ana': Thematic analysis of voice dialogues with the internal anorexic voice

Overview Many individuals experiencing eating disorders (EDs) describe an internal ‘eating disorder voice’ (EDV) or ‘self’. Preliminary studies link the EDV with development, maintenance and ambivalence to recover from EDs. This thesis aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the EDV, its role in EDs and implications for recovery. Part 1 is a meta-ethnography of experiences of EDVs, involving 19 qualitative studies. The results indicate that experiences of the EDV can have a pervasive impact over the course of EDs. There were common experiences, such as escalating EDV power and malignancy through ED development, and idiosyncratic aspects, for example the EDV’s relations to the self and ED. In recovery, the EDV was framed as both a source of ambivalence and an opportunity for change. Part 2 is an empirical paper, presenting a thematic analysis of voice dialogues with the anorexic voice (AV). This was a joint project. Nine women with anorexia nervosa (AN) participated. ‘Chairwork’ was used to interview participants’ AVs. The analysis describes an interdependent relationship, whereby the person ‘needs’ the AV as it promises to solve their problems, a valued but fraught relationship develops, and the AV ‘needs’ to preserve its influence over the person for its own survival. Where relevant, exploring individuals’ EDV experiences could highlight obstacles to recovery and tailor treatments, but further research is needed to establish effective ways of working with EDVs. Part 3 provides a critical appraisal, focused on experiences of the ethical review process and the dynamic interplay between research and researcher

Root traits predict decomposition across a landscape-scale grazing experiment

Acknowledgements We are grateful to the Woodland Trust for maintenance of and access to the Glen Finglas experiment. We thank Debbie Fielding, William Smith, Sarah McCormack, Allan Sim, Marcel Junker and Elaine Runge for help in the field and the laboratory. This research was part of the Glen Finglas project (formerly Grazing and Upland Birds (GRUB)) funded by the Scottish Government (RERAS). S.W.S. was funded by a BBSRC studentship.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF BRAVE BROWSER AND GOOGLE CHROME FORENSIC ARTEFACTS

Digital forensic practitioners are tasked with the identification, recovery and analysis of Internet browser artefacts which may have been used in the pursuit of committing a civil or criminal offence. This research paper critically compares the most downloaded browser, Google Chrome, against an increasingly popular Chromium browser known as Brave, said to offer privacy-by-default. With increasing forensic caseloads, data complexity, and requirements for method validation to satisfy ISO 17025 accreditation, recognising the similarities and differences between the browsers, developed on the same underlying technology is essential. The paper describes a series of conducted experiments and subsequent analysis to identify artefacts created as part of normal user browsing activity. Analysis of the artefacts found that Brave and Chrome share almost identical data structures, with on-disk artefact recovery successful, even for deleted data. The outcome of this research, based upon the results, serves to enrich understanding and provide best practice for practitioners and software developers, respectively responsible with the examination of Chromium artefacts for use in evidence production, and development of new forensic tools and techniques

Full-text publication of abstract-presented work in sport and exercise psychology

Objectives: Meetings promote information sharing, but do not enable full dissemination of details. A systematic search was conducted for abstracts presented at the 2010 and 2011 Association of Applied Sport Psychology Annual Conferences to determine the full-text dissemination rate of work presented in abstract form and investigate factors influencing this rate. Methods: Systematic searches were sequentially conducted to determine whether the abstract-presented work had been published in full-text format in the 5 years following presentation. If a potential full-text publication was identified, information from the conference abstract (eg, results, number of participants in the sample(s), measurement tools used and so on) was compared with the full text to ensure the two entities represented the same body of work. Abstract factors of interest were assessed using logistic regression. Results: Ninety-four out of 423 presented abstracts (22.2%) were published in full text. Odds of full-text publication increased if the abstract was from an international institution, presented in certain conference sections or presented as a lecture. Conclusion: Those attending professional conferences should be cautious when translating data presented at conferences into their applied work because of the low rate of peer-reviewed and full-text publication of the information