Community singing, wellbeing and older people: implementing and evaluating an English singing tool for health intervention in Rome

Aim: The aim of this research was to explore the transferability and effectiveness of the English Silver Song Clubs model for older people in a different social and cultural context, i.e. in the capital city of Italy, Rome. Methods: A single condition, pre-test, post-test design was implemented. Participants completed two questionnaires: EQ-5D and York SF-12. Results: After the singing experience, participants showed a decrease in their levels of anxiety and depression. An improvement was also found from baseline to follow up in reported performance of usual activities. The English study showed a difference between the singing and non-singing groups at three and six months on mental health, and after three months on specific anxiety and depression measures. The current (Rome) study shows similar findings with an improvement on specific anxiety and depression items. Conclusions: Policy makers in different national contexts should consider social singing activities to promote the health and wellbeing of older adults as they are inexpensive to run and have been shown to be enjoyable and effective

Novel facultative Methylocella strains are active methane consumers at terrestrial natural gas seeps

Natural gas seeps contribute to global climate change by releasing substantial amounts of the potent greenhouse gas methane and other climate-active gases including ethane and propane to the atmosphere. However, methanotrophs, bacteria capable of utilising methane as the sole source of carbon and energy, play a significant role in reducing the emissions of methane from many environments. Methylocella-like facultative methanotrophs are a unique group of bacteria that grow on other components of natural gas (i.e. ethane and propane) in addition to methane but a little is known about the distribution and activity of Methylocella in the environment. The purposes of this study were to identify bacteria involved in cycling methane emitted from natural gas seeps and, most importantly, to investigate if Methylocella-like facultative methanotrophs were active utilisers of natural gas at seep sites

Physiology and Biochemistry of the Aerobic Methanotrophs

Methanotrophs are a widely distributed group of aerobic bacteria that use methane as their source of carbon and energy. They play key roles in the global carbon cycle, including controlling anthropogenic and natural emissions of the greenhouse gas methane. Methanotrophs oxidize methane using the unique enzyme methane monooxygenase which exists in two structurally and biochemically distinct forms. One form, the membrane-associated or particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), is found in most known methanotrophs and is located in the cytoplasmic membrane. Another form, the soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO), is found in some methanotrophs and is located in the cytoplasm. Both forms of MMO can co-oxidize a range of hydrocarbons and chlorinated pollutants and hence are interesting with respect to the biotechnological potential of methanotrophs. Methanol is further oxidized to formaldehyde, formate, and CO2, by specific methylotrophic enzymes, while biomass is built from formaldehyde, formate, CO2, or a combination thereof via three cyclic biochemical pathways: the ribulose monophosphate (RuMP) cycle, the serine pathway, and the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle. The availability of genome sequences of methanotrophs enables postgenomic studies to investigate the regulation of methane oxidation in the laboratory and in the environment by natural methanotrophs and in laboratory or industrial conditions by platform organisms. Recent studies have included synthetic biology approaches and in future may incorporate the design of new pathways

Crenothrix are major methane consumers in stratified lakes

Methane-oxidizing bacteria represent a major biological sink for methane and are thus Earth's natural protection against this potent greenhouse gas. Here we show that in two stratified freshwater lakes a substantial part of upward-diffusing methane was oxidized by filamentous gamma-proteobacteria related to Crenothrix polyspora. These filamentous bacteria have been known as contaminants of drinking water supplies since 1870, but their role in the environmental methane removal has remained unclear. While oxidizing methane, these organisms were assigned an 'unusual' methane monooxygenase (MMO), which was only distantly related to 'classical' MMO of gamma-proteobacterial methanotrophs. We now correct this assignment and show that Crenothrix encode a typical gammaproteobacterial PmoA. Stable isotope labeling in combination swith single-cell imaging mass spectrometry revealed methane-dependent growth of the lacustrine Crenothrix with oxygen as well as under oxygen-deficient conditions. Crenothrix genomes encoded pathways for the respiration of oxygen as well as for the reduction of nitrate to N2O. The observed abundance and planktonic growth of Crenothrix suggest that these methanotrophs can act as a relevant biological sink for methane in stratified lakes and should be considered in the context of environmental removal of methane