Smart metering and water end-use data: Conservation benefits and privacy risks

© 2010 by the authors. Smart metering technology for residential buildings is being trialed and rolled out by water utilities to assist with improved urban water management in a future affected by climate change. The technology can provide near real-time monitoring of where water is used in the home, disaggregated by end-use (shower, toilet, clothes washing, garden irrigation, etc.). This paper explores questions regarding the degree of information detail required to assist utilities in targeting demand management programs and informing customers of their usage patterns, whilst ensuring privacy concerns of residents are upheld

Viral communities of Shark Bay modern stromatolites

© 2018 White, Wong, Ruvindy, Neilan and Burns. Single stranded DNA viruses have been previously shown to populate the oceans on a global scale, and are endemic in microbialites of both marine and freshwater systems. We undertook for the first time direct viral metagenomic shotgun sequencing to explore the diversity of viruses in the modern stromatolites of Shark Bay Australia. The data indicate that Shark Bay marine stromatolites have similar diversity of ssDNA viruses to that of Highbourne Cay, Bahamas. ssDNA viruses in cluster uniquely in Shark Bay and Highbourne Cay, potentially due to enrichment by phi29-mediated amplification bias. Further, pyrosequencing data was assembled from the Shark Bay systems into two putative viral genomes that are related to Genomoviridae family of ssDNA viruses. In addition, the cellular fraction was shown to be enriched for antiviral defense genes including CRISPR-Cas, BREX (bacteriophage exclusion), and DISARM (defense island system associated with restriction-modification), a potentially novel finding for these systems. This is the first evidence for viruses in the Shark Bay stromatolites, and these viruses may play key roles in modulating microbial diversity as well as potentially impacting ecosystem function through infection and the recycling of key nutrients

Motivated proteins: a web application for studying small three-dimensional protein motifs

<b>BACKGROUND:</b> Small loop-shaped motifs are common constituents of the three-dimensional structure of proteins. Typically they comprise between three and seven amino acid residues, and are defined by a combination of dihedral angles and hydrogen bonding partners. The most abundant of these are alphabeta-motifs, asx-motifs, asx-turns, beta-bulges, beta-bulge loops, beta-turns, nests, niches, Schellmann loops, ST-motifs, ST-staples and ST-turns.We have constructed a database of such motifs from a range of high-quality protein structures and built a web application as a visual interface to this. <b>DESCRIPTION:</b> The web application, Motivated Proteins, provides access to these 12 motifs (with 48 sub-categories) in a database of over 400 representative proteins. Queries can be made for specific categories or sub-categories of motif, motifs in the vicinity of ligands, motifs which include part of an enzyme active site, overlapping motifs, or motifs which include a particular amino acid sequence. Individual proteins can be specified, or, where appropriate, motifs for all proteins listed. The results of queries are presented in textual form as an (X)HTML table, and may be saved as parsable plain text or XML. Motifs can be viewed and manipulated either individually or in the context of the protein in the Jmol applet structural viewer. Cartoons of the motifs imposed on a linear representation of protein secondary structure are also provided. Summary information for the motifs is available, as are histograms of amino acid distribution, and graphs of dihedral angles at individual positions in the motifs. <b>CONCLUSION:</b> Motivated Proteins is a publicly and freely accessible web application that enables protein scientists to study small three-dimensional motifs without requiring knowledge of either Structured Query Language or the underlying database schem

A variety of environmentally persistent chemicals, including some phthalate plasticizers, are weakly estrogenic

Sewage, a complex mixture of organic and inorganic chemicals, is considered to be a major source of environmental pollution. A random screen of 20 organic man-made chemicals present in liquid effluents revealed that half appeared able to interact with the estradiol receptor. This was demonstrated by their ability to inhibit binding of 17 beta-estradiol to the fish estrogen receptor. Further studies, using mammalian estrogen screens in vitro, revealed that the two phthalate esters butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP) and di-n-butylphthalate (DBP) and a food antioxidant, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) were estrogenic; however, they were all less estrogenic than the environmental estrogen octylphenol. Phthalate esters, used in the production of various plastics (including PVC), are among the most common industrial chemicals. Their ubiquity in the environment and tendency to bioconcentrate in animal fat are well known. Neither BBP nor DBP were able to act as antagonists, indicating that, in the presence of endogenous estrogens, their overall effect would be cumulative. Recently, it has been suggested that environmental estrogens may be etiological agents in several human diseases, including disorders of the male reproductive tract and breast and testicular cancers. The current finding that some phthalate compounds and some food additives are weakly estrogenic in vitro, needs to be supported by further studies on their effects in vivo before any conclusions can be made regarding their possible role in the development of these condition

Predicting Risky Drinking Outcomes Longitudinally: What Kind of Advance Notice Can We Get?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65954/1/j.1530-0277.2006.00033.x.pd

Direct observation of incommensurate magnetism in Hubbard chains

The interplay between magnetism and doping is at the origin of exotic strongly correlated electronic phases and can lead to novel forms of magnetic ordering. One example is the emergence of incommensurate spin-density waves with a wave vector that does not match the reciprocal lattice. In one dimension this effect is a hallmark of Luttinger liquid theory, which also describes the low energy physics of the Hubbard model. Here we use a quantum simulator based on ultracold fermions in an optical lattice to directly observe such incommensurate spin correlations in doped and spin-imbalanced Hubbard chains using fully spin and density resolved quantum gas microscopy. Doping is found to induce a linear change of the spin-density wave vector in excellent agreement with Luttinger theory predictions. For non-zero polarization we observe a decrease of the wave vector with magnetization as expected from the Heisenberg model in a magnetic field. We trace the microscopic origin of these incommensurate correlations to holes, doublons and excess spins which act as delocalized domain walls for the antiferromagnetic order. Finally, when inducing interchain coupling we observe fundamentally different spin correlations around doublons indicating the formation of a magnetic polaron

Alcohol, tobacco and breast cancer: should alcohol be condemned and tobacco acquitted?

British Journal of Cancer (2002) 87, 1195–1196. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6600633 www.bjcancer.co

Long-term outcomes with intensive induction chemotherapy (carboplatin, bleomycin, vincristine and cisplatin/bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin) and standard bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin in poor prognosis germ cell tumours: A randomised phase II trial (ISRCTN53643604).

Background Up to 50% of men with poor prognosis, non-seminoma germ cell tumours (GCTs) die with standard BEP (bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin) chemotherapy. An intensive regimen, CBOP/BEP (carboplatin, bleomycin, vincristine and cisplatin/BEP), met response targets in a randomised, phase II trial (74% complete response or partial response marker negative, 90% confidence interval (CI) 61%-85%).Aim To assess long-term outcomes and late toxicity associated with CBOP/BEP.Methods Patients with poor prognosis extracranial GCT were randomised to 4xBEP or CBOP/BEP (2xCBOP, 2xBO, 3xBEP with 15,000iu of bleomycin). Low-dose, stabilising chemotherapy before entry was permitted. Response rates (primary outcome) were reported previously. Here, we report secondary outcomes: progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and late toxicity. Prognostic factors and the impact of marker decline are assessed in exploratory analysis.Results Eighty-nine patients (43 CBOP/BEP) were randomised. After median 63 months follow-up, 3-year PFS is 55.7% (95% CI: 39.7%, 69.0%) for CBOP/BEP and 38.7% (95% CI: 24.7%, 52.4%) for BEP (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.59 (0.33, 1.06), p = 0.079). Three-year OS is 65.0% (48.8%, 77.2%) and 58.5% (43.0%, 71.2%), respectively (HR: 0.79 (0.41, 1.52), p = 0.49). Twelve-month toxicity was affected by subsequent treatments, with no clear differences between arms. Stabilising chemotherapy was associated with poorer PFS (HR: 2.09 (1.14, 3.81), p = 0.017), whereas unfavourable marker decline, in 60 (70%) patients, was not.Conclusion Although not powered for PFS, results for CBOP/BEP are promising. Impact on OS was less clear (and will be affected by subsequent therapy). Further study in an international phase III trial is warranted.Trial registration ISRCTN 53643604

New tuberculosis vaccines: advances in clinical development and modelling.

Tuberculosis remains a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with 10 million cases and 1.5 million deaths in 2018. Achieving 'End TB' prevention and care goals by 2035 will likely require a new tuberculosis vaccine. The tuberculosis vaccine development pipeline has seen encouraging progress; however, questions around their population impact and implementation remain. Mathematical modelling investigates these questions to inform vaccine development and deployment strategies. We provide an update on the current vaccine development pipeline, and a systematic literature review of mathematical modelling of the epidemiological impact of new tuberculosis vaccines. Fourteen prophylactic tuberculosis vaccine candidates are currently in clinical trials. Two candidates have shown promise in phase II proof-of-concept efficacy trials: M72/AS01E demonstrated 49.7% (95% CI; 2.1, 74.2) protection against tuberculosis disease, and BCG revaccination demonstrated 45.4% (95% CI; 6.4, 68.1) protection against sustained Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Since the last modelling review, new studies have investigated the epidemiological impact of differential vaccine characteristics, age targeting and spatial/risk group targeting. Critical research priorities for M72/AS01E include completing the currently in-design trial, powered to improve the precision of efficacy estimates, include uninfected populations and further assess safety and immunogenicity in HIV-infected people. For BCG revaccination, the priority is completing the ongoing confirmation of efficacy trial. Critical modelling gaps remain on the full value proposition of vaccines, comparisons with other interventions and more realistic implementation strategies. Using carefully designed trials and modelling, we must prepare for success, to ensure that new vaccines will be promptly received by those most in need

Cardiovascular Dynamics in Crocodylus porosus Breathing Air and During Voluntary Aerobic Dives

Pressure records from the heart and outflow vessels of the heart of Crocodylus porosus resolve previously conflicting results, showing that left aortic filling via the foramen of Panizza may occur during both cardiac diastole and systole. Filling of the left aorta during diastole, identified by the asynchrony and comparative shape of pressure events in the left and right aortae, is reconciled more easily with the anatomy, which suggests that the foramen would be occluded by opening of the pocket valves at the base of the right aorta during systole. Filling during systole, indicated when pressure traces in the left and right aortae could be superimposed, was associated with lower systemic pressures, which may occur at the end of a voluntary aerobic dive or can be induced by lowering water temperature or during a long forced dive. To explain this flexibility, we propose that the foramen of Panizza is of variable calibre. The presence of a 'right-left' shunt, in which increased right ventricular pressure leads to blood being diverted from the lungs and exiting the right ventricle via the left aorta, was found to be a frequent though not obligate correlate of voluntary aerobic dives. This contrasts with the previous concept of the shunt as a correlate of diving bradycardia. The magnitude of the shunt is difficult to assess but is likely to be relatively small. This information has allowed some new insights into the functional significance of the complex anatomy of the crocodilian heart and major blood vessels