6 research outputs found
Urban Dust Microbiome: Impact on Later Atopy and Wheezing
INTRODUCTION: Investigations in urban areas have just begun to
explore how the indoor dust microbiome may affect the
pathogenesis of asthma and allery. We aimed to investigate the
early fungal and bacterial microbiome in house dust with
allergic sensitization and wheezing later in childhood. METHODS:
Individual dust samples from 189 homes of the LISAplus birth
cohort study were collected shortly after birth from living room
floors and profiled for fungal and bacterial microbiome. Fungal
and bacterial diversity was assessed with terminal restriction
fragment length polymorphism (tRFLP) and defined by the Simpson
diversity index. Information on wheezing outcomes and
co-variates until the age of 10 years was obtained by parental
questionnaires. Information on specific allergic sensitization
was available at 6 and 10 years. Logistic regression and General
Estimation Equation (GEE) models were used to examine the
relationship between microbial diversity and health outcomes.
RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses revealed a significantly
reduced risk of developing sensitization to aero-allergens at 6
years and ever wheezing until the age of 10 years for exposure
to higher fungal diversity (adjusted Odds Ratio aOR (95%CI):
0.26 (0.10-0.70)), and 0.42 (0.18-0.96), respectively), in
adjusted analyses. The associations were attenuated for the
longitudinal analyses (GEE) until the age of 10 years. There was
no association between higher exposure to bacterial diversity
and the tested health outcomes. CONCLUSION: Higher early
exposure to fungal diversity might help to prevent from
developing sensitization to aero-allergens in early childhood,
but the reasons for attenuated effects in later childhood
require further prospective studies
Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment
For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37Â MJ of fusion for 1.92Â MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion
Culture-based identification to examine spatiotemporal patterns of fungal communities colonizing wood in ground contact
Morphotyping and Molecular Methods to Characterize Ectomycorrhizal Roots and Hyphae in Soil
One stop shop: backbones trees for important phytopathogenic genera: I (2014)
Many fungi are pathogenic on plants and cause significant damage in agriculture and forestry. They are also part of the natural ecosystem and may play a role in regulating plant numbers/density. Morphological identification and analysis of plant pathogenic fungi, while important, is often hampered by the scarcity of discriminatory taxonomic characters and the endophytic or inconspicuous nature of these fungi. Molecular (DNA sequence) data for plant pathogenic fungi have emerged as key information for diagnostic and classification studies, although hampered in part by non-standard laboratory practices and analytical methods. To facilitate current and future research, this study provides phylogenetic synopses for 25 groups of plant pathogenic fungi in the Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mucormycotina (Fungi), and Oomycota, using recent molecular data, up-to-date names, and the latest taxonomic insights. Lineage-specific laboratory protocols together with advice on their application, as well as general observations, are also provided. We hope to maintain updated backbone trees of these fungal lineages over time and to publish them jointly as new data emerge. Researchers of plant pathogenic fungi not covered by the present study are invited to join this future effort. Bipolaris, Botryosphaeriaceae, Botryosphaeria, Botrytis, Choanephora, Colletotrichum, Curvularia, Diaporthe, Diplodia, Dothiorella, Fusarium, Gilbertella, Lasiodiplodia, Mucor, Neofusicoccum, Pestalotiopsis, Phyllosticta, Phytophthora, Puccinia, Pyrenophora, Pythium, Rhizopus, Stagonosporopsis, Ustilago and Verticillium are dealt with in this paper