Longitudinal Analysis of the Gill microbiomes of Atlantic Salmon from four Scottish farms reveals dynamics in bacterial richness and seasonal trends in diversity.

Atlantic Salmon aquaculture in Scotland is a major industry being both Scotland, and the UK’s largest food export. Gill disease, in particular Complex Gill Disease, is a significant challenge of salmon production. It is increasingly understood that the microbiome can influence host health and immunity. Therefore, the objective of the study is to identify and characterise the gill microbiome from stocking to harvest from four sites in Scotland 2018-2020. At each site, mucosal gill swabs were collected fortnightly (sites A &amp; C) or monthly (sites B &amp; G) from eight fish in two pens (n=623 fish). Gill samples underwent 16S rRNA Illumina MiSeq amplicon library preparation and analysis to characterise changes in the gill mucosal communities. Complex Gill disease was identified in sampled fish from each site (A: 20%, B: 11%, C: 24%, G: 13%).At the four sites we showed species richness (alpha diversity) varied over time ranging from 68 ±SD31 to 777 ±SD152 (average 353 ±SD 158). Interestingly, 1100–1500 degree-days after seawater transfer, a distinct decline in species richness and evenness was observed at three of the four sties (A:410 SD± 134 to 276 SD±86 , B:264 SD±67 to 156 SD±71 , C:356 SD±130 to 228 SD±89). In terms of community composition, 1) while there were similarities between all four sites, the communities were statistically different (R = 0.067, P&lt;0.001) from each farm, indicating that sites contributes to differences seen in the microbiome. Within each farm, a seasonal pattern in the microbiome was seen, with community shifts through winter-spring-summer-autumn (A: R2 = 0.11, P&lt;0.001, B: R2 = 0.30, P&lt;0.001, C: R2 = 0.22, P&lt;0.001, G: R2 = 0.11, P&lt;0.001). Proteobacteria dominated the gills (average: 73.6%), with Bacteriodota (average: 18.2%) also highly abundant at all sites. Overall, we have shown changes in the bacterial communities over time and between sites indicating both seasonal and temporal changes in the gill microbiome. Understanding this will help us to better understand the role of the gill microbiome and its role in fish health. <br/

Longitudinal Analysis of the Gill microbiomes of Atlantic Salmon from four Scottish farms reveals dynamics in bacterial richness and seasonal trends in diversity.

Atlantic Salmon aquaculture in Scotland is a major industry being both Scotland, and the UK’s largest food export. Gill disease, in particular Complex Gill Disease, is a significant challenge of salmon production. It is increasingly understood that the microbiome can influence host health and immunity. Therefore, the objective of the study is to identify and characterise the gill microbiome from stocking to harvest from four sites in Scotland 2018-2020. At each site, mucosal gill swabs were collected fortnightly (sites A &amp; C) or monthly (sites B &amp; G) from eight fish in two pens (n=623 fish). Gill samples underwent 16S rRNA Illumina MiSeq amplicon library preparation and analysis to characterise changes in the gill mucosal communities. Complex Gill disease was identified in sampled fish from each site (A: 20%, B: 11%, C: 24%, G: 13%).At the four sites we showed species richness (alpha diversity) varied over time ranging from 68 ±SD31 to 777 ±SD152 (average 353 ±SD 158). Interestingly, 1100–1500 degree-days after seawater transfer, a distinct decline in species richness and evenness was observed at three of the four sties (A:410 SD± 134 to 276 SD±86 , B:264 SD±67 to 156 SD±71 , C:356 SD±130 to 228 SD±89). In terms of community composition, 1) while there were similarities between all four sites, the communities were statistically different (R = 0.067, P&lt;0.001) from each farm, indicating that sites contributes to differences seen in the microbiome. Within each farm, a seasonal pattern in the microbiome was seen, with community shifts through winter-spring-summer-autumn (A: R2 = 0.11, P&lt;0.001, B: R2 = 0.30, P&lt;0.001, C: R2 = 0.22, P&lt;0.001, G: R2 = 0.11, P&lt;0.001). Proteobacteria dominated the gills (average: 73.6%), with Bacteriodota (average: 18.2%) also highly abundant at all sites. Overall, we have shown changes in the bacterial communities over time and between sites indicating both seasonal and temporal changes in the gill microbiome. Understanding this will help us to better understand the role of the gill microbiome and its role in fish health. <br/

The Seroepidemiology of Haemophilus influenzae Type B Prior to Introduction of an Immunization Programme in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is now recognized as an important pathogen in Asia. To evaluate disease susceptibility, and as a marker of Hib transmission before routine immunization was introduced in Kathmandu, 71 participants aged 7 months-77 years were recruited and 15 cord blood samples were collected for analysis of anti-polyribosylribitol phosphate antibody levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Only 20% of children under 5 years old had levels considered protective (>0.15 µg/ml), rising to 83% of 15-54 year-olds. Prior to introduction of Hib vaccine in Kathmandu, the majority of young children were susceptible to disease

SARS-CoV-2 immunity and vaccine strategies in people with HIV

Current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, based on the ancestral Wuhan strain, were developed rapidly to meet the needs of a devastating global pandemic. People living with HIV (PLWH) have been designated as a priority group for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in most regions and varying primary courses (2 or 3-dose schedule) and additional boosters are recommended depending on current CD4+ T cell count and/or detectable HIV viraemia. From the current published data, licensed vaccines are safe for PLWH, and stimulate robust responses to vaccination in those well controlled on antiretroviral therapy and with high CD4+ T cell counts. Data on vaccine efficacy and immunogenicity remain, however, scarce in PLWH, especially in people with advanced disease. A greater concern is a potentially diminished immune response to the primary course and subsequent boosters, as well as an attenuated magnitude and durability of protective immune responses. A detailed understanding of the breadth and durability of humoral and T cell responses to vaccination, and the boosting effects of natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2, in more diverse populations of PLWH with a spectrum of HIV-related immunosuppression is therefore critical. This article summarises focused studies of humoral and cellular responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in PLWH and provides a comprehensive review of the emerging literature on SARS-CoV-2 vaccine responses. Emphasis is placed on the potential effect of HIV-related factors and presence of co-morbidities modulating responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, and the remaining challenges informing the optimal vaccination strategy to elicit enduring responses against existing and emerging variants in PLWH. Lay Abstract People living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (PLWH), appear to be at a higher risk (approximately 15%) of becoming more seriously unwell if they are infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, and at least twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as the rest of the population. SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and boosters are recommended for all PLWH. However, there is limited information about the protective immune responses to both vaccination (and actual infection), the protection against serious COVID-19 disease, and whether the safety profile of the vaccines, which are very safe in the general population, differs in PLWH. Here we summarise findings from studies which looked specifically at vaccine-related immune responses in PLWH, and discuss factors – such as age, known to impact negatively on immune responses in the general population, to see whether this effect is worse in PLWH. A better understanding of these issues will help guide tailored vaccination and prevention strategies for PLWH

Tuneable photoconductivity and mobility enhancement in printed MoS 2 /graphene composites

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IOP Publishing via the DOI in this record.With the aim of increasing carrier mobility in nanosheet-network devices, we have investigated MoS2–graphene composites as active regions in printed photodetectors. Combining liquid exfoliation and inkjet-printing, we fabricated all-printed photodetectors with graphene electrodes and MoS2–graphene composite channels with various graphene mass fractions (0  ≤  M f  ≤  16 wt%). The increase in channel dark conductivity with M f was consistent with percolation theory for composites below the percolation threshold. While the photoconductivity increased with graphene content, it did so more slowly than the dark conductivity, such that the fractional photoconductivity decayed rapidly with increasing M f. We propose that both mobility and dark carrier density increase with graphene content according to percolation-like scaling laws, while photo-induced carrier density is essentially independent of graphene loading. This leads to percolation-like scaling laws for both photoconductivity and fractional photoconductivity—in excellent agreement with the data. These results imply that channel mobility and carrier density increase up to 100-fold with the addition of 16 wt% graphene.We acknowledge the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI/12/RC/2278), the European Commission (n° 696656, Graphene Flagship) and the European Research Council (FUTURE-PRINT)

Towards the “ultimate earthquake-proof” building: Development of an integrated low-damage system

The 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence has highlighted the severe mismatch between societal expectations over the reality of seismic performance of modern buildings. A paradigm shift in performance-based design criteria and objectives towards damage-control or low-damage design philosophy and technologies is urgently required. The increased awareness by the general public, tenants, building owners, territorial authorities as well as (re)insurers, of the severe socio-economic impacts of moderate-strong earthquakes in terms of damage/dollars/ downtime, has indeed stimulated and facilitated the wider acceptance and implementation of cost-efficient damage-control (or low-damage) technologies. The ‘bar’ has been raised significantly with the request to fast-track the development of what the wider general public would hope, and somehow expect, to live in, i.e. an “earthquake-proof” building system, capable of sustaining the shaking of a severe earthquake basically unscathed. The paper provides an overview of recent advances through extensive research, carried out at the University of Canterbury in the past decade towards the development of a low-damage building system as a whole, within an integrated performance-based framework, including the skeleton of the superstructure, the non-structural components and the interaction with the soil/foundation system. Examples of real on site-applications of such technology in New Zealand, using concrete, timber (engineered wood), steel or a combination of these materials, and featuring some of the latest innovative technical solutions developed in the laboratory are presented as examples of successful transfer of performance-based seismic design approach and advanced technology from theory to practice

Designing cost-sharing methods for Bayesian games

We study the design of cost-sharing protocols for two fundamental resource allocation problems, the Set Cover and the Steiner Tree Problem, under environments of incomplete information (Bayesian model). Our objective is to design protocols where the worst-case Bayesian Nash equilibria, have low cost, i.e. the Bayesian Price of Anarchy (PoA) is minimized. Although budget balance is a very natural requirement, it puts considerable restrictions on the design space, resulting in high PoA. We propose an alternative, relaxed requirement called budget balance in the equilibrium (BBiE).We show an interesting connection between algorithms for Oblivious Stochastic optimization problems and cost-sharing design with low PoA. We exploit this connection for both problems and we enforce approximate solutions of the stochastic problem, as Bayesian Nash equilibria, with the same guarantees on the PoA. More interestingly, we show how to obtain the same bounds on the PoA, by using anonymous posted prices which are desirable because they are easy to implement and, as we show, induce dominant strategies for the players

Estimation of Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness from Routine Surveillance Data

BACKGROUND: Influenza vaccines are reviewed each year, and often changed, in an effort to maintain their effectiveness against drifted influenza viruses. There is however no regular review of influenza vaccine effectiveness during, or at the end of, Australian influenza seasons. It is possible to use a case control method to estimate vaccine effectiveness from surveillance data when all patients in a surveillance system are tested for influenza and their vaccination status is known. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance is conducted during the influenza season in sentinel general practices scattered throughout Victoria, Australia. Over five seasons 2003-7, data on age, sex and vaccination status were collected and nose and throat swabs were offered to patients presenting within three days of the onset of their symptoms. Swabs were tested using a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Those positive for influenza were sent to the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza where influenza virus culture and strain identification was attempted. We used a retrospective case control design in five consecutive influenza seasons, and estimated influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) for patients of all ages to be 53% (95% CI 38-64), but 41% (95% CI 19-57) adjusted for age group and year. The adjusted VE for all adults aged at least 20 years, the age groups for whom a benefit of vaccination could be shown, was 51% (95% CI 34-63). Comparison of VE estimates with vaccine and circulating strain matches across the years did not reveal any significant differences. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These estimates support other field studies of influenza vaccine effectiveness, given that theoretical considerations suggest that these values may underestimate true effectiveness, depending on test specificity and the ratio of the influenza ILI attack rate to the non-influenza ILI attack rate. Incomplete recording of vaccination status and under-representation of children in patients from whom a swab was collected limit the data. Improvements have been implemented for prospective studies