Phylogenetic Identification of Petroleum-Degrading Bacteria in Alaska Willow Soils

• Certain plant species may promote growth and activity of pollutant- degrading microbes in the rhizosphere. • Naphthalene is an aromatic component of petroleum fuels, which are common soil contaminants in Alaska. • Willows are known to produce and release salicylate, an intermediate in the naphthalene degradation pathway that induces the expression of microbial naphthalene degradation genes. • A previous pot study (McFarlin et al. in prep) tested the ability of Salix alaxensis (Alaskan willow) to rhizo-remediate diesel-contaminated soil. • Willow growth treatments significantly decreased the concentration of diesel range organics in soil and increased the number of cultured diesel-degrading bacteria in comparison to unplanted controls. • The effects of willow on the identity and diversity of diesel-degrading bacteria in this pot study are unknown

Charting a Quest: Rapha and its Storytelling Potential

Purpose This paper explores how British luxury brand Rapha builds written stories of heroic journeys into its published artifacts and specifically utilizes the concept of the cycle ride as epic quest. Design/Methodology/Approach Through textual and linguistic analysis, it examines how Rapha attempts to communicate its brand values through stories and meaningful language that taps into the pursuit of a transformative experience. Findings It examines how Rapha’s allegiances and quest values can be seen to build on many canonical sporting beliefs and historical myths where elite riders are posited as ‘warriors’ and stage ‘heroes’ with epic ambitions (Barthes, 1957). Research limitations/implications This is the preliminary study in a longitudinal inquiry into Rapha’s storytelling as an exemplar luxury brand. Originality/value This paper explores how Rapha situates questing tales of glory rides within its promotional brand environment and their function as primary driver of its marketing communications

The Tweed Run meets Harris Tweed: Stories of a fashionable cycling experience

This article explores the relationship between the cloth Harris Tweed and the cycling event, the Tweed Run. It focuses on extrapolating stories as lived and told of those participating in the event, to examine how material objects can lend agency to a fashionable cycling experience. Narrative inquiry methodology is used to explore how a subject emotionally connects with their personal possessions as revealed through storytelling. The aim is to create a new sense of meaning and significance within the research topic, rather than focusing on establishing a grand narrative. It brings specific understandings to how objects can be related to and used by individuals to become symbolic and aesthetic ‘thirds’. This study posits that it is the participatory collective nature and transformative space of events such as the Tweed Run that provide an opportunity for individuals to interact with their material objects, in a manner that supports their transformation to symbolic or aesthetic thirds and initiates satisfactory (life) stories that can advance living action

Is Discussing Identity More Important Than Shared Identity To Student-Staff Relationship Building?

Research consistently demonstrates that the quality of student-staff interactions matters for positive student outcomes. Some research studies also suggest that identity similarities (homophily) often contribute to meaningful human connections. Yet, the influence of student and staff identities on teaching and learning in higher education is less explored. We report on how undergraduate students and staff at one US university perceive the impact of identities on student-staff classroom relationships. Four themes emerged from our analysis: (1) Shared interests may be more important than shared identity for some students and staff; (2) Students’ year of study influences their views on staff identity and student-staff relationships; (3) Identity homophily is a point of connection for some students and staff; (4) Discussing identity, without identity homophily, can lead to positive course-based connections. The first three of these themes align with existing literature, but the fourth theme extends previous research, and we focus on exploring how for some students, discussing identities may be more important than matching identities when interacting with academic staff. Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post

What enhances the formation of social bonds & facilitates better engagement & retention in an addiction service?

The study explored whether there are key skills that staff use to relate to service users which help with the formation of social bonds, which in turn leads to increased levels of service user engagement and retention. Data for the study was collected through a literature review, ethnographic observation, interviews and focus groups with staff and service users. The findings showed that staff are successful at engaging and retaining service users and it is their ability to form strong social bonds which is the key to its success. This is achieved through the philosophy of the project which is made up of three central tenets: a non-punitive approach, person-centred care and trauma informed care. The person-centred care approach facilitates the formation of a partnership between staff and service users in which they work together to achieve personalised recovery goals unique to each individual service user. The non-punitive approach stipulates that service users are not punished or judged for having a relapse, which results in the reduction of shame and the promotion of honesty. This non-punitive stance is experienced by service users as facilitative to their recovery, with some participants reporting that this approach was less evident in other models of addiction treatment. Trauma Informed Care allows service users to seek appropriate treatment for any possible underlying issues they may have, allowing them to fully engage in the service. The three interrelated strands of the philosophy produce an approach to the treatment of substance misuse that is considered to be unique and different to many mainstream addiction models and provides a platform for the formation of social bonds. There are some trade-offs as a result of adopting such a philosophy. It was discovered that staff place a large emphasis on trauma informed care; it is commendable that staff have committed to an approach which endeavours to identify people who have been exposed to trauma and are impacted by symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as their recognition of the value of referral to appropriate treatment services. Given that there are a number of other confounding factors which may also be decisive, it is recommended that staff consider a balanced approach which remains open to other factors besides trauma such as the community reinforcement approach, motivational interviewing and the person centred approach. Secondly, the desire to unconditionally support service users while supportive and empowering has the possible drawback of fostering dependency and impeding autonomy. It is recommended that the balance between high levels of support and promoting independence continues to be a central element of the service approach to active discharge planning. Finally, the research identified a need to upskill in areas such as mental health and couple counselling to further support service users who may have dual diagnosis or who are experiencing relationship problems due to substance misuse

EXOGEN Ultrasound Bone Healing System for Long Bone Fractures with Non-Union or Delayed Healing: A NICE Medical Technology Guidance

A routine part of the process for developing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) medical technologies guidance is a submission of clinical and economic evidence by the technology manufacturer. The Birmingham and Brunel Consortium External Assessment Centre (EAC; a consortium of the University of Birmingham and Brunel University) independently appraised the submission on the EXOGEN bone healing system for long bone fractures with non-union or delayed healing. This article is an overview of the original evidence submitted, the EAC’s findings, and the final NICE guidance issued

Small-scale gene duplications played a major role in the recent evolution of wheat chromosome 3B

Background: Bread wheat is not only an important crop, but its large (17 Gb), highly repetitive, and hexaploid genome makes it a good model to study the organization and evolution of complex genomes. Recently, we produced a high quality reference sequence of wheat chromosome 3B (774 Mb), which provides an excellent opportunity to study the evolutionary dynamics of a large and polyploid genome, specifically the impact of single gene duplications.Results: We find that 27 % of the 3B predicted genes are non-syntenic with the orthologous chromosomes of Brachypodium distachyon, Oryza sativa, and Sorghum bicolor, whereas, by applying the same criteria, non-syntenic genes represent on average only 10 % of the predicted genes in these three model grasses. These non-syntenic genes on 3B have high sequence similarity to at least one other gene in the wheat genome, indicating that hexaploid wheat has undergone massive small-scale interchromosomal gene duplications compared to other grasses. Insertions of non-syntenic genes occurred at a similar rate along the chromosome, but these genes tend to be retained at a higher frequency in the distal, recombinogenic regions. The ratio of non-synonymous to synonymous substitution rates showed a more relaxed selection pressure for non-syntenic genes compared to syntenic genes, and gene ontology analysis indicated that non-syntenic genes may be enriched in functions involved in disease resistance.Conclusion: Our results highlight the major impact of single gene duplications on the wheat gene complement and confirm the accelerated evolution of the Triticeae lineage among grasses

Constitutive regulation of mitochondrial morphology by Aurora A kinase depends on a predicted cryptic targeting sequence at the N-terminus.

Aurora A kinase (AURKA) is a major regulator of mitosis and an important driver of cancer progression. The roles of AURKA outside of mitosis, and how these might contribute to cancer progression, are not well understood. Here, we show that a fraction of cytoplasmic AURKA is associated with mitochondria, co-fractionating in cell extracts and interacting with mitochondrial proteins by reciprocal co-immunoprecipitation. We have also found that the dynamics of the mitochondrial network are sensitive to AURKA inhibition, depletion or overexpression. This can account for the different mitochondrial morphologies observed in RPE-1 and U2OS cell lines, which show very different levels of expression of AURKA. We identify the mitochondrial fraction of AURKA as influencing mitochondrial morphology, because an N-terminally truncated version of the kinase that does not localize to mitochondria does not affect the mitochondrial network. We identify a cryptic mitochondrial targeting sequence in the AURKA N-terminus and discuss how alternative conformations of the protein may influence its cytoplasmic fate.MRC CRU