How Often Are Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Said to “Evolve” in the News?

Media plays an important role in informing the general public about scientific ideas.We examine whether the word “evolve,” sometimes considered controversial by the general public, is frequently used in the popular press. Specifically, we ask how often articles discussing antibiotic resistance use the word “evolve” (or its lexemes) as opposed to alternative terms such as “emerge” or “develop.” We chose the topic of antibiotic resistance because it is a medically important issue; bacterial evolution is a central player in human morbidity and mortality. We focused on the most widely-distributed newspapers written in English in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia. We examined all articles that focused primarily on the evolution of antibiotic resistance, were published in 2014 or earlier, and were accessible in online archives, for a total of 1639 articles. The total years examined per newspaper ranged from 5 to 37 years with a median of 27 years, and the overall range was 1978–2014. We quantified how many articles included the term “evolve” and analyzed how this varied with newspaper, country, and time. We found that an overall rate of 18% of articles used the term “evolve” but with significant variation among countries. Newspapers in the United Kingdom had the highest rate (24%), more than double of those in India (9%), the country with the lowest rate. These frequencies were lower than those found in scientific papers from both evolutionary journals and biomedical journals. There were no statistically significant changes in frequency and no trends when “evolve” usage was compared against variables such as newspaper circulation, liberal/conservative bias, time, and state evolution acceptance in U.S. newspapers. This study highlights the globally low usage of the word “evolve” in the popular press. We suggest this low usage may affect public understanding and acceptance of evolutionary concepts

Consensus standards for acquisition, measurement, and reporting of intravascular optical coherence tomography studies

Objectives: The purpose of this document is to make the output of the International Working Group for Intravascular Optical Coherence Tomography (IWG-IVOCT) Standardization and Validation available to medical and scientific communities, through a peer-reviewed publication, in the interest of improving the diagnosis and treatment of patients with atherosclerosis, including coronary artery disease. Background: Intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) is a catheter-based modality that acquires images at a resolution of ∼10 μm, enabling visualization of blood vessel wall microstructure in vivo at an unprecedented level of detail. IVOCT devices are now commercially available worldwide, there is an active user base, and the interest in using this technology is growing. Incorporation of IVOCT in research and daily clinical practice can be facilitated by the development of uniform terminology and consensus-based standards on use of the technology, interpretation of the images, and reporting of IVOCT results. Methods: The IWG-IVOCT, comprising more than 260 academic and industry members from Asia, Europe, and the United States, formed in 2008 and convened on the topic of IVOCT standardization through a series of 9 national and international meetings. Results: Knowledge and recommendations from this group on key areas within the IVOCT field were assembled to generate this consensus document, authored by the Writing Committee, composed of academicians who have participated in meetings and/or writing of the text. Conclusions: This document may be broadly used as a standard reference regarding the current state of the IVOCT imaging modality, intended for researchers and clinicians who use IVOCT and analyze IVOCT data

Systematic review and meta‐analysis of the impact of decontamination interventions on the prevalence and concentration of Salmonella in broiler chickens during primary processing

SummarySystematic review and meta‐analysis aggregate quantitative data from different studies into unified effect size estimates with better statistical power in risk assessment model parameterisation. This study uses systematic review and meta‐analysis to estimate Salmonella decontamination during broiler slaughter from scalding to post‐chilling, with meta‐regression applied to explore modifier variables. Data from 161 studies published between 1998 and 2022 was extracted from thirty‐five articles identified in the systematic review process with meta‐analysis and meta‐regression performed using the metafor package (version 2.0‐0) in R statistical environment (version 3.6.0). The analysis revealed carcass wash (1.31 log$_{10}$ CFU/carcass reduction in odds; P < 0.01) and chilling (121.50% reduction in relative risk; P < 0.01) had significant reduction on Salmonella concentration and prevalence, respectively. Chemical additives reduced the concentration (0.98 log$_{10}$ CFU/carcass; P < 0.01) and prevalence (64.74% relative risk; P < 0.01) but the efficacy of physical methods was not conclusive. Application of decontaminants through immersion was superior (0.90 log$_{10}$ CFU/carcass; P < 0.01) to spraying (0.72 log$_{10}$ CFU/carcass; P < 0.01). Adjusting the pH sequentially of electrolysed water, acetic acid and trisodium phosphate reduced the odds of Salmonella concentration by more than 2 log cycles and the relative risk by more than 100%. The results provide trends in the concentration and prevalence of Salmonella during the broilers slaughter process with application of decontamination interventions and provide a basis for control decision‐making and quantitative microbial risk assessment

Nutrients and polyphenols-rich sorghum bicolor genotypes as complementary therapy for Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and most common cause of dementia among older people. The main pathological hallmarks of AD are formation of insoluble amyloid beta senile plaques and paired helical filaments of neurofibrillary tangles. AD features gradual memory decline, mild to severe cognitive impairment, eventually total dependence of patients on caregivers. Currently available drugs have not been able to modify AD pathology. This has drawn increasing attention to plant food materials with high nutritional and bioactive constituents as potential complementary therapy for AD. Sorghum bicolor is a widely available cost-effective source of proteins, fats, crude fibres, biopeptides and polyphenols which are vital for human wellbeing. This review discussed the major mechanisms underlying AD pathology. The nutritional and bioactive constituents of Sorghum bicolor grains were extensively described. There is limited report on anti-AD activities of sorghum grains. Therefore, the pharmacological mechanisms of action including scavenging of reactive oxygen species, inhibition of oxidative stress, anti-acetylcholinesterase activity and modulation of mitophagy were only speculated. This comprehensive update suggests more robust innovative studies that will provide critical theoretical details necessary to promote utilization of sorghum grains as functional food or source of bioactive molecules for AD therapy

Considering the Influence of Coronary Motion on Artery‑Specific Biomechanics Using Fluid–Structure Interaction Simulation

The endothelium in the coronary arteries is subject to wall shear stress and vessel wall strain, which influences the biology of the arterial wall. This study presents vessel-specific fluid–structure interaction (FSI) models of three coronary arteries, using directly measured experimental geometries and boundary conditions. FSI models are used to provide a more physiologically complete representation of vessel biomechanics, and have been extended to include coronary bending to investigate its effect on shear and strain. FSI both without- and with-bending resulted in significant changes in all computed shear stress metrics compared to CFD (p = 0.0001). Inclusion of bending within the FSI model produced highly significant changes in Time Averaged Wall Shear Stress (TAWSS) + 9.8% LAD, + 8.8% LCx, − 2.0% RCA; Oscillatory Shear Index (OSI) + 208% LAD, 0% LCx, + 2600% RCA; and transverse wall Shear Stress (tSS) + 180% LAD, + 150% LCx and + 200% RCA (all p \u3c 0.0001). Vessel wall strain was homogenous in all directions without-bending but became highly anisotropic under bending. Changes in median cyclic strain magnitude were seen for all three vessels in every direction. Changes shown in the magnitude and distribution of shear stress and wall strain suggest that bending should be considered on a vessel-specific basis in analyses of coronary artery biomechanics

The microbial genetic diversity and succession associated with processing waters at different broiler processing stages in an abattoir in Australia

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data presented in this study are available upon request from the corresponding author.The high organic content of abattoir-associated process water provides an alternative for low-cost and non-invasive sample collection. This study investigated the association of microbial diversity from an abattoir processing environment with that of chicken meat. Water samples from scalders, defeathering, evisceration, carcass-washer, chillers, and post-chill carcass rinsate were collected from a large-scale abattoir in Australia. DNA was extracted using theWizard® Genomic DNA Purification Kit, and the 16S rRNA v3-v4 gene region was sequenced using Illumina MiSeq. The results revealed that the Firmicutes decreased from scalding to evisceration (72.55%) and increased with chilling (23.47%), with the Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota changing inversely. A diverse bacterial community with 24 phyla and 392 genera was recovered from the post-chill chicken, with Anoxybacillus (71.84%), Megamonas (4.18%), Gallibacterium (2.14%), Unclassified Lachnospiraceae (1.87%), and Lactobacillus (1.80%) being the abundant genera. The alpha diversity increased from scalding to chilling, while the beta diversity revealed a significant separation of clusters at different processing points (p = 0.01). The alpha- and beta-diversity revealed significant contamination during the defeathering, with a redistribution of the bacteria during the chilling. This study concluded that the genetic diversity during the defeathering is strongly associated with the extent of the post-chill contamination, and may be used to indicate the microbial quality of the chicken meat.The Australia Africa University Network- Australia Awards Africa and the University of Pretoria Postdoctoral Fellowship grants.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/pathogensam2024Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology (BGM)Consumer ScienceForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)SDG-02:Zero Hunge

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of decontamination interventions on the prevalence and concentration of Salmonella in broiler chickens during primary processing

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT: Data available in article supplementary material.SUPPORTING INFORMATION: Data S1: Supplementary data on the systematic review on decontamination interventions on the prevalence and concentration of Salmonella in broiler chickens during primary processing.Please read abstract in article.This work was partly supported by the Australia Africa University Network- Australian Awards Africa Postdoctoral fellowship and the University of Pretoria Postdoctoral Fellowship grants.https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652621Consumer ScienceFood ScienceSDG-02:Zero HungerSDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein

Systematic-review and meta-analysis on effect of decontamination interventions on prevalence and concentration of Campylobacter spp. during primary processing of broiler chickens

Please read abstract in the article.Partly supported by the Australia Awards Africa Post-Doctoral Fellowship.https://www.elsevier.com/locate/fmhj2023Consumer ScienceFood Scienc