Genome sequences of 11 human vaginal Actinobacteria strains

The composition of the vaginal microbiota is an important health determinant. Several members of the phylum Actinobacteria have been implicated in bacterial vaginosis, a condition associated with many negative health outcomes. Here, we present 11 strains of vaginal Actinobacteria (now available through BEI Resources) along with draft genome sequences

Genome sequences of nine gram-negative vaginal bacterial isolates

The vagina is home to a wide variety of bacteria that have great potential to impact human health. Here, we announce reference strains (now available through BEI Resources) and draft genome sequences for 9 Gram-negative vaginal isolates from the taxa Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Fusobacterium, Proteus, and Prevotella

Genome sequences of 12 bacterial isolates obtained from the urine of pregnant women

The presence of bacteria in urine can pose significant risks during pregnancy. However, there are few reference genome strains for many common urinary bacteria. We isolated 12 urinary strains of Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Citrobacter, Gardnerella, and Lactobacillus. These strains and their genomes are now available to the research community

A tale of two capitalisms: preliminary spatial and historical comparisons of homicide rates in Western Europe and the USA

This article examines comparative homicide rates in the United States and Western Europe in an era of increasingly globalized neoliberal economics. The main finding of this preliminary analysis is that historical and spatial correlations between distinct forms of political economy and homicide rates are consistent enough to suggest that social democratic regimes are more successful at fostering the socio-cultural conditions necessary for reduced homicide rates. Thus Western Europe and all continents and nations should approach the importation of American neo-liberal economic policies with extreme caution. The article concludes by suggesting that the indirect but crucial causal connection between political economy and homicide rates, prematurely pushed into the background of criminological thought during the ‘cultural turn’, should be returned to the foreground

Geology of Caphouse Colliery, Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK

The National Coal Mining Museum in West Yorkshire affords a rare opportunity for the public to visit a former colliery (Caphouse) and experience at first hand the geology of a mine. The geology at the museum can be seen via the public tour, limited surface outcrop and an inclined ventilation drift, which provides the best geological exposure and information. The strata encountered at the site are c. 100 m thick and are of latest Langsettian (Pennsylvanian) age. The ventilation drift intersects several coal seams (Flockton Thick, Flockton Thin, Old Hards, Green Lane and New Hards) and their associated roof rocks and seatearths. In addition to exposures of bedrock, recent mineral precipitates of calcium carbonates, manganese carbonates and oxides, and iron oxyhydroxides can be observed along the drift, and there is a surface exposure of Flockton Thick Coal and overlying roof strata. The coals and interbedded strata were deposited in the Pennine Basin in a fluvio-lacustrine setting in an embayment distant from the open ocean with limited marine influence. A lacustrine origin for mudstone roof rocks of several of the seams is supported by the incidence of non-marine bivalves and fossilized fish remains whilst the upper part of the Flockton Thick Coal consists of subaqueously deposited cannel coal. The mudstones overlying the Flockton Thick containing abundant non-marine bivalves are of great lateral extent, indicating a basin-wide rise of base level following coal deposition that may be compared with a non-marine flooding surface

The Use of Scanning Electron Microscopy in Studying Enamel Caries

SEM studies related to carious change in dental enamel are reviewed, and their contribution to understanding the mechanism of formation of the early enamel lesion and of its repair evaluated. SEM has contributed significantly to understanding the mechanism of enamel dissolution at the level of the single crystal. Etching studies have yielded useful information on the effect of enamel structure on the pattern of acid dissolution at the microscopic level and have highlighted the importance of re- precipitation phenomena in modifying the pattern of mineral loss. High-resolution studies have provided interesting quantitative data on changes in crystal size, and also information on changes in crystal shape and orientation, during lesion formation and remineralization. However, further work is required in this area to clarify uncertainties about sampling bias and to relate the observed changes more precisely to the larger-scale structure of the tissue. Numerous observations on the surface morphology and internal structure of carious lesions have been made but preparation techniques used to date introduce artifact to a greater or lesser extent and interpretation of some of these results is therefore handicapped. We propose the use of a methacrylate replication technique as the method of choice for studying pore distribution in carious enamel and present preliminary results using this technique

Is there a common water-activity limit for the three domains of life?

Archaea and Bacteria constitute a majority of life systems on Earth but have long been considered inferior to Eukarya in terms of solute tolerance. Whereas the most halophilic prokaryotes are known for an ability to multiply at saturated NaCl (water activity (a w) 0.755) some xerophilic fungi can germinate, usually at high-sugar concentrations, at values as low as 0.650-0.605 a w. Here, we present evidence that halophilic prokayotes can grow down to water activities of <0.755 for Halanaerobium lacusrosei (0.748), Halobacterium strain 004.1 (0.728), Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 and Halococcus morrhuae (0.717), Haloquadratum walsbyi (0.709), Halococcus salifodinae (0.693), Halobacterium noricense (0.687), Natrinema pallidum (0.681) and haloarchaeal strains GN-2 and GN-5 (0.635 a w). Furthermore, extrapolation of growth curves (prone to giving conservative estimates) indicated theoretical minima down to 0.611 a w for extreme, obligately halophilic Archaea and Bacteria. These were compared with minima for the most solute-tolerant Bacteria in high-sugar (or other non-saline) media (Mycobacterium spp., Tetragenococcus halophilus, Saccharibacter floricola, Staphylococcus aureus and so on) and eukaryotic microbes in saline (Wallemia spp., Basipetospora halophila, Dunaliella spp. and so on) and high-sugar substrates (for example, Xeromyces bisporus, Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, Aspergillus and Eurotium spp.). We also manipulated the balance of chaotropic and kosmotropic stressors for the extreme, xerophilic fungi Aspergillus penicilloides and X. bisporus and, via this approach, their established water-activity limits for mycelial growth (∼0.65) were reduced to 0.640. Furthermore, extrapolations indicated theoretical limits of 0.632 and 0.636 a w for A. penicilloides and X. bisporus, respectively. Collectively, these findings suggest that there is a common water-activity limit that is determined by physicochemical constraints for the three domains of life

Hidden persuaders on film: Exploring young people’s lived experience through visual essays

The Hidden Persuaders research group examines ‘brainwashing’ in the Cold War for the roles, real and imagined, played by psychologists, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts. Our project engaged young people in an exploration of the history of fears about brainwashing, and enabled them to explore their thoughts and ideas about the forces that shape their lives in contemporary society, through film-making. Working with three schools in the Camden area of London, our partners at the Derek Jarman Lab media hub, Birkbeck, University of London, and an artist facilitator (Lizzie Burns), we invited Year 12 students to learn filming and editing to create their own short video essays. The use of this format resulted in a significant depth of engagement and generated a wealth of creative responses. The various stages of the film-making process enabled the students to work out the terms of an argument and to consider how best to express it concisely. In the resulting films, they came up with a variety of forms of visual storytelling, and used the medium to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas in diverse ways, giving us a range of new perspectives which we could consider in relation to our historical research

The draft genome of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis

Genome evolution studies for the phylum Nematoda have been limited by focusing on comparisons involving Caenorhabditis elegans. We report a draft genome sequence of Trichinella spiralis, a food-borne zoonotic parasite, which is the most common cause of human trichinellosis. This parasitic nematode is an extant member of a clade that diverged early in the evolution of the phylum, enabling identification of archetypical genes and molecular signatures exclusive to nematodes. We sequenced the 64-Mb nuclear genome,which is estimated to contain 15,808 protein-coding genes,at ~35-fold coverage using whole-genome shotgun and hierarchal map–assisted sequencing. Comparative genome analyses support intrachromosomal rearrangements across the phylum, disproportionate numbers of protein family deaths over births in parasitic compared to a non-parasitic nematode and a preponderance of gene-loss and -gain events in nematodes relative to Drosophila melanogaster. This genome sequence and the identified pan-phylum characteristics will contribute to genome evolution studies of Nematoda as well as strategies to combat global parasites of humans, food animals and crops

Consumer behaviour and the life-course: shopper reactions to self service grocery shops and supermarkets in England c.1947-1975

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this recordThe paper examines the development of self-service grocery shopping from a consumer perspective. Using qualitative data constructed through a nationwide biographical survey and oral histories, it is possible to go beyond contemporary market surveys which give insufficient attention to shopping as a socially and culturally embedded practice. The paper uses the conceptual framework of the life-course, to demonstrate how grocery shopping is a complex activity, in which the retail encounter is shaped by the specific interconnection of different retail formats with consumer characteristics and situational influences. Consumer reactions to retail modernization must be understood in relation to the development of consumer practices at points of transition and stability within the life-course. These practices are accessed by examining retrospective consumer narratives about food shopping