Publications by authors named "Alexander A Smith"

Background: Worldwide, an estimated 70.7 billion broilers were produced in 2020. With the reduction in use of prophylactic antibiotics as a result of consumer pressure and regulatory oversight alternative approaches, such as vaccination, are required to control bacterial infections.

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Background: Campylobacter is an animal and zoonotic pathogen of global importance, and a pressing need exists for effective vaccines, including those that make use of conserved polysaccharide antigens. To this end, we adapted Protein Glycan Coupling Technology (PGCT) to develop a versatile Escherichia coli strain capable of generating multiple glycoconjugate vaccine candidates against Campylobacter jejuni.

Results: We generated a glycoengineering E.

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Background: Poultry is the world's most popular animal-based food and global production has tripled in the past 20 years alone. Low-cost vaccines that can be combined to protect poultry against multiple infections are a current global imperative. Glycoconjugate vaccines, which consist of an immunogenic protein covalently coupled to glycan antigens of the targeted pathogen, have a proven track record in human vaccinology, but have yet to be used for livestock due to prohibitively high manufacturing costs.

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Background: The aims of this study were to monitor cabin crew fatigue, sleep, and performance on an ultra-long range (ULR) trip and to evaluate the appropriateness of applying data collection methods developed for flight crew to cabin crew operations under a fatigue risk management system (FRMS).

Methods: Prior to, throughout, and following the ULR trip (outbound flight ULR; mean layover duration=52.6 h; inbound flight long range), 55 cabin crew (29 women; mean age 36.

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Background: This study examined the uptake and effectiveness of fatigue mitigation guidance material including sleep recommendations for a trip with a westward ultra-long-range flight and return long-range flight.

Methods: There were 52 flight crew (4-pilot crews, mean age 55 yr) who completed a sleep/duty diary and wore an actigraph prior to, during, and after the trip. Primary crew flew the takeoff and landing, while relief crew flew the aircraft during the Primary crew's breaks.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tropical legume species in the Aeschynomene genus interact with unique bradyrhizobia strains that have unusual traits, such as the ability to perform photosynthesis and different pathways for forming symbiotic relationships.
  • The study involved comparative genomics of nine bradyrhizobial strains to analyze their genetic diversity and produced draft genomes representing various phenotypes, including photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic strains.
  • By examining their genomes, researchers identified core, pan, and dispensable genetic elements, as well as important genes related to photosynthesis and symbiotic capabilities, which are now under further investigation.
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