Niche and local geography shape the pangenome of wastewater- and livestock-associated Enterobacteriaceae.

and other Enterobacteriaceae are diverse species with "open" pangenomes, where genes move intra- and interspecies via horizontal gene transfer. However, most analyses focus on clinical isolates. The pangenome dynamics of natural populations remain understudied, despite their suggested role as reservoirs for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes.

Toward the Development and Application of an Environmental Risk Assessment Framework for Microplastic.

Emissions of plastic waste to the environment and the subsequent degradation into microplastic particles that have the potential to interact with biological organisms represent a concern for global society. Current understanding of the potential impacts on aquatic and terrestrial population stability and ecosystem structure and function associated with emissions of microplastic particles is limited and insufficient to fully assess environmental risks. Multistakeholder discussions can provide an important element in helping to identify and prioritize key knowledge gaps in assessing potential risks.

Shifting headlines? Size trends of newsworthy fishes.

The shifting baseline syndrome describes a gradual lowering of human cognitive baselines, as each generation accepts a lower standard of resource abundance or size as the new norm. There is strong empirical evidence of declining trends of abundance and body sizes of marine fish species reported from docks and markets. We asked whether these widespread trends in shrinking marine fish are detectable in popular English-language media, or whether news writers, like many marine stakeholders, are captive to shifting baselines.

Advancements in Life Cycle Human Exposure and Toxicity Characterization.

Background: The Life Cycle Initiative, hosted at the United Nations Environment Programme, selected human toxicity impacts from exposure to chemical substances as an impact category that requires global guidance to overcome current assessment challenges. The initiative leadership established the Human Toxicity Task Force to develop guidance on assessing human exposure and toxicity impacts. Based on input gathered at three workshops addressing the main current scientific challenges and questions, the task force built a roadmap for advancing human toxicity characterization, primarily for use in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA).

Functional responses of a cosmopolitan invader demonstrate intraspecific variability in consumer-resource dynamics.

Background: Variability in the ecological impacts of invasive species across their geographical ranges may decrease the accuracy of risk assessments. Comparative functional response analysis can be used to estimate invasive consumer-resource dynamics, explain impact variability, and thus potentially inform impact predictions. The European green crab () has been introduced on multiple continents beyond its native range, although its ecological impacts appear to vary among populations and regions.

Physicochemical Factors Influence the Abundance and Culturability of Human Enteric Pathogens and Fecal Indicator Organisms in Estuarine Water and Sediment.

To assess fecal pollution in coastal waters, current monitoring is reliant on culture-based enumeration of bacterial indicators, which does not account for the presence of viable but non-culturable or sediment-associated micro-organisms, preventing effective quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). Seasonal variability in viable but non-culturable or sediment-associated bacteria challenge the use of fecal indicator organisms (FIOs) for water monitoring. We evaluated seasonal changes in FIOs and human enteric pathogen abundance in water and sediments from the Ribble and Conwy estuaries in the UK.

The Impact of Hemodynamic Transesophageal Echocardiography on the Use of Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy in Trauma.

Post-traumatic fluid management is a widely debated topic. No best-practice consensus exists. Adverse outcomes such as acute kidney injury or volume overload are common.

The Trauma Time-Out: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Protocol-Based Information Dissemination in the Traumatically Injured Patient.

Procedural time-outs are widely accepted safety standards that are protocolized in nearly all hospital systems. The trauma time-out, however, has been largely unstudied in the existing literature and does not have a standard protocol outlined by any of the major trauma surgery organizations. The goal of this study was to evaluate our institution's use of the trauma time-out and assess how trauma team members viewed its effectiveness.

A quantitative screening-level approach to incorporate chemical exposure and risk into alternative assessment evaluations.

As the general public and retailers ask for disclosure of chemical ingredients in the marketplace, a number of hazard screening tools were developed to evaluate the so-called "greenness" of individual chemical ingredients and/or formulations. The majority of these tools focus only on hazard, often using chemical lists, ignoring the other part of the risk equation: exposure. Using a hazard-only focus can result in regrettable substitutions, changing 1 chemical ingredient for another that turns out to be more hazardous or shifts the toxicity burden to others.

Abundance and Distribution of Enteric Bacteria and Viruses in Coastal and Estuarine Sediments-a Review.

The long term survival of fecal indicator organisms (FIOs) and human pathogenic microorganisms in sediments is important from a water quality, human health and ecological perspective. Typically, both bacteria and viruses strongly associate with particulate matter present in freshwater, estuarine and marine environments. This association tends to be stronger in finer textured sediments and is strongly influenced by the type and quantity of clay minerals and organic matter present.

Superficial x-ray in the treatment of basal and squamous cell carcinomas: a viable option in select patients.

Background: Effective nonsurgical modalities are limited in the treatment of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

Objective: We sought to evaluate the efficacy and viability of superficial x-ray therapy in the treatment of BCC and SCC in an outpatient setting.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 1715 histologically confirmed primary cutaneous BCC and SCC treated with superficial x-ray therapy at Dermatology Associates of Tallahassee in Florida between 2000 and 2010.

Silylene transfer to alpha-keto esters and application to the synthesis of gamma-lactones.

Disubstituted alpha-hydroxy acids have been synthesized by metal-catalyzed silylene transfer to alpha-keto esters. A range of substituents are tolerated in the transformation with the exception of branched groups at the vinylic position. The alpha-hydroxy acid products can be converted into gamma-lactones using a variety of lactonization conditions.

Synthesis of tertiary alpha-hydroxy acids by silylene transfer to alpha-keto esters.

Alpha-keto esters can be converted into alpha-hydroxy acids in a single flask involving metal-catalyzed silylene transfer, 6pi-electrocyclization, Ireland-Claisen rearrangement, and hydrolysis. This reaction sequence is stereoselective and tolerates alkyl- and aryl-substituted alpha-keto ester substrates as well as an alpha-imino ester.

Exploring biochemistry and cellular biology with protein libraries.

Polypeptide libraries cast a broad net for defining enzyme and binding protein specificities. In addition to uncovering rules for molecular recognition, the binding preferences and functional group tolerances from such libraries can reveal mechanisms underlying biochemical and cellular processes. Ligands obtained from protein libraries can also provide pharmaceutical lead compounds and even reagents to further explore cell biology.