Making waves: From tap to gut- exploring the impact of drinking water on gut microbiota.

Drinking water (DW) harbours diverse microbial species and chemical attributes. Water comprises the greatest portion of our daily diet, ingested both on its own and used in the preparation of food. DW is our major source of liquids, which is vital to maintaining homeostasis, and can also supply essential minerals.

Microbial ecology of drinking water from source to tap.

As drinking water travels from its source, through various treatment processes, hundreds to thousands of kilometres of distribution network pipes, to the taps in private homes and public buildings, it is exposed to numerous environmental changes, as well as other microbes living in both water and on surfaces. This review aims to identify the key locations and factors that are associated with changes in the drinking water microbiome throughout conventional urban drinking water systems from the source to the tap water. Over the past 15 years, improvements in cultivation-independent methods have enabled studies that allow us to answer such questions.

Biofilm thickness controls the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic processes in microbial community assembly in moving bed biofilm reactors.

Deterministic and stochastic processes are believed to play a combined role in microbial community assembly, though little is known about the factors determining their relative importance. We investigated the effect of biofilm thickness on community assembly in nitrifying moving bed biofilm reactors using biofilm carriers where maximum biofilm thickness is controlled. We examined the contribution of stochastic and deterministic processes to biofilm assembly in a steady state system using neutral community modelling and community diversity analysis with a null-modelling approach.

DNA- and RNA-SIP Reveal spp. as Key Drivers of Nitrification in Groundwater-Fed Biofilters.

Nitrification, the oxidative process converting ammonia to nitrite and nitrate, is driven by microbes and plays a central role in the global nitrogen cycle. Our earlier investigations based on 16S rRNA and amplicon analysis, quantitative PCR and metagenomics of groundwater-fed biofilters indicated a consistently high abundance of comammox Here, we hypothesized that these nonclassical nitrifiers drive ammonia-N oxidation. Hence, we used DNA and RNA stable isotope probing (SIP) coupled with 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to identify the active members in the biofilter community when subjected to a continuous supply of NH or NO in the presence of C-HCO (labeled) or C-HCO (unlabeled).

Copper-Induced Stimulation of Nitrification in Biological Rapid Sand Filters for Drinking Water Production by Proliferation of spp.

Copper is a cofactor of the ammonia monooxygenase, an essential enzyme for the activity of ammonia oxidizing prokaryotes (AOP). Copper dosing at less than 1 μg/L stimulated ammonium removal in the poorly nitrifying biological filters of three full-scale drinking water treatment plants. Upon copper dosing, the ammonium concentration in the effluent decreased from up to 0.

Galactitol catabolism in Sinorhizobium meliloti is dependent on a chromosomally encoded sorbitol dehydrogenase and a pSymB-encoded operon necessary for tagatose catabolism.

The legume endosymbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti can utilize a broad range of carbon compounds to support its growth. The linear, six-carbon polyol galactitol is abundant in vascular plants and is metabolized in S. meliloti by the contribution of two loci SMb21372-SMb21377 and SMc01495-SMc01503 which are found on pSymB and the chromosome, respectively.

A web-based mental health promotion intervention for pharmacy staff to reduce stigmatising and discriminating attitudes.

Issue Addressed: Stigma and discrimination can have a significant impact on successful mental health recovery. This research evaluated the effectiveness of a web-based mental health promotion intervention on stigma and discrimination in community pharmacies via assessment of staff attitudes, confidence and skills.

Methods: Guided by the intervention mapping framework, we used experiential learning techniques, including pre-recorded consumer/carer narratives, role-plays and panel discussions accessed by participants in an innovative, flexible, web-based, program of modules.

Mentoring pharmacy staff to implement a medication support service: An evaluation of process and outcomes.

Introduction: To investigate the effectiveness of mentoring of pharmacy staff as they implemented a medication support service for mental health consumers. In particular, to show the relevance and applicability of Kram's four phases of mentoring to short-term mentoring relationships, the type of mentoring functions provided, and the value of utilising a pharmacist-consumer mentoring pair.

Method: 163 pharmacy staff (mentees) each participated in a one-day workshop prior to implementing the service and being mentored over a period of six months.

Comparative genomics sheds light on niche differentiation and the evolutionary history of comammox Nitrospira.

The description of comammox Nitrospira spp., performing complete ammonia-to-nitrate oxidation, and their co-occurrence with canonical β-proteobacterial ammonia oxidizing bacteria (β-AOB) in the environment, calls into question the metabolic potential of comammox Nitrospira and the evolutionary history of their ammonia oxidation pathway. We report four new comammox Nitrospira genomes, constituting two novel species, and the first comparative genomic analysis on comammox Nitrospira.

Microbial biotechnologies for potable water production.

Sustainable Development Goal 6 requires the provision of safe drinking water to the world. We propose that increased exploitation of biological processes is fundamental to achieving this goal due to their low economic and energetic costs. Biological processes exist for the removal of most common contaminants, and biofiltration processes can establish a biologically stable product that retains high quality in distribution networks, minimizing opportunities for pathogen invasion.

The impact of a person-centred community pharmacy mental health medication support service on consumer outcomes.

Background: Mental illness is a worldwide health priority. As medication is commonly used to treat mental illness, community pharmacy staff is well placed to assist consumers.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted, community pharmacy medication support service for mental health consumers.

Implementation of a mental health medication management intervention in Australian community pharmacies: Facilitators and challenges.

Background: Community pharmacists are in an ideal position to promote and provide mental health medication management services. However, formalised or structured pharmacy services to support consumers with mental health conditions are scarce. Australian mental health consumers indicated a need for targeted community pharmacy mental health services which presented an opportunity to develop an intervention that were integrated with remunerated professional services.

Metagenomic analysis of rapid gravity sand filter microbial communities suggests novel physiology of Nitrospira spp.

Rapid gravity sand filtration is a drinking water production technology widely used around the world. Microbially catalyzed processes dominate the oxidative transformation of ammonia, reduced manganese and iron, methane and hydrogen sulfide, which may all be present at millimolar concentrations when groundwater is the source water. In this study, six metagenomes from various locations within a groundwater-fed rapid sand filter (RSF) were analyzed.

Biofilm Thickness Influences Biodiversity in Nitrifying MBBRs-Implications on Micropollutant Removal.

In biofilm systems for wastewater treatment (e.g., moving bed biofilms reactors-MBBRs) biofilm thickness is typically not under direct control.

Community Structure in Methanogenic Enrichments Provides Insight into Syntrophic Interactions in Hydrocarbon-Impacted Environments.

The methanogenic biodegradation of crude oil involves the conversion of hydrocarbons to methanogenic substrates by syntrophic bacteria and subsequent methane production by methanogens. Assessing the metabolic roles played by various microbial species in syntrophic communities remains a challenge, but such information has important implications for bioremediation and microbial enhanced energy recovery technologies. Many factors such as changing environmental conditions or substrate variations can influence the composition and biodegradation capabilities of syntrophic microbial communities in hydrocarbon-impacted environments.

Mapping the terrain: A conceptual schema for a mental health medication support service in community pharmacy.

Objective: Mental health-related problems pose a serious issue for primary care, and community pharmacy could make a significant contribution, but there is a dearth of information.

Methods: This article reports synthesis of the literature on mental health interventions across a range of pharmacy models, and pharmacy services in contexts beyond mental health. To best inform the design of a community pharmacy medication support intervention for mental health consumers, the literature was reported as a conceptual schema and subsequent recommendations for development, implementation and evaluation of the service.

Exploring an increased role for Australian community pharmacy in mental health professional service delivery: evaluation of the literature.

Background: Australian general practitioners primarily treat mental health problems by prescribing medication dispensed by community pharmacists. Pharmacists therefore have regular interactions with mental health consumers and carers.

Aims: This narrative review explored the potential role of community pharmacy in mental health services.

Preventing aggression and other secondary features of dementia in elderly persons: Three case studies.

Dementia and Alzheimer's disease are associated with behavioral symptoms that can be costly and troublesome to caregivers. Behavioral strategies to prevent aggression in people with dementia (PWDs) are necessary to decrease caregiver burden and relieve other behavioral disturbances in PWDs, such as depression. On the basis of their previous study that identified pain as a possible cause of aggression, the authors developed a behavioral in-home intervention designed to teach caregiver(s) how to recognize signs of pain and distress in PWDs.

Comparative analysis of metagenomes from three methanogenic hydrocarbon-degrading enrichment cultures with 41 environmental samples.

Methanogenic hydrocarbon metabolism is a key process in subsurface oil reservoirs and hydrocarbon-contaminated environments and thus warrants greater understanding to improve current technologies for fossil fuel extraction and bioremediation. In this study, three hydrocarbon-degrading methanogenic cultures established from two geographically distinct environments and incubated with different hydrocarbon substrates (added as single hydrocarbons or as mixtures) were subjected to metagenomic and 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing to test whether these differences affect the genetic potential and composition of the communities. Enrichment of different putative hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in each culture appeared to be substrate dependent, though all cultures contained both acetate- and H2-utilizing methanogens.

Identification of toluene degraders in a methanogenic enrichment culture.

Methanogenic biodegradation involves the cooperative metabolism of syntrophic bacteria that catalyse the initial attack and subsequent degradation of hydrocarbons, and methanogens that convert intermediates such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide, formate, and/or acetate to methane. The identity of syntrophic microbes and the nature of their interactions with other syntrophs and methanogens are not well understood. Furthermore, it is difficult to isolate the organisms responsible for the initial activation and subsequent degradation of hydrocarbon substrates under methanogenic conditions due to the thermodynamic relationships that exist among microbes in methanogenic communities.

Syntrophic biodegradation of hydrocarbon contaminants.

Anaerobic environments are crucial to global carbon cycling wherein the microbial metabolism of organic matter occurs under a variety of redox conditions. In many anaerobic ecosystems, syntrophy plays a key role wherein microbial species must cooperate, essentially as a single catalytic unit, to metabolize substrates in a mutually beneficial manner. Hydrocarbon-contaminated environments such as groundwater aquifers are typically anaerobic, and often methanogenic.

Privacy and confidentiality: perspectives of mental health consumers and carers in pharmacy settings.

Objectives: The study aims to explore within the community pharmacy practice context the views of mental health stakeholders on: (1) current and past experiences of privacy, confidentiality and support; and (2) expectations and needs in relation to privacy and confidentiality.

Methods: In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted in three states in Australia, namely Queensland, the northern region of New South Wales and Western Australia, between December 2011 and March 2012.

Key Findings: There were 98 participants consisting of consumers and carers (n = 74), health professionals (n = 13) and representatives from consumer organisations (n = 11).

Australian mental health consumers' and carers' experiences of community pharmacy service.

Background: Many Australians with anxiety or depression experience issues accessing pharmacological treatment even though community pharmacies are remunerated to supply subsidized medicines and provide medicine management services.

Objective: To obtain insight into the quality of community pharmacy services from the perspectives of mental health consumers and carers.

Methods: A computer-assisted telephone interview was used to gauge perceptions of pharmacy service using frameworks of service quality and patient-centred care.

Using an intervention mapping framework to develop an online mental health continuing education program for pharmacy staff.

Introduction: Current mental health policy in Australia recognizes that ongoing mental health workforce development is crucial to mental health care reform. Community pharmacy staff are well placed to assist people with mental illness living in the community; however, staff require the knowledge and skills to do this competently and effectively. This article presents the systematic planning and development process and content of an education and training program for community pharmacy staff, using a program planning approach called intervention mapping.

Trust and safe spaces: mental health consumers' and carers' relationships with community pharmacy staff.

Background: Trusting relationships between mental health consumers and health care providers are critical in the management and recovery process. Although community pharmacy staff are well placed to form relationships with mental health consumers and carers, little is known about the existence, nature or significance of consumer-staff relationships.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore mental health consumers' and carers' perceptions of community pharmacy services, and describe the nature of their relationships with pharmacy staff.