Assessment of quantitative polymerase chain reaction for BCR-ABL1 transcripts in chronic myeloid leukaemia: Are improved outcomes in patients with e14a2 transcripts an artefact of technology?

The clinical outcome of chronic myeloid leukaemia patients has vastly improved since the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment, with a significant proportion of patients able to achieve treatment-free remission. However, studies have shown that patients with the e13a2 transcript were less likely to achieve major molecular response compared to those with e14a2 transcripts. Most quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for detection of the BCR-ABL1 fusion gene do not differentiate between the two transcripts and we therefore hypothesised that technical bias linked to the qPCR assay could partially explain the discrepancy in outcomes.

Xpert MRSA screening in surgical patient flow; time for a rethink for hub-and-spoke laboratory models?

The move towards pathology networks and hub-and-spoke models of medical laboratory service provision has significantly changed the flow of samples, and the impact of results on patients, over recent years. At the same time advances in technology, including rapid, simple to use molecular platforms, are changing the way microbiology results can be utilized. Like many other medical microbiology laboratories, we struggle with this balance for many different sample types and test requests.

Responses of Aquatic Plants to Eutrophication in Rivers: A Revised Conceptual Model.

Compared to research on eutrophication in lakes, there has been significantly less work carried out on rivers despite the importance of the topic. However, over the last decade, there has been a surge of interest in the response of aquatic plants to eutrophication in rivers. This is an area of applied research and the work has been driven by the widespread nature of the impacts and the significant opportunities for system remediation.

Herbivore regulation of plant abundance in aquatic ecosystems.

Herbivory is a fundamental process that controls primary producer abundance and regulates energy and nutrient flows to higher trophic levels. Despite the recent proliferation of small-scale studies on herbivore effects on aquatic plants, there remains limited understanding of the factors that control consumer regulation of vascular plants in aquatic ecosystems. Our current knowledge of the regulation of primary producers has hindered efforts to understand the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems, and to manage such ecosystems effectively.

Plant trait characteristics vary with size and eutrophication in European lowland streams.

Previous studies investigating community-level relationships between plant functional trait characteristics and stream environmental characteristics remain scarce. Here, we used community-weighted means to identify how plant traits link to lowland stream typology and how agricultural intensity in the catchment affects trait composition.We analysed plant trait characteristics in 772 European lowland streams to test the following two hypotheses: (i) trait characteristics differ between plant communities in small and medium-sized streams, reflecting adaptations to different habitat characteristics, and (ii) trait characteristics vary with the intensity of agricultural land use in the stream catchment, mediated either directly by an increase in productive species or indirectly by an increase in species that efficiently intercept and utilize light.

Functional trait composition of aquatic plants can serve to disentangle multiple interacting stressors in lowland streams.

Historically, close attention has been paid to negative impacts associated with nutrient loads to streams and rivers, but today hydromorphological alterations are considered increasingly implicated when lowland streams do not achieve good ecological status. Here, we explore if trait-abundance patterns of aquatic plants change along gradients in hydromorphological degradation and eutrophication in lowland stream sites located in Denmark. Specifically, we hypothesised that: i) changes in trait-abundance patterns occur along gradients in hydromorphological degradation and ii) trait-abundance patterns can serve to disentangle effects of eutrophication and hydromorphological degradation in lowland streams reflecting that the mechanisms behind changes differ.

Can sacrificial feeding areas protect aquatic plants from herbivore grazing? Using behavioural ecology to inform wildlife management.

Effective wildlife management is needed for conservation, economic and human well-being objectives. However, traditional population control methods are frequently ineffective, unpopular with stakeholders, may affect non-target species, and can be both expensive and impractical to implement. New methods which address these issues and offer effective wildlife management are required.

Evaluating the effects of population management on a herbivore grazing conflict.

Abundant herbivores can damage plants and so cause conflict with conservation, agricultural, and fisheries interests. Management of herbivore populations is a potential tool to alleviate such conflicts but may raise concerns about the economic and ethical costs of implementation, especially if the herbivores are 'charismatic' and popular with the public. Thus it is critical to evaluate the probability of achieving the desired ecological outcomes before proceeding to a field trial.

Understanding plant community responses to combinations of biotic and abiotic factors in different phases of the plant growth cycle.

Understanding plant community responses to combinations of biotic and abiotic factors is critical for predicting ecosystem response to environmental change. However, studies of plant community regulation have seldom considered how responses to such factors vary with the different phases of the plant growth cycle. To address this deficit we studied an aquatic plant community in an ecosystem subject to gradients in mute swan (Cygnus olor) herbivory, riparian shading, water temperature and distance downstream of the river source.

How green is my river? A new paradigm of eutrophication in rivers.

Although the process of eutrophication is reasonably well understood in lakes, there is currently no conceptual understanding of how eutrophication develops in rivers. This issue is addressed here. A review of the main processes controlling the development of eutrophication in lakes has been carried out as a precursor to considering the effect in rivers.