Improving the quality of antibiotic prescribing through an educational intervention delivered through the out-of-hours general practice service in Ireland.

Background: Antibiotic resistance is a threat to our health and health systems. Up to 70% of antibiotics are prescribed in general practice. In Ireland, Out-of-hours (OOH) services are mostly provided by co-operatives of GPs and the 11 main OOH centres cover up to 90% of the population.

Reactor performance and microbial community dynamics during anaerobic biological treatment of wastewaters at 16-37 degrees C.

The anaerobic biological treatment of volatile fatty acid (VFA) - and sucrose - based wastewaters was investigated in two anaerobic bioreactors, R1 and R2, over a 300-day trial period. During the trial, the operating temperature of both reactors was lowered, in a stepwise fashion, from 37 to 16 degrees C. The VFA-fed reactor maintained an excellent level of performance, regardless of operating temperature, reaching COD removal efficiencies of 95% at 18 degrees C, and a biogas methane content in excess of 70% at 16 degrees C, at an imposed OLR of 20 kg COD m(-3) d(-1).

Spatio-temporal variability and diversity of water column prokaryotic communities in the eastern North Atlantic.

This work describes the microbial community structure in the water column at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the eastern North Atlantic. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis was carried out on clone libraries constructed from samples collected at 100 m, 1000 m, 3000 m, 10 m above bottom and sediment contact water during July 1997 and March 1998. Simpson (1/D) and Shannon (H') diversity indices revealed temporal and spatial variations in the community structure and complexity.

Long-term effects of operating temperature and sulphate addition on the methanogenic community structure of anaerobic hybrid reactors.

The diversity, population dynamics, and activity profiles of methanogens in anaerobic granular sludges from two anaerobic hybrid reactors treating a molasses wastewater both mesophilically (37 degrees C) and thermophilically (55 degrees C) during a 1081 day trial were determined. The influent to one of the reactors was supplemented with sulphate, after an acclimation period of 112 days, to determine the effect of competition with sulphate-reducing bacteria on the methanogenic community structure. Sludge samples were removed from the reactors at intervals throughout the operational period and examined by amplified ribosomal DNA (rDNA) restriction analysis (ARDRA) and partial sequencing of 16S rRNA genes.

Microbial community structure and methanogenic activity during start-up of psychrophilic anaerobic digesters treating synthetic industrial wastewaters.

Culture-independent, molecular techniques were applied to the characterization of microbial communities of an anaerobic granular sludge obtained from a full-scale digester. Procedures were optimised for total DNA recovery and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of 16S rDNA using archaea- and eubacteria-specific oligonucleotide primers. Cloned PCR products were subsequently screened by amplified rDNA restriction analysis to identify operational taxonomic units (OTUs).

Methanogenic population structure in a variety of anaerobic bioreactors.

The methanogenic community structures of six anaerobic sludges were examined using culture-independent techniques. The sludges were obtained from full-scale and laboratory-scale bioreactors, treating a variety of low- and high-strength, simple and complex wastewaters at psychrophilic (10-14 degrees C), mesophilic (37 degrees C) and thermophilic (55 degrees C) temperatures. Amplified rDNA restriction analysis identified 18 methanogenic operational taxonomic units in the six samples.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 8 is expressed both maternally and zygotically during zebrafish embryo development.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 8 (cdk8) regulates transcription by phosphorylating RNA polymerase II and TFIIH. The mechanism of zygotic transcription activation during vertebrate embryonic development is poorly understood. Here we describe the cloning and developmental expression pattern of zebrafish cdk8 mRNA.