Fluvial flooding and plastic pollution - The delivery of potential human pathogenic bacteria into agricultural fields.

The frequency of plastic debris entering agricultural land is likely going to increase due to increased discharge into surface waters and more frequent flood events. Microbial biofilm on the surfaces of plastic pollution (known as the 'plastisphere') in freshwater environments often includes human pathogenic bacteria capable of causing disease. Pathogens have been detected on the surface of plastics in freshwater environments, but it is yet to be determined whether plastic debris can also transport pathogens into agricultural fields during flooding.

Rapid colonisation of environmental plastic waste by pathogenic bacteria drives adaptive phenotypic changes.

Microbial biofilms on environmental plastic pollution can serve as a reservoir for both pathogenic and commensal bacteria. Associating with this 'plastisphere', provides a mechanism for the wider dissemination of pathogens within the environment and a greater potential for human exposure. For pathogens to bind to environmental plastic waste they need to be in close contact with it; therefore, understanding how rapidly pathogens can bind to plastics and the temporal colonisation dynamics of the continual cycling between the plastisphere and the environment are important factors for quantifying the persistence of human pathogens.

Disruption of the intestinal clock drives dysbiosis and impaired barrier function in colorectal cancer.

Diet is a robust entrainment cue that regulates diurnal rhythms of the gut microbiome. We and others have shown that disruption of the circadian clock drives the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). While certain bacterial species have been suggested to play driver roles in CRC, it is unknown whether the intestinal clock impinges on the microbiome to accelerate CRC pathogenesis.

Investigating Acoustic and Psycholinguistic Predictors of Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults: Modeling Study.

Background: About one-third of older adults aged 65 years and older often have mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Acoustic and psycho-linguistic features derived from conversation may be of great diagnostic value because speech involves verbal memory and cognitive and neuromuscular processes. The relative decline in these processes, however, may not be linear and remains understudied.

The non-canonical bivalent gene Wfdc15a controls spermatogenic protease and immune homeostasis.

Male infertility can be caused by chromosomal abnormalities, mutations and epigenetic defects. Epigenetic modifiers pre-program hundreds of spermatogenic genes in spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) for expression later in spermatids, but it remains mostly unclear whether and how those genes are involved in fertility. Here, we report that Wfdc15a, a WFDC family protease inhibitor pre-programmed by KMT2B, is essential for spermatogenesis.