Genotypic subgrouping of clinical isolates of Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis by 25S intron analysis

To determine the frequency, distribution and association of genotypes of Candida albicans and C. dubliniensis in invasive and noninvasive clinical isolates.

Occurrence and Partitioning of Cadmium, Arsenic and Lead in Mine Impacted Paddy Rice: Hunan, China

Paddy rice has been likened to nictiana sp in its ability to scavenge cadmium (Cd) from soil, whereas arsenic (As) accumulation is commonly an order of magnitude higher than in other cereal crops. In areas such as those found in parts of Hunan province in south central China, base-metal mining activities and rice farming coexist. Therefore there is a considerable likelihood that lead (Pb), in addition to Cd and As, will accumulate in rice grown in parts of this region above levels suitable for human consumption. To test this hypothesis, a widespread provincial survey of rice from mine spoilt paddies (n = 100), in addition to a follow-up market grain survey (n = 122) conducted in mine impacted areas was undertaken to determine the safety of local rice supply networks. Furthermore, a specific Cd, As, and Pb biogeochemical survey of paddy soil and rice was conducted within southern China, targeting sites impacted by mining of varying intensities to calibrate rice metal(loid) transfer models and transfer factors that can be used to predict tissue loading. Results revealed a number of highly significant correlations between shoot, husk, bran, and endosperm rice tissue fractions and that rice from mining areas was enriched in Cd, As, and Pb. Sixty-five, 50, and 34% of all the mine-impacted field rice was predicted to fail national food standards for Cd, As, and Pb, respectively. Although, not as elevated as the grains from the mine-impacted field survey, it was demonstrated that metal(loid) tainted rice was entering food supply chains intended for direct human consumption.

Arsenic, cadmium, and lead pollution and uptake by rice (Oryza sativa L.) grown in greenhouse

Purpose: Hunan province is well-known for its extensive base-metal extraction and smelting industries. However, the legacies of excavation operations, transportation, and selective smelting activities within Hunan have resulted in the generation of large quantities of mine wastes, which will become the sources of metal contamination in the environment. Thus, there is an increasingly important health issue underlying the study of arable land pollution and transfer of As, Cd, and Pb in the paddy soil–rice system.
Materials and methods: Paddy soils collected from mining- and smelting-impacted areas in Hunan province and rice seed (Oryza sativa L. cv Jia Hua-1) were used for pot experiments under greenhouse conditions. One 30-day-old seedling was transplanted into one pot containing 5.0 kg pretreated soil. At harvest, rice grains and shoots were washed with distilled water to remove surface soil, and oven-dried at 65°C for 96 h until a constant weight was reached. Roots were washed carefully with distilled water for the next process of extracting iron plaque using dithionite–citrate–bicarbonate solution. Total concentrations of As, Cd, and Pb in soil and rice plant tissues were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer.
Results and discussion: Total concentrations of As, Cd, and Pb in the soils collected from 12 mining- and smelting-impacted areas in Hunan province were much higher than Hunan background values and exceeded the maximum concentration limit for soils set by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The yields of rice grain from Pb/Zn mining and smelting sites were negatively correlated to overall pollution scores. Distributions of As, Cd, and Pb in rice plant followed: root >> shoot > husk > whole grain. About 30.1–88.1% of As, 11.2–43.5% of Cd, and 14.0–33.9% of Pb were accumulated in iron plaque on root surfaces.
Conclusions: High concentrations of As, Cd, and Pb are observed in paddy soils from mining- and smelting-impacted areas in Hunan province, indicating those paddy soils suffer serious combined heavy metal contamination. In particular, Cd is the dominant contaminant followed by As and Pb in paddy soils from most locations. The distributions of As, Cd, and Pb in rice tissue were: root >> shoot > husk > whole grain. Concentrations of Pb in all whole grain and of As and Cd in 50% of whole grain samples exceeded Chinese Hygienic Standard values for food.

Using evidence in policy: The importance of mediating beliefs and practices

This article argues that to understand the use of evidence in policy, we need to examine how meanings and practices in the civil service shape what is accepted as knowledge, and how differences between the beliefs and values of the academy and the polity can impede the flow and transfer of knowledge. It considers the importance of social context and shared meanings in legitimating knowledge. Who counts as legitimate knowledge providers has expanded and here the role of stakeholder groups and experiential knowledge is of particular interest. How hierarchy, anonymity, and generalist knowledge within the civil service mediate the use of evidence in policy is examined. The difference in values and ideology of the civil service and the academy has implications for how academic research is interpreted and used to formulate policy and for its position in knowledge power struggles. There are particular issues about the social science nature of evidence to inform rural policy being mediated in a government department more used to dealing with natural science knowledge. This article is based on participant observation carried out in a UK Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. © 2013 The Author. Sociologia Ruralis © 2013 European Society for Rural Sociology.

Effects of KCl concentration on accumulation of acyclic sugar alcohols and trehalose in conidia of three entomopathogenic fungi

Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Paecilomyces farinosus were grown on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) modified with KCl to give a range of water activity (a(w)) from 0.938 to 0.998. Growth of all three species was optimal at 0.983 a(w) and growth occurred over the a(w) range tested. Acyclic sugar alcohol (polyol) and trehalose content of conidia was determined by HPLC and found to vary with species and a(w). Conidia of B. bassiana and P. farinosus were found to contain totals of 1.5% and 2.3% polyols respectively at 0.998 a(w), and double these amounts at <0.950 a(w). Conidia of M. anisopliae contained from 5.7% to 6.8% polyols at each a(w) tested. In conidia of all three species the predominant polyol was mannitol. The lower molecular weight polyols, arabitol and erythritol, were found to accumulate at reduced a(w). Small amounts of glycerol were present in conidia of each species; <15% total polyols. Conidia of B. bassiana and M. anisopliae contained about 0.5% trehalose from 0.970 to 0.998 a(w), but only trace amounts below 0.950 a(w). Conidia of P. farinosus contained 2.1% trehalose at 0.998 a(w) and this decreased to <0.1% below 0.950 a(w). Potential to manipulate the endogenous reserves of conidia of these biological control agents to enhance viability and desiccation tolerance is discussed.

Vision and deaf awareness training is it app.ropriate?

Title
Visual and deaf awareness training is it app.ropriate
Purpose
Some of our most vulnerable patients have a sensory deficit. An app which focused on patients with a vision and/or hearing loss was developed for healthcare students. The intent was to embed the core values necessary for students to provide appropriate care for patients with a sensory deficit.
Setting
Queen’s University Belfast, School of Nursing and Midwifery.
Methods
Stage 1
A review of current sensory awareness training in the United Kingdom
Stage 2
Application for funding
Stage 3
Development of a teaching tool template with the essential aspects required for sensory awareness training
Stage 4
Collaboration with others: Royal National Institute for the Blind, Action on Hearing Loss, Computer technician.
Stage 5
Production and transfer of multimedia outputs onto a software application system.
Stage 6
App Piloted with a sample of lecturers (n=5), undergraduate nursing students (n=20), service users (n=5)
Stage 7
Editing
Stage 8
App made available to all undergraduate nursing students
Stage 9
App evaluation (n=300)



Results
Overall nursing students positively evaluated the app, 100% of students rated the app between good and excellent. Qualitative evidence from service users and practice partnerships was extremely positive:
"At last I feel listened too in respect to my hearing loss and empowered. I don't feel like I am complaining I am actually helping to create something which should benefit staff and all of us with a hearing or vision loss". Patient
“Very insightful into the lives of those with a disability will be so useful in practice as an aid to jog my memory". 1st year nursing student
Conclusion
It is hoped that further evaluation and implementation of the app will show an improved quality to the care delivered to those with a sensory deficit. We believe that by working in partnership with service users we have helped to create an innovative tool that benefits both staff and patients.
Financial disclosure Yes
Funding of £2700 was awarded in 2014 through the Martha McMenamin Memorial Northern Ireland Scholarship.

Assessing the Legacy of Red Mud Pollution in a Shallow Freshwater Lake: Arsenic Accumulation and Speciation in Macrophytes

Little is known about long-term ecological responses in lakes following red mud pollution. Among red mud contaminants, arsenic (As) is of considerable concern. Determination of the species of As accumulated in aquatic organisms provides important information about the biogeochemical cycling of the element and transfer through the aquatic food-web to higher organisms. We used coupled ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to assess As speciation in tissues of five macrophyte taxa in Kinghorn Loch, UK, 30 years following the diversion of red mud pollution from the lake. Toxic inorganic As was the dominant species in the studied macrophytes, with As species concentrations varying with macrophyte taxon and tissue type. The highest As content measured in roots of Persicaria amphibia (L.) Gray (87.2 mg kg-1) greatly exceeded the 3 - 10 mg kg-1 range suggested as a potential phytotoxic level. Accumulation of toxic As species by plants suggested toxicological risk to higher organisms known to utilise macrophytes as a food source.

Particle Image Velocimetry Investigation of a finite amplitude pressure wave

Particle image velocimetry is used to study the motion of gas within a duct subject to the passage of a finite amplitude pressure wave. The wave is representative of the pressure waves found in the exhaust systems of internal combustion engines. Gas particles are accelerated from stationary to 150 m/s and then back to stationary in 8 ms. It is demonstrated that gas particles at the head of the wave travel at the same velocity across the duct cross section at a given point in time. Towards the tail of the wave viscous effects are plainly evident causing the flow profile to tend towards parabolic. However, the instantaneous mean particle velocity across the section is shown to match well with the velocity calculated from a corresponding measured pressure history using 1D gas dynamic theory. The measured pressure history at a point in the duct was acquired using a high speed pressure transducer of the type typically used for engine research in intake and exhaust systems. It is demonstrated that these are unable to follow the rapid changes in pressure accurately and that they are prone to resonate under certain circumstances.

Fundamentals of steady state, non-Newtonian rimming flow

Rimming flow on the inner surface of a horizontal rotating cylinder is investigated. Using a scale analysis, a theoretical description is obtained for steady-state non-Newtonian flow. Simple lubrication theory is applied since the Reynolds number is small and the liquid film is thin. Since the Deborah number is very small the flow is viscometric. The shear-thinning number, which characterizes the shear-thinning effect, may be small or large. A general constitutive law for this kind of flow requires only a single function relating shear stress and shear rate that corresponds to a generalized Newtonian liquid. For this case the run-off condition for rimming flow is derived. Provided the run-off condition is satisfied, the existence of a continuous steady-state solution is proved. The rheological models, which show Newtonian behavior at low shear rates with transition to power-law shear thinning at moderate shear rates, are considered. Numerical results are carried out for the Carreau and Ellis models, which exhibit Newtonian behavior near the free surface and power-law behavior near the wall of the rotating cylinder.

A note on the prediction of liquid hold-up with the stratified roll wave regime for gas/liquidco-current flow in horizontal pipes.

This note presents a simple model for prediction of liquid hold-up in two-phase horizontal pipe flow for the stratified roll wave (St+RW) flow regime. Liquid hold-up data for horizontal two-phase pipe flow [1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6] exhibit a steady increase with liquid velocity and a more dramatic fall with increasing gas rate as shown by Hand et al. [7 and 8] for example. In addition the liquid hold-up is reported to show an additional variation with pipe diameter. Generally, if the initial liquid rate for the no-gas flow condition gives a liquid height below the pipe centre line, the flow patterns pass successively through the stratified (St), stratified ripple (St+R), stratified roll wave, film plus droplet (F+D) and finally the annular (A+D, A+RW, A+BTS) regimes as the gas rate is increased. Hand et al. [7 and 8] have given a detailed description of this progression in flow regime development and definitions of the patterns involved. Despite the fact that there are over one hundred models which have been developed to predict liquid hold-up, none have been shown to be universally useful, while only a handful have proven to be applicable to specific flow regimes [9, 10, 11 and 12]. One of the most intractable regimes to predict has been the stratified roll wave pattern where the liquid hold-up shows the most dramatic change with gas flow rate. It has been suggested that the momentum balance-type models, which give both hold-up and pressure drop prediction, can predict universally for all flow regimes but particularly in the case of the difficult stratified roll wave pattern. Donnelly [1] recently demonstrated that the momentum balance models experienced some difficulties in the prediction of this regime. Without going into lengthy details, these models differ in the assumed friction factor or shear stress on the surfaces within the pipe particularly at the liquid–gas interface. The Baker–Jardine model [13] when tested against the 0.0454 m i.d. data of Nguyen [2] exhibited a wide scatter for both liquid hold-up and pressure drop as shown in Fig. 1. The Andritsos–Hanratty model [14] gave better prediction of pressure drop but a wide scatter for liquid hold-up estimation (cf. Fig. 2) when tested against the 0.0935 m i.d. data of Hand [5]. The Spedding–Hand model [15], shown in Fig. 3 against the data of Hand [5], gave improved performance but was still unsatisfactory with the prediction of hold-up for stratified-type flows. The MARS model of Grolman [6] gave better prediction of hold-up (cf. Fig. 4) but deterioration in the estimation of pressure drop when tested against the data of Nguyen [2]. Thus no method is available that will accurately predict liquid hold-up across the whole range of flow patterns but particularly for the stratified plus roll wavy regime. The position is particularly unfortunate since the stratified-type regimes are perhaps the most predominant pattern found in multiphase lines.