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Journal articleJones MP, Bismarck A, 2024,
Mycomining: perspective on fungi as scavengers of scattered metal, mineral, and rare earth element resources
, RSC Sustainability, Vol: 2, Pages: 1350-1357Mining provides raw materials critical to our energy, agriculture, infrastructure, and technology but is associated with many environmental challenges. Resource recovery alternatives like urban mining rely on inconsistent supply streams and complicated disassembly and sorting, while extreme mining alternatives such as deep sea and space mining are potentially even less sustainable than traditional mining. This perspective investigates biological mining with emphasis on the potential of fungi for scavenging metals, minerals, and rare earth elements. “Mycomining” produces only biomass-based organic waste and can offer more versatile growth conditions than phytomining using hyperaccumulating plants including substrates ranging from soil, wood, water, and rock to living organisms and dark, space-restricted, or extreme i.e., pH levels, high salt, acidic, radioactive environments. This concept could represent a useful supplement to urban and phytomining to offset demand for traditional mining and is particularly viable when conventional mining may be inefficient or uneconomical i.e., with low-grade ores and sites unsuited to traditional mining for geographical, political, or social reasons.
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Journal articleDevoy E, Hughes D, Alharbi AF, et al., 2024,
What is cystic fibrosis screen positive inconclusive diagnosis? And what is it not?
, ARCHIVES OF DISEASE IN CHILDHOOD-EDUCATION AND PRACTICE EDITION, ISSN: 1743-0585 -
Journal articleChotirmall SH, Sung JJY, 2024,
Opening a new chapter in health care: reporting on the inauguration of the International Conference on AI in Medicine.
, Singapore Med J, Vol: 65, Pages: 176-178 -
Journal articleSole A, Davies JC, Quintana-Gallego E, 2024,
Cystic Fibrosis: From Salty Malediction to Possible Cure
, ARCHIVOS DE BRONCONEUMOLOGIA, Vol: 60, Pages: 129-130, ISSN: 0300-2896 -
Journal articleKowal J, Pino-Bodas R, Arrigoni E, et al., 2024,
Assessing above and belowground recovery from ammonium sulfate addition and wildfire in a lowland heath: mycorrhizal fungi as potential indicators
, RESTORATION ECOLOGY, Vol: 32, ISSN: 1061-2971 -
Journal articleKing FJ, Yuen ELH, Bozkurt O, 2024,
Border control: manipulation of the host–pathogeninterface by perihaustorial oomycete effectors
, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Vol: 37, Pages: 220-226, ISSN: 0894-0282Filamentous plant pathogens, including fungi and oomycetes, cause some of the most devastating plant diseases. These organisms serve as ideal models for understanding the intricate molecular interplay between plants and the invading pathogens. Filamentous pathogens secrete effector proteins via haustoria, specialized structures for infection and nutrient uptake, to suppress the plant immune response and to reprogram plant metabolism. Recent advances in cell biology have provided crucial insights into the biogenesis of the extrahaustorial membrane and the redirection of host endomembrane trafficking toward this interface. Functional studies have shown that an increasing number of oomycete effectors accumulate at the perihaustorial interface to subvert plant focal immune responses, with a particular convergence on targets involved in host endomembrane trafficking. In this review, we summarize the diverse mechanisms of perihaustorial effectors from oomycetes and pinpoint pressing questions regarding their role in manipulating host defense and metabolism at the haustorial interface.
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Journal articleMak J, Feary J, Amaral AFS, et al., 2024,
Occupational exposure to particulate matter and staff sickness absence on the London underground
, Environment International, Vol: 185, ISSN: 0160-4120The London Underground (LU) employs over 19,000 staff, some of whom are exposed to elevated concentrations of particulate matter (PM) within the network. This study quantified the occupational exposure of LU staff to subway PM and investigated the possible association with sickness absence (SA). A job exposure matrix to quantify subway PM2.5 staff exposure was developed by undertaking measurement campaigns across the LU network. The association between exposure and SA was evaluated using zero-inflated mixed-effects negative binomial models. Staff PM2.5 exposure varied by job grade and tasks undertaken. Drivers had the highest exposure over a work shift (mean: 261 µg/m3), but concentrations varied significantly by LU line and time the train spent subway. Office staff work in office buildings separate to the LU network and are unexposed to occupational subway PM2.5. They were found to have lower rates of all-cause and respiratory infection SA compared to non-office staff, those who work across the LU network and are occupational exposed to subway PM2.5. Train drivers on five out of eight lines showed higher rates of all-cause SA, but no dose-response relationship was seen. Only drivers from one line showed higher rates of SAs from respiratory infections (incidence rate ratio: 1.24, 95% confidence interval 1.10-1.39). Lower-grade customer service (CS) staff showed higher rates of all-cause and respiratory infection SA compared to higher grade CS staff. Doctor-certified chronic respiratory and cardiovascular SAs were associated with occupational PM2.5 exposure in CS staff and drivers. While some groups with higher occupational exposure to subway PM reported higher rates of SA, no evidence suggests that subway PM is the main contributing factor to SA. This is the largest subway study on health effects of occupational PM2.5 exposure and may have wider implications for subway workers, contributing to safer working environments.
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Journal articleGrover M, Gang SS, Troemel ER, et al., 2024,
Proteasome inhibition triggers tissue-specific immune responses against different pathogens in C. elegans
, PLoS Biology, Vol: 22, Pages: 1-21, ISSN: 1544-9173Protein quality control pathways play important roles in resistance against pathogen infection. For example, the conserved transcription factor SKN-1/NRF up-regulates proteostasis capacity after blockade of the proteasome and also promotes resistance against bacterial infection in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. SKN-1/NRF has 3 isoforms, and the SKN-1A/NRF1 isoform, in particular, regulates proteasomal gene expression upon proteasome dysfunction as part of a conserved bounce-back response. We report here that, in contrast to the previously reported role of SKN-1 in promoting resistance against bacterial infection, loss-of-function mutants in skn-1a and its activating enzymes ddi-1 and png-1 show constitutive expression of immune response programs against natural eukaryotic pathogens of C. elegans. These programs are the oomycete recognition response (ORR), which promotes resistance against oomycetes that infect through the epidermis, and the intracellular pathogen response (IPR), which promotes resistance against intestine-infecting microsporidia. Consequently, skn-1a mutants show increased resistance to both oomycete and microsporidia infections. We also report that almost all ORR/IPR genes induced in common between these programs are regulated by the proteasome and interestingly, specific ORR/IPR genes can be induced in distinct tissues depending on the exact trigger. Furthermore, we show that increasing proteasome function significantly reduces oomycete-mediated induction of multiple ORR markers. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that proteasome regulation keeps innate immune responses in check in a tissue-specific manner against natural eukaryotic pathogens of the C. elegans epidermis and intestine.
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Journal articleKing FJ, Yuen ELH, Bozkurt TO, 2024,
Border control: manipulation of the host-pathogen interface by perihaustorial oomycete effectors
, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Vol: 37, Pages: 220-226, ISSN: 0894-0282Filamentous plant pathogens, including fungi and oomycetes, cause some of the most devastating plant diseases. These organisms serve as ideal models for understanding the intricate molecular interplay between plants and the invading pathogens. Filamentous pathogens secrete effector proteins via haustoria, specialized structures for infection and nutrient uptake, to suppress the plant immune response and to reprogram plant metabolism. Recent advances in cell biology have provided crucial insights into the biogenesis of the extrahaustorial membrane and the redirection of host endomembrane trafficking toward this interface. Functional studies have shown that an increasing number of oomycete effectors accumulate at the perihaustorial interface to subvert plant focal immune responses, with a particular convergence on targets involved in host endomembrane trafficking. In this review, we summarize the diverse mechanisms of perihaustorial effectors from oomycetes and pinpoint pressing questions regarding their role in manipulating host defense and metabolism at the haustorial interface. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Journal articleBrandfellner L, Muratspahic E, Bismarck A, et al., 2024,
Quantitative description of polymer drag reduction: Effect of polyacrylamide molecular weight distributions
, JOURNAL OF NON-NEWTONIAN FLUID MECHANICS, Vol: 325, ISSN: 0377-0257
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