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Aim Corallococcus species are diverse in the natural environment with 10 new Corallococcus species having been characterized in just the last 5 years. As well as being an abundant myxobacterial genus, they produce several secondary metabolites, including Corallopyronin, Corramycin, Coralmycin, and Corallorazine. We isolated a novel strain Corallococcus spp RDP092CA from soil in South Wales, UK, using Candida albicans as prey bait and characterized its predatory activities against pathogenic bacteria and yeast. Methods and results The size of the RDP092CA genome was 8.5 Mb with a G + C content of 71.4%. Phylogenetically, RDP092CA is closely related to Corallococcus interemptor, C. coralloides , and C. exiguus. However, genome average nucleotide identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values are lower than 95% and 70% when compared to those type strains, implying that it belongs to a novel species. The RDP092CA genome harbours seven types of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and 152 predicted antimicrobial peptides. In predation assays, RDP092CA showed good predatory activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter freundii , and Staphylococcus aureus but not against Enterococcus faecalis. It also showed good antibiofilm activity against all five bacteria in biofilm assays. Antifungal activity against eight Candida spp. was variable, with particularly good activity against Meyerozyma guillermondii DSM 6381. Antimicrobial peptide RDP092CA_120 exhibited potent antibiofilm activity with >50% inhibition and >60% dispersion of biofilms at concentrations down to 1 μg/ml. Conclusions We propose that strain RDP092CA represents a novel species with promising antimicrobial activities, Corallococcus senghenyddensis sp. nov. (=NBRC 116490T =CCOS 2109T), based on morphological, biochemical, and genomic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nephropathic Cystinosis (NC), a rare disease characterised by intra-lysosomal accumulation of cystine, results in progressive kidney failure (KF). Compliance to lifelong oral cysteamine, the only therapy, is often compromised. The relationship between compliance and costs of NC has not been previously formally assessed. The present study evaluates the impact of compliance on lifetime (direct) costs of treating KF in NC patients in the United Kingdom. Methods: A three-state (KF-free, post-KF, death) partitioned survival model was developed for hypothetical 'Good Compliance' (GC) and 'Poor Compliance' (PC) cohorts. Survival in the KF-free state was determined by a published regression function of composite compliance score (CCS). The CCS is a summation of annual compliance scores (ACS) over treatment duration prior to KF. ACSs are indexed on annual (average) leukocyte cystine levels (LCL). The Poor Compliance cohort was defined to reflect NC patients in a previous study with a mean LCL of 2.35 nmols nmol half-cystine/mg protein over the study period – and an estimated mean ACS of 1.64 over a 13.4 year treatment duration. The Good Compliance cohort was assumed to have an ACS of 2.25 for 21 years. Major KF costs were evaluated – i.e., dialysis, kidney transplants, and subsequent monitoring. Results: The mean CCS was 47 for the GC and 22 for the PC cohort respectively, corresponding to estimated lifetime KF costs of £92,370 and £117,830 respectively – i.e., a cost saving of £25,460/patient, or £1,005/patient for every 1-unit improvement in CCS. Conclusion: This analysis indicates that lifetime costs of KF in NC can be reduced through improved treatment compliance with oral cysteamine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This study uses the Limerick Corpus of Irish English (LCIE), and a sample of the Cambridge and Nottingham Corpus of Discourse in English (CANCODE) to implement a corpus pragmatic approach to the analysis of Irish English by focusing on the organization of turn-taking in two connected, though distinct, varieties of world Englishes, Irish English and British English. The aim of the research is two-pronged: we explore how naturally-occurring conversation is organised in the two varieties for comparative purposes, seeking to understand how confluence in turn-taking is achieved in everyday interactions, as well as examining how the interactional flow is achieved through the manipulation of small, interpersonally loaded items, turn initial and turn final, with the focus here on turn final items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. As urbanization accelerates, interest is growing in the traits of urban plants. We classified 822 UK vascular plants on the basis of their occurrence along an urban–rural gradient in 26 710 samples of vegetation from 2508 UK 1-km grid squares, including a wide range of rural habitats and Sheffield and Birmingham, two of the UK's largest cities. 2. Both alien and native species were classified with respect to mean proportion of urban land cover in the 1-km grid squares in which the species occurs ( urbanity), and absolute frequency in highly urban grid squares ( urban frequency). Bayesian regression models were then developed for both measures, with a wide range of plant traits as explanatory variables. 3. Results for aliens and natives and for both urban measures were remarkably similar: the single, coherent picture of ‘successful urban species’ that emerges from our analysis is of robust plants of relatively fertile, dry, unshaded, base-rich habitats. Only seed mass behaved very differently for natives and aliens; seed mass was related positively to success of urban natives, and negatively to success of urban aliens. Neither clonality, seed dispersal nor seed persistence in the soil were strongly linked to success in urban habitats. 4. Synthesis. Cities can provide opportunities for surprisingly rich floras, but the traits of species that can persist in cities are quite narrowly circumscribed. More generally, it is clear that analysis of traits reveals important patterns in floristic data that would be far from obvious from a purely floristic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A former RN gunboat horizontal trunk engine taken from the SS Xantho (1848-1872) in 1985 was totally disassembled by May 2004. All the threads on the engine were examined and the majority were found to be British Standard Whitworth (BSW). This provides material evidence of the spread of standardisation at a time when the Royal Navy commissioned the first mass-produced marine engines and fitted them to the 'Crimean War Gunboat' types. The study also provides a pointer to the use of screw threads as a diagnostic tool in maritime archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child poverty has been an emotive and political issue for many years. This article sets out to look at the concepts of poverty—both absolute and relative. It then analyses government and political party attitudes to poverty from 1945–70, concluding that little has been achieved, particularly for the poorer and larger families. In drawing out lessons for the present day, the paper argues that assumptions about the causes of poverty and ways of tackling it need to be questioned before progress can be made. This article is based on material contained in Michael McCarthy's 1986 book Campaigning for the Poor: CPAG and the Politics of Welfare. It appears here by permission of the publishers, Croom Helm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article details a lawsuit filed by the Treatment Action Group and the Global Health Justice Partnership with the U.S. District Court of Connecticut on June 25, 2015 to seek access to clinical data submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the approval of the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir.

The article discusses the study that was published in "Neurology" which found out that severe deficiency in Vitamin D is linked to a higher risk for dementia.

The article discusses the report from a private nonpartisan organization, Commonwealth Fund, which showed that Great Britain and Switzerland attained the top two highest rank in health systems while U.S. was ranked the lowest among 11 countries despite a per capita of more than half than Great Britain. Also discussed are how the nations were ranked on health system performance, and the areas of health care that pushed Great Britain to the top and factors that pushed U.S. health care down.

Discusses the proposed Export Control Bill in Great Britain and concerns that the legislation could impede research. Idea that the bill gives the government the right of pre-publication review of research findings; Concern in the U.S. that the government is preparing regulations that will limit what can be published; Topic of possible restrictions on biomedical research; Views of Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and others.

Reports on a decision by the British government to allow the postcoital contraceptive, levonorgestrel, to be sold without a doctor's prescription. Details of how the drug works by preventing fertilisation or implantation; Concern as to how the drug will be dispensed; Outlook for emergency contraceptive pills in the United States.