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Most pneumococcal disease occurs among infants and older adults and is thought to be driven by the transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae from young children to these vulnerable age groups. However, pneumococcal disease outbreaks also affect non-elderly adults living or working in congregate, close-contact settings. Little is known about pneumococcal carriage in such populations. From July to November 2020, we collected saliva from low-income adult farmworkers in Monterey County, California, and tested for pneumococcal carriage following culture enrichment via quantitative PCR assays targeting the pneumococcal lytA and piaB genes. Participants were considered to carry pneumococci if lytA and piaB cycle threshold values were both below 40. Among 1,283 participants enrolled in our study, 117 (9.1%) carried pneumococci. Carriers tended more often than non-carriers to be exposed to children aged 2-4 and >4 persons per bedroom vs ≤2 persons per bedroom]. Household overcrowding remained associated with increased risk of carriage among participants not exposed to children aged 2 vs ≤2 persons per bedroom]. Exposure to children aged

The Peruvian Province, from 6° S in Peru to 42° S in Chile, is a highly productive coastal marine region whose biology and fossil record have long been studied separately but never integrated. To understand how past events and conditions affected todays species composition and interactions, we examined the role of extinction, colonization, geologic changes to explain previously unrecognized peculiar features of the biota and to compare the Peruvian Provinces history to that of other climatically similar temperate coasts. We synthesized all available data on the benthic (or benthically feeding) biota, with emphasis on fossilizable taxa, for the interval from the Miocene (23-5.4 Ma) and Pliocene (5.4-2.5 Ma) to the present. We outline the history of ecological guilds including primary producers, herbivores, predators, and suspension-feeders and document patterns of extinction, colonization, and geographic restriction. We identify twelve unusual attributes of the biota, most of which are the result of repeated episodes of extinction. Several guilds present during the Miocene and Pliocene are not represented in the province today, while groups such as kelps and perhaps intertidal predatory sea stars are relative newcomers. Guilds on soft bottoms and in sheltered habitats were severely affected by extinction, whereas those on hard bottoms were most affected by colonists and held their own in diversity. The Peruvian Province has not served as a biogeographic refuge, in contrast to the coasts of Australasia and Argentina, where lineages no longer present in the Peruvian Province survive. The loss of sheltered habitats since the Pliocene explains many of the present-day peculiarities of the biota. The history of the provinces biota explains its unique attributes. High productivity, a rich Southern Hemisphere heritage, and colonization from the north account for the present-day composition and unusual characteristics of the biota.

Milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) is a complex trilayer structure present in mammalian milk and is mainly composed of phospholipids and proteins (>90%). Many studies revealed MFGM has positive effects on the immune system, brain development, and cognitive function of infants. Probiotics are live microorganisms that have been found to improve mental health and insulin sensitivity, regulate immunity, and prevent allergies. Probiotics are unstable and prone to degradation by environmental, processing, and storage conditions. In this review, the processes used for encapsulation of probiotics particularly the potential of MFGM and its constituents as encapsulating materials for probiotics are described. This study analyzes the importance of MFGM in encapsulating bioactive substances and emphasizes the interaction with probiotics and the gut as well as its resistance to adverse environmental factors in the digestive system when used as a probiotic embedding material. MFGM can enhance the gastric acid resistance and bile resistance of probiotics, mainly manifested in the survival rate of probiotics. Due to the role of digestion, MFGM-coated probiotics can be released in the intestine, and due to the biocompatibility of the membrane, it can promote the binding of probiotics to intestinal epithelial cells, and promote the colonization of some probiotics in the intestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Background Objectives Methods Results Conclusion Infections by carbapenem‐resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) have been associated with high morbidity and mortality among solid organ recipients.To delineate the epidemiological and molecular characteristics of a recurrent outbreak of imipenem (IMP)‐producing P. aeruginosa (CRPA) among kidney transplant (KT) recipientWe described a recurring CRPA outbreak in a KT ward, divided into two periods: before unit closure (Feb 2019–2020) and after reopening (Aug 2020–Dec 2023). Routine surveillance cultures (SCs) were performed using axillary‐perineum‐rectal swabs with immunochromatographic tests. A case‐control study identified risk factors for CRPA acquisition. Pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis and whole genome sequencing characterized the strains.After reopening, new cases arose from patients previously colonized, peaking 18 months later. A total of 67 KT recipients with CRPA‐IMP‐producing strains were identified. All except one sequenced strain belonged to the ST446 clone, differing by a maximum of 110 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Forty‐five (67.2%) cases were identified through SC, with 45.7% showing intermittent SC positivity. Patients remained colonized for up to 623 days. Twenty‐four (35.8%) patients had infections, with the most common site being the urinary tract. Identified risk factors included older age, deceased donor, re‐transplantation, reoperation, carbapenem or quinolone use, lymphopenia, hospital stay >10 days, and the first 60 days post‐KT.KT recipients can harbor CRPA for extended periods, and detecting CRPA‐colonized patients is challenging. These characteristics highlight the patient as the major source and a critical point in outbreak control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mating system of non-native plant populations plays a role in determining the colonizing success following introduction into locations outside of the native distribution. For plant species capable of mixed-mating, both selfing and outcrossing can be advantageous and promote the establishment, persistence, and spread of newly arrived populations. To investigate how mating systems may contribute to the invasion process we estimated mating system parameters in perennial populations of the model plant species, Mimulus guttatus from its native range (West coast USA), non-native populations that are established but have not become invasive (East coast USA, >50 years), and populations in invasive regions (UK >200 years). Studies that include mating system data across the continuum of the invasion process are rare, thus here we utilize molecular markers to estimate outcrossing rates (t), inbreeding coefficients (F), and inbreeding depression in native, naturalized, and invasive populations. Overall, we found support for the persistence of mixed-mating across populations, variability in the relationship between outcrossing rates and inbreeding depression across populations, and evidence for the bridgehead process, where non-native populations may be the sources for the further establishment or reinforcement of additional non-native populations. The methodology we deployed had its own assumptions and sampling design constraints, that contributed to the variation in the parameter estimates. All M. guttatus populations likely rely on selfing through both within clone, and within flower and plant mating in addition to vegetative propagation. The results underscore the importance of introduction history in determining the role of both sexual and asexual reproduction in the successful establishment of a plant species outside its native range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the journey towards First Nations data sovereignty in Canada, with a focus on the pivotal role of the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC) and its First Nations Data Governance Strategy (FNDGS). Framed within the context of Canada's commitment to reconciliation and recognition of Indigenous rights, the FNDGS represents a significant step towards self-determination through ownership and control of data. The article discusses the historical context of colonization and its impact on data governance capacity among First Nations, highlighting the emergence of the FNDGS as a transformative force. It explores the foundational principles of the FNDGS, emphasizing the importance of data sovereignty as a tool for empowerment and self-governance. The implementation phases of the FNDGS are outlined, showcasing a multi-phased approach that prioritizes data capacity building through community-driven and nation-based principles and approaches. Additionally, the commentary discusses the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and the imperative of Indigenous-led data strategies to mitigate the risks of a future pandemic. It concludes by reflecting on the prospects of the FNDGS and its critical role alongside Canada's continued commitment to Indigenous rights in realizing true data sovereignty for First Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes NoPhoto Collective's Memoria colonizada photography projects (2011–2018), which feature some of the new agricultural colonies established by the Francoist regime between the 1940s and the 1960s through its Instituto Nacional de Colonización (INC). The stated aim of these projects is to reflect upon "the intervened landscape, the creation of new populations with a uniform architecture, official memory and that of the protagonists, giving special importance to the local actors" (NoPhoto Collective. 2011. Vegaviana memoria colonizada. NOPHOTO. Accessed 28 June 2024. /). Yet, the foregrounding of personal and intimate images and stories, while intended as a counterpoint to the villages' official histories and a means to empower local residents, risks presenting a nostalgic and somewhat idealized view of these communities. Such slippages into idealization and cliché, however, coexist with photographs that mobilize representational strategies that undermine any illusion of photographic objectivity or neutrality, and which thus throw into question both the supposed transparency of the photographic medium and the notion of a collective rural memory that articulates the series as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geography scholarship examining Canadian colonialism often draws upon concepts and categories from the field of Settler Colonial Studies, including Patrick Wolfe's definition of settler colonialism as a "structure rather than an event." In this brief intervention, I argue that historical Marxist debates about structuralism and social class have important lessons for the way geographers characterize Canadian colonialism today. The definition of class as both relationship and process is especially relevant, because Indigenous intellectuals and activists tend to speak about (de)colonization in similar terms. By reframing Canadian colonialism as relationship and process rather than structure, we can better engage Indigenous criticisms of Settler Colonial Studies, understandings of (de)colonization, and epistemologies and ontologies. Key messages: Wolfe's definition of settler colonialism as a "structure rather than an event" has become politically and intellectually limiting.Analyses that emphasize colonial structures rather than Indigenous resistance leave limited room for human agency and risk presenting Indigenous peoples as passive victims.Reframing Canadian colonialism as both relationship and process allows us to combine different conceptual approaches to (de)colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes "Babaylan feminist multiplicity," as a theoretical concept, towards the honoring of the multiplicity of identities, bodies, and agency. It reflects on the history and struggles of the Babaylan, pre-colonial priestesses, contemporary Filipino females, and a queer transgender woman, Jennifer Laude, which are paralleled with Biblical characters and narratives reinterpreted from a post-colonial, gender, and queer perspective. The work exposes how popular readings of such passages perpetuate gender violence and disempowerment while reflecting on the theological issues of incarnation, desire, and body. " Babaylan feminist multiplicity" is argued to allow space for queering and even the reimagining of the meaning of God's love, Christ's body, and human eros. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colonization of Indigenous Peoples living in what is now called the U.S. and U.S. territories began over 500 years ago, yet colonization continues today and results in historical trauma and inequities for Indigenous people. This paper describes the current application of racial equity in research and its limitations when applied to work with Indigenous Peoples. It highlights how the existing racial equity framework falls short in (1) respecting Indigenous sovereignty, (2) addressing historical and ongoing colonization through land dispossession and codified racism in blood quantum, and (3) acknowledging the profound impact of historical, cultural, and intergenerational trauma. We propose an expanded racial equity approach to research that incorporates an anti-racist and decolonizing approach. We conclude by outlining specific strategies researchers should adopt when employing a racial equity lens in their work with Indigenous populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Jeju Island South Korea is internationally known for its longstanding anti-base movement at Gangjeong Village, the island's modern history of resistance can be traced to 1991, when the South Korean government's Special Act on Jeju-do Development ignited an extensive resistance movement. Two conceptual frameworks—colonization by development and political indigeneity—are employed to explain the island-wide social movement that continued over a sixteen-month period. Mirroring the ways that settler colonialism dispossesses people of their land and land-based social and ecological relations, colonization by development refers to the ways in which local places and people are colonized by land-oriented tourism and property development. This legislation became a specific geographical and historical conjuncture from which Jeju indigeneity emerged, linking it to islanders' deeply rooted experiences of oppression and injustice. During the movement, Jeju people used indigeneity as a form of political subjectivity, as a weapon against dispossession, and as a form of agency for local autonomy. As a form of colonization, development initiatives function as an ongoing regime of dispossession. The emergence of political indigeneity describes the new sense of consciousness that spread among Jeju people, catalyzing and sustaining place-based contestation to reject developmentalism and promote self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review-essay reflects on Amy Gore's monograph Book Anatomy and the collection Handwriting in Early America , edited by Mark Alan Mattes. These two recent publications on book and media history sparked this meditation on how tools for unpacking history texts and technologies can be surprisingly useful for addressing the challenges that generative AI poses to questions of authorship and intellectual property today. Bross explores how Book Anatomy and Handwriting in Early America help us understand the ways in which written texts, especially printed works and, even more, works produced under colonization, are always produced through collaborative systems of unequal power. These systems include writers—both humans and (it may be) algorithmic compositors—and readers who accept, endorse, resist, or recast what they read. As readers, we are implicated in the systems that produce the materials that we consume. Making these activities visible to ourselves can help address the past as we make new media history in our moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the history and impact of women's activism and leadership in Queensland, focusing on their roles in suffrage, labor movements, and anti-war campaigns. Topics include key women figures like Leontine Cooper and Emma Miller, the struggles for women's suffrage, and the challenges faced by women of color and Indigenous women in the political process.

Three decades have passed since South Africa's formal transition from apartheid to liberal democracy. This milestone signified a triumph of hope over despair for a country that had struggled under a suffocating system of racist, dehumanising oppression since its colonisation in the seventeenth century. Reflecting this zeitgeist, divisions, and complicities that had characterised the study, practice, and organisation of psychology within South Africa's racist structures were disassembled. The discipline committed to social justice, inclusive science, liberatory praxis, and global well-being. From a 30-year vantage point that many imagined would represent a clearer picture of a maturing and free rather than an emerging and new South African democracy, this article assesses the discipline's progress in achieving the socio-political, economic, health and psychological imperatives it set for itself in 1994. Through grounding this analysis in the 10 contributions that constitute this Special Issue, the article pits the promises of struggle and hope against the yields of democracy and its imagined freedoms. It argues that despite the unmistakable continuities of despair that define South African life and the discipline's response thereto, there are several discernible legacies of hope that psychology has recuperated in its journey thus far, and that these may offer fault lines for a hopeful future. These moments of hope are most powerful when the discipline seeks solidarity rather than solipsism, transcends rather than polices its epistemic and political boundaries, and embraces ordinariness through disavowing the exceptionalism that forecloses its connectedness to several overriding movements that prioritise planetary justice for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the role of the history discipline as part of the architecture of colonization has become more visible and better understood. Such acknowledgement reflects foundational shifts in historical practice and theory prompted by transdisciplinary and transnational scholarship in fields such as postcolonial and settler‐colonial studies, First Nations knowledges, and historical perspectives and practices contextualized by transatlantic slavery. Their intervention in turn prompted a vital question: How do we map settler‐colonial historiography if the discipline has been complicit in the settler‐colonial project? Using Australian historiography as a case study, this article explores how History has been part of the architecture of colonization, policing whose stories can be told and by whom. Drawing on the work of Indigenous history‐makers and knowledge‐holders, it also points to ways that researchers might reach outside the traditional scope of historiography to map and contemplate the range of history‐making that comprises history in the settler colony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic occupancy model estimates the probabilities of occupancy, detection, extinction and colonization of individuals throughout seasons and is, thus, a useful tool for identifying whether individuals select a site to improve population phenology and fitness.We used multi‐season dynamics occupancy models to assess how abiotic factors (monthly variation, percentage of forest and edge and temperature) and biotic factors (female abundance) affect the demographic dynamics of coprophagous beetles Deltochilum mexicanum and Dichotomius satanas that differ in their habitat preferences in a human‐modified landscape in a cloud forest in Mexico.For both species, we captured a total of 1069 individuals with a density of 48.2 individuals per trap in forest areas and 14.8 individuals per trap in non‐forest areas. The species differed in their spatiotemporal occupancy dynamics in the landscape. Specifically, we found that monthly variation, percentage of forest cover and percentage of edge affected the models for both species. Each species showed a specific set of explanatory covariates for the model parameters, indicating that phenological and demographic regulatory mechanisms act as drivers of the spatiotemporal occupancy in a year period.We highlight the importance of considering abiotic factors (landscape characteristics) as drivers of occupancy, especially in highly heterogeneous landscapes. Such understanding is relevant to establish the effects of the landscape on the distribution and occurrence of dung beetles by determining how forest and generalist species differ in colonization and extinction patterns with respect to their phenology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Candida auris, an emerging multidrug-resistant yeast, has become a global concern due to its association with nosocomial outbreaks and resistance to antifungal medications. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation, with several outbreaks reported worldwide, including in Mexico. We describe the clinical and microbiological characteristics of a multicentric outbreak in private institutions in Mexico. A retrospective observational study was conducted across 4 Christus Muguerza Hospital Health Care System facilities in Monterrey, Mexico, where simultaneous outbreaks of C auris occurred. Patients with colonization or infection with C auris between September 2020 and December 2023 were included. Analysis revealed 37 cases, predominantly male (median age, 55.8 years). While most cases were initially colonization, a significant proportion progressed to infection (32.4%). Patients with documented infection had longer intensive care unit and hospital stays, often requiring mechanical ventilation. Antifungal treatment varied, with empirical fluconazole being the first drug in most cases, followed by anidulafungin and caspofungin. Resistance to fluconazole was widespread, but susceptibility to other antifungals varied. The overall mortality rates were high (40.5%), with no significant difference in median survival between colonized and infected patients. We reported a high rate of infection in previously colonized cases associated with longer hospital lenght stay, and a high susceptibility to echinocandins. • Candida auris is a multidrug-resistant yeast with high mortality in hospitalized patients. • We report a high susceptibility to echinocandins and a high all-cause mortality. • Patients with documented infection had longer ICU, hospital stays, and mechanical ventilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The burden of carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacteria (CRGNB) among solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients has not been systematically explored. Here, we discern the risk factors associated with CRGNB infection and colonization in SOT recipients. Methods: This study included observational studies conducted among CRGNB-infected SOT patients, which reported risk factors associated with mortality, infection or colonization. Relevant records will be searched in PubMed, Embase and Web of Science for the period from the time of database construction to 1 March 2023. Results: A total of 23 studies with 13,511 participants were included, enabling the assessment of 27 potential risk factors. The pooled prevalence of 1-year mortality among SOT recipients with CRGNB was 44.5%. Prolonged mechanical ventilation, combined transplantation, reoperation and pre-transplantation CRGNB colonization are salient contributors to the occurrence of CRGNB infections in SOT recipients. Renal replacement therapy, post-LT CRGNB colonization, pre-LT liver disease and model for end-stage liver disease score increased the risk of infection. Re-transplantation, carbapenem use before transplantation and ureteral stent utilization increased risk of CRGNB colonization. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that SOT recipients with CRGNB infections had a higher mortality risk. Invasive procedure may be the main factor contribute to CRGNB infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, immigration has become a major policy concern in the UK, largely driven by EU enlargement, the Great Recession, and the UK's exit from the EU. With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence indicates that the UK faces labour shortages due to the withdrawal of EU workers. This paper is aimed at assessing the effect of immigration on the wages of native UK workers in the decade after the Great Recession and before the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. It provides new evidence on the wage impact of immigration in the UK from 2009 to 2020. On balance, the evidence suggests that fears about adverse consequences of rising UK immigration have been unfounded, with immigration into the UK having a positive effect on native wages after the Great Recession. This positive effect remains when internal migration adjustments are incorporated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the development of mass Black migration plans to Hawai'i and the Philippines both before and after emancipation. Through a transnational archival collection, it analyzes the political, intellectual, social, and material conditions that Black activists and white statecrafters faced in their attempts to secure state funding for Black migration within an ever-expanding US empire. From Northern white abolitionist cotton planters in Hawai'i to radical Black socialists employed by the US state in the Philippines, the complexities of Black colonization in the Pacific offer a fresh look at a Civil War Era and a Black internationalism largely fixated on the Atlantic World. In the end, this article argues that colonization in the Black Pacific reveals a deep and abiding dialectic between US slavery and its overseas empire--a relationship too often obscured by the existing historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article appreciates decolonization in education, positing bicultural pedagogy as peace pedagogy. It will encapsulate peace education, peace pedagogy, colonization, Indigenous rediscovery, and Indigenization of the curriculum (biculturalism) and then turn to the transformative practice of decolonization in education. The paper seeks to propose a conceptual bridging facet from five core Māori values: wairuatanga, manaakitanga, kotahitanga, whanaungatanga , and rangatiratanga , to Indigenous pedagogy and, finally, to peace pedagogy. The alignment of Indigenous pedagogy and peace pedagogy is an attempt to evaluate the potential of bicultural peace pedagogy as a decolonizing education. The paper finds congruence between Western peace pedagogy and several gaps related to practice and cultural goals. To assist other non-Indigenous knowledge workers (termed Pākehā in Aotearoa/New Zealand) in decolonizing education, this paper has sought to elevate aspects of peace culture that align with Indigenous practices/values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Objective Methods Results Conclusions Trial Registration To determine the in vitro effects of minocycline on human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs), its clinical impact on early wound healing after implant placement, and its potential mechanism of action.First, we evaluated the in vitro proliferation, migration, and collagen production of HGFs treated with different concentrations of minocycline, as well as the underlying mechanism. Subsequently, we conducted a clinical trial and randomly assigned 40 partially edentulous patients to either the test (minocycline hydrochloride treatment) or control (blank control) group immediately after implant surgery. The early wound healing score (EHS), pain index, gingival index (GI), modified sulcus bleeding index (mSBI), and peri‐implant crevicular fluid samples were assessed or collected 3 and/or 7 days after surgery.In vitro, 1 μg/mL minocycline promoted the proliferation, migration, and collagen production of HGFs. Minocycline inhibited collagen degradation by downregulating the expression of matrix metalloproteinase‐2 (MMP‐2) and MMP‐14 and upregulating tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases‐2. However, higher concentrations of minocycline, 10 and 100 μg/mL, exhibited adverse effects. In the randomised clinical trial, the test group showed significantly better clinical outcomes compared to the control group, with higher EHS and lower GI, mSBI, concentrations of IL‐1β, IL‐10, and TNF‐α, and relative abundance of Streptococcus and gram‐negative anaerobic bacteria.Small doses of minocycline (1 μg/mL) promoted the proliferation and migration of HGFs and inhibited collagen degradation in vitro. Locally delivered minocycline after implant surgery improves clinical outcomes by promoting early wound healing, relieving the inflammatory response, and decreasing early colonisation of gram‐negative anaerobic bacteria.This clinical trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration number: ChiCTR2100044680) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Our previous genotyping studies suggest that some anatomical locations act as reservoirs of genotypes that may cause further candidemia, since we found identical genotypes in gastrointestinal tract or catheter tip isolates and blood cultures, in contrast, we did not find blood culture genotypes in vagina samples. We observed that some genotypes can be found in blood cultures more frequently than others, some of them being called widespread genotypes because have been found in unrelated patients admitted to different hospitals. The presence of widespread genotypes may be more frequently found because of their predisposition to cause candidemia. It is unclear whether genotypes colonizing other anatomical sites different from the gastrointestinal tract can also be detected in this way; we studied C. albicans , C. parapsilosis , and C. tropicalis colonizing genotypes to assess what proportion could be found in blood cultures and the proportion of widespread genotypes. Methods: The isolates (n= 640 Candida isolates from 323 patients) studied herein were obtained from samples processed at the Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department of the Gregorio Marañón Hospital (Madrid, Spain) from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2019. C. albicans (n=486), C. parapsilosis (n=94), and C. tropicalis (n=60) isolates were genotyped using species-specific microsatellite markers and sourced from blood (n=120) and colonized anatomical sites (n=520; catheter [n=50], lower respiratory tract [n=227], skin/mucosa [n=132], and urinary tract [n=111]). Isolates with identical genotypes were those presenting the same alleles for all markers or with only differences at one locus of a given marker. Identical genotypes were further classified as a match (identical genotype found in different groups of samples from a given patient) or as a cluster (identical genotype found in ≥2 patients). Finally, singletons were genotypes detected once. The genotypes found were then compared with our in-house database containing 587 blood genotypes from patients admitted to the Gregorio Marañón Hospital (2007-2023) to assess the proportion of genotypes found in colonized samples that were also found in blood cultures. Moreover, since some of our in-house database genotypes had been tagged as widespread genotypes, we compared the proportions of widespread genotypes as well as the proportions of matches, clusters, and patients involved in clusters found among exclusively colonizing genotypes, exclusively blood culture genotypes, and both colonizing and blood culture genotypes using a standard binomial method. Results: Intra-patient analysis was conducted exclusively on those patients (n=225; 69.7%) who had ≥2 isolates from a given species; the proportion of patients with matches was lower in exclusively colonized patients than in patients with candidemia and colonizing genotypes (87.3% vs. 94.1%; p = 0.126). Inter-patient analysis was conducted considering all patients (n=323) and isolates from groups 1, 2, and 3 (n=640). Overall, we detected 341 genotypes, of which 320 were singletons and 21 were clusters (6.16%). Clusters involving blood cultures and colonizing isolates sourced from catheter tips (14.6%), skin and mucosa (7.5%), urine (7.4%), and lower respiratory tract (4.6%). Cluster-involved patients had not been admitted to the same ward at the same time. Of the 290 colonizing genotypes, 91 (31.1%) were also found in blood cultures, the highest proportion being C. parapsilosis (p < 0.05); proportions of identical genotypes found in blood cultures and catheter tips were higher than those found in blood cultures and other colonized samples (79.2% vs. 26.7%; p < 0.001). Widespread genotype ratios were significantly higher among genotypes found in both blood and colonized samples than among genotypes found exclusively in either blood culture or other colonizing genotypes (31.9% vs. 7.1% vs. 3.7%, respectively; p < 0.001). Conclusion: We observed that 94% of patients with candidemia were colonized by a genotype causing the infection; likewise, a total of 31% of colonizing genotypes were detectable in blood cultures. Finally, identical genotypes found in both colonized samples and blood cultures had a higher probability of being widespread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the logic of carcerality, and refined through theories of settler colonialism, I argue in this paper the following. First, carcerality is not just a tactic of settler colonization in Canada for bodily controlling populations, but a key feature of settler colonial claims to land and territory; imposing carceral spaces on Indigenous people is a fundamental necessity for the expectations and ambitions of settler colonization, and as settler colonization in Canada is ongoing, the expansion of these carceral spaces likewise continues. Second, carceral theory can be used to analyze how Indigenous people are made to “disappear” from settler‐dominated spaces, and expose the interlocking roles of state power and social prejudice in these “eliminations.” As all kinds of frontier spaces—urban, rural, and otherwise—are assimilated into the settler colonial assemblage, Indigenous people are forced into mobility that itself is both carceral and eliminatory. Understanding carcerality as something pervasive in settler society, and not just limited to the criminal justice system, changes how we must approach decolonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) remain a critical public health issue, as they contribute to prolonged treatment duration, increased healthcare costs, and heightened risks of morbidity and mortality. In head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy, thermoplastic masks (TMs), which come into direct contact with the skin, represent a potential vector for infection. Additionally, the storage racks where these masks are kept may also facilitate microorganism transmission. Our study aimed to isolate and identify microorganisms from infective skin lesions secondary to radiation dermatitis in head and neck cancer patients, as well as from the TMs and storage racks, and to evaluate the antibiotic resistance profiles of the isolated microorganisms. The study included 71 locally advanced head and neck cancer patients who underwent radiotherapy between August 2022 and November 2023. Patients were monitored daily, and their skin evaluations were made according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.0. Grade 2 and 3 radiodermatitis was observed in 29 of these 71 patients. Samples were collected using sterile swabs from the skin lesions on the head and neck area, the inner surfaces of the TM, and the storage rack from 29 patients. Samples were inoculated into enrichment and selective media. After the growing microorganisms were identified, antimicrobial susceptibility was evaluated using conventional methods and automated systems according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) criteria. At least one type of microorganism was isolated from the skin samples of infected patients, and double growth was detected in two patients. Among the samples, 2 were methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (MRCNS), 1 was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), 1 was Candida albicans (C. albicans), 15 were methicillin-sensitive coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (MSCNS), 1 was methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), 1 was Bacillus subspecies (Bacillus spp.) and 3 were Corynebacterium diphtheriae (C. diphtheriae). Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus strains were isolated from the skin of 14 of 19 patients with grade 2 radiation dermatitis, whereas CNS strains were isolated from only 2 of 10 patients with grade 3 radiation dermatitis. Among the gram-negative bacteria, 3 Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), 2 Enterobacter cloacae (E. cloacae), 1 Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) and 1 Moraxella catarrhalis (M. catarrhalis) strain were isolated. Sixteen (55.1%) of the TMs used in 29 patients and 20 (68.9%) of the storage racks harbored microorganisms, including HAI agents and flora bacteria. Bacteria colonize TMs and storage racks where they are risk factors for secondary skin infections in radiation dermatitis lesions that develop on the skin of head and neck cancer patients. Decontamination procedures should be meticulously applied to surfaces such as TMs and their storage racks during the course of radiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the globe, colonization often produces material homogenization. The same objects originating in the metropole become part of assemblages throughout the colony. These assemblages impact different groups inhabiting dominated territories, shaping globalization. Archaeologists have now moved away from homogenizing acculturation-based perspectives to understand contexts where global/colonial objects are adopted in local contexts. Postcolonial approaches emphasizing the agency of the colonized have moved us forward towards archaeologies of cultural entanglements, processes of combination of imposed patterns by the colonizer and cultural inputs of the colonized resulting in innovation. By identifying metamorphoses of global Egyptian-style objects into locally effective objects in colonized Nubia during the New Kingdom, this paper demonstrates the existence of distinctive, yet to be fully understood colonial identities shaped by different experiences of global objects. If colonialism shapes globalization, colonized experiences of global objects end up separating various groups interacting with the same objects across cultural borders according to their varying socio-economic experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bacterium Segatella copri is a prevalent member of the human gut microbiota associated with health and disease states. However, the intrinsic factors that determine its ability to colonize the gut effectively remain largely unknown. By extensive transcriptome mapping of S. copri and examining human-derived samples, we discover a small RNA, which we name Segatella RNA colonization factor (SrcF), and show that SrcF is essential for S. copri gut colonization in gnotobiotic mice. SrcF regulates genes involved in nutrient acquisition, and complex carbohydrates, particularly fructans, control its expression. Furthermore, SrcF expression is strongly influenced by human microbiome composition and by the breakdown of fructans by cohabitating commensals, suggesting that the breakdown of complex carbohydrates mediates interspecies signaling among commensals beyond its established function in generating energy. Together, this study highlights the contribution of a small RNA as a critical regulator in gut colonization. [Display omitted] • Annotation of the RNA landscape of the human gut commensal Segatella copri • Metatranscriptomics identified highly expressed S. copri small RNAs in the gut • The small RNA SrcF is essential for S. copri gut colonization in gnotobiotic mice • Fructan degradation by cohabitating gut commensals regulates SrcF expression El Mouali et al. characterized the RNA landscape of the human gut-residing bacteria Segatella copri using in vitro and gut-derived samples. They identified a small RNA regulator essential for gut colonization and whose expression is regulated by the metabolism of dietary components by S. copri and cohabitating microbiota members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Candida auris is an emerging pathogen that represents a worldwide health problem due to its global expansion, multidrug resistance, and difficult laboratory identification. Among the risk factors for colonization/infection by C. auris , a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) stands out. This prospective multicenter study aimed to monitor the trend of the local epidemiology of Candida spp. and unveil the prevalence of C. auris. Methods: From 2020 to 2022, axillar/inguinal swabs were collected from adult patients at three points: upon admission (D1) and on the fifth (D5) and eighth (D8) days of their ICU stay. We employed culture-based screening methods combined with molecular techniques to identify Candida spp. down to the species level. Specific screening for Candida auris was conducted using a real-time PCR assay in combination with an improved selective culture medium, mannitol salt agar auris (MSAA). To validate the effectiveness of MSAA, a collection of reference C. auris strains representing the four major geographical clades was used. Results: We enrolled 675 patients, and 355 Candida isolates were retrieved from the 988 swab samples collected. From those, 185/355 (52.1%) were identified as C. albicans and 170/355 (47.9%) as non- albicans Candida (NAC). MSAA medium showed a specificity of 94.8%, albeit C. auris was not detected in this cohort. The dynamics of Candida spp. colonization by ICU were significant at the three collection points. Upon admission, C. albicans was associated with the Beatriz Ângelo Hospital ICU (p =0.003) and C. tropicalis with the general Hospital Professor Doutor Fernando Fonseca (FFH) ICU (p =0.006). C. parapsilosis and C. lusitaniae were associated with FFH ICUs, with the general ICU at D5 (p =0.047) and surgical ICU at D8 (p =0.012). The dynamics of NAC colonization by ICU were significantly different at D1 (p =0.011), D5 (p =0.047), and D8 (p =0.012). Conclusion: We developed and implemented a screening protocol for C. auris while uncovering the colonization patterns of Candida in the ICU. Our findings contribute to the optimization of overall patient management, ensuring that ICU protocols are resilient and adaptive to emerging fungal threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing amount of plastic debris in water ecosystems provides a new substrate (epiplastic microhabitats) for aquatic organisms. The majority of research about epiplastic communities has focused on seawater environments, while research is still quite limited and scattered concerning freshwater systems. In this study, we analyze the first stages of colonization on different types of plastic by a periphytic algae community (its composition and dominant species complex) in freshwater bodies located in a nature reserve (within the Middle Volga Basin). A four-week-long incubation experiment on common plastic polymers (PET, LDPE, PP, and PS), both floating and dipped (~1 m), was conducted in two hydrologically connected karst water bodies in July 2023. The composition of periphytic algae was more diverse (due to the presence of planktonic, benthic, and periphytic species) than the phytoplankton composition found in the water column, being weakly similar to it (less than 30%). Significant taxonomic diversity and the dominant role of periphytic algae were noted for diatoms (up to 60% of the total composition), cyanobacteria (up to 35%), and green (including Charophyta) algae (up to 25%). The composition and structure of periphytic algae communities were distinct between habitats (biotope specificity) but not between the types of plastic, determined primarily by a local combination of factors. Statistically significant higher values of abundance and biomass were demonstrated for some species, particularly for Oedogonium on PP and Nitzschia on LDPE (p-value ≤ 0.05). As colonization progressed, the number of species, abundance, and dominance of individual taxa increased. In hydrologically connected habitats, different starts of colonization are possible, as well as different types of primary succession (initiated by potentially toxic planktonic cyanobacteria or benthic cyanobacteria and mobile raphid diatoms). Within the transparency zone, colonization was more active on the surface (for example, in relation to green algae on PP (p-value ≤ 0.05)). These results indicate a tendency for microalgae communities to colonize actively submerged plastic materials in freshwater, and they may be useful in assessing the ecological status of these aquatic ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adaptation of marine fish to freshwater environments includes prodigious examples of rapid evolution.Given the scarcity of ω‐3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC‐PUFA) in freshwater, we expect selection to be strong on fish transitioning to freshwater habitats and yet the underlying ecological causes of genomic and phenotypic differentiation are poorly understood for traits associated with lipid content and composition. Threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus have repeatedly colonized, and adapted to, freshwater habitats across the Northern Hemisphere. These freshwater populations often show elevated copy number of the fatty acid desaturase 2 gene (FADS2), which increases the biosynthetic capacity of LC‐PUFA. The starkly lower content of LC‐PUFA in freshwater compared to marine prey, especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), likely imposes strong positive selection on freshwater fish for either increased biosynthesis or greater dietary acquisition of LC‐PUFA. The recently colonized and relatively undisturbed threespine stickleback populations in postglacial coastal lakes of southern Greenland offer an exceptional opportunity to study how variation in the copy number of FADS2 is related to abiotic and biotic conditions of lakes and their morphometry. As expected, given its position on the stickleback X chromosome, we found strong sexual dimorphism in FADS2 copy number in all populations (19 freshwater, 1 marine and 1 brackish), and an increased dimorphism in some freshwater populations. We also found that FADS2 copy number was negatively correlated, for both males and females, with the abundance of copepods, which are a DHA‐rich food source in the zooplankton community. Overall, our results suggest that the prey community context of lakes might influence the process of metabolic adaptation of marine fish colonizing freshwater ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium oxysporum, the pathogen responsible for apple replant disease (ARD), is seriously threatening the apple industry globally. We investigated the antagonistic properties of Trichoderma strains against F. oxysporum HS2, aiming to find a biological control solution to minimize the dependence on chemical pesticides. Two of the thirty-one Trichoderma strains assessed through plate confrontation assays, L7 (Trichoderma atroviride) and M19 (T. longibrachiatum), markedly inhibited = F. oxysporum, with inhibition rates of 86.02% and 86.72%, respectively. Applying 1 × 106 spores/mL suspensions of these strains notably increased the disease resistance in embryonic mung bean roots. Strains L7 and M19 substantially protected Malus robusta Rehd apple rootstock from ARD; the plant height, stem diameter, leaf number, chlorophyll content, and defense enzyme activity were higher in the treated plants than in the controls in both greenhouse and field trials. The results of fluorescent labeling confirmed the effective colonization of these strains of the root soil, with the number of spores stabilizing over time. At 56 days after inoculation, the M19 and L7 spore counts in various soils confirmed their persistence. These results underscore the biocontrol potential of L7 and M19 against HS2, offering valuable insights into developing sustainable ARD management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial biotherapeutic delivery vehicles have the potential to treat a variety of diseases. This approach obviates the need to purify the recombinant effector molecule, allows delivery of therapeutics in situ via oral or intranasal administration, and protects the effector molecule during gastrointestinal transit. Lactic acid bacteria have been broadly developed as therapeutic delivery vehicles though risks associated with the colonization of a genetically modified microorganism have so-far not been addressed. Here, we present an engineered Limosilactobacillus reuteri strain with reduced colonization potential. We applied a dual-recombineering scheme for efficient barcoding and generated mutants in genes encoding five previously characterized and four uncharacterized putative adhesins. Compared with the wild type, none of the mutants were reduced in their ability to survive gastrointestinal transit in mice. CmbA was identified as a key protein in L. reuteri adhesion to HT-29 and enteroid cells. The nonuple mutant, a single strain with all nine genes encoding adhesins inactivated, had reduced capacity to adhere to enteroid monolayers. The nonuple mutant producing murine IFN-β was equally effective as its wild-type counterpart in mitigating radiation toxicity in mice. Thus, this work established a novel therapeutic delivery platform that lays a foundation for its application in other microbial therapeutic delivery candidates and furthers the progress of the L. reuteri delivery system towards human use. IMPORTANCE One major advantage to leverage gut microbes that have co-evolved with the vertebrate host is that evolution already has taken care of the difficult task to optimize survival within a complex ecosystem. The availability of the ecological niche will support colonization. However, long-term colonization of a recombinant microbe may not be desirable. Therefore, strategies need to be developed to overcome this potential safety concern. In this work, we developed a single strain in which we inactivated the encoding sortase, and eight genes encoding characterized/putative adhesins. Each individual mutant was characterized for growth and adhesion to epithelial cells. On enteroid cells, the nonuple mutant has a reduced adhesion potential compared with the wild-type strain. In a model of total-body irradiation, the nonuple strain engineered to release murine interferon-β performed comparable to a derivative of the wild-type strain that releases interferon-β. This work is an important step toward the application of recombinant L. reuteri in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes two aspects of Peruvian author Gamaliel Churata's philosophical thought that enable me to formulate a poetics of memory that challenges regimes of representation of subalternized and colonized subjects. Topics discussed include the role that language acquires in Churata's writing to actualize Aymara and Quechua symbolic orders and Churata's notion of ahayu-watan, an Aymara term that translates as the soul ties you.

Purpose: We aim to evaluate the association between central venous catheter (CVC) insertion site and microbiological CVC complications in a nationwide cohort. Methods: This study was conducted using the healthcare-associated infection surveillance cohort "REA-REZO" involving 193 intensive care units (ICUs). All CVC inserted and removed during the same ICU stay between January 1st 2018 and December 31st 2022 were eligible but only those whose tips were sent for microbiological analysis were included. Primary objective was to describe CVC insertion sites and subsequent catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI). Results: Out of 126,997 CVCs, 71,314 were not sent for tip culture, and only 55,663 CVCs were included, (30,548 in internal jugular [IJ], 14,423 in femoral and 10,692 in subclavian [SC] sites). The incidence of CRBSI was 0.7 [0.6–0.8] in the IJ site, 0.7 [0.6–0.9] in the femoral site, and 0.6 [0.4–0.7] CRBSI per 1000 CVC days in the SC site (p = 0.248). The multivariable Poisson regression model showed no differences of CRBSI incidence rates between the three insertion sites. Microorganisms observed in CRBSI were coagulase-negative Staphylococci (27.9%), Enterobacterales (27.5%), non-fermenting Gram-negative Bacilli (10.4%), Candida sp. (16.9%), and Staphylococcus aureus (16.9%). Conclusion: Low CRBSI incidence rates were reported. CRBSI incidences rates were similar in the three insertion sites. Uncertainty remains due to potential selection bias since many CVCs had to be excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the lived experience of two Black women within the enclave of their educational environments and childhood upbringing. The authors examine their lived experiences through the lens of Black Feminist Thought (BFT) and Transnational feminism. Using a duoethnographic approach, these women unpacked and re-wrote their stories through three themes: Hair as a site of performance for Black Womanhood, The othering of Blackness in the academy, and Owning our Black womanhood. The findings from this study add to the literature on de-centering whiteness and colonization among Black women in academia through a cross-cultural understanding of Blackness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Predicting infection risk in carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) colonized patients may help in improving timely appropriate antibiotic therapy. This study aims to explore risk factors for developing infections in hospitalized patients with previous CRAB colonization. Methods: We performed an observational retrospective cohort study at ASST Sette Laghi-Varese Hospital between January 2020 and December 2022. All consecutive adult (> 18 years old) hospitalized patients with documented colonization by CRAB at any anatomical site or with CRAB infections preceded by CRAB colonization were included. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to investigate infection risk factors. Results: Overall, 144 patients were included in the study: 104 colonized only and 40 infected patients. Colonization and infection rates significantly changed over the years (2020–2022, p < 0.001). The incidence of infections in CRAB carriers was 27.8% (40/144). Median time from colonization to infection was 4 days (IQR 1-8.5). Overall, inhospital mortality was 32.7% and 55.0% in colonized only and infected patients, respectively. At the multivariable logistic regression cardiovascular disease (OR 5.83, 95% CI 1.12–30.43, p = 0.037), COVID-19 (OR 3.72, 95% CI 1.16–11.91, p = 0.027) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (OR 8.83, 95% CI 2.94–26.51, p < 0.001) were risk factors independently associated with cardiovascular disease CRAB infection after colonization. Conclusions: We observed an increased infection risk in patients colonized with CRAB with cardiovascular disease, COVID-19 and admitted in ICU setting. Additional evidence is needed to identify predictors of infection in colonized patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over a century, French nuns followed the lead of a pioneer, Emilie de Vialar (1797–1856), who with a handful of nuns and against all odds established the first missionary congregation of women in Algeria, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition, in August 1835. This article retraces the work and political, social, and linguistic roles of these women in the colonial geopolitics of the nineteenth century during the French Third and Fourth Republics as well as their part in the decolonization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to map out a framework for thinking critically about race and coloniality in policymaking, through utilizing what I am calling a reparative public policy procedural approach. Demands for reparations have long aimed to address racialized inequalities set up through slavery, genocide and colonialism. Yet while being sort as an outcome of public policy by those impacted by colonization, slavery and genocide, reparations can also inform the process of policy making in liberal democracies. Through drawing on insights from the literature on reparations, I seek to illuminate the way coloniality and racism are written into aspects of liberal democratic policymaking, but also how a reparatiive approach to public policy making can help policy makers in liberal democracies find ways to challenge and transform such practice. This is what I am calling a reparative public policy approach – a framework for policymakers that draws attention to a presumed neutrality of policy-making processes which are maintained through methodological nationalism, deployment of liberal time, accumulation through dehumanization and racialization, and the universalism of liberal democratic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that management concepts tend to spread from corporate to public organizations. Branding is an example of such a concept, with suggestions that it can address not only economic but also social issues, often referred to as "inclusive branding." This ethnographic study explores how branding is received and spreads in a Swedish city, and analyzes efforts to use branding to tackle inequality and segregation. Our findings reveal that the initial focus on social problems was glossed over in favor of following corporate branding ideals, but also that city communicators expressed critique, confusion, and doubt regarding the relevance of branding to their work. Surprisingly, this did not slow down but rather energized the branding process. Through an interactionist analysis, we suggest that rather than addressing social problems, branding in cities may give rise to an Eigendynamik, signifying a self-energizing inner dynamic fueled by a tension between "frames," specifically between the branding frame and the civic frame of the city. This theorization lays the groundwork for contributions to the understanding of inclusive branding: it can start with good intentions to address civic issues but may get swept up in corporate branding concepts and activities that are ill equipped to deal with social issues. More generally, complementing established notions of translation and colonization, our study provides a novel understanding of how management concepts migrate from corporate to public organizations through what we call frame-induced Eigendynamik. Overall, we contribute by shedding light on the role of self-energizing processes as reasons why organizational members engage with management concepts even when they struggle to see their relevance to their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to begin a discussion of how Indigenous ontologies and practices might be brought to bear on water policy and management in Europe. Such a discussion represents an ironic historical shift in the sense that these ontologies and practices have survived and continue to evolve in countries that have been characterized by European colonization (i.e., Australia, Canada, US, New Zealand, countries of Africa and South America, and not excluding the Sámi people of northern Europe). Increasingly research and policy interest has been directed toward the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in water governance in some of these places, especially Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Here, we ask whether they might be a source of inspiration for rethinking the water policy in Europe. We argue that certain elements of Indigenous water knowledge and practices can be drawn from to reform European water policy on the ontological premise that people are part of nature and based on establishing and nurturing moral and legal relationships between water and people based on principles of respect and reciprocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indo–Pacific Pollen Database (IPPD) is the brainchild of the late professor Geoffrey Hope, who gathered pollen records from across the region to ensure their preservation for future generations of palaeoecologists. This noble aim is now being fulfilled by integrating the IPPD into the online Neotoma Paleoecology Database, making this compilation available for public use. Here we explore the database in depth and suggest directions for future research. The IPPD comprises 226 fossil pollen records, most postdating 20 ka but with some extending as far back as 50 ka or further. Over 80 % of the records are Australian, with a fairly even distribution between the different Australian geographical regions, with the notable exception being Western Australia, which is only represented by three records. The records are also well distributed in the modern climate space, with the largest gap being in drier regions due to preservation issues. However, many of the records contain few samples or have fewer than five chronology control points, such as radiocarbon, luminescence or Pb-210, for the younger sequences. Average deposition time for the whole database, counted as years per centimetre, is 64.8 yrcm-1 , with 61 % of the records having a deposition time shorter than 50 yrcm-1. The slowest deposition time by geographical region occurs on Australia's east coast, while the fastest times are from the western Pacific. Overall, Australia has a slower deposition time than the rest of the Indo–Pacific region. The IPPD offers many exciting research opportunities to investigate past regional vegetation changes and associated drivers, including contrasting the impact of the first human arrival and European colonisation on vegetation. Examining spatiotemporal patterns of diversity and compositional turnover/rate of change, land cover reconstructions, and plant functional or trait diversity are other avenues of potential research, amongst many others. Merging the IPPD into Neotoma also facilitates inclusion of data from the Indo–Pacific region into global syntheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inoculation of forest species with plant growth-promoting bacteria has grown and is increasingly sought to reduce the use of synthetic products. Thus, the objective was to evaluate the effect of the interaction between endophytic bacteria and synthetic indole butyric acid (IBA) on the initial development of Corymbia citriodora x Corymbia torelliana (CcCt) plants. The treatments were established by factorial (6 × 2) + 1, in which the mini-cuttings were inoculated with Pantoea vagans strains 7URP1-6 (B07) and 45URP4-1 (B45), Priestia megaterium (B11), Exiguobacterium sibiricum (B19), Bacillus sp. (B58) and a control treatment with the inoculation vehicle only, followed by immersion in 0 or 1,000 mg kg− 1 of synthetic IBA, plus an additional control not inoculated and treated with 2,000 mg kg− 1 of IBA. In relation to the cuttings treated only with 2,000 mg kg− 1 of IBA, cuttings inoculated with bacteria B07, B11, B19, and B58 had a similar survival rate, an increase of 29–36% in the percentage of rooting and of 27–34% in plant height, produced rooted cuttings with larger collar diameters and greater dry mass of roots and shoots, and a greater number of colony forming units of bacteria in the rhizosphere and in root and shoot tissues. The inoculation of mini-cuttings of CcCt with B07, B11, B19 and B58, followed by immersion in 1,000 mg kg− 1 of IBA improved the development of rooted cuttings relative to inoculated cuttings without IBA treatment, although it is not known if the effect is directly attributable to these bacterial strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study presents two twentieth-century African narratives from a postcolonial comparative perspective. The study highlights corresponding observations in "Dead Men's Path" by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe and "The Doum-tree of Wad Hamid" by the Sudanese Tayeb Salih in relation to the colonial strategy of stereotyping Africa as premodern and unprogressive and how this strategy widens the gap between generations and undermines the cultural identity of the young. The study analyzes confrontations between characters representing different generations on whether colonization aims for the betterment of natives' lives. Finally, the study investigates how the enforced European lifestyles on the rural 'premodern' societies of Nigeria and Sudan by the British colonization are met with defiance and resistance. The article draws on postcolonial concepts including autonomy, resistance, and mimicry to demonstrate the conflict between generations under the enduring effects of cultural colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper considers ‘democracy’ with reference to education in the (neo)colonial context of Aotearoa (New Zealand). It discusses impacts of the western project of colonisation, arguing for the need to counter damaging hegemonic discourses such as white supremacy and racism that have underpinned and fuelled its operation. It identifies neoliberalism as a key contributor to the current erosion of democracies and the climate and ecological crises. It posits that education is a prime site for changing this narrative via pathways for restoration. It highlights the potential of early childhood education for offering democratising, ecologically sustaining practices by fostering dispositions of care, concern, empathy and kaitiakitanga.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Admission and discharge screening of patients for asymptomatic gut colonization with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) is a common approach to active surveillance, but its sensitivity for detecting colonization is uncertain. Methods Daily rectal or fecal swab samples and associated clinical data were collected over 12 months from patients in one 25-bed medical intensive care unit (ICU) in Chicago, IL and tested for the following MDROs: vancomycin-resistant enterococci; third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales, including extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales; and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales. MDRO detection by (1) admission and discharge surveillance cultures or (2) clinical cultures were compared to daily surveillance cultures. Samples underwent 16S rRNA gene sequencing to measure the relative abundance of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) corresponding to each MDRO. Results Compared with daily surveillance cultures, admission/discharge cultures detected 91% of prevalent MDRO colonization and 63% of MDRO acquisitions among medical ICU patients. Few (7%) MDRO carriers were identified by clinical cultures alone. Higher relative abundance of MDRO-associated OTUs and specific antibiotic exposures were independently associated with higher probability of MDRO detection by culture. Conclusions Admission and discharge surveillance cultures underestimated MDRO acquisitions in an ICU. These limitations should be considered when designing sampling strategies for epidemiologic studies that use culture-based surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]