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International sailing regattas are major sporting events often held within coastal marine environments which overlap with the habitats of marine species. Although races are confined to courses, the popularity of these events can attract large spectator flotillas, sometimes composed of hundreds of motorized vessels. Underwater noise from these flotillas can potentially alter soundscapes experienced by marine species. To understand how these flotillas may alter soundscapes, acoustic recordings were taken around racecourses during the 36th America's Cup in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand in 2021. Sustained increases in broadband underwater sound levels during the regatta (up to 17 dB re 1 μPa rms; 0.01-24 kHz) that extended beyond racecourse boundaries (>8.5 km) and racing hours were observed; very likely attributable to the increase in regatta-related vessel activity. Underwater noise pollution from spectator flotillas attending larger regattas should be considered during event planning stages, particularly when events occur in ecologically significance areas., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Lauren McWhinnie reports financial support was provided by Horizon Europe. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Global reductions in the underwater radiated noise levels from cargo vessels are needed to reduce increasing cumulative impacts to marine wildlife. We use a vessel exposure simulation model to examine how reducing vessel source levels through slowdowns and technological modifications can lessen impacts on marine mammals. We show that the area exposed to ship noise reduces markedly with moderate source-level reductions that can be readily achieved with small reductions in speed. Moreover, slowdowns reduce all impacts to marine mammals despite the longer time that a slower vessel takes to pass an animal. We conclude that cumulative noise impacts from the global fleet can be reduced immediately by slowdowns. This solution requires no modification to ships and is scalable from local speed reductions in sensitive areas to ocean basins. Speed reductions can be supplemented by routing vessels away from critical habitats and by technological modifications to reduce vessel noise.

The metabolic actions of storage fungi and other microorganisms can cause spoilage and post-harvest losses in agricultural commodities, including flaxseed. These microbial contaminants are oxidized with hydroxyl radicals that are efficiently generated when ozone, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and ultraviolet (UV) light react in an advanced oxidative process (AOP). The present work explores what we believe is the first application of an AOP technology to reduce mould on whole brown and yellow flaxseed. The impact of AOP on storage and quality parameters was assessed by measuring the fatty acid value (FAV), germination rate, moisture content (MC) and visible mould growth after 12 weeks of storage at 30°C and 75% relative humidity (RH). Under these conditions, the yellow decontaminated flaxseed showed a 31% decrease in the number of seeds with visible mould without any adverse effect on germination rate, FAV and MC. In contrast, the same AOP treatment created an insignificant decrease in mould in stored brown flaxseed, at the cost of decreasing the germination rate and increasing FAV. The adverse effects of AOP on brown flaxseed were not readily apparent but became measurable after storage. Moreover, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was utilized to explore the rationale behind the different reactions of flaxseed varieties to AOP. The corresponding results indicated that the tolerance of yellow flaxseed to AOP might be related to its richness in olefins. The authors believe that technologies that harness advanced oxidative processes open new horizons in decontamination beyond ozone alone and towards increasing the shelf life of various agri-food products., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

The North Sea faces intense ship traffic owing to increasing human activities at sea. As harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are abundant top predators in the North Sea, it is hypothesised that they experience repeated, high-amplitude vessel exposures. Here, we test this hypothesis by quantifying vessel noise exposures from deployments of long-term sound and movement tags (DTAGs) on nine harbour seals from the Wadden Sea. An automated tool was developed to detect intervals of elevated noise in the sound recordings. An assessment by multiple raters was performed to classify the source as either vessels or other sounds. A total of 133 vessel passes were identified with received levels > 97 dB re 1µPa RMS in the 2 kHz decidecade band and with ambient noise > 6 dB below this detection threshold. Tagged seals spent most of their time within Marine Protected Areas (89 ± 13%, mean ± SD) and were exposed to high-amplitude vessel passes 4.3 ± 1.6 times per day. Only 32% of vessel passes were plausibly associated with an AIS-registered vessel. We conclude that seals in industrialized waters are exposed repeatedly to vessel noise, even in areas designated as protected, and that exposures are poorly predicted by AIS data., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

With lethal opportunistic fungal infections on the rise, it is imperative to explore new methods to examine virulence mechanisms. The fungal cell wall is crucial for both the virulence and viability of Aspergillus nidulans. One wall component, Galf, has been shown to contribute to important fungal processes, integrity of the cell wall and pathogenesis. Here, we explore gene deletion strains lacking the penultimate enzyme in Galf biosynthesis (ugmAΔ) and the protein that transports Galf for incorporation into the cell wall (ugtAΔ). In applying gene deletion technology to the problem of cell wall integrity, we have employed multiple micro- and nano-scale imaging tools, including confocal fluorescence microscopy, electron microscopy, X-Ray fluorescence and atomic force microscopy. Atomic force microscopy allows quantification of ultrastructural cell wall architecture while near-field infrared spectroscopy provides spatially resolved chemical signatures, both at the nanoscale. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate correlative data collection with these two emerging modalities for the multiplexed in situ study of the nanoscale architecture and chemical composition of fungal cell walls.

Acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs) are used in attempts to mitigate pinniped depredation on aquaculture sites through the emission of loud and pervasive noise. This study quantified spatio-temporal changes in underwater ADD noise detections along western Scotland over 11 years. Acoustic point data ('listening events') collected during cetacean line-transect surveys were used to map ADD presence between 2006 and 2016. A total of 19,601 listening events occurred along the Scottish west coast, and ADD presence was recorded during 1371 listening events. Results indicated a steady increase in ADD detections from 2006 (0.05%) to 2016 (6.8%), with the highest number of detections in 2013 (12.6%), as well as substantial geographic expansion. This study demonstrates that ADDs are a significant and chronic source of underwater noise on the Scottish west coast with potential adverse impacts on target (pinniped) and non-target (e.g. cetaceans) species, which requires further study and improved monitoring and regulatory strategies., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Collagen is a major constituent in many life forms; in mammals, collagen appears as a component of skin, bone, tendon and cartilage, where it performs critical functions. Vibrational spectroscopy methods are excellent for studying the structure and function of collagen-containing tissues, as they provide molecular insight into composition and organization. The latter is particularly important for collagenous materials, given that a key feature is their hierarchical, oriented structure, organized from molecular to macroscopic length scales. Here, we present the first results of high-resolution FTIR polarization contrast imaging, at 1.1 μm and 20 nm scales, on control and mechanically damaged tendon. The spectroscopic data are supported with parallel SEM and correlated AFM imaging. Our goal is to explore the changes induced in tendon after the application of damaging mechanical stress, and the consequences for the healing processes. The results and possibilities for the application of these high-spatial-resolution FTIR techniques in spectral pathology, and eventually in clinical applications, are discussed.

A recent upgrade to the optics configuration of a thermal source FTIR microscope equipped with a focal plane array detector has enabled rapid acquisition of high magnification spectrochemical images, in transmission, with an effective geometric pixel size of ∼1 × 1 μm(2) at the sample plane. Examples, including standard imaging targets for scale and accuracy, as well as biomedical tissues and microorganisms, have been imaged with the new system and contrasted with data acquired at normal magnification and with a high magnification multi-beam synchrotron instrument. With this optics upgrade, one can now conduct rapid biodiagnostic ex vivo tissue imaging in-house, with images collected over larger areas, in less time (minutes) and with comparable quality and resolution to the best synchrotron source FTIR imaging capabilities.

An outbreak of salmonellosis caused by Salmonella typhimurium occurred in a lambing flock where management factors and fostering movements were responsible for spread within the group and to farm personnel and their families. Possible sources of the infection are discussed.