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The root tip of a plant is highly sensitive to environmental cues and exerts sensory, chemical and movement responses and has even been likened to an animal’s brain. Yet, the assemblage of microbes at the root tip, the controls governing their diversity, the nature of their recruitment to that particular niche, and their roles in plant phenotypic function, remain poorly understood. This study investigated longitudinal niche differentiation of the root-associated microbiome in chickpeas ( Cicer arietinum L.) and its interactions with both diverse soil types and host plants with genetic variation in phenology, from the exterior to the interior of the root. Compared with late flowering (LF) genotypes, endophyte microbiomes at the apical zone of the early flowering (EF) host were characterised by greater diversity, higher compositional similarity to the basal zone, and closely inhabiting Rhizobacter and Methylotenera across soils. Additionally, EF genotype secreted a specific composition of metabolites from the apical zone, with more carboxylates (benzoic acid) and amino acids (propionic acid) than the LF plant. Our findings demonstrate that longitudinal differentiation within a seedling root is an essential feature shaping the root microbiome and indicative of genetic variation in phenology of host plants.

The root tip of a plant is highly sensitive to environmental cues and exerts sensory, chemical and movement responses and has even been likened to an animal’s brain. Yet, the assemblage of microbes at the root tip, the control of their diversity, the nature of their recruitment to that particular volume, and their roles in plant phenotypic function, remain poorly understood. This study investigated longitudinal niche differentiation of the root-associated microbiome in chickpeas ( Cicer arietinum L.) and its interactions with both diverse soil types and host plants with genetic variation in phenology, from the exterior to the interior of the root. Compared with late flowering (LF) genotypes, endophyte microbiomes at the apical zone of the early flowering (EF) host were characterised by greater diversity, higher compositional similarity to the basal zone, and closely inhabiting Rhizobacter and Methylotenera across soils. Additionally, EF genotypes secreted a specific composition of metabolites from the apical zone, with more carboxylates and amino acids (especially propionic acid and benzoic acid) than the LF plant. Our findings demonstrate that longitudinal differentiation within a seedling root is an essential feature shaping the root microbiome and indicative of genetic variation in phenology of host plants.

Complaints are a vital component of clinical governance in healthcare systems. In a patient-focused NHS, it is important that healthcare professionals and organisations listen to, and act on, complaints from people who think they have been let down by the services they have received. This article reports on the results of a study of what prompts patients to complain after attending an emergency department (ED). As the results show, the complaint rate was 0.04 per cent. Among reasons why patients complained, non-clinical issues (63 per cent), such as poor communication and staff attitudes, and long waiting times, outnumber clinical issues (37 per cent). The study also highlights the need for greater direct supervision of junior staff, although this could be challenging given the current workforce pressures facing UK EDs.

Polymer–peptide conjugates are receiving significant interest. Here, we show that, under the appropriate conditions, a small family of oligopeptide-based initiators can be used successfully to initiate the polymerization of methacrylic monomers by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), generating new examples of such materials. However, the use of the peptidic amide-based initiators results in polymers which have a higher molecular weight than expected and a significantly higher polydispersity than those prepared from ester-based initiators. In many cases significant initiator remains, suggesting that either not all peptides successfully initiate polymerization or that significant termination reactions occur early in the reaction. This low initiator efficiency agrees with other reports for amino acid-based initiators. It therefore appears that such amide-based initiators can be used successfully, but have a significantly lower applicability than the more commonly used ester-based initiators. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6082–6090, 2008

CO2 can be an effective EOR agent and is the dominant anthropogenic greenhouse gas driving global warming. Capturing CO2 from industrial sources in EOR projects can maximize hydrocarbon recovery and help provide a possible bridge to a lower carbon emissions future, by adding value through EOR production and field life extension, and providing long term secure storage post-EOR operations. Shell is working to implement new generation CO2 projects, including offshore applications. Based on recent offshore project design experience, this paper describes the challenges in moving CO2 EOR from onshore to offshore and the solutions developed, in the key areas of safety, facilities, wells, subsurface and piloting. The overriding design principle in any project is HSE. Offshore operations brings a new set of challenges over inventory, pressure, confined spaces and evacuation, with conventional emergency procedures requiring modification because of the different physical characteristics of CO2 releases compared to hydrocarbon gas. Surface facilities need to be simple to minimise CAPEX, weight and space while maintaining flexibility, since there is less scope to incrementally evolve the surface facilities as is the case onshore. Balancing the tension between these objectives requires very close surface and subsurface integration to find optimal and cost-effective solutions. This is illustrated with three key decision areas: gas treatment options for back produced CO2 and hydrocarbon gas, artificial lift and facilities capacity. A novel integrated CO2 gas lift system is described. This simplifies facilities and reduces CAPEX and OPEX, while at the same time providing a high degree of flexibility and risk management over the EOR life cycle in terms of subsurface uncertainty and reducing the issues around molecular weight variation in the recycled gas and the degree of turndown required in the facilities in the early years of EOR operations.

There is little information available on the impact of care home residents upon emergency departments (EDs) in the UK. Our objective was to determine utilization of a UK ED by local care home residents. This study took place in a busy district general ED in an urban setting. Data were collected retrospectively for care home attendees during 2006. During the study period, an average of 2.4 care home patients attended per day. Just over half attended between 9 am and 5 pm. Fifty-seven percent were admitted, of these 25% died. Most common presentation categories were trauma (38%), respiratory disorders (11.2%), cardiovascular disorders (10.8%), gastrointestinal disorders (9.3%) and genitourinary disorders (6.4%). Although accounting only for 1.5% of daily attendances, care home residents have a high admission and inpatient mortality rate. This study provides important information on presentation patterns for this subgroup of the population and identifies areas for further study.

Block copolymers can adopt a wide range of morphologies in dilute aqueous solution. There is a significant amount of interest in the use of block copolymer vesicles for a number of applications. We show that a series of oligo(valine) and oligo(phenylalanine) peptides coupled to a methacrylic group can be prepared by conventional peptide coupling techniques. These can be successfully polymerized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) giving access to poly(ethylene oxide)- b-poly(side-chain peptides). Many of these polymers self-assemble to form vesicles using an organic to aqueous solvent exchange. One example with a divaline hydrophobic block gives a mixture of toroids and vesicles. Circular dichroism demonstrates that secondary structuring is observed in the hydrophobic region of the vesicle walls for the valine side-chain containing polymers.

X-ray computed microtomography (CMT) imaging of individual soil aggregates is a relatively recent non-destructive approach useful for quantifying intra-aggregate pore responses to environmental conditions controlling their formation and function. CMT can be used to compare intra-aggregate pore geometries with permeability, ion flux, carbon sequestration and many additional soil water flow properties controlling biogeochemistries within soil aggregates. Analysis of 3D porosity, pore size distribution histograms and pore connectivities within soil aggregates from agroecosystem soils will be compared to water retention and hydraulic conductivity measurements. Repeated imaging of the same aggregate following various treatments have been produced by the Advanced Photon Source, ANL and desktop high resolution x-ray CMT scanners. Intra-aggregate morphological changes, identified by commercial and newly constructed algorithms, will be discussed. CMT images of pore geometries will be compared to the organizational configurations of aggregates and their functional contributions to soil hydrology and carbon sequestration potentials in response to different land use and agronomic practices.

A 53-year-old man attended the emergency department. He had been hammering a metal bearing during which a splinter from the hammer head broke off and struck him on the chest. The patient did not realise he had been injured until he noticed …

✓ Incompletely and even adequately clipped berry aneurysms are often reinforced with finely shredded gauze. In seven female patients this practice led to a series of events including headache, pyrexia, seizures, cranial nerve deficits, endocrinopathy, cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis, and an enhancing mass demonstrated by computerized tomography at the aneurysm site. One patient with blindness, hydrocephalus, and panhypopituitarism died and was examined at autopsy. Three additional female patients have been identified in the literature with similar case histories. It is suggested that in these patients the gauze induced a foreign-body granuloma, accompanied by progressive occlusion of neighboring small arteries. It would seem prudent to reserve gauze reinforcement for aneurysms that cannot be securely obliterated surgically.

We present 2 cases of postoperative urinary retention associated with massive prostatic infarction after a complicated vascular operation. The pathophysiological principles involved in this entity are discussed. (J. Urol., 143: 367–368, 1990)

The murine serum amyloid A1 (SAA1), SAA2, and SAA3 genes are expressed in various tissues in response to acute inflammation. Prolonged expression may be accompanied by amyloid deposition in liver, spleen, and kidney. Shortly before and during deposition, an amyloid-enhancing factor (AEF) can be extracted from these tissues which accelerates amyloid formation when administered with an inflammatory agent. We have investigated the ability of liver AEF to alter expression of the three SAA genes in liver, spleen, and kidney when administered to normal mice or to mice in which inflammation was created with the injection of silver nitrate. In liver, both AEF and silver nitrate induce SAA1 and SAA2 mRNA accumulation. However, AEF elicits a more rapid response and also acts as a potent inducer of hepatic SAA3 mRNA. Silver nitrate does not induce any SAA mRNA species in kidney, whereas AEF induces all three species. In contrast, AEF induces only SAA3 mRNA in the spleen. We also show that the elevation in hepatic SAA mRNA levels induced by either AEF or silver nitrate is associated with a transient increase in the length of the poly(A) tail.