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The benefits and risks of human-aided translocation of individuals within the species range, assisted gene flow (AGF), depend on the genetic divergence, on the rate and direction of hybridization, and on the climate transfer distance between the host and donor populations. In this study, we explored the use of Oriental beech (Fagus sylvatica subsp. orientalis), growing from Iran to the Balkans, for AGF into European beech populations (F. sylvatica subsp. sylvatica) that increasingly suffer from climate warming. Using samples from natural populations of Oriental and European beech and microsatellite loci, we identified 5 distinct genetic clusters in Oriental beech with a divergence (FST) of 0.15 to 0.25 from European beech. Using this knowledge, we traced the origin of 11 Oriental beech stands in Western Europe established during the 20th century. In two stands of Greater Caucasus origin, we found evidence for extensive hybridization, with 18% and 41% of the offspring having hybrid status. Climate data revealed higher seasonality with warmer and drier summers across the native Oriental beech sites in comparison to the planting sites in Western Europe. Accordingly, we found that bud burst of Oriental beech occurred four days earlier than in European beech. Overall, our results suggest that AGF of Oriental beech could increase the genetic diversity of European beech stands and may foster introgression of variants adapted to expected future climatic conditions. Our study showcases the evaluation of the benefits and risks of AGF and call for similar studies on other native tree species., Forest Ecology and Management, 531, ISSN:0378-1127, ISSN:1872-7042

ObjectivesQuality and safety of emergency care is critical. Patients rely on emergency medicine (EM) for accessible, timely and high-quality care in addition to providing a ‘safety-net’ function. Demand is increasing, creating resource challenges in all settings. Where EM is well established, this is recognised through the implementation of quality standards and staff training for patient safety. In settings where EM is developing, immense system and patient pressures exist, thereby necessitating the availability of tiered standards appropriate to the local context.MethodsThe original quality framework arose from expert consensus at the International Federation of Emergency Medicine (IFEM) Symposium for Quality and Safety in Emergency Care (UK, 2011). The IFEM Quality and Safety Special Interest Group members have subsequently refined it to achieve a consensus in 2018.ResultsPatients should expect EDs to provide effective acute care. To do this, trained emergency personnel should make patient-centred, timely and expert decisions to provide care, supported by systems, processes, diagnostics, appropriate equipment and facilities. Enablers to high-quality care include appropriate staff, access to care (including financial), coordinated emergency care through the whole patient journey and monitoring of outcomes. Crowding directly impacts on patient quality of care, morbidity and mortality. Quality indicators should be pragmatic, measurable and prioritised as components of an improvement strategy which should be developed, tailored and implemented in each setting.ConclusionEDs globally have a remit to deliver the best care possible. IFEM has defined and updated an international consensus framework for quality and safety.

To develop comprehensive guidance that captures international impacts, causes, and solutions related to emergency department crowding and access block.Emergency physicians representing 15 countries from all IFEM regions composed the Task Force. Monthly meetings were held via video-conferencing software to achieve consensus for report content. The report was submitted and approved by the IFEM Board on June 1, 2020.A total of 14 topic dossiers, each relating to an aspect of ED crowding, were researched and completed collaboratively by members of the Task Force.The IFEM report is a comprehensive document intended to be used in whole or by section to inform and address aspects of ED crowding and access block. Overall, ED crowding is a multifactorial issue requiring systems-wide solutions applied at local, regional, and national levels. Access block is the predominant contributor of ED crowding in most parts of the world.RéSUMé: OBJECTIFS: Développer des directives détaillées qui saisissent les impacts internationaux, les causes et les solutions liés au surpeuplement et blocages d’accès des urgences. MéTHODES: Des médecins d’urgence représentant 15 pays de toutes les régions de la Fédération Internationale de Médecine d’Urgence (IFEM) ont composé le groupe de travail. Des réunions mensuelles ont été organisées par le biais d’un logiciel de visioconférence afin de parvenir à un consensus sur le contenu du rapport. Le rapport a été soumis et approuvé par le Conseil d’administration de l’IFEM le 1er juin 2020. RéSULTATS : Au total, 14 dossiers thématiques, chacun se rapportant à un aspect de l’engorgement des urgences, ont été documentés et complétés conjointement par les membres du groupe de travail. CONCLUSIONS: Le rapport IFEM est un document détaillé destiné à être utilisé dans son intégralité ou par section pour renseigner et aborder les aspects du surpeuplement et du blocage d’accès des urgences. Dans l’ensemble, l’encombrement dans les services d’urgence est un problème multifactoriel qui nécessite des solutions à l’échelle systémique appliquées aux niveaux local, régional et national. Le blocage d’accès est le principal contributeur à l’engorgement des urgences dans la plupart des régions du monde.

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced significant changes in emergency medicine patient volumes, clinical practice, and has accelerated a number of systems-level developments. Many of these changes produced efficiencies in emergency care systems and contributed to a reduction in crowding and access block. In this paper, we explore these changes, analyse their risks and benefits and examine their sustainability for the future to the extent that they may combat crowding. We also examine the necessity of a system-wide approach in addressing ED crowding and access block.

Imagine you are trying to predict the outcome of a fair coin toss. You guess heads and flip your coin. It lands on heads. You decide to try your luck again, keeping with your guess of heads. Again, it lands on heads. You repeat this experiment five more times, continuing with your initial guess and it lands on heads three more times. Delighted that you are averaging more than the expected 50% probability, you decide to try once more; do you stick with your original guess of heads or change it?

In response to recent findings implicating trauma in the phenomenology of psychosis, this study explored interactions between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and positive symptoms of psychosis in an understudied patient population, comprising individuals of African and Latino ancestry. Endorsement of ACEs was compared between 90 schizophrenia cases and 240 nonpsychotic controls, matched for ethnicity, gender, and age. Relative to controls, cases reported significantly greater exposure to physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic violence, and household member incarceration. Analyses further evaluated associations between ACEs and subtypes of hallucinations, delusions, and subjective thought disorder. Among female cases, the number of hallucinatory symptoms present increased with increasing ACE score. Hallucinatory symptoms further correlated with individual ACE items. For instance, third-person voices were more common among women exposed to childhood physical and emotional abuse. Interestingly, among women, grandiose delusions were negatively related to sexual abuse, perhaps reflecting the deleterious effects of sexual trauma on the development of a positive self-concept. Among male cases, no positive relationships with hallucinations were observed, but several delusional symptoms were correlated with childhood trauma experiences. The most statistically powerful ACE associations, in both males and females, were observed with experiences of thought broadcasting. This article further advocates for the consideration of ethnicity and gender as factors influencing trauma exposures and their clinical manifestations.

INTRODUCTION: The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused significant worldwide disruption. Although Australia and New Zealand have not been affected as much as some other countries, resuscitation may still pose a risk to health care workers and necessitates a change to our traditional approach. This consensus statement for adult cardiac arrest in the setting of COVID-19 has been produced by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and aligns with national and international recommendations. MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS: In a setting of low community transmission, most cardiac arrests are not due to COVID-19. Early defibrillation saves lives and is not considered an aerosol generating procedure. Compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation is thought to be a low risk procedure and can be safely initiated with the patient's mouth and nose covered. All other resuscitative procedures are considered aerosol generating and require the use of airborne personal protective equipment (PPE). It is important to balance the appropriateness of resuscitation against the risk of infection. Methods to reduce nosocomial transmission of COVID-19 include a physical barrier such as a towel or mask over the patient's mouth and nose, appropriate use of PPE, minimising the staff involved in resuscitation, and use of mechanical chest compression devices when available. If COVID-19 significantly affects hospital resource availability, the ethics of resource allocation must be considered. CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT: The changes outlined in this document require a significant adaptation for many doctors, nurses and paramedics. It is critically important that all health care workers have regular PPE and advanced life support training, are able to access in situ simulation sessions, and receive extensive debriefing after actual resuscitations. This will ensure safe, timely and effective management of the patients with cardiac arrest in the COVID-19 era.

BackgroundEmergency Departments have the potential ability to predict patient wait times and to display this to patients and other stakeholders. Little is known about whether consumers and stakeholders would want this information and how wait time predictions might be used. The aim of this study was to gain perspectives from consumer, referrer and health services personnel regarding the concept of emergency wait time visibility.MethodsIn 2019, 103 semi-structured interviews and one focus group were conducted with emergency medicine patients/families, paramedics, well community members and hospital/paramedic administrators. Nine emergency departments and multiple organisations in Victoria, Australia, contributed data. Transcripts were coded and themes are presented.ResultsConsumers and paramedics face physical and psychological difficulties when wait times aren’t visible. Consumers believe about a 2-hour wait is tolerable, beyond this most begin to consider alternative strategies for seeking care. Consumers want to see triage to doctor times; paramedics want door to off-stretcher times (for all possible transport destinations); with 47/50 consumers and 30/31 paramedics potentially using this information. Twenty-eight of 50 consumers would use times to inform facility or provider choice, 19/50 want information once in the waiting room. During prolonged waits, 1/52 consumers would consider not seeking care. Visibility of approximate waits would better inform decision-making, improve load-spreading, allow planning and access to basic needs and might reduce anxiety.ConclusionsConsumers and paramedics want wait time information visibility. They would use the information in a variety of ways, both pre-hospital and whilst waiting for care.

The present study examined whether or not there are differential rates of traumatic event exposure and presumed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) between individuals with OCD without comorbid presumed BDD (OCD-Non-BDD) and individuals with OCD with comorbid presumed BDD (OCD+BDD) within a large cohort of OCD participants (N = 605). Individuals in the OCD+BDD group had significantly higher rates of endorsing at least one lifetime traumatic event and presumed PTSD than individuals with OCD-Non-BDD. Additionally, individuals in the OCD+BDD group with comorbid presumed PTSD had significantly higher rates of major depressive disorder (MDD) and presumed panic disorder (PD). A logistic regression analysis revealed that presumed PTSD significantly predicted the presence of BDD symptoms among individuals who experienced at least one lifetime traumatic event in our sample. These findings suggest that individuals in the OCD+BDD group were more likely to have experienced a traumatic event in their lives, to experience presumed PTSD, and to have MDD and presumed PD than individuals in the OCD-Non-BDD group. Clinical implications and possible mechanistic pathways from trauma exposure to OCD and BDD symptomatology are discussed.

OBJECTIVE To review incident reports relating to problems encountered during the ED management of patients with 'airway or breathing' problems, with the aim of finding and highlighting common themes within these rare events, and making recommendations to further improve patient safety in the areas in which deficiencies have been identified. METHODS Thematic analysis of 36 incidents reported from Australasian EDs, which were related to problems with airway and breathing. RESULTS In all, 51 problems were identified among the 36 incidents related to airway and/or breathing. Fourteen involved clinical decision-making, 11 equipment, nine communication, seven intubation, five surgical access and five pneumothorax. Eight incidents involved children and there were nine deaths within hours or days. CONCLUSIONS Recommendations for improving preparedness of ED staff and facilities have been made for each of the problem areas identified with respect to clinical practice, equipment, communication and clinical process. Analysis of incidents from the Australasian Emergency Medicine Events Register allows clusters of like-events to be identified and characterised, providing the possibility of getting a better idea of how problems present and progress, with some information about contributing factors, characteristics and context. This will pave the way for earlier and better detection of life-threatening problems and the development and reinforcement of preventive and corrective strategies.

Objective Incident reporting systems are critical to understanding adverse events, in order to create preventative and corrective strategies. There are very few systems dedicated to Emergency Medicine with published results. All EDs in Australia and New Zealand were contacted to encourage the use of an Emergency Medicine – specific online reporting system called the Emergency Medicine Events Register (EMER). Methods We conducted an analysis of the first 150 incidents entered into EMER. EMER captures Emergency-medicine-specific details including triage score, clinical presentation, outcome, contributing factors, mitigating factors, other specialities involved and patient journey stage. These details were analysed by an expert panel. Results Over the first 26 months, 150 incidents were reported into EMER. The most common categories reported, in order, were diagnostic error, procedural complication and investigation errors. Most incidents contained more than one category of error. The most common stage of the patient's journey in which an incident was detected was after discharge from the ED. Conclusion A focus on correct diagnosis, procedure performance and investigation interpretation may reduce errors in the ED. The ability to learn from incidents and make system changes to enhance patient safety in healthcare organisations is an inherent part of providing a proactive, quality culture.

To review incident reports relating to problems encountered during the ED management of patients with 'airway or breathing' problems, with the aim of finding and highlighting common themes within these rare events, and making recommendations to further improve patient safety in the areas in which deficiencies have been identified.Thematic analysis of 36 incidents reported from Australasian EDs, which were related to problems with airway and breathing.In all, 51 problems were identified among the 36 incidents related to airway and/or breathing. Fourteen involved clinical decision-making, 11 equipment, nine communication, seven intubation, five surgical access and five pneumothorax. Eight incidents involved children and there were nine deaths within hours or days.Recommendations for improving preparedness of ED staff and facilities have been made for each of the problem areas identified with respect to clinical practice, equipment, communication and clinical process. Analysis of incidents from the Australasian Emergency Medicine Events Register allows clusters of like-events to be identified and characterised, providing the possibility of getting a better idea of how problems present and progress, with some information about contributing factors, characteristics and context. This will pave the way for earlier and better detection of life-threatening problems and the development and reinforcement of preventive and corrective strategies.

Background: Medical-specific incident reporting systems are critical to understanding error in healthcare but underreporting by doctors reduces their value. Objective: We conducted a pilot study of the implementation of an online EDspecific incident reporting system in Australasian hospitals and evaluated its use. Methods: The reporting system was based on the literature and input of experts. Thirty-one hospital EDs were approached to pilot the Emergency Medicine Events Register (EMER). The pilot evaluated: website usage and analytics, reporting behaviours and rates, the quality of information collected in EMER. Semi-structured interviews of three site champions responsible for implementing EMER were conducted. Results: Seventeen EDs expressed interest; however, due to delays and other barriers reporting only occurred at three sites. Over 354 days, the website received 362 unique visitors and 77 incidents. The median time to report was 4.6 min. The reporting rate was 0.07 reports per doctor month, suggesting a reporting rate of 0.08% of ED presentations. Data quality, as measured by the number of completed nonmandatory fields and ability to classify incidents, was very high. The interviews identified enablers (the EMER system, site champions) and barriers (chiefly the context of EM) to EMER uptake. Conclusions: Collecting patient safety information by frontline doctors is essential to actively engage the profession in patent safety. Although the EMER system allowed easy online reporting of high quality incident data by doctors, site recruitment and system uptake proved difficult. System use by ED doctors requires dedicated and conscious effort from the profession.

Objectives To evaluate the changes in productivity when scribes were used by emergency physicians in emergency departments in Australia and assess the effect of scribes on throughput. Design Randomised, multicentre clinical trial. Setting Five emergency departments in Victoria used Australian trained scribes during their respective trial periods. Sites were broadly representative of Australian emergency departments: public (urban, tertiary, regional referral, paediatric) and private, not for profit. Participants 88 physicians who were permanent, salaried employees working more than one shift a week and were either emergency consultants or senior registrars in their final year of training; 12 scribes trained at one site and rotated to each study site. Interventions Physicians worked their routine shifts and were randomly allocated a scribe for the duration of their shift. Each site required a minimum of 100 scribed and non-scribed shifts, from November 2015 to January 2018. Main outcome measures Physicians’ productivity (total patients, primary patients); patient throughput (door-to-doctor time, length of stay); physicians’ productivity in emergency department regions. Self reported harms of scribes were analysed, and a cost-benefit analysis was done. Results Data were collected from 589 scribed shifts (5098 patients) and 3296 non-scribed shifts (23 838 patients). Scribes increased physicians’ productivity from 1.13 (95% confidence interval 1.11 to 1.17) to 1.31 (1.25 to 1.38) patients per hour per doctor, representing a 15.9% gain. Primary consultations increased from 0.83 (0.81 to 0.85) to 1.04 (0.98 to 1.11) patients per hour per doctor, representing a 25.6% gain. No change was seen in door-to-doctor time. Median length of stay reduced from 192 (interquartile range 108-311) minutes to 173 (96-208) minutes, representing a 19 minute reduction (P Conclusions Scribes improved emergency physicians’ productivity, particularly during primary consultations, and decreased patients’ length of stay. Further work should evaluate the role of the scribe in countries with health systems similar to Australia’s. Trial registration ACTRN12615000607572 (pilot site); ACTRN12616000618459.

The comprehension of numerical concepts that appear in written health educational materials is an important aspect of health literacy. Health materials that include many advanced numerical concepts may place high demands on readers, especially those with low health literacy levels. The purpose of this study was to examine and document the types of numerical concepts that appear in passages selected from written diabetes educational materials that varied in their type of content. Readability of the passages was also analyzed. One hundred and fifty passages of 100 words each were selected from 50 diabetes-related educational documents, produced by major health organizations. Passages were coded for type of numerical concept, SMOG Reading Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease, and features that elaborated the numerical concepts, such as pictures or explanations. Findings indicate that passages containing general information about diabetes and its prevention contained significantly more advanced numerical concepts, the highest reading grade level, the lowest reading ease scores, and the lowest frequency of elaborative features, relative to many other types of content. Recommendations are made for enhancing the presentation of numerical concepts in written diabetes educational materials.

Objective: This retrospective, observational cohort study investigated whether the clinical features of a patient's pain, including anatomical location, organ system and likely treating speciality, impact on the delivery of analgesia within 30min in EDs. Methods: Data were obtained from 24 centres across Australia between April 2008 and March 2009. Principal outcome was delivery of analgesia within 30min or less. Factors that might explain any differences were analysed, including anatomical location of the pain, likely treating speciality, organ system affected, age, sex, day and time of presentation, hospital location, documented pain score and triage category. Analysis was by the χ -test for independence of proportions and multiple logistic regression. A P-value

The market for glucoamylase is large and very competitive and the production process has been optimized through several decades. So far a thorough characterization of the process has not been published, but previous academic reports suggest that the process suffers from severe byproduct formation. In this study we have carried out a thorough characterization of a process as close as possible to the industrial reality. The results show that the oxygen-limited phases of the process have the highest glucoamylase yields on carbon and that the byproducts are efficiently reused in late phases of the process. An alternative process with low glucose concentration show that high osmolarity is beneficial for the process, and we conclude that oxygen limitation, high osmolarity, and the associated byproduct metabolism are important for the efficiency of the process.

The filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae is an important microbial cell factory for industrial production of many enzymes, such as alpha-amylase. In order to optimize the industrial enzyme production process, there is a need to understand fundamental processes underlying enzyme production, here under how enzyme production links to metabolism through global regulation. Through a genome-scale metabolic network for integrated analysis of transcriptome data and flux calculation, we identified key players (genes, enzymes, proteins, and metabolites) involved in the processes of enzyme synthesis and secretion, nucleotide metabolism, and amino acid metabolism that can be the potential targets for improving industrial enzyme production. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011;108: 1130-1139.

Reducing the complexity of optical systems emphasizes the need to increase the number of optical functions in as few modules as possible, making the system more compact and simple to operate. Optical functions such as light generation, frequency conversion, amplification, broadband transmission, wavelength filtering and interfacing to the outside en-vironment typically needed separate, in-dividual optical components to be chained together to comprise a system. However, with the advent of Photonic Crystal Fiber, many of these functions can be combined into multifunctional modules paving the way for simpler, turn-key systems.Photonics is increasingly being employed as a tool for analysis, sensing, detection, pro-cessing and illumination in many commer-cial and academic applications. In the past, such techniques required complicated opti-cal arrangements, which could only be oper-ated by individuals experienced in handling optical equipment. However, the widespread penetration of photonics in many fields see the need for optical equipment to be oper-ated by non-experts such as surgeons, pro-duction staff or military personnel to name a few. In this case, optical systems need to be built with ease of use as a priority allowing the user to operate the equipment simply by a touch of a button, without complicated startup procedures, beam alignment or wavelength filtering. This is were fiber based systems come into play.

Stratified eutrophic lakes often suffer from hypolimnetic oxygen depletion during summer. This may lead to low redox conditions and accumulation of phosphate and ammonia in the hypolimnion. Hypolimnetic oxygenation has been used as a lake management strategy to improve the water quality in five eutrophic dimictic Danish lakes where oxygenation was conducted for 4–20 years. In one lake, the hypolimnetic oxygen concentration clearly improved by oxygenation, whereas the other four lakes still exhibited low mean summer levels (

Filamentous fungi are widely used in the biotechnology industry for the production of industrial enzymes. Thus, considerable work has been done with the purpose of characterizing these processes. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to be able to control and predict fermentation performance on the basis of "standardized" measurements in terms of morphology, rheology, viscosity, mass transfer and productivity. However, because the variables are connected or dependent on each other, this task is not trivial. The aim of this review article is to gather available information in order to explain the interconnectivity between the different variables in submerged fermentations. An additional factor which makes the characterization of a fermentation broth even more challenging is that the data obtained are also dependent on the way they have been collected-meaning which technologies or probes have been used, and on the way the data is interpreted-i.e. which models were applied. The main filamentous fungi used in industrial fermentation are introduced, ranging from Trichoderma reesei to Aspergillus species. Due to the fact that secondary metabolites, like antibiotics, are not to be considered bulk products, organisms like e.g. Penicillium chrysogenum are just briefly touched upon for the description of some characterization techniques. The potential for development of different morphological phenotypes is discussed as well, also in view of what this could mean to productivity and-equally important-the collection of the data. An overview of the state of the art techniques for morphology characterization is provided, discussing methods that finally can be employed as the computational power has grown sufficiently in the recent years. Image analysis (IA) clearly benefits most but it also means that methods like near infrared measurement (NIR), capacitance and on-line viscosity now provide potential alternatives as powerful tools for characterizing morphology. These measuring techniques, and to some extent their combination, allow obtaining the data necessary for supporting the creation of mathematical models describing the fermentation process. An important part of this article will indeed focus on describing the different models, and on discussing their importance to fermentations of filamentous fungi in general. The main conclusion is that it has not yet been attempted to develop an overarching model that spans across strains and scales, as most studies indeed conclude that their respective results might be strain specific and not necessarily valid across scales.

Filamentous fungi are widely used in the biotechnology industry for the production of industrial enzymes. Thus, considerable work has been done with the purpose of characterizing these processes. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to be able to control and predict fermentation performance on the basis of "standardized" measurements in terms of morphology, rheology, viscosity, mass transfer and pro- ductivity. However, because the variables are connected or dependent on each other, this task is not trivial. The aim of this review article is to gather available information in order to explain the interconnectivity between the different variables in submerged fermentations. An additional factor which makes the characterization of a fermen- tation broth even more challenging is that the data obtained are also dependent on the way they have been collected—meaning which technologies or probes have been used, and on the way the data is interpreted—i.e. which models were applied. The main filamentous fungi used in industrial fermentation are introduced, ranging from Trichoderma reesei to Aspergillus species. Due to the fact that secondary metabo- lites, like antibiotics, are not to be considered bulk products, organisms like e.g. Penicillium chrysogenum are just briefly touched upon for the description of some characterization techniques. The potential for development of different morpholog- ical phenotypes is discussed as well, also in view of what this could mean to pro- ductivity and—equally important—the collection of the data. An overview of the state of the art techniques for morphology characterization is provided, discussing methods that finally can be employed as the computational power has grown suffi- ciently in the recent years. Image analysis (IA) clearly benefits most but it also means that methodslike near infrared measurement(NIR),capacitanceandon-line viscosity now provide potential alternatives as powerful tools for characterizing morphology.

Industrial enzymes are often produced by filamentous fungi in fed-batch cultivations. During cultivation, the different morphological forms displayed by the fungi have an impact on the overall production. The morphology of a recombinant lipase producing Aspergillus oryzae strain was investigated during fed-batch cultivations. During the exponential batch phase of the fed-batch cultivations, the average hyphal length increased as did the number of tips per hyphal element. Most striking was the finding that the diameter of the hyphal elements increased with an average factor of 1.5 during the batch phase from 2.8-2.9 up to 4.0-4.4 mum. The diameter of the hyphal elements remained constant, around 4 mum, after the feed was started. However, the diameter of the immediate hyphal tip, where the enzyme secretion is thought to take place, increased dramatically with up to a factor 2.5 during the feeding period. The expression of the recombinant lipase was induced by the feeding with maltose, and an increase in lipase activity was seen in parallel to a swelling of the tips. The results indicate that the two events are linked as a return to normal growth was observed upon cessation of production due to oxygen limitations.

The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of disrupting two chitin synthases, chsB and csmA, on the morphology and rheology during batch cultivation of Aspergillus oryzae. The rheological properties were characterized in batch cultivations at different biomass concentrations (from 3.4-22.5 g kg(-1) biomass) and the power-law model adequately described the rheological properties. In the cultivations there were pellets, clumps, and freely dispersed hyphal elements. The different morphological fractions were quantified using image analysis. The apparent viscosity of the fermentation broth was significantly affected by the biomass concentration, the morphology, and also by pH. The chsB disruption strain had lower consistency index K values for all biomass concentrations investigated, which is a desirable trait for industrial Aspergillus fermentations.

In Aspergillus oryzae, one full-length chitin synthase (chsB) and fragments of two other chitin synthases (csmA and chsC) were identified. The deduced amino acid sequence of chsB was similar (87% identity) to chsB from Aspergillus nidulans, which encodes a class III chitin synthase. The sequence obtained for csmA indicated that it had high similarity to class V chitin synthases. chsB and csmA disruption strains and a strain in which chsB transcription was controlled were constructed using the nitrite reductase (niiA) promoter. The strains were examined during hyphal growth by Northern analysis, analysis of the cell-wall composition and growth in the presence of Calcofluor white (CFW). The chsB disrupted strain and the uninduced p niiA –chsB strain exhibited hyperbranching, they had a lower level of conidiation than the wild-type and were sensitive to CFW at 50 mg l−1. When chsB transcription was induced in the strain containing the p niiA –chsB construct, the strain displayed wild-type morphology on solid medium and at sub-maximum growth rates but the wild-type morphology was not fully restored during rapid growth in batch cultivation. The csmA disruption strain displayed morphological abnormalities, such as ballooning cells, intrahyphal hyphae and conidial scars. The growth was severely inhibited in the presence of 10 mg CFW l−1. In none of the constructed strains did the cell-wall composition differ from the wild-type. Northern analysis indicated no change in the transcription of the chitin synthase genes csmA and chsC when chsB expression was altered, and there was no change in the transcription of chsB and chsC when csmA was disrupted.

Morphology and α-amylase production during submerged cultivation were examined in a wild-type strain (A1560) and in strains of Aspergillus oryzae in which chitin synthase B ( chsB ) and chitin synthesis myosin A ( csmA ) have been disrupted (ChsB/G and CM101). In a flowthrough cell, the growth of submerged hyphal elements was studied online, making it possible to examine the growth kinetics of the three strains. The average tip extension rates of the CM101 and ChsB/G strains were 25 and 88% lower, respectively, than that of the wild type. The branching intensity in the CM101 strain was 25% lower than that in the wild type, whereas that in the ChsB/G strain was 188% higher. During batch cultivation, inseparable clumps were formed in the wild-type strain, while no or fewer large inseparable clumps existed in the cultivations of the ChsB/G and CM101 strains. The α-amylase productivity was not significantly different in the three strains. A strain in which the transcription of chsB could be controlled by the nitrogen source-regulated promoter niiA (NiiA1) was examined during chemostat cultivation, and it was found that the branching intensity could be regulated by regulating the promoter, signifying an important role for chsB in branching. However, the pattern of branching responded very slowly to the change in transcription, and increased branching did not affect α-amylase productivity. α-Amylase residing in the cell wall was stained by immunofluorescence, and the relationship between tip number and enzyme secretion is discussed.

Medical-specific incident reporting systems are critical to understanding error in healthcare but underreporting by doctors reduces their value.We conducted a pilot study of the implementation of an online ED-specific incident reporting system in Australasian hospitals and evaluated its use.The reporting system was based on the literature and input of experts. Thirty-one hospital EDs were approached to pilot the Emergency Medicine Events Register (EMER). The pilot evaluated: website usage and analytics, reporting behaviours and rates, the quality of information collected in EMER. Semi-structured interviews of three site champions responsible for implementing EMER were conducted.Seventeen EDs expressed interest; however, due to delays and other barriers reporting only occurred at three sites. Over 354 days, the website received 362 unique visitors and 77 incidents. The median time to report was 4.6 min. The reporting rate was 0.07 reports per doctor month, suggesting a reporting rate of 0.08% of ED presentations. Data quality, as measured by the number of completed non-mandatory fields and ability to classify incidents, was very high. The interviews identified enablers (the EMER system, site champions) and barriers (chiefly the context of EM) to EMER uptake.Collecting patient safety information by frontline doctors is essential to actively engage the profession in patent safety. Although the EMER system allowed easy online reporting of high quality incident data by doctors, site recruitment and system uptake proved difficult. System use by ED doctors requires dedicated and conscious effort from the profession.

Highly branched mutants of two strains of Aspergillus oryzae (IFO4177, which produces alpha-amylase, and a transformant of IFO4177 [AMG#13], which produces heterologous glucoamylase in addition to alpha-amylase) were generated by UV or nitrous acid mutagenesis. Four mutants of the parental strain (IFO4177), which were 10 to 50% more branched than the parental strain, were studied in stirred batch culture and no differences were observed in either the amount or the rate of enzyme production. Five mutants of the transformed parental strain (AMG#13), which were 20 to 58% more branched than the parental strain, were studied in either batch, fed-batch or continuous culture. In batch culture, three of the mutants produced more glucoamylase than the transformed parental strain, although only two mutants produced more glucoamylase and alpha-amylase combined. No increase in enzyme production was observed in either chemostat or fed-batch culture. Cultures of highly branched mutants were less viscous than those of the parental and transformed parental strains. A linear relationship was found between the degree of branching (measured as hyphal growth unit length) and culture viscosity (measured as the torque exerted on the rheometer impeller) for these strains. DOT-controlled fed-batch cultures (in which the medium feed rate was determined by the DOT) were thus inoculated with either the transformed parent or highly branched mutants of the transformed parent to determine whether the reduced viscosity would improve aeration and give higher enzyme yields. The average rate of medium addition was higher for the two highly branched mutants (ca. 8.3 g medium h(-1)) than for the parental strain (5.7 g medium h(-1)). Specific enzyme production in the DOT controlled fed-batch cultures was similar for all three strains (approx. 0.24 g alpha-amylase and glucoamylase [g of biomass](-1)), but one of the highly branched mutants made more total enzyme (24.3 +/- 0.2 g alpha-amylase and glucoamylase) than the parental strain (21.7 +/- 0.4 g alpha-amylase and glucoamylase).

Two identical experiments with sieved and homogenized sandy and muddy sediment were conducted to determine transport enhancement of porewater solutes (TCO2 and NH4+) by the presence of the polychaete Nereis diversicolor (1000–1500 m-2). Flux measurements showed that N. diversicolor enhanced the release of CO2 and NH4+ 1.5–5 times. Accordingly, porewater concentrations of these compounds were reduced considerably in the bioturbated zone of both types of sediments. Two different diagenetic models, “effective (eddy) diffusion” and “nonlocal exchange”, were used to describe solute profiles in the bioturbated sediments. In permeable sandy sediments advective porewater movements may occur more readily than in more cohesive muddy sediments. The “effective diffusion” model (with De = 1.6–2.0 cm2 d-1) provided an excellent fit to the measured concentrations of both solutes below the bioturbated zone in permeable sandy sediment, whereas this model overestimated the concentration in the bioturbated zone. However, in the less permeable muddy sediment the “effective diffusion” model overestimated the NH4+ profile considerably at all depths. The “nonlocal exchange” model (with α = 0.17–0.29 d- 1), on the other hand, provided an excellent fit in the less permeable muddy sediment, suggesting that solute profiles here were controlled by molecular diffusion, even in the presence of burrow irrigation. For the permeable sediment, the “nonlocal exchange” model (with α = 0.14 d-1) underestimated the measured NH4+ profile. Accordingly, linear slopes from plots of porewater TCO2 as a function of porewater NH4+ revealed that eddy diffusion (or advective porewater movements) was important in the bioturbated zone of this sediment type. However, combined with the generally more realistic shape of profiles derived by the “nonlocal exchange”, these evidences suggest that both eddy and molecular diffusion must operate in the bioturbated zone of permeable sediments.

The combined impact of the burrow-dwelling polychaete, Nereis diversicolor , and organic enrichment with macroalgal detritus, Chaetomorpha linum , on sediment metabolism (CO 2 production) and nutrient (NH 4 + and NO 3 − ) dynamics was assessed in laboratory microcosms over 35 days with homogenized sandy (0.5% LOI) and muddy (8.6% LOI) sediment from a shallow estuary (Kertinge Nor, Denmark). In addition, the gross C and net N mineralization (+DOC evolution) was followed in 4 time series using closed anaerobic jars containing the two sediment types with and without organic addition. The unenriched treatments showed that the sandy sediment exhibited higher C and N mineralization than the muddy, due to a more reactive indigenous organic pool (fresh diatoms vs. degraded macroalgal detritus). A higher excess CO 2 production due to enrichment in the muddy than the sandy sediment indicates a higher instant capacity for carbon mineralization in the former sediment. In contrast to the sandy, the muddy sediment had previously been exposed to extensive input of filamentous algae and may therefore be better adapted to this particular detritus type. The excess NH 4 + production due to enrichment was highest in sandy sediment, suggesting that N was recycled rapidly by the microbial community of the relatively nitrogen-poor muddy sediment, resulting in a low net N mineralization. It also appears that C and N mineralization was uncoupled in sandy sediment, as indicated by the simultaneous initial production of DOC and NH 4 + with no concomitant CO 2 production. The presence of animals enhanced C mineralization in all treatments; highest in the enriched treatments. The enhancement in absolute rates was similar when both sediment types were enriched, indicating that the faunal enhancement with added detritus is independent of sediment type. The faunal enhancement of N mineralization, on the other hand, was highest in sandy sediment irrespective of organic enrichment. Denitrification estimates, based on mass balance, also appeared to be stimulated significantly by the presence of animals, whereas organic enrichment had a minor influence on this particular process.

The most important inorganic nitrogen transformations (nitrification, denitrification and N fixation) and DIN fluxes in darkened and inundated sediments were studied dunng the dry season in the Ao Nam Bor mangrove forest at the island of Phuket, Thailand Dark fluxes of NH,' were low (not sigruficantly different from zero) and tended to be directed into the sediment in the area vegetated by the tree Rhizophora ap~cula ta (204 pm01 m d') and out of the sediment in an adjacent unvegetated area (80 pm01 m d l ) NO, appeared to be taken up by the sediment In both areas, although at rates not significantly diffeient from zero (134 and 85 pin01 m-' d-l respectively) The trend for higher uptake of DIN in the vegetated area may be related to microbial assimilation dunng degradation of nitrogen-poor tree litter Nitr~fication rates, estimated from potent~al assays uslng oxygen penetration depth or measured as coupled nitrification-denitrification using a 15N isotope-painng technique, were also very low (12 to 74 pm01 m del) Nitr~fication rates appeared higher and penetrated deeper in the vegetated than the unvegetated sedlments as substantiated by higher concentrations of porewater NO3Den~tnf ica t~on rates were 3 5 times highei in the vegetated (46 pm01 m-' d-l) than the unvegetated sedlments (13 pm01 m d-') Since mole than 90% of the NO,needed by denitr~fiers onginated from nltnficatlon (coupled nitrification-denitrification), only 1 to 2 % of the measured NO3influx from the overlying water was consumed by denitnfication N flxation (284 to 390 pm01 m-2 d-') in the present mangrove sedirnents was estimated to account for about 10% of the net demand by pnmary producers About half of the measured N fixatlon was due to fixation by sulfate reducing bactena The Ao Nam Bor mangrove forest was charactenzed by low concentrations fluxes and rates of microbial transformations of DIN suggest~ng a tight coupling between mineralization and assimilation processes These nitrogen-poor sediinents acted as sinks for nitrogen, due to m~croblal ass~rnilaUon and the presence of trees in the vegetated sedlinent was evident as a 50% higher net retention of DIN

Bis(bidentate ligand) and tetradentate ligand nickel(II) N 2 X 2 Schiff-base and aza complexes (X = NH or S) have been prepared and their properties investigated by spectroscopic methods. In the bis(bidentate ligand) complexes the aza function stabilizes the low-spin S = 0 state compared with the imine function. The aza complexes are low spin both in the solid state and in solution; the Schiff-base complexes are either low or high spin (S = 1) in the solid state, and are either in spin equilibrium (S = 0 ⇌ S = 1) or high spin in solution. The crystal structure has been solved for the high-spin complex bis(4-isopropyliminomethyl-1,3-diphenylpyrazol-5-ylaminato)nickel( II). The co-ordination of Ni is pseudo-tetrahedral, the angle between the N–Ni–NH and NH′–Ni–N′ planes being 93.8(1)°. The Ni–N (imine) bond lengths are 1.999(2) and 2.003(3) A, significantly longer than the Ni–N (amine) bond lengths of 1.919(2) A. In the tetradentate ligand complexes the two identical halves of the ligands are linked by aliphatic four-carbon chains. When the linkage is CMe 2 (CH 2 ) 2 CMe 2 the complexes are fully paramagnetic in the solid state and in solution, while complexes bridged by unsubstituted (CH 2 ) 4 are low spin in the solid state and in spin equilibrium in solution. The crystal structure of [N,N′-bis(1,3-dimethyl-5-sulfanylpyrazol-4- ylmethylene)butane-1,4-diaminato]nickel(II) reveals an almost planar co-ordination geometry, the angle between the N–Ni–S and S′–Ni–N′ planes being 7.9(3)°. The Schiff-base complexes are chiral and all show evidence of racemization in solution. Thermodynamic parameters for the spin-equilibrium process in CD 2 Cl 2 [ΔG(25 °C) from -4.32 to 0.71 kJ mol -1 for the bis(bidentate ligand) systems, from 3.72 to 11.3 kJ mol -1 for the tetradentate ligand systems] and kinetic parameters for the racemization process in CD 2 Cl 2 or CDCl 2 CDCl 2 [ΔG ‡ (25 °C) from 40.5 to 53.3 kJ mol -1 for the bis(bidentate ligand) complexes, 46.5 to 63.1 kJ mol -1 for the tetradentate ligand complexes] have been derived using variable-temperature 1 H NMR spectroscopy. Sulfur donor atoms and aryl substituents favour the low-spin state. Ligand-field parameters for the Schiff-base complexes have been derived from the electronic spectra.

The importance of Chironomus plumosuslarvae on benthic metabolism and nutrient exchange across the sediment‐ water interface was evaluated in a shallow eutrophic lake (Lake Arreskov, Denmark) following a phytoplankton sedimentation. Chironomus plumosuslarvae were added to laboratory sediment microcosms, corresponding to a density of 2825 larvae m 2 . Non-inhabited microcosms served as controls. A sedimentation pulse of organic matter was simulated by adding fresh algal material (Chlamydomonas reinhardii ) to sediment cores (36 g dry weight m 2 ). The mineralization was followed by measuring fluxes of O 2 ,C O 2, dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate. A rapid clearance of algae from the water column in faunated microcosms suggested that chironomids may be of major importance in controlling phytoplankton concentrations in shallow eutrophic lakes. Chironomids increased the sediment O2 uptake 3 times more than what would be expected from their own respiration, indicating a stimulation of microbial activity and decomposition of organic matter in the sediment. Addition of algae enhanced the release of CO2 ,N H 4 and o-P. The excess inorganic C, N and P released in amended non-inhabited sediment after 36 days corresponded to 65, 31 and 58% of the C, N and P in the added algae. In sediment inhabited by Chironomus plumosusthe corresponding numbers were 147, 45 and 73%, indicating that mineralization of organic matter also from the indigenous sediment pool was stimulated by chironomids.