Article
Environmental Studies
Sara Geenen, Nik Stoop, Marijke Verpoorten
Summary: ASM is believed to support millions of individuals worldwide in terms of income, yet there is a lack of systematic data on miners' earnings. A study in Congo's South Kivu province used a sampling method and survey tools to collect data from 453 miners to understand how much artisanal gold miners earn and what determines their earnings. The research aims to evaluate the financial attractiveness of artisanal mining and explore whether earnings are based on merit or identity, testing the claim that artisanal mining has a social-levelling effect.
Article
Agronomy
Yongjian Chen, David A. Dierig, Guangyao (Sam) Wang, Diaa Eldin M. Elshikha, Dennis T. Ray, Albert Barberan, Raina M. Maier, Julia W. Neilson
Summary: Plant-microbe associations and microbe-microbe associations are closely related, with critical microbes impacting the growth and health of plants. Through marker gene amplicon sequencing, the study identified overlapping critical microbes in both types of associations, highlighting their importance in the guayule agroecosystem.
Review
Microbiology
Sabrina Duranti, Giulia Longhi, Marco Ventura, Douwe van Sinderen, Francesca Turroni
Summary: Bifidobacteria, as an important group of gut bacteria, play a crucial role in host-microbe interactions within the mammalian gut, contributing to health-promoting activities. They are among the dominant bacterial members of the intestinal microbiota and are able to colonize and survive in the gut, facilitating host interactions.
Article
Microbiology
Muhammad Siddique Afridi, Ali Fakhar, Ashwani Kumar, Sher Ali, Flavio H. Medeiros, Muhammad Atif Muneer, Hina Ali, Muhammad Saleem
Summary: The rhizosphere is a dynamic region of plant root-soil interfaces that plays a crucial role in plant health and stress tolerance. Engineering the rhizosphere microbiome using omics tools and gene-editing techniques can enhance plant growth and disease management. This review explores the complex interactions within the rhizosphere microbiome and the potential for ecological engineering to improve plant fitness and increase crop production.
MICROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Vincent G. Martinson, Michael R. Strand
Summary: This study found that mosquito development and fitness are strongly contingent on both diet and microbial community composition, revealing specific interactions between gut microbes and diets that affect the fitness of Aedes aegypti.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
Nour A. Ass'ad, Xin Shore, Orrin Myers, Alexandra R. Camacho, Quiteria Jacquez, Charles Pollard, Linda S. Cook, Shuguang Leng, Kimberly Page, Akshay Sood, Katherine E. Zychowski
Summary: The study suggests that uranium miners are more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases compared to non-uranium miners, but the molecular basis for this phenomenon is currently unclear. Biomarkers of interest were found to be significantly elevated in uranium miners, indicating a potential link to cardiovascular diseases. Further research to explore the underlying mechanism is warranted.
Article
Microbiology
Carlos Molina-Santiago, John R. Pearson, Maria Victoria Berlanga-Clavero, Alicia Isabel Perez-Lorente, Antonio de Vicente, Diego Romero
Summary: Complex interactions between microbial populations can greatly influence the properties of microbial communities, which are highly relevant in diverse scientific areas. Utilizing modern microscopic techniques provides new insights into how bacteria interact at the cellular level, but our ability to study complex interactions in vivo remains somewhat limited.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
D. B. Richardson, E. Rage, P. A. Demers, M. T. Do, N. DeBono, N. Fenske, V Deffner, M. Kreuzer, J. Samet, C. Wiggins, M. K. Schubauer-Berigan, K. Kelly-Reif, L. Tomasek, L. B. Zablotska, D. Laurier
Summary: The Pooled Uranium Miners Analysis (PUMA) study found increased mortality rates among uranium miners due to various causes of death, including lung cancer and silicosis. It highlights the importance of long-term follow-up of these workers to monitor health outcomes over time.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Kaitlin Kelly-Reif, Stephen J. Bertke, Estelle Rage, Paul A. Demers, Nora Fenske, Veronika Deffner, Michaela Kreuzer, Jonathan Samet, Mary K. Schubauer-Berigan, Ladislav Tomasek, Lydia B. Zablotska, Charles Wiggins, Dominique Laurier, David B. Richardson
Summary: This study is the largest and most up-to-date pooled study of uranium miners, involving 7 cohorts of male uranium miners with 7754 lung cancer deaths and 4.3 million person-years of follow-up. The study found a linear exposure-response relationship between cumulative radon exposure and lung cancer mortality, which is modified by temporal and exposure factors.
OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Review
Microbiology
Mengshi Zhang, Marvin Whiteley, Gina R. Lewin
Summary: The diversity and importance of the oral microbiome play a vital role in oral and overall health, and studying oral diseases can provide insights into the complexity and dynamics of polymicrobial interactions.
Review
Microbiology
Anna Maria Pirttila, Habibollah Mohammad Parast Tabas, Namrata Baruah, Janne J. Koskimaki
Summary: Microbiological tools, biofertilizers, and biocontrol agents have been developed for improving crop plant growth and health; however, inconsistency in field performance remains a major challenge. Addressing this challenge, potential solutions include combining various microbial strains from the full plant microbiome to overcome inconsistency and ensuring a thorough understanding of each microbiological tool's mechanisms of action.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Maria Balseiro-Romero, Angeles Prieto-Fernandez, Leslie M. Shor, Subhasis Ghoshal, Philippe C. Baveye, Jose Julio Ortega-Calvo
Summary: Recent research shows that chemotactic bacteria can disperse inside microsized pores with the help of motile partners, enhancing their dispersion and reducing deposition. In this study, nonmotile bacteria were co-transported with motile Pseudomonas putida G7 cells to enhance their dispersion in micrometer-sized pores. The co-transport was more intense in larger pores and with strong chemoeffectors. Mechanical pushing and hydrodynamic interactions were found to be the main mechanisms governing the co-transport.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Maria Balseiro-Romero, Angeles Prieto-Fernandez, Leslie M. Shor, Subhasis Ghoshal, Philippe C. Baveye, Jose Julio Ortega-Calvo
Summary: Recent research has shown that chemotactic bacteria can disperse and be transported inside microsized pores, enhancing their dispersion and reducing deposition in porous systems. This study demonstrates that nonmotile bacteria can be cotransported with motile bacteria to enhance their dispersion in micrometer-sized pores.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Hu Li, Qiu-Ping Luo, Qiang Pu, Xiao-Ru Yang, Xin-Li An, Dong Zhu, Jian-Qiang Su
Summary: Globally distributed earthworms can affect the compositions of soil compounds, microbial community structures, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, little is known about how earthworms impact the dissemination of ARGs in soil.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Theory & Methods
Qianlan Bai, Yuedong Xu, Nianyi Liu, Xin Wang
Summary: This paper studies the impact of multiple misbehaving miners on the profitability of selfish mining in blockchain PoW consensus. It establishes a Markov chain model to analyze the state transitions of public and private chains and derives the profitable threshold of Hash power. The study shows that the threshold decreases as the number of symmetric attackers increases, and presents an online algorithm to compute the nearly optimal policy for strategic mining. Additionally, a simple model of mining revenue reveals that selfish mining relies on future reimbursements for profitability, making miners more cautious.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION FORENSICS AND SECURITY
(2023)