Dietary intake modulates the gut microbiota by providing fermentation substrates. Both microbiota-accessible nutrients and digestible food components have been shown to modulate microbial abundance and function(1). A range of dietary assessment methods are used to investigate diet-microbe interactions, with two commonly used methods being food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) to assess ‘habitual’ dietary intake and food recalls which measure recent intake proximal to sampling of microbiota. This study aimed to compare diet-microbiome associations identified from habitual and proximal dietary intake aligned with stool microbiota sampling in a healthy adult cohort. Military trainees (n = 35), and non-military personnel (junior doctors during hospital placement; n = 21) self-reported proximal dietary intake using digital (Easy Diet Diary) or paper-based 24-hr recalls. Habitual intake was assessed using the Comprehensive Nutrition Assessment Questionnaire (CNAQ)(2) FFQ. Both measures were assessed at baseline and study completion. Diet recalls matched to the same week of FFQ were analysed using Foodworks 10(3). Stool samples were collected for metagenomic shotgun sequencing and annotated against the Microba Life Sciences platform. MaAsLin2 identified linear associations between nutrients and microbe abundance, controlling for total energy intake and individual variation with repeated measures. Thirty dietary variables common to both dietary assessment methods were used in analysis. Mean daily intakes for total energy and macronutrients were not significantly different between habitual and proximal data. Nutrients that differed between methods were polyols (p < 0.001), sugar (p = 0.006), sodium (p = 0.03), alcohol (p < 0.001), vitamin A equivalents (p < 0.001), b-carotene equivalents (p < 0.001) and dietary fibre (p = 0.01). Associations between nutrient intake and microbes also differed between dietary collection methods. Most significant associations were found with nutrients measured by 24-hr recall. Mean (M) proximal intake of polyols (M = 0.9 g, standard deviation (SD) = 1.8 g) was significantly associated with increased relative abundance of Akkermansia spp. and CAG460 spp. but not with habitual intake (M = 3.4 g, SD = 3.2 g). Proximal alcohol intake (M = 2.5 g, SD = 8.8 g) was associated with CAG1427 spp. and Collinsella spp., which was not identified with habitual intake (M = 4.4 g, SD = 6.7 g). In contrast, habitual sugar intake (M = 149 g, SD = 103 g) was associated with Bacteroides spp. and Blautia spp. This association was not evident for proximal intake (M = 112 g, SD = 68 g), suggesting that some diet-microbiota associations may depend on the dietary assessment method used. These findings demonstrate the relevance of considering both habitual diet and proximal intake when conducting diet-microbiome research. Further analysis will investigate the role of these microbes and further associations between these nutrients and the functional capacity of the microbiota.

Traditional foods are increasingly being incorporated into modern diets. This is largely driven by consumers seeking alternative food sources that have superior nutritional and functional properties. Within Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are looking to develop their traditional foods for commercial markets. However, supporting evidence to suggest these foods are safe for consumption within the wider general population is limited. At the 2022 NSA conference a keynote presentation titled ‘Decolonising food regulatory frameworks to facilitate First Peoples food sovereignty’ was presented. This presentation was followed by a manuscript titled ‘Decolonising food regulatory frameworks: Importance of recognising traditional culture when assessing dietary safety of traditional foods’, which was published in the conference proceedings journal(1). These pieces examined the current regulatory frameworks that are used to assess traditional foods and proposed a way forward that would allow Traditional Custodians to successfully develop their foods for modern markets. Building upon the previously highlighted works, this presentation will showcase best practice Indigenous engagement and collaboration principles in the development of traditionally used food products. To achieve this, we collaborated with a collective of Gamilaraay peoples who are looking to reignite their traditional grain practices and develop grain-based food products. To meet the current food safety regulatory requirements, we needed to understand how this grain would fit into modern diets, which included understanding the history of use, elucidating the nutritional and functional properties that can be attributed to the grain, and developing a safety dossier(2) so that the Traditional Custodians can confidently take their product to market. To aid the Traditional Custodians in performing their due diligence, we have systemically analysed the dietary safety of the selected native grain and compared it side-by-side with commonly consumed wheat in a range of in vitro bioassays and chemical analyses. From a food safety perspective, we show that the native grain is equivalent to commonly consumed wheat. The native grain has been shown to be no more toxic than wheat within our biological screening systems. Chemical analysis showed that the level of contaminants are below tolerable limits, and we were not able to identify any chemical classes of concern. Our initial findings support the history of safe use and suggest that the tested native grain species would be no less safe than commonly consumed wheat. This risk assessment and previously published nutritional study(3) provides an overall indication that the grain is nutritionally superior and viable for commercial development. The learnings from this project can direct the future risk assessment of traditional foods and therefore facilitate the safe market access of a broader range of traditionally used foods. Importantly, the methods presented are culturally safe and financially viable for the small businesses hoping to enter the market.

The Guardian of June 9, 2005 reported the disappearance from the International Atomic Energy Agency of a set or sets of detailed engineering plans for making nuclear materials and weapons of mass destruction (WMD). While there never have been any significant scientific secrets on the nuclear bomb, there has been somewhat restricted engineering information that would enable others to speed up, make more cheaply and avoid obvious tell-tale aspects of acquisition. Now we must assume that production information is widely available.

Bronze Age–Early Iron Age tin ingots recovered from four Mediterranean shipwrecks off the coasts of Israel and southern France can now be provenanced to tin ores in south-west Britain. These exceptionally rich and accessible ores played a fundamental role in the transition from copper to full tin-bronze metallurgy across Europe and the Mediterranean during the second millennium BC. The authors’ application of a novel combination of three independent analyses (trace element, lead and tin isotopes) to tin ores and artefacts from Western and Central Europe also provides the foundation for future analyses of the pan-continental tin trade in later periods.

Commercializing targeted sprayer systems allows producers to reduce herbicide inputs but risks the possibility of not treating emerging weeds. Currently, targeted applications with the John Deere system allow for five spray sensitivity settings, and no published literature discusses the impact of these settings on detecting and spraying weeds of varying species, sizes, and positions in crops. Research was conducted in AR, IL, IN, MS, and NC in corn, cotton, and soybean to determine how various factors might influence the ability of targeted applications to treat weeds. These data included 21 weed species aggregated to six classes with height, width, and densities, ranging from 25 to 0.25 cm, 25 to 0.25 cm, and 14.3 to 0.04 plants m-2, respectively. Crop and weed density did not influence the likelihood of treating the weeds. As expected, the sensitivity setting alters the ability to treat weeds. Targeted applications (across sensitivity settings, median weed height and width, and density of 2.4 plants m-2) resulted in a treatment success of 99.6% to 84.4%, 99.1% to 68.8%, 98.9% to 62.9%, 99.1% to 70.3%, 98.0% to 48.3%, and 98.5% to 55.8% for Convolvulaceae, decumbent broadleaf weeds, Malvaceae, Poaceae, Amaranthaceae, and yellow nutsedge, respectively. Reducing the sensitivity setting reduced the ability to treat weeds. Size of weeds aided targeted application success, with larger weeds being more readily treated through easier detection. Based on these findings, various conditions could impact the outcome of targeted multi-nozzle applications. Additionally, the analyses highlight some of the parameters to consider when using these technologies.

Vascular rings represent a heterogeneous set of aberrant great vessel anatomic configurations which can cause respiratory symptoms or dysphagia due to tracheal or oesophageal compression. These symptoms can be subtle and may present at varied ages. More recently, many have been identified in patients without symptoms, including fetal echocardiogram, resulting in a conundrum for practitioners when attempting to determine who will benefit from surgical correction. Here, we provide a review of vascular rings and a guide to the practitioner on when to consider additional imaging or referral. Additionally, we discuss the changing landscape regarding asymptomatic patients and fetal echocardiogram.

Extant theory proposes that stakeholders reward organizations that behave ethically and punish those that don’t. Taken at face value, this dynamic implies that organizations prioritizing ethical concerns should have competitive advantages augmenting performance. Unfortunately, hoped-for advantages often fail to materialize. Examining this difficult reality, we explore how pluralistic ethical standards manifest in ways that are not obvious because they are often locally and temporally attached to stakeholder groups. Further, we adopt a resource-based view of organizations and draw on literature related to dynamic capabilities and stakeholder theories to argue that ethics-related organization-level behavior can only lead to sustainable competitive advantages when there is continued competence across present and future-oriented systems. As a whole, our work provides a useful theoretical framework for addressing the pragmatic difficulties associated with enacting universal ethical principles in unique situations.

Ocean turbulence at meso- and submesocales affects the propagation of surface waves through refraction and scattering, inducing spatial modulations in significant wave height (SWH). We develop a theoretical framework that relates these modulations to the current that induces them. We exploit the asymptotic smallness of the ratio of typical current speed to wave group speed to derive a linear map – the U2H map – between surface current velocity and SWH anomaly. The U2H map is a convolution, non-local in space, expressible as a product in Fourier space by a factor independent of the magnitude of the wavenumber vector. Analytic expressions of the U2H map show how the SWH responds differently to the vortical and divergent parts of the current, and how the anisotropy of the wave spectrum is key to large current-induced SWH anomalies. We implement the U2H map numerically and test its predictions against WAVEWATCH III numerical simulations for both idealised and realistic current configurations.

In Michigan, United States of America, where Asian parasitoids were released to manage emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), we monitored four native parasitoids that also attack the invasive beetle – Atanycolus cappaerti Marsh and Strazanac, A. simplex (Cresson), and Spathius laflammei Provancher (all Hymenoptera: Braconidae), and Phasgonophora sulcata Westwood (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) – using yellow pan traps and tree dissections. Adult A. cappaerti, followed by A. simplex, had the broadest seasonal activity, S. laflammei was captured primarily in the first half of the growing season, and P. sulcata was restricted to mid-summer. Adult abundances of native species varied among years but, except for P. sulcata, were never significantly lower than the established Asian emerald ash borer larval parasitoids, Tetrastichus planipennisi Yang (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and Spathius galinae Belokobylskij and Strazanac (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Densities of emerald ash borer larvae parasitised by A. cappaerti or P. sulcata did not differ significantly from those of the two Asian species. Although adult A. simplex and S. laflammei were frequently captured, we did not confirm parasitisation of any emerald ash borer larvae by these two species, suggesting that they rarely attack emerald ash borer. We did not find any negative correlations between adult or immature parasitoid abundance of any parasitoid species, suggesting that any interspecific competition that may be occurring is negligible.