Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a group of bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illness and occasionally causes large foodborne outbreaks. It represents a major public health concern due to its ability to cause severe illness which can sometimes be fatal. This study was undertaken as part of a rapid investigation into a national foodborne outbreak of STEC O145. On 22 May 2024, United Kingdom (UK) public health agencies and laboratories identified an increase in stool specimens submissions and patients testing positive for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). Whole genome sequencing (WGS) identified serotype O145:H28 stx2a/eae belonging to the same five single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) single linkage cluster as the causative agent. By 3 July 2024, 288 cases had been linked to the cluster. Most cases were adults (87%) and females (57%), 49% were hospitalized with a further 10% attending emergency care. Descriptive epidemiology and analytical studies were conducted which identified consumption of nationally distributed pre-packed sandwiches as a common food exposure. The implicated food business operators voluntarily recalled ready-to-eat sandwiches and wraps containing lettuce on 14 June 2024.

A series of synthetic goethites containing varying amounts of Si and P dopants were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, electron diffraction, microbeam electron diffraction, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Very low level incorporation produced materials having structural and spectral properties similar to those of poorly crystalline synthetic or natural goethite. At higher incorporation levels, mixtures of noncrystalline materials were obtained which exhibited Mössbauer spectra typical of noncrystalline materials mixed with a superparamagnetic component. Microbeam electron diffraction indicated that these mixtures contained poorly crystalline goethite, poorly crystalline ferrihydrite, and a noncrystalline component. If the material was prepared with no aging of the alkaline Fe3+ solution before the addition of Na2HPO4 or Na2SiO3, materials were obtained containing little if any superparamagnetic component. If the alkaline Fe3+ solution was aged for 48 hr before the addition, goethite nuclei formed and apparently promoted the precipitation of a superparamagnetic phase. The Mössbauer-effect hyperfme parameters and the saturation internal-hyperfine field obtained at 4.2 K were typical of those of goethite; however, the Mössbauer spectra indicated that the ordering temperature, as reflected in the relaxation rate and/or the blocking temperature, decreased with increasing incorporation of Si and P. The complete loss of crystallinity indicates that Si and P did not substitute for Fe, but rather adsorbed on crystal-growth sites, thereby preventing uniform crystal growth.

Is there a trade-off between the short-run and long-run real effects of monetary policy “leaning against the wind”? We provide novel evidence on this question from the United States in 1920–1921. Our identification strategy exploits county-level variation in access to the Federal Reserve’s discount window, and hand-collected data on banking and agriculture in Illinois. In the short term, tightened conditions at the discount window decreased bank lending and lowered crop prices and farm revenues. In the long term, however, they lowered debt-to-output levels and led to greater farmland utilization, suggesting an avoidance of debt overhang problems.

Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in activities rarely recorded elsewhere on the continent, including food storage, aquaculture and possible cultivation, yet there has been little archaeological fieldwork to verify these accounts. Here, the authors report on a collaborative research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing this lack of archaeological investigation. The results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures and substantial dwellings. Our archaeological research revealed unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, which could stimulate re-evaluation of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia.

With human influences driving populations of apex predators into decline, more information is required on how factors affect species at national and global scales. However, camera-trap studies are seldom executed at a broad spatial scale. We demonstrate how uniting fine-scale studies and utilizing camera-trap data of non-target species is an effective approach for broadscale assessments through a case study of the brown hyaena Parahyaena brunnea. We collated camera-trap data from 25 protected and unprotected sites across South Africa into the largest detection/non-detection dataset collected on the brown hyaena, and investigated the influence of biological and anthropogenic factors on brown hyaena occupancy. Spatial autocorrelation had a significant effect on the data, and was corrected using a Bayesian Gibbs sampler. We show that brown hyaena occupancy is driven by specific co-occurring apex predator species and human disturbance. The relative abundance of spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta and people on foot had a negative effect on brown hyaena occupancy, whereas the relative abundance of leopards Panthera pardus and vehicles had a positive influence. We estimated that brown hyaenas occur across 66% of the surveyed camera-trap station sites. Occupancy varied geographically, with lower estimates in eastern and southern South Africa. Our findings suggest that brown hyaena conservation is dependent upon a multi-species approach focussed on implementing conservation policies that better facilitate coexistence between people and hyaenas. We also validate the conservation value of pooling fine-scale datasets and utilizing bycatch data to examine species trends at broad spatial scales.

This article examines in detail chapters 8–11 of Anselm's Proslogion, in which he addresses the problem whether perfectly just God can consistently spare sinners who deserve eternal condemnation. The article argues that Anselm's discussion is framed by two doctrines that permeate the Proslogion: that God is the being than which none greater can be conceived and that God is ontologically simple. Anselm presents several principles about justice and mercy for consideration, some of which should be modified or rejected. The article offers a sympathetic construction of the perspectival solution he offers to the problem, but concludes that some important questions remain unanswered.

The proximity of minerals found in human hard tissues may influence cell phenotype. Since cells respond to a range of environmental cues, this study sought to identify the influence of two apatite-based microparticles, hydroxyapatite (HA) and fluoroapatite (FA), upon dental and bone cells. After bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), 7F2 osteoblasts and dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) were plated into media with or without HA or FA particles, the cells were analyzed for alkaline phosphatase (ALP) production, collagen I production, osteocalcin production, and mineralization for two weeks. The BMSCs and DPSCs in media without any microparticles produced more ALP compared to those with microparticles from Day 5 forward. In addition, the collagen I and osteocalcin production in cultures without microparticles was higher than in cultures containing either HA or FA particles. While some studies have shown increased osteogeonic differentiation in the presence of mineral particles, those studies used nanoparticles that were able to be internalized by the cells and were smaller than the microparticles used in this study.

Tall ironweed (Vernonia altissima Nutt.) is a perennial with underground, axillary vegetative buds from which new shoots are produced. In a 2-yr study, tall ironweed plants averaged 6115 seeds/plant. Germination of buried seeds increased with increased time of burial. Foliar herbicide applications were evaluated for control of tall ironweed plants in the pre- to early-bud stages of growth. The triethylamine salt or ethylene glycol butyl ether ester of triclopyr {[(3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinyl)oxy] acetic acid} was the most effective, providing 93 to 90% control of top growth and regrowth of tall ironweed. The butoxyethanol and propylene glycol butyl ether esters of 2,4-D [(2,4-dichlorophenoxy) acetic acid] alone and in combination with the amine salt of triclopyr also provided excellent control.

In a 2-yr field study, selective application of a 2.5% (v/v) solution of the ammonium salt of fosamine [ethyl hydrogen(aminocarbonyl)phosphonate] plus 0.5% (v/v) nonionic surfactant to multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora Thunb. # ROSMU) demonstrated leaves to be the major site of uptake for suppressing growth. In greenhouse studies, 14C-fosamine was absorbed in decreasing order by axillary bud, leaf, and stem treatments, respectively. 14C was rapidly translocated throughout multiflora rose plants when applied to leaf, stem, or bud tissue. The highest 14C concentration always occurred at the site of uptake. In a 32-day study, the treated leaf, the treated bud, and treated stem had the highest 14C concentration when 14C-fosamine was leaf, bud, or stem applied, respectively.

Restoration in Mediterranean-climate grasslands is strongly impeded by lack of native propagules and competition with exotic grasses and forbs. We report on a study testing several methods for exotic plant control combined with planting native grasses to restore prairies in former agricultural land in coastal California. Specifically we compared tarping (shading out recently germinated seedlings with black plastic) once, tarping twice, topsoil removal, herbicide (glyphosate), and a control treatment in factorial combinations with or without wood mulch. Into each treatment we planted three native grass species (Elymus glaucus, Hordeum brachyantherum, and Stipa pulchra) and monitored plant survival and cover for three growing seasons. Survival of native grass species was high in all treatments, but was slightly lower in unmulched soil removal and control treatments in the first 2 yr. Mulching, tarping, and herbicide were all effective in reducing exotic grass cover and enhancing native grass cover for the first 2 yr, but by the third growing season cover of the plant guilds and bare ground had mostly converged, primarily because of the declining effects of the initial treatments. Mulching and tarping were both considerably more expensive than herbicide treatment. Topsoil removal was less effective in increasing native grass cover likely because soil removal altered the surface hydrology in this system. Our results show that several treatments were effective in enhancing native grass establishment, but that longer term monitoring is needed to evaluate the efficacy of restoration efforts. The most appropriate approach to controlling exotics to restore specific grassland sites will depend not only on the effectiveness, but also on relative costs and site constraints.

For the 2012 Olympics, London was announced to us in images and words which combined sophisticated rhetoric and crude simplification. Two related promises emerged from the compact between design and politics: to replace a fragmented, neglected and polluted area with a smooth, harmonious new city district; and to bequeath an enduring foundation, a ‘legacy’, to the future. The references to ecology and inequality can be identified with their early twenty-first century moment, but the spatial strategy of a city in a park was something of a throwback to the twentieth and nineteenth centuries: a techno-pastoral in which nature redeems the city from its fallen state. In short: a vision of the future inherited from the past.