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Wastewater surveillance for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emerging approach to help identify the risk of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. This tool can contribute to public health surveillance at both community (wastewater treatment system) and institutional (e.g., colleges, prisons, and nursing homes) scales. This paper explores the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from initial wastewater surveillance efforts at colleges and university systems to inform future research, development and implementation. We present the experiences of 25 college and university systems in the United States that monitored campus wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 during the fall 2020 academic period. We describe the broad range of approaches, findings, resources, and impacts from these initial efforts. These institutions range in size, social and political geographies, and include both public and private institutions. Our analysis suggests that wastewater monitoring at colleges requires consideration of local information needs, sewage infrastructure, resources for sampling and analysis, college and community dynamics, approaches to interpretation and communication of results, and follow-up actions. Most colleges reported that a learning process of experimentation, evaluation, and adaptation was key to progress. This process requires ongoing collaboration among diverse stakeholders including decision-makers, researchers, faculty, facilities staff, students, and community members.

Abstract: Gars (family Lepisosteidae) play important roles as apex predators in freshwater ecosystems, helping to balance fish populations. Several gar species are exploited as food and game fish, and some species are classified as vulnerable due to habitat loss. New molecular techniques to detect, monitor, and identify environmental DNA (eDNA) from gars might help inform management and conservation efforts for these interesting fish. The goal of this project was to develop and test PCR primers for gars, using specimens of all seven gar species, which are on exhibit at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan. Focusing on the mitochondrial gene for cytochrome oxidase I, we first designed primers to amplify DNA from all species of gars (“universal gar primers”) and confirmed their specificity in silico. These primers amplified DNA from all seven species, and species identities were confirmed by sequencing the PCR products. Only one of the three ostensibly Shortnose Gar Lepisosteus platostomus specimens sampled exhibited a Shortnose Gar matriline; two other specimens may be Longnose Gar L. osseus × Shortnose Gar hybrids. Genus‐targeted primers were developed that amplified all Atractosteus species and two of four Lepisosteus species. Species‐specific primers were developed for Longnose Gar, Shortnose Gar, and Tropical Gar Atractosteus tropicus. A primer set that targeted Alligator Gar A. spatula also amplified DNA from Cuban Gar A. tristocheus, but not other species. While the universal gar primers followed by sequencing confirmed the identities of all seven gar species at the Belle Isle Aquarium, PCR with the species‐specific primers enabled direct detection of the presence of DNA from the targeted species in the water in which those species had been maintained. Designing these primers is the first step in developing eDNA markers for gars, which in turn could inform the conservation and management of gar populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite many potential effects of the oral microbiome on oral and systemic health, scant information is available regarding the associations between diet and the oral microbiome.Methods: Oral rinse DNA samples from 182 participants in a population-based case-control study for colorectal cancer were used to amplify a V3-V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene. The amplicons were sequenced using Illumina MiSeq paired end chemistry on 2 runs, yielding approximately 33 million filtered reads that were assigned to bacterial classes. Relative abundances of each class and family as well microbial diversity/richness indices were correlated with selected dietary intakes from a food frequency questionnaire.Results: Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and vitamin C intakes were consistently correlated with alpha (within-subjects) diversity indexes in both richness and diversity. SFA intake was positively correlated with relative abundance of betaproteobacteria and fusobacteria. Vitamin C and other vitamins with correlated intakes-for example, the B vitamins and vitamin E-exhibited positive correlations with fusobacteria class, its family Leptotrichiaceae and a clostridia family Lachnospiraceae. In addition, glycemic load was positively correlated with Lactobacillaceae abundance.Conclusion: The observed associations in this study were modest. However, the results suggest that the effects of diets are likely to be habitat specific, and observations from the gut microbiome are not transferrable to the oral microbiome. Further studies are warranted, incorporating a range of host biomarkers, such as cytohistological, molecular, or biochemical measurements, in order to address biological consequences of these dietary intakes in human oral health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Laurentian Great Lakes, specimens of Eurytemora have been reported as Eurytemora affinis since its invasion in the late 1950s. During an intensive collection of aquatic invertebrates for morphological and molecular identification in Western Lake Erie in 2012-2013, several specimens of Eurytemora were collected. Analysis of these specimens identified them as the recently described species Eurytemora carolleeae Alekseev and Souissi 2011. This result led us to assess E. carolleeae’s identifying features, geographic distribution and historical presence in the Laurentian Great Lakes in view of its recent description in 2011. Cytochrome oxidase I (COI) DNA sequences of Eurytemora specimens were identified as closer (2 - 4% different) to recently described E. carolleeae than to most E. affinis sequences (14% different). Eurytemora from other areas of the Great Lakes and from North American rivers as far west as South Dakota (Missouri River) and east to Delaware (Christina River) also keyed to E. carolleeae . Morphological analysis of archival specimens from 1962 and from all the Great Lakes was identified as E. carolleeae . Additionally, Eurytemora drawings in previous publications were reassessed to determine if the species was E. carolleeae and are reported here. Additional morphological characters that may distinguish North American E. carolleeae from other taxa are also described. We conclude that E. carolleeae is the correct name for the species of Eurytemora that has inhabited the Great Lakes since its invasion, as established by both morphological and COI sequence comparisons to reference keys and sequence databases in present and archival specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endovascular procedures carry an intrinsic risk of distal embolization. A large embolus may occlude major vessels with serious consequences. Endovascular procedures in the thoracic aorta may expose the entire visceral and lower limb circulation to this risk. We describe a method of using an endovascular filter to trap large emboli during thoracic aortic stenting using the Wallstent and describe its use in a case of primary aortic mural thrombus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organisms that establish positive interactions with plant roots and exhibit observable benefits on the plant growth arc collectively termed as plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR). They are naturally occurring soil microorganisms, which colonize roots and stimulate plant growth. Such bacteria have been applied to a wide range of agricultural species for the purposes of growth enhancement including increased seed emergence, plant weight, crop yields and disease control. Several chemical changes in soils are fully associated with these bacteria in which some bacterial strains directly regulate plant physiology by promoting synthesis of plant hormones, whereas others increase mineral nutrients availability in the soil as a way to augment growth and development. Beneficial effects of PGPR by its supplemental application to crops or soil were first reported from the former Soviet Union in 1950 and later in Western countries. PGPR were initially applied, to enhance crop fertility by increasing the amount of available N and thereafter were used as biological control agents for suppression of soil borne pathogens. Since 1980 onwards, PGPR have been popular in China and India and referred as yield-increasing bacteria (YIB) followed by biofertilizers in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which suggested that exfoliated cells in stool may serve as a source for examining the effects of the luminal environment on colorectal epithelial cells. It states that fecal RNA analysis may expand the possibility of RNA-based colorectal cancer screening. It notes that colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. It also discusses the important technical considerations in the application of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Investigates whether direct sequencing of a bacterial gene could be utilized for detecting genetic differences between bacterial strains for microbial source tracking. Development of genetic analysis techniques to identify sources of environmental bacteria; Analysis of the genetic differences or similarities between population of Escherichia coli; Comparison of allele frequencies at different geographical sampling sites.

Use of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) as an indicator of previously elevated bacteria concentrations in a watershed was examined. The ability of the zebra mussel to accumulate and purge Escherichia coli over several days was investigated in both laboratory and field experiments. In laboratory experiments, periodic enumeration of E. coli in mussels that had been exposed to a dilute solution of raw sewage demonstrated that (i) maximum concentrations of E. coli are reached within a few hours of exposure to sewage, (ii) the tissue concentration attained is higher than the concentration in the ambient water, and (iii) the E. coli concentrations take several days to return to preexposure concentrations when mussels are subsequently placed in sterile water. In field experiments conducted in southeast Michigan in the Clinton River watershed, brief increases in E. coli concentrations in the water were accompanied by increases in mussel concentrations of E. coli that lasted 2 or 3 d. The ability of mussels to retain and to concentrate E. coli made it possible to detect E. coli in the environment under conditions that conventional monitoring may often miss. Sampling caged mussels in a river and its tributaries may enable watershed managers to reduce the sampling frequency normally required to identify critical E. coli sources, thereby providing a more cost-effective river monitoring strategy for bacterial contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]