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Abstract To enhance health benefits, a probiotic can be co-administered with a metabolizable prebiotic forming a synergistic synbiotic. We assessed the synergies resulting from combining Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis LMG 11588 and an age-adapted blend of six human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) in ex vivo colonic incubation bioreactors seeded with fecal background microbiota from infant and toddler donors. When HMOs were combined with B. infantis LMG 11588, they were rapidly and completely consumed. This resulted in increased short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production compared to the summed SCFA production from individual ingredients (synergy). Remarkably, HMOs were partially consumed for specific infant donors in the absence of B. infantis LMG 11588, yet all donors showed increased SCFA production upon B. infantis LMG 11588 supplementation. We found specific bacterial taxa associated with the differential response pattern to HMOs. Our study shows the importance of carefully selecting pre- and probiotic into a synergistic synbiotic that could benefit infants.

Abstract Designing ultralight conductive aerogels with tailored electrical and mechanical properties is critical for various applications. Conventional approaches rely on iterative, time-consuming experiments across a vast parameter space. Herein, an integrated workflow is developed to combine collaborative robotics with machine learning to accelerate the design of conductive aerogels with programmable properties. An automated pipetting robot is operated to prepare 264 mixtures of Ti3C2Tx MXene, cellulose, gelatin, and glutaraldehyde at different ratios/loadings. After freeze-drying, the aerogels’ structural integrity is evaluated to train a support vector machine classifier. Through 8 active learning cycles with data augmentation, 162 unique conductive aerogels are fabricated/characterized via robotics-automated platforms, enabling the construction of an artificial neural network prediction model. The prediction model conducts two-way design tasks: (1) predicting the aerogels’ physicochemical properties from fabrication parameters and (2) automating the inverse design of aerogels for specific property requirements. The combined use of model interpretation and finite element simulations validates a pronounced correlation between aerogel density and compressive strength. The model-suggested aerogels with high conductivity, customized strength, and pressure insensitivity allow for compression-stable Joule heating for wearable thermal management.

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to investigate the Northern Ireland tourism industry with a special focus on Dark (Troubles) Tourism. The method is two surveys one of Northern Ireland residents and one of potential tourists resident overseas, a focus group and interviews with tour-guides and a local MP. Findings suggest widespread support for Troubles Tourism from both residents and potential tourists and a supportive attitude from our interviewees. The two sides to the conflict are now working side-by-side in this new form of tourism, but it is important that each side tell only its ‘own’ story. from its own perspective, and does not speak for others. We conclude that, not over-commercialized, Troubles Tourism can educate people as well as being a source of fascination.

Currently, there is an urgent need for the growing aquaculture sector to rely on sustainable ingredients which can achieve optimal growth while maintaining fish’s nutritional value (especially omega-3 fatty acid content) for human consumption. Here, C. reinhardtii biomass was substituted for fishmeal in zebrafish (Danio rerio) diets in wild-type and mutant (Casper) strains. Four isonitrogenous (46% cp), isocaloric (19–21 MJ/kg DW) diets were prepared with C. reinhardtii replacing 10% (C10), 20% (C20), and 50% (C50) of the fishmeal component of the diet formulation. Over 8 weeks of feeding trials, the zebrafish showed a significant growth improvement when fed C10, C20, and C50 compared with the control (no C. reinhardtii), with C20 giving the best performance in terms of growth, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and specific growth rate (SGR). Interestingly, C. reinhardtii in the diet increased the levels of linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3) and hexadecatrienoic acid (C16: 4-n-3) (p ≤ 0.05) in the zebrafish. Yellow pigmentation, which was shown to be lutein, was observed in eggs and zebrafish flesh for fish fed a diet containing C. reinhardtii. Moreover, the zebrafish assimilated β-carotene from C. reinhardtii and converted it to vitamin A. Overall, while replacing 20% of fishmen in the zebrafish’s diet with C. reinhardtii biomass offers the best results, replacement with only 10% showed a significant benefit for the zebrafish. Furthermore, replacing fishmeal with 50% C. reinhardtii is still possible and beneficial, and C. reinhardtii whole cells are digestible by zebrafish, thus demonstrating that C. reinhardtii not only has the potential to serve as a feed supplement but that it can also act as a feed substitute once the production cost of microalgae becomes competitive.

Summary In this paper, we reveal and characterize cross‐feeding behaviour between the common gut commensal Bacteroides cellulosilyticus (Baccell) and certain bifidobacterial strains, including Bifidobacterium breve UCC2003, when grown on a medium containing Larch Wood Arabinogalactan (LW‐AG). We furthermore show that cross‐feeding is dependent on the release of β‐1,3‐galacto‐di/trisaccharides (β‐1,3‐GOS), and identified that the bga gene cluster of B. breve UCC2003 allows β‐1,3‐GOS metabolism. The product of bgaB is presumed to be responsible for the import of β‐1,3‐GOS, while the bgaA gene product, a glycoside hydrolase family 2 member, was shown to hydrolyse both β‐1,3‐galactobiose and β‐1,3‐galactotriose into galactose monomers. This study advances our understanding of strain‐specific syntrophic interactions between two glycan degraders in the human gut in the presence of AG‐type dietary polysaccharides.

ABSTRACT The field of metagenomics has rapidly expanded to become the go-to method for complex microbial community analyses. However, there is currently no straightforward route from metagenomics to traditional culture-based methods of strain isolation, particularly in (bacterio)phage biology, leading to an investigative bottleneck. Here, we describe a method that exploits specific phage receptor binding protein (RBP)-host cell surface receptor interaction enabling isolation of phage-host combinations from an environmental sample. The method was successfully applied to two complex sample types—a dairy-derived whey sample and an infant fecal sample, enabling retrieval of specific and culturable phage hosts. IMPORTANCE PhRACS aims to bridge the current divide between in silico genetic analyses (i.e., phageomic studies) and traditional culture-based methodology. Through the labeling of specific bacterial hosts with fluorescently tagged recombinant phage receptor binding proteins and the isolation of tagged cells using flow cytometry, PhRACS allows the full potential of phageomic data to be realized in the wet laboratory.

Abstract Background The correct establishment of the human gut microbiota represents a crucial development that commences at birth. Different hypotheses propose that the infant gut microbiota is derived from, among other sources, the mother’s fecal/vaginal microbiota and human milk. Results The composition of bifidobacterial communities of 25 mother-infant pairs was investigated based on an internal transcribed spacer (ITS) approach, combined with cultivation-mediated and genomic analyses. We identified bifidobacterial strains/communities that are shared between mothers and their corresponding newborns. Notably, genomic analyses together with growth profiling assays revealed that bifidobacterial strains that had been isolated from human milk are genetically adapted to utilize human milk glycans. In addition, we identified particular bacteriophages specific of bifidobacterial species that are common in the viromes of mother and corresponding child. Conclusions This study highlights the transmission of bifidobacterial communities from the mother to her child and implies human milk as a potential vehicle to facilitate this acquisition. Furthermore, these data represent the first example of maternal inheritance of bifidobacterial phages, also known as bifidophages in infants following a vertical transmission route.

We use theories from the philosophy of sport literature to contextualize and make conclusions in relation to two famous matches in Fiji’s soccer history: the 1982 Inter-District Championship Final between Ba and Nadi and the 1988 World Cup Qualifier between Australia and Fiji. In relation to the first game, Nadi and Ba officials made a gentlemen’s agreement not to accept Fiji Football Association’s decision to host the final replay in the neutral venue of Lautoka instead of the original venue of Nadi and then Ba reneged on that agreement. We conclude that, based on the philosophical treatment of fair play as equal to respect for the game, Fiji FA was within its rights to host the replay in Lautoka and Nadi should have turned up to play on the day. In the second game, we argue that Fiji was the better team on the day, in its 1–0 win over Australia, and so the victory was neither hollow nor undeserved. However, during that era, Australia was the better team overall as it won the majority of games played between the two nations.

Environmental regulation is an important means of restraining enterprises and protecting the environment. Rationalization of environmental regulatory policies can promote high-quality regional economic development. The optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure has an intermediary effect on the impact of environmental regulations on the high-quality development of the regional economy. After collating and analyzing previous research, this article proposes to classify 30 Chinese provinces into regions with higher than the national average HDI (human development index) and lower than the national average HDI based on the average HDI of Chinese provinces. We explore the mediating effect of industrial structure on environmental regulation and high-quality regional economic development. The model passed the full-sample robustness test and the robustness test with GDP as the replacement variable. The empirical results show that environmental regulations of different intensities have different effects on the quality of regional economic development. The effect of environmental regulations on development quality is mainly mediated through the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure. Enterprises need reasonable incentives from environmental regulations to transform and upgrade. The mediating effect of the industrial structure on environmental regulations is greater in regions with below-average HDI values than in regions with above-average HDI values, which shows that the industrial structure is the mechanism underlying the effect of environmental regulations on the quality of regional economic development. This result proves that adjusting environmental regulatory policies can effectively promote the upgrading of industrial structure, thereby promoting high-quality regional economic development. Based on this, the article puts forward several policy recommendations.

Background. In this article I review key studies in the academic literature on football (soccer) hooliganism in the UK and around the world. I apply Armstrong’s anthropological approach to our 15–20 member West Perth unofcial cheer squad (hard-core supporter group) of 1984–1986 (Australian Rules football’s WAFL competition). Method. This is an ethnographic study of the West Perth cheer squad 1984–86 told from the viewpoint of the author who was co-founder and co-leader of this group. It is both strength and weakness of the research data that the author was an active participant in the events rather than a researcher performing typical ethnographic research as a non-participant. Results. I fnd that the anthropological approach is able to explain many aspects of our cheer squad’s culture and members’ behaviours including the quick disintegration of the cheer squad early in the 1986 season without anyone ofcially ending it. However, our group members did not adjust their commitment downwards during the cheer squad’s years of action; most members attended all home-and-away matches during May 1984–March 1986. This research also shows the diffusion of Australian Rules football supporter culture from Melbourne to Adelaide and from these two cities to Perth, to a lesser extent, and the impact of TV news reports of British football hooliganism on our group’s style and macho posturing. Conclusion. Detailed long-term ethnographic studies of individual football (soccer) hooligan frms and Australian Rules’ cheer squads are the most vital type of new research. Keywords: football hooliganism, neo-tribes, Perth history, sports history, Western Australian football.

The objective of this study is to examine the trends of director remuneration in Malaysia’s publicly listed companies. The proxies for executive pay are based on cash remuneration consisting of fees, salary, bonuses, and benefits to kin. Based on the data collected from 486 publicly listed companies in Bursa Malaysia from 2007 to 2009, we empirically tested findings that the trends for remuneration increased during and after the financial crisis. The study also reveals that the structure of remuneration, such as salary and bonuses for executives, showed an increasing trend during and after the financial crisis; however, it shows that the trend of director remuneration in family firms after the financial crisis was decreasing. Further analysis indicates that family members were willing to accept lower fees, bonuses, and benefits to kin in order to maintain cash flow. Our study suggests that no expropriation existed in family firms during and after the financial crisis. However, executives in non-family firms are less interested in accepting lower remuneration as part of a contract.

After a brief introduction from the second-mentioned author, which sets the scene for the story as Cabramatta and environs in Sydney’s outer south-western suburbs, the firstmentioned author takes over and gives readers his life story beginning with his family fleeing the Communists in South Vietnam, moving on to his days in his twenties running his own accounting firm in western Sydney to tax frauds, court case, and jail time. He moves on to explain how he began a conscious strategy to re-create his life existentially by studying MBAin prison. The first-mentioned author concludes with an important personal message, borne out of his own personal life experiences, to readers of the journal followed by some reflection from the second-mentioned author. This article will be of interest to accounting students, accounting educators, and any young (or not so young) accounting professionals under temptation to commit fraud to make a quick dollar. Sartrean existentialism and Marxist-Stalinist ethics inform the analysis of the case by the second-mentioned author. The role of gambling addiction in the story is topical given Singapore’s recent decision to open two new casinos, the first to open in the city-state since its 1965 independence.