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For this special issue of Senses of Cinema: Film and the Non-Human, I bounce off the taxonomies of “media species” proposed by Lev Manovich (2013), and building on the concept of multispecies ethnography (Kirksey and Helmreich 2010), I propose putting the species back into “medium specificity” by discussing works by three women artists/ filmmakers, whose work spans film, video and performance, treating each medium as yet another member of the multispecies communities in which they work. At the end of Brazilian filmmaker Ana Vaz’s It is Night in America, (2022), her credits list the various filmstocks used, along with animal species depicted, as actors in the drama of the film. This practice provides a springboard both for an analysis of further Vaz films, and the films of others. New Zealand-Balinese artist Sriwhana Spong has said of her moving image works, that different moments call for different media, and her films are richly textured negotiations of species, including media species. Finally, Greek-Australian artist Tina Stefanou works in digital video, but assembles multispecies casts including humans, animals, and technology such as tractors and milking machines, all actors in what she calls “agri-poet(h)ics.” Exploring works by all three artists, I hope to continue developing my concept of cinemal, ahead of the 2025 publication of my monograph Cinemal: The Becoming-Animal of Experimental Film, as part of the University of Minnesota Press’s Art After Nature series. I am also keen to explore the ways in which the apparatus, that is, camera, projector, viewer, actor, director, producer, light, film, and everything in between, is an assemblage that also possesses creaturely agency. Kirksey, Eben, and Stephan Helmreich. “The Emergence of Multispecies Ethnography.” Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 25, Issue 4, 2010. Manovich, Lev. Software Takes Command: extending the language of New Media. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

This paper was written on Kulin Country — moving between the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples. On Kulin Country, birds are powerfully symbolic: Bunjil, the creator spirit, travels as a wedgetail eagle, and Waa, the protector, travels as a crow. Even the humble parrots, as Wurundjerri knowledge holder Mandy Nicholson reminds us, are Bunjil's children, and they carry Bunjil's messages, for those who know how to listen.

Extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant (ESC-R) Escherichia coli have disseminated in food-producing animals globally, attributed to horizontal transmission of blaCTX-M variants, as seen in the InCI1-blaCTX-M-1 plasmid. This ease of transmission, coupled with its demonstrated long-term persistence, presents a significant One Health antimicrobial resistance (AMR) risk. Bacteriophage (phage) therapy is a potential strategy in eliminating ESC-R E. coli in food-producing animals; however, it is hindered by the development of phage-resistant bacteria and phage biosafety concerns. Another alternative to antimicrobials is probiotics, with this study demonstrating that AMR-free commensal E. coli, termed competitive exclusion clones (CECs), can be used to competitively exclude ESC-R E. coli. This study isolated and characterized phages that lysed E. coli clones harboring the InCI1-blaCTX-M-1 plasmid, before investigation of the effect and synergy of phage therapy and competitive exclusion as a novel strategy for decolonizing ESC-resistant E. coli. In vitro testing demonstrated superiority in the combined therapy, reducing and possibly eliminating ESC-R E. coli through phage-mediated lysis coupled with simultaneous prevention of regrowth of phage-resistant mutants due to competitive exclusion with the CEC. Further investigation into this combined therapy in vivo is warranted, with on-farm application possibly reducing ESC-R prevalence, while constricting newly emergent ESC-R E. coli outbreaks prior to their dissemination throughout food-producing animals or humans.

This very short essay describes the short film One Minute Enlightenment while bringing to bear relevant theoretical connections such as Jacques Derrida’s essay about how he felt when his cat saw him naked, “The Animal That Therefore I Am (More to Follow)”, compared with Carolee Schneemann who filmed herself having sex with her human partner in front of her cat Kitch, Fuses, 1965. Kennedy’s film also recalls moments in Camille Henrot’s Grosse Fatigue (2013) which I have written about at length in “From Underdog to Overview: Perspectivism, Symbolism and Taxonomies in the films of Camille Henrot”, Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, #42. There is also a nod to the proto-psychedelic cats of Victorian artist Louis Wain.

This essay braids together two threads: playful ekphrastic descriptions of the colour photographic works of Andrea Gardner, and passages which respond to the works in terms of their context, whether that be biographical or theoretical. In responding to the various touchpoints of Gardner’s highly coloured, surreal photographic works, I discuss everything from Alice in Wonderland, to Van Gogh, to James Joyce, to Gilles Deleuze. Like the works themselves, the text reflects a “fall” into a kind of Wonderland of associations.

Initiated in 2001, the Octopus series of exhibitions supports ambitious curatorial practice, through engaging an invited curator annually to develop a project that draws upon their research interests and provides a platform for new forms of exhibition making. Gertrude is pleased to announce the twenty-second exhibition in our annual Octopus series. Octopus 22 is curated by Tessa Laird, artist, writer and Lecturer in Critical and Theoretical Studies at the School of Art, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Laird's exhibition is playfully titled Octopus 22: Baroquetopus (Humanimal entanglements and tentacular spectaculars). Baroquetopus is a neologism uniting human aesthetic languages with the natural world, affirming the continuum of culture in nature, and nature in culture. Just as the Baroque period was one of sensory overload, this exhibition features artworks that activate the senses, as well as immersive visual elements that transform the gallery and foyer spaces of Gertrude Contemporary into a vibrant ecology, fostering sensory, aesthetic, and ethical entanglements. The exhibition features: Peter Waples-Crowe, Gina Bundle, Baluk Arts, Ani O'Neill, Ivor Cantrill, Sebastian Wiedemann, Lichen Kelp, Debris Facility, Kate Rohde

Background Surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is critical to reducing its wide-reaching impact. Its reliance on sample size invites solutions to longstanding constraints regarding scalability. A robotic platform (RASP) was developed for high-throughput AMR surveillance in accordance with internationally recognized standards (CLSI and ISO 20776-1:2019) and validated through a series of experiments. Methods Experiment A compared RASP’s ability to achieve consistent MICs with that of a human technician across eight replicates for four Escherichia coli isolates. Experiment B assessed RASP’s agreement with human-performed MICs across 91 E. coli isolates with a diverse range of AMR profiles. Additionally, to demonstrate its real-world applicability, the RASP workflow was then applied to five faecal samples where a minimum of 47 E. coli per animal (239 total) were evaluated using an AMR indexing framework. Results For each drug–rater–isolate combination in Experiment A, there was a clear consensus of the MIC and deviation from the consensus remained within one doubling dilution (the exception being gentamicin at two dilutions). Experiment B revealed a concordance correlation coefficient of 0.9670 (95% CI: 0.9670–0.9670) between the robot- and human-performed MICs. RASP’s application to the five faecal samples highlighted the intra-animal diversity of gut commensal E. coli, identifying between five and nine unique isolate AMR phenotypes per sample. Conclusions While adhering to internationally accepted guidelines, RASP was superior in throughput, cost and data resolution when compared with an experienced human technician. Integration of robotics platforms in the microbiology laboratory is a necessary advancement for future One Health AMR endeavours.

Animal Studies Journal 2021 10(2): [Review] Deborah Bird Rose. Shimmer: Flying Fox Exuberance in Worlds of Peril. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 240 pp.

Pretty polyglot: parrotization as the difference in repetition. In the hall of mirrors that is mimesis, Paul Carter suggests that parrots reflect our human propensity for mimicry. In Mimesis and Alterity, Michael Taussig writes of the colourful bodies of dead parrots being used in rituals where the mastery of a foreign language is desired. Mimesis longs to become other, and Carter notes that in the foundation stories of many cultures, parrots introduce and protect those key markers of difference: language and colour. While Jack Halberstam invokes Monty Python’s dead parrot as emblematic of our zombified relations with animals, artist Sergio Vega proposes “Parrot Theory” which sees “the rise of a global, postcolonial avant-garde forever changing the world into words, mirrors, and colours, as we speak...” For Vega, the days of the hierarchical and lonely eagle are over, and the era of the parrot has begun. He compares parrots to “flocks of immigrants from the warm regions of the world” who bring with them spices and colours, and are communal and communicative. Information technology has created a “parrotization of culture”: not banal chatter but a cultural commons. This paper proposes to investigate the parrot as emblem for preserving difference within relationality in a changing world.

This paper proposes a creative neologism: zoognosis, with an added g, to indicate that knowledges can be transmitted virally from animals to humans. If so, what are the animals trying to tell us? Laura Jean Mackay’s The Animals in That Country (2020) provides an opportunity to find out. Mackay’s prescient novel was written before, but published during, the COVID-19 pandemic, and is about a ‘zooflu’ that enables the infected to understand animals. The author has forged a poetic language based on animal sensory perceptions, what ethologist Jakob von Uexküll termed Umwelten. In doing so Mackay effects a ‘becoming-animal’ of the text, reintroducing readers to their own animality. Mackay’s ‘perspectivism’ enables us to see from the point-of-view of non-human animals, forcing a reckoning with animal abuse and extractive lifeways. While her speculative fiction is bleak, it offers tools for attunement and thinking-with non-human others.

This special issue features creative-critical responses to the theme, “Hacking the Anthropocene: Do-It-Together (DIT).” The “Anthropocene” is a term that has gained significant cultural and academic cache, even though it is wildly out of touch with the analyses and calls of such movements as Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, youth climate strikers and land defender activists. Building on the work of critical feminists Astrida Neimanis and Jennifer Hamilton (and collaborators), in this editorial we explore hacking as a multivalent method for resisting, ejecting, adapting and disrupting the anthropocentric “settler atmospherics” (Simmons 2017) of our times. Considering how we might hack the Anthropocene together, the works in this special issue negotiate a series of co-constitutive tensions, between inclusion/exclusion, good/bad relations, and holding on/letting go. They not only question who or what the “we” in the “together” is, they also trouble the “it,” and ask what it means to “do,” or even be, together.

Multinaturalism proposes ways in which contemporary artists, writers and thinkers are doing the urgent work of decentring the human. Yet, if multinaturalism posits all of nature to be human, isn’t it just another form of anthropocentrism? We consider the risks of ‘strategic anthropomorphism’; before Descartes declared that animals were mere automata without soul, and Western scientific paradigms favouring separation over relation invaded every corner of the globe, animals, plants, rocks, winds and waters were ascribed human-like capacities. In an animate world, where everything has the ability to think and feel, decisions about who to eat and where to excrete are made with a good deal of consideration. Poetry erupts from every crevice of Multinaturalism. Writers are compelled towards a kind of song in an effort to connect with life forces that surpass quotidian speech. How we use language is crucial, for ‘It matters what stories tell stories’. Robin Wall Kimmerer talks of the difficulty of learning her native Potawatomi because what we consider in the West to be nouns (inert objects) are verbs in her mother tongue, entities in a constant state of relational becoming: ‘To be a hill, to be a sandy beach, to be a Saturday, all are possible verbs in a world where everything is alive’. In such a lively, mobile and relational world, language must also be pliant enough to do justice to justice.

This short text places Ann Shelton’s The Congresswoman in the context of her ongoing series jane says in which ikebana-inspired floral arrangements are photographed against eye-popping colours. These botanical portraits may be ravishingly retro chic, but they hold secrets – symbolic languages which can be read like code. Shelton’s artfully gathered plants possess medicinal qualities and speak to herstories of other artful gathering, by herbalists, wise women, and witches. Here, the “Dinner Plate Peony”, is an acknowledgement of Judy Chicago’s epic The Dinner Party (1979), while the mini-series which includes The Congresswoman and two other peony works, The Three Sisters, takes its title from the First Nations agriculture of Turtle Island. Pottawatomi botanist Robin Kimmerer sees the Three Sisters as a metaphor for “an emerging relationship between indigenous knowledge and Western science”. Through Shelton’s rose-tinted lens, we see the many shades of feminism as complementary rather than antagonistic.

Globally, gulls have been associated with carriage of high levels of Escherichia coli strains resistant to critically important antimicrobials (CIAs), a major concern, as these antimicrobials are the sole alternative or one among only a few alternatives available to treat severe life-threatening infections in humans. Previous studies of Australian silver gulls demonstrated high levels of resistance to CIAs, particularly fluoroquinolone and extended-spectrum cephalosporins, among E. coli strains (carriage at 24% and 22%, respectively). This study aimed to identify and characterize strains from four distinct bird species inhabiting a common coastal environment, determine the frequency of carriage of CIA-resistant E. coli strains, and examine if these resistant clones and their resistance-encoding mobile genetic elements (MGEs) could be transmitted between species. CIA-resistant E. coli was detected in silver gulls (53%), little penguins (11%), and feral pigeons (10%), but not in bridled terns. In total, 37 different sequence types (STs) were identified, including clinically significant human-associated lineages, such as ST131, ST95, ST648, ST69, ST540, ST93, ST450, and ST10. Five main mobile genetic elements associated with blaCTX-M-positive E. coli strains isolated from three bird species were detected. Examination of clonal lineages and MGEs provided indirect evidence of transfer of resistance between bird species. The carriage of CIA-resistant E. coli by gulls and pigeons with proximity to humans, and in some instances food-producing animals, increases the likelihood of further bidirectional dissemination.

The aim of this study was to investigate antimicrobial resistance and population structure of bovine mastitis-associated Staphylococcus aureus isolates, and compare them to human isolates obtained from Western Australian hospitals and overseas strains to determine relatedness to human isolates from a zoonotic or reverse zoonotic aspect. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed on 202 S. aureus isolates of which 166 isolates underwent whole genome sequencing. Only resistance to penicillin (12.4%) and erythromycin (0.5%) was identified and of note, no resistance was demonstrated to oxacillin. Genomic characterisation identified 14 multilocus sequence types (STs), with most isolates belonging to clonal complexes 97, 705, and 1. Four distinct clades based on virulence gene composition were identified. The four clades were predominantly ST based, consisting of ST352, ST97, ST81/ST1, and ST705. Core genome comparison of the bovine and human S. aureus isolates demonstrated defined clustering by ST, with the Australian bovine S. aureus isolates clustering together according to their ST separately from human isolates. In addition, a bovine specific cluster comprising Australian ST151 and ST705 isolates, and ST151 isolates from Irish dairy cattle was clearly delineated. Examination of a detailed ST352 phylogeny provided evidence for geographical clustering of Australian strains into a distinct grouping separate from international strains. This study has identified Australian S. aureus isolates have limited genetic diversity and are genetically distinct from human and international bovine S. aureus isolates. Current first line therapies for bovine mastitis in Australian dairy cattle remain appropriate.

In a structured survey of all major chicken-meat producers in Australia, we investigated the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and genomic characteristics of Campylobacter jejuni (n = 108) and C. coli (n = 96) from cecal samples of chickens at slaughter (n = 200). The majority of the C. jejuni (63%) and C. coli (86.5%) samples were susceptible to all antimicrobials. Fluoroquinolone resistance was detected among both C. jejuni (14.8%) and C. coli (5.2%), although this only included three sequence types (STs) and one ST, respectively. Multidrug resistance among strains of C. jejuni (0.9%) and C. coli (4.1%) was rare, and fluoroquinolone resistance, when present, was never accompanied by resistance to any other agent. Comparative genome analysis demonstrated that Australian isolates were found dispersed on different branches/clusters within the international collection. The major fluoroquinolone-resistant STs of C. jejuni (ST7323, ST2083, and ST2343) and C. coli (ST860) present in Australian chickens were similar to those of international isolates and have been reported previously in humans and animals overseas. The detection of a subpopulation of Campylobacter isolates exclusively resistant to fluoroquinolone was unexpected since most critically important antimicrobials such as fluoroquinolones are excluded from use in Australian livestock. A number of factors, including the low level of resistance to other antimicrobials, the absence of fluoroquinolone use, the adoption of measures for preventing spread of contagion between flocks, and particularly the genomic identities of isolates, all point to humans, pest species, or wild birds as being the most plausible source of organisms. This study also demonstrates the need for vigilance in the form of surveillance for AMR based on robust sampling to manage AMR risks in the food chain.

This chapter is a fictocritical response to the work Extinction, 2020, by the Italian Design duo Carnovsky. The article draws both on my background with colour studies (A Rainbow Reader, 2013), and animal studies (Bat, 2018). Responding to each colour Carnovsky has used in their installation (RGB - Red Green Blue) in relation to the IUCN red list of extinct and endangered animals, I weave a conversational text that is both about aesthetics and ecological politics. The text is deliberately poetic in order to evoke the beauty of the natural world, and of the work itself. But it also, like the work, hopes to engender reflection on the reality of the 6th Major Extinction Event.

This special publication marks the 100th anniversary of Colin McCahon's birth. To celebrate, over the course of a year, 66 authors, critics, and cultural commentators within New Zealand and beyond, reflect on the cultural legacy of McCahon via engagement with the McCahon artwork of their choice. Originally published online, this book consolidates all the texts in print form. My own contribution discusses McCahon's Keep New Zealand Green variations, a suite of paintings with environmental themes, through the lens of contemporary eco-feminism.

This is a discussion between artist Andrew Goodman and critic Tessa Laird about his work 'Gut Feelings' in the exhibition Translating Ambiance curated by Jordan Lacey. Lacey curated a number of sound artists looking at ambiance and the natural world in relation to the urban environment. Rather than imagining nature 'out there', Goodman turned to nature inside his own body - the millions of microbes dwelling in his gut, and made recordings of those noises. These sounds were then made not just audible but palpable through a vibrating speaker that viewers could feel as they listened. This raised pertinent questions around interactivity, ecological art practices, and how we can better attune to the environment.

This is a favourable review of Woinkarski's 'A Bat's End', using the book's message of conservation of endangered species to underline the plight of many animals after the bushfire season.

Objectives Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to critically important antimicrobials (CIAs) amongst Gram-negative bacteria can feasibly be transferred amongst wildlife, humans and domestic animals. This study investigated the ecology, epidemiology and origins of CIA-resistant Escherichia coli carried by Australian silver gulls (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae), a gregarious avian wildlife species that is a common inhabitant of coastal areas with high levels of human contact. Methods Sampling locations were widely dispersed around the perimeter of the Australian continent, with sites separated by up to 3500 km. WGS was used to study the diversity and molecular characteristics of resistant isolates to ascertain their epidemiological origin. Results Investigation of 562 faecal samples revealed widespread occurrence of extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant (21.7%) and fluoroquinolone-resistant (23.8%) E. coli. Genome sequencing revealed that CIA-resistant E. coli isolates (n = 284) from gulls predominantly belonged to human-associated extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) clones, including ST131 (17%), ST10 (8%), ST1193 (6%), ST69 (5%) and ST38 (4%). Genomic analysis revealed that gulls carry pandemic ExPEC-ST131 clades (O25:H4 H30-R and H30-Rx) and globally emerging fluoroquinolone-resistant ST1193 identified among humans worldwide. Comparative analysis revealed that ST131 and ST1193 isolates from gulls overlapped extensively with human clinical isolates from Australia and overseas. The present study also detected single isolates of carbapenem-resistant E. coli (ST410-blaOXA-48) and colistin-resistant E. coli (ST345-mcr-1). Conclusions The carriage of diverse CIA-resistant E. coli clones that strongly resemble pathogenic clones from humans suggests that gulls can act as ecological sponges indiscriminately accumulating and disseminating CIA-resistant bacteria over vast distances.

Due to Australia’s management of antimicrobial use in poultry, particularly the discontinued use of avoparcin for nearly 20 years, it is hypothesized that vancomycin-resistant enterococci associated with human disease are not derived from poultry isolates. This study evaluated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of five enterococcal species isolated from Australian meat chickens, genomic features of Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis, and the phylogenetic relationship of the poultry-derived E. faecium with isolates from human sepsis cases. All enterococcal isolates from chicken ceca were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing. E. faecium and E. faecalis underwent whole-genome sequencing. E. faecium was compared at the core genome level to a collection of human isolates (n = 677) obtained from cases of sepsis over a 2-year period spanning 2015 to 2016. Overall, 205 enterococci were isolated consisting of five different species. E. faecium was the most frequently isolated species (37.6%), followed by E. durans (29.7%), E. faecalis (20%), E. hirae (12.2%), and E. gallinarum (0.5%). All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and gentamicin, while one isolate was linezolid resistant (MIC 16 mg/liter). Core genome analysis of the E. faecium demonstrated two clades consisting predominantly of human or chicken isolates in each clade, with minimal overlap. Principal component analysis for total gene content revealed three clusters comprised of vanA-positive, vanB-positive, and both vanA- and vanB-negative E. faecium populations. The results of this study provide strong evidence that Australian chicken E. faecium isolates are unlikely to be precursor strains to the currently circulating vancomycin-resistant strains being isolated in Australian hospitals.

Knowledge of etiology causes of diarrheal illness is essential for development and implementation of public health measures to prevent and control this disease syndrome. There are few published studies examining diarrhea in children aged <5 years in Iraq. This study aims to investigate the occurrences and epidemiology of selected bacterial (Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp.), viral (adenovirus, norovirus GI and GII, and astrovirus), and parasitic (Entamoeba spp. and Giardia spp.) agents in stool samples from 155 child diarrheal cases enrolled between March and August 2017, in a hospital-based cross-sectional study in Thi-Qar, southeastern Iraq. Using molecular techniques and sequence-based characterization, adenovirus was the most frequently detected enteropathogen (53/155 (34.2%)), followed by Salmonella spp. (23/155 (14.8%)), Entamoeba spp. (21/155 (13.5%)), and Campylobacter spp. (17/155 (10.9%)). Mixed infection with Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. was evident, and the same was revealed between various enteric viruses, particularly adenovirus and norovirus. The most frequent co-infection pattern was between adenovirus and Campylobacter spp., in seven cases (7/155 (4.5%)). Whole-genome sequencing-derived typing data for Salmonella isolates (n = 23) revealed that sequence type 49 was the most prevalent in this sample set (15/23 (65.2%)). To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first report on detection and identification of floR, blaCARB-2, and mphA antimicrobial resistance genes in Salmonella isolated from children in the Middle East region. Logistic regression analysis pointed to few enteropathogen-specific correlations between child age, household water source, and breastfeeding patterns in relation to the outcome of detection of individual enteropathogens. This study presents the first published molecular investigation of multiple enteropathogens among children <5 years of age in Iraq. Our data provide supporting evidence for planning

This article proposes that photographic and film apparatus enable a more-than-human vision which includes potential communion with the spirit world. The photographic work of Joyce Campbell and Natalie Robertson is discussed, along with references to experimental film including those by Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, Nova Paul, and Carolina Saquel and Camila Marambio.

In response to the special issue on "Brutalism", this article reflects on John Boorman's 1974 cult classic film Zardoz, a dystopian science fiction which uses the term "Brutals" for its underclass. Focussing on the preponderance of crystal imagery in the film, it is read through the lens of Gilles Deleuze's theory of the "crystal image" in his book Cinema 2. While these philosophical musings may seem highbrow, the article engages in humour and "low theory", following Jack Halberstam's Queer Art of Failure. What is brutal about Zardoz, it turns out, is its denial of a utopian future, and its return to a patriarchal "business as usual".

Salmonella is a major cause of human foodborne illnesses worldwide; however, little is known about its occurrence and genomic characteristics in food sources in many developing countries. This study investigates the occurrence, serotypes distribution, antimicrobial resistance, and multilocus sequence types (ST) of Salmonella isolated from 400 imported frozen chicken carcasses sold in the markets of Thi-Qar, south-eastern Iraq. Salmonella was detected in 46 out of 400 tested samples [11.5% (95% confidence interval: 8.5%–15.0%)]. S. Typhimurium was the most abundant (30.4%) among 14 different serotypes recovered from the tested frozen carcasses. Antimicrobial resistance was most frequently detected against tetracycline (84.4%), nalidixic acid (80.4%), streptomycin (69.6%) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (65.2%). Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis revealed that 18 isolates harbored four β-lactamase resistance genes, with blaCARB-2 was the most commonly (14/18) detected. It was possible to identify 8 multilocus sequence types from the WGS analysis of 40 out of the 46 Salmonella isolates; with ST-11 (among S. Enteritidis) and ST-19 (among S. Typhimurium) were the most frequently detected. These results add to our understanding of the global epidemiology of Salmonella. Our work stands as one of the first reports on WGS analysis of Salmonella from retail chicken in a Middle-Eastern country. Results from this study could be valuable for guiding an informed import risk analysis aiming at reducing the exposure risk from Salmonella through imported chicken carcasses into Iraq. This work demonstrates the value of WGS as a promising tool for supporting evidence-based food safety hazard characterization.

This study investigated faecal carriage and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Salmonella enterica recovered from rangeland goats. Faecal samples (n = 400) were collected at slaughter from four consignments of goats (n = 100 samples per consignment), each from one of four localities in Western Australia. Carriage of Salmonella spp. was detected in 106 samples (26.5%; 95% CI 22.4–31.0%). The rate of faecal carriage for each consignment ranged between 23–30%. PCR assays targeting the STM2755 and STM4497 genes revealed 84.9% (90/106) of the isolates were of serovar Typhimurium. Salmonella Chester (11/106, 10.4%) and S. Saintpaul (5/106, 4.7%) were characterised at invA and ompF genes. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing demonstrated that 84.0% of isolates were susceptible to all tested (n = 13) antimicrobials. Resistance was identified to azithromycin (14.2%), tetracycline (10.4%), ampicillin (5.7%), amoxicillin–clavulanate and cefoxitin (3.8%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (1.9%), gentamicin and streptomycin (0.9%). No isolate was resistant to four or more antimicrobials, or to critically important antimicrobials such as fluoroquinolones and extended spectrum cephalosporins. This is the first study reporting AMR in Salmonella isolates from Australian rangeland goats. The rate of detection of AMR was very low, some resistance to low-importance drugs was present in the Salmonella population, despite the absence of active selection pressure.

Streptococcus suis is a major zoonotic pathogen that causes severe disease in both humans and pigs. Australia’s pig herd has been quarantined for over 30 years, however S. suis remains a significant cause of disease. In this study, we investigated S. suis from 148 cases of clinical disease in pigs from 46 pig herds over a period of seven years, to determine the level of genetic difference from international isolates that may have arisen over the 30 years of separation. Isolates underwent whole genome sequencing, genome analysis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Data was compared at the core genome level to clinical isolates from overseas. Results demonstrated five predominant multi-locus sequence types and two major cps gene types (cps2 and 3). At the core genome level Australian isolates clustered predominantly within one large clade consisting of isolates from the UK, Canada and North America. A small proportion of Australian swine isolates (5%) were phylogenetically associated with south-east Asian and UK isolates, many of which were classified as causing systemic disease, and derived from cases of human and swine disease. Based on this dataset we provide a comprehensive outline of the current S. suis clones associated with disease in Australian pigs and their global context, with the main finding being that, despite three decades of separation, Australian S. suis are genomically similar to overseas strains. In addition, we show that ST1 clones carry a constellation of putative virulence genes not present in other Australian STs.

This study investigated the ecology, epidemiology and plasmid characteristics of extended-spectrum cephalosporin (ESC)-resistant E. coli in healthy pigs over a period of 4 years (2013–2016) following the withdrawal of ESCs. High carriage rates of ESC-resistant E. coli were demonstrated in 2013 (86.6%) and 2014 (83.3%), compared to 2015 (22%) and 2016 (8.5%). ESC resistance identified among E. coli isolates was attributed to the carriage of an IncI1 ST-3 plasmid (pCTXM1-MU2) encoding blaCTXM-1. Genomic characterisation of selected E. coli isolates (n = 61) identified plasmid movement into multiple commensal E. coli (n = 22 STs). Major STs included ST10, ST5440, ST453, ST2514 and ST23. A subset of the isolates belong to the atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC) pathotype that harboured multiple LEE pathogenic islands. pCTXM1-MU2 was similar (99% nt identity) to IncI1-ST3 plasmids reported from Europe, encoded resistance to aminoglycosides, sulphonamides and trimethoprim, and carried colicin Ib. pCTXM1-MU2 appears to be highly stable and readily transferable. This study demonstrates that ESC resistance may persist for a protracted period following removal of direct selection pressure, resulting in the emergence of ESC-resistance in both commensal E. coli and aEPEC isolates of potential significance to human and animal health.

Camp dogs in indigenous communities in the Western Australian Kimberley Region, share the domestic environment with humans and have the potential to act as carriers of, and sentinels for, a wide range of zoonotic agents, including intestinal parasites and antimicrobial resistant bacteria. In this study, we investigated the carriage of extended-spectrum-cephalosporin-resistant (ESC-resistant) Escherichia coli, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and species of hookworm and Giardia among camp dogs in remote Western Australian Aboriginal communities. A total of 141 canine faecal samples and 156 nasal swabs were collected from dogs in four communities of the Western Australian Kimberley region. Overall, ESC-resistant E. coli was detected in 16.7% of faecal samples and MRSA was isolated from 2.6% of nasal swabs. Of most significance was the presence of the community-associated Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-positive MRSA ST93 and ST5 clones and ESC-resistant E. coli ST38 and ST131. The most prevalent zoonotic intestinal parasite infection was Ancylostoma caninum (66%). The prevalence of Giardia was 12.1%, with the main genotypes of Giardia detected being dog specific assemblages C and D, which are unlikely to cause disease in humans.

Four humanimals creep, crawl, sniff and moan their way through a seated audience, towards an empty performance area which awaits their presence. Snorting and snuffling is audible as the liminal creatures rub themselves against giggling audience members, rolling across laps and crawling under chairs. Their faces are painted with dark bands across the eyes-like a species of bird, bandit, or warrior. When they reach the performance area, they crouch in a circle, continuing their muffled cries as one of them stands.

Tessa Laird’s Quarterly Essay is a quest to find the maker of the marvellous alebrija that she bought last time in Mexico. These alebrijas are elaborately carved animals that reflect the Indigenous belief in the nahual, or animal spirit. Laird has just published a book on bats for the Reaction series. Her interest in the fluid relationship between humans and animals finds so much to share in the rich crafts and beliefs of southern Mexico.

The masterpiece of pseudo-science, The Secret Life of Plants (1973) features a chapter on plants’ communication with space. Over a decade ago, the artist Frances Stark penned a love letter to this book in Art / Text, but, she drew the line at this chapter, unable to assimilate the idea that plants, who predate human beings on this planet by hundreds of millions of years, might have developed technologies more sophisticated than those we have managed to create within the last 100 years. This paper proposes that, not only might plants be communicating with space, but that we too might be communing with extraterrestrial life forms via the arcane networked technologies of our chlorophiliac friends, if only we knew it. If neither of these proposals can be conclusively proven, tropes in art, literature, and above all popular culture, frequently feature plants as analogies for alien others. This paper proposes three ways in which we think with plants (and, to be fair, plants think with us): inversion, hybridity, and contagion. Fabulated vegetal worlds feature radically inverted colours and scales; hybrid creatures embody and flout anxieties about racial and species boundaries; contagious plants infect their human hosts with alchemical arsenals, leading to death, or ecstasy, or both. Science fictions of plant sentience and human-plant hybridity divest anthropocentric control, imagining worlds where senses are heightened and interconnectivities flourish. Focusing on an episode of original series Star Trek “This Side of Paradise”, featuring alien flowers which spray the Enterprise’s crew with psychedelic spores, I wish to examine the role of plants and science fiction as mutually compatible vehicles for altered consciousness. Cross-pollinating the spore-infected writings of magic mushroom guru Terence McKenna and anthropologist Anna Tsing this paper propounds vegetalismo (curing with psychoactive plants) in order to “become the alien”.

Poxviruses have previously been detected in macropods with cutaneous papillomatous lesions, however to date, no comprehensive analysis of a poxvirus from kangaroos has been performed. Here we report the genome sequences of a western grey kangaroo poxvirus (WKPV) and an eastern grey kangaroo poxvirus (EKPV), named for the host species from which they were isolated, western grey (Macropus fuliginosus) and eastern grey (Macropus giganteus) kangaroos. Poxvirus DNA from WKPV and EKPV was isolated and entire coding genome regions determined through Roche GS Junior and Illumina Miseq sequencing, respectively. Viral genomes were assembled using MIRA and SPAdes, and annotations performed using tools available from the Viral Bioinformatics Resource Centre. Histopathology and transmission electron microscopy analysis was also performed on WKPV and its associated lesions. The WKPV and EKPV genomes show 96% identity (nucleotide) to each other and phylogenetic analysis places them on a distinct branch between the established Molluscipoxvirus and Avipoxvirus genera. WKPV and EKPV are 170 kbp and 167 kbp long, containing 165 and 162 putative genes, respectively. Together, their genomes encode up to 47 novel unique hypothetical proteins, and possess virulence proteins including a major histocompatibility complex class II inhibitor, a semaphorin-like protein, a serpin, a 3-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/δ 5 → 4 isomerase, and a CD200-like protein. These viruses also encode a large putative protein (WKPV-WA-039 and EKPV-SC-038) with a C-terminal domain that is structurally similar to the C-terminal domain of a cullin, suggestive of a role in the control of host ubiquitination. The relationship of these viruses to members of the Molluscipoxvirus and Avipoxvirus genera is discussed in terms of sequence similarity, gene content and nucleotide composition. A novel genus within subfamily Chordopoxvirinae is proposed to accommodate these two poxvirus species from kangaroos; we suggest the n

This paper examines four experimental short films by the multi-disciplinary artist Camille Henrot. Film Spatial (2007) is a textural exploration of haptic visuality and perspectivism from the p.o.v. of Balkis the dog. Attention to the singular Balkis becomes a concern with dogs in general in Cynopolis (2009), and snake symbolism in The Strife of Love in a Dream (2011). Finally Grosse Fatigue (2013) parodises both creationism and taxonomic organisation, in an anarchival gesture. The cinemal , like Derrida’s animot, becomes a disruptive force which re-animates the dying animal, breathing life back into the cinema, the archive, and human-animal relations. The full title of this essay is: 'Perspectivism, Symbolism and Taxonomies in the films of Camille Henrot'.

This paper examines the work of Australian experimental film legends, Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, who, over a fifty-year period, perfected a range of avant garde cinematic techniques including experiments with colour separation, repetition, exposure, and layered soundtracks. This ‘making wild’ or ‘becoming animal’ of the filmic medium is here given the term cinemal, whereby, in rearranging the viewer’s sensorium, the Cantrills’ re-enchant everyday life. Three aspects of their diverse oeuvre will be examined, as their disruptive techniques call for a re-figuring of the way we conceive of the Australian landscape, as well as cityscapes, in particular, the city of Melbourne, and finally, of the domestic sphere.

Paul’s This is Not Dying (2010) is a twenty-minute film utilising three-colour separation to liberate hue from the form in which it inheres. With a soundtrack by the late Māori steel guitar legend Ben Tawhiti, Paul’s film celebrates a day in the life of her hapu or tribal sub-group in the North of the North Island of New Zealand. Under Whatitiri Mountain, near Whangarei, the cluster of houses that Māori would designate as a marae, is the site of simple communal living: card playing, swimming in the creek, fixing motorbikes and eating together.

Malaria is one of the most significant causes of childhood mortality, but disease control efforts are threatened by resistance of the Plasmodium parasite to current therapies. Continued progress in combating malaria requires development of new, easy to administer drug combinations with broad-ranging activity against all manifestations of the disease. DSM265, a triazolopyrimidine-based inhibitor of the pyrimidine biosynthetic enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH), is the first DHODH inhibitor to reach clinical development for treatment of malaria. We describe studies profiling the biological activity, pharmacological and pharmacokinetic properties, and safety of DSM265, which supported its advancement to human trials. DSM265 is highly selective toward DHODH of the malaria parasite Plasmodium, efficacious against both blood and liver stages of P. falciparum, and active against drug-resistant parasite isolates. Favorable pharmacokinetic properties of DSM265 are predicted to provide therapeutic concentrations for more than 8 days after a single oral dose in the range of 200 to 400 mg. DSM265 was well tolerated in repeat-dose and cardiovascular safety studies in mice and dogs, was not mutagenic, and was inactive against panels of human enzymes/receptors. The excellent safety profile, blood- and liver-stage activity, and predicted long half-life in humans position DSM265 as a new potential drug combination partner for either single-dose treatment or once-weekly chemoprevention. DSM265 has advantages over current treatment options that are dosed daily or are inactive against the parasite liver stage.

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