Corals

Data from the Australian Taxation Office and Australian Border Force show notable recent increases in illicit tobacco seizures across Australia. The illicit tobacco market results in substantial losses in tax revenue, funds organised crime, and perpetuates tobacco use, threatening to undermine Australia's ability to achieve its national commercial tobacco endgame goal of 5 % or less smoking prevalence by 2030. This commentary discusses recent trends in Australia's illicit tobacco trade, reasons why this is of concern, potential drivers of Australians' illicit tobacco use, and policy measures that could be implemented to mitigate increasing illicit tobacco trade such as implementing a track and trace system, increased investment in the Australian Border Force to enhance detection of illicit tobacco shipments at Australia's borders, and encouraging public tip-offs of illicit tobacco sales...

Symbiodiniaceae species is a dinoflagellate that plays a crucial role in maintaining the symbiotic mutualism of reef-building corals in the ocean. Reef-building corals, as hosts, provide the nutrition and habitat to endosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae species and Symbiodiniaceae species transfer the fixed carbon to the corals for growth. Environmental stress is one of the factors impacting the physiology and metabolism of the corals-dinoflagellate association. The environmental stress triggers the metabolic changes in Symbiodiniaceae species resulting in an increase in the production of survival organelles related to storage components such as lipid droplets (LD)...

Characterisation of genomic variation among corals can help uncover variants underlying trait differences and contribute towards genotype prioritisation in coastal restoration projects. For example, there is growing interest in identifying resilient genotypes for transplantation, and to better understand the genetic processes that allow some individuals to survive in specific conditions better than others. The coral species Pocillopora acuta is known to survive in a wide range of habitats, from reefs artificial coastal defences, suggesting its potential use as a starter species for ecological engineering efforts involving coral transplantation onto intertidal seawalls...

Crucial to the Earth's oceans, ocean currents dynamically react to various factors, including rotation, wind patterns, temperature fluctuations, alterations in salinity and the gravitational pull of the moon. Climate change impacts coastal ecosystems, emphasizing the need for understanding these currents. This study explores multibeam echo sounder (MBES), specifically R2-Sonic 2020, offering detailed seabed information. Investigating coral reefs, rocky reefs and artificial reefs aimed to map seafloor currents movement and their climate change responses...

Coral reefs are a biodiversity hotspot,1 , 2 and the association between coral and intracellular dinoflagellates is a model for endosymbiosis.3 , 4 Recently, corals and related anthozoans have also been found to harbor another kind of endosymbiont, apicomplexans called corallicolids.5 Apicomplexans are a diverse lineage of obligate intracellular parasites6 that include human pathogens such as the malaria parasite, Plasmodium.7 Global environmental sequencing shows corallicolids are tightly associated with tropical and subtropical reef environments,5 , 8 , 9 where they infect diverse corals across a range of depths in many reef systems, and correlate with host mortality during bleaching events...

UNLABELLED: Corals establish symbiotic relationships with microorganisms, especially endosymbiotic photosynthetic algae. Although other microbes have been commonly detected in coral tissues, their identity and beneficial functions for their host are unclear. Here, we confirm the beneficial outcomes of the inoculation of bacteria selected as probiotics and use fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to define their localization in the coral Pocillopora damicornis . Our results show the first evidence of the inherent presence of Halomonas sp...

To determine whether smoking prevalence in first-episode psychosis (FEP) is different than in people with established psychosis in long-term treatment. A systematic review of cross-sectional, case-control and cohort studies identified from searches of PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO up to 12 August 2023. 20 studies out of 2773 screened titles were included. There was no clear pattern of smoking by diagnosis as smoking rates in people with FEP ranged from 43% to 78%, while in those with established psychosis, it ranged from 19% to 76%...

OBJECTIVE: To describe severe infection, foci of infection, microorganisms, associated factors, and impact on mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was based on a multicenter prospective cohort of patients with RA-ILD followed up from 2015 to 2023. The main outcome measures were incident severe infection and fatal infection. We evaluated infectious foci, etiologic agents, vaccination status, variables associated with lung function, and clinical-therapeutic variables in RA...

Transition metal oxides with high theoretical capacitance are regarded as desired electrode materials for supercapacitors, however, the poor conductivity and sluggish charge transfer kinetics constrain their electrochemical performance. The three-dimensional (3D) coral-like ZnCo2 O4 nanomaterials with abundant oxygen vacancies were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method and chemical reduction approach. The introduced oxygen vacancies can provide more active sites and lower the energy barrier, thereby facilitating the kinetics of surface reactions...

Copepoda is the most abundant taxon in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where hard substrate is available. Despite the increasing interest in seafloor massive sulphides exploitation, there have been no population genomic studies conducted on vent meiofauna, which are known to contribute over 50% to metazoan biodiversity at vents. To bridge this knowledge gap, restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing, specifically 2b-RADseq, was used to retrieve thousands of genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from abundant populations of the vent-obligate copepod Stygiopontius lauensis from the Lau Basin...

A worldwide increase in the prevalence of coral diseases and mortality has been linked to ocean warming due to changes in coral-associated bacterial communities, pathogen virulence, and immune system function. In the Mediterranean basin, the worrying upward temperature trend has already caused recurrent mass mortality events in recent decades. To evaluate how elevated seawater temperatures affect the immune response of a thermophilic coral species, colonies of Astroides calycularis were exposed to environmental (23 °C) or elevated (28 °C) temperatures, and subsequently challenged with bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS)...

Coral reefs support the world's most diverse marine ecosystem and provide invaluable goods and services for millions of people worldwide. They are however experiencing frequent and intensive marine heatwaves that are causing coral bleaching and mortality. Coarse-grained climate models predict that few coral reefs will survive the 3 °C sea-surface temperature rise in the coming century. Yet, field studies show localized pockets of coral survival and recovery even under high-temperature conditions...

OBJECTIVE: We synthesised the published literature on proposals to restrict tobacco supply to pharmacies, covering (1) policy concept/rationale/attempts, (2) policy impact and implementation and (3) policy and research recommendations. DATA SOURCES: We searched eight databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, IPA, ProQuest and OATD) for publications with at least an English-language abstract. We searched reference lists of included publications manually...

Agricultural run-off in Australia's Mackay-Whitsunday region is a major source of nutrient and pesticide pollution to coastal and inshore ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef. While the effects of run-off are well documented for the region's coral and seagrass habitats, the ecological impacts on estuaries, the direct recipients of run-off, are less known. This is particularly true for fish communities, which are shaped by the physico-chemical properties of coastal waterways that vary greatly in tropical regions...

Chronic neuroinflammation is characterized by increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, leading to molecular changes in the central nervous system that can be explored with biomarkers of active neuroinflammatory processes. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has contributed to detecting lesions and permeability of the BBB. Ultra-small superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide (USPIO) are used as contrast agents to improve MRI observations. Therefore, we validate the interaction of peptide-88 with laminin, vectorized on USPIO, to explore BBB molecular alterations occurring during neuroinflammation as a potential tool for use in MRI...

Understanding the evolution of coral endosymbiosis requires a predictive framework that integrates life-history theory and ecology with cell biology. The time has come to bridge disciplines and use a model systems approach to achieve this aim.

Regulation of nicotine vaping products (NVPs) is an ongoing challenge across the world. Australia currently has a globally unique NVP regulatory model that requires a medical prescription to purchase and use NVPs, with further restrictions in progress in response to evidence of widespread illicit NVP sales. Against this background, we examine the new measures and consider a modification of the model to pharmacist-only supply as an option for increasing access to NVPs for smoking cessation, while retaining health practitioner oversight of supply...

Dengvaxia is the first dengue vaccine recommended in the United States (U.S.). It is recommended for children aged 9-16 y with laboratory-confirmed previous dengue infection and living in areas where dengue is endemic. We conducted focus groups with parents and in-depth interviews with key informants (i.e. practicing pediatricians, physicians from immunization clinics, university researchers, and school officials) in Puerto Rico (P.R.) to examine acceptability, barriers, and motivators to vaccinate with Dengvaxia...

The isolation of Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis (Cfv) from clinical samples is the gold standard for confirming cases of bovine genital campylobacteriosis, an important cause of infertility in cattle and a potential public health concern. Furthermore, isolation is also necessary for the development of autologous vaccines, characterization of strains for antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, etc. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of culture methods is usually low, and there is no standardized protocol to maximize the recovery of Cfv from clinical samples...

Beneficial microorganisms for corals (BMCs), or probiotics, can enhance coral resilience against stressors in laboratory trials. However, the ability of probiotics to restructure the coral microbiome in situ is yet to be determined. As a first step to elucidate this, we inoculated putative probiotic bacteria (pBMCs) on healthy colonies of Pocillopora verrucosa in situ in the Red Sea, three times per week, during 3 months. pBMCs significantly influenced the coral microbiome, while bacteria of the surrounding seawater and sediment remained unchanged...