Use of ATP Readings to Predict a Successful Hygiene Intervention in the Workplace to Reduce the Spread of Viruses on Fomites

The purpose of this study was to validate the use of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for evaluating hygiene intervention effectiveness in reducing viral dissemination in an office environment. The bacterial virus MS-2 was used to evaluate two scenarios, one where the hand of an individual was contaminated and another where a fomite was contaminated. MS-2 was selected as a model because its shape and size are similar to many human pathogenic viruses. Two separate experiments were conducted, one in which the entrance door push plate was inoculated and the other in which the hand of one selected employee was inoculated. In both scenarios, 54 selected surfaces in the office were tested to assess the dissemination of the virus within the office. Associated surface contamination was also measured employing an ATP meter. More than half of the tested hands and surfaces in the office were contaminated with MS-2 within 4 h. Next, an intervention was conducted, and each scenario was repeated. Half of the participating employees were provided hand sanitizer, facial tissues, and disinfecting wipes, and were instructed in their use. A significant (p < 0.05) reduction was observed in the number of surfaces contaminated with virus. This reduction in viral spread was evident from the results of both viral culture and the surface ATP measurements, although there was no direct correlation between ATP measurements with respect to viral concentration. Although ATP does not measure viruses, these results demonstrate that ATP measurements could be useful for evaluating the effectiveness of hygiene interventions aimed at preventing viral spread in the workplace.     

因子分析在黄河上游干流地区滑坡灾害中的应用

黄河上游地区干流滑坡灾害频繁发生,造成了严重的经济损失和人员伤亡。对该区滑坡灾害进行研究,对于指导该区的抗灾、减灾和预防工作意义重大。采用遥感技术和野外采样实测,获取了研究区的129处滑坡灾害数据,进而对滑坡灾害影响因素进行了因子分析。通过因子分析,得到公因子,并对公因子命名。在此基础上,计算了因子得分及综合得分,并对其进行了排序。研究结果表明:灾害数据变量之间有较强的相关性,滑坡发生主要受到滑体标高因子、滑体外形因子、地表因子、环境因子和滑体性质5个公共因子的影响。滑体标高、环境特征和滑体性质对滑坡的影响较大,滑体外形因素和地表因素对滑坡发生的影响相对较小。     

崇明东滩湿地干湿交替过程脲酶活性变化初探

以典型滨海湿地——崇明东滩为原型区域,采集湿地沉积物及海水样品,通过土柱模拟方法(30、35、40℃),研究了半月潮(15d左右为周期的"大潮")与日潮(一个太阴日内出现的涨潮和落潮)水分生态过程沉积物脲酶(Urease)活性及溶解性有机氮(DON)与铵态氮(NH+4-N)含量等的变化,计算了Urease活性的表观温度敏感性系数(Q’10),旨为揭示典型滨海湿地潮汐驱动下周期性干湿交替过程沉积物Urease活性的变化规律.半月潮过程,干燥沉积物(1%~3%)淹水后,Urease活性迅速增加.随着沉积物变干,酶活性逐渐下降.Urease活性对沉积物水分变化的敏感性随干湿交替频次的增加而下降.日潮过程对Urease活性的影响较小.30、35、40℃下,酶活性分别为(0.067±0.018)、(0.143±0.027)、(0.028±0.011)g·(10 g·h)-1.相比较而言,半月潮过程Urease活性明显低于日潮过程.这表明,干湿交替显著降低了沉积物Urease活性(30、35℃).半月潮过程中,沉积物Urease活性Q’10的最高值出现在35~40℃,而日潮过程中出现在30~35℃.因此,干湿交替可能增高了Urease活性Q’10的温度响应范围.此外,半月潮过程中,Urease活性主导着沉积物NH+4-N含量的变化(30、35℃),但其与DON含量之间并无显著相关性.日潮过程Urease活性与NH+4-N和DON含量之间均不显著相关.     

2株降解菲的植物内生细菌筛选及其降解特性

为了获得具有菲降解特性的植物内生细菌,通过选择性富集培养,本研究从多环芳烃污染区植物体内分离得到2株能够降解液体培养基中高浓度菲(200 mg·L-1)的植物内生细菌(菌株P1和P3).经形态观察、生理生化特征鉴定和16S rDNA序列同源性分析,分别将菌株P1和P3鉴定为寡养单胞菌属(Stenotrophomonas sp.)和假单胞菌属(Pseudomonas sp.)的细菌.菌株P1和P3均为好氧生长,28℃、150 r·min-1摇床培养7 d,2株菌对无机盐培养基中菲(100 mg·L-1)的降解率均高于90%.条件实验表明,温度20～30℃,pH 6.0～8.0,盐含量0%～4%,装液量10～30 mL(100 mL三角瓶)2菌株生长良好且对菲降解率高于70%.其最适生长和降解温度为30℃,pH为7.0,盐含量≤4%,装液量≤30 mL.综合比较2株菌对菲的降解特性,P1菌株高温耐受性稍强,而P3菌株对环境pH改变和缺氧的耐受性稍强.     

The effect of flower-like and non-flower-like visual properties on choice of unrewarding patterns by bumblebees

How do distinct visual stimuli help bumblebees discover flowers before they have experienced any reward outside of their nest? Two visual floral properties, type of a pattern (concentric vs radial) and its position on unrewarding artificial flowers (central vs peripheral on corolla), were manipulated in two experiments. Both visual properties showed significant effects on floral choice. When pitted against each other, pattern was more important than position. Experiment 1 shows a significant effect of concentric pattern position, and experiment 2 shows a significant preference towards radial patterns regardless of their position. These results show that the presence of markings at the center of a flower are not so important as the presence of markings that will direct bees there.     

Effects of exotic fish farms on bird communities in lake and marine ecosystems

Salmon farming is a widespread activity around the world, also known to promote diverse environmental effects on aquatic ecosystems. However, information regarding the impact of salmon farming on bird assemblages is notably scarce. We hypothesize that salmon farming, by providing food subsidies and physical structures to birds, will change their local community structure. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a seasonal monitoring of bird richness, abundance, and composition at paired salmon pen and control plots in two marine and two lake sites in southern Chile, from fall 2002 to summer 2004. Overall, salmon farming had no significant effects on species richness, but bird abundance was significantly and noticeably higher in salmon pens than in controls. Such aggregation was mainly accounted for by the trophic guilds of omnivores, diving piscivores, carrion eaters, and perching piscivores, but not by invertebrate feeders, herbivores, and surface feeders. Species composition was also significantly and persistently different between salmon pens and controls within each lake or marine locality. The patterns described above remained consistent across environment types and seasons indicating that salmon farming is changing the community structure of birds in both lake and marine habitats by promoting functional and aggregation responses, particularly by favoring species with broader niches. Such local patterns may thus anticipate potential threats from the ongoing expansion of the salmon industry to neighboring areas in Chile, resulting in regional changes of bird communities, toward a less diverse one and dominated by opportunistic, common, and generalist species such as gulls, vultures, and cormorants.     

Seasonal changes in burrow geometry of the common mole rat (Rodentia: Bathyergidae)

Sociality in mole rats has been suggested to have evolved as a response to the widely dispersed food resources and the limited burrowing opportunities that result from sporadic rainfall events. In the most arid regions, individual foraging efficiency is reduced, and energetic constraints increase. In this study, we investigate seasonal differences in burrow architecture of the social Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus in a mesic region. We describe burrow geometry in response to seasonal weather conditions for two seasons (wet and dry). Interactions occurred between seasons and colony size for the size of the burrow systems, but not the shape of the burrow systems. The fractal dimension values of the burrow systems did not differ between seasons. Thus, the burrow complexity was dependent upon the number of mole rats present in the social group.     

Pollination syndromes ignored: importance of non-ornithophilous flowers to Neotropical savanna hummingbirds

Generalization prevails in flower–animal interactions, and although animal visitors are not equally effective pollinators, most interactions likely represent an important energy intake for the animal visitor. Hummingbirds are nectar-feeding specialists, and many tropical plants are specialized toward hummingbird-pollination. In spite of this, especially in dry and seasonal tropical habitats, hummingbirds may often rely on non-ornithophilous plants to meet their energy requirements. However, quantitative studies evaluating the relative importance of ornithophilous vs. non-ornithophilous plants for hummingbirds in these areas are scarce. We here studied the availability and use of floral resources by hummingbirds in two different areas of the Cerrado, the seasonal savannas in Central Brazil. Roughly half the hummingbird visited plant species were non-ornithophilous, and these contributed greatly to increase the overall nectar availability. We showed that mean nectar offer, at the transect scale, was the only parameter related to hummingbird visitation frequency, more so than nectar offer at single flowers and at the plant scale, or pollination syndrome. Centrality indices, calculated using hummingbird–plant networks, showed that ornithophilous and non-ornithophilous plants have similar importance for network cohesion. How this foraging behaviour affects reproduction of non-ornithophilous plants remains largely unexplored and is probably case specific, however, we suggest that the additional energy provided by non-ornithophilous plants may facilitate reproduction of truly ornithophilous flowers by attracting and maintaining hummingbirds in the area. This may promote asymmetric hummingbird–plant associations, i.e., pollination depends on floral traits adapted to hummingbird morphology, but hummingbird visitation is determined more by the energetic "reward" than by pollination syndromes.     

Bechstein’s bats maintain individual social links despite a complete reorganisation of their colony structure

Several social mammals, including elephants and some primates, whales and bats, live in multilevel societies that form temporary subgroups. Despite these fission–fusion dynamics, group members often maintain long-term bonds. However, it is unclear whether such individual links and the resulting stable social subunits continue to exist after a complete reorganisation of a society, e.g. following a population crash. Here, we employed a weighted network analysis on 7,109 individual roosting records collected over 4 years in a wild Bechstein’s bat colony. We show that, in response to a strong population decline, the colony’s two stable social subunits fused into a non-modular social network. Nevertheless, in the first year after the crash, long-term bonds were still detectable, suggesting that the bats remembered previous individual relationships. Our findings are important for understanding the flexibility of animal societies in the face of dramatic changes and for the conservation of social mammals with declining populations.