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"Ross, Benjamin"
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Dead end : suburban sprawl and the rebirth of American urbanism
'Dead End' traces how the ideal of a safe, green, orderly retreat where hardworking members of the middle class could raise their children away from the city mutated into the McMansion and strip mall-ridden suburbs of today.
Book
The Philosophy of Transhumanism
Transhumanism is an international movement which anticipates humans developing posthuman capacities in the near future.This work provides an introduction to transhumanism and the ethical and philosophical issues raised by radical human enhancement. The book investigates these questions in a way that is timely and accessible to the non-specialist.
eBook
Assembly of a unique membrane complex in type VI secretion systems of Bacteroidota
The type VI secretion system (T6SS) of Gram-negative bacteria inhibits competitor cells through contact-dependent translocation of toxic effector proteins. In Proteobacteria, the T6SS is anchored to the cell envelope through a megadalton-sized membrane complex (MC). However, the genomes of Bacteroidota with T6SSs appear to lack genes encoding homologs of canonical MC components. Here, we identify five genes in
Bacteroides fragilis
(
tssNQOPR
) that are essential for T6SS function and encode a Bacteroidota-specific MC. We purify this complex, reveal its dimensions using electron microscopy, and identify a protein-protein interaction network underlying the assembly of the MC including the stoichiometry of the five TssNQOPR components. Protein TssN mediates the connection between the Bacteroidota MC and the conserved baseplate. Although MC gene content and organization varies across the phylum Bacteroidota, no MC homologs are detected outside of T6SS loci, suggesting ancient co-option and functional convergence with the non-homologous MC of Pseudomonadota.
The type VI secretion system (T6SS) of Gram-negative bacteria is typically anchored to the cell envelope through a membrane complex (MC), but Bacteroidota appear to lack genes encoding canonical MC components. Here, Bongiovanni et al. identify the Bacteroidota MC and study its biogenesis and connections with the conserved T6SS components.
Journal Article
The director
G.W. Pabst, one of cinema's greatest, perhaps the greatest director of his era: when the Nazis seized power he was filming in France, to escape the horrors of the new Germany he flees to Hollywood. But under the blinding California sun, the world-famous director suddenly looks like a nobody. Not even Greta Garbo, who he made famous, can help him. And thus, almost through no fault of his own, he finds himself back in his homeland of Austria, which is now called Ostmark. The returning family is confronted with the barbaric nature of the regime. But Goebbels, the minister of propaganda in Berlin, wants the film genius, he won't take no for an answer and makes big promises. While Pabst still believes that he will be able to resist these advances, that he will not submit to any dictatorship other than art, he has already taken the first steps into a hopeless entanglement.
BOOK
Bacteroides fragilis uses toxins for gut success
Bacteroides fragilis
employs two different mechanisms, secreted microbe- and host-targeting toxins, that facilitate successful colonization of the mammalian gastrointestinal tract.
Journal Article
Human gut bacteria contain acquired interbacterial defence systems
The human gastrointestinal tract consists of a dense and diverse microbial community, the composition of which is intimately linked to health. Extrinsic factors such as diet and host immunity are insufficient to explain the constituents of this community, and direct interactions between co-resident microorganisms have been implicated as important drivers of microbiome composition. The genomes of bacteria derived from the gut microbiome contain several pathways that mediate contact-dependent interbacterial antagonism
1
–
3
. Many members of the Gram-negative order Bacteroidales encode the type VI secretion system (T6SS), which facilitates the delivery of toxic effector proteins into adjacent cells
4
,
5
. Here we report the occurrence of acquired interbacterial defence (AID) gene clusters in Bacteroidales species that reside within the human gut microbiome. These clusters encode arrays of immunity genes that protect against T6SS-mediated intra- and inter-species bacterial antagonism. Moreover, the clusters reside on mobile elements, and we show that their transfer is sufficient to confer resistance to toxins in vitro and in gnotobiotic mice. Finally, we identify and validate the protective capability of a recombinase-associated AID subtype (rAID-1) that is present broadly in Bacteroidales genomes. These rAID-1 gene clusters have a structure suggestive of active gene acquisition and include predicted immunity factors of toxins derived from diverse organisms. Our data suggest that neutralization of contact-dependent interbacterial antagonism by AID systems helps to shape human gut microbiome ecology.
An interbacterial defence strategy, involving clusters of immunity genes against toxins released by the type VI secretion system of the same or different species, is widespread among Bacteroides species, and transfer of these gene clusters confers resistance to toxins in vitro and in the mammalian gut.
Journal Article
Deep learning predicts real-world electric vehicle direct current charging profiles and durations
Accurate prediction of electric vehicle charging profiles and durations is critical for adoption and optimising infrastructure. Direct current fast charging presents complex behaviours shaped by many factors. This work introduces a deep learning framework trained on 909,135 real-world sessions, capable of predicting charging profiles and durations from minimal input with uncertainty estimates. The model initiates predictions from a single point on the power and state-of-charge profile and incrementally refines them as new observations arrive, enabling real-time updates. The model generalises across vehicle types and charging scenarios. It achieves 90% accuracy in predicting charging duration from a single point, and 95% accuracy with an absolute error under one minute using six points within five minutes. This work shows that using readily available input data at charge time enables accurate prediction of charging behaviour and offers a practical, scalable solution for deployment, energy planning, and infrastructure reliability.
Here, the authors present a deep learning framework trained on nearly one million direct current fast charging sessions that accurately predicts electric vehicle charging profiles and the remaining driving time. The model provides the predictions in real time from minimal input, improving user experience, energy planning, and infrastructure reliability.
Journal Article
Ixodes scapularis does not harbor a stable midgut microbiome
Hard ticks of the order Ixodidae serve as vectors for numerous human pathogens, including the causative agent of Lyme Disease
Borrelia burgdorferi
. Tick-associated microbes can influence pathogen colonization, offering the potential to inhibit disease transmission through engineering of the tick microbiota. Here, we investigate whether
B. burgdorferi
encounters abundant bacteria within the midgut of wild adult
Ixodes scapularis
, its primary vector. Through the use of controlled sequencing methods and confocal microscopy, we find that the majority of field-collected adult
I. scapularis
harbor limited internal microbial communities that are dominated by endosymbionts. A minority of
I. scapularis
ticks harbor abundant midgut bacteria and lack
B. burgdorferi
. We find that the lack of a stable resident midgut microbiota is not restricted to
I. scapularis
since extension of our studies to
I. pacificus, Amblyomma maculatum
, and
Dermacentor
spp showed similar patterns. Finally, bioinformatic examination of the
B. burgdorferi
genome revealed the absence of genes encoding known interbacterial interaction pathways, a feature unique to the
Borrelia
genus within the phylum Spirochaetes. Our results suggest that reduced selective pressure from limited microbial populations within ticks may have facilitated the evolutionary loss of genes encoding interbacterial competition pathways from
Borrelia
.
Journal Article
Intestinal Bacteroides modulates inflammation, systemic cytokines, and microbial ecology via propionate in a mouse model of cystic fibrosis
The composition of the gut microbiome in persons with CF is correlated with lung health outcomes, a phenomenon referred to as the gut-lung axis. Here, we demonstrate that the intestinal microbe Bacteroides decreases inflammation through the production of the short-chain fatty acid propionate. Supplementing the levels of Bacteroides in an animal model of CF is associated with reduced systemic inflammation and reduction in the relative abundance of the opportunistically pathogenic group Escherichia / Shigella in the gut. Taken together, these data demonstrate a key role for Bacteroides and microbially produced propionate in modulating inflammation, gut microbial ecology, and the gut-lung axis in cystic fibrosis. These data support the role of Bacteroides as a potential probiotic in CF.
Journal Article