Solutions and insights for agricultural monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) from three consecutive issuances of soil carbon credits.

Regenerative agricultural practice adoption on conventionally managed fields has gained momentum as a climate mitigation strategy, given the ability of these practices to sequester carbon or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the geospatial and temporal variability of the impact of specific practices, such as cover cropping or no-till, pose challenges for scalable quantification of emissions reduction and deploying incentives to drive increased adoption. To quantify impact while accounting for variability and uncertainty at scale, Indigo Ag created a monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) pipeline to produce agricultural soil carbon credits produced at large scales (hundreds of thousands of hectares). The pipeline ingests field data from enrolled farmers, checks data quality, uses hybrid soil sampling and biogeochemical modeling to produce estimates of emissions reduction and uncertainty, and then applies deductions based on calculated uncertainty and leakage to quantify total project-wide carbon credits and monitor for durability of carbon. The implementation of a carbon project (CAR1459) from 2018 to 2022 on 553,743 ha of U.S. cropland utilizing the pipeline is estimated to have reduced emissions by 398,408.5 tCO2e, amounting to 296,662 tCO2e of soil carbon credits after uncertainty deductions. This paper explores the effect sizes associated with specific regenerative practice changes across the project domain. Cover cropping consistently resulted in a net positive climate impact and reduced emissions by 1.29 tCO2e per hectare per year, on average. Introduction of no-till was more common in the project, but it had a lower average emissions reduction of 0.38 tCO2e per hectare per year. Effect sizes for no-till vary spatiotemporally and are typically low in the first several years after adoption but increase in subsequent years. Agricultural carbon programs that capture and incentivize the nuance of outcomes of practices rather than the implementation of practices, can promote adoption of the right management practice to be deployed on the right field for maximum environmental benefit.

Pregnancy in women with cystic fibrosis and diabetes: An audit of outcomes at two tertiary obstetric hospitals in Australia in the pre-cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator modulator era.

Background: Pregnancy in women with cystic fibrosis (CF) is becoming more common. Long-term metabolic issues such as diabetes are also becoming more common and have potentially important impacts on pregnancy outcomes. This study aimed to assess the impact of diabetes on pregnancy outcomes for women with CF. Methods: We undertook a retrospective chart audit of pregnancies to women with CF at the two tertiary obstetric hospitals in Southeast Queensland associated with CF and transplant management clinics between 2006 and 2016. Results: A total of 38 pregnancies among 26 women were identified. Four women (five pregnancies) had cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD) diagnosed prior to pregnancy, and 12 women (15 pregnancies) developed gestational diabetes (GDM) complicating pregnancy. CFRD and GDM were associated with higher rates of delivery complications, prematurity, and the need for neonatal intensive care unit admission. Conclusion: Diabetes is common during pregnancy in women with CF and impacts pregnancy outcomes.

Stand up, stand out. Feasibility of an active break targeting prolonged sitting in university students.

ObjectiveTo assess the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of an active break designed to disrupt prolonged sitting in university students. Participants: Students attending lectures in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Methods: Participants took part in an active break, which consisted of following a short exercise video lasting ∼4 min. They then completed a validated questionnaire consisting of 12 statements with two open-ended questions capturing likes/dislikes. Results: Overall 106 (response rate 96%) predominately female (83%, n = 87), health sciences students (91%, n = 96) participated. Percentage agreement ranged from 93.4% (n = 99) to 96.2% (n = 102) for acceptability, 84.9% (n = 90) to 93.4% (n = 99) for appropriateness, and 80.2% (n = 85) to 96.2% (n = 102) for feasibility. Space constraints and warm temperatures impacted negatively. Conclusion: An active break delivered during lectures is an acceptable and feasible intervention to disrupt sitting in students. Further investigation using a broader representation of the university population is needed prior to implementation.

Carriage and Transmission of Macrolide Resistance Genes in Patients With Chronic Respiratory Conditions and Their Close Contacts.

BACKGROUND: Long-term macrolide therapy has been shown to provide benefit to those with a range of chronic respiratory conditions. However, concerns remain about the impact of macrolide exposure on the carriage and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes within the oropharynx. The potential for onward transmission of resistance from macrolide recipients to their close contacts also is poorly understood. RESEARCH QUESTION: Does long-term macrolide use impact carriage of resistance within the oropharyngeal microbiota in people with chronic respiratory conditions and risk of onward transmission to their close contacts? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Oropharyngeal swabs were collected from 93 individuals with chronic respiratory conditions, 53 of whom were receiving long-term macrolide therapy. An oropharyngeal swab also was collected from a close cohabiting contact of each patient. Detection and abundance of 10 macrolide-associated resistance genes with the potential to disseminate via horizontal gene transfer were assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. RESULTS: Detection of resistance genes in macrolide recipients was comparable with that in nonrecipients. However, the normalized gene abundance of erm(B) was significantly higher in the macrolide recipient group (P = .045). Among the close contacts, no between-group differences in resistance gene detection or abundance were identified. Within-group analysis showed that the detection of erm(F) and mef in macrolide recipients, but not nonrecipients, was associated significantly with detection in close contacts (P = .003 and P = .004, respectively). However, between-group analysis showed that treatment group did not predict cocarriage between patients and their close contacts (P > .05 for each gene). INTERPRETATION: Although levels of erm(B) were higher in those receiving long-term macrolide therapy and evidence of gene cocarriage with close contacts was found, no evidence was found that macrolide use increased the onward transmission risk to their close contacts. This study therefore addresses concerns that long-term macrolide therapy could promote the dissemination of transmissible macrolide resistance.

The cystic fibrosis gut as a potential source of multidrug resistant pathogens.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens represents a profound threat to global health. Individuals with CF have amongst the highest cumulative antibiotic exposure of any patient group, including to critically-important last-line agents. While there is little evidence that antibiotic resistance in airway pathogens results in worse clinical outcomes for CF patients, the potential emergence of MDR pathogens in non-respiratory systems, as a consequence of CF care, represents a potential health threat to the wider population, including family and carers. METHODS: Stool from 19 adults with CF and 16 healthy adult controls was subjected to metagenomic sequencing, to assess faecal resistome, and culture-based analysis. Resistant isolates were identified phenotypically, and genetic determinants of resistance characterised by whole genome sequencing. RESULTS: CF and control faecal resistomes differed significantly (P = 0.0003). The proportion of reads that mapped to mobile genetic elements was significantly higher in CF (P = 0.014) and the composition was significantly different (P = 0.0001). Notably, CF patients displayed higher carriage of plasmid-mediated aminoglycoside-modifying genes ant(6)-Ib, aac(6')-Ip, and aph(3')-IIIa (P < 0.01). Culture-based analysis supported higher aminoglycoside resistance, with a higher proportion of aminoglycoside-resistant, Gram-negative bacteria (P < 0.0001). Isolated extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL)-positive Escherichia coli from CF stool exhibited phenotypic resistance to tobramycin and gentamicin. Genomic analysis showed co-localisation of both aminoglycoside resistance and ESBL genes, consistent with MDR emergence through horizontal gene transfer. CONCLUSIONS: The carriage of potentially transmissible resistance within the adult CF gut microbiome is considerably greater than in healthy individuals and could contribute to the emergence and dissemination of MDR pathogens.

Opportunistic bacteria confer the ability to ferment prebiotic starch in the adult cystic fibrosis gut.

Chronic disruption of the intestinal microbiota in adult cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is associated with local and systemic inflammation, and has been linked to the risk of serious comorbidities. Supplementation with high amylose maize starch (HAMS) might provide clinical benefit by promoting commensal bacteria and the biosynthesis of immunomodulatory metabolites. However, whether the disrupted CF gut microbiota has the capacity to utilise these substrates is not known. We combined metagenomic sequencing, in vitro fermentation, amplicon sequencing, and metabolomics to define the characteristics of the faecal microbiota in adult CF patients and assess HAMS fermentation capacity. Compared to healthy controls, the faecal metagenome of adult CF patients had reduced bacterial diversity and prevalence of commensal fermentative clades. In vitro fermentation models seeded with CF faecal slurries exhibited reduced acetate levels compared to healthy control reactions, but comparable levels of butyrate and propionate. While the commensal genus Faecalibacterium was strongly associated with short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production by healthy microbiota, it was displaced in this role by Clostridium sensu stricto 1 in the microbiota of CF patients. A subset of CF reactions exhibited enterococcal overgrowth, resulting in lactate accumulation and reduced SCFA biosynthesis. The addition of healthy microbiota to CF faecal slurries failed to displace predominant CF taxa, or substantially influence metabolite biosynthesis. Despite significant microbiota disruption, the adult CF gut microbiota retains the capacity to exploit HAMS. Our findings highlight the potential for taxa associated with the altered CF gut microbiotato mediate prebiotic effects in microbial systems subject to ongoing perturbation, irrespective of the depletion of common commensal clades.

PPARγ is reduced in the airways of non-CF bronchiectasis subjects and is inversely correlated with the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

BACKGROUND: Chronic airway inflammation in conditions such as cystic fibrosis (CF) and non-CF bronchiectasis is characterised by a predominant neutrophilic inflammatory response, commonly due to the presence of pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We hypothesised that down-regulation of the anti-inflammatory nuclear transcription regulator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ in non-CF bronchiectasis subjects may explain why this exuberant neutrophilic inflammation is able to persist unchecked in the inflamed airway. METHODS: PPARγ gene expression was assessed in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) of 35 macrolide naïve non-CF bronchiectasis subjects and compared with that in 20 healthy controls. Human RNA was extracted from pelleted BAL and PPARγ expression was determined by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR. Bacterial DNA was extracted from paired induced sputum and total bacterial load was determined by 16S rRNA qPCR. Quantification of individual bacterial species was achieved by qPCR. RESULTS: PPARγ expression was lower in subjects with non-CF bronchiectasis compared with healthy control subjects (control: 1.00, IQR 0.55-1.44, n = 20 vs. Bronchiectasis: 0.49, IQR 0.12-0.89; n = 35; p<0.001, Mann-Whitney U test). This lower PPARγ expression correlated negatively with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (r = -0.53, n = 31; p = 0.002). No significant association was seen between PPARγ and total bacterial levels or levels Haemophilus influenzae. CONCLUSION: PPARγ is expressed in low levels in the airways of non-CF bronchiectasis subjects, despite an aggressive inflammatory response. This low level PPARγ expression is particularly associated with the presence of high levels of P. aeruginosa, and may represent an intrinsic link with this bacterial pathogen.