Occurrence and elimination of cyanobacterial toxins in two Australian drinking water treatment plants.

In Australian freshwaters, Anabaena circinalis, Microcystis spp. and Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii are the dominant toxic cyanobacteria. Many of these surface waters are used as drinking water resources. Therefore, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia set a guideline for MC-LR toxicity equivalents of 1.3 microg/l drinking water. However, due to lack of adequate data, no guideline values for paralytic shellfish poisons (PSPs) (e.g. saxitoxins) or cylindrospermopsin (CYN) have been set. In this spot check, the concentration of microcystins (MCs), PSPs and CYN were determined by ADDA-ELISA, cPPA, HPLC-DAD and/or HPLC-MS/MS, respectively, in two water treatment plants in Queensland/Australia and compared to phytoplankton data collected by Queensland Health, Brisbane. Depending on the predominant cyanobacterial species in a bloom, concentrations of up to 8.0, 17.0 and 1.3 microg/l were found for MCs, PSPs and CYN, respectively. However, only traces (<1.0 microg/l) of these toxins were detected in final water (final product of the drinking water treatment plant) and tap water (household sample). Despite the low concentrations of toxins detected in drinking water, a further reduction of cyanobacterial toxins is recommended to guarantee public safety.     

Identification of pathogenic microorganisms directly from positive blood vials by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry

Matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF MS) is a promising and fast method for identifying fungi and bacteria directly from positive blood cultures. Various pre‐treatment methods for MALDI‐TOF MS identification have been reported for this purpose. In‐house results for identification of bacterial colonies by MALDI‐TOF MS using a cut‐off score of 1.5 did not reduce the diagnostic accuracy compared with the recommended cut‐off score of 1.8. A 3‐month consecutive study of positive blood cultures was carried out in our laboratory to evaluate whether the Sepsityper? Kit (Bruker Daltonics) with Biotyper 2.0 software could be used as a fast diagnostic tool for bacteria and fungi and whether a 1.5 cut‐off score could improve species identification compared with the recommended score of 1.8. Two hundred and fifty‐six positive blood vials from 210 patients and 19 blood vials spiked with fungi were examined. Using the cut‐off score of 1.8, 81% Gram‐negative bacteria were identified to the species level compared to 84% using a cut‐off score of 1.5. For Gram‐positive bacteria 44% were identified to the species level with a cut‐off of 1.8 compared to 55% with the value of 1.5. The overall identification rate was 63% (cut‐off 1.5) and 54% (cut‐off 1.8). Seventy‐seven per cent of fungal species were identified with both log scores. MALDI‐TOF MS was in this study found to be a powerful tool in fast diagnosis of Gram‐negative bacteria and fungi and to a lesser degree of Gram positives. Using 1.5 as cut‐off score increased the diagnosis for both Gram‐positives and ‐negatives bacteria.     

Wound ballistic evaluation of the TASER® XREP ammunition

The Taser® eXtended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP®) is a wireless conducted electrical weapon (CEW) designed to incapacitate a person from a larger distance. The aim of this study was to analyze the ballistic injury potential of the XREP. Twenty rounds were fired from the Taser®X12 TM shotgun into ballistic soap covered with artificial skin and clothing at different shooting distances (1–25 m). One shot was fired at pig skin at a shooting distance of 10 m. The average projectile velocity was 67.0 m/s. The kinetic energy levels on impact varied from 28–52 J. Depending on the intermediate target, the projectiles penetrated up to 4.2 cm into the ballistic soap. On impact the nose assembly did not separate from the chassis, and no electrical activation was registered. Upon impact, a skin penetration of the XREP cannot be excluded. However, it is very unlikely at shooting distances of 10 m or more. Clothing and a high elasticity limit of the target body area can significantly reduce the penetration risk on impact.     

The orienting of attention during eye and hand movements: ERP evidence for similar frame of reference but different spatially specific modulations of tactile processing

To investigate which frames of reference guide shifts of attention triggered during eye and hand movement preparation and the specificity of their effects on somatosensory processing, we recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in a Go/Nogo task where a cue indicated to prepare an eye movement toward - or a hand movement with - the left or right hand. Before the imperative stimulus, a tactile probe was presented to one hand. Spatially selective modulations of tactile processing were more sustained for hand than eye movements, indicating stronger attentional modulations for the modality of the effector's sensory organ. Importantly, attentional modulations of somatosensory processing as well as lateralized ERP components in the preparation interval were virtually identical under uncrossed and crossed hands conditions, suggesting that shifts of attention triggered during hand and eye movement preparation are guided by a common external reference frame.