Like HL, PQS induces its own expression

as well as the expression of secretion vesicles required for PQS export. Further, PQS has antibacterial qualities, and may be used by P. aeruginosa to destroy rival bacterial cells by delivering PQS en masse via vesicular transport. It is hypothesized that this type of signaling is also required to carefully control growth of populations in delicate niches such as the lungs. This notion is supported by the fact that PQS and its precursor, hydroxy-2-heptylquinoline, are produced in the lungs of CF individuals this website with P. aeruginosa infections (Machan et al., 1992), implying that it may have clinical relevance in treating such infections. Candida albicans is a widespread opportunistic SGI-1776 ic50 pathogen that causes high rates of mortality during systemic infections. Candida albicans also causes superficial mucosal infections, which can be intractable in immunocompromised individuals such as AIDS patients (Koh et al., 2008). Its universal presence as part of the human gut flora makes C. albicans the most common cause of human fungal infections in general. The ability of C. albicans to freely transition between the yeast and hyphal forms has been shown to be critical for virulence (Lo et al., 1997). Candida albicans exhibits a complex quorum-sensing system utilizing the two secondary metabolites, tyrosol and farnesol, which have opposing effects. Farnesol inhibits transition

from the yeast morphotype to hyphal cells (Hornby et al., 2001; Nickerson et al., 2006); however, it cannot completely abolish hyphal development,

indicating that additional unknown inhibitory molecules with similar function must exist. Tyrosol stimulates a more rapid transition from yeast form cells to hyphal cells under favorable conditions (Chen et al., 2004). cAMP Discovery of these secondary metabolite signals stems primarily from the observation that inoculation of stationary phase yeast cells into fresh medium at the optimal growth temperature (37 °C) induced hyphal formation. Fresh medium releases the yeast cells from the influence of secondary metabolite signals such as farnesol, present in the conditioned media, by diluting it. Recent studies in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans (Semighini et al., 2006) and the plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum (Semighini et al., 2008) indicate that externally added farnesol triggers morphological features characteristic of apoptosis mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Conversely, farnesol appears to protect Candida from oxidative stress (Deveau et al., 2010). Farnesol also induces accumulation of intracellular ROS in Candida; however, this does not appear to be the mechanism of oxidative stress protection as attenuation of farnesol-mediated ROS build-up by antioxidants α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid failed to reduce oxidative stress resistance.

04 s). The data from experiment 1a was subjected to a three-way repeated-measures KU-57788 research buy anova with factors of surgery (two levels: pre- and postoperative), session (four levels: 1–4 days), and stimuli (two levels: moving and static snake). The first two factors were also used in the three-way repeated-measures anovas used to analyze the data from all the other experiments but then the third factor either reflected the five levels of social stimuli (monkey inspecting cage, monkey with food, monkey making affiliative gestures, female monkey perineum and staring monkey) in experiment 1b, the two different human video stimuli (experiment 1c), or the two different classes of neutral stimuli

(moving or static objects). Reaching latencies were log-transformed when necessary in order

to minimize the impact of positive skewing and to reduce between group differences in reaching-latency variance. In addition to measuring reaching latencies selleck inhibitor to the food, two experimenters (J.S. and M.P.N.) scored each animal’s behaviour in response to each stimulus using an adapted form of the checklist employed by Aggleton & Passingham (1981) (Izquierdo & Murray, 2004; Izquierdo et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006). The behavioural responses were categorized into affiliative behaviour (lip-smacking) and aggressive or conflict behaviour (ears flat, open-mouth threat, piloerection and cage shaking). Each instance of a behaviour in each relevant behavioural category during the 30-s find more trial period was recorded and

their mean frequency was compared pre- and postoperatively. Because the stimuli in the present experiment, as in the study of Rudebeck et al. (2006), were never used to directly threaten the animal they were far less effective in eliciting strong behavioural responses than those used by Aggleton and Passingham. A three-way within-subjects anova compared the responses of the animals pre- and postoperatively (lesion) with respect to the two behavioural categories (social or affliative, and aggressive or conflict) to the five social stimuli (stimuli: staring human, female monkey perineum, staring monkey, moving snake and moving pattern). Subsequent analyses compared the effects of mOFC lesions with those induced by lesions to other regions of the frontal lobe. Previously collected data from animals with ACCg lesions were compared to the mOFC postoperative testing sessions. Four independent two-way repeated-measures anovas mirrored the analyses described above. Emotional stimuli were compared in a three-way anova of stimulus, session and the between-subjects factor of lesion position (mOFC or ACCg). Social stimulus effects were compared in a three-way anova of social stimuli, session and the between-subjects factor of lesion position. Responses to human video stimuli were compared in a three-way anova of social human stimuli, session and the between-subjects factor of lesion position.

If the heterogeneity was above 50% or the P-value was less than 0.10, GW-572016 concentration we planned to explore for the source of heterogeneity and perform appropriate sensitivity analyses. The presence of publication bias was assessed by visual inspection of funnel plots, generated by revman 5, of the primary outcomes reported in the included studies. Subgroup analyses with summary effects were performed for each GH axis drug studied. As depicted in Table 1, all 10 included studies were randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled

studies. The duration of the intervention in the studies ranged from 12 to 26 weeks. Six studies evaluated GH as their primary intervention, four studies evaluated tesamorelin, one study evaluated GHRH, and one evaluated IGF-1. One article compared two interventions (GH and IGF-1) vs. a placebo group. As can be seen in Figure 1, the summary effect shows that GH axis drugs produced a significant reduction in VAT compared with placebo (WMD –25.20 cm2; 95% CI −32.18 to –18.22 cm2; P<0.001). Statistically significant reductions were found for GH (WMD −32.61 cm2; 95% CI −41.82 to –23.40 cm2; P<0.001) and tesamorelin

(WMD −22.65 cm2; 95% CI −32.67 to −12.64 cm2; P<0.001). GHRH selleck kinase inhibitor treatment did not result in a statistically significant decrease in VAT (WMD −21.50 cm2; 95% CI −44.28 to 1.28 cm2; P=0.06). As shown in Figure 2, compared with placebo, GH axis drugs significantly reduced SAT mass (WMD –3.94 cm2; 95% CI −10.88 to 3.00 cm2; P=0.02). Subgroup analyses showed that no significant decrease in SAT mass was found with tesamorelin (WMD 1.02 cm2; 95% CI –8.21 to 6.16 cm2; P=0.78) or GHRH (WMD –1.40 cm2; 95% CI –13.55 to 10.75 cm2; isothipendyl P=0.82).

However, GH treatment did result in a statistically significant decrease in SAT compared with placebo (WMD –16.02 cm2; 95% CI –24.08 to –7.97 cm2; P<0.001). As shown in Figure 3, GH axis drugs produced a significant change in LBM compared with placebo (WMD 1.31 kg; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.61 kg; P<0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that there was a significant increase in LBM with tesamorelin (WMD 1.35 kg; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.66 kg; P<0.001) and GHRH (WMD 0.78 kg; 95% CI –0.39 to 1.95 kg; P=0.019), while GH (WMD 1.51 kg; 95% CI –0.22 to 3.24 kg; P=0.09) and IGF-1 (WMD 2.05 kg; 95% CI –0.08 to 4.18 kg; P=0.06) did not produce a significant gain. GH axis drugs had an overall effect of increasing fasting plasma glucose (WMD 2.88 mg/dL; 95% CI 1.10 to 4.65 mg/dL; P=0.001), decreasing waist circumference (WMD −1.61 cm; 95% CI –2.33 to –0.89 cm; P<0.001), decreasing extremity fat (WMD –0.25 kg; 95% CI –0.49 to 0.01 kg; P=0.04), and decreasing triglycerides (WMD –25.37 mg/dL; 95% CI –46.84 to –3.89 mg/dL; P=0.02).

citrulli (Kang et al., 2002; Meng et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007; Bahar et al., 2009). While the contribution of TFP to the virulence of animal pathogens has been investigated, the mechanisms by which TFP contribute to the virulence of phytopathogenic bacteria are poorly understood. The findings from this study may provide a possible explanation for the reduced virulence of A. citrulli TFP mutants (Bahar et al., 2009). It is well known that xylem sap in plant Nutlin-3a cell line vessels does not flow at a constant rate, and at nights, may even be reduced to a minimum. However, under average rates, sap flow may minimize cell adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation on xylem walls, thus affecting virulence,

particularly in the case of TFP mutants. Biofilms are thought to contribute to the virulence of phytopathogenic bacteria through several mechanisms, including blockage of xylem sap, increased resistance to plant antimicrobial substances and/or enhanced colonization of specific Daporinad solubility dmso niches (Danhorn & Fuqua, 2007). Nevertheless, the picture can often be more complex than expected. For instance, Guilhabert & Kirkpatrick (2005) showed that a hemagglutinin mutant of X. fastidiosa, which is impaired in cell aggregation and biofilm maturation, was hypervirulent on grapevines. The authors hypothesized that the formation of an immature monolayered-biofilm structure by this mutant was sufficient to induce severe disease symptoms, while the lack of cell aggregation promoted Bay 11-7085 a faster distribution

of the pathogen in the plant, yielding a phenotype more severe than that of the wild type. In A. citrulli, the hyperpiliated M6-T mutant was shown to form cell aggregates in MFC to a much greater extent than wild-type M6. Interestingly, previously reported virulence assays revealed that not only is the

M6-T mutant less virulent than the wild type, it is also less virulent than the TFP-null mutant M6-M (Bahar et al., 2009), suggesting that cell aggregation could negatively affect virulence, probably by hampering the distribution of the pathogen inside the plant. In addition to the effect of TFP on virulence through biofilm formation, TFP-mediated twitching may also contribute to bacterial spread along the plant, especially against the flow direction, as observed here and in studies with X. fastidiosa (Meng et al., 2005). Indeed, stem inoculation experiments demonstrated that both A. citrulli and X. fastidiosa possess the ability to spread against the sap flow in xylem vessels (Meng et al., 2005; Bahar et al., 2009). In our study, the twitching speed of A. citrulli was approximately 9.9 ± 1.1 μm min−1. Similar twitching assays showed that wild-type cells of X. fastidiosa moved at 0.86 ± 0.04 μm min−1; however, an X. fastidiosa mutant lacking type I pili (which slows down twitching) moved at 4.85 ± 0.27 μm min−1 (De La Fuente et al., 2007a). Thus, the twitching speed of A. citrulli is roughly comparable to that of the X. fastidiosa mutant lacking type I pili.

1b. While only a single AipA homolog was found in each of the examined Aspergillus species, two AipA homologs were present in each yeast species, with the exception of Candida

albicans. These homologs were thought to correspond to S. cerevisiae Sap1p and Yta6p. AipA showed 34% and 33% amino-acid sequence identity to Sap1p and Yta6p, respectively (Supporting Information, Fig. S1). Although both Sap1p and Yta6p are putative AAA ATPases (Fig. 1a), their functions have not been elucidated in detail. To confirm the interaction between AipA and AoAbp1, we performed a more detailed YTH analysis. First, it was demonstrated that these full-length proteins interact with each other (Fig. 2a). Next, to identify the interacting regions of AipA and AoAbp1, we performed further YTH analyses using truncated AipA and

AoAbp1 sequences. Because the construct containing two SH3 domains of AoAbp1 activated YTH reporters alone (data selleck products not see more shown), it was not used in the YTH analysis. As a result of the comprehensive fragment analysis, it was revealed that amino-acid residues 346-370 of AipA interact with the two SH3 domains of AoAbp1 (Fig. 2a). Within this 25 amino-acid sequence of AipA, a total of eight proline residues were observed (Fig. 2b). Although this 25 amino-acid sequence with eight proline residues was not found by the motif analysis, this YTH result was considered reasonable as SH3 domains typically interact with proline-rich regions. Moreover, to test the interaction between AipA and AoAbp1 in vitro, we conducted a GST pull-down assay using the two SH3 domains of AoAbp1 fused with GST (GST-AoAbp1 SH3s) and lysate prepared from an A. oryzae strain expressing 6×Myc-AipA as bait and prey, respectively (Fig. 2c, d). This analysis indicated that AipA interacted with the two SH3 domains of AoAbp1 in vitro. AAA ATPases characteristically oligomerize into hexamers (White & Lauring, 2007). Thus, to analyze whether AipA exhibited self-interaction, we performed YTH analysis using AipA as

both bait and prey (Fig. S2a). The analysis demonstrated Rutecarpine that full-length AipA was capable of self-interaction. Moreover, the self-interaction of full-length AipA was confirmed by a GST pull-down assay using GST-AipA as bait and 6×Myc-AipA as prey (Fig. S2b). These results suggest that AipA functions with a feature of AAA ATPase. To analyze the localization of AipA in vivo, we generated a strain that express egfp-aipA under control of the native promoter in the ΔaipA (see the section below) background. Approximately 1000 bp upstream region of aipA was utilized as the native promoter. However, no enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) fluorescence was observed in the strain likely because of the low amount of aipA expression (data not shown). Thus, we generated a strain that ectopically expresses egfp-aipA under control of the pgkA promoter in the WT background.

The endogenous predictive task demonstrated an Nd effect that was over both hemispheres (Cue: F1,11 = 15.33, P = 0.002,

 = 0.58). Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between attention modulation and behavioural effect (r = 0.81, P = 0.001; see Fig. 7 for a scatterplot of this relationship). The Nd in the E7080 endogenous counter-predictive task was seen over electrodes ipsilateral to target location (Cue: F1,11 = 5.48, P = 0.039,  = 0.33), following a significant Cue × Hemisphere interaction (F1,11 = 12.80, P = 0.004,  = 0.54). Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between the ipsilateral attention modulation and RT effect (r = 0.60, P = 0.041; Fig. 7). This study looked at how endogenous orienting influences exogenous attention and/or IOR in touch. As predicted, the behavioural data showed facilitation of RTs for expected compared with unexpected targets in both endogenous http://www.selleckchem.com/products/BIBF1120.html tasks whilst IOR in the exogenous task (Fig. 2). Interestingly, there

was no indication of IOR at either expected or unexpected locations, suggesting IOR did not influence endogenous orienting. This suggests that IOR and endogenous attention are not, when behaviour is concerned, interrelated mechanisms. The ERPs revealed both early effects of exogenous (N80) and late effects of endogenous attention (N140 and Nd). Although IOR and endogenous attention were not interrelated at a behavioural level, endogenous orienting affected exogenous cueing effects. That is, endogenous attention influenced early exogenous processing, whilst there was no evidence of an exogenous effect on endogenous processing. Moreover, the N80 cueing effect, demonstrated in the endogenous predictive and exogenous tasks, did not seem to relate to IOR, suggesting a dissociation between IOR and exogenous attention.

We predicted that endogenous Pazopanib supplier attention would affect later stages of processing. We did not only demonstrate endogenous attention modulations at these late components (N140 and Nd), but for the first time showed a direct relationship between neural correlates of endogenous tactile attention and behavioural performance. In other words, the endogenous attention effects shown in the ERP data strongly correlated with RT effects providing compelling evidence for a direct link between behaviour and underlying neural processes. These findings are discussed in more detail below. The behavioural results are in line with previous studies of tactile attention showing IOR in the exogenous task (Lloyd et al., 1999; Cohen et al., 2005; Jones & Forster, 2012), facilitation of attended targets in the endogenous predictive task (Lloyd et al., 1999; Cohen et al., 2005; Jones & Forster, 2013a) and endogenous counter-predictive task (Chica et al., 2007). We did not demonstrate a presence of IOR during endogenous attention, in accord with previous tactile studies with a similar paradigm (Chica et al., 2007).

8). The infection was newly identified after the initiation of HAART (unmasking IRIS) in eight out of 18 cases

(44.4%). In the remaining 10 cases (55.6%), IRIS was diagnosed after worsening of a previously treated CNS infection (paradoxical IRIS). The median interval from HAART initiation to diagnosis of IRIS was 39 days (IQR 20–90 days). Table 3 shows demographic, clinical and immunological characteristics of patients who developed paradoxical and unmasking IRIS. In order to identify pretreatment variables associated with the risk of developing paradoxical IRIS, these patients were compared with those who did not experience a paradoxical reaction. We found, as the only difference between the two groups, that patients who did not develop IRIS were more likely to have had a previous AIDS-defining condition (51.1% vs. 0% for those developing paradoxical IRIS; P = 0.002). Patients developing IRIS http://www.selleckchem.com/products/ganetespib-sta-9090.html had a more rapid immunological recovery than patients who did

not develop IRIS, as evidenced by a greater increase in CD4 count after AG-014699 order 3 months of antiretroviral therapy (ART) (170 vs. 62 cells/μL, respectively; P < 0.025). At this time-point, the decrease in viral load was also greater among patients with paradoxical IRIS, but differences did not reach statistical significance (–2.6 vs. −1.8 log10 for those with paradoxical IRIS; P = 0.10). Patients who began HAART within Branched chain aminotransferase 2 weeks after the diagnosis of a CNS infection were not at higher risk of developing paradoxical IRIS (50% vs. 65.8% for those who began HAART more than 2 weeks after diagnosis; P = 0.32). Figure 3 shows the cumulative probabilities of survival and the median survival time categorized by the development and type of IRIS. We did not find significant differences in survival between patients who developed paradoxical IRIS and those without IRIS. Eight (44.4%) of the 18 patients with IRIS received therapy

with steroids for a variable period depending on the response to therapy and other individual patient characteristics. None of the 10 patients who were not treated with steroids died, while three of the eight who received steroids died. In those three cases, mortality was directly attributed to IRIS. These three patients had PML. In our study, we observed a progressive decline in the incidence of CNS opportunistic infections during the first decade of the 21st Century. The overall rate of CNS infections decreased significantly from 8.3 cases per 1000 HIV-infected patients in the year 2000 to 1.4 in 2010. Since HAART became available, many studies have reported a decrease in the incidence of most opportunistic conditions related to HIV infection, including neurological infections [1-6, 20-22]. For example, a study performed in France by Abgrall et al. in 2001 showed a reduction of 34% in the risk of cerebral toxoplasmosis after the introduction of protease inhibitors [5].

The growth of wild-type S. oneidensis MR-1 with glucose as the sole carbon source, directly following extended diauxic growth (Fig. 1d), supports the concept of either ‘conditioning’ needed for timely glucose utilization or, more likely, that a GASP glucose-use mutation was acquired (Finkel & Kolter, 1999). To narrow these two possibilities down, S. oneidensis strains EH1, EH2, and EH3 passed four times through medium with lactate as the sole carbon source and then grown successfully with glucose as the sole carbon source (Fig. 1d) supports the concept of these being GASP mutants, as GASP see more mutants maintain their ‘evolved’ phenotype after repeated passages

through log-phase growth (Zambrano et al., 1993). The results of this study indicate that given initial exposure to glucose in an environment where glucose use is not immediately necessary (LB broth amended with glucose or MM containing both lactate and glucose), S. oneidensis MR-1 will develop, with high frequency, a GASP glucose-use mutation and acquire the ability to use glucose

as a substrate. The time needed for this to occur appears to be 24 h with cultures from glucose-amended LB broth and over 8 days (Fig. 1b), but < 16 days (Fig. 1c) in MM (G/L). Most or all genetic elements needed for glucose use are present in the S. oneidensis MR-1 genome (data not shown and Rodionov et al., 2010); however, the exact genetic mechanism(s) by which strains EH1-3 Pexidartinib chemical structure are

able to use glucose and not wild-type remains elusive. Our studies indicate that two potential glucose transporters, glcP and ptsG, are not functional in glucose acquisition in strains EH1-3 (gene sequencing and mRNA transcription analyses, respectively; data not shown). Zinser and Kolter (2000) found that in Escherichia coli K-12, GASP mutations were in global regulators, indicating that the physiological changes may be more global in scope. Differential protein or mRNA transcription patterns and resequencing of the genomes of glucose-utilizing strains are areas where further research can clarify the genetic underpinning(s). While the high frequency at which S. oneidensis populations acquire glucose utilization function can be explained Aldehyde dehydrogenase by GASP mutation(s), it is also possible that S. oneidensis MR-1 maintains a certain level of mutator bacteria within the population to gain short-term ecological advantages (Chao & Cox, 1983; Giraud et al., 2001a, b). Mutator bacteria contain mutations that inactivate mutation-avoidance genes (Giraud et al., 2001a, b). These mutations allow for an accelerated speed of evolution within the bacterial population, which can have great benefits on a short-term time scale for survival of a population in new environments (Perfeito et al., 2007).

Although it has long been demonstrated that bimanual motor performance is mediated by the function

of the CC (Preilowski, 1972; Franz et al., 1996; Eliassen et al., 1999, 2000; Stephan et al., 1999; Serrien et al., 2001; Kennerley et al., 2002; Diedrichsen et al., 2003; Johansen-Berg et al., 2007; Muetzel et al., 2008), little is known about the neural activity of the transcallosal circuit during bimanual motor actions (Soteropoulos & Baker, 2007). Recently, Yedimenko & Perez (2010) demonstrated that interhemispheric inhibition, as assessed by paired-pulse TMS, is modulated according to the direction of static forces GDC-0449 concentration of bilateral index fingers. Our experiment further expands this notion to the dynamic regulation of bimanual forces. In the present study, we demonstrated that TCI between the motor cortices was modulated according to the condition of bimanual force regulation. TCI was greater when bimanual http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Everolimus(RAD001).html force regulation was performed in a symmetrical manner compared

with when it was performed in an asymmetrical manner. In line with this, the perturbation of force tracking performance induced by TMS over the ipsilateral M1 was greater during the symmetric condition than during the asymmetric condition. Therefore, the transient disruption of right M1 activity due to TCI could mainly account for the modulation of the left tracking disturbance. Furthermore, our findings could be a manifestation of the specific neural organization of the transcallosal inhibitory circuit for bimanual force control. Although TCI showed a different magnitude depending on whether TMS was applied during the left force incremental phase or decremental phase, the magnitude of TCI was generally larger during the symmetric condition than during the asymmetric condition, irrespective of the tracking phase. In addition, TCI of tonic muscle contraction was not modulated by unimanual

force regulation of the right thumb (Fig. 4). These findings demonstrated that simultaneous force regulation with different coordination conditions accounts for the observed modulation Tyrosine-protein kinase BLK of TCI, but unilateral force regulation was insufficient to induce such modulation. The most important finding in the present study was that TCI during the symmetric condition, which required synchronous bilateral force regulation of the thumb, was greater than during the asymmetric condition. However, this finding may not be in line with the accepted role of TCI between the motor cortices. During a unimanual action, one of the most important functions of TCI is to prevent unwanted motor activity of the muscles contralateral to the acting hand (Mayston et al., 1999; Duque et al., 2007; Hübers et al., 2008; Giovannelli et al., 2009). Accordingly, this consideration might lead us to predict that TCI is weaker during symmetric muscle contractions than during asymmetric muscle contractions (Meister et al., 2010).

National stockpiling of neuramindase inhibitors began in earnest with the emergence of the 2009 influenza pandemic (H1N1). These stockpiles were dominated by Tamiflu® largely owing to its relative ease of administration (tablet), as compared with Relenza

(disc inhaler). Tamiflu® is a prodrug, which, after absorption into the blood, is converted to the active antiviral, oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), in the liver. Y-27632 manufacturer Approximately 80% of an oral dose of Tamiflu® is excreted as OC in the urine (He et al., 1999), with the remainder excreted as OP in the faeces. Both the parent chemical and its bioactive metabolite ultimately reach the receiving wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), where it was projected to reach a mean of ∼2–12 μg L−1 during a moderate and severe pandemic, respectively (A.C. Singer et al., unpublished data). Current evidence suggests conservation learn more of OC as it passes through WWTPs (Fick et al., 2007; Accinelli et al., 2010; Ghosh et al., 2010; Prasse et al., 2010; Soderstrom et al., 2010); hence, rivers receiving WWTP effluent will also be exposed to OC throughout a pandemic. Concentrations of between 293 and 480 ng OC L−1 have been recorded in rivers receiving WWTP effluent during the 2009 pandemic (Ghosh et al., 2010; Soderstrom et al., 2010). Several

studies have demonstrated the potential for the removal of OC from freshwater (amended in some cases with sediment) and activated sludge (amended in some cases with a granular bioplastic formulation entrapping propagules of white rot fungi) via adsorption, microbial degradation and indirect photolysis (Accinelli et al., 2007, 2010; Bartels & von Tumpling, 2008; Sacca et al., 2009). A key factor in determining the amount of OC removal appears

to be the length of incubation, with batch incubations of 40 days resulting in the degradation of up to 76% OC in the presence of an activated sludge inoculum (Accinelli et al., 2010). However, batch experiments do not reflect the activities of a WWTP as the hydraulic residence time (HRT) for wastewater in the activated sludge system is commonly only a few hours and degradation would therefore be expected to be much lower. In a pandemic scenario, Tamiflu® use would rapidly increase over an 8-week period as 6-phosphogluconolactonase the outbreak spread and would follow a similarly rapid decline after the peak (Singer et al., 2007, 2008, unpublished data). We hypothesize that the prolonged exposure of WWTP microbial consortia over the course of a pandemic might hasten the generation of OC degraders in the activated sludge bacterial community, thereby minimizing the risks posed from widespread environmental release. The key processes in WWTPs [removal of organic carbon, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)] are microbiologically mediated by activated sludge.