Although audio archives are available for a number of political institutions, the data they provide receive scant attention from researchers. Yet, audio data offer important insights, including information about speakers’ emotional states. Using one of the largest collections of natural audio ever compiled—74,158 Congressional floor speeches—we introduce a novel measure of legislators’ emotional intensity: small changes in vocal pitch that are difficult for speakers to control. Applying our measure to MCs’ floor speeches about women, we show that female MCs speak with greater emotional intensity when talking about women as compared with both their male colleagues and their speech on other topics. Our two supplementary analyses suggest that increased vocal pitch is consistent with legislators’ broader issue commitments, and that emotionally intense speech may affect other lawmakers’ behavior. More generally, by demonstrating the utility of audio-as-data approaches, our work highlights a new way of studying political speech.

We propose the concept of the “Fish Revolution” to demarcate the dramatic increase in North Atlantic fisheries after AD 1500, which led to a 15-fold increase of cod (Gadus morhua) catch volumes and likely a tripling of fish protein to the European market. We consider three key questions: (1) What were the environmental parameters of the Fish Revolution? (2) What were the globalising effects of the Fish Revolution? (3) What were the consequences of the Fish Revolution for fishing communities? While these questions would have been considered unknowable a decade or two ago, methodological developments in marine environmental history and historical ecology have moved information about both supply and demand into the realm of the discernible. Although much research remains to be done, we conclude that this was a major event in the history of resource extraction from the sea, mediated by forces of climate change and globalisation, and is likely to provide a fruitful agenda for future multidisciplinary research.

Fe deficiency is relatively common in pregnancy and has both short- and long-term consequences. However, little is known about the effect on the metabolism of other micronutrients. A total of fifty-four female rats were fed control (50 mg Fe/kg) or Fe-deficient diets (7·5 mg/kg) before and during pregnancy. Maternal liver, placenta and fetal liver were collected at day 21 of pregnancy for Cu and Zn analysis and to measure expression of the major genes of Cu and Zn metabolism. Cu levels increased in the maternal liver (P=0·002) and placenta (P=0·018) of Fe-deficient rats. Zn increased (P<0·0001) and Cu decreased (P=0·006) in the fetal liver. Hepatic expression of the Cu chaperones antioxidant 1 Cu chaperone (P=0·042) and cytochrome c oxidase Cu chaperone (COX17, P=0·020) decreased in the Fe-deficient dams, while the expression of the genes of Zn metabolism was unaltered. In the placenta, Fe deficiency reduced the expression of the chaperone for superoxide dismutase 1, Cu chaperone for superoxide dismutase (P=0·030), ceruloplasmin (P=0·042) and Zn transport genes, ZRT/IRT-like protein 4 (ZIP4, P=0·047) and Zn transporter 1 (ZnT1, P=0·012). In fetal liver, Fe deficiency increased COX17 (P=0·020), ZRT/IRT-like protein 14 (P=0·036) and ZnT1 (P=0·0003) and decreased ZIP4 (P=0·004). The results demonstrate that Fe deficiency during pregnancy has opposite effects on Cu and Zn levels in the fetal liver. This may, in turn, alter metabolism of these nutrients, with consequences for development in the fetus and the neonate.

Concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC), total petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in 84 near-surface soils (5–20cm depth) taken from a 255km2 area of Glasgow in the Clyde Basin, UK, during July 2011. Total petroleum hydrocarbon range was 79–2,505mgkg–1 (mean 388mgkg–1; median 272mgkg–1) of which the aromatic fraction was 13–74 % (mean 44 %, median 43 %) and saturates were 28–87 % (mean 56 %, median 57 %). ∑16 PAH varied from 2–653mgkg–1 (mean 32.4mgkg–1; median 12.5mgkg–1) and ∑31 PAH range was 2.47–852mgkg–1 (mean 45.4mgkg–1; median 19.0mgkg–1). ∑PCBtri-hepta range was 2.2–1052μgkg–1 (mean 32.4μgkg–1; median 12.7μgkg–1) and the ∑PCB7 range was 0.3–344μgkg–1 (mean 9.8μgkg–1; median 2.7μgkg–1). The concentration, distribution and source of the persistent organic pollutants were compared with those found in urban soils from other cities and to human health assessment criteria for chronic exposure to chemicals in soil. Total concentrations encountered were generally similar to other urban areas that had a similar industrial history. Benzo[a]pyrene concentrations were assessed against four different land use scenarios (irrespective of current land use) using generic assessment criteria resulting in six of 84 samples exceeding the residential criteria. Isomeric PAH ratios and relative abundance of perylene suggest multiple and environmentally modified pyrogenic PAH sources, inferred to be representative of diffuse pollution. ∑PCB7 concentrations were exceeded in 10 % of sites using the Dutch target value of 20μgkg–1. PCB congener profiles were environmentally attenuated and generally dominated by penta-, hexa- and hepta-chlorinated congeners.

Increasing evidence indicates that gut microbiota may influence colorectal cancer risk. Diet, particularly fibre intake, may modify gut microbiota composition, which may affect cancer risk. We investigated the relationship between dietary fibre intake and gut microbiota in adults. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we assessed gut microbiota in faecal samples from 151 adults in two independent study populations: National Cancer Institute (NCI), n 75, and New York University (NYU), n 76. We calculated energy-adjusted fibre intake based on FFQ. For each study population with adjustment for age, sex, race, BMI and smoking, we evaluated the relationship between fibre intake and gut microbiota community composition and taxon abundance. Total fibre intake was significantly associated with overall microbial community composition in NYU (P=0·008) but not in NCI (P=0·81). In a meta-analysis of both study populations, higher fibre intake tended to be associated with genera of class Clostridia, including higher abundance of SMB53 (fold change (FC)=1·04, P=0·04), Lachnospira (FC=1·03, P=0·05) and Faecalibacterium (FC=1·03, P=0·06), and lower abundance of Actinomyces (FC=0·95, P=0·002), Odoribacter (FC=0·95, P=0·03) and Oscillospira (FC=0·96, P=0·06). A species-level meta-analysis showed that higher fibre intake was marginally associated with greater abundance of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (FC=1·03, P=0·07) and lower abundance of Eubacterium dolichum (FC=0·96, P=0·04) and Bacteroides uniformis (FC=0·97, P=0·05). Thus, dietary fibre intake may impact gut microbiota composition, particularly class Clostridia, and may favour putatively beneficial bacteria such as F. prausnitzii. These findings warrant further understanding of diet–microbiota relationships for future development of colorectal cancer prevention strategies.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-shortening genetic disease that affects approximately 30,000 patients in the United States. CF patients suffer from chronic pulmonary infections that are associated with hyperinflammation and irreversible damage to the lower airways. As CF patients age, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P.a.) is the predominant pathogen that infects the respiratory tract. The P.a. strains initially infecting the CF lung have a nonmucoid colony morphology, whereas, once chronic infection is established, these bacteria mutate leading to the emergence of mucoid P.a. variants with heightened resistance to both antibiotics and host immunity. Both nonmucoid and mucoid P.a. variants are often co-isolated on microbiological cultures of sputum collected from CF patients. However, the CF lung is known to exhibit heterogeneity in inflammation and infecting microbes across different lung regions that cannot be studied using routine sputum collection alone. Here, using a standardized bronchoscopic protocol, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid was prospectively collected from each lobe of a CF cohort undergoing clinically indicated surgical procedures. We sought to investigate if there is an association between infecting P.a. variants (nonmucoid, mucoid, or mixed populations), the lung lobes in which these variants are found, and regional proinflammatory cytokine production. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We performed BAL on 16 CF patients with clinically stable disease. For each patient, we obtained BAL fluid from the right upper lobe, right middle lobe, right lower lobe, left upper lobe, lingula, and left lower lobe. We plated BAL fluid on nonselective and P.a.-selective medium to quantitate bacteria and to identify P.a. colony subtypes (nonmucoid, mucoid, or mixed). We further used a V-PLEX human cytokine array to quantitate inflammatory cytokine concentrations (IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10) within BAL fluid specimens. Our specimen collection was approved by the local IRB with informed consent and assent obtained from patient volunteers. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Based on microbiological analysis, each lobar BAL specimen was classified as uninfected with P. a. or infected with nonmucoid, mucoid, or mixed (both nonmucoid and mucoid) P.a. variants. There was no observed propensity of mucoid or nonmucoid variants to be confined to certain lung lobes in our cohort. However, infection with mucoid P.a. variants was associated with higher concentrations of IL-1β (p<0.001), TNF-α (p<0.001), IL-8 (p<0.001), and IL-10 (p<0.001) within lobar BAL fluid compared with P.a.-free specimens. Specimens with mucoid variants also had greater concentrations of TNF-α (p<0.01), IL-8 (p<0.001), and IL-10 (p<0.05) compared with specimens with only nonmucoid P.a. variants. Patients infected with mixed mucoid and nonmucoid variants showed higher concentrations of TNF-α and IL-10 (p<0.05) as well as nonsignificant trends for higher concentrations of IL-1β and IL-6 compared to P.a.-free samples. Interestingly, the presence of nonmucoid P.a. variants was inversely correlated with IL-6 (p<0.05). Total bacterial burden (both P.a. and non-P.a. species) within BAL fluids was positively correlated with higher proinflammatory cytokine concentrations. Additionally, independent of bacterial colonization, the upper lobes (right upper lobe and left upper lobe) of the lungs showed trends towards higher proinflammatory cytokine concentrations compared with the lower lobes (right lower lobe and left lower lobe). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Our results demonstrate that P.a. variants (mucoid or nonmucoid) appear not to be geographically restricted in ability to colonize any lobe of the CF lung. Moreover, infection with mucoid P.a. (either alone or in mixed populations with nonmucoid variants) is associated with higher inflammatory cytokine concentrations in the CF lung. Given that infection with mucoid P.a. predicts deterioration in pulmonary function, this study provides a rationale for further investigation of cytokines as diagnostic/prognostic correlates of infection and lung disease in CF.

The changes in milk composition from the turn of the century to the present date are reviewed and the difficulties that the changes may have given to manufacturers are discussed. Butter manufacture is not affected by changes in milk compositional quality, although the spreadability of butter follows the seasonal changes in the hardness of milk fat. The legal requirements for the composition of cheese are set at levels that have not given any difficulty but the yield of cheese has suffered due to the progressive deterioration in the casein content of milk. There are some specific problems related to the operation of the European Economic Community milk subsidies, although these are more administrative and bureaucratic difficulties than compositional problems. It is concluded that technological advance can cope with any likely change in compositional variability, provided that legislation is not introduced to ensure the perpetuation of traditional methods.