Background Lack of sustainable access to clean drinking water continues to be an issue of paramount global importance, leading to millions of preventable deaths annually. Best practices for providing sustainable access to clean drinking water, however, remain unclear. Widespread installation of low-cost, in-home, point of use water filtration systems is a promising strategy. Methods We conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled trial whereby 16 villages were selected and randomly assigned to one of four treatment arms based on the installation location of Sawyer® PointONE™ filters (filter in both home and school; filter in home only; filter in school only; control group). Water samples and self-reported information on diarrhea were collected at multiple times throughout the study. Results Self-reported household prevalence of diarrhea decreased from 25.6 to 9.76% from installation to follow-up (at least 7 days, and up to 200 days post-filter installation). These declines were also observed in diarrhea with economic or educational consequences (diarrhea which led to medical treatment and/or missing school or work) with baseline prevalence of 9.64% declining to 1.57%. Decreases in diarrhea prevalence were observed across age groups. There was no evidence of a loss of efficacy of filters up to 200 days post-filter installation. Installation of filters in schools was not associated with decreases in diarrhea prevalence in school-aged children or family members. Unfiltered water samples both at schools and homes contained potential waterborne bacterial pathogens, dissolved heavy metals and metals associated with particulates. All dissolved metals were detected at levels below World Health Organization action guidelines. Conclusions This controlled trial provides strong evidence of the effectiveness of point-of-use, hollow fiber membrane filters at reducing diarrhea from bacterial sources up to 200 days post-installation when installed in homes. No statistically significant reduction in diarrhea was found when filters were installed in schools. Further research is needed in order to explore filter efficacy and utilization after 200 days post-installation. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03972618. Registered 3 June 2019—retrospectively registered.

This global survey of vAh brought together scientists that study fish disease to evaluate the evolution, geographical distribution, phylogeny, and hosts of vAh and other Aeromonas sp. isolates. In addition to vAh isolates from China and the United States, four new vAh isolates were isolated from the lower Mekong River basin in Cambodia and Vietnam, indicating the significant threat of vAh to modern aquaculture and the need for improved biosecurity to prevent vAh spread.

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) effects on plant yield are highly variable under field conditions due to competition with soil microbiota. Previous research determined that many Bacillus velezensis PGPR strains can use pectin as a sole carbon source and that seed inoculation with PGPR plus pectin-rich orange peel (OP) can enhance PGPR-mediated increases in plant growth. Because the previous studies used a single soybean cultivar, the objective of this research was to test the effect of PGPR plus OP inoculation on plant responses in a wide range of soybean cultivars. Preliminary screening with 20 soybean cultivars in the greenhouse showed that the PGPR plus OP produced a positive increase in all plant growth parameters when all cultivar data was averaged. However, when the inoculation response was examined cultivar by cultivar there was a range of cultivar response from a 60% increase in growth parameters to a 12% decrease, pointing to the presence of a cultivar-PGPR specificity. Further greenhouse and field experiments that studied cultivars with contrast responses to synbiotic inoculation revealed that the environment and/or the molecular interactions between the plant and microorganisms may play an important role in plant responsiveness.

Background and aims. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can function as biofertilizers to enhance plant growth and crop yield in an environmentally sustainable manner. However, when PGPR are introduced into agricultural soils, their survival is restricted due to limited nutrients available in the rhizosphere. It has been demonstrated that selected Bacillus velezensis (Bv) strains can use pectin-rich orange peel (OP) as a growth substrate, but results have been scarce due to lack of strain screening. Therefore, it is important to select the Bv strains for their capability to utilize OP and test their ability to promote soybean growth when inoculated with OP. Methods Six Bv strains were selected by their growth in OP media and then tested for their soybean growth promotion in combination with OP in greenhouse and field experiments. Results Among six Bv strains tested in a greenhouse experiment, strains AP191, AP215, and AP216 showed the best results in plant growth promotion when supplemented with OP, where only AP191 with OP significantly enhanced pod dry weight by 15.8%. Inoculation with AP191 + OP showed the greatest yield under field conditions, being the only treatment significantly different from the control treatment (+ 0.5 ton ha− 1, 9.4% yield increase). Conclusions These results support the conclusion that soybean seed inoculation with PGPR strains in conjunction with orange peel can produce a yield advantage under field conditions. This research opens the opportunity for more consistent yield increases when using biologics as a seed treatment for the biofertilizer industry.

Background: Lack of sustainable access to clean drinking water continues to be an issue of paramount global importance, leading to millions of preventable deaths annually. Best practices for providing sustainable access to clean drinking water, however, remain unclear. Widespread installation of low-cost, in-home, point of use water filtration systems is a promising strategy. Methods: We conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled trial whereby 16 villages were selected and randomly assigned to one of four treatment arms based on the installation location of Sawyer PointONE filters (filter in both home and school; filter in home only; filter in school only; control group). Water samples and self-reported information on diarrhea were collected at multiple times throughout the study. Results: Self-reported household prevalence of diarrhea decreased from 25.6% to 9.76% from installation to follow-up (at least 7 days, and up to 200 days post-filter installation). These declines were also observed in diarrhea with economic or educational consequences (diarrhea which led to medical treatment and/or missing school or work) with baseline prevalence of 9.64% declining to 1.57%. Decreases in diarrhea prevalence were observed across age groups. There was no evidence of a loss of efficacy of filters up to 200 days post filter installation. Installation of filters in schools was not associated with decreases in diarrhea prevalence in school-aged children or family members. Unfiltered water samples both at schools and homes contained potential waterborne bacterial pathogens, dissolved heavy metals and metals associated with particulates. All dissolved metals were detected at levels below World Health Organization action guidelines. Conclusions This controlled trial provides strong evidence of the effectiveness of point-of-use, hollow fiber membrane filters at reducing diarrhea from bacterial sources up to 200 days post installation when installed in homes. No statistically significant reduction in diarrhea was found when filters were installed in schools. Further research is needed in order to explore filter efficacy and utilization after 200 days post-installation. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03972618. Registered 3 June 2019 - Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03972618.