University of Plymouth

A new study has uncovered a diverse array of microorganisms within the hot waters of the Roman Baths, regularly listed among the UK's most popular tourist attractions. Tests showed 15 of the isolated bacteria -- including examples of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes -- displayed varying levels of inhibition against human pathogens including E.coli, Staphylococcus Aureus and Shigella flexneri. The world-famous Roman Baths are home to a diverse range of microorganisms which could be critical in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance, a new study suggests. The research, published in the journal The Microbe, is the first to provide a detailed examination of the bacterial and archaeal communities found within the waters of the popular tourist attraction in the city of Bath (UK). Scientists collected samples of water, sediment and biofilm from locations within the Roman Baths complex including the King's Spring (where the waters reach around 45°C) and the Great Bath, where the temperatures are closer to 30°C. The samples were then analysed using cutting edge sequencing technology and traditional culturing techniques were employed to isolate bacteria with antibiotic activity. Around 300 distinct types of bacteria were isolated across the Roman Baths site -- among them the key candidate groups, Actinobacteria and Myxococcota, known for antibiotic production -- with different examples being more prominent within the varying water temperatures. Further tests showed 15 of these isolates -- including examples of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes -- showed varying levels of inhibition against human pathogens including E.coli, Staphylococcus Aureus and Shigella flexneri. The research comes at a time when the need for new sources of antibiotics is at unprecedented levels, with resistance of bacteria to currently used medication estimated to be responsible for more than 1.25million deaths globally each year. Writing in the study, scientists say a significant amount of additional investigation is required before the microorganisms found in the Roman Baths can be applied in the fight against disease and infection globally. However, they add that this initial study has shown there is clear potential for novel natural products contained within its hot springs to be explored further for that purpose. The research was carried out by students and academics from the University of Plymouth's School of Biomedical Sciences and School of Biological and Marine Sciences, working closely with staff at the Roman Baths. Dr Lee Hutt, Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Plymouth, is the study's senior author. He said: "This is a really important, and very exciting, piece of research. Antimicrobial resistance is recognised as one of the most significant threats to global health, and the hunt for novel antimicrobial natural products is gathering pace. This study has for the first time demonstrated some of the microorganisms present within the Roman Baths, revealing it as a potential source of novel antimicrobial discovery. There is no small irony in the fact the waters of the Roman Baths have long been regarded for their medicinal properties and now, thanks to advances in modern science, we might be on the verge of discovering the Romans and others since were right." The Roman Baths has been welcoming visitors for almost two millennia, and in 2023 more than one million people toured its hot springs and other collections. Zofia Matyjaszkiewicz, Collections Manager at the Roman Baths and a co-author of the new study, added: "People have visited the springs in Bath for thousands of years, worshipping at, bathing in and drinking the waters over the centuries. Even in the Victorian period the Spa Treatment Centre in Bath used the natural spring waters for their perceived curative properties in all sorts of showers, baths and treatments. It's really exciting to see cutting edge scientific research like this taking place here, on a site with so many stories to tell." The research is now being expanded through a PhD studentship, which will represent the first in-depth study of a UK thermal hot spring focused on antimicrobial discovery. Scheduled to begin in October 2024, it will apply a variety of techniques to screen microorganisms found in the Roman Baths for antimicrobial activity, with a view to identifying which might have the potential for future clinical use.

A new deep learning model performs a task that biologists have struggled with for centuries -- how to measure the incredibly complex process of embryonic development. Scientists have shown that the AI model, known as Dev-ResNet, can identify what happens and when during embryonic development, from video. While used in pond snail embryos for this study, in future the technique could be used to help accelerate understanding on how climate change, and other external factors, affect humans and animals in the earliest stages of life. Research led by the University of Plymouth has shown that a new deep learning AI model can identify what happens and when during embryonic development, from video. Published today (Wednesday 29 May) in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the study highlights how the model, known as Dev-ResNet, can identify the occurrence of key functional developmental events in pond snails, including heart function, crawling, hatching and even death. A key innovation in this study is the use of a 3D model that uses changes occurring between frames of the video, and enables the AI to learn from these features, as opposed to the more traditional use of still images. The use of video means features ranging from the first heartbeat, or crawling behaviour, through to shell formation or hatching are reliably detected by Dev-ResNet, and has revealed sensitivities of different features to temperature not previously known. While used in pond snail embryos for this study, the authors say the model has broad applicability across all species, and they provide comprehensive scripts and documentation for applying Dev-ResNet in different biological systems. In future, the technique could be used to help accelerate understanding on how climate change, and other external factors, affect humans and animals. The work was led by PhD candidate, Ziad Ibbini, who studied BSc Conservation Biology at the University, before taking a year out to upskill himself in software development, then beginning his PhD. He designed, trained and tested Dev-ResNet himself. He said: "Delineating developmental events -- or working out what happens when in an animal's early development -- is so challenging, but incredibly important as it helps us to understand changes in event timing between species and environments. "Dev-ResNet is a small and efficient 3D convolutional neural network capable of detecting developmental events using videos, and can be trained relatively easily on consumer hardware. "The only real limitations are in creating the data to train the deep learning model -- we know it works, you just need to give it the right training data. "We want to equip the wider scientific community with the tools that will enable them to better understand how a species' development is affected by different factors, and thus identifying how we can protect them. We think that Dev-ResNet is a significant step in that direction." Dr Oli Tills, the paper's senior author and a UKRI Future Leaders Research Fellow, added: "This research is important on a technological level, but it is also significant for advancing how we perceive organismal development -- something that the University of Plymouth, within the Ecophysiology and Development research Group, has more than 20 years' history of researching. "This milestone would not have been possible without deep learning, and it is exciting to think of where this new capability will lead us in the study of animals during their most dynamic period of life."

A systematic review draws together five decades of research -- including more than 730,000 individual measurements -- to assess how a person's skin tone can influence the readings provided by some of the most common monitoring devices used in global healthcare. Pulse oximeters -- one of the most common medical devices used in global healthcare -- can provide significantly overestimated oxygen saturation readings in people with darker skin tones, according to the most comprehensive study ever to explore the issue. Published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, the new study is based on a systematic review of previous research into the use of the devices, and examined 44 studies dating from the mid-1970s to the present day. In the course of that, researchers assessed more than 733,000 oxygen saturation readings taken from over 222,000 people -- including almost 70,000 people of non-white ethnicity. They found most of the studies revealed evidence of the devices being inclined to overestimate readings in participants with darker skin tones. While the researchers say it is challenging -- based on the current available data -- to state the magnitude of those overestimates, they insist it could create a number of issues for both patients and medical professionals. It could, for example, result in patients not being able to see a doctor as -- based on the readings generated by the pulse oximeter -- they are deemed to be healthy. And with studies suggesting the errors are exacerbated at lower levels of oxygen saturation, it could result in patients with critical oxygen levels not receiving treatment which they urgently need. The new study involved experts in intensive care medicine, dermatology and paediatric care from a number of leading universities and hospitals around the UK. Professor Daniel Martin OBE, Professor of Perioperative and Intensive Care Medicine in the University of Plymouth and a consultant at the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP), is the study's lead author. He said: "As clinicians, we rely on accurate data to make informed clinical decisions. But during the COVID pandemic, and to some extent since, it was necessary to put thresholds in place which meant that people were only admitted to hospital if their levels fell to a certain point. If those levels are being overestimated -- so, for example, if a device is telling someone their oxygen saturation is 98% whereas it is in fact significantly lower -- it could realistically mean people are missing out on treatments they need." When pulse oximeters were introduced around 50 years ago, they were intended solely for use in hospitals and a handful of other healthcare settings. Today, they are used in everything from GP surgeries to outpatient departments, emergency rooms and intensive care units all over the world, where they are used to monitor the health of people which virtually every form of medical condition. Crucially, they are also available for the public to purchase in shops, pharmacies and online and many are encouraged to take regular measurements of their oxygen saturation levels in the course of managing a range of health conditions. Professor Martin said: "If people are admitted to hospital, there are other safety mechanisms to help identify unwell patients. Blood tests to measure oxygen levels, for example, will not be impacted in any way by a person's skin tone and a medical appointment will allow a doctor or nurse to carry out a physical assessment as well as other types of monitoring. The concern is that there may be people in the community relying on pulse oximeter readings to signify a deterioration in their health, where these additional tests are unavailable." Study co-author Professor Eugene Healy, Professor of Dermatology at the University of Southampton and honorary consultant in University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This systematic review highlights the need for clinicians to take account of a person's skin tone as part of the clinical decision-making process when using pulse oximeters to estimate oxygen levels." The findings revealed through the systematic review are already being explored in much greater detail through the EXAKT study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and also being led by Professor Martin. It is currently in the process of recruiting around 900 critically ill patients with different skin tones from 24 sites around the UK to investigate the accuracy of specific pulse oximeters used in hospitals across the UK today.