Microbial diversity and abundance vary along salinity, oxygen, and particle size gradients in the Chesapeake Bay.

Marine snow and other particles are abundant in estuaries, where they drive biogeochemical transformations and elemental transport. Particles range in size, thereby providing a corresponding gradient of habitats for marine microorganisms. We used standard normalized amplicon sequencing, verified with microscopy, to characterize taxon-specific microbial abundances, (cells per litre of water and per milligrams of particles), across six particle size classes, ranging from 0.2 to 500 µm, along the main stem of the Chesapeake Bay estuary. Microbial communities varied in salinity, oxygen concentrations, and particle size. Many taxonomic groups were most densely packed on large particles (in cells/mg particles), yet were primarily associated with the smallest particle size class, because small particles made up a substantially larger portion of total particle mass. However, organisms potentially involved in methanotrophy, nitrite oxidation, and sulphate reduction were found primarily on intermediately sized (5-180 µm) particles, where species richness was also highest. All abundant ostensibly free-living organisms, including SAR11 and Synecococcus, appeared on particles, albeit at lower abundance than in the free-living fraction, suggesting that aggregation processes may incorporate them into particles. Our approach opens the door to a more quantitative understanding of the microscale and macroscale biogeography of marine microorganisms.

Microbiota of Crassostrea virginica larvae during a hatchery crash and under normal production: Amplicon sequence data.

We present oyster larval microbiota from two feeding studies, in which wild type and low-salinity tolerant lines were either fed or starved. In one study, all larvae unexpectedly died, which was concurrent with an event in which all larvae in an adjoining oyster hatchery also died. In the other study, no crash occurred in either the study or hatchery. In both cases, larvae were collected and stored frozen, and microbial and host DNA was isolated by phenol-chloroform extraction. Both host 18 s rRNA genes and microbial 16 and 18 s rRNA genes were sequenced using universal primers. We present raw sequences, the pipeline that was used to quantify amplicon sequence variants, and our analysis pipeline that we used to describe how the overall microbial community varied between projects (crashed and non-crashed), feeding status (fed vs not), and strain (wild vs not). These data will be valuable to anyone interested in the microbiota of larval oysters, especially anyone interested in exploring hatchery crashes, effects of starvation, or strain level differences. They also contain a reproducible pipeline of amplicon analysis of host associated microbiota which may serve as a template for other studies. These data are a co-submission to a manuscript submitted to Aquaculture by Matthew grey et al. (2021) entitled Hatchery crashes among shellfish research hatcheries along the Atlantic coast of the United States: a case study at Horn Point Laboratory oyster hatchery. (Manuscript#: AQUACULTURE-D-21-01351R1).

Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Status and Parental Endorsement Intentions among Undergraduate Student Nurses.

We identified factors associated with student nurses' Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (HPV) vaccination status and their intention to counsel parents on HPV vaccination. Undergraduate student nurses (N = 153) from a large university in the south participated. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared tests, and independent t-tests (p ≤ 0.05) were used to characterize the students' vaccination status. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with vaccination status. HPV vaccination rates were low. Students who were older and married or living with a partner were less likely to have completed the HPV vaccine series. The most commonly cited reason for non-initiation and non-completion was the lack of provider endorsement. Vaccination status did not differ significantly according to race/ethnicity, religion, skills, or intention to counsel parents. While intentions to counsel parents on HPV vaccination are high among student nurses, interventions to improve vaccination rates among student nurses are needed.