Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

About: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is a government organization based out in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Soil water. The organization has 33765 authors who have published 79910 publications receiving 3356114 citations.

Diets that differ in their FODMAP content alter the colonic luminal microenvironment

Abstract: Objective A low FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols) diet reduces symptoms of IBS, but reduction of potential prebiotic and fermentative effects might adversely affect the colonic microenvironment. The effects of a low FODMAP diet with a typical Australian diet on biomarkers of colonic health were compared in a single-blinded, randomised, cross-over trial. Design Twenty-seven IBS and six healthy subjects were randomly allocated one of two 21-day provided diets, differing only in FODMAP content (mean (95% CI) low 3.05 (1.86 to 4.25) g/day vs Australian 23.7 (16.9 to 30.6) g/day), and then crossed over to the other diet with ≥21-day washout period. Faeces passed over a 5-day run-in on their habitual diet and from day 17 to day 21 of the interventional diets were pooled, and pH, short-chain fatty acid concentrations and bacterial abundance and diversity were assessed. Results Faecal indices were similar in IBS and healthy subjects during habitual diets. The low FODMAP diet was associated with higher faecal pH (7.37 (7.23 to 7.51) vs 7.16 (7.02 to 7.30); p=0.001), similar short-chain fatty acid concentrations, greater microbial diversity and reduced total bacterial abundance (9.63 (9.53 to 9.73) vs 9.83 (9.72 to 9.93) log 10 copies/g; p Clostridium cluster XIVa (median ratio 6.62; p Akkermansia muciniphila (19.3; p Ruminococcus torques . Conclusions Diets differing in FODMAP content have marked effects on gut microbiota composition. The implications of long-term reduction of intake of FODMAPs require elucidation. Trial registration number ACTRN12612001185853.

Formation of ultrafine-grained magnetite in soils

Abstract: The magnetic properties of certain soils indicate the widespread presence of ultrafine-grained magnetite, even where there is no detrital input of magnetite. This suggests that in situ formation of magnetite can occur under soil-forming conditions. Schwertmann and Taylor have stated, however, that magnetite has not been found as a newly formed mineral in soils. Here we report the recovery and identification of pure, ultrafine-grained magnetite from some UK soils that have no apparent external sources of magnetite. We consider this magnetite to be of inorganic, in situ origin. The identification of magnetite formation during soil development has significance for studies of iron in soils but also has wider environmental implications. Soil-derived magnetite may contribute to the natural remanent magnetism of sediments, and act as a specific indicator of erosional events.

Federated Learning With Differential Privacy: Algorithms and Performance Analysis

Abstract: Federated learning (FL), as a type of distributed machine learning, is capable of significantly preserving clients’ private data from being exposed to adversaries. Nevertheless, private information can still be divulged by analyzing uploaded parameters from clients, e.g., weights trained in deep neural networks. In this paper, to effectively prevent information leakage, we propose a novel framework based on the concept of differential privacy (DP), in which artificial noise is added to parameters at the clients’ side before aggregating, namely, noising before model aggregation FL (NbAFL). First, we prove that the NbAFL can satisfy DP under distinct protection levels by properly adapting different variances of artificial noise. Then we develop a theoretical convergence bound on the loss function of the trained FL model in the NbAFL. Specifically, the theoretical bound reveals the following three key properties: 1) there is a tradeoff between convergence performance and privacy protection levels, i.e., better convergence performance leads to a lower protection level; 2) given a fixed privacy protection level, increasing the number $N$ of overall clients participating in FL can improve the convergence performance; and 3) there is an optimal number aggregation times (communication rounds) in terms of convergence performance for a given protection level. Furthermore, we propose a $K$ -client random scheduling strategy, where $K$ ( $1\leq K ) clients are randomly selected from the $N$ overall clients to participate in each aggregation. We also develop a corresponding convergence bound for the loss function in this case and the $K$ -client random scheduling strategy also retains the above three properties. Moreover, we find that there is an optimal $K$ that achieves the best convergence performance at a fixed privacy level. Evaluations demonstrate that our theoretical results are consistent with simulations, thereby facilitating the design of various privacy-preserving FL algorithms with different tradeoff requirements on convergence performance and privacy levels.

Low-grade inflammation, diet composition and health: current research evidence and its translation

Abstract: The importance of chronic low-grade inflammation in the pathology of numerous age-related chronic conditions is now clear. An unresolved inflammatory response is likely to be involved from the early stages of disease development. The present position paper is the most recent in a series produced by the International Life Sciences Institute's European Branch (ILSI Europe). It is co-authored by the speakers from a 2013 workshop led by the Obesity and Diabetes Task Force entitled ‘Low-grade inflammation, a high-grade challenge: biomarkers and modulation by dietary strategies’. The latest research in the areas of acute and chronic inflammation and cardiometabolic, gut and cognitive health is presented along with the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying inflammation–health/disease associations. The evidence relating diet composition and early-life nutrition to inflammatory status is reviewed. Human epidemiological and intervention data are thus far heavily reliant on the measurement of inflammatory markers in the circulation, and in particular cytokines in the fasting state, which are recognised as an insensitive and highly variable index of tissue inflammation. Potential novel kinetic and integrated approaches to capture inflammatory status in humans are discussed. Such approaches are likely to provide a more discriminating means of quantifying inflammation–health/disease associations, and the ability of diet to positively modulate inflammation and provide the much needed evidence to develop research portfolios that will inform new product development and associated health claims.