Miscanthus Establishment and Survival

Rising costs of petroleum fuels and increased awareness of the adverse effects of greenhouse gases have spurred interest in renewable fuels and other ‘green’ products. Recent legislation has set goals of approximately 20 billion gallons of renewable fuel produced from non-corn starch sources by the year 2022. These driving forces have increased interest in dedicated bioenergy crops. Among perennial grasses, which have received an exceptional amount of attention as dedicated energy crops, one stands out: Miscanthus (Miscanthus × giganteus)

The learning curve associated with the introduction of the subcutaneous implantable defibrillator

Aims: The subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (S-ICD) was introduced to overcome complications related to transvenous leads. Adoption of the S-ICD requires implanters to learn a new implantation technique. The aim of this study was to assess the learning curve for S-ICD implanters with respect to implant-related complications, procedure time, and inappropriate shocks (IASs). Methods and results: In a pooled cohort from two clinical S-ICD databases, the IDE Trial and the EFFORTLESS Registry, complications, IASs at 180 days follow-up and implant procedure duration were assessed. Patients were grouped in quartiles based on experience of the implanter and Kaplan-Meier estimates of complication and IAS rates were calculated. A total of 882 patients implanted in 61 centres by 107 implanters with a median of 4 implants (IQR 1,8) were analysed. There were a total of 59 patients with complications and 48 patients with IAS. The complication rate decreased significantly from 9.8% in Quartile 1 (least experience) to 5.4% in Quartile 4 (most experience) (P = 0.02) and non-significantly for IAS from 7.9 to 4.8% (P = 0.10). Multivariable analysis demonstrated a hazard ratio of 0.78 (P = 0.045) for complications and 1.01 (P = 0.958) for IAS. Dual-zone programming increased with experience of the individual implanter (P 13 implants). Conclusion: There is a short and significant learning curve associated with physicians adopting the S-ICD. Performance stab

Discrete Kinetic Models from Funneled Energy Landscape Simulations

A general method for facilitating the interpretation of computer simulations of protein folding with minimally frustrated energy landscapes is detailed and applied to a designed ankyrin repeat protein (4ANK). In the method, groups of residues are assigned to foldons and these foldons are used to map the conformational space of the protein onto a set of discrete macrobasins. The free energies of the individual macrobasins are then calculated, informing practical kinetic analysis. Two simple assumptions about the universality of the rate for downhill transitions between macrobasins and the natural local connectivity between macrobasins lead to a scheme for predicting overall folding and unfolding rates, generating chevron plots under varying thermodynamic conditions, and inferring dominant kinetic folding pathways. To illustrate the approach, free energies of macrobasins were calculated from biased simulations of a non-additive structure-based model using two structurally motivated foldon definitions at the full and half ankyrin repeat resolutions. The calculated chevrons have features consistent with those measured in stopped flow chemical denaturation experiments. The dominant inferred folding pathway has an “inside-out”, nucleation-propagation like character

Human BRCA1-BARD1 ubiquitin ligase activity counters chromatin barriers to DNA resection

The opposing activities of 53BP1 and BRCA1 influence pathway choice of DNA double-strand break repair. How BRCA1 counters the inhibitory effect of 53BP1 on DNA resection and homologous recombination is unknown. Here we identify the site of BRCA1-BARD1 required for priming ubiquitin transfer from E2~ubiquitin. We demonstrate that BRCA1-BARD1’s ubiquitin ligase activity is required for repositioning 53BP1 on damaged chromatin. We confirm H2A ubiquitylation by BRCA1-BARD1 and show that an H2A-ubiquitin fusion protein promotes DNA resection and repair in BARD1 deficient cells. We show BRCA1-BARD1 function in homologous recombination requires the chromatin remodeler SMARCAD1. SMARCAD1 binding to H2A-ubiquitin, optimal localization to sites of damage and activity in DNA repair requires its ubiquitin-binding CUE domains. SMARCAD1 is required for 53BP1 repositioning and the need for SMARCAD1 in Olaparib or camptothecin resistance is alleviated by 53BP1 loss. Thus BRCA1- BARD1 ligase activity and subsequent SMARCAD1-dependent chromatin remodeling are critical regulators of DNA repair

Like mother, like child : investigating perinatal and maternal health stress in post-medieval London.

Post-Medieval London (sixteenth-nineteenth centuries) was a stressful environment for the poor. Overcrowded and squalid housing, physically demanding and risky working conditions, air and water pollution, inadequate diet and exposure to infectious diseases created high levels of morbidity and low life expectancy. All of these factors pressed with particular severity on the lowest members of the social strata, with burgeoning disparities in health between the richest and poorest. Foetal, perinatal and infant skeletal remains provide the most sensitive source of bioarchaeological information regarding past population health and in particular maternal well-being. This chapter examined the evidence for chronic growth and health disruption in 136 foetal, perinatal and infant skeletons from four low-status cemetery samples in post-medieval London. The aim of this study was to consider the impact of poverty on the maternal-infant nexus, through an analysis of evidence of growth disruption and pathological lesions. The results highlight the dire consequences of poverty in London during this period from the very earliest moments of life

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Photosynthetic decline in aging perennial grass is not fully explained by leaf nitrogen

Aging in perennial plants is traditionally observed in terms of changes in end-of-season biomass; however, the driving phenological and physiological changes are poorly understood. We found that 3-year-old (mature) stands of the perennial grass Miscanthus×giganteus had 19–30% lower Anet than 1-year-old M.×giganteus (juvenile) stands; 10–34% lower maximum carboxylation rates of Rubisco and 34% lower light-saturated Anet (Asat). These changes could be related to nitrogen (N) limitations, as mature plants were larger and had 14–34% lower leaf N on an area basis (Na) than juveniles. However, N fertilization restored Na to juvenile levels but compensated only 50% of the observed decline in leaf photosynthesis with age. Comparison of leaf photosynthesis per unit of leaf N (PNUE) showed that mature stands had at least 26% lower PNUE than juvenile stands across all N fertilization rates, suggesting that other factors, besides N, may be limiting photosynthesis in mature stands. We hypothesize that sink limitations in mature stands could be causing feedback inhibition of photosynthesis which is associated with the age-related decline in photosynthesis.This article is published as Mauricio Tejera, Nicholas N Boersma, Sotirios V Archontoulis, Fernando E Miguez, Andy VanLoocke, Emily A Heaton, Photosynthetic decline in aging perennial grass is not fully explained by leaf nitrogen, Journal of Experimental Botany, Volume 73, Issue 22, 8 December 2022, Pages 7582–7595, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erac382. Posted with permission.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited