Electronic cigarettes: A position statement from the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand*

The TSANZ develops position statements where insufficient data exist to write formal clinical guidelines. In 2018, the TSANZ addressed the question of potential benefits and health impacts of electronic cigarettes (EC). The working party included groups focused on health impacts, smoking cessation, youth issues and priority populations. The 2018 report on the Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes from the United States NASEM was accepted as reflective of evidence to mid-2017. A search for papers subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals was conducted in August 2018. A small number of robust and important papers published until March 2019 were also identified and included. Groups identified studies that extended, modified or contradicted the NASEM report. A total of 3793 papers were identified and reviewed, with summaries and draft position statements developed and presented to TSANZ membership in April 2019. After feedback from members and external reviewers, a collection of position statements was finalized in December 2019. EC have adverse lung effects and harmful effects of long-term use are unknown. EC are unsuitable consumer products for recreational use, part-substitution for smoking or long-term exclusive use by former smokers. Smokers who require support to quit smoking should be directed towards approved medication in conjunction with behavioural support as having the strongest evidence for efficacy and safety. No specific EC product can be recommended as effective and safe for smoking cessation. Smoking cessation claims in relation to EC should be assessed by established regulators

A major grain protein content locus on barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) chromosome 6 influences flowering time and sequential leaf senescence

Timing of various developmental stages including anthesis and whole-plant (‘monocarpic’) senescence influences yield and quality of annual crops. While a correlation between flowering/seed filling and whole-plant senescence has been observed in many annuals, it is unclear how the gene networks controlling these processes interact. Using near-isogenic germplasm, it has previously been demonstrated that a grain protein content (GPC) locus on barley chromosome 6 strongly influences the timing of post-anthesis flag leaf senescence, with high-GPC germplasm senescing early. Here, it is shown that the presence of high-GPC allele(s) at this locus also accelerates pre-anthesis plant development. While floral transition at the shoot apical meristem (SAM; determined by the presence of double ridges) occurred simultaneously, subsequent development was faster in the high- than in the low-GPC line, and anthesis occurred on average 5 d earlier. Similarly, sequential (pre-anthesis) leaf senescence was slightly accelerated, but only after differences in SAM development became visible. Leaf expression levels of four candidate genes (from a list of genes differentially regulated in post-anthesis flag leaves) were much higher in the high-GPC line even before faster development of the SAM became visible. One of these genes may be a functional homologue of Arabidopsis glycine-rich RNA-binding protein 7, which has previously been implicated in the promotion of flowering. Together, the data establish that the GPC locus influences pre- and post-anthesis barley development and senescence, and set the stage for a more detailed analysis of the interactions between the molecular networks controlling these important life history traits

Buchrezension zu: Dudekováet, Gabriela u. a.: Toward the modern woman. Bratislava: Veda, 2011

Na ceste k modernej žene: Kapitoly z dejín rodových vzt'ahov na Slovensku (Toward the Modern Woman: Chapters from the History of Family Relations in Slovakia). Edited by Gabriela Dudeková et al. (Bratislava, Veda, 2011