Restoring Pre-Industrial CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e Levels While Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

© 2020 by the authors. Unless humanity achieves United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and restores the relatively stable climate of pre-industrial CO2 levels (as early as 2140), species extinctions, starvation, drought/floods, and violence will exacerbate mass migrations. This paper presents conceptual designs and techno-economic analyses to calculate sustainable limits for growing high-protein seafood and macroalgae-for-biofuel. We review the availability of wet solid waste and outline the mass balance of carbon and plant nutrients passing through a hydrothermal liquefaction process. The paper reviews the availability of dry solid waste and dry biomass for bioenergy with CO2 capture and storage (BECCS) while generating Allam Cycle electricity. Sufficient wet-waste biomass supports quickly building hydrothermal liquefaction facilities. Macroalgae-for-biofuel technology can be developed and straightforwardly implemented on SDG-achieving high protein seafood infrastructure. The analyses indicate a potential for (1) 0.5 billion tonnes/yr of seafood; (2) 20 million barrels/day of biofuel from solid waste; (3) more biocrude oil from macroalgae than current fossil oil; and (4) sequestration of 28 to 38 billion tonnes/yr of bio-CO2. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) costs are between 25–33% of those for BECCS with pre-2019 technology or the projected cost of air-capture CDR

Proteomics and in silico approaches to extend understanding of the glutathione transferase superfamily of the tropical liver fluke Fasciola gigantica

Fasciolosis is an important foodborne, zoonotic disease of livestock and humans, with global annual health and economic losses estimated at several billion US$. Fasciola hepatica is the major species in temperate regions, while F. gigantica dominates in the tropics. In the absence of commercially available vaccines to control fasciolosis, increasing reports of resistance to current chemotherapeutic strategies and the spread of fasciolosis into new areas, new functional genomics approaches are being used to identify potential new drug targets and vaccine candidates. The glutathione transferase (GST) superfamily is both a candidate drug and vaccine target. This study reports the identification of a putatively novel Sigma class GST, present in a water-soluble cytosol extract from the tropical liver fluke F. gigantica. The GST was cloned and expressed as an enzymically active recombinant protein. This GST shares a greater identity with the human schistosomiasis GST vaccine currently at Phase II clinical trials than previously discovered F. gigantica GSTs, stimulating interest in its immuno-protective properties. In addition, in silico analysis of the GST superfamily of both F. gigantica and F. hepatica has revealed an additional Mu class GST, Omega class GSTs, and for the first time, a Zeta class member

Penetration of the Stigma and Style Elicits a Novel Transcriptome in Pollen Tubes, Pointing to Genes Critical for Growth in a Pistil

Pollen tubes extend through pistil tissues and are guided to ovules where they release sperm for fertilization. Although pollen tubes can germinate and elongate in a synthetic medium, their trajectory is random and their growth rates are slower compared to growth in pistil tissues. Furthermore, interaction with the pistil renders pollen tubes competent to respond to guidance cues secreted by specialized cells within the ovule. The molecular basis for this potentiation of the pollen tube by the pistil remains uncharacterized. Using microarray analysis in Arabidopsis, we show that pollen tubes that have grown through stigma and style tissues of a pistil have a distinct gene expression profile and express a substantially larger fraction of the Arabidopsis genome than pollen grains or pollen tubes grown in vitro. Genes involved in signal transduction, transcription, and pollen tube growth are overrepresented in the subset of the Arabidopsis genome that is enriched in pistil-interacted pollen tubes, suggesting the possibility of a regulatory network that orchestrates gene expression as pollen tubes migrate through the pistil. Reverse genetic analysis of genes induced during pollen tube growth identified seven that had not previously been implicated in pollen tube growth. Two genes are required for pollen tube navigation through the pistil, and five genes are required for optimal pollen tube elongation in vitro. Our studies form the foundation for functional genomic analysis of the interactions between the pollen tube and the pistil, which is an excellent system for elucidation of novel modes of cell–cell interaction

Oversight on the borderline: Quality improvement and pragmatic research

Pragmatic research that compares interventions to improve the organization and delivery of health care may overlap, in both goals and methods, with quality improvement (QI) activities. When activities have attributes of both research and QI, confusion often arises about what ethical oversight is, or should be, required. For routine QI, in which the delivery of health care is modified in minor ways that create only minimal risks, oversight by local clinical or administrative leaders utilizing institutional policies may be sufficient. However, additional consideration should be given to activities that go beyond routine, local QI to first determine whether such non-routine activities constitute research or QI and, in either case, to ensure that independent oversight will occur. This should promote rigor, transparency, and protection of patients’ and clinicians’ rights, well-being, and privacy in all such activities. Specifically, we recommend: 1. Health care organizations should have systematic policies and processes for designating activities as routine QI, non-routine QI, or QI research, and determining what oversight each will receive. 2. Health care organizations should have formal and explicit oversight processes for non-routine QI activities that may include input from institutional QI experts, health services researchers, administrators, clinicians, patient representatives, and those experienced in the ethics review of health care activities. 3. QI research requires review by an IRB; for such review to be effective, IRBs should develop particular expertise in assessing QI research. 4. Stakeholders should be included in the review of non-routine QI and QI-related research proposals. Only by doing so will we optimally leverage both pragmatic research on health care delivery and local implementation through QI as complementary activities for improving health

Oversight on the borderline: Quality improvement and pragmatic research

Pragmatic research that compares interventions to improve the organization and delivery of health care may overlap, in both goals and methods, with quality improvement activities. When activities have attributes of both research and quality improvement, confusion often arises about what ethical oversight is, or should be, required. For routine quality improvement, in which the delivery of health care is modified in minor ways that create only minimal risks, oversight by local clinical or administrative leaders utilizing institutional policies may be sufficient. However, additional consideration should be given to activities that go beyond routine, local quality improvement to first determine whether such non-routine activities constitute research or quality improvement and, in either case, to ensure that independent oversight will occur. This should promote rigor, transparency, and protection of patients' and clinicians' rights, well-being, and privacy in all such activities. Specifically, we recommend that (1) health care organizations should have systematic policies and processes for designating activities as routine quality improvement, non-routine quality improvement, or quality improvement research and determining what oversight each will receive. (2) Health care organizations should have formal and explicit oversight processes for non-routine quality improvement activities that may include input from institutional quality improvement experts, health services researchers, administrators, clinicians, patient representatives, and those experienced in the ethics review of health care activities. (3) Quality improvement research requires review by an institutional review board; for such review to be effective, institutional review boards should develop particular expertise in assessing quality improvement research. (4) Stakeholders should be included in the review of non-routine quality improvement and quality improvement-related research proposals. Only by doing so will we optimally leverage both pragmatic research on health care delivery and local implementation through quality improvement as complementary activities for improving health

Restoring Pre-Industrial CO₂ Levels While Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Unless humanity achieves United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and restores the relatively stable climate of pre-industrial CO2 levels (as early as 2140), species extinctions, starvation, drought/floods, and violence will exacerbate mass migrations. This paper presents conceptual designs and techno-economic analyses to calculate sustainable limits for growing high-protein seafood and macroalgae-for-biofuel. We review the availability of wet solid waste and outline the mass balance of carbon and plant nutrients passing through a hydrothermal liquefaction process. The paper reviews the availability of dry solid waste and dry biomass for bioenergy with CO2 capture and storage (BECCS) while generating Allam Cycle electricity. Sufficient wet-waste biomass supports quickly building hydrothermal liquefaction facilities. Macroalgae-for-biofuel technology can be developed and straightforwardly implemented on SDG-achieving high protein seafood infrastructure. The analyses indicate a potential for (1) 0.5 billion tonnes/yr of seafood; (2) 20 million barrels/day of biofuel from solid waste; (3) more biocrude oil from macroalgae than current fossil oil; and (4) sequestration of 28 to 38 billion tonnes/yr of bio-CO2. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) costs are between 25–33% of those for BECCS with pre-2019 technology or the projected cost of air-capture CDR

Seaweed Paddock: Initial Modeling and Design for a Sargassum Ranch

This paper describes the “SeaweedPaddock” system to profitably grow and harvest open-ocean Sargassum sp. as a sustainable source of macroalgal biomass and biofuel. The US Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) initiated the MacroAlgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Research (MARINER) program to develop technologies to eventually sustainably harvest macroalgae at 80 per dry metric ton (DMT). The University of Southern Mississippi team is characterizing an unmoored SeaweedPaddock; analyses include tow speed and energy required to avoid hazards, farm design to minimize biomass loss, economical harvesting, and nutrient supply. Initial results indicate that nighttime “smart towing” could allow the SeaweedPaddock system to produce macroalgae at full scale at costs below the ARPA-E goal provided that Sargassum grows at sufficient rates during the day after having been confined all night in a moving fence and that sufficient nutrients are made available. Cost projections for a successful, intensive, scaled system could be competitive with current prices for fossil fuels

Ocean Forests: Breakthrough Yields for Macroalgae

The US Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) MacroAlgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Research (MARINER) program is encouraging technologies for the sustainable harvest of large funding research of macroalgae for biofuels at less than $80 per dry metric ton (DMT). The Ocean Forests team, led by the University of Southern Mississippi, is developing a complete managed ecosystem where nutrients are transformed and recycled. The team\u27s designs address major bottlenecks in profitability of offshore aquaculture systems including economical moored structures that can withstand storms, efficient planting, managing and harvesting systems, and sustainable nutrient supply. The work is inspired by Lapointe [1] who reported yields of Gracilaria tikvahiae equivalent to 127 DMT per hectare per year (compared with standard aquaculture systems in the range of 20 to 40 DMT/ha/yr). This approach offers the potential for breakthrough yields for many macroalgae species. Moreover, mini-ecosystems in offshore waters create communities of macroalgae, shellfish, and penned finfish, supplemented by visiting free-range fish that can increase productivity, produce quality products, and create jobs and income for aquafarmers. Additional benefits include reduced disease in fish pens, cleaning contaminated coastal waters, and maximizing nutrient recycling. Cost projections for a successful, intensive, scaled system are competitive with current prices for fossil fuels

Links between tropical rainfall and North Atlantic climate during the last glacial period

International audienceDuring the last glacial period, the North Atlantic regionexperienced pronounced, millennial-scale alternations between cold, stadial conditions and milder interstadialconditions—commonly referred to as Dansgaard–Oeschgeroscillations—as well as periods of massive iceberg dischargeknown as Heinrich events1. Changes in Northern Hemispheretemperature, as recorded in Greenland2–4, are thought to haveaffected the location of the Atlantic intertropical convergencezone5,6 and the strength of the Indian summer monsoon7,8.Here we use high-resolution records of sediment colour—ameasure of terrigenous versus biogenic content—from theCariaco Basin off the coast of Venezuela and the ArabianSea to assess teleconnections with the North Atlantic climatesystem during the last glacial period. The Cariaco recordindicates that the intertropical convergence zone migratedseasonally over the site during mild stadial conditions, but waspermanently displaced south of the basin during peak stadialsand Heinrich events. In the Arabian Sea, we find evidence ofa weak Indian summer monsoon during the stadial events.The tropical records show a more variable response to NorthAtlantic cooling than the Greenland temperature records. Wetherefore suggest that Greenland climate is especially sensitiveto variations in the North Atlantic system—in particular sea-iceextent—whereas the intertropical convergence zone and Indianmonsoon system respond primarily to variations in meanNorthern Hemisphere temperature