The influence of microgravity on invasive growth in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

This study investigates the effects of microgravity on colony growth and the morphological transition from single cells to short invasive filaments in the model eukaryotic organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two-dimensional spreading of the yeast colonies grown on semi-solid agar medium was reduced under microgravity in the Sigma 1278b laboratory strain but not in the CMBSESA1 industrial strain. This was supported by the Sigma 1278b proteome map under microgravity conditions, which revealed upregulation of proteins linked to anaerobic conditions. The Sigma 1278b strain showed a reduced invasive growth in the center of the yeast colony. Bud scar distribution was slightly affected, with a switch toward more random budding. Together, microgravity conditions disturb spatially programmed budding patterns and generate strain-dependent growth differences in yeast colonies on semi-solid medium

A universal fixation method based on quaternary ammonium salts (RNAlater) for omics-technologies: Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a case study

Abstract Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and fluxomics are powerful omics-technologies that play a major role in today's research. For each of these techniques good sample quality is crucial. Major factors contributing to the quality of a sample is the actual sampling procedure itself and the way the sample is stored directly after sampling. It has already been described that RNAlater can be used to store tissues and cells in a way that the RNA quality and quantity are preserved. In this paper, we demonstrate that quaternary ammonium salts (RNAlater) are also suitable to preserve and store samples from Saccharomyces cerevisiae for later use with the four major omics-technologies. Moreover, it is shown that RNAlater also preserves the cell morphology and the potential to recover growth, permitting microscopic analysis and yeast cell culturing at a later stage

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), through their complex cargo, can reflect the state of their cell of origin and change the functions and phenotypes of other cells. These features indicate strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and have generated broad interest, as evidenced by the steady year-on-year increase in the numbers of scientific publications about EVs. Important advances have been made in EV metrology and in understanding and applying EV biology. However, hurdles remain to realising the potential of EVs in domains ranging from basic biology to clinical applications due to challenges in EV nomenclature, separation from non-vesicular extracellular particles, characterisation and functional studies. To address the challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) updates its 'Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles', which was first published in 2014 and then in 2018 as MISEV2014 and MISEV2018, respectively. The goal of the current document, MISEV2023, is to provide researchers with an updated snapshot of available approaches and their advantages and limitations for production, separation and characterisation of EVs from multiple sources, including cell culture, body fluids and solid tissues. In addition to presenting the latest state of the art in basic principles of EV research, this document also covers advanced techniques and approaches that are currently expanding the boundaries of the field. MISEV2023 also includes new sections on EV release and uptake and a brief discussion of in vivo approaches to study EVs. Compiling feedback from ISEV expert task forces and more than 1000 researchers, this document conveys the current state of EV research to facilitate robust scientific discoveries and move the field forward even more rapidly

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

Handling complex risks issues in the domain of environment and health - SCOPE

This research report has its origin in the notion that classical risk assessment paradigms no longer suffice to deal with complex, uncertain and ambiguous risks. Risk assessment was developed as a scientific tool to tackle uncertain consequences of human activities by organizing, evaluating, integrating and presenting scientific information to inform decision-making. Over the years, this type of risk assessment has proved effective in protecting public health and the environment from major environmental hazards with high relative risks. In the modern „risk society‟ classical risk assessment fails to handle complex risks characterized by radical uncertainty and a plurality of legitimate perspectives and values. Public authorities have to deal with issues/risks were facts are uncertain and values are contested. To answer to the increased demands of policymakers and the public for guidance on risk management new processes for the governance of these risks need to be developed. Weberian bureaucratic structures and forms of cooperation are working in a logic of specialisation of work, where distribution of information and knowledge, structures of decisions and allocation of responsibilities are organised ab initio in a stable organisational frame. Such a structure is not capable of resisting to the emergence of new risks which are often not identified as such at start and require a more integrative form of assessment, integrating inter-disciplinary collaboration on a specific policy problem that is complex, uncertain, perhaps unlimited in temporal and spatial scale, and interlinked with other phenomena. If the frame of reflexivity (Beck, 2003) is adopted, we thus have to recognise that a global mastering of these risks is not possible. What is now requested is the settlement of conditions for another type of open debate. Experiments in new forms of public participation in the management of technological developments (like e.g. citizen panels on long-term storage of nuclear waste1, or on cars and health2) already inspired the public administrators in their search for new procedural forms of decision making in areas of uncertainty. For a certain category of risks inclusion of the public, next to industrial stakeholders, organised environmental interest groups and governmental agencies and administrations is warranted, to integrate different opinions and values and to develop adequate policies. Network governance should be developed, where stakeholders are invited to speak up and where power structures are reconsidered and flattened. Here the authorities are recommended to exercise their capacities not as a centre of knowledge and top-down decision, but as a facilitator for communication and collaboration within networking structures, mobilising numerous experts and stakeholders, including the population itself (Gilbert, 2002), to develop new options which are socially acceptable and technically efficient (Fallon et al., 2008a & b). This requires a different mindset where the plurality of frames and fluidity of boundaries; the need for contextualisation; the construction of unstable temporary networks, the plurality of rationalities and the inherent uncertainties, social and technical (Callon, 1986) of the issues considered. As uncertainties are recognised, scientists are not anymore expected to close the controversy but rather to contribute to the technical quality of the process. The public decision-making process (DMP) should be designed to organise the conditions for an optimal tradeoff between scientific soundness and social acceptability of decisions, in a context where the precautionary principle is relevant. The key issue, framing or “structuring the research questions”, is a method for deciding how to manage scientific uncertainty. From literature review and past studies, we posit that a better quality DMP could be achieved by using tools for an integrated and comparative risk assessment and management. These approaches rely on interdisciplinary risk assessment – relevant soft and hard sciences are engaged together into the knowledge production process rather than mobilized side by side. Concretely, it involves designing the steps or sequences of the process and selecting/developing/adapting risk assessment and management tools. More specific, within the environment and health arena there is limited experience with these new concepts of integrated assessments (Briggs, 2008). Therefore case studies on various environment and health issues were performed to evaluate current integrated risk assessment practices, multi-level precautionary approaches and communication of complex risks. Different tools as Delphi, scenario workshop, etc. were used to analyse the issues at stake. The development of an integrated approach in risk assessment requires cooperation across policy domains and hierarchical structures. In the field of air pollution a science-policy workshop confirmed that in the domain of air quality policy, public servants communicate well with researchers from scientific institutions. The protagonists in Flemish air quality policy have a common scientific background and are technical experts. This observation puts into question a common discourse postulating that there is a „communication problem' or 'gap' between 'researchers' and 'policymakers'. This discourse as a description of a state of affairs does not suit empirical reality, and needs to be reformulated in more precise terms. If there is a communication gap, it is not to be situated between public administration („policymakers‟) and researchers („scientists‟), who share the same overall concerns, but between public administrations and ministerial cabinets. The analysis of risks related to electromagnetic fields (EMF), showed how the precautionary principle is reinterpreted differently at each different political level (European, Belgian, Wallonia, Regional) in order to better integrate the local institutional and political environment. In most cases, when this principle is put at the foreground, its use is mainly symbolic and incantatory. When implementing policies it does not seem to respond to some precautionary approach, but rather to the institutional dynamics which characterise each political level. We observed the reinforcement of the European role in the field of health & environment: in attempts to underline institutional cooperation at the federal level in Belgium and to reinforce the authority of the regional government on the Walloon territory. From this case study it is learnt that the new deliberative spaces to be developed should not be embedded in the dominant institutional structures. A structure such as promoted in the wake of "Technology assessment" (Delvenne, 2011) is capable of conciliating production of knowledge and uncertainties (the science pole) with the plurality of social perceptions (the civic pole) and the specific dynamics of the relevant polity (the political pole). New deliberative spaces should be capable of developing the basis for integrated and comparative approach for emerging issues with due attention to its political and institutional dimensions, while maintaining enough distance with the dominant frames and logics. Recently the Flemish administration on Environment, Nature & Energy proposed a note (framework) to deal with uncertain risks. The proposed framework will be tested in a pilot study for potential risks related to non-ionising electromagnetic radiation, and can later be extended to other risks. In a case study on Bisphenol-A (BPA), multi-level political communication was analysed. Political decisions were taken without socio-technical debate (Callon, 1986). The BPA issue was not very high on the social or political agenda in Belgium. There was no crisis, no strong pressure form NGO's. The question was managed first by the European authorities (EFSA & European Commission). The Belgian institutions were waiting for the European position. As the political decision did not encounter a strong contestation from the industry, this was an easy step for the political authorities, in Belgium and at the European level, to symbolically address the issue while avoiding considering the real uncertainties. When the decision was taken to ban the use of BPA in polycarbonate baby bottles, it was a political decision taken with the support of the scientific bodies (Superior Health Council) but without being embedded in any social debate (what about risks related to the chemicals which may substitute BPA?). It meant that the whole of uncertainties on the extent of risks related to the multiple exposures to different endocrine disruptors could not be put at the foreground in a public socio-technical debate. These case studies on the interplay with science, policy and stakeholders, on the framing of an environmental health policy problem, and on the management of complex risks (air pollution, EMF, BPA) contribute to recommendations on their governance. The question then becomes: is it possible to organize a precautionary decision making process to deal with different legitimate frames and the necessary trade-offs when considering policy alternatives? Concretely it is advised to pay attention to the role of a focal point in the process, potentially taken up by public administrations, to the co-production, availability and organisation of knowledge and information, and to the progress of the process. Above all it is important to set up a platform for issue framing and problem definition to highlight key factors that need to be assessed: - Examine the policy and stakeholder learning network related to a specific issue, with special attention to policy domains that are affected by or are affecting the environmental and health issue at stake. Specify who has interests in the issue and who should be involved. An efficient stakeholder network analysis is important for the further progress of the DMP. define who is allowed to take part in the process across different policy areas - Examine the information database before setting up a more integrative approach, both from a scientific (including uncertainties) and technical (alternatives, CBA analysis) point of view and from the side of concerned stakeholders. Policy makers acquire information from different inputs from science, stakeholder organisations, socio-economic actors and the public at large, as well as from administrations and staff members, and are conscious of the structural and constitutional constraints. It is clear that a balanced process of information gathering that is transparent, contributes to better decision making. - Initiate and manage the process: find out who will carry the process, set up a series of interactions between administrations, between administrations and cabinets, between administrations and research, between administrations, research and the public. Usable and meaningful available information on the issue should be communicated clearly to all stakeholders. It is innovative to look at how stakeholders increase their knowledge through different inputs and through communication, information and interaction. - Iterate where needed: information gained in one dialogue should be fed back into other fora. An equilibrium between acceptability – tolerability – uncertainty should be established. - Move forward / conclude. In the total policy cycle the conclusion or decision may be revised, when (1) monitoring of implementation and following evaluation is considered as negative; (2) new knowledge / experience / issues have to take into account. - Ensure an efficient and socially appropriate allocation of the resources and an adequate management of residual risks. Last but not least, in a precautionary approach it is also required, to contribute to the public trust in the decision making process and to construct social acceptance of the final decision. Generally, a precautionary decision making process should be considered as a double-pronged learning dynamics: on one side, the authorities are required to better take into account the multiple frames which abound in our pluralist societies when organising the conditions of political trade-offs for the governance of risks. On the other side, the citizens should have the possibility to, not only understand, but also adopt the decision and its consequences and to conform to its implementation. It is important to develop specific communication processes to successfully implement these two faces of a precautionary approach in the governance of risks, while ensuring this dual learning process. New procedures are currently developed which could support the communication dynamics for promoting multiple frames and comparing openly different alternatives (e.g. open process workshop; atelier scenarios; Delphi).Project SD/TA/10A : An Integrated Assessment Frame as Science Policy Interface for Decisions on (Environment-Related) Risks “SCoPE” SSD-Science for a Sustainable Development – Transversal Actions

Involvement in bullying and suicide-related behavior at 11 years : a prospective birth cohort study

Objective To study the prospective link between involvement in bullying (bully, victim, bully/victim), and subsequent suicide ideation and suicidal/self-injurious behavior, in preadolescent children in the United Kingdom. Method A total of 6,043 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort were assessed to ascertain involvement in bullying between 4 and 10 years and suicide related behavior at 11.7 years. Results Peer victimization (victim, bully/victim) was significantly associated with suicide ideation and suicidal/self-injurious behavior after adjusting for confounders. Bully/victims were at heightened risk for suicide ideation (odds ratio [OR]; 95% confidence interval [CI]): child report at 8 years (OR = 2.84; CI = 1.81–4.45); child report at 10 years (OR = 3.20; CI = 2.07–4.95); mother report (OR = 2.71; CI = 1.81–4.05); teacher report (OR = 2.79; CI = 1.62–4.81), as were chronic victims: child report (OR = 3.26; CI = 2.24–4.75); mother report (OR = 2.49; CI = 1.64–3.79); teacher report (OR = 5.99; CI = 2.79–12.88). Similarly, bully/victims were at heightened risk for suicidal/self-injurious behavior: child report at 8 years (OR = 2.67; CI = 1.66–4.29); child report at 10 years (OR = 3.34; CI = 2.17–5.15); mother report (OR = 2.09; CI = CI = 1.36–3.20); teacher report (OR = 2.44, CI = 1.39–4.30); as were chronic victims: child report (OR = 4.10; CI = 2.76–6.08); mother report (OR = 1.91; 1.22–2.99); teacher report (OR = 3.26; CI = 1.38–7.68). Pure bullies had increased risk of suicide ideation according to child report at age 8 years (OR = 3.60; CI = 1.46–8.84), suicidal/self-injurious behavior according to child report at age 8 years (OR = 3.02; CI = 1.14–8.02), and teacher report (OR = 1.84; CI = 1.09–3.10). Conclusions Children involved in bullying, in any role, and especially bully/victims and chronic victims, are at increased risk for suicide ideation and suicidal/self-injurious behavior in preadolescence

Cryptogein-induced transcriptional reprogramming in tobacco is light dependent

The fungal elicitor cryptogein triggers a light-dependent hypersensitive response in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). To assess the effect of light on this nonhost resistance in more detail, we studied various aspects of the response under dark and light conditions using the tobacco-cryptogein experimental system. Here, we show that light drastically alters the plant's transcriptional response to cryptogein, notably by dampening the induction of genes involved in multiple processes, such as ethylene biosynthesis, secondary metabolism, and glutathione turnover. Furthermore, chlorophyll fluorescence measurements demonstrated that quantum yield and functioning of the light-harvesting antennae decreased simultaneously, indicating that photoinhibition underlies the observed decreased photosynthesis and that photooxidative damage might be involved in the establishment of the altered response. Analysis of the isomer distribution of hydroxy fatty acids illustrated that, in the light, lipid peroxidation was predominantly due to the production of singlet oxygen. Differences in (reduced) glutathione concentrations and the rapid development of symptoms in the light when cryptogein was coinfiltrated with glutathione biosynthesis inhibitors suggest that glutathione might become a limiting factor during the cryptogein-induced hypersensitive response in the dark and that this response might be modified by an increased antioxidant availability in the light