Expression of the ggpPS gene for glucosylglycerol biosynthesis from Azotobacter vinelandii improves the salt tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana

Many organisms accumulate compatible solutes in response to salt or desiccation stress. Moderate halotolerant cyanobacteria and some heterotrophic bacteria synthesize the compatible solute glucosylglycerol (GG) as their main protective compound. In order to analyse the potential of GG to improve salt tolerance of higher plants, the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana was transformed with the ggpPS gene from the γ-proteobacterium Azotobacter vinelandii coding for a combined GG-phosphate synthase/phosphatase. The heterologous expression of the ggpPS gene led to the accumulation of high amounts of GG. Three independent Arabidopsis lines showing different GG contents were characterized in growth experiments. Plants containing a low (1–2 μmol g−1 FM) GG content in leaves showed no altered growth performance under control conditions but an increased salt tolerance, whereas plants accumulating a moderate (2–8 μmol g−1 FM) or a high GG content (around 17 μmol g−1 FM) showed growth retardation and no improvement of salt resistance. These results indicate that the synthesis of the compatible solute GG has a beneficial effect on plant stress tolerance as long as it is accumulated to an extent that does not negatively interfere with plant metabolism

Cyber Insurance: recent advances, good practices & challenges

The aim of this ENISA report is to raise awareness for the most impact to market advances, by shortly identifying the most significant cyber insurance developments for the past four years – during 2012 to 2016 – and to capture the good practices and challenges during the early stages of the cyber insurance lifecycle, i.e. before an actual policy is signed, laying the ground for future work in the area

The influence of waves on morphodynamic impacts of energy extraction at a tidal stream turbine site in the Pentland Firth

Extraction of energy from tidal streams has the potential to impact on the morphodynamics of areas such as sub-tidal sandbanks via alteration of hydrodynamics. Marine sediment transport is forced by both wave and tidal currents. Past work on tidal stream turbine impacts has largely ignored the contribution of waves. Here, a fully coupled hydrodynamic, spectral wave and sediment transport model is used to assess the importance of including waves in simulations of turbine impact on seabed morphodynamics. Assessment of this is important due to the additional expense of including waves in simulations. Focus is given to a sandbank in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth. It is found that inclusion of wave action alters hydrodynamics, although extent of alteration is dependant of wave direction. Magnitude of sediment transport is increased when waves are included in the simulations and this has implications for morphological and volumetric changes. Volumetric changes are substantially increased when wave action is included: the impact of including waves is greater than the impact of including tidal stream turbines. Therefore it is recommended that at tidal turbine array sites exposed to large swell or wind-seas, waves should be considered for inclusion in simulations of physical impact

The risk of cesarean delivery after labor induction among women with prior pregnancy complications: a subgroup analysis of the AFFIRM study

Background:To determine the risk of cesarean delivery after labor induction among patients with prior placenta-mediated pregnancy complications (pre-eclampsia, late pregnancy loss, placental abruption or intrauterine growth restriction).MethodsThe AFFIRM database includes patient level data from 9 randomized controlled trials that evaluated the role of LMWH versus no LMWH during pregnancy to prevent recurrent placenta-mediated pregnancy complications. The primary outcome of this sub-study was the proportion of women who had an unplanned cesarean delivery after induction of labor compared to after spontaneous labor.Results: There were 512 patients from 7 randomized trials included in our sub-study. There was no difference in the risk of cesarean delivery between women with labor induction (21/148, 14.2%) and spontaneous labor (79/364, 21.7%) (odds ratio (OR) 0.60, 95% CI, 0.35-1.01; p=0.052). Among 274 women who used LMWH prophylaxis during pregnancy, the risk of cesarean delivery was lower among those that underwent labor induction (9.8%) compared to spontaneous labor (22.4%) (OR 0.38, 95% CI, 0.17-0.84; p=0.01).Conclusions: The risk of cesarean delivery is not increased after labor induction among a higher risk patient population with prior pregnancy complications. Our results suggest that women who receive LMWH during pregnancy might benefit from labor induction.</div

Septum resection in women with a septate uterus : a cohort study

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Corrigendum: Septum resection in women with a septate uterus:a cohort study

The authors of the above article would like to apologise for an error in one of the authors' names. W. Kuchenbecker should be W.K.H. Kuchenbecker, as above. The electronic version of this article has been updated at https:// doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dez284. The print version is correct. The Authors would like to assure readers that this does not affect any other content of the article.</p

Key Uncertainties in the Recent Air‐Sea Flux of CO 2

The contemporary air-sea flux of CO2 is investigated by the use of an air-sea flux equation, with particular attention to the uncertainties in global values and their origin with respect to that equation. In particular, uncertainties deriving from the transfer velocity and from sparse upper ocean sampling are investigated. Eight formulations of air-sea gas transfer velocity are used to evaluate the combined standard uncertainty resulting from several sources of error. Depending on expert opinion, a standard uncertainty in transfer velocity of either ~5% or ~10% can be argued and that will contribute a proportional error in air-sea flux. The limited sampling of upper ocean fCO2 is readily apparent in the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) databases. The effect of sparse sampling on the calculated fluxes was investigated by a bootstrap method; i.e. treating each ship cruise to an oceanic region as a random episode and creating 10 synthetic datasets by randomly selecting episodes with replacement. Convincing values of global net air-sea flux can only be achieved using upper ocean data collected over several decades, but referenced to a standard year. The global annual referenced values are robust to sparse sampling, but seasonal and regional values exhibit more sampling uncertainty. Additional uncertainties are related to thermal and haline effects and to aspects of air-sea gas exchange not captured by standard models. An estimate of global net CO2 exchange referenced to 2010 of -3.0 ± 0.6 Pg C yr-1 is proposed, where the uncertainty derives primarily from uncertainty in the transfer velocit

Winter weather controls net influx of atmospheric CO2 on the north-west European shelf

Shelf seas play an important role in the global carbon cycle, absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and exporting carbon (C) to the open ocean and sediments. The magnitude of these processes is poorly constrained, because observations are typically interpolated over multiple years. Here, we used 298500 observations of CO2 fugacity (fCO2) from a single year (2015), to estimate the net influx of atmospheric CO2 as 26.2 ± 4.7 Tg C yr-1 over the open NW European shelf. CO2 influx from the atmosphere was dominated by influx during winter as a consequence of high winds, despite a smaller, thermally-driven, air-sea fCO2 gradient compared to the larger, biologically-driven summer gradient. In order to understand this climate regulation service, we constructed a carbon-budget supplemented by data from the literature, where the NW European shelf is treated as a box with carbon entering and leaving the box. This budget showed that net C-burial was a small sink of 1.3 ± 3.1 Tg C yr-1, while CO2 efflux from estuaries to the atmosphere, removed the majority of river C-inputs. In contrast, the input from the Baltic Sea likely contributes to net export via the continental shelf pump and advection (34.4 ± 6.0 Tg C yr-1)

Disruption of Yarrowia lipolytica TPS1 Gene Encoding Trehalose-6-P Synthase Does Not Affect Growth in Glucose but Impairs Growth at High Temperature

We have cloned the Yarrowia lipolytica TPS1 gene encoding trehalose-6-P synthase by complementation of the lack of growth in glucose of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae tps1 mutant. Disruption of YlTPS1 could only be achieved with a cassette placed in the 3′half of its coding region due to the overlap of its sequence with the promoter of the essential gene YlTFC1. The Yltps1 mutant grew in glucose although the Y. lipolytica hexokinase is extremely sensitive to inhibition by trehalose-6-P. The presence of a glucokinase, insensitive to trehalose-6-P, that constitutes about 80% of the glucose phosphorylating capacity during growth in glucose may account for the growth phenotype. Trehalose content was below 1 nmol/mg dry weight in Y. lipolytica, but it increased in strains expressing YlTPS1 under the control of the YlTEF1promoter or with a disruption of YALI0D15598 encoding a putative trehalase. mRNA levels of YlTPS1 were low and did not respond to thermal stresses, but that of YlTPS2 (YALI0D14476) and YlTPS3 (YALI0E31086) increased 4 and 6 times, repectively, by heat treatment. Disruption of YlTPS1 drastically slowed growth at 35°C. Homozygous Yltps1 diploids showed a decreased sporulation frequency that was ascribed to the low level of YALI0D20966 mRNA an homolog of the S. cerevisiae MCK1 which encodes a protein kinase that activates early meiotic gene expression

ALIFE2 study::low-molecular-weight heparin for women with recurrent miscarriage and inherited thrombophilia - study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background A large number of studies have shown an association between inherited thrombophilia and recurrent miscarriage. It has been hypothesized that anticoagulant therapy might reduce the number of miscarriages and stillbirth in these women. In the absence of randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of anticoagulant therapy in women with inherited thrombophilia and recurrent miscarriage, a randomized trial with adequate power that addresses this question is needed. The objective of the ALIFE2 study is therefore to evaluate the efficacy of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) in women with inherited thrombophilia and recurrent miscarriage, with live birth as the primary outcome. Methods/Design Randomized study of LMWH plus standard pregnancy surveillance versus standard pregnancy surveillance alone. Study population: pregnant women of less than 7 weeks’ gestation, and confirmed inherited thrombophilia with a history of 2 or more miscarriages or intra-uterine fetal deaths, or both. Setting: multi-center study in centers from the Dutch Consortium of Fertility studies; centers outside the Netherlands are currently preparing to participate. Intervention: LMWH enoxaparin 40 mg subcutaneously once daily started prior to 7 weeks gestational age plus standard pregnancy surveillance or standard pregnancy surveillance alone. Main study parameters/endpoints: the primary efficacy outcome is live birth. Secondary efficacy outcomes include adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, syndrome of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets (HELLP syndrome), fetal growth restriction, placental abruption, premature delivery and congenital malformations. Safety outcomes include bleeding episodes, thrombocytopenia and skin reactions. Discussion After an initial period of slow recruitment, the recruitment rate for the study has increased. Improved awareness of the study and acknowledgement of the need for evidence are thought to be contributing to the improved recruitment rates. We aim to increase the number of recruiting centers in order to increase enrollment into the ALIFE2 study. The study website can be accessed via www.ALIFE2study.org. Trial registration The ALIFE2 study was registered on 19 March 2012 under registration number NTR336