Revising China's Environmental Law

China's Environmental Protection Law (EPL) is the main national environmental legislative framework. Yet the environmental legal system is incomplete, and implementation and enforcement of environmental laws have shown major shortcomings (1–3). A controversial attempt to revise the EPL could have far-reaching impacts on China's economic development and environmental protection, which may have global implications (4, 5). Increasing pressures to strengthen the rule of law in China raise the stakes (6). We discuss the need for a sound legal and scientific basis for revising the EPL

Maternal haploids are preferentially induced by CENH3-tailswap transgenic complementation in maize

Doubled haploid plants are invaluable breeding tools but many crop species are recalcitrant to available haploid induction techniques. To test if haploid inducer lines can be engineered into crops, CENH3 -/- and CENH3:RNAi lines were complemented by AcGREEN-tailswap-CENH3 or AcGREEN-CENH3 transgenes. Haploid induction rates were determined following testcrosses to wild-type plants after independently controlling for inducer parent sex and transgene zygosity. CENH3 fusion proteins were localized to centromeres and did not cause vegetative defects or male sterility. CENH3:RNAi lines did not demonstrate consistent knockdown and rarely produced haploids. In contrast, many of the complemented CENH3 -/- lines produced haploids at low frequencies. The rate of gynogenic haploid induction reached a maximum of 3.6% in several hemizygous individuals when backcrossed as males. These results demonstrate that CENH3-tailswap transgenes can be used to engineer in vivo haploid induction systems into maize plants

Evaluation of the Puritan Bennett™ 980 Ventilator System Safety and Performance in the Real-World Setting

Michael Roshon,1 Paras B Khandhar,2 Manoj Biniwale,3 Rangasamy Ramanathan,3 T Patrick Frazier,4 Feng Xu,5 Linlin Zhang,6 Xiangdong Guan,7 Dai Wenling,8 Bernard Lambermont9 1Department of Emergency Medicine, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services, Colorado, Springs, CO, USA; 2Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Beaumont Children’s Hospital, Royal Oak, MI, USA; 3Division of Neonatology, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 4Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USA; 5Department of Intensive Care, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Critical Care Medicine, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Critical Care Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Critical Care Medicine, Yancheng First People’s Hospital, Yancheng, People’s Republic of China; 9Department of Intensive Care, University Hospital of Liege, Liege, BelgiumCorrespondence: Michael Roshon, Email [email protected]: Mechanical ventilation is a life-supporting intervention but is associated with known risks and complications. To improve the efficacy and safety profile of mechanical ventilation, manufacturers have developed advanced ventilator settings, modes, and alarm strategies to optimize ventilation for patient needs while avoiding complications. However, there is little real-world data published on the deployment of ventilator technology. The main objective of this study was to assess the clinical safety and performance of the Puritan Bennett™ 980 Ventilator System (PB980) using real-world clinical data collected from a diverse, global patient population.Methods: This was a multi-center, post-market registry study that included nine sites: four in the United States of America, one in Europe, and four in China. Patients were enrolled into the registry if they were intended to be treated with a PB980. Data collection began at the start of ventilation and continued until extubation off the ventilator or up to seven days of ventilation, whichever occurred first. Subjects were divided by age into three categories: infants (0– 365 days), pediatric (1– 17 years), and adult (18 years and older). The primary outcome was device-related complication rate.Results: Two-hundred-and-eleven subjects were enrolled (41 infants, 48 pediatric, and 122 adults). Sixteen deaths, unrelated to device deficiency, occurred during the data collection timeframe (relative frequency: 7.58, 95% CI: 4.40, 12.0). Only one device-related adverse event was reported (relative frequency: 0.47% 95% CI: 0.01%, 2.61%).Conclusion: Ventilation by the PB980 was delivered safely in this multi-center observational study, which included a diverse sample of patients with broad ventilatory needs.Plain Language Summary: Mechanical ventilation is a life supporting intervention. Much progress has been made in this field thanks to a better knowledge of respiratory physiopathology and improved ventilation delivered by modern ventilators.In this global, post-market registry study, ventilation by the Puritan Bennett™ 980 Ventilator was delivered safely to a diverse sample of patients.Keywords: ventilation, PB980, safety, complications, respiratory distress, critical car