The Gaia mission

Gaia is a cornerstone mission in the science programme of the EuropeanSpace Agency (ESA). The spacecraft construction was approved in 2006, following a study in which the original interferometric concept was changed to a direct-imaging approach. Both the spacecraft and the payload were built by European industry. The involvement of the scientific community focusses on data processing for which the international Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) was selected in 2007. Gaia was launched on 19 December 2013 and arrived at its operating point, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, a few weeks later. The commissioning of the spacecraft and payload was completed on 19 July 2014. The nominal five-year mission started with four weeks of special, ecliptic-pole scanning and subsequently transferred into full-sky scanning mode. We recall the scientific goals of Gaia and give a description of the as-built spacecraft that is currently (mid-2016) being operated to achieve these goals. We pay special attention to the payload module, the performance of which is closely related to the scientific performance of the mission. We provide a summary of the commissioning activities and findings, followed by a description of the routine operational mode. We summarise scientific performance estimates on the basis of in-orbit operations. Several intermediate Gaia data releases are planned and the data can be retrieved from the Gaia Archive, which is available through the Gaia home page. http://www.cosmos.esa.int/gai

INFLUÊNCIA DO THIDIAZURON E DA INOCULAÇÃO COM Azospirillum brasilense NO CRESCIMENTO E PRODUTIVIDADE DO ARROZ DE TERRAS ALTAS / INFLUENCE OF THIDIAZURON AND INOCULATION WITH Azospirillum brasilense IN THE GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF HIGHLAND RICE

A inoculação com bactérias do gênero Azospirillum pode contribuir com o fornecimento de nitrogênio (N) e com o crescimento das plantas, pois esses microrganismos são também promotores de crescimento. Por outro lado a aplicação nas doses e épocas adequadas do regulador vegetal de efeito citocinínico thidiazuron (TDZ) pode vir a beneficiar a produtividade de grãos. Dessa maneira, o objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de doses de TDZ sobre a produtividade do arroz, na presença e ausência da inoculação foliar com Azospirillum brasilense. Foi utilizada a cultivar ANa 5015, no delineamento experimental de blocos casualizados em esquema fatorial 4 x 2, sendo quatro doses de TDZ (0,0; 0,5; 1,0 e 1,5g ha-1) aplicadas por ocasião do perfilhamento, 30 DAE, e da aplicação de Azospirillum brasilense (presença ou ausência) em dose fixa aos 20 DAE. Verificou-se que a cultivar ANa 5015 não se mostrou responsiva para a inoculação foliar com Azospirillum brasilense na dose de 200 mL ha-1. Para as doses de TDZ aplicadas via foliar, houve uma variação significativa na altura de plantas, cuja dose de 0,41 g ha-1 resultou na altura máxima de 1,11 m. Não houve efeito das doses de TDZ na produtividade, massa de 100 grãos, número de panículas por m², grãos por panícula e massa hectolítrica

Diazotrophic bacteria increase yield and profitability in organic cultivation of common bean

ABSTRACT The symbiosis of common beans with nitrogen-fixing bacteria provides an efficient approach to sustainable and economical food production. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the application of cost-effective nitrogen management strategies in organic common bean cultivation, including the application of poultry manure and organic liquid fertilizer, seed and co-inoculation with diazotrophic bacteria (Azospirillum brasilense and/or Rhizobium tropici), and supplementary Rhizobium tropici inoculation. The study spanned three years in a well-established organic cultivation field (2018) and an initial organic cultivation area (2019 and 2020) in Brazil. It was arranged in a randomized blocks design in a 2 × 5 (2018) and 2 × 6 (2019 and 2020) factorial scheme, with four replicates. The most profitable strategy involves seed inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense and additional inoculation with Rhizobium tropici at stage V4-5 (fifth trifoliate leaf fully expanded), while the most costly strategy was the application of poultry manure at the V3 stage (first trifoliate leaf fully expanded). Thus, the use of diazotrophic bacteria for seed inoculation and co-inoculation (Azospirillum brasilense and/or Rhizobium tropici) ensured financial returns and system profitability in common bean cultivation

Demographics and Baseline Characteristics of Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) in a Real-World Setting: Results of 847 Patients Enrolled in the Radico-ILD Cohort in France

International audienceRationale: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare condition and few epidemiological dataare available in France. This specific research project aims to describe characteristics of treatedIPF patients and the impact of antifibrotic treatments in terms of morbidity and mortality in theFrench real-life setting. Methods: The French RaDiCo (Rare Disease Cohort)-ILD (idiopathicInterstitial Lung Diseases) registry is an ongoing observational study initiated in June 2017, witha sub-analysis of IPF patients. This longitudinal long-term cohort includes pediatric and adultpatients with ILD and is supported by the national network of reference and competence centersfor rare pulmonary diseases. IPF was diagnosed using international ATS/ERS 2011 criteria witha diagnosis of IPF or working diagnosis of IPF by multidisciplinary discussion. Here, we presentthe baseline data of IPF patients. Results: Between June 15th 2017 and September 4th 2019,1246 ILD patients were enrolled in the RaDiCo-ILD registry from 18 centers, including 847 withIPF (68%). IPF patients were mostly male (82.7%), with a mean age of 72.5 ± 9 years at inclusionand a mean BMI of 26.8 ± 4.3; 44.6 % of IPF patients included were incident cases, with amedian length between diagnosis and inclusion of 8.9 months (Q1=0.9 and Q3=26.4); 25.3% hada biopsy. The mean FVC at IPF diagnosis was 73.4 ± 25.0 % of predicted value (n=561), and themean DLCO at IPF diagnosis was 39.6 ± 18.2 % predicted value (n=498). Among patients withavailable information on anti-fibrotic treatment, 347 had been treated (at least one dose) withnintedanib, and 312 with pirfenidone; among patients treated with antifibrotics, 113 were treatedwith both treatments sequentially. Conclusions: The RaDiCo-ILD registry provides accurate real-world data on the demographics of patients with IPF in France. It will generate a long-term follow-up and will be an invaluable tool to describe the natural history and progression of patients withIPF in real-life conditions