Drummer Major James Spens: letters from a common soldier abroad, 1617-1632

PostprintPeer reviewe

Global Deletome Profile of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Exposed to the Technology-Critical Element Yttrium

The emergence of the technology-critical-element yttrium as a contaminant in the environment raises concern regarding its toxicological impact on living organisms. The molecular mechanisms underlying yttrium toxicity must be delineated. We considered the genomic phenotyping of a mutant collection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to be of particular interest to decipher key cellular pathways involved either in yttrium toxicity or detoxification mechanisms. Among the 4733 mutants exposed to yttrium, 333 exhibited modified growth, of which 56 were sensitive and 277 were resistant. Several functions involved in yttrium toxicity mitigation emerged, primarily vacuolar acidification and retrograde transport. Conversely, functional categories overrepresented in the yttrium toxicity response included cytoskeleton organization and endocytosis, protein transport and vesicle trafficking, lipid metabolism, as well as signaling pathways. Comparison with similar studies carried out using other metals and stressors showed a response pattern similar to nickel stress. One third of the identified mutants highlighted peculiar cellular effects triggered by yttrium, specifically those affecting the pheromone-dependent signaling pathway or sphingolipid metabolic processes. Taken together, these data emphasize the role of the plasma membrane as a hotspot for yttrium toxicity. The up-to-now lack of data concerning yttrium toxicity at the cellular and molecular levels makes this pioneer study using the model S. cerevisiae an excellent first basis for the assessment of yttrium toxicity toward eukaryotes

Frequency of Certain Established Risk Factors in Soft Tissue Sarcomas in Adults: A Prospective Descriptive Study of 658 Cases

Soft tissue sarcomas are rare tumours with infrequent identified aetiological factors. Several genetic syndromes as well as previous radiation therapy and/or chronic lymphoedema have been suspected to predispose to some soft tissue sarcomas. Between January 1997 and September 2005, we carried out a prospective descriptive study to estimate the frequency of some particular etiological factors among 658 patients with soft tissue sarcomas. Sarcomas associated with a clinically identified genetic disease represent 2.8% out of all cases (95%CI: 1.5–3.8%). Most of these cases (14/19) are related to Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis. Radiation-induced sarcomas represent 3.3% out of all cases (95%CI: 1.7–5.1%). Most of these cases (9/22) are related to prior breast cancer treatment. We had observed only 1 case of Stewart-Treves syndrome. Liposarcoma, the most frequent histological subtype observed, is not associated with any particular aetiological entity. Finally, most of the adult soft tissue sarcomas are not related to any classical clinically identified genetic disease or previous radiation therapy and/or chronic lymphoedema risk factors. Frequency of underlying genetic syndrome which may predispose to soft tissue sarcomas could be higher than previously reported

Roadmap for Innovative Finance for Climate Smart Agri-Food Sector in Mali

This report analyizes the constraints and gaps faced by women actors in three key value chains rice, onions and potatos. It reviews the available innovative financing instruments in Mali. It identifies potential investments that can attract private capital for scaling CSA and realize greater impact

Gender-Smart Accelerator Challenge Activity Report

This report outlines a Gender-Smart Accelerator Challenge implemented in Senegal in partnership with Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). The goal of the accelerator is to develop a pipeline of women-led agricultural SMEs operating at different levels of the value chain to be matched with private investment. The report outlines the activity design and process to launch the accelerator and the criteria to identify 20 SMEs for the 6 months capacity building program. Through a needs assessment, the SMEs needs were identified and characterized to inform the program curriculum. The end of the program will be marked by a pitch day where the 20 SMEs will compete for a chance to win a grant of up to $25,000 from CGIAR with the potential matching investment from private actors. Potential financing partners have been identified and will play an active role in determining the winners of the challenge

Scaling Gender-Smart Agriculture through Sustainable Finance in the Sahel

A rapid Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) assessment was conducted on 20 agri-food companies supported by the Gender-Smart Accelerator in Senegal. As the Accelerator-technical assistance is implemented, companies are likely to double climate change mitigation and adaptation impacts. Major interventions driving changes are: climate information services (CIS), water and soil management (Adaptation); agroforestry, efficient fertilizers use, and renewable energy (Mitigation); improved ag-practices and food loss reduction (Productivity). Although there have been significant improvements, there are several opportunities to further enhance impacts. This can be achieved following these principles: (1) avoid land-use change; (2) implement soil conservation practices; (3) enhance production diversity; (4) use of improved crop varieties and livestock breeding-feeding; (5) efficient use of water-energy-fertilizer; (7) avoid food-loss; (8) use of renewables; (9) CIS adoption, and (10) promote women-youth participation. This note provides a baseline for comparison and indicates opportunities for enhancing climate resilience and food security through Accelerator-supported companies in Senegal

Etude de la dynamique d'un nuage de bulles généré par ultrasons focalisés de forte intensité

Nous présentons une étude expérimentale sur la dynamique des nuages de bulles générés par ultrasons focalisés de forte intensité. En utilisant des mesures optiques en ombroscopie, on a pu suivre le développement de nuages de cavitation. Les images numériques sont numérisées et analysées. Les résultats mettent en évidence des variations du comportement du nuage de bulles en fonction des paramètres ultrasonores d'excitation. Ces variations apparaissent corrélées à l'efficacité destructrice de la cavitation ultrasonore dans les applications thérapeutiques

Towards a Roadmap for Advancing the Catalogue of the World’s Natural History Collections

Natural history collections are the foundations upon which all knowledge of natural history is constructed. Biological specimens are the best documentation of variation within each species, increasingly serve as curated sources for reference DNA, and are frequently our only evidence for historical species distribution. Collections represent an enormous multigenerational investment in research infrastructure for the biological sciences, but despite this importance most of the holdings of these institutions remain invisible on the Internet, inaccessible to taxonomists from other countries and hidden from computational biodiversity research.Although comprehensive digitisation of the complete holdings of each natural history collection is the long-term goal, this is an expensive and labor-intensive task and will not be completed in the near future for all collections. However, many benefits could quickly be achieved by publishing high-quality metadata on each collection to increase its visibility, provide the foundations for further digitisation and enable researchers to discover and communicate with collections of interest.This paper summarises the results from a consultation activity carried out in 2020 as part of the SYNTHESYS+ (Synthesys of Systematic Resources), “Developing implementation roadmaps for priority infrastructure areas as part of cooperative RI for biodiversity” project. This consultation was primed through an ideas paper, and introductory webinars and conducted as a facilitated two-week online multilingual discussion around 26 topics grouped under four broad headings (Users, Content, Technology and Governance). The results of these discussions are summarised here, along with the wider context of existing and planned initiatives