Role of the microbiome in human development.

The host-microbiome supraorganism appears to have coevolved and the unperturbed microbial component of the dyad renders host health sustainable. This coevolution has likely shaped evolving phenotypes in all life forms on this predominantly microbial planet. The microbiota seems to exert effects on the next generation from gestation, via maternal microbiota and immune responses. The microbiota ecosystems develop, restricted to their epithelial niches by the host immune system, concomitantly with the host chronological development, providing early modulation of physiological host development and functions for nutrition, immunity and resistance to pathogens at all ages. Here, we review the role of the microbiome in human development, including evolutionary considerations, and the maternal/fetal relationships, contributions to nutrition and growth. We also discuss what constitutes a healthy microbiota, how antimicrobial modern practices are impacting the human microbiota, the associations between microbiota perturbations, host responses and diseases rocketing in urban societies and potential for future restoration

British Bryological Society expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi : 13., new and other unpublished records

Further results are provided of the 1991 British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mt., Malawi including 168 taxa of bryophyte, comprising 72 taxa of liverwort (38 new to Malawi) and 96 taxa of mosses (45 new to Malawi)

The simultaneous extraction of multiple social categories from unfamiliar faces

The research was supported by an award from the Experimental Psychology Society's Small Grant scheme.Peer reviewedPostprin

Soil and foliar zinc biofortification of broccolini: effects on plant growth and mineral accumulation

© 2020 CSIRO. Millions of people have Zn-deficient diets, so Zn-biofortified crops could prevent such deficiency. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of agronomic Zn biofortification of broccolini-a new hybrid crop variety derived from a cross between kalian cabbage and broccoli. Plants were grown in pots using a Zn deficient soil. Four fertiliser treatments were tested: (1) control (2) soil application of 5 mg ZnSO4•7H2O kg-1 soil (3) foliar application at the early flowering stage of 0.5% (w/v) ZnSO4•7H2O (4) combined soil and foliar treatments. Florets were harvested in four sequential harvests. There was a decrease in both growth and leaf composition of Zn, Ca, Fe and Mg. Soil Zn application increased floret production. There were increases in the Zn concentration stem+leaves and florets of 12- and 2.5-fold in foliar and soil+foliar treatments respectively. PA:Zn molar ratios decreased under both foliar and soil+foliar treatments. Boiling reduced Zn concentration by 40%, along with a decrease of other mineral nutrients. A soil+foliar treatment can increase both plant growth and Zn concentration in broccolini, and boiled 100 g portion of biofortified florets fertilised at rates in this study would deliver ∼49 mg Zn, a 46% increase than in the non-biofortified broccolini

Design and Implementation of the UniProt Website

The UniProt consortium is the main provider of protein sequence and annotation data for much of the life sciences community. The "www.uniprot.org":http://www.uniprot.org website is the primary access point to this data and to documentation and basic tools for the data. This paper discusses the design and implementation of the new website, which was released in July 2008, and shows how it improves data access for users with different levels of experience, as well as to machines for programmatic access

Soil and foliar zinc application to biofortify broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. Italica L.): Effects on the zinc concentration and bioavailability

© 2020, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved. Agronomic zinc (Zn) biofortification of crops could help to alleviate dietary Zn deficiency, which is likely to affect more than one billion people worldwide. To evaluate the efficiency of agronomic Zn biofortification of broc-coli, four application treatments were tested: no Zn application (control); soil application of 5 mg/kg ZnSO4·7 H2O (soil); two sprays (15 mL/pot each) of 0.25% (w/v) ZnSO4·7 H2O (foliar); and soil + foliar combination. Soil Zn application increased Zn-DTPA (diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid) concentration by 3.7-times but did not affect plant growth or plant Zn concentration. Foliar Zn application increased stem + leaves and floret Zn concentration by 78 and 23 mg Zn/kg, respectively, with good bioavailability based on phytic acid concentration. Boiling decreased mineral concentration by 19%, but increased bioavailability by decreasing the phytic acid concentration. The entire broccoli could constitute a good nutritional source for animals and humans. An intake of 100 g boiled florets treated with the foliar treatment will cover about 36% of recommended dietary intake (RDI) of Zn, together with 30% of Ca, 94% of K, 32% of Mg, 6% of Na, 55% of P, 60% of S, 10% of Cu, 22% of Fe, 43% of Mn, and 35% of Se RDIs

Measuring out-of-time-order correlations and multiple quantum spectra in a trapped ion quantum magnet

Controllable arrays of ions and ultra-cold atoms can simulate complex many-body phenomena and may provide insights into unsolved problems in modern science. To this end, experimentally feasible protocols for quantifying the buildup of quantum correlations and coherence are needed, as performing full state tomography does not scale favorably with the number of particles. Here we develop and experimentally demonstrate such a protocol, which uses time reversal of the many-body dynamics to measure out-of-time-order correlation functions (OTOCs) in a long-range Ising spin quantum simulator with more than 100 ions in a Penning trap. By measuring a family of OTOCs as a function of a tunable parameter we obtain fine-grained information about the state of the system encoded in the multiple quantum coherence spectrum, extract the quantum state purity, and demonstrate the buildup of up to 8-body correlations. Future applications of this protocol could enable studies of many-body localization, quantum phase transitions, and tests of the holographic duality between quantum and gravitational systems.Comment: main text: 7 pages, 4 figures; supplement: 9 pages, 4 figure

First human study in treatment of unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer with irinotecan-loaded beads (DEBIRI)

The objective of this pilot clinical study was to assess the safety, technical feasibility, pharmacokinetic (PK) profile and tumour response of DC Bead™ with irinotecan (DEBIRI™) delivered by intra-arterial embolisation for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Eleven patients with unresectable liver metastases from CRC, tumour burden <30% of liver volume, adequate haematological, liver and renal function, performance status of <2 were included in this study. Patients received up to 4 sessions of TACE with DEBIRI at 3-week intervals. Feasibility of the procedure, safety and tumour response were assessed after each cycle. PK was measured after the first cycle. Patients were followed up to 24 weeks. Only mild to moderate adverse events were observed. DEBIRI is a technically feasibile procedure; no technical complications were observed. Average Cmax for irinotecan and SN-38 was 194 ng/ml and 16.7 ng/ml, respectively, with average t½ of 4.6 h and 12.4 h following administration of DEBIRI. Best overall response during the study showed disease control in 9 patients (2 patients with partial response and 7 with stable disease, overall response rate of 18%). Our study shows that transarterial chemoembolisation with irinotecan-loaded DC beads (DEBIRI) is safe, technically feasible and effective with a good PK profile

Photometric Variability in the Ultracool Dwarf BRI 0021-0214: Possible Evidence for Dust Clouds

We report CCD photometric monitoring of the nonemission ultracool dwarf BRI 0021-0214 (M9.5) obtained during 10 nights in 1995 November and 4 nights in 1996 August, with CCD cameras at 1 m class telescopes on the observatories of the Canary Islands. We present differential photometry of BRI 0021-0214, and we report significant variability in the I-band light curve obtained in 1995. A periodogram analysis finds a strong peak at a period of 0.84 day. This modulation appears to be transient because it is present in the 1995 data but not in the 1996 data. We also find a possible period of 0.20 day, which appears to be present in both the 1995 and 1996 datasets. However, we do not find any periodicity close to the rotation period expected from the spectroscopic rotational broadening (< 0.14 day). BRI 0021-0214 is a very inactive object, with extremely low levels of Halpha and X-ray emission. Thus, it is unlikely that magnetically induced cool spots can account for the photometric variability. The photometric variability of BRI 0021-0214 could be explained by the presence of an active meteorology that leads to inhomogeneous clouds on the surface. The lack of photometric modulation at the expected rotational period suggests that the pattern of surface features may be more complicated than previously anticipated.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 26 pages, 13 figures include

Farm Management - Bugger the roots, where is the future?

The Farm Management discipline has long been closely aligned with agricultural economics. The question we raise is not where either discipline came from but where is Farm Management going. The impact of globalisation, the rising tide of deregulation and chain reversal mean that farm management professionals who have traditionally focused on optimisation of activities at a farm level are now commonly expected to use sociology and management science to explain economic organisation and performance on farms. They also are required to look at relationships in the value chain(s) in which the farm sits. This paper will analyse the implications of such change for Farm Management professionals.Farm Management, value chains, Farm Management,