Wheat response to CO2 enrichment: CO2 exchanges transpiration and mineral uptakes

When simulating canopies planted in varied densities, researchers were able to demonstrate that increase of dry matter production by enhancing CO2 quickly becomes independant of increase of leaf area, especially above leaf area index of 2; dry matter gain results mainly from photosynthesis stimulation per unit of surface (primary CO2 effect). When crop density is low (the plants remaining alone a longer time), the effects of increasing leaf surface (tillering, leaf elongation here, branching for other plants etc.) was noticeable and dry matter simulation factor reached 1.65. This area effect decreased when canopy was closed in, as the effect of different surfaces no longer worked. The stimulation of photosynthesis reached to the primary CO2 effect. The accumulation in dry matter which was fast during that phase made the original weight advantage more and more neglectible. Comparison with short term measurements showed that first order long term effect of CO2 in wheat is predictible with short term experiment, from the effect of CO2 on photosynthesis measured on reference sample

Can plants grow in quasi-vacuum?

It was found that the growth of plants is possible under absolute pressure 14 times lower than the atmospheric pressure. In first approximation, plants ignore the absence of nitrogen and only react to the partial pressure of O2. Hence the growth of plantlets was delayed under low pressures of O2 in both cases with and without nitrogen. The CO2 availability being limited by the carbon content of the seed, the final results after 20 days were very similar

The Transformation of Sediment Into Rock : Insights From IODP Site U1352, Canterbury Basin, New Zealand

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the crew of the RV JOIDES Resolution for professional seamanship, excellent drilling, and the scientific support on board. GHB and SCG thank the Australia–New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC), and KMM thanks the Consortium for Ocean Leadership U.S. Science Support Program for partly funding this work. Thanks also to funding agencies of the respective authors, and Mark Lawrence (GNS Science) and Cam Nelson (University of Waikato) for their thoughtful comments on an earlier draft. Karsten Kroeger (GNS Science) helped by providing compaction data for New Zealand basins, and Michelle Kominz (Western Michigan University) provided data on which Figure 8 was developed. Further improvements were the result of thoughtful detailed reviews by Gemma Barrie, Bill Heins, Stan Paxton, Associate Editor Joe Macquaker, and Editor Leslie Melim.Peer reviewedPostprin

Parental Expectations and Prosocial Behavior of Adolescents From Low-Income Backgrounds: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between Three Countries¿Argentina, Colombia, and Spain

Parental expectations are influenced by cultural models, which in turn are subject to a great influence from historically fluctuating features of the socioeconomic background. Parental expectations seem to be linked to children¿s social and emotional development in terms of empathy and prosocial behavior. The current study aims to (a) compare low-income adolescents¿ perceptions of parental expectations of prosocial and antisocial behavior across three Latin countries (Argentina, Colombia, and Spain), (b) compare the empathy and prosocial behavior between the three countries, (c) compare the prosocial behavior between the three countries, and (d) study the effect of perceived parental expectations and empathy on the prosocial behavior of adolescents in all three of the countries studied in this research. The sample was made up of 446 Argentinean adolescents, 474 Colombian adolescents, and 632 Spanish adolescents. The Expected Parental Reactions Scale, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and Prosocial Behavior Questionnaire were used to measure the variables included in this study. Results reveal considerable differences between children¿s perceptions of parental expectations in different countries. Results also show the existence of significant differences between male and female adolescents. In all three countries, girls score more highly than boys in prosocial behavior and empathy. Furthermore, we find that low-income Argentinean adolescents score more highly than Spanish and Colombian adolescents in prosocial behavior measures. Finally, expected parental reactions toward prosocial behavior and empathy seem to have an influence on the adolescents¿ development of prosocial behavior in all three countries

Study of the relationship between photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration, and mineral nutrition in wheat

The growth of wheat (triticum aestivum) was studied in an enclosed controlled environment for a period of 70 days. The exchange of gases (photosynthesis, respiration), water (transpiration) and the consumption of mineral elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) were continuously measured. The dynamical relations observed in the different physiological functions, under the influence of growth and in response to environment modifications are presented. The influence of carbon dioxide content during growth (normal or double percentage) was made clear

Anxiety, depression and stress in nurses working in intensive therapy units with COVID-19 patients, Mendoza, 2021

En contextos de pandemia, los trabajadores de la salud son especialmente vulnerables a los problemas de salud mental y a patologías graves. Los objetivos de este estudio fueron explorar y describir los niveles de ansiedad y depresión en el personal de enfermería que atiende pacientes con COVID-19 en unidades de terapia intensiva, y describir los indicadores de estrés en relación con su actividad laboral. MÉTODO: Estudio descriptivo y transversal. Muestra intencional de 52 enfermeros y enfermeras que trabajan en unidades de terapia intensiva para pacientes con COVID-19 en la Ciudad de Mendoza. Se aplicaron cuestionarios validados para evaluar la ansiedad, la depresión y el estrés percibido. RESULTADOS: Se observaron niveles elevados de ansiedad en el 72,1% de la muestra, y depresión en el 13,5%. Los indicadores más elevados de estrés fueron: sentirse desanimado y cansado (80,8%), agotado mentalmente (76,9%), no sentir energía (73,1%) y sentir muchas preocupaciones (75%). Los indicadores favorables fueron: 76,9% no se siente obligado a hacer sus tareas; y 55,8% siente que realmente disfruta de su quehacer. DISCUSIÓN: Se observaron niveles elevados de ansiedad y depresión, y se identificaron indicadores de estrés relacionados con la tensión, el agotamiento físico-emocional y la sobrecarga laboral; se encontraron indicadores relacionados a factores protectores dentro del ámbito laboral. Se analizan los datos preliminares sobre el malestar emocional del personal de enfermería en el contexto de la pandemia por COVID-19.In pandemic contexts, health workers are especially vulnerable to mental health problems and risky pathologies. Objectives of the study: 1) to explore and describe levels of anxiety and depression in intensive care unit nurses who work with COVID-19 patients and 2) to describe indicators of stress in relation to their work activity. METHOD: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Intentional sample of 52 nurses, of both sexes, who work in intensive care units COVID-19, Mendoza. Validated questionnaires were applied to assess anxiety, depression and perceived stress. RESULTS: high levels of anxiety in 72.1% of the sample and 13.5% of depression; Higher indicators of stress: feeling discouraged and tired (80.8%), mentally exhausted (76.9%), not feeling energy (73.1%), feeling very worried (75%); as favorable indicators: 76.9% do not feel that they do things out of obligation, 55.8% feel that they are doing things that they really like. DISCUSSION: High levels of anxiety and depression were observed and indicators of stress related to tension and physical-emotional exhaustion and work overload were identified; Indicators related to protective factors were found within the workplace. Preliminary data is discussed on the emotional distress of male and female nurses in times of pandemic by COVID-19.Fil: Torrecilla, Norma Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Janet, Victoria M.. Universidad del Aconcagua. Facultad de Psicología; ArgentinaFil: Richaud de Minzi, C.. Universidad Austral; Argentin

Anxiety, depression and stress in nurses working in intensive therapy units with COVID-19 patients, Mendoza, 2021

En contextos de pandemia, los trabajadores de la salud son especialmente vulnerables a los problemas de salud mental y a patologías graves. Los objetivos de este estudio fueron explorar y describir los niveles de ansiedad y depresión en el personal de enfermería que atiende pacientes con COVID-19 en unidades de terapia intensiva, y describir los indicadores de estrés en relación con su actividad laboral. MÉTODO: Estudio descriptivo y transversal. Muestra intencional de 52 enfermeros y enfermeras que trabajan en unidades de terapia intensiva para pacientes con COVID-19 en la Ciudad de Mendoza. Se aplicaron cuestionarios validados para evaluar la ansiedad, la depresión y el estrés percibido. RESULTADOS: Se observaron niveles elevados de ansiedad en el 72,1% de la muestra, y depresión en el 13,5%. Los indicadores más elevados de estrés fueron: sentirse desanimado y cansado (80,8%), agotado mentalmente (76,9%), no sentir energía (73,1%) y sentir muchas preocupaciones (75%). Los indicadores favorables fueron: 76,9% no se siente obligado a hacer sus tareas; y 55,8% siente que realmente disfruta de su quehacer. DISCUSIÓN: Se observaron niveles elevados de ansiedad y depresión, y se identificaron indicadores de estrés relacionados con la tensión, el agotamiento físico-emocional y la sobrecarga laboral; se encontraron indicadores relacionados a factores protectores dentro del ámbito laboral. Se analizan los datos preliminares sobre el malestar emocional del personal de enfermería en el contexto de la pandemia por COVID-19.In pandemic contexts, health workers are especially vulnerable to mental health problems and risky pathologies. Objectives of the study: 1) to explore and describe levels of anxiety and depression in intensive care unit nurses who work with COVID-19 patients and 2) to describe indicators of stress in relation to their work activity. METHOD: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Intentional sample of 52 nurses, of both sexes, who work in intensive care units COVID-19, Mendoza. Validated questionnaires were applied to assess anxiety, depression and perceived stress. RESULTS: high levels of anxiety in 72.1% of the sample and 13.5% of depression; Higher indicators of stress: feeling discouraged and tired (80.8%), mentally exhausted (76.9%), not feeling energy (73.1%), feeling very worried (75%); as favorable indicators: 76.9% do not feel that they do things out of obligation, 55.8% feel that they are doing things that they really like. DISCUSSION: High levels of anxiety and depression were observed and indicators of stress related to tension and physical-emotional exhaustion and work overload were identified; Indicators related to protective factors were found within the workplace. Preliminary data is discussed on the emotional distress of male and female nurses in times of pandemic by COVID-19.Fil: Torrecilla, Norma Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Janet, Victoria M.. Universidad del Aconcagua. Facultad de Psicología; ArgentinaFil: Richaud de Minzi, C.. Universidad Austral; Argentin

Exophiala dermatitidis Revealing Cystic Fibrosis in Adult Patients with Chronic Pulmonary Disease

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic inherited disease due to mutations in the gene cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Because of the huge diversity of CFTR mutations, the CF phenotypes are highly heterogeneous, varying from typical to mild form of CF, also called atypical CF. These atypical features are more frequently diagnosed at adolescence or adulthood, and among clinical signs and symptoms leading to suspect a mild form of CF, colonization or infection of the respiratory tract due to well-known CF pathogens should be a warning signal. Exophiala dermatitidis is a melanized dimorphic fungus commonly detected in respiratory specimens from CF patients, but only very rarely from respiratory specimens from non-CF patients. We described here two cases of chronic colonization of the airways by E. dermatitidis, with recurrent pneumonia and hemoptysis in one patient, which led clinicians to diagnose mild forms of CF in these elderly patients who were 68- and 87-year-old. These cases of late CF diagnosis suggest that airway colonization or respiratory infections due to E. dermatitidis in patients with bronchiectasis should led to search for a mild form of CF, regardless of the age and associated symptoms. On a broader level, in patients with chronic respiratory disease and recurrent pulmonary infections, an allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis or an airway colonization by CF-related fungi like E. dermatitidis or some Aspergillus, Scedosporium or Rasamsonia species, should be considered as potential markers of atypical CF and should led clinicians to conduct investigations for CF diagnosis

Microbial engineering for production of N-functionalized amino acids and amines

Mindt M, Walter T, Kugler P, Wendisch VF. Microbial engineering for production of N-functionalized amino acids and amines. Biotechnology Journal . 2020;15(7): 1900451.N‐ functionalized amines play important roles in nature and occur, for example, in the antibiotic vancomycin, the immunosuppressant cyclosporine, the cytostatic actinomycin, the siderophore aerobactin, the cyanogenic glucoside linamarin, and the polyamine spermidine. In the pharmaceutical and fine‐chemical industries N‐ functionalized amines are used as building blocks for the preparation of bioactive molecules. Processes based on fermentation and on enzyme catalysis have been developed to provide sustainable manufacturing routes to N‐ alkylated, N‐ hydroxylated, N‐ acylated, or other N‐ functionalized amines including polyamines. Metabolic engineering for provision of precursor metabolites is combined with heterologous N‐ functionalizing enzymes such as imine or ketimine reductases, opine or amino acid dehydrogenases, N‐ hydroxylases, N‐ acyltransferase, or polyamine synthetases. Recent progress and applications of fermentative processes using metabolically engineered bacteria and yeasts along with the employed enzymes are reviewed and the perspectives on developing new fermentative processes based on insight from enzyme catalysis are discussed

Global and local controlson continental margin stratigraphy

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 317 was devoted to understanding the relative importance of global sea level (eustasy) versus local tectonic and sedimentary processes in controlling continental margin sedimentary cycles. The expedition recovered sediments from the Eocene to recent period, with a particular focus on the sequence stratigraphy of the late Miocene to recent, when global sea level change was dominated by glacioeustasy. Drilling in the Canterbury Basin, on the eastern margin of the South Island of New Zealand, takes advantage of high rates of Neogene sediment supply, which preserves a high-frequency (0.1–0.5 m.y.) record of depositional cyclicity. The Canterbury Basin provides an opportunity to study the complex interactions between processes responsible for the preserved stratigraphic record of sequences because of the proximity of an uplifting mountain chain, the Southern Alps, and strong ocean currents. Currents have locally built large, elongate sediment drifts within the prograding Neogene section. Expedition 317 did not drill into one of these elongate drifts, but currents are inferred to have strongly influenced deposition across the basin, including in locations lacking prominent mounded drifts. Upper Miocene to recent sedimentary sequences were cored in a transect of three sites on the continental shelf (landward to basinward, Sites U1353, U1354, and U1351) and one on the continental slope (Site U1352). The transect provides a stratigraphic record of depositional cycles across the shallow-water environment most directly affected by relative sea level change. Lithologic boundaries, provisionally correlative with seismic sequence boundaries, have been identified in cores from each site and provide insights into the origins of seismically resolvable sequences. This record will be used to estimate the timing and amplitude of global sea level change and to document the sedimentary processes that operate during sequence formation. Sites U1353 and U1354 provide significant, double-cored, high-recovery sections through the Holocene and late Quaternary for high-resolution study of recent glacial cycles in a continental shelf setting. Continental slope Site U1352 represents a complete section from modern slope terrigenous sediment to hard Eocene limestone, with all the associated lithologic, biostratigraphic, physical, geochemical, and microbiological transitions. The site also provides a record of ocean circulation and fronts during the last ~35 m.y. The early Oligocene (~30 Ma) Marshall Paraconformity was the deepest drilling target of Expedition 317 and is hypothesized to represent intensified current erosion or nondeposition associated with the initiation of thermohaline circulation following the separation of Australian and Antarctica. Expedition 317 set a number of scientific ocean drilling records: (1) deepest hole drilled in a single expedition and second deepest hole in the history of scientific ocean drilling (Hole U1352C, 1927 m); (2) deepest hole and second deepest hole drilled by the R/V JOIDES Resolution on a continental shelf (Hole U1351B, 1030 m; Hole U1353B, 614 m); (3) shallowest water depth for a site drilled by the JOIDES Resolution for scientific purposes (Site U1353, 84.7 m water depth); and (4) deepest sample taken by scientific ocean drilling for microbiological studies (1925 m, Site U1352). Expedition 317 supplements previous drilling of sedimentary sequences for sequence stratigraphic and sea level objectives, particularly drilling on the New Jersey margin (Ocean Drilling Program [ODP] Legs 150, 150X, 174A, and 174AX and IODP Expedition 313) and in the Bahamas (ODP Leg 166), but includes an expanded Pliocene section. Completion of at least one transect across a geographically and tectonically distinct siliciclastic margin was the necessary next step in deciphering continental margin stratigraphy. Expedition 317 also complements ODP Leg 181, which focused on drift development in more distal parts of the Eastern New Zealand Oceanic Sedimentary System (ENZOSS).Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management InternationalPublished2.2. Laboratorio di paleomagnetismorestricte