A Plant Biologist’s Toolbox to Study Translation

Across a broad range of species and biological questions, more and more studies are incorporating translation data to better assess how gene regulation occurs at the level of protein synthesis. The inclusion of translation data improves upon, and has been shown to be more accurate than, transcriptional studies alone. However, there are many different techniques available to measure translation and it can be difficult, especially for young or aspiring scientists, to determine which methods are best applied in specific situations. We have assembled this review in order to enhance the understanding and promote the utilization of translational methods in plant biology. We cover a broad range of methods to measure changes in global translation (e.g., radiolabeling, polysome profiling, or puromycylation), translation of single genes (e.g., fluorescent reporter constructs, toeprinting, or ribosome density mapping), sequencing-based methods to uncover the entire translatome (e.g., Ribo-seq or translating ribosome affinity purification), and mass spectrometry-based methods to identify changes in the proteome (e.g., stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture or bioorthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging). The benefits and limitations of each method are discussed with a particular note of how applications from other model systems might be extended for use in plants. In order to make this burgeoning field more accessible to students and newer scientists, our review includes an extensive glossary to define key terms

Applicability of PEF methodologies in comparison of LCAs of different food products in Nordic countries

The European Commission has published Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) guidelines to promote a harmonised product group-specific environmental footprint assessment. The need for harmonised methods in environmental footprint assessment has arisen from increasing number of green claims used especially in marketing of products. There has been a growing desire to communicate the environmental footprints of food products, but in the absence of well-established, standardised assessment guidelines, green claims have been made on variable grounds. The PEF method developed by European Commission is based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the current 16 environmental impact categories included are relying on scientifically sound impact assessment methods that are agreed at international level. While the harmonised methods of Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) are suitable for assessment of environmental impacts of products and for comparison of performance of products from the same category, comparability across different categories has not been the objective. Based on previous results and ongoing work, the main objective for the work reported here, has been to investigate to what extent the LCAs conducted with the PEF methodologies provide comparability even between product categories and will provide insights from a Nordic perspective. The review was conducted by comparing the PEFCRs and the general PEF guidance in parallel, per life cycle stage, to find deviations especially between different PEFCRs. General PEF guideline consisted of the Commission recommendations and the guidance given in Annexes. Previous studies were utilised here as a basis together with the PEF method and guidance documentation, for summarising the relevant differences and coherence in collecting inventory data, requirements for modelling, utilised emission factors (EF), system boundaries, allocation approach and functional units (FU). The transition phase PEFCRs were reviewed in order to find coherence or discrepancies in strictness regarding data quality requirements. The revised Recommendation by European Commission was included to some extent, in a more general level. For the evaluation of the potential differences in LCA results of products assessed with the PEF method, the application of PEFCR of dairy products in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) was analysed in more detail, focusing on the largest contribution to global warming potential, i.e., methane from enteric fermentation. In overall, it was seen that PEF method is promoting comparability and the given guidance increases consistency, transparency, and reliability of the conducted studies. Yet, many aspects discussed in the report remain unsolved and need more careful considerations in forthcoming PEF studies and PEFCR guidance’s if comparisons across product categories are made. Raised issues were regarding functional unit, system boundaries, allocation, manure handling and use stage modelling. Prior to utilising PEF method in comparison of product LCAs, harmonisation of these issues should be conducted across PEFCRs. In the case of estimating the product footprint across countries, the use of different National Inventory Report (NIR) assessment models, here illustrated by enteric methane, was found problematic as the level of emission potentially change due to the model parameters and not because of the production data. The used NIR assessment models should be validated for fair comparison. This problem is already existing in PEF methods, when comparison is conducted within a product group and by following PEFCRs. The use of national assessment models is problematic, even in the case that they are approved by IPCC as they are not validated for comparison

Effects of deep heating modalities on the morphological and elastic properties of the non-insertional region of achilles tendon: a pilot study

Background: Over the last 20 years, both diathermy and ultrasound have been popular choices for many clinicians in treating musculoskeletal disorders. However, there is a lack of clinical evidence of deep heating modalities to treat tendon pathology, There is no study to investigate the effects of such as physical modalities on morphological and elastic properties on the human tendons. Objective: the objective of the present study was to compare the effects of diathermy and ultrasound therapies on cross sectional area, transversal height and hardness percentage of the non-insertional region of the Achilles tendon in able-bodied subjects. Methods: healthy volunteers were divided in diathermy and ultrasound group received six 15-min treatment sessions. Before and after treatment a sonographic assessment was conducted by mean of ultrasonography and the following parameters were recorded: cross sectional area, transversal height and hardness percentage. Results: thirty-two subjects were enrolled. Between-group comparisons showed a significant change on hardness percentage (p = 0.004) after treatment in diathermy therapy group. Within-group comparison showed a significant improvement in the hardness percentage for the diathermy (p = 0.001) and ultrasound (p = 0.046) after two weeks of treatment. Conclusion: this pilot study demonstrated larger effects on morphological and elastic properties of the non-insertional region of the Achilles tendon after diathermy than ultrasound therapy in normal tendons. Diathermy may be a useful deep heat modality for treating non-insertional Achilles tendinopathy

Utfordringer ved arbeidslivet for mennesker med lett psykisk utviklingshemming i Norge

Tittel: Utfordringer ved arbeidslivet for mennesker med lett psykisk utviklingshemming i Norge Arbeidsledigheten blant mennesker med lett psykisk utviklingshemming er høy i Norge, sammenlignet med resten av befolkningen. Å ha et arbeid er noe flere ønsker, men ikke får mulighet til grunnet sin diagnose. Hensikten med studien er å gi vernepleiere økt kunnskap om hvilke utfordringer mennesker med lett psykisk utviklingshemming møter i overgangen til arbeidslivet i Norge. Metoden for studien er en litteraturstudie der det er valgt ut fem forskningsartikler i tillegg til annen relevant litteratur og teori. Artiklene ga funn på ulike utfordringer mennesker med lett psykisk utviklingshemming står overfor i overgangen til arbeidslivet. Hovedfunnene utgjorde grunnlaget for fire tema i diskusjonskapittelet: 1. Liten andel mennesker med psykisk utviklingshemming inkluderes i arbeidslivet, 2. Diskriminering av mennesker med psykisk utviklingshemming, 3. Lavt ferdighetsnivå sammenlignet med arbeidslivets krav, og 4. Behov for støtte og tilrettelegging i ansettelsesprosessen. Kunnskap om hvilke utfordringer som oppstår i overgangen til arbeidslivet er viktig for flere parter. Økt kunnskap kan gi økt forståelse for hvordan de ulike partene som vernepleiere, NAV og arbeidsgivere kan bidra til å få flere mennesker med lett psykisk utviklingshemming ut i arbeid. Nøkkelord: Arbeidsledighet, diskriminering, lavt ferdighetsnivå, tilretteleggin

Att räkna med markkol i livscykelanalys av nötkött

Markanvändning och förändringar i markkol kan ha en stor påverkan på klimatpåverkan från livsmedelsproduktion. En vanlig metod för att beräkna klimatpåverkan av livsmedel är livscykelanalys (LCA). Här räknar man ihop alla utsläpp från produktionskedjan till ett tal. Det finns idag dock ingen konsensus kring hur vi bör räkna med markkol i LCA vilket innebär att många studier helt enkelt inte tar med markkol eller gör väldigt olika val vilket försvårar tolkning av resultaten. Det finns också en begreppsförvirring som gör det svårt att kommunicera kring markkol och dess effekter. I denna rapport ger vi en bakgrund till problemen, varför det är så svårt att räkna med markkol. Vi gör ett försök att reda ut begreppen, och att ge några råd för hur markkol kan inkluderas i LCA. Rapporten vänder sig till utförare av LCA men även till dig som vill veta mer om markkol i LCA på ett generellt plan och för att kunna tolka resultat. I rapporten delar vi upp markkolsförändringar som kan ske på fyra principiellt olika nivåer:1. Ändring mellan olika kategorier av markanvändning, till exempel från skog till jordbruksmark.2. Odling av en mark som inte är i jämvikt, till exempel att bruka en torvmark eller mark som bytt kategori för länge sen men som fortfarande inte kommit i jämnvikt.3. Ändring i marknyttjande, till exempel byte av gröda från ettåriga till fleråriga grödor.4. Att ändra eller införa skötselåtgärder, till exempel tillförsel av organiskt material. För att inkludera markkolsförändringar i LCA, behövs tre steg (1) uppskatta ändringen i markkol (2) fördela påverkan över tid och (3) beräkna klimatpåverkan. I rapporten går vi systematiskt igenom dessa tre steg och pekar ut vilka svårigheter som finns.Det är svårt att ge specifika råd kring markkol, då alla val är tätt kopplade till syftet med studien som ska utföras. Vi tycker att det viktigaste är, att LCA-utövaren är medveten om de olika alternativen i varje steg och tydligt beskriver och motiverar sina val, så att det för slutanvändaren av resultaten är tydligt vad som ligger grund för resultaten

Olika perspektiv på biologisk mångfald

En sammanställning som vänder sig till dig som är nyfiken på biologisk mångfald och hur olika branscher och sektorer –privata som offentliga –på olika sätt kan arbeta mot våra gemensamma mål: en bevarad mångfald och ett hållbart nyttjande av naturens resurse