Perspectives on the United States Environmental Protection Agency\u27s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee: A Survey of State Air Agencies

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) was created in 1977 under section 109 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The role of CASAC is to provide technical and scientific advice to the EPA Administrator on National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), required under the CAA. The standards themselves and the science upon which the standards are established for the six “criteria” pollutants included in the NAAQS are reviewed periodically by CASAC. The committee also exists to bridge new research developments to current environmental requirements. Section 109(d) of the CAA requires the chartered CASAC to be composed of seven members appointed by the EPA Administrator. The CAA requires that membership include a chairperson, at least one member of the National Academy of Sciences, one physician, and one person from a state and air pollution control agency. Preliminary research regarding recent chartered CASAC panels suggests that there may be an underrepresentation of other stakeholder expertise including state air agencies, local governments and tribes. To evaluate and analyze the role of CASAC, This project involved creating a survey to solicit feedback from state air agencies. Air Directors from all fifty states were contacted and provided the electronic survey through email. The survey included questions on the barriers individuals face in becoming an expert on the committee and whether CASAC performs its duties required by the CAA. The survey offered an opportunity for robust feedback through the use of open-ended and multiple response questions. This survey and its results represents an important contribution to the literature, as it allowed the top air quality officials in each state, or their designee, an opportunity to voice any concerns or critiques to the CASAC process as well as to any barriers faced in participating as an expert candidate on the panel or subpanels. The goals of the survey are to analyze responses from state air agencies on their perspectives on the transparency, barriers for nomination and panel member representation. From the data gathered from the survey, several potential areas for reform and additional transparency became apparent

Timing of Arrival and Native Biomass Are Better Proxies of Invasion Suppression in Grassland Communities

A challenge in many restoration projects, in particular when establishing de novo communities, is the arrival and later dominance of invasive alien plants. This could potentially be avoided by designing invasion-resistant native communities. Several studies suggest achieving this by maximizing trait similarity between natives and potential invaders (“limiting similarity”), but evidence supporting this approach is mixed so far. Others pose that the relative time of arrival by native and invasive species (“priority effects”) could play a stronger role, yet this factor and its interaction with trait similarity is not fully understood in the context of ecological restoration. Thus, we hypothesized that multi-trait similarity would increase suppression of invasive species by native communities, and that the effect would be stronger when natives arrive first. We established two distinct communities of native central European grassland species based on native–invasive trait similarity, and then tested the introduction of invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Solidago gigantea separately when arriving in the native communities at two times, i.e., sown either at the same time as the natives or 2 weeks after. For the traits selected, our data did not provide evidence for a limiting similarity effect, but rather supported priority effects. Both native communities more effectively suppressed invaders that arrived after the natives. In addition, the native community that produced the most biomass suppressed both invasive species more than the most ecologically similar community. This effect of biomass revealed that prioritizing native–invader ecological similarity can fail to account for other community characteristics that affect invasion resistance, such as biomass. Instead, native communities could be designed to enhance priority effects through the inclusion of early and fast developing species. We conclude that native community composition plays a significant role in the establishment success by invasive species, and resource pre-emption seems more significant than trait similarity. In terms of grassland restoration, native species should be selected based on plant traits related to fast emergence and early competitiveness

Aplicación del método 5S para mejorar la productividad del área de conectores en la Empresa Electrónica Villalba S.A.C., Lima, 2021

El presente informe de investigación tiene como finalidad explicar y dar a conocer cómo será la aplicación del método 5S para mejorar la productividad en el área de producción de conectores de la empresa electrónica Villalba S.A.C., Santiago de Surco, 2021. En esta investigación se empleó el método 5S (Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shitsuke) los que traducidos al español son: selección, orden, limpieza, estandarización y disciplina. Estas cinco etapas implican analizar toda un área de trabajo, lo cual nos ayudará a decidir qué es necesario y que no, colocar las cosas en un orden específico, limpiar el área y adecuar procedimientos para desarrollar las actividades de forma regular. Se trabajó en el área de producción de conectores, recolectando evidencias para conocer mejor el ambiente de trabajo. Se llegó a la siguiente conclusión, se demostró que la productividad en la empresa ha mejorado con la implementación de las 5s, como se puede visualizar en el capítulo de resultados, en el Pre Test se tenía un índice de productividad de 69.63%, posteriormente se obtuvo un índice de productividad de 97.52%, asimismo se llega a la conclusión que, la productividad tuvo una mejora de 40.05%

Adhesion of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes to endothelium: a phenotypic and functional analysis.

Efficacy of cancer immunotherapy with cultured tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) depends upon infused TILs migrating into tumour-bearing tissue, in which they mediate an anti-tumour response. For TILs to enter a tumour, they must first bind to tumour endothelium, and this process depends on TILs expressing and regulating the function of relevant cell-surface receptors. We analysed the cell-surface phenotype and endothelial binding of TILs cultured from human melanoma and compared them with peripheral blood T cells and with allostimulated T cells cultured under similar conditions. Compared with peripheral blood T cells, TILs expressed high levels of five integrins, two other adhesion molecules, including the skin homing molecule CLA, and several activation markers and showed markedly enhanced integrin-mediated adhesion to a dermal microvascular endothelial cell line in vitro. Compared with the allostimulated T cells, TILs expressed higher levels of the cutaneous lymphocyte antigen (CLA), the adhesion molecule CD31 and the activation markers CD30 and CD69, but lower levels of several other adhesion and activation molecules. These phenotypic and functional properties of TILs should have complex effects on their migration in vivo. Expression of CLA, the skin homing receptor, may increase migration to melanoma (a skin cancer), whereas integrin activation may cause non-specific binding of TILs to other endothelium. Manipulation of the culture conditions in which TILs are expanded might result in a phenotype that is more conducive to selective tumour homing in vivo

Fifteen emerging challenges and opportunities for vegetation science: A horizon scan by early career researchers

With the aim to identify future challenges and opportunities in vegetation science, we brought together a group of 22 early career vegetation scientists from diverse backgrounds to perform a horizon scan. In this contribution, we present a selection of 15 topics that were ranked by participants as the most emergent and impactful for vegetation science in the face of global change. We highlight methodological tools that we expect will play a critical role in resolving emerging issues by providing ways to unveil new aspects of plant community dynamics and structure. These tools include next generation sequencing, plant spectral imaging, process-based species distribution models, resurveying studies and permanent plots. Further, we stress the need to integrate long-term monitoring, the study of novel ecosystems, below-ground traits, pollination interactions and global networks of near-surface microclimate data at fine spatio-temporal resolutions to fully understand and predict the impacts of climate change on vegetation dynamics. We also emphasize the need to integrate traditional forms of knowledge and a diversity of stakeholders into research, teaching, management and policy-making to advance the field of vegetation science. The conclusions reached by this horizon scan naturally reflect the background, expertise and interests of a representative pool of early career vegetation scientists, which should serve as basis for future developments in the field

Importance of soil legacy effects and successful mutualistic interactions during Australian acacia invasions in nutrient-poor environments

1. Non-native plants often alter environments they invade, favouring their own performance through positive feedbacks. Plant–soil interactions represent one such mechanism, but their complexity (e.g. invader-induced changes in soil nutrients, microbial communities, etc.) makes inferences of the precise mechanisms that benefit invaders difficult. Here we aimed to determine: (1) whether invasion by Australian acacias (genus Acacia Mill.) changes nitrogen-fixing soil rhizobial community diversity and structure, and (2) the importance of available rhizobia and overall invader-induced soil changes as significant facilitators of acacia performance. 2. We sampled soils from various invaded and nearby uninvaded areas in South Africa’s Core Cape Subregion and, using next generation sequencing, compared rhizobial communities between invaded and univaded soils. We then determined the relative importance of soil status (invaded vs. uninvaded), in conjunction with rhizobial addition, to the performance of invasive acacias under common garden conditions. 3. Next generation sequencing data revealed that invaded soils generally harboured lower rhizobial diversity and were compositionally more homogenous compared to uninvaded soils. Bradyrhizobium strains, the most common known rhizobia associated with acacias, were more abundant in invaded than uninvaded sites. Our greenhouse experiment found significantly reduced growth performances of acacias in uninvaded relative to invaded soils for most species by site comparisons, and almost no influence of additional rhizobial inoculum. However, the overall relationship between nodulation and growth kinetics was much steeper for plants grown in uninvaded compared to invaded soils. 4. Despite invasive acacias homogenizing nitrogen-fixing rhizobial community composition and reducing diversity, it appears that mutualist availability poses no significant barrier to acacia establishment. Although acacia-induced changes to soil conditions enhance plant performance, successful nodulation seems important to early growth performance when encountering novel soil conditions. 5. Synthesis. We provide evidence that invasions by Australian acacias affect the diversity and structure of soil rhizobial communities. Although overall soil changes benefit their performance independent of rhizobia addition, forming successful mutualistic interactions is critical during the establishment phase under novel environmental conditions. Taken together, our results indicate that interactions between soil abiotic and biotic conditions work in concert to enhance invader performance through positive feedbacks

Acidez Dornic en Leche Humana donada

En la Leche Humana (LH) una acidez elevada disminuye el valor nutricional por desestabilización de proteínas solubles y de las micelas de caseína, favorece la coagulación, aumenta la osmolaridad, altera el sabor y reduce el valor inmunológico

Acidez titulable en leche humana donada al Banco de Leche Humana del Hospital Lagomaggiore, Mendoza

En la leche humana (LH) una acidez elevada disminuye el valor nutricional por desestabilización de proteínas solubles y de las micelas de caseína, favorece la coagulación, aumenta la osmolaridad, altera el sabor y reduce el valor inmunológico. El objetivo fue evaluar la relación entre la acidez Dornic (AD) y el contenido graso de la LH donada y procesada en el Banco de Leche Humana (BLH) de Mendoza

Oligosacáridos en la leche humana

La leche humana (LH) contiene más de 130 oligosacáridos (OS) distintos, que constituyen el tercer componente de ésta. Su concentración total disminuye a medida que avanza el curso de la lactancia, de modo que al año contiene menos de la mitad que en las primeras semanas de vida. Los oligosacáridos más abundantes en la leche humana son libres (no conjugados) y neutros y contienen fucosa. Los oligosacáridos fucosilados pueden tener un enlace 2-fucosa o 3-fucosa, composición que varía según la procedencia de las madres y el curso de la lactancia. Son el tercer componente en importancia de la LH tras la lactosa y los lípidos

Actin depletion initiates events leading to granule secretion at the immunological synapse.

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) use polarized secretion to rapidly destroy virally infected and tumor cells. To understand the temporal relationships between key events leading to secretion, we used high-resolution 4D imaging. CTLs approached targets with actin-rich projections at the leading edge, creating an initially actin-enriched contact with rearward-flowing actin. Within 1 min, cortical actin reduced across the synapse, T cell receptors (TCRs) clustered centrally to form the central supramolecular activation cluster (cSMAC), and centrosome polarization began. Granules clustered around the moving centrosome within 2.5 min and reached the synapse after 6 min. TCR-bearing intracellular vesicles were delivered to the cSMAC as the centrosome docked. We found that the centrosome and granules were delivered to an area of membrane with reduced cortical actin density and phospholipid PIP2. These data resolve the temporal order of events during synapse maturation in 4D and reveal a critical role for actin depletion in regulating secretion.Funding was provided by the Wellcome Trust through Principal Research Fellowships (075880 and 103930) to G.M.G. and a Strategic Award (100140) to the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR). A.T.R. is an NIH-OxCam scholar supported by funding to J.L.-S. from the Eunice Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.This is the final version. It was first published by Elsevier at http://www.cell.com/immunity/abstract/S1074-7613%2815%2900173-9