Climate change impact, adaptation, and mitigation in temperate grazing systems: a review

Managed temperate grasslands occupy 25% of the world, which is 70% of global agricultural land. These lands are an important source of food for the global population. This review paper examines the impacts of climate change on managed temperate grasslands and grassland-based livestock and effectiveness of adaptation and mitigation options and their interactions. The paper clarifies that moderately elevated atmospheric CO2 (eCO2) enhances photosynthesis, however it may be restiricted by variations in rainfall and temperature, shifts in plant’s growing seasons, and nutrient availability. Different responses of plant functional types and their photosynthetic pathways to the combined effects of climatic change may result in compositional changes in plant communities, while more research is required to clarify the specific responses. We have also considered how other interacting factors, such as a progressive nitrogen limitation (PNL) of soils under eCO2, may affect interactions of the animal and the environment and the associated production. In addition to observed and modelled declines in grasslands productivity, changes in forage quality are expected. The health and productivity of grassland-based livestock are expected to decline through direct and indirect effects from climate change. Livestock enterprises are also significant cause of increased global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (about 14.5%), so climate risk-management is partly to develop and apply effective mitigation measures. Overall, our finding indicates complex impact that will vary by region, with more negative than positive impacts. This means that both wins and losses for grassland managers can be expected in different circumstances, thus the analysis of climate change impact required with potential adaptations and mitigation strategies to be developed at local and regional levels

Accounting for epistatic interactions improves the functional analysis of protein structures

Motivation: The constraints under which sequence, structure and function coevolve are not fully understood. Bringing this mutual relationship to light can reveal the molecular basis of binding, catalysis and allostery, thereby identifying function and rationally guiding protein redesign. Underlying these relationships are the epistatic interactions that occur when the consequences of a mutation to a protein are determined by the genetic background in which it occurs. Based on prior data, we hypothesize that epistatic forces operate most strongly between residues nearby in the structure, resulting in smooth evolutionary importance across the structure. Methods and Results: We find that when residue scores of evolutionary importance are distributed smoothly between nearby residues, functional site prediction accuracy improves. Accordingly, we designed a novel measure of evolutionary importance that focuses on the interaction between pairs of structurally neighboring residues. This measure that we term pair-interaction Evolutionary Trace yields greater functional site overlap and better structure-based proteome-wide functional predictions. Conclusions: Our data show that the structural smoothness of evolutionary importance is a fundamental feature of the coevolution of sequence, structure and function. Mutations operate on individual residues, but selective pressure depends in part on the extent to which a mutation perturbs interactions with neighboring residues. In practice, this principle led us to redefine the importance of a residue in terms of the importance of its epistatic interactions with neighbors, yielding better annotation of functional residues, motivating experimental validation of a novel functional site in LexA and refining protein function prediction. Contact: [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

CHD8 Regulates Neurodevelopmental Pathways Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Neural Progenitors

Truncating mutations of chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 8 (CHD8), and of many other genes with diverse functions, are strong-effect risk factors for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), suggesting multiple mechanisms of pathogenesis. We explored the transcriptional networks that CHD8 regulates in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) by reducing its expression and then integrating transcriptome sequencing (RNA sequencing) with genome-wide CHD8 binding (ChIP sequencing). Suppressing CHD8 to levels comparable with the loss of a single allele caused altered expression of 1,756 genes, 64.9% of which were up-regulated. CHD8 showed widespread binding to chromatin, with 7,324 replicated sites that marked 5,658 genes. Integration of these data suggests that a limited array of direct regulatory effects of CHD8 produced a much larger network of secondary expression changes. Genes indirectly down-regulated (i.e., without CHD8-binding sites) reflect pathways involved in brain development, including synapse formation, neuron differentiation, cell adhesion, and axon guidance, whereas CHD8-bound genes are strongly associated with chromatin modification and transcriptional regulation. Genes associated with ASD were strongly enriched among indirectly down-regulated loci (P < 10[superscript −8]) and CHD8-bound genes (P = 0.0043), which align with previously identified coexpression modules during fetal development. We also find an intriguing enrichment of cancer-related gene sets among CHD8-bound genes (P < 10[superscript −10]). In vivo suppression of chd8 in zebrafish produced macrocephaly comparable to that of humans with inactivating mutations. These data indicate that heterozygous disruption of CHD8 precipitates a network of gene-expression changes involved in neurodevelopmental pathways in which many ASD-associated genes may converge on shared mechanisms of pathogenesis.Simons FoundationNancy Lurie Marks Family FoundationNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant MH095867)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant MH095088)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM061354)March of Dimes Birth Defects FoundationCharles H. Hood FoundationBrain & Behavior Research FoundationAutism Genetic Resource ExchangeAutism Speaks (Organization)Pitt–Hopkins Research Foundatio

Estimating earthquake hazard parameters from instrumental data for different regions in and around Turkey

We conducted a study of the spatial distributions of seismicity and earthquake hazard parameters for Turkey and the adjacent areas, applying the maximum likelihood method. The procedure allows for the use of either historical or instrumental data, or even a combination of the two. By using this method, we can estimate the earthquake hazard parameters, which include the maximum regional magnitude Mˆ max, the activity rate of seismic events and the well-known bˆ value, which is the slope of the frequency-magnitude Gutenberg- Richter relationship. These three parameters are determined simultaneously using an iterative scheme. The uncertainty in the determination of the magnitudes was also taken into consideration. The return periods (RP) of earthquakes with a magnitude M?m are also evaluated. The whole examined area is divided into 24 seismic regions based on their seismotectonic regime. The homogeneity of the magnitudes is an essential factor in such studies. In order to achieve homogeneity of the magnitudes, formulas that convert any magnitude to an MS-surface scale are developed. New completeness cutoffs and their corresponding time intervals are also assessed for each of the 24 seismic regions. Each of the obtained parameters is distributed into its respective seismic region, allowing for an analysis of the localized seismicity parameters and a representation of their regional variation on a map. The earthquake hazard level is also calculated as a function of the form ?=(Mˆ max,RP6.0), and a relative hazard scale (defined as the index K) is defined for each seismic region. The investigated regions are then classified into five groups using these parameters. This classification is useful for theoretical and practical reasons and provides a picture of quantitative seismicity. An attempt is then made to relate these values to the local tectonics

Thermal insulation and mechanical characteristics of cement mortar reinforced with mineral wool and rice straw fibers

Acknowledgement The authors are thankful to the Deanship of Scientific Research at Najran University for funding this work under the Research Collaboration Funding Program Grant code (NU/RC/SERC/11/1) .Building insulation is an essential requirement for buildings located in areas of varying temperature conditions. However, the conventional building insulation techniques accrue high cost and consume resources. This work aimed to evaluate the use of mineral wool and rice straw to improve Portland cement mortar's thermal insulating properties. Samples of 40x40x160 mm mortar were produced with cement and sand, but varying mineral wool and rice straw constituents from 0 to 50% in weight. Water absorption, flexural and compressive strengths, thermal conductivity were performed in samples with and without mineral wool and rice straw addition. The microstructure of mortars was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was observed that reinforcing mortars with mineral wool and rice straw fibers yielded a significant drop in the mortar's thermal conductivity, improving their insulative abilities. Although the addition of fibers, in turn, deferred the mechanical performance in some mixes, however, it was not too significant or below workable standards. The performed tests prove the feasibility of adopting the selected fibers for insulating Portland cement mortars.Deanship of Scientific Research at Najran University -- NU/RC/SERC/11/

Annual Clovers Around the World: Current Status and Future Prospects

This paper reviews the distribution and importance of annual clover (Trifolium) species for pasture and fodder production systems globally. Of the 158 recorded annual Trifolium species, 65.2% are endemic to the Mediterranean basin and surrounding areas, 14.6% to sub-Saharan Africa, 17.7% to the United States of America and 2.5% to Chile. Fourteen species have been commercialised, while other endemic and naturalised annual clovers are also utilised. Key species for self-regenerating pastures include T. subterraneum, T. michelianum and T. respinatum var. resupinatum, while major dual-purpose grazing and fodder species include T. incarnatum, T. vesiculosum, T. alexandrinum and T. respinatum var. majus. Less important commercial species include T. hirtum, T. squarrosum, T. nigrescens and T. cherleri. Australian scientists have also recently domesticated T. glanduliferum, T. spumosum, T. purpureum and T. dasyurum. The areas sown to annual clovers may increase in future years, due to increasing nitrogen (N) fertiliser costs, environmental concerns with N runoff. Climate change brings new challenges and opportunities for annual clovers. The forage plant genetic resource centres will be crucial for developing new adapted cultivars

Current challenges and future perspectives for the full circular economy of water in European countries

This paper reviews the current problems and prospects to overcome circular water economy management challenges in European countries. The geopolitical paradigm of water, the water economy, water innovation, water management and regulation in Europe, environmental and safety concerns at water reuse, and technological solutions for water recovery are all covered in this review, which has been prepared in the frame of the COST ACTION (CA, 20133) FULLRECO4US, Working Group (WG) 4. With a Circular Economy approach to water recycling and recovery based on this COST Action, this review paper aims to develop novel, futuristic solutions to overcome the difficulties that the European Union (EU) is currently facing. The detailed review of the current environmental barriers and upcoming difficulties for water reuse in Europe with a Circular Economy vision is another distinctive aspect of this study. It is observed that the biggest challenge in using and recycling water from wastewater treatment plants is dealing with technical, social, political, and economic issues. For instance, geographical differences significantly affect technological problems, and it is effective in terms of social acceptance of the reuse of treated water. Local governmental organizations should support and encourage initiatives to expand water reuse, particularly for agricultural and industrial uses across all of Europe. It should not also be disregarded that the latest hydro politics approach to water management will actively contribute to addressing the issues associated with water scarcity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Thrombotic gene polymorphisms and postoperative outcome after coronary artery bypass graft surgery

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Emerging perioperative genomics may influence the direction of risk assessment and surgical strategies in cardiac surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) affect the clinical presentation and predispose to increased risk for postoperative adverse events in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 220 patients undergoing first-time CABG between January 2005 and May 2008 were screened for factor V gene G1691A (FVL), prothrombin/factor II G20210A (PT G20210A), angiotensin I-converting enzyme insertion/deletion (ACE-ins/del) polymorphisms by PCR and Real Time PCR. End points were defined as death, myocardial infarction, stroke, postoperative bleeding, respiratory and renal insufficiency and event-free survival. Patients were compared to assess for any independent association between genotypes for thrombosis and postoperative phenotypes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 220 patients, the prevalence of the heterozygous FVL mutation was 10.9% (n = 24), and 3.6% (n = 8) were heterozygous carriers of the PT G20210A mutation. Genotype distribution of ACE-ins/del was 16.6%, 51.9%, and 31.5% in genotypes I/I, I/D, and D/D, respectively. FVL and PT G20210A mutations were associated with higher prevalence of totally occluded coronary arteries (p < 0.001). Furthermore the risk of left ventricular aneurysm formation was significantly higher in FVL heterozygote group compared to FVL G1691G (<it>p </it>= 0.002). ACE D/D genotype was associated with hypertension (<it>p </it>= 0.004), peripheral vascular disease (p = 0.006), and previous myocardial infarction (<it>p </it>= 0.007).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>FVL and PT G20210A genotypes had a higher prevalence of totally occluded vessels potentially as a result of atherothrombotic events. However, none of the genotypes investigated were independently associated with mortality.</p

Life-threatening influenza pneumonitis in a child with inherited IRF9 deficiency

Life-threatening pulmonary influenza can be caused by inborn errors of type I and III IFN immunity. We report a 5-yr-old child with severe pulmonary influenza at 2 yr. She is homozygous for a loss-of-function IRF9 allele. Her cells activate gamma-activated factor (GAF) STAT1 homodimers but not IFN-stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3) trimers (STAT1/STAT2/IRF9) in response to IFN-α2b. The transcriptome induced by IFN-α2b in the patient's cells is much narrower than that of control cells; however, induction of a subset of IFN-stimulated gene transcripts remains detectable. In vitro, the patient's cells do not control three respiratory viruses, influenza A virus (IAV), parainfluenza virus (PIV), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). These phenotypes are rescued by wild-type IRF9, whereas silencing IRF9 expression in control cells increases viral replication. However, the child has controlled various common viruses in vivo, including respiratory viruses other than IAV. Our findings show that human IRF9- and ISGF3-dependent type I and III IFN responsive pathways are essential for controlling IAV