Halotolerant bacterial endophyte s CBE mediates abiotic stress tolerance with minimal transcriptional modifications in .

Nitrogen and water are the primary resources limiting agricultural production worldwide. We have demonstrated the ability of a novel halotolerant bacterial endophyte, s CBE, to induce osmotic stress tolerance in under nitrogen-deprived conditions. Additionally, we aimed to identify the molecular factors in plants that contribute to the beneficial effects induced by CBE in .

Bacterial endophytic community composition varies by hemp cultivar in commercially sourced seed.

The seed-endophytic bacterial community is a potentially beneficial and heritable fraction of the plant microbiome. Its utilization as a sustainable crop improvement strategy could be especially valuable for species such as hemp, where production is being scaled up and new challenges will be faced in managing crop productivity and health. However, little is known about the makeup and variation of the hemp seed microbiome.

Modulation of Estrogen Receptor Alpha (ERα) and Tumor Suppressor Gene BRCA1 in Breast Cancer Cells by Bazedoxifene Acetate (BZA).

Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) are steroid analogs with dual functionality, acting as partial estrogen receptor agonists to preserve postmenopausal bone density and as estrogen receptor antagonists in breast tissue. Bazedoxifene acetate (BZA) is an FDA-approved, third-generation SERM used in the treatment of osteoporosis in women. It demonstrates potential as a therapeutic option for breast cancer patients undergoing endocrine therapy.

"Community 101 for researchers": an online training program to build capacity for ethical community-engaged research with Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

To address the history of unethical research and community distrust in research among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, we developed the "Community 101 for Researchers" training program, which was launched in 2014 to enhance the capacity of researchers to engage in ethical community-engaged research. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of this training program as well as its reach and feedback from participants. The Community 101 training program is a self-paced, 2-h online training program featuring community-engaged researchers from the University of Hawai'i and their longstanding community partners.

Weight Stigma in Online News Images: A Visual Content Analysis of Stigma Communication in the Depictions of Individuals with Obesity in U.S. and U.K. News.

Weight stigma is a pervasive form of discrimination worldwide. News media, and news images in particular, can reinforce weight stigma by portraying persons with obesity in a negative, stereotypical manner. Informed by the model of stigma communication, this study conducted a content analysis of images accompanying obesity-related news articles from the U.

Prioritizing Connection and Centering on Community: Take Your Shoes Off and Don't Put Your Feet on the Furniture.

This column describes what it means to be "in" a community and how to create a leading role for community partners in shaping research. It highlights essential components for conducting clinical and translational research in the community, including: (1) invitation to share history and purpose; (2) community-initiated collaboration and engagement; (3) focus on social and cultural determinants of health; (4) community-driven measures and frameworks; (5) application of Indigenous methods and approaches; and (6) implementation of Indigenous and adaptable interventions. Partnering with a community entails building relationships and positioning research around community interests, using methodologies and interventions right for the community.

Species selection determines carbon allocation and turnover in Miscanthus crops: Implications for biomass production and C sequestration.

Growing Miscanthus species and hybrids has received strong scientific and commercial support, with the majority of the carbon (C) modelling predictions having focused on the high-yield, sterile and noninvasive hybrid Miscanthus × giganteus. However, the potential of other species with contrasting phenotypic and physiological traits has been seldom explored. To better understand the mechanisms underlying C allocation dynamics in these bioenergy crops, we pulse-labelled (CO) intact plant-soil systems of Miscanthus × giganteus (GIG), Miscanthus sinensis (SIN) and Miscanthus lutarioriparius (LUT) and regularly analysed soil respiration, leaves, stems, rhizomes, roots and soils for up to 190 days until leaf senescence.

Hospital-Based Healthcare Worker Perceptions of Personal Risk Related to COVID-19: One Year Follow-Up.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted health care workers (HCW). Most research focused on the adverse mental health effects during the initial surge of cases; and yet little is known about approximately how workers are faring 1 year into the pandemic. The objective of this study is to examine stress, burnout, and risk perception in an academic medical system, 1 year after the start of the pandemic.

RNA Sequencing in COVID-19 patients identifies neutrophil activation biomarkers as a promising diagnostic platform for infections.

Infection with the SARS-CoV2 virus can vary from asymptomatic, or flu-like with moderate disease, up to critically severe. Severe disease, termed COVID-19, involves acute respiratory deterioration that is frequently fatal. To understand the highly variable presentation, and identify biomarkers for disease severity, blood RNA from COVID-19 patient in an intensive care unit was analyzed by whole transcriptome RNA sequencing.

Draft genome assembly of the biofuel grass crop .

(Maxim.) Hack. is a highly productive C4 perennial rhizomatous biofuel grass crop.

Linkage mapping evidence for a syntenic QTL associated with flowering time in perennial C rhizomatous grasses and switchgrass.

Flowering in perennial species is directed via complex signalling pathways that adjust to developmental regulations and environmental cues. Synchronized flowering in certain environments is a prerequisite to commercial seed production, and so the elucidation of the genetic architecture of flowering time in and switchgrass could aid breeding in these underdeveloped species. In this context, we assessed a mapping population in and two ecologically diverse switchgrass mapping populations over 3 years from planting.

Genome biology of the paleotetraploid perennial biomass crop Miscanthus.

Miscanthus is a perennial wild grass that is of global importance for paper production, roofing, horticultural plantings, and an emerging highly productive temperate biomass crop. We report a chromosome-scale assembly of the paleotetraploid M. sinensis genome, providing a resource for Miscanthus that links its chromosomes to the related diploid Sorghum and complex polyploid sugarcanes.

Economic Studies Reinforce Efforts to Safeguard Specialty Crops in the United States.

Pathogen-tested foundation plant stocks are the cornerstone of sustainable specialty crop production. They provide the propagative units that are used to produce clean planting materials, which are essential as the first-line management option of diseases caused by graft-transmissible pathogens such as viruses, viroids, bacteria, and phytoplasmas. In the United States, efforts to produce, maintain, and distribute pathogen-tested propagative material of specialty crops are spearheaded by centers of the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN).

Comparison of Rectal and Infrared Thermometry Temperatures in Anesthetized Swine ().

Infrared thermometry (IRTM) is a noncontact method to measure temperature. The purpose of this study was to compare rectal temperature and IRTM in healthy anesthetized swine, with the hypothesis that IRTM would be an accurate, noninvasive alternative for rectal temperature measurement. Two groups of female Yorkshire-cross swine ( = 14 and = 12) were sedated with Tiletamine-zolazepam (0.

Discovery of Viruses and Virus-Like Pathogens in Pistachio using High-Throughput Sequencing.

Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) trees from the National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) and orchards in California were surveyed for viruses and virus-like agents by high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Analyses of sequence information from 60 trees identified a novel virus, provisionally named "Pistachio ampelovirus A" (PAVA), in the NCGR that showed low amino acid sequence identity (approximately 42%) compared with members of the genus Ampelovirus (family Closteroviridae).

Lower Body Strength-Training Versus Proprioceptive Exercises on Vertical Jump Capacity: A Feasibility Study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of completing a study comparing the impact of lower body strength training to proprioceptive exercises on vertical jump capacity.

Methods: Thirty-nine college students (age 27.9 ± 6.

Collectively Improving Our Teaching: Attempting Biology Department-wide Professional Development in Scientific Teaching.

Many efforts to improve science teaching in higher education focus on a few faculty members at an institution at a time, with limited published evidence on attempts to engage faculty across entire departments. We created a long-term, department-wide collaborative professional development program, Biology Faculty Explorations in Scientific Teaching (Biology FEST). Across 3 years of Biology FEST, 89% of the department's faculty completed a weeklong scientific teaching institute, and 83% of eligible instructors participated in additional semester-long follow-up programs.

Genetic relationships between spring emergence, canopy phenology, and biomass yield increase the accuracy of genomic prediction in Miscanthus.

Miscanthus has potential as a bioenergy crop but the rapid development of high-yielding varieties is challenging. Previous studies have suggested that phenology and canopy height are important determinants of biomass yield. Furthermore, while genome-wide prediction was effective for a broad range of traits, the predictive ability for yield was very low.

Towards combustion quality improvement: the role of flowering and senescence.

In commercially grown × , despite imposing a yield penalty, postwinter harvests improve quality criteria for thermal conversion and crop sustainability through remobilization of nutrients to the underground rhizome. We examined 16 genotypes with different flowering and senescence times for variation in N, P, K, moisture, ash, Cl and Si contents, hypothesizing that early flowering and senescence could result in improved biomass quality and/or enable an earlier harvest of biomass (in autumn at peak yield). Ideal crop characteristics at harvest are low N and P to reduce future fertilizer inputs, low K and Cl to reduce corrosion in boilers, low moisture to reduce spoilage and transportation costs, and low Si and ash to reduce slagging and consequent operational downtime.

Progress on Optimizing Miscanthus Biomass Production for the European Bioeconomy: Results of the EU FP7 Project OPTIMISC.

This paper describes the complete findings of the EU-funded research project OPTIMISC, which investigated methods to optimize the production and use of miscanthus biomass. Miscanthus bioenergy and bioproduct chains were investigated by trialing 15 diverse germplasm types in a range of climatic and soil environments across central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, and China. The abiotic stress tolerances of a wider panel of 100 germplasm types to drought, salinity, and low temperatures were measured in the laboratory and a field trial in Belgium.

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 promotes acute cellular and systemic inflammation.

Inflammatory critical illness is a syndrome that is characterized by acute inflammation and organ injury, and it is triggered by infections and noninfectious tissue injury, both of which activate innate immune receptors and pathways. Although reports suggest an anti-inflammatory role for the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK5), we previously found that ERK5 mediates proinflammatory responses in primary human cells in response to stimulation of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). We inhibited the kinase activities and reduced the abundances of ERK5 and MEK5, a MAPK kinase directly upstream of ERK5, in primary human vascular endothelial cells and monocytes, and found that ERK5 promoted inflammation induced by a broad range of microbial TLR agonists and by the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α).

Understanding and engineering beneficial plant-microbe interactions: plant growth promotion in energy crops.

Plant production systems globally must be optimized to produce stable high yields from limited land under changing and variable climates. Demands for food, animal feed, and feedstocks for bioenergy and biorefining applications, are increasing with population growth, urbanization and affluence. Low-input, sustainable, alternatives to petrochemical-derived fertilizers and pesticides are required to reduce input costs and maintain or increase yields, with potential biological solutions having an important role to play.