Use of Vapotherm for respiratory support with neonates.

Neonatal units in the UK are beginning to use Vapotherm as a means of providing respiratory support. This device reportedly allows the delivery of high flows of gas at body temperature with close to 100 per cent relative humidity. Evidence from the literature and from UK neonatal units suggests that Vapotherm may be an effective and well-tolerated method of providing babies with respiratory support. It has a number of advantages over therapies such as nasal continuous positive airway pressure, including a reduction in the number of ventilator days and reduced nasal trauma. It is reported to be better tolerated than other forms of non-invasive respiratory therapy. There is some evidence to show that weight gain is improved on Vapotherm and that oral feeding can be introduced earlier. Further research is required, especially into the methods of weaning Vapotherm and, as with all neonatal treatments, the long-term effects.

Silencing of the major salt-dependent isoform of pectinesterase in tomato alters fruit softening.

Pectinesterase (PE; E.C. 3.1.1.11) is an enzyme responsible for the demethylation of galacturonyl residues in high-molecular-weight pectin and is believed to play an important role in cell wall metabolism. In this study, Pmeu1, a ubiquitously expressed PE gene, has been characterized by antisense suppression in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Transgenic tomato plants showed reduced PE activity levels in both green fruit and leaf tissue to around 65% and 25% of that found in wild-type plants, respectively. Pmeu1 was observed to encode a salt-dependent PE isoform that correlated with PE1 as previously described in fruit tissue. Silencing of Pmeu1 did not result in any detectable phenotype within the leaf tissue despite the gene product representing the major isoform in this tissue. In comparison, silencing in fruit resulted in an enhancement to the rate of softening during ripening. The role of PMEU1 in fruit ripening is discussed.

Modification of fatty acid composition in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) by expression of a borage delta6-desaturase.

The improvement of nutritional quality is one potential application for the genetic modification of plants. One possible target for such manipulation is the modification of fatty acid metabolism. In this work, expression of a borage delta6-desaturase cDNA in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) has been shown to produce gamma-linolenic acid (GLA; 18:83 delta6,9,12) and octadecatetraenoic acid (OTA; 18:4 delta6,9,12,15) in transgenic leaf and fruit tissue. This genetic modification has also, unexpectedly, resulted in a reduction in the percentage of linoleic acid (LA 18:2 delta9,12) and a concomitant increase in the percentage of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA; 18:3 delta9,12,15) in fruit tissue. These changes in fatty acid composition are thought to be beneficial for human health.