Modernizing and harmonizing regulatory data requirements for genetically modified crops-perspectives from a workshop.

Genetically modified (GM) crops that have been engineered to express transgenes have been in commercial use since 1995 and are annually grown on 200 million hectares globally. These crops have provided documented benefits to food security, rural economies, and the environment, with no substantiated case of food, feed, or environmental harm attributable to cultivation or consumption. Despite this extensive history of advantages and safety, the level of regulatory scrutiny has continually increased, placing undue burdens on regulators, developers, and society, while reinforcing consumer distrust of the technology. CropLife International held a workshop at the 16th International Society of Biosafety Research (ISBR) Symposium to examine the scientific basis for modernizing global regulatory frameworks for GM crops. Participants represented a spectrum of global stakeholders, including academic researchers, GM crop developers, regulatory consultants, and regulators. Concurrently examining the considerations of food and feed safety, along with environmental safety, for GM crops, the workshop presented recommendations for a core set of data that should always be considered, and supplementary (i.e., conditional) data that would be warranted only on a case-by-case basis to address specific plausible hypotheses of harm. Then, using a case-study involving a hypothetical GM maize event expressing two familiar traits (insect protection and herbicide tolerance), participants were asked to consider these recommendations and discuss if any additional data might be warranted to support a science-based risk assessment or for regulatory decision-making. The discussions during the workshop highlighted that the set of data to address the food, feed, and environmental safety of the hypothetical GM maize, in relation to a conventional comparator, could be modernized compared to current global regulatory requirements. If these scientific approaches to modernize data packages for GM crop regulation were adopted globally, GM crops could be commercialized in a more timely manner, thereby enabling development of more diverse GM traits to benefit growers, consumers, and the environment.

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) drones survive oxidative stress due to increased tolerance instead of avoidance or repair of oxidative damage.

Oxidative stress can lead to premature aging symptoms and cause acute mortality at higher doses in a range of organisms. Oxidative stress resistance and longevity are mechanistically and phenotypically linked; considerable variation in oxidative stress resistance exists among and within species and typically covaries with life expectancy. However, it is unclear whether stress-resistant, long-lived individuals avoid, repair, or tolerate molecular damage to survive longer than others. The honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) is an emerging model system that is well-suited to address this question. Furthermore, this species is the most economically important pollinator, whose health may be compromised by pesticide exposure, including oxidative stressors. Here, we develop a protocol for inducing oxidative stress in honey bee males (drones) via Paraquat injection. After injection, individuals from different colony sources were kept in common social conditions to monitor their survival compared to saline-injected controls. Oxidative stress was measured in susceptible and resistant individuals. Paraquat drastically reduced survival but individuals varied in their resistance to treatment within and among colony sources. Longer-lived individuals exhibited higher levels of lipid peroxidation than individuals dying early. In contrast, the level of protein carbonylation was not significantly different between the two groups. This first study of oxidative stress in male honey bees suggests that survival of an acute oxidative stressor is due to tolerance, not prevention or repair, of oxidative damage to lipids. It also demonstrates colony differences in oxidative stress resistance that might be useful for breeding stress-resistant honey bees.

The effect of diet on protein concentration, hypopharyngeal gland development and virus load in worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.).

Elucidating the mechanisms by which honey bees process pollen vs. protein supplements are important in the generation of artificial diets needed to sustain managed honeybees. We measured the effects of diet on protein concentration, hypopharyngeal gland development and virus titers in worker honey bees fed either pollen, a protein supplement (MegaBee), or a protein-free diet of sugar syrup. Workers consumed more pollen than protein supplement, but protein amounts and size of hypopharyngeal gland acini did not differ between the two feeding treatments. Bees fed sugar syrup alone had lower protein concentrations and smaller hypopharyngeal glands compared with the other feeding treatments especially as the bees aged. Deformed wing virus was detected in workers at the start of a trial. The virus concentrations increased as bees aged and were highest in those fed sugar syrup and lowest in bees fed pollen. Overall results suggest a connection between diet, protein levels and immune response and indicate that colony losses might be reduced by alleviating protein stress through supplemental feeding.

Predictors of successful noninvasive ventilation treatment for patients suffering acute respiratory failure.

BACKGROUND: To identify predictors of successful noninvasive ventilation (NIV) treatment for patients with acute respiratory failure. METHODS: This was a prospective intervention study of the intensive care unit of a teaching hospital in Chia-Yi, Taiwan. Patients were enrolled if they had acute respiratory failure and had been admitted to the intensive care unit of our hospital between October 1, 2004 and September 30, 2005 inclusively. RESULTS: All 86 patients who satisfied the study's inclusion criteria agreed to participate in the study, and each patient was followed-up until the discontinuation of NIV treatment or their death. We measured the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score prior to their treatment and also conducted serial measurements of respiratory rate (RR), tidal volume, rapid shallow breathing index, maximal inspiratory pressure (PImax), and maximal expiratory pressure (PEmax) prior to, and 30 minutes and 60 minutes subsequent to NIV treatment (denoted by, respectively, the subscripted numbers 0, 30 and 60). NIV treatment was determined as being successful for 55 patients (the success group, for which individuals endotracheal intubation was avoided) and as being a failure for 31 patients (the failure group). APACHE II scores prior to treatment, PImax30 (PImax 30 minutes subsequent to NIV), RR30 (RR 30 minutes subsequent to NIV), and RR60 (RR 60 minutes subsequent to NIV) were all significantly lower for the success group than for the failure group. The success group also had significantly better values for RR during the first 30 minutes of NIV treatment and for PEmax during the first 60 minutes of NIV treatment compared to individuals from the failure group. CONCLUSION: APACHE II scores recorded prior to NIV treatment, PImax30, RR30, RR60, as well as improvements to RR during the first 30 minutes of NIV treatment and to PEmax during the first 60 minutes of NIV treatment were predictors of successful NIV treatment for patients suffering from acute respiratory failure. Such parameters may be helpful in selecting patients to receive NIV treatment and also for deciding when early termination of the treatment is appropriate.

[Application of three-dimensional contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography in renal artery angiography].

OBJECTIVE: To increase the probability of successful renal artery angiography with a three-dimensional contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (3D CE-MRA). METHODS: 3D CE-MRA was performed in 33 patients with hypertension. To calculate the scan delay time, a testing contrast agent bolus of 2 ml was injected for single sagittal slice real-time scanning, followed by oblique coronal 3D Fast TOF SPGRE. With maximum intensity projection, a set of images was acquired. RESULTS: Exact scan delay time was obtained in all the cases from which clear images were acquired with the exception of two cases in which failure of breath-holding occurred during the scanning. CONCLUSION: This examination enhances the performance by adopting elliptical-centric k-space recording for data acquisition for the center in k-space at the beginning of acquisition, and utilizing preceding testing bolus injection and signal intensity/time curve for determining the scan delay time, using slice selection and multiview image reconstruction.

Mer-(4-aminobenzenesulfonato-kappa N)triaqua(1,10-phenanthroline-kappa 2N,N')cobalt(II) chloride.

Both coordination and hydrogen bonds contribute to networking in the supramolecular title compound, [Co(C(6)H(6)NO(3)S)(C(12)H(8)N(2))(H(2)O)(3)]Cl, which contains a discrete [Co(C(6)H(6)NO(3)S)(C(12)H(8)N(2))(H(2)O)(3)](+) complex cation, formed by one 4-aminobenzenesulfonate ligand, one 1,10-phenanthroline ligand and three coordinated water molecules, together with one uncoordinated chloride anion. These discrete cations and chloride anions are connected by hydrogen-bonding interactions into a two-dimensional supramolecular motif. Further hydrogen-bonding interactions consolidate the structural architecture and extend the two-dimensional supramolecular structure into a three-dimensional network.