scholarly journals Antarctic bryophyte research—current state and future directions

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
PAULO E.A.S. CÂMARA ◽  
MICHELINE CARVALHO-SILVA ◽  
MICHAEL STECH

Botany is one of the oldest sciences done south of parallel 60 °S, although few professional botanists have dedicated themselves to investigating the Antarctic bryoflora. After the publications of liverwort and moss floras in 2000 and 2008, respectively, new species were described. Currently, the Antarctic bryoflora comprises 28 liverwort and 116 moss species. Furthermore, Antarctic bryology has entered a new phase characterized by the use of molecular tools, in particular DNA sequencing. Although the molecular studies of Antarctic bryophytes have focused exclusively on mosses, molecular data (fingerprinting data and/or DNA sequences) have already been published for 36 % of the Antarctic moss species. In this paper we review the current state of Antarctic bryological research, focusing on molecular studies and conservation, and discuss future questions of Antarctic bryology in the light of global challenges.

2016 ◽  
Vol 473 (6) ◽  
pp. 673-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Femi J. Olorunniji ◽  
Susan J. Rosser ◽  
W. Marshall Stark

The fields of molecular genetics, biotechnology and synthetic biology are demanding ever more sophisticated molecular tools for programmed precise modification of cell genomic DNA and other DNA sequences. This review presents the current state of knowledge and development of one important group of DNA-modifying enzymes, the site-specific recombinases (SSRs). SSRs are Nature's ‘molecular machines’ for cut-and-paste editing of DNA molecules by inserting, deleting or inverting precisely defined DNA segments. We survey the SSRs that have been put to use, and the types of applications for which they are suitable. We also discuss problems associated with uses of SSRs, how these problems can be minimized, and how recombinases are being re-engineered for improved performance and novel applications.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Parra Olea ◽  
Mirna G. Garcia-Castillo ◽  
Sean M. Rovito ◽  
Jessica A. Maisano ◽  
James Hanken ◽  
...  

The genus Chiropterotriton is endemic to Mexico with a geographical distribution along the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Sierra de Juárez. The recent use of molecular tools has shown that Mexico’s amphibian diversity is highly underestimated, including a large number of cryptic, unnamed species. Chiropterotriton has 18 described species including terrestrial, arboreal and cave-dwelling species. In previous molecular studies, the presence of multiple undescribed species was evident. We present a phylogenetic hypothesis based on mitochondrial data, which includes all described species and six undescribed taxa. Based on the morphological analyses and, when available, combined with molecular data, we describe five new species of the genus; Chiropterotriton casasi sp. nov., C. ceronorum sp. nov., C. melipona sp. nov., C. perotensis sp. nov. and C. totonacus sp. nov. In addition, we redescribe two others: Chiropterotriton chiropterus and C. orculus, and provide a comparable account of one additional sympatric congener. This increases the number of species in the genus to 23, which represent a considerable component of Mexican plethodontid richness.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Péter Bucsky

Abstract The freight transport sector is a low profit and high competition business and therefore has less ability to invest in research and development in the field of autonomous vehicles (AV) than the private car industry. There are already different levels of automation technologies in the transport industry, but most of these are serving niche demands and answers have yet to be found about whether it would be worthwhile to industrialise these technologies. New innovations from different fields are constantly changing the freight traffic industry but these are less disruptive than on other markets. The aim of this article is to show the current state of development of freight traffic with regards to AVs and analyse which future directions of development might be viable. The level of automation is very different in the case of different transport modes and most probably the technology will favour road transport over other, less environmentally harmful traffic modes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1880533
Author(s):  
Tiliksew Addis ◽  
Abera Kachi ◽  
Jun Wang

i-Perception ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 204166952110203
Author(s):  
Jonas K. Olofsson ◽  
Ingrid Ekström ◽  
Maria Larsson ◽  
Steven Nordin

Olfaction, the sense of smell, is characterized by a notable age-dependency such that aging individuals are more likely to have poor olfactory abilities. These impairments are considered to be mostly irreversible and as having potentially profound effects on quality of life and food behavior, as well as constituting warning signs of mortality, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia. Here, we review the current state of research on aging and olfaction, focusing on five topics which we regard to be of particular relevance for the field: nutrition and health, cognition and dementia, mortality, environment and genetics, and training-based enhancement. Under each of these headlines, we provide a state-of-the-art overview and discuss gaps in our knowledge which might be filled by further research. Understanding how olfactory abilities are diminished in aging, and how they may be alleviated or recovered, involves a set of challenging tasks for researchers in the years to come.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjqs-2020-011965
Author(s):  
Emily L Aaronson ◽  
David W Bates

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8430
Author(s):  
Lambros Mitropoulos ◽  
Annie Kortsari ◽  
Alexandros Koliatos ◽  
Georgia Ayfantopoulou

The hyperloop is an innovative land transport mode for passengers and freight that travels at ultra-high speeds. Lately, different stakeholders have been engaged in the research and development of hyperloop components. The novelty of the hyperloop necessitates certain directions to be followed toward the development and testing of its technological components as well the formation of regulations and planning processes. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive literature review of hyperloop publications to record the current state of progress of hyperloop components, including the pod, the infrastructure, and the communication system, and identify involved EU stakeholders. Blending this information results in future directions. An online search of English-based publications was performed to finally consider 107 studies on the hyperloop and identify 81 stakeholders in the EU. The analysis shows that the hyperloop-related activities are almost equally distributed between Europe (39%) and Asia (38%), and the majority of EU stakeholders are located in Spain (26%) and Germany (20%), work on the traction of the pod (37%) and the tube (28%), and study impacts including safety (35%), energy (33%), and cost (30%). Existing tube systems and testing facilities for the hyperloop lack full-scale tracks, which creates a hurdle for the testing and development of the hyperloop system. The presented analysis and findings provide a holistic assessment of the hyperloop system and its stakeholders and suggest future directions to develop a successful transport system.


2021 ◽  
pp. 204589402110407
Author(s):  
Andrew J Sweatt ◽  
Raju Reddy ◽  
Farbod Rahaghi ◽  
Nadine Al-Naamani

In this conference paper, we review the 2020 American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference session titled, “What’s New in Pulmonary Hypertension Clinical Research: Lessons from the Best Abstracts”. This virtual mini-symposium took place on October 21, 2020, in lieu of the annual in-person ATS International Conference which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven clinical research abstracts were selected for presentation in the session, which encompassed five major themes: (1) standardizing diagnosis and management of pulmonary hypertension, (2) improving risk assessment in pulmonary arterial hypertension, (3) evaluating biomarkers of disease activity, (4) understanding metabolic dysregulation across the spectrum of pulmonary hypertension, and (5) advancing knowledge in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Focusing on these five thematic contexts we review the current state of knowledge, summarize presented research abstracts, appraise their significance and limitations, and then discuss relevant future directions in pulmonary hypertension clinical research.


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