Episode 4 - COVID-19 webinar - When does a pandemic crisis spell disaster? - May 4 Listen to the replay of Eversheds Sutherland's episode 4 podcast providing guidance on at what stage does the pandemic crisis spell disaster. Reputations will be ma...

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Welcome to the first edition of the Eversheds Sutherland (South Africa) Environmental Newsletter South Africa’s Environmental Laws are extremely complex, despite the implementation of the “one environmental system”, and compliance ...

Introduction On 5 July 2019, the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Dallas Creecy, published a notice requiring that when submitting an application for environmental authorisation in terms of regulation 19 and regulation 21 of ...

HEALTH AND SAFETY In the courts - cameras to broadcast from the Crown Court for the first time The government has announced new legislation which will permit the sentencing remarks of High Court and senior judges in certain criminal cases to be film...

After failing to complete its passage through Parliament at the end of 2019, the Environment Bill (“the Bill”) was back in Parliament on 30 January 2020. Amid widespread concern that the UK will not uphold existing standards of environme...

ENVIRONMENT Long Awaited Environment Bill Back in Parliament The UK Environment Bill seeks to deliver “the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth” by setting a “gold standard” for environmental protect...

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The Walloon government has decided, as from March 18, 2020, to temporarily suspend for 30 days all deadlines and appeal filing periods laid down in Walloon legislation. With regard to Walloon environmental law and permitting procedures, this results...

  HEALTH & SAFETY So what now? Where low occupancy poses water-borne risks Most organisations during this pandemic have rightly focused on the health and safety of employees and the general public in tackling the spread of the virus. Whilst...

By Abby G. Frazier and Laura Brewington HONOLULU (November 11, 2019)—Of all the earth’s environments, alpine regions are arguably the most vulnerable to climate change. This is especially true for alpine areas on islands. Island ecosystems are also particularly vulnerable to damage from human activity and the invasion of alien species due to their isolated and limited land areas.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

The EFRA Select Committee’s report into regulation of the water sector was published on 9 October 2018. Its key conclusions & recommendations are outlined below. Water transfers Water transfers should play an important role in increasing s...

Read our full newsletter in PDF Keep calm and breathe With 2019 coming to a rapid close, and because of the significant impacts that recent environmental trends and changes have on the Mining and Natural Resources Sector, we have decided to consolid...

The mining sector in Africa is facing radical change as youth activists take action against the environmental degradation caused by mining industries. Tensions between activists and the mining industry have raised, however, concerns over human rights abuses. Kenya’s National Coalition for Human Rights Defenders reported, for instance, cases of harassment and intimidation “against at least […]

The post Growing Youth Activism for Environmental Protection in Africa appeared first on Inter Press Service.

RAWALPINDI: The countrywide protests by the Geo-Jang Group workers against the deteriorating media environment, disrupting circulation of dailies Jang and The News and incarcerating Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman on fabricated charges continued on Friday.The countrywide protests by the...

For sustainable development, universal wellbeing should be the goal, rather than endless growth. Minimizing further growth in human populations is only part of the solution, but an essential part. 

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has drafted the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020 to curb the construction violations across the country. The new draft would replace the EIA notification 2006. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change (MoEFCC) has proposed a new set of environment clearance norms in its Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020. Earlier, the environment approvals to construction projects  were given as per the criteria stated in the EIA notification 2006; however, the new draft would replace the former set of rules. The Ministry has placed the EIA report in the public domain on March 12, 2020 and has sought views and comments […]

Environmental monitoring reports describe the environmental issues or mitigation measures of a project. This document dated May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 43319-022 in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Even though the central government issues strict regulation policies, it is the local governments’ discretion to adjust and enforce compliance.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Associate Environment Officer in the South Asia Department. The deadline for submitting applications is on 12 May 2020.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Senior/Safeguards Specialist (Environment) in the Southeast Asia Department. The deadline for submitting applications is on 15 May 2020.

This brief presents recommendations to further encourage public-private partnerships for the environmental protection industry in the People's Republic of China, as the country seeks to address the negative impact of rapid urbanization.

Even though the central government issues strict regulation policies, it is the local governments’ discretion to adjust and enforce compliance.

Even though the central government issues strict regulation policies, it is the local governments’ discretion to adjust and enforce compliance.

MCHP Provides Update on Business Environment

MCHP Provides Update on Q4FY20 Net Sales and the Business Environment

June 16 - With attention focused on the world's greatest soccer stars in Brazil, conservationists are working hard to promote the plight of the animal being used as the official World Cup mascot. Known as Fuleco on posters and banners throughout the country, the three-banded armadillo is in decline, and conservation groups say FIFA and the Brazilian government should be doing more during the World Cup to ensure the animal's long term survival. Rob Muir reports.

Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary sits down with Reuters Tim Hepher to discuss challenges including industry-wide consolidation, environmental taxes, Brexit, the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX and his 5-year, 100 million euro bonus package. Watch here the full event.

Title: Twins Study Points to Environmental Cause for MS
Category: Health News
Created: 4/28/2010 2:10:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2010 12:00:00 AM

ABSTRACT

Obesity is associated with increased disease severity, elevated viral titers in exhaled breath, and significantly prolonged viral shed during influenza A virus infection. Due to the mutable nature of RNA viruses, we questioned whether obesity could also influence influenza virus population diversity. Here, we show that minor variants rapidly emerge in obese mice. The variants exhibit increased viral replication, resulting in enhanced virulence in wild-type mice. The increased diversity of the viral population correlated with decreased type I interferon responses, and treatment of obese mice with recombinant interferon reduced viral diversity, suggesting that the delayed antiviral response exhibited in obesity permits the emergence of a more virulent influenza virus population. This is not unique to obese mice. Obesity-derived normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells also showed decreased interferon responses and increased viral replication, suggesting that viral diversity also was impacted in this increasing population.

IMPORTANCE Currently, 50% of the adult population worldwide is overweight or obese. In these studies, we demonstrate that obesity not only enhances the severity of influenza infection but also impacts viral diversity. The altered microenvironment associated with obesity supports a more diverse viral quasispecies and affords the emergence of potentially pathogenic variants capable of inducing greater disease severity in lean hosts. This is likely due to the impaired interferon response, which is seen in both obese mice and obesity-derived human bronchial epithelial cells, suggesting that obesity, aside from its impact on influenza virus pathogenesis, permits the stochastic accumulation of potentially pathogenic viral variants, raising concerns about its public health impact as the prevalence of obesity continues to rise.

ABSTRACT

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) promotes the spread of genes within bacterial communities. Among the HGT mechanisms, natural transformation stands out as being encoded by the bacterial core genome. Natural transformation is often viewed as a way to acquire new genes and to generate genetic mixing within bacterial populations. Another recently proposed function is the curing of bacterial genomes of their infectious parasitic mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Here, we propose that these seemingly opposing theoretical points of view can be unified. Although costly for bacterial cells, MGEs can carry functions that are at points in time beneficial to bacteria under stressful conditions (e.g., antibiotic resistance genes). Using computational modeling, we show that, in stochastic environments, an intermediate transformation rate maximizes bacterial fitness by allowing the reversible integration of MGEs carrying resistance genes, although these MGEs are costly for host cell replication. Based on this dual function (MGE acquisition and removal), transformation would be a key mechanism for stabilizing the bacterial genome in the long term, and this would explain its striking conservation.

IMPORTANCE Natural transformation is the acquisition, controlled by bacteria, of extracellular DNA and is one of the most common mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer, promoting the spread of resistance genes. However, its evolutionary function remains elusive, and two main roles have been proposed: (i) the new gene acquisition and genetic mixing within bacterial populations and (ii) the removal of infectious parasitic mobile genetic elements (MGEs). While the first one promotes genetic diversification, the other one promotes the removal of foreign DNA and thus genome stability, making these two functions apparently antagonistic. Using a computational model, we show that intermediate transformation rates, commonly observed in bacteria, allow the acquisition then removal of MGEs. The transient acquisition of costly MGEs with resistance genes maximizes bacterial fitness in environments with stochastic stress exposure. Thus, transformation would ensure both a strong dynamic of the bacterial genome in the short term and its long-term stabilization.

Although elevated blood or sputum eosinophils are present in many patients with COPD, uncertainties remain regarding the anatomical distribution pattern of lung-infiltrating eosinophils. Basophils have remained virtually unexplored in COPD. This study mapped tissue-infiltrating eosinophils, basophils and eosinophil-promoting immune mechanisms in COPD-affected lungs.

Surgical lung tissue and biopsies from major anatomical compartments were obtained from COPD patients with severity grades Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease stages I–IV; never-smokers/smokers served as controls. Automated immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation identified immune cells, the type 2 immunity marker GATA3 and eotaxins (CCL11, CCL24).

Eosinophils and basophils were present in all anatomical compartments of COPD-affected lungs and increased significantly in very severe COPD. The eosinophilia was strikingly patchy, and focal eosinophil-rich microenvironments were spatially linked with GATA3⁺ cells, including type 2 helper T-cell lymphocytes and type 2 innate lymphoid cells. A similarly localised and interleukin-33/ST2-dependent eosinophilia was demonstrated in influenza-infected mice. Both mice and patients displayed spatially confined eotaxin signatures with CCL11⁺ fibroblasts and CCL24⁺ macrophages.

In addition to identifying tissue basophilia as a novel feature of advanced COPD, the identification of spatially confined eosinophil-rich type 2 microenvironments represents a novel type of heterogeneity in the immunopathology of COPD that is likely to have implications for personalised treatment.

Multienvironment trials (METs) are widely used to assess the performance of promising crop germplasm. Though seldom designed to elucidate genetic mechanisms, MET data sets are often much larger than could be duplicated for genetic research and, given proper interpretation, may offer valuable insights into the genetics of adaptation across time and space. The Cooperative Dry Bean Nursery (CDBN) is a MET for common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) grown for > 70 years in the United States and Canada, consisting of 20–50 entries each year at 10–20 locations. The CDBN provides a rich source of phenotypic data across entries, years, and locations that is amenable to genetic analysis. To study stable genetic effects segregating in this MET, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using best linear unbiased predictions derived across years and locations for 21 CDBN phenotypes and genotypic data (1.2 million SNPs) for 327 CDBN genotypes. The value of this approach was confirmed by the discovery of three candidate genes and genomic regions previously identified in balanced GWAS. Multivariate adaptive shrinkage (mash) analysis, which increased our power to detect significant correlated effects, found significant effects for all phenotypes. Mash found two large genomic regions with effects on multiple phenotypes, supporting a hypothesis of pleiotropic or linked effects that were likely selected on in pursuit of a crop ideotype. Overall, our results demonstrate that statistical genomics approaches can be used on MET phenotypic data to discover significant genetic effects and to define genomic regions associated with crop improvement.

Human activities and population growth have increased the natural burden of reactive nitrogen (N) in the environment. Excessive N deposition on Earth’s surface leads to adverse feedbacks on ecosystems and humans. Similar to that of air pollution, emission control is recognized as an efficient means to control acid deposition. Control...

The biological carbon pump (BCP) comprises wide-ranging processes that set carbon supply, consumption, and storage in the oceans’ interior. It is becoming increasingly evident that small changes in the efficiency of the BCP can significantly alter ocean carbon sequestration and, thus, atmospheric CO2 and climate, as well as the functioning...

Ana Gabriela Jimenez, Emily Cornelius Ruhs, Kailey J. Tobin, Katie N. Anderson, Audrey Le Pogam, Lyette Regimbald, and Francois Vezina

Seasonal changes in maximal thermogenic capacity (M_sum) in wild black-capped chickadees suggests that adjustments in metabolic performance are slow and begin to take place before winter peaks. However, when mean minimal ambient temperature (T_a) reaches –10°C, the chickadee phenotype appears to provide enough spare capacity to endure days with colder T_a, down to –20°C or below. This suggests that birds could also maintain a higher antioxidant capacity as part of their cold-acclimated phenotype to deal with sudden decreases in temperature. Here, we tested how environmental mismatch affected oxidative stress by comparing cold-acclimated (–5°C) and transition (20°C) phenotypes in chickadees exposed to an acute 15°C drop in temperature with that of control individuals. We measured superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities, as well as lipid peroxidation damage and antioxidant scavenging capacity in pectoralis muscle, brain, intestine and liver. We generally found differences between seasonal phenotypes and across tissues, but no differences with respect to an acute cold drop treatment. Our data suggest oxidative stress is closely matched to whole-animal physiology in cold-acclimated birds compared with transition birds, implying that changes to the oxidative stress system happen slowly.

Tumor cells can spread to distant sites through their ability to switch between mesenchymal and amoeboid (bleb-based) migration. Because of this difference, inhibitors of metastasis must account for each migration mode. However, the role of vimentin in amoeboid migration has not been determined. Because amoeboid leader bleb–based migration (LBBM) occurs in confined spaces and vimentin is known to strongly influence cell-mechanical properties, we hypothesized that a flexible vimentin network is required for fast amoeboid migration. To this end, here we determined the precise role of the vimentin intermediate filament system in regulating the migration of amoeboid human cancer cells. Vimentin is a classic marker of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and is therefore an ideal target for a metastasis inhibitor. Using a previously developed polydimethylsiloxane slab–based approach to confine cells, RNAi-based vimentin silencing, vimentin overexpression, pharmacological treatments, and measurements of cell stiffness, we found that RNAi-mediated depletion of vimentin increases LBBM by ∼50% compared with control cells and that vimentin overexpression and simvastatin-induced vimentin bundling inhibit fast amoeboid migration and proliferation. Importantly, these effects were independent of changes in actomyosin contractility. Our results indicate that a flexible vimentin intermediate filament network promotes LBBM of amoeboid cancer cells in confined environments and that vimentin bundling perturbs cell-mechanical properties and inhibits the invasive properties of cancer cells.

Asja Guzman, Rachel C. Avard, Alexander J. Devanny, Oh Sang Kweon, and Laura J. Kaufman

The study of cancer cell invasion in 3D environments in vitro has revealed a variety of invasive modes, including amoeboid migration, characterized by primarily round cells that invade in a protease- and adhesion-independent manner. Here, we delineate a contractility-dependent migratory mode of primarily round breast cancer cells that is associated with extensive integrin-mediated extracellular matrix (ECM) reorganization that occurs at membrane blebs, with bleb necks sites of integrin clustering and integrin-dependent ECM alignment. We show that the spatiotemporal distribution of blebs and their utilization for ECM reorganization is mediated by functional β1 integrin receptors and other components of focal adhesions. Taken together, the work presented here characterizes a migratory mode of primarily round cancer cells in complex 3D environments and reveals a fundamentally new function for membrane blebs in cancer cell invasion.

Fnr is a transcriptional regulator that controls the expression of a variety of genes in response to oxygen limitation in bacteria. Genome sequencing revealed four genes (fnr1, fnr3, fnr5, and fnr7) coding for Fnr proteins in Paenibacillus polymyxa WLY78. Fnr1 and Fnr3 showed more similarity to each other than to Fnr5 and Fnr7. Also, Fnr1 and Fnr3 exhibited high similarity with Bacillus cereus Fnr and Bacillus subtilis Fnr in sequence and structures. Both the aerobically purified His-tagged Fnr1 and His-tagged Fnr3 in Escherichia coli could bind to the specific DNA promoter. Deletion analysis showed that the four fnr genes, especially fnr1 and fnr3, have significant impacts on growth and nitrogenase activity. Single deletion of fnr1 or fnr3 led to a 50% reduction in nitrogenase activity, and double deletion of fnr1 and fnr3 resulted to a 90% reduction in activity. Genome-wide transcription analysis showed that Fnr1 and Fnr3 indirectly activated expression of nif (nitrogen fixation) genes and Fe transport genes under anaerobic conditions. Fnr1 and Fnr3 inhibited expression of the genes involved in the aerobic respiratory chain and activated expression of genes responsible for anaerobic electron acceptor genes.

IMPORTANCE The members of the nitrogen-fixing Paenibacillus spp. have great potential to be used as a bacterial fertilizer in agriculture. However, the functions of the fnr gene(s) in nitrogen fixation and other metabolisms in Paenibacillus spp. are not known. Here, we found that in P. polymyxa WLY78, Fnr1 and Fnr3 were responsible for regulation of numerous genes in response to changes in oxygen levels, but Fnr5 and Fnr7 exhibited little effect. Fnr1 and Fnr3 indirectly or directly regulated many types of important metabolism, such as nitrogen fixation, Fe uptake, respiration, and electron transport. This study not only reveals the function of the fnr genes of P. polymyxa WLY78 in nitrogen fixation and other metabolisms but also will provide insight into the evolution and regulatory mechanisms of fnr in Paenibacillus.

This study investigated the effects of long-term soil fertilization on the composition and potential for phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) cycling of bacterial communities associated with hyphae of the P-solubilizing fungus Penicillium canescens. Using a baiting approach, hyphosphere bacterial communities were recovered from three soils that had received long-term amendment in the field with mineral or mineral plus organic fertilizers. P. canescens hyphae recruited bacterial communities with a decreased diversity and an increased abundance of Proteobacteria relative to what was observed in soil communities. As core bacterial taxa, Delftia and Pseudomonas spp. were present in all hyphosphere samples irrespective of soil fertilization. However, the type of fertilization showed significant impacts on the diversity, composition, and distinctive taxa/operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of hyphosphere communities. The soil factors P (Olsen method), exchangeable Mg, exchangeable K, and pH were important for shaping soil and hyphosphere bacterial community compositions. An increased relative abundance of organic P metabolism genes was found in hyphosphere communities from soil that had not received P fertilizers, which could indicate P limitation near the fungal hyphae. Additionally, P. canescens hyphae recruited bacterial communities with a higher abundance of N fixation genes than found in soil communities, which might imply a role of hyphosphere communities for fungal N nutrition. Furthermore, the relative abundances of denitrification genes were greater in several hyphosphere communities, indicating an at least partly anoxic microenvironment with a high carbon-to-N ratio around the hyphae. In conclusion, soil fertilization legacy shapes P. canescens hyphosphere microbiomes and their functional potential related to P and N cycling.

IMPORTANCE P-solubilizing Penicillium strains are introduced as biofertilizers to agricultural soils to improve plant P nutrition. Currently, little is known about the ecology of these biofertilizers, including their interactions with other soil microorganisms. This study shows that communities dominated by Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria colonize P. canescens hyphae in soil and that the compositions of these communities depend on the soil conditions. The potential of these communities for N and organic P cycling is generally higher than that of soil communities. The high potential for organic P metabolism might complement the ability of the fungus to solubilize inorganic P, and it points to the hyphosphere as a hot spot for P metabolism. Furthermore, the high potential for N fixation could indicate that P. canescens recruits bacteria that are able to improve its N nutrition. Hence, this community study identifies functional groups relevant for the future optimization of next-generation biofertilizer consortia for applications in soil.

Resistance to the "last-resort" antibiotics, such as carbapenems, has led to very few antibiotics being left to treat infections by multidrug-resistant bacteria. Spread of carbapenem resistance (CR) has been well characterized for the clinical environment. However, there is a lack of information about its environmental distribution. Our study reveals that CR is present in a wide range of Gram-negative bacteria in the coastal seawater environment, including four phyla, eight classes, and 30 genera. These bacteria were likely introduced into seawater via stormwater flows. Some CR isolates found here, such as Acinetobacter junii, Acinetobacter johnsonii, Brevundimonas vesicularis, Enterococcus durans, Pseudomonas monteilii, Pseudomonas fulva, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, are further relevant to human health. We also describe a novel metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) for marine Rheinheimera isolates with CR, which has likely been horizontally transferred to Citrobacter freundii or Enterobacter cloacae. In contrast, another MBL of the New Delhi type was likely acquired by environmental Variovorax isolates from Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, or Acinetobacter baumannii utilizing a plasmid. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that the aquatic environment is both a reservoir and a vector for novel CR genes.

IMPORTANCE Resistance against the "last-resort" antibiotics of the carbapenem family is often based on the production of carbapenemases, and this has been frequently observed in clinical samples. However, the dissemination of carbapenem resistance (CR) in the environment has been less well explored. Our study shows that CR is commonly found in a range of bacterial taxa in the coastal aquatic environment and can involve the exchange of novel metallo-β-lactamases from typical environmental bacteria to potential human pathogens or vice versa. The outcomes of this study contribute to a better understanding of how aquatic and marine bacteria can act as reservoirs and vectors for CR outside the clinical setting.