Linyi Lagerstätte: A new window on Cambrian fauna evolution

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

 

IMAGE: SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION AND TAXONOMIC DIVERSITY OF 16 MAJOR CAMBRIAN LAGERSTÄTTEN, AND THE POSITION OF THE LINYI LAGERSTÄTTE view more 

CREDIT: NIGPAS

A research team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has discovered a new middle Cambrian (5.04 mya) konservat-lagerstätte in the Zhangxia Formation in Shandong Province, North China, and named it the Linyi Lagerstätte.

The Linyi Lagerstätte provides a new window into the morphological disparity, community structure, and paleogeographic distribution of marine fauna following the Cambrian explosion.

Their findings were published in National Science Review on April 5.

The rapid appearance of major animal groups and complex marine communities during the Cambrian explosion is recorded in large part in Burgess Shale-type (BST) lagerstätten.

Nevertheless, most of the well-known Cambrian lagerstätten are restricted to a few terranes, with most of them occurring in South China or Laurentia (the core of present-day North America).

This striking geographical imbalance is particularly evident in the middle Cambrian, with the major Miaolingian lagerstätten, including the Burgess Shale in British Columbia (western Canada) and five lagerstätten in the Great Basin (western USA), being located predominantly in Laurentia. The large temporospatial discrepancy of distribution of the soft-bodied fossil lagerstätten limits our understanding of the Cambrian explosion of animals on Earth.

The limited known spatial distribution of Cambrian lagerstätten thus underscores the importance of the newly discovered Miaolingian Linyi Lagerstätte.

The new assemblage contains a variety of well-preserved soft-bodied fossils, among which the non-trilobite arthropods, particularly the mollisoniids and radiodonts, are the most important groups. The Linyi Lagerstätte is remarkable for its excellent preservation of arthropod limbs, eyes, and guts, with these well-preserved fossils promising to yield new anatomical data bearing on the early evolution of animals.

"The close similarity in taxonomy between the Linyi Lagerstätte of North China and those of Laurentian lagerstätten suggests that North China may have provided a biogeographic link between East Gondwana and Laurentia," said Prof. ZHAO Fangchen, corresponding author of the study.

North China is now an important region for investigating the early evolution of middle Cambrian animals, and its Miaolingian deposits have great potential for yielding additional exceptional biotas.

Since the discovery of the Chengjiang Biota in 1984, South China has gradually become the principal area for the study of early Cambrian lagerstätte. The discovery of the Linyi Lagerstätte may also open a new chapter in the study of middle Cambrian BST deposits in North China.

CAPTION

Representative fossils from the Linyi Lagerstätte

CREDIT

NIGPAS

CAPTION

Life on the platform margin of the Miaolingian Sea, North China, based on data from the Linyi Lagerstätte

CREDIT

YANG Dinghua

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JOURNAL

National Science Review

DOI

10.1093/nsr/nwac069 

ARTICLE TITLE

The middle Cambrian Linyi Lagerstätte from the North China Craton: a new window on the Cambrian evolutionary fauna

Extreme genetic drift in the Maniq hunter-gatherers of southern Thailand

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SMBE JOURNALS (MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION AND GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION)

 

IMAGE: MAP WITH APPROXIMATE LOCATIONS OF THE MANIQ AND OTHER NEARBY POPULATIONS INCLUDED IN THE STUDY. view more 

CREDIT: TOBIAS GÖLLNER

Residing in the hills of southern Thailand, the Maniq comprise one of the last hunter-gatherer communities in the world. Although the Maniq are geographically isolated, they share many cultural features with the Semang peoples, most of whom live over the border in Malaysia. Due to the complex relationships among the various communities in mainland Southeast Asia, anthropologists have long debated the demographic history of the area, with one, two, three, or four waves of human migration having been proposed for the region. A recent study in Genome Biology and Evolution by Tobias Göllner, Maximilian Larena, and colleagues titled “Unveiling the genetic history of the Maniq, a primary hunter-gatherer society” provides new insight into the Maniq and their relationships with other indigenous groups in mainland Southeast Asia.

The international team of researchers from the University of Vienna in Austria, Uppsala University in Sweden, and Khon Kaen University in Thailand studied 2.3 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 11 Maniq individuals who agreed to participate in the study. While a relatively small sample, this represents over 3% of the current Maniq population of ~250 individuals. The team then compared the data from the Maniq with both present-day populations and ancient DNA samples collected in the region.

“One of our main conclusions is that the Maniq are a very secluded community and have been separated from the other Semang for quite some time,” says Göllner, first author of the study. As suggested by their cultural ties, the Maniq appeared to be most closely related to the Semang groups in Malaysia, indicating a recent shared history. Comparisons with other modern groups showed that the Maniq and Malay Semang populations shared alleles with indigenous Papuans and Andamanese, indicating “deep historical relationships among these populations,” according to the study’s authors.

The study also revealed that the Maniq exhibited similarities to ancient DNA samples associated with the Hòabìnhian, a cultural complex of ancient hunter-gatherers thought to be the ancestors of present-day hunter-gatherers in mainland Southeast Asia. In the past, Hòabìnhian-related populations were more widespread, with descendants found in Laos, southern China, and even as far as Japan. According to the study’s authors, however, “due to the recent expansion of East Asian-related groups, the Hòabìnhian-related cultural communities were either displaced, replaced, or absorbed into the larger population of farmer migrants.” The study reveals that this was not the case with the Maniq, who remained largely isolated and retained their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, “making them one of the few groups in mainland Asia carrying high levels of Hòabìnhian-related ancestry.”

The study did find evidence for some East Asian ancestry among the Maniq. “The most plausible model for the ancestral source of the Maniq is a combination of both Andamanese and East Asian-related ancestries,” posit the authors, with relative contributions of roughly 65% and 35%, respectively. The researchers estimated that this East Asian ancestry was introduced into the Maniq population approximately 700 years ago, likely via their Malay Semang neighbors.

The most striking finding of the study was the high degree of genetic differentiation exhibited by the Maniq, which was higher than what has been observed for the Mangyan Buhid of the Philippines and comparable to that of the Surui of Brazil, suggesting that the Maniq are more genetically differentiated than virtually any other known human population worldwide. This is likely due to a combination of genetic drift, a long history of geographic and cultural isolation, their historically small population size, and their cultural practice of marrying largely within their own society.

To validate these findings, Göllner hopes to conduct additional studies with larger sample sizes or full genome sequencing data. He notes that the current study and any future work “is only possible thanks to the participation of the Maniq and their long-standing relationship with our cultural anthropologist, Helmut Lukas.” Such studies are made more difficult however by the fact that the Maniq currently face several challenges, including intrusion from outsiders, ethnic discrimination, and most notably, the deforestation of the rainforest, limiting their ability to hunt, gather, and follow a traditional lifestyle. Says Göllner, “While solutions will have to be led by the Maniq and other citizens of Thailand, we hope that highlighting the importance of the Maniq will inspire change and help to protect their way of life.”

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JOURNAL

Genome Biology and Evolution

DOI

10.1093/gbe/evac021 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Unveiling the genetic history of the Maniq, a primary hunter-gatherer society

Record low Antarctic sea-ice extent since the satellite era

The new record shows for the first time the sea-ice extent shrank to below 2 million km2

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

 

IMAGE: ON 25 FEBRUARY 2022, SCIENTISTS RECORDED NEAR-RECORD BELOW NORMAL SEA ICE EXTENT IN THE ANTARCTIC. THE COVER PHOTO OF SEA ICE (CREDIT: YINGQI LIANG) WAS TAKEN ON 30 JANUARY 2022 ONBOARD XUELONG2 IN THE ANTARCTIC COSMONAUTS SEA. view more 

CREDIT: ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

Arctic sea ice may be disappearing, but until recently Antarctic sea ice was having the opposite experience. In February however, the extent of sea ice at the southern hemisphere experienced a record low, the second such event in five years. Researchers have now identified its proximate causes, but many mysteries remain.

A study describing their findings was published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences on April 19.

The extent of sea ice in the Arctic is famously undergoing rapid decline as a result of global warming, but at the Earth’s other pole, Antarctic sea ice has been enjoying a modest increasing trend of about one percent a decade since the late 1970s (albeit with significant variation from year to year and substantial regional differences).

Yet in the face of this overall increasing trend in the Antarctic, there was something of a brief but quite marked aberration in 2017, when the southern hemisphere experienced a record minimum extent of sea ice.

And now just five years later, it has happened again.

On February 25 2022, a few days from the end of the Southern hemisphere’s summer, a record minimum in Antarctic sea ice extent was set—the first time it has hit under 2 million square kilometres since launch of satellite observations of the poles in 1978. The data showed that there was significantly lower than normal ice cover in the Bellingshausen/Amundsen Seas, the Weddell Sea and the western Indian Ocean sector. More curious still, throughout the region, the sea ice extent was some 30 percent lower than the average across the 1981-2010 three-decade baseline period.

The causes of the variability of Antarctic sea ice are complicated, and various mechanisms have been proposed in recent years, but there is no scientific consensus and the phenomenon remains under-theorized, with a great deal yet to be explored. And so the fresh occurrence of a fresh sea-ice extent minimum in such a short period of time drove a group of researchers at Sun Yat-sen University and Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) in China set out to find out what had occurred and why.

The team used a sea-ice budget analysis employing data on daily sea ice concentration (the percent of an area that is covered by sea ice) from 1979-2022 and daily and weekly sea-ice drift from 1979-2022 from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) to develop their understanding. A sea-ice budget analysis involves a consideration of the number of inputs versus outputs of the sea-ice system, in other words, the sea ice that was added and that which was lost, alongside both the dynamics (including advection and divergence contributions) and the thermodynamics (processes concerning freezing and melting) that affect this. The sea-ice budget analysis was carried out to cover the melting seasons and then connect this to atmospheric circulation over the same periods.

The researchers found that in the summertime, it is the thermodynamics that dominate the processes that cause the sea ice melting. This occurs through anomalies in the transport of heat toward the pole in the Bellingshausen/Amundsen Seas, the western Pacific Ocean, and the eastern Weddell Sea in particular.

There is also an increase in overall infrared radiation and visible light as a result of a positive feedback of albedo and temperature. Albedo describes basically the ‘whiteness’ of a surface. The whiter it is, the greater the reflection of such radiation, and the darker, the greater the absorption.

“Sea ice is whiter than the dark unfrozen sea, thus there is less reflection of heat and more absorption,” said climatologist Qinghua Yang, a co-author of the study. “which in turn melts more sea ice, producing more absorption of heat, in a vicious cycle.”

But in the spring, both thermodynamics and dynamics contribute to the status of sea ice extent. In addition to the above thermodynamic processes, the dynamics of ice loss in the Amundsen Sea sees a northward ice motion that pushes more ice to the lower latitudes towards the tropics thus increasing melting, especially in the Amundsen Sea and the Ross Sea. In addition, thinner sea ice freeboard (the thickness of the sea ice that sticks out above the waterline) along the coast of the Amundsen Sea plays a critical role with respect to the spring and summer melting.

The researchers noted that according to data from the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the new record Antarctic sea-ice extent minimum occurred at the same time as a combination of La Niña and a positive Southern Annular Mode (SAM). The SAM describes a belt of strong westerly winds or low pressure that surrounds the continent, moving north or south, while La Niña describes a weather pattern of powerful winds that blow warm ocean surface water strong from South America to Indonesia in the tropics.

Both of these phenomena deepen the Amundsen Sea low (ASL)—a center of low atmospheric pressure center over the far south of the Pacific Ocean and off the coast of West Antarctica. The variability of atmospheric conditions in the region is greater than anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere.

The researchers found that all the atmospheric impacts on the sea-ice extent anomalies originate with the intensity and position of the Amundsen Sea low.

The researchers were able to explain much, but their findings only produced further questions.

“If tropical variability is having such an impact, it’s that location that needs to be studied next,” said Jinfei Wang, one of the other authors of the paper.

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DOI

10.1007/s00376-022-2087-1 

ARTICLE TITLE

An Unprecedented Record Low Antarctic Sea-ice Extent during Austral Summer 2022

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Apr-2022

 

No glacial fertilization effect in the Antarctic Ocean

International study led by the University of Bonn records 1.5 million years of climate in the drill core

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BONN

 

IMAGE: DRILLSHIP "JOIDES RESOLUTION" WITH CHARACTERISTIC DERRICK. view more 

CREDIT: IODP

Changes in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are considered to be the main cause of past and future climate change. A long-standing debate centers on whether the roughly 30 percent lower CO2 content of the ice-age atmosphere was caused by iron fertilization. It is argued that iron-rich dust is carried into the ocean by wind and water, where it stimulates the growth of algae that absorb more CO2. As the algae die and then sink permanently into the depths of the ocean, the CO2 also remains there like in a trap. Although there is clear evidence that dust input increased during the ice ages, the fertilization effect is controversial, at least for the Antarctic Ocean.

In a recent study, an international team of 38 researchers from 13 countries led by Dr. Michael Weber from the Institute for Geosciences at the University of Bonn investigated this question. As part of the Integrated Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), the team traveled to the Scotia Sea on the drillship "JOIDES Resolution" and spent two months in 2019 bringing up cores from the seafloor at depths of 3,000 to 4,000 meters. Weber: "We collected the highest-resolution and longest climate archive ever obtained near Antarctica and its main dust source, Patagonia."

CAPTION

Crew sampling a drill core on the "catwalk."

CREDIT

IODP

CAPTION

Thomas Ronge with a drill core in the laboratory.

CREDIT

IODP

1.5 million years of climate history

In the 200-meter-long deep-sea core U1537, the climate history of the last 1.5 million years was recorded in detail. This allows the reconstruction of the dust input to be nearly doubled, since Antarctic ice cores only cover the last 800,000 years. Current records from the deep ocean show that dust deposition during the ice ages was actually five to 15 times higher. This is also reflected in the ice cores.

However, the researchers found no evidence of a fertilization effect from dust in the Antarctic Ocean during the ice ages. Rather, the production of algae, for example, and thus carbon CO2 sequestration, was high only during warm periods when dust input into the Scotia Sea was low. This means that during cold periods, other processes prevented the CO2 captured in the ocean from escaping into the atmosphere and triggering warming. The main factors here are much more extensive sea ice cover, more intense stratification in the ocean, and reduced dynamics of the current systems, which contributed to a reduction in the CO2 content of the atmosphere during cold periods.

The opposing trends in dust deposition and oceanic productivity during the ice ages and interglacial periods of the Pleistocene are accompanied by long-term, gradual changes in the climate system in the southern polar region. Bioproductivity was particularly high during the interglacial periods of the last 400,000 years, but during the mid-Pleistocene transition 1.2 million to 700,000 years ago, it differed little from that during cold periods. As the transition progressed, the dust input covered larger and larger areas in the Southern Hemisphere. Abrupt changes continued to occur 900,000 years ago, indicating greater glaciation of Antarctica.

"There is indeed evidence of a fertilization effect during the ice ages in cores outside the Antarctic zone," Weber concludes. "However, our study shows that atmospheric CO2 fluctuations do not depend solely on iron fertilization from dust deposition. In the Antarctic Ocean, it is rather a complex interplay of a westerly wind system, productivity, and feedback with sea ice. This relationship has been consistent over the last 1.5 million years."

CAPTION

Iceberg in the Scotia Sea.

CREDIT

Thomas Ronge

CAPTION

IODP core store at the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (marum) in Bremen.

CREDIT

IODP

CAPTION

Co-chiefs Michael Weber, Maureen Raymo and expedition manager Trevor Williams.

CREDIT

IODP

Publication: Weber, M.E., Bailey, I., Reilly, Hemming, S., Martos, Y.M., Reilly, B.T., Ronge, T., Brachfeld, S., Williams, T., Raymo, M.E., Belt, S.T., Smik, L., Vogel, H., Peck, V., Armbrecht, L., Cage, A., Cardillo, F.G., Du, Z., Fauth, G., Fogwill, C.J., Garcia, M., Garnsworthy, M., Glueder, A., Guitard, M., Gutjahr, M., Hernandez-Almeida, I., Hoem, F., Hwang, J.-H., Iizuka, M., Kato, Y., Lee, B.,O’Connell, S., Pérez, L.F., Seki, O., Stevens, L., Tauxe, L., Tripathi, S., Warnock, J., and Zheng, X.: Antiphased dust deposition and productivity in the Antarctic Zone over the past 1.5 Ma. Nature Communications, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29642-5.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-29642-5 

ARTICLE TITLE

Antiphased dust deposition and productivity in the Antarctic Zone over the past 1.5 Ma

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Apr-2022

Three Gorges Dam: Friend or foe of riverine greenhouse gases?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

 

IMAGE: PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE THREE GORGES DAM ON THE YANGTZE RIVER, CHINA view more 

CREDIT: ©SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

Dams are conventionally regarded as emitters of GHGs in large rivers. A team from Peking University of China, however, has disrupted this perception, based on whole system thinking applied to the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) on the Yangtze River in China.

This study is led by Professor Jinren Ni. “We spent over eight years to complete this work” Ni says. The team used 30 water quality indices for 25 years and measured greenhouse gases (GHGs) along 4,300 km of the Yangtze River. Huge datasets and data-driven models were established using machine learning tools for riverine greenhouse gases. This revealed the effect of initial emission of GHGs on pristine river ecosystems and provided a reliable methodology for robust assessment of the change in GHGs induced by dams.

Since commencing operation in 2003, the TGD has altered carbonate equilibrium in the reservoir area, enhanced methanogenesis in the upstream, but restrained methanogenesis and denitrification via modifying anoxic habitats through long-distance scouring in the downstream. It is necessary to include both the upstream and downstream reaches, when examining the spatiotemporal scope of “large-dam effects” of the TGD.

A quantitative division was discovered between new emissions resulting from impoundment and operation of the TGD and pristine emissions that occurred naturally before its construction. This leads to an unexpected finding that the TGD has caused considerable reductions in the annual average emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O in the Yangtze River. Using a whole-system approach, the team finds that the impact of TGD extends thousands of kilometers downstream along the Yangtze River, far beyond the reservoir and its immediate surroundings (with only the latter considered in most previous studies). “Their approach is based on the logic that a full accounting of GHG consequences of the dam should encompass the full sphere of the dam’s influence. This methodology led to the result that aquatic emissions have declined rather than increased since the dam went into operation.” says Professor Emily Stanley from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As a clean energy source, hydropower can help to reduce dependence on traditional fossil fuel energy (such as coal, oil, and natural gas) and significantly reduce GHGs emissions. In recent years, some researchers suggested that dams would increase GHGs emissions from rivers. This issue received renewed attention, stimulating much debate on changes in GHGs emissions before and after TGD operation. By providing a panoramic view of CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes along the Yangtze River, the present study helps settle the debate on GHGs induced by large dams. According to Professor Ni, “this means that the TGD facilitate the reduction of GHGs emissions, even when leaving aside the huge benefits of GHGs reduction from fossil fuel substitution by hydropower.”

Whole system analysis provides new insights into GHGs emissions caused by the operation of large dams, which are essential prerequisites in understanding their implications for the biogeochemical cycles of large rivers. As Professor Stanley notes, “Although TGD is unique in its size, it is unlikely to be unique in the scale and scope of its influence.”

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See the article:

Three Gorges Dam: Friend or Foe of Riverine Greenhouse Gases? 

https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwac013

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JOURNAL

National Science Review

DOI

10.1093/nsr/nwac013 

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert

A study of two wastewater treatment plants in Cordoba equipped with different technology evaluates their odorous impact

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS THAT CARRIED OUT THE STUDY view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CORDOBA

The study shows that degrading wastewater pollution by means of mechanical aeration results in fewer odorous compounds than with intensive systems. Another study was carried out demonstrating that the use of biofilters filled with pruning and sludge compost are efficient systems to minimize the odorous impact of sewage treatment plants.

The odor emitted by wastewater treatment plants in cities is one of the social problems that technology has been trying to solve for years. The control and management systems of this type of infrastructure have been concerned with minimizing the environmental and odorous impact of this waste, which directly affects quality of life, especially for those who live near treatment plants. Among the latest systems that biotechnology has devised there are two that are on the rise, their effectiveness having been gauged: mechanical ventilation and biofiltration. Both were evaluated in two independent studies carried out by two scientific teams at the University of Córdoba and published in the Process Safety and Environmental Protection journal. The first of these studies describes the work carried out at real scale at the Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) in two Cordoba towns: Espiel and Villaviciosa; while the second analyzed the operation of pilot-scale biofilters operated at the facilities of the Chemical Engineering area of the University of Córdoba.

In the first work, the analysis of different biological treatments of wastewater showed that the process known as the extended aeration of activated sludge, which is employed at the WWTP in Espiel, emits slightly a higher odor rate per inhabitant than the rotating disc system used in Villaviciosa. It was also found that the system in Espiel is more efficient and intensive for the treatment of wastewater, and generates a greater amount of sludge, a by-product that can be properly treated, thus favoring the development of the Circular Economy. In addition, as the analysis of the sludge genome has shown, the presence of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria allows for the elimination of nitrogenous contaminating compounds from wastewater. 

The second publication analyzed the effectiveness of biofiltration in eliminating odoriferous compounds in systems filled with different organic waste: pruning waste, exclusively, or mixing them with sludge compost from the treatment plant itself. The results of this work showed that when biofilters are used to remove acidic and water-soluble odorous compounds, such as butyric acid, their efficacy was greater but less lasting than in the removal of less water-miscible compounds, such as D-Limonene. Butyric acid is a compound that is generated in  fermentation processes, featuring a characteristic rancid odor, while D-Limonene is a compound characterized by a citrus odor.

In any case, as María Ángeles Martín Santos, a professor of Chemical Engineering at the UCO, explained: "it must be taken into account that all the plants studied comply with the established discharge limits, and that the smell of a treatment station does not always reach the nearby populations. There is a whole process of transport and dilution of polluting odors through the environment that diminishes their perception. The wind, for example, can disperse them. Hence, an essential aspect in wastewater management is where treatment plants are located. The problem is that, as a result of urbanization and rezoning, many sewage treatment plants are very close to towns, so they must be better outfitted with systems to reduce odor emissions."

References:
P. Márquez, M. C. Gutiérrez, M. Toledo, J. Alhama, C. Michán, M. A. Martín, "Activated sludge process versus rotating biological contactors in WWTPs: Evaluating the influence of operation and sludge bacterial content on their odor impact", Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 160, April 2022, pp 775-785, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2022.02.071.

P. Márquez, J. A. Siles, M. C. Gutiérrez, J. Alhama, C. Michán, M. A. Martín, “A comparative study between the biofiltration for air contaminated with limonene or butyric acid using a combination of olfactometric, physico-chemical and genomic approaches”, Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 160, April 2022, pp 362-375, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2022.02.024.
 

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JOURNAL

Process Safety and Environmental Protection

DOI

10.1016/j.psep.2022.02.071 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

ARTICLE TITLE

Activated sludge process versus rotating biological contactors in WWTPs: Evaluating the influence of operation and sludge bacterial content on their odor impact

When the rust settles: Uncovering the movements of coffee leaf rust disease

Incidence of coffee leaf rust in Vietnam, possible original sources and subsequent pathways of migration

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba and Ibaraki University find a high incidence of coffee leaf rust disease in Vietnam, as well as potential origins and routes of spread, and a close genetic relationship with Central and South American rust fungus populations

Tsukuba, Japan—Coffee is one of the world's most popular drinks, yet there are still many unknowns in the coffee-growing business. Now, researchers from Japan have shed new light on the nature of a disease that seriously affects coffee plants.

In a study published this month in Frontiers in Plant Science, researchers from the University of Tsukuba and Ibaraki University have revealed that coffee leaf rust (CLR) disease is widespread in the main coffee-growing regions of Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee producer.

Rusts are plant diseases named after the powdery rust- or brown-colored fungal spores found on the surfaces of infected plants. CLR fungus, Hemileia vastatrix, causes CLR disease in Coffea plants—the source of coffee beans. This disease severely affects the plants, resulting in high yield losses and lowering bean quality; developing effective and practical ways of managing the disease is essential for mitigating this problem. The best way to control CLR is by using disease-resistant plant varieties. However, there have been recent reports of CLR outbreaks in coffee-growing regions where rust-resistant varieties are planted.

"To control this disease, we need to understand rust population diversity," says senior author of the study, Associate Professor Izumi Okane. "We must also identify the genetic variations that underpin it, and anticipate potential future variations."

To do this, the researchers examined the occurrence of CLR disease in key coffee-producing regions of Vietnam, assessed the current population structure and genetic diversity of the CLR fungus via genetic sequencing, and estimated the geographic region where H. vastatrix first established, as well as its direction of migration between Vietnam's main coffee-producing areas.

The results showed a high incidence of CLR disease in most of the regions investigated, and that H. vastatrix populations in Vietnam shared a close genetic relationship with several Central and South American populations. The study also uncovered potential starting points and migration routes of H. vastatrix in Vietnam's coffee-growing regions. The spread of CLR from northern to southern Vietnam revealed that agents other than wind and monsoon were involved in moving spores from an infected region to other areas.

"Our study highlights the need to consider human-mediated activities, because they may quickly accelerate the genetic diversification of rust fungi populations," explains Associate Professor Okane.

The results of this study have revealed new information on the genetic diversity of H. vastatrix in Vietnam and Central and South America. The researchers' findings will help to predict the spread of this fungus in the future. Furthermore, seedling sources and human activities have been highlighted as factors that should be considered in the coffee-growing industry for the control of CLR disease.

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This research was financially supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 20H03006 (IO), the annual fund of the Biotechnology Center of Ho Chi Minh City and the fund for student research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences, and Technology of Japan.

Original Paper

The article, "Incidence of coffee leaf rust in Vietnam, possible original sources and subsequent pathways of migration," was published in Frontiers in Plant Science at DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.872877

A dangerous delay: Why it can take years to diagnose life-threatening rare diseases

Researchers from Osaka University reveal the experiences of patients who waited years to be diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening rare disease, highlighting the need to raise the awareness of rare diseases

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OSAKA UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING PROBLEMS LEADING TO DELAYED DIAGNOSIS OF RARE DISEASES view more 

CREDIT: 2022 M. ISONO ET AL. WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG FOR RARE DISEASE PATIENTS TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS?—A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF PATIENT EXPERIENCES OF HEREDITARY ANGIOEDEMA. PLOS ONE

Osaka, Japan – Regular episodes of severe pains in the abdomen and mysterious swellings had become the new normal for Yuki - for 20 years. Finally, she was diagnosed with a rare disease, hereditary angioedema (HAE), and given a specialized treatment that brought much-needed relief. But what happened during those years of delay, and why did it take so long? In a study published in PLOS ONE, researchers from Osaka University revealed the experiences of patients with a rare disease who remained undiagnosed for many years. The findings highlight the importance of raising patients’ and clinicians’ awareness of rare diseases.

“There are around ten thousand rare diseases,” says lead author of the study, Moeko Isono. “Altogether, they affect over four hundred million people. There are many people who struggle to find the right diagnosis, and in certain cases the failure to do so can be fatal.”

Previous studies that looked at diagnostic delays for rare diseases usually focused on the time taken to reach a diagnosis, and other measures that can be quantified.

“For our study, we used a qualitative approach,” says Isono. “This meant that we could explore why the delays were so long and how the correct diagnosis was finally achieved. We hoped to identify areas that could be improved.”

The research team focused on patients with hereditary angioedema, a disease that typically involves long diagnostic delays. The condition causes swelling in different parts of the body, such as the skin and digestive system. It can be life-threatening if the swelling affects the airways. An accurate diagnosis is important, as the mortality rate is around three times higher if left undiagnosed.

Interviews were conducted with nine patients with the disease who had remained undiagnosed for more than five years. Patients were invited to share their experiences from initial symptoms to diagnosis with HAE. The responses revealed that many patients had become resigned to living with the symptoms and had stopped trying to find a cause.

“What was striking was that, in most cases, the possibility of a rare disease was simply not considered,” says senior author Kazuto Kato. “Symptoms were sometimes put down to ‘psychological stress’ or ‘stomach flu’ and left at that. This is concerning, because the condition needs to be treated so as to avoid worst-case scenarios and improve patients’ quality of life.”

Kato believes that raising the awareness of rare diseases is key to improving the diagnostic delays. “It’s important that the possibility of a rare disease is considered, both by clinicians and by patients. Our findings strongly suggest the need for measures to make it easier for patients and health care providers to recognize the possibility of rare diseases. For example, all clinicians should be trained to be able to realize the possibility of rare disease. Additionally, raising awareness among the public by mass media or other stakeholders is important. Health care providers sometimes cannot be fully aware of their patient’s overall condition, so patients should be encouraged to raise their suspicion and act themselves. This could reduce the diagnostic delays.”

Note: The patient’s name has been changed for reasons of confidentiality.

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The article, “Why does it take so long for rare disease patients to get an accurate diagnosis?—A qualitative investigation of patient experiences of hereditary angioedema,” was published in PLOS ONE at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265847

 

About Osaka University

Osaka University was founded in 1931 as one of the seven imperial universities of Japan and is now one of Japan's leading comprehensive universities with a broad disciplinary spectrum. This strength is coupled with a singular drive for innovation that extends throughout the scientific process, from fundamental research to the creation of applied technology with positive economic impacts. Its commitment to innovation has been recognized in Japan and around the world, being named Japan's most innovative university in 2015 (Reuters 2015 Top 100) and one of the most innovative institutions in the world in 2017 (Innovative Universities and the Nature Index Innovation 2017). Now, Osaka University is leveraging its role as a Designated National University Corporation selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to contribute to innovation for human welfare, sustainable development of society, and social transformation.

Website: https://resou.osaka-u.ac.jp/en

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JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0265847 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Content analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Why does it take so long for rare disease patients to get an accurate diagnosis?—A qualitative investigation of patient experiences of hereditary angioedema