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Understanding the genetic bases underlying climate adaptation is a key element to predict the potential of species to face climate warming. Although substantial climate variation is observed at a micro-geographic scale, most genomic maps of climate adaptation have been established at broader geographical scales. Here, by using a Pool-Seq approach combined with a Bayesian hierarchical model that control for confounding by population structure, we performed a genome-environment association (GEA) analysis to investigate the genetic basis of adaptation to six climate variables in 168 natural populations of Arabidopsis thaliana distributed in south-west of France. Climate variation among the 168 populations represented up to 24% of climate variation among 521 European locations where A. thaliana inhabits. We identified neat and strong peaks of association, with most of the associated SNPs being significantly enriched in likely functional variants and/or in the extreme tail of genetic differentiation among populations. Furthermore, genes involved in transcriptional mechanisms appear predominant in plant functions associated with local climate adaptation. Globally, our results suggest that climate adaptation is an important driver of genomic variation in A. thaliana at a small spatial scale and mainly involves genome-wide changes in fundamental mechanisms of gene regulation. The identification of climate-adaptive genetic loci at a micro-geographic scale also highlights the importance to include within-species genetic diversity in ecological niche models for projecting potential species distributional shifts over short geographic distances.

The possibility of artificially inducing activation of MII buffalo oocytes may allow us to evaluate indirectly the quality of oocytes after in vitro maturation. The aim of this work was to compare buffalo embryo development after IVF and after chemical activation by two different agents. A further goal was to evaluate the effects of aging of oocytes on post-parthenogenetic and post-fertilization development. In Experiment 1 cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were recovered from abattoir-derived ovaries and matured in vitro. After IVM the COCs were either fertilized in vitro (positive control) or activated with ethanol and ionomycin, both followed by immediate exposure to 6-diethylaminopurine (6-DMAP) for 4 h. In vitro culture (IVC) was carried out up to the blastocyst stage. In Experiment 2 COCs were matured in vitro for 18, 21, 24, 27 and 30 h before activation was triggered with ethanol, followed by 6-DMAP. In Experiment 3 COCs were fertilized in vitro at 18, 21, 24, 27 and 30 h post-maturation. Ethanol activation gave better results than the IVF control group, with higher cleavage rate (71.4 +/- 7.8 versus 55.8 +/- 5.8, respectively; P < 0.05) and a higher proportion of oocytes developing into morulae-blastocysts (32.6 +/- 6.5 versus 22.9 +/- 7.5, respectively; P < 0.05). Within the activation groups, ethanol supported the highest development in terms of cleavage (71.4 +/- 7.8 versus 59.4 +/- 10.7; P < 0.05) and morulae-blastocysts rate (32.6 +/- 6.5 versus 25.7 +/- 8.3; n.s.). It was also demonstrated that aging negatively affects post-parthenogenetic and post-fertilization development.

We report results for chromosomal aberrations in human peripheral blood lymphocytes after they were exposed to high-energy iron ions with or without shielding at the HIMAC, AGS and NSRL accelerators. Isolated lymphocytes were exposed to iron ions with energies between 200 and 5000 MeV/nucleon in the 0.1-1-Gy dose range. Shielding materials consisted of polyethylene, lucite (PMMA), carbon, aluminum and lead, with mass thickness ranging from 2 to 30 g/cm2. After exposure, lymphocytes were stimulated to grow in vitro, and chromosomes were prematurely condensed using a phosphatase inhibitor (calyculin A). Aberrations were scored using FISH painting. The yield of total interchromosomal exchanges (including dicentrics, translocations and complex rearrangements) increased linearly with dose or fluence in the range studied. Shielding decreased the effectiveness per unit dose of iron ions. The highest RBE value was measured with the 1 GeV/nucleon iron-ion beam at NSRL. However, the RBE for the induction of aberrations apparently is not well correlated with the mean LET. When shielding thickness was increased, the frequency of aberrations per particle incident on the shield increased for the 500 MeV/nucleon ions and decreased for the 1 GeV/nucleon ions. Maximum variation at equal mass thickness was obtained with light materials (polyethylene, carbon or PMMA). Variations in the yield of chromosomal aberrations per iron particle incident on the shield follow variations in the dose per incident particle behind the shield but can be modified by the different RBE of the mixed radiation field produced by nuclear fragmentation. The results suggest that shielding design models should be benchmarked using both physics and biological data.

Background: Sodium oxybate (SMO) has been shown to be effective in the maintenance of abstinence (MoA) in alcohol-dependent patients in a series of small randomized controlled trials (RCTs). These results needed to be confirmed by a large trial investigating the treatment effect and its sustainability after medication discontinuation. Aims: To confirm the SMO effect on (sustained) MoA in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients. Methods: Large double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in detoxified adult alcohol-dependent outpatients (80% men) from 11 sites in four European countries. Patients were randomized to 6 months SMO (3.3–3.9 g/day) or placebo followed by a 6-month medication-free period. Primary outcome was the cumulative abstinence duration (CAD) during the 6-month treatment period defined as the number of days with no alcohol use. Secondary outcomes included CAD during the 12-month study period. Results: Of the 314 alcohol-dependent patients randomized, 154 received SMO and 160 received placebo. Based on the pre-specified fixed-effect two-way analysis of variance including the treatment-by-site interaction, SMO showed efficacy in CAD during the 6-month treatment period: mean difference +43.1 days, 95% confidence interval (17.6–68.5; p = 0.001). Since significant heterogeneity of effect across sites and unequal sample sizes among sites ( n = 3–66) were identified, a site-level random meta-analysis was performed with results supporting the pre-specified analysis: mean difference +32.4 days, p = 0.014. The SMO effect was sustained during the medication-free follow-up period. SMO was well-tolerated. Conclusions: Results of this large RCT in alcohol-dependent patients demonstrated a significant and clinically relevant sustained effect of SMO on CAD. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04648423

During the last decades, organic food products have become the main sustainable alternative to conventional food consumption. Among the several organic food attributes that consumers recognize in organic food, healthiness has been reported as the primary motivation to buy products certified as organic. The objective of the current study is to assess the relative weight of the health attribute among other recognized organic food attributes. To achieve this aim, a multiple price list (MPL) methodology is adopted to elicit consumers’ Willingness to Pay (WTP) for organic extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Findings show that the contribution of the health attribute to determine the average premium price for organic EVOO is 78.9% of its total premium price. The study generates managerial implications to promote further expansion of the organic food market.