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International audience; Secretory intestinal IgA can protect from re-infection with rotavirus (RV), but very little is known about the mechanisms that induce IgA production during intestinal virus infections. Classical dendritic cells (cDCs) in the intestine can facilitate both T cell-dependent and -independent secretory IgA. Here, we show that BATF3-dependent cDC1, but not cDC2, are critical for the optimal induction of RV-specific IgA responses in the mesenteric lymph nodes. This depends on the selective expression of the TGF beta-activating integrin alpha v beta 8 by cDC1. In contrast, alpha v beta 8 on cDC1 is dispensible for steady state immune homeostasis. Given that cDC2 are crucial in driving IgA during steady state but are dispensable for RV-specific IgA responses, we propose that the capacity of DC subsets to induce intestinal IgA responses reflects the context, as opposed to an intrinsic property of individual DC subsets.

of conference oral presentation on Smartphone microscopy – Tips for taking high-quality microscope images with a phone camera by Earth Systems Analyst Bob Gooday of National Museums Scotland Edinburgh United Kingdom for SPNHC2022 Conference, Edinburgh. June 5-10th 2022.

Charcot neuroarthropathy (CN) is a complication of neuropathy, in people with diabetes. Treatment requires the prolonged wearing of an offloading device, which can be challenging. The importance of understanding people's perspectives for promoting their engagement in self management is well known. However, no such studies have been done in CN. This qualitative study aimed to understand people's experiences of CN.Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 14 participants with CN, recruited from a randomised controlled trial. We gathered opinions, thoughts and the meanings participants attributed to their experiences of CN and its physical, socio-economic and physiological effects and how this affected their families and relationships. We analysed the interviews using Inductive Thematic Analysis.Four analytic themes were identified: (1) 'Trapped at home isolated and missing social life and daily life routines'; (2) 'Disruption to people's roles, responsibilities, relationships and mobility, which people adapted to try and address and manage'; (3) 'Pain which participants related to the direct or indirect consequences of wearing the cast or boot'; and (4) 'Blame for developing CN, attributed to themselves and healthcare professionals'. Participants described guilt about needing more support, expressing frustration, low mood and low self-esteem.This study highlights experiential aspects of the previously unrecognised burden of CN. Its physical, social and emotional impacts on participants and their families are substantial and sustained. There is a need to raise clinical awareness of CN and its wider effects.ISRCTN74101606. Registered on 6 November 2017, http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN74101606?q=CADomfilters=sort=offset=1totalResults=1page=1pageSize=10searchType=basic-search.

A comprehensive understanding of the deep-sea environment and mining’s likely impacts is necessary to assess whether and under what conditions deep-seabed mining operations comply with the International Seabed Authority’s obligations to prevent ‘serious harm’ and ensure the ‘effective protection of the marine environment from harmful effects’ in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. A synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature and consultations with deep-seabed mining stakeholders revealed that, despite an increase in deep-sea research, there are few categories of publicly available scientific knowledge comprehensive enough to enable evidence-based decision-making regarding environmental management, including whether to proceed with mining in regions where exploration contracts have been granted by the International Seabed Authority. Further information on deep-sea environmental baselines and mining impacts is critical for this emerging industry. Closing the scientific gaps related to deep-seabed mining is a monumental task that is essential to fulfilling the overarching obligation to prevent serious harm and ensure effective protection, and will require clear direction, substantial resources, and robust coordination and collaboration. Based on the information gathered, we propose a potential high-level road map of activities that could stimulate a much-needed discussion on the steps that should be taken to close key scientific gaps before any exploitation is considered. These steps include the definition of environmental goals and objectives, the establishment of an international research agenda to generate new deep-sea environmental, biological, and ecological information, and the synthesis of data that already exist.

Xenophyophores, giant deep-sea agglutinated foraminifera, dominate the benthic megafauna in the eastern equatorial Pacific Clarion-Clipperton Zone. This abyssal (>4000 m depth) region hosts major deposits of polymetallic nodules targeted for future seabed mining, an activity that would destroy these highly diverse and delicate protists, particularly those living on the nodules themselves. Since the cell occupies only a small proportion of their test volume, xenophyophores may make a fairly modest contribution to benthic biomass and carbon cycling. Nevertheless, xenophyophore tests can passively enhance particle deposition, concentrate food, and provide habitat structure utilized by diverse organisms. Their destruction could therefore influence the recovery of benthic communities. Species requiring nodule substrates will likely not recover, since nodules take millions of years to form. However, xenophyophores can grow quickly and colonize extensive volcanic ash deposits within years, suggesting that sediment-dwelling species could be among the first large immobile organisms to reappear in mining-impacted areas.

Jullienella foetida is probably the largest agglutinated foraminifer in modern oceans and can reach a length of up to ~14 cm. Because of its large size, the species was initially considered to be a bryozoan, but later correctly described as a single-chambered (monothalamous) foraminifer with a large, flat or slightly undulating plate-like test, leaf-like, or fan-like in overall shape and with the chamber interior subdivided by longitudinal partitions. It occupies a restricted geographical range around part of the NW African margin where it is found in eutrophic settings with a preference for energetic environments.We have applied a suite of non-destructive methods, namely light microscopy, SEM, X-ray and high-resolution micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to 1) explore its external and internal test characteristics and 2) to provide a first-order estimate of its possible contribution to sea floor biomass. High-resolution SEM images show the test wall to comprises a smooth, outer veneer of small mineral grains that overlies the much thicker inner layer, which has a porous structure and is composed of grains measuring several hundreds of microns in size. X-ray images of the test reveal an elaborate system of radial partitions that subdivides the test interior into channels that may serve to direct the flow of the cytoplasm, and perhaps increase its surface to volume ratio. Micro-CT scans suggest that much of the test interior is filled with cytoplasm with a biomass comparable to that of slightly larger xenophyophores. This remarkable species appears to play an important, perhaps keystone, role in benthic ecosystems where it is abundant, providing the only common hard substrate on which sessile organisms can settle.

Single-chambered (monothalamous) foraminifera are poorly known compared to their much more familiar multichambered relatives. In this first study of monothalamids in Greenlandic waters, we describe one new genus and two new species belonging to different monothalamid clades from Nuuk fjord system (SW Greenland). Nujappikia idaliensis Gooday & Holzmann gen. nov. sp. nov. (Clade Y) has an approximately cylindrical, bottle-shaped test terminating in a single aperture at the end of a short neck. The flexible, translucent wall is basically organic but with a veneer of very fine agglutinated particles. Bathyallogromia kalaallita Gooday & Holzmann sp. nov. (Clade C) has a spherical to broadly ovate test with a transparent, organic wall and a slightly-produced, mound-like apertural structure. It is larger and genetically distinct from the other two known species of the genus, both from the Southern Ocean. A preliminary survey of the morphological diversity of monothalamds in our samples revealed at least 49 distinct morphospecies. From 19 of these, including the two new species, we obtained DNA sequences that could be assigned to nine clades. Five could be placed in monothalamid genera: Bathysiphon sp, (Clade BM), Micrometula sp. (Clade BM), Psammophaga sp. (Clade E), Hippocrepinella sp. (Clade D) and Crithionina sp. (Clade J). The remaining twelve represented unknown taxa branching in four already established clades (A, C, F, Y) and one new clade. Our results add to growing evidence that these largely overlooked protists are a common and diverse element of meiofaunal assemblages in fjords and other high-latitude settings.

This paper describes the approach that has been used by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) to produce quarterly forecasts since 1948 for Australia’s most important agricultural commodity markets. The Australian Agricultural Forecasting System (AAFS) is comprised of a database, a group of loosely-coupled commodity-specific balance sheets and a system for publishing forecasts. AAFS has evolved from decades of design choices that have revolved around the competing methodological merits of balance sheets and structural models. Balance sheets have emerged as the preferred method because they provide an efficient means of forecasting in their own right, as well as a means of incorporating insights from other forecasting methods and expert judgement. An issue for ABARES has been that the systems attributes of AAFS have at times gone unrecognised and proven to be incompatible with conventional approaches to management. Recognising the systems characteristics of AAFS has allowed the transfer of management principles from a range of literatures that study complex systems.

Purpose This technical paper provides rigorous and practical guidance on how economists should approach discount rates and the treatment of risk in their analysis of agricultural projects. Key findings • The standard approach in most Australian economic analysis is to discount future costs and benefits at 7 per cent. However, this is not always a good approximation. In particular, it does not account for differences in riskiness between the projects being evaluated and alternatives. • The theoretically correct approach for discount rates and the treatment of risk is described and contrasted with the standard approach. Revisiting a previous biosecurity application, we show that the theoretically correct approach can make a substantial difference.