BACKGROUND: Saturation diving is a standard method of intervention for commercial diving during offshore operations. Current saturation procedures achieve a high level of safety with regards to decompression sickness but still put the divers under multiple stressors: 1) Environmental stress (long confinement, heat/cold, dense gases, high oxygen levels), 2) Work stress (muscular fatigue, psychological pressure, breathing equipment, etc.), 3) venous gas emboli associated with decompression, 4) Inflammation related to oxidative stress and microparticles. We present the results of a saturation divers monitoring campaign performed in the North Sea Danish sector, on the Tyra field, during 2022. The study was supported by TotalEnergies, the field operator, and performed by Boskalis Subsea Services, the diving contractor, onboard the diving support vessel Boka Atlantis. The objective was twofold: document the level of diving stress during saturation operations in the Danish sector, and compare the performances of two saturation procedures, the Boskalis and the NORSOK procedures.
METHODS: Fourteen divers volunteered for the study. The monitoring package include weight and temperature measurements, psychomotor tests (objective evaluation) and questionnaires (subjective evaluation), Doppler bubble detection and bioimpedance. The results were presented in a radar diagram that provides a general view of the situation.
RESULTS: The data were analysed along 3 dimensions: work and environmental, desaturation bubbles, oxidative stress and inflammation. The results showed little or no variations from the reference values. No bubbles were detected after excursion dives and the final decompression, except for two divers with a grade 1 after arriving at surface. No statistical difference could be found between the Boskalis and the NORSOK saturation procedures.
CONCLUSIONS: At a depth of 40-50 msw corresponding to the Danish sector, the two saturation procedures monitored induce no or little stress to the divers. The divers know how to manage their diet, equilibrate their hydration and pace their effort. Data available on divers\' post saturation period show a recovery over the 24-48 hours following the end of the decompression. Further research should focus on diving deeper than 100 msw where a greater stress can be anticipated.

The recent trend of global warming poses a significant threat to ecosystems worldwide. This global climate change has also impacted the pollution levels in aquatic ecosystems, subsequently affecting human health. To address these issues, an experiment was conducted to investigate the mitigating effects of iron nanoparticles (Fe-NPs) on arsenic and ammonia toxicity as well as high temperature stress (As+NH3+T). Fe-NPs were biologically synthesized using fish waste and incorporated into feed formulations at 10, 15, and 20 mg kg-1 diet. A total of 12 treatments were designed in triplicate following a completely randomized design involving 540 fish. Fe-NPs at 15 mg kg-1 diet notably reduced the cortisol levels in fish exposed to multiple stressors. The gene expressions of HSP 70, DNA damage-inducible protein (DDIP), and DNA damage were upregulated by stressors (As+NH3+T) and downregulated by Fe-NPs. Apoptotic genes (Cas 3a and 3b) and detoxifying genes (CYP 450), metallothionein (MT), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were downregulated by Fe-NPs at 15 mg kg-1 diet in fish subjected to As+NH3+T stress. Immune-related genes such as tumor necrosis factor (TNFα), immunoglobulin (Ig), and interleukin (IL) were upregulated by Fe-NPs, indicating enhanced immunity in fish under As+NH3+T stress. Conversely, Toll-like receptor (TLR) expression was notably downregulated by Fe-NPs at 15 mg kg-1 diet in fish under As+NH3+T stress. Immunological attributes such as nitro blue tetrazolium chloride, total protein, albumin, globulin, A:G ratio, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were improved by dietary Fe-NPs at 15 mg kg-1 diet in fish, regardless of stressors. The antioxidant genes (CAT, SOD, and GPx) were also strengthened by Fe-NPs in fish. Genes associated with growth performance, such as growth hormone regulator (GHR1 and GHRβ), growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor (IGF 1X and IGF 2X), were upregulated, enhancing fish growth under stress, while SMT and MYST were downregulated by Fe-NPs in the diet. Various growth performance indicators were improved by dietary Fe-NPs at 15 mg kg-1 diet. Notably, Fe-NPs also enhanced arsenic detoxification and reduced the cumulative mortality after a bacterial infection. In conclusion, this study highlights that dietary Fe-NPs can effectively mitigate arsenic and ammonia toxicity as well as high temperature stress by modulating gene expression in fish.

Plants can experience a variety of environmental stresses that significantly impact their fitness and survival. Additionally, biotic stress can harm agriculture, leading to reduced crop yields and economic losses worldwide. As a result, plants have developed defense strategies to combat potential invaders. These strategies involve regulating redox homeostasis. Several studies have documented the positive role of plant antioxidants, including Ascorbate (Asc), under biotic stress conditions. Asc is a multifaceted antioxidant that scavenges ROS, acts as a co-factor for different enzymes, regulates gene expression, and facilitates iron transport. However, little attention has been given to Asc and its transport, regulatory effects, interplay with phytohormones, and involvement in defense processes under biotic stress. Asc interacts with other components of the redox system and phytohormones to activate various defense responses that reduce the growth of plant pathogens and promote plant growth and development under biotic stress conditions. Scientific reports indicate that Asc can significantly contribute to plant resistance against biotic stress through mutual interactions with components of the redox and hormonal systems. This review focuses on the role of Asc in enhancing plant resistance against pathogens. Further research is necessary to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular and cellular regulatory processes involved.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important food crop with a wide range of uses in both industry and agriculture. Drought stress during its growth cycle can greatly reduce maize crop yield and quality. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying maize responses to drought stress remain unclear. In this work, a WRKY transcription factor-encoding gene, ZmWRKY30, from drought-treated maize leaves was screened out and characterized. ZmWRKY30 gene expression was induced by dehydration treatments. The ZmWRKY30 protein localized to the nucleus and displayed transactivation activity in yeast. Compared with wild-type (WT) plants, Arabidopsis lines overexpressing ZmWRKY30 exhibited a significantly enhanced drought stress tolerance, as evidenced by the improved survival rate, increased antioxidant enzyme activity by superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT), elevated proline content, and reduced lipid peroxidation recorded after drought stress treatment. In contrast, the mutator (Mu)-interrupted ZmWRKY30 homozygous mutant (zmwrky30) was more sensitive to drought stress than its null segregant (NS), characterized by the decreased survival rate, reduced antioxidant enzyme activity (SOD, POD, and CAT) and proline content, as well as increased malondialdehyde accumulation. RNA-Seq analysis further revealed that, under drought conditions, the knockout of the ZmWRKY30 gene in maize affected the expression of genes involved in reactive oxygen species (ROS), proline, and myo-inositol metabolism. Meanwhile, the zmwrky30 mutant exhibited significant downregulation of myo-inositol content in leaves under drought stress. Combined, our results suggest that ZmWRKY30 positively regulates maize responses to water scarcity. This work provides potential target genes for the breeding of drought-tolerant maize.

Cronobacter sakazakii, an opportunity foodborne pathogen, could contaminate a broad range of food materials and cause life-threatening symptoms in infants. The bacterial envelope structure contribute to bacterial environment tolerance, biofilm formation and virulence in various in Gram-negative bacteria. DsbA and PepP are two important genes related to the biogenesis and stability of bacterial envelope. In this study, the DsbA and PepP were deleted in C. sakazakii to evaluate their contribution to stress tolerance and virulence of the pathogen. The bacterial environment resistance assays showed DsbA and PepP are essential in controlling C. sakazakii resistance to heat and desiccation in different mediums, as well as acid, osmotic, oxidation and bile salt stresses. DsbA and PepP also played an important role in regulating biofilm formation and motility. Furthermore, DsbA and PepP deletion weaken C. sakazakii adhesion and invasion in Caco-2, intracellular survival and replication in RAW 264.7. qRT-PCR results showed that DsbA and PepP of C. sakazakii played roles in regulating the expression of several genes associated with environment stress tolerance, biofilm formation, bacterial motility and cellular invasion. These findings indicate that DsbA and PepP played an important regulatory role in the environment resisitance, biofilm formation and virulence of C. sakazakii, which enrich understanding of genetic determinants of adaptability and virulence of the pathogen.

Stress can play a significant role in arterial hypertension and many other complications of cardiovascular diseases. Considerable attention is paid to the study of the molecular mechanisms involved in the body response to stressful influences, but there are still many blank spots in understanding the details. ISIAH rats model the stress-sensitive form of arterial hypertension. ISIAH rats are characterized by genetically determined enhanced activities of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical and sympathetic-adrenomedullary systems, suggesting a functional state of increased stress reactivity. For the first time, the temporal expression patterns of Fos and several related genes were studied in the hypothalamus of adult male hypertensive ISIAH rats after a single exposure to restraint stress for 30, 60, or 120 min. Fos transcription was activated and peaked 1 h after the start of restraint stress. The time course of Fos activation coincided with that of blood pressure increase after stress. Activation of hypothalamic neurons also alters the transcription levels of several transcription factor genes (Jun, Nr4a3, Jdp2, and Ppargc1a), which are associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases. Because Fos induction is a marker of brain neuron activation, activation of hypothalamic neurons and an increase in blood pressure were concluded to accompany increased stress reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical and sympathoadrenal systems in hypertensive ISIAH rats during short-term restraint.

BACKGROUND: Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera G.) is an important aquatic plant with high ornamental, economic, cultural and ecological values, but abiotic stresses seriously affect its growth and distribution. Q-type C2H2 zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) play an important role in plant growth development and environmental stress responses. Although the Q-type C2H2 gene family has been identified in some plants, limited reports has been carried out it in lotus.
RESULTS: In this study, we identified 45 Q-type NnZFP members in lotus. Based on the phylogenetic tree, these Q-type NnZFP gene family members were divided into 4 groups, including C1-1i, C1-2i, C1-3i and C1-4i. Promoter cis-acting elements analysis indicated that most Q-type NnZFP gene family members in lotus were associated with response to abiotic stresses. Through collinearity analyses, no tandem duplication gene pairs and 14 segmental duplication gene pairs were identified, which showed that duplication events might play a key role in the expansion of the Q-type NnZFP gene family. The synteny results suggested that 54 and 28 Q-type NnZFP genes were orthologous to Arabidopsis and rice, respectively. The expression patterns of these Q-type NnZFP genes revealed that 30 Q-type NnZFP genes were expressed in at least one lotus tissue. Nn5g30550 showed relatively higher expression levels in all tested tissues. 12 genes were randomly selected with at least one gene from each phylogenetic clade, and the expression of these selected genes were confirmed by qRT-PCR (quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction). The results indicated that Q-type NnZFP genes were extensively involved in cadmium, drought, salt and cold stresses responses. Among them, 11 genes responded to at least three different stress treatments, especially Nn2g12894, which induced by all four treatments.
CONCLUSIONS: These results could increase our understanding of the characterization of the Q-type NnZFP gene family and provide relevant information for further functional analysis of Q-type NnZFP genes in plant development, and abiotic stress tolerance in lotus.

BACKGROUND: Lactobacillus plantarum has been found to play a significant role in maintaining the balance of intestinal flora in the human gut. However, it is sensitive to commonly used antibiotics and is often incidentally killed during treatment. We attempted to identify a means to protect L. plantarum ATCC14917 from the metabolic changes caused by two commonly used antibiotics, ampicillin, and doxycycline. We examined the metabolic changes under ampicillin and doxycycline treatment and assessed the protective effects of adding key exogenous metabolites.
RESULTS: Using metabolomics, we found that under the stress of ampicillin or doxycycline, L. plantarum ATCC14917 exhibited reduced metabolic activity, with purine metabolism a key metabolic pathway involved in this change. We then screened the key biomarkers in this metabolic pathway, guanine and adenosine diphosphate (ADP). The exogenous addition of each of these two metabolites significantly reduced the lethality of ampicillin and doxycycline on L. plantarum ATCC14917. Because purine metabolism is closely related to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the results showed that the addition of guanine or ADP reduced intracellular ROS levels in L. plantarum ATCC14917. Moreover, the killing effects of ampicillin and doxycycline on L. plantarum ATCC14917 were restored by the addition of a ROS accelerator in the presence of guanine or ADP.
CONCLUSIONS: The metabolic changes of L. plantarum ATCC14917 under antibiotic treatments were determined. Moreover, the metabolome information that was elucidated can be used to help L. plantarum cope with adverse stress, which will help probiotics become less vulnerable to antibiotics during clinical treatment.

Anthropological and biophysical processes have shaped livestock genomes over Millenia and can explain their current geographic distribution and genetic divergence. We analyzed 57 Ethiopian indigenous domestic goat genomes alongside 67 equivalents of east, west, and north-west African, European, South Asian, Middle East, and wild Bezoar goats. Cluster, ADMIXTURE (K = 4) and phylogenetic analysis revealed four genetic groups comprising African, European, South Asian, and wild Bezoar goats. The Middle Eastern goats had an admixed genome of these four genetic groups. At K = 5, the West African Dwarf and Moroccan goats were separated from East African goats demonstrating a likely historical legacy of goat arrival and dispersal into Africa via the coastal Mediterranean Sea and the Horn of Africa. FST, XP-EHH, and Hp analysis revealed signatures of selection in Ethiopian goats overlaying genes for thermo-sensitivity, oxidative stress response, high-altitude hypoxic adaptation, reproductive fitness, pathogen defence, immunity, pigmentation, DNA repair, modulation of renal function and integrated fluid and electrolyte homeostasis. Notable examples include TRPV1 (a nociception gene); PTPMT1 (a critical hypoxia survival gene); RETREG (a regulator of reticulophagy during starvation), and WNK4 (a molecular switch for osmoregulation). These results suggest that human-mediated translocations and adaptation to contrasting environments are shaping indigenous African goat genomes.

Drought stress following climate change is likely a scenario that will have to face crop growers in tropical regions. In mitigating this constraint, the best option should be the selection and use of resilient varieties that can withstand drought threats. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions at the Research and Teaching Farm of the Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences of the University of Dschang. The objectives are to identify sensitive growth stage, to identify drought-tolerant genotypes with the help of yield-based selection indices and to identify suitable selection indices that are associated with yield under non-stress and stress circumstances. Eighty-eight cowpea genotypes from the sahelian and western regions of Cameroon were subjected to drought stress at vegetative (VDS) and flowering (FDS) stages by withholding water for 28 days, using a split plot design with two factors and three replications. Seed yields under stress (Ys) and non-stress (Yp) conditions were recorded. Fifteen drought indices were calculated for the two drought stress levels against the yield from non-stress plants. Drought Intensity Index (DII) under VDS and FDS were 0.71 and 0.84 respectively, indicating severe drought stress for both stages. However, flowering stage was significantly more sensitive to drought stress compared to vegetative stage. Based on PCA and correlation analysis, Stress Tolerance Index (STI), Relative Efficiency Index (REI), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), Mean Productivity (MP), Yield Index (YI) and Harmonic Mean (HM) correlated strongly with yield under stress and non-stress conditions and are therefore suitable to discriminate high-yielding and tolerant genotypes under both stress and non-stress conditions. Either under VDS and FDS, CP-016 exhibited an outstanding performance under drought stress and was revealed as the most drought tolerant genotype as shown by ranking, PCA and cluster analysis. Taking into account all indices, the top five genotypes namely CP-016, CP-021, MTA-22, CP-056 and CP-060 were identified as the most drought-tolerant genotypes under VDS. For stress activated at flowering stage (FDS), CP-016, CP-056, CP-021, CP-028 and MTA-22 were the top five most drought-tolerant genotypes. Several genotypes with insignificant Ys and irrelevant rank among which CP-037, NDT-001, CP-036, CP-034, NDT-002, CP-031, NDT-011 were identified as highly drought sensitive with low yield stability. This study identified the most sensitive stage and drought tolerant genotypes that are proposed for genetic improvement of cowpea.