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Since 2016, UOW Library staff have been engaged in developing a culture of agility, strong digital literacy, and experimental exploration as part of the Future-Ready Library and the Thriving Digital Library strategies. This culture enabled the trial and implementation of a proactive chat widget at University of Wollongong Library prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative and quantitative data show how valuable proactive chat was to the students and staff at UOW during a period of high uncertainty. Pro-active chat achieved the goal of equitable provision of resources to library users at a time when visitor and travel rules restricted physical access to UOW Library buildings and on-site staff. The pandemic has been declared over, however, UOW Library continues to utilise proactive chat and to build upon and expand its functionality. The lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown that to withstand and succeed in the face of continued change to the provision of services in the GLAM sector, the attributes of agility and flexibility as well as strong and ongoing growth in digital literacy skills are vital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many regulatory bodies now recommend that tobacco product manufacturers provide information regarding new tobacco products' abuse liability to inform regulatory authorization of currently marketed tobacco products or new product applications (including premarket tobacco product applications in the United States). In addition, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends including this information as part of modified risk tobacco product applications. Regulators, including FDA, and many public health officials and researchers consider abuse liability assessment a model which predicts the likelihood that the use of the tobacco product would result in addiction and be used repeatedly or even sporadically resulting in undesirable effects. Abuse liability of a new, potentially reduced harm product can also inform its ability to substitute completely for more harmful tobacco products. While many methods exist, no standard tobacco product abuse liability assessment has been established. The purpose of this review is to provide background information and practical recommendations for human abuse liability testing methods to meet tobacco regulatory needs. A combination of nicotine test product pharmacokinetic, subjective effect and/or behavioral response, and physiological response data relative to comparator products with known abuse liability satisfies some regulatory requirements. Implications: This review provides a practical inspection of the current, international regulatory recommendations for abuse liability assessment of tobacco and regulatory review of such information within the United States and also recommends study designs and methods for abuse liability testing of tobacco products based on scientific and regulatory knowledge. Given that tobacco product abuse liability testing is of increasing interest to regulatory bodies globally, especially with the emergence of novel tobacco products, this timely work provides background and functional recommendations for tobacco product abuse liability testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global output of cottonseed contains ∼10.8 trillion grams of protein that can meet the basic protein requirements of ∼590 million people at a rate of 50 g/day. However, gossypol, a toxic terpenoid present in seed glands, renders cottonseed unfit as food for human consumption or as feed for nonruminants. RNAi, under the control of a seed-specific promoter, was used to selectively silence δ-cadinene synthase gene to reduce gossypol levels in the seed by 97% without affecting the levels of gossypol and related terpenoids in rest of the plant where they are needed for defense against insects and diseases. The resulting Ultra-low Gossypol Cottonseed (ULGCS) is considered safe as food or as feed for more efficient (both, in terms of feed conversion ratio and protein conversion ratio) monogastric animals. Field trials conducted over multiple years in multiple states confirm the stability and heritability of the trait with no diminution of fiber/seed yield, quality or agronomic performance. A ULGCS event, TAM66274, was deregulated by USDA-APHIS in October 2018 and FDA concluded its food safety consultation in September 2019 and concurred with our determination of its safety. Global adoption of TAM66274, with more efficient and expanded usage of its protein, has the potential to significantly improve nutrition security and boost farmers' income without requiring additional inputs or acreage under cultivation, thus making cotton farming more sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In seeds and other parts of cultivated, tetraploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), multicellular groups of cells lysigenously form dark glands containing toxic terpenoids such as gossypol that defend the plant against pests and pathogens. Using RNA‐seq analysis of embryos from near‐isogenic glanded (Gl2Gl2Gl3Gl3) versus glandless (gl2gl2gl3gl3) plants, we identified 33 genes that expressed exclusively or at higher levels in embryos just prior to gland formation in glanded plants. Virus‐induced gene silencing against three gene pairs led to significant reductions in the number of glands in the leaves, and significantly lower levels of gossypol and related terpenoids. These genes encode transcription factors and have been designated the 'Cotton Gland Formation' (CGF) genes. No sequence differences were found between glanded and glandless cotton for CGF1 and CGF2 gene pairs. The glandless cotton has a transposon insertion within the coding sequence of the GoPGF (synonym CGF3) gene of the A subgenome and extensive mutations in the promoter of D subgenome homeolog. Overexpression of GoPGF (synonym CGF3) led to a dramatic increase in gossypol and related terpenoids in cultured cells, whereas CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of GoPGF (synonym CGF3) genes resulted in glandless phenotype. Taken collectively, the results show that the GoPGF (synonym CGF3) gene plays a critical role in the formation of glands in the cotton plant. Seed‐specific silencing of CGF genes, either individually or in combination, could eliminate glands, thus gossypol, from the cottonseed to render it safe as food or feed for monogastrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of ambulatory clinical studies were conducted to evaluate changes in biomarkers of tobacco exposure and subjective product ratings when adult smokers switched to dual use of cigarettes with Camel Strips (Strips), Camel Sticks (Sticks), or Camel (SNUS). In all studies, subjects smoked ad libitum for one week (baseline). In incremental stages over three subsequent weeks, subjects were instructed to reduce cigarettes per day (CPD) by at least 75% and include use of one type of smokeless tobacco product (STP). Product use data was recorded by subjects daily, questionnaires were administered and smoked cigarette filters and used snus pouches were collected weekly, and 24-hour urine samples were collected at baseline and the end of dual use for measurement of biomarkers of tobacco exposure. In total, 100 subjects were enrolled, and 88 completed the studies. At the end of dual use, mean CPD reductions of approximately 60% were reported in all studies. Median levels of biomarkers of 4-(methylnitrosamino)- 1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) and acrolein either did not statistically significantly change or showed statistically significant decreases in all studies. Serum and urinary nicotine biomarkers did not significantly change. Twentyfive additional biomarkers were measured only in the SNUS study. Of those, 18 biomarkers statistically significantly decreased 12.4-35.7%. No statistically significant increases in biomarker levels were observed in any of the studies. Decreases in some biomarkers confirmed that smoking reductions occurred but were less than the reported CPD reductions. Mouth-level exposure estimates suggest subjects did not significantly alter their puffing behavior to compensate for decreased CPD. Acceptability ratings of cigarettes decreased significantly during dual use, while ratings of Strips and SNUS increased, suggesting that the change in use behavior affected subjects' perceptions of the products. Results from these studies suggest that smokers who switch to dual use with either dissolvable tobacco or snus will likely not increase tobacco constituent exposure and may reduce exposure to some tobacco toxicants, especially those associated with combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to evaluate biomarkers of biological effect and physiological assessments related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) among adult male cigarette smokers (SMK), moist snuff consumers (MSC) and non-consumers of tobacco (NTC). Additionally, biomarkers of tobacco and tobacco smoke exposure (BoE) were measured in spot urines and are reported here. Except for the BoE to nicotine and NNK, BoE were generally greater in SMK compared with MSC, and BoE were generally not different in comparisons of MSC and NTC. Results demonstrated that MSC had lower systemic exposures to many harmful and potentially harmful constituents than SMK, which is consistent with epidemiological data that indicate a differential in CVD risk between these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main Conclusion: Use of Ultra-low gossypol cottonseed event as a scion in a graft combination confirmed that roots are not a source of terpenoids in the aboveground parts of a cotton plant. Gossypol and related terpenoids, derived from the same basic biosynthetic pathway, are present in the numerous lysigenous glands in the aboveground parts of a cotton plant. Roots, with sparse presence of such glands, do produce significant amount of gossypol and a different set of terpenoids. These compounds serve a defensive function against various pests and pathogens. This investigation was undertaken to examine whether gossypol produced in the roots can replenish the gossypol content of the cottonseed-glands that are largely devoid of this terpenoid in a genetically engineered event. Graft unions between a scion derived from the RNAi-based, Ultra-low gossypol cottonseed (ULGCS) event, TAM66274, and a rootstock derived from wild-type parental genotype, Coker 312 (Coker), were compared with various other grafts that served as controls. The results showed that the seeds developing within the scion of test grafts (ULGCS/Coker) continued to maintain the ultra-low gossypol levels found in the TAM66274 seeds. Molecular analyses confirmed that while the key gene involved in gland development showed normal activity in the developing embryos in the scion, two genes encoding the enzymes involved in gossypol biosynthesis were suppressed. Thus, the gene expression data confirmed the results obtained from biochemical measurements and collectively demonstrated that roots are not a source of gossypol for the aboveground parts of the cotton plant. These findings, combined with the results from previous investigations, support the assertion that gossypol and related terpenoids are produced in a highly localized manner in various organs of the cotton plant and are retained therein., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Cotton continues to be a crop of great economic importance in many developing and some developed countries. Cotton plants expressing the Bt gene to deter some of the major pests have been enthusiastically and widely accepted by the farmers in three of the major producing countries, i.e., China, India, and the USA. Considering the constraints related to its production and the wide variety of products derived from the cotton plant, it offers several target traits that can be improved through genetic engineering. Thus, there is a great need to accelerate the application of biotechnological tools for cotton improvement. This requires a simple, yet robust gene delivery/transformant recovery system. Recently, a protocol, involving large-scale, mechanical isolation of embryonic axes from germinating cottonseeds followed by direct transformation of the meristematic cells has been developed by an industrial laboratory. However, complexity of the mechanical device and the patent restrictions are likely to keep this method out of reach of most academic laboratories. In this chapter, we describe the method developed in our laboratory that has undergone further refinements and involves Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of cotton cells, selection of stable transgenic callus lines, and recovery of plants via somatic embryogenesis.