Much of humanity relies on rice (Oryza sativa) as a food source, but cultivation is water intensive and the crop is vulnerable to drought and high temperatures. Under climate change, periods of reduced water availability and high temperature are expected to become more frequent, leading to detrimental effects on rice yields. We engineered the high-yielding rice cultivar 'IR64' to produce fewer stomata by manipulating the level of a developmental signal. We overexpressed the rice epidermal patterning factor OsEPF1, creating plants with substantially reduced stomatal density and correspondingly low stomatal conductance. Low stomatal density rice lines were more able to conserve water, using c. 60% of the normal amount between weeks 4 and 5 post germination. When grown at elevated atmospheric CO , rice plants with low stomatal density were able to maintain their stomatal conductance and survive drought and high temperature (40°C) for longer than control plants. Low stomatal density rice gave equivalent or even improved yields, despite a reduced rate of photosynthesis in some conditions. Rice plants with fewer stomata are drought tolerant and more conservative in their water use, and they should perform better in the future when climate change is expected to threaten food security.

Background-Alcohol and tobacco dependence are highly comorbid disorders, with preclinical evidence suggesting a role for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in alcohol consumption. Varenicline, a partial nicotinic agonist with high affinity for the α4β2 nAChR receptor, reduced ethanol intake in rodents. We aimed to test whether varenicline would reduce alcohol consumption and alcohol craving in humans.

We have developed a novel human laboratory model to examine two primary aspects of stress-precipitated tobacco relapse: 1) Does stress reduce the ability to resist the first cigarette? 2) Once the first cigarette is initiated, does stress facilitate subsequent smoking? Using a within-subject design, daily smokers (n=37) who were nicotine deprived overnight received a personalized imagery induction (stress or neutral) on two separate days, and then had the option of initiating a tobacco self-administration session or delaying initiation for up to 50 minutes in exchange for three levels of monetary reinforcement. Subsequently, the tobacco self-administration session entailed a 1-hour period in which subjects could choose to smoke using a smoking topography system. Following the stress induction, subjects were less able to resist smoking, smoked more intensely (increased puffs, shorter inter-puff interval, and greater peak puff velocity), and perceived greater satisfaction and reward from smoking. Stress significantly increased hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity, tobacco craving, negative emotion, and physiologic reactivity relative to the neutral condition. Additionally, increased cortisol, ACTH, and tobacco craving were associated with reduced ability to resist smoking following stress. These findings have implications for understanding the impact of stress on smoking relapse and model development to assess smoking lapse behavior.

This paper describes the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data products being made available to the community. The Science Team used ten validation criteria to judge the acceptability of the data for archival. We list these criteria and present uncertainty estimates based on them for four typical data products. A brief description of the radiation budget for April 1985 from the combined data of ERBE and NOAA-9 concludes this paper.

Automobile crash reports show that up to 40% of fatal crashes in the United States involve alcohol and that younger drivers are over-represented. Alcohol use among young drivers is associated with impulsive and risky driving behaviors, such as speeding, which could contribute to their overrepresentation in alcohol-related crash statistics. Recent laboratory studies show that alcohol increases impulsive behaviors by impairing the drinker's ability to inhibit inappropriate actions and that this effect can be exacerbated in conflict situations where the expression and inhibition of behavior are equally motivating. The present study tested the hypothesis that this response conflict might also intensify the disruptive effects of alcohol on driving performance. Fourteen subjects performed a simulated driving and a cued go/no-go task that measured their inhibitory control. Conflict was motivated in these tasks by providing equal monetary incentives for slow, careful behavior (e.g., slow driving, inhibiting impulses) and for quick, abrupt behavior (fast driving, disinhibition). Subjects were tested under two alcohol doses (0.65 g/kg and a placebo) that were administered twice: when conflict was present and when conflict was absent. Alcohol interacted with conflict to impair inhibitory control and to increase risky and impaired driving behavior on the drive task. Also, individuals whose inhibitory control was most impaired by alcohol displayed the poorest driving performance under the drug. The study demonstrates potentially serious disruptions to driving performance as a function of alcohol intoxication and response conflict, and points to inhibitory control as an important underlying mechanism.