BACKGROUNDWhether vaccination during pregnancy could reduce the burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-associated lower respiratory tract illness in newborns and infants is uncertain. METHODSIn this phase 3, double-blind trial conducted in 18 countries, we randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, pregnant women at 24 through 36 weeks' gestation to receive a single intramuscular injection of 120 μg of a bivalent RSV prefusion F proteinbased (RSVpreF) vaccine or placebo. The two primary efficacy end points were medically attended severe RSV-associated lower respiratory tract illness and medically attended RSV-associated lower respiratory tract illness in infants within 90, 120, 150, and 180 days after birth. A lower boundary of the confidence interval for vaccine efficacy (99.5% confidence interval [CI] at 90 days; 97.58% CI at later intervals) greater than 20% was considered to meet the success criterion for vaccine efficacy with respect to the primary end points. RESULTSAt this prespecified interim analysis, the success criterion for vaccine efficacy was met with respect to one primary end point. Overall, 3682 maternal participants received vaccine and 3676 received placebo; 3570 and 3558 infants, respectively, were evaluated. Medically attended severe lower respiratory tract illness occurred within 90 days after birth in 6 infants of women in the vaccine group and 33 infants of women in the placebo group (vaccine efficacy, 81.8%; 99.5% CI, 40.6 to 96.3); 19 cases and 62 cases, respectively, occurred within 180 days after birth (vaccine efficacy, 69.4%; 97.58% CI, 44.3 to 84.1). Medically attended RSV-associated lower respiratory tract illness occurred within 90 days after birth in 24 infants of women in the vaccine group and 56 infants of women in the placebo group (vaccine efficacy, 57.1%; 99.5% CI, 14.7 to 79.8); these results did not meet the statistical success criterion. No safety signals were detected in maternal participants or in infants and toddlers up to 24 months of age. The incidences of adverse events reported within 1 month after injection or within 1 month after birth were similar in the vaccine group (13.8% of women and 37.1% of infants) and the placebo group (13.1% and 34.5%, respectively). CONCLUSIONSRSVpreF vaccine administered during pregnancy was effective against medically attended severe RSV-associated lower respiratory tract illness in infants, and no safety concerns were identified. (Funded by Pfizer; MATISSE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04424316.

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Documented increases in global atmospheric CO2 concentration have stimulated interest in the direct effects of CO2 on plant growth and yield as well as the interactive effects of CO2 with other major climatic variables. This study was conducted to determine the effects and interactions of CO2 concentration and air temperature on the development, growth, total nonstructural carbohydrate (TNC), and final seed yield of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr., cv. Bragg] grown season‐long in naturally lit, controlled‐environment chambers. Day/night air temperatures of 26/19, 31/24, and 36/29 °C were maintained in CO2 treatments of 330 and 660 μmol CO2 mol−1 air. Both CO2 enrichment and increasing air temperature decreased main stem plastochron interval, while increasing air temperature increased final main stem node number. Leaf area and above‐ground biomass increased with CO2 enrichment and with temperature from 26/19 °C to 31/24 °C. The nonlinear increase with temperature in leaf area, aboveground biomass, and plastochron interval was attributed to the highest temperature treatment being near or above the optimum for soybean growth and development. Seed yield increased with CO2 enrichment due mainly to an increase in seed number rather than weight per seed. Individual seed weight decreased, while seed number increased with increasing temperature. Leaflet TNC displayed large diurnal variations, while stem TNC was relatively stable throughout the day. Stem TNC was less affected by CO2 than by temperature treatment and decreased with increasing temperature. These results indicate that the response of soybean to elevated CO2 concentration is highly temperature dependent.

Agricultural production is under increasing pressure by global anthropogenic changes, including rising population, diversion of cereals to biofuels, increased protein demands and climatic extremes. Because of the immediate and dynamic nature of these changes, adaptation measures are urgently needed to ensure both the stability and continued increase of the global food supply. Although potential adaption options often consider regional or sectoral variations of existing risk management (e.g. earlier planting dates, choice of crop), there may be a global-centric strategy for increasing productivity. In spite of the recognition that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is an essential plant resource that has increased globally by approximately 25 per cent since 1959, efforts to increase the biological conversion of atmospheric CO 2 to stimulate seed yield through crop selection is not generally recognized as an effective adaptation measure. In this review, we challenge that viewpoint through an assessment of existing studies on CO 2 and intraspecific variability to illustrate the potential biological basis for differential plant response among crop lines and demonstrate that while technical hurdles remain, active selection and breeding for CO 2 responsiveness among cereal varieties may provide one of the simplest and direct strategies for increasing global yields and maintaining food security with anthropogenic change.

The effects of CO 2 enrichment on the growth and physiology of maize were investigated at the molecular, biochemical, leaf, and canopy levels. Maize plants were grown in sunlit soil-plant-atmosphere research (SPAR) chambers at ambient (370 lmol mol À1 ) or elevated (750 lmol mol À1 ) atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (C a ) under wellwatered and fertilized conditions. Canopy gas exchange rates and leaf temperatures were monitored continuously during the growing season. CO 2 enrichment did not enhance the growth or canopy photosynthesis of maize plants. However, canopy evapotranspiration rates decreased by 22% and daytime leaf temperatures were increased about 1 1C in response to CO 2 enrichment. Leaf carboxylation efficiency and leaf nitrogen concentration also decreased at elevated C a . Transcription profiling using maize cDNA microarrays revealed that approximately 5% of tested genes responded to CO 2 enrichment. Of the altered transcripts, several were known to encode proteins involved in stomatal development or photosynthesis. For the majority of the altered transcripts, however, it was difficult to link their functions with specific physiological factors partly because many of these genes encoded unknown proteins. We conclude that maize did not exhibit enhanced growth or photosynthesis in response to CO 2 enrichment but a number of molecular and physiological processes including those involved in stomatal relations were affected by growth in elevated C a .