The major challenge that companies face when engaging in sustainable livelihood transformations is related to the tiers of governance dynamics in which companies are immersed. The implementation of ...social responsibility agendas in poorly governed regions rarely delivers sustainable legacies for communities. This article posits the idea that the lack of regional connectivity in governance and conflict prevents companies from playing a stronger role in forging sustainable livelihoods. In this context, this article equips us with a broader understanding of the contribution of the private sector in delivering development outcomes. It does this through a comparative case study analysis of Risaralda and Antioquia, two resource regions in Colombia with differing governance nexus with private enterprise.
Noninvasive tests to differentiate the basis for acute dysfunction of the kidney allograft are preferable to invasive allograft biopsies. We measured absolute levels of 26 prespecified mRNAs in urine ...samples collected from kidney graft recipients at the time of for-cause biopsy for acute allograft dysfunction and investigated whether differential diagnosis of acute graft dysfunction is feasible using urinary cell mRNA profiles. We profiled 52 urine samples from 52 patients with biopsy specimens indicating acute rejection (26 acute T cell-mediated rejection and 26 acute antibody-mediated rejection) and 32 urine samples from 32 patients with acute tubular injury without acute rejection. A stepwise quadratic discriminant analysis of mRNA measures identified a linear combination of mRNAs for CD3ε, CD105, TLR4, CD14, complement factor B, and vimentin that distinguishes acute rejection from acute tubular injury; 10-fold cross-validation of the six-gene signature yielded an estimate of the area under the curve of 0.92 (95% confidence interval, 0.86 to 0.98). In a decision analysis, the six-gene signature yielded the highest net benefit across a range of reasonable threshold probabilities for biopsy. Next, among patients diagnosed with acute rejection, a similar statistical approach identified a linear combination of mRNAs for CD3ε, CD105, CD14, CD46, and 18S rRNA that distinguishes T cell-mediated rejection from antibody-mediated rejection, with a cross-validated estimate of the area under the curve of 0.81 (95% confidence interval, 0.68 to 0.93). Incorporation of these urinary cell mRNA signatures in clinical decisions may reduce the number of biopsies in patients with acute dysfunction of the kidney allograft.
ABSTRACT Cacao is a species of great economic and social importance. Expanding the area grown with this crop has been limited by its climatic requirements. Agroclimatic zoning for agricultural sector ...and creation of land suitability maps by fuzzy logic contribute to such production expansion. In this sense, this study aimed to develop rainfall zoning for cacao in Bahia state using the fuzzy logic method. The used data came from rainfall historical series of 519 meteorological stations distributed throughout the state. Geostatistical analyses were used to quantify the spatial dependence degree of studied variable and kriging was used to develop maps representing mean monthly rainfall. These maps were submitted to continuous classification by fuzzy mapping for identification of high-risk areas for cocoa growing based on rainfall. Based on the fuzzy method, the southern mesoregion of Bahia state presented the highest rainfall uniformity, suggesting that this area is more suitable for cocoa growing.
Copepod carcasses are prevalent in marine ecosystems and might represent an important component of the sinking flux of particulate organic carbon in the ocean. The extent to which copepod carcasses ...contribute to the biological carbon pump is controlled by different environmental factors, including temperature. However, the effect of temperature on the longer-term kinetics of carbon mineralization of copepod carcasses is not well-studied. We conducted laboratory experiments to quantify the carbon mineralization associated with sinking carcasses of the cosmopolitan copepod
Acartia tonsa
through aerobic microbial respiration at 5 temperatures (20, 16, 12, 8, and 4°C). Microbial respiration rates associated with the carcasses were positively correlated with temperature and characterized by an initial short lag-phase, a rapid increase to a maximum rate, and a subsequent gradual decline in the rate of degradation. On average, 50% of the total carbon of the carcasses was mineralized within 6-12 d at 20°C, versus >60 d at 4°C. During the incubations, most carbon mineralization occurred in the ambient seawater, likely fueled by dissolved organic carbon leaking from the carcasses into the surrounding seawater. Extrapolating measured carbon turnover and sinking rates suggests that at 20°C, the mineralization of sinking copepod carcasses is constrained to the surface ocean. In contrast, at 4°C, sinking copepod carcasses can reach the deep ocean before they have been completely degraded. Hence, in low-temperature regions, copepod carcasses may represent an important agent for carbon export through the biological carbon pump.
In this paper, the concept of Virtual Weather Stations (VWS) is introduced. A VWS is an integration of algorithms to download meteorological data, process and use them with the main objective of ...estimate data in nearby locations with no meteorological stations. To develop the VWS, the performances of different interpolation methods were evaluated to test the accuracy. Daily data from an automatic weather station network, such as precipitation (Precip), air temperature (Temp), air relative humidity, mean wind speed, total solar irradiation, and reference evapotranspiration were interpolated using artificial neural networks (ANNs) with the hardlim, sigmoid, hyperbolic tangent (tanh), softsign, and rectified linear unit (relu) activations functions were employed. To contrast the ANNs interpolations, alternatives methods such as inverse distance weighting, inverse-squared distance weighting, multilinear regression, and random forest regression were used. To validate the models, a randomly selected weather station was removed from the daily datasets, and the interpolated values were compared with the actual station records. Additionally, interpolations in the summer and winter months were performed to check the capability of the models during periods with more extreme phenomena. The results showed that the interpolation methods have an
R
2
up to 0.98 for variables such as temperatures for the period of 1 year. Meanwhile, during the summer and winter, the models presented lower accuracy. From a practical perspective, the methods here described could be useful to produce meteorological data with the VWS to record temperatures and dose the irrigation in crops.
As an ubiquitous product of the oxidation of many volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde (HCHO) plays a key role as a short-lived and reactive intermediate in the atmospheric photo-oxidation ...pathways leading to the formation of tropospheric ozone and secondary organic aerosols. In this study, HCHO profiles have been successfully retrieved from ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) solar spectra and UV-visible Multi-AXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) scans recorded during the July 2010–December 2012 time period at the Jungfraujoch station (Swiss Alps, 46.5° N, 8.0° E, 3580 m a.s.l.). Analysis of the retrieved products has revealed different vertical sensitivity between both remote sensing techniques. Furthermore, HCHO amounts simulated by two state-of-the-art chemical transport models (CTMs), GEOS-Chem and IMAGES v2, have been compared to FTIR total columns and MAX-DOAS 3.6–8 km partial columns, accounting for the respective vertical resolution of each ground-based instrument. Using the CTM outputs as the intermediate, FTIR and MAX-DOAS retrievals have shown consistent seasonal modulations of HCHO throughout the investigated period, characterized by summertime maximum and wintertime minimum. Such comparisons have also highlighted that FTIR and MAX-DOAS provide complementary products for the HCHO retrieval above the Jungfraujoch station. Finally, tests have revealed that the updated IR parameters from the HITRAN 2012 database have a cumulative effect and significantly decrease the retrieved HCHO columns with respect to the use of the HITRAN 2008 compilation.
Advances in bioinformatics allow identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (variants) from RNA sequence data. In an allograft biopsy, 2 genomes contribute to the RNA pool, 1 from the donor ...organ and the other from the infiltrating recipient's cells. We hypothesize that imbalances in genetic variants of RNA sequence data of kidney allograft biopsies provide an objective measure of cellular infiltration of the allograft. We performed mRNA sequencing of 40 kidney allograft biopsies, selected to represent a comprehensive range of diagnostic categories. We analyzed the sequencing reads of these biopsies and of 462 lymphoblastoid cell lines from the 1000 Genomes Project, for RNA variants. The ratio of heterozygous to nonreference genome homozygous variants (Het/Hom ratio) on all autosomes was determined for each sample, and the estimation of stromal and immune cells in malignant tumors using expression data (ESTIMATE) score was computed as a complementary estimate of the degree of cellular infiltration into biopsies. The Het/Hom ratios (P = .02) and the ESTIMATE scores (P < .001) were associated with the biopsy diagnosis. Both measures correlated significantly (r = .67, P < .0001), even though the Het/Hom ratio is based on mRNA sequence variation, while the ESTIMATE score uses mRNA expression. Het/Hom ratio and the ESTIMATE score may offer unbiased and quantitative parameters for characterizing cellular traffic into human kidney allografts.
The ratio of heterozygous to nonreference genome homozygous single nucleotide variants computed from human kidney allograft RNA‐sequencing data offers an unbiased and quantitative parameter for characterizing cellular traffic into the kidney allografts.
High-quality of the carbohydrates consumed, apart from their total amount, appear to protect from cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the relationship between the quality of carbohydrates and the ...early appearance of atherosclerosis has not yet been described. Our objective was to estimate the association between the quality of dietary carbohydrates and subclinical atherosclerosis in femoral and carotid arteries.
Cross-sectional study of femoral and carotid atherosclerosis assessed using ultrasounds of 2074 middle-aged males, 50.9 (SD 3.9) years old, with no previous CVD, and pertaining to the Aragon Workers’ Health Study (AWHS) cohort. Food frequency questionnaires were used to calculate a carbohydrate quality index (CQI) defined as: consumption of dietary fiber, a lower glycemic index, the ratio of whole grains/total grains, and the ratio of solid carbohydrates/total carbohydrates. The presence of plaques across four CQI intervals was studied using adjusted logistic regression models.
The CQI showed a direct inverse association with subclinical atherosclerosis in femoral territories. Participants with a higher consumption of high-quality carbohydrates (13–15 points) were less likely to have femoral plaques when compared with participants in the lowest index interval (4–6 points) (OR = 0.59; 95% CI = 0.39, 0.89; p = 0.005). No association was found between the CQI and the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis in carotid territories. A lower consumption of high-quality carbohydrates tended to be associated with a greater atherosclerosis extension, considered as the odds for having more affected territories (p = 0.011).
Among middle-aged males, a high-quality intake of carbohydrates is associated with a lower prevalence of femoral artery subclinical atherosclerosis when compared with a lower consumption. Thus, indicating an early relationship between the quality of carbohydrates and the development of CVD.
Humoral immunity is characterized by the generation of Ab-secreting plasma cells and memory B cells that can more rapidly generate specific Abs upon Ag exposure than their naive counterparts. To ...determine the intrinsic differences that distinguish naive and memory B cells and to identify pathways that allow germinal center B cells to differentiate into memory B cells, we compared the transcriptional profiles of highly purified populations of these three cell types along with plasma cells isolated from mice immunized with a T-dependent Ag. The transcriptional profile of memory B cells is similar to that of naive B cells, yet displays several important differences, including increased expression of activation-induced deaminase and several antiapoptotic genes, chemotactic receptors, and costimulatory molecules. Retroviral expression of either Klf2 or Ski, two transcriptional regulators specifically enriched in memory B cells relative to their germinal center precursors, imparted a competitive advantage to Ag receptor and CD40-engaged B cells in vitro. These data suggest that humoral recall responses are more rapid than primary responses due to the expression of a unique transcriptional program by memory B cells that allows them to both be maintained at high frequencies and to detect and rapidly respond to antigenic re-exposure.
This study evaluated the impact of sodium dichloroisocyanurate (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 250 mg l−1) in wash water on transfer of Salmonella Typhimurium from contaminated lettuce to wash water and ...then to other noncontaminated lettuces washed sequentially in the same water. Experiments were designed mimicking the conditions commonly seen in minimally processed vegetable (MPV) processing plants in Brazil. The scenarios were as follows: (1) Washing one inoculated lettuce portion in nonchlorinated water, followed by washing 10 noninoculated portions sequentially. (2) Washing one inoculated lettuce portion in chlorinated water followed by washing five noninoculated portions sequentially. (3) Washing five inoculated lettuce portions in chlorinated water sequentially, followed by washing five noninoculated portions sequentially. (4) Washing five noninoculated lettuce portions in chlorinated water sequentially, followed by washing five inoculated portions sequentially and then by washing five noninoculated portions sequentially in the same water. Salm. Typhimurium transfer from inoculated lettuce to wash water and further dissemination to noninoculated lettuces occurred when nonchlorinated water was used (scenario 1). When chlorinated water was used (scenarios 2, 3 and 4), no measurable Salm. Typhimurium transfer occurred if the sanitizer was ≥10 mg l−1. Use of sanitizers in correct concentrations is important to minimize the risk of microbial transfer during MPV washing.
Significance and Impact of the Study
In this study, the impact of sodium dichloroisocyanurate in the wash water on transfer of Salmonella Typhimurium from inoculated lettuce to wash water and then to other noninoculated lettuces washed sequentially in the same water was evaluated. The use of chlorinated water, at concentration above 10 mg l−1, effectively prevented Salm. Typhimurium transfer under several different washing scenarios. Conversely, when nonchlorinated water was used, Salm. Typhimurium transfer occurred in up to at least 10 noninoculated batches of lettuce washed sequentially in the same water.
Significance and Impact of the Study: In this study, the impact of sodium dichloroisocyanurate in the wash water on transfer of Salmonella Typhimurium from inoculated lettuce to wash water and then to other noninoculated lettuces washed sequentially in the same water was evaluated. The use of chlorinated water, at concentration above 10 mg l−1, effectively prevented Salm. Typhimurium transfer under several different washing scenarios. Conversely, when nonchlorinated water was used, Salm. Typhimurium transfer occurred in up to at least 10 noninoculated batches of lettuce washed sequentially in the same water.
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