With growing recognition of the increasingly destructive impacts of the Green Revolution (GR) the world over, heightened further by COVID-19, there is an urgent need to scale up alternative ...approaches embedded within the paradigm of agro-ecology. Even so, actual progress on the ground in this direction has been extremely slow. I argue that this is because the entire policy framework governing agriculture continues to be located within the GR paradigm and acts as a multi-pronged impediment to upscaling agro-ecological farming. The paper proposes key policy reforms that could help dismantle these barriers and facilitate, support, and accelerate movement towards agro-ecological farming in India.
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, novel and traditional vaccine strategies have been deployed globally. We investigated whether antibodies stimulated by mRNA vaccination (BNT162b2), including ...third-dose boosting, differ from those generated by infection or adenoviral (ChAdOx1-S and Gam-COVID-Vac) or inactivated viral (BBIBP-CorV) vaccines. We analyzed human lymph nodes after infection or mRNA vaccination for correlates of serological differences. Antibody breadth against viral variants is lower after infection compared with all vaccines evaluated but improves over several months. Viral variant infection elicits variant-specific antibodies, but prior mRNA vaccination imprints serological responses toward Wuhan-Hu-1 rather than variant antigens. In contrast to disrupted germinal centers (GCs) in lymph nodes during infection, mRNA vaccination stimulates robust GCs containing vaccine mRNA and spike antigen up to 8 weeks postvaccination in some cases. SARS-CoV-2 antibody specificity, breadth, and maturation are affected by imprinting from exposure history and distinct histological and antigenic contexts in infection compared with vaccination.
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•Vaccination confers broader IgG binding of variant RBDs than SARS-CoV-2 infection•Imprinting from initial antigen exposures alters IgG responses to viral variants•Histology of mRNA vaccinee lymph nodes shows abundant GCs•Vaccine spike antigen and mRNA persist for weeks in lymph node GCs
Human antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 differ between vaccination and infection, with mRNA vaccination inducing more productive lymph node GC responses and several vaccine types stimulating IgG antibodies capable of recognizing a broader range of viral variants.
There is an ongoing debate on what constitutes sustainable intensification of agriculture (SIA). In this paper, we propose that a paradigm for sustainable intensification can be defined and ...translated into an operational framework for agricultural development. We argue that this paradigm must now be defined—at all scales—in the context of rapidly rising global environmental changes in the Anthropocene, while focusing on eradicating poverty and hunger and contributing to human wellbeing. The criteria and approach we propose, for a paradigm shift towards sustainable intensification of agriculture, integrates the dual and interdependent goals of using sustainable practices to meet rising human needs while contributing to resilience and sustainability of landscapes, the biosphere, and the Earth system. Both of these, in turn, are required to sustain the future viability of agriculture. This paradigm shift aims at repositioning world agriculture from its current role as the world's single largest driver of global environmental change, to becoming a key contributor of a global transition to a sustainable world within a safe operating space on Earth.
Gastric neuroendocrine tumors (G-NET) are rare tumors arising from enterochromaffin-like cells of the gastric mucosa. They belong to a larger group called gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors ...and are classified as low, intermediate, or high-grade tumors based on their proliferative indices. They are further categorized into three subtypes based on their morphologic characteristics, pathogenesis, and behavior. Types 1 and 2 tumors are characterized by elevated serum gastrin and are usually multifocal. They typically occur in the setting of atrophic gastritis or MEN1/Zollinger Ellison syndrome, respectively. Type 2 tumors are associated with the most symptoms, such as abdominal pain and diarrhea. Type 3 tumors are associated with normal serum gastrin, are usually solitary, and occur sporadically. This type has the most aggressive phenotype and metastatic potential. Treatment and prognosis for G-NET is dependent on their type, size, and stage. Type 1 has the best prognosis, and Type 3 has the worst. This review discusses the presentation, workup, and surgical management of these tumors.
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