Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam form a diverse and important region for the order Galliformes with at least 21 species, comprising 10 pheasants, seven partridges, three quails and one francolin. Several ...are endemic to the region and several are considered globally threatened. Information was collated for each species on the Indochinese range, habitat use and conservation status. This information was used to determine gross patterns in conservation requirements, prioritised partly through the global importance of the Indochinese population. The galliform species at most immediate risk in Indochina is probably Green Peafowl, through heavy hunting exacerbated by increasing human access to former wildernesses. The endemic Edwards's Pheasant also merits specific conservation attention. Other forest species occur widely throughout surviving habitat, which remains landscape-scale despite serious losses in recent decades. Non-forest species, notably three quails (none endemic) remain very poorly known and threat levels cannot be assessed. For galliform conservation in Indochina by far the most important action is turning the existing declared protected areas networks into functional reality conserving a multitude of landscapes, each of hundreds of square kilometres, across the region. Past assessments of threat level to Indochinese forest Galliformes have been alarmist: many species are persisting in heavily-hunted fragments of the 10-50 sq. km size class, where many other forest vertebrates have been extirpated.
Site conservation is among the most effective means to reduce global biodiversity loss. Therefore, it is critical to identify those sites where unique biodiversity must be conserved immediately. To ...this end, the concept of key biodiversity areas (KBAs) has been developed, seeking to identify and, ultimately, ensure that networks of globally important sites are safeguarded. This methodology builds up from the identification of species conservation targets (through the IUCN Red List) and nests within larger-scale conservation approaches. Sites are selected using standardized, globally applicable, threshold-based criteria, driven by the distribution and population of species that require site-level conservation. The criteria address the two key issues for setting site conservation priorities: vulnerability and irreplaceability. We also propose quantitative thresholds for the identification of KBAs meeting each criterion, based on a review of existing approaches and ecological theory to date. However, these thresholds require extensive testing, especially in aquatic systems.
Knowledge products comprise assessments of authoritative information supported by standards, governance, quality control, data, tools, and capacity building mechanisms. Considerable resources are ...dedicated to developing and maintaining knowledge products for biodiversity conservation, and they are widely used to inform policy and advise decision makers and practitioners. However, the financial cost of delivering this information is largely undocumented. We evaluated the costs and funding sources for developing and maintaining four global biodiversity and conservation knowledge products: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Protected Planet, and the World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas. These are secondary data sets, built on primary data collected by extensive networks of expert contributors worldwide. We estimate that US$160 million (range: US$116-204 million), plus 293 person-years of volunteer time (range: 278-308 person-years) valued at US$ 14 million (range US$12-16 million), were invested in these four knowledge products between 1979 and 2013. More than half of this financing was provided through philanthropy, and nearly three-quarters was spent on personnel costs. The estimated annual cost of maintaining data and platforms for three of these knowledge products (excluding the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems for which annual costs were not possible to estimate for 2013) is US$6.5 million in total (range: US$6.2-6.7 million). We estimated that an additional US$114 million will be needed to reach pre-defined baselines of data coverage for all the four knowledge products, and that once achieved, annual maintenance costs will be approximately US$12 million. These costs are much lower than those to maintain many other, similarly important, global knowledge products. Ensuring that biodiversity and conservation knowledge products are sufficiently up to date, comprehensive and accurate is fundamental to inform decision-making for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Thus, the development and implementation of plans for sustainable long-term financing for them is critical.
STEM-tomography in SEM Han, Luyang; Boese, Markus; Tordoff, Benjamin ...
Microscopy and microanalysis,
08/2021, Letnik:
27, Številka:
S1
Journal Article
Background: older people experience more chronic medical conditions than younger people, take more prescription medicines and are more likely to suffer from cognitive or memory problems. Older people ...are more susceptible to the adverse effects of medicines, which may reduce their quality of life or lead to hospitalisation or death. Objective: this study aims to identify medicine-taking practices amongst community-dwelling people aged ≥75 years in New Zealand. Methods: this study was carried out in an urban setting in Dunedin (population 120,000), New Zealand. Interviews of a random sample of people from the electoral roll using a structured questionnaire were conducted. Subjects were community-dwelling people aged ≥75 years taking one or more prescription medicines. From a random sample of 810 people extracted from the electoral roll intended to recruit 300 participants, 524 people met the study criteria and were invited to participate. People living in a rest home or hospital, not contactable by telephone, or now deceased, were excluded. Responses were analysed, medicines categorised by the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification and adherence classed as high, medium and low using a modified four-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Univariate and multivariate linear and logistic regression was applied to combinations of variables. Results: in total, 316 interviews were undertaken; a 61% response rate. Participants were 75–79 (35%), 80–84 (40%) and >85 years (25%); New Zealand European/European (84%), ‘New Zealanders’ (14%) or Maori (2%); and 141 (45%) lived alone. Almost half (49%) regularly saw a specialist and a third (34%) had been admitted to hospital in the past 12 months. Participants used a median of seven prescription medicines (range 1–19) and one non-prescription medicine (0–14). The majority (58%) believed medicines are effective and had systems/routines (92%) for remembering to take them. Doses tended to be missed following a change in routine, e.g. holiday. Men were more likely to report ‘trouble remembering’ than women (odds ratio = 1.86, 95% confidence interval 1.10–3.14; P = 0.020). Seventy-five percent of people had high or medium adherence scores and 25%, low scores. Common problems were reading and understanding labels (9 and 4%, respectively) and leaflets (12%, 6%), and difficulty swallowing solid dose forms (14%). Only 6% had problems paying for their medicines. Around 17% wanted to know more about their medicines, and some people were confused about their medicines following hospital discharge. Conclusion: overall, community-dwelling people aged ≥75 years in this study appeared to manage their medicines well and found them affordable. Nevertheless, there is a need to improve labelling, leaflets and education on medicines, particularly at hospital discharge.
Abstract
Background/Aims
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a childhood-onset rheumatic disease, which is associated with increased risk of uveitis. Approximately 80% of childhood chronic ...anterior uveitis cases are JIA-associated (JIAU), where it is considered a serious complication with the potential to lead to permanent blindness. Studies have reported associations of increased risk of JIAU to genetic variation within human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes, in particular amino acid positions of HLA-DRB1. Here we report the results of the largest fine-mapping study of HLA genes in JIAU to date.
Methods
Genotyping was performed using Illumina Infinium CoreExome and Infinium OnmiExpress arrays. Samples were excluded with a call rate <0.98, discrepancy between genetically inferred sex and database records, inferred relatedness (Identity-by-decent), or ancestral outlier based on principal component analysis (PCA). SNPs were excluded with a call rate <0.98 or a minor allele frequency (MAF) <0.01. HLA alleles, amino acids, and SNPs were imputed using SNP2HLA. Analysis was performed on markers with an information score >0.9 and MAF > 0.01 using logistic regression, or omnibus test for multi-allelic markers, including 3 PCs as covariates. Independent effects were identified using forward stepwise logistic regression by inclusion of previously identified variants as covariates.
Results
We analysed 7,425 markers across the HLA region in 450 JIAU cases and 2,024 JIA cases. We defined study-wide significance at a Bonferroni corrected threshold of 6.7x10-6. The most significant association was at amino acid position 13 of DRB1 (p-value = 3.0x10-30) where the presence of serine (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.4-1.9) or glycine (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.6-2.5) were associated with increased risk of uveitis. Conditioning on DRB1 position 13, found a further association to amino acid position 67 of DRB1 (p-value = 2.4x10-6, unconditioned p-value = 3.2x10-23). The presence of isoleucine (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2-1.9) and phenylalanine (OR 1.8 95%, CI 1.4-2.2) at position 67 were associated with increased risk. No further study-wide associations were found at DRB1. Conditioning on all HLA-DRB1 alleles identified an independent effect at amino acid position 69 in DPB1 (p-value = 5.3x10-7, unconditioned p-value = 1.1x10-10). The presence of glutamic acid was associated with increased risk (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.4-2.0).
Conclusion
This is the largest genetic study of HLA regions in JIAU and further resolves the genetic risk factors in this key susceptibility region. The analysis in this study has independently validated the association signal at position 13 of HLA-DRB1 (highly correlated with position 11) that had been reported in a previous study. Conditional analysis of HLA-DRB1 revealed a novel secondary association signal at DRB1 to amino acid position 67. Conditional analysis on all DRB1 alleles confirmed association to position 69 of HLA-DPB1 where previous reports of this signal had been only modestly associated.
Disclosure
M. Tordoff: None. S.L. Smith: None. E. Lopez-Isac: None. A. Morris: None. S. Eyre: None. W. Thomson: None. J. Bowes: None.
The development of the femtosecond laser (fs laser) with its ability to provide extremely rapid athermal ablation of materials has initiated a renaissance in materials science. Sample milling rates ...for the fs laser are orders of magnitude greater than that of traditional focused ion beam (FIB) sources currently used. In combination with minimal surface post-processing requirements, this technology is proving to be a game changer for materials research. The development of a femtosecond laser attached to a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (LaserFIB) enables numerous new capabilities, including access to deeply buried structures as well as the production of extremely large trenches, cross sections, pillars and TEM H-bars, all while preserving microstructure and avoiding or reducing FIB polishing. Several high impact applications are now possible due to this technology in the fields of crystallography, electronics, mechanical engineering, battery research and materials sample preparation. This review article summarizes the current opportunities for this new technology focusing on the materials science megatrends of engineering materials, energy materials and electronics.
Abstract
Objectives
The clinical progression of JIA is unpredictable. Knowing who will develop severe disease could facilitate rapid intensification of therapies. We use genetic variants conferring ...susceptibility to JIA to predict disease outcome measures.
Methods
A total of 713 JIA patients with genotype data and core outcome variables (COVs) at diagnosis (baseline) and 1 year follow-up were identified from the Childhood Arthritis Prospective Study (CAPS). A weighted genetic risk score (GRS) was generated, including all single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with JIA susceptibility (P-value < 5×10−08). We used multivariable linear regression to test the GRS for association with COVS (limited joint count, active joint count, physician global assessment, parent/patient general evaluation, childhood HAQ and ESR) at baseline and change in COVS from baseline to 1 year, adjusting for baseline COV and International League of Associations of Rheumatology (ILAR) category. The GRS was split into quintiles to identify high (quintile 5) and low (quintile 1) risk groups.
Results
Patients in the high-risk group for the GRS had a younger age at presentation (median low risk 7.79, median high risk 3.51). No association was observed between the GRS and any outcome measures at 1 year follow-up or baseline.
Conclusion
For the first time we have used all known JIA genetic susceptibility loci (P=<5×10−08) in a GRS to predict changes in disease outcome measured over time. Genetic susceptibility variants are poor predictors of changes in core outcome measures, it is likely that genetic factors predicting disease outcome are independent to those predicting susceptibility. The next step will be to conduct a genome-wide association analysis of JIA outcome.
During development, cells undergo symmetry breaking into differentiated subpopulations that self-organize into complex structures.1,2,3,4,5 However, few tools exist to recapitulate these behaviors in ...a controllable and coupled manner.6,7,8,9 Here, we engineer a stochastic recombinase genetic switch tunable by small molecules to induce programmable symmetry breaking, commitment to downstream cell fates, and morphological self-organization. Inducers determine commitment probabilities, generating tunable subpopulations as a function of inducer dosage. We use this switch to control the cell-cell adhesion properties of cells committed to each fate.10,11 We generate a wide variety of 3D morphologies from a monoclonal population and develop a computational model showing high concordance with experimental results, yielding new quantitative insights into the relationship between cell-cell adhesion strengths and downstream morphologies. We expect that programmable symmetry breaking, generating precise and tunable subpopulation ratios and coupled to structure formation, will serve as an integral component of the toolbox for complex tissue and organoid engineering.
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•Inducers trigger a genetic circuit to symmetry break at programmable ratios•Programmable symmetry breaking regulates cell-cell adhesion to generate 3D structures•A computational model predicts self-organizing 3D structures formed by the circuit
A stochastic genetic recombinase switch was used to model symmetry breaking in mammalian cells and regulate cadherin expression to generate predictable 3D multicellular structures.
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