Biodiversity Conservation: Challenges Beyond 2010 Rands, Michael R.W; Adams, William M; Bennun, Leon ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
09/2010, Volume:
329, Issue:
5997
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The continued growth of human populations and of per capita consumption have resulted in unsustainable exploitation of Earth's biological diversity, exacerbated by climate change, ocean ...acidification, and other anthropogenic environmental impacts. We argue that effective conservation of biodiversity is essential for human survival and the maintenance of ecosystem processes. Despite some conservation successes (especially at local scales) and increasing public and government interest in living sustainably, biodiversity continues to decline. Moving beyond 2010, successful conservation approaches need to be reinforced and adequately financed. In addition, however, more radical changes are required that recognize biodiversity as a global public good, that integrate biodiversity conservation into policies and decision frameworks for resource production and consumption, and that focus on wider institutional and societal changes to enable more effective implementation of policy.
Human use of the land (for agriculture and settlements) has a substantial negative effect on biodiversity globally. However, not all species are adversely affected by land use, and indeed, some ...benefit from the creation of novel habitat. Geographically rare species may be more negatively affected by land use than widespread species, but data limitations have so far prevented global multi-clade assessments of land-use effects on narrow-ranged and widespread species. We analyse a large, global database to show consistent differences in assemblage composition. Compared with natural habitat, assemblages in disturbed habitats have more widespread species on average, especially in urban areas and the tropics. All else being equal, this result means that human land use is homogenizing assemblage composition across space. Disturbed habitats show both reduced abundances of narrow-ranged species and increased abundances of widespread species. Our results are very important for biodiversity conservation because narrow-ranged species are typically at higher risk of extinction than widespread species. Furthermore, the shift to more widespread species may also affect ecosystem functioning by reducing both the contribution of rare species and the diversity of species' responses to environmental changes among local assemblages.
Summary Background Antimicrobial stewardship is advocated to improve the quality of antimicrobial use. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether antimicrobial stewardship ...objectives had any effects in hospitals and long-term care facilities on four predefined patients' outcomes: clinical outcomes, adverse events, costs, and bacterial resistance rates. Methods We identified 14 stewardship objectives and did a separate systematic search for articles relating to each one in Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, and PubMed. Studies were included if they reported data on any of the four predefined outcomes in patients in whom the specific antimicrobial stewardship objective was assessed and compared the findings in patients in whom the objective was or was not met. We used a random-effects model to calculate relative risk reductions with relative risks and 95% CIs. Findings We identified 145 unique studies with data on nine stewardship objectives. Overall, the quality of evidence was generally low and heterogeneity between studies was mostly moderate to high. For the objectives empirical therapy according to guidelines, de-escalation of therapy, switch from intravenous to oral treatment, therapeutic drug monitoring, use of a list of restricted antibiotics, and bedside consultation the overall evidence showed significant benefits for one or more of the four outcomes. Guideline-adherent empirical therapy was associated with a relative risk reduction for mortality of 35% (relative risk 0·65, 95% CI 0·54–0·80, p<0·0001) and for de-escalation of 56% (0·44, 0·30–0·66, p<0·0001). Evidence of effects was less clear for adjusting therapy according to renal function, discontinuing therapy based on lack of clinical or microbiological evidence of infection, and having a local antibiotic guide. We found no reports for the remaining five stewardship objectives or for long-term care facilities. Interpretation Our findings of beneficial effects on outcomes with nine antimicrobial stewardship objectives suggest they can guide stewardship teams in their efforts to improve the quality of antibiotic use in hospitals. Funding Dutch Working Party on Antibiotic Policy and Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.
We previously reported preliminary findings that post induction imatinib mesylate (340 mg/m(2)/day), in combination with intensive chemotherapy, resulted in outcomes similar to blood and marrow ...transplant (BMT) for pediatric patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We now report 5-year outcomes of imatinib plus intensive chemotherapy in 91 children (1-21 years) with and without allogeneic BMT (N=91). We explore the impacts of additional chromosomal abnormalities and minimal residual disease (MRD) by flow cytometry on outcomes. The 5-year disease-free survival was similar for Cohort 5 patients, treated with chemotherapy plus imatinib (70%±12%, n=28), sibling donor BMT patients (65%±11%, n=21) and unrelated donor BMT patients (59±15%; P=0.60, n=13). Patients with additional cytogenetic abnormalities had worse outcomes (P=0.05). End induction (pre-imatinib) MRD was not prognostic for Cohort 5 or allogeneic BMT patients, although limited by small numbers. The re-induction rate following relapse was similar to other higher-risk ALL groups. Longer-term follow-up confirms our initial observation of substantially good outcomes for children and adolescents with Ph+ ALL treated with imatinib plus intensive chemotherapy with no advantage for allogeneic BMT.
Research over the past decade on the cell–biomaterial interface has shifted to the third dimension. Besides mimicking the native extracellular environment by 3D cell culture, hydrogels offer the ...possibility to generate well-defined 3D biofabricated tissue analogs. In this context, gelatin-methacryloyl (gelMA) hydrogels have recently gained increased attention. This interest is sparked by the combination of the inherent bioactivity of gelatin and the physicochemical tailorability of photo-crosslinkable hydrogels. GelMA is a versatile matrix that can be used to engineer tissue analogs ranging from vasculature to cartilage and bone. Convergence of biological and biofabrication approaches is necessary to progress from merely proving cell functionality or construct shape fidelity towards regenerating tissues. GelMA has a critical pioneering role in this process and could be used to accelerate the development of clinically relevant applications.
Quasars are galaxies hosting accreting supermassive black holes; due to their brightness, they are unique probes of the early universe. To date, only a few quasars have been reported at (<800 Myr ...after the big bang). In this work, we present six additional quasars discovered using the Pan-STARRS1 survey. We use a sample of 15 quasars to perform a homogeneous and comprehensive analysis of this highest-redshift quasar population. We report four main results: (1) the majority of quasars show large blueshifts of the broad C iv λ1549 emission line compared to the systemic redshift of the quasars, with a median value ∼3× higher than a quasar sample at ; (2) we estimate the quasars' black hole masses ( (0.3-5) × 109 M ) via modeling of the Mg ii λ2798 emission line and rest-frame UV continuum and find that quasars at high redshift accrete their material (with ) at a rate comparable to a luminosity-matched sample at lower redshift, albeit with significant scatter (0.4 dex); (3) we recover no evolution of the Fe ii/Mg ii abundance ratio with cosmic time; and (4) we derive near-zone sizes and, together with measurements for quasars from recent work, confirm a shallow evolution of the decreasing quasar near-zone sizes with redshift. Finally, we present new millimeter observations of the C ii 158 m emission line and underlying dust continuum from NOEMA for four quasars and provide new accurate redshifts and C ii/infrared luminosity estimates. The analysis presented here shows the large range of properties of the most distant quasars.
Three principal granite provinces are defined across SE Asia, as follows. (1) The Western Thailand-Myanmar/Burma province consists of hornblende-biotite I-type granodiorite-granites and felsic ...biotite-K-feldspar (± garnet ± tourmaline) granites associated with abundant tin mineralization in greisen-type veins. New ion microprobe U-Pb dating results from Phuket Island show zircon core ages of 212 ± 2 and 214 ± 2 Ma and a thermal overprint with rims of 81.2 ± 1.2 and 85-75 Ma. (2) The North Thailand-West Malaya Main Range province has mainly S-type biotite granites and abundant tin mineralization resulting from crustal thickening following collision of the Sibumasu plate with Indochina during the Mid-Triassic. Biotite granites around Kuala Lumpur contain extremely U-rich zircons (up to 38000 ppm) that yield ages of 215 ± 7 and 210 ± 7 Ma. (3) The East Malaya province consists of dominantly Permian-Triassic I-type hornblende-biotite granites but with subordinate S-type plutons and A-type syenite-gabbros. Biotite-K-feldspar granites from Tioman Island off the east coast of Malaysia also yield a zircon age of 80 ± 1 Ma, showing Cretaceous magmatism in common with province 1. Geological and U-Pb geochronological data suggest that two east-dipping (in present-day coordinates) subduction zones are required during the Triassic, one along the Bentong-Raub Palaeo-Tethyan suture, and the other west of the Phuket-Burma province 1 belt. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: A full description of U-Pb analytical methods used and data tables are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18523.
Pan-STARRS Photometric and Astrometric Calibration Magnier, Eugene. A.; Schlafly, Edward. F.; Finkbeiner, Douglas P. ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
11/2020, Volume:
251, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Abstract
We present the details of the photometric and astrometric calibration of the Pan-STARRS1 3
π
Survey. The photometric goals were to reduce the systematic effects introduced by the camera and ...detectors, and to place all of the observations onto a photometric system with consistent zero-points over the entire area surveyed, the ≈30,000 deg
2
north of
δ
= −30°. Using external comparisons, we demonstrate that the resulting photometric system is consistent across the sky to between 7 and 12.4 mmag depending on the filter. For bright stars, the systematic error floor for individual measurements is (
σ
g
,
σ
r
,
σ
i
,
σ
z
,
σ
y
) = (14, 14, 15, 15, 18) mmag. The astrometric calibration compensates for similar systematic effects so that positions, proper motions, and parallaxes are reliable as well. The bright-star systematic error floor for individual astrometric measurements is 16 mas. The Pan-STARRS Data Release 2 (DR2) astrometric system is tied to the Gaia DR1 coordinate frame with a systematic uncertainty of ∼5 mas.
Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature Green, Rhys E.; Cornell, Stephen J.; Jörn P. W. Scharlemann ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
01/2005, Volume:
307, Issue:
5709
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
World food demand is expected to more than double by 2050. Decisions about how to meet this challenge will have profound effects on wild species and habitats. We show that farming is already the ...greatest extinction threat to birds (the best known taxon), and its adverse impacts look set to increase, especially in developing countries. Two competing solutions have been proposed: wildlife-friendly farming (which boosts densities of wild populations on farmland but may decrease agricultural yields) and land sparing (which minimizes demand for farmland by increasing yield). We present a model that identifies how to resolve the trade-off between these approaches. This shows that the best type of farming for species persistence depends on the demand for agricultural products and on how the population densities of different species on farmland change with agricultural yield. Empirical data on such density-yield functions are sparse, but evidence from a range of taxa in developing countries suggests that high-yield farming may allow more species to persist.
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