Loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services from agricultural lands remain important challenges in the United States despite decades of spending on natural resource management. To ...date, conservation investment has emphasized engineering practices or vegetative strategies centered on monocultural plantings of nonnative plants, largely excluding native species from cropland. In a catchment-scale experiment, we quantified the multiple effects of integrating strips of native prairie species amid corn and soybean crops, with prairie strips arranged to arrest run-off on slopes. Replacing 10% of cropland with prairie strips increased biodiversity and ecosystem services with minimal impacts on crop production. Compared with catchments containing only crops, integrating prairie strips into cropland led to greater catchment-level insect taxa richness (2.6-fold), pollinator abundance (3.5-fold), native bird species richness (2.1-fold), and abundance of bird species of greatest conservation need (2.1-fold). Use of prairie strips also reduced total water runoff from catchments by 37%, resulting in retention of 20 times more soil and 4.3 times more phosphorus. Corn and soybean yields for catchments with prairie strips decreased only by the amount of the area taken out of crop production. Social survey results indicated demand among both farming and nonfarming populations for the environmental outcomes produced by prairie strips. If federal and state policies were aligned to promote prairie strips, the practice would be applicable to 3.9 million ha of cropland in Iowa alone.
BACKGROUND
The profitability of farming varies based on factors such as a crop's market value, input costs and occurrence of resistant pests, all capable of altering the value of pest management ...tactics in an integrated pest management program. We provide a framework for calculating expected yield and expected net revenue of pest management scenarios, using the soybean aphid (Aphis glycines) as a case study. Foliar insecticide and host‐plant resistance are effective management tactics for preventing yield loss from soybean aphid outbreaks; however, pyrethroid‐resistant aphid populations pose a management challenge for farmers. We evaluated eight scenarios relevant to soybean aphid management in Iowa with varying probabilities of aphid outbreaks and insecticide‐resistant aphids occurring.
RESULTS
Our equation suggests that insecticide use is profitable when the probability of an aphid outbreak is ≥29%, and soybean production will become more costly with increasing probability of pyrethroid‐resistant aphids. If farmers continue to use pyrethroids, they will not experience financial consequences from pyrethroid‐resistant aphids until the chance of insecticide resistance is 48%. Aphid‐resistant varieties provided consistent yield and offered the highest net revenue under all conditions.
CONCLUSION
This framework can be used for other crop–pest systems to evaluate the profitability of management tactics and investigate how resistance impacts revenue for farmers. Including the cost of resistance in crop budgets can help farmers and agronomic consultants comprehend these impacts and enhance decision‐making to increase revenue and curb resistance development.
We developed a framework to evaluate the profitability of management scenarios across varying probabilities of a pest outbreak occurring and probabilities that the pest is resistant to the management tactic.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic has stretched ICU resources in an unprecedented fashion and outstripped personal protective equipment supplies. The combination of a novel ...disease, resource limitations, and risks to medical personnel health have created new barriers to implementing the ICU Liberation ("A" for Assessment, Prevention, and Manage pain; "B" for Both Spontaneous Awakening Trials and Spontaneous Breathing Trials; "C" for Choice of Analgesia and Sedation; "D" for Delirium Assess, Prevent, and Manage; "E" for Early Mobility and Exercise; and "F" for Family Engagement and Empowerment ABCDEF) Bundle, a proven ICU care approach that reduces delirium, shortens mechanical ventilation duration, prevents post-ICU syndrome, and reduces healthcare costs. This narrative review acknowledges barriers and offers strategies to optimize Bundle performance in coronavirus disease 2019 patients requiring mechanical ventilation.
The most relevant literature, media reports, and author experiences were assessed for inclusion in this narrative review including PubMed, national newspapers, and critical care/pharmacology textbooks.
Uncertainty regarding coronavirus disease 2019 clinical course, shifts in attitude, and changes in routine behavior have hindered Bundle use. A domino effect results from: 1) changes to critical care hierarchy, priorities, and ICU team composition; 2) significant personal protective equipment shortages cause; 3) reduced/restricted physical bedside presence favoring; 4) increased depth of sedation and use of neuromuscular blockade; 5) which exacerbate drug shortages; and 6) which require prolonged use of limited ventilator resources. Other identified barriers include manageable knowledge deficits among non-ICU clinicians unfamiliar with the Bundle or among PICU specialists deploying pediatric-based Bundle approaches who are unfamiliar with adult medicine. Both groups have been enlisted to augment the adult ICU work force to meet demand. Strategies were identified to facilitate Bundle performance to liberate patients from the ICU.
We acknowledge current challenges that interfere with comprehensive management of critically ill patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Rapid response to new circumstances precisely requires established safety mechanisms and protocols like the ABCDEF Bundle to increase ICU and ventilator capacity and help survivors maximize recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 as early as possible.
Farmers face many choices when selecting seed for soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) production, including highly desired herbicide tolerance traits. Despite the convenience of herbicide tolerance, ...resistant weeds and technology fees may reduce utility and profitability of these varieties, especially when commodity prices are low. Sporadic outbreaks of soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura, Hemiptera: Aphididae) that require insecticide use for optimal yield can be a further complication for farmers in Iowa. Soybean aphid-resistant varieties are commercially available, but in limited genetic backgrounds without herbicide tolerance. We hypothesized yield and value of resistance traits will vary based on the environment. We established plots at two locations with different risks of soybean aphid outbreaks and used two planting dates at each location to mimic different yield environments. In 2016 and 2017, we planted four varieties that varied in their susceptibility to soybean aphids and glyphosate, and applied insecticides if aphid populations reached an economic threshold. Regardless of genetic background, aphid-resistant varieties prevented populations from reaching the economic threshold at all environments. We observed no significant difference in yield between resistant and susceptible varieties, revealing this trait is as effective at protecting yield as an insecticide application on susceptible varieties at the high-risk location. We also explored the value of each variety in different environments. Resistant varieties produced greater potential net revenue than susceptible varieties at the high-risk location, while the opposite occurred at the low-risk location. Resistant varieties with herbicide tolerance, if made available, would be the most valuable across all environments.
Inflamed cystic fibrosis (CF) human bronchial epithelia (HBE), or normal HBE exposed to supernatant from mucopurulent material (SMM) from CF airways, exhibit endoplasmic reticulum (ER)/Ca2+ store ...expansion and amplified Ca2+-mediated inflammation. HBE inflammation triggers an unfolded protein response (UPR) coupled to mRNA splicing of X-box binding protein-1 (XBP-1). Because spliced XBP-1 (XBP-1s) promotes ER expansion in other cellular models, we hypothesized that XBP-1s is responsible for the ER/Ca2+ store expansion in inflamed HBE. XBP-1s was increased in freshly isolated infected/inflamed CF in comparison with normal HBE. The link between airway epithelial inflammation, XBP-1s, and ER/Ca2+ store expansion was then addressed in murine airways challenged with phosphate-buffered saline or Pseudomonas aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa-challenged mice exhibited airway epithelial ER/Ca2+ store expansion, which correlated with airway inflammation. P. aeruginosa-induced airway inflammation triggered XBP-1s in ER stress-activated indicator (ERAI) mice. To evaluate the functional role of XBP-1s in airway inflammation linked to ER/Ca2+ store expansion, control, XBP-1s, or dominant negative XBP-1 (DN-XBP-1) stably expressing 16HBE14o- cell lines were used. Studies with cells transfected with an unfolded protein response element (UPRE) luciferase reporter plasmid confirmed that the UPRE was activated or inhibited by expression of XBP-1s or DN-XBP-1, respectively. Expression of XBP-1s induced ER/Ca2+ store expansion and potentiated bradykinin-increased interleukin (IL)-8 secretion, whereas expression of DN-XBP-1 inhibited bradykinin-dependent IL-8 secretion. In addition, expression of DN-XBP-1 blunted SMM-induced ER/Ca2+ store expansion and SMM-induced IL-8 secretion. These findings suggest that, in inflamed HBE, XBP-1s is responsible for the ER/Ca2+ store expansion that confers amplification of Ca2+-dependent inflammatory responses.
When primary human airway epithelial (hAE) cells are grown in vitro on porous supports at an air-liquid interface (ALI), they recapitulate in vivo morphology and key physiologic processes. These ...cultures are useful for studying respiratory tract biology and diseases and for testing new cystic fibrosis (CF) therapies. This chapter gives protocols enabling creation of well-differentiated primary CF and non-CF airway epithelial cell cultures with non-proprietary reagents. We also discuss the production of retroviral and lentiviral vectors, the derivation of hAE cell lines, reporter gene assays, and the evolving science of gene overexpression and knockdown in ALI hAE cultures.
Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a disease caused by central nervous system infection by the larval stage of the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium. In developing countries, NCC is a leading cause of ...adult-onset epilepsy. Case reports of NCC are increasing among refugees resettled to the United States and other nations, but the underlying prevalence among refugee groups is unknown. We tested stored serum samples from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Migrant Serum Bank for antibodies against T. solium cysts by using the enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot. Seroprevalence was high among all 4 populations tested: refugees from Burma (23.2%), Lao People's Democratic Republic (18.3%), Bhutan (22.8%), and Burundi (25.8%). Clinicians caring for refugee populations should suspect NCC in patients with seizure, chronic headache, or unexplained neurologic manifestations. Improved understanding of the prevalence of epilepsy and other associated diseases among refugees could guide recommendations for their evaluation and treatment before, during, and after resettlement.
Drawing largely on the etymological meaning of the word 'confusion' as the action of mixing or blending, John C. O'Neal traces the development of a progressive poetics of confusion in the French ...Enlightenment. This project, he claims, aimed to reject dogmatic thinking in all of its forms and to recognize the need to embrace complexity. Eighteenth-century thinkers used the notion of confusion in a progressive way to reorganize social classes, literary forms, metaphysical substances, scientific methods, and cultural categories such as taste and gender.
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