Bean Golden Mosaic: Research Advances

El frijol (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) es una de las fuentes de proteina (15-35%) y calorías (ca. 340 caI./100 gr) más importantes en la América Latina. En esta región, centro de origen de esta especie, se producen más de cuatro millones de toneladas de frijol al año, lo cual equivale al 88% de la semilla de frijol producida en las regiones tropicales del mundo. Brasil, el mayor productor de frijol del mundo, posee un consumo per capita de cerca de 20 kg/año. En America Central, el frijol es igualmente importante, siendo consumido en la mayoría de los países centroamericanos hasta tres veces por día. Proporcionalmente, en la America Central se cultiva el doble del área que en Brasil, relativo a sus extensiones territoriales. El frijol es también producido en islas del Caribe, tales como Cuba (ca. 26.000 TM), Haití (56.000 TM) y República Dominicana (55.000 TM) según datos de 1990 (CIAT). México, el segundo productor de frijol en la America Latina, consume aproximadamente 1.2 millones de toneladas métricas de frijol al año. A pesar de que México cultiva cerca de 1.800.000 hectáreas de frijol, la demanda interna no es satisfecha en algunos años dado la baja productividad del cultivo. Esta baja productividad relativa del frijol, no solo en México sino también en el resto de la América Latina (700 kg/ha vs. 1.600 kg/ha en los Estados Unidos), es una consecuencia de los múltiples problemas bióticos y abióticos que inciden en el cultivo, en el trópico Americano. Es precisamente en las regiones productoras de frijol situadas en climas cálidos, de altitud baja a intermedia (0-1200 m.s.n.m), donde el mosaico dorado del frijol alcanza su mayor incidencia.The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important source of protein and calories in Latin America. In this region, the center of origin of this legume species, over 4 million tons of dry beans are produced per year. Nevertheless, many Latin American countries, including two of the largest producers of beans in the world, Brazil and Mexico, have to import beans to meet internal demand. This shortage of beans is related to the low productivity of this crop in Latin America (700 kg /ha vs. 1,600 kg/ ha average in the USA). The low productivity in the main bean production regions of tropical America is associated to the incidence of several biotic and abiotic constraints. Among the biotic constraints, bean golden mosaic virus is undoubtedly the main bean production problem in the lowland tropics, particularly, during the dry seasons of the year.Programa Cooperativo Regional de Frijol para Centroamérica, México y el Caribe (PROFRIJOL)Cooperación Suiza para el Desarrollo (COSUDE)Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Agroalimentarias::Estación Experimental Agrícola Fabio Baudrit Moreno (EEAFBM

Altered Intrinsic Functional Brain Architecture in Children at Familial Risk of Major Depression

Background Neuroimaging studies of patients with major depression have revealed abnormal intrinsic functional connectivity measured during the resting state in multiple distributed networks. However, it is unclear whether these findings reflect the state of major depression or reflect trait neurobiological underpinnings of risk for major depression. Methods We compared resting-state functional connectivity, measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging, between unaffected children of parents who had documented histories of major depression (at-risk, n = 27; 8–14 years of age) and age-matched children of parents with no lifetime history of depression (control subjects, n = 16). Results At-risk children exhibited hyperconnectivity between the default mode network and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex/orbital frontal cortex, and the magnitude of connectivity positively correlated with individual symptom scores. At-risk children also exhibited 1) hypoconnectivity within the cognitive control network, which also lacked the typical anticorrelation with the default mode network; 2) hypoconnectivity between left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex; and 3) hyperconnectivity between the right amygdala and right inferior frontal gyrus, a key region for top-down modulation of emotion. Classification between at-risk children and control subjects based on resting-state connectivity yielded high accuracy with high sensitivity and specificity that was superior to clinical rating scales. Conclusions Children at familial risk for depression exhibited atypical functional connectivity in the default mode, cognitive control, and affective networks. Such task-independent functional brain measures of risk for depression in children could be used to promote early intervention to reduce the likelihood of developing depression

Factors Affecting the Successful Realisation of Benefits from Systems Development Projects: Findings from Three Case Studies

This article was published in the Journal of Information Technology [© Palgrave Macmillan] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx/doi.org/10.1057/jit.2011.8The return that organisations derive from investments in information systems and technology continues to disappoint. While there is a very significant body of literature on the factors that should facilitate a successful outcome from systems development, there is growing concern that these prescriptions are not having their desired effect. In this paper, we argue that the success of a systems development project should be measured in terms of its ability to deliver meaningful benefits, rather than the timely delivery of a technical artefact, and therefore organisations should adopt an explicit and proactive benefits realisation approach when investing in IT. Consequently, we sought to explore those actionable factors that might facilitate the effective realisation of benefits from systems development initiatives. Three organisations were identified that claimed to adopt a proactive approach to benefits realisation, and detailed studies of their systems development practices were conducted. Our analysis found that whilst one organisation had been successful in its adoption of a benefits realisation perspective, the other two had not, and this allowed us to identify those factors that helped to explain this difference in outcomes. In short, this paper makes an important contribution by identifying how a sub-set of traditional systems success factors might be enhanced, to give them a more explicit benefits realisation orientation. Moreover, it presents a coherent set of principles that can be used for deriving other factors and practices