The CGIAR and Biotechnology: Can the Renewal Keep the Promise of a Research Agenda for the Rural Poor?

Personal views of CGIAR NGO Committee Chair Miguel Altieri on the potential of agricultural biotechnology for sustainable development and poverty reduction in the developing world, and the role and strategies that should be adopted by the CGIAR in creating and mobilizing technologies to address the needs of the rural poor. Altieri said that the present CGIAR approach to biotechnology risked alienation of NGOs and farmers organizations, as what he called a sort of Green Revolution replay. He saw NGO collaboration with the CGIAR as a potential means of challenging the direction of current privately-led research. This would require the IARCs to improve their performance on participation with farmers and NGOs. He provided examples of the kinds of biotechnology research that might be appropriate to the needs of resource-poor farmers.The paper was considered at a stakeholder consultation on the role of biotechnology in the CGIAR, and was a background document for the CGIAR Mid Term Meeting, May 1997

Towards Defining a Pro-Poor Natural Resources Management Strategy in the CGIAR

Report of a consultation convened by the CGIAR NGO Committee with representatives of NGOs, national agricultural research systems, universities, CGIAR Centers, and TAC on the development and implementation of a pro-poor natural resource management (NRM) strategy.The consultation took place on October 22-23, 1998, prior to CGIAR International Centers Week. A summary report (not in the collection) was circulated at ICW 98, and this fuller report was distributed at MTM 99 for background.Discussion among the 45 participants focused on the need for an ecological paradigm and natural resource management knowledge base that encompasses biodiversity, resource flows, productivity, and the resilience of ecosystems. The consultation was divided into three working groups (the scientific basis of a pro-poor NRM strategy; a methodological framework for NRM; and linking NRM to rural development). Effective management of natural resources required methodologies such as participatory research, partnerships and dialogue with farmers' organizations, as well as the development of indicators of sustainability. Participants pointed to the need for natural resource management to be linked to the larger policy, economic, and social aspects of rural development generally

The XMM-Newton Slew Survey

XMM-Newton, with the huge collecting area of its mirrors and the high quantum efficiency of its EPIC detectors, is the most sensitive X-ray observatory ever flown. This is strikingly evident during slew exposures, which, while yielding only at most 14 seconds of on-source exposure time, actually constitute a 2-10 keV survey ten times deeper than all other "all-sky" surveys. The current (April 2005) XMM archive contains 374 slew exposures which give a uniform coverage over around 10,000 square degrees (approx. 25% of the sky). Here we describe the results of pilot studies, the current status of the XMM-Newton Slew Survey, up-to-date results and our progress towards constructing a catalogue of slew detections in the full 0.2-12 keV energy band.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, XMM-Newton EPIC Consortium Meeting, Schloss Ringberg, Germany, April 2005, to appear in MPE Repor

STAT3, a hub protein of cellular signaling pathways, is triggered by β-hexaclorocyclohexane

Background: Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are widely distributed in the environment and their toxicity is mostly associated with the molecular mechanisms of endocrine disruption. Among OCPs, particular attention was focused on the effects of β-hexaclorocyclohexane (β-HCH), a widely common pollutant. A detailed epidemiological study carried out on exposed population in the “Valle del Sacco” found correlations between the incidence of a wide range of diseases and the occurrence of β-HCH contamination. Taking into account the pleiotropic role of the protein signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), its function as a hub protein in cellular signaling pathways triggered by β-HCH was investigated in different cell lines corresponding to tissues that are especially vulnerable to damage by environmental pollutants. Materials and Methods: Human prostate cancer (LNCaP), human breast cancer (MCF-7 and MDA-MB 468), and human hepatoma (HepG2) cell lines were treated with 10 µM β-HCH in the presence or absence of specific inhibitors for different receptors. All samples were subjected to analysis by immunoblotting and RT-qPCR. Results and Conclusions: The preliminary results allow us to hypothesize the involvement of STAT3, through both its canonical and non-canonical pathways, in response to β-HCH. Moreover, we ascertained the role of STAT3 as a master regulator of energy metabolism via the altered expression and localization of HIF-1α and PKM2, respectively, resulting in a Warburg-like effect

Agroecological bases for the adaptation of agriculture to climate change

Although many indigenous and peasant populations are particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change and are vulnerable, some communities are actively responding to the changing climate and have demonstrated innovation and resilience, using a diversity of strategies to cope with droughts, floods, hurricanes, etc. In this article, we argue that traditional farming systems offer a wide range of management options and designs that increase functional biodiversity in crop fields, thereby enhancing the resilience of agroecological systems. Many of the traditional agroecological strategies that reduce vulnerability to climate variability include crop di- versification, maintenance of local genetic diversity, animal integration, addition of organic matter to the soil, water harvesting, etc. Several agroecologists have deciphered the agroecological principles underlying these strategies, which can be adapted by taking different technological forms (according to farm size) to design modern agricultural systems that become increasingly resilient to climatic extremes

Extended sources in the XMM-Newton slew survey

The low background, good spatial resolution and great sensitivity of the EPIC-pn camera on XMM-Newton give useful limits for the detection of extended sources even during the short exposures made during slewing maneouvers. In this paper we attempt to illustrate the potential of the XMM-Newton slew survey as a tool for analysing flux-limited samples of clusters of galaxies and other sources of spatially extended X-ray emission.Comment: 2 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "The X-ray Universe 2005", San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Spain), 26-30 September 200

The XMM-Newton Slew Survey: towards the XMMSL1 catalogue

The XMM-Newton satellite is the most sensitive X-ray observatory flown to date due to the great collecting area of its mirrors coupled with the high quantum efficiency of the EPIC detectors. It performs slewing manoeuvers between observation targets tracking almost circular orbits through the ecliptic poles due to the Sun constraint. Slews are made with the EPIC cameras open and the other instruments closed, operating with the observing mode set to the one of the previous pointed observation and the medium filter in place. Slew observations from the EPIC-pn camera in FF, eFF and LW modes provide data, resulting in a maximum of 15 seconds of on-source time. These data can be used to give a uniform survey of the X-ray sky, at great sensitivity in the hard band compared with other X-ray all-sky surveys.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "The X-ray Universe 2005", San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Spain), 26-30 September 200