Evaluation of the chemical fertility of the soil in an initial productive Theobroma cacao system of the “Hermanos Briones” farm, Portoviejo - Ecuador

Introducción. El suelo es el recurso natural más importante y la mayor parte de la vida en la tierra depende de este, su composición química varia constantemente, dando como resultado un sinnúmero de suelos.  El uso de fertilizantes N, P, K, Ca y Mg se ha vuelto indispensable en la mayoría de suelos con el fin de obtener altos rendimientos y una buena calidad en el producto siendo indispensable monitorear constantemente el suelo en donde se desarrollan los cultivos.  Los rendimientos en la producción de cacao dependen del suelo y de ciertos factores del medio ambiente como son luminosidad, temperatura y humedad. No podrán alcanzarse rendimientos halagadores cuando a pesar del ambiente adecuado los servicios que proporcione el suelo no sean los adecuados (Pinargote, 2010). Objetivo. Evaluar la fertilidad química del suelo en este sistema inicial productivo de Theobroma cacao, en la finca “Hermanos Briones” en el cantón Portoviejo. Metodología. El trabajo de investigación se realizó en un lote agrícola de un cultivo inicial de cacao de 2 años de 2.4 ha, la plantación de cacao utilizada corresponde al clon CCN-51, los muestreos del suelo se realizaron al azar en forma sistemática (zig-zag), obteniendo una muestra compuesta,  para realizar los análisis químicos en laboratorio, dados análisis se realizaron previo a la plantación y a los 2 años del cultivo. Resultados. Se observa la comparación del contenido nutricional del suelo, con respecto a la materia orgánica existe un incremento conforme va creciendo la plantación el desarrollo de materia orgánica es mayor. Los macronutrientes Nitrógeno y Potasio presentan un ligero descenso lo contrario al Fosforo, los mesonutrientes Calcio, Magnesio y Azufre se encuentran en menores cantidades, los micronutrientes Zinc y Cobre presentan un aumento, diferente al Hierro y Boro que a los 2 años de las plántulas ha disminuido las concentraciones de estos elementos en el suelo, con respecto al Manganeso la concentración no ha variado. Conclusiones. Según los resultados del muestreo, el sistema inicial productivo presenta desbalances nutricionales y deficiencias en contenidos de nutrientes para su desarrollo, por lo cual se requiere de planes de fertilización que garanticen una adecuada sostenibilidad del sistema.Introduction. Soil is the most important natural resource and most of life on earth depends on it, its chemical composition is constantly changing, resulting in countless soils. The use of N, P, K, Ca and Mg fertilizers has become essential in most soils in order to obtain high yields and a good quality in the product, being essential to constantly monitor the soil where the crops are grown. The yields in cacao production depend on the soil and certain environmental factors such as light, temperature and humidity. Flattering yields cannot be achieved when, despite the adequate environment, the services provided by the soil are not adequate (Pinargote, 2010). Objective. To evaluate the chemical fertility of the soil in initial productive system of Theobroma cacao, in the “Hermanos Briones” farm in the Portoviejo canton. Methodology. The research work was carried out in an agricultural batch of an initial 2-year cacao crop of 2.4 ha, the cacao plantation used corresponds to the CCN-51 clone, the soil samplings were carried out at random in a systematic way (zig-zag ), obtaining a composite sample, to carry out the chemical analyzes in the laboratory, given analyzes were carried out prior to planting and 2 years after cultivation. Results. The comparison of the nutritional content of the soil is observed, with respect to organic matter there is an increase as the plantation grows, the development of organic matter is greater. The macronutrients Nitrogen and Potassium show a slight decrease, contrary to Phosphorus, the mesonutrients Calcium, Magnesium and Sulfur are in smaller quantities, the micronutrients Zinc and Copper show an increase, different from Iron and Boron, which after 2 years of seedlings have decreased the concentrations of these elements in the soil, with respect to Manganese the concentration has not changed. Conclusions. According to the results of the sampling, the initial productive system presents nutritional imbalances and deficiencies in nutrient content for its development, which is why fertilization plans are required to guarantee adequate sustainability of the system

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

A global metagenomic map of urban microbiomes and antimicrobial resistance

We present a global atlas of 4,728 metagenomic samples from mass-transit systems in 60 cities over 3 years, representing the first systematic, worldwide catalog of the urban microbial ecosystem. This atlas provides an annotated, geospatial profile of microbial strains, functional characteristics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) markers, and genetic elements, including 10,928 viruses, 1,302 bacteria, 2 archaea, and 838,532 CRISPR arrays not found in reference databases. We identified 4,246 known species of urban microorganisms and a consistent set of 31 species found in 97% of samples that were distinct from human commensal organisms. Profiles of AMR genes varied widely in type and density across cities. Cities showed distinct microbial taxonomic signatures that were driven by climate and geographic differences. These results constitute a high-resolution global metagenomic atlas that enables discovery of organisms and genes, highlights potential public health and forensic applications, and provides a culture-independent view of AMR burden in cities.Funding: the Tri-I Program in Computational Biology and Medicine (CBM) funded by NIH grant 1T32GM083937; GitHub; Philip Blood and the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), supported by NSF grant number ACI-1548562 and NSF award number ACI-1445606; NASA (NNX14AH50G, NNX17AB26G), the NIH (R01AI151059, R25EB020393, R21AI129851, R35GM138152, U01DA053941); STARR Foundation (I13- 0052); LLS (MCL7001-18, LLS 9238-16, LLS-MCL7001-18); the NSF (1840275); the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1151054); the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (G-2015-13964); Swiss National Science Foundation grant number 407540_167331; NIH award number UL1TR000457; the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231; the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy; Stockholm Health Authority grant SLL 20160933; the Institut Pasteur Korea; an NRF Korea grant (NRF-2014K1A4A7A01074645, 2017M3A9G6068246); the CONICYT Fondecyt Iniciación grants 11140666 and 11160905; Keio University Funds for Individual Research; funds from the Yamagata prefectural government and the city of Tsuruoka; JSPS KAKENHI grant number 20K10436; the bilateral AT-UA collaboration fund (WTZ:UA 02/2019; Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, UA:M/84-2019, M/126-2020); Kyiv Academic Univeristy; Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine project numbers 0118U100290 and 0120U101734; Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013–2017; the CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya; the CRG-Novartis-Africa mobility program 2016; research funds from National Cheng Kung University and the Ministry of Science and Technology; Taiwan (MOST grant number 106-2321-B-006-016); we thank all the volunteers who made sampling NYC possible, Minciencias (project no. 639677758300), CNPq (EDN - 309973/2015-5), the Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Advanced Theory and Application in Statistics and Data Science – MOE, ECNU, the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong through project 11215017, National Key RD Project of China (2018YFE0201603), and Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2017SHZDZX01) (L.S.

Comparison of international normalized ratio audit parameters in patients enrolled in GARFIELD-AF and treated with vitamin K antagonists

Vitamin K antagonist (VKA) therapy for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF) requires monitoring of the international normalized ratio (INR). We evaluated the agreement between two INR audit parameters, frequency in range (FIR) and proportion of time in the therapeutic range (TTR), using data from a global population of patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular AF, the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD\u2013Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF). Among 17\ua0168 patients with 1-year follow-up data available at the time of the analysis, 8445 received VKA therapy (\ub1antiplatelet therapy) at enrolment, and of these patients, 5066 with 653 INR readings and for whom both FIR and TTR could be calculated were included in the analysis. In total, 70\ua0905 INRs were analysed. At the patient level, TTR showed higher values than FIR (mean, 56\ub70% vs 49\ub78%; median, 59\ub77% vs 50\ub70%). Although patient-level FIR and TTR values were highly correlated (Pearson correlation coefficient [95% confidence interval; CI], 0\ub7860 [0\ub7852\u20130\ub7867]), estimates from individuals showed widespread disagreement and variability (Lin's concordance coefficient [95% CI], 0\ub7829 [0\ub7821\u20130\ub7837]). The difference between FIR and TTR explained 17\ub74% of the total variability of measurements. These results suggest that FIR and TTR are not equivalent and cannot be used interchangeably