Farmers' rights and protection of traditional agricultural knowledge:

"Although achieving in situ conservation is possible without changing farmers' customary management of crops as common pool resources, an alternative approach is to negotiate a bioprospecting contract with providers of the resource that involves direct payment and royalties. This bioprospecting mechanism implies a change in the customary treatment of crop genetic resources as common pool goods and is in line with national ownership mandated by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This paper questions the value of bioprospecting for protecting traditional agricultural knowledge and argues for a common pool approach. It examines the nature of crop genetic resources and farmers' knowledge about them, and it analyzes the nature of the ‘common heritage' regime that was partly dismantled by the Convention on Biological Diversity. The paper reviews the implementation of access and benefit sharing schemes under the CBD and discusses programs to recognize Farmers' Rights that have arisen since the establishment of the CBD. It concludes with recommendations for meeting the Farmers' Rights mandate of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture." Author's AbstractEast Africa, africa south of sahara, Biological diversity conservation, Collective action, Bioprospecting,

Protecting Traditional Agricultural Knowledge

Until the end of the last century, crop genetic resources were managed as public domain goods according to a set of practices loosely labeled as “common heritage.” The rise of intellectual property for plants, the commercialization of seed, the increasing use of genetic resources in crop breeding, and the declining availability of crop genetic resources have contributed to extensive revisions to the common heritage regime. Changes include specifying national ownership over genetic resources and use of contracts in the movement of resources between countries. This Essay explores the impact of these changes in cradle areas of crop domestication, evolution and diversity (Vavilov Centers) where farmers continue to grow diverse populations of crops that serve as stores of genetic resources and sources for new resources. The question posed here is whether protection of traditional knowledge is best accomplished through a form of bioprospecting that replaces common pool management by private ownership. The Essay addresses two issues relating to the demise of the common heritage regime: 1. What role does common heritage play in the management of crop genetic resources? 2. What steps are available to protect crop genetic resources in the public domain and to recognize the stewardship of farmers who maintain those resources? The Essay discusses these issues in reference to the flow of genetic resources between traditional farming systems of Vavilov Centers and the commercial and public crop breeding sectors in developed countries

Genes in the field: On-farm conservation of crop diversity

A primary goal of agricultural research is to develop technology that will enable the world's farmers to produce enough food in a manner that is sustainable and economically viable. This book comprises a collection of papers focusing on agricultural conservation and diversity issues throughout the world. Genetic diversity is important to individual farmers and farming communities and to the agricultural community in general. Recently regional and local farm seed variety has been reduced because of increased population, agricultural science and technology and the integration of the world's many diverse cultures. Papers discuss both in situ and ex situ conservation strategies, and present a number of case studies with an international perspective. Policy and institutional issues are also covered. (Abstract © CAB ABSTRACTS, CAB International

Opportunities and Challenges for Including Oyster-Mediated Denitrification in Nitrogen Management Plans

Nitrogen pollution is one of the primary threats to coastal water quality globally, and governmental regulations and marine policy are increasingly requiring nitrogen remediation in management programs. Traditional mitigation strategies (e.g., advanced wastewater treatment) are not always enough to meet reduction goals. Novel opportunities for additional nitrogen reduction are needed to develop a portfolio of long-term solutions. Increasingly, in situ nitrogen reduction practices are providing a complementary management approach to the traditional source control and treatment, including recognition of potential contributions of coastal bivalve shellfish. While policy interest in bivalves has focused primarily on nitrogen removal via biomass harvest, bivalves can also contribute to nitrogen removal by enhancing denitrification (the microbial driven process of bioavailable nitrogen transformation to di-nitrogen gas). Recent evidence suggests that nitrogen removed via enhanced denitrification may eclipse nitrogen removal through biomass harvest alone. With a few exceptions, bivalve-enhanced denitrification has yet to be incorporated into water quality policy. Here,we focus on oysters in considering how this issue may be addressed.We discuss policy options to support expansion of oyster mediated denitrification, describe the practical considerations for incorporation into nitrogen management, and summarize the current state of the field in accounting for denitrification in oyster habitats. When considered against alternative nitrogen control strategies, we argue that enhanced denitrification associated with oysters should be included in a full suite of nitrogen removal strategies, but with the recognition that denitrification associated with oyster habitats will not alone solve our excess nitrogen loading problem

Comparative effects of verapamil and nitroprusside on left ventricular function in patients with hypertension

AbstractThe effects of verapamil were compared with those of nitroprusside at matched mean arterial pressures and heart rates in 10 symptomatic hypertensive patients during cardiac catheterization. Simultaneous radionuclide angiography and micromanometer pressure measurements were obtained to assess left ventricular pressure-volume relations. Compared with control conditions, verapamil increased left ventricular end-diastolic volume index from 57 ± 16 to 70 ± 28 ml/m2 (p = 0.05) without a significant increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (from 10 ± 4 to 13 ± 6 mm Hg). Despite a downward and rightward shift in the end-systolic pressure-volume relation indicating negative inotropic effects, ejection fraction did not decrease significantly (from 52 ± 9% to 46 ± 9%); cardiac index and stroke volume index remained unchanged. The change in stroke volume index with verapamil was directly related to the magnitude of change in end-diastolic volume index (r = 0.82, p < 0.005), suggesting that the increase in enddiastolic volume did not arise purely from negative inotropic effects. Systemic vascular resistance index decreased from 42 ± 8 to 34 ± 7 mm Hg-min-m2/liter (p < 0.05).In contrast, nitroprusside decreased left ventricular end-diastolic volume index from 57 ± 16 to 41 ± 10 ml/m2 (p < 0.05), cardiac index from 3.2 ± 0.7 to 2.8 ± 0.6 liters/min per m2 (p < 0.05) and stroke volume index from 28 ± 6 to 24 ± 5 ml/m2 (p < 0.01), with no change in systemic vascular resistance index (40 ± 10 mm Hg·min·m2). The end-systolic pressure-volume relation shifted downward and leftward in all patients, stemming from altered left ventricular loading.Thus, in equihypotensive doses, verapamil and nitroprusside have markedly different effects on left ventricular function. The peripheral vasodilation and apparent improvement in left ventricular filling during verapamil balanced the negative inotropic effects, resulting in maintenance of stroke volume and cardiac index. The primary hypotensive effect of verapamil was a decrease in systemic vascular resistance, whereas that of nitroprusside was a decrease in cardiac index stemming from reduced left ventricular preload

Differences in coronary flow and myocardial metabolism at rest and during pacing between patients with obstructive and patients with nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Fifty patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy underwent invasive study of coronary and myocardial hemodynamics in the basal state and during the stress of pacing. The 23 patients with basal obstruction (average left ventricular outflow gradient, 77 ± 33 mm Hg; left ventricular systolic pressure, 196 ± 33 mm Hg, mean ± 1 SD) had significantly lower coronary resistance (0.85 ± 0.18 versus 1.32 ± 0.44 mm Hg min/ml, p < 0.001) and higher basal coronary flow (106 ± 20 versus 80 ± 25 ml/min, p < 0.001) in the anterior left ventricle, associated with higher regional myocardial oxygen consumption (12.4 ± 3.6 versus 8.9 ± 3.3 ml oxygen/min, p < 0.001) compared with the 27 patients without obstruction (mean left ventricular systolic pressure 134 ± 18 mm Hg, p < 0.001).Myocardial oxygen consumption and coronary blood flow were also significantly higher at paced heart rates of 100 and 130 beats/min (the anginal threshold for 41 of the 50 patients) in patients with obstruction compared with those without. In patients with obstruction, transmural coronary flow reserve was exhausted at a heart rate of 130 beats/min; higher heart rates resulted in more severe metabolic evidence of ischemia with all patients experiencing chest pain, associated with an actual increase in coronary resistance. Patients without obstruction also demonstrated evidence of ischemia at heart rates of 130 and 150 beats/min, with 25 of 27 patients experiencing chest pain. In this group, myocardial ischemia occurred at significantly lower coronary flow, higher coronary resistance and lower myocardial oxygen consumption, suggesting more severely impaired flow delivery in this group compared with those with obstruction. Abnormalities in myocardial oxygen extraction and marked elevation in filling pressures during stress were noted in both groups.Thus, obstruction to left ventricular outflow is associated with high left ventricular systolic pressure and oxygen consumption and therefore has important pathogenetic importance to the precipitation of ischemia in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Patients without obstruction may have greater impairment in coronary flow delivery during stress