Response to issues on GM agriculture in Africa: Are transgenic crops safe?

The controversies surrounding transgenic crops, often called Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), call for a need to raise the level of public awareness of Genetic Modification (GM) technology in Africa. This should be accomplished by educating the public about the potential benefits and risks that may be associated with this new technology. In the last 15 years, GM crop producing countries have benefited from adoption of this new technology in the form of improved crop productivity, food security, and quality of life. The increased income to resource-poor farmers is a key benefit at the individual level especially as most countries using this technology are in the developing world, including three African countries (South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt). Despite clear benefits to countries and farmers who grow GMOs, many people are concerned about suspected potential risks associated with GMOs. This sparks debate as to whether GM technology should be adopted or not. Given the concerns regarding the safety of GMO products, thorough scientific investigation of safe application of GMOs is required. The objective of this paper is to respond to the issues of GM agriculture in Africa and some of the issues surrounding the adoption of GM crops between developed and developing countries. In this article, I analyse relevant papers relating to the adoption of GM technology particularly in developing countries including the few African countries that have adopted GM crops. The issues discussed span a wide range including: safety; potential benefits and risks; disputes between the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) over adoption of GM crops with a focus on Africa continent. This article is concluded by summarising the issues raised and how GM technology can be adopted for agricultural development in Africa

Adesão à terapia antiretroviral para HIV/AIDS

A não-adesão à terapêutica antiretroviral altamente eficaz (HAART) é considerada, no plano individual, como um dos mais ameaçadores perigos para a efetividade do tratamento da pessoa com HIV/aids e para a disseminação de vírus-resistência, no plano coletivo. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar, mediante revisão de literatura, os fatores de risco para não-adesão à HAART, além de agrupá-los e relacioná-los à pessoa em tratamento, à doença, ao tratamento e ao serviço de saúde e suporte social. A literatura aponta para a necessidade da realização de estudos que avaliem aspectos socioculturais, crenças, qualidade do serviço prestado, relações do cliente com a equipe multiprofissional e outros referentes à raça e aos efeitos colaterais dos anti-retrovirais. Estes estudos visam a favorecer o estabelecimento de estratégias que melhorem a adesão dos clientes à HAART, ao mesmo tempo em e que contribuem para a construção e exercício da cidadania

Inshore, turbid coral reefs from northwest Borneo exhibiting low diversity, but high cover show evidence of resilience to various environmental stressors

For reefs in South East Asia the synergistic effects of rapid land development, insufficient environmental policies and a lack of enforcement has led to poor water quality and compromised coral health from increased sediment and pollution. Those inshore turbid coral reefs, subject to significant sediment inputs, may also inherit some resilience to the effects of thermal stress and coral bleaching. We studied the inshore turbid reefs near Miri, in northwest Borneo through a comprehensive assessment of coral cover and health in addition to quantifying sediment-related parameters. Although Miri’s Reefs had comparatively low coral species diversity, dominated by massive and encrusting forms of Diploastrea, Porites, Montipora, Favites, Dipsastrea and Pachyseris, they were characterized by a healthy cover ranging from 22 to 39%. We found a strong inshore to offshore gradient in hard coral cover, diversity and community composition as a direct result of spatial differences in sediment at distances Diploastrea and Pachyseris suffering partial bleaching in 2016 had fully (90–100%) recovered the following year. There were, however, seasonal differences in bioerosion rates, which increased five-fold after the 2017 wet season. Differences in measures of coral physiology, like that of symbiont density and chlorophyll a for Montipora, Pachyseris and Acropora, were not detected among sites. We conclude that Miri’s reefs may be in a temporally stable state given minimal recently dead coral and a limited decline in coral cover over the last two decades. This study provides further evidence that turbid coral reefs exposed to seasonally elevated sediment loads can exhibit relatively high coral cover and be resilient to disease and elevated sea surface temperatures