Impacts of climate change on plant diseases – opinions and trends

There has been a remarkable scientific output on the topic of how climate change is likely to affect plant diseases in the coming decades. This review addresses the need for review of this burgeoning literature by summarizing opinions of previous reviews and trends in recent studies on the impacts of climate change on plant health. Sudden Oak Death is used as an introductory case study: Californian forests could become even more susceptible to this emerging plant disease, if spring precipitations will be accompanied by warmer temperatures, although climate shifts may also affect the current synchronicity between host cambium activity and pathogen colonization rate. A summary of observed and predicted climate changes, as well as of direct effects of climate change on pathosystems, is provided. Prediction and management of climate change effects on plant health are complicated by indirect effects and the interactions with global change drivers. Uncertainty in models of plant disease development under climate change calls for a diversity of management strategies, from more participatory approaches to interdisciplinary science. Involvement of stakeholders and scientists from outside plant pathology shows the importance of trade-offs, for example in the land-sharing vs. sparing debate. Further research is needed on climate change and plant health in mountain, boreal, Mediterranean and tropical regions, with multiple climate change factors and scenarios (including our responses to it, e.g. the assisted migration of plants), in relation to endophytes, viruses and mycorrhiza, using long-term and large-scale datasets and considering various plant disease control methods

Discontinuation of thyroid hormone treatment among children in the United States with congenital hypothyroidism: findings from health insurance claims data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Thyroid hormone treatment in children with congenital hypothyroidism can prevent intellectual disability. Guidelines recommend that children diagnosed with congenital hypothyroidism through newborn screening remain on treatment to at least 3 years of age, after which a trial off therapy can determine which children have transient hypothyroidism. The purpose of this study was to describe the rate at which children with congenital hypothyroidism in the United States discontinue thyroid hormone treatment in early childhood.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Retrospective analysis of the 2002-2006 MarketScan^®Commercial Claims and Encounters research databases and the 2001-2005 MarketScan Multi-State Medicaid databases. Children were classified as having congenital hypothyroidism based on billing codes and having filled a prescription for thyroid hormone treatment. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis was used to determine discontinuation rates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were a total of 412 Medicaid-enrolled children and 292 privately-insured children with presumed congenital hypothyroidism included in this study. The overall birth prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism across both datasets was about 1 per 2,300. By 36 months, the percentage who had discontinued thyroid replacement treatment was 38% (95% Confidence Interval: 32%-44%). Medicaid-enrolled children had a more rapid decline in the first 24 months of treatment compared to those with private insurance (<it>P </it>= 0.02).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>More than one-third of children treated for congenital hypothyroidism discontinued treatment within 36 months, which is inconsistent with current guidelines. It is not known how many of these children required continued treatment or experience adverse effects from discontinuation. These findings emphasize the critical need for follow-up systems to monitor the outcome of newborn screening.</p

Natural infection by the protozoan Leptomonas wallacei impacts the morphology, physiology, reproduction, and lifespan of the insect Oncopeltus fasciatus

Trypanosomatids are protozoan parasites that infect thousands of globally dispersed hosts, potentially affecting their physiology. Several species of trypanosomatids are commonly found in phytophagous insects. Leptomonas wallacei is a gut-restricted insect trypanosomatid only retrieved from Oncopeltus fasciatus. The insects get infected by coprophagy and transovum transmission of L. wallacei cysts. The main goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of a natural infection by L. wallacei on the hemipteran insect O. fasciatus, by comparing infected and uninfected individuals in a controlled environment. The L. wallacei-infected individuals showed reduced lifespan and morphological alterations. Also, we demonstrated a higher infection burden in females than in males. The infection caused by L. wallacei reduced host reproductive fitness by negatively impacting egg load, oviposition, and eclosion, and promoting an increase in egg reabsorption. Moreover, we associated the egg reabsorption observed in infected females, with a decrease in the intersex gene expression. Finally, we suggest alterations in population dynamics induced by L. wallacei infection using a mathematical model. Collectively, our findings demonstrated that L. wallacei infection negatively affected the physiology of O. fasciatus, which suggests that L. wallacei potentially has a vast ecological impact on host population growth

Clinical significance of HIV-1 coreceptor usage

The identification of phenotypically distinct HIV-1 variants with different prevalence during the progression of the disease has been one of the earliest discoveries in HIV-1 biology, but its relevance to AIDS pathogenesis remains only partially understood. The physiological basis for the phenotypic variability of HIV-1 was elucidated with the discovery of distinct coreceptors employed by the virus to infect susceptible cells. The role of the viral phenotype in the variable clinical course and treatment outcome of HIV-1 infection has been extensively investigated over the past two decades. In this review, we summarize the major findings on the clinical significance of the HIV-1 coreceptor usage

From Sea to Sea: Canada's Three Oceans of Biodiversity

Evaluating and understanding biodiversity in marine ecosystems are both necessary and challenging for conservation. This paper compiles and summarizes current knowledge of the diversity of marine taxa in Canada's three oceans while recognizing that this compilation is incomplete and will change in the future. That Canada has the longest coastline in the world and incorporates distinctly different biogeographic provinces and ecoregions (e.g., temperate through ice-covered areas) constrains this analysis. The taxonomic groups presented here include microbes, phytoplankton, macroalgae, zooplankton, benthic infauna, fishes, and marine mammals. The minimum number of species or taxa compiled here is 15,988 for the three Canadian oceans. However, this number clearly underestimates in several ways the total number of taxa present. First, there are significant gaps in the published literature. Second, the diversity of many habitats has not been compiled for all taxonomic groups (e.g., intertidal rocky shores, deep sea), and data compilations are based on short-term, directed research programs or longer-term monitoring activities with limited spatial resolution. Third, the biodiversity of large organisms is well known, but this is not true of smaller organisms. Finally, the greatest constraint on this summary is the willingness and capacity of those who collected the data to make it available to those interested in biodiversity meta-analyses. Confirmation of identities and intercomparison of studies are also constrained by the disturbing rate of decline in the number of taxonomists and systematists specializing on marine taxa in Canada. This decline is mostly the result of retirements of current specialists and to a lack of training and employment opportunities for new ones. Considering the difficulties encountered in compiling an overview of biogeographic data and the diversity of species or taxa in Canada's three oceans, this synthesis is intended to serve as a biodiversity baseline for a new program on marine biodiversity, the Canadian Healthy Ocean Network. A major effort needs to be undertaken to establish a complete baseline of Canadian marine biodiversity of all taxonomic groups, especially if we are to understand and conserve this part of Canada's natural heritage

Sports Participation and Juvenile Delinquency: A Meta-Analytic Review

Participation in sports activities is very popular among adolescents, and is frequently encouraged among youth. Many psychosocial health benefits in youth are attributed to sports participation, but to what extent this positive influence holds for juvenile delinquency is still not clear on both the theoretical and empirical level. There is much controversy on whether sports participation should be perceived as a protective or a risk factor for the development of juvenile delinquency. A multilevel meta-analysis of 51 published and unpublished studies, with 48 independent samples containing 431 effect sizes and N = 132,366 adolescents, was conducted to examine the relationship between sports participation and juvenile delinquency and possible moderating factors of this association. The results showed that there is no overall significant association between sports participation and juvenile delinquency, indicating that adolescent athletes are neither more nor less delinquent than non-athletes. Some study, sample and sports characteristics significantly moderated the relationship between sports participation and juvenile delinquency. However, this moderating influence was modest. Implications for theory and practice concerning the use of sports to prevent juvenile delinquency are discussed. Keywords Sports participation Juvenile delinquency Multilevel meta-analysis Revie