Using normative scenarios in landscape ecology

The normative landscape scenario is one of many types of scenario methods that are used by landscape ecologists. We describe how normative landscape scenarios are different from other types and how these differences create special potential for engaging science to build landscape policy and for exploring scientific questions in realistic simulated landscapes. We describe criteria and a method for generating normative scenarios to realize this potential in both policy and landscape ecology research. Finally, we describe how the method and criteria apply to an interdisciplinary project that proposed alternative scenarios for federal agricultural policy and related futures for agricultural watersheds in Iowa, USA.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43160/1/10980_2004_Article_5268544.pd

The Landscape in 2025: Alternative Future Landscape Scenarios, A Means to Consider Agricultural Policy

Agricultural policy implies new future scenarios for agricultural landscapes each time a new federal farm bill or emergency aid to farmers is debated. Future landscape scenario studies can suggest policies that could achieve specific goals or make the implications of proposed policy apparent. This paper compares the 1994 landscape with three alternative future landscape scenarios for two Iowa Corn Belt agricultural watersheds. Each alternative emphasizes different ecological, hydrological, and and crop production goals.USEPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) programPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49342/1/JSWC57_Nassauer.pd

The stealth episome: suppression of gene expression on the excised genomic island PPHGI-1 from Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola

Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola is the causative agent of halo blight in the common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris. P. syringae pv. phaseolicola race 4 strain 1302A contains the avirulence gene avrPphB (syn. hopAR1), which resides on PPHGI-1, a 106 kb genomic island. Loss of PPHGI-1 from P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1302A following exposure to the hypersensitive resistance response (HR) leads to the evolution of strains with altered virulence. Here we have used fluorescent protein reporter systems to gain insight into the mobility of PPHGI-1. Confocal imaging of dual-labelled P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1302A strain, F532 (dsRFP in chromosome and eGFP in PPHGI-1), revealed loss of PPHGI-1::eGFP encoded fluorescence during plant infection and when grown in vitro on extracted leaf apoplastic fluids. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) of fluorescent and non-fluorescent PPHGI-1::eGFP F532 populations showed that cells lost fluorescence not only when the GI was deleted, but also when it had excised and was present as a circular episome. In addition to reduced expression of eGFP, quantitative PCR on sub-populations separated by FACS showed that transcription of other genes on PPHGI-1 (avrPphB and xerC) was also greatly reduced in F532 cells harbouring the excised PPHGI-1::eGFP episome. Our results show how virulence determinants located on mobile pathogenicity islands may be hidden from detection by host surveillance systems through the suppression of gene expression in the episomal state

Oralism: a sign of the times? The contest for deaf communication in education provision in late nineteenth-century Scotland

Disability history is a diverse field. In focussing upon children within deaf education in late nineteenth-century Scotland, this essay reflects some of that diversity. In 1880, the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf in Milan stipulated that speech should have ‘preference’ over signs in the education of deaf children. The mode of achieving this, however, effectively banned sign language. Endeavours to teach deaf children to articulate were not new, but this decision placed pressures on deaf institutions to favour the oral system of deaf communication over other methods. In Scotland efforts were made to adopt oralism, and yet educators were faced with the reality that this was not good educational practice for most pupils. This article will consider responses of Scottish educators of deaf children from the 1870s until the beginning of the twentieth century

Determinants of SARS-CoV-2 receptor gene expression in upper and lower airways

The recent outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has led to a worldwide pandemic. One week after initial symptoms develop, a subset of patients progresses to severe disease, with high mortality and limited treatment options. To design novel interventions aimed at preventing spread of the virus and reducing progression to severe disease, detailed knowledge of the cell types and regulating factors driving cellular entry is urgently needed. Here we assess the expression patterns in genes required for COVID-19 entry into cells and replication, and their regulation by genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors, throughout the respiratory tract using samples collected from the upper (nasal) and lower airways (bronchi). Matched samples from the upper and lower airways show a clear increased expression of these genes in the nose compared to the bronchi and parenchyma. Cellular deconvolution indicates a clear association of these genes with the proportion of secretory epithelial cells. Smoking status was found to increase the majority of COVID-19 related genes including ACE2 and TMPRSS2 but only in the lower airways, which was associated with a significant increase in the predicted proportion of goblet cells in bronchial samples of current smokers. Both acute and second hand smoke were found to increase ACE2 expression in the bronchus. Inhaled corticosteroids decrease ACE2 expression in the lower airways. No significant effect of genetics on ACE2 expression was observed, but a strong association of DNA- methylation with ACE2 and TMPRSS2- mRNA expression was identified in the bronchus.</p

Assessing Alternative Futures of Agriculture in Iowa, U.S.A.

The contributions of current agricultural practices to environmental degradation and the social problems facing agricultual regions are well known. However, landscape-scale alternatives to current trends have not been fully explored nor their potential impacts quantified. To address this research need, our interdisciplinary team designed three alternative future scenarios for two watersheds in Iowa, USA, and used spatially-explicit models to evaluate the potential consequences of changes in farmland management. This paper summarizes and integrates the results of this interdisciplinary research project into an assessment of the designed alternatives intended to improve our understanding of landscape ecology in agricultural ecosystems and to inform agricultural policy. Scenario futures were digitized into a Geographic Information System (GIS), visualized with maps and simulated images, and evaluated for multiple endpoints to assess impacts of land use change on water quality, social and economic goals, and native flora and fauna. The Biodiversity scenario, targeting restoration of indigenous biodiversity, ranked higher than the current landscape for all endpoints (biodiversity, water quality, farmer preference, and profitability). The Biodiversity scenario ranked higher than the Production scenario (which focused on profitable agricultural production) in all endpoints but profitability, for which the two scenarios scored similarly, and also ranked higher than the Water Quality scenario in all enpoints except water quality. The Water Quality scenario, which targeted improvement in water quality, ranked highest of all landscapes in potential water quality and higher than the current landsape and the Production scenario in all but profitability. Our results indicate that innovative agricultural practices targeting environmental improvements may be acceptable to farmers and could substantially reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture in this region.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49340/1/LE04Santel.pd

Assessing alternative futures for agriculture in Iowa, U.S.A.

The contributions of current agricultural practices to environmental degradation and the social problems facing agricultural regions are well known. However, landscape-scale alternatives to current trends have not been fully explored nor their potential impacts quantified. To address this research need, our interdisciplinary team designed three alternative future scenarios for two watersheds in Iowa, USA, and used spatially-explicit models to evaluate the potential consequences of changes in farmland management. This paper summarizes and integrates the results of this interdisciplinary research project into an assessment of the designed alternatives intended to improve our understanding of landscape ecology in agricultural ecosystems and to inform agricultural policy. Scenario futures were digitized into a Geographic Information System (GIS), visualized with maps and simulated images, and evaluated for multiple endpoints to assess impacts of land use change on water quality, social and economic goals, and native flora and fauna. The Biodiversity scenario, targeting restoration of indigenous biodiversity, ranked higher than the current landscape for all endpoints (biodiversity, water quality, farmer preference, and profitability). The Biodiversity scenario ranked higher than the Production scenario (which focused on profitable agricultural production) in all endpoints but profitability, for which the two scenarios scored similarly, and also ranked higher than the Water Quality scenario in all endpoints except water quality. The Water Quality scenario, which targeted improvement in water quality, ranked highest of all landscapes in potential water quality and higher than the current landscape and the Production scenario in all but profitability. Our results indicate that innovative agricultural practices targeting environmental improvements may be acceptable to farmers and could substantially reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture in this region.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43158/1/10980_2004_Article_5253979.pd

Responsiveness to Ipratropium Bromide in Male and Female Patients with Mild to Moderate Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Introduction: Although the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is similar between men and women, current evidence used to support bronchodilator therapy has been generated in therapeutic trials that have predominately enrolled male patients. Here, we determined whether there is any significant sex-related differences in FEV1 responses to ipratropium bromide. Methods: Data from the Lung Health Study (n = 5887; 37% females) were used to determine changes in FEV1 with ipratropium or placebo in male and female subjects with mild to moderate COPD over 5 years. Lung Expression Quantitative Trait Loci (eQTL) dataset was used to determine whether there were any sex-related differences in gene expression for muscarinic (M2 and M3) receptors in lungs of male and female patients. Results: After 4 months, ipratropium therapy increased FEV1 by 6.0% in female and 2.9% in male subjects from baseline values (p = 2.42 × 10−16). This effect was modified by body mass index (BMI) such that the biggest improvements in FEV1 with ipratropium were observed in thin female subjects (p for BMI ∗ sex interaction = 0.044). The sex-related changes in FEV1 related to ipratropium persisted for 2 years (p = 0.0134). Female compared with male lungs had greater gene expression for M3 relative to M2 receptors (p = 6.86 × 10−8). Conclusion: Ipratropium induces a larger bronchodilator response in female than in male patients and the benefits are particularly notable in non-obese females. Female lungs have greater gene expression for the M3 muscarinic receptor relative to M2 receptors than male lungs. Female patients are thus more likely to benefit from ipratropium than male COPD patients

Determinants of expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry-related genes in upper and lower airways.

Funder: Dutch Research Council (NWO)Funder: Cancer Research UK Cambridge CentreFunder: ATS Foundation/Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. Research FellowshipFunder: The Netherlands Ministry of Spatial Planning, Housing, and the EnvironmentFunder: Chan Zuckerberg InitiativeFunder: The Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare, and SportFunder: Longfonds Junior FellowshipFunder: Cambridge BioresourceFunder: The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and DevelopmentFunder: Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research CentreFunder: Parker B. Francis FellowshipFunder: China Scholarship Counci