Evaluating the Impact of Biofortification: A Meta-analysis of Community-level Studies on Quality Protein Maize (QPM)

Biofortification, or the genetic improvement of the nutritional quality of food crops, is a promising strategy to combat undernutrition, particularly among the rural poor in developing countries. However, traditional methods of impact assessment do not apply to biofortified crops as little or no yield increases are expected. Significant progress has been made to develop maize varieties with improved protein quality, collectively known as quality protein maize (QPM). Evidence for the impact of QPM at the community level, as demonstrated by randomized, controlled studies, was evaluated using meta-analysis. A new and generalizable effect size was proposed to quantify the impact of QPM on a key outcome, child growth. The results indicated that consumption of QPM instead of conventional maize leads to an 8% (95% CI: 4-12%) increase in the rate of growth in height and a 9% (95% CI: 4-12%) increase in the rate of growth in weight in infants and young children with mild to moderate undernutrition from populations in which maize is a significant part of the diet. These results are the first step in evaluating the potential economic impact of QPM by establishing and quantifying a link between use of the improved crop and nutritional outcomes. QPM can serve as a model for other biofortification efforts, and in particular, the conceptual framework and methodologies for impact assessment are directly applicable to other biofortified crops.Impact assessment, biofortification, meta-analysis, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty,

Economic deprivation and its effects on subjective wellbeing in families of people with multiple sclerosis

Background: There has been limited research on the role of financial strain on the adjustment of people with multiple sclerosis. Aims: This study examined the financial costs of MS and the impact of financial strain on the quality of life and adjustment of people with MS and their families. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 16 health professionals, 26 people with MS and 11 family members of people who have MS. Results: Economic deprivation impacted on the subjective well being of many families living with MS. Concerns included adjustment to a lower income if the person with MS reduced or ceased work, and meeting the costs of home alterations, mobility equipment, and special transport. The additional cost of living with MS is a stress factor, especially for people dependent on disability support pensions. Conclusions: It is anticipated that the findings from this study will raise the awareness of health professionals and politicians regarding the potential impact of financial stress on people with MS and their families

Identifying WIMP dark matter from particle and astroparticle data

One of the most promising strategies to identify the nature of dark matter consists in the search for new particles at accelerators and with so-called direct detection experiments. Working within the framework of simplified models, and making use of machine learning tools to speed up statistical inference, we address the question of what we can learn about dark matter from a detection at the LHC and a forthcoming direct detection experiment. We show that with a combination of accelerator and direct detection data, it is possible to identify newly discovered particles as dark matter, by reconstructing their relic density assuming they are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) thermally produced in the early Universe, and demonstrating that it is consistent with the measured dark matter abundance. An inconsistency between these two quantities would instead point either towards additional physics in the dark sector, or towards a non-standard cosmology, with a thermal history substantially different from that of the standard cosmological model.Comment: 24 pages (+21 pages of appendices and references) and 14 figures. v2: Updated to match JCAP version; includes minor clarifications in text and updated reference

ON THERMODYNAMICS OF MULTISPECIES ANYONS

We address the problem of multispecies anyons, i.e. particles of different species whose wave function is subject to anyonlike conditions. The cluster and virial coefficients are considered. Special attention is paid to the case of anyons in the lowest Landau level of a strong magnetic field, when it is possible (i) to prove microscopically the equation of state, in particular in terms of Aharonov-Bohm charge-flux composite systems, and (ii) to formulate the problem in terms of single-state statistical distributions.Comment: Latex, 19 page

Random Magnetic Impurities and the Landau Problem

The 2-dimensional density of states of an electron is studied for a Poissonian random distribution of point vortices carrying $\alpha$ flux in unit of the quantum of flux. It is shown that, for any given density of impurities, there is a transition, when $\alpha\simeq 0.3-0.4$, from an "almost free" density of state -with only a depletion of states at the bottom of the spectrum characterized by a Lifschitz tail- to a Landau density of state with sharp Landau level oscillations. Several evidences and arguments for this transition -numerical and analytical- are presented.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 4 figures upon reques

Drosophila Smad2 Opposes Mad Signaling during Wing Vein Development

In the vertebrates, the BMP/Smad1 and TGF-β/Smad2 signaling pathways execute antagonistic functions in different contexts of development. The differentiation of specific structures results from the balance between these two pathways. For example, the gastrula organizer/node of the vertebrates requires a region of low Smad1 and high Smad2 signaling. In Drosophila, Mad regulates tissue determination and growth in the wing, but the function of dSmad2 in wing patterning is largely unknown. In this study, we used an RNAi loss-of-function approach to investigate dSmad2 signaling during wing development. RNAi-mediated knockdown of dSmad2 caused formation of extra vein tissue, with phenotypes similar to those seen in Dpp/Mad gain-of-function. Clonal analyses revealed that the normal function of dSmad2 is to inhibit the response of wing intervein cells to the extracellular Dpp morphogen gradient that specifies vein formation, as measured by expression of the activated phospho-Mad protein. The effect of dSmad2 depletion in promoting vein differentiation was dependent on Medea, the co-factor shared by Mad and dSmad2. Furthermore, double RNAi experiments showed that Mad is epistatic to dSmad2. In other words, depletion of Smad2 had no effect in Mad-deficient wings. Our results demonstrate a novel role for dSmad2 in opposing Mad-mediated vein formation in the wing. We propose that the main function of dActivin/dSmad2 in Drosophila wing development is to antagonize Dpp/Mad signaling. Possible molecular mechanisms for the opposition between dSmad2 and Mad signaling are discussed

Editorial: Physiological and biomechanical determinants of swimming performance—volume 2

The objective of this Research Topic was to develop and strengthen evidence of training and swimming performance to increase scientific knowledge in the area, considering that understanding the biomechanical, physiological, and neuromuscular determinants of swimming performance is still challenging. This way, 13 manuscripts have been reviewed and approved for this research topic (volume II). We can categorize the 13 manuscripts into three major areas of swimming research: physiology and prescription; biomechanics; performance assessment and prediction. Furthermore, we highlight that 10 of the manuscripts were carried out with the participation of at least two research institutions, often from different countries, which may demonstrate the need for international interchange and exchange of ideas and methodologies across researchers and laboratories.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A common neural scale for the subjective pleasantness of different primary rewards.

When an economic decision is taken, it is between goals with different values, and the values must be on the same scale. Here, we used functional MRI to search for a brain region that represents the subjective pleasantness of two different rewards on the same neural scale. We found activity in the ventral prefrontal cortex that correlated with the subjective pleasantness of two fundamentally different rewards, taste in the mouth and warmth on the hand. The evidence came from two different investigations, a between-group comparison of two independent fMRI studies, and from a within-subject study. In the latter, we showed that neural activity in the same voxels in the ventral prefrontal cortex correlated with the subjective pleasantness of the different rewards. Moreover, the slope and intercept for the regression lines describing the relationship between activations and subjective pleasantness were highly similar for the different rewards. We also provide evidence that the activations did not simply represent multisensory integration or the salience of the rewards. The findings demonstrate the existence of a specific region in the human brain where neural activity scales with the subjective pleasantness of qualitatively different primary rewards. This suggests a principle of brain processing of importance in reward valuation and decision-making

Chromosome 17 alterations identify good-risk and poor-risk tumors independently of clinical factors in medulloblastoma

Current risk stratification schemas for medulloblastoma, based on combinations of clinical variables and histotype, fail to accurately identify particularly good- and poor-risk tumors. Attempts have been made to improve discriminatory power by combining clinical variables with cytogenetic data. We report here a pooled analysis of all previous reports of chromosomal copy number related to survival data in medulloblastoma. We collated data from previous reports that explicitly quoted survival data and chromosomal copy number in medulloblastoma. We analyzed the relative prognostic significance of currently used clinical risk stratifiers and the chromosomal aberrations previously reported to correlate with survival. In the pooled dataset metastatic disease, incomplete tumor resection and severe anaplasia were associated with poor outcome, while young age at presentation was not prognostically significant. Of the chromosomal variables studied, isolated 17p loss and gain of 1q correlated with poor survival. Gain of 17q without associated loss of 17p showed a trend to improved outcome. The most commonly reported alteration, isodicentric chromosome 17, was not prognostically significant. Sequential multivariate models identified isolated 17p loss, isolated 17q gain, and 1q gain as independent prognostic factors. In a historical dataset, we have identified isolated 17p loss as a marker of poor outcome and 17q gain as a novel putative marker of good prognosis. Biological markers of poor-risk and good-risk tumors will be critical in stratifying treatment in future trials. Our findings should be prospectively validated independently in future clinical studies

Back-flow ripples in troughs downstream of unit bars: Formation, preservation and value for interpreting flow conditions

Back-flow ripples are bedforms created within the lee-side eddy of a larger bedform with migration directions opposed or oblique to that of the host bedform. In the flume experiments described in this article, back-flow ripples formed in the trough downstream of a unit bar and changed with mean flow velocity; varying from small incipient back-flow ripples at low velocities, to well-formed back-flow ripples with greater velocity, to rapidly migrating transient back-flow ripples formed at the greatest velocities tested. In these experiments back-flow ripples formed at much lower mean back-flow velocities than predicted from previously published descriptions. This lower threshold mean back-flow velocity is attributed to the pattern of velocity variation within the lee-side eddy of the host bedform. The back-flow velocity variations are attributed to vortex shedding from the separation zone, wake flapping and increases in the size of, and turbulent intensity within, the flow separation eddy controlled by the passage of superimposed bedforms approaching the crest of the bar. Short duration high velocity packets, whatever their cause, may form back-flow ripples if they exceed the minimum bed shear stress for ripple generation for long enough or, if much faster, may wash them out. Variation in back-flow ripple cross-lamination has been observed in the rock record and, by comparison with flume observations, the preserved back-flow ripple morphology may be useful for interpreting formative flow and sediment transport dynamics