158 research outputs found
Mudanças nos padrões de poder do "Hinterland" de Luanda: o impacto da colonização sobre os Mbundu (c.1845-1920)
Penélope. Fazer e desfazer a história, n.14, pág.43-9
Molecular mapping across three populations reveals a QTL hotspot region on chromosome 3 for secondary traits associated with drought tolerance in tropical maize
Identifying quantitative trait loci (QTL) of sizeable effects that are expressed in diverse genetic backgrounds across contrasting water regimes particularly for secondary traits can significantly complement the conventional drought tolerance breeding efforts. We evaluated three tropical maize biparental populations under water-stressed and well-watered regimes for drought-related morpho-physiological traits, such as anthesis-silking interval (ASI), ears per plant (EPP), stay-green (SG) and plant-to-ear height ratio (PEH). In general, drought stress reduced the genetic variance of grain yield (GY), while that of morpho-physiological traits remained stable or even increased under drought conditions. We detected consistent genomic regions across different genetic backgrounds that could be target regions for marker-assisted introgression for drought tolerance in maize. A total of 203 QTL for ASI, EPP, SG and PEH were identified under both the water regimes. Meta-QTL analysis across the three populations identified six constitutive genomic regions with a minimum of two overlapping traits. Clusters of QTL were observed on chromosomes 1.06, 3.06, 4.09, 5.05, 7.03 and 10.04/06. Interestingly, a ~8-Mb region delimited in 3.06 harboured QTL for most of the morpho-physiological traits considered in the current study. This region contained two important candidate genes viz., zmm16 (MADS-domain transcription factor) and psbs1 (photosystem II unit) that are responsible for reproductive organ development and photosynthate accumulation, respectively. The genomic regions identified in this study partially explained the association of secondary traits with GY. Flanking single nucleotide polymorphism markers reported herein may be useful in marker-assisted introgression of drought tolerance in tropical maize
Be He@lthy - Be Mobile (A handbook on how to implement mAgeing)
The Be He@lthy, Be Mobile initiative is a global
partnership led by the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU), representing the United
Nations agencies for health and information
and communications technologies (ICTs). The
initiative supports the scale up of mobile health
technology (mHealth) within national health
systems to help combat noncommunicable diseases
(NCDs) and support healthy ageing.
Mobile health, or mHealth, is defined as "medical
and public health practice supported by mobile
devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring
devices, personal digital assistants, and
other wireless devices” (1). The Be Healthy, Be
Mobile initiative uses basic technologies common
in most mobile phones. The BHBM initiative
has overseen the development and implementation
of several mHealth programmes, including
mTobaccoCessation (2), mDiabetes, and mCervicalCancer.
The mHealth programme-specific
handbooks act as aids to policy-makers and
implementers of national or large-scale mHealth
programs. See Annex 1 for further information on
the Be He@lthy, Be Mobile initiative.
mHealth for Ageing, or mAgeing is a new programme
under the initiative, the central objective
of which is to assist older persons (a person
whose age has passed the median life expectancy
at birth) in maintaining functional ability and
living as independently and healthily as possible
through evidence-based self-management and
self-care interventions.
This handbook provides guidance for national
programmes and organizations responsible for
the care of older persons to develop, implement,
monitor, and evaluate an mAgeing programme.
The text messaging communication provided
uses evidence-based behaviour change techniques
to help older persons prevent and manage
early declines in intrinsic capacity and functional
ability. The mAgeing programme is based on
WHO’s Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE):
Guidelines on community-level interventions to
manage declines in intrinsic capacity (3) which
include interventions to prevent declines in intrinsic
capacity and functional abilities in older
people, namely: mobility loss, malnutrition, visual
impairment and hearing loss; as well as cognitive
impairments and depressive symptoms. The
messages are designed to encourage participation
in activities, and to prevent, reduce, or even
partly reverse, significant losses in capacity. The
content of the mAgeing programme will complement
routine care offered by health care professionals
by supporting self-care and self-management.
All content in this handbook is based on the
WHO ICOPE Guidelines and other relevant WHO
recommendations. The ICOPE Guideline recommendations
were reached by the consensus of
a guideline development group, convened by
WHO, which based its decisions on a summary of
systematic reviews of the best quality evidence
most relevant to community-level care for older
people, as well as the most up-to-date research
on the effectiveness of mHealth
Recommended from our members
Urban heat mitigation by green and blue infrastructure: drivers, effectiveness, and future needs
The combination of urbanisation and global warming leads to urban overheating and compounds the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events due to climate change. Yet, the risk of urban overheating can be mitigated by urban green-blue-grey infrastructures (GBGI), such as parks, wetlands, and engineered greening, which have the potential to effectively reduce summer air temperatures. Despite many reviews, the evidence bases on quantified GBGI cooling benefits remains partial and the practical recommendations for implementation are unclear. This systematic literature review synthesises the evidence base for heat mitigation and related co-benefits, identifies knowledge gaps, and proposes recommendations for their implementation to maximise their benefits. After screening 27,486 papers, 202 were reviewed, based on 51 GBGI types categorised under 10 main divisions. Certain GBGI (green walls, parks, street trees) have been well-researched for their urban cooling capabilities. However, several other GBGI have received negligible (zoological garden, golf course, estuary) or minimal (private garden, allotment) attention. The most efficient air cooling was observed in botanical gardens (5.0±3.5°C), wetlands (4.9±3.2°C), green walls (4.1±4.2°C), street trees (3.8±3.1°C), and vegetated balconies (3.8±2.7°C). Under changing climate conditions (2070-2100) with consideration of RCP8.5, there is a shift in climate subtypes, either within the same climate zone (e.g., Dfa to Dfb and Cfb to Cfa) or across other climate zones (e.g., Dfb (continental warm-summer humid) to BSk (dry, cold semi-arid) and Cwa (temperate) to Am (tropical)). These shifts may result in lower efficiency for the current GBGI in the future. Given the importance of multiple services, it is crucial to balance their functionality, cooling performance, and other related co-benefits when planning for the future GBGI. This global GBGI heat mitigation inventory can assist policymakers and urban planners in prioritising effective interventions to reduce the risk of urban overheating, filling research gaps, and promoting community resilience
Global political responsibility for the conservation of albatrosses and large petrels
Migratory marine species cross political borders and enter the high seas, where the lack of an effective global management framework for biodiversity leaves them vulnerable to threats. Here, we combine 10,108 tracks from 5775 individual birds at 87 sites with data on breeding population sizes to estimate the relative year-round importance of national jurisdictions and high seas areas for 39 species of albatrosses and large petrels. Populations from every country made extensive use of the high seas, indicating the stake each country has in the management of biodiversity in international waters. We quantified the links among national populations of these threatened seabirds and the regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) which regulate fishing in the high seas. This work makes explicit the relative responsibilities that each country and RFMO has for the management of shared biodiversity, providing invaluable information for the conservation and management of migratory species in the marine realm
Reduced anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing caused by biogenic new particle formation
The magnitude of aerosol radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic emissions depends on the baseline state of the atmosphere under pristine preindustrial conditions. Measurements show that particle formation in atmospheric conditions can occur solely from biogenic vapors. Here, we evaluate the potential effect of this source of particles on preindustrial cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations and aerosol-cloud radiative forcing over the industrial period. Model simulations show that the pure biogenic particle formation mechanism has a much larger relative effect on CCN concentrations in the preindustrial atmosphere than in the present atmosphere because of the lower aerosol concentrations. Consequently, preindustrial cloud albedo is increased more than under present day conditions, and therefore the cooling forcing of anthropogenic aerosols is reduced. The mechanism increases CCN concentrations by 20-100% over a large fraction of the preindustrial lower atmosphere, and the magnitude of annual global mean radiative forcing caused by changes of cloud albedo since 1750 is reduced by 0.22 W m-2 (27%) to -0.60 W m-2. Model uncertainties, relatively slow formation rates, and limited available ambient measurements make it difficult to establish the significance of a mechanism that has its dominant effect under preindustrial conditions. Our simulations predict more particle formation in the Amazon than is observed. However, the first observation of pure organic nucleation has now been reported for the free troposphere. Given the potentially significant effect on anthropogenic forcing, effort should be made to better understand such naturally driven aerosol processes
Redesigning care for older people to preserve physical and mental capacity: WHO guidelines on community-level interventions in integrated care.
Islene Araujo de Carvalho and coauthors discuss the WHO guidelines on integrated care for older people
International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.
Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist
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