RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

Potential for re-emergence of wheat stem rust in the United Kingdom

Wheat stem rust, a devastating disease of wheat and barley caused by the fungal pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, was largely eradicated in Western Europe during the mid-to-late twentieth century. However, isolated outbreaks have occurred in recent years. Here we investigate whether a lack of resistance in modern European varieties, increased presence of its alternate host barberry and changes in climatic conditions could be facilitating its resurgence. We report the first wheat stem rust occurrence in the United Kingdom in nearly 60 years, with only 20% of UK wheat varieties resistant to this strain. Climate changes over the past 25 years also suggest increasingly conducive conditions for infection. Furthermore, we document the first occurrence in decades of P. graminis on barberry in the UK. Our data illustrate that wheat stem rust does occur in the UK and, when climatic conditions are conducive, could severely harm wheat and barley production.</p

Fluid replacement modelling analysis for C4 reservoir characterisation onshore Niger Delta Basin

This study applied Gassman’s fluid substitution theory to model the sensitivity of several saturations of gas and oil in the C4 reservoir using well log data, to determine the applicability of rock physics analysis to evaluate the reservoir in the undrilled area of the field. Results of fluid substitution modeling for gas revealed that P-wave velocity decreased significantly at 5% gas saturation. Upon further increments in the gas saturation, the P-wave velocity remained relatively constant, revealing the difficulty in differentiating between economical and sub- economical gas saturation on seismic. Oil substitution showed that as the saturation of oil introduced into the reservoir increases, the P-wave velocity and density decreases accordingly. The 80% oil saturation model appeared to be greater than the insitu P-wave and density. Hence it can be concluded that the insitu oil saturation may be greater than 80% oil. In both fluid substitution scenarios, the S-wave models remained constant irrespective of the fluid saturation. Cross plot of Vp/Vs ratio against P-impedance and Mu-rho against Lambda-rho technique were done to validate the modeling results. The techniques discriminated both the lithology types and fluid contrast in the reservoir. Hence, it can be applied in the evaluation and characterization of the C4 reservoir in the undrilled area of the field from inversion results.Keywords: Forward-Modelling, Fluid-Substitution, P-wave, S-wave, Fluid-Saturation, Rock Properties, Petrophysical Evaluatio

Socioeconomic shocks, inequality and food systems in the Global South: an introduction

Food and nutrition security is increasingly understood as the most vital component of human ecosystems for transforming raw materials into foods, nutrients, and health outcomes. In addition to the distortions in the global food and nutrition systems as reflected in the triple burden of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and overnutrition, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated devastating socioeconomic crises in the Global South. Food supply chain fragilities have become more prominent due to inherent capacity shortages to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on food supply. From the global community’s perspective, scientific research innovations, disruptive technologies, and public health preparedness are some of the strategic pillars and critical drivers of post-pandemic socioeconomic recovery and resilience. As the COVID- 19 pandemic signals a scientific paradigm shift towards accelerating food systems and public health innovation, a key takeaway for governments in the Global South, along with enterprises and communities, is scaling the implementation of selected social protection policy interventions towards rapidly absorbing future socioeconomic shocks while consolidating alternative pathways for a region-wide sustainable food system

An Assessment of the Levels of Heavy Metals, Nitrates and Nitrites in Three Leafy Vegetables from Selected Rural and Urban Markets in Kwara State, Nigeria

The concentration of some heavy metals, nitrates and nitrites in leafy vegetables sold in selected markets in Ilorin and its environment were investigated. Three leafy vegetables (Amaranthus hybridus, Celosia argentea and Corchorus olitorious) were used in this study. The concentration of selected heavy metals (cadmium, lead, copper, zinc and arsenic), nitrates and nitrites in the leaves were analyzed using standard methods and compared with the permissible limits recommended by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)/ WHO Expert Committee on food additives. The concentration of cadmium was significantly higher than the permissible limits (0.20 mg/kg) for all the vegetable types across locations. However, the concentrations of lead, copper, zinc and arsenic which ranged from 0.06 to 0.13 mg/kg, 0.09 to 0.18 mg/kg, 0.05 to 0.16 mg/kg and 0.08 to 0.17 mg/kg were lower than the permissible limits for all the vegetables and in all locations. The concentration of nitrates in the leafy vegetables ranged from 0.09 to 0.37 mg/kg and was within the safe limit (< 3.70 mg/kg) as recommended by (FAO)/WHO Expert Committee on food additives while nitrite was not detected. In conclusion, monitoring of vegetables for toxic heavy metals is essential for food safety in Nigeria. Although lead and arsenic were below safe limits they have the tendency to accumulate to toxic level in consumers. There is the need to increase the essential micronutrient content of soils around the study area given the low concentration of Cu and Zn in the leafy vegetables. Keywords: Food safety, toxicity, micronutrients and concentrations

Addressing Non-health Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic and Development of Future Resilience in Nigeria: A Systemic Intervention

More often than not, policymakers seem to have a proper perspective about the world, where formulating the appropriate plans concerning policies aims to put the economy on the path to address identified socioeconomic shocks (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2020). Presently, governments across countries are striving to curtail the impact of socioeconomic shocks occasioned by the global pandemic, called the coronavirus, otherwise known as the COVID-19 pandemic (Djalantea, Shaw, & DeWit, 2020). The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has created a series of adverse effects on man across different parts of the world (see Figure 7.1). This has resulted in major economic shock and imbalances both in developed and developing countries, which has also had obvious negative impacts on these nations’ economic growth and development (Barua, 2020). Among the broa