An enigma in the genetic responses of plants to salt stresses

Soil salinity is one of the main factors restricting crop production throughout the world. Various salt tolerance traits and the genes controlling these traits are responsible for coping with salinity stress in plants. These coping mechanisms include osmotic tolerance, ion exclusion, and tissue tolerance. Plants exposed to salinity stress sense the stress conditions, convey specific stimuli signals, and initiate responses against stress through the activation of tolerance mechanisms that include multiple genes and pathways. Advances in our understanding of the genetic responses of plants to salinity and their connections with yield improvement are essential for attaining sustainable agriculture. Although a wide range of studies have been conducted that demonstrate genetic variations in response to salinity stress, numerous questions need to be answered to fully understand plant tolerance to salt stress. This chapter provides an overview of previous studies on the genetic control of salinity stress in plants, including signaling, tolerance mechanisms, and the genes, pathways, and epigenetic regulators necessary for plant salinity tolerance

New Generation Leadership: Looking After Tomorrow

This chapter looks forward, asking how to envision a social work we need for the twenty-first century. It challenges easy notions of succession, mentoring and leadership preparation by proposing a tension between innovation and simply being guided by what has gone before. What types of leaders do we need to navigate complex futures? Will their skill sets and competencies need to be different, and how do we prepare them for next generation leadership? How can today’s leaders exercise generosity of spirit in facilitating this transition, creating space and crafting enabling environments that foster such development? The authors argue for ethical leadership in the profession that guides new ways of thinking about and enabling a distinctive approach for new generation leadership in social work education, practice and research

Micro-epidemiology of mixed-species malaria infections in a rural population living in the Colombian Amazon region

Malaria outbreaks have been reported in recent years in the Colombian Amazon region, malaria has been re-emerging in areas where it was previously controlled. Information from malaria transmission networks and knowledge about the population characteristics influencing the dispersal of parasite species is limited. This study aimed to determine the distribution patterns of Plasmodium vivax, P. malariae and P. falciparum single and mixed infections, as well as the significant socio-spatial groupings relating to the appearance of such infections. An active search in 57 localities resulted in 2,106 symptomatic patients being enrolled. Parasitaemia levels were assessed by optical microscopy, and parasites were detected by PCR. The association between mixed infections (in 43.2% of the population) and socio-spatial factors was modelled using logistic regression and multiple correspondence analyses. P. vivax occurred most frequently (71.0%), followed by P. malariae (43.2%), in all localities. The results suggest that a parasite density-dependent regulation model (with fever playing a central role) was appropriate for modelling the frequency of mixed species infections in this population. This study highlights the under-reporting of Plasmodium spp. mixed infections in the malaria-endemic area of the Colombian Amazon region and the association between causative and environmental factors in such areas. © 2018 The Author(s)