Aging Well

This open access book outlines the challenges of supporting the health and wellbeing of older adults around the world and offers examples of solutions designed by stakeholders, healthcare providers, and public, private and nonprofit organizations in the United States. The solutions presented address challenges including: providing person-centered long-term care, making palliative care accessible in all healthcare settings and the home, enabling aging-in-place, financing long-term care, improving care coordination and access to care, delivering hospital-level and emergency care in the home and retirement community settings, merging health and social care, supporting people living with dementia and their caregivers, creating communities and employment opportunities that are accessible and welcoming to those of all ages and abilities, and combating the stigma of aging. The innovative programs of support and care in Aging Well serve as models of excellence that, when put into action, move health spending toward a sustainable path and greatly contribute to the well-being of older adults

Aging Well

This open access book outlines the challenges of supporting the health and wellbeing of older adults around the world and offers examples of solutions designed by stakeholders, healthcare providers, and public, private and nonprofit organizations in the United States. The solutions presented address challenges including: providing person-centered long-term care, making palliative care accessible in all healthcare settings and the home, enabling aging-in-place, financing long-term care, improving care coordination and access to care, delivering hospital-level and emergency care in the home and retirement community settings, merging health and social care, supporting people living with dementia and their caregivers, creating communities and employment opportunities that are accessible and welcoming to those of all ages and abilities, and combating the stigma of aging. The innovative programs of support and care in Aging Well serve as models of excellence that, when put into action, move health spending toward a sustainable path and greatly contribute to the well-being of older adults

A new process to promote the use of controlled mycorrhization practice in forest nurseries

The aims of this study were to test a new mycorrhizal inoculation process using a “catalyser” of the mycorrhizal establishment (termite mounds of Macrotermes subhyalinus) to minimize the requested volume of fungal inoculum added to the cultural substrate. The effects of the termite mound were explored on mycorrhiza formation between an Australian Acacia, Acacia holosericea and an ectomycorrhizal fungus or an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus using a two-step cultural system. The first step of this cultural practice was the inoculation of A. holosericea seedlings in small soil volumes (5 L plastic containers planted with 100 pre-germinated seeds) whereas the second one allowed the development of these mycorrhized plants in larger soil volumes (1 L pots planted with one seedling). Termite mound amendment significantly enhanced the mycorrhizal formation from both types of fungal isolates. This stimulating effect could probably be attributed to the introduction via the termite mound of a bacterial group (that is, fluorescent pseudomonads) that could act as Mycorrhiza Helper Bacteria (MHB). Since it is possible to reduce the requested fungal inoculum in controlled mycorrhization practice using M. subhyalinus mound powders, this biotechnological process could be useful in re-afforestation of tropical regions by lowering the requested fungal inoculum quantities and reducing the financial costs of controlled mycorrhization in forest nurseries

The vertebrate makorin ubiquitin ligase gene family has been shaped by large-scale duplication and retroposition from an ancestral gonad-specific, maternal-effect gene

Background Members of the makorin (mkrn) gene family encode RING/C3H zinc finger proteins with U3 ubiquitin ligase activity. Although these proteins have been described in a variety of eukaryotes such as plants, fungi, invertebrates and vertebrates including human, almost nothing is known about their structural and functional evolution. Results Via partial sequencing of a testis cDNA library from the poeciliid fish Xiphophorus maculatus, we have identified a new member of the makorin gene family, that we called mkrn4. In addition to the already described mkrn1 and mkrn2, mkrn4 is the third example of a makorin gene present in both tetrapods and ray-finned fish. However, this gene was not detected in mouse and rat, suggesting its loss in the lineage leading to rodent murids. Mkrn2 and mkrn4 are located in large ancient duplicated regions in tetrapod and fish genomes, suggesting the possible involvement of ancestral vertebrate-specific genome duplication in the formation of these genes. Intriguingly, many mkrn1 and mkrn2 intronless retrocopies have been detected in mammals but not in other vertebrates, most of them corresponding to pseudogenes. The nature and number of zinc fingers were found to be conserved in Mkrn1 and Mkrn2 but much more variable in Mkrn4, with lineage-specific differences. RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated a highly gonad-biased expression pattern for makorin genes in medaka and zebrafish (ray-finned fishes) and amphibians, but a strong relaxation of this specificity in birds and mammals. All three mkrn genes were maternally expressed before zygotic genome activation in both medaka and zebrafish early embryos. Conclusion Our analysis demonstrates that the makorin gene family has evolved through large-scale duplication and subsequent lineage-specific retroposition-mediated duplications in vertebrates. From the three major vertebrate mkrn genes, mkrn4 shows the highest evolutionary dynamics, with lineage-specific loss of zinc fingers and even complete gene elimination from certain groups of vertebrates. Comparative expression analysis strongly suggests that the ancestral E3 ubiquitin ligase function of the single copy mkrn gene before duplication in vertebrates was gonad-specific, with maternal expression in early embryos. (Résumé d'auteur