TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Staphylococcal Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (Ten): The Expanded Mouse Model**From the Division of Experimental Dermatology, I. Hautklinik (PME, PF, KW), the Institute of Pathology (GT), and the Hygiene Institute (HM) of the University of Vienna: and the Department of Dermatology. Harved Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. (Reprint requests to: Dr. Elias, Departtment of Pathology, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, California 941143.)

Strains of phage Group 2 staphylococci and cell-free fractions isolated from the same strains induced toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) when injected into neonatal mice. Furthermore, adult mice developed TEN in both hairy and glabrous skin following intracutaneous (but not systemic) administration of cell-free fractions. While normal adult mice did not develop TEN after inoculation of cocci, generalized TEN could be produced in adult mice pretreated with systemically injected corticosteriods for 3 weeks. Mice which had survived injections of cell-free fractions as neonates remained susceptible to intracutaneously administered fractions in adulthood. Regardless of the age of the animal and the cause of TEN (cocci or cell-free filtrates), the pathogenesis appeared identical both hitologically and ultrastructurally, i.e., via intercellular cleavage without evidence of cell necrosis. These studies demonstrate that neither maturation nor hair development, as previously proposed, confer cutaneous resistance to TEN. Instead, an extracutaneous factor(s) probably confers resistance to the normal adult mouse. Since similar factors lead to naturally occurring and experimental staphylococcal TEN in adult humans and adult mice, the adult mouse may prove to be a valuable model for the study of factors resulting in staphylococcal TEN in adult human

Discontinuation of long-term adalimumab treatment in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the discontinuation of adalimumab (ADA) treatment in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis (JIAU). METHODS Patients in whom ADA treatment was initiated for JIAU were included in this retrospective analysis. Reasons for discontinuing ADA treatment in patients with primary treatment response were analysed. RESULTS Within a group of 387 JIAU patients, 59 of 68 patients who were treated with ADA achieved a sufficient response to treatment within 6 months. Here, 39 patients (66.1 %) were still on therapy at their last follow-up visit (mean treatment duration of 38.3 months, range 12-91). In another 20 patients, ADA had been discontinued after 1 or 2 years or later, in 10 % (n = 2), 45 % (n = 9) and 45 % (n = 9) of patients, respectively (mean 30.6 months; range 10-65). Reasons for discontinuing ADA were reactivation of uveitis (n = 8, 3.93 per 100 patient-years) or arthritis (n = 4; 1.97 per 100 patient-years), or ≥2 years of complete disease inactivity (n = 3, 1.47 per 100 patient-years), adverse events (n = 4; 1.89 per 100 patient-years), or other (n = 1; 0.47 per 100 patient-years). CONCLUSIONS The data show a good primary response to ADA in patients with refractory JIAU. Due to the increasing rate of adalimumab failure or adverse events during long-term treatment, further treatment options may be required

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

10.1111/gcb.14904GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY261119-18