Transcriptomic and metabolic responses of Calotropis procera to salt and drought stress

Background: Calotropis procera is a wild plant species in the family Apocynaceae that is able to grow in harsh, arid and heat stressed conditions. Understanding how this highly adapted plant persists in harsh environments should inform future efforts to improve the hardiness of crop and forage plant species. To study the plant response to droμght and osmotic stress, we treated plants with polyethylene glycol and NaCl and carried out transcriptomic and metabolomics measurements across a time-course of five days. Results: We identified a highly dynamic transcriptional response across the time-course including dramatic changes in inositol signaling, stress response genes and cytokinins. The resulting metabolome changes also involved sharp increases of myo-inositol, a key signaling molecule and elevated amino acid metabolites at later times. Conclusions: The data generated here provide a first glimpse at the expressed genome of C. procera, a plant that is exceptionally well adapted to arid environments. We demonstrate, through transcriptome and metabolome analysis that myo-inositol signaling is strongly induced in response to drought and salt stress and that there is elevation of amino acid concentrations after prolonged osmotic stress. This work should lay the foundations of future studies in adaptation to arid environments

Evaluation of health care services provided for older adults in primary health care centers and its internal environment. A step towards age-friendly health centers

Objectives: to evaluate the health care services provided for older adults by primary health care centers (PHCCs) in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and the ease of use of these centers by older adults. Methods: between October 2013 and January 2014, we conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study of 15 randomly selected PHCCs in Riyadh City, KSA. The evaluation focused on basic indicators of clinical services offered and factors indicative of the ease of use of the centers by older adults. Evaluations were based upon the age-friendly PHCCs toolkit of the World Health Organization. Results: coverage of basic health assessments (such as blood pressure, diabetes, and blood cholesterol) was generally good. However, fewer than half of the PHCCs offered annual comprehensive screening for the common age-related conditions. There was no screening for cancer. Counseling on improving lifestyle was provided by most centers. However, there was no standard protocol for counseling. Coverage of common vaccinations was poor. The layout of most PHCCs and their signage were good, except for lack of Braille signage. There may be issues of access of older adults to PHCCs through lack of public transport, limited parking opportunities, the presence of steps, ramps, and internal stairs, and the lack of handrails. Conclusions: clinical services and the internal environment of PHCCs can be improved. The data will be useful for health-policy makers to improve PHCCs to be more age-friendl

Global burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors for young people's health during 1990�2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

Background Young people's health has emerged as a neglected yet pressing issue in global development. Changing patterns of young people's health have the potential to undermine future population health as well as global economic development unless timely and effective strategies are put into place. We report the past, present, and anticipated burden of disease in young people aged 10�24 years from 1990 to 2013 using data on mortality, disability, injuries, and health risk factors. Methods The Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) includes annual assessments for 188 countries from 1990 to 2013, covering 306 diseases and injuries, 1233 sequelae, and 79 risk factors. We used the comparative risk assessment approach to assess how much of the burden of disease reported in a given year can be attributed to past exposure to a risk. We estimated attributable burden by comparing observed health outcomes with those that would have been observed if an alternative or counterfactual level of exposure had occurred in the past. We applied the same method to previous years to allow comparisons from 1990 to 2013. We cross-tabulated the quantiles of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) by quintiles of DALYs annual increase from 1990 to 2013 to show rates of DALYs increase by burden. We used the GBD 2013 hierarchy of causes that organises 306 diseases and injuries into four levels of classification. Level one distinguishes three broad categories: first, communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional disorders; second, non-communicable diseases; and third, injuries. Level two has 21 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories, level three has 163 categories, and level four has 254 categories. Findings The leading causes of death in 2013 for young people aged 10�14 years were HIV/AIDS, road injuries, and drowning (25·2), whereas transport injuries were the leading cause of death for ages 15�19 years (14·2) and 20�24 years (15·6). Maternal disorders were the highest cause of death for young women aged 20�24 years (17·1) and the fourth highest for girls aged 15�19 years (11·5) in 2013. Unsafe sex as a risk factor for DALYs increased from the 13th rank to the second for both sexes aged 15�19 years from 1990 to 2013. Alcohol misuse was the highest risk factor for DALYs (7·0 overall, 10·5 for males, and 2·7 for females) for young people aged 20�24 years, whereas drug use accounted for 2·7 (3·3 for males and 2·0 for females). The contribution of risk factors varied between and within countries. For example, for ages 20�24 years, drug use was highest in Qatar and accounted for 4·9 of DALYs, followed by 4·8 in the United Arab Emirates, whereas alcohol use was highest in Russia and accounted for 21·4, followed by 21·0 in Belarus. Alcohol accounted for 9·0 (ranging from 4·2 in Hong Kong to 11·3 in Shandong) in China and 11·6 (ranging from 10·1 in Aguascalientes to 14·9 in Chihuahua) of DALYs in Mexico for young people aged 20�24 years. Alcohol and drug use in those aged 10�24 years had an annual rate of change of >1·0 from 1990 to 2013 and accounted for more than 3·1 of DALYs. Interpretation Our findings call for increased efforts to improve health and reduce the burden of disease and risks for diseases in later life in young people. Moreover, because of the large variations between countries in risks and burden, a global approach to improve health during this important period of life will fail unless the particularities of each country are taken into account. Finally, our results call for a strategy to overcome the financial and technical barriers to adequately capture young people's health risk factors and their determinants in health information systems. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2016 Elsevier Lt