The U.S. Role in Saving the Global Environment

In the following excerpt from his book Earth in the Balance, Vice President-elect Gore describes what he believes should be components of the U.S. role in this Global Marshall Plan --a new global economics. Then he describes what happened at the Earth Summit and where we all go from here

Statistical Reviewers Improve Reporting in Biomedical Articles: A Randomized Trial

BACKGROUND: Although peer review is widely considered to be the most credible way of selecting manuscripts and improving the quality of accepted papers in scientific journals, there is little evidence to support its use. Our aim was to estimate the effects on manuscript quality of either adding a statistical peer reviewer or suggesting the use of checklists such as CONSORT or STARD to clinical reviewers or both. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Interventions were defined as 1) the addition of a statistical reviewer to the clinical peer review process, and 2) suggesting reporting guidelines to reviewers; with “no statistical expert” and “no checklist” as controls. The two interventions were crossed in a 2×2 balanced factorial design including original research articles consecutively selected, between May 2004 and March 2005, by the Medicina Clinica (Barc) editorial committee. We randomized manuscripts to minimize differences in terms of baseline quality and type of study (intervention, longitudinal, cross-sectional, others). Sample-size calculations indicated that 100 papers provide an 80% power to test a 55% standardized difference. We specified the main outcome as the increment in quality of papers as measured on the Goodman Scale. Two blinded evaluators rated the quality of manuscripts at initial submission and final post peer review version. Of the 327 manuscripts submitted to the journal, 131 were accepted for further review, and 129 were randomized. Of those, 14 that were lost to follow-up showed no differences in initial quality to the followed-up papers. Hence, 115 were included in the main analysis, with 16 rejected for publication after peer review. 21 (18.3%) of the 115 included papers were interventions, 46 (40.0%) were longitudinal designs, 28 (24.3%) cross-sectional and 20 (17.4%) others. The 16 (13.9%) rejected papers had a significantly lower initial score on the overall Goodman scale than accepted papers (difference 15.0, 95% CI: 4.6–24.4). The effect of suggesting a guideline to the reviewers had no effect on change in overall quality as measured by the Goodman scale (0.9, 95% CI: −0.3–+2.1). The estimated effect of adding a statistical reviewer was 5.5 (95% CI: 4.3–6.7), showing a significant improvement in quality. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: This prospective randomized study shows the positive effect of adding a statistical reviewer to the field-expert peers in improving manuscript quality. We did not find a statistically significant positive effect by suggesting reviewers use reporting guidelines

Reliability of Transcriptional Cycles and the Yeast Cell-Cycle Oscillator

A recently published transcriptional oscillator associated with the yeast cell cycle provides clues and raises questions about the mechanisms underlying autonomous cyclic processes in cells. Unlike other biological and synthetic oscillatory networks in the literature, this one does not seem to rely on a constitutive signal or positive auto-regulation, but rather to operate through stable transmission of a pulse on a slow positive feedback loop that determines its period. We construct a continuous-time Boolean model of this network, which permits the modeling of noise through small fluctuations in the timing of events, and show that it can sustain stable oscillations. Analysis of simpler network models shows how a few building blocks can be arranged to provide stability against fluctuations. Our findings suggest that the transcriptional oscillator in yeast belongs to a new class of biological oscillators

Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

Agouti-related peptide neural circuits mediate adaptive behaviors in the starved state

In the face of starvation, animals will engage in high-risk behaviors that would normally be considered maladaptive. Starving rodents, for example, will forage in areas that are more susceptible to predators and will also modulate aggressive behavior within a territory of limited or depleted nutrients. The neural basis of these adaptive behaviors likely involves circuits that link innate feeding, aggression and fear. Hypothalamic agouti-related peptide (AgRP)-expressing neurons are critically important for driving feeding and project axons to brain regions implicated in aggression and fear. Using circuit-mapping techniques in mice, we define a disynaptic network originating from a subset of AgRP neurons that project to the medial nucleus of the amygdala and then to the principal bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which suppresses territorial aggression and reduces contextual fear. We propose that AgRP neurons serve as a master switch capable of coordinating behavioral decisions relative to internal state and environmental cues

The Cartel Restriction Act of 1979: Response to a Global Economic Problem

The potential for workable cartels presently exists in several commodities, and host-countries and multinationals have already initiated or attempted cartel activities in minerals and agricultural goods. The recent success of the OPEC cartel was a significant factor influencing the formation of the uranium cartel by easing corporate and governmental inhibitions against cartel activities. Given the increasing exploitative attitude among developed countries and what has been termed the irrational solidarity among developing countries, it is not unreasonable to expect more imitations of OPEC success wherever market conditions would allow a group of producers to extract monopoly rents from consuming nations. Such activity poses a threat to the nation\u27s ability to regulate the economy and forces priorities in the national budget to be determined in response to inflationary pressures in large part generated by political and economic activity which is presently immune from the sanctions of United States antitrust laws. Perhaps an even greater threat is posed by the danger that a resurgence of cartel activity in the mainstream of international commerce could threaten a return to the exploitative mentality that triggered the world-wide depression of the interwar period. While the chances of such a recurrence may at this time seem remote, its potential consequences in a world suffering from overpopulation and scarcity of resources must not be risked. Even without such a catastrophe, the social cost of worldwide cartelization would heavily burden efforts aimed at maximizing economic welfare and redressing inequities in this country and abroad. United States antitrust jurisdiction and regulatory powers are presently too limited in their extraterritorial application to deal effectively with the international cartel problem. The Cartel Restriction Act, now pending in Congress, seeks to correct this problem by minimizing the adverse impact of international cartels on domestic and international commerce, by limiting participation by American firms in cartels and by applying pressure on such activity through trade channels. The proposed legislation attempts to reduce the threat of international cartels in two ways: (1) require U.S. companies to report any solicitation of cartel activities; (2) strengthen the application of present antitrust law by limiting the act of state doctrine and its corollary, sovereign compulsion, as a defense to violations of the antitrust statutes

The Challenge of Biotechnology

Since recombinant DNA technology was first developed in the early 1970\u27s, society has been faced with the immense task of overseeing its use and development. Scientists have been concerned with continuing their research free from burdensome regulations, while policy-makers have worried about the potential for a biotechnological disaster if such research remains unregulated. Accordingly, attempts to control the technology\u27s potential dangers while encouraging exploration of its benefits have caused many conflicts, both within and between the scientific and regulatory communities