Estudos Demográficos e fenológicos sobre Euphorbia davidii na Região Central da Província de Buenos Aires, Argentina

David’s Spurge is an spring-summer annual weed, present in the central area of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Field studies were carried out during 2011/12 and 2013/14 to assess demography and population dynamics and determine a thermal time scale of this species. At the experimental site, 1 m² quadrants were established as observational plots, four per cohort. The number of individuals at each phenological stage and from each cohort was recorded weekly. At the end of the experiment, all plots were harvested, and seed production was determined. A thermal time scale was established to identify the occurrence of the different phenological events. Three cohorts were detected, the first one emerged in midOctober, the second one in early November, and the last cohort varied from late November till early January, totalling an average of 1,500 m-2. Over 80% of the evaluated emergences belonged to the first and second cohorts in both periods. Thermal time requirements calculated to reach the 2-4 leaves, 6-8 leaves, branching, and flowering stages, were 192, 370, 515 and 1,155 o Cd, respectively. Average seed production in the first, second and third cohort was 5,700, 6,400 and 1,900 seeds m-2, respectively. However, the total number of propagules from the sum of the three cohorts was similar in both years, about 14,000 seeds m-2. Results from this study will foster a better understanding of the ecophysiology of Euphorbia davidii in the study area, and it may be a valuable contribution from an integrated weed management perspective.O eufórbio lactífero (em inglês, “David’s Spurge”) é uma planta daninha anual de primavera-verão presente na região central da província de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Estudos de campo foram realizados durante os anos de 2011/12 e 2013/14 para avaliar a demografia e a dinâmica de população, bem como para estabelecer uma escala de tempo térmico para essa espécie. No local do experimento, quatro parcelas de 1 m² foram marcadas para cada coorte de indivíduos. O número de indivíduos de cada coorte, em cada estado fenológico, foi registrado semanalmente. Ao final do experimento, todas as parcelas foram colhidas, e a produção de sementes foi determinada. Uma escala de acumulação de tempo térmico foi estabelecida para identificar a ocorrência de diferentes eventos fenológicos. Foram detectadas três coortes: a primeira surgiu em meados de outubro; a segunda, no início de novembro; e a última, entre o final de novembro e o início de janeiro, totalizando uma média de 1.500 plantas m-2. Mais de 80% das emergências registradas pertenciam à primeira e segunda coortes nos dois períodos de estudo. Os requisitos de tempo térmico calculados para atingir os estádios de 2-4 folhas, 6-8 folhas, ramificação e floração foram de 192, 370, 515 e 1.155 oCd, respectivamente. O rendimento médio na primeira, segunda e terceira coortes foi de 5.700, 6.400 e 1.900 sementes m-2, respectivamente, determinando um número total de mudas de aproximadamente 14.000 sementes m-2, com a soma das três coortes. Os resultados deste estudo permitirão uma melhor compreensão da ecofisiologia de Euphorbia davidii na área de estudo e representarão uma valiosa contribuição para a gestão integrada desta espécie.Fil: Núñez Fré, F.R.. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Juan, Victor Fabian. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Saint André, H.M.. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Chantre Balacca, Guillermo Ruben. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida; Argentin

Food System Innovations for Healthier Diets in Low and Middle-Income Countries

Malnutrition in all its forms is a major challenge everywhere in the world, and particularly in low and middle income countries. To reduce malnutrition, innovations in food systems are needed to both provide sufficient options for consumers to obtain diets with adequate nutritional value, and to help consumers make conscious and unconscious choices to choose healthier diets. A potential solution to this challenge is food systems innovations designed to lead to healthier diets. In this paper, we lay out a multidisciplinary framework for both identifying and analyzing innovations in food systems that can lead to improvements in the choices available to consumers and their diets from a health perspective. The framework identifies entry points for the design of potential food systems innovations, highlighting potential synergies, feedback, and tradeoffs within the food system. The paper concludes by providing examples of potential innovations and describes future research that can be developed to support the role of food systems in providing healthier diets

Chromatin condensation and recruitment of PHD finger proteins to histone H3K4me3 are mutually exclusive

Histone post-translational modifications, and specific combinations they create, mediate a wide range of nuclear events. However, the mechanistic bases for recognition of these combinations have not been elucidated. Here, we characterize crosstalk between H3T3 and H3T6 phosphorylation, occurring in mitosis, and H3K4me3, a mark associated with active transcription. We detail the molecular mechanisms by which H3T3ph/K4me3/T6ph switches mediate activities of H3K4me3-binding proteins, including those containing plant homeodomain (PHD) and double Tudor reader domains. Our results derived from nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift perturbation analysis, orthogonal binding assays and cell fluorescence microscopy studies reveal a strong anti-correlation between histone H3T3/T6 phosphorylation and retention of PHD finger proteins in chromatin during mitosis. Together, our findings uncover the mechanistic rules of chromatin engagement for H3K4me3-specific readers during cell division

E-Monitoring of Asthma Therapy to Improve Compliance in children using a real-time medication monitoring system (RTMM): The e-MATIC study protocol

Background: Many children with asthma do not have sufficient asthma control, which leads to increased healthcare costs and productivity loss of parents. One of the causative factors are adherence problems. Effective interventions improving medication adherence may therefore improve asthma control and reduce costs. A promising solution is sending real time text-messages via the mobile phone network, when a medicine is about to be forgotten. As the effect of real time text-messages in children with asthma is unknown, the primary aim of this stud

Evaluating the Targeting of a Staphylococcus-aureus-Infected Implant with a Radiolabeled Antibody In Vivo

Implant infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus are difficult to treat due to biofilm formation, which complicates surgical and antibiotic treatment. We introduce an alternative approach using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting S. aureus and provide evidence of the specificity and biodistribution of S.-aureus-targeting antibodies in a mouse implant infection model. The monoclonal antibody 4497-IgG1 targeting wall teichoic acid in S. aureus was labeled with indium-111 using CHX-A”-DTPA as a chelator. Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/computed tomographyscans were performed at 24, 72 and 120 h after administration of the 111In-4497 mAb in Balb/cAnNCrl mice with a subcutaneous implant that was pre-colonized with S. aureus biofilm. The biodistribution of this labelled antibody over various organs was visualized and quantified using SPECT/CT imaging, and was compared to the uptake at the target tissue with the implanted infection. Uptake of the 111In-4497 mAbs at the infected implant gradually increased from 8.34 %ID/cm3 at 24 h to 9.22 %ID/cm3 at 120 h. Uptake at the heart/blood pool decreased over time from 11.60 to 7.58 %ID/cm3, whereas the uptake in the other organs decreased from 7.26 to less than 4.66 %ID/cm3 at 120 h. The effective half-life of 111In-4497 mAbs was determined to be 59 h. In conclusion, 111In-4497 mAbs were found to specifically detect S. aureus and its biofilm with excellent and prolonged accumulation at the site of the colonized implant. Therefore, it has the potential to serve as a drug delivery system for the diagnostic and bactericidal treatment of biofilm

Dexamethasone therapy versus surgery for chronic subdural haematoma (DECSA trial): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Chronic subdural haematoma (CSDH) is a common neurological disease with a rapidly rising incidence due to increasing age and widespread use of anticoagulants. Surgical intervention by burr-hole craniotomy (BHC) is the current standard practice for symptomatic patients, but associated with complications, a recurrence rate of up to 30% and increased mortality. Dexamethasone (DXM) therapy is, therefore, used as a non-surgical alternative but considered to achieve a lower success rate. Furthermore, the benefit of DXM therapy appears much more deliberate than the immediate relief from BHC. Lack of evidence and clinical equipoise among caregivers prompts the need for a head-to-head randomised controlled trial. The objective of this study is to compare the effect of primary DXM therapy versus primary BHC on functional outcome and cost-effectiveness in symptomatic patients with CSDH.METHODS/DESIGN: This study is a prospective, multicentre, randomised controlled trial (RCT). Consecutive patients with a CSDH with a Markwalder Grading Scale (MGS) grade 1 to 3 will be randomised to treatment with DXM or BHC. The DXM treatment scheme will be 16 mg DXM per day (8 mg twice daily, days 1 to 4) which is then halved every 3 days until a dosage of 0.5 mg a day on day 19 and stopped on day 20. If the treatment response is insufficient (i.e. persistent or progressive symptomatology due to insufficient haematoma resolution), additional surgery can be performed. The primary outcomes are the functional outcome by means of the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at 3 months and cost-effectiveness at 12 months. Secondary outcomes are quality of life at 3 and 12 months using the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Quality of Life after Brain Injury Overall Scale (QOLIBRI), haematoma thickness after 2 weeks on follow-up computed tomography (CT), haematoma recurrence during the first 12 months, complications and drug-related adverse events, failure of therapy within 12 months after randomisation and requiring intervention, mortality during the first 3 and 12 months, duration of hospital stay and overall healthcare and productivity costs. To test non-inferiority of DXM therapy compared to BHC, 210 patients in each treatment arm are required (assumed adjusted common odds ratio DXM compared to BHC 1.15, limit for inferiority < 0.9). The aim is to include a total of 420 patients in 3 years with an enrolment rate of 60%.DISCUSSION: The present study should demonstrate whether treatment with DXM is as effective as BHC on functional outcome, at lower costs.TRIAL REGISTRATION: EUCTR 2015-001563-39 . Date of registration: 29 March 2015

Future and potential spending on health 2015-40: Development assistance for health, and government, prepaid private, and out-of-pocket health spending in 184 countries

Background: The amount of resources, particularly prepaid resources, available for health can affect access to health care and health outcomes. Although health spending tends to increase with economic development, tremendous variation exists among health financing systems. Estimates of future spending can be beneficial for policy makers and planners, and can identify financing gaps. In this study, we estimate future gross domestic product (GDP), all-sector government spending, and health spending disaggregated by source, and we compare expected future spending to potential future spending. Methods: We extracted GDP, government spending in 184 countries from 1980-2015, and health spend data from 1995-2014. We used a series of ensemble models to estimate future GDP, all-sector government spending, development assistance for health, and government, out-of-pocket, and prepaid private health spending through 2040. We used frontier analyses to identify patterns exhibited by the countries that dedicate the most funding to health, and used these frontiers to estimate potential health spending for each low-income or middle-income country. All estimates are inflation and purchasing power adjusted. Findings: We estimated that global spending on health will increase from US$9.21 trillion in 2014 to$24.24 trillion (uncertainty interval [UI] 20.47-29.72) in 2040. We expect per capita health spending to increase fastest in upper-middle-income countries, at 5.3% (UI 4.1-6.8) per year. This growth is driven by continued growth in GDP, government spending, and government health spending. Lower-middle income countries are expected to grow at 4.2% (3.8-4.9). High-income countries are expected to grow at 2.1% (UI 1.8-2.4) and low-income countries are expected to grow at 1.8% (1.0-2.8). Despite this growth, health spending per capita in low-income countries is expected to remain low, at $154 (UI 133-181) per capita in 2030 and$195 (157-258) per capita in 2040. Increases in national health spending to reach the level of the countries who spend the most on health, relative to their level of economic development, would mean $321 (157-258) per capita was available for health in 2040 in low-income countries. Interpretation: Health spending is associated with economic development but past trends and relationships suggest that spending will remain variable, and low in some low-resource settings. Policy change could lead to increased health spending, although for the poorest countries external support might remain essential