A comparative evaluation of the regulation of GM crops or products containing dsRNA and suggested improvements to risk assessments

AbstractChanging the nature, kind and quantity of particular regulatory-RNA molecules through genetic engineering can create biosafety risks. While some genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are intended to produce new regulatory-RNA molecules, these may also arise in other GMOs not intended to express them. To characterise, assess and then mitigate the potential adverse effects arising from changes to RNA requires changing current approaches to food or environmental risk assessments of GMOs. We document risk assessment advice offered to government regulators in Australia, New Zealand and Brazil during official risk evaluations of GM plants for use as human food or for release into the environment (whether for field trials or commercial release), how the regulator considered those risks, and what that experience teaches us about the GMO risk assessment framework. We also suggest improvements to the process

A four-dimensional probabilistic atlas of the human brain

The authors describe the development of a four-dimensional atlas and reference system that includes both macroscopic and microscopic information on structure and function of the human brain in persons between the ages of 18 and 90 years. Given the presumed large but previously unquantified degree of structural and functional variance among normal persons in the human population, the basis for this atlas and reference system is probabilistic. Through the efforts of the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM), 7,000 subjects will be included in the initial phase of database and atlas development. For each subject, detailed demographic, clinical, behavioral, and imaging information is being collected. In addition, 5,800 subjects will contribute DNA for the purpose of determining genotype-phenotype-behavioral correlations. The process of developing the strategies, algorithms, data collection methods, validation approaches, database structures, and distribution of results is described in this report. Examples of applications of the approach are described for the normal brain in both adults and children as well as in patients with schizophrenia. This project should provide new insights into the relationship between microscopic and macroscopic structure and function in the human brain and should have important implications in basic neuroscience, clinical diagnostics, and cerebral disorders

What Is the Evidence to Support the Use of Therapeutic Gardens for the Elderly?

Horticulture therapy employs plants and gardening activities in therapeutic and rehabilitation activities and could be utilized to improve the quality of life of the worldwide aging population, possibly reducing costs for long-term, assisted living and dementia unit residents. Preliminary studies have reported the benefits of horticultural therapy and garden settings in reduction of pain, improvement in attention, lessening of stress, modulation of agitation, lowering of as needed medications, antipsychotics and reduction of falls. This is especially relevant for both the United States and the Republic of Korea since aging is occurring at an unprecedented rate, with Korea experiencing some of the world's greatest increases in elderly populations. In support of the role of nature as a therapeutic modality in geriatrics, most of the existing studies of garden settings have utilized views of nature or indoor plants with sparse studies employing therapeutic gardens and rehabilitation greenhouses. With few controlled clinical trials demonstrating the positive or negative effects of the use of garden settings for the rehabilitation of the aging populations, a more vigorous quantitative analysis of the benefits is long overdue. This literature review presents the data supporting future studies of the effects of natural settings for the long term care and rehabilitation of the elderly having the medical and mental health problems frequently occurring with aging

Comparing MODIS daily snow albedo to spectral albedo field measurements in Central Greenland

The albedo of the Greenland ice sheet plays a key role in the energy balance and climate of the arctic. Change in snow albedo values associated with changing climate conditions can be monitored remotely from satellite platforms viewing the entire Greenland ice sheet, yet comparisons to high quality surface measurements are necessary to assess the accuracy of satellite measurements as new snow albedo algorithms are developed with higher spatial and temporal resolution. During May, June, and July 2011, we obtained daily measurements of spectral albedo at Summit, Greenland with an Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) spectroradiometer, scanning at 350–2200 nm. We compare our spectral albedo field measurements to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), using both the Version 005 Direct Broadcast daily albedo product and the recently developed Version 006 MCD43A daily albedo product. The spectral field measurements allow calculation of weighted integrals to compare to seven MODIS narrow bandwidths ranging the UV through Infrared, as well as a broadband integration to compare to the MODIS shortwave albedo. We additionally compare our field measurements to albedo measured at the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) station at Summit. Using the MODIS Version 005 Direct Broadcast product, high-quality retrievals only, comparison to field measurements results in root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.033 for the MODIS shortwave product, and RMSE for the MODIS narrow bandwidths ranging 0.022–0.077. The new MODIS Version 006 product shows considerable improvement, with shortwave RMSE of 0.026, and narrow bandwidths ranging 0.020–0.048. These error values for the Version 006 albedo product show an improvement in reported error values from previous MODIS field validations in Greenland, which have been limited to broadband data from the Greenland Climate Network Automatic Weather Stations