Agro- forestry system to protect both the Sinharaja forest and the peripheral villages (a case study of the southern part of Sin haraja)

Kandyan homcgardens are the most predominant upland cropping system which supposed tobe highly adapted, diversified, economically and environmental viable land use system. Objectives ofthis study were to identify problems and improvement potentials to this important system of landmanagement. Data were collected from randomly selected (n=65) homegardens in Yatinuwara DistrictSecretariat division during 2006. A vegetation survey was conducted to evaluate the structure andcomposition of homegardens. A household survey was conducted by interviewing the members toidentify tree use practices by family members, constraints and improvement potentials. Secondarydata were also collected from Agrarian Service Centres, maps and reports.Hornegardens in the study area have maintained diverse on farm trees. They cultivating andusing at least 138 species of which 36, 34, 24 and 6% comprised timber, medicinal plant, fruit tree andexport agricultural crop species. There are 73, 193,300 and 147, individuals of timber, fruit medicinaland export agricultural crops plants/ha indicating high plant density per unit area. These speciesgrown on homegardens have substantially contributed to meet the dai ly need of household, supplyingmainly fruit, green vegetable, timber and fuelwood. Some of these species have medicinal value andalso play an important role in soil conservation. This suggests that homegardens are important as asource of conserving agro-biodiversity, species, habitat and landscape protection. However, morethan half of the homegardens of Yatinuwara area are 20-80 perches category which indicate landfragmentation. Thus, each land unit has to playa vital role with limited land availability. Therefore,sustainable management practices are very important to increase production to reach increasing demanddue to increasing human population while maintaining the resource base. In satisfying necessarychanges to hornegardens, availability of quality planting material (only 22% had access to recommendedplanting material), height offruit trees, poor soil management and labour scarcity were identified asmajor problems in Yatinuwara area. There are improvement potentials to homegardens by increasingthe productivity of the existing system. It is possible even to increase the number of trees perhomegardens by introducing new varieties. It is also possible to replace existing less productiveindividuals by certified planting material. In addition, management of soil can also be improved byintroducing new techniques such as compost preparations with garbages and fallen leaves whichrequire attitudinal changes of households. Implications of these are discussed with respect to food,nutritional and health security and income generation.

European and multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of atopic dermatitis highlights importance of systemic immune regulation

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin condition and prior genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 71 associated loci. In the current study we conducted the largest AD GWAS to date (discovery N = 1,086,394, replication N = 3,604,027), combining previously reported cohorts with additional available data. We identified 81 loci (29 novel) in the European-only analysis (which all replicated in a separate European analysis) and 10 additional loci in the multi-ancestry analysis (3 novel). Eight variants from the multi-ancestry analysis replicated in at least one of the populations tested (European, Latino or African), while two may be specific to individuals of Japanese ancestry. AD loci showed enrichment for DNAse I hypersensitivity and eQTL associations in blood. At each locus we prioritised candidate genes by integrating multi-omic data. The implicated genes are predominantly in immune pathways of relevance to atopic inflammation and some offer drug repurposing opportunities.</p

European and multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of atopic dermatitis highlights importance of systemic immune regulation.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin condition and prior genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 71 associated loci. In the current study we conducted the largest AD GWAS to date (discovery N = 1,086,394, replication N = 3,604,027), combining previously reported cohorts with additional available data. We identified 81 loci (29 novel) in the European-only analysis (which all replicated in a separate European analysis) and 10 additional loci in the multi-ancestry analysis (3 novel). Eight variants from the multi-ancestry analysis replicated in at least one of the populations tested (European, Latino or African), while two may be specific to individuals of Japanese ancestry. AD loci showed enrichment for DNAse I hypersensitivity and eQTL associations in blood. At each locus we prioritised candidate genes by integrating multi-omic data. The implicated genes are predominantly in immune pathways of relevance to atopic inflammation and some offer drug repurposing opportunities