Cultivating nutrition

"Over the past decade, donor-funded policies and programs designed to address undernutrition in the Global South have shifted away from agriculture-based strategies toward nutrient supplementation and food fortification programs. Given the potential benefits resulting from agriculture-based nutrition interventions, this study uses Q methodology to explore the views of a range of stakeholders from both developed and developing countries on the value of—and constraints related to—gender-sensitive, nutrition-oriented agricultural projects. The three distinct viewpoints that emerge from this exercise all support the use of agricultural strategies to improve nutrition and underline the importance of gender-sensitive approaches. The viewpoints differ, however, on the relative importance of nutrition education, the strategic use of nutrient supplementation and food fortification, and the degree to which agriculture-based approaches have an impact on nutrition. The findings indicate that there is common ground among a range of stakeholders—donors, researchers, policymakers, and program practitioners—on the benefits of agriculture and gender-sensitive strategies to improve nutrition. These areas of agreement can serve as a foundation for forging an effective integrative strategy to improve nutrition that includes gender-sensitive agricultural approaches." Authors' AbstractNutrition ,malnutrition ,Agriculture ,stakeholders ,Gender ,

Cultivating nutrition

"Over the past decade, donor-funded policies and programs designed to address undernutrition in the Global South have shifted away from agriculture-based strategies toward nutrient supplementation and food fortification programs. Given the potential benefits resulting from agriculture-based nutrition interventions, this study uses Q methodology to explore the views of a range of stakeholders from both developed and developing countries on the value of—and constraints related to—gender-sensitive, nutrition-oriented agricultural projects. The three distinct viewpoints that emerge from this exercise all support the use of agricultural strategies to improve nutrition and underline the importance of gender-sensitive approaches. The viewpoints differ, however, on the relative importance of nutrition education, the strategic use of nutrient supplementation and food fortification, and the degree to which agriculture-based approaches have an impact on nutrition. The findings indicate that there is common ground among a range of stakeholders—donors, researchers, policymakers, and program practitioners—on the benefits of agriculture and gender-sensitive strategies to improve nutrition. These areas of agreement can serve as a foundation for forging an effective integrative strategy to improve nutrition that includes gender-sensitive agricultural approaches." Authors' AbstractNutrition ,malnutrition ,Agriculture ,stakeholders ,Gender ,

Vitis riparia Michx.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/19439/thumbnail.jp

Vegetation and Flora of the Sand Deposits of the Mississippi River Valley in Northwestern Illinois

This study was undertaken to determine vascular plant species composition, vegetation structure, and floristic quality of the major plant communities in the windblown sand deposits of northwestern Illinois during the growing seasons of 2002 through 2005. The major plant communities of the Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve in Carroll County, Big River State Forest in Henderson County, Lost Mound Unit of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge in Carroll and Jo Daviess counties, and the Thomson-Fulton Sand Prairie Nature Preserve located in Whiteside County were examined and the importance values determined for the plant species present. Located on broad terraces of the Mississippi River, these nature preserves and natural areas are remnants of a larger grassland/savanna/forest complex that contained extensive marsh; wet, mesic, and dry sand prairie; sand savanna; and sand forest communities. Most of the sand deposits are now cultivated and the original vegetation is found only in protected remnants, some of which are relatively large. The mature dry sand prairies were dominated by Schizachyrium scoparium; other important species were Opuntia macrorhiza, Dichanthelium villosissimum, Ambrosia psilostachya, and Tephrosia virginiana. Other assemblages of prairie and exotic species were encountered in successional sand prairie communities. Generally, the mature prairie communities in these preserves and natural areas had 35 or more species present in the study plots. Savanna and closed canopy forest communities were also examined. The dry sand savannas were dominated by Quercus velutina and Q. marilandica, dry sand forests were dominated by Q. velutina, and dry-mesic sand forests were dominated by Q. alba and Q. velutina.Illinois Department of Natural Resources; Illinois Nature Preserves Commissionpublished or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Association between major depressive disorder and pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute phase proteins among HIV-1 positive patients in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric complication of HIV/AIDS. While considerable research has been undertaken to understand the psychosocial risk factors of MDD, there is a paucity of data on its biological risk factors including immunological factors. To address this we undertook a study to investigate the association between MDD and pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute phase proteins among persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Uganda. We collected clinical and laboratory data on 201 PLWHA attending two HIV clinics in central and southwestern Uganda. Clinical data included DSM-IV based MDD diagnosis, while laboratory data included the concentrations of IL-6, TNF-α and CRP measured using ELISA. Multiple logistic linear regression analysis was used to determine which proteins were independently significantly associated with MDD controlling for study site, sex, age and highest educational attainment. RESULTS: The prevalence of MDD was 62/201 (30.8%). Adjusting for confounders, the odds of MDD increased with increasing levels of IL-6 [each unit increase in IL-6 titres was associated with an aOR = 0.98 (95% CI, 0.97-0.99); p < 0.001]. Participants with low levels of TNF-α were at reduced risk of MDD compared to participants with no TNF-α [those with a TNF-α of 1- <50 pg/ml titres had an aOR = 0.35(95% CI,0.10-1.16)], but as the level of TNF-α increased, the risk of MDD increased, and in particular participants with high levels of TNF-α (of 500 or above) were at a significantly increased risk of MDD [e.g. those with a TNF-α of 500- < 1000 pg/ml titres had an aOR = 3.98 (95% CI,1.29-12.33)] compared to participants with no TNF-α. There was no evidence that MDD was associated with the level of CRP titres [aOR = 0.95 (0.78-1.15); p = 0.60)]. CONCLUSION: In this study, the pro-inflammatory proteins IL-6 and TNF-α were significantly associated with MDD, while CRP was not

Host and viral determinants for MxB restriction of HIV-1 infection

Background: Interferon-induced cellular proteins play important roles in the host response against viral infection. The Mx family of dynamin-like GTPases, which include MxA and MxB, target a wide variety of viruses. Despite considerable evidence demonstrating the breadth of antiviral activity of MxA, human MxB was only recently discovered to specifically inhibit lentiviruses. Here we assess both host and viral determinants that underlie MxB restriction of HIV-1 infection. Results: Heterologous expression of MxB in human osteosarcoma cells potently inhibited HIV-1 infection (~12-fold), yet had little to no effect on divergent retroviruses. The anti-HIV effect manifested as a partial block in the formation of 2-long terminal repeat circle DNA and hence nuclear import, and we accordingly found evidence for an additional post-nuclear entry block. A large number of previously characterized capsid mutations, as well as mutations that abrogated integrase activity, counteracted MxB restriction. MxB expression suppressed integration into gene-enriched regions of chromosomes, similar to affects observed previously when cells were depleted for nuclear transport factors such as transportin 3. MxB activity did not require predicted GTPase active site residues or a series of unstructured loops within the stalk domain that confer functional oligomerization to related dynamin family proteins. In contrast, we observed an N-terminal stretch of residues in MxB to harbor key determinants. Protein localization conferred by a nuclear localization signal (NLS) within the N-terminal 25 residues, which was critical, was fully rescuable by a heterologous NLS. Consistent with this observation, a heterologous nuclear export sequence (NES) abolished full-length MxB activity. We additionally mapped sub-regions within amino acids 26–90 that contribute to MxB activity, finding sequences present within residues 27–50 particularly important. Conclusions: MxB inhibits HIV-1 by interfering with minimally two steps of infection, nuclear entry and post-nuclear trafficking and/or integration, without destabilizing the inherent catalytic activity of viral preintegration complexes. Putative MxB GTPase active site residues and stalk domain Loop 4 -- both previously shown to be necessary for MxA function -- were dispensable for MxB antiviral activity. Instead, we highlight subcellular localization and a yet-determined function(s) present in the unique MxB N-terminal region to be required for HIV-1 restriction. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12977-014-0090-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users