Achieving food security in the face of climate change: Final report from the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change

To bring our interconnected food and climate systems within a ‘safe operating space’ for people and the planet, the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change has outlined seven major areas for policy action. Throughout 2011, the Commission worked to harvest the practical solutions detailed in the many recent authoritative reports on food security and climate change. By combining this thorough review of the substantive evidence base with the diverse perspectives and disciplinary expertise, the 13 Commissioners have crafted a succinct roadmap for policy makers. The Commission offers no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution, but rather points the way forward to foster national, regional and sectoral innovation that can aggregate up to meaningful global change

Achieving food security in the face of climate change: Summary for policy makers from the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change

The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change has reviewed the scientific evidence to identify a pathway to achieving food security in the context of climate change. Food systems must shift to better meet human needs and, in the long term, balance with planetary resources. This will demand major interventions, at local to global scales, to transform current patterns of food production, distribution and consumption. Investment, innovation, and deliberate effort to empower the world's most vulnerable populations will be required to construct a global food system that adapts to climate change and ensures food security while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and sustaining our natural resource base. Greatly expanded investments in sustainable agriculture, including improving supporting infrastructure and restoring degraded ecosystems, are an essential component of long-term economic development. The sooner they are made, the greater the benefits will be

Facet-dependent interactions of islet amyloid polypeptide with gold nanoparticles: implications for fibril formation and peptide-induced lipid membrane disruption

A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of interaction between proteins or peptides and nanomaterials is crucial for the development of nanomaterial-based diagnos-tics and therapeutics. In this work, we systematically explored the interactions between citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), a 37-amino acid peptide hormone co-secreted with insulin from the pancreatic islet. We uti-lized diffusion-ordered spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry, localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, gel electrophoresis, atomic force microscopy, transmis-sion electron microscopy (TEM), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to systemati-cally elucidate the underlying mechanism of the IAPP−AuNP interactions. Because of the presence of a metal-binding sequence motif in the hydrophilic peptide domain, IAPP strongly interacts with the Au surface in both the monomeric and fibrillar states. Circular dichroism showed that AuNPs triggered the IAPP conformational transition from random coil to ordered structures (α-helix and β-sheet), and TEM imaging suggested the accelera-tion of IAPP fibrillation in the presence of AuNPs. MD simulations revealed that the IAPP−AuNP interactions were initiated by the N-terminal domain (IAPP residues 1−19), which subsequently induced a facet-dependent conformational change in IAPP. On a Au(111) surface, IAPP was unfolded and adsorbed directly onto the Au surface, while for the Au(100) surface, it interacted predominantly with the citrate adlayer and retained some helical conformation. The observed affinity of AuNPs for IAPP was further applied to reduce the level of peptide-induced lipid membrane disruption

Facet-dependent interactions of islet amyloid polypeptide with gold nanoparticles: Implications for fibril formation and peptide-induced lipid membrane disruption

A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of interaction between proteins or peptides and nanomaterials is crucial for the development of nanomaterial-based diagnostics and therapeutics. In this work, we systematically explored the interactions between citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), a 37-amino acid peptide hormone co-secreted with insulin from the pancreatic islet. We utilized diffusion-ordered spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry, localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, gel electrophoresis, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to systematically elucidate the underlying mechanism of the IAPP–AuNP interactions. Because of the presence of a metal-binding sequence motif in the hydrophilic peptide domain, IAPP strongly interacts with the Au surface in both the monomeric and fibrillar states. Circular dichroism showed that AuNPs triggered the IAPP conformational transition from random coil to ordered structures (α-helix and β-sheet), and TEM imaging suggested the acceleration of IAPP fibrillation in the presence of AuNPs. MD simulations revealed that the IAPP–AuNP interactions were initiated by the N-terminal domain (IAPP residues 1–19), which subsequently induced a facet-dependent conformational change in IAPP. On a Au(111) surface, IAPP was unfolded and adsorbed directly onto the Au surface, while for the Au(100) surface, it interacted predominantly with the citrate adlayer and retained some helical conformation. The observed affinity of AuNPs for IAPP was further applied to reduce the level of peptide-induced lipid membrane disruption

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Obesity and Gastroesophageal Reflux: Quantifying the Association Between Body Mass Index, Esophageal Acid Exposure, and Lower Esophageal Sphincter Status in a Large Series of Patients with Reflux Symptoms

Obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are increasingly important health problems. Previous studies of the relationship between obesity and GERD focus on indirect manifestations of GERD. Little is known about the association between obesity and objectively measured esophageal acid exposure. The aim of this study is to quantify the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and 24-h esophageal pH measurements and the status of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) in patients with reflux symptoms. Data of 1,659 patients (50% male, mean age 51 ± 14) referred for assessment of GERD symptoms between 1998 and 2008 were analyzed. These subjects underwent 24-h pH monitoring off medication and esophageal manometry. The relationship of BMI to 24-h esophageal pH measurements and LES status was studied using linear regression and multiple regression analysis. The difference of each acid exposure component was also assessed among four BMI subgroups (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese) using analysis of variance and covariance. Increasing BMI was positively correlated with increasing esophageal acid exposure (adjusted R 2 = 0.13 for the composite pH score). The prevalence of a defective LES was higher in patients with higher BMI (p < 0.0001). Compared to patients with normal weight, obese patients are more than twice as likely to have a mechanically defective LES [OR = 2.12(1.63–2.75)]. An increase in body mass index is associated with an increase in esophageal acid exposure, whether BMI was examined as a continuous or as a categorical variable; 13% of the variation in esophageal acid exposure may be attributable to variation in BMI

Renal clearable catalytic gold nanoclusters for in vivo disease monitoring

Ultra-small gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have emerged as agile probes for in vivo imaging, as they exhibit exceptional tumour accumulation and efficient renal clearance properties. However, their intrinsic catalytic activity, which can enable increased detection sensitivity, has yet to be explored for in vivo sensing. By exploiting the peroxidase-mimicking activity of AuNCs and the precise nanometer size filtration of the kidney, we designed multifunctional protease nanosensors that respond to disease microenvironments to produce a direct colorimetric urinary readout of disease state in less than 1 h. We monitored the catalytic activity of AuNCs in collected urine of a mouse model of colorectal cancer where tumour-bearing mice showed a 13-fold increase in colorimetric signal compared to healthy mice. Nanosensors were eliminated completely through hepatic and renal excretion within 4 weeks after injection with no evidence of toxicity. We envision that this modular approach will enable rapid detection of a diverse range of diseases by exploiting their specific enzymatic signatures

Cosmological Constraints from the SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies

We measure the large-scale real-space power spectrum P(k) using luminous red galaxies (LRGs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and use this measurement to sharpen constraints on cosmological parameters from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). We employ a matrix-based power spectrum estimation method using Pseudo-Karhunen-Loeve eigenmodes, producing uncorrelated minimum-variance measurements in 20 k-bands of both the clustering power and its anisotropy due to redshift-space distortions, with narrow and well-behaved window functions in the range 0.01h/Mpc < k < 0.2h/Mpc. Results from the LRG and main galaxy samples are consistent, with the former providing higher signal-to-noise. Our results are robust to omitting angular and radial density fluctuations and are consistent between different parts of the sky. They provide a striking confirmation of the predicted large-scale LCDM power spectrum. Combining only SDSS LRG and WMAP data places robust constraints on many cosmological parameters that complement prior analyses of multiple data sets. The LRGs provide independent cross-checks on Om and the baryon fraction in good agreement with WMAP. Within the context of flat LCDM models, our LRG measurements complement WMAP by sharpening the constraints on the matter density, the neutrino density and the tensor amplitude by about a factor of two, giving Omega_m=0.24+-0.02 (1 sigma), sum m_nu < 0.9 eV (95%) and r<0.3 (95%). Baryon oscillations are clearly detected and provide a robust measurement of the comoving distance to the median survey redshift z=0.35 independent of curvature and dark energy properties. Within the LCDM framework, our power spectrum measurement improves the evidence for spatial flatness, sharpening the curvature constraint Omega_tot=1.05+-0.05 from WMAP alone to Omega_tot=1.003+-0.010. Assuming Omega_tot=1, the equation of state parameter is constrained to w=-0.94+-0.09, indicating the potential for more ambitious future LRG measurements to provide precision tests of the nature of dark energy. All these constraints are essentially independent of scales k>0.1h/Mpc and associated nonlinear complications, yet agree well with more aggressive published analyses where nonlinear modeling is crucial.Comment: Matches accepted PRD version. SDSS data, likelihood code, Markov chains and ppt figures available at http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/sdss.html 36 journal pages, 25 figs. CosmoMC plugin at http://cosmologist.info/cosmomc

Installing oncofertility programs for common cancers in optimum resource settings (Repro-Can-OPEN Study Part II): a committee opinion

The main objective of Repro-Can-OPEN Study Part 2 is to learn more about oncofertility practices in optimum resource settings to provide a roadmap to establish oncofertility best practice models. As an extrapolation for oncofertility best practice models in optimum resource settings, we surveyed 25 leading and well-resourced oncofertility centers and institutions from the USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan. The survey included questions on the availability and degree of utilization of fertility preservation options in case of childhood cancer, breast cancer, and blood cancer. All surveyed centers responded to all questions. Responses and their calculated oncofertility scores showed three major characteristics of oncofertility practice in optimum resource settings: (1) strong utilization of sperm freezing, egg freezing, embryo freezing, ovarian tissue freezing, gonadal shielding, and fractionation of chemo- and radiotherapy; (2) promising utilization of GnRH analogs, oophoropexy, testicular tissue freezing, and oocyte in vitro maturation (IVM); and (3) rare utilization of neoadjuvant cytoprotective pharmacotherapy, artificial ovary, in vitro spermatogenesis, and stem cell reproductive technology as they are still in preclinical or early clinical research settings. Proper technical and ethical concerns should be considered when offering advanced and experimental oncofertility options to patients. Our Repro-Can-OPEN Study Part 2 proposed installing specific oncofertility programs for common cancers in optimum resource settings as an extrapolation for best practice models. This will provide efficient oncofertility edification and modeling to oncofertility teams and related healthcare providers around the globe and help them offer the best care possible to their patients