Subcortical volumes across the lifespan: data from 18,605 healthy individuals aged 3-90 years

Age has a major effect on brain volume. However, the normative studies available are constrained by small sample sizes, restricted age coverage and significant methodological variability. These limitations introduce inconsistencies and may obscure or distort the lifespan trajectories of brain morphometry. In response, we capitalized on the resources of the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium to examine age-related trajectories inferred from cross-sectional measures of the ventricles, the basal ganglia (caudate, putamen, pallidum, and nucleus accumbens), the thalamus, hippocampus and amygdala using magnetic resonance imaging data obtained from 18,605 individuals aged 3-90 years. All subcortical structure volumes were at their maximum value early in life. The volume of the basal ganglia showed a monotonic negative association with age thereafter; there was no significant association between age and the volumes of the thalamus, amygdala and the hippocampus (with some degree of decline in thalamus) until the sixth decade of life after which they also showed a steep negative association with age. The lateral ventricles showed continuous enlargement throughout the lifespan. Age was positively associated with inter-individual variability in the hippocampus and amygdala and the lateral ventricles. These results were robust to potential confounders and could be used to examine the functional significance of deviations from typical age-related morphometric patterns.Education and Child Studie

Sustainability in Agriculture and Local Food Systems: A Solution to a Global Crisis

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines a food system as the entire range of stakeholders and their interlinked value-adding activities involved in the production, distribution and aggregation, processing, marketing, consumption and waste management of food products that originate from agriculture, forestry, and parts of the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which they are embedded (Take and Systems 2015). To be considered sustainable, a food system must deliver food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social, and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised (Bassarab et al. 2019; FAO 2017; FAO et al. 2018). A sustainable food system lies at the heart of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Bt-maize event MON 88017 expressing Cry3Bb1 does not cause harm to non-target organisms

This review paper explores whether the cultivation of the genetically modified Bt-maize transformation event MON 88017, expressing the insecticidal Cry3Bb1 protein against corn rootworms (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), causes adverse effects to non-target organisms (NTOs) and the ecological and anthropocentric functions they provide. Available data do not reveal adverse effects of Cry3Bb1 on various NTOs that are representative of potentially exposed taxonomic and functional groups, confirming that the insecticidal activity of the Cry3Bb1 protein is limited to species belonging to the coleopteran family of Chrysomelidae. The potential risk to non-target chrysomelid larvae ingesting maize MON 88017 pollen deposited on host plants is minimal, as their abundance in maize fields and the likelihood of encountering harmful amounts of pollen in and around maize MON 88017 fields are low. Non-target adult chrysomelids, which may occasionally feed on maize MON 88017 plants, are not expected to be affected due to the low activity of the Cry3Bb1 protein on adults. Impacts on NTOs caused by potential unintended changes in maize MON 88017 are not expected to occur, as no differences in composition, phenotypic characteristics and plant-NTO interactions were observed between maize MON 88017 and its near-isogenic line