Knowledge integration in One Health policy formulation, implementation and evaluation

The One Health concept covers the interrelationship between human, animal and environmental health and requires multistakeholder collaboration across many cultural, disciplinary, institutional and sectoral boundaries. Yet, the implementation of the One Health approach appears hampered by shortcomings in the global framework for health governance. Knowledge integration approaches, at all stages of policy development, could help to address these shortcomings. The identification of key objectives, the resolving of trade-offs and the creation of a common vision and a common direction can be supported by multicriteria analyses. Evidence-based decision-making and transformation of observations into narratives detailing how situations emerge and might unfold in the future can be achieved by systems thinking. Finally, transdisciplinary approaches can be used both to improve the effectiveness of existing systems and to develop novel networks for collective action. To strengthen One Health governance, we propose that knowledge integration becomes a key feature of all stages in the development of related policies. We suggest several ways in which such integration could be promoted

Incorporating one health into medical education

One Health is an emerging concept that stresses the linkages between human, animal, and environmental health, as well as the need for interdisciplinary communication and collaboration to address health issues including emerging zoonotic diseases, climate change impacts, and the human-animal bond. It promotes complex problem solving using a systems framework that considers interactions between humans, animals, and their shared environment. While many medical educators may not yet be familiar with the concept, the One Health approach has been endorsed by a number of major medical and public health organizations and is beginning to be implemented in a number of medical schools. In the research setting, One Health opens up new avenues to understand, detect, and prevent emerging infectious diseases, and also to conduct translational studies across species. In the clinical setting, One Health provides practical ways to incorporate environmental and animal contact considerations into patient care. This paper reviews clinical and research aspects of the One Health approach through an illustrative case updating the biopsychosocial model and proposes a basic set of One Health competencies for training and education of human health care providers

Novel regulation of Ras proteins by direct tyrosine phosphorylation and dephosphorylation

Somatic mutations in the RAS genes are frequent in human tumors, especially in pancreatic, colorectal, and non-small-cell lung cancers. Such mutations generally decrease the ability of Ras to hydrolyze GTP, maintaining the protein in a constitutively active GTP-bound form that drives uncontrolled cell proliferation. Efforts to develop drugs that target Ras oncoproteins have been unsuccessful. Recent emerging data suggest that Ras regulation is more complex than the scientific community has believed for decades. In this review, we summarize advances in the "textbook" view of Ras activation. We also discuss a novel type of Ras regulation that involves direct phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of Ras tyrosine residues. The discovery that pharmacological inhibition of the tyrosine phosphoprotein phosphatase SHP2 maintains mutant Ras in an inactive state suggests that SHP2 could be a novel drug target for the treatment of Ras-driven human cancers

Descriptive Epidemiology of Cases of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Tobago: " Epidemiología Descriptiva de Casos de Infarto Agudo del Miocardio en Tobago"

Objectives: The goal of this study is to identify co-morbidities associated with acute myocardial infarction in Tobago. Methods: This was a longitudinal retrospective study of myocardial infarction at the Tobago Regional Hospital in two selected periods: January 2007 to April 2007 and January 2008 to April 2008. Data were retrieved from the patients’ medical records. These included co-morbid conditions eg hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia, ESRD, whether history of smoking or cocaine use and if any prior care. In the former period, 11 cases were confirmed as having myocardial infarction and 27 cases in the latter period. Results: In 2007 and 2008, all cases had dyslipidaemia (LDL > 100 mg/dL) and were hypertensive. There were 36.4% of cases in 2007 that had diabetes mellitus, compared to 33.3% cases in 2008 and 9.1% had chronic kidney disease in 2007, compared to 25.9% in 2008. Conclusion: The most common co-morbidities associated with acute myocardial infarction in Tobago are dyslipidaemia, hypertension and diabetes mellitus, with ESRD, smoking and cocaine use less so. Many of these patients had never received prior care. RESUMEN Objetivos: El objeto de este estudio fue identificar las comorbilidades asociadas con el infarto agudo del miocardio en Tobago. Metódos: Se realizó un estudio retrospectivo longitudinal del infarto del miocardio en el Hospital Regional de Tobago, en dos períodos: enero de 2007 a abril de 2007, y enero de 2008 a abril de 2008. Los datos fueron obtenidos a partir de las historias clínicas de los pacientes. Estos datos incluyeron condiciones co-mórbidas, por ejemplo, hipertensión, diabetes mellitus, dislipidemia, ERFT, historia de hábito de fumar o uso de cocaína, y cualquier atención previa del caso, si la hubiese. En el primero de estos períodos, se confirmó que 11 casos tenían infarto del miocardio, en tanto en el último caso se confirmaron 27 casos. Resultados: En 2007 y 2008, todos los casos padecían de dislipidemia (LDL > 100 mg/dL) y eran hipertensos. El 36.4% de los casos en 2007 sufría de diabetes mellitus, en comparación con el 33.3% de los casos en 2008. El 9.1% tenía la enfermedad renal crónica en 2007, en comparación con el 25.9% en 2008. Conclusión: Las comorbilidades más comunes asociadas con el infarto agudo del miocardio en Tobago son la dislipidemia, la hipertensión y la diabetes mellitus, y en menor grado la ERET, el hábito de fumar, y el consumo de cocaína. Muchos de estos pacientes no habían recibido nunca atención con anterioridad

Belowground community turnover accelerates the decomposition of standing dead wood

Standing dead trees (snags) decompose more slowly than downed dead wood and provide critical habitat for many species. The rate at which snags fall therefore influences forest carbon dynamics and biodiversity. Fall rates correlate strongly with mean annual temperature, presumably because warmer climates facilitate faster wood decomposition and hence degradation of the structural stability of standing wood. These faster decomposition rates coincide with turnover from fungal-dominated wood decomposer communities in cooler forests to codomination by fungi and termites in warmer regions. A key question for projecting forest dynamics is therefore whether temperature effects on wood decomposition arise primarily because warmer conditions facilitate faster decomposer metabolism, or are also influenced indirectly by belowground community turnover (e.g., termites exert additional influence beyond fungal-plus-bacterial mediated decomposition). To test between these possibilities, we simulate standing dead trees with untreated wooden posts and follow them in the field across 5 yr at 12 sites, before measuring buried, soil–air interface and aerial post sections to quantify wood decomposition and organism activities. High termite activities at the warmer sites are associated with rates of postfall that are three times higher than at the cooler sites. Termites primarily consume buried wood, with decomposition rates greatest where termite activities are highest. However, where higher microbial and termite activities co-occur, they appear to compensate for one another first, and then to slow decomposition rates at their highest activities, suggestive of interference competition. If the range of microbial and termite codomination of wood decomposer communities expands under climate warming, our data suggest that expansion will accelerate snag fall with consequent effects on forest carbon cycling and biodiversity in forests previously dominated by microbial decomposers