An Overview of Innovation in the Arab Gulf States: From Origins and Five-Year Plans to New Cities and Indices

This study first contextualizes and then examines the innovation initiatives currently being undertaken by the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The data presented are a qualitative analysis based on government planning documents from GCC members, which is followed by an assessment of innovation in the GCC using a composite index (Global Innovation Index) and an individual indicator. The pathways toward innovation in the GCC are traced at local policy‐making levels, but giving meaning to the quantification of these efforts and their results is confounded by the fact that innovation can be an inexact concept with imprecise measurements. This overview of innovation in the GCC shows how it is being conceptualized and executed as statecraft; however, innovation might be better gauged for the GCC if indigenous socioeconomic conditions—like the welfare models and disproportionate public and service sectors—can be taken into account

Untangling the Biological Contributions to Soil Stability in Semiarid Shrublands

Communities of plants, biological soil crusts (BSCs), and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are known to influence soil stability individually, but their relative contributions, interactions, and combined effects are not well understood, particularly in arid and semiarid ecosystems. In a landscape-scale field study we quantified plant, BSC, and AM fungal communities at 216 locations along a gradient of soil stability levels in southern Utah, USA. We used multivariate modeling to examine the relative influences of plants, BSCs, and AM fungi on surface and subsurface stability in a semiarid shrubland landscape. Models were found to be congruent with the data and explained 35% of the variation in surface stability and 54% of the variation in subsurface stability. The results support several tentative conclusions. While BSCs, plants, and AM fungi all contribute to surface stability, only plants and AM fungi contribute to subsurface stability. In both surface and subsurface models, the strongest contributions to soil stability are made by biological components of the system. Biological soil crust cover was found to have the strongest direct effect on surface soil stability (0.60; controlling for other factors). Surprisingly, AM fungi appeared to influence surface soil stability (0.37), even though they are not generally considered to exist in the top few millimeters of the soil. In the subsurface model, plant cover appeared to have the strongest direct influence on soil stability (0.42); in both models, results indicate that plant cover influences soil stability both directly (controlling for other factors) and indirectly through influences on other organisms. Soil organic matter was not found to have a direct contribution to surface or subsurface stability in this system. The relative influence of AM fungi on soil stability in these semiarid shrublands was similar to that reported for a mesic tallgrass prairie. Estimates of effects that BSCs, plants, and AM fungi have on soil stability in these models are used to suggest the relative amounts of resources that erosion control practitioners should devote to promoting these communities. This study highlights the need for system approaches in combating erosion, soil degradation, and arid-land desertification

Macrosystems ecology: Understanding ecological patterns and processes at continental scales

Macrosystems ecology is the study of diverse ecological phenomena at the scale of regions to continents and their interactions with phenomena at other scales. This emerging subdiscipline addresses ecological questions and environmental problems at these broad scales. Here, we describe this new field, show how it relates to modern ecological study, and highlight opportunities that stem from taking a macrosystems perspective. We present a hierarchical framework for investigating macrosystems at any level of ecological organization and in relation to broader and finer scales. Building on well-established theory and concepts from other subdisciplines of ecology, we identify feedbacks, linkages among distant regions, and interactions that cross scales of space and time as the most likely sources of unexpected and novel behaviors in macrosystems. We present three examples that highlight the importance of this multiscaled systems perspective for understanding the ecology of regions to continents

Genomic signatures of selection associated with benzimidazole drug treatments in Haemonchus contortus field populations

Genome-wide methods offer a powerful approach to detect signatures of drug selection. However, limited availability of suitable reference genomes and the difficulty of obtaining field populations with well-defined, distinct drug treatment histories mean there is little information on the signatures of selection in parasitic nematodes and on how best to detect them. This study addresses these knowledge gaps by using field populations of Haemonchus contortus with well-defined benzimidazole treatment histories, leveraging a recently completed chromosomal-scale reference genome assembly. We generated a panel of 49,393 genomic markers to genotype 20 individual adult worms from each of four H. contortus populations: two from closed sheep flocks with an approximate 20 year history of frequent benzimidazole treatment, and two populations with a history of little or no treatment. Sampling occurred in the same geographical region to limit genetic differentiation and maximise the detection sensitivity. A clear signature of selection was detected on chromosome I, centred on the isotype-1 β-tubulin gene. Two additional, but weaker, signatures of selection were detected; one near the middle of chromosome I spanning 3.75 Mbp and 259 annotated genes, and one on chromosome II spanning a region of 3.3 Mbp and 206 annotated genes, including the isotype-2 β-tubulin locus. We also assessed how sensitivity was impacted by sequencing depth, worm number, and pooled versus individual worm sequence data. This study provides the first known direct genome-wide evidence for any parasitic nematode, that the isotype-1 β-tubulin gene is quantitatively the single most important benzimidazole resistance locus. It also identified two additional genomic regions that likely contain benzimidazole resistance loci of secondary importance. This study provides an experimental framework to maximise the power of genome-wide approaches to detect signatures of selection driven by anthelmintic drug treatments in field populations of parasitic nematodes

Fetal sex-specific differences in gestational age at delivery in pre-eclampsia : a meta-analysis

Background: Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a major pregnancy disorder complicating up to 8% of pregnancies. Increasing evidence indicates a sex-specific interplay between the mother,placenta and fetus. This may lead to different adaptive mechanisms during pregnancy. Methods: We performed an individual participant data meta-analysis to determine associations of fetal sex and PE, with specific focus on gestational age at delivery in PE. This was done on 219 575 independent live-born singleton pregnancies, with a gestational age at birth between 22.0 and 43.0 weeks of gestation, from 11 studies participating in a worldwide consortium of international research groups focusing on pregnancy. Results: Of the women, 9033 (4.1%) experienced PE in their pregnancy and 48.8% of the fetuses were female versus 51.2% male. No differences in the female/male distribution were observed with respect to term PE (delivered >= 37 weeks). Preterm PE (delivered <37 weeks) was slightly more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus than in pregnancies with a male fetus [odds ratio (OR) 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.21]. Very preterm PE (delivered <34 weeks) was even more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus as compared with pregnancies with a male fetus (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.17-1.59). Conclusions: Sexual dimorphic differences in the occurrence of PE exist, with preterm PE being more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus as compared with pregnancies with a male fetus and with no differences with respect to term PE.Peer reviewe

Systematic review of studies generating individual participant data on the efficacy of drugs for treating soil-transmitted helminthiases and the case for data-sharing

Preventive chemotherapy and transmission control (PCT) by mass drug administration is the cornerstone of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s policy to control soil-transmitted helminthiases (STHs) caused by Ascaris lumbricoides (roundworm), Trichuris trichiura (whipworm) and hookworm species (Necator americanus and Ancylostama duodenale) which affect over 1 billion people globally. Despite consensus that drug efficacies should be monitored for signs of decline that could jeopardise the effectiveness of PCT, systematic monitoring and evaluation is seldom implemented. Drug trials mostly report aggregate efficacies in groups of participants, but heterogeneities in design complicate classical meta-analyses of these data. Individual participant data (IPD) permit more detailed analysis of drug efficacies, offering increased sensitivity to identify atypical responses potentially caused by emerging drug resistance

Effective interventions in preventing gestational diabetes mellitus:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Lifestyle choices, metformin, and dietary supplements may prevent GDM, but the effect of intervention characteristics has not been identified. This review evaluated intervention characteristics to inform the implementation of GDM prevention interventions. Methods: Ovid, MEDLINE/PubMed, and EMBASE databases were searched. The Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) framework was used to examine intervention characteristics (who, what, when, where, and how). Subgroup analysis was performed by intervention characteristics. Results: 116 studies involving 40,940 participants are included. Group-based physical activity interventions (RR 0.66; 95% CI 0.46, 0.95) reduce the incidence of GDM compared with individual or mixed (individual and group) delivery format (subgroup p-value = 0.04). Physical activity interventions delivered at healthcare facilities reduce the risk of GDM (RR 0.59; 95% CI 0.49, 0.72) compared with home-based interventions (subgroup p-value = 0.03). No other intervention characteristics impact the effectiveness of all other interventions. Conclusions: Dietary, physical activity, diet plus physical activity, metformin, and myoinositol interventions reduce the incidence of GDM compared with control interventions. Group and healthcare facility-based physical activity interventions show better effectiveness in preventing GDM than individual and community-based interventions. Other intervention characteristics (e.g. utilization of e-health) don’t impact the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions, and thus, interventions may require consideration of the local context.</p

Fetal sex-specific differences in gestational age at delivery in pre-eclampsia: a meta-analysis

Background: : Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a major pregnancy disorder complicating up to 8% of pregnancies. Increasing evidence indicates a sex-specific interplay between the mother, placenta and fetus. This may lead to different adaptive mechanisms during pregnancy.Methods: We performed an individual participant data meta-analysis to determine associations of fetal sex and PE, with specific focus on gestational age at delivery in PE. This was done on 219 575 independent live-born singleton pregnancies, with a gestational age at birth between 22.0 and 43.0 weeks of gestation, from 11 studies participating in a worldwide consortium of international research groups focusing on pregnancy.Results: Of the women, 9033 (4.1%) experienced PE in their pregnancy and 48.8% of the fetuses were female versus 51.2% male. No differences in the female/male distribution were observed with respect to term PE (delivered ≥ 37 weeks). Preterm PE (delivered < 37 weeks) was slightly more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus than in pregnancies with a male fetus [odds ratio (OR) 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.21]. Very preterm PE (delivered < 34 weeks) was even more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus as compared with pregnancies with a male fetus (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.17-1.59).Conclusions: Sexual dimorphic differences in the occurrence of PE exist, with preterm PE being more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus as compared with pregnancies with a male fetus and with no differences with respect to term PE

The Balloon-Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) 2005: A 10 deg^2 Survey of Star Formation in Cygnus X

We present Cygnus X in a new multi-wavelength perspective based on an unbiased BLAST survey at 250, 350, and 500 micron, combined with rich datasets for this well-studied region. Our primary goal is to investigate the early stages of high mass star formation. We have detected 184 compact sources in various stages of evolution across all three BLAST bands. From their well-constrained spectral energy distributions, we obtain the physical properties mass, surface density, bolometric luminosity, and dust temperature. Some of the bright sources reaching 40 K contain well-known compact H II regions. We relate these to other sources at earlier stages of evolution via the energetics as deduced from their position in the luminosity-mass (L-M) diagram. The BLAST spectral coverage, near the peak of the spectral energy distribution of the dust, reveals fainter sources too cool (~ 10 K) to be seen by earlier shorter-wavelength surveys like IRAS. We detect thermal emission from infrared dark clouds and investigate the phenomenon of cold ``starless cores" more generally. Spitzer images of these cold sources often show stellar nurseries, but these potential sites for massive star formation are ``starless" in the sense that to date there is no massive protostar in a vigorous accretion phase. We discuss evolution in the context of the L-M diagram. Theory raises some interesting possibilities: some cold massive compact sources might never form a cluster containing massive stars; and clusters with massive stars might not have an identifiable compact cold massive precursor.Comment: 42 pages, 31 Figures, 6 table

Identifying Trustworthy Experts: How Do Policymakers Find and Assess Public Health Researchers Worth Consulting or Collaborating With?

This paper reports data from semi-structured interviews on how 26 Australian civil servants, ministers and ministerial advisors find and evaluate researchers with whom they wish to consult or collaborate. Policymakers valued researchers who had credibility across the three attributes seen as contributing to trustworthiness: competence (an exemplary academic reputation complemented by pragmatism, understanding of government processes, and effective collaboration and communication skills); integrity (independence, “authenticity”, and faithful reporting of research); and benevolence (commitment to the policy reform agenda). The emphases given to these assessment criteria appeared to be shaped in part by policymakers' roles and the type and phase of policy development in which they were engaged. Policymakers are encouraged to reassess their methods for engaging researchers and to maximise information flow and support in these relationships. Researchers who wish to influence policy are advised to develop relationships across the policy community, but also to engage in other complementary strategies for promoting research-informed policy, including the strategic use of mass media