1,638 research outputs found
The Papal Encyclical \u3cem\u3eLaudato Siâ\u3c/em\u3e: A Focus on Sustainability Attentive to the Poor
This article seeks to reflect upon Laudato Siâ, the papal encyclical on ecology and sustainable development, and uncover its apparent philosophical and practical approach to the environment. It begins with a discussion of paradigms of thought that outline the new ecological paradigm (NEP) suggested in the ecological literature, thereby helping to situate the ecosophy of Laudato Siâ within current thought. As we will show, Laudato Siâ differs from the NEP by linking the poor to our approach to sustainability and in its consideration of integral ecology. Specific principles for sustainability in business are then identified and strategic approaches are recommended, as are guidelines for an eco-justice approach to business and business education
The Papal Encyclical Laudato Siâ
This article seeks to reflect upon Laudato Siâ, the papal encyclical on ecology and sustainable development, and uncover its apparent philosophical and practical approach to the environment. It begins with a discussion of paradigms of thought that outline the new ecological paradigm (NEP) suggested in the ecological literature, thereby helping to situate the ecosophy of Laudato Siâ within current thought. As we will show, Laudato Siâ differs from the NEP by linking the poor to our approach to sustainability and in its consideration of integral ecology. Specific principles for sustainability in business are then identified and strategic approaches are recommended, as are guidelines for an eco-justice approach to business and business education
Conservation of oceanic island floras: Present and future global challenges
Currentthreatstotheplanetâsbiodiversityareunprecedented,andtheyparticularlyimperilinsular
floras.Inthisinvestigation,weusethethreatfactorsidentifiedbytheMillenniumEcosystem
Assessmentasthemaindriversofbiodiversitylossonislandstodefineandrank13current,continuing
threatstotheplantdiversityofninefocalarchipelagoswherevolcanicorigin(orintheSeychellesa
prolongedisolationafteracontinentalorigin)hasproducedahighdegreeofendemicityandfragilityin
the faceofhabitatalteration.Wealsoconductaglobalendangermentassessmentbasedonthe
numbersofinsularendemicplantsintheendangered(EN)andcriticallyendangered(CR)IUCN
categoriesfor53islandgroupswithanestimated9951endemicplantspecies,providinga
representativesampleoftheworldâsinsularsystemsandtheirfloristicrichness.Ouranalysesindicate
that isolationdoesnotsignificantlyinfluenceendangerment,butplantendemicsfromverysmall
islandsaremoreoftencriticallyendangered.Weestimatethatbetween3500and6800oftheestimated
70,000 insularendemicplantspeciesworldwidemightbehighlythreatened(CR+EN)andbetweenca.
2000 and2800ofthemincriticaldangerofextinction(CR).Basedontheseanalyses,andona
worldwideliteraturereviewofthebiologicalthreatfactorsconsidered,weidentifychallenging
questionsforconservationresearch,asking(i)whatarethemosturgentprioritiesfortheconservation
of insularspeciesandfloras,and(ii)withtheknowledgeandassetsavailable,howcanweimprovethe
impactofconservationscienceandpracticeonthepreservationofislandbiodiversity?Ouranalysis
indicatesthatthesynergisticactionofmanythreatfactorscaninducemajorecologicaldisturbances,
leadingtomultipleextinctions.Wereviewweaknessesandstrengthsinconservationresearchand
managementintheninefocalarchipelagos,andhighlighttheurgentneedforconservationscientiststo
shareknowledgeandexpertise,identifyanddiscusscommonchallenges,andformulatemulti-
disciplinaryconservationobjectivesforinsularplantendemicsworldwide.Toourknowledge,thisisthe
mostup-to-dateandcomprehensivesurveyyettoreviewthethreatfactorstonativeplantsonoceanic
islandsanddefinepriorityresearchquestions
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Erratum: Author Correction: Identification of genes required for eye development by high-throughput screening of mouse knockouts.
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/s42003-018-0226-0.]
From cheek swabs to consensus sequences : an A to Z protocol for high-throughput DNA sequencing of complete human mitochondrial genomes
Background: Next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) technologies have made huge impacts in many fields of biological research, but especially in evolutionary biology. One area where NGS has shown potential is for high-throughput sequencing of complete mtDNA genomes (of humans and other animals). Despite the increasing use of NGS technologies and a better appreciation of their importance in answering biological questions, there remain significant obstacles to the successful implementation of NGS-based projects, especially for new users.
Results: Here we present an âA to Zâ protocol for obtaining complete human mitochondrial (mtDNA) genomes â from DNA extraction to consensus sequence. Although designed for use on humans, this protocol could also be used to sequence small, organellar genomes from other species, and also nuclear loci. This protocol includes DNA extraction, PCR amplification, fragmentation of PCR products, barcoding of fragments, sequencing using the 454 GS FLX platform, and a complete bioinformatics pipeline (primer removal, reference-based mapping, output of coverage plots and SNP calling).
Conclusions: All steps in this protocol are designed to be straightforward to implement, especially for researchers who are undertaking next-generation sequencing for the first time. The molecular steps are scalable to large numbers (hundreds) of individuals and all steps post-DNA extraction can be carried out in 96-well plate format. Also, the protocol has been assembled so that individual âmodulesâ can be swapped out to suit available resources
Ambient-aware continuous care through semantic context dissemination
Background: The ultimate ambient-intelligent care room contains numerous sensors and devices to monitor the patient, sense and adjust the environment and support the staff. This sensor-based approach results in a large amount of data, which can be processed by current and future applications, e. g., task management and alerting systems. Today, nurses are responsible for coordinating all these applications and supplied information, which reduces the added value and slows down the adoption rate. The aim of the presented research is the design of a pervasive and scalable framework that is able to optimize continuous care processes by intelligently reasoning on the large amount of heterogeneous care data.
Methods: The developed Ontology-based Care Platform (OCarePlatform) consists of modular components that perform a specific reasoning task. Consequently, they can easily be replicated and distributed. Complex reasoning is achieved by combining the results of different components. To ensure that the components only receive information, which is of interest to them at that time, they are able to dynamically generate and register filter rules with a Semantic Communication Bus (SCB). This SCB semantically filters all the heterogeneous care data according to the registered rules by using a continuous care ontology. The SCB can be distributed and a cache can be employed to ensure scalability.
Results: A prototype implementation is presented consisting of a new-generation nurse call system supported by a localization and a home automation component. The amount of data that is filtered and the performance of the SCB are evaluated by testing the prototype in a living lab. The delay introduced by processing the filter rules is negligible when 10 or fewer rules are registered.
Conclusions: The OCarePlatform allows disseminating relevant care data for the different applications and additionally supports composing complex applications from a set of smaller independent components. This way, the platform significantly reduces the amount of information that needs to be processed by the nurses. The delay resulting from processing the filter rules is linear in the amount of rules. Distributed deployment of the SCB and using a cache allows further improvement of these performance results
Resistome analysis of global livestock and soil microbiomes
Publication history: Accepted - 24 May 2022: Published online - 7 July 2022Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to public health globally; it is estimated
that AMR bacteria caused 1.27 million deaths in 2019, and this is set to rise to 10 million
deaths annually. Agricultural and soil environments act as antimicrobial resistance gene
(ARG) reservoirs, operating as a link between different ecosystems and enabling the mixing
and dissemination of resistance genes. Due to the close interactions between humans
and agricultural environments, these AMR gene reservoirs are a major risk to both human
and animal health. In this study, we aimed to identify the resistance gene reservoirs present
in four microbiomes: poultry, ruminant, swine gastrointestinal (GI) tracts coupled with
those from soil. This large study brings together every poultry, swine, ruminant, and soil
shotgun metagenomic sequence available on the NCBI sequence read archive for the
first time. We use the ResFinder database to identify acquired antimicrobial resistance
genes in over 5,800 metagenomes. ARGs were diverse and widespread within the
metagenomes, with 235, 101, 167, and 182 different resistance genes identified in the
poultry, ruminant, swine, and soil microbiomes, respectively. The tetracycline resistance
genes were the most widespread in the livestock GI microbiomes, including tet(W)_1,
tet(Q)_1, tet(O)_1, and tet(44)_1. The tet(W)_1 resistance gene was found in 99% of
livestock GI tract microbiomes, while tet(Q)_1 was identified in 93%, tet(O)_1 in 82%, and
finally tet(44)_1 in 69%. Metatranscriptomic analysis confirmed these genes were ârealâ
and expressed in one or more of the livestock GI tract microbiomes, with tet(40)_1 and
tet(O)_1 expressed in all three livestock microbiomes. In soil, the most abundant ARG
was the oleandomycin resistance gene, ole(B)_1. A total of 55 resistance genes were
shared by the four microbiomes, with 11 ARGs actively expressed in two or more
microbiomes. By using all available metagenomes we were able to mine a large number
of samples and describe resistomes in 37 countries. This study provides a global insight
into the diverse and abundant antimicrobial resistance gene reservoirs present in both
livestock and soil microbiomes.This work was supported by the Northern Irish Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
Influence of Temperament As a Risk Indicator for Early Childhood Caries
Purpose: To evaluate the association between temperament and caries. Methods: A total of 408 primary caregiver-child pairs were followed for 36 months; they completed the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire Very Short-Form (ECBQ-VSF) at age four years. Demographic, behavioral, and clinical data were obtained at ages one, two-and-a-half, and four years, with caries experience assessed each time using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS). The ECBQ-VSF (36 items) was used to measure three child temperament domains: (1) surgency; (2) negative affect; and (3) effortful control. The associations between cavitated carious lesion experience by age four years (decayed, missing, and filled primary surfaces [dmfs] score greater than zero; d equals ICDAS score greater than or equal to three) and the three ECBQ-VSF temperament domains were analyzed using generalized estimating equation models. Results: Temperament domains predicted the number of carious surfaces (dmfs). After adjusting for covariates, every one-point increase in surgency and one-point increase in negative affect were associated with 77 percent and 31 percent increases in dmfs, respectively (P<0.05), and every one-point increase in effortful control was associated with a 39 percent decrease in dmfs (P<0.05). Conclusions: By age four years, children with higher levels of surgency and negative affect have a higher caries experience, whereas children with greater effortful control have a lower caries experience
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