Global wheat production with 1.5 and 2.0°C above pre‐industrial warming

Efforts to limit global warming to below 2°C in relation to the pre‐industrial level are under way, in accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, most impact research on agriculture to date has focused on impacts of warming >2°C on mean crop yields, and many previous studies did not focus sufficiently on extreme events and yield interannual variability. Here, with the latest climate scenarios from the Half a degree Additional warming, Prognosis and Projected Impacts (HAPPI) project, we evaluated the impacts of the 2015 Paris Agreement range of global warming (1.5 and 2.0°C warming above the pre‐industrial period) on global wheat production and local yield variability. A multi‐crop and multi‐climate model ensemble over a global network of sites developed by the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) for Wheat was used to represent major rainfed and irrigated wheat cropping systems. Results show that projected global wheat production will change by −2.3% to 7.0% under the 1.5°C scenario and −2.4% to 10.5% under the 2.0°C scenario, compared to a baseline of 1980–2010, when considering changes in local temperature, rainfall, and global atmospheric CO2 concentration, but no changes in management or wheat cultivars. The projected impact on wheat production varies spatially; a larger increase is projected for temperate high rainfall regions than for moderate hot low rainfall and irrigated regions. Grain yields in warmer regions are more likely to be reduced than in cooler regions. Despite mostly positive impacts on global average grain yields, the frequency of extremely low yields (bottom 5 percentile of baseline distribution) and yield inter‐annual variability will increase under both warming scenarios for some of the hot growing locations, including locations from the second largest global wheat producer—India, which supplies more than 14% of global wheat. The projected global impact of warming <2°C on wheat production is therefore not evenly distributed and will affect regional food security across the globe as well as food prices and trade

Similar estimates of temperature impacts on global wheat yield by three independent methods

The potential impact of global temperature change on global crop yield has recently been assessed with different methods. Here we show that grid-based and point-based simulations and statistical regressions (from historic records), without deliberate adaptation or CO2 fertilization effects, produce similar estimates of temperature impact on wheat yields at global and national scales. With a 1 °C global temperature increase, global wheat yield is projected to decline between 4.1% and 6.4%. Projected relative temperature impacts from different methods were similar for major wheat-producing countries China, India, USA and France, but less so for Russia. Point-based and grid-based simulations, and to some extent the statistical regressions, were consistent in projecting that warmer regions are likely to suffer more yield loss with increasing temperature than cooler regions. By forming a multi-method ensemble, it was possible to quantify ‘method uncertainty’ in addition to model uncertainty. This significantly improves confidence in estimates of climate impacts on global food security.<br/

Biomarkers of oxidative stress and protein–protein interaction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

<p><b>Content:</b> The increased oxidative stress in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is the result of increased inhaled oxidants, generated by various cells of the airways.</p> <p><b>Objective:</b> The investigation included measurements of malondiadehyde (MDA), uric acid, ascorbic acid, and matrix metalloproteinase-12 (MMP-12) in COPD patient. We also performed genetic analysis for protein–protein interaction (PPI) network.</p> <p><b>Materials and methods:</b> The study was conducted on healthy subjects with normal lung function (NS, 14 subjects) and 28 patients (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (Gold) 1 and Gold 2) with COPD.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> There was significant (<i>p</i> < .001) increase in MMP-12, MDA and uric acid levels as compared to healthy controls. A significant (<i>p</i> < .001) decline in ascorbic acid level was observed in COPD patients. The PPI was found to be 0.833 which indicated that proteins present in COPD are linked.</p> <p><b>Discussion and conclusion:</b> This study suggests oxidative stress plays an important role in COPD and the PPI provide indication that proteins present in COPD are linked.</p

Pulmonary Bioadhesive Drug Delivery Systems and Their Applications

Mucoadhesive based pulmonary drug delivery is an advanced novel intervention against several pulmonary diseases including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, etc. Mucoadhesive polymers are required to prolong the residence time of the drug to promote drug absorption via mucosa at a controlled rate in order to enhance the therapeutic effect. The drug interacts with the mucus layer and mucin molecules to prolong the residence time. Such a drug delivery system has low enzymatic degradation with improved patient compliance as its formulation depends on the use of a mucoadhesive and biocompatible polymer. Therefore, in this chapter, we have discussed the novel dosage formulations i.e. nanoparticles, liposomes, and microparticles for delivery via inhalation. However, there is an urgent need to study novel bioadhesive formulations with different polymeric materials and to identify many new drug molecules for pulmonary drug delivery

Emerging Complexity and the Need for Advanced Drug Delivery in Targeting Candida Species

BACKGROUND: Candida species are the important etiologic agents for candidiasis, the most prevalent cause of opportunistic fungal infections. Candida invasion results in mucosal to systemic infections through immune dysfunction and helps in further invasion and proliferation at several sites in the host. The host defence system utilizes a wide array of the cells, proteins and chemical signals that are distributed in blood and tissues which further constitute the innate and adaptive immune system. The lack of antifungal agents and their limited therapeutic effects have led to high mortality and morbidity related to such infections. METHODS: The necessary information collated on this review has been gathered from various literature published from 1995 to 2019. RESULTS: This article sheds light on novel drug delivery approaches to target the immunological axis for several Candida species (C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, C. krusei, C. rugose, C. hemulonii, etc.). CONCLUSION: It is clear that the novel drug delivery approaches include vaccines, adoptive transfer of primed immune cells, recombinant cytokines, therapeutic antibodies, and nanoparticles, which have immunomodulatory effects. Such advancements in targeting various underpinning mechanisms using the concept of novel drug delivery will provide a new dimension to the fungal infection clinic particularly due to Candida species with improved patient compliance and lesser side effects. This advancement in knowledge can also be extended to target various other similar microbial species and infections.</p

Predicting wheat growth and nitrogen use with an ensemble of crop simulation models

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