Dietary protein restriction throughout intrauterine and postnatal life results in potentially beneficial myocardial tissue remodeling in the adult mouse heart

Diet composition impacts metabolic and cardiovascular health with high caloric diets contributing to obesity related disorders. Dietary interventions such as caloric restriction exert beneficial effects in the cardiovascular system, but alteration of which specific nutrient is responsible is less clear. This study investigates the effects of a low protein diet (LPD) on morphology, tissue composition and function of the neonatal and adult mouse heart. Mice were subjected to LPD (8.8% protein) or standard protein diet (SPD, 22% protein) throughout intrauterine and postnatal life. At birth LPD female but not male offspring exhibit reduced body weight whereas heart weight was unchanged in both sexes. Cardiomyocyte cross sectional area was increased in newborn LPD females compared to SPD, whereas proliferation, cellular tissue composition and vascularization were unaffected. Adult female mice on LPD exhibit reduced body weight but normal heart weight compared to SPD controls. Echocardiography revealed normal left ventricular contractility in LPD animals. Histology showed reduced interstitial fibrosis, lower cardiomyocyte volume and elevated numbers of cardiomyocyte and non-myocyte nuclei per tissue area in adult LPD versus SPD myocardium. Furthermore, capillary density was increased in LPD hearts. In conclusion, pre- and postnatal dietary protein restriction in mice causes a potentially beneficial myocardial remodeling

The impact of adoption of conservation agriculture on smallholder farmers’ food security in semi-arid zones of southern Africa

BACKGROUND In southern Africa, conservation agriculture (CA) has received a lot of research and promotional support from various organizations in the past decades. Conservation agriculture is largely promoted as one of the few win–win technologies affordable to farmers, in the sense that potentially it improves farmers’ yields (in the long term) at the same time conserving the environment. This is because conservation agriculture reduces nitrogen loss in the soil, promotes water and soil conservation and improves agronomic use efficiency of applied nutrients. However, some concerns have been raised over the feasibility of conservation agriculture on smallholder farms given constraints imposed by the biophysical and institutional realities under which smallholder farmers operate. The main aim of this study is to answer the question whether conservation agriculture is resulting in tangible livelihood outcomes to smallholder farmers. The counterfactual outcome approach was used to estimate ex post impact of conservation agriculture adoption on one of the key livelihood outcomes—food security. RESULTS The study that utilized a data set covering 1623 households in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique found no significant impact of conservation agriculture adoption on Food Consumption Score of farmers in Zimbabwe and Malawi. Possible reasons for the insignificant of CA impact on food security in Zimbabwe and Malawi could include the small land areas currently devoted to CA, and the failure to implement the full complement of practices necessary to set off the biophysical process that are expected to drive yield increases. In Mozambique, conservation agriculture significantly improved the Food Consumption Score for farmers exposed to the technology. A possible reason for effectiveness of CA in Mozambique could be due to the fact that often CA is being promoted together with other better cropping management practices such as timely weeding and improved seed varieties, which are poorly practiced by the generality of farmers in a country just emerging from a war period. CONCLUSION This paper provides one of the few ex post assessments of the impact of conservation agriculture adoption on household livelihood outcomes—food security. Given the mixed findings, the study suggests that conservation agriculture farmers in the three countries need to be supported to adopt a value chain approach to conservation agriculture. This entails the introduction of commercial or high-value crops in the conservation agriculture programmes, value addition on farmers produce, access to the necessary support services such as markets for seed, fertilizer, herbicides and equipment as well as reliable extension. We believe that under such circumstances conservation agriculture can effectively reduce food insecurity and poverty in the medium to long term

Error-analysis and comparison to analytical models of numerical waveforms produced by the NRAR Collaboration

The Numerical-Relativity-Analytical-Relativity (NRAR) collaboration is a joint effort between members of the numerical relativity, analytical relativity and gravitational-wave data analysis communities. The goal of the NRAR collaboration is to produce numerical-relativity simulations of compact binaries and use them to develop accurate analytical templates for the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration to use in detecting gravitational-wave signals and extracting astrophysical information from them. We describe the results of the first stage of the NRAR project, which focused on producing an initial set of numerical waveforms from binary black holes with moderate mass ratios and spins, as well as one non-spinning binary configuration which has a mass ratio of 10. All of the numerical waveforms are analysed in a uniform and consistent manner, with numerical errors evaluated using an analysis code created by members of the NRAR collaboration. We compare previously-calibrated, non-precessing analytical waveforms, notably the effective-one-body (EOB) and phenomenological template families, to the newly-produced numerical waveforms. We find that when the binary's total mass is ~100-200 solar masses, current EOB and phenomenological models of spinning, non-precessing binary waveforms have overlaps above 99% (for advanced LIGO) with all of the non-precessing-binary numerical waveforms with mass ratios <= 4, when maximizing over binary parameters. This implies that the loss of event rate due to modelling error is below 3%. Moreover, the non-spinning EOB waveforms previously calibrated to five non-spinning waveforms with mass ratio smaller than 6 have overlaps above 99.7% with the numerical waveform with a mass ratio of 10, without even maximizing on the binary parameters

The Einstein Toolkit: A Community Computational Infrastructure for Relativistic Astrophysics

We describe the Einstein Toolkit, a community-driven, freely accessible computational infrastructure intended for use in numerical relativity, relativistic astrophysics, and other applications. The Toolkit, developed by a collaboration involving researchers from multiple institutions around the world, combines a core set of components needed to simulate astrophysical objects such as black holes, compact objects, and collapsing stars, as well as a full suite of analysis tools. The Einstein Toolkit is currently based on the Cactus Framework for high-performance computing and the Carpet adaptive mesh refinement driver. It implements spacetime evolution via the BSSN evolution system and general-relativistic hydrodynamics in a finite-volume discretization. The toolkit is under continuous development and contains many new code components that have been publicly released for the first time and are described in this article. We discuss the motivation behind the release of the toolkit, the philosophy underlying its development, and the goals of the project. A summary of the implemented numerical techniques is included, as are results of numerical test covering a variety of sample astrophysical problems.Comment: 62 pages, 20 figure

Ground, Proximal, and Satellite Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture

Soil moisture (SM) is a key hydrologic state variable that is of significant importance for numerous Earth and environmental science applications that directly impact the global environment and human society. Potential applications include, but are not limited to, forecasting of weather and climate variability; prediction and monitoring of drought conditions; management and allocation of water resources; agricultural plant production and alleviation of famine; prevention of natural disasters such as wild fires, landslides, floods, and dust storms; or monitoring of ecosystem response to climate change. Because of the importance and wide‐ranging applicability of highly variable spatial and temporal SM information that links the water, energy, and carbon cycles, significant efforts and resources have been devoted in recent years to advance SM measurement and monitoring capabilities from the point to the global scales. This review encompasses recent advances and the state‐of‐the‐art of ground, proximal, and novel SM remote sensing techniques at various spatial and temporal scales and identifies critical future research needs and directions to further advance and optimize technology, analysis and retrieval methods, and the application of SM information to improve the understanding of critical zone moisture dynamics. Despite the impressive progress over the last decade, there are still many opportunities and needs to, for example, improve SM retrieval from remotely sensed optical, thermal, and microwave data and opportunities for novel applications of SM information for water resources management, sustainable environmental development, and food security

Prevalence and risk factors of helminths and intestinal protozoa infections among children from primary schools in western Tajikistan

BACKGROUND: Intestinal parasitic infections represent a public health problem in Tajikistan, but epidemiological evidence is scarce. The present study aimed at assessing the extent of helminths and intestinal protozoa infections among children of 10 schools in four districts of Tajikistan, and to make recommendations for control. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in early 2009. All children attending grades 2 and 3 (aged 7-11 years) from 10 randomly selected schools were invited to provide a stool sample and interviewed about sanitary situation and hygiene behaviour. A questionnaire pertaining to demographic and socioeconomic characteristics was addressed to the heads of households. On the spot, stool samples were subjected to duplicate Kato-Katz thick smear examination for helminth diagnosis. Additionally, 1-2 g of stool was fixed in sodium acetate-acetic acid formalin, transferred to a specialized laboratory in Europe and examined for helminths and intestinal protozoa. The results from both methods combined served as diagnostic 'gold' standard. RESULTS: Out of 623 registered children, 602 participated in our survey. The overall prevalence of infection with helminths and pathogenic intestinal protozoa was 32.0% and 47.1%, respectively. There was pronounced spatial heterogeneity. The most common helminth species was Hymenolepis nana (25.8%), whereas the prevalences of Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworm and Enterobius vermicularis were below 5%. The prevalence of pathogenic intestinal protozoa, namely Giardia intestinalis and Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar was 26.4% and 25.9%, respectively. Almost half of the households draw drinking water from unimproved sources, such as irrigation canals, rivers and unprotected wells. Sanitary facilities were pit latrines, mostly private, and a few shared with neighbours. The use of public tap/standpipe as a source of drinking water emerged as a protective factor for G. intestinalis infection. Protecte spring water reduced the risk of infection with E. histolytica/E. dispar and H. nana. CONCLUSIONS: Our data obtained from the ecological 'lowland' areas in western Tajikistan call for school-based deworming (recommended drugs: albendazole and metronidazole), combined with hygiene promotion and improved sanitation. Further investigations are needed to determine whether H. nana represents a public health problem

C-reactive protein reference percentiles among pre-adolescent children in Europe based on the IDEFICS study population

OBJECTIVES: C-reactive protein (CRP) is involved in a wide range of diseases. It is a powerful marker for inflammatory processes used for diagnostic and monitoring purposes. We aimed to establish reference values as data on the distribution of serum CRP levels in young European children are scarce. SUBJECTS: Reference values of high-sensitivity CRP concentrations were calculated for 9855 children aged 2.0-10.9 years, stratified by age and sex. The children were recruited during the population-based European IDEFICS study (Identification and prevention of Dietary-and lifestyle-induced health Effects in Children and infantS) with 18 745 participants recruited from 2007 to 2010. RESULTS: In 44.1 % of the children, CRP values were below or equal the detection limit of 0.2 mg/l. Median CRP concentrations showed a slight negative age trend in boys and girls, whereas serum CRP values were slightly higher in girls than in boys across all age groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our population-based reference values of CRP may guide paediatric practice as elevated values may require further investigation or treatment. Therefore, the presented reference values represent a basis for clinical evaluation and for future research on risk assessment of diseases associated with increased CRP levels among children