Phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives to promote growth and enhance host health

There are heightened concerns globally on emerging drug-resistant superbugs and the lack of new antibiotics for treating human and animal diseases. For the agricultural industry, there is an urgent need to develop strategies to replace antibiotics for food-producing animals, especially poultry and livestock. The 2nd International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics was held at the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris, France, December 12-15, 2016 to discuss recent scientific developments on strategic antibiotic-free management plans, to evaluate regional differences in policies regarding the reduction of antibiotics in animal agriculture and to develop antibiotic alternatives to combat the global increase in antibiotic resistance. More than 270 participants from academia, government research institutions, regulatory agencies, and private animal industries from >25 different countries came together to discuss recent research and promising novel technologies that could provide alternatives to antibiotics for use in animal health and production; assess challenges associated with their commercialization; and devise actionable strategies to facilitate the development of alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) without hampering animal production. The 3-day meeting consisted of four scientific sessions including vaccines, microbial products, phytochemicals, immune-related products, and innovative drugs, chemicals and enzymes, followed by the last session on regulation and funding. Each session was followed by an expert panel discussion that included industry representatives and session speakers. The session on phytochemicals included talks describing recent research achievements, with examples of successful agricultural use of various phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives and their mode of action in major agricultural animals (poultry, swine and ruminants). Scientists from industry and academia and government research institutes shared their experience in developing and applying potential antibiotic-alternative phytochemicals commercially to reduce AGPs and to develop a sustainable animal production system in the absence of antibiotics.Fil: Lillehoj, Hyun. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Liu, Yanhong. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Calsamiglia, Sergio. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Fernandez Miyakawa, Mariano Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; ArgentinaFil: Chi, Fang. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Cravens, Ron L.. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Oh, Sungtaek. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Gay, Cyril G.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Argentin

Fresh-blood-free diet for rearing malaria mosquito vectors

Mosquito breeding depends on the supply of fresh vertebrate blood, a major bottleneck for large-scale production of Anopheles spp. Feeding alternatives to fresh blood are thus a priority for research, outdoor large-cage trials and control interventions. Several artificial meal compositions were tested and Anopheles oogenesis, egg laying and development into the next generation of adult mosquitoes were followed. We identified blood-substitute-diets that supported ovarian development, egg maturation and fertility as well as, low progeny larval mortality, and normal development of offspring into adult mosquitoes. The formulated diet is an effective artificial meal, free of fresh blood that mimics a vertebrate blood meal and represents an important advance for the sustainability of Anopheles mosquito rearing in captivity.Agência financiadora / Número do subsídio Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation OPP1138841 Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia GHTM - UID/Multi/04413/201 CCMAR - UID/Multi/04326/2013 UID/Multi/04326/2013 RF SFRH/BPD/89811/2012 FAPEAM, Brazil 19716.UNI472.2459.20022014info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Carbon uptake by mature Amazon forests has mitigated Amazon nations' carbon emissions

BACKGROUND: Several independent lines of evidence suggest that Amazon forests have provided a significant carbon sink service, and also that the Amazon carbon sink in intact, mature forests may now be threatened as a result of different processes. There has however been no work done to quantify non-land-use-change forest carbon fluxes on a national basis within Amazonia, or to place these national fluxes and their possible changes in the context of the major anthropogenic carbon fluxes in the region. Here we present a first attempt to interpret results from ground-based monitoring of mature forest carbon fluxes in a biogeographically, politically, and temporally differentiated way. Specifically, using results from a large long-term network of forest plots, we estimate the Amazon biomass carbon balance over the last three decades for the different regions and nine nations of Amazonia, and evaluate the magnitude and trajectory of these differentiated balances in relation to major national anthropogenic carbon emissions. RESULTS: The sink of carbon into mature forests has been remarkably geographically ubiquitous across Amazonia, being substantial and persistent in each of the five biogeographic regions within Amazonia. Between 1980 and 2010, it has more than mitigated the fossil fuel emissions of every single national economy, except that of Venezuela. For most nations (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname) the sink has probably additionally mitigated all anthropogenic carbon emissions due to Amazon deforestation and other land use change. While the sink has weakened in some regions since 2000, our analysis suggests that Amazon nations which are able to conserve large areas of natural and semi-natural landscape still contribute globally-significant carbon sequestration. CONCLUSIONS: Mature forests across all of Amazonia have contributed significantly to mitigating climate change for decades. Yet Amazon nations have not directly benefited from providing this global scale ecosystem service. We suggest that better monitoring and reporting of the carbon fluxes within mature forests, and understanding the drivers of changes in their balance, must become national, as well as international, priorities

Tree height integrated into pantropical forest biomass estimates

Copyright © 2012 European Geosciences Union. This is the published version available at http://www.biogeosciences.net/9/3381/2012/bg-9-3381-2012.htmlAboveground tropical tree biomass and carbon storage estimates commonly ignore tree height (H). We estimate the effect of incorporating H on tropics-wide forest biomass estimates in 327 plots across four continents using 42 656 H and diameter measurements and harvested trees from 20 sites to answer the following questions: 1. What is the best H-model form and geographic unit to include in biomass models to minimise site-level uncertainty in estimates of destructive biomass? 2. To what extent does including H estimates derived in (1) reduce uncertainty in biomass estimates across all 327 plots? 3. What effect does accounting for H have on plot- and continental-scale forest biomass estimates? The mean relative error in biomass estimates of destructively harvested trees when including H (mean 0.06), was half that when excluding H (mean 0.13). Power- and Weibull-H models provided the greatest reduction in uncertainty, with regional Weibull-H models preferred because they reduce uncertainty in smaller-diameter classes (≤40 cm D) that store about one-third of biomass per hectare in most forests. Propagating the relationships from destructively harvested tree biomass to each of the 327 plots from across the tropics shows that including H reduces errors from 41.8 Mg ha−1 (range 6.6 to 112.4) to 8.0 Mg ha−1 (−2.5 to 23.0). For all plots, aboveground live biomass was −52.2 Mg ha−1 (−82.0 to −20.3 bootstrapped 95% CI), or 13%, lower when including H estimates, with the greatest relative reductions in estimated biomass in forests of the Brazilian Shield, east Africa, and Australia, and relatively little change in the Guiana Shield, central Africa and southeast Asia. Appreciably different stand structure was observed among regions across the tropical continents, with some storing significantly more biomass in small diameter stems, which affects selection of the best height models to reduce uncertainty and biomass reductions due to H. After accounting for variation in H, total biomass per hectare is greatest in Australia, the Guiana Shield, Asia, central and east Africa, and lowest in east-central Amazonia, W. Africa, W. Amazonia, and the Brazilian Shield (descending order). Thus, if tropical forests span 1668 million km2 and store 285 Pg C (estimate including H), then applying our regional relationships implies that carbon storage is overestimated by 35 Pg C (31–39 bootstrapped 95% CI) if H is ignored, assuming that the sampled plots are an unbiased statistical representation of all tropical forest in terms of biomass and height factors. Our results show that tree H is an important allometric factor that needs to be included in future forest biomass estimates to reduce error in estimates of tropical carbon stocks and emissions due to deforestation

Large-scale unit commitment under uncertainty: an updated literature survey

The Unit Commitment problem in energy management aims at finding the optimal production schedule of a set of generation units, while meeting various system-wide constraints. It has always been a large-scale, non-convex, difficult problem, especially in view of the fact that, due to operational requirements, it has to be solved in an unreasonably small time for its size. Recently, growing renewable energy shares have strongly increased the level of uncertainty in the system, making the (ideal) Unit Commitment model a large-scale, non-convex and uncertain (stochastic, robust, chance-constrained) program. We provide a survey of the literature on methods for the Uncertain Unit Commitment problem, in all its variants. We start with a review of the main contributions on solution methods for the deterministic versions of the problem, focussing on those based on mathematical programming techniques that are more relevant for the uncertain versions of the problem. We then present and categorize the approaches to the latter, while providing entry points to the relevant literature on optimization under uncertainty. This is an updated version of the paper "Large-scale Unit Commitment under uncertainty: a literature survey" that appeared in 4OR 13(2), 115--171 (2015); this version has over 170 more citations, most of which appeared in the last three years, proving how fast the literature on uncertain Unit Commitment evolves, and therefore the interest in this subject

A Critical Role for FBXW8 and MAPK in Cyclin D1 Degradation and Cancer Cell Proliferation

Cyclin D1 regulates G1 progression. Its transcriptional regulation is well understood. However, the mechanism underlying cyclin D1 ubiquitination and its subsequent degradation is not yet clear. We report that cyclin D1 undergoes increased degradation in the cytoplasm during S phase in a variety of cancer cells. This is mediated by phosphorylation at Thr286 through the activity of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK cascade and the F-box protein FBXW8, which is an E3 ligase. The majority of FBXW8 is expressed in the cytoplasm during G1 and S phase. In contrast, cyclin D1 accumulates in the nucleus during G1 phase and exits into the cytoplasm in S phase. Increased cyclin D1 degradation is linked to association with FBXW8 in the cytoplasm, and enhanced phosphorylation of cyclin D1 through sustained ERK1/2 signaling. Depletion of FBXW8 caused a significant accumulation of cyclin D1, as well as sequestration of CDK1 in the cytoplasm. This resulted in a severe reduction of cell proliferation. These effects could be rescued by constitutive nuclear expression of cyclin D1-T286A. Thus, FBXW8 plays an essential role in cancer cell proliferation through proteolysis of cyclin D1. It may present new opportunities to develop therapies targeting destruction of cyclin D1 or its regulator E3 ligase selectively

Cost-effectiveness analysis of antimuscarinics in the treatment of patients with overactive bladder in Spain: A decision-tree model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fesoterodine, a new once daily antimuscarinic, has proven to be an effective, safe, and well-tolerated treatment in patients with overactive bladder (OAB). To date, no analysis has evaluated the economic costs and benefits associated with fesoterodine, compared to antimuscarinics in Spain. The purpose of this analysis was to assess the economic value of OAB treatment with fesoterodine relative to extended release tolterodine and solifenacin, from the societal perspective.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The economic model was based on data from two 12-week, randomized, double-blind, and multicenter trials comparing fesoterodine and tolterodine extended released (ER). Treatment response rates for solifenacin were extracted from the published literature. Discontinuation and efficacy were based on the results of a 12-week multinational randomized clinical trial extrapolated to 52 weeks. Changes in health related quality of life were assessed with the King's Health Questionnaire, which was transformed into preference-based utility values. Medical costs included (expressed in € 2010) were antimuscarinics, physician visits, laboratory tests, incontinence pads and the costs of OAB-related comorbidities, fractures, skin infections, urinary tract infections, depression, and nursing home admissions associated with incontinence. Time lost from work was also considered. Univariate sensitivity analyses were also performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At week 12, continents accounted for 50.6%, 40.6% and 47.2% of patients in the fesoterodine, tolterodine, and solifenacin groups, respectively. By week 52, the projected proportions of patients remaining on therapy were 33.1%, 26.5% and 30.8%, respectively. The projected quality- adjusted life years (QALY) gain (compared to baseline) over the 52-week simulation period were 0.01014, 0.00846 and 0.00957, respectively. The overall treatment cost was estimated at €1,937, €2,089 and €1,960 for fesoterodine, tolterodine and solifenacin, respectively. Therefore, treatment with fesoterodine resulted in similar overall costs and greater QALY gain than treatment with either tolterodine or solifenacin. Sensitivity analysis showed that these results were robust to all changes performed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this economic analysis suggest that fesoterodine is a cost-effective alternative to tolterodine and solifenacin for the treatment of patients with OAB in Spain. Fesoterodine provides additional health benefits while maintain a similar level of costs being a cost-effective treatment strategy from a societal perspective.</p

Population Structure and Gene Flow of the Yellow Anaconda (Eunectes notaeus) in Northern Argentina

Yellow anacondas (Eunectes notaeus) are large, semiaquatic boid snakes found in wetland systems in South America. These snakes are commercially harvested under a sustainable management plan in Argentina, so information regarding population structuring can be helpful for determination of management units. We evaluated genetic structure and migration using partial sequences from the mitochondrial control region and mitochondrial genes cyt-b and ND4 for 183 samples collected within northern Argentina. A group of landscape features and environmental variables including several treatments of temperature and precipitation were explored as potential drivers of observed genetic patterns. We found significant population structure between most putative population comparisons and bidirectional but asymmetric migration in several cases. The configuration of rivers and wetlands was found to be significantly associated with yellow anaconda population structure (IBD), and important for gene flow, although genetic distances were not significantly correlated with the environmental variables used here. More in-depth analyses of environmental data may be needed to fully understand the importance of environmental conditions on population structure and migration. These analyses indicate that our putative populations are demographically distinct and should be treated as such in Argentina's management plan for the harvesting of yellow anacondas

Depression, anxiety, stress, and motivation over the course of smoking cessation treatment

Objective: To evaluate changes in the levels of patient anxiety, depression, motivation, and stress over the course of smoking cessation treatment. Methods: This cohort study involved patients enrolled in a smoking cessation program in Cuiabá, Brazil. We selected patients who completed the program in six months or less (n = 142). Patient evaluations were conducted at enrollment (evaluation 1 [E1]); after 45 days of treatment with medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy (E2); and at the end of the six-month study period (E3). Patients were evaluated with a standardized questionnaire (to collect sociodemographic data and determine smoking status), as well as with the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, and Lipp Inventory of Stress Symptoms for Adults. The data were analyzed with the nonparametric Wilcoxon test for paired comparisons. To compare treatment success (smoking cessation) with treatment failure, the test for two proportions was used. Results: Among the 142 patients evaluated, there were improvements, in terms of the levels of anxiety, depression, motivation, and stress, between E1 and E2, as well as between E1 and E3. In addition, treatment success correlated significantly with the levels of motivation and anxiety throughout the study period, whereas it correlated significantly with the level of depression only at E2 and E3. Conclusions: We conclude that there are in fact changes in the levels of patient anxiety, depression, motivation, and stress over the course of smoking cessation treatment. Those changes appear to be more pronounced in patients in whom the treatment succeeded