Agroforestry, food and nutritional security

Agroforestry supports food and nutritional security through : (1) the direct provision of tree food s such as fruit s and leaf y vegetables and by supporting staple crop production ; (2) by raising farmers' incomes through the sale of tree products and surplus staples ; (3) by providing fuel s for cook ing ; and (4) by supporting various ecosystem services such as pollination that are essential for the production of some food plants . While challenges for agroforestry in supporting food and nutritional security include policy and market constraints and an underinvestment in research , strong opportunities exist to promote multi functional , climate - smart agricultural methods involving trees . To better support food and nutritional security, development s in agroforestry policies are required to reform tree and land tenure for the benefit of s mall - scale farmers, to reform how smallholders obtain agroforestry inputs such as tree seed and seedlings , and to recognise agroforestry as an important investment option. Research should support tree domestication to improve the yields of tree foods , and seek to enhance the complementarity and stability of food production in smallholders' agroforestry systems. (Résumé d'auteur

The socioeconomic and environmental impacts of wood energy value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic map protocol

Background: The vast majority of households in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) depend on wood energy—comprising firewood and charcoal—for their daily energetic needs. Such consumption trends are expected to remain a common feature of SSA's wood energy production and supply chains, at least in the short- to medium-terms. Notwithstanding its importance, wood energy generally has low priority in SSA national policies. However, the use of wood energy is often considered a key driver of unsustainable management and negative environmental consequences in the humid and dry forests. To date, unsystematic assessments of the socio-economic and environmental consequences of wood energy use have underplayed its significance, thus further hampering policy debates. Therefore, a more balanced approach which considers both demand and supply dynamics is needed. This systematic map aims at providing a comprehensive approach to understanding the role and impacts of wood energy across all regions and aspects in SSA. Methods: The objective of this systematic map is to collate evidence from studies of environmental and socio-economic impacts of wood energy value chains, by considering both demand and supply within SSA. The map questions are framed using a Populations, Exposure, Comparators and Outcomes (PECO) approach. We name the supply and demand of wood energy as the “exposure,” composed of wood energy production, harvesting, processing, and consumption. The populations of interest include both the actors involved in these activities and the forest sites where these activities occur. The comparator is defined as those cases where the same wood energy activities occur with i) available/accessible alternative energy sources, ii) regulatory frameworks that govern the sector and iii) alternative technologies for efficient use. The outcomes of interest encompass both socioeconomic and environmental impacts that can affect more than the populations named above. For instance, in addition to the direct socioeconomic impacts felt by participants in the wood energy value chain, forest dwellers may experience livelihood changes due to forest degradation caused by external harvesters. Moreover, intensified deforestation in one area may concurrently lead to forest regeneration in another

Overexpression of c-Met/hepatocyte growth factor receptors in human prostatic adenocarcinoma.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and c-met proto-oncogene product (c-Met) have varied biological functions in different tissues and have been implicated in mitogenic, motogenic and morphogenic responses in both organ regeneration and carcinogenesis. Some studies have suggested that the overexpression of c-Met and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are associated with growth advantage, while transforming growth factor-beta receptor II (TGF beta R II) is associated with growth disadvantage of human prostatic adenocarcinoma. However, it is unclear if the expression of c-Met correlates with the expression of EGFR and TGF beta R II, and with the proliferative status of human prostatic adenocarcinoma. Using immunohistochemical staining with anti-c-Met (C-12), anti-EGFR (NCL-EGFR) and anti-TGF beta R II (L-21) antibodies, we determined the frequency of expression of c-MET, EGFR, and TGF beta R II respectively in a series of 134 radical prostatectomy specimens. We evaluated the relationship between the expression of these receptors and clinicopathological characteristics. Overall, c-Met immunostaining was detected in 54 of 134 (40.3%) cases, EGFR in 45 (33.6%) and TGF beta R II in 64 (48.4%). The overexpression of c-Met was significantly more common in poorly differentiated (P &#60; 0.0001) and in the diffusely infiltrated specimens (P &#60; 0.0005). In contrast, TGF beta R II was significantly overexpressed in the well differentiated specimens (P &#60; 0.0001) and associated negatively with c-Met (P &#60; 0.0001). Overall, these data suggest that c-Met/HGF receptor and TGF beta R II overexpression may be involved in the differentiation of human prostatic adenocarcinoma, c-Met with de-differentiation and TGF beta R II with differentiation.</p

Stone formation in peach fruit exhibits spatial coordination of the lignin and flavonoid pathways and similarity to Arabidopsis dehiscence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lignification of the fruit endocarp layer occurs in many angiosperms and plays a critical role in seed protection and dispersal. This process has been extensively studied with relationship to pod shatter or dehiscence in <it>Arabidopsis</it>. Dehiscence is controlled by a set of transcription factors that define the fruit tissue layers and whether or not they lignify. In contrast, relatively little is known about similar processes in other plants such as stone fruits which contain an extremely hard lignified endocarp or stone surrounding a single seed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we show that lignin deposition in peach initiates near the blossom end within the endocarp layer and proceeds in a distinct spatial-temporal pattern. Microarray studies using a developmental series from young fruits identified a sharp and transient induction of phenylpropanoid, lignin and flavonoid pathway genes concurrent with lignification and subsequent stone hardening. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction studies revealed that specific phenylpropanoid (phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase) and lignin (caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase, peroxidase and laccase) pathway genes were induced in the endocarp layer over a 10 day time period, while two lignin genes (<it>p-</it>coumarate 3-hydroxylase and cinnamoyl CoA reductase) were co-regulated with flavonoid pathway genes (chalcone synthase, dihydroflavanol 4-reductase, leucoanthocyanidin dioxygen-ase and flavanone-3-hydrosylase) which were mesocarp and exocarp specific. Analysis of other fruit development expression studies revealed that flavonoid pathway induction is conserved in the related Rosaceae species apple while lignin pathway induction is not. The transcription factor expression of peach genes homologous to known endocarp determinant genes in <it>Arabidopsis </it>including <it>SHATTERPROOF</it>, <it>SEEDSTCK </it>and <it>NAC SECONDARY WALL THICENING PROMOTING FACTOR 1 </it>were found to be specifically expressed in the endocarp while the negative regulator <it>FRUITFU</it>L predominated in exocarp and mesocarp.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Collectively, the data suggests, first, that the process of endocarp determination and differentiation in peach and <it>Arabidopsis </it>share common regulators and, secondly, reveals a previously unknown coordination of competing lignin and flavonoid biosynthetic pathways during early fruit development.</p

Measurement of BB angular correlations based on secondary vertex reconstruction at ps = 7 TeV

35 páginas, 8 figuras, 2 tablas.-- Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License.-- CMS Collaboration: et al.A measurement of the angular correlations between beauty and anti-beauty hadrons (BB) produced in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the CERN LHC is presented, probing for the rst time the region of small angular separation. The B hadrons are identi ed by the presence of displaced secondary vertices from their decays. The B hadron angular separation is reconstructed from the decay vertices and the primaryinteraction vertex. The di erential BB production cross section, measured from a data sample collected by CMS and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3:1 pb-1, shows that a sizable fraction of the BBpairs are produced with small opening angles. These studies provide a test of QCD and further insight into the dynamics of bb production.Acknowledge support from: FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, andHIP (Finland); CEAand CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF and WCU (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTD (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA).Peer reviewe