Trends in biological nitrogen fixation research and application

In the world each year 17.2×10⁷ tons of N are biologically fixed. Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) contributes to plant production in arable lands and in natural ecosystems. Research to improve BNF is progressing through the breeding of efficient N-fixing organisms and host plants, selection of the best combinations of host plant and microsymbiont, and by the improvement of inoculation techniques and field management. Biotechnology is useful for the creation of promising N₂-fixing organisms. However, to increase plant production through enhanced BNF the constraints in establishing effective N₂-fixing systems in the field should be understood and eliminated.     

Chemotaxis: Movement,direction, control

This review focuses on basic principles of motility in different cell types, formation of the specific cell structures that enable directed migration, and how external signals are transduced into cells and coupled to the motile machinery. Feedback mechanisms and their potential role in maintenance of internal chemotactic gradients and persistence of directed migration are highlighted.     

The role of public policy in biological control: Some global trends

The past decade has been a rapid development in the view that contemporary agricultural practices should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations. This philosophy has broadened the priorities for research and development in primary production systems. Now there is reduced emphasis on efficiency and productivity, and an increased concern for ecological sustainability. This has had an impact on policies relating to biological control technologies and associated policies have been developed to enhance the uptake of biopesticides. At the same time international agreements on climate change, biodiversity and global trading have potential influences on the use of biological control agents and biological technologies. In this review some of these trends in public policy are highlighted as well as the likely effect they may have in the adoption, implementation and ongoing development of biological control technologies.     

Safety,security, and serving the public interest in synthetic biology

This article describes what may be done by scientists and by the biotechnology industry, generally, to address the safety and security challenges in synthetic biology. Given the technical expertise requirements for developing sound policy options, as well as the importance of these issues to the future of the industry, scientists who work in synthetic biology should be informed about these challenges and get involved in shaping policies relevant to the field.     

Human genome research and the public interest: progress notes from an American science policy experiment.

This essay reviews the efforts of the U.S. Human Genome Project to anticipate and address the ethical, legal, and social implications of new advances in human genetics. Since 1990, approximately $10 million has been awarded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, in support of 65 research, education, and public discussion projects. These projects address four major areas of need: (1) the need for both client-centered assessments of new genetic services and for improved knowledge of the psychosocial and ethnocultural factors that shape clients' clinical genetic experiences; (2) the need for clear professional policies regarding human-subject research, clinical practice standards, and public health goals in human genetics; (3) the need for social policy protection against unfair access to and use of personal genetic information; and (4) the need for improved public and professional understanding and discussion of these issues. The Human Genome Project's goal is to have defined, by 1995, policy options and programs capable of addressing these needs.     

Microevolution in biological control: Mechanisms, patterns, and processes

Microevolution may determine both the safety and efficacy of classical biological control. Despite a growing body of literature, there are several key unanswered questions regarding the role of evolution in biological control: (1) How common is local adaptation of natural enemies to their hosts or the environment in the native range? How critical is it for success of biological control to find locally adapted agents for importation? (2) Does adaptive evolution following introductions play an important role in biological control? (3) Do introductions of biological control agents impose bottlenecks in population size that reduce genetic variation, and is reduced genetic variation associated with low fitness and poor performance? (4) How great is the risk of evolution of host range of biological control agents? (5) What is the risk of target pests evolving resistance to biological control agents? If pests evolve increased resistance, will biological control agents evolve mechanisms to overcome that resistance? Here, we review the four fundamental processes of microevolution, and discuss how they interact in the context of biological control. We discuss our current state of knowledge regarding the outstanding questions, highlight the types of experiments that can address them, and suggest ways to use microevolution to define risks, and enhance efficacy and safety of biological control.     

Public policy and partnership in research on biological control in France

Most public institutions and companies of plant protection industry have a favourable opinion of biological control; they feel concerned by the issue, but weakly engaged in its solution. Biological plant protection is however poorly developed in agriculture, the success of biological control being insufficiently known due to severe competition with chemical pesticides that are reliable, efficient, specific and safer for the environment. In this context, and to improve the implementation of biological control, the following actions are proposed:

1. more interdisciplinarity in research between agronomists, economists and biologists who have to take better advantage of the various concepts of evolutionary biology and to carry out more field experiments on a large scale;
2. wider and more integrated objectives: the successful control of a pest using biological means is not a sufficient aim. We absolutely need to consider all aspects of IPM, in particular resistance to pesticides, cultural means, plant breeding and all alternative biotechnical means;
3. larger partnership: during too many years, only researchers of public institutions were involved in biological control. Today, many partners, including public institutions (Plant Protection Service, Technical Institutes) and private companies (large and small) are engaged in alternative plant protection. To facilitate cooperation between them, a specific committee has been set up in France in order to coordinate experimentations for registration and quality control of biopesticides.

With such improved relationships between all partners, specific arguments and lobbying pressure should be stronger on the distribution and retailers of agricultural goods with a view to promoting plant products obtained via biological or integrated control methods and to seeking public understanding and support.     

Coexistence, competition and hypercyclic interaction in some systems of biological interest

Systems of differential equations which describe the selective behavior of self-replicating macromolecules or species under the constraint of constant organization are classified according to their coexistent and competitive behavior as well as the cooperative and/or hypercyclic nature of the inter-species interactions. Two theorems are proved which relate the possibilities for coexistence and competition among species to the presence or absence of hypercyclic linkages.     

Trends in shark bycatch research: current status and research needs

Over the last few decades, much effort has been devoted towards quantifying and reducing bycatch in marine fisheries. Of late, there has been a particular focus on sharks given that bycatch is a frequently listed threat for sharks on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List. However, currently there are no quantitative reviews or syntheses that explore the issue of shark bycatch globally which is problematic given that such a synthesis could inform conservation actions and identify pressing research gaps. We performed a qualitative and quantitative survey of the peer-reviewed literature to characterize trends in shark bycatch research with a particular goal of identifying research needs and opportunities. Using a structured literature review we identified 103 papers that met our search criteria, with the first one published in 1993. Early research efforts focused on documenting the scope of bycatch (i.e., determining that sharks were indeed captured as bycatch), but more recently there have been increased efforts devoted to developing and evaluating bycatch reduction strategies for sharks. Research activity was most common in the North Atlantic (~40?% of the total articles analysed) with comparatively less research in other areas such as the Indo-Pacific region where shark bycatch is regarded as particularly common and problematic. Most studies were observational with comparatively fewer experimental and modeling studies, and even fewer that combined research approaches. Gear modifications (e.g., hook size and type for long lines, net size and mesh design for nets) were the most commonly evaluated strategy for reducing shark bycatch; however, development and use of techniques like repellents, or seasonal area closures, or a combination of strategies, offer interesting possibilities that require further study. In addition, although many sharks are discarded, little is known about post-release survival or sub-lethal consequences of fisheries interactions, or evaluations of different fish handling strategies, making it difficult to quantify the true cost of bycatch or to recommend handling strategies to fishers. Although there are some inherent challenges with developing and testing shark bycatch reduction strategies, there is an urgent need to do so and this would be best achieved through interdisciplinary research that spans field, laboratory, and modeling realms.     

Social withdrawal behaviour in infant: clinical and research interest

The social withdrawal behaviour concept is presented, along with its historical background and its links to infant depression. Sustained social withdrawal behaviour in infancy is observed either with attachment disorders, in autism, sensory impairment, intense and chronic pain, or in interaction disorders and as effects of maternal depression on the infant. The alarm distress baby scale (ADBB) is a 8 item-assessment scale. It has been built to help screening early withdrawal behaviour, making use for example of the routine physical examination in a Well Baby clinic. Current clinical and research application and validations of the scale are presented.     

Study on immunobiology in endoparasites of public health interest: echinococcosis-hydatidosis

Cystic echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus is one of the most widespread zoonoses in the Mediterranean, endemic in some regions such as Sardinia. Some aspects of the research conducted in this area are briefly reviewed for an integrated analysis of both epidemiological and immunobiological knowledge, gained from field observations and experimental studies. Data on epidemiology in intermediate hosts, immunological assessment of exposure in humans, immune response and Th1/Th2 polarization in secondary experimental hydatidosis, kinetics of response in definitive host and cytokine production in experimental models are briefly reported. They confirm the usefulness of an immunobiological approach both in intermediate and definitive hosts and their potential in prevention, monitoring and control of E/H.