Genetic analysis of Phytophthora infestans populations in the Nordic European countries reveals high genetic variability

Late blight, caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, is the most important disease of potato (Solanum tuberosum). The pathogen is highly adaptable and to get an overview of the genetic variation in the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden we have analyzed 200 isolates from different fields using nine simple-sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Forty-nine alleles were detected among the nine SSR loci and isolates from all four Nordic countries shared the most common alleles across the loci. In total 169 multilocus genotypes (based on seven loci) were identified among 191 isolates. The genotypic diversities, quantified by a normalized Shannon's diversity index (H(s)), were 0.95 for the four Nordic countries. The low F(ST) value of 0.04 indicates that the majority of variation is found within the four Nordic countries. The large number of genotypes and the frequency distribution of mating types (60% A1) support the hypothesis that sexual reproduction is contributing notably to the genetic variation of P. infestans in the Nordic countries.     

Stall in fertility decline in Eastern African countries: regional analysis of patterns,determinants and implications

We use data from the Demographic and Health Surveys to examine the patterns of stall in fertility decline in four Eastern African countries. Contrary to patterns of fertility transition in Africa that cut across various socio-economic and geographical groups within countries, we find strong selectivity of fertility stall across different groups and regions in all four countries. In both Kenya and Tanzania where fertility decline has stalled at the national level, it continued to decline among the most educated women and in some regions. While fertility has remained at pre-transition level in Uganda over the past 20 years, there are signs of decline with specific groups of women (especially the most educated, urban and those in the Eastern region) taking the lead. For Zimbabwe, although fertility has continued to decline at the national level, stall is observed among women with less than secondary education and those in some of the regions. We link these intra-country variations to differential changes in socio-economic variables, family planning programme environment and reproductive behaviour models. The results suggest that declines in contraceptive use, increases in unmet need for family planning, increasing preferences for larger families, and increases in adolescent fertility were consistently associated with stalls in subgroup fertility across all four countries. These results are consistent with models that emphasize the role of declines in national and international commitments to family planning programmes in the premature stall in sub-Saharan fertility transition.     

Prevention of Falls Network Europe: a thematic network aimed at introducing good practice in effective falls prevention across Europe. Four years on

ProFaNE, Prevention of Falls Network Europe, is a four-year thematic network co-ordinated by the University of Manchester, UK, with 25 partners across Europe and funded by the European Community Framework 5. There are also Network Associates from a number of EU and non-EU countries who give their advice and experience at steering meetings, seminars and conferences. There are four main themes (taxonomy and co-ordination of trials; clinical assessment and management of falls; assessment of balance function; psychological aspects of falling). The work of ProFaNE is practical, in terms of developing the evidence base for implementation of effective interventions, standardising the health processes for people with a history of falls and encouraging best practice across Europe. Over the four years of the Network many key publications by the members have been regularly cited, the web membership has increased to over 2,000 members from 30 countries, there is an active discussion board and there are nearly 1,000 resources available to download. The success of the networking and relationship building in these four years has meant that many countries have adopted new national strategies to prevent falls and injuries.     

Agro-industrial plantations in Central Africa,risks and opportunities

Large-scale land-based investments in Central Africa are not new, and the first decade of the twenty-first century saw renewed interest in agriculture by foreign investors. The new rush for farm land has involved new multi-national holdings in the region and sometimes in the sector. This paper analyses the recent wave of investments in farm land, and discusses their specificity, the ways the host countries deal with investors, and the impacts of these large-scale projects on livelihoods and on forest cover. It focuses on the four countries that host most of the natural forests in the Congo Basin: Cameroon, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo. The analysis was based on a historical review of the scientific literature and of media reports. Results are based on the assessment of large-scale land acquisitions for agricultural expansion and on field surveys conducted in 2012 and 2013, during which key stakeholders were interviewed in the four countries.     

Comparing naturalized alien plants and recipient habitats across an east–west gradient in the Mediterranean Basin

Aim To investigate alien plant species invasion levels in different habitats and alien species traits by comparing the naturalized flora in different areas of the same biogeographical region. Location Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus. Methods Comparison of floristic composition, species traits and recipient habitats of naturalized alien neophytes across an east–west gradient comprising four countries in the European Mediterranean basin. Results A total of 782 naturalized neophytes were recorded; only 30 species were present in all four countries. Although floristic similarity is low, the four alien floras share the same patterns of growth form (mostly herbs), life cycle (mostly perennials) and life form (mostly therophytes, hemicryptophytes and phanerophytes). The majority of the recipient habitats were artificial. Wetlands were the natural habitats, with the highest numbers of naturalized species. Floristic similarity analyses revealed: (1) the highest floristic similarity between Italy and Spain, both of which were more similar to Greece than to Cyprus; (2) two groups of floristic similarity between habitat categories in each country (Greece–Cyprus and Italy–Spain); (3) a higher degree of homogenization in the plant assemblages in different habitats in Greece and Cyprus and a lower degree of homogenization in those in Italy and Spain; and (4) a higher degree of homogenization in artificial and natural fresh‐water habitats than in the other natural habitats. Main conclusions The floristic similarity of naturalized neophytes between the four countries is low, although the overall analysis indicates that the western group (Italy–Spain) is separated from the eastern group (Greece–Cyprus). Similar patterns emerged regarding the life‐history traits and recipient habitats. The artificial habitats and the natural wet habitats are those that are invaded most and display the greatest homogenization in all four countries. Coastal habitats display a lower degree of homogenization but a high frequency of aliens. Dry shrubs and rocky habitats display a lower degree of homogenization and a low frequency of aliens.     

The 1st International Standard for anti-measles serum

The 1st International Standard for anti-measles serum has been established on the basis of a collaborative study. There were four participating laboratories in four countries and three types of assay used. This standard has been assigned a potency of 5 IU anti-measles antibody per ampoule.     

The impact of past pandemics on economic and gender inequalities

This paper estimates how previous major pandemic events affected economic and gender inequalities in the short- to medium run. We consider the impact of six major pandemic episodes – H3N2 Flu (1968), SARS (2003), H1N1 Swine Flu (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), and Zika (2016) – on cross-country inequalities in samples of 46–167 countries observed over 1950–2019. Results show that the past pandemics have moderately increased income inequality in the affected countries in the period of four to five years after the pandemic’s start. On the other hand, we do not find any robust negative impacts on wealth inequality. The results concerning gender inequality are less consistent, but we find some evidence of declining gender equality among the hardest hit countries. Moreover, the gender gap in unemployment grew within the four years after the onset of the pandemic.     

Elimination of neglected diseases in latin america and the Caribbean: a mapping of selected diseases

In Latin America and the Caribbean, around 195 million people live in poverty, a situation that increases the burden of some infectious diseases. Neglected diseases, in particular, are often restricted to poor, marginalized sections of the population. Tools exist to combat these diseases, making it imperative to work towards their elimination. In 2009, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) received a mandate to support the countries in the Region in eliminating neglected diseases and other poverty-related infections. The objective of this study is to analyze the presence of selected diseases using geo-processing techniques. Five diseases with information available at the first sub-national level (states) were mapped, showing the presence of the disease ("hotspots") and overlap of diseases ("major hotspots"). In the 45 countries/territories (approximately 570 states) of the Region, there is: lymphatic filariasis in four countries (29 states), onchocerciasis in six countries (25 states), schistosomiasis in four countries (39 states), trachoma in three countries (29 states), and human rabies transmitted by dogs in ten countries (20 states). Of the 108 states with one or more of the selected diseases, 36 states present the diseases in overlapping areas ("major hotspots"). Additional information about soil-transmitted helminths was included. The analysis suggests a majority of the selected diseases are not widespread and can be considered part of an unfinished agenda with elimination as a goal. Integrated plans and a comprehensive approach, ensuring access to existing diagnostic and treatment methods, and establishing a multi-sectoral agenda that addresses social determinants, including access to adequate water and sanitation, are required. Future studies can include additional diseases, socio-economic and environmental variables.     

Medicinal plant conservation and management: distribution of wild and cultivated species in eight countries

In order to understand the particular challenges that medicinal plant conservation and management raise at the global level, it is necessary to address issues pertaining their distribution and the environments where they grow. When reviewing medicinal plant studies from eight countries in four regions we found that a high proportion of the reported medicinal plants had wide distributions across countries and continents. Most plants are found wild (40.5%) or naturalized (33.9%), while only 3.3% are cultivated. Since many species are distributed in wild conditions, cultivated and naturalized in several continents, conservation and management interventions would be best served through collaboration between host countries.     

The Impact of WHO Essential Medicines Policies on Inappropriate Use of Antibiotics

Background

Inappropriate overuse of antibiotics contributes to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), yet policy implementation to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use is poor in low and middle-income countries.

Aims

To determine whether public sector inappropriate antibiotic use is lower in countries reporting implementation of selected essential medicines policies.

Materials and Methods

Results from independently conducted antibiotic use surveys in countries that did, and did not report implementation of policies to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, were compared. Survey data on four validated indicators of inappropriate antibiotic use and 16 self-reported policy implementation variables from WHO databases were extracted. The average difference for indicators between countries reporting versus not reporting implementation of specific policies was calculated. For 16 selected policies we regressed the four antibiotic use variables on the numbers of policies the countries reported implementing.

Results

Data were available for 55 countries. Of 16 policies studied, four (having a national Ministry of Health unit on promoting rational use of medicines, a national drug information centre and provincial and hospital drugs and therapeutics committees) were associated with statistically significant reductions in antibiotic use of ≥20% in upper respiratory infection (URTI). A national strategy to contain antibiotic resistance was associated with a 30% reduction in use of antibiotics in acute diarrheal illness. Policies seemed to be associated with greater effects in antibiotic use for URTI and diarrhea compared with antibiotic use in all patients. There were negative correlations between the numbers of policies reported implemented and the percentage of acute diarrhoea cases treated with antibiotics (r = -0.484, p = 0.007) and the percentage of URTI cases treated with antibiotics (r = -0.472, p = 0.005). Major study limitations were the reliance on self-reported policy implementation data and antibiotic use data from linited surveys.

Conclusions

Selected essential medicines policies were associated with lower antibiotic use in low and middle income countries.     

The Internationalization of National Biomechanics Day

National Biomechanics Day (NBD) was initiated in 2016 as a nation-wide effort to introduce Biomechanics to high school students throughout the United States. After that initial year, many people around the world joined NBD to promote Biomechanics in their own countries. National Biomechanics Day became international. We describe NBD procedures and events in four of these countries with the intent of demonstrating mechanisms that may enable Biomechanists around the world to successfully join the NBD celebration.     

The renewable energy-growth nexus with carbon emissions and technological innovation: Evidence from the Nordic countries

Despite the fact that previous studies have extensively investigated the renewable energy-growth nexus, those studies have not considered the role of technological innovation. This study examines the relationship between renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, economic growth, and CO₂ emissions in the four Nordic countries by constructing a vector autoregression (VAR) model. On the basis of a modified version of the Granger non-causality test, the results show a unidirectional causality running from renewable energy to CO₂ emissions for Denmark and Finland and a bidirectional causality between these variables for Sweden and Norway. The findings also indicate a unidirectional causality running from technological innovation to renewable energy and from growth to renewable energy for the four Nordic countries. The results could not confirm any causality from renewable energy to growth. Three policy implications are offered: (i) renewable energy improves environmental well-being, (ii) the Nordic countries have very low energy intensities and high energy efficiencies, and (iii) technological innovation plays an effective role in the renewable energy-growth nexus.     

Combining-groups in cultivated sunflower populations (Helianthus annuus L.) and their relationships with the country of origin

Using four tester lines an analysis of combining abilities for seed yield, seed moisture content and seed oil content was performed on 39 cultivated sunflower populations originating from ten countries. A between-populations structure based on specific combining abilities (SCA) was designed, defining separate combining-groups for each of the four testers. This structure corresponds to the country in which the populations originated.     

Travellers as sentinels: Assaying the worldwide distribution of polymorphisms associated with artemisinin combination therapy resistance in Plasmodium falciparum using malaria cases imported into Scotland

There is growing evidence that Plasmodium falciparum parasites in southeastern Asia have developed resistance to artemisinin combination therapy. The resistance phenotype has recently been shown to be associated with four single nucleotide polymorphisms in the parasite’s genome. We assessed the prevalence of two of these single nucleotide polymorphisms in P. falciparum parasites imported into Scotland between 2009 and 2012, and in additional field samples from six countries in southeastern Asia. We analysed 28 samples from 11 African countries, and 25 samples from nine countries in Asia/southeastern Asia/Oceania. Single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with artemisinin combination therapy resistance were not observed outside Thailand and Cambodia.     

Association between Obesity and Selected Morbidities: A Study of BRICS Countries

Objective

Over the past few decades, obesity has reached epidemic proportions, and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic diseases and disability. There is little evidence on obesity related co-morbidities in BRICS countries. The first objective is to examine the factors associated with overweight and obesity in four of the five BRICS countries (China, India, Russia and South Africa). The second is to examine the linkage of obesity with selected morbidities.

Methods

We used data from the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in China, India, Russia and South Africa during 2007–10. The morbidities included in the analysis are Hypertension, Diabetes, Angina, Stroke, Arthritis and Depression.

Findings

The prevalence of obesity was highest in South Africa (35%) followed by Russia (22%), China (5%) and India (3%). The prevalence of obesity was significantly higher in females as compared to males in all the countries. While the wealth quintile was associated with overweight in India and China, engaging in work requiring physical activity was associated with obesity in China and South Africa. Overweight/obesity was positively associated with Hypertension and Diabetes in all the four countries. Obesity was also positively associated with Arthritis and Angina in China, Russia and South Africa. In comparison, overweight/obesity was not associated with Stroke and Depression in any of the four countries.

Conclusion

Obesity was statistically associated with Hypertension, Angina, Diabetes and Arthritis in China, Russia and South Africa. In India, obesity was associated only with Hypertension and Diabetes.     

Global regulatory burden for field testing of genetically modified trees

Field trials are widely known to be essential for understanding the value and adaptability of trees produced via conventional and transgenic biotechnologies. However, obtaining permission for transgenic field trials is often considered to be very difficult in many countries. To understand the extent of regulatory requirements around the world and the burdens they impose, we surveyed 36 scientists and practitioners from 20 different countries who had experience or direct knowledge of regulatory compliance with field trials of transgenic trees. Results showed that permits and monitoring were universally required, and that public disclosure of field trial locations was required in three quarters of countries. Other major findings were that: separate approvals for different constructs, tree species, and trial locations were required in more than three quarters of the countries; characterization of each transgene insertion event was required as part of the application in four fifths of countries; and the application process itself was perceived as the largest single burden. Regulatory tiers that differentiate different kinds of transgenic trees based on perceived risk were present in only one fifth of countries. The data confirm the widespread perception among scientists that the costs and burdens of conducting field trials with transgenic trees are nearly universal substantial impediments to scientific and breeding progress.     

National mammal guides: a review of references to Recent faunas

Over four hundred reference guides to the mammalian faunas of almost one hundred and fifty countries, dependencies, and well known, geographically isolated areas are listed, including approximately 60% of the total number of countries found in a current atlas.
Although guides to national mammalian faunas have served as useful synopses for large countries and a useful sub-division for large physiographic/ecological areas, most countries either lack a comprehensive reference to the identity, distribution, behaviour, and local literature on mammals, or the existing work has long required revision. Included in this report is a reference list of some important supra-national areas, preceeding a cross-referenced national listing (by current names, with a chronological listing of references within the country).
National mammal guides are not only an invaluable reference source for the professional, but are also an important stimulus to the layman and government at all levels to take an interest in and appreciate the faunal heritage of mammals found within a country.     

Virtual water and water footprints do not provide helpful insight regarding international trade or water scarcity

Many authors have estimated the virtual water content of good and services traded internationally, and many have calculated national water footprints that account for the volumes of virtual water imported and exported. Some authors have suggested that international trade of virtual water has been harmful to selected exporting countries with limited water endowments. Some suggest also that current patterns of international trade should be rearranged to make better use of global water resources. Yet, countries do not actually trade in virtual water. They trade in goods and services for which water is one of many inputs. Wise choices regarding water resources and smart strategies regarding international trade cannot be determined by focusing on water alone. The notions of virtual water and water footprints are not helpful indicators of optimal strategies regarding water resources, particularly when considering issues such as water scarcity or international trade. I describe four perspectives regarding virtual water and water footprints, with the goal of demonstrating the inadequacies of these notions in policy discussions and in efforts to determine the optimal allocation and use of water resources. The four perspectives are: (1) international trade should not be modified or regulated to reflect the virtual water content of traded commodities or water footprints in the countries of trading partners, (2) countries do not save water by engaging in virtual water trade, (3) consumers in one country cannot alleviate water scarcity or improve water quality in other countries, and (4) water footprints are not analogous to carbon or ecological footprints.     

Prevention of diabetes complications in developing countries: time to intensify self-management education

The IDF report has indicated that about 80% of four million diabetes-related deaths that occur every year comes from the developing world. The IDF report suggests the need to focus more on preventing diabetes complications in poor countries. Thus, considering the economic constraints in combating the explosion of diabetes complications in the developing regions of the world, it appears that exploring culturally adaptable educational intervention programmes for specific regions would be the appropriate strategy. We believe that diabetes-related deaths could be reduced in developing countries through intensified diabetes self-management education.     

世界范围内“四大家鱼”入侵现状及其适应特性

原产中国的鲢(Hypophthalmichthys molitrix)、鳙(Aristichthys nobilis)、草鱼(Ctenopharyngodon idella)和青鱼(Mylopharyngodon piceus),即"四大家鱼",已分别被引入到世界上很多个国家和地区,在其中将近一半的地区成功入侵,远高于一般入侵生物的建群概率。这与其自身的高繁殖力、宽广的生理耐受性和食性,以及遗传结构多样性等特征有关,还与新栖息地环境因素密切相关。四大家鱼野外繁殖所需的具有一定流量、流速、足够长且通畅的河道,是其成功入侵的必备环境因素;气候因素也影响四大家鱼成功入侵的概率。此外,入侵地的饵料丰度以及与其他入侵生物的协同作用,也能促进四大家鱼在引入地建群之后的入侵速度和程度。