From researcher to farmer: The use of extension programs to transfer biological control technology in developed countries

Effective use of biological control by the pest manager requires knowledge of the biologies of the pests and natural enemies, and their interactions with their environment and agronomic practices. Manufacturers provide information for products such as microbial pesticides and entomophagous arthropods used in augmentative biological control. However, information about process-oriented methods such as classical (importation) biological control and conservation of natural enemies is not often available to the farmer. Governmental extension programs are one method for providing practical biological control information, but availability in developed countries varies considerably. Examples of transfer of biological control information are provided for New Zealand, Canada, and Australia. In the United States, the Extension Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides partial funding and coordination for pest management educational programs conducted at the national, regional, state and local levels. In a twelve-state region of the North Central United States, university extension and research entomologists have developed a coordinated program to educate county extension personnel, farmers, and private consultants about the use of biological controls in pest management. The details of this model program are discussed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the educational constraints that must be overcome to successfully increase the adoption of biological control.     

Fighting cancer with plant-expressed pharmaceuticals

Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide, which explains why biological therapies for cancer are forecast to make up 35% of total recombinant pharmaceuticals by 2010. Because of the high demand for cancer drugs, the need to lower production costs and the constraints of present production technologies for recombinant pharmaceuticals (such as the difficulties involved in culturing bacteria, yeast and mammalian cells), attention has recently been focused on recombinant expression of pharmaceutical anti-cancer proteins in plants. This review aims to provide an update on the most recent publications about anti-cancer recombinant pharmaceuticals expressed in plants, as well as on the relevant technical issues, potential and prospects of this emerging production system.     

Isolation of a bacteriocin-producing Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and application to control Listeria monocytogenes in Moroccan jben

AIM: Use of a bacteriocin-producing lactococcal strain to control Listeria monocytogenes in jben. METHODS AND RESULTS: A Lactococcus lactis strain isolated from lben was shown, by the spot technique, to produce a bacteriocin different from nisin. Inhibitory activity of the bacteriocin-producing strain against Listeria monocytogenes was investigated in jben, made from cow's milk fermented with the producer organism and contaminated with 104 or 107 cfu ml-1. Listeria counts were monitored during manufacture, and during conservation at room and at refrigeration temperatures. Results showed that the pathogen was reduced by 2.7 logarithmic units after 30 h of jben processing when the initial inoculum of 107 cfu ml(-1) was used. For the initial inoculum of 104 cfu ml(-1), the bacterium was completely eliminated at 24 h. Furthermore, the use of the bacteriocin-producing starter culture extended the shelf-life of jben by 5 days. CONCLUSIONS: In situ production of the lactococcal bacteriocin is an efficient biological means of controlling L. monocytogenes in jben and of allowing shelf-life extension. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The proposed technology will essentially benefit minimally processed dairy products and those made with raw milk.     

Evolution of a regulatory framework for pharmaceuticals derived from genetically modified plants

The use of genetically modified (GM) plants to synthesize proteins that are subsequently processed, regulated and sold as pharmaceuticals challenges two very different established regulatory frameworks, one concerning GM plants and the other covering the development of biotechnology-derived drugs. Within these regulatory systems, specific regulations and guidelines for plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs) - also referred to as plant-derived pharmaceuticals (PDPs) - are still evolving. The products nearing commercial viability will ultimately help to road test and fine-tune these regulations, and might help to reduce regulatory uncertainties. In this review, we summarize the current state of regulations in different countries, discuss recent changes and highlight the need for further regulatory development in this burgeoning, new industry. We also make the case for the harmonization of international regulations.     

The Structure Superposition Database

The need for new tools for investigating biological systems on a large scale is becoming acute, particularly with respect to computationally intensive analyses such as comparisons of many three-dimensional protein structures. Structure superposition is a valuable approach for understanding evolutionary relationships and for the prediction of function. But while available tools are adequate for generating and viewing superpositions of single pairs of protein structures, these tools are generally too cumbersome and time-consuming for examining multiple superpositions. To address this need, we have created the Structure Superposition Database (SSD) for accessing, viewing and understanding large sets of structure superposition data. The initial implementation of the SSD contains the results of pairwise, all-by-all superpositions of a representative set of 115 (beta/alpha)8 barrel structures (TIM barrels). Future plans call for extending the database to include representative structure superpositions for many additional folds. The SSD can be browsed with a user interface module developed as an extension to Chimera, an extensible molecular modeling program. Features of the user interface module facilitate viewing multiple superpositions together. The SSD interface module can be downloaded from http://ssd.rbvi.ucsf.edu.     

A note on shelf-life extension of British fresh sausage by vacuum packing

Vacuum packing of British fresh sausage in a low oxygen permeability film (Diolon) extended the product shelf-life at 6 degrees C to more than 20 d compared with 9-14 d in conventional packs. After 10 d storage, counts of key spoilage organisms such as yeasts and Brochothrix thermosphacta were generally 2 log cycles lower in vacuum packs. Vacuum-packed sausages also displayed a slower rate of loss of free sulphite. Variations in pack permeability to SO2 were not responsible for this. Losses of free SO2 in stored sausages are largely due to the production of sulphite-binding agents by yeasts. Selective enumeration of these yeasts showed them to be inhibited by conditions of vacuum packing. The extension of shelf-life observed is ascribed to the reduction in growth rate of the spoilage flora in vacuum packs coupled with the consequent maintenance of inhibitory levels of sulphite for a longer period.     

Civil Emergency Planning in Canada

The national objectives of civilian emergency planning are: (1) protection and preservation of life and property; (2) maintenance of governmental structure; and (3) conservation of resources. The Canada Emergency Measures Organization (E.M.O.) has been developed to accomplish these objectives. E.M.O. co-ordinates other departments and agencies of federal government and its organization is reflected within provincial and municipal governments.Present E.M.O. accomplishments include: an attack warning system; an emergency broadcasting system; emergency government facilities; 400 emergency measure organizations across Canada; plans to implement general readiness; a medical stockpile; and “shadow agencies” for control of housing, food and manpower.Present undertakings include: a national survey of fallout shelters; the equipping of the radiation defence (RADEF); the pre-positioning of the items of the medical stockpile; and the training at the Canadian Emergency Measures College at Arnprior.     

Emergency Health Planning

This paper outlines the development of emergency health planning as a function of government. Ten provinces have the basic responsibility for the organization, preparation and operation of medical, nursing, hospital and public health services in an emergency. The Department of National Health and Welfare is responsible for the provision of advice and assistance to the provincial and municipal governments in such matters. Eight provinces have now hired full-time planning staffs to co-ordinate the health planning of the Provincial Departments of Health and Provincial Emergency Measures Organization.Four major programs have been established. The first program provides for the continuity of leadership and guidance by health authorities at the federal, provincial and municipal level. Essential records have been developed and emergency legislation prepared. This program, however, will be of little use unless health services are organized at the municipal level. In this organizational program, advice and assistance have been provided to existing hospitals and departments of health in the conduct of disaster planning. The efforts of these agencies are co-ordinated by municipal health authorities into a community disaster plan. The third program deals with information and education of the general public and the health workers. This program is designed to make the family unit self-sufficient for up to seven days and the health worker prepared to undertake his emergency role. The first three programs are directed to the organization and training of manpower; the fourth program provides the necessary supplies. From the national medical stockpile of $18,000,000, some $12,000,000 has been received, packaged for long-term storage and distributed to regional depots across the country. To ensure their ready availability in time of emergency an agreement has been reached with seven provinces for the release of hospital disaster kits.     

Pouteria caimito fruit derived nanoparticles inhibited the apple ring rot disease as well as extended the shelf-life of sliced apples

BackgroundApple disease, exaggerated by Botryosphaeria dothidea, is a foremost intimidating problem for extending the apple fruit shelf-life and producing substantial economic losses for cultivators and distributors. Alternate sources are urgently needed to prevent or inhibit the ring rot infection of apple fruit instigated by Botryosphaeria dothideaObjectiveIn this current study, we premeditated to make novel organic nanoparticles as of Pouteria caimito fruit extract and calcium chloride (PCNP), which were used to evaluate the preventive outcome of Botryosphaeria dothidea-caused apple disease on postharvest apple fruits.ResultsOur findings corroborated that the fruit derived nanoparticle had been confirmed for quality and size by altered estimations such as fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV–vis spectroscopic analysis, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray (SEM and EDX) estimation, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. In addition, we have investigated the excellent inhibitory action of the pathogen infection in apples initiated by Botryosphaeria dothidea. The protective enzymes function was pointedly improved in nanoparticle-treated apple fruits once equated with those of control apple fruits. The catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were pointedly improved in nanoparticle-treated fruits when compared to those of control fruits. The shelf-life extension studies were conducted for 7 days with a fresh-cut apple. The total soluble solid, pH, weight loss, and sensory studies were analyzed, and they proved the extension of sliced apple shelf life up to 7 days.ConclusionsThe discoveries of this study provided a well-organized, harmless, and environment-friendly substitute to control the apple disease as well as the durability postponement of sliced apples 7 days or may longer.     

Goldilocks’ Determination of What New In Vivo Data are “Just Right” for Different Common Drug Development Scenarios,Part 1

As alternative models and scientific advancements improve the ability to predict developmental toxicity, the challenge is how to best use this information to support safe use of pharmaceuticals in humans. While in vivo experimental data are often expected, there are other important considerations that drive the impact of developmental toxicity data to human risk assessment and product labeling. These considerations include three key elements: (1) the drug's likelihood of producing off‐target toxicities, (2) risk tolerance of adverse effects based on indication and patient population, and (3) how much is known about the effects of modulating the target in pregnancy and developmental biology. For example, there is little impact or value of a study in pregnant monkeys to inform the risk assessment for a highly specific monoclonal antibody indicated for a life‐threatening indication against a target known to be critical for pregnancy maintenance and fetal survival. In contrast, a small molecule to a novel biological target for a chronic lifestyle indication would warrant more safety data than simply in vitro studies and a literature review. Rather than accounting for innumerable theoretical possibilities surrounding each potential submission's profile, we consolidated most of the typical situations into eight possible scenarios across these three elements, and present a discussion of these scenarios here. We hope that this framework will facilitate a rational approach to determining what new information is required to inform developmental toxicity risk of pharmaceuticals in context of the specific needs of each program while reducing animal use where possible.     

A note on shelf-life extension of British fresh sausage by vacuum packing

Vacuum packing of British fresh sausage in a low oxygen permeability film (Diolon) extended the product shelf-life at 6°C to more than 20 d compared with 9–14 d in conventional packs. After 10 d storage, counts of key spoilage organisms such as yeasts and Brochothrix thermosphacta were generally 2 log cycles lower in vacuum packs. Vacuum-packed sausages also displayed a slower rate of loss of free sulphite. Variations in pack permeability to SO₂ were not responsible for this. Losses of free SO₂ in stored sausages are largely due to the production of sulphite-binding agents by yeasts. Selective enumeration of these yeasts showed them to be inhibited by conditions of vacuum packing. The extension of shelf-life observed is ascribed to the reduction in growth rate of the spoilage flora in vacuum packs coupled with the consequent maintenance of inhibitory levels of sulphite for a longer period.     

Nitric Oxide as a Key Gasotransmitter in Fruit Postharvest: An Overview

Currently, the field of postharvest technology is a growing research area of particular interest since the increase in world population and the need to satisfy its nutritional requirements. These aspects establish a demand to produce fruits with high market quality while minimizing the losses from production to consumption stages. In the past few years, nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as a novel gasotransmitter to improve fruit postharvest shelf-life, owing to its influence on physiological processes (including fruit ripening) and on acclimation responses to stress conditions. In this review, we summarize some of the research related to the effects of NO exposure on different fruits with the aim to extend postharvest shelf-life and quality. The protection against chilling injury and postharvest diseases are addressed. The mechanisms of NO action and its interactions with other phytohormones are analyzed. Finally, the potential use of NO donors (and other strategies destined to enhance its levels) with a technological scope is also discussed.

     

Why it's time for a national health program in the United States.

The United States lacks a coherent national health program. Current programs leave major gaps in coverage and recently have become more restrictive. Influential policies that have failed to correct crucial problems of the health-care system include competitive strategies, corporate intervention, and public-sector cutbacks with bureaucratic expansion. A national health program that combines elements of national health insurance and a national health service is a policy that would help solve current health-care problems. Previous proposals for national health insurance contained weaknesses that would need correction under a national program. Based on the experiences of other economically advanced countries, a national health program could provide universal entitlement to health care while controlling costs and improving the health-care system through structural reorganization. Current proposals for a national health program contain several basic principles dealing with the scope of services, copayments, financing, cost controls, physician and professional associations, personnel and distribution, prevention, and participation in policy making. Support for a national health program is growing rapidly. Such a program would help protect all people who live in this country from unnecessary illness, suffering, and early death.     

基于DPSEEA模型构建生物安全评价体系：以深圳市为例

由于生物安全内涵外延和基本要素的模糊性、评价指标及评价方法的多元性等因素的限制, 我国至今尚未形成全面有效的生物安全评价指标体系。为构建生物安全评价体系, 研判生物安全现状, 本文首先运用规范分析法剖析《生物安全法》中有关“生物安全”定义的特点及不足, 从国家安全角度认为生物安全是指国家有效防范和应对危险生物因子及相关因素的威胁, 维护和保障自身安全与利益的能力和状态。明晰了生物安全的外延, 即只有对国家安全利益、民众健康、生态环境保护产生威胁的生物风险, 才是生物安全所规制的对象。其次, 生物安全基本要素包括自然生物安全和社会经济生物安全。自然生物安全主要指民众健康和生态环境保护方面, 包括生物个体安全和生物多样性安全。社会经济生物安全的关注点在国家安全利益, 即社会稳定和国家经济利益, 包括生物技术安全、生物实验室安全。第三, 以生物安全基本要素为管理对象的尺度, 将国家安全利益、民众健康和生态环境保护作为评价主体, 以生物法治为理念, 运用模型构建法, 将定性指标和定量指标相结合, 基于驱动力‒压力‒状态‒接触‒影响‒行动模型(driving force-pressure-state-exposure-effect-action, DPSEEA)构建了一套具有生物法治特色的生物安全评价指标体系, 包括生物安全法律法规体系健全水平、生物安全所涉违法犯罪行为的打击力度、生物安全各部门机构协调机制的建立和完善程度、符合规定标准的生物实验室数量和百分比、生物安全人才数量及密度、对生物产业和基本卫生部门的官方援助及其他途径投资总额、疫苗覆盖的目标人群比例、生物安全的宣传教育普及率8项评价指标在内共32项生物安全评价指标。最后, 基于实地调研及数据统计分析, 以2019年和2020年深圳生物安全工作为例对评价体系进行验证。结果显示, 深圳生物安全工作在农业生物安全、动植物防疫、防范外来物种入侵方面成果显著; 但仍在法律法规体系、生物安全人才培养和资金投入、生物安全普及率方面存在不足。针对上述问题提出完善生物安全法律法规体系并注重法律协调衔接、“一个健康”实现多元协同生物治理、加强人才培养和资金投入、加强生物安全宣传教育等建议。     

Exposure Assessment of Pharmaceuticals and Their Metabolites in the Aquatic Environment: Application to the French Situation and Preliminary Prioritization

Low levels of pharmaceuticals have been detected in many countries in surface waters. As a wide range of pharmaceuticals can reach aquatic environments, a selection of molecules to survey is the first step before implementing a monitoring program. We used a simple equation to calculate Predicted Environmental Concentrations (PECs), adapted from the European Medicine Agency model used for the Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) of human pharmaceutical. Excretion fractions for pharmaceuticals were determined for 76 compounds. Using year 2004 French drug consumption data, we determined aquatic PECs for 112 parent molecules and several metabolites. Considering excretion fractions of pharmaceuticals can lead to drastically reduce predicted concentrations reaching the aquatic environment and help to target environmentally relevant pharmaceuticals and metabolites. Calculated PECs using the described methodology are consistent with French field measurements. The simple model for calculating PECs can be used as a valuable estimation of the exposure. Risk quotient ratios were also calculated. Due to the lack of ecotoxicological data, the use of PEC/PNEC ratios is not enough informative to prioritize pharmaceuticals likely to pose a risk for surface waters. Alternative ways to prioritize risk to pharmaceuticals, combining PEC, pharmacological, and ecotoxicological data available from the literature, should be implemented.     

PEGylation of therapeutic proteins

Since the first PEGylated product was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1990, PEGylation has been widely used as a post-production modification methodology for improving biomedical efficacy and physicochemical properties of therapeutic proteins. Applicability and safety of this technology have been proven by use of various PEGylated pharmaceuticals for many years. It is expected that PEGylation, as the most established technology for extension of drug residence in the body, will play an important role in the next generation therapeutics, such as peptides, protein nanobodies and scaffolds, which due to their diminished molecular size need half-life extension. This review focuses on several factors important in the production of PEGylated biopharmaceuticals enabling efficient preparation of highly purified PEG-protein conjugates that have to meet stringent regulatory criteria for their use in human therapy. Areas addressed are PEG properties, the specificity of PEGylation reactions, separation and large-scale purification, the availability and analysis of PEG reagents, analysis of PEG-protein conjugates, the consistency of products and processes and approaches used for rapid screening of pharmacokinetic properties of PEG-protein conjugates.     

An expert-assisted citizen science program involving agricultural high schools provides national patterns on bee species assemblages

Ecology studies often require large datasets. The benefits of citizen science for collecting such datasets include the extension of spatial and temporal scales, and cost reduction. In classical citizen science, citizens collect data and send them directly to scientists. This may not be possible for the many biological groups for which specimen identification is difficult and requires high-level expertise. Here we report the results of an expert-assisted citizen science program where teachers from 20 French agricultural high schools collected bees, which were identified to species level by a panel of expert bee taxonomists. Overall the dataset included 70 collections (year?×?sampling site combinations) that resulted in 4574 specimens belonging to 195 species. We analysed this dataset using data freely available at a national scale on agriculture intensity and landscape composition. We found that species richness increased with increasing proportion of herbaceous semi-natural elements; species dominance decreased with increasing crop diversity; the proportion of above ground nesting species and specimens increased as the intensity of agricultural practices decreased. Comparing the results obtained with identification to species level and those obtained with higher taxa or parataxonomic approaches, we found that the loss of taxonomic resolution resulted in the non-significance of some results on the effects of environmental variables on bee assemblage-level attributes. Our study suggests that identification to species level is of great importance to detect the effects of global change on bees and that an expert-assisted citizen science paradigm could provide relevant results to guide conservation measures at a national scale.     

Development of a validated HPLC method for the determination of iodotyrosines and iodothyronines in pharmaceuticals and biological samples using solid phase extraction

Identification, separation and quantitation of iodoaminoacids, is essential for the biological research and the clinical diagnosis of thyroid gland disease. Under this aspect a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of thyroid gland hormones and some of their primary metabolites, 3,3',5,5'-tetra-iodo-L-thyronine (L-thyroxine), 3,3',5-tri-iodo-L-thyronine, 3,5-di-iodo-L-thyronine, L-thyronine, 3,5-di-iodo-L-tyrosine, 3-iodo-L-tyrosine and l-tyrosine. Analysis was performed on an Inertsil C(18) column with photodiode-array detection, using a 25 min gradient scale program of a binary mobile phase consisted of 0.1% aqueous solution of trifluoroacetic acid at pH 3 as solvent A and acetonitrile as solvent B, at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Quantitation was performed using were obtained using theophylline as internal standard. The method was applied to commercial pharmaceuticals and biological samples (serum, urine and tissue). Drug-free urine and serum samples were spiked with known concentrations of the analytes standards and pretreated by solid phase extraction to remove matrix interferences. C(18) cartridges were used, yielding recoveries ranging from 87.1% to 107.6% for serum samples and from 92.1% to 98.7% for urine samples. With regard to total-T(4) concentrations in serum samples, results are cross-validated with RIA and found to agree well.     

Shelf-life extension of fresh-cut iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa L) by different antimicrobial films

This study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial activity and shelf-life extension effect of iceberg lettuce packed in BN/PE film. The BN/PE film has a strong microbial suppression effect on pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, and S. typhimurium. The number of psychrophiles and mesophiles during 5 days of cold storage of fresh-cut iceberg lettuce at 10 degrees C packaged in BN/PE film was strictly suppressed in comparison with other tested films (OPP, PE, and PET film). When fresh processed iceberg lettuce was processed and stored under the current conditions, the shelf-life of the product was longer than 5 days in the BN/PE film package, whereas the shelf-life when using the other films tested, PE, OPP and PET, was no longer than 3-4 days. The decay rates of the iceberg lettuce packed in the BN/PE film was maintained at 29.8 +/- 2.1% on the 5th day of preservation. The samples packed in BN/PE film maintained an excellent visual quality during the 3 days of storage without significant differences in comparison with the initial visual quality. No browning was observed in the samples packed in BN/PE film for up to 3 days. The texture of shredded iceberg lettuce packaged in BN/PE film remained unchanged up to 3 days, and then a moderate decrease in texture was observed after 4 days of storage. In addition, the overall acceptability of fresh-cut iceberg lettuce packaged in BN/PE film did not change for up to 3 days, whereas the samples packaged in the other films were inedible by 3 days of storage. In conclusion, the shelf-life of fresh-cut iceberg lettuce packaged in the BN/PE film was extended to more than 5 days at 10 degres C, whereas that in the other films was 2 days at 10 degrees C. Therefore, the shelf-life extension effect of the fresh-cut iceberg lettuce in BN/PE film packaging was very effective compared with the other films tested.