Global nitrogen fertilizer supply and demand outlook

This paper presents a brief overview of the world nitrogen fertilizer demand, highlights trends in the global and regional developments of production capacity and provides a medium-term perspective of the global nitrogen supply/demand balance.     

Ubiquitinated Proteome: Ready for Global?

Ubiquitin (Ub) is a small and highly conserved protein that can covalently modify protein substrates. Ubiquitination is one of the major post-translational modifications that regulate a broad spectrum of cellular functions. The advancement of mass spectrometers as well as the development of new affinity purification tools has greatly expedited proteome-wide analysis of several post-translational modifications (e.g. phosphorylation, glycosylation, and acetylation). In contrast, large-scale profiling of lysine ubiquitination remains a challenge. Most recently, new Ub affinity reagents such as Ub remnant antibody and tandem Ub binding domains have been developed, allowing for relatively large-scale detection of several hundreds of lysine ubiquitination events in human cells. Here we review different strategies for the identification of ubiquitination site and discuss several issues associated with data analysis. We suggest that careful interpretation and orthogonal confirmation of MS spectra is necessary to minimize false positive assignments by automatic searching algorithms.     

Line Orientation Adaptation: Local or Global?

Prolonged exposure to an oriented line shifts the perceived orientation of a subsequently observed line in the opposite direction, a phenomenon known as the tilt aftereffect (TAE). Here we consider whether the TAE for line stimuli is mediated by a mechanism that integrates the local parts of the line into a single global entity prior to the site of adaptation, or the result of the sum of local TAEs acting separately on the parts of the line. To test between these two alternatives we used the fact the TAE transfers almost completely across luminance contrast polarity [1]. We measured the TAE using adaptor and test lines that (1) either alternated in luminance polarity or were of a single polarity, and (2) either alternated in local orientation or were of a single orientation. We reasoned that if the TAE was agnostic to luminance polarity and was parts-based, we should obtain large TAEs using alternating-polarity adaptors with single-polarity tests. However we found that (i) TAEs using one-alternating-polarity adaptors with all-white tests were relatively small, increased slightly for two-alternating-polarity adaptors, and were largest with all-white or all-black adaptors. (ii) however TAEs were relatively large when the test was one-alternating polarity, irrespective of the adaptor type. (iii) The results with orientation closely mirrored those obtained with polarity with the difference that the TAE transfer across orthogonal orientations was weak. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the TAE for lines is mediated by a global shape mechanism that integrates the parts of lines into whole prior to the site of orientation adaptation. The asymmetry in the magnitude of TAE depending on whether the alternating-polarity lines was the adaptor or test can be explained by an imbalance in the population of neurons sensitive to 1^st-and 2^nd-order lines, with the 2^nd-order lines being encoded by a subset of the mechanisms sensitive to 1^st-order lines.     

Are Existing Global Scenarios Consistent with Ecological Feedbacks?

Scenarios can help planners and decision makers to think through uncertainties about the future and make decisions that are robust to a variety of possible outcomes. To develop useful scenarios we need to understand the main processes of relevance to the system of interest. Ecological processes, and the feedbacks that they can create between human actions and human well-being, are thought to be important for human societies. Current uncertainties over the long-term resilience of ecosystems and the substitutability of ecosystem goods and services can be translated into three alternative realities: ecosystems may be relatively brittle, relatively resilient, or largely irrelevant. Although these extremes are only rough characterizations of reality, they help us to focus our thinking about the possible outcomes of interactions between humans and the rest of the biosphere. Existing global scenarios can be categorized into a small number of families based on shared themes and assumptions about the future. Considering the internal consistency of four of the main scenario families in relation to the three alternative ecological realities suggests that all existing scenarios make strong, implicit assumptions about the resilience of ecosystems. After a detailed discussion of individual examples, we present a synthesis of the incorporation of ecology in existing scenarios. All current scenarios are inconsistent with at least one possible property of ecosystems and their likely interaction with society. The interrelationships between ecological reality, human views of ecosystems, and social responses to actual and perceived ecological change are complex. For the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and future scenario exercises, we recommend that essential ecological assumptions should be made explicit to ensure that the details of each scenario are consistent with both the perceived and the actual degree of resilience of ecosystems.     

Global Conservation Significance of Ecuador's Yasuní National Park

Background

The threats facing Ecuador''s Yasuní National Park are emblematic of those confronting the greater western Amazon, one of the world''s last high-biodiversity wilderness areas. Notably, the country''s second largest untapped oil reserves—called “ITT”—lie beneath an intact, remote section of the park. The conservation significance of Yasuní may weigh heavily in upcoming state-level and international decisions, including whether to develop the oil or invest in alternatives.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We conducted the first comprehensive synthesis of biodiversity data for Yasuní. Mapping amphibian, bird, mammal, and plant distributions, we found eastern Ecuador and northern Peru to be the only regions in South America where species richness centers for all four taxonomic groups overlap. This quadruple richness center has only one viable strict protected area (IUCN levels I–IV): Yasuní. The park covers just 14% of the quadruple richness center''s area, whereas active or proposed oil concessions cover 79%. Using field inventory data, we compared Yasuní''s local (alpha) and landscape (gamma) diversity to other sites, in the western Amazon and globally. These analyses further suggest that Yasuní is among the most biodiverse places on Earth, with apparent world richness records for amphibians, reptiles, bats, and trees. Yasuní also protects a considerable number of threatened species and regional endemics.

Conclusions/Significance

Yasuní has outstanding global conservation significance due to its extraordinary biodiversity and potential to sustain this biodiversity in the long term because of its 1) large size and wilderness character, 2) intact large-vertebrate assemblage, 3) IUCN level-II protection status in a region lacking other strict protected areas, and 4) likelihood of maintaining wet, rainforest conditions while anticipated climate change-induced drought intensifies in the eastern Amazon. However, further oil development in Yasuní jeopardizes its conservation values. These findings form the scientific basis for policy recommendations, including stopping any new oil activities and road construction in Yasuní and creating areas off-limits to large-scale development in adjacent northern Peru.     

Global Proteinuria Guidelines: Are We Nearly There Yet?

Assessment of albumin and/or protein excretion in the urine is a key step in the early detection and appropriate management of chronic kidney disease. The approach to testing for albuminuria/proteinuria in the community is variable and often suboptimal. It is hampered by: variation in laboratory measurement; lack of standard reference materials and testing procedures; variable definitions and units of reporting; conflicting recommendations and practices regarding who to test; and uncertainty over when and how testing is most appropriately done. This review discusses the current status of proteinuria guidelines around the world and the key clinical issues that need to be addressed before a unifying global guideline can be developed.     

Strongyloidiasis—An Insight into Its Global Prevalence and Management

Background

Strongyloides stercoralis, an intestinal parasitic nematode, infects more than 100 million people worldwide. Strongyloides are unique in their ability to exist as a free-living and autoinfective cycle. Strongyloidiasis can occur without any symptoms or as a potentially fatal hyperinfection or disseminated infection. The most common risk factors for these complications are immunosuppression caused by corticosteroids and infection with human T-lymphotropic virus or human immunodeficiency virus. Even though the diagnosis of strongyloidiasis is improved by advanced instrumentation techniques in isolated and complicated cases of hyperinfection or dissemination, efficient guidelines for screening the population in epidemiological surveys are lacking.

Methodology and Results

In this review, we have discussed various conventional methods for the diagnosis and management of this disease, with an emphasis on recently developed molecular and serological methods that could be implemented to establish guidelines for precise diagnosis of infection in patients and screening in epidemiological surveys. A comprehensive analysis of various cases reported worldwide from different endemic and nonendemic foci of the disease for the last 40 years was evaluated in an effort to delineate the global prevalence of this disease. We also updated the current knowledge of the various clinical spectrum of this parasitic disease, with an emphasis on newer molecular diagnostic methods, treatment, and management of cases in immunosuppressed patients.

Conclusion

Strongyloidiasis is considered a neglected tropical disease and is probably an underdiagnosed parasitic disease due to its low parasitic load and uncertain clinical symptoms. Increased infectivity rates in many developed countries and nonendemic regions nearing those in the most prevalent endemic regions of this parasite and the increasing transmission potential to immigrants, travelers, and immunosuppressed populations are indications for initiating an integrated approach towards prompt diagnosis and control of this parasitic disease.     

Will Tropical Biodiversity Survive our Approach to Global Change?

Because global change is almost synonymous with climate change, research has emphasized perhaps too much the effects of climate change over other global concerns that might be equally detrimental to biodiversity and humanity. These include unsustainable land use and massive conversion and degradation of natural habitats. Perhaps by the time we understand the effects of global climate change on tropical forests, there may not be any left to admire.     

Awesome or ordinary? Global diversity patterns of oribatid mites

Diversity of most above-ground organisms increases with decreasing latitude, but the biogeographical and macroecological diversity patterns of below-ground animals have been poorly studied. We investigated the latitudinal diversity gradient in a primarily below-ground living soil taxon, oribatid mites. Furthermore, oribatid mite species richness from islands and mainlainds was tested for correlation with the size of the respective area (island or mainland) to evaluate if their species–area relationships are similar to those of above-ground taxa. The results suggest that for oribatid mites 1) diversity increases from the boreal to the warm temperate region but not further to the tropics, and 2) species–area relationships for islands and mainlands are similar to those of above-ground taxa, but this is mainly caused by very small islands, such as Cocos islands, and very large islands, such as Madagascar. When these islands are excluded the species–area relationship strongly differs from those of typical islands. The results support the view that below-ground animal taxa are generalists that inhabit wide niches. Most small islands have relatively rich oribatid mite faunas, supporting the observation that a large number of species can coexist in a small area (high α-diversity).     

Global heterochromatin loss: A unifying theory of aging?

The aging field is replete with theories. Over the past years, many distinct, yet overlapping mechanisms have been proposed to explain organismal aging. These include free radicals, loss of heterochromatin, genetically programmed senescence, telomere shortening, genomic instability, nutritional intake and growth signaling, to name a few. The objective of this Point-of-View is to highlight recent progress on the “loss of heterochromatin” model of aging and to propose that epigenetic changes contributing to global heterochromatin loss may underlie the various cellular processes associated with aging.     

The Global Burden of Disease Assessments—WHO Is Responsible?

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) concept has been used by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its reporting on health information for nearly 10 years. The GBD approach results in a single summary measure of morbidity, disability, and mortality, the so-called disability-adjusted life year (DALY). To ensure transparency and objectivity in the derivation of health information, WHO has been urged to use reference groups of external experts to estimate burden of disease. Under the leadership and coordination of WHO, expert groups have been appraising and abstracting burden of disease information. Examples include the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG), the Malaria Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group (MERG), and the recently established Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG). The structure and functioning of and lessons learnt by these groups are described in this paper. External WHO expert groups have provided independent scientific health information while operating under considerable differences in structure and functioning. Although it is not appropriate to devise a single "best practice" model, the common thread described by all groups is the necessity of WHO's leadership and coordination to ensure the provision and dissemination of health information that is to be globally accepted and valued.     

《现代生物医学进展》被英国Global Health数据库收录

GlobalHealth是英国国际农业与生物科学研究中心主办的、国际上权威的公共健康研究数据库。读者范围主要针对专业学术机构、研究人员、非政府组织、政策制定者、从业医师、健康机构专业人士及学生。该数据库填补了很多目前医学研究领域内的信息空白,提供最宽泛的内容覆盖面。GlobalHealth在Ovid（奥维德技术）及Silver Platter平台上均可获得。