Enhancing agency and empowerment in agricultural development projects: A synthesis of mixed methods impact evaluations from the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2).

Development interventions increasingly include women's empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but evaluating their impact has been stymied by the lack of measures that are comparable across interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of 11 mixed-methods impact evaluations of agricultural development projects from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that were part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2). As part of GAAP2, qualitative and quantitative data were used to develop and validate the multidimensional project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI), which was used to assess the impact of GAAP2 projects on women's empowerment. This paper assesses the extent to which: (1) a two- to three-year agricultural development project can contribute to women's empowerment; and (2) a suite of methods comprising a standardized quantitative measure of women's empowerment and a set of qualitative protocols, can evaluate such impacts. Our synthesis finds that the most common positive significant impacts were on the instrumental and collective agency indicators that comprise pro-WEAI, owing to the group-based approaches used. We found few projects significantly improved intrinsic agency, even among those with explicitly stated objectives to change gender norms. Unsurprisingly, we find mixed, and mostly null impacts on aggregate pro-WEAI, with positive impacts more likely in the South Asian, rather than African, cases. Our results highlight the need for projects to design their strategies specifically for empowerment, rather than assume that projects aiming to reach and benefit women automatically empower them. Our study also shows the value of a suite of methods containing a common metric to compare empowerment impacts and qualitative protocols to understand and contextualize these impacts.

Computer vision models enable mixed linear modeling to predict arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization using fungal morphology.

The presence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) in vascular land plant roots is one of the most ancient of symbioses supporting nitrogen and phosphorus exchange for photosynthetically derived carbon. Here we provide a multi-scale modeling approach to predict AMF colonization of a worldwide crop from a Recombinant Inbred Line (RIL) population derived from Sorghum bicolor and S. propinquum. The high-throughput phenotyping methods of fungal structures here rely on a Mask Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Mask R-CNN) in computer vision for pixel-wise fungal structure segmentations and mixed linear models to explore the relations of AMF colonization, root niche, and fungal structure allocation. Models proposed capture over 95% of the variation in AMF colonization as a function of root niche and relative abundance of fungal structures in each plant. Arbuscule allocation is a significant predictor of AMF colonization among sibling plants. Arbuscules and extraradical hyphae implicated in nutrient exchange predict highest AMF colonization in the top root section. Our work demonstrates that deep learning can be used by the community for the high-throughput phenotyping of AMF in plant roots. Mixed linear modeling provides a framework for testing hypotheses about AMF colonization phenotypes as a function of root niche and fungal structure allocations.

Mycorrhizal effects on crop yield and soil ecosystem functions in a long-term tillage and fertilization experiment.

It is well understood that agricultural management influences arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, but there is controversy about whether farmers should manage for AM symbiosis. We assessed AM fungal communities colonizing wheat roots for three consecutive years in a long-term (> 14 yr) tillage and fertilization experiment. Relationships among mycorrhizas, crop performance, and soil ecosystem functions were quantified. Tillage, fertilizers and continuous monoculture all reduced AM fungal richness and shifted community composition toward dominance of a few ruderal taxa. Rhizophagus and Dominikia were depressed by tillage and/or fertilization, and their abundances as well as AM fungal richness correlated positively with soil aggregate stability and nutrient cycling functions across all or no-tilled samples. In the field, wheat yield was unrelated to AM fungal abundance and correlated negatively with AM fungal richness. In a complementary glasshouse study, wheat biomass was enhanced by soil inoculum from unfertilized, no-till plots while neutral to depressed growth was observed in wheat inoculated with soils from fertilized and conventionally tilled plots. This study demonstrates contrasting impacts of low-input and conventional agricultural practices on AM symbiosis and highlights the importance of considering both crop yield and soil ecosystem functions when managing mycorrhizas for more sustainable agroecosystems.

Oral Health and Behavior Patterns of Women with Eating Disorders-A Clinical Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Chronic stomach regurgitation associated with eating disorders (EDs) poses a high risk for tooth erosion. This study investigated oral health conditions, behavioral patterns, and tooth erosion in women with EDs. METHODS: 16 ED and 13 healthy women were enrolled; 14 ED and 10 healthy control subjects completed the study. Subjects completed demographic, medical, oral, and behavioral health history questionnaires. Dental caries status was recorded as Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT)index and the severity of tooth erosion as Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) scores. Saliva was collected for flow rate, pH, and buffering capacity analysis. RESULTS: The ED group had a lower stimulated saliva flow rate and higher DMFT index but no significant difference in BEWE scores compared to the controls (t-test, significance level 0.05). Five of the fourteen ED subjects exhibited extensive tooth erosion, which may have been exacerbated by their tooth-brushing behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Although some ED subjects showed extensive tooth erosion in this pilot study, the average BEWE score of the ED group was not significantly different from the controls. Extensive tooth erosion in ED may relate to the low stimulated salivary flow. A larger-scale clinical study is necessary to validate these results.

Using Outcome Trajectory Evaluation to Assess HarvestPlus' Contribution to the Development of National Biofortification Breeding Programs.

Improving policies-broadly defined-is at the heart of the structural transformation agenda. This paper describes the use of a new evaluation method-outcome trajectory evaluation (OTE), based on both evaluation and policy process theory-to explore the influence of HarvestPlus, a large and complex research for development program focused on improving nutrition, on a specific policy outcome, namely the establishment of biofortification crop breeding programs in national agricultural research institutes in Bangladesh, India, and Rwanda. The findings support claims of significant HarvestPlus contributions while also raising issues that need to be monitored to ensure sustainability. The paper also discusses the pros and cons of the OTE approach in terms of methodological rigor and the accumulation of learning from one evaluation to the next.

L'amélioration des politiques, au sens large, est au cœur du programme de transformation structurelle. Cet article décrit l'utilisation d'une nouvelle méthode d'évaluation - l'évaluation de la trajectoire des résultats (outcome trajectory evaluation ou OTE en anglais), basée à la fois sur la théorie de l'évaluation et du processus politique - pour explorer l'influence de HarvestPlus, un vaste et complexe programme de recherche pour le développement axé sur l'amélioration de la nutrition, et orienté vers un résultat politique, à savoir la mise en place de programmes de biofortification et de sélection de cultures dans les instituts nationaux de recherche agricole au Bangladesh, en Inde et au Rwanda. Les résultats appuient les allégations selon lesquelles HarvestPlus permet des contributions importantes, tout en soulevant des problèmes qui doivent être surveillés pour assurer la durabilité. L'article discute également des avantages et des inconvénients de l'approche OTE en termes de rigueur méthodologique et d'accumulation d'apprentissage d'une évaluation à l'autre.

Sympatric soil biota mitigate a warmer-drier climate for Bouteloua gracilis.

Climate change is altering temperature and precipitation, resulting in widespread plant mortality and shifts in plant distributions. Plants growing in soil types with low water holding capacity may experience intensified effects of reduced water availability as a result of climate change. Furthermore, complex biotic interactions between plants and soil organisms may mitigate or exacerbate the effects of climate change. This 3-year field experiment observed the performance of Bouteloua gracilis ecotypes that were transplanted across an environmental gradient with either sympatric soil from the seed source location or allopatric soil from the location that plants were transplanted into. We also inoculated plants with either sympatric or allopatric soil biotic communities to test: (1) how changes in climate alone influence plant growth, (2) how soil types interact with climate to influence plant growth, and (3) the role of soil biota in mitigating plant migration to novel environments. As expected, plants moved to cooler-wetter sites exhibited enhanced growth; however, plants moved to warmer-drier sites responded variably depending on the provenance of their soil and inoculum. Soil and inoculum provenance had little influence on the performance of plants moved to cooler-wetter sites, but at warmer-drier sites they were important predictors of plant biomass, seed set, and specific leaf area. Specifically, transplants inoculated with their sympatric soil biota and grown in their sympatric soil were as large as or larger than reference plants grown at the seed source locations; however, individuals inoculated with allopatric soil biota were smaller than reference site individuals at warmer, drier sites. These findings demonstrate complicated plant responses to various aspects of environmental novelty where communities of soil organisms may help ameliorate stress. The belowground microbiome of plants should be considered to predict the responses of vegetation more accurately to climate change.

Stakeholders' Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceptions on the Control of Taenia solium in Kamuli and Hoima Districts, Uganda.

Taenia (T.) solium is a zoonotic parasite causing three diseases: Taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans and porcine cysticercosis in pigs. Although biomedically, the transmission of the parasite can be easily interrupted at six points along the life cycle, the contextual factors that may influence the adoption of these control strategies in Uganda remain unclear. This study assessed the stakeholders' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions relating to the six control strategies for T. solium infections in Kamuli and Hoima districts, Uganda. A total of 22 focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted with pig farmers, community leaders, pig/pork traders, animal health assistants, and human health assistants. In addition, nine key informant interviews were held with senior officials in the ministries of agriculture and health and other relevant agencies at the district level. The results showed differential, limited, and fragmented knowledge on T. solium infections among stakeholders. Pig farmers, community leaders, and pig/pork traders had almost no knowledge and were often confused regarding the differences existing between T. solium and other gastro-intestinal infections in pigs and humans. Pig confinement, pit latrine construction, coverage, maintenance, and sustained use are influenced by cultural, socio-economic, and physical/ environmental factors of the study population and area. Proper sensitisation programmes and health education interventions should target all, but with appropriately focused material to suit the different stakeholder categories. Reminders or nudges may be needed to ensure that increase in knowledge translates to changes in practise. Intervention programmes should also aim to overcome challenges created by the various contextual factors operating in the specific endemic areas.

A qualitative assessment of the context and enabling environment for the control of Taenia solium infections in endemic settings.

BACKGROUND: Taenia solium (T. solium), is a zoonotic helminth causing three diseases namely; taeniasis (in humans), neurocysticercosis (NCC, in humans) and porcine cysticercosis (PCC, in pigs) and is one of the major foodborne diseases by burden. The success or failure of control options against this parasite in terms of reduced prevalence or incidence of the diseases may be attributed to the contextual factors which underpin the design, implementation, and evaluation of control programmes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The study used a mixed method approach combining systematic literature review (SLR) and key informant interviews (KII). The SLR focused on studies which implemented T. solium control programmes and was used to identify the contextual factors and enabling environment relevant to successful inception, planning and implementation of the interventions. The SLR used a protocol pre-registered at the International prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO) number CRD42019138107 and followed PRISMA guidelines on reporting of SLR. To further highlight the importance and interlinkage of these contextual factors, KII were conducted with researchers/implementers of the studies included in the SLR. The SLR identified 41 publications that had considerations of the contextual factors. They were grouped into efficacy (10), effectiveness (28) and scale up or implementation (3) research studies. The identified contextual factors included epidemiological, socioeconomic, cultural, geographical and environmental, service and organizational, historical and financial factors. The enabling environment was mainly defined by policy and strategies supporting T. solium control. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Failure to consider the contextual factors operating in target study sites was shown to later present challenges in project implementation and evaluation that negatively affected expected outcomes. This study highlights the importance of fully considering the various domains of the context and integrating these explicitly into the plan for implementation and evaluation of control programmes. Explicit reporting of these aspects in the resultant publication is also important to guide future work. The contextual factors highlighted in this study may be useful to guide future research and scale up of disease control programmes and demonstrates the importance of close multi-sectoral collaboration in a One Health approach.

A call to action: Community pharmacists to address COVID-19-related behavioral health concerns.

Owing to the extended nature and worldwide exposure of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, it is likely that the presence and impact of behavioral health conditions will increase. For example, it is anticipated that individuals living with a major depressive disorder could reach as high as 60% of the population owing to the ongoing disruption from COVID-19. In 2017, the annual rate of individuals experiencing a major depressive episode was only 7.1%. Pharmacists, specifically community pharmacists, are well positioned to provide needed intervention and triage services to individuals living with, and struggling with, a mental health condition. Pharmacists, therefore, need additional training and support to be effective in serving the community in this way.

Effects of Computer-Based Documentation Procedures on Health Care Workload Assessment and Resource Allocation: An Example From VA Sleep Medicine Programs.

BACKGROUND: Computer-based documentation (CBD) is used commonly throughout the world to track patient care and clinical workloads. However, if capture of clinical services within the electronic health record (EHR) is not implemented properly, patient care services and workload credit will be inaccurate, which impacts business decisions related to demand for care and resources allocated to meet the demand. Understaffing of medical personnel can contribute to delays in treatment, missed treatments, and workforce turnover. OBJECTIVE: To illustrate the impact of CBD procedures on health care workload assessment and resource allocation, this article uses data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs Corporate Data Warehouse to provide examples from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) sleep medicine programs. DISCUSSION: Inaccurate CBD led to underreporting of sleep medicine services provided at VHA facilities nationwide and contributed to insufficient allocation of resources and personnel. Recent modifications in CBD protocols (Stop Codes) improved the accuracy of data capture and reporting while providing VHA sleep programs with data they can use to advocate for workforce expansion to meet patient care needs. CONCLUSIONS: Inaccurate CBD of clinical workloads can result in inadequate allocation of health care personnel and resources to meet the needs of patients. Untreated sleep disorders are associated with increased risk of depression, anxiety, impaired neurocognitive functions, cardiovascular disease, motor vehicle accidents, and premature death. Educating health care providers and administrators on the importance of accurate designation of clinical services within the EHR is necessary to facilitate improvements in health care availability and delivery.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in roots and soil respond differently to biotic and abiotic factors in the Serengeti.

This study explores the relationships of AM fungal abundance and diversity with biotic (host plant, ungulate grazing) and abiotic (soil properties, precipitation) factors in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Soil and root samples were collected from grazed and ungrazed plots at seven sites across steep soil fertility and precipitation gradients. AM fungal abundance in the soil was estimated from the density of spores and the concentration of a fatty acid biomarker. Diversity of AM fungi in roots and soils was measured using DNA sequencing and spore identification. AM fungal abundance in soil decreased with grazing and precipitation and increased with soil phosphorus. The community composition of AM fungal DNA in roots and soils differed. Root samples had more AM fungal indicator species associated with biotic factors (host plant species and grazing), and soil samples had more indicator species associated with particular sample sites. These findings suggest that regional edaphic conditions shape the site-level species pool from which plant species actively select root-colonizing fungal assemblages modified by grazing. Combining multiple measurements of AM fungal abundance and community composition provides the most informed assessment of the structure of mycorrhizal fungal communities in natural ecosystems.

Understanding Multilevel Selection May Facilitate Management of Arbuscular Mycorrhizae in Sustainable Agroecosystems.

Studies in natural ecosystems show that adaptation of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and other microbial plant symbionts to local environmental conditions can help ameliorate stress and optimize plant fitness. This local adaptation arises from the process of multilevel selection, which is the simultaneous selection of a hierarchy of groups. Studies of multilevel selection in natural ecosystems may inform the creation of sustainable agroecosystems through developing strategies to effectively manage crop microbiomes including AM symbioses. Field experiments show that the species composition of AM fungal communities varies across environmental gradients, and that the biomass of AM fungi and their benefits for plants generally diminish when fertilization and irrigation eliminate nutrient and water limitations. Furthermore, pathogen protection by mycorrhizas is only important in environments prone to plant damage due to pathogens. Consequently, certain agricultural practices may inadvertently select for less beneficial root symbioses because the conventional agricultural practices of fertilization, irrigation, and use of pesticides can make these symbioses superfluous for optimizing crop performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine how multilevel selection influences the flow of matter, energy, and genetic information through mycorrhizal microbiomes in natural and agricultural ecosystems, and propose testable hypotheses about how mycorrhizae may be actively managed to increase agricultural sustainability.

Resistance of soil biota and plant growth to disturbance increases with plant diversity.

Plant diversity is critical to the functioning of ecosystems, potentially mediated in part by interactions with soil biota. Here, we characterised multiple groups of soil biota across a plant diversity gradient in a long-term experiment. We then subjected soil samples taken along this gradient to drought, freezing and a mechanical disturbance to test how plant diversity affects the responses of soil biota and growth of a focal plant to these disturbances. High plant diversity resulted in soils that were dominated by fungi and associated soil biota, including increased arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and reduced plant-feeding nematodes. Disturbance effects on the soil biota were reduced when plant diversity was high, resulting in higher growth of the focal plant in all but the frozen soils. These results highlight the importance of plant diversity for soil communities and their resistance to disturbance, with potential feedback effects on plant productivity.

Plant Diversity and Fertilizer Management Shape the Belowground Microbiome of Native Grass Bioenergy Feedstocks.

Plants may actively cultivate microorganisms in their roots and rhizosphere that enhance their nutrition. To develop cropping strategies that substitute mineral fertilizers for beneficial root symbioses, we must first understand how microbial communities associated with plant roots differ among plant taxa and how they respond to fertilization. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and rhizobacteria are of particular interest because they enhance nutrient availability to plants and perform a suite of nutrient cycling functions. The purpose of this experiment is to examine the root and soil microbiome in a long-term switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) biofuel feedstock experiment and determine how AM fungi and rhizobacteria respond to plant diversity and soil fertility. We hypothesize that intra- and interspecific plant diversity, nitrogen fertilization (+N), and their interaction will influence the biomass and community composition of AM fungi and rhizobacteria. We further hypothesize that +N will reduce the abundance of nitrogenase-encoding nifH genes on the rhizoplane. Roots and soils were sampled from three switchgrass cultivars (Cave-in-Rock, Kanlow, Southlow) grown in monoculture, intraspecific mixture, and interspecific planting mixtures with either Andropogon gerardii or diverse native tallgrass prairie species. Molecular sequencing was performed on root and soil samples, fatty acid extractions were assessed to determine microbial biomass, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was performed on nifH genes from the rhizoplane. Sequence data determined core AM fungal and bacterial microbiomes and indicator taxa for plant diversity and +N treatments. We found that plant diversity and +N influenced AM fungal biomass and community structure. Across all plant diversity treatments, +N reduced the biomass of AM fungi and nifH gene abundance by more than 40%. The AM fungal genus Scutellospora was an indicator for +N, with relative abundance significantly greater under +N and in monoculture treatments. Community composition of rhizobacteria was influenced by plant diversity but not by +N. Verrucomicrobia and Proteobacteria were the dominant bacterial phyla in both roots and soils. Our findings provide evidence that soil fertility and plant diversity structure the root and soil microbiome. Optimization of soil communities for switchgrass production must take into account differences among cultivars and their unique responses to shifts in soil fertility.

A case-control study of trace-element status and lung cancer in Appalachian Kentucky.

Appalachian Kentucky (App KY) leads the nation in lung cancer incidence and mortality. Trace elements, such as As, have been associated with lung cancers in other regions of the country and we hypothesized that a population-based study would reveal higher trace element concentrations in App KY individuals with cancer compared to controls. Using toenail and drinking water trace element concentrations, this study investigated a possible association between lung cancer incidence and trace-element exposure in residents of this region. This population-based case-control study had 520 subjects, and 367 subjects provided toenail samples. Additionally, we explored the relationship between toenail and fingernail trace-element concentrations to determine if fingernails could be used as a surrogate for toenails when patients are unable to provide toenail samples. We found that, contrary to our initial hypothesis, trace element concentrations (Al, As, Cr, Mn, Co, Fe, Ni, Cu, Se, and Pb) were not higher in cancer cases than controls with the exception of Zn where concentrations were slightly higher in cases. In fact, univariate logistic regression models showed that individuals with lower concentrations of several elements (Al, Mn, Cr, and Se) were more likely to have lung cancer, although only Mn was significant in multivariate models which controlled for confounding factors. While drinking water concentrations of Al, Cr and Co were positively related to cancer incidence in univariate models, only Co remained significant in multivariate models. However, since the drinking water concentrations were extremely low and not reflected in the toenail concentrations, the significance of this finding is unclear. We also found that fingernail concentrations were not consistently predictive of toenail concentrations, indicating that fingernails should not be used as surrogates for toenails in future studies.

Microbial island biogeography: isolation shapes the life history characteristics but not diversity of root-symbiotic fungal communities.

Island biogeography theory is one of the most influential paradigms in ecology. That island characteristics, including remoteness, can profoundly modulate biological diversity has been borne out by studies of animals and plants. By contrast, the processes influencing microbial diversity in island systems remain largely undetermined. We sequenced arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal DNA from plant roots collected on 13 islands worldwide and compared AM fungal diversity on islands with existing data from mainland sites. AM fungal communities on islands (even those >6000 km from the closest mainland) comprised few endemic taxa and were as diverse as mainland communities. Thus, in contrast to patterns recorded among macro-organisms, efficient dispersal appears to outweigh the effects of taxogenesis and extinction in regulating AM fungal diversity on islands. Nonetheless, AM fungal communities on more distant islands comprised a higher proportion of previously cultured and large-spored taxa, indicating that dispersal may be human-mediated or require tolerance of significant environmental stress, such as exposure to sunlight or high salinity. The processes driving large-scale patterns of microbial diversity are a key consideration for attempts to conserve and restore functioning ecosystems in this era of rapid global change.

Dynamics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community structure and functioning along a nitrogen enrichment gradient in an alpine meadow ecosystem.

Nitrogen (N) availability is increasing dramatically in many ecosystems, but the influence of elevated N on the functioning of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in natural ecosystems is not well understood. We measured AM fungal community structure and mycorrhizal function simultaneously across an experimental N addition gradient in an alpine meadow that is limited by N but not by phosphorus (P). AM fungal communities at both whole-plant-community (mixed roots) and single-plant-species (Elymus nutans roots) scales were described using pyro-sequencing, and the mycorrhizal functioning was quantified using a mycorrhizal-suppression treatment in the field (whole-plant-community scale) and a glasshouse inoculation experiment (single-plant-species scale). Nitrogen enrichment progressively reduced AM fungal abundance, changed AM fungal community composition, and shifted mycorrhizal functioning towards parasitism at both whole-plant-community and E. nutans scales. N-induced shifts in AM fungal community composition were tightly linked to soil N availability and/or plant species richness, whereas the shifts in mycorrhizal function were associated with the communities of specific AM fungal lineages. The observed changes in both AM fungal community structure and functioning across an N enrichment gradient highlight that N enrichment of ecosystems that are not P-limited can induce parasitic mycorrhizal functioning and influence plant community structure and ecosystem sustainability.

Beyond ICOM8: perspectives on advances in mycorrhizal research from 2015 to 2017.

This report reviews important advances in mycorrhizal research that occurred during the past 2 years. We highlight major advancements both within and across levels of biological organization and describe areas where greater integration has led to unique insights. Particularly active areas of research include exploration of the mechanisms underpinning the development of the mycorrhizal symbiosis, the mycorrhizal microbiome, comparisons among types of mycorrhizas from molecular to ecosystem scales, the extent and function of mycorrhizal networks and enhanced understanding of the role of mycorrhizas in carbon dynamics from local to global scales. The top-tier scientific journals have acknowledged mycorrhizas to be complex adaptive systems that play key roles in the development of communities and ecosystem processes. Understanding the mechanisms driving these large-scale effects requires integration of knowledge across scales of biological organization.