Food systems for sustainable development: proposals for a profound four-part transformation.

Evidence shows the importance of food systems for sustainable development: they are at the nexus that links food security, nutrition, and human health, the viability of ecosystems, climate change, and social justice. However, agricultural policies tend to focus on food supply, and sometimes, on mechanisms to address negative externalities. We propose an alternative. Our starting point is that agriculture and food systems' policies should be aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This calls for deep changes in comparison with the paradigms that prevailed when steering the agricultural change in the XXth century. We identify the comprehensive food systems transformation that is needed. It has four parts: first, food systems should enable all people to benefit from nutritious and healthy food. Second, they should reflect sustainable agricultural production and food value chains. Third, they should mitigate climate change and build resilience. Fourth, they should encourage a renaissance of rural territories. The implementation of the transformation relies on (i) suitable metrics to aid decision-making, (ii) synergy of policies through convergence of local and global priorities, and (iii) enhancement of development approaches that focus on territories. We build on the work of the "Milano Group," an informal group of experts convened by the UN Secretary General in Milan in 2015. Backed by a literature review, what emerges is a strategic narrative linking climate, agriculture and food, and calling for a deep transformation of food systems at scale. This is critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. The narrative highlights the needed consistency between global actions for sustainable development and numerous local-level innovations. It emphasizes the challenge of designing differentiated paths for food systems transformation responding to local and national expectations. Scientific and operational challenges are associated with the alignment and arbitration of local action within the context of global priorities.

Diamond beamline I07: a beamline for surface and interface diffraction.

Beamline I07 at Diamond Light Source is dedicated to the study of the structure of surfaces and interfaces for a wide range of sample types, from soft matter to ultrahigh vacuum. The beamline operates in the energy range 8-30 keV and has two endstations. The first houses a 2+3 diffractometer, which acts as a versatile platform for grazing-incidence techniques including surface X-ray diffraction, grazing-incidence small- (and wide-) angle X-ray scattering, X-ray reflectivity and grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction. A method for deflecting the X-rays (a double-crystal deflector) has been designed and incorporated into this endstation, extending the surfaces that can be studied to include structures formed on liquid surfaces or at liquid-liquid interfaces. The second experimental hutch contains a similar diffractometer with a large environmental chamber mounted on it, dedicated to in situ ultrahigh-vacuum studies. It houses a range of complementary surface science equipment including a scanning tunnelling microscope, low-energy electron diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ensuring that correlations between the different techniques can be performed on the same sample, in the same chamber. This endstation allows accurate determination of well ordered structures, measurement of growth behaviour during molecular beam epitaxy and has also been used to measure coherent X-ray diffraction from nanoparticles during alloying.

De novo cerebrovascular malformation in the adult mouse after endothelial Alk1 deletion and angiogenic stimulation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In humans, activin receptor-like kinase 1 (Alk1) deficiency causes arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in multiple organs, including the brain. Focal Alk1 pan-cellular deletion plus vascular endothelial growth factor stimulation induces brain AVMs in the adult mouse. We hypothesized that deletion of Alk1 in endothelial cell (EC) alone plus focal vascular endothelial growth factor stimulation is sufficient to induce brain AVM in the adult mouse. METHODS: Focal angiogenesis was induced in the brain of 8-week-old Pdgfb-iCreER;Alk1(2f/2f) mice by injection of adeno-associated viral vectors expressing vascular endothelial growth factor. Two weeks later, EC-Alk1 deletion was induced by tamoxifen treatment. Vascular morphology was analyzed, and EC proliferation and dysplasia index (number of vessels with diameter>15 µm per 200 vessels) were quantified 10 days after tamoxifen administration. RESULTS: Tangles of enlarged vessels resembling AVMs were present in the brain angiogenic region of tamoxifen-treated Pdgfb-iCreER;Alk1(2f/2f) mice. Induced brain AVMs were marked by increased dysplasia index (P<0.001) and EC proliferation clustered within the dysplastic vessels. AVMs were also detected around the ear tag-wound and in other organs. CONCLUSIONS: Deletion of Alk1 in EC in adult mice leads to an increased local EC proliferation during brain angiogenesis and de novo brain AVM.

Correction: The importance of microglia in the development of the vasculature in the central nervous system.

CORRECTION: After the publication of this work 1 it was brought to our attention that citations in the article were not correspondingly numbered in the reference list. To avoid confusion, the article is republished here in its entirety, with the citations referenced correctly.The Publisher and authors apologize to the readers for the inconvenience caused. ABSTRACT: The body's vascular system is thought to have developed in order to supply oxygen and nutrients to cells beyond the reach of simple diffusion. Hence, relative hypoxia in the growing central nervous system (CNS) is a major driving force for the ingression and refinement of the complex vascular bed that serves it. However, even before the establishment of this CNS vascular system, CNS-specific macrophages (microglia) migrate into the brain. Recent studies in mice point to the fundamental importance of microglia in shaping CNS vasculature during development, and re-shaping these vessels during pathological insults. In this review, we discuss the origin of CNS microglia and their localization within the brain based on data obtained in mice. We then review evidence supporting a functional role of these microglia in developmental angiogenesis. Although pathologic processes such as CNS ischemia may subvert the developmental functions of microglia/macrophages with significant effects on brain neo-angiogenesis, we have left this topic to other recent reviews 23.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a highly purified equine F(ab)2 antibody black widow spider antivenom.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Black widow spider antivenom has never been tested in a randomized clinical trial, to our knowledge. We explore various efficacy measures for a novel F(ab)2 antivenom in patients with moderate to severe pain caused by black widow spider envenomation. METHODS: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, clinical trial was conducted in 12 academic emergency departments. We included patients at least 10 years old with moderate to severe latrodectism. Subjects received either a single intravenous infusion of antivenom or placebo. Pain was assessed with the visual analog scale. The primary efficacy outcome was the difference in pre- and posttreatment visual analog scale score. Prospectively defined secondary outcomes included treatment failures and time to clinically important decrease in pain. RESULTS: Twenty-four subjects were enrolled between October 2005 and October 2006; 13 were randomized to antivenom and 11 to placebo. The median change in visual analog scale at 150 minutes posttreatment was -50.0 mm (Interquartile Range [IQR] -67, -41 mm) in the antivenom treatment group and -46.0 mm (IQR -51, 0 mm) in the placebo treatment group (P=.14). There were 7 treatment failures (64%; 95% confidence interval 35% to 92%) in the placebo group and 3 (23%; 95% confidence interval 0.2% to 46%) in the antivenom group (P=.06). The median time to a clinically important decrease in pain after treatment was shorter in the antivenom group compared with the placebo group (30 minutes [IQR 30, 60 minutes] versus 90 minutes [IQR 30, 90 minutes]; P=.03). No serious adverse events or deaths were reported. CONCLUSION: Although the overall reduction in pain was similar for antivenom- and placebo-treated subjects, antivenom reduced pain more rapidly than placebo. No significant adverse events occurred in either group.

The importance of microglia in the development of the vasculature in the central nervous system.

The body's vascular system is thought to have developed in order to supply oxygen and nutrients to cells beyond the reach of simple diffusion. Hence, relative hypoxia in the growing central nervous system (CNS) is a major driving force for the ingression and refinement of the complex vascular bed that serves it. However, even before the establishment of this CNS vascular system, CNS-specific macrophages (microglia) migrate into the brain. Recent studies in mice point to the fundamental importance of microglia in shaping CNS vasculature during development, and re-shaping these vessels during pathological insults. In this review, we discuss the origin of CNS microglia and their localization within the brain based on data obtained in mice. We then review evidence supporting a functional role of these microglia in developmental angiogenesis. Although pathologic processes such as CNS ischemia may subvert the developmental functions of microglia/macrophages with significant effects on brain neo-angiogenesis, we have left this topic to other recent reviews (Nat Rev Immunol 9:259-270, 2009 and Trends Mol Med 17:743-752, 2011).

The role of protein hydrophobicity in thionin-phospholipid interactions: a comparison of α1 and α2-purothionin adsorbed anionic phospholipid monolayers.

The plant defence proteins α1- and α2-purothionin (Pth) are type 1 thionins from common wheat (Triticum aestivum). These highly homologous proteins possess characteristics common amongst antimicrobial peptides and proteins, that is, cationic charge, amphiphilicity and hydrophobicity. Both α1- and α2-Pth possess the same net charge, but differ in relative hydrophobicity as determined by C18 reversed phase HPLC. Brewster angle microscopy, X-ray and neutron reflectometry, external reflection FTIR and associated surface pressure measurements demonstrated that α1 and α2-Pth interact strongly with condensed phase 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-(1'-rac-glycerol) (DPPG) monolayers at the air/liquid interface. Both thionins disrupted the in-plane structure of the anionic phospholipid monolayers, removing lipid during this process and both penetrated the lipid monolayer in addition to adsorbing as a single protein layer to the lipid head-group. However, analysis of the interfacial structures revealed that the α2-Pth showed faster disruption of the lipid film and removed more phospholipid (12%) from the interface than α1-Pth. Correlating the protein properties and lipid binding activity suggests that hydrophobicity plays a key role in the membrane lipid removal activity of thionins.

A multicenter comparison of the safety of oral versus intravenous acetylcysteine for treatment of acetaminophen overdose.

UNLABELLED: Oral and intravenous (IV) N-acetylcysteine (NAC) are used for the treatment of acetaminophen poisoning. The objective of this multicenter study was to compare the safety of these two routes of administration. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter chart review of all patients treated with NAC for acetaminophen poisoning. The primary safety outcome was the percentage of patients with NAC-related adverse events. RESULTS: A total of 503 subjects were included in the safety analysis (306 IV-only, 145 oral-only, and 52 both routes). There were no serious adverse events related to NAC for either route. Nausea and vomiting were the most common related adverse events and were more common with oral treatment (23 vs. 9%). Anaphylactoid reactions were more common with IV administration (6 vs. 2%). CONCLUSIONS: IV and oral NAC are generally mild adverse drug reactions.

Alkane/Alcohol mixed monolayers at the solid/liquid interface.

In this work, we present the behavior of solid monolayers of binary mixtures of alkanes and alcohols adsorbed on the surface of graphite from their liquid mixtures. We demonstrate that solid monolayers form for all the combinations investigated here. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is used to identify the surface phase behavior of these mixtures, and elastic neutron incoherent scattering has been used to determine the composition of the mixed monolayers inferred by the calorimetry. The mixing behavior of the alcohol/alkane monolayer mixtures is compared quantitatively with alkane/alkane and alcohol/alcohol mixtures using a regular solution approach to model the incomplete mixing in the solid monolayer with preferential adsorption determining the surface composition. This analysis indicates the preferential adsorption of alcohols over alkanes of comparable alkyl chain length and even preferential adsorption of shorter alcohols over longer alkanes, which contrasts strongly with mixtures of alkane/alkane and alcohol/alcohol of different alkyl chain lengths where the longer homologue is always found to preferentially adsorb over the shorter. The alcohol/alkane mixtures are all found to phase separate to a significant extent in the adsorbed layer mixtures even when molecules are of a similar size. Again, this contrasts strongly with alkane/alkane and alcohol/alcohol mixtures where, although phase separation is found for molecules of significantly different size, good mixing is found for similar size species.

Carbohydrate translocation determines the phenolic content of Populus foliage: a test of the sink-source model of plant defense.

• Here, we examine the influence of source-to-sink carbohydrate (CHO) flow on the development of constitutive and inducible levels of phenylpropenoids in hybrid poplar (Populus nigra × P. deltoides) foliage to determine if secondary metabolic processes in plant modules can be inhibited in a predictable manner by events such as herbivory and the development of new leaves and reproductive structures, which alter the path of phloem-borne resources. • Phenylpropenoid concentrations were determined for developing foliage after CHO flow, measured as the translocation of 13 C from labeled sources was manipulated. • Phenylpropenoid metabolism in both unwounded and induced sink leaves was directly and positively linked to rates of CHO import. Alterations in rates of translocation yielded different results, depending on how CHO import was affected: the removal of competing sinks rapidly and dramatically increased leaf phenolic contents, whereas phenolic levels (and their inducibility) tended to be reduced when import was interrupted. • High and inducible sink strength in developing poplar leaves provides resources for phenolic biosynthesis and, as a result, restrictions or re-directions of CHOs affect the foliar quality. Sink strength and the vascular architecture of plants, which confer upon them a modular nature, can determine the direction and magnitude of defense responses in trees.