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PubMed2004

Safe and acceptable strategies for producing foreign molecules in plants.

The ability to express foreign genes using transgenic technologies has opened up options for producing large quantities of commercially important industrial or pharmaceutical products in plants. These technologies have made it possible to use well-developed systems of commercial agriculture that were developed principally to produce raw material for large-scale food, feed or processing applications for the production of foreign molecules. The possibility of the novel industrial or pharmaceutical molecules produced in such plants, or components derived from them, contaminating the environment and food chains has become especially controversial. This potential contamination has prompted detailed consideration of how such crops and the molecules that they produce can be effectively isolated and contained. First, the crop can be completely isolated physically from its food or feed counterpart during every aspect of its development and commercialization. Second, genetic isolation systems or genetic barriers that prevent normal reproduction can be used to reduce the likelihood of the industrial or pharmaceutical crop entering the food chain.

Biotechnology↗
PubMed1963

The effects of trypanosomiasis on rural economy with special reference to the Sudan, Bechuanaland and West Africa.

Trypanosomiasis, both of humans and of livestock, is one of the most important factors restricting economic development in Africa today. The present paper outlines how this disease is limiting agricultural, veterinary and forestry development in the Sudan, Bechuanaland and West Africa.The present tsetse-fly distribution is reviewed. Glossina palpalis and G. morsitans occur in the south Sudan and G. morsitans in the Ngamiland district of Bechuanaland; G. morsitans, G. palpalis and G. tachinoides are the most important species in West Africa.These tsetse flies have altered the cattle distribution in all three regions and, in addition to causing widespread disease, have created local overstocking problems in the tsetse-free grazing areas, and have enforced nomadism on breeding herds and economic loss in slaughter cattle along the trade cattle routes in West Africa.Human trypanosomiasis is not now such an urgent problem and public health measures have led to its control in all three areas.Increased agricultural development, which can be a successful and economic method of reclaiming land from tsetse flies, must be intensified in all three areas.Forest conservation policy comes into conflict with tsetse control measures only in West Africa.Detailed tsetse-fly surveys and research, on which future plans can be firmly based, are now urgently required.

Africa↗
PubMed2003

The release of genetically modified crops into the environment. Part I. Overview of current status and regulations.

In the past 6 years, the global area of commercially grown, genetically modified (GM) crops has increased more than 30-fold to over 52 million hectares. The number of countries involved has more than doubled. Especially in developing countries, the GM crop area is anticipated to increase rapidly in the coming years. Despite this high adoption rate and future promises, there is a multitude of concerns about the impact of GM crops on the environment. Regulatory approaches in Europe and North America are essentially different. In the EU, it is based on the process of making GM crops; in the US, on the characteristics of the GM product. Many other countries are in the process of establishing regulation based on either system or a mixture. Despite these differences, the information required for risk assessment tends to be similar. Each risk assessment considers the possibility, probability and consequence of harm on a case-by-case basis. For GM crops, the impact of non-use should be added to this evaluation. It is important that the regulation of risk should not turn into the risk of regulation. The best and most appropriate baseline for comparison when performing risk assessment on GM crops is the impact of plants developed by traditional breeding. The latter is an integral and accepted part of agriculture.

Biotechnology↗
PubMed1986

New technology and its role in enhancing global food production.

The transfer in the past 3 decades of modern agricultural technology to countries of the Third World has led to a steady improvement in global food production. The results have not been evenly distributed, however, and serious problems remain. Modern biotechnology may contribute to solving some of the problems of high input costs and may also contribute to decreasing the risks associated with agriculture in developing economies. Several problems must be overcome, however. Among these are finding ways to bring the advanced technological capabilities of private companies, both large and small, to the international agricultural research network where commercial incentives are not strong or are inappropriate. Also, unless and until severe countervailing forces, such as population growth rates and deterioration of the environment, are brought under control the spread of new agricultural technology will be of little consequence in the most difficult famine-prone situations.

Agriculture↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Changes in the industrial structure of India's male working force, 1961-81.

The post-Independence period in India has witnessed a gradual decline of some occupations and services and the emergence of others. In the present paper an attempt has been made to analyze the change in the industrial structure of India's male working force by calculating an index of change. The index so calculated for 2 decades separately (1961-1971 and 1971-1981) is portrayed cartographically. The overall low degree of change recorded by the country's male working force establishes the weakness of India's industrial infrastructure. Consequently, the secondary sector seems to have failed in generating employment opportunities on a large scale. Regionally, the peripheral areas have recorded a higher incidence of change than the interior heartland of the country. The areas that were overwhelmingly agricultural and had experienced developments in the field of agriculture alone exhibited a low degree of change in comparison to those that had experienced developments both in the field of agriculture and industry. During the last inter-censal period (1971-1981) the country recorded an accelerated rate of change in the industrial structure of its male working force. Spatially too, the increasing rate of change has spread to new regions.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1997

The metabolic syndrome: from inherited survival trait to a health care problem.

A critical role is proposed for the quantity and quality of dietary carbohydrate in the pathogenesis of the insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia which characterise the Metabolic Syndrome. We propose that an insulin-resistant genotype evolved to provide survival and reproductive advantages for the cold-climate, large game hunters of the last Ice Age who consumed a low carbohydrate, high protein diet with periodic starvation. Insulin resistance would have minimised glucose utilisation by muscles thereby facilitating the preferential utilisation of glucose by the brain, foetus and mammary gland. But beginning about 10,000 years ago following the end of the last Ice Age and the development of agriculture, dietary carbohydrate increased and the selection pressure for insulin resistance decreased in some groups. Agriculture began in the Middle East and spread throughout Europe long before it was developed elsewhere. Hence the prevalence of the insulin-resistant genotype decreased in Europeans and other groups exposed to a high carbohydrate intake for sufficiently long. Some geographically isolated groups such as the Pima Indians and Nauruans experienced conditions which further diminished the gene pool diversity and resulted in particularly insulin resistant populations. Traditional carbohydrate foods have a low glycaemic index and produce only modest increases in plasma insulin. However, the constant supply of highly refined high glycaemic index carbohydrate in modern diets, results in postprandial hyperinsulinaemia. The insulin-resistant genotype is now disadvantageous and predisposes to the development of the Metabolic Syndrome.

Blood Glucose↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The role of agricultural pesticide use in the development of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in women.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has been found to be associated with agricultural pesticide use in men, but little is known about the risk in women. In a recent population-based, case-control study conducted in eastern Nebraska, no increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was found in women who had ever lived or worked on a farm (odds ratio [OR] = 1.0). Neither the use of insecticides (OR = 0.8) nor herbicides (OR = 0.7) on the farm was associated with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; however, the number of women who mixed or applied pesticides was small, particularly in comparison to men on farms. Small nonsignificant associations were observed among the women who personally handled insecticides (OR = 1.3) or herbicides (OR = 1.2). Women who personally handled organophosphate insecticides had a significant 4.5-fold increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Use of chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides was associated with an OR of 1.6; however, the use on dairy cattle was associated with a 3-fold increased risk. Pesticide-related risks were greater among women with a family history of cancer, particularly a history of lymphatic or hematopoietic cancer among first-degree relatives.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Strategies and techniques for identification of novel bioactive compounds--CHI's second annual conference. 7-9 October 1998, Zurich, Switzerland.

This conference on recent developments in the discovery of novel therapeutic candidates was organized by Amy Dasch (Cambridge Healthtech Institute, Newton Upper Falls, MA, USA; http://www.xensei.com/conferences). The conference provided an overview of all relevant aspects of the rapidly changing paradigms in drug research. Gene technology creates a vast number of new biological targets. The progress in combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening (HTS) is accompanied by the development of virtual libraries, large screening programs, and the generation of enormous sets of data. Correspondingly, the lectures covered such different topics as target identification and assay development, HTS technology, combinatorial library design and synthesis, chemoinformatics, and the integration of these components into the discovery of novel pharmaceutical compounds, the development of agricultural chemicals, and other applications. A most valuable addition was reports on case histories in drug development from pharmaceutical companies utilizing these technologies. About 100 scientists, many of them from European countries, attended the meeting. In total, 25 lectures were presented in four sessions: molecular diversity and library design; combinatorial synthesis; HTS; computational methodologies and chemoinformatics. Like other commercially organized conferences, this meeting was well-planned. The balance of speakers from small venture capital companies, large pharmaceutical and agricultural firms gave a broad overview of recent progress in the rational design, combinatorial synthesis, and HTS of new bioactive compounds, as well as on different approaches to handling large data sets and deriving structure-activity relationships from such data.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Surprising niche for the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae.

The biology and ecology of plant pathogenic bacteria have been studied almost exclusively in agricultural contexts. In contrast, for numerous human pathogens their biological activity in niches outside of medical contexts is well-known. Whereas there is increasing evidence that traits fostering survival in 'environmental' niches can be the basis for virulence factors of human pathogens, niches for plant pathogenic bacteria outside of plants or of agricultural settings have not been elucidated. Most phytopathogenic bacteria are not obligate parasites, some of them can be transported to altitudes of several kilometres, they are scrubbed from the atmosphere by rainfall, and thus they are presumably transported to and might survive in a wide range of habitats. We isolated Pseudomonas syringae from river epilithon (rock-attached biofilms composed of algae, diatoms, rotifers, bacteria and nematodes) at densities up to 6000 cells g(-1) in France and the USA, some in pristine settings where waters flowed directly from snow melt and had not passed through agricultural zones. These strains induced hypersensitivity in indicator plants (tobacco) suggesting the presence of functional pathogenicity systems, and many induced disease in 1-7 of the plant species tested and produced a syringomycin-like toxin. Strains also were resistant to some antibiotics used to control plant diseases but not to copper sulphate. Sequencing of the 16S rDNA of epilithon strains and of reference strains of P. syringae revealed that a genetic lineage containing the strains with the broadest host range was distributed across several continents. Is it likely that wide spread dissemination of P. syringae occurs via aerosols and precipitation. This work highlights our limited understanding of non-agricultural niches in the ecology and evolution of plant pathogenic bacteria, of their role in the development of agricultural epidemics both as sources of inoculum and as sources of novel traits that may enhance bacterial pathogenicity and fitness.

Bacterial Physiological Phenomena↗