Current Research Priorities Research Articles

Developing Woody Crops for the Enhancement of Ecosystem Services under Changing Climates in the North Central United States

Short rotation woody crops belonging to the genera Populus L., Salix L., Pinus L., and Eucalyptus LHer. have provided broad economic and ecological benefits throughout the world, including afforestation and reforestation along urban to rural gradients. Within the genus Populus, cottonwoods, poplars, aspens, and their hybrids (hereafter referred to as poplars) have been shown to exhibit favorable genotype × environment interactions, especially in the face of changing climates. Similar growth responses have been reported for Pinus, especially with white pine (Pinus strobus L.) in the North Central United States. This has led to current research priorities focused on ecosystem services for both genera. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) defines cultural, supporting, provisioning, and regulating ecosystem services. The overarching objective of this paper was to synthesize information about the potential of poplars to provide multiple ecosystem services when grown at sites with varying soil and climate conditions across landscape gradients from urban to rural areas. Specific objectives included: 1) providing background of the United States Forest Service and its Research and Development branch, 2) integrating knowledge of current poplar breeding and development with biomass provisioning and carbon regulating ecosystem services as they relate to changing climates in the North Central United States, and 3) providing a case study illustrating this integration through comparisons of poplar with white pine. Our results were evaluated in the context of climate change mitigation, with specific focus on selection of favorable genotypes for sequestering atmospheric carbon and reducing fossil fuel carbon emissions.

Biocompounds from rapeseed oil industry co-stream as active ingredients for skin care applications.

Despite the great number of substances produced by the skincare industry, very few of them seem to truly have an effect on the skin. Therefore, given the social implications surrounding physical appearance, the search for new bioactive compounds to prevent or attenuate skin ageing and enhance self-image is a priority of current research. In this context, being rich in valuable compounds, such as proteins, phenolics, lipids and vitamins, this study is focused on the potential activity of rapeseed press cake hydrolysates to be used as raw materials for skincare applications. In this study, the protein-rich press residue from the rapeseed oil industry was converted enzymatically into short-chain biologically active peptides using four protease products with varying substrate specificity - Alcalase 2.4L FG, Protex 6L, Protamex and Corolase 7089. The antioxidant, anti-wrinkle and anti-inflammatory activities of the obtained hydrolysates were evaluated invitro while their biocompatibility with human skin fibroblasts was tested. All hydrolysates were biocompatible with skin fibroblasts after 24h of exposure, while the non-hydrolysed extract induced cell toxicity. Alcalase 2,4L FG and Protex 6L-obtained hydrolysates were the most promising extracts showing improved bioactivities suitable for skin anti-ageing formulations, namely antioxidant activity, inhibiting approximately 80% cellular reactive oxidative species, anti-inflammatory and anti-wrinkle properties, inhibiting around 36% of myeloperoxidase activity and over 83% of elastase activity. The enzymatic technology applied to the rapeseed oil industry costream results in the release of bioactive compounds suitable for skincare applications.

Safe crash integration of inherently unsafe battery technologies

Current electrified vehicles (battery-electric BEV and plug-in hybrid vehicles PHEV) suffer from two partially dependent characteristics: high gross weight and limited pure electric driving range. The design possibilities for these vehicles are limited by crash safety requirements, among other factors. The safe battery housing and the current requirement of no-significant deformation on the battery severely restrict options for placement within the vehicle. Structural stiffening measures add additional weight to the already quite heavy battery system. To better utilize the available integration space, deformation and failure characteristics of traction batteries need to be better understood. Today’s vehicle development process relies heavily on simulation tools, where finite-element (FE) methods are the established means for full-vehicle crash simulation. Therefore, to evaluate the structural performance capabilities and failure characteristics, the battery system must be adequately modeled and integrated with these methods. The development of new simulation tools that can be used in concert with the established ones are one priority of current research. The focus of this article is on integration aspects, especially in terms of failure prediction for the battery as a component. This article gives an overview on currently developed methods enabling the design of modern, structurally integrated battery concepts, while targeting crash safety demands and increased energy density for longer-range electric driving.

Pneumococcal infections at Hajj: current knowledge gaps.

Hajj attendance increases the risk of respiratory infections including pneumonia. Streptococcus pneumoniae is a frequently identified pathogen, found in about 10% of respiratory tract samples of symptomatic Hajj pilgrims; and at least 20% of these isolates are penicillin resistant. However, the burden of pneumococcal disease at Hajj is not precisely defined at serotypic level, and it is postulated that due to intense mixing of pilgrims the distribution of pneumococcal serotypes at Hajj could be different from pilgrims' country of origin or of Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, the most prevalent pneumococcal serotypes are 23F, 6B, 19F, 18C, 4, 14, and 19A, and 90% of the serotypes are covered by 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-13) as well as 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV-23). However, due to lack of Hajj-specific data, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health has not yet recommended pneumococcal vaccine for pilgrims, and the immunisation recommendation and uptake vary greatly across countries. As at least one third of Hajj pilgrims are 'at risk' of pneumococcal disease either by virtue of age or pre-existing medical conditions, consideration should be given to vaccinating high risk pilgrims against pneumococcal disease. Other preventive measures such as smoking cessation, pollution reduction and vaccinations against influenza and pertussis should also be considered. Precisely defining the epidemiology of pneumococcal disease to identify an optimum vaccination schedule for Hajj pilgrims is a current research priority.

Adhesive Wear Behavior of Heat Treated Spheroidal Graphite Cast Iron

Spheroidal graphite cast iron is one of the most favorable materials in cast iron family due to its wide range of mechanical and tribological properties. In the current research priority is given towards the investigation of wear system response of spheroidal graphite cast iron subjected to various heat treatment conditions. Pearlitic/ferritic and upper bainitic matrix was obtained through normalizing and austempering treatment for an austenitizing temperature of 1000°C. Dry sliding wear test was performed at 10N, 20N, 30N for a sliding distance of 7.54m. With increase in load weight loss was observed for as-cast specimen whereas normalized specimen showed very less weight loss with increasing load. On the other hand the austempered specimen observed to lose weight when operated at 10N, whereas at 20N and 30N drastic gain in weight was observed.

The organizational socialization field fragmentation: a bibliometric review

Organizational socialization is gaining momentum in business research, and statistical data shows us the importance of this topic for practitioners as well. In this study, the vast organizational socialization literature published over the past three decades is analysed using bibliometric methods in order to explore the scope of the field, detect current research priorities, and identify the most prominent papers and authors. We identify thematically related clusters of research and show how the organizational socialization field has evolved through interconnected, yet distinct, subfields. Specifically, three distinct aspects have been emphasized at different time periods: (1) the organizational socialization tactics view in the 1980s; (2) newcomer proactivity, information seeking, and the uncertainty reduction process in the 1990s; and (3) a person-by-situation approach in the last decade, which is a mix of both. The implications for future research into organizational socialization research are presented and discussed.

Pharmacological interactions between rifampicin and antiretroviral drugs: challenges and research priorities for resource-limited settings.

Coadministration of antituberculosis and antiretroviral therapy is often inevitable in high-burden countries where tuberculosis (TB) is the most common opportunistic infection associated with HIV/AIDS. Concurrent use of rifampicin and many antiretroviral drugs is complicated by pharmacokinetic drug-drug interactions. Rifampicin is a very potent enzyme inducer, which can result in subtherapeutic antiretroviral drug concentrations. In addition, TB drugs and antiretroviral drugs have additive (pharmacodynamic) interactions as reflected in overlapping adverse effect profiles. This review provides an overview of the pharmacological interactions between rifampicin-based TB treatment and antiretroviral drugs in adults living in resource-limited settings. Major progress has been made to evaluate the interactions between TB drugs and antiretroviral therapy; however, burning questions remain concerning nevirapine and efavirenz effectiveness during rifampicin-based TB treatment, treatment options for TB-HIV-coinfected patients with nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor resistance or intolerance, and exact treatment or dosing schedules for vulnerable patients including children and pregnant women. The current research priorities can be addressed by maximizing the use of already existing data, creating new data by conducting clinical trials and prospective observational studies and to engage a lobby to make currently unavailable drugs available to those most in need.

Environmental pollution from illegal waste disposal and health effects: a review on the "triangle of death".

The term “triangle of death” was used for the first time by Senior and Mazza in the journal The Lancet Oncology referring to the eastern area of the Campania Region (Southern Italy) which has one of the worst records of illegal waste dumping practices. In the past decades, many studies have focused on the potential of illegal waste disposal to cause adverse effects on human health in this area. The great heterogeneity in the findings, and the bias in media communication has generated great healthcare doubts, anxieties and alarm. This paper addresses a review of the up-to-date literature on the “triangle of death”, bringing together the available information on the occurrence and severity of health effects related to illegal waste disposal. The Scopus database was searched using the search terms “waste”, “Campania”, “Naples”, “triangle of death” and “human biomonitoring”. Despite the methodological and sampling heterogeneity between the studies, this review examines the evidence from published data concerning cancer incidence, childhood mortality and birth defects, so that the current situation, knowledge gaps and research priorities can be established. The review aims to provide a contribution to the scientific community, and to respond to the concerns of the general population.

Nanomedicines in the European translational process

AbstractIn 2013, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released an update of the report on “Priority Medicines for Europe and the World” with the aim to bridge the gap between public health needs and the current research and development priorities. A number of emerging technologies are currently explored for their potential to respond to the identified unmet medical needs. Nanotechnology has the potential to offer scientific/technical solutions for some of these pharmaceutical gaps. The present report investigates to what extent projects funded by the European Commission will lead to innovative formulations as well as new therapeutic concepts, if clinical studies in European Member States investigating nanomedicines and finally if nanotech based products authorised in the European Union will contribute to identified public health needs.

Toward a mechanistic understanding of animal migration: incorporating physiological measurements in the study of animal movement.

Movements are a consequence of an individual's motion and navigational capacity, internal state variables and the influence of external environmental conditions. Although substantial advancements have been made in methods of measuring and quantifying variation in motion capacity, navigational capacity and external environmental parameters in recent decades, the role of internal state in animal migration (and in movement in general) is comparatively little studied. Recent studies of animal movement in the wild illustrate how direct physiological measurements can improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying movement decisions. In this review, we synthesize and provide examples of how recent technical advances in the physiology-related fields of energetics, nutrition, endocrinology, immunology and ecotoxicology provide opportunities for direct measurements of physiological state in the study of animal movement. We then propose a framework for practitioners to enable better integration of studies of physiological state into animal movement ecology by assessing the mechanistic role played by physiology as both a driver and a modulator of movement. Finally, we highlight the current limitations and research priorities for better integration of direct measurements of animal physiological state into the study of animal movement.

Preservation of Uncultivated Microbial Cells for Single Cell Genomics and Cultivation in Future

Microbes have conventionally been studied in pure culture obtained on culture media in the laboratory. With very limited media options at the disposal of a microbiologist as compared to the vast diversity of microbes that are known to exist, it is not surprising that only about 1-10% of them have been cultivated so far [1]. However, since microbes are the key components of every process on the planet, the cultivation of these as-yet-uncultivated microbes and the conservation of microbial diversity is the current research priority of the world for sustainable environment and Earth.

Business portfolio restructuring: a comprehensive bibliometric review

Business portfolio restructuring (BPR) has received considerable attention in the fields of management and finance. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies applying extensive qualitative and quantitative methods to BPR research. The aim of the present paper is to fill this gap by presenting the first complete bibliometric review of BPR research. In this work, for the first time, not only the extant literature published between 1993 and 2012 is analysed but also the most cited bibliographic references using bibliometric techniques. In this way, past and present academic contributions are reviewed. Four main results are forthcoming: first, a certain parallelism is found with bibliometric studies in strategic management. Second, the intellectual grounding for this field involves the subjects of economics, management and finance as its principal contributors. Third, the theoretical basis for the study of BPR mainly involves agency theory, transaction cost theory, and the resource-based view. Fourth, the financial crisis of 2008 explains an important part of current research priorities and trends among BPR scholars.

A Perspective on Plasma Spray Technology

Plasma spraying is often assumed to be a mature technology in which all the important phenomena have been observed and described adequately. However, the intricate interactions between the electrically conducting fluid and electromagnetic, thermal and acoustics phenomena that affect the operation of the plasma torch are not fully understood as yet. Also, variants of the plasma spray process are emerging and raise new scientific questions. These technologies include the spraying of liquid feedstock in the form of submicrometric particles or chemical precursors in a solvent and, coatings formed by vapor condensation onto the substrate. These relatively novel techniques make possible the production of thinner coatings than in air plasma spraying with a fine and even nanostructured microstructure. This paper attempts to define some of the current important issues and research priorities in the plasma spray field.

Emerging issues among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors.

To review the characteristics of cancer in the adolescence and young adult age group; the medical, psychosocial and behavioral late effects; survivorship care planning and transition; current research priorities; and practice implications. Published articles, research studies and position statements. Survivors of cancers that occurred during adolescence and young adulthood (AYA) are confronted with the dual demands of managing their transition to independent adulthood, concurrently with their transition from cancer patient to cancer survivors, with an associated reduction in support from medical services. AYA survivors also face complex medical, psychosocial and behavioral late effects, including fertility and mental health issues. An understanding of the impact of cancer diagnoses among this age group, including survivors' abilities to reintegrate into 'normal' life and potential long term consequences, is necessary to provide the best support. This care and support can be enhanced through multidisciplinary teams who work together to address the medical and psychosocial needs of AYAs diagnosed with cancer.

Progress toward the prevention and treatment of atrial fibrillation: A summary of the Heart Rhythm Society Research Forum on the Treatment and Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation, Washington, DC, December 9-10, 2013.

The Heart Rhythm Society convened a research symposium on December 9–10, 2013, in Washington, DC, that focused on the prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) as well as AF-related stroke and morbidity. Attendees sought to summarize advances in understanding AF since a 2008 National Institutes of Health (NIH) conference on this topic1 and to identify continued knowledge gaps and current research priorities. The research symposium also sought to identify key deficiencies and opportunities in research infrastructure, operations, and methodologies. The committee sought to identify both basic research targets and how clinical AF research could be improved in the current health care environment. This whitepaper summarizes our deliberations in an effort to accelerate progress toward preventing AF and its consequences. Although largely focused on primary prevention of AF, the paper also addresses some aspects of secondary prevention of recurrent AF due to the continuum of risk factors that contribute to arrhythmogenesis, permissive left atrial (LA) substrates, and the emergence of AF.

Integrating Organismal and Population Responses of Estuarine Fishes in Macondo Spill Research

Syntheses of research spanning diverse taxa, ecosystems, timescales, and hierarchies are crucial for understanding the cumulative impacts of the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Four years after the spill, responses of estuarine fishes to oil pollution have been studied at organismal through population levels, and there is an emerging mismatch between consistent negative impacts detected among individual organisms and absence of measurable negative impacts among populations. To reconcile this apparent contradiction, we draw on lessons learned from this and previous spills to consider two classes of mechanisms: factors obscuring negative population impacts despite known organismal responses (e.g., high spatiotemporal variability, offsetting food-web cascades, fishery closures, temporal lags) and factors dampening population-level costs despite known organismal responses (e.g., behavioral avoidance, multiple compensatory pathways). Thus, we highlight critical knowledge gaps that should form the basis of current and future oil-spill research priorities to assess ecosystem responses to basin-scale disturbance.

Scientists' perspectives on global ocean research priorities

Diverse natural and social science research is needed to support policies to recover and sustain healthy oceans. While a wide variety of expert-led prioritization initiatives have identified research themes and priorities at national and regional scale, over the past several years there has also been a surge in the number of scanning exercises that have identified important environmental research questions and issues ‘from the bottom-up’. From those questions, winnowed from thousands of contributions by scientists and policy-makers around the world who participated in terrestrial, aquatic and domain-specific horizon scanning and big question exercises, I identified 657 research questions potentially important for informing decisions regarding ocean governance and sustainability. These were distilled to a short list of 67 distinctive research questions that, in an internet survey, were ranked by 2179 scientists from 94 countries. Five of the top 10 research priorities were shared by respondents globally. Despite significant differences between physical and ecological scientists’ priorities regarding specific research questions, they shared seven common priorities among their top 10. Social scientists’ priorities were, however, much different, highlighting their research focus on managerial solutions to ocean challenges and questions regarding the role of human behavior and values in attaining ocean sustainability. The results from this survey provide a comprehensive and timely assessment of current ocean research priorities among research-active scientists but highlight potential challenges in stimulating crossdisciplinary research. As ocean and coastal research necessarily becomes more transdisciplinary to address complex ocean challenges, it will be critical for scientists and research funders to understand how scientists from different disciplines and regions might collaborate and strengthen the overall evidence base for ocean governance.

Vaccination against tuberculosis in badgers and cattle: an overview of the challenges, developments and current research priorities in Great Britain

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a significant threat to the cattle industry in England and Wales. It is widely acknowledged that a combination of measures targeting both cattle and wildlife will...

Pathogenesis of spinal cord injury induced edema and neuropathic pain: expression of multiple isoforms of wnk1

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common occurrence following spinal cord injury (SCI). Identification of specific molecular pathways that are involved in pain syndromes has become a major priority in current SCI research. We have investigated the role of a cation-dependent chloride transporter, Cl-regulatory protein Na(+)-K(+)-Cl(-) 1 (NKCC1), phosphorylation profile of NKCC1 and its specific involvement in neuropathic pain following contusion SCI (cSCI) using a rat model. Administration of the NKCC1 inhibitor bumetanide (BU) increases the mean hindpaw withdrawal latency time (WLT), thermal hyperalgesia (TH) following cSCI. These results demonstrate implication of NKCC1 co-transporter and BUin SCI-induced neuropathic pain. The with-no-lysine (K)-1 (WNK1) kinase has been shown to be an important regulator of NKCC1 phosphorylation in many systems, including nocioception. Mutations in a neuronal-specific exon of WNK1 (HSN2) was identified in patients that have hereditary sensory neuropathy type II (HSANII) also implicates WNK1 in nocioception, such that these patients have loss of perception to pain, touch and heat. In our ongoing research we proposed two studies utilizing our contusion SCI (cSCI) NP model of rat. Study 1 aimed at NKCC1 expression and activity is up-regulated following cSCI in the early edema and chronic neuropathic pain phases. Study 2 aimed at identifying the expression profile of alternatively spliced WNK1 isoforms in animals exhibiting thermal hyperalgesia (TH) following cSCI. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats (275-300 g) following laminectomy received cSCI at T9 with the NYU impactor-device II by dropping 10 g weight from the height of 12.5 mm. Control rats obtained laminectomy but no impaction. Following injury, functional recovery was assessed by BBB locomotor scores on day 1, 7, 14, 21, 35, and 42 and development of thermal hyperalgesia on day 21, 28, 35, and 42 day of injury by monitoring hind paw withdraw latency time (WLT) in seconds compared with the baseline data before injury. Increased NKCC1 may explain observed increase in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2, exhibiting NKCC1 localization in neurons. This data supports NKCC1's role in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic phases of injury, namely spinal cord edema and chronic phase neuropathic pain. NKCC1 dependent chloride influx requires the phosphorylation at specific residues. Probing for the HSN2 exon of WNK1 reveals two key findings: i) the HSN2 exon is found in alternatively spliced neuronal isoforms found at 250 kDa and 230 kDa; ii) the 250 kDa isoform is found only in tissue that is injured. This data implicates the NKCC1/WNK1/WNK1HSN2 involvement in post-injury response that contributes to the development of neuropathic pain. Targeting this system may have therapeutic benefit.

The Journal of Physiology Annual Report 2013–14:Another year of progress

We have just completed another busy and fruitful year for The Journal of Physiology as we continue our mission to promote excellence in the communication of physiology to the world. The Journal is without international boundaries, and below is a summary of where we have recently been, and where we plan to go in 2014–15. We value the support of our readers and those who publish their outstanding findings with us. At the beginning of 2013, The Journal of Physiology Consulting Editor Carol Robinson FRS was made a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) for Services to Science and Industry. She is widely recognised for her ground-breaking research in mass spectrometry and as a role model for women scientists. In the 2014 New Year Honours list, Peter Ratcliffe FRS, another of The Journal's esteemed Consulting Editors, was awarded a knighthood for his services to clinical medicine. Sir Peter is Head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine based at the Henry Wellcome Building for Molecular Physiology in Oxford. His laboratory works on understanding the mechanisms by which cells sense and signal hypoxia. In 2013 we published a paper based on the Annual Review Prize Lecture which Peter delivered at Physiology 2012 (the annual meeting of The Physiological Society), Edinburgh, UK, 4 July 2012. Oxygen sensing and hypoxia signalling pathways in animals: the implications of physiology for cancer Ratcliffe PJ (2013) J Physiol 591, 2027–2042 http://jp.physoc.org/content/591/8/2027.full Sadly in 2013 we said goodbye to one of the legends in the field of physiology who had his Nobel Prize winning work in The Journal. David H. Hubel FRS passed away in October after a long and distinguished career in visual neuroscience. Physiology lost one of its giants. The Journal of Physiology lost one of its heroes. David H. Hubel – A man of vision J Physiol 592, issue 1. http://jp.physoc.org/content/592/1.toc