Month: January 2025

Abstract

Despite the growing accessibility of international grain and oilseed markets, high production costs and trade frictions are still prevalent, contributing to regional heterogeneities in the landed cost of grain imports. Here we quantify the landed cost for six grain commodities across 3,500 administrative regions, capturing regional cost differences to produce grain and transport it across international borders. We find large heterogeneities in the costs of imported grain, which are highest in Oceania, Central America and landlocked Africa. While some regions have uniform landed costs across sourcing locations, others face cost variations across trading partners, showing large inequalities in access. We find that most regions could benefit from a targeted approach to reduce landed cost while others benefit from a mixed strategies approach. Our results highlight that spatial information on production, trade and transport is essential to inform policies aiming to build an efficient and resilient global agricultural commodity trade system.

Abstract

Background

There is growing interest in use of transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS) for people with neurologic conditions both to augment volitional control (by facilitating motoneuron excitability), and to decrease spasticity (by activating inhibitory networks). Various electrode montages are used during TSS, with little understanding of how electrode position influences spinal circuit activation. We sought to identify the thoracolumbar electrode montage associated with the most robust activation of spinal circuits by comparing posterior root-muscle reflexes (PRM reflexes) elicited by 6 montages. Additionally, we assessed tolerability of the stimulation during PRM reflex testing.

Methods

Fifteen adults with intact neurological systems participated in this randomized crossover study. PRM reflexes were evoked transcutaneously using electrode montages with dorsal–ventral (DV) or dorsal-midline (DM) current flow. DV montages included: [1] cathode over T11/T12, anodes over iliac crests (DV-I), [2] cathode over T11/T12, anodes over umbilicus (DV-U), [3] dual paraspinal cathodes at T11/12, anodes over iliac crests (DV-PI), and [4] dual paraspinal cathodes at T11/12, anodes over umbilicus (DV-PU). DM montages included: [5] cathode over T11/12, anode 5 cm caudal (DM-C), and [6] cathode over T11/12, anode 5 cm rostral (DM-R). PRM reflex recruitment curves were obtained in the soleus muscle of both lower extremities.

Results

Lower reflex thresholds (mA) for dominant (D) and nondominant (ND) soleus muscles were elicited in DV-U (D: 46.7[33.9, 59.4], ND: 45.4[32.5, 58.2]) and DV-I (D: 48.1[35.3, 60.8], ND: 45.4[32.5, 58.2]) montages compared to DV-PU (D: 64.3[51.4, 77.1], ND:61.7[48.8, 74.6]), DV-PI (D:64.9[52.1, 77.7], ND:61.4[48.5, 75.5]), DM-C(D:60.0[46.9, 73.1], ND:63.6[50.8, 76.5]), and DM-R(D:63.1[50.3, 76.0], ND:62.6[49.8, 75.5]). DV-U and DV-I montages demonstrated larger recruitment curve area than other montages. There were no differences in response amplitude at 120% of RT(1.2xRT) or tolerability among montages.

Conclusions

Differences in spinal circuit recruitment are reflected in the response amplitude of the PRM reflexes. DV-I and DV-U montages were associated with lower reflex thresholds, indicating that motor responses can be evoked with lower stimulation intensity. DV-I and DV-U montages therefore have the potential for lower and more tolerable interventional stimulation intensities. Our findings optimize electrode placement for interventional TSS and PRM reflex assessments.

Clinical Trial Number: NCT04243044.

Abstract

The kidney proximal tubule reabsorbs and degrades filtered plasma proteins to reclaim valuable nutrients and maintain body homeostasis. Defects in this process result in proteinuria, one of the most frequently used biomarkers of kidney disease. Filtered proteins enter proximal tubules via receptor-mediated endocytosis and are processed within a highly developed apical endo-lysosomal system (ELS). Proteinuria is a strong risk factor for chronic kidney disease progression and genetic disorders of the ELS cause hereditary kidney diseases, so deepening understanding of how the proximal tubule handles proteins is crucial for translational nephrology. Moreover, the ELS is both an entry point for nephrotoxins that induce tubular damage and a target for novel therapies to prevent it. Cutting-edge research techniques, such as functional intravital imaging and computational modelling, are shedding light on spatial and integrative aspects of renal tubular protein processing in vivo, how these are altered under pathological conditions and the consequences for other tubular functions. These insights have potentially important implications for understanding the origins of systemic complications arising in proteinuric states, and might lead to the development of new ways of monitoring and treating kidney diseases.

Abstract

This article explores the embodied dimension of authoring life trajectories for individuals who have undergone heart transplantation. Confronting the radical otherness of existential finitude can create a rich context for examining the relationships between authorship, corporeality, and creative processes. By integrating Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body with Susanne Langer’s theory of affective semiosis and presentational signs, this work aims to foster a productive dialogue between these perspectives, grounded in Semiotic Cultural Psychology, which meta-theoretically synthesizes a diverse range of knowledge on the transformative interaction between individuals and culture. The article presents three participants’ cases, selected for their ideographic expressiveness, as empirical evidence that both enlivens and enriches this study’s theoretical and epistemological foundations. The fragments of participants’ elaborations were derived from individual interviews conducted at the IMIP heart transplant clinic between 2022 and 2023. IMIP is a university hospital located in Recife. The interviewees were adults who had undergone transplantation at least one year prior. The discussion of the reports highlights three interpretative axes: (a) embodied ambiguities and tensions experienced; (b) living metaphors and potential presentational signs regarding life trajectories; (c) ways of referencing the future and temporality of experiences felt intensely in the present and their methods of reconstructing the past. The interpretative analysis of participants’ metaphors aims to shed light on the role of corporeality in the construction of meaning and, consequently, in the creative perspective of life and the sense of authorship when facing the alterity, in this case, specifically of illness and consecutive heart transplantation. This article seeks to contribute to studying affective semiosis and corporeality in Cultural Psychology by highlighting its hermeneutic relevance as a critical feature of the human cultural construction of the self, others, and the world.

Abstract

Riverbank erosion and accretion are currently the most frequently occurring natural disasters along the Nile River, posing socio-economic as well as environmental losses for the neighbouring areas. This study assessed the extent of erosion and accretion along the Sudan-Nile River stretch for three towns, explicitly Dongola, Berber, and Es-Sileit, downstream of the Khartoum confluence. The study utilised Landsat satellite imagery and geospatial techniques to conduct the assessment from 1993 to 2023. Results from the study revealed that Berber demonstrated the highest average rate of erosion and accretion at 60.12 hectares/year and 49.91 hectares/year, respectively, trailed by Es-Sileit. The Dongola site presented the lowest rates of erosion and accretion at 23.25 hectares/year and 32.53 hectares/year, respectively. Erosion was more prominent than accretion in Berber and Es-Sileit, with a net land loss of 316.5 and 198.9 hectares, respectively. Dongola experienced more accretion than erosion, with a net land gain of 287.6 hectares. Additionally, the impacts of erosion and accretion on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established, along with several sustainable mitigation actions. This study further identified the synergies between geospatial technological monitoring of erosion and accretion and numerous socio-economic-environmental-allied targets of the SDGs. Therefore, the implementation of geospatial techniques in assessing erosion and accretion would significantly propel sustainable development by identifying zones susceptible to erosion, sediment accumulation, and flooding downstream of the Khartoum confluence, thus promoting practical infrastructural design planning and appropriate community distribution along the Nile Riverbank.

Graphical abstract

U.S. Issues Final Rules Regulating the Cross-Border Flow of Data for the First Time  Clyde & Co