Case study of the effects of atmospheric aerosols and regional haze on agriculture: An opportunity to enhance crop yields in China through emission controls?

The effect of atmospheric aerosols and regional haze from air pollution on the yields of rice and winter wheat grown in China is assessed. The assessment is based on estimates of aerosol optical depths over China, the effect of these optical depths on the solar irradiance reaching the earth’s surface, and the response of rice and winter wheat grown in Nanjing to the change in solar irradiance. Two sets of aerosol optical depths are presented: one based on a coupled, regional climate/air quality model simulation and the other inferred from solar radiation measurements made over a 12-year period at meteorological stations in China. The model-estimated optical depths are significantly smaller than those derived from observations, perhaps because of errors in one or both sets of optical depths or because the data from the meteorological stations has been affected by local pollution. Radiative transfer calculations using the smaller, model-estimated aerosol optical depths indicate that the so-called “direct effect” of regional haze results in an ≈5–30% reduction in the solar irradiance reaching some of China’s most productive agricultural regions. Crop-response model simulations suggest an ≈1:1 relationship between a percentage increase (decrease) in total surface solar irradiance and a percentage increase (decrease) in the yields of rice and wheat. Collectively, these calculations suggest that regional haze in China is currently depressing optimal yields of ≈70% of the crops grown in China by at least 5–30%. Reducing the severity of regional haze in China through air pollution control could potentially result in a significant increase in crop yields and help the nation meet its growing food demands in the coming decades.

Direct adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of interleukin 1 and tumor necrosis factor α soluble receptors to rabbit knees with experimental arthritis has local and distal anti-arthritic effects

Adenoviral vectors were used to deliver genes encoding a soluble interleukin 1 (IL-1)-type I receptor-IgG fusion protein and/or a soluble type I tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) receptor-IgG fusion protein directly to the knees of rabbits with antigen-induced arthritis. When tested individually, knees receiving the soluble IL-1 receptor had significantly reduced cartilage matrix degradation and white blood cell infiltration into the joint space. Delivery of the soluble TNFα receptor was less effective, having only a moderate effect on white blood cell infiltration and no effect on cartilage breakdown. When both soluble receptors were used together, there was a greater inhibition of white blood cell infiltration and cartilage breakdown with a considerable reduction of synovitis. Interestingly, anti-arthritic effects were also seen in contralateral control knees receiving only a marker gene, suggesting that sustained local inhibition of disease activity in one joint may confer an anti-arthritic effect on other joints. These results suggest that local intra-articular gene transfer could be used to treat systemic polyarticular arthritides.

Local and global attention are mapped retinotopically in human occipital cortex

Clinical evidence suggests that control mechanisms for local and global attention are lateralized in the temporal–parietal cortex. However, in the human occipital (visual) cortex, the evidence for lateralized local/global attention is controversial. To clarify this matter, we used functional MRI to map activity in the human occipital cortex, during local and global attention, with sustained visual fixation. Data were analyzed in a flattened cortical format, relative to maps of retinotopy and spatial frequency peak tuning. Neither local nor global attention was lateralized in the occipital cortex. Instead, local attention and global attention appear to be special cases of visual spatial attention, which are mapped consistently with the maps of retinotopy and spatial frequency tuning, in multiple visual cortical areas.