The effect of phlebotomy and placement of an intravenous catheter on plasma catecholamine and serum copeptin concentrations.

Objectives: Limited data are available on the hormonal response of children to venepuncture or intravenous cannulation (IVC). Catecholamines [epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE)] have been traditionally recognized as stress hormones. Copeptin, the carboxyl-terminus of the arginine vasopressin (AVP) precursor peptide, is also a known marker for stressful stimuli, including myocardial infarction, critical illness, and sepsis.

Copeptin Stimulation by Combined Intravenous Arginine and Oral LevoDopa/Carbidopa in Healthy Short Children and Children with the Polyuria-Polydipsia Syndrome.

Introduction: Stimulated copeptin may provide an alternative to water deprivation testing (WDT) in the evaluation of polyuria-polydipsia syndrome (PPS). Though best studied, arginine stimulation alone produces a modest copeptin response in children. We investigated the effectiveness of the arginine + LevoDopa/Carbidopa stimulation test (ALD-ST) for copeptin.

Biodiversity-production feedback effects lead to intensification traps in agricultural landscapes.

Intensive agriculture with high reliance on pesticides and fertilizers constitutes a major strategy for 'feeding the world'. However, such conventional intensification is linked to diminishing returns and can result in 'intensification traps'-production declines triggered by the negative feedback of biodiversity loss at high input levels. Here we developed a novel framework that accounts for biodiversity feedback on crop yields to evaluate the risk and magnitude of intensification traps.

Very elevated serum copeptin concentrations occur in a subset of healthy children in the minutes after phlebotomy.

Objectives: Although AVP and its surrogate, copeptin, are mainly regulated by osmotic and volume stimuli, their secretion is also elicited by stress and growth hormone (GH) stimulating agents. The aim of this report is to describe unusual patterns of copeptin response in a subset of children undergoing GH stimulation tests (GH-ST).

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of a cohort of 93 healthy short children with no polydipsia, polyuria or fluid/electrolyte abnormalities, undergoing GH-ST with intravenous arginine, insulin, oral clonidine, or L-Dopa/carbidopa in various combinations.

Integrating public engagement to intensify pollination services through ecological restoration.

Globally, human activities impose threats to nature and the provision of ecosystem services, such as pollination. In this context, ecological restoration provides opportunities to create managed landscapes that maximize biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture, e.g.

Functional Traits in Bees: the Role of Body Size and Hairs in the Pollination of a Passiflora Crop.

Pollination is a vitally important function in nature and becomes an ecosystem service because it influences the food and nutritional security for people. However, the contribution of different functional traits of insects for pollen transport of plants is still poorly known. We explore the relationship between pollinator insect functional traits and the transport of pollen of sweet granadilla (Passiflora ligularis Juss) in eight crops.

AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture.

Many publications lack sufficient background information (e.g. location) to be interpreted, replicated, or reused for synthesis.

Pollinator Deficits, Food Consumption, and Consequences for Human Health: A Modeling Study.

Background: Animal pollination supports agricultural production for many healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes, that provide key nutrients and protect against noncommunicable disease. Today, most crops receive suboptimal pollination because of limited abundance and diversity of pollinating insects. Animal pollinators are currently suffering owing to a host of direct and indirect anthropogenic pressures: land-use change, intensive farming techniques, harmful pesticides, nutritional stress, and climate change, among others.

Combined Arginine and Insulin Stimulation Elicits a Robust and Consistent Copeptin Response in Short Children.

Introduction: Copeptin, co-secreted with arginine vasopressin, is regulated by osmotic and volume stimuli but also responds to intravenous arginine and insulin-induced hypoglycemia. The serum copeptin response to the latter agents has been studied in adults but only to a limited extent in children. The objective of this study was to describe the copeptin response to combined arginine and insulin in children with normal posterior pituitary function.

Bee and non-bee pollinator importance for local food security.

Pollinators are critical for food security; however, their contribution to the pollination of locally important crops is still unclear, especially for non-bee pollinators. We reviewed the diversity, conservation status, and role of bee and non-bee pollinators in 83 different crops described either as important for the global food market or of local importance. Bees are the most commonly recorded crop floral visitors.

Agricultural policies against invasive species generate contrasting outcomes for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation.

Direct consequences of biological invasions on biodiversity and the environment have been largely documented. Yet collateral indirect effects mediated by changes in agri-environmental policies aimed at combating invasions remain little explored. Here we assessed the effects of recent changes in water management in rice farming, which are aimed at buffering the impact of the invasive apple snail ( Lamarck) on greenhouse gas emissions and diversity of waterbird communities.

Research priorities for global food security under extreme events.

Extreme events, such as those caused by climate change, economic or geopolitical shocks, and pest or disease epidemics, threaten global food security. The complexity of causation, as well as the myriad ways that an event, or a sequence of events, creates cascading and systemic impacts, poses significant challenges to food systems research and policy alike. To identify priority food security risks and research opportunities, we asked experts from a range of fields and geographies to describe key threats to global food security over the next two decades and to suggest key research questions and gaps on this topic.

Exploring connections between pollinator health and human health.

Despite recent advances in understanding the role of biodiversity in ecosystem-service provision, the links between the health of ecosystem-service providers and human health remain more uncertain. During the past decade, an increasing number of studies have argued for the positive impacts of healthy pollinator communities (defined as functionally and genetically diverse species assemblages that are sustained over time) on human health. Here, we begin with a systematic review of these impacts, finding only two studies that concomitantly quantified aspects of pollinator health and human health.

CropPol: A dynamic, open and global database on crop pollination.

Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop yield, as well as to anticipate changes in this service, develop predictions, and inform management actions.

Bottom-up effects of woodland eutrophication: Interacting limiting nutrients determine herbivory frequency in northwestern Patagonia.

Nutrient enrichment disrupts plant-animal interactions and ecosystem functioning globally. In woodland systems, the mechanisms of bottom-up turnover on plant-herbivore interactions remain understudied. Here, we performed a full-factorial field experiment to evaluate the interactive effects of nutrient addition (nitrogen, phosphorus, and/or potassium) on the assemblage of foliar herbivores and the interaction frequency with Berberis microphylla, a dominant shrub species in Patagonian woodlands.

Negative impacts of dominance on bee communities: Does the influence of invasive honey bees differ from native bees?

Invasive species can reach high abundances and dominate native environments. One of the most impressive examples of ecological invasions is the spread of the African subspecies of the honey bee throughout the Americas, starting from its introduction in a single locality in Brazil. The invasive honey bee is expected to more negatively impact bee community abundance and diversity than native dominant species, but this has not been tested previously.