Abstract. The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils has completed the first State of the World's Soil Resources Report. Globally soil erosion was identified as the gravest threat, leading to deteriorating water quality in developed regions and to lowering of crop yields in many developing regions. We need to increase nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use in infertile tropical and semi-tropical soils – the regions where the most food insecurity among us are found – while reducing global use of these products overall. Stores of soil organic carbon are critical in the global carbon balance, and national governments must set specific targets to stabilize or ideally increase soil organic carbon stores. Finally the quality of soil information available for policy formulation must be improved – the regional assessments in the State of the World's Soil Resources Report frequently base their evaluations on studies from the 1990s based on observations made in the 1980s or earlier.

The confocal detection principle is extended to a highly parallel optical system that continuously analyzes thousands of concurrent sample locations. This is achieved through the use of a holographic laser illumination multiplexer combined with a confocal pinhole array before a prism dispersive element used to provide spectroscopic information from each confocal volume. The system is demonstrated to detect and identify single fluorescent molecules from each of several thousand independent confocal volumes in real time.

Abstract. The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils has completed the first State of the World's Soil Resources report. Globally soil erosion was identified as the gravest threat, leading to deteriorating water quality in developed regions and to lowering of crop yields in many developing regions. We need to increase nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use in infertile tropical and semi-tropical soils – the regions where the most food insecure among us are found – while reducing global use of these products overall. Stores of soil organic carbon are critical in the global carbon balance, and national governments must set specific targets to stabilize or ideally increase soil organic carbon stores. Finally the quality of soil information available for policy formulation must be improved – the regional assessments in the SWSR report frequently base their evaluations on studies from the 1990s based on observations made in the 1980s or earlier.

No abstract

Ulnar-basilic fistula (UBF) is an autogenic vascular access option for hemodialysis (HD) first reported in 1967. However, only a few reports dealing with its complications and survival rates have been published in the literature. In the present work the results of 61 UBFs done in 60 adult patients on chronic HD are reported. Forty UBFs were created as primary access and the remaining 21 UBF as secondary access after: (a) thrombosis of an ipsilateral radiocephalic fistula (RCF) in 6 cases, (b) thrombosis of a contralateral RCF in 7 cases, and (c) thrombosis of a brachiocephalic fistula in 2 cases. No episodes of surgical complications, arterial steal, or ulnar nerve damage were observed. Five UBFs thrombosed within the first week after surgery. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year unassisted survival rates were 70.9%, 67.7%, and 57.3%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those reported previously. The inclusion of UBF in routine access plans is recommended.

Summary Poultry movement is known to contribute to the dissemination of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses. In Northern Vietnam, the illegal trade of poultry from China is a source of concern and is considered as responsible for the regular introduction of new H5N1 viruses. The general objective of this study was to get a better understanding of this illegal trade (organization, volume, actors involved and drivers) to propose adequate preventive and control options. The information was also used to qualitatively evaluate the risk of exposure of susceptible poultry to HPAI H5N1 virus introduced from China by illegally traded poultry. We found that the main products imported from China are spent hens, day‐old chicks (DOCs) and ducklings; spent hens being introduced in very large number. The drivers of this trade are multiple: economic (especially for spent hens) but also technical (demand for improved genetic potential for DOC and ducklings). Furthermore, these introductions also meet a high consumer demand at certain periods of the year. We also found that spatial dispersion of a batch of poultry illegally introduced from China is extensive and rapid, making any prediction of possible new outbreaks very hazardous. Finally, a risk mitigation plan should include measures to tackle the drivers of this trade or to legally organize it, to limit the threat to the local poultry sector. It is also essential for traders to be progressively better organized and biosecure and for hygienic practices to be enforced, as our study confirmed that at‐risk behaviours are still very common among this profession.

Due to the increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions, Ocean Acidification (OA) is progressing rapidly around the world. Despite the major role that microorganisms play on the marine biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem functioning, the response of bacterial communities upon OA scenarios is still not well understood. Here, we have conducted a detailed characterization of the composition and relative abundance of bacterial communities in the water column of an open-ocean station in the Eastern Tropical South Pacific (ETSP) off northern Chile and their interactions with environmental factors. In addition, through a short-term microcosm experiment, we have assessed the effect of low pH/high pCO2 conditions over the abundance and genetic diversity of bacterial communities. Our results evidence a clear partitioning of community composition that could be attributed mostly to dissolved oxygen. However, our experimental approach demonstrated that low pH/high pCO2 conditions might modify the structure of the bacterial community, evidencing that small changes in pH may impact significantly the abundance and diversity of key microorganisms. This study constitutes a first step aiming to provide insight about the influence of changing carbonate chemistry conditions on natural bacterial communities and to shed light on the potential impact of OA in biogeochemical cycles on the ETSP region.

Se analizó la actividad de 4 enzimas del suelo en fincas bajo diferentes manejos agronómicos y en diferentes tipos de suelos. Las enzimas evaluadas fueron la Fosfatasa, β-Glucosidasa, Deshidrogenasa y Ureasa. Se tomaron muestras de suelo de los primeros 20 cm de profundidad con el fin de analizarlas químicamente y determinar la actividad de las 4 enzimas a evaluar. Se encontró que la actividad de la Deshidrogenasa varió de 0,13 a 4,46 con un promedio de 1,17 (μg INTF.g - 1 .h -1 ); la β-Glucosidasa varió de 31,9 a 208,1 con un promedio de 108,1 (μg PNP.g -1 .h -1 ). Por otro lado la Fosfatasa tuvo valores entre 413,4 y 3043,6 con un promedio de 1521,5 μg PNP.g -1 .h -1 , mientras que la Ureasa varió de 12,5 a 52,8 con un promedio de 38,3 μg N-NH4.g -1 .h -1 . La Fos- fatasa correlacionó con el porcentaje de materia orgánica y de carbono en el suelo (0,75 y 0,76 respectivamente, p<0,01); se encontró una rela- ción inversa entre la actividad de esta enzima y el contenido de P disponible (r de -0,53, p<0,10). La Ureasa correlacionó con la Fosfatasa (r de 0,61 p<0,05) y con la Deshidrogenasa (r de -0,77 p<0,01). El análisis multivariado de conglomerados a partir de la actividad enzimática permitió hacer grupos similares según el tipo de cultivo, lo que evidencia el potencial de utilización que tiene esta propiedad para realizar estudios más detallados.