Taking Stock of Built Environment Stock Studies: Progress and Prospects

Built environment stocks (buildings and infrastructures) play multiple roles in our socio-economic metabolism: they serve as the backbone of modern societies and human well-being, drive the material cycles throughout the economy, entail temporal and spatial lock-ins on energy use and emissions, and represent an extensive reservoir of secondary materials. This review aims at providing a comprehensive and critical review of the state of the art, progress, and prospects of built environment stocks research which has boomed in the past decades. We included 249 publications published from 1985 to 2018, conducted a bibliometric analysis, and assessed the studies by key characteristics including typology of stocks (status of stock and end-use category), type of measurement (object and unit), spatial boundary and level of resolution, and temporal scope. We also highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of different estimation approaches. A comparability analysis of existing studies shows a clearly higher level of stocks per capita and per area in developed countries and cities, confirming the role of urbanization and industrialization in built environment stock growth. However, more spatially refined case studies (e.g., on developing cities and nonresidential buildings) and standardization and improvement of methodology (e.g., with geographic information system and architectural knowledge) and data (e.g., on material intensity and lifetime) would be urgently needed to reveal more robust conclusions on the patterns, drivers, and implications of built environment stocks. Such advanced knowledge on built environment stocks could foster societal and policy agendas such as urban sustainability, circular economy, climate change, and United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Bone grafting in oblique versus prepared rectangular uncontained glenoid defects in reversed shoulder arthroplasty. A biomechanical comparison

BACKGROUND

How the shape of the glenoid defect being reconstructed influences stability in reversed shoulder arthroplasty has never been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to compare the reconstruction of two different shaped defects in reversed shoulder arthroplasty.

METHODS

Two groups (ten Sawbone scapulae each) of oblique- and rectangular-shaped glenoid defects were tested biomechanically. On the anterior half of the glenoid, bony defects (rectangular and oblique shaped) were prepared and reconstructed subsequently with a graft and reversed shoulder arthroplasty. As a control group, Sawbones without glenoid deficiency were used. In addition, these tests were reproduced in cadavers.

FINDINGS

In Sawbones, no significant difference in initial stability was found between the two groups (p>0.05). Additionally, in the cadaver tests no significant difference was found between the groups with different defects (p>0.05). During the preparation, macroscopic loosening of the oblique bone grafts was found in three cases after the performance of the reversed shoulder arthroplasty due to the lack of medial support. The localization of the highest micromotion were measured primarily between the scapula bone and the graft compared to the measured micromotions between glenoid implant and the graft.

INTERPRETATION

If the oblique-shaped bone graft was secured under the baseplate, the rectangular defect preparation did not show a significantly higher primary stability. However, the advantage of medial support in rectangular defects leads to more stability while placing the bone graft and baseplate during the surgical technique and should therefore be considered a preferable option.

Estimating the effects of Cry1F Bt-maize pollen on non-target Lepidoptera using a mathematical model of exposure

In farmland biodiversity, a potential risk to the larvae of non-target Lepidoptera from genetically modified (GM) Bt-maize expressing insecticidal Cry1 proteins is the ingestion of harmful amounts of pollen deposited on their host plants. A previous mathematical model of exposure quantified this risk for Cry1Ab protein. We extend this model to quantify the risk for sensitive species exposed to pollen containing Cry1F protein from maize event 1507 and to provide recommendations for management to mitigate this risk.A 14-parameter mathematical model integrating small- and large-scale exposure was used to estimate the larval mortality of hypothetical species with a range of sensitivities, and under a range of simulated mitigation measures consisting of non-Bt maize strips of different widths placed around the field edge.The greatest source of variability in estimated mortality was species sensitivity. Before allowance for effects of large-scale exposure, with moderate within-crop host-plant density and with no mitigation, estimated mortality locally was <10% for species of average sensitivity. For the worst-case extreme sensitivity considered, estimated mortality locally was 99·6% with no mitigation, although this estimate was reduced to below 40% with mitigation of 24-m-wide strips of non-Bt maize. For highly sensitive species, a 12-m-wide strip reduced estimated local mortality under 1·5%, when within-crop host-plant density was zero. Allowance for large-scale exposure effects would reduce these estimates of local mortality by a highly variable amount, but typically of the order of 50-fold.Mitigation efficacy depended critically on assumed within-crop host-plant density; if this could be assumed negligible, then the estimated effect of mitigation would reduce local mortality below 1% even for very highly sensitive species.Synthesis and applications. Mitigation measures of risks of Bt-maize to sensitive larvae of non-target lepidopteran species can be effective, but depend on host-plant densities which are in turn affected by weed-management regimes. We discuss the relevance for management of maize events where cry1F is combined (stacked) with a herbicide-tolerance trait. This exemplifies how interactions between biota may occur when different traits are stacked irrespective of interactions between the proteins themselves and highlights the importance of accounting for crop management in the assessment of the ecological impact of GM plants.

Rapid changes in leaf elongation, ABA and water status during the recovery phase following application of water stress in two durum wheat varieties differing in drought tolerance

This study aims to investigate the role of Abscisic acid (ABA) in water potential and turgor variations as well as growth recovery during the first phase of a rapid water stress induced by PEG6000. Two wheat varieties (Triticum durum L.), MBB (more tolerant) and OZ (less productive under drought), were grown in aerated nutrient solutions. Leaf elongation kinetics of the growing leaf 3 was estimated using LVDT. Water potential was measured using a pressure chamber; osmotic potential was estimated from expressed sap of elongation zone, turgor pressure of the same zone of leaf three was estimated directly by pressure probe. Growth rapidly ceased for a period of about one hour after the addition of PEG, gradual recovery was then observed for about 2 h. A significant difference was found in the % recovery of Leaf Elongation Rate (LER) and ABA between the two varieties, leading to better water status in MBB compared to OZ. The results of this study showed the possible role of ABA on growth resumption by the increase of relative water content and turgor via osmotic adjustment during the stress period in the leaves, which indicates the importance of OA in the resumption of LER even in the short term under conditions of water deficit. Full recovery of turgor but not of LER at the end stress period suggested the possible effect on cell wall extensibility (hardening) even at short term resulting from the rapid accumulation of ABA.

Aquaporin-mediated reduction in maize root hydraulic conductivity impacts cell turgor and leaf elongation even without changing transpiration

Root hydraulic conductivity in plants (Lp(r)) exhibits large variations in response to abiotic stimuli. In this study, we investigated the impact of dynamic, aquaporin-mediated changes of Lp(r) on leaf growth, water potential, and water flux throughout the plant. For this, we manipulated Lp(r) by subjecting roots to four independent treatments, with aquaporin inhibitors applied either to transpiring maize (Zea mays) plants grown in hydroponics or to detopped root systems for estimation of Lp(r). The treatments were acid load at pH 6.0 and 5.0 and hydrogen peroxide and anoxia applied for 1 to 2 h and subsequently reversed. First, we established that acid load affected cell hydraulic conductivity in maize root cortex. Lp(r) was reduced by all treatments by 31% to 63%, with half-times of about 15 min, and partly recovered when treatments were reversed. Cell turgor measured in the elongating zone of leaves decreased synchronously with Lp(r), and leaf elongation rate closely followed these changes across all treatments in a dose-dependent manner. Leaf and xylem water potentials also followed changes in Lp(r). Stomatal conductance and rates of transpiration and water uptake were not affected by Lp(r) reduction under low evaporative demand. Increased evaporative demand, when combined with acid load at pH 6.0, induced stomatal closure and amplified all other responses without altering their synchrony. Root pressurization reversed the impact of acid load or anoxia on leaf elongation rate and water potential, further indicating that changes in turgor mediated the response of leaf growth to reductions in Lp(r).

Antagonistic interaction between abscisic acid and jasmonate-ethylene signaling pathways modulates defense gene expression and disease resistance in Arabidopsis

The plant hormones abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), and ethylene are involved in diverse plant processes, including the regulation of gene expression during adaptive responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Previously, ABA has been implicated in enhancing disease susceptibility in various plant species, but currently very little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. In this study, we obtained evidence that a complex interplay between ABA and JA-ethylene signaling pathways regulate plant defense gene expression and disease resistance. First, we showed that exogenous ABA suppressed both basal and JA-ethylene-activated transcription from defense genes. By contrast, ABA deficiency as conditioned by the mutations in the ABA1 and ABA2 genes, which encode enzymes involved in ABA biosynthesis, resulted in upregulation of basal and induced transcription from JA-ethylene responsive defense genes. Second, we found that disruption of AtMYC2 (allelic to JASMONATE INSENSITIVE1 [JIN1]), encoding a basic helix-loop-helix Leu zipper transcription factor, which is a positive regulator of ABA signaling, results in elevated levels of basal and activated transcription from JA-ethylene responsive defense genes. Furthermore, the jin1/myc2 and aba2-1 mutants showed increased resistance to the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. Finally, using ethylene and ABA signaling mutants, we showed that interaction between ABA and ethylene signaling is mutually antagonistic in vegetative tissues. Collectively, our results indicate that the antagonistic interactions between multiple components of ABA and the JA-ethylene signaling pathways modulate defense and stress responsive gene expression in response to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Inhibition of the conjugation of PABA with glycine in vitro by sulfamoyl benzoic acids, sulfonamides, and penicillins and its relation to tubular secretion

Elimination of drug molecules via tubular secretion is an important pharmacokinetic parameter especially for oral dosage forms where an extremely short half-life would prevent their application. We have studied the inhibition in vitro of the glycination of p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) using rat liver microsomal preparations. The I50 values, the concentration of the inhibitor that leads to 50% inhibition of glycine conjugation of PABA as compared to the control, have been determined for sulfamoyl benzoic acids, sulfonamides, and penicillins. Statistically significant regression equations were derived explaining the observed variation in I50 values as a function of lipophilicity and steric bulk of the substituents for the combined set of sulfamoyl benzoic acids and sulfonamides (n = 33). For the penicillins studied, only steric effects seem to be important for the explanation of the I50 values. Finally, regression analysis and the use of neural networks allowed the classification of compounds by their in vitro I50 values as being tubular secreted or not. Therefore, it can be concluded that the inhibition in vitro of the glycine conjugation of PABA is a useful model for the estimation of tubular secretion and drug interaction potential of acidic drug molecules in this process in vivo.