Global taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of bees in apple orchards

An essential prerequisite to safeguard pollinator species is characterisation of the multifaceted diversity of crop pollinators and identification of the drivers of pollinator community changes across biogeographical gradients. The extent to which intensive agriculture is associated with the homogenisation of biological communities at large spatial scales remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated diversity drivers for 644 bee species/morphospecies in 177 commercial apple orchards across 33 countries and four global biogeographical biomes. Our findings reveal significant taxonomic dissimilarity among biogeographical zones. Interestingly, despite this dissimilarity, species from different zones share similar higher-level phylogenetic groups and similar ecological and behavioural traits (i.e. functional traits), likely due to habitat filtering caused by perennial monoculture systems managed intensively for crop production. Honey bee species dominated orchard communities, while other managed/manageable and wild species were collected in lower numbers. Moreover, the presence of herbaceous, uncultivated open areas and organic management practices were associated with increased wild bee diversity. Overall, our study sheds light on the importance of large-scale analyses contributing to the emerging fields of functional and phylogenetic diversity, which can be related to ecosystem function to promote biodiversity as a key asset in agroecosystems in the face of global change pressures.

Feasibility of a new model of care for allogeneic stem cell transplantation recipients facilitated by eHealth: The MY-Medula pilot study

BACKGROUND

The use of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) for the treatment of hematologic diseases is steadily increasing. However, allo-SCT has the downside of causing considerable treatment-related morbidity and mortality. Mobile technology applied to healthcare (mHealth) has proven to be a cost-effective strategy to improve care and offer new services to people with multimorbidity, but there are few data on its usefulness in allo-SCT recipients.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this report was to describe a new integrated healthcare model facilitated by an mHealth platform, named EMMASalud-MY-Medula, and to report the results of a le.

STUDY DESIGN

The MY-Medula platform development approach consisted of 4 phases. Firstly, patient and healthcare professional needs were identified and technological development and pre-testing tests were conducted (phases 1-3, January 2016-March 2021). Then, a non-randomized, prospective, observational, single-center pilot study was conducted (October 2021-January 2022) at the adult Stem Cell Transplant Unit of a tertiary university hospital.

RESULTS

Twenty-eight volunteer allo-SCT recipients were included in the pilot study. Fifty percent were outpatients in the first-year post-SCT and the remaining 50% were affected by steroid-dependent graft-versus-host disease (SR-GVHD). All patients used MY-Medula application during the two-month follow-up period with a median number of visits to the application of 143 (range 6-477). A total of 2067 self-monitoring records were made, and 205 text messages were received, most of them related to symptoms description (47%) and doubts about medication (21%). In 3.4% of the cases drug dose adjustments were performed by the pharmacist because of dosing errors or interactions. At the end of the study, a 6-question Likert-type questionnaire for patients and a 22-question test for healthcare professionals showed a high degree of satisfaction (95% and 100% respectively) with the new healthcare pathway.

CONCLUSIONS

Re-engineering allo-SCT recipients follow-up into an integrated, multidisciplinary model of care facilitated by mHealth tools is feasible and has been associated with a high usability and degree of satisfaction by patients and healthcare professionals. A randomized trial aiming to determine the cost-effectiveness of MY-Medula-based follow-up post-SCT is currently enrolling participants.