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. Here, we present CropPol, a dynamic, open, and global database on crop pollination. It contains measurements recorded from 202 crop studies, covering 3,394 field observations, 2,552 yield measurements (i.e., berry mass, number of fruits, and fruit density [kg/ha], among others), and 47,752 insect records from 48 commercial crops distributed around the globe. CropPol comprises 32 of the 87 leading global crops and commodities that are pollinator dependent. Malus domestica is the most represented crop (32 studies), followed by Brassica napus (22 studies), Vaccinium corymbosum (13 studies), and Citrullus lanatus (12 studies). The most abundant pollinator guilds recorded are honey bees (34.22% counts), bumblebees (19.19%), flies other than Syrphidae and Bombyliidae (13.18%), other wild bees (13.13%), beetles (10.97%), Syrphidae (4.87%), and Bombyliidae (0.05%). Locations comprise 34 countries distributed among Europe (76 studies), North America (60), Latin America and the Caribbean (29), Asia (20), Oceania (10), and Africa (7). Sampling spans three decades and is concentrated on 2001-2005 (21 studies), 2006-2010 (40), 2011-2015 (88), and 2016-2020 (50). This is the most comprehensive open global data set on measurements of crop flower visitors, crop pollinators and pollination to date, and we encourage researchers to add more datasets to this database in the future. This data set is released for non-commercial use only. Credits should be given to this paper (i.e., proper citation), and the products generated with this database should be shared under the same license terms (CC BY-NC-SA).

2014 hypertension recommendations from the eighth joint national committee panel members raise concerns for elderly black and female populations.

A report from panel members appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee titled "2014 Evidence-Based Guideline for the Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults" has garnered much attention due to its major change in recommendations for hypertension treatment for patients ≥60 years of age and for their treatment goal. In response, certain groups have opposed the decision to initiate pharmacologic treatment to lower blood pressure (BP) at systolic BP ≥150 mm Hg and treat to a goal systolic BP of <150 mm Hg in the general population age ≥60 years. This paper contains 3 sections-an introduction followed by the opinions of 2 writing groups-outlining objections to or support of maintaining this proposed strategy in certain at-risk populations, namely African Americans, women, and the elderly. Several authors argue for maintaining current targets, as opposed to adopting the new recommendations, to allow for optimal treatment for older women and African Americans, helping to close sex and race/ethnicity gaps in cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality.