Effect of plant age, leaf age and leaf position on infection of carrot leaves by Cercospora carotae

On a évalué en serre l'influence de l'âge des plants, des feuilles et de la position des feuilles de carotte (Daucus carota var. sativa) sur le niveau d'infection par le Cercospora carotae. Le niveau d'infection a été estimé en comptant le nombre de lésions cm-2 de surface foliaire et en mesurant la période d'incubation. Le niveau d'infection a diminué au fur et à mesure que l'âge des plants augmentait de 39 à 60 j, puis est resté faible chez les plants âgés de 60 à 71 j. La période d'incubation a augmenté de 9 à 16,6 j avec l'âge des plants. Le niveau d'infection a diminué avec l'augmentation de l'âge des feuilles de 1 à 36 j, toutefois la variation entre les feuilles était grande. La période d'incubation a augmenté de 9 à 18,3 j avec l'âge des feuilles, quoique certaines lésions sont apparues tardivement. Le niveau d'infection n'a pas varié en fonction de la position des feuilles sur des plants de 10 et 13 semaines. Toutes les feuilles, à l'exception des deux plus jeunes, furent représentatives de l'infection surtout le plant. L'influence de la position des feuilles sur la période d'incubation fut différente pour les plants de 10 et de 13 semaines et pour les deux répétitions. Des plants de moins de 60 j au stade sept à huit feuilles devraient être utilisés lors d'études sur le développement initial de la brûlure cercosporéenne de la carotte.A greenhouse study was conducted to determine the effects of plant age, leaf age and leaf position on infection of carrot (Daucus carota var. sativa) by Cercospora carotae. Infection was quantified as the number of lesions cm-2 of leaf surface and the length of incubation period. The relative number of lesions decreased linearly with increasing plant age from 39- to 60-d-old plants, and remained low from 60- to 71-d-old plants. The incubation period increased from 9.0 to 16.6 d, with increasing plant age. Relative number of lesions decreased with increasing leaf age from 1 to 36 d, but the variation among leaves was high. The incubation period increased from 9.0 to 18.3 d with increasing leaf age, but lesions on a few young leaves appeared relatively late. Generally, differences in relative number of lesions for leaves on different positions for 10- and 13-wk-old plants were not significant. Infection on all leaves except the two youngest was representative of infection on whole plant. Effect of leaf position on incubation period was different for the 10- and 13-wk-old plants and for the two trials. Plants younger than 60 d old, in the seven-to eight-leaf stages should be used for experiments on the initial development of Cercospora blight of carrots

News media coverage of euthanasia: A content analysis of Dutch national newspapers

© 2013 Rietjens et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0),which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: The Netherlands is one of the few countries where euthanasia is legal under strict conditions. This study investigates whether Dutch newspaper articles use the term ‘euthanasia’ according to the legal definition and determines what arguments for and against euthanasia they contain. Methods: We did an electronic search of seven Dutch national newspapers between January 2009 and May 2010 and conducted a content analysis. Results: Of the 284 articles containing the term ‘euthanasia’, 24% referred to practices outside the scope of the law, mostly relating to the forgoing of life-prolonging treatments and assistance in suicide by others than physicians. Of the articles with euthanasia as the main topic, 36% described euthanasia in the context of a terminally ill patient, 24% for older persons, 16% for persons with dementia, and 9% for persons with a psychiatric disorder. The most frequent arguments for euthanasia included the importance of self-determination and the fact that euthanasia contributes to a good death. The most frequent arguments opposing euthanasia were that suffering should instead be alleviated by better care, that providing euthanasia can be disturbing, and that society should protect the vulnerable. Conclusions: Of the newspaper articles, 24% uses the term ‘euthanasia’ for practices that are outside the scope of the euthanasia law. Typically, the more unusual cases are discussed. This might lead to misunderstandings between citizens and physicians. Despite the Dutch legalisation of euthanasia, the debate about its acceptability and boundaries is ongoing and both sides of the debate are clearly represented

Patients' and public views and attitudes towards the sharing of health data for research: a narrative review of the empirical evidence.

INTRODUCTION: International sharing of health data opens the door to the study of the so-called 'Big Data', which holds great promise for improving patient-centred care. Failure of recent data sharing initiatives indicates an urgent need to invest in societal trust in researchers and institutions. Key to an informed understanding of such a 'social license' is identifying the views patients and the public may hold with regard to data sharing for health research. METHODS: We performed a narrative review of the empirical evidence addressing patients' and public views and attitudes towards the use of health data for research purposes. The literature databases PubMed (MEDLINE), Embase, Scopus and Google Scholar were searched in April 2019 to identify relevant publications. Patients' and public attitudes were extracted from selected references and thematically categorised. RESULTS: Twenty-seven papers were included for review, including both qualitative and quantitative studies and systematic reviews. Results suggest widespread-though conditional-support among patients and the public for data sharing for health research. Despite the fact that participants recognise actual or potential benefits of data research, they expressed concerns about breaches of confidentiality and potential abuses of the data. Studies showed agreement on the following conditions: value, privacy, risk minimisation, data security, transparency, control, information, trust, responsibility and accountability. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that a social license for data-intensive health research cannot simply be presumed. To strengthen the social license, identified conditions ought to be operationalised in a governance framework that incorporates the diverse patient and public values, needs and interests

Medical decision making in scarcity situations

The issue of the allocation of resources in health care is here to stay. The goal of this study was to explore the views of physicians on several topics that have arisen in the debate on the allocation of scarce resources and to compare these with the views of policy makers. We asked physicians (oncologists, cardiologists, and nursing home physicians) and policy makers to participate in an interview about their practices and opinions concerning factors playing a role in decision making for patients in different age groups. Both physicians and policy makers recognised allocation decisions as part of their reality. One of the strong general opinions of both physicians and policy makers was the rejection of age discrimination. Making allocation decisions as such seemed to be regarded as a foreign entity to the practice of medicine. In spite of the reluctance to make allocation decisions, physicians sometimes do. This would seem to be only acceptable if it is justified in terms of the best interests of the patient from whom treatment is withheld

Some Unresolved Ethical Challenges in Healthcare Decision-Making : Navigating Family Involvement

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

How Should the Precautionary Principle Apply to Pregnant Women in Clinical Research?

The precautionary principle is often invoked in relation to pregnant women and may be one of the underlying reasons for their continuous underrepresentation in clinical research. The principle is appealing, because potential fetal harm as a result of research participation is considered to be serious and irreversible. In our paper, we explore through conceptual analysis whether and if so how the precautionary principle should apply to pregnant women. We argue that the principle is a decision-making strategy underlying risk-benefit decisions in clinical research, which can be applied to pregnant women. However, the current application is a strong one, leading to the promotion of absolute exclusion or, less often, absolute inclusion of pregnant women. In order to change this paralyzing situation, a shift toward weak precautionary thinking is necessary. Instead of automatic extreme precaution, a balance will be found between harms and potential benefits of including pregnant women in clinical research

Опыт комплексного лечения анаэробного парапроктита

Детально освещен 18−летний опыт комплексного лечения больных анаэробным парапроктитом. Описаны методы применявшегося хирургического вмешательства. Установлены статистически достоверные факты риска неблагоприятного течения заболевания.A 18−year experience of complex treatment for anaerobic paraproctitis is featured. The methods of the intervention are described. Statistically significant risk factors of an unfavorable course of the disease were established