Dynamic impacts of a financial reform of the CAP on regional land use, income and overall growth

In this paper we investigate the impacts of abolishing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the post-2013 European Union (EU) financial perspective and the impacts of re-investing the released funds on research and development (R&D). We apply a linked system of models to analyze the impacts for the EU member states. The linked system consists of five land-use sector models (agriculture, forestry, urban area, tourism and transport infrastructure), which are connected to a macro-econometric model. Additionally, a land cover model is used to disaggregate land use countries to a 1 km² grid. Three scenarios are analysed. In the “baseline” currently decided policies are assumed to be continued until 2025. In the “tax rebate” scenario agricultural support (first pillar) is removed, and the member states’ contributions to EU lowered. In the “R&D investments” scenario agricultural support is also removed, and the released funds are used to increase general R&D efforts in the EU. We find that in both liberalization scenarios, agricultural producer prices drop compared to the baseline. Agricultural production drops too, but less so in the “R&D investment” scenario due to productivity gains resulting from the increased R&D spending. In some countries, the productivity gains totally offset the negative impact of liberalisation on agricultural production. Smaller agricultural production implies less agricultural land use, and the more so in the “R&D Investment” scenario where productivity increases. The fall in agricultural production and prices negatively affects economic activity and households’ purchasing power, but the reduced direct taxation compensates this effect and results in a GDP gain of 0.53% and 0.8 million additional jobs. In “R&D investment” GDP gain reaches 2.57% and yields 2.95 million additional jobs in EU in 2025. The GDP, consumption and employment gains in the “R&D Investment” scenario widely exceed the losses in the agriculture sectors. The analysis indicates that if no external effects of agriculture are considered, then the CAP is an inefficient use of tax money, and that a considerable contribution to reaching the goals of the Lisbon agenda would be achieved if the same amount of money was instead invested in R&D.CAP reform, economical growth, land use, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Linking models for land use analysis: experiences from the SENSOR project

In order to quantify the effects of a comprehensive set of policies on land use, interaction between sectors needs to be accounted for, while maintaining a high level of detail for each sector. This calls for a combination of sector specific and sector wide models. This paper describes such a modelling system, with emphasis on the linking of the models to a coherent system. Five sectors of significant importance for land use are modelled individually: Forestry, agriculture, urban land use, transport infrastructure, and tourism. All models are connected as sub-modules to an economy-wide partial econometric model. In addition, a land cover model is used to disaggregate land use down to 1km grid resolution. The linking of such a diverse set of models in a consistent way poses conceptual as well as practical issues. The conceptual issues concern questions such as which items of the models to link, how to obtain a stable joint baseline scenario, and how to obtain a joint equilibrium solution for all models simultaneously in simulation. Practical issues concern the actual implementation of the conceptually sound linkages and provision of a workable technical solution. The linked system allows us to introduce a shock in either of the models, and the set of results will provide a joint solution for all sectors modelled in SENSOR. In this manner, the models take a complex policy scenario as argument and compute a comprehensive set of variables involving all five land use sectors on regional level, which in turn forms a basis for distilling out the impact on sustainability in the form of indicators. Without the extensive automation and technical linkages, it would not have been possible to obtain a joint equilibrium, or it would have required exorbitant amounts of working time.Model linking, sustainable land use, cross sector modelling, iterative recalibration, Land Economics/Use,

Characterisation of transcriptionally active and inactive chromatin domains in neurons

The tandemly organised ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repeats are transcribed by a dedicated RNA polymerase in a specialised nuclear compartment, the nucleolus. There appears to be an intimate link between the maintenance of nucleolar structure and the presence of heterochromatic chromatin domains. This is particularly evident in many large neurons, where a single nucleolus is present, which is separated from the remainder of the nucleus by a characteristic shell of heterochromatin. Using a combined fluorescence in situ hybridisation and immunocytochemistry approach, we have analysed the molecular composition of this highly organised neuronal chromatin, to investigate its functional significance. We find that clusters of inactive, methylated rDNA repeats are present inside large neuronal nucleoli, which are often attached to the shell of heterochromatic DNA. Surprisingly, the methylated DNA-binding protein MeCP2, which is abundantly present in the centromeric and perinucleolar heterochromatin, does not associate significantly with the methylated rDNA repeats, whereas histone H1 does overlap partially with these clusters. Histone H1 also defines other, centromere-associated chromatin subdomains, together with the mammalian Polycomb group factor Eed. These dat

Intra- and interspecific variation of root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp., with regard to resistance in wild tuber-bearing Solanum species

Des génotypes appartenant à des espèces sauvages de #Solanum ont été testés pour déterminer leur niveau de résistance aux nématodes #Meloidogyne et pour détecter la présence de populations virulentes chez #Meloidogyne chitwoodi, #M. fallax et #M. hapla. Une résistance élevée de toutes les populations testées appartenant à #M. chitwoodi et #M. fallax est observée chez des génotypes de #Solanum bulbocastanum, #S. hougasii, #S. cardiophyllum et #S. fendleri. Quelques génotypes de #S. chacoense et #S. stoloniferum font montre d'une résistance modérée envers #M. fallax, mais non, ou à moindre degré, envers #M. chitwoodi. Il n'y a que peu de différence dans la virulence observée chez les plantes résistantes entre les populations de #M. chitwoodi et #M. fallax. Par contre, des différences notables sont observées entre populations de #M. hapla pour leur virulence envers des génotypes résistants de #S. bulbocastanum, #S. hougasii, #S. chacoensse, #S. gourlayi, #S. sparsipilum et #S. spegazzinii. Il a été observé que la résistance à #M. chitwoodi, #M. fallax et/ou #M. hapla ne correspond pas à la résistance des espèces adaptées aux températures élevées #M. arenaria, #M. incognita et #M. javanica. (Résumé d'auteur

A diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids prevents progression toward heart failure in a rabbit model of pressure and volume overload

Background-During heart failure (HF), cardiac metabolic substrate preference changes from fatty acid (FA) toward glucose oxidation. This change may cause progression toward heart failure. We hypothesize that a diet rich in FAs may prevent this process, and that dietary 3-FAs have an added antiarrhythmic effect based on action potential (AP) shortening in animals with HF. Methods and Results-Rabbits were fed a diet containing 1.25% (w/w) high oleic sunflower oil (HF-9, N 11), 1.25% fish oil (HF-3, N11), or no supplement (HF-control, N8). Subsequently, HF was induced by volume and pressure overload. After 4 months, HF-parameters were assessed, electrocardiograms were recorded, and blood and ventricular tissue were collected. Myocytes were isolated for patch clamp or intracellular Ca2-recordings to study electrophysiologic remodeling and arrhythmogenesis. Both the HF-9 and the HF-3 groups had larger myocardial FA oxidation capacity than HF control. The HF-3 group had significantly lower mean ( SEM) relative heart and lung weight (3.3-0.13 and 3.2-0.12 g kg 1, respectively) than HF control (4.8-0.30 and 4.5-0.23), and shorter QTc intervals (167-2.6 versus 182-6.4). The HF-9 also displayed a significantly reduced relative heart weight (3.6-0.26), but had similar QTc (179-4.3) compared with HF control. AP duration in the HF-3 group was 20% shorter due to increased Ito1 and IK1 and triggered activity, and Ca2-aftertransients were less than in the HF-9 group. Conclusions-Dietary unsaturated FAs started prior to induction of HF prevent hypertrophy and HF. In addition, fish oil FAs prevent HF-induced electrophysiologic remodeling and arrhythmias. © 2012 American Heart Association, Inc

Coxsackie and adenovirus receptor is a modifier of cardiac conduction and arrhythmia vulnerability in the setting of myocardial ischemia.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the modulatory effect of the coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) on ventricular conduction and arrhythmia vulnerability in the setting of myocardial ischemia. BACKGROUND: A heritable component in the risk of ventricular fibrillation during myocardial infarction has been well established. A recent genome-wide association study of ventricular fibrillation during acute myocardial infarction led to the identification of a locus on chromosome 21q21 (rs2824292) in the vicinity of the CXADR gene. CXADR encodes the CAR, a cell adhesion molecule predominantly located at the intercalated disks of the cardiomyocyte. METHODS: The correlation between CAR transcript levels and rs2824292 genotype was investigated in human left ventricular samples. Electrophysiological studies and molecular analyses were performed using CAR haploinsufficient (CAR(+/-)) mice. RESULTS: In human left ventricular samples, the risk allele at the chr21q21 genome-wide association study locus was associated with lower CXADR messenger ribonucleic acid levels, suggesting that decreased cardiac levels of CAR predispose to ischemia-induced ventricular fibrillation. Hearts from CAR(+/-) mice displayed slowing of ventricular conduction in addition to an earlier onset of ventricular arrhythmias during the early phase of acute myocardial ischemia after ligation of the left anterior descending artery. Expression and distribution of connexin 43 were unaffected, but CAR(+/-) hearts displayed increased arrhythmia susceptibility on pharmacological electrical uncoupling. Patch-clamp analysis of isolated CAR(+/-) myocytes showed reduced sodium current magnitude specifically at the intercalated disk. Moreover, CAR coprecipitated with NaV1.5 in vitro, suggesting that CAR affects sodium channel function through a physical interaction with NaV1.5. CONCLUSIONS: CAR is a novel modifier of ventricular conduction and arrhythmia vulnerability in the setting of myocardial ischemia. Genetic determinants of arrhythmia susceptibility (such as CAR) may constitute future targets for risk stratification of potentially lethal ventricular arrhythmias in patients with coronary artery disease

Evidence of two viscous relaxation processes in the collective dynamics of liquid lithium

New inelastic X-ray scattering experiments have been performed on liquid lithium in a wide wavevector range. With respect to the previous measurements, the instrumental resolution, improved up to 1.5 meV, allows to accurately investigate the dynamical processes determining the observed shape of the the dynamic structure factor, $S(Q,\omega)$. A detailed analysis of the lineshapes shows the co-existence of relaxation processes with both a slow and a fast characteristic timescales, and therefore that pictures of the relaxation mechanisms based on a simple viscoelastic model must be abandoned.Comment: 5 pages, 4 .PS figure