The current situation of EU’s food chain

The sharp fluctuations in agricultural commodity and food prices at a time of great uncertainty about the economic outlook illustrate the need to improve the functioning of the European food supply chain with a view to enhancing its efficiency and competitiveness. Better regulation and ensuring a vigorous and coherent enforcement of competition and consumer protection rules will contribute to limiting price increases for the benefit of European consumers, in particular lower income households. Moreover, it will also help overcome the present fragmentation of the food supply chain and remove artificial entry barriers for producers, which will help European consumers benefit from the widest possible choice of quality food products. Additionally, this could help rebalancing the bargaining power in the food supply chain. Global demand and supply developments have been one of the main determinants of the rapid increase in food prices observed. Nevertheless, problems in the functioning of the food supply chain, either in terms of the degree of competition or concerning regulation may have played an important role as well. In the present economic conditions, it is therefore particularly important to analyse how to improve the functioning of the food supply chain and, in particular, to better understand the transmission mechanisms linking commodity prices with producer and consumer prices. This would help identify appropriate measures in support of the consumer's purchasing power and the competitiveness of the sectors involved. The food supply chain connects three economically important sectors: the agricultural sector, the food processing industry and the distribution sectors. These sectors account for 6% of EU value added and 12% of EU employment. As the food processing industry and the distribution sectors have many interactions with other sectors, market malfunctioning along the food supply chain can have significant repercussions. The slow productivity growth in these sectors in comparison with the US indicates that there is room for efficiency improvements.food chain, demand and supply, retirements, consumer, foodstuff’s price, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Morse, Donald E., Csilla Bertha, and Mária Kurdi (Eds) Brian Friel’s Dramatic Artistry. ’The Work Has Value.’

Morse, Donald E., Csilla Bertha, and Mária Kurdi (Eds) Brian Friel’s Dramatic Artistry. ’The Work Has Value.’ Dublin: Carysfort Press, 2006, 342 pp

Comparative Effect of Maitake Pro4x with Chemotherapy Breast Cancer Treatment

Conventional treatments for breast cancer involve surgery followed by radiation and hormonal therapy and/or chemotherapy. Some of these treatments have toxic side effects. Because drugs used in chemotherapy affect both cancer and normal cells to varying degrees, researchers are currently developing targeted drugs that only attack cancer cells without affecting normal cells. One approach to this is to found compounds that are more selective and specific, destroying only tumour cells and prevent metastases without harming normal cells. For thousands of years, medicinal mushrooms have been used because of their healing properties. Maitake (Grifola frondosa) is one of the most promising edible and medicinal mushroom, acting promoting the immune system against the tumorigenesis process. Methods: In the in vitro studies, we measured and compared the effect of Maitake Pro4X or Chemotherapy on LM3 Breast Tumour Cells death. Increased concentrations and different time of treatments were employed. In the in vivo studies, we employed breast tumour bearing female BALBc mice 6-8 weeks old, to assayed the effect of Maitake Pro4X with or without chemotherapy measuring the tumour volume, mortality, relative survival and size of tumour necrosis area after treatment. Results: After 5 weeks of treatment in tumour-bearing BALBc mice, we observed that Maitake Pro4X significantly increased the overall survival of animals and reduced the malignancy of breast tumours. We also found that Maitake Pro4X, as chemotherapy, induce cell-death in a dose and time dependent form. Conclusion: The beneficial effects of Maitake D-Fraction Pro4X, if supported by further evidence could be useful for the treatment of cancer patients to reduce the adverse effects of the conventional chemotherapy treatment.Fil: Aguilera Braico, Diego Máximo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Roldán Deamicis, Agustina. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Brie, Belen. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Balogh, Gabriela Andrea. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas; Argentin

Sharp comparison and maximum principles via horizontal normal mapping in the Heisenberg group

In this paper we solve a problem raised by Gutiérrez and Montanari about comparison principles for H-convex functions on subdomains of Heisenberg groups. Our approach is based on the notion of the sub-Riemannian horizontal normal mapping and uses degree theory for set-valued maps. The statement of the comparison principle combined with a Harnack inequality is applied to prove the Aleksandrov-type maximum principle, describing the correct boundary behavior of continuous H-convex functions vanishing at the boundary of horizontally bounded subdomains of Heisenberg groups. This result answers a question by Garofalo and Tournier. The sharpness of our results are illustrated by examples

Immunotherapeutic and Preventive Role of Purified Extract Rich in Beta-Glucans Derived from D-Fraction of Grifola frondosa Mushroom in Experimental Mice Biomodel of Mammary Carcinogenesis

The overall vision of the modern science needs to change to a revalorization of the natural compounds and their beneficial effects on human diseases, such as cancer. Medicinal mushrooms have been used since thousands of years due to its healing properties. Maitake (Grifola frondosa) is presented as one of the most interesting medicinal mushrooms that have been studied. Until now, Maitake D-Fraction may have anticarcinogenic activity, preventing oncogenesis and metastasis in certain tumor types. However, the exact molecular mechanism by which D-Fraction acts are yet unknown. The results shown in this chapter suggest that Maitake D-Fraction Pro4X, administered intraperitoneally, prevents significantly the development of mammary tumorigenesis, increases survival, and reduces the process of angiogenesis in BALBc mice. Although yet to determine the active component of the extract and the molecular mechanism by which it operates in the breast carcinogenesis process. The socioeconomic impact of this research project could be important, considering that in Argentina similar studies using natural compounds derived from medicinal mushrooms for cancer therapy have not yet been performed. The beneficial effects of Maitake, if proven, could be useful for the treatment of cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy or radiation or for breast cancer prevention in high-risk population

A játéknyelvi szókincset befolyásoló tényezők

A videójátékok szókincse, bár egyre gyakrabban kerül be a köznyelvi formák közé (például avatár, szintlépés), még döntően egy zárt csoportnyelvhez tartozik, amelyen belül a különböző játékok eltérő szókészlettel rendelkeznek. A hosszú távú célom egy olyan alapkutatás öszszeállítása, ami segít bemutatni és előkészíteni a további nyelvi kutatásokhoz ezt a nyelvileg izgalmas és sokszínű szubkultúrát. A videójátékok nyelvi környezetének sajátosságait figyelembe véve azt a kutatási kérdést tettem fel ebben a tanulmányban, hogy tetten érhetőek-e szókincset befolyásoló tényezők a játékosok és a tartalomgyártók írott szövegeiben. Ennek érdekében a gamer kultúrához kapcsolódó online cikkeket és Youtube-kommenteket vizsgáltam egyrészt egy szólista alapján, másrészt statisztikai módszerekkel. A külső befolyásoló tényezők közül a nyelvválasztást és a játéktípust emeltem ki, mivel ez a kettő megjelenhet áttételesen a játékosok más területen zajló kommunikációjában is