Situationsanalyse des ökologischen Gartenbaus in Deutschland

Information on the situation of organic horticulture in Germany is scarce and thus poses a constraint to further development of the sector. For example, not much is known about the costs of acquiring information necessary for the decision to switch from conventional to organic production. The objective of this project is twofold: (1) to describe the institutional and economic conditions of organic horticulture in Germany (2) to assess the costs of acquiring information incurred by decision-makers before, during and after the decision to start organic production. Data are being collected by expert interviews and farm surveys. Initial results show that experts from the fields of certification, monitoring, extension, marketing and research expect a more pronounced differentiation of the size and specialisation of farms. Generally, organic farms will grow larger in size due to economies of scale. Enterprises, which market their produce directly, will tend to become more diversified. The expert interviews also confirmed the hypothesis that the costs of information are significant. This results from the fact that knowledge on conventional production is only partially applicable to organic production and has to be replaced by learning and understanding a new system. Further details on the role of information costs in decision-making are expected from the farm surveys. The study ultimately will show possible ways of increasing the efficiency of the information management process for horticultural organic producers

Ökologischer Gemüsebau in Deutschland: Strukturen und Entwicklungen

This paper gives an overview over German organic vegetable production. The aim is to describe the situation and to analyze development perspectives. A general descrip-tion of actual trends is based on an expert survey: The experts emphasize that there is a broad spectrum of farm sizes and production portfolios. Expected general trends are growth in area and the specialization on fewer crops as well as the focus on few distri-bution channels. In this paper, these prognoses are compared with empirical data from a survey of 112 organic vegetable farms

Mapa Estratégico para as IES fundamentado em um Sistema de Gestão Integrado: uma proposta metodológica para a operacionalização do PDI

Este estudo propõe um mapa estratégico para as Instituições Federais de Ensino Superior (IFES) fundamentado em um sistema de gestão integrado, o qual se constitui em uma proposta metodológica para a operacionalização do Plano de Desenvolvimento Institucional (PDI). A metodologia proposta é composta de três fases interligadas: construção coletiva do Projeto Pedagógico Institucional e das unidades (PPI/PPUs), Avaliação Institucional e das Unidades (AI/AUs) e Plano Estratégico Institucional e das Unidades (PEI/PEUs). O mapa estratégico é uma ferramenta de representação visual do sistema de gestão integrado. O trabalho configura-se metodologicamente como uma pesquisa-ação. Apresenta como principais inovações: a integração e alinhamento das políticas institucionais versus setoriais; a abordagem quântica ao PDI, que o concebe com um sistema passível de ser mensurado e observado. Os resultados são: metas e ações estratégicas com continuidade e acompanhamento; contribuição à cultura de avaliação e feedback dos bens e serviços oferecidos à sociedade, ainda incipientes nas IFES

Knowledge, experiences, and practices of women affected by female genital schistosomiasis in rural Madagascar:A qualitative study on disease perception, health impairment and social impact

BACKGROUND: Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) is a neglected manifestation of urogenital schistosomiasis caused by S. haematobium. The disease presents with symptoms such as pelvic pain, vaginal discharge and bleeding and menstruation disorders, and might lead to infertility and pregnancy complications. The perspectives of women with FGS have not been studied systematically. The aim of the study was to understand knowledge, experiences, and practices of women with FGS. METHODS: We performed a qualitative study with seventy-six women diagnosed of having FGS, in the Ambanja district in Northwest Madagascar. Data collection was either through focus group discussion (N = 60) or in an individual semi-structured interview (N = 16). FGS was diagnosed by colposcopy. The data was analysed using Mayring´s qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Knowledge on how the disease is acquired varied and ideas on prevention remained vague. Patients suffered from vaginal discharge and pelvic complaints. Some women expressed unbearable pain during sexual intercourse and compared their pain to an open wound being touched. FGS considerably impaired women´s daily activities and their quality of life. Infertility led to resignation and despair, conflicts with the partner and to social exclusion from the community. Women fearing to sexually transmit FGS refrained from partnership and sexual relations. Many women with FGS reported stigmatisation. A coping strategy was to share strain with other women having similar complaints. However, concealing FGS was a common behaviour which led to social isolation and delayed health care seeking. CONCLUSIONS: Our study underlines that FGS has an important impact on the sexual health of women and on their social life in the community. Our results highlight the importance of providing adequate health education and structural interventions, such as the supply of water and the provision of sanitation measures. Further, correct diagnosis and treatment of FGS in adolescent girls and women should be available in all S. haematobium-endemic areas. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The qualitative study was embedded in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which two doses of praziquantel were compared (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04115072)

On the genomic regions associated with milk lactose in Fleckvieh cattle.

ABSTRACT Lactose is a sugar uniquely found in mammals' milk and it is the major milk solid in bovines. Lactose yield (LY, kg/d) is responsible for milk volume, whereas lactose percentage (LP) is thought to be more related to epithelial integrity and thus to udder health. There is a paucity of studies that have investigated lactose at the genomic level in dairy cows. This paper aimed to improve our knowledge on LP and LY, providing new insights into the significant genomic regions affecting these traits. A genome-wide association study for LP and LY was carried out in Fleckvieh cattle by using bulls' deregressed estimated breeding values of first lactation as pseudo-phenotypes. Heritabilities of first-lactation test-day LP and LY estimated using linear animal models were 0.38 and 0.25, respectively. A total of 2,854 bulls genotyped with a 54K SNP chip were available for the genome-wide association study; a linear mixed model approach was adopted for the analysis. The significant SNP of LP were scattered across the whole genome, with signals on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 7, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 28, and 29; the top 4 significant SNP explained 4.90% of the LP genetic variance. The signals were mostly in regions or genes with involvement in molecular intra- or extracellular transport; for example, CDH5, RASGEF1C, ABCA6, and SLC35F3. A significant region within chromosome 20 was previously shown to affect mastitis or somatic cell score in cattle. As regards LY, the significant SNP were concentrated in fewer regions (chromosomes 6 and 14), related to mastitis/somatic cell score, immune response, and transport mechanisms. The 5 most significant SNP for LY explained 8.45% of genetic variance and more than one-quarter of this value has to be attributed to the variant within ADGRB1. Significant peaks in target regions remained even after adjustment for the 2 most significant variants previously detected on BTA6 and BTA14. The present study is a prelude for deeper investigations into the biological role of lactose for milk secretion and volume determination, stressing the connection with genes regulating intra- or extracellular trafficking and immune and inflammatory responses in dairy cows. Also, these results improve the knowledge on the relationship between lactose and udder health; they support the idea that LP and its derived traits are potential candidates as indicators of udder health in breeding programs aimed to enhance cows' resistance to mastitis

Genetic Polymorphisms in Genes Related to Oxidative Stress (GSTP1, GSTM1, GSTT1, CAT, MnSOD, MPO, eNOS) and Survival of Rectal Cancer Patients after Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy exerts part of its antineoplastic effect by generating oxidative stress, therefore genetic variation in oxidative stress-related enzymes may influence survival of rectal cancer patients. We hypothesized that genetic polymorphisms associated with higher amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that exaggerate cytotoxic activity could improve survival after radiotherapy. We followed 114 rectal cancer patients who received radiotherapy for an average of 42.5 months. Associations between genotypes (GSTP1, GSTM1, GSTT1, CAT, MnSOD, MPO and eNOS) and overall survival were assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards regression. As hypothesized, patients carrying low ROS producing eNOS Glu298Asp asparagine allele showed an increased hazard of death compared to homozygous carriers of the glutamine allele (hazard ratio (HR): 2.10, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01–4.38). However, carriers of low ROS producing MPO G463A A allele had a decreased hazard of death compared to patients homozygous for the G allele (HR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.21–0.93) although patients homozygous for the A allele had a slightly increased hazard (HR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.25–5.08). This explorative study provides first results and highlights the need for further, larger studies to investigate association between genetic variation in oxidative stress genes and survival of rectal cancer patients who received radiotherapy

Prospectus, February 18, 2009

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2009/1004/thumbnail.jp

Electronmicroscopical and electrophysiological investigations on polyethylene glycol induced cell fusion

Cells of monolayer cultures are fused by high concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with a molecular weight of approximately 1500. This process is independent of extracellular ca++ions. PEG changes transiently the surface membrane and leads to fusion only after replacing it by normal medium. Before the final fusion of two cells, the onset of ionic coupling via longer lasting pseudopodial contact can be measured. Only cells that are synchronous in the secretory and pseudopodial response to PEG may fuse with each other

Psychological care in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in a real‐world setting and associations with metabolic control

Background: International guidelines recommend psychosocial care for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Objective: To assess psychological care in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in a real-world setting and to evaluate associations with metabolic outcome. Methods: Delivery of psychological care, HbA1c, and rates of severe hypoglycemia and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes from 199 diabetes care centers participating in the German diabetes survey (DPV) were analyzed. Results: Overall, 12 326 out of 31 861 children with type 1 diabetes were supported by short-term or continued psychological care (CPC). Children with psychological care had higher HbA1c (8.0% vs 7.7%, P<.001) and higher rates of DKA (0.032 vs 0.021 per patient-year, P<.001) compared with children without psychological care. In age-, sex-, diabetes duration-, and migratory background-matched children, HbA1c stayed stable in children supported by CPC during follow-up (HbA1c 8.5% one year before psychological care started vs 8.4% after two years, P = 1.0), whereas HbA1c was lower but increased significantly by 0.3% in children without psychological care (HbA1c 7.5% vs 7.8% after two years, P <.001). Additional HbA1c-matching showed that the change in HbA1c during follow-up was not different between the groups, but the percentage of children with severe hypoglycemia decreased from 16.3% to 10.7% in children receiving CPC compared with children without psychological care (5.5% to 5.8%, P =.009). Conclusions: In this real-world setting, psychological care was provided to children with higher HbA1c levels. CPC was associated with stable glycemic control and less frequent severe hypoglycemia during follow-up

POSTER: Towards Secure 5G Infrastructures for Production Systems

To meet the requirements of modern production, industrial communication increasingly shifts from wired fieldbus to wireless 5G communication. Besides tremendous benefits, this shift introduces severe novel risks, ranging from limited reliability over new security vulnerabilities to a lack of accountability. To address these risks, we present approaches to (i) prevent attacks through authentication and redundant communication, (ii) detect anomalies and jamming, and (iii) respond to detected attacks through device exclusion and accountability measures.Comment: Accepted to the poster session of the 22nd International Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security (ACNS 2024