Food Systems Relating to Greenness

Our understanding of the science of anthropogenic climate change and its immediate and indirect impacts has grown within the last decade. Alongside an increase in concern for the inequities within the industrialized food system, climate change is impacting agriculture and the communities that depend on it in myriad ways. These challenges have catalyzed investment in sustainable agriculture, “eat local” food movements, and rethinking of all aspects of food systems, including consumers, producers, retailers, and distributors. The body of literature on food systems primarily focuses on the connection between consumers and retailers; however, there is a notable absence of literature on the relationships between food producers, distributors, and retailers, even though the vast majority of consumers rely on this critical intersection in order to procure food. A great deal of social science research has explored farmer networks, consumer behavior around sustainable food, the marketing of more sustainable food products, and large-scale commercial food systems. Our research explores relationships between retailers and producers in western Montana in an effort to better understand how these two groups influence each other. We conducted one-on-one interviews with five retailers and five producers/distributors to better understand the relationships and influence that arise as these two critical stakeholders play their roles in a regional food system. The purpose of our research is to highlight the interconnectedness of producers, distributors, and retailers and how they directly influence each other. Additionally, our research helps to identify issues in more efficiently connecting these parties. Keywords: distributor, produce, organic, local producer, customer, shrink, food systems, food, green, sustainability, retailer, producer, farmer, agriculture, grocery store, consumer, produce manager, western Montana, procuremen

The Relationship Between Food Retailers and Distributors

Our understanding of the science of anthropogenic climate change and its immediate and indirect impacts has grown within the last decade.Alongside anincrease in concern for the inequities within the industrialized food system, climate change is impacting agriculture and the communities that depend on it in myriad ways. These challenges have catalyzed investment in sustainable agriculture, “eat local” food movements, and rethinking of all aspects of food systems, including consumers, producers, retailers, and distributors. The body of literature on food systems primarily focuses on the connection between consumers and retailers; however, there is a notable absence of literature on the relationships between food producers, distributors, and retailers, even though most consumers rely on this critical intersection to procure food. A great deal of social science research has explored farmer networks, consumer behavior around sustainable food, the marketing of more sustainable food products, and large-scale commercial food systems. Our research explores relationships between retailers and producers in western Montana to better understand how these two groups influence each other. We conducted one-on-one interviews with five retailers and five producers/distributors to better understand the relationships and influence that arise as these two critical stakeholders play their roles in a regional food system. The purpose of our research is to highlight the interconnectedness of producers, distributors, and retailers and how they directly influence each other. Additionally, our research helps to identifyissues in more efficiently connecting these parties

The future of multiple sclerosis treatments

Introduction. There are not many conditions in which the last few decades have brought such a major change in the landscape of treatments as is the case of multiple sclerosis (MS). A number of disease modifying treatments (DMTs) are presently available for the treatment of the inflammatory phase of this disabling disease; however, the need for treating neurodegeneration and halting the progression of disability is still unmet. Areas covered: In this paper we review the available information on existing and emerging DMTs and we discuss their place within the context of different treatment strategies in MS. Expert Commentary: The future of MS treatments should include the development of new treatment strategies tackling disease progression, together with a better understanding of the side-effects and the best sequential strategy of implementation of available and emerging drugs

Peripheral blood biomarkers in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is the most common autoimmune disorder affecting the central nervous system. The heteroge-neity of pathophysiological processes in MS contributes to the highly variable course of the disease and unpre-dictable response to therapies. The major focus of the research on MS is the identification of biomarkers inbiologicalfluids, such as cerebrospinalfluid or blood, to guide patient management reliably. Because of the diffi-culties in obtaining spinalfluid samples and the necessity for lumbar puncture to make a diagnosis has reduced,the research of blood-based biomarkers may provide increasingly important tools for clinical practice. However,currently there are no clearly established MS blood-based biomarkers. The availability of reliable biomarkerscould radically alter the management of MS at critical phases of the disease spectrum, allowing for interventionstrategies that may prevent evolution to long-term neurological disability. This article provides an overview ofthis researchfield and focuses on recent advances in blood-based biomarker researc