Costs and profitability of crops for bioeconomy in the EU

The bioeconomy is the cornerstone of the EU’s policy for shifting economic and societal trends towards circularity and low carbon arrangements. Europe has several crops that can be used as raw materials for this purpose, however pressure on land which might displace other activities and industrial competition for cost efficient raw materials remains a challenge. Hence, ensuring good yielding capacity and examining the likelihood to produce more by exploiting low quality, unused land can present significant opportunities to increase sustainable, locally sourced supply and at the same time offer profitable solutions to both industry and the farmers. This paper estimates the production costs of fourteen crops (oil, sugar, starch and lignocellulosic) and analyses how their profitability can be influenced by yield increases and cultivation in low quality land. Results show that there are profitable options for all crops under current market prices and land types except for cases in countries where crop productivity is rather low to sustain farm incomes. The analysis confirms that Europe has plenty crop options as raw materials for bioeconomy. Decision makers however must ensure future research and policy support are oriented towards sustainable yield increases and accelerate rehabilitation of land that is unused and of low quality

Roles for Treg expansion and HMGB1 signaling through the TLR1-2-6 axis in determining the magnitude of the antigen-specific immune response to MVA85A

© 2013 Matsumiya et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedA better understanding of the relationships between vaccine, immunogenicity and protection from disease would greatly facilitate vaccine development. Modified vaccinia virus Ankara expressing antigen 85A (MVA85A) is a novel tuberculosis vaccine candidate designed to enhance responses induced by BCG. Antigen-specific interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production is greatly enhanced by MVA85A, however the variability between healthy individuals is extensive. In this study we have sought to characterize the early changes in gene expression in humans following vaccination with MVA85A and relate these to long-term immunogenicity. Two days post-vaccination, MVA85A induces a strong interferon and inflammatory response. Separating volunteers into high and low responders on the basis of T cell responses to 85A peptides measured during the trial, an expansion of circulating CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ cells is seen in low but not high responders. Additionally, high levels of Toll-like Receptor (TLR) 1 on day of vaccination are associated with an increased response to antigen 85A. In a classification model, combined expression levels of TLR1, TICAM2 and CD14 on day of vaccination and CTLA4 and IL2Rα two days post-vaccination can classify high and low responders with over 80% accuracy. Furthermore, administering MVA85A in mice with anti-TLR2 antibodies may abrogate high responses, and neutralising antibodies to TLRs 1, 2 or 6 or HMGB1 decrease CXCL2 production during in vitro stimulation with MVA85A. HMGB1 is released into the supernatant following atimulation with MVA85A and we propose this signal may be the trigger activating the TLR pathway. This study suggests an important role for an endogenous ligand in innate sensing of MVA and demonstrates the importance of pattern recognition receptors and regulatory T cell responses in determining the magnitude of the antigen specific immune response to vaccination with MVA85A in humans.This work was funded by the Wellcome Trust. MM has a Wellcome Trust PhD studentship and HM is a Wellcome Trust Senior Fello

Evading innate immunity in nonviral mRNA delivery : don't shoot the messenger

In de field of non-viral gene therapy, in vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNA has emerged as a promising tool for the delivery of genetic information. Over the past few years it has become widely known the introduction of IVT mRNA into mammalian cells elicits an innate immune response which has favored mRNA use towards immunotherapeutic vaccination strategies. However, for non-immunotherapy related applications this intrinsic immune-stimulatory activity directly interferes with the aimed therapeutic outcome, as it can seriously compromise the expression of the desired protein. This review presents an overview of the immune-related obstacles that limit mRNA advance for non-immunotherapy related applications

Effect of Physical Exercise on Bone Density and Remodeling in Egyptian Type 1 Diabetic Osteopenic Adolescents

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study was planned to assess effect of physical exercise on bone remodeling in type I diabetics with osteopenia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty-four type I diabetes mellitus (DM1) with osteopenia (10 females and 14 males) were compared to thirty-eight age- and sex-matched healthy control individuals (20 females and 18 males) for biochemical and radiologic parameters of bone mass. Laboratory investigations included serum and urinary calcium, inorganic phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, and serum "procollagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide (P1NP). Bone densitometry was assessed at neck femur using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA). Serum P1NP and DEXA were reevaluated after a planned exercise program.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients and controls were comparable with respect to serum as well as urinary biochemical parameters of bone mass namely; calcium, phosphorus and total serum alkaline phosphatase. Osteopenic DM1 patients displayed lower mean serum P1NP than control group (20.11 ± 6.72 ugdL versus 64.96 ± 34.89 ugdL; p < 0.05). A significant correlation was observed between BMD and degree of glycemic control reflected by serum glycated hemoglobin (r = -0.44, p, 0.030). Bone densitometry correlated with serum P1NP (r = -0.508, p, 0.011). After a planned regular exercise for 3 months, serum P1NP and BMD levels increased with percentage change of 40.88 ± 31.73 and 3.36 ± 2.94, respectively. Five patients resumed normal densitometry and they were all males.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Diabetic osteopenic patients displayed lower serum levels of procollagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide which reflects poor bone formation. A 3-months planned exercise program was associated with improvement of bone densitometry and significant increment of serum P1NP.</p

Opportunities for low indirect land use biomass for biofuels in Europe

Sustainable biofuels are an important tool for the decarbonisation of transport. This is especially true in aviation, maritime, and heavy-duty sectors with limited short-term alternatives. Their use by conventional transport fleets requires few changes to the existing infrastructure and engines, and thus their integration can be smooth and relatively rapid. Provision of feedstock should comply with sustainability principles for (i) producing additional biomass without distorting food and feed markets and (ii) addressing challenges for ecosystem services, including biodiversity, and soil quality. This paper performs a meta-analysis of current research for low indirect land use change (ILUC) risk biomass crops for sustainable biofuels that benefited either from improved agricultural practices or from cultivation in unused, abandoned, or severely degraded land. Two categories of biomass crops are considered here: oil and lignocellulosic. The findings confirm that there are significant opportunities to cultivate these crops in European agro-ecological zones with sustainable agronomic practices both in farming land and in land with natural constraints (unused, abandoned, and degraded land). These could produce additional low environmental impact feedstocks for biofuels and deliver economic benefits to farmer

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

A novel role for syndecan-3 in angiogenesis.

Syndecan-3 is one of the four members of the syndecan family of heparan sulphate proteoglycans and has been shown to interact with numerous growth factors via its heparan sulphate chains. The extracellular core proteins of syndecan-1,-2 and -4 all possess adhesion regulatory motifs and we hypothesized that syndecan-3 may also possess such characteristics. Here we show that a bacterially expressed GST fusion protein consisting of the entire mature syndecan-3 ectodomain has anti-angiogenic properties and acts via modulating endothelial cell migration. This work identifies syndecan-3 as a possible therapeutic target for anti-angiogenic therapy.This work was funded by Arthritis Research-UK (Grant No. 19207) and funds from the William Harvey Research Foundation both to JRW

Impaired Functions of Peripheral Blood Monocyte Subpopulations in Aged Humans

Aging is associated with increased susceptibility to microbial infections, and monocytes play an important role in microbial defense. In this study, we have identified and compared four subpopulations of monocytes (CD14++(high)CD16−, CD14+(low)CD16−, CD14++(high)CD16+, and CD14+(low)CD16+) in the peripheral blood of young and aged subjects with regard to their numbers, cytokine production, TLR expression, and phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in response to pam3Cys a TLR-1/2 ligand. Proportions and numbers of CD14++(high)CD16+ and CD14+(low)CD16+ monocytes were significantly increased, whereas proportions of CD14+(low)CD16− monocytes were decreased in aged subjects as compared to young subjects. In aged subjects, IL-6 production by all four subsets of monocytes was significantly decreased, whereas TNF-α production was decreased in monocyte subsets, except the CD14+(low)CD16− subset. A significantly reduced expression of TLR1 was observed in CD14++(high)CD16+ and CD14+(low)CD16+ monocyte subsets in aged subjects. Furthermore, following pam3Cys stimulation, ERK1/2 phosphorylation was significantly lower in CD14+(low)CD16+, CD14++(high)CD16+, and CD14+(low)CD16− subsets of monocytes from aged subjects. This is the first study of four subpopulations of monocytes in aging, which demonstrates that their functions are differentially impaired with regard to the production of cytokines, expression of TLR, and signaling via the ERK–MAPK pathway. Finally, changes in the number of monocyte subsets, and impairment of TLR1 expression, TNF-α production, and EK1/2 phosphorylation was more consistent in CD16+ monocyte subsets regardless of expression of CD14high or CD14+low, therefore highlighting the significance of further subdivision of monocytes into four subpopulations