Coffee certification in Brazil: compliance with social standards and its implications for social equity

© 2018, The Author(s). This paper addresses the relationship between compliance with social performance criteria (the social outcomes that must be achieved for certification) and procedural (management) criteria and this relationship’s significance for social equity at both farm and wider landscape levels. We consider social performance compliance to be pertinent to farm-level equity, and the relative compliance of small versus large farms to be pertinent to landscape-level equity. Certification’s management requirements are often deemed disproportionately burdensome for small, resource-poor producers, and hence a barrier to landscape-level equity. There is a lack of research examining how management criteria impact the ability of different sized farms to meet certification’s social performance requirements. We analysed 435 certification audits, covering all Brazilian coffee farms that sought Rainforest Alliance certification from 2006 to 2014 inclusive: 80 individual farms and 23 groups of farms. In principle, undergoing group certification permits smallholders to benefit from economies of scale. Our analysis revealed a statistically significant, positive correlation between compliance with procedural (managing sustainability plans) and social performance criteria. This correlation was stronger for groups than individual farms. Group farms’ compliance was statistically equivalent to that of individual farms, suggesting that group certification is achieving its intended purpose of socio-economic levelling of certified farmers. Over time, certified farms’ average compliances improved. Our findings suggest that management requirements play an important role in improving smallholders’ overall social sustainability performance and that group certification may help resource-poor smallholders achieve those requirements. Further work is required to understand causal mechanisms underlying the relationships we present

Spillover events of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus 2 (recombinant GI.4P-GI.2) from Lagomorpha to Eurasian badger

Rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) is a major threat to domestic and wild European rabbits. Presently, in Europe, the disease is caused mainly by Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2/b or Lagovirus europaeus GI.2), the origin of which is still unclear, as no RHDV2 reservoir hosts were identified. After the RHDV2 emergence in 2010, viral RNA was detected in a few rodent species. Furthermore, RHDV2 was found to cause disease in some hare species resembling the disease in rabbits, evidencing the ability of the virus to cross the species barrier. In this study, through molecular, histopathologic, antigenic and morphological evidences, we demonstrate the presence and replication of RHDV2 in Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) found dead in the district of Santarém, Portugal, between March 2017 and January 2020. In two of these seven animals, we further classify the RHDV2 as a Lagovirus europaeus recombinant GI.4P‐GI.2. Our results indicate that Meles meles is susceptible to RHDV2, developing systemic infection, and excreting the virus in the faeces. Given the high viral loads seen in several organs and matrices, we believe that transmission to the wild rabbit is likely. Furthermore, transmission electron microscopy data shows the presence of Calicivirus compatible virions in the nucleus of hepatocytes, which has not been demonstrated before and constitutes a paradigm shift for caliciviruses’s replication cycle

Community-acquired invasive liver abscess syndrome caused by a K1 serotype Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate in Brazil: a case report of hypervirulent ST23

Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de MedicinaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de Medicina Divisão de Doenças InfecciosasUNIFESP, Depto. de MedicinaUNIFESP, Depto. de Medicina Divisão de Doenças InfecciosasSciEL

Neurocognitive function in HIV infected patients on antiretroviral therapy

OBJECTIVE To describe factors associated with neurocognitive (NC) function in HIV-positive patients on stable combination antiretroviral therapy. DESIGN We undertook a cross-sectional analysis assessing NC data obtained at baseline in patients entering the Protease-Inhibitor-Monotherapy-Versus-Ongoing-Triple therapy (PIVOT) trial. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE NC testing comprised of 5 domains. Raw results were z-transformed using standard and demographically adjusted normative datasets (ND). Global z-scores (NPZ-5) were derived from averaging the 5 domains and percentage of subjects with test scores >1 standard deviation (SD) below population means in at least two domains (abnormal Frascati score) calculated. Patient characteristics associated with NC results were assessed using multivariable linear regression. RESULTS Of the 587 patients in PIVOT, 557 had full NC results and were included. 77% were male, 68% Caucasian and 28% of Black ethnicity. Mean (SD) baseline and nadir CD4+ lymphocyte counts were 553(217) and 177(117) cells/µL, respectively, and HIV RNA was <50 copies/mL in all. Median (IQR) NPZ-5 score was -0.5 (-1.2/-0) overall, and -0.3 (-0.7/0.1) and -1.4 (-2/-0.8) in subjects of Caucasian and Black ethnicity, respectively. Abnormal Frascati scores using the standard-ND were observed in 51%, 38%, and 81%, respectively, of subjects overall, Caucasian and Black ethnicity (p<0.001), but in 62% and 69% of Caucasian and Black subjects using demographically adjusted-ND (p = 0.20). In the multivariate analysis, only Black ethnicity was associated with poorer NPZ-5 scores (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS In this large group of HIV-infected subjects with viral load suppression, ethnicity but not HIV-disease factors is closely associated with NC results. The prevalence of abnormal results is highly dependent on control datasets utilised. TRIAL REGISTRY ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01230580

Prospective association between objective measures of childhood motor coordination and sedentary behaviour in adolescence and adulthood

BACKGROUND: Higher levels of gross motor coordination are positively associated with physical activity in childhood, but little is known about how they relate to sedentary behaviour. The aim of this study was to investigate the longitudinal association between gross motor coordination at childhood and sedentary behaviour in adolescence and adulthood. METHODS: Data were from the 1970 British Cohort Study (the age 10, 16, and 42-year surveys). At age 10 the participant's mother provided information on how often participants watched TV and played sports and a health visitor administered several tests to assess gross motor coordination. At aged 16 and 42-years participants reported their daily screen and TV time, respectively, and physical activity status. We examined associations between gross motor coordination at age 10 with sedentary behaviour and physical activity at age 16 and 42, using logistic regression. RESULTS: In multivariable models, higher levels of gross motor coordination were associated with lower odds of high screen time (n = 3073; OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.64, 0.98) at 16-years although no associations with physical activity were observed (OR 1.16, 95% CI 0.93, 1.44). Similar associations were observed with TV time in adulthood when participants were aged 42, and in addition high gross motor coordination was also associated with physical activity participation (n = 4879; OR 1.18, 95 % CI 1.02, 1.36). CONCLUSIONS: Intervention efforts to increase physical activity participation and reduce sedentary behaviour over the life course may be best targeted towards children with low gross motor coordination

On the influence of solution and ageing treatments on the microstructure of ZK40 alloys modified with Ca, Gd, Nd and y additions

Abstract As-cast ZK40 alloys, modified with the addition of CaO, Gd, Nd and Y were investigated. Solution heat treatments were performed based on differential thermal analysis results. The unmodified ZK40 alloy exhibited microstructure with nearly no intermetallic compound but with precipitates formed during the solution treatment. The modified ZK40 alloys exhibited a semi-dissolved network of intermetallic compounds along the grain boundaries and zones of intermetallic compounds within the grains. Interestingly, no precipitates were observed immediately next to the grain boundaries. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy line scans showed an enrichment of Zn and Zr in the regions where the precipitates are found, suggesting that they are Zn-Zr precipitates. The ageing behaviour was compared between the as-cast and the solution treated materials and it was found that apart from the ZK40-Gd, ZK40-Nd and ZK40-Y aged at 200 °C after solution treatment, there is no notable ageing response for the investigated alloys.</jats:p

Interventions to improve exercise behaviour in sedentary people living with and beyond cancer: a systematic review

Background: To systematically review the effects of interventions to improve exercise behaviour in sedentary people living with and beyond cancer. Methods: Only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared an exercise intervention to a usual care comparison in sedentary people with a homogeneous primary cancer diagnosis, over the age of 18 years were eligible. The following electronic databases were searched: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials MEDLINE; EMBASE; AMED; CINAHL; PsycINFO; SportDiscus; PEDro from inception to August 2012. Results: Fourteen trials were included in this review, involving a total of 648 participants. Just six trials incorporated prescriptions that would meet current recommendations for aerobic exercise. However, none of the trials included in this review reported intervention adherence of 75% or more for a set prescription that would meet current aerobic exercise guidelines. Despite uncertainty around adherence in many of the included trials, the interventions caused improvements in aerobic exercise tolerance at 8–12 weeks (SMD=0.73, 95% CI=0.51–0.95) in intervention participants compared with controls. At 6 months, aerobic exercise tolerance is also improved (SMD=0.70, 95% CI=0.45–0.94), although four of the five trials had a high risk of bias; hence, caution is warranted in its interpretation. Conclusion: Expecting the majority of sedentary survivors to achieve the current exercise guidelines is likely to be unrealistic. As with all well-designed exercise programmes, prescriptions should be designed around individual capabilities and frequency, duration and intensity or sets, repetitions, intensity of resistance training should be generated on this basis

Articles by Latin American Authors in Prestigious Journals Have Fewer Citations

Background: the journal Impact factor (IF) is generally accepted to be a good measurement of the relevance/quality of articles that a journal publishes. in spite of an, apparently, homogenous peer-review process for a given journal, we hypothesize that the country affiliation of authors from developing Latin American (LA) countries affects the IF of a journal detrimentally.Methodology/Principal Findings: Seven prestigious international journals, one multidisciplinary journal and six serving specific branches of science, were examined in terms of their IF in the Web of Science. Two subsets of each journal were then selected to evaluate the influence of author's affiliation on the IF. They comprised contributions (i) with authorship from four Latin American (LA) countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico) and (ii) with authorship from five developed countries (England, France, Germany, Japan and USA). Both subsets were further subdivided into two groups: articles with authorship from one country only and collaborative articles with authorship from other countries. Articles from the five developed countries had IF close to the overall IF of the journals and the influence of collaboration on this value was minor. in the case of LA articles the effect of collaboration (virtually all with developed countries) was significant. the IFs for non-collaborative articles averaged 66% of the overall IF of the journals whereas the articles in collaboration raised the IFs to values close to the overall IF.Conclusion/Significance: the study shows a significantly lower IF in the group of the subsets of non-collaborative LA articles and thus that country affiliation of authors from non-developed LA countries does affect the IF of a journal detrimentally. There are no data to indicate whether the lower IFs of LA articles were due to their inherent inferior quality/relevance or psycho-social trend towards under-citation of articles from these countries. However, further study is required since there are foreseeable consequences of this trend as it may stimulate strategies by editors to turn down articles that tend to be under-cited.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Latin Amer & Caribbean Ctr Hlth Sci Informat, BIREME PAHO WHO, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, DIS Dept Informat Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, DIS Dept Informat Med, São Paulo, BrazilFAPESP: 05/57665-8CNPq: 2006-0919Web of Scienc