Designing a policy package for the promotion of servicising: A case study of vineyard crop protection in Galicia (Spain)

<p>The servicising approach in vineyard protection is considered a valid alternative to achieve decoupling between the economic and environmental performance of viticulture. In this paper, a policy package is designed to promote the uptake of a servicised model of vineyard protection in an area of smallholding viticulture. In doing so, a specific methodology based on a step by step protocol has been followed that aims to come up with a package that is effective, implementable and socially as well as politically acceptable. The paper concludes on the importance of combining several policy instruments in a policy package to realise the political objective. The proposed viable policy package includes incentives that support the companies’ shift towards offering crop protection solutions, further development of IPM solutions and instruments that encourage farmers to reduce the use of pesticides and collectively hire crop protection services.</p

Estimating the economic impact of the Prestige oil spill on the Death Coast (NW Spain) fisheries

This paper presents an estimation of the economic effects of the Prestige oil spill in Galicia, focusing on the Death Coast fisheries and using fish landings as a market technique. Examining the evolution of landings in the Death Coast before and after the accident, the analysis reveals two opposing trends, with landings of some species increasing and those of other species diminishing. However, it is necessary to stress that the results obtained from the use of landings as a main indicator are not enough to confirm the influence of the oil spill on stocks. Moreover, these results are quite predictable, since factors such as the species relationship with substratum, their sensitivity to the polluting oil, the way they prey on one another and the fishing effort, all affect these preliminary conclusions.Prestige accident Death Coast fisheries Economic assessment Oil pollution

Relationship between the posterior atrial wall and the esophagus: esophageal position and temperature measurement during atrial fibrillation ablation (AWESOME-AF). A randomized controlled trial.

Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) implies unavoidable ablation lesions to the left atrial posterior wall, which is closely related to the esophagus, leading to several potential complications. This study evaluates the usefulness of the esophageal fingerprint in avoiding temperature rises during paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) ablation. Isodistance maps of the atrio-esophageal relationship (esophageal fingerprint) were derived from the preprocedural computerized tomography. Patients were randomized (1:1) into two groups: (1) PRINT group, the PVI line was modified according to the esophageal fingerprint; (2) CONTROL group, standard PVI with operator blinded to the fingerprint. The primary endpoint was temperature rise detected by intraluminal esophageal temperature probe monitoring. Ablation settings were as specified on the Ablate BY-LAW study protocol. Sixty consecutive patients referred for paroxysmal AF ablation were randomized (42 (70%) men, mean age 60 ± 11 years). Temperature rise (&gt; 39.1 °C) occurred in 5 (16%) patients in the PRINT group vs. 17 (56%) in the CONTROL group (p &lt; 0.01). Three AF recurrences were documented at a mean follow-up of 12 ± 3 months (one (3%) in the PRINT group and 2 (6.6%) in the CONTROL group, p = 0.4). The esophageal fingerprint allows for a reliable identification of the esophageal position and its use for PVI line deployment results in less frequent esophageal temperature rises when compared to the standard approach. Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of PVI line modification to avoid esophageal heating on long-term outcomes. The development of new imaging-derived tools could ultimately improve patient safety (NCT04394923)

Life Cycle Assessment in the Wine Sector

Currently, stakeholders\u2019 increasing attention to quality is driving the wine sector to rethink and change its own production processes. Amongst product quality dimensions, the environment is gaining ever-growing attention at various levels of policy-making and business. Given its soundness, the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become widespread in many application contexts. Apart from applications for communication purposes, LCA has also been used in the wine sector to highlight environmental hot spots in supply chains, to compare farming practices and to detect improvement options, inter alia. Case studies whose focus is the wine industry abound in high quality publications. This Chapter has a two-fold focus: firstly, an analysis of the methodologies and standards of the Life Cycle Thinking concept, related to wine, and secondly, a critical analysis of wine LCA case studies in order to compile a list of scientificallybased environmental hot-spots and improvements. The chapter also expands the knowledge on LCA\u2019s application to the wine industry by discussing how best to contribute to: \u2022 the identification of the critical environmental issues of the wine supply-chain and the essential elements that an LCA case study in the sector should consider; \u2022 the identification of an optimal set of indicators and methodologies for the evaluation of the environmental impacts of wine; \u2022 the comparability of results; \u2022 the improvement of the environmental research quality in this sector