The Political Economy of Food

This issue of the IDS Bulletin examines different perspectives on power in food systems, and the web of actors, relationships, activities, and institutions that play a major role in shaping them. By including articles written from various disciplinary and research orientations, we emphasise that their diversity is important to comprehend the political economy of food systems. The articles in this issue present some of the perspectives that emerged during a workshop on the Political Economy of Food Systems, run jointly by IDS and IPES-Food. The articles begin with an introduction to how power is analysed from different political economy perspectives before moving on to articles focusing on four key themes: diversity and innovation, the food–health nexus, the politics of consumption, and agroecology and food sovereignty. Two case studies then help to demonstrate applications of power analyses or structural approaches to food and nutrition at national and local levels. A final set of articles considers methodological questions around understanding power in the food system and some of the unresolved questions that emerged from the workshop, which can form an agenda for future work.International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (iPES Food

Introduction: Valuing Different Perspectives on Power in the Food System

In this introductory article, we highlight debates that emerged in the IDS–IPES-Food workshop on the political economy of food as a way of introducing the articles that follow. In exploring how different groups view power in food systems, we conceptualise a ‘mainstream’ narrative emerging from embedded agricultural and economic thinkers and practitioners, and contrast this with a multiplicity of reactions to and critiques of that narrative. In aiming to understand power in the food system, we recognise that there are many different disciplinary, epistemological, and ideological entry points into the study of power, and that seeking a single approach will likely limit the insights that different disciplines and research orientations can bring to the study of food systems. We argue that we must first better understand power at its different levels, forms, and spaces, and then use this understanding in order to transform food systems via equitable processes which work towards the interests of all.International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (iPES Food

Incidents and complications of totally implanted vascular access devices in children: a prospective study

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Bile‐duct ligation renders the brain susceptible to hypotension induced neuronal degeneration : implications of ammonia

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a debilitating neurological complication of cirrhosis. By definition, HE is considered a reversible disorder, and therefore HE should resolve following liver transplantation (LT). However, persisting neurological complications are observed in as many as 47% of LT recipients. LT is an invasive surgical procedure accompanied with various perioperative factors such as blood loss and hypotension which could influence outcomes post‐LT. We hypothesize that minimal HE (MHE) renders the brain frail and susceptible to hypotension‐induced neuronal cell death. Six‐week bile duct‐ligated (BDL) rats with MHE and respective SHAM‐controls were used. Several degrees of hypotension (mean arterial pressure of 30, 60 and 90mmHg) were induced via blood withdrawal from the femoral artery and maintained for 120 minutes. Brains were collected for neuronal cell count and apoptotic analysis. In a separate group, BDL rats were treated for MHE with the ammonia‐lowering strategy ornithine phenylacetate (OP; MNK‐6105), administered orally (1g/kg) for 3 weeks before induction of hypotension. Hypotension 30 and 60mmHg (not 90mmHg) significantly decreased neuronal marker expression (NeuN) and cresyl violet staining in the frontal cortex compared to respective hypotensive SHAM‐operated controls as well as non‐hypotensive BDL rats. Neuronal degeneration was associated with an increase in cleaved caspase‐3, suggesting the mechanism of cell death was apoptotic. OP treatment attenuated hyperammonemia, improved anxiety and activity, and protected the brain against hypotension‐induced neuronal cell death. Our findings demonstrate that rats with chronic liver disease and MHE are more susceptible to hypotension‐induced neuronal cell degeneration. This highlights MHE at the time of LT is a risk factor for poor neurological outcome post‐transplant and that treating for MHE pre‐LT might reduce this risk

Anxiety in Mice: A Principal Component Analysis Study

Two principal component analyses of anxiety were undertaken investigating two strains of mice (ABP/Le and C57BL/6ByJ) in two different experiments, both classical tests for assessing anxiety in rodents. The elevated plus-maze and staircase were used for the first experiment, and a free exploratory paradigm and light-dark discrimination were used for the second. The components in the analyses produced definitions of four fundamental behavior patterns: novelty-induced anxiety, general activity, exploratory behavior, and decision making. We also noted that the anxious phenotype was determined by both strain and experimental procedure. The relationship between behavior patterns and the use of specific tests plus links with the genetic background are discussed

IMGT, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system®

The international ImMunoGeneTics information system® (IMGT) (http://imgt.cines.fr), created in 1989, by the Laboratoire d'ImmunoGénétique Moléculaire LIGM (Université Montpellier II and CNRS) at Montpellier, France, is a high-quality integrated knowledge resource specializing in the immunoglobulins (IGs), T cell receptors (TRs), major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of human and other vertebrates, and related proteins of the immune systems (RPI) that belong to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) and to the MHC superfamily (MhcSF). IMGT includes several sequence databases (IMGT/LIGM-DB, IMGT/PRIMER-DB, IMGT/PROTEIN-DB and IMGT/MHC-DB), one genome database (IMGT/GENE-DB) and one three-dimensional (3D) structure database (IMGT/3Dstructure-DB), Web resources comprising 8000 HTML pages (IMGT Marie-Paule page), and interactive tools. IMGT data are expertly annotated according to the rules of the IMGT Scientific chart, based on the IMGT-ONTOLOGY concepts. IMGT tools are particularly useful for the analysis of the IG and TR repertoires in normal physiological and pathological situations. IMGT is used in medical research (autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, AIDS, leukemias, lymphomas, myelomas), veterinary research, biotechnology related to antibody engineering (phage displays, combinatorial libraries, chimeric, humanized and human antibodies), diagnostics (clonalities, detection and follow up of residual diseases) and therapeutical approaches (graft, immunotherapy and vaccinology). IMGT is freely available at http://imgt.cines.fr

Agroecology & Digitalisation: traps and opportunities to transform the food system

The EU Farm to Fork strategy acknowledges that “food systems cannot be resilient to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic if they are not sustainable”, and that “we need to redesign our food systems which today account for nearly one-third of global GHG emissions, consume large amounts of natural resources, result in biodiversity loss and negative health impacts (due to both under- and over-nutrition) and do not allow fair economic returns and livelihoods for all actors, in particular for primary producers.” To achieve this transition to sustainable food systems, the Farm to Fork strategy highlights a range of solutions. It calls for a reduction in synthetic pesticides and fertiliser use, and in the use of antimicrobials; it also calls for an increased share of land under organic farming, and for mainstreaming precision farming and the use of artificial intelligence. The crisis we face, due to the impacts of climate change, the collapse of biodiversity and ecosystems, pandemics or wars, renders even more urgent a transition to agroecological food systems which are more resilient and less dependent on external inputs. The organic movement believes that, more than ever, the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy remain the right policy direction to transform our food system. This is why digitalisation should not be conceived only as a technological fix to the current input-intensive agriculture model, aimed at alleviating marginally some of its destructive impacts while increasing corporate control and further disempowering farmers. Issues of control and ownership of data are by now well-identified in the public discussion, and digitalisation and agroecology sometimes appear in the debate as two dominating and conflicting narratives on what the future of agriculture should be. But we need to go further and collectively find ways to ensure that processes of digitalisation actually contribute to this transformation of the food system, along with the principles of organic farming and agroecology. Indeed, agroecology is a way to express the four principles of organic farming (health, fairness, ecology and care). Organic agriculture and agroecology have common principles and drivers, and the organic movement sees itself as an integral part of the movement and science for agroecology. In the European context, agroecological practices are mostly applied on the ground by organic farmers

Inflammatory Pathway Genes Belong to Major Targets of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Adipose Cells

Background: Epidemiological studies emphasize the possible role of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in obesity and the metabolic syndrome. These pollutants are stored in adipose tissue (AT)

Projet INCOME : INfrastructure de gestion de COntexte Multi-Echelle pour l'Internet des Objets

International audienceCet article donne un aperçu du projet de recherche INCOME financé par l'Agence Nationale de la Recherche française en décrivant la fiche d'identité du projet, ses principaux enjeux scientifiques ainsi que les premiers résultats obtenus