FAIR TRADE, THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL

Fair Trade is a complex trading partnership which seeks greater equity in international trade by creating closer relationships between the consumers and the producers from the geopolitical North and South. From its shy beginnings as an alternative means of selling craftwork in charity shops, Fair Trade products have become highly accessible to the consumers in Europe and the United States. While sales remain fairly low in global terms, the growth of the Fair Trade market has been phenomenal: in 2008, global Fair Trade sales reached 2.9 billion euros, growing at a rate of 22% per annum. In 2009, this percentage reached 37%. Fair Trade products occupy between 0,5-5% of all sales in Europe and the United States. By 2010, over 1.5 million disadvantaged producers were directly benefiting from Fair Trade, while an additional 5 million were enjoying the fruits of infrastructure and development projects financed through the Fair Trade system. In order to make these possible, Fair Trade has incorporated a dynamic series of products, standards and certification systems, new actors, new political and organizing alliances and more and more complex governmental arrangements.fair trade, WFTO

The Doha Round, the downfall of the WTO?

In 1995, when the WTO was institutionalized, its perspectives were great. Today, 151 countries are member states, amongst which international trade moguls like the USA, Japan and China while even Russia is in the midst of its accession negotiations. Looks like a success story. Yet, to no avail, since the Doha Round seems doomed and further negotiations are endangered by the creation of two factions: developed and developing countries accusing each other of non-cooperation and, respectively, of exploitation. The WTO faces its biggest challenge: surpass self interests for the general good and hail for victory or raise the white flag and accept defeat.World Trade Organization, Doha Round, negociations, liberalization

The legacy of the Kamon in the Japanese management

Japan in itself but especially after the so-called “Japanese miracle” generated a frenzy of questions that searched for the hidden secret recipe for economic growth. Japan has limited land and natural resources, but something special must have led to their economic ascension. Long series of works and studies were aimed at deciphering the inner workings of this amazing culture. Since Japanese culture is so unique and hermetic, it must also be the core reason for its economic successes after the Second World War. Indeed, their culture forged their peculiar type of management that seems to be the key to success. But what exactly did trigger their particular type of management that led to such high economic standpoint? This paper aims to elaborate an explanation of the basis of the Japanese management and underline the reasons for its extraordinary results.Japanese miracle, Japanese culture, Japanese management, economic success

Celebrating 50 years with two new provocative members

Romania and Bulgaria were admitted into the European Union. Their perspectives in the European Union depend mostly on their previous economic evolution and on their efforts to become European competitive economies. Given the political chaos that has taken hold in other eastern European countries, most of them much richer and stronger than the two newcomers, it is clear that the Balkan pair's road to EU prosperity and stability will be hard.European Union, enlargement process, competitiveness, economic prosperity

Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells for Tissue Engineering Approaches: Current Challenges and Perspectives

Human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) currently represent a viable source of mesenchymal-like stem cells, with similar properties and differentiation potential to bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) but with a different and more accessible source—the adipose tissue. hASCs are able to produce almost all of the factors that contribute to normal wound healing, and therefore, they are preferred for all types of tissue engineering (TE) and regenerative medical applications. This chapter will review hASCs regeneration potential and the most modern approaches in TE for bone, cartilage and adipose tissue regeneration using hASCs. Furthermore, an overview of novel and original hASCs-scaffold constructs studied in our group completes an up-to-date presentation of hASCs multiple uses. Additionally, this chapter will highlight the relevance of ultimate advances in regenerative medicine and the need for this evolution to increase the quality of life in patients with tissue defects

The Impact of Graphene Oxide on Bone Regeneration Therapies

Currently, there are several tissue engineering strategies meant to overcome the incomplete or insufficient bone regeneration conditions offered by autologous bone graft or surgery approaches. In the last decade, attention has been focused toward finding the equilibrium between a suitable scaffold with osteoinductive properties, a cell source with evident potential to develop bone tissue and the appropriate pro-osteogenic factors to condition the differentiation process after cell-scaffold implantation. Consequently, this chapter aims to discuss the benefits that graphene and its derivatives, graphene oxide (GO), bring both to the scaffold biomaterial and to the interaction between the material and the cellular component in order to create a favorable micro-environment for efficient osteogenic differentiation process. Several advantages of including GO in the composition of the materials are shown in relation to cell viability, proliferation, attachment, and osteogenic differentiation

THE LEGACY OF THE KAMON IN THE JAPANESE MANAGEMENT

Japan's power, the Japanese nation Japan is the second economy in the world and the reasons for this exclude extensive land or natural resources, because the Japanese have none. Something else, something so special that it was able to boost a destroyed post-war economy to the highest levels, is the key factor to their soaring economic activity. To achieve an insightful understanding of the morality of another culture is to go beyond the mere accumulation of factual knowledge. We can know all about Japan -its population, history, geography and managerial style -and still not understand it. Understanding goes beyond knowing; it includes feeling and imagination, the capacity to project ourselves into the place of the Japanese, to imagine at least for a fleeting moment what it is like to be Japanese (1). To do so is to enter the sphere of intimacy, to stop thinking that a certain society is the sum of its individual members which can be studied piece by piece, and start realizing that it might be possible to face a different society, that cannot be divided and studied as a kinetic sum of parts. Intimacy involves inseparability

Interplay between Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Development—A Focus on Ulcerative Colitis

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are defined by the continuous inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. During inflammation, the number of pathogens in the intestinal epithelium increases, leading to inflammasome assembly. Inflammasome activation is meant to protect the intestinal epithelial barrier from further damage by maintaining homeostasis. Although its purpose is to protect the cells, excessive nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome assembly is responsible for the synthesis of a high number of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The activation of two crucial pathways, autophagy process, and unfolded protein response, is initiated for restoring homeostasis. Aberrant expression of miRNAs and lncRNAs also interfere with the pathogenic mechanisms of IBD, as these non-coding transcripts play key roles in regulation of biological processes, such as inflammation and immunity. This review thoroughly describes the cellular and molecular mechanism that trigger and perpetuate inflammation in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients

Connecting the Missing Dots: ncRNAs as Critical Regulators of Therapeutic Susceptibility in Breast Cancer

Whether acquired or de novo, drug resistance remains a significant hurdle in achieving therapeutic success in breast cancer (BC). Thus, there is an urge to find reliable biomarkers that will help in predicting the therapeutic response. Stable and easily accessible molecules such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are regarded as valuable prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets since they act as crucial regulators of the various mechanisms involved in BC drug resistance. Here, we reviewed the current literature on ncRNAs as mediators of resistance to systemic therapies in BC. Interestingly, upon integrating data results from individual studies, we concluded that miR-221, miR-222, miR-451, Urothelial Carcinoma Associated 1 (UCA1), and Growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) are strong candidates as prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets since they are regulating multiple drug resistance phenotypes in BC. However, further research around their clinical implications is needed to validate and integrate them into therapeutic applications. Therefore, we believe that our review may provide relevant evidence for the selection of novel therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers for BC and will serve as a foundation for future translational research in the field

Regulation of Inflammasome by microRNAs in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: New Opportunities for Therapy

During the past decade, researchers have investigated the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer initiation and progression, especially triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), in order to identify specific biomarkers that could serve as feasible targets for innovative therapeutic strategies development. TNBC is characterized by a dynamic and aggressive nature, due to the absence of estrogen, progesterone and human epidermal growth factor 2 receptors. TNBC progression is associated with the dysregulation of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, followed by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and caspase-1 dependent cell death, termed pyroptosis. The heterogeneity of the breast tumor microenvironment triggers the interest of non-coding RNAs’ involvement in NLRP3 inflammasome assembly, TNBC progression and metastasis. Non-coding RNAs are paramount regulators of carcinogenesis and inflammasome pathways, which could help in the development of efficient treatments. This review aims to highlight the contribution of non-coding RNAs that support inflammasome activation and TNBC progression, pointing up their potential for clinical applications as biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy