Web-based self-help for problem drinkers: pragmatic randomised trial.

0.001; standardized mean difference 0.40). Conclusions To our knowledge this is one of the first randomized controlled trials on aweb-based self-help intervention without therapist guidance for self-referred problem drinkers among the adult general population. The intervention showed itself to be effective in reducing problem drinking in the community. Keywords General population, internet, pragmatic randomized controlled trial, problem drinking, self-help

Compilation of a panel of informative single nucleotide polymorphisms for bovine identification in the Northern Irish cattle population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Animal identification is pivotal in governmental agricultural policy, enabling the management of subsidy payments, movement of livestock, test scheduling and control of disease. Advances in bovine genomics have made it possible to utilise inherent genetic variability to uniquely identify individual animals by DNA profiling, much as has been achieved with humans over the past 20 years. A DNA profiling test based on bi-allelic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers would offer considerable advantages over current short tandem repeat (STR) based industry standard tests, in that it would be easier to analyse and interpret. In this study, a panel of 51 genome-wide SNPs were genotyped across panels of semen DNA from 6 common breeds for the purposes of ascertaining allelic frequency. For SNPs on the same chromosome, the extent of linkage disequilbrium was determined from genotype data by Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. Minimum probabilities of unique identification were determined for each breed panel. The usefulness of this SNP panel was ascertained by comparison to the current bovine STR Stockmarks II assay. A statistically representative random sampling of bovine animals from across Northern Ireland was assembled for the purposes of determining the population allele frequency for these STR loci and subsequently, the minimal probability of unique identification they conferred in sampled bovine animals from Northern Ireland.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>6 SNPs exhibiting a minor allele frequency of less than 0.2 in more than 3 of the breed panels were excluded. 2 Further SNPs were found to reside in coding areas of the cattle genome and were excluded from the final panel. The remaining 43 SNPs exhibited genotype frequencies which were in Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium. SNPs on the same chromosome were observed to have no significant linkage disequilibrium/allelic association. Minimal probabilities of uniquely identifying individual animals from each of the breeds were obtained and were observed to be superior to those conferred by the industry standard STR assay.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The 43 SNPs characterised herein may constitute a starting point for the development of a SNP based DNA identification test for European cattle.</p

Virtual reconnection: The online spaces of alternative food networks in England

AbstractSpaces of ‘alternative’ food production and consumption have been the subject of considerable interest within agri-food research and policy-making circles in recent decades. Examples of these Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) include Farmers' Markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) schemes and farm shops, where food products are embedded with social and spatial information that serves to differentiate them from conventional agri-food systems. These shorter, more transparent, localised supply chains that characterise AFNs are underpinned by the notion of reconnection – a fundamental set of biological, social and moral processes that enable agri-food stakeholders to participate in ethically minded, transparent systems, where they are better connected to one another and to the markets and environments in which they are immersed. Drawing on a range of eight AFN case studies in England and using a multi-method approach, we explore the notion of reconnection within online space to show how social relations have changed, and are changing as a result of online activity. In examining the websites and social media platforms of AFNs and primary data collected from the creators and users of these spaces, we uncover the notion of ‘virtual reconnection’. We found the embodied, socio-material reconnection processes that occur in-place also occur online. However, by extending AFN spaces, virtual reconnection cannot fully replicate the same embodied and tactile experiences associated with the material spaces of AFNs. As such, online spaces in the context of AFNs provide a useful additional realm for reconnection, but need to be understood as supplementary rather than as a substitution for socio-material reconnections. Future research should consider the moral dimensions of reconnection and the capacity that online spaces have for enhancing the inclusivity of Civic Food Networks (CFNs), and their transformative role in contributing to more sustainable behaviours

Alternative (shorter) food supply chains and specialist livestock products in the Scottish-English borders

In this paper findings are presented from survey work conducted with producers of specialist livestock products in the Scottish-English borders. Using supply-chain diagrams, the paper highlights how specialist livestock businesses operate individual or customised supply chains. The heterogeneity of surveyed producer initiatives throws into question both the simple conceptual distinction drawn between the labels 'conventional' and 'alternative' and also what is meant by a 'short' food supply chain. The starting point of the specialist food chain is clearly not the point of production but rather a series of upstream supply links - as is found in conventional food chains. Likewise, 'alternative' producers are regularly obliged, or choose, to 'dip in and out' of different conventional nodes downstream of the business, such as abattoirs, processors, and wholesalers. In practice, delimitations between 'alternative' and 'conventional' food supply chains are often blurred and are better characterised as 'hybrid spaces'

Product, process and place: An examination of food marketing and labelling schemes in Europe and North America

Considerable academic interest now revolves around the recomposition of specific (or 'alternative') food chains based on notions of quality, territory and social embeddedness.A key to such recomposition is the marketing of 'difference' through a range of accreditation and labelling schemes. Using examples from Europe and North America, this paper examines how 'difference' is constructed by producers and other actors in the food supply chain by combining the attributes of 'product, process and place' (PPP) in a range of marketing and labelling schemes. Results indicate that it is possible to identify 'critical' and 'territorial development' rationales that influence the ways in which the three Ps are combined. An examination of the rationales and practices sustaining such labelling schemes provides insights into some of the opportunities and threats shaping the emergence of new geographies of food production and consumption in Europe and North America. Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications