Organic in Europe: Recent Developments

In 2017, the European organic food and farming sector continued to excel both in terms of organic production and market growth. Data for 2017 (for full data see page 216) shows the European organic food market recording significant growth – increasing by more than ten percent to 37.3 billion. At the same time, the organic sector faces a number of challenges, notably that the growth rates in organic area, in spite of recent stronger growth, continues to lag behind the dynamic growth seen within the organic food market (Figure 68). A major milestone in 2018 was the publication of the new European Union rules on organic production and labelling of organic products in May, and in June 2018, the European Commission launched its proposal for the Common Agricultural Policy for the period 2021 to 2027

In vitro adhesion and invasion inhibition of Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri and Shigella sonnei clinical strains by human milk proteins

BACKGROUND: Shigella is the etiological agent of shigellosis, a disease responsible for more than 500,000 deaths of children per year, in developing countries. These pathogens colonize the intestinal colon, invade, spreading to the other enterocytes. Breastfeeding plays a very important role in protecting infants from intestinal infections. Amongst milk compounds, glycosylated proteins prevent the adhesion of many enteropathogens in vitro. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of human milk proteins on the colonization potential of Shigella dysenteriae, S. flexneri and S. sonnei. To fulfill this purpose, pooled milk samples from five donors, were fractionated by gel filtration and affinity chromatography. Using tissue culture, the milk fractions obtained were tested in Shigella adhesion and invasion assays. RESULTS: Our revealed showed that both adhesion and invasion of Shigella species were inhibited by low concentration of secretory immunoglobulin A, lactoferrin and free secretory component. This work also showed that, these proteins bind to superficial and whole-cell Shigella proteins. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that human milk may act inhibiting adhesion and, consequently, invasion of Shigella, thereafter preventing shigellosis in infants

Análise de risco de crédito enfrentada por empresas de capital aberto no Brasil: uma abordagem utilizando análise discriminante de regressão logística e redes neurais artificiais

The aims of the present article are to identify the economic-financial indicators that best characterize Brazilian public companies through credit-granting analysis and to assess the most accurate techniques used to forecast business bankruptcy. Discriminant analysis, logistic regression and neural networks were the most used methods to predict insolvency. The sample comprised 121 companies from different sectors, 70 of them solvent and 51 insolvent. The conducted analyses were based on 35 economic-financial indicators. Need of working capital for net income, liquidity thermometer, return on equity, net margin, debt breakdown and equity on assets were the most relevant economic-financial indicators. Neural networks recorded the best accuracy and the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves (ROC curve) corroborated this outcome.El objetivo del presente artículo es identificar cuáles son los indicadores económicos-financieros que mejor distinguen a las empresas brasileras de capital abierto por medio de concesión de crédito y evaluar cuáles de las técnicas utilizadas son las más precisas para prever la bancarrota de las empresas. Los métodos utilizados para prever la insolvencia fueron análisis discriminante, regresión logística y redes neuronales. La muestra fue compuesta por 121 empresas de diversos sectores, siendo 70 solventes y 51 insolventes. Los análisis utilizaron 35 indicadores económicos-financieros. Los indicadores económicos-financieros más relevantes fueron: necesidad de capital de trabajo sobre utilidad líquida, termómetro de liquidez, retorno sobre el patrimonio líquido, margen de beneficio, ratio de endeudamiento y patrimonio líquido sobre los activos. El modelo de redes neuronales presentó una mayor precisión y fue corroborada por la Curvas Características Operativas del Receptor (curva ROC).O objetivo deste artigo é identificar quais são os indicadores econômico-financeiros que melhor distinguem as empresas de capital aberto brasileiras por meio da concessão de credito e avaliar quais das técnicas utilizadas são as mais precisas para prever a falência das empresas. Os métodos utilizados para antecipar a insolvência foram analise discriminante, regressão logística e redes neurais. A amostra foi composta por 121 empresas de diversos setores, sendo 70 solventes e 51 insolventes. As analises utilizaram 35 indicadores econômico-financeiros. Os indicadores-econômico-financeiros mais relevantes foram: necessidade de capital de giro sobre lucro líquido, termômetro de liquidez, retorno sobre patrimônio líquido, margem de lucro, índice de dívida e patrimônio líquido sobre ativos. O modelo de rede neural apresentou maior precisão e foi corroborado pela curva ROC

O peso do trabalho leve feminino à saúde

Based on an empirical study of night-shift workers, this article discusses the gender division of labor, professional qualifications, domestic work, heavy and light work, and the possible repercussions on the health of men and women. The terms gender and labor are mutually revealing, unveiling aspects in which production and reproduction are tied into one another, suggesting a deconstruction of stereotypes.Valendo-se de estudo empírico com trabalhadores(as) do turno noturno, irá se discutir divisão sexual do trabalho, qualificação profissional, trabalho doméstico, trabalhos pesados e leves e suas possíveis repercussões diferenciadas à saúde de homens e mulheres. Gênero e trabalho lançam luzes um sobre o outro e revelam aspectos em que a produção e a reprodução imbricam-se, apontando para a desconstrução de estereótipos.Fiocruz Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Departamento de Ciências SociaisFiocruz Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Departamento de BiologiaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM) Departamento de PsicobiologiaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de PsicobiologiaSciEL

X-ray dark-field signal reduction due to hardening of the visibility spectrum

X-ray dark-field imaging enables a spatially-resolved visualization of small-angle X-ray scattering. Using phantom measurements, we demonstrate that a material's effective dark-field signal may be reduced by modification of the visibility spectrum by other dark-field-active objects in the beam. This is the dark-field equivalent of conventional beam-hardening, and is distinct from related, known effects, where the dark-field signal is modified by attenuation or phase shifts. We present a theoretical model for this group of effects and verify it by comparison to the measurements. These findings have significant implications for the interpretation of dark-field signal strength in polychromatic measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Previously submitted to IEEE Transactions on Medical Imagin

Wild fish consumption can balance nutrient retention in farmed fish

Contributions D.F.W., R.N., W.M., B.K., D.L, A.L, B.d.R and J.P.W.R participated in study design and data collection. J.P.W.R. analysed the data and produced the figures. D.F.W. and J.P.W.R. wrote the final paper. All authors reviewed and approved the paper before submission.Peer reviewe