Toward an Agricultural Policy Monitoring System (APMS)

This working paper focuses on a subject of special relevance for agricultural policy reforms: the establishment of an Agricultural Policy Monitoring System.Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Identification and measurement of inefficiencies in leasing systems (An application of linear programming)

This study is directed toward developing procedures for identifying, measuring and appraising intratemporal dissociations between benefits and costs on rented farms. Development of these procedures is expected to provide further insight into the resource structure and operation of a firm in which multiple interests are present. Recent studies appear to have achieved a satisfactory agreement in defining the functions of a lease, thus providing a common starting point for economic analysis.3 Chryst and Timmons have summarizd the purposes of farm rent: 1. It helps allocate resources among particular kinds and amounts of uses in the productive process. 2. It distributes returns between landlord and tenant from the joint use of their combined resources. 3. It helps to keep landlords and tenants working together as teams, which is necessary in the continued joint use of their combined resources.

Evidence for Sub-Haplogroup H5 of Mitochondrial DNA as a Risk Factor for Late Onset Alzheimer's Disease

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of dementia among senile subjects. It has been proposed that AD can be caused by defects in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Given the fundamental contribution of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) for the respiratory chain, there have been a number of studies investigating the association between mtDNA inherited variants and multifactorial diseases, however no general consensus has been reached yet on the correlation between mtDNA haplogroups and AD. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We applied for the first time a high resolution analysis (sequencing of displacement loop and restriction analysis of specific markers in the coding region of mtDNA) to investigate the possible association between mtDNA-inherited sequence variation and AD in 936 AD patients and 776 cognitively assessed normal controls from central and northern Italy. Among over 40 mtDNA sub-haplogroups analysed, we found that sub-haplogroup H5 is a risk factor for AD (OR=1.85, 95% CI:1.04-3.23) in particular for females (OR=2.19, 95% CI:1.06-4.51) and independently from the APOE genotype. Multivariate logistic regression revealed an interaction between H5 and age. When the whole sample is considered, the H5a subgroup of molecules, harboring the 4336 transition in the tRNAGln gene, already associated to AD in early studies, was about threefold more represented in AD patients than in controls (2.0% vs 0.8%; p=0.031), and it might account for the increased frequency of H5 in AD patients (4.2% vs 2.3%). The complete re-sequencing of the 56 mtDNAs belonging to H5 revealed that AD patients showed a trend towards a higher number (p=0.052) of sporadic mutations in tRNA and rRNA genes when compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that high resolution analysis of inherited mtDNA sequence variation can help in identifying both ancient polymorphisms defining sub-haplogroups and the accumulation of sporadic mutations associated with complex traits such as AD

Adherence issues related to sublingual immunotherapy as perceived by allergists

Objectives: Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is a viable alternative to subcutaneous immunotherapy to treat allergic rhinitis and asthma, and is widely used in clinical practice in many European countries. The clinical efficacy of SLIT has been established in a number of clinical trials and meta-analyses. However, because SLIT is self-administered by patients without medical supervision, the degree of patient adherence with treatment is still a concern. The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception by allergists of issues related to SLIT adherence. Methods: We performed a questionnaire-based survey of 296 Italian allergists, based on the adherence issues known from previous studies. The perception of importance of each item was assessed by a VAS scale ranging from 0 to 10. Results: Patient perception of clinical efficacy was considered the most important factor (ranked 1 by 54% of allergists), followed by the possibility of reimbursement (ranked 1 by 34%), and by the absence of side effects (ranked 1 by 21%). Patient education, regular follow-up, and ease of use of SLIT were ranked first by less than 20% of allergists. Conclusion: These findings indicate that clinical efficacy, cost, and side effects are perceived as the major issues influencing patient adherence to SLIT, and that further improvement of adherence is likely to be achieved by improving the patient information provided by prescribers. © 2010 Scurati et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd

“The Fixure of her Eye has Motion in’t”: The Discerning Ekphrasis of Hermione’s Statue in The Winter’s Tale

The controversy between Polixenes and Perdita over Art and Nature ends inconclusively, leaving an ambiguous legacy of unresolved questions that complicates the audience’s response to aesthetic and dramatic issues in the final scene.Le débat sur l’art et la nature qui oppose Polixenes et Perdita à l’acte 4 demeure ouvert, tandis que sa reprise à l’acte 5, avec l’apparition de la statue animée, lui apporte un degré de complexité supplémentaire en y ajoutant la dimension théâtrale