Making Sustainable Agriculture Real in CAP 2020: The Role of Conservation Agriculture

Europe is about to redefine its Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) for the near future. The question is whether this redefinition is more a fine-tuning of the existing CAP or whether thorough changes can be expected. Looking back to the last revision of CAP the most notable change is, undoubtedly, the concern about EU and global food security. The revival of the interest in agricultural production already became evident during the Health Check as a consequence of climbing commodity prices in 2007/08. It is therefore no surprise that “rising concerns regarding both EU and global food security” is the first topic to appear in the list of justifications for the need for a CAP reform. Other challenges mentioned in this list such as sustainable management of natural resources, climate change and its mitigation, improvement of competitiveness to withstand globalization and rising price volatility, etc., while not new are considered worthwhile enough to be maintained and reappraised

Descriptive Analysis of Articles and Advertisements Pertaining to Skin Cancer Prevention in 2 Popular US Parenting Magazines, 2000–2010

Magazines focused on parenting are popular in the United States, and parents may use them to guide decisions about the health of their children. We analyzed issues of 2 popular parenting magazines published in the past 11 years during the months of peak ultraviolet radiation exposure for content related to sun protection and for advertisements for skin products that did and did not contain sun protection factor. Only 24 of 2,594 articles addressed the topic of sun protection for skin cancer prevention. Although advertising is pervasive in these magazines, the extent to which such advertising focuses on products with sun protection factor was low. These findings suggest that parenting magazines can do more to assist parents in making informed decisions about preventing skin cancer risk among youth

Electronic Patient Reporting of Adverse Events and Quality of Life: A Prospective Feasibility Study in General Oncology

PURPOSE: Adverse event (AE) reporting is essential in clinical trials. Clinician interpretation can result in under-reporting; therefore, the value of patient self-reporting has been recognized. The National Cancer Institute has developed a Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE) for direct patient AE reporting. A nonrandomized prospective cohort feasibility study aimed to explore the compliance and acceptability of an electronic (Internet or telephone) system for collecting patient self-reported AEs and quality of life (QOL). METHODS: Oncology patients undergoing treatment (chemotherapy, targeted agents, hormone therapy, radiotherapy, and/or surgery) at 2 hospitals were sent automated weekly reminders to complete PRO-CTCAE once a week and QOL (for a maximum of 12 weeks). Patients had to speak/understand English and have access to the Internet or a touch-tone telephone. Primary outcome was compliance (proportion of expected questionnaires), and recruitment rate, attrition, and patient/staff feedback were also explored. RESULTS: Of 520 patients, 249 consented (47.9%)—mean age was 62 years, 51% were male, and 70% were married—and 230 remained on the study at week 12. PRO-CTCAE was completed at 2,301 (74.9%) of 3,074 timepoints and QOL at 749 (79.1%) of 947 timepoints. Individual weekly/once every 4 weeks compliance reduced over time but was more than 60% throughout. Of 230 patients, 106 (46.1%) completed 13 or more PRO-CTCAE, and 136 (59.1%) of 230 patients completed 4 QOL questionnaires. Most were completed on the Internet (82.3%; mean age, 60.8 years), which was quicker, but older patients preferred the telephone option (mean age, 70.0 years). Positive feedback was received from patients and staff. CONCLUSION: Self-reporting of AEs and QOL using an electronic home-based system is feasible and acceptable. Implementation of this approach in cancer clinical trials may improve the precision and accuracy of AE reporting

Readability of Colorectal Cancer Online Information: A Brief Report

Purpose: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. A decline in deaths caused by CRC has been largely attributable to screening and prompt treatment. Motivation, shown to influence cancer-related screening and treatment decisions, can be shaped by information from the Internet. The extent to which this information is easily readable on cancer-related websites is not known. The purpose of this study was to assess the readability levels of CRC information on 100 websites. Methods: Using methods from a prior study, the keyword, “colorectal cancer,” was searched on a cleared Internet browser. Scores for each website (n = 100) were generated using five commonly recommended readability tests. Results: All five tests demonstrated difficult readability for the majority of the websites. Conclusions: Online information related to CRC is difficult to read and highlights the need for developing cancer-related online material that is understandable to a wider audience

Spatial and temporal variability of CO2 emisions in soils under conventional tillage and no-till farming

Agricultural soils can act as a carbon sink depending on the soil management practices employed. As a result of this functional duality, soil management systems are present in international documents relating to climate change mitigation. Agricultural practices are responsible for 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG’s) (MMA, 2009)(1). Conservation agriculture (CA) is one of the most effective agricultural systems for reducing CO2 emissions, as it increases the sequestration of atmospheric carbon in the soil. In order to assess the performance of CA in terms of CO2 emissions, a field trial was conducted comparing soil derived CO2 fluxes under No-till (NT) farming and under conventional tillage. Three pilot farms were selected in the cereal-growing area of southern Spain, located in Las Cabezas de San Juan (Seville), Carmona (Seville) and Cordoba. Each pilot farm comprises six experimental plots with an approximate area of five hectares; three of the six plots implement CA practices, while the other three use conventional tillage techniques. The subdivision of each tillage system into 3 plots allowed the simultaneous cropping of the three crops of the wheat-sunflower-legume rotation each year. Results showed that carbon dioxide emissions were 31 to 91% higher in tilled soils than in untilled soils, and that there was a great seasonal variability of CO2 emissions, as weather conditions also differed considerably for the different sampling periods. In all cases, the CO2 fluxes emitted into the atmosphere were always higher when soil was subject to conventional tillage

Validation study of a web-based assessment of functional recovery after radical prostatectomy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Good clinical care of prostate cancer patients after radical prostatectomy depends on careful assessment of post-operative morbidities, yet physicians do not always judge patient symptoms accurately. Logistical problems associated with using paper questionnaire limit their use in the clinic. We have implemented a web-interface ("STAR") for patient-reported outcomes after radical prostatectomy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analyzed data on the first 9 months of clinical implementation to evaluate the validity of the STAR questionnaire to assess functional outcomes following radical prostatectomy. We assessed response rate, internal consistency within domains, and the association between survey responses and known predictors of sexual and urinary function, including age, time from surgery, nerve sparing status and co-morbidities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 1581 men sent an invitation to complete the instrument online, 1235 responded for a response rate of 78%. Cronbach's alpha was 0.84, 0.86 and 0.97 for bowel, urinary and sexual function respectively. All known predictors of sexual and urinary function were significantly associated with survey responses in the hypothesized direction.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have found that web-based assessment of functional recovery after radical prostatectomy is practical and feasible. The instrument demonstrated excellent psychometric properties, suggested that validity is maintained when questions are transferred from paper to electronic format and when patients give responses that they know will be seen by their doctor and added to their clinic record. As such, our system allows ready implementation of patient-reported outcomes into routine clinical practice.</p

Conservation agriculture in the dry Mediterranean climate

The objective of this article is to review: (a) the concepts and principles that underpin Conservation Agriculture (CA) ecologically and operationally; (b) the potential benefits that can be harnessed through CA systems in the dry Mediterranean climates; (c) current status of adoption and spread of CA in the dry Mediterranean climate countries; and (d) opportunities for CA in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region. CA, comprising minimum mechanical soil disturbance and no-tillage seeding, organic mulch cover, and crop diversification is now practised on some 125 million ha, corresponding to about 9% of the global arable cropped land. Globally, the area under CA is spread across all continents and all agro-ecologies, including the dryland climates in the Mediterranean basin region as well as in the Mediterranean climates elsewhere in the world. Worldwide empirical and scientific evidence is available to show that significant productivity, economic, social and environmental benefits exist that can be harnessed through the adoption of CA principles for sustainable production intensification in the dry Mediterranean climates, including those in the CWANA region. The benefits include: fundamental change for the better in the sustainability of production systems and ecosystem services; higher stable yields and incomes; climate change adaptation and reduced vulnerability to the highly erratic rainfall distribution; and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. CA has taken off globally and is now spreading in several Mediterranean climates outside the Mediterranean basin particularly in South America, South Africa and Australia. In the dry Mediterranean climates in the CWANA region, CA is perceived to be a powerful tool of land management but CA has not yet taken off. Research on CA in the CWANA region has shown that there are opportunities for CA adoption in rainfed and irrigated farming systems involving arable and perennial crops as well as livestock

Patient-reported outcomes: an essential component of oncology drug development and regulatory review

When evaluating the risks and benefits of a new cancer drug, an understanding of the ways in which a drug affects how a patient feels and functions is crucial. Without such information, clinicians, patients, researchers, and regulators are left with an incomplete picture of the properties of that product; however, this situation is the norm in drug development programmes. Despite rising interest in patient-focused drug development in the past decade, most drug developers still do not rigorously and comprehensively collect information directly from patients about symptoms or physical functioning in pivotal trials upon which regulatory approval is based

High Compliance Rates with Patient-Reported Outcomes in Oncology Trials Submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration

There is increasing interest in collecting patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in oncology drug development trials to understand how participants feel and function during treatment. PRO information can inform assessments of tolerability via patient self-reported symptomatic adverse events (eg, using the NCI’s new Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse) and evaluations of efficacy by demonstrating improvements in disease-related symptoms or physical functioning. Well-established methods exist for developing PRO questionnaires, and for technologies to administer PRO questionnaires to patients electronically