Future yields assessment of bioenergy crops in relation to climate change and technological development in Europe

Bioenergy crops are expected to play an important role in reducing CO2 emission, in energy supply and in European energy policy. However, a sustainable bioenergy supply must be resilient to climate change and the impacts on agriculture at both global and regional scale. The purpose of this study was to forecast the potential distribution of several bioenergy crops based on agronomic and environmental constrains under current conditions and future scenarios (2020 and 2030) in European Union. Potential biomass yield, according to the category end use product achievable in each environmental zone of Europe at present and in the future available land have been also studied. Future yields were assessed according to two factors: technological development and climate change: the former was based on prospect of DG-Agriculture for conventional crops and expert judgments for bioenergy crops, while the latter based on relevant research papers and literature reviews which used site-specific crop growth models. Yields are expected to increase in northern Europe due to climate change and technological development, while in southerneastern Europe the negative effect of climate change will be mitigated by the technological development. The estimated total biomass production in Europe, on the basis of future yields and surplus land made available for energy crops, may not be sufficient to meet the needs of bioenergy supply as claimed in the European directive 2009/28/EC

Transient elevation of the ipsilateral hemidiaphragm associated with pneumonia

Eventration of the diaphragm, a condition that predisposes to recurrent pneumonia, is seen in children of all ages. Although possible mechanisms of the condition have been proposed, its etiology is unknown. This brief report describes ipsilateral elevation of the diaphragm in 17 children with lobar or segmental pneumonia

Observations in febrile children with round air space opacities

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia in children is rarely depicted as round opacity. The aim of the present study was therefore to describe the clinical and laboratory characteristics of round pneumonia in children. Methods: The clinical series consisted of 30 children aged 1-7 years (mean age, 3.4 +/- 1.8 years) who were compared to an equal number of children with segmental or lobar pneumonia aged 3-11 years (mean age, 5.5 +/- 2.7 years). Results: Round pneumonia was localized more often in the lower lobe (17/30), and the right side was more commonly affected (20/30). The same, however, was the case for the control group. The two groups were not different regarding the severity of the disease but cough was much more common in the control patients. The white blood cells were considerably higher in round pneumonia, whereas the other inflammatory indices were not significantly different. All round consolidations responded promptly to antibiotics and resolved radiographically in 8 weeks. Conclusion: Round consolidations in febrile children associated with elevated inflammatory indices seem to be attributed to round pneumonia, which responds promptly to antibiotics without complications

Agronomic performance and seed quality attributes of Camelina (Camelina sativa L. crantz) in multi-environment trials across Europe and Canada

Camelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) is considered a relatively new oilseed Brassicacea in both Europe and North America, even though its history as a crop dates back to the Bronze Age. Camelina has recently received renewed interest from both the scientific community and bio-based industries around the world. The main attractive features of this species are: drought and frost tolerance, disease and pest resistance, a unique seed oil composition with high levels of n-3 fatty acids, a considerably high seed oil content, and satisfactory seed yields, in particular under low-input management and in limiting environments. Aiming at evaluating the feasible introduction of recently released camelina breeding lines under different environmental conditions and their productive potential a multi-location trial was set up. The agronomic performance of nine improved genotypes of camelina was evaluated in a wide range of environments in Europe (Greece, Italy, Poland) and in five locations across Canada, in two consecutive growing seasons (2015 and 2016). Sowing time was optimized for each location according to the different climatic conditions. Camelina proved to be a highly adaptable species, reaching seed yields of about 1MgDMha-1 under the most limiting conditions (i.e., low precipitation, poor soil quality, extremely high temperature at flowering). Growing environments characterized by mild temperatures and adequate rainfall (>170mm, during the growing season) resulted in higher average seed yields. The length of the growing cycle varied greatly between different locations (80-110d), but the cumulative thermal time was quite stable (∼1200 GDD, growing degree days). The advanced breeding line 787-08, which possesses up to 30% larger seed compared to the mean seed size of all other test entries, proved to be the most promising genotype across all locations in Europe and Canada, combining high seed yields (1.1-2.7MgDMha-1) with improved yield stability. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, camelina lines with improved oil composition (i.e., increased oleic and α-linolenic and lower linoleic acid contents) for feed, food and industrial applications were identified (789-02 and 887).</p