Which carabid species benefit from organic agriculture? - a review of comparative studies in winter cereals from Germany and Switzerland

Data of comparative studies about carabid beetles in organically and conventionally managed winter cereal fields of central Europe, using the pitfall trapping method, were collected from the literature and unpublished data sources and were then pooled and analysed. According to an index, which was designed to calculate how much a species benefits from organic management, Carabus auratus turned out to benefit most. Some Amara species (A. familiaris, A. similata and A. aenea) as well as Pseudoophonus rufipes and Harpalus affinis also showed high index values. When analysing the traits of the carabids, the habitat preference was the most important variable for the differentiation of organic and conventional management. The stronger the preference for open field, the more the species are supported by organic agriculture. For the promotion of the agricultural carabid fauna it is suggested that weedier and less densely cropped fields be tolerated

Reboxetine for acute treatment of major depression: systematic review and meta-analysis of published and unpublished placebo and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor controlled trials

Objectives To assess the benefits and harms of reboxetine versus placebo or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the acute treatment of depression, and to measure the impact of potential publication bias in trials of reboxetine

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation following high-dose chemotherapy for non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcomas (Review)

Background Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a highly heterogeneous group of raremalignant solid tumors.Non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcomas (NRSTS) comprise all STS except rhabdomyosarcoma. In patients with advanced local or metastatic disease, autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) applied after high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) is a planned rescue therapy forHDCT-related severe hematologic toxicity. Objectives To assess the effectiveness and safety of HDCT followed by autologous HSCT for all stages of soft tissue sarcomas in children and adults. Search strategy We searched the electronic databases CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2010, Issue 2), MEDLINE and EMBASE (February 2010). Online trial registers, congress abstracts and reference lists of reviews were searched and expert panels and authors were contacted. Selection criteria Terms representing STS and autologous HSCT were required in the title, abstract or keywords. In studies with aggregated data, participants with NRSTS and autologous HSCT had to constitute at least 80% of the data. Comparative non-randomized studies were included because randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were not expected. Case series and case reports were considered for an additional descriptive analysis. Data collection and analysis Study data were recorded by two review authors independently. For studies with no comparator group, we synthesised results for studies reporting aggregate data and conducted a pooled analysis of individual participant data using the Kaplan-Meyer method. The primary outcomes were overall survival (OS) and treatment-related mortality (TRM). Main results We included 54 studies, from 467 full texts articles screened (11.5%), reporting on 177 participants that received HSCT and 69 participants that received standard care. Only one study reported comparative data. In the one comparative study, OS at two years after HSCT was estimated as statistically significantly higher (62.3%) compared with participants that received standard care (23.2%). In a single-arm study, the OS two years after HSCT was reported as 20%. In a pooled analysis of the individual data of 54 participants, OS at two years was estimated as 49% (95% CI 34% to 64%). Data on TRM, secondary neoplasia and severe toxicity grade 3 to 4 after transplantation were sparse. All 54 studies had a high risk of bias. Authors’ conclusions Due to a lack of comparative studies, it is unclear whether participants with NRSTS have improved survival from autologous HSCT following HDCT. Owing to this current gap in knowledge, at present HDCT and autologous HSCT for NRSTS should only be used within controlled trials

Evaluating inputs for organic farming – a new system. Proposals of the ORGANIC INPUTS EVALUATION project

This volume contains proposals for criteria for evaluation of plant protection products, fertilisers and soil conditioners1 to be used in organic agriculture. These ideas were developed in the course of the European Union (EU) Concerted Action project ‘ORGANIC INPUTS EVALUATION’ (QLK5-CT-2002-02565). For more information on this project see the end of this volume or visit the project website www.organicinputs.org. The documents in this volume are proposals elaborated by the project consortium and external experts. They were discussed with a broader audience at a public conference held in Brussels on October 13, 2005, and have been amended accordingly. Our proposals also include a “criteria matrix”, which is in Microsoft Excel format, and therefore stands as a separate file. The criteria matrix is discussed in section 5, but we strongly recommend that you consult the original document. To illustrate the use of the matrix, we have further prepared two case studies, which are also separate Excel files. All of these files are contained on the CD, and can also be downloaded from the project website. Currently, Regulation 2092/91 is under revision. We hope that our ideas can be incorporated into the regulation during this revision! In addition, we strongly encourage national institutions to make use of our proposals at the national level

Evaluating inputs for organic farming - a new system

This CD contains criteria for the evaluation of plant protection products, fertilizers and soil conditioners to be used in organic agriculture. These ideas were developed in the course of the European Union Concerted Action project «ORGANIC INPUTS EVALUATION» (QLK5-CT-2002-02565). For more information visit the project website www.organicinputs.org. The editors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Commission of the European Communities, under Key Action 5 of the Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (QLK5-CT-2002-02565 «ORGANIC INPUTS EVALUATION») and co-funding by the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science (BBW 02.0113)

Design of a Pilot SOFC System for the Combined Production of Hydrogen and Electricity under Refueling Station Requirements

The objective of the current work is to support the design of a pilot hydrogen and electricity producing plant that uses natural gas (or biomethane) as raw material, as a transition option towards a 100% renewable transportation system. The plant, with a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) as principal technology, is intended to be the main unit of an electric vehicle station. The refueling station has to work at different operation periods characterized by the hydrogen demand and the electricity needed for supply and self-consumption. The same set of heat exchangers has to satisfy the heating and cooling needs of the different operation periods. In order to optimize the operating variables of the pilot plant and to provide the best heat exchanger network, the applied methodology follows a systematic procedure for multi-objective, i.e. maximum plant efficiency and minimum number of heat exchanger matches, and multi-period optimization. The solving strategy combines process flow modeling in steady state, superstructure-based mathematical programming and the use of an evolutionary-based algorithm for optimization. The results show that the plant can reach a daily weighted efficiency exceeding 60%, up to 80% when considering heat utilization

A procedure to optimize the timing of operator actions of Accident Management procedures

The analysis of beyond design basis accidents (BDBA) is an essential component of the safety concept of nuclear power plants (NPP). Goal of the analysis is to achieve a set of actions aimed to prevent the escalation into a severe accident, to mitigate consequences of a severe accident, and to achieve a long term controllable state of the NPP. This paper presents an analytical procedure to optimize the timing of operator interventions. The procedure is demonstrated based on four sets of parameters, first, parameters which define the operator actions are chosen. Second, parameters which define the system availability are chosen. Third, parameters which define in a continuous way the status of the plant are chosen. Finally, one looks for a functional dependency of the accident management (AM)-parameters and the parameters describing the plant status. Once a function could be found, this function is “optimized” in the sense that the AM-parameters are varied to find a optimal overall condition for the plant. In the first part, the paper presents the analytical procedure in a general way, in the second part, an initiating event is chosen. The procedure is applied to a station black out (SBO) transient, and as operator action secondary side bleed and feed, followed by primary side bleed and feed, is foreseen. As result, the optimal timing to initiate both actions is achieved