Barriers for developing more robust organic arable farming systems in practice

There is a gap between the scientific idea of robust and economically viable organic arable farming systems with optimized crop rotations for nutrient and pest management and how these systems look like in practice. In order to explore this gap, we visited and interviewed ten organic arable farms in Denmark. Our main findings are: 1) Organic arable farming operates in a very dynamic and changing environment in terms of prizing and market opportunities, and the main focus of the farm managements was the coping strategy within this changing environment; 2) The farming systems were continuously changing and developing, buying and renting more land, changing manure agreements and other forms of cooperation and arrangements; 3) Short term profit was paid much more attention than more theoretical expectation on long term profit or opportunities in relation to optimizing the production system. This again seems logical in relation to the very dynamic world that the farmers have to operate within; 4) Most of the farmers do not see their farm as a coherent system but as a coordination of a series of separate operations, which means that most decisions are taken with specific reference to the individual field in at the present situation without considering the long-term effects. Management focus is thus much more on solving problems as they are occurring, by adjusting their practice, than it is on developing a robust system preventing problems to occur. This partial focus is also strongly supported by the way in which extension services mostly operate

Picture card tool for holistic planning in organic plant production

Presentation of a new tool for strategic farm planning and improving farm management. The tool is based on picture cards and is meant as an important help for the advisory service for organic farmers. The tool can help the farm manager to raise the yields and the economic performance in organic plant production

ØKOLOGISK BIORAFFINERING - ERFARINGER FRA ORGANOFINERY-PROJEKTET

Through a concept for biorefinery of green herbage to protein feed, fertilizer and energy, the project develops a new platform for organic growth. The project will deliver solutions to the following key challenges to the organic sector: Supply of organic protein feed to monogastric livestock, improved, climate-friendly, and robust crop rotations in areas with a low density of livestock, better use efficiency of the nutrients, and higher yields. These solutions are important for the sectors credibility and legitimacy. The project applies an ambitious, holistic, whole value-chain and cross disciplinary approach with the following activities: 1) Identification of the best suited material for biorefinery through cropping trials; 2)Harvest and extraction of green leaf protein through fermentation and separation; 3) Production, profiling and testing of organic protein feed on poultry, 4) Treatment of the residual biomass in a biogas plant for the production of biogas and valuable organic fertilizer, 5) Business model development for organic protein feed, fibre material for biogas and for system export, 6) Optimizing of the system for upscaling, 7) Involvement of all stakeholders

Perspektiverne i OrganoFinery-projektet

Through a concept for biorefinery of green herbage to protein feed, fertilizer and energy, the project develops a new platform for organic growth. The project will deliver solutions to the following key challenges to the organic sector: Supply of organic protein feed to monogastric livestock, improved, climate-friendly, and robust crop rotations in areas with a low density of livestock, better use efficiency of the nutrients, and higher yields. These solutions are important for the sectors credibility and legitimacy. The project applies an ambitious, holistic, whole value-chain and cross disciplinary approach with the following activities: 1) Identification of the best suited material for biorefinery through cropping trials; 2)Harvest and extraction of green leaf protein through fermentation and separation; 3) Production, profiling and testing of organic protein feed on poultry, 4) Treatment of the residual biomass in a biogas plant for the production of biogas and valuable organic fertilizer, 5) Business model development for organic protein feed, fibre material for biogas and for system export, 6) Optimizing of the system for upscaling, 7) Involvement of all stakeholders

Muligheder og barrierer for implementering af principper for robuste og højtydende planteavlssædskifter i praksis – Grundlagsrapport for barrierer undersøgelsen

I det økologiske forskningsprojekt, HighCrop, under GUDP - går økologiske planteavlere, konsulenter og forskere sammen om at finde ud af, hvordan planteavlen på de økologiske planteavlsbedrifter kan udvikles til at være mere robuste og bæredygtige. Et af indsatsområderne er, via interviewbesøg med 10 økologiske planteavlere, at afdække, hvordan den faglige viden når ud til landmændene og hvilke rådgivningstiltag og redskaber der bedst muligt kan understøtte denne videndeling. Denne rapport beskriver det teoretiske og metodiske grundlag for denne barriere undersøgels

Allelic Lineages of the Ficolin Genes (FCNs) Are Passed from Ancestral to Descendant Primates

The ficolins recognize carbohydrates and acetylated compounds on microorganisms and dying host cells and are able to activate the lectin pathway of the complement system. In humans, three ficolin genes have been identified: FCN1, FCN2 and FCN3, which encode ficolin-1, ficolin-2 and ficolin-3, respectively. Rodents have only two ficolins designated ficolin-A and ficolin-B that are closely related to human ficolin-1, while the rodent FCN3 orthologue is a pseudogene. Ficolin-2 and ficolin-3 have so far only been observed in humans. Thus, we performed a systematic investigation of the FCN genes in non-human primates. The exons and intron-exon boundaries of the FCN1-3 genes were sequenced in the following primate species: chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, rhesus macaque, cynomolgus macaque, baboon and common marmoset. We found that the exon organisation of the FCN genes was very similar between all the non-human primates and the human FCN genes. Several variations in the FCN genes were found in more than one primate specie suggesting that they were carried from one species to another including humans. The amino acid diversity of the ficolins among human and non-human primate species was estimated by calculating the Shannon entropy revealing that all three proteins are generally highly conserved. Ficolin-1 and ficolin-2 showed the highest diversity, whereas ficolin-3 was more conserved. Ficolin-2 and ficolin-3 were present in non-human primate sera with the same characteristic oligomeric structures as seen in human serum. Taken together all the FCN genes show the same characteristics in lower and higher primates. The existence of trans-species polymorphisms suggests that different FCN allelic lineages may be passed from ancestral to descendant species

Heat shock protein amplification improves cerebellar myelination in the Npc1nih mouse model.

BACKGROUND: Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) is a rare prematurely fatal lysosomal lipid storage disease with limited therapeutic options. The prominent neuropathological hallmarks include hypomyelination and cerebellar atrophy. We previously demonstrated the efficacy of recombinant human heat shock protein 70 (rhHSP70) in preclinical models of the disease. It reduced glycosphingolipid levels in the central nervous system (CNS), improving cerebellar myelination and improved behavioural phenotypes in Npc1nih (Npc1-/-) mice. Furthermore, treatment with arimoclomol, a well-characterised HSP amplifier, attenuated lysosomal storage in NPC patient fibroblasts and improved neurological symptoms in Npc1-/- mice. Taken together, these findings prompted the investigation of the effects of HSP amplification on CNS myelination. METHODS: We administered bimoclomol daily or rhHSP70 6 times per week to Npc1-/- (BALB/cNctr-Npc1m1N/J, also named Npc1nih) mice by intraperitoneal injection from P7 through P34 to investigate the impact on CNS myelination. The Src-kinase inhibitor saracatinib was administered with/without bimoclomol twice daily to explore the contribution of Fyn kinase to bimoclomol's effects. FINDINGS: Treatment with either bimoclomol or rhHSP70 improved myelination and increased the numbers of mature oligodendrocytes (OLs) as well as the ratio of active-to-inactive forms of phosphorylated Fyn kinase in the cerebellum of Npc1-/- mice. Additionally, treatment with bimoclomol preserved cerebellar weight, an effect that was abrogated when co-administered with saracatinib, an inhibitor of Fyn kinase. Bimoclomol-treated mice also exhibited increased numbers of immature OLs within the cortex. INTERPRETATION: These data increase our understanding of the mechanisms by which HSP70 regulates myelination and provide further support for the clinical development of HSP-amplifying therapies in the treatment of NPC. FUNDING: Funding for this study was provided by Orphazyme A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark) and a Pathfinder Award from The Wellcome Trust

5-HT2A Receptor Binding in the Frontal Cortex of Parkinson's Disease Patients and Alpha-Synuclein Overexpressing Mice:A Postmortem Study

The 5-HT2A receptor is highly involved in aspects of cognition and executive function and seen to be affected in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and related to the disease pathology. Even though Parkinson’s disease (PD) is primarily a motor disorder, reports of impaired executive function are also steadily being associated with this disease. Not much is known about the pathophysiology behind this. The aim of this study was thereby twofold: (1) to investigate 5-HT2A receptor binding levels in Parkinson’s brains and (2) to investigate whether PD associated pathology, alpha-synuclein (AS) overexpression, could be associated with 5-HT2A alterations. Binding density for the 5-HT2A-specific radioligand [3H]-MDL 100.907 was measured in membrane suspensions of frontal cortex tissue from PD patients. Protein levels of AS were further measured using western blotting. Results showed higher AS levels accompanied by increased 5-HT2A receptor binding in PD brains. In a separate study, we looked for changes in 5-HT2A receptors in the prefrontal cortex in 52-week-old transgenic mice overexpressing human AS. We performed region-specific 5-HT2A receptor binding measurements followed by gene expression analysis. The transgenic mice showed lower 5-HT2A binding in the frontal association cortex that was not accompanied by changes in gene expression levels. This study is one of the first to look at differences in serotonin receptor levels in PD and in relation to AS overexpression