Factors Affecting European Farmers’Participation in Biodiversity Policies

This article reports the major findings from an interdisciplinary research project that synthesises key insights into farmers’ willingness and ability to co-operate with biodiversity policies. The results of the study are based on an assessment of about 160 publications and research reports from six EU member states and from international comparative research.We developed a conceptual framework to systematically review the existent literature relevant for our purposes. This framework provides a common structure for analysing farmers’ perspectives regarding the introduction into farming practices of measures relevant to biodiversity. The analysis is coupled and contrasted with a survey of experts. The results presented above suggest that it is important to view support for practices oriented towards biodiversity protection not in a static sense – as a situation determined by one or several influencing factors – but rather as a process marked by interaction. Financial compensation and incentives function as a necessary, though clearly not sufficient condition in this process

Production of Secondaries in High Energy d+Au Collisions

In the framework of Quark-Gluon String Model we calculate the inclusive spectra of secondaries produced in d+Au collisions at intermediate (CERN SPS) and at much higher (RHIC) energies. The results of numerical calculations at intermediate energies are in reasonable agreement with the data. At RHIC energies numerically large inelastic screening corrections (percolation effects) should be accounted for in calculations. We extract these effects from the existing RHIC experimental data on minimum bias and central d+Au collisions. The predictions for p+Au interactions at LHC energy are also given.Comment: 18 pages and 10 figure

Production of secondaries in soft p+pb collisions at LHC

We calculate the inclusive spectra of secondaries produced in soft (minimum bias) p+Pb collisions in the framework of Quark-Gluon String Model at LHC energy, and by taking into account the inelastic screening corrections (percolation effects). The role of these effects is expected to be very large at very high energies, and they should decrease the spectra about 3 times in the midrapidity region and increase them about 2 times in the fragmentation region at the energy of LHC.Comment: 18 pages and 10 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0802.219

Temporal geochemical trends in Kerguelen Archipelago basalts: Evidence for decreasing magma supply from the Kerguelen Plume

The Kerguelen Archipelago, a ~39 Ma to recent volcanic-plutonic complex, is interpreted to be a manifestation of the Kerguelen Plume. Most, ~85%, of the surface area is covered by flood basalts ranging in age from ~29 to 25 Ma. The youngest (~25 Ma) studied flood basalts are in the Southeast (SE) Province of the archipelago. A composite 460 m section of this southeast flood basalt dominantly consists of evolved (3 to 6% MgO) alkalic basalt and trachybasalt with a few interbedded highly evolved lavas (trachyandesites), a 40-70 m conglomerate which contains lignite beds, and a trachytic breccia/tuff unit. All of the lavas in this composite section have Sr and Nd isotopic ratios that are typical of the Kerguelen Plume; e.g. >80% of the 115 analyzed archipelago lavas with >2.3% MgO have (87Sr/86Sr)(i) = 0.70515 ± 12 and (143Nd/144Nd)(i) = 0.51259 ± 5. These ranges include the southeast flood basalts. Pb isotopes, however, are more variable; these 25 Ma lavas have high 206Pb/204Pb at ~18.4 to 18.6, relative to other archipelago lavas. The temporal trend of the archipelago flood basalt from older, ~29 Ma, transitional basalts to younger, ~25 Ma, alkalic basalt with an increasing proportion of highly evolved lavas and intra-bedded sediments in the relatively young southeast section indicates: (a) a temporal decrease in extent of melting and (b) a decreasing supply of magma from the plume to the crust. These temporal trends are attributed to increasing lithosphere thickness as the plume evolved from a spreading ridge-centered plume at ~43 Ma to its intraplate setting. Supporting evidence for this interpretation is: (a) the absence of a MORB geochemical signature in these 25 Ma lavas; and (b) the relatively low abundances of heavy rare-earth elements in these southeast lavas which reflect partial melting within the garnet stability field. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Significance of HER2 low-level copy gain in Barrett's cancer: Implications for fluorescence in situ hybridization testing in tissues.

HER2 may be a relevant biomarker in Barrett's cancer. We compared three HER2 laboratory methods, standard fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), image-based three-dimensional FISH in thick (16 µm) sections, and immunohistochemistry, to predict patient outcome.Experimental Design: Tissue microarray sections from 124 Barrett's cancer patients were analyzed by standard FISH on thin (4 µm) sections and by image-based three-dimensional FISH on thick (16 µm) sections for HER2 and chromosome-17, as well for p185HER2 by immunohistochemistry. Correlations with clinical and follow-up data were examined. Only three-dimensional FISH on thick (16 µm) sections revealed HER2 gene copy gain to be associated with increased disease-specific mortality (relative risk, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-4.26; P = 0.033). In contrast, standard FISH on thin (4 µm) sections and immunohistochemistry failed to predict clinical outcome. Low-level gain of HER2 occurred frequently in Barrett's cancer (?2.5-4.0 HER2 copies, 59.7%; HER2-to-chromosome-17 ratio, ?1.1-2.0; 61.2%) and defined a subpopulation for patient outcome as unfavorable as HER2 gene amplification [disease-free survival, P = 0.017 (HER2 copies)]. This low-level group was neither definable by standard FISH nor immunohistochemistry. No prognostic significance was found for chromosome-17 aneusomy. Low-level copy gains of HER2 define a biologically distinct subpopulation of Barrett's cancer patients. Importantly, these subtle copy number changes are not reliably detected by standard FISH in thin (4 µm) tissue sections, highlighting a thus far unrecognized weakness in HER2 FISH testing. These results should be taken into account for accurate evaluation of biomarkers by FISH and for HER2 FISH testing in tissue sections

Structural studies on mannose-selective glycoprotein receptors using molecular modeling techniques

Glycoproteins play important roles in various cellular events and their presence in appropriate locations in proper active conformations is essential for many biochemical functions. Recent evidences suggest that some glycoproteins may require sorting receptors for efficient exit from the endoplasmic reticulum. These receptors need the presence of calcium or other metal ions for their native activity. The three-dimensional structure of such a receptor, p58/ERGIC-53, has been recently solved by x-ray crystallography, which is a mannose-selective lectin and contains two Ca2+ ions. Homology search in the sequence databases indicates a large number of proteins which bear varying degrees of homology in a wide spectrum of species with this receptor. In this study we have systematically searched for such genes which are potential candidates for acting as mannosemediated glycoprotein receptors in various species as initially inferred from their amino acid sequence homology. Structures of a number of proteins have been predicted using knowledge-based homology modeling, and their ability to act as the glycoprotein receptor has been explored by examining the nature of sugar-binding site. Tetramer of mannose was docked in the binding pockets of the modeled structures followed by energy minimization and molecular dynamics to obtain most probable structures of the complexes. Properties of these modeled complexes were studied to examine the nature of physicochemical forces involved in the complex formation and compared with p58/ERGIC-53-mannose complex