Comparing the effects of tofacitinib, methotrexate and the combination, on bone marrow oedema, synovitis and bone erosion in methotrexate-naive, early active rheumatoid arthritis: results of an exploratory randomised MRI study incorporating semiquantitative and quantitative techniques

Objectives To explore the effects of tofacitinib—an oral Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)—with or without methotrexate (MTX), on MRI endpoints in MTX-naive adult patients with early active RA and synovitis in an index wrist or hand. Methods In this exploratory, phase 2, randomised, double-blind, parallel-group study, patients received tofacitinib 10 mg twice daily + MTX, tofacitinib 10 mg twice daily + placebo (tofacitinib monotherapy), or MTX + placebo (MTX monotherapy), for 1 year. MRI endpoints (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials RA MRI score (RAMRIS), quantitative RAMRIS (RAMRIQ) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI) were assessed using a mixed-effect model for repeated measures. Treatment differences with p<0.05 (vs MTX monotherapy) were considered significant. Results In total, 109 patients were randomised and treated. Treatment differences in RAMRIS bone marrow oedema (BME) at month 6 were −1.55 (90% CI −2.52 to −0.58) for tofacitinib + MTX and −1.74 (−2.72 to −0.76) for tofacitinib monotherapy (both p0.05 vs MTX monotherapy). Treatment differences in RAMRIQ synovitis were statistically significant at month 3, consistent with DCE MRI findings. Less deterioration of RAMRIS and RAMRIQ erosive damage was seen at months 6 and 12 in both tofacitinib groups versus MTX monotherapy. Conclusions These results provide consistent evidence using three different MRI technologies that tofacitinib treatment leads to early reduction of inflammation and inhibits progression of structural damage

Stakeholders' perspectives on the operationalisation of the ecosystem service concept : Results from 27 case studies

The ecosystem service (ES) concept is becoming mainstream in policy and planning, but operational influence on practice is seldom reported. Here, we report the practitioners' perspectives on the practical implementation of the ES concept in 27 case studies. A standardised anonymous survey (n = 246), was used, focusing on the science-practice interaction process, perceived impact and expected use of the case study assessments. Operationalisation of the concept was shown to achieve a gradual change in practices: 13% of the case studies reported a change in action (e.g. management or policy change), and a further 40% anticipated that a change would result from the work. To a large extent the impact was attributed to a well conducted science-practice interaction process (>70%). The main reported advantages of the concept included: increased concept awareness and communication; enhanced participation and collaboration; production of comprehensive science-based knowledge; and production of spatially referenced knowledge for input to planning (91% indicated they had acquired new knowledge). The limitations were mostly case-specific and centred on methodology, data, and challenges with result implementation. The survey highlighted the crucial role of communication, participation and collaboration across different stakeholders, to implement the ES concept and enhance the democratisation of nature and landscape planning. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Valuing Urban Ecosystem Services: A Contingent Valuation Study on Street Trees in Oslo

Ecosystem services is a broad term for the welfare humans derive from nature. For a number of reasons – such as missing markets, externalities, undefined property rights, and lack of information - the ecosystem services and the natural structures that underlie them are not adequately accounted for in the economy. This is a problem because it can lead to a poor use of resources. This study is concerned with valuing street trees in Oslo. They provide a range of benefits to people living in the city, but their value is not fully accounted for in the economy. Population growth and densification of the city puts pressure on their existence in the city and on the municipality s budgets. It is important to document their value in order to ensure an urbanization that reflects people s preferences for street trees and the services they provide. Valuing urban ecosystem services is challenging because there are so many different preferences and ecosystem services in a small geographical area. It is a high context density environment. Many of the services are both complementary and substitute goods to other services. Figuring out how to value different urban ecosystem services is not a straightforward process. I have applied the contingent valuation method to estimate the value of Oslo s street trees. The data comes from an online web-survey on a representative sample carried out as part of the Oslo OpenNESS research project. The survey was designed to elicit the willingness to pay for a rise in the municipality s budget for street trees in order to maintain or increase today s level of street trees in respondents street. I estimated that the mean WTP for each household for maintenance or increase in street tree density to be 333 NOK per year, over the course of the next 15 years. Aggregating over the share of household population of Oslo this becomes almost 60 million NOK per year. I only extrapolated to the same share of households as the share of respondents that reported a WTP, I have not assumed anything about the share that did not report WTP. The policy relevance of this study is documenting the economic value generated by street trees in Oslo and defending their place in the city and on the municipality s budgets

Environmental impacts and potential of the sharing economy

The various sharing initiatives seen in the Nordic countries over the last years within transportation, housing/accommodation, sharing/renting of smaller capital goods and personal services could yield considerable benefits for consumers due to better quality and/or lower prices of the services. They also have a potential for emissions reductions of CO2 and local pollutants. However, savings from lower prices could lead to increased emissions from increased demand of the services (particularly transport) and increased spending on other goods and services. Depending on how consumers spend their savings, these changes could partly, wholly or more than offset the initial emission reductions. The impacts on overall CO2 emissions depend on whether the emissions are taxed, part of the emissions trading system EU ETS or not regulated at all

Stakeholders’ perspectives on the operationalisation of the ecosystem service concept: results from 27 case studies

The ecosystem service (ES) concept is becoming mainstream in policy and planning, but operational influence on practice is seldom reported. Here, we report the practitioners’ perspectives on the practical implementation of the ES concept in 27 case studies. A standardised anonymous survey (n = 246), was used, focusing on the science-practice interaction process, perceived impact and expected use of the case study assessments. Operationalisation of the concept was shown to achieve a gradual change in practices: 13% of the case studies reported a change in action (e.g. management or policy change), and a further 40% anticipated that a change would result from the work. To a large extent the impact was attributed to a well conducted science-practice interaction process (>70%). The main reported advantages of the concept included: increased concept awareness and communication; enhanced participation and collaboration; production of comprehensive science-based knowledge; and production of spatially referenced knowledge for input to planning (91% indicated they had acquired new knowledge). The limitations were mostly case-specific and centred on methodology, data, and challenges with result implementation. The survey highlighted the crucial role of communication, participation and collaboration across different stakeholders, to implement the ES concept and enhance the democratisation of nature and landscape planning. 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.acceptedVersio

Stakeholders’ perspectives on the operationalisation of the ecosystem service concept: results from 27 case studies

The ecosystem service (ES) concept is becoming mainstream in policy and planning, but operational influence on practice is seldom reported. Here, we report the practitioners’ perspectives on the practical implementation of the ES concept in 27 case studies. A standardised anonymous survey (n=246), was used, focusing on the science-practice interaction process, perceived impact and expected use of the case study assessments. Operationalisation of the concept was shown to achieve a gradual change in practices: 13% of the case studies reported a change in action (e.g. management or policy change), and a further 40% anticipated that a change would result from the work. To a large extent the impact was attributed to a well conducted science-practice interaction process (>70%). The main reported advantages of the concept included: increased concept awareness and communication; enhanced participation and collaboration; production of comprehensive science-based knowledge; and production of spatially referenced knowledge for input to planning (91% indicated they had acquired new knowledge). The limitations were mostly case-specific and centred on methodology, data, and challenges with result implementation. The survey highlighted the crucial role of communication, participation and collaboration across different stakeholders, to implement the ES concept and enhance the democratisation of nature and landscape planning.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource