Green packaging from a company’s perspective: Determining factors for packaging solutions in the German fruit juice industry

In Germany, extensive legislation aims at getting companies to engage in eco-friendly packaging. A common packaging challenge centers on fruit juice products the packaging of which ranges from carton container, to glass or plastic bottles. This study examined the prevalence of Green Packaging in the Baden-Württemberg fruit juice industry. Expert interviews reveal that these companies make packaging decisions based on bottling volume and financial resources and not on Green Packaging concerns. Concerns about product quality, packaging functionality and convenience prevail because the market values these factors above all. This means Green Packaging will be implemented only when eco-friendly packaging becomes a ‘must-have’ product feature. The study also revealed that the retail channels used by these companies push back against returnable bottles because of their handling costs. Interviewees also expressed their opinion that consumers’ demand for Green Packaging does not suffice to drive change in existing practices. Our recommendation is that smaller companies focus their packaging decisions on existing returnable glass bottles thereby both minimizing change over costs and maximizing green marketing potential. For larger companies it is possible to take on a pioneer role in the field of Green Packaging

Green packaging from a company’s perspective: Determining factors for packaging solutions in the German fruit juice industry

In Germany, extensive legislation aims at getting companies to engage in eco-friendly packaging. A common packaging challenge centers on fruit juice products the packaging of which ranges from carton container, to glass or plastic bottles. This study examined the prevalence of Green Packaging in the Baden-Württemberg fruit juice industry. Expert interviews reveal that these companies make packaging decisions based on bottling volume and financial resources and not on Green Packaging concerns. Concerns about product quality, packaging functionality and convenience prevail because the market values these factors above all. This means Green Packaging will be implemented only when eco-friendly packaging becomes a ‘must-have’ product feature. The study also revealed that the retail channels used by these companies push back against returnable bottles because of their handling costs. Interviewees also expressed their opinion that consumers’ demand for Green Packaging does not suffice to drive change in existing practices. Our recommendation is that smaller companies focus their packaging decisions on existing returnable glass bottles thereby both minimizing change over costs and maximizing green marketing potential. For larger companies it is possible to take on a pioneer role in the field of Green Packaging

Scenarios for an impact assessment of global bioeconomy strategies: Results from a co-design process

The replacement of fossil resources with renewable biomass in a bioeconomy is seen as a major contribution to climate change mitigation. This transformation will affect all members of society, making it crucial to consider the views of different stakeholders to ensure a socially acceptable transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy. To explore potential outcomes of bioeconomy strategies assuming different future pathways, a scenario analysis is a tool to inform decision-makers about policy impacts and trade-offs. The inter- and transdisciplinary research project "BioNex - The future of the biomass nexus" is the first project to develop bioeconomy scenarios together with stakeholders from politics, industry, and civil society in an iterative co-design process. As a result, three storylines describing diverging potential global futures are developed and quantified: Towards sustainability, business as usual, and towards resource depletion. The futures are driven by different assumptions on climate policy, cropland expansion, productivity growth in agriculture, prices of fossil energy, and consumption behaviour. Additionally, in the co-design process, three bioeconomy policies are developed: policy as usual, stronger development of the bioeconomy, and no policies. Besides presenting the results of the stakeholder workshops, this paper evaluates the strengths and shortcomings of a stakeholder approach in terms of policy-oriented research. According to the experience made within this study, it provides valuable insights for researchers and funding authorities they can use to optimise the employment of stakeholder-based research approaches

Non-invasive testing for early detection of neovascular macular degeneration in unaffected second eyes of older adults: EDNA diagnostic accuracy study

Background Neovascular age-related macular degeneration is a leading cause of sight loss, and early detection and treatment is important. For patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration in one eye, it is usual practice to monitor the unaffected eye. The test used to diagnose neovascular age-related macular degeneration, fundus fluorescein angiography, is an invasive test. Non-invasive tests are available, but their diagnostic accuracy is unclear. Objectives The primary objective was to determine the diagnostic monitoring performance of tests for neovascular age-related macular degeneration in the second eye of patients with unilateral neovascular age-related macular degeneration. The secondary objectives were the cost-effectiveness of tests and to identify predictive factors of developing neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Design This was a multicentre, prospective, cohort, comparative diagnostic accuracy study in a monitoring setting for up to 3 years. A Cox regression risk prediction model and a Markov microsimulation model comparing cost-effectiveness of the index tests over 25 years were used. Setting This took place in hospital eye services. Participants Participants were adults (aged 50–95 years) with newly diagnosed (within the previous 6 weeks) neovascular age-related macular degeneration in one eye and an unaffected second (study) eye who were attending for treatment injections in the first eye and who had a study eye baseline visual acuity of ≥ 68 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters. Interventions The index tests were Amsler chart (completed by participants), fundus clinical examination, optical coherence tomography, self-reported vision assessment (completed by participants) and visual acuity. The reference standard was fundus fluorescein angiography. Main outcome measures The main outcome measures were sensitivity and specificity; the performance of the risk predictor model; and costs and quality-adjusted life-years. Results In total, 552 out of 578 patients who consented from 24 NHS hospitals (n = 16 ineligible; n = 10 withdrew consent) took part. The mean age of the patients was 77.4 years (standard deviation 7.7 years) and 57.2% were female. For the primary analysis, 464 patients underwent follow-up fundus fluorescein angiography and 120 developed neovascular age-related macular degeneration on fundus fluorescein angiography. The diagnostic accuracy [sensitivity (%) (95% confidence interval); specificity (%) (95% confidence interval)] was as follows: optical coherence tomography 91.7 (85.2 to 95.6); 87.8 (83.8 to 90.9)], fundus clinical examination [53.8 (44.8 to 62.5); 97.6 (95.3 to 98.9)], Amsler [33.7 (25.1 to 43.5); 81.4 (76.4 to 85.5)], visual acuity [30.0 (22.5 to 38.7); 66.3 (61.0 to 71.1)] and self-reported vision [4.2 (1.6 to 9.8); 97.0 (94.6 to 98.5)]. Optical coherence tomography had the highest sensitivity across all secondary analyses. The final prediction model for neovascular age-related macular degeneration in the non-affected eye included smoking status, family history of neovascular age-related macular degeneration, the presence of nodular drusen with or without reticular pseudodrusen, and the presence of pigmentary abnormalities [c-statistic 0.66 (95% confidence interval 0.62 to 0.71)]. Optical coherence tomography monitoring generated the greatest quality-adjusted life-years gained per patient (optical coherence tomography, 5.830; fundus clinical examination, 5.787; Amsler chart, 5.736, self-reported vision, 5.630; and visual acuity, 5.600) for the lowest health-care and social care costs (optical coherence tomography, £19,406; fundus clinical examination, £19,649; Amsler chart, £19,751; self-reported vision, £20,198; and visual acuity, £20,444) over the lifetime of the simulated cohort. Optical coherence tomography dominated the other tests or had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio below the accepted cost-effectiveness thresholds (£20,000) across the scenarios explored. Limitations The diagnostic performance may be different in an unselected population without any history of neovascular age-related macular degeneration; the prediction model did not include genetic profile data, which might have improved the discriminatory performance. Conclusions Optical coherence tomography was the most accurate in diagnosing conversion to neovascular age-related macular degeneration in the fellow eye of patients with unilateral neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Economic modelling suggests that optical coherence tomography monitoring is cost-effective and leads to earlier diagnosis of and treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration in the second eye of patients being treated for neovascular age-related macular degeneration in their first eye. Future work Future works should investigate the role of home monitoring, improved risk prediction models and impact on long-term visual outcomes. Study registration This study was registered as ISRCTN48855678. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 26, No. 8. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information

Inactivation of nuclear GSK3 beta by Ser(389) phosphorylation promotes lymphocyte fitness during DNA double-strand break response

Variable, diversity and joining (V(D)J) recombination and immunoglobulin class switch recombination (CSR) are key processes in adaptive immune responses that naturally generate DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and trigger a DNA repair response. It is unclear whether this response is associated with distinct survival signals that protect T and B cells. Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3 beta) is a constitutively active kinase known to promote cell death. Here we show that phosphorylation of GSK3 beta on Ser(389) by p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) is induced selectively by DSBs through ATM (ataxia telangiectasia mutated) as a unique mechanism to attenuate the activity of nuclear GSK3 beta and promote survival of cells undergoing DSBs. Inability to inactivate GSK3 beta through Ser(389) phosphorylation in Ser(389)Ala knockin mice causes a decrease in the fitness of cells undergoing V(D)J recombination and CSR. Preselection-Tcrb repertoire is impaired and antigen-specific IgG antibody responses following immunization are blunted in Ser(389)GSK3 beta knockin mice. Thus, GSK3 beta emerges as an important modulator of the adaptive immune response.We thank Dr T. Honjo and Dr K. Otsu for the generation of the original AID deficient mice and the p38 flox/flox mice, respectively. We thank C. Charland for flow cytometry analysis and cell sorting, the Vermont Cancer Center DNA Sequencing Facility and the University of Vermont College of Med. Microscopy Imaging Center for their services. We thank Dr D.R. Green and Dr R.C. Budd for helpful discussion regarding the mechanisms of cell death and reagents. This work was supported by NIH grant R01 AI051454 (M.R. and T.M.T.), P20 GM103496 (T.M.T.) NIH grant R37 GM41052 (M.S.K.) and Lake Champlain Cancer Research Organization (M.R.).S

Non-invasive testing for early detection of neovascular macular degeneration in unaffected second eyes of older adults : EDNA diagnostic accuracy study

Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 26, No. 8. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Diagnostic Accuracy of Monitoring Tests of Fellow Eyes in Patients with Unilateral Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration : Early Detection of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Study

Funding Information: The author(s) have made the following disclosure(s): R.G.: Personal fees ? Heidelberg Engineering.S.S.: Grants and personal fees ? Bayer, during the conduct of the study; Grants and personal fees ? Novartis, Boehringer Ingleheim; Grants ? Allergan, Roche; Personal fees ? Apellis, Oxurion, Heidelberg Engineering, Optos, outside the submitted work; Funded by the Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre and Clinical Research Facility.The project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme (Project Number: 12/142/07) and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment. The Health Services Research Unit and the Health Economics Research Unit are core funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate. F.G.: Grants ? NIHR, during the conduct of the study; Grants and personal fees ? Novartis, Roche, Bayer; Personal fees ? Allergan, Alimera; Grants ? Chengdu Pharma; Grants and nonfinancial support ? NIHR, outside the submitted work. J.A.C.: Study grant ? NIHR. K.B.: Grants ? NIHR HTA Programme, during the conduct of the study. Obtained funding: Chakravarthy, Ramsay, Sivaprasad, Scotland, Azuara-Blanco, Heiman and Cook Publisher Copyright: © 2021Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Consensus Statement: Expedition Inspiration Fund for Breast Cancer Research Meeting 2002

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44212/1/10549_2004_Article_5094133.pd

Imitation promotes affiliation in infant macaques at risk for impaired social behaviors

Parental responsiveness and synchronization during early face-to-face interactions between mother and infant have been theorized to affect a broad spectrum of positive developmental outcomes in social and cognitive infant growth and to facilitate the development of a sense of self in the baby. Here we show that being imitated can significantly affect the behavior of nursery-reared infant monkeys, which are at an increased risk for developing aberrant social behaviors. Infants look longer and lipsmack more at an experimenter both during imitation and after being imitated. These results demonstrate that from early in life imitation might be used as a privileged form of communication by adults to enhance infants’ visual engagement and their social communication. Imitation may therefore be useful to counteract the negative effects of early social adversities

Expedition Inspiration Fund for Breast Cancer Research Meeting 2003

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44216/1/10549_2004_Article_5139058.pd