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

Trends in influenza vaccination coverage rates in Germany over five seasons from 2001 to 2006

BACKGROUND: To assess influenza vaccination coverage from 2001 to 2006 in Germany, to understand drivers and barriers to vaccination and to identify vaccination intentions for season 2006/07. METHODS: 9,990 telephone-based household surveys from age 14 were conducted between 2001 and 2006. Essentially, the same questionnaire was used in all seasons. RESULTS: The influenza vaccination coverage rate reached 32.5% in 2005/06. In the elderly (> or years), the vaccination rate reached 58.9% in 2005/06. In those aged 65 years and older, it was 63.4%. Perceiving influenza as a serious illness was the most frequent reason for getting vaccinated. Thirteen percent of those vaccinated in 2005/06 indicated the threat of avian flu as a reason. The main reason for not getting vaccinated was thinking about it without putting it into practice. The major encouraging factor to vaccination was a recommendation by the family doctor. 49.6% of the respondents intend to get vaccinated against influenza in season 2006/07. CONCLUSION: Increasing vaccination rates were observed from 2001 to 2006 in Germany. The threat of avian influenza and the extended reimbursement programs may have contributed to the recent increase

Single-molecule experiments in biological physics: methods and applications

I review single-molecule experiments (SME) in biological physics. Recent technological developments have provided the tools to design and build scientific instruments of high enough sensitivity and precision to manipulate and visualize individual molecules and measure microscopic forces. Using SME it is possible to: manipulate molecules one at a time and measure distributions describing molecular properties; characterize the kinetics of biomolecular reactions and; detect molecular intermediates. SME provide the additional information about thermodynamics and kinetics of biomolecular processes. This complements information obtained in traditional bulk assays. In SME it is also possible to measure small energies and detect large Brownian deviations in biomolecular reactions, thereby offering new methods and systems to scrutinize the basic foundations of statistical mechanics. This review is written at a very introductory level emphasizing the importance of SME to scientists interested in knowing the common playground of ideas and the interdisciplinary topics accessible by these techniques. The review discusses SME from an experimental perspective, first exposing the most common experimental methodologies and later presenting various molecular systems where such techniques have been applied. I briefly discuss experimental techniques such as atomic-force microscopy (AFM), laser optical tweezers (LOT), magnetic tweezers (MT), biomembrane force probe (BFP) and single-molecule fluorescence (SMF). I then present several applications of SME to the study of nucleic acids (DNA, RNA and DNA condensation), proteins (protein-protein interactions, protein folding and molecular motors). Finally, I discuss applications of SME to the study of the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of small systems and the experimental verification of fluctuation theorems. I conclude with a discussion of open questions and future perspectives.Comment: Latex, 60 pages, 12 figures, Topical Review for J. Phys. C (Cond. Matt

Cyclin D1, cyclin E, and p21 have no apparent prognostic value in anal carcinomas treated by radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy

The purpose of this study was to assess the potential prognostic and/or predictive value of the expression of cyclin D1, cyclin E, and p21 protein in a series of 98 anal carcinomas (T1-4, N0-3) treated by radiotherapy with (51) or without (47) chemotherapy in one institution. Correlation with Mib1 index and p53 expression was also investigated. Median follow-up for surviving patients was 124 months (range: 30-266). Immunohistochemical staining was performed on pretreatment biopsies, applying a standard ABC technique for cyclin D1 (clone DSC6, DAKO, 1 : 300), cyclin E (clone 13A3, Novocastra, 1 : 100), p21(WAF/CIP1) (clone SX118, DAKO, 1 : 50), p53 (clone DO7, DAKO, 1 : 200), and Mib1 (Ki-67, Dianova, 1 : 20). Tumours were classified into low- or high-expression groups according to the expression level of the protein considered. High expression was found in 51% of tumours for cyclin E, in 33.7% for cyclin D1, and in 65% for p21. None of those factors were significantly associated with clinical variables such as advanced T or N categories. In a monovariate analysis, advanced T and N categories and longer overall treatment time were the only variables that correlated significantly with low rate of local control (LC) and disease-free survival. However, in a subgroup analysis, high p21 expression correlated with a trend for significantly higher 5-year LC (87 vs 68%, P=0.07) in the N0 patients. The results of this study suggest that the cell-cycle proteins investigated are unlikely to be clinically useful in predicting treatment response or prognosis in patients with anal carcinomas

Crystal Structure of Diedel, a Marker of the Immune Response of Drosophila melanogaster

Background: The Drosophila melanogaster gene CG11501 is up regulated after a septic injury and was proposed to act as a negative regulator of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. Diedel, the CG11501 gene product, is a small protein of 115 residues with 10 cysteines. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have produced Diedel in Drosophila S2 cells as an extra cellular protein thanks to its own signal peptide and solved its crystal structure at 1.15 A ˚ resolution by SIRAS using an iodo derivative. Diedel is composed of two sub domains SD1 and SD2. SD1 is made of an antiparallel b-sheet covered by an a-helix and displays a ferredoxin-like fold. SD2 reveals a new protein fold made of loops connected by four disulfide bridges. Further structural analysis identified conserved hydrophobic residues on the surface of Diedel that may constitute a potential binding site. The existence of two conformations, cis and trans, for the proline 52 may be of interest as prolyl peptidyl isomerisation has been shown to play a role in several physiological mechanisms. The genome of D. melanogaster contains two other genes coding for proteins homologous to Diedel, namely CG43228 and CG34329. Strikingly, apart from Drosophila and the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, Diedel-related sequences were exclusively identified in a few insect DNA viruses of the Baculoviridae and Ascoviridae families. Conclusion/Significance: Diedel, a marker of the Drosophila antimicrobial/antiviral response, is a member of a small famil

Co-culture of primary rat hepatocytes with rat liver epithelial cells enhances interleukin-6-induced acute-phase protein response

Three different primary rat hepatocyte culture methods were compared for their ability to allow the secretion of fibrinogen and albumin under basal and IL-6-stimulated conditions. These culture methods comprised the co-culture of hepatocytes with rat liver epithelial cells (CC-RLEC), a collagen type I sandwich culture (SW) and a conventional primary hepatocyte monolayer culture (ML). Basal albumin secretion was most stable over time in SW. Fibrinogen secretion was induced by IL-6 in all cell culture models. Compared with ML, CC-RLEC showed an almost three-fold higher fibrinogen secretion under both control and IL-6-stimulated conditions. Induction of fibrinogen release by IL-6 was lowest in SW. Albumin secretion was decreased after IL-6 stimulation in both ML and CC-RLEC. Thus, cells growing under the various primary hepatocyte cell culture techniques react differently to IL-6 stimulation with regard to acute-phase protein secretion. CC-RLEC is the preferred method for studying cytokine-mediated induction of acute-phase proteins, because of the pronounced stimulation of fibrinogen secretion upon IL-6 exposure under these conditions

Tensile Properties of the Murine Ventral Vertical Midline Incision

In clinical surgery, the vertical midline abdominal incision is popular but associated with healing failures. A murine model of the ventral vertical midline incision was developed in order to study the healing of this incision type.The strength of the wild type murine ventral abdominal wall in the midline was contained within the dermis; the linea alba made a negligible contribution. Unwounded abdominal wall had a downward trend (nonsignificant) in maximal tension between 12 and 29 weeks of age. The incision attained 50% of its final strength by postoperative day 40. The maximal tension of the ventral vertical midline incision was nearly that of unwounded abdominal wall by postwounding day 60; there was no difference in unwounded vs. wounded maximal tension at postwounding day 120.After 120 days of healing, the ventral vertical midline incision in the wild type mouse was not significantly different from age-matched nonwounded controls. About half of the final incisional strength was attained after 6 weeks of healing. The significance of this work was to establish the kinetics of wild type incisional healing in a model for which numerous genotypes and genetic tools would be available for subsequent study