Bio-landbouw toegerust voor fosfaatkringlopen: goede bodemstructuur en bodemleven bron van fosfaat

Fosfaatmijnen zijn wereldwijd relatief dun gezaaid. Op termijn dreigt fosfaat een schaarse grondstof te worden. Om eventuele schaarste voor de landbouw in te kunnen schatten is meer inzicht nodig in fosfaatbeschikbaarheid in relatie tot de opname door de plant. Het is daarbij de vraag of de gebruikelijke bodemanalyse van fosfaat wel goed inzicht geeft in de beschikbaarheid. Biologische landbouw toont aan dat dat niet het geval is

Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer: results and open issues

The medical treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has progressively changed since the introduction of “targeted therapy”. The development of one of these molecular drug categories, e. g., the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine-kinase (TK) selective inhibitors, such as the orally active gefitinib and erlotinib, offers an interesting new opportunity. The clinical response rates obtained with their employment in unselected patient populations only account for approximately 10%. Because of this, over the last two years numerous studies have been performed in order to identify the patient subsets that could better benefit from these agents. Not only patient characteristics and clinical-pathological features, such as never-smoking status, female gender, East Asian origin, adenocarcinoma histology, bronchioloalveolar subtype, but also molecular findings, such as somatic mutations in the EGFR gene, emerge as potentially useful prognostic and predictive factors in advanced NSCLC. Further, specifically designed clinical trials are still needed to completely clarify these and other open issues that are reviewed in this paper, in order to clarify all the interesting findings available in the clinical practice

Civic culture in east and west

This paper examines the nature of civic culture and the strength of civic attitudes in postcommunist and western countries. In particular, it seeks to explore the internal consistency and durability of civic culture using World Values Survey and European Values Study data. It discusses three perspectives on the strength and durability of civic attitudes in East and West, (the historical roots, the legacy of communism, and the postcommunist transition perspectives) and explores to what extent the pattern of civic attitudes in the two regions matches the predicted outcomes of these perspectives. The paper finds that the attitudes associated with civic culture do not form a coherent syndrome, neither at the individual nor at the societal level. It further finds only marginal support for the historical perspective, which accords a great degree of persistence to civic culture. It therefore concludes that civic culture is not the monolithic and durable phenomenon that some cultural theorists claim it is. © Archives Europénes de Sociology 2006