Impact of the Berlin Accord and European Enlargement on Dairy Markets, The

Using a world agricultural model, we analyze the impact on dairy markets of the Berlin Accord on the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Reforms. We also investigate the consequences of enlargement of the EU to include the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland for the same markets. We produce a market outlook up to 2010 for these two scenarios. The Berlin Accord induces lower EU milk and dairy prices. A change in relative prices between cheese and butter-skim milk powder (SMP) occurs after 2005 and induces an expansion of cheese production, consumption and exports at the expense of the butterï¾–SMP sector. Accession of the three central and eastern European countries (CEECs) leads to a permanent but moderate decrease in EU prices of milk and dairy products. For the three acceding CEECs, domestic prices increase dramatically. Their final consumption of milk decreases and dairy product consumption drops considerably. The derived demand of milk in dairy production increases, however, because of the higher prices for dairy products, benefiting dairy producers in these CEECs. Dairy exports of the three acceding countries to the EUï¾–15 increase by one to three orders of magnitude, despite building large inventories. The impact of accession on world markets is small.

Persistent Barriers to Implementing Efficacious Mosquito Control Activities in the Continental United States: Insights from Vector Control Experts

Many barriers undermine vector surveillance and control efforts in the United States. Experts warn that such barriers, including funding, threaten the capacity of public-health surveillance systems to detect emerging mosquito-borne disease and respond appropriately, timely and effectively. This chapter explores the status, barriers, and corrective strategies to effective mosquito surveillance and control in the US based on experiences and insights of the 35 interviewed representatives of diverse mosquito-control programs selected from 18 U.S. states. Although our interest is in mosquito-borne diseases, we focus on the 2016 Zika outbreak. For the most part, this chapter will outline issues relating to mosquito control and surveillance that have persistent among state, county and municipal programs as a result of insufficient and unreliable funding, inadequate trained personnel, poor facilities, and inadequate political support. At the community level, we will discuss issues that hinder mosquito control efforts including apathy and low public awareness, and provide examples of how mosquito control agencies have adapted to “readily” respond to changing vector-borne disease environments, demands and constrained funding

Glycogen synthase kinases 3α and 3β in cardiac myocytes: regulation and consequences of their inhibition

Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) as a consequence of its phosphorylation by protein kinase B/Akt (PKB/Akt) has been implicated in cardiac myocyte hypertrophy in response to endothelin-1 or phenylephrine. We examined the regulation of GSK3α (which we show to constitute a significant proportion of the myocyte GSK3 pool) and GSK3β in cardiac myocytes. Although endothelin increases phosphorylation of GSK3 and decreases its activity, the response is less than that induced by insulin (which does not promote cardiac myocyte hypertrophy). GSK3 phosphorylation induced by endothelin requires signalling through the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) cascade and not the PKB/Akt pathway, whereas the reverse is true for insulin. Cardiac myocyte hypertrophy involves changes in morphology, and in gene and protein expression. The potent GSK3 inhibitor 1-azakenpaullone increases myocyte area as a consequence of increased cell length whereas phenylephrine increases both length and width. Azakenpaullone or insulin promotes AP1 transcription factor binding to an AP1 consensus oligonucleotide, but this was significantly less than that induced by endothelin and derived principally from increased binding of JunB protein, the expression of which was increased. Azakenpaullone promotes significant changes in gene expression (assessed by Affymetrix microarrays), but the overall response is less than with endothelin and there is little overlap between the genes identified. Thus, although GSK3 may contribute to cardiac myocyte hypertrophy in some respects (and presumably plays an important role in myocyte metabolism), it does not appear to contribute as significantly to the response induced by endothelin as has been maintained