Quantifizierung „gesellschaftlich gewünschter, nicht marktgängiger Leistungen“ der Landwirtschaft

Zusammenfassung: In den Diskussionen über die Gemeinsame Agrarpolitik nach 2013 nimmt die Honorierung nicht marktgängiger gesellschaftlicher Leistungen der Landwirtschaft eine zentrale Rolle ein. Unterschiedliche Ansichten bestehen darüber, was unter diesen Leistungen genau zu verstehen ist und wie sie quantifiziert und monetarisiert werden können. Die hierzu durchgeführte Auswertung von rund 80 Studien zeigt einerseits, dass in der Bevölkerung eine generelle Zahlungsbereitschaft für solche Leistungen besteht, und andererseits, dass die ausgewerteten Fallstudien nicht auf Deutschland hochgerechnet werden können. Die Leistung „Offenhaltung der Landschaft“ verursacht - wenn sie nicht als Koppelprodukt unentgeltlich anfällt - Kosten, deren Höhe in starkem Maße davon abhängen, ob mit dem geringsten Aufwand nur die Fläche offen gehalten werden soll oder darüber hinaus Naturschutzziele verfolgt werden. Die Einhaltung strikterer Umweltregulierungen wird oftmals ebenfalls als Leistung angeführt. Die Ergebnisse der wenigen Studien zu den durch Umweltregulierung verursachten Kosten und der exemplarische Vergleich zweier Ackerbaubetriebe in Sachsen-Anhalt und der Ukraine deuten darauf hin, dass diese Kosten im Vergleich zu anderen Kostenkomponenten in Deutschland einen eher geringen Einfluss auf die gesamten Produktionskosten haben. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: The remuneration of public goods provided by agriculture plays a central role in the discussion about the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013. Various opinions exist on what exactly these pubic goods constitute and how they can be quantified and assigned monetary values. The results of about 80 studies analysed show that, on the one hand, a general willingness to pay for such public goods is present, and on the other hand, that the evaluated case studies cannot be applied to the whole of Germany. The service “keeping the landscape open” - if not provided costless as a by-product - incurs costs that are strongly dependent on whether the land areas are to be held open with the least amount of effort, or if, in addition, natural protection goals are to be pursued. The compliance of stricter environmental regulations is also often seen as a service which provides public goods. The results of the few studies on the costs generated by environmental regulations, and the exemplary comparison of two arable farms in Saxony Anhalt and the Ukraine indicate that these costs – in comparison to other cost components in Germany –, tend to have less influence on the total production costs.Gesellschaftliche Leistungen der Landwirtschaft, Koppelprodukte, Zahlungsbereitschaft, Offenhaltung der Landschaft, Kosten für Umweltregulierung, public goods provided by agriculture, by-product, willingness to pay, open landscape, environmental regulation cost, Environmental Economics and Policy, Public Economics, Q01, Q51, Q56, Q57,

Multidimensional signals and analytic flexibility: Estimating degrees of freedom in human speech analyses

Recent empirical studies have highlighted the large degree of analytic flexibility in data analysis which can lead to substantially different conclusions based on the same data set. Thus, researchers have expressed their concerns that these researcher degrees of freedom might facilitate bias and can lead to claims that do not stand the test of time. Even greater flexibility is to be expected in fields in which the primary data lend themselves to a variety of possible operationalizations. The multidimensional, temporally extended nature of speech constitutes an ideal testing ground for assessing the variability in analytic approaches, which derives not only from aspects of statistical modeling, but also from decisions regarding the quantification of the measured behavior. In the present study, we gave the same speech production data set to 46 teams of researchers and asked them to answer the same research question, resulting insubstantial variability in reported effect sizes and their interpretation. Using Bayesian meta-analytic tools, we further find little to no evidence that the observed variability can be explained by analysts’ prior beliefs, expertise or the perceived quality of their analyses. In light of this idiosyncratic variability, we recommend that researchers more transparently share details of their analysis, strengthen the link between theoretical construct and quantitative system and calibrate their (un)certainty in their conclusions

Quantifizierung „gesellschaftlich gewünschter, nicht marktgängiger Leistungen“ der Landwirtschaft

Zusammenfassung : In den Diskussionen über die Gemeinsame Agrarpolitik nach 2013 nimmt die Honorierung nicht marktgängiger gesellschaftlicher Leistungen der Landwirtschaft eine zentrale Rolle ein. Unterschiedliche Ansichten bestehen darüber, was unter diesen Leistungen genau zu verstehen ist und wie sie quantifiziert und monetarisiert werden können. Die hierzu durchgeführte Auswertung von rund 80 Studien zeigt einerseits, dass in der Bevölkerung eine generelle Zahlungsbereitschaft für solche Leistungen besteht, und andererseits, dass die ausgewerteten Fallstudien nicht auf Deutschland hochgerechnet werden können. Die Leistung „Offenhaltung der Landschaft“ verursacht - wenn sie nicht als Koppelprodukt unentgeltlich anfällt - Kosten, deren Höhe in starkem Maße davon abhängen, ob mit dem geringsten Aufwand nur die Fläche offen gehalten werden soll oder darüber hinaus Naturschutzziele verfolgt werden. Die Einhaltung strikterer Umweltregulierungen wird oftmals ebenfalls als Leistung angeführt. Die Ergebnisse der wenigen Studien zu den durch Umweltregulierung verursachten Kosten und der exemplarische Vergleich zweier Ackerbaubetriebe in Sachsen-Anhalt und der Ukraine deuten darauf hin, dass diese Kosten im Vergleich zu anderen Kostenkomponenten in Deutschland einen eher geringen Einfluss auf die gesamten Produktionskosten haben. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: The remuneration of public goods provided by agriculture plays a central role in the discussion about the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013. Various opinions exist on what exactly these pubic goods constitute and how they can be quantified and assigned monetary values. The results of about 80 studies analysed show that, on the one hand, a general willingness to pay for such public goods is present, and on the other hand, that the evaluated case studies cannot be applied to the whole of Germany. The service “keeping the landscape open” - if not provided costless as a by-product - incurs costs that are strongly dependent on whether the land areas are to be held open with the least amount of effort, or if, in addition, natural protection goals are to be pursued. The compliance of stricter environmental regulations is also often seen as a service which provides public goods. The results of the few studies on the costs generated by environmental regulations, and the exemplary comparison of two arable farms in Saxony Anhalt and the Ukraine indicate that these costs – in comparison to other cost components in Germany –, tend to have less influence on the total production costs

Circulating Soluble EPCR Levels Are Reduced in Patients with Ischemic Peripheral Artery Disease and Associated with Markers of Endothelial and Vascular Function

(1) Background: Endothelial dysfunction initiates cardiovascular pathologies, including peripheral artery disease (PAD). The pathophysiology of impaired new vessel formation in the presence of angiogenic stimuli, such as ischemia and inflammation, is unknown. We have recently shown in mice that reduced endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) expression results in defective angiogenesis following experimental hindlimb ischemia. (2) Purpose: To determine soluble (s)EPCR levels in the plasma of patients with PAD and to compare them with the protein C activity and biomarkers of endothelial function, inflammation, and angiogenesis. (3) Methods and Results: Clinical tests of vascular function and immunoassays of plasma from patients with PAD stage II were compared to age- and sex-matched individuals with and without cardiovascular risk factors or PAD stage III/IV patients. sEPCR levels were significantly lower in PAD stage II patients compared to subjects with risk factors, but no PAD, and further decreased in PAD stage III/IV patients. Plasma protein C activity or levels of ADAM17, a mediator of EPCR shedding, did not differ. Significant associations between sEPCR and the ankle-brachial index (p = 0.0359), age (p = 0.0488), body mass index (p = 0.0110), and plasma sE-selectin levels (p = 0.0327) were observed. High-sensitive CRP levels and white blood cell counts were significantly elevated in PAD patients and associated with serum glucose levels, but not sEPCR. In contrast, plasma TNFα or IL1β levels did not differ. Circulating levels of VEGF were significantly elevated in PAD stage II patients (p = 0.0198), but not associated with molecular (sE-selectin) or functional (ankle-brachial index) markers of vascular health. (4) Conclusions: Our findings suggest that circulating sEPCR levels may be useful as biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, including angiogenesis, in persons older than 35 years and that progressive loss of endothelial protein C receptors might be involved in the development and progression of PAD

NCAN cross-disorder risk variant is associated with limbic gray matter deficits in healthy subjects and major depression

Genome-wide association studies have reported an association between NCAN rs1064395 genotype and bipolar disorder. This association was later extended to schizophrenia and major depression. However, the neurobiological underpinnings of these associations are poorly understood. NCAN is implicated in neuronal plasticity and expressed in subcortical brain areas, such as the amygdala and hippocampus, which are critically involved in dysfunctional emotion processing and regulation across diagnostic boundaries. We hypothesized that the NCAN risk variant is associated with reduced gray matter volumes in these areas. Gray matter structure was assessed by voxel-based morphometry on structural MRI data in two independent German samples (healthy subjects, n=512; depressed inpatients, n=171). All participants were genotyped for NCAN rs1064395. Hippocampal and amygdala region-of-interest analyses were performed within each sample. In addition, whole-brain data from the combined sample were analyzed. Risk (A)-allele carriers showed reduced amygdala and hippocampal gray matter volumes in both cohorts with a remarkable spatial overlap. In the combined sample, genotype effects observed for the amygdala and hippocampus survived correction for entire brain volume. Further effects were also observed in the left orbitofrontal cortex and the cerebellum/fusiform gyrus. We conclude that NCAN genotype is associated with limbic gray matter alterations in healthy and depressed subjects in brain areas implicated in emotion perception and regulation. The present data suggest that NCAN forms susceptibility to neurostructural deficits in the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal areas independent of disease, which might lead to disorder onset in the presence of other genetic or environmental risk factors.Udo Dannlowski, Harald Kugel, Dominik Grotegerd, Ronny Redlich, Janina Suchy, Nils Opel, Thomas Suslow, Carsten Konrad, Patricia Ohrmann, Jochen Bauer, Tilo Kircher, Axel Krug, Andreas Jansen, Bernhard T Baune, Walter Heindel, Katharina Domschke, Andreas J Forstner, Markus M Nöthen, Jens Treutlein, Volker Arolt, Christa Hohoff, Marcella Rietschel, and Stephanie H Wit

A mechanistic classification of clinical phenotypes in neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a pediatric tumor of the sympathetic nervous system. Its clinical course ranges from spontaneous tumor regression to fatal progression. To investigate the molecular features of the divergent tumor subtypes, we performed genome sequencing on 416 pretreatment neuroblastomas and assessed telomere maintenance mechanisms in 208 of these tumors. We found that patients whose tumors lacked telomere maintenance mechanisms had an excellent prognosis, whereas the prognosis of patients whose tumors harbored telomere maintenance mechanisms was substantially worse. Survival rates were lowest for neuroblastoma patients whose tumors harbored telomere maintenance mechanisms in combination with RAS and/or p53 pathway mutations. Spontaneous tumor regression occurred both in the presence and absence of these mutations in patients with telomere maintenance-negative tumors. On the basis of these data, we propose a mechanistic classification of neuroblastoma that may benefit the clinical management of patients