Nrf2-interacting nutrients and COVID-19 : time for research to develop adaptation strategies

There are large between- and within-country variations in COVID-19 death rates. Some very low death rate settings such as Eastern Asia, Central Europe, the Balkans and Africa have a common feature of eating large quantities of fermented foods whose intake is associated with the activation of the Nrf2 (Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2) anti-oxidant transcription factor. There are many Nrf2-interacting nutrients (berberine, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, quercetin, resveratrol, sulforaphane) that all act similarly to reduce insulin resistance, endothelial damage, lung injury and cytokine storm. They also act on the same mechanisms (mTOR: Mammalian target of rapamycin, PPAR gamma:Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, NF kappa B: Nuclear factor kappa B, ERK: Extracellular signal-regulated kinases and eIF2 alpha:Elongation initiation factor 2 alpha). They may as a result be important in mitigating the severity of COVID-19, acting through the endoplasmic reticulum stress or ACE-Angiotensin-II-AT(1)R axis (AT(1)R) pathway. Many Nrf2-interacting nutrients are also interacting with TRPA1 and/or TRPV1. Interestingly, geographical areas with very low COVID-19 mortality are those with the lowest prevalence of obesity (Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia). It is tempting to propose that Nrf2-interacting foods and nutrients can re-balance insulin resistance and have a significant effect on COVID-19 severity. It is therefore possible that the intake of these foods may restore an optimal natural balance for the Nrf2 pathway and may be of interest in the mitigation of COVID-19 severity

Agriculture et environnement : une évaluation de la performance technique et environnementale d'exploitations laitières

Agriculture and Environment: An Assessment of Dairy Farms' Technical and Environmental Performance by Isabelle Piot-Lepetit and Monique Le Moing Inefficient use of inputs remains one of main causes of pollution. Data envelopment analysis, which sets a best-practice frontier and evaluates the distance between each observation and this empirical benchmark, is used to measure the potential for reducing variable inputs, in particular the quantity of fertiliser and the volume of animal manure, on a set of dairy farms in Brittany and the Loire valley in 1997. A non-parametric statistical study is then used to identify the farms which are most efficient in technical and environmental terms.L'utilisation d'intrants de manière inefficace demeure l'une des principales causes de la pollution. L'approche Data Envelopment Analysis qui permet la définition d'une frontière de meilleure pratique et l'évaluation de la distance séparant chaque observation de cette référence empirique, est utilisée pour mesurer les potentialités de réduction des facteurs de production variables, en particulier de la charge d'engrais mais aussi du volume des déjections animales d'un ensemble d'exploitations laitières de Bretagne et des Pays de la Loire en 1997. Une étude statistique non paramétrique permet ensuite de caractériser les exploitations les plus performantes tant sur un plan technique que sur un plan environnemental.Piot-Lepetit Isabelle, Le Moing Monique. Agriculture et environnement : une évaluation de la performance technique et environnementale d'exploitations laitières . In: Économie & prévision, n°143-144, 2000-2-3. Economie de l'environnement et des ressources naturelles, sous la direction de Pierre Malgrange, Michel Moreaux et Michel Mougeot. pp. 201-211

Nitrate Pollution Control Policy and Its Impact on Farms' Performance: A Nonparametric Approach

The purpose of this paper is to develop models with an individual and a collective management of the European Nitrate directive. The objective is to compare productive efficiency of farms under the two regimes. First, we develop a model that explicitly integrate the individual constraint on organic manure spreading. The individual threshold is introduced as a productive right. Then, we develop a framework that allows for modelling exchange of productive rights among producers. The simulation of a management of the spreading constrainst on organic manure at the regional level give an estimate of the potential gains that can be realised by allowing a collective maagement of the European environmental regulation. Models are based on a nonparametric frontier approach (Data Envelopment Analysis). An illustration is provided on a sample of farms from the French pig sector. Results highlights gains that would have been made if collective management had been allowed instead of an individual regulation as stated in the Nitrate directive

Nitrate Pollution Control Policy and Its Impact on Farms' Performance: A Nonparametric Approach

The purpose of this paper is to develop models with an individual and a collective management of the European Nitrate directive. The objective is to compare productive efficiency of farms under the two regimes. First, we develop a model that explicitly integrate the individual constraint on organic manure spreading. The individual threshold is introduced as a productive right. Then, we develop a framework that allows for modelling exchange of productive rights among producers. The simulation of a management of the spreading constrainst on organic manure at the regional level give an estimate of the potential gains that can be realised by allowing a collective maagement of the European environmental regulation. Models are based on a nonparametric frontier approach (Data Envelopment Analysis). An illustration is provided on a sample of farms from the French pig sector. Results highlights gains that would have been made if collective management had been allowed instead of an individual regulation as stated in the Nitrate directive.Environmental regulations, Manure management, pig farming, Data Envelopment Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, C61, D21, Q12, Q52,

European nitrate pollution regulation and French pig farms' performance

This paper highlights the usefulness of the directional distance function in measuring the impact of the EU Nitrate directive, which prevents the free disposal of organic manure and nitrogen surplus. Efficiency indices for the production and environmental performance of farms at an individual level are proposed, together with an evaluation of the impact caused by the said EU regulation. An empirical illustration, based on a sample of French pig farms located in Brittany in 1996, is provided. This chapter extends the previous approach to good and bad outputs within the framework of the directional distance function, by introducing a by-product (organic manure), which becomes a pollutant once a certain level of disposability is exceeded. In this specific case, the bad output is the nitrogen surplus - resulting from the nutrient balance of each farm – that is spread on the land. This extension to the model allows us to explicitly introduce the EU regulation on organic manure, which sets a spreading limit of 170kg/ha. Our results show that the extended model provides greater possibilities for increasing the level of production, and thus the revenue of each farm, while decreasing the bad product (nitrogen surplus) and complying with the mandatory standard on the spreading of organic manure