Prospects of biodynamic wines in the Swiss Romande

The aim of the report is to determine the prospects of the biodynamic wine industry in Swiss Romande. Biodynamic is a sustainable and holistic approach of viticulture, still not well known nowadays. Moreover, the awareness for ethical concerns is increasing. Yet, in an area where wines are part of the culture, do people approve the stable state of tradition in being reluctant to change? Or are they inclined to adapt to more sustainable production methods? To answer these questions, different aspects of the biodynamic wine industry are developed in this report. First the macro environment is analysed to determine in which environment the biodynamic wine industry is evolving. Second, the stakeholders’ perception on biodynamic wines are analysed as well as their interaction with each other. This is to understand the current state of the industry and the obstacles for further development. The main findings show at first a global lack of knowledge from the customers. However, once we go beyond this lack of knowledge, there is a good overall perception. As for the supply sides, the principal motives for winegrowers to follow biodynamic principles are personal convictions and the respect for environment. The industry is attractive for other winegrowers to come in and shows potential for development. Then, based on the results of the analysis, the current state and obstacles analysed, hypotheses are developed and rated in terms of probability to happen. The hypotheses with the highest probability are the ones showing increases in both demand and supply sides. Indeed, although many consumers do not know biodynamic concepts yet, a majority of people are willing to consume organic and biodynamic products for various reasons. For the consumers who know biodynamics, they have good perception of it. Furthermore, more and more organic winegrowers are converting to biodynamics as a search for more sustainable practice. For the industry to move forward, a communication strategy could be beneficial to raise the consumers’ curiosity and to increase their knowledge on the subject

Increasing prevalence of overweight among Seychelles children, 1998-2002

To examine the prevalence and trends in excess weight among children in the Seychelles. Serial surveys of weight and height were conducted each year between 1998-2002 in all students attending four school grades (crèche, 4th, 7th and 10th years of compulsoryschool). Overweight and obesity were defined using age-specific body mass index (BMI) criteria of the International Obesity Task Force. Two questions explored physical activity at leisure time and daily walking time. From an eligible total of 32 077 observations between 1998-2002, data were available in 22 694 (71%), which corresponded to 17 627 separate children. Median age in the four grades was respectively 5.5, 9.2, 12.6, and 15.8 years. The overall prevalence of excess weight ('overweight' and 'obese' categories combined) was 10.5% in boys and 16.4% in girls. From 1998 to 2002, the prevalence of excess weight increased from 8.4% to 11.8% in boys and from 11.9% to 18.4% in girls. The increase of excess weight over calendar years was particularly marked among the younger children. Only a quarter of children reported walking at least 30 minutes per day. Leisure physical activity was inverselyassociated with excess body weight. The prevalence of excess body weight was high among school children of Seychelles and increased substantially over a five-year period. This calls for prompt and energetic policies and programs to promote physical activity and healthy nutrition among children. [Authors]]]> Obesity ; Child ; Adolescent ; Schools ; Seychelles oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_F8F7E9DEAB96 2022-05-07T01:30:27Z openaire documents urnserval <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_F8F7E9DEAB96 Recruitment of Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) to the Fibroblast Cell Surface by Lysyl Hydroxylase 3 (LH3) Triggers Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) Activation and Fibroblast Differentiation. info:doi:10.1074/jbc.M114.622274 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1074/jbc.M114.622274 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/25825495 Dayer, C. Stamenkovic, I. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2015 Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 290, no. 22, pp. 13763-13778 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1083-351X urn:issn:0021-9258 <![CDATA[Solid tumor growth triggers a wound healing response. Similar to wound healing, fibroblasts in the tumor stroma differentiate into myofibroblasts (also referred to as cancer-associated fibroblasts) primarily, but not exclusively, in response to transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). Myofibroblasts in turn enhance tumor progression by remodeling the stroma. Among proteases implicated in stroma remodeling, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), including MMP-9, play a prominent role. Recent evidence indicates that MMP-9 recruitment to the tumor cell surface enhances tumor growth and invasion. In the present work, we addressed the potential relevance of MMP-9 recruitment to and activity at the surface of fibroblasts. We show that recruitment of MMP-9 to the fibroblast cell surface occurs through its fibronectin-like (FN) domain and that the molecule responsible for the recruitment is lysyl hydroxylase 3 (LH3). Functional assays suggest that both pro- and active MMP-9 trigger α-smooth muscle actin expression in cultured fibroblasts, reflecting myofibroblast differentiation, possibly as a result of TGF-β activation. Moreover, the recombinant FN domain inhibited both MMP-9-induced TGF-β activation and α-smooth muscle actin expression by displacing MMP-9 from the fibroblast cell surface. Together our results uncover LH3 as a new docking receptor of MMP-9 on the fibroblast cell surface and demonstrate that the MMP-9 FN domain is essential for the interaction. They also show that the recombinant FN domain inhibits MMP-9-induced TGF-β activation and fibroblast differentiation, providing a potentially attractive therapeutic reagent toward attenuating tumor progression where MMP-9 activity is strongly implicated

Association between conventional risk factors and different ultrasound-based markers of atherosclerosis at carotid and femoral levels in a middle-aged population

Ultrasound detection of sub-clinical atherosclerosis (ATS) may help identify individuals at high cardiovascular risk. Most studies evaluated intima-media thickness (IMT) at carotid level. We compared the relationships between main cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and five indicators of ATS (IMT, mean and maximal plaque thickness, mean and maximal plaque area) at both carotid and femoral levels. Ultrasound was performed on 496 participants aged 45-64years randomly selected from the general population of the Republic of Seychelles. 73.4% participants had ≥1 plaque (IMT thickening ≥1.2mm) at carotid level and 67.5% at femoral level. Variance (adjusted R2) contributed by age, sex and CVRF (smoking, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes) in predicting any of the ATS markers was larger at femoral than carotid level. At both carotid and femoral levels, the association between CVRF and ATS was stronger based on plaque-based markers than IMT. Our findings show that the associations between CVRF and ATS markers were stronger at femoral than carotid level, and with plaque-based markers rather than IMT. Pending comparison of these markers using harder cardiovascular endpoints, our findings suggest that markers based on plaque morphology assessed at femoral artery level might be useful cardiovascular risk predictor

Microalbuminuria, but not cystatin C, is associated with carotid atherosclerosis in middle-aged adults

Background. Cystatin C, a marker of renal function, has been shown to be an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in older adults, but few data are available in middle-aged adults. Moreover, no study has compared cystatin C and microalbuminuria as risk factors for CVD outcomes in middle-aged adults, and it is not known whether cystatin C is related to an early stage of atherosclerosis. Methods. We evaluated the relationships between serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR), serum cystatin C (all divided into tertiles), microalbuminuria and carotid atherosclerosis in a population-based random sample of 523 adults aged 35-64 years from the Seychelles (Indian Ocean). GFR was estimated using the modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD) equation. Intima-media thickness (IMT) was assessed by B-mode ultrasound. Results. The mean age of the study sample was 52 years, and 55% were women. Carotid IMT was higher in participants with microalbuminuria (802 vs 732 μm, P < 0.001) and was inversely associated with GFR tertiles (from 728 to 809 μm, P for trend = 0.002). IMT was not associated with cystatin C or creatinine (P for trend = 0.10 and 0.16, respectively). In multivariate analyses adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors, the association between microalbuminuria and IMT remained (P = 0.047), while the association between GFR and IMT disappeared (P for trend = 0.33). Conclusions. Microalbuminuria, but not cystatin C, is associated with carotid atherosclerosis beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors among middle-aged adults. Cystatin C does not have a stronger relationship with carotid atherosclerosis in middle-aged adults than creatinin

Creation of high mobility two-dimensional electron gases via strain induced polarization at an otherwise nonpolar complex oxide interface

The discovery of two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in SrTiO3-based heterostructures provides new opportunities for nanoelectronics. Herein, we create a new type of oxide 2DEG by the epitaxial-strain-induced polarization at an otherwise nonpolar perovskite-type interface of CaZrO3/SrTiO3. Remarkably, this heterointerface is atomically sharp, and exhibits a high electron mobility exceeding 60,000 cm2V-1s-1 at low temperatures. The 2DEG carrier density exhibits a critical dependence on the film thickness, in good agreement with the polarization induced 2DEG scheme.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figs; Nano Letters,2015, published onlin

Towards Reliable Stochastic Data-Driven Models Applied to the Energy Saving in Buildings

We aim at the elaboration of Information Systems able to optimize energy consumption in buildings while preserving human comfort. Our focus is in the use of state-based stochastic modeling applied to temporal signals acquired from heterogeneous sources such as distributed sensors, weather web services, calendar information and user triggered events. Our general scientic objectives are: (1) global instead of local optimization of building automation sub-systems (heating, ventilation, cooling, solar shadings, electric lightings), (2) generalization to unseen building conguration or usage through self-learning data-driven algorithms and (3) inclusion of stochastic state-based modeling to better cope with seasonal and building activity patterns. We leverage on state-based models such as Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to be able to capture the spatial (states) and temporal (sequence of states) characteristics of the signals. We envision several application layers as per the intrinsic nature of the signals to be modeled. We also envision room-level systems able to leverage on a set of distributed sensors (temperature, presence, electricity consumption, etc.). A typical example of room-level system is to infer room occupancy information or activities done in the rooms as a function of time. Finally, building-level systems can be composed to infer global usage and to propose optimization strategies for the building as a whole. In our approach, each layer may be fed by the output of the previous layers. More specically in this paper, we report on the design, conception and validation of several machine learning applications. We present three different applications of state-based modeling. In the rst case we report on the identication of consumer appliances through an analysis of their electric loads. In the second case we perform the activity recognition task, representing human activities through state-based models. The third case concerns the season prediction using building data, building characteristic parameters and meteorological data