JRC’s reference lists of MSFD species and habitats: MSFD reporting for Descriptors 1 and 6

JRC produced reference lists of species and habitats for the MSFD, following the recommendations listed in the COM DEC 2017/848/EU and shared them with the D1 experts, proposed by the Member States, to evaluate them. This task is part of the mandate to JRC (GES_18-2017-03) to facilitate Member States data entry in the EEA reporting web-forms, while increasing consistency and harmonization across Member States. The scope of the technical report is to describe the synthesis of the reference lists, to provide directions to the experts to evaluate and update them and to allow Member States to consult the reference lists (embedded in the document) for any future MSFD related task.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Renal Artery Intervention

Renal artery stenosis (RAS), hypertension and renal insufficiency (RI) are each frequently present especially in the elderly population. RAS is often present without any clinical signs or symptoms and even when hypertension or renal insufficiency are also present, they may be coincidentally rather than causally related. However, when RAS is hemodynamically or physiologically significant, it is one of the few potentially reversible causes of RI and hypertension.The challenge for physicians is to identify patients with RAS who would benefit from renal revascularization, whether by interventional techniques or open surgery. RAS is often clinically silent, at least until it becomes hemodynamically significant when it can produce renal vascular hypertension (RVH) or RI

In-Depth Assessment of the EU Member States’ Submissions for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive under articles 8, 9 and 10 on Hydrographical Conditions Descriptor 7

According to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), in 2012 Member States had to report on the initial assessment of their marine waters (art. 8), on the determination of good environmental status (art. 9) and on the establishment of environmental targets and associated indicators (art. 10). At the request of DG Environment, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has carried out an in-depth assessment (IDA) of the reporting done by Member States. This document presents the result of this IDA for MSFD Descriptor 7 (Permanent alteration of hydrographical conditions does not adversely affect marine ecosystems), carried out on the basis of reporting from the following Member States (MS): Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. The aims of the IDA were: i) to evaluate comparability and coherence of methods and in particular their relation to the assessments under other European and international frames and the latest scientific evidence, ii) to provide recommendations for improved implementation of the MSFD in the second cycle (2018) and iii) to support the review and the possible revision of the Commission Decision (2010/477/EU). In this IDA document, relevant issues are addressed, followed by suggestions and potential actors regarding the MSFD Descriptor 7.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

In-depth assessment of the Member States reporting for the Marine Strategy’s biodiversity monitoring

This work aims to develop recommendations and propose emerging reporting requirements for the update of the monitoring programmes pursuant to MSFD Article 17. Such recommendations will enhance the consistency, comparability and coherence in the monitoring and assessment of marine biodiversity. The results are tailored according to the requirements of the new Commission Decision (2017/848/EU) for criteria and methodological standards to determine Good Environmental Status. The application of the risk-based approach in the European marine waters is amongst the emerging reporting requirements, being less tackled in the first MSFD cycle. The analysis goes deeper than the MSFD Art.12 evaluation performed by the European Commission (COM/2017/3; SWD/2017/1) after the Member States reporting. Its scope goes beyond the evaluation of the individual Member States performance and compliance, being focused on the technical assessment and evaluation of the reports at regional/subregional scales. The perspective of this analysis is to improve the current approach of the MSFD biodiversity Descriptors’ monitoring reports, but the conclusions are relevant to all MSFD Descriptors.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Below-the-ankle Angioplasty: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives

Over 20 million adults in Europe suffer from peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The annual incidence of PAD is approximately 2.4%, while the annual incidence of critical limb ischaemia (CLI), the last and most severe stage of PAD, has been reported to be 0.4%. Endovascular angioplasty and/or stenting of infrapopliteal disease is, today, an established treatment for critical limb ischaemia. The main technical advantages of endovascular treatment over open bypass surgery include the possibility to revascularise more than one infrapopliteal vessels and, most importantly, to treat outflow pedal vessel disease or even reconstitute the pedal arch. Data of below-the-ankle angioplasty are beginning to sum up and the contribution of pedal arch angioplasty in limb salvage and wound healing are currently under investigation. In this review, currently available data and the future perspectives on below-the-ankle and pedal arch endovascular treatment will be presented

Towards a common approach to the assessment of the environmental status of deep-sea ecosystems in areas beyond national jurisdiction

Many of the marine policy frameworks developed to protect biodiversity in deep-sea areas, including areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), include indicators to assess policy objectives. These frameworks often have specific guidance on how the indicators should be applied and interpreted. Selection of indicators is an important process and those with strong scientific underpinnings are more likely to produce the expected outcomes. We reviewed three policy and assessment frameworks which include ABNJ regions or were developed specifically for ABNJ: (1) Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) ecosystem assessments, (2) the frameworks adopted to implement the UN General Assembly (UNGA) sustainable fisheries resolutions for the management of bottom fisheries to prevent Significant Adverse Impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems, and (3) the Aichi Biodiversity Targets adopted by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). We examined whether an assessment approach based on evaluation of Good Environmental Status (GES) under the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), could be applied to ABNJ. We examined each MSFD descriptor for its applicability to deep-sea habitats considering the work of two European projects concluding that the MSFD could be applied to ABNJ to support OSPAR, UNGA and CBD policy objectives towards a common approach to the assessment of the status of deep-sea ecosystems in ABNJ. In achieving this we also introduce readers outside of Europe to the work conducted within the MSFD

Interventional oncology procedures for breast cancer metastatic disease: current role and clinical applications

Worldwide, breast cancer constitutes the most common malignant neoplasm among females, impacting 2.1 million women annually. Interventional oncology techniques have been recently added as an additional therapeutic and palliative alternative in breast cancer metastatic disease, concerning mainly osseous, liver, and lung metastasis. In the current literature, there are reports of promising results and documented efficacy regarding the ablation of liver and lung metastasis from breast carcinoma, transarterial embolization or radioembolization, as well as the treatment of osseous metastatic disease. These literature studies are limited by the heterogeneity of breast cancer disease, the evaluation of variable different parameters, as well as the retrospective nature in most of the cases. Consequently, dedicated prospective series and randomized studies are required to identify the role of minimally invasive local therapies of interventional oncology armamentarium. The present review paper focuses upon the current role of interventional oncology techniques for the curative or palliative treatment of metastatic breast cancer disease. The purpose of this review paper is to present the current minimally invasive procedures in the treatment of metastatic breast disease, including local control rates and survival rates

In-Depth Assessment of the EU Member States’ Submissions for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive under articles 8, 9 and 10

According to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), in 2012 Member States had to report on the initial assessment of their marine waters (art. 8), on the determination of good environmental status (art. 9) and on the establishment of environmental targets and associated indicators (art. 10). At the request of DG Environment, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has carried out an in-depth assessment (IDA) of the reporting done by Member States. This document presents the result of this IDA, carried out on the basis of reporting from the following Member States (MS): Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. The aims of the IDA were: i) to evaluate comparability and coherence of methods and in particular their relation to the assessments under other European and international frames and the latest scientific evidence, ii) to provide recommendations for improved implementation of the MSFD in the second cycle (2018) and iii) to support the review and the possible revision of the Commission Decision (2010/477/EU). The IDA covers all MSFD descriptors expect D3 and D7 and is presented in six chapters (biodiversity: descriptors 1, 4 and 6; non indigenous species: descriptor 2; eutrophication: descriptor 5; contaminants: descriptor 8 and 9; marine litter: descriptor 10; underwater noise and other forms of energy: descriptor 11). This IDA presents a set of suggestions that can be pursued to strengthen the further implementation of the MSFD.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

Modelling of essential fish habitat based on remote sensing, spatial analysis and GIS

We review the variety of existing modelling approaches applied to species habitat mapping and we discuss issues arising from the availability and nature of sampled biological data and corresponding ecological and environmental habitat descriptors, as well as the different spatial analysis approaches that are selected according to specific hypotheses. We focus on marine species habitat mapping, presenting an overview of work on modelling fish habitat carried out through a European Communities Policy-Support Action, EnviEFH 'Environmental Approach to Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) Designation' (2005-2008). The selection of the appropriate habitat model is dataset-specific and the resulting EFH maps are often similar in spite of using different models. Derived EFH maps are based on either environmental ranges (used as minimum and maximum environmental habitat descriptors) or probability of occurrence values. We apply model outputs to regions larger than sampled areas making use of the capacity of satellite data to cover wide areas. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

The application of predictive modelling for determining bio-environmental factors affecting the distribution of blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the Gilgel Gibe watershed in Southwest Ethiopia

Blackflies are important macroinvertebrate groups from a public health as well as ecological point of view. Determining the biological and environmental factors favouring or inhibiting the existence of blackflies could facilitate biomonitoring of rivers as well as control of disease vectors. The combined use of different predictive modelling techniques is known to improve identification of presence/absence and abundance of taxa in a given habitat. This approach enables better identification of the suitable habitat conditions or environmental constraints of a given taxon. Simuliidae larvae are important biological indicators as they are abundant in tropical aquatic ecosystems. Some of the blackfly groups are also important disease vectors in poor tropical countries. Our investigations aim to establish a combination of models able to identify the environmental factors and macroinvertebrate organisms that are favourable or inhibiting blackfly larvae existence in aquatic ecosystems. The models developed using macroinvertebrate predictors showed better performance than those based on environmental predictors. The identified environmental and macroinvertebrate parameters can be used to determine the distribution of blackflies, which in turn can help control river blindness in endemic tropical places. Through a combination of modelling techniques, a reliable method has been developed that explains environmental and biological relationships with the target organism, and, thus, can serve as a decision support tool for ecological management strategies