Comparing Risk Perceptions and Risk Management in Organic and Conventional Dairy Farming: Empirical Results From Norway

This study was conducted to explore organic and conventional dairy farmers' perceptions of risk and risk management, and to examine relationships between farm and farmer characteristics, risk perceptions, and strategies. The data originate from a survey of conventional (n=363) and organic (n=162) dairy farmers in Norway. Organic farmers had the least risk averse perceptions. Institutional and production risks were perceived as primary sources of risk, with farm support payments at the top. Compared to their conventional colleagues, organic farmers gave more weight to institutional factors related to their production systems. Conventional farmers were more concerned about costs of purchased inputs and animal welfare policy. Organic and conventional farmers' management responses were more similar than their risk perceptions. Financial measures such as liquidity and costs of production, disease prevention, and insurance were perceived as important ways to handle risk. Even though perceptions were highly farmer-specific, a number of socio-economic variables were found to be related to risk and risk management. The primary role of institutional risks implies that policy makers should be cautious about changing policy capriciously and they should consider the scope for strategic policy initiatives that give farmers some greater confidence about the longer term. Further, researchers should pay more attention to institutional risks

Nova Sagittarii 1994 #1 (V4332 Sagittarii): The Discovery and Evolution of an Unusual Luminous Red Variable Star

We report photometry and spectroscopy of the evolution of Nova Sagittarii 1994 #1 (V4332 Sagittarii) during outburst. We compare the photometric and spectral evolution of this outburst to known classes of outbursts -- including classical novae and outbursts occurring on symbiotic stars -- and find this object does NOT conform to any known class of outburst. The closest match to the behavior of this unusual object is M31 RV, an extremely luminous and red variable object discovered in the bulge of M31 in 1988. However, the temporal behavior and maximum luminosity of the two events differ by several orders of magnitude, requiring substantial intrinsic variation if these two events are members the same type of outburst. Our model of the spectroscopic evolution of this outburst shows that the effective temperature cooled from 4400 K to 2300 K over the three month span of our observations. In combination with line diagnostics in our later spectra, including [OI] lambda 5577 and the dramatic increase in the Halpha to Hbeta ratio, we infer the existence of a cool, dense (N_e ~ 10^{8-9} cm^{-3}) envelope that is optically thick in the Hydrogen Balmer recombination lines (case C). We suggest that a nuclear event in a single star, in which a slow shock drove the photosphere outwards, can power the observed luminosity evolution and the emission spectrum.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. 24 pages including 8 embedded postscript figures. Also available at http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~martini/pub

Performance of the European-EU Seafood Sector - Veiwed through Aquaculture and Sea Bass & Sea Bream

The seafood sector has been followed and presented through different data collected as for example by FAO over several years. Often these studies are globally and/or macro-oriented market and even though these studies clearly add insight and understanding they do not provide the details needed for assessing the different sectors as such. The seafood sector is separated into many commodity groups with clear differences and also within these groups there are significant differences between species with respect to drivers affecting the market and the balance between the market and the supplies from catches (fisheries) and (aquaculture). Regrettably, the availability of data supporting decision makers is sparse, and also the understanding of how different drivers affects the results and how they interrelate, is limited. Thus, when Primefish project aims at making available decision support tools for the seafood sector, one both need to look at data availability and establish a better and more detailed understanding of the economic performance for the selected sectors. Primefish has selected herring, demersal cod, sea bass/sea bream, salmon and trout, for detailed studies. At the meeting participants will be invited to comments on preliminary findings from the studies of the behavior of seafood prices in general and the development of market prices for the selected species, and among others factors characterizing the observed “boom and bust” cycles. Given data sparsity it’s crucial for the outcome of the project, to be able to engage industry experts for shedding light over observations made from the gathered data.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

Active Response Gravity Offload and Method

A variable gravity field simulator can be utilized to provide three dimensional simulations for simulated gravity fields selectively ranging from Moon, Mars, and micro-gravity environments and/or other selectable gravity fields. The gravity field simulator utilizes a horizontally moveable carriage with a cable extending from a hoist. The cable can be attached to a load which experiences the effects of the simulated gravity environment. The load can be a human being or robot that makes movements that induce swinging of the cable whereby a horizontal control system reduces swinging energy. A vertical control system uses a non-linear feedback filter to remove noise from a load sensor that is in the same frequency range as signals from the load sensor

Results from the centers for disease control and prevention's predict the 2013-2014 Influenza Season Challenge

Background: Early insights into the timing of the start, peak, and intensity of the influenza season could be useful in planning influenza prevention and control activities. To encourage development and innovation in influenza forecasting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) organized a challenge to predict the 2013-14 Unites States influenza season. Methods: Challenge contestants were asked to forecast the start, peak, and intensity of the 2013-2014 influenza season at the national level and at any or all Health and Human Services (HHS) region level(s). The challenge ran from December 1, 2013-March 27, 2014; contestants were required to submit 9 biweekly forecasts at the national level to be eligible. The selection of the winner was based on expert evaluation of the methodology used to make the prediction and the accuracy of the prediction as judged against the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet). Results: Nine teams submitted 13 forecasts for all required milestones. The first forecast was due on December 2, 2013; 3/13 forecasts received correctly predicted the start of the influenza season within one week, 1/13 predicted the peak within 1 week, 3/13 predicted the peak ILINet percentage within 1 %, and 4/13 predicted the season duration within 1 week. For the prediction due on December 19, 2013, the number of forecasts that correctly forecasted the peak week increased to 2/13, the peak percentage to 6/13, and the duration of the season to 6/13. As the season progressed, the forecasts became more stable and were closer to the season milestones. Conclusion: Forecasting has become technically feasible, but further efforts are needed to improve forecast accuracy so that policy makers can reliably use these predictions. CDC and challenge contestants plan to build upon the methods developed during this contest to improve the accuracy of influenza forecasts. © 2016 The Author(s)

ConBr lectin modulates MAPKs and Akt pathways and triggers autophagic glioma cell death by a mechanism dependent upon caspase-8 activation

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most aggressive type of glioma, with limited treatment and poor prognosis. Despite some advances over the last decade, validation of novel and selective antiglioma agents remains a challenge in clinical pharmacology. Prior studies have shown that leguminous lectins may exert various biological effects, including antitumor properties. Accordingly, this study aimed to evaluate the mechanisms underlying the antiglioma activity of ConBr, a lectin extracted from the Canavalia brasiliensis seeds. ConBr at lower concentrations inhibited C6 glioma cell migration while higher levels promoted cell death dependent upon carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) structure. ConBr increased p38MAPK and JNK and decreased ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation. Moreover, ConBr inhibited mTORC1 phosphorylation associated with accumulation of autophagic markers, such as acidic vacuoles and LC3 cleavage. Inhibition of early steps of autophagy with 3-methyl-adenine (3-MA) partially protected whereas the later autophagy inhibitor Chloroquine (CQ) had no protective effect upon ConBr cytotoxicity. ConBr also augmented caspase-3 activation without affecting mitochondrial function. Noteworthy, the caspase-8 inhibitor IETF-fmk attenuated ConBr induced autophagy and C6 glioma cell death. Finally, ConBr did not show cytotoxicity against primary astrocytes, suggesting a selective antiglioma activity. In summary, our results indicate that ConBr requires functional CRD lectin domain to exert antiglioma activity, and its cytotoxicity is associated with MAPKs and Akt pathways modulation and autophagy- and caspase-8- dependent cell death.Fil: Wolin, Ingrid A. V.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Heinrich, Isabella A.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Nascimento, Ana Paula M.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Welter, Priscilla G.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Sosa, Liliana del Valle. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: de Paul, Ana Lucia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Zanotto Filho, Alfeu. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Nedel, Cláudia Beatriz. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Lima, Lara Dias. Universidade Estadual do Ceará; BrasilFil: Osterne, Vinicius Jose Silva. Universidade Estadual do Ceará; BrasilFil: Pinto Junior, Vanir Reis. Universidade Estadual do Ceará; BrasilFil: Nascimento, Kyria S.. Universidade Estadual do Ceará; BrasilFil: Cavada, Benildo S.. Universidade Estadual do Ceará; BrasilFil: Leal, Rodrigo B.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; Brasi

Circulating biomarkers during treatment in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer receiving cediranib in the UK ABC-03 trial

BACKGROUND: Advanced biliary tract cancer (ABC) has a poor prognosis. Cediranib, in addition to cisplatin/gemcitabine [CisGem], improved the response rate, but did not improve the progression-free survival (PFS) in the ABC-03 study. Minimally invasive biomarkers predictive of cediranib benefit may improve patient outcomes. METHODS: Changes in 15 circulating plasma angiogenesis or inflammatory-related proteins and cytokeratin-18 (CK18), measured at baseline and during therapy until disease progression, were correlated with overall survival (OS) using time-varying covariate Cox models (TVC). RESULTS: Samples were available from n=117/124 (94%) patients. Circulating Ang1&2, FGFb, PDGFbb, VEGFC, VEGFR1 and CK18 decreased as a result of the therapy, independent of treatment with cediranib. Circulating VEGFR2 and Tie2 were preferentially reduced by cediranib. Patients with increasing levels of VEGFA at any time had a worse PFS and OS; this detrimental effect was attenuated in patients receiving cediranib. TVC analysis revealed CK18 and VEGFR2 increases correlated with poorer OS in all patients (P< 0.001 and P=0.02, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Rising circulating VEGFA levels in patients with ABC, treated with CisGem, are associated with worse PFS and OS, not seen in patients receiving cediranib. Rising levels of markers of tumour burden (CK18) and potential resistance (VEGFR2) are associated with worse outcomes and warrant validation

NGAL (Lcn2) monomer is associated with tubulointerstitial damage in chronic kidney disease

The type and the extent of tissue damage inform the prognosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD), but kidney biopsy is not a routine test. Urinary tests that correlate with specific histological findings might serve as surrogates for the kidney biopsy. We used immunoblots and ARCHITECT-NGAL assays to define the immunoreactivity of urinary neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin (NGAL) in CKD, and we used mass spectroscopy to identify associated proteins. We analyzed kidney biopsies to determine whether specific pathological characteristics associated with the monomeric NGAL species. Advanced CKD urine contained the NGAL monomer as well as novel complexes of NGAL. When these species were separated, we found a significant correlation between the NGAL monomer and glomerular filtration rate (r=-0.53, P<0.001), interstitial fibrosis (mild vs. severe disease; mean 54 vs. 167μg uNGAL/g Cr, P<0.01), and tubular atrophy (mild vs. severe disease; mean 54 vs. 164μg uNGAL/g Cr, P<0.01). Monospecific assays of the NGAL monomer demonstrated a correlation with histology that typifies progressive, severe CKD

Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and associated particles are measured by the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The transverse-momentum range 0.7 $< p_{\rm{T}, assoc} < p_{\rm{T}, trig} <$ 5.0 GeV/$c$ is examined, to include correlations induced by jets originating from low momen\-tum-transfer scatterings (minijets). The correlations expressed as associated yield per trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<0.9$. The near-side long-range pseudorapidity correlations observed in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions are subtracted from both near-side short-range and away-side correlations in order to remove the non-jet-like components. The yields in the jet-like peaks are found to be invariant with event multiplicity with the exception of events with low multiplicity. This invariance is consistent with the particles being produced via the incoherent fragmentation of multiple parton--parton scatterings, while the yield related to the previously observed ridge structures is not jet-related. The number of uncorrelated sources of particle production is found to increase linearly with multiplicity, suggesting no saturation of the number of multi-parton interactions even in the highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions. Further, the number scales in the intermediate multiplicity region with the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions estimated with a Glauber Monte-Carlo simulation.Comment: 23 pages, 6 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 17, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/161

The relationship of the factor V Leiden mutation or the deletion-deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin converting enzyme to postoperative thromboembolic events following total joint arthroplasty

BACKGROUND: Although all patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty are subjected to similar risk factors that predispose to thromboembolism, only a subset of patients develop this complication. The objective of this study was to determine whether a specific genetic profile is associated with a higher risk of developing a postoperative thromboembolic complication. Specifically, we examined if the Factor V Leiden (FVL) mutation or the deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene increased a patient's risk for postoperative thromboembolic events. The FVL mutation has been associated with an increased risk of idiopathic thromboembolism and the deletion polymorphism of the ACE gene has been associated with increased vascular tone, attenuated fibrinolysis and increased platelet aggregation. METHODS: The presence of these genetic profiles was determined for 38 patients who had a postoperative symptomatic pulmonary embolus or proximal deep venous thrombosis and 241 control patients without thrombosis using molecular biological techniques. RESULTS: The Factor V Leiden mutation was present in none of the 38 experimental patients and in 3% or 8 of the 241 controls (p = 0.26). Similarly there was no difference detected in the distribution of polymorphisms for the ACE gene with the deletion-deletion genotype present in 36% or 13 of the 38 experimental patients and in 31% or 74 of the 241 controls (p = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that neither of these potentially hypercoaguable states are associated with an increased risk of symptomatic thromboembolic events following total hip or knee arthroplasty in patients receiving pharmacological thromboprophylaxis