Cultivating diversity and food quality. Proceedings of Diversifood EU Forum, Brussels, 11 April 2018

To tackle this issue, Diversifood team organised a forum with policy makers and stakeholders on the 11th of April 2018, in Brussels. Diversifood’s aim is to share results and key lessons including new approaches for the management of cultivated biodiversity, for plant breeding for sustainable farming systems, and new relationships among actors of food systems. In the afternoon, there was time for discussion, knowledge sharing, collecting feedback and extending current policies to include cultivating diversity and food quality (for FP9, CAP 2020, The outputs of this workshop will feed Diversifood’s final recommendations. The forum was kindly hosted by the European Committee of the Regions (Rue Belliard/Belliardstraat 101, 1040 Brussels)

Terroir is a key driver of seed-associated microbial assemblages

Seeds have evolved in association with diverse microbial assemblages that may influence plant growth and health. However, little is known about the composition of seed-associated microbial assemblages and the ecological processes shaping their structures. In this work, we monitored the relative influence of the host genotypes and terroir on the structure of the seed microbiota through metabarcoding analysis of different microbial assemblages associated to five different bean cultivars harvested in two distinct farms. Overall, few bacterial and fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were conserved across all seed samples. The lack of shared OTUs between samples is explained by a significant effect of the farm site on the structure of microbial assemblage, which explained 12.2% and 39.7% of variance in bacterial and fungal diversity across samples. This site-specific effect is reflected by the significant enrichment of 70 OTUs in Brittany and 88 OTUs in Luxembourg that lead to differences in co-occurrence patterns. In contrast, variance in microbial assemblage structure was not explained by host genotype. Altogether, these results suggest that seed-associated microbial assemblage is determined by niche-based processes and that the terroir is a key driver of these selective forces

Clinical academic career pathway for nursing and allied health professionals: clinical academic role descriptors

The clinical academic pathway outlined highlights the range of typical practice and research-focused activities that a practitioner on a clinical academic career pathway might normally engage in at different levels and points along this career path. The activities are intended as a guide for practitioners interested in learning more about the practice and research components of a clinical academic career, as well as those already employed in clinical academic roles. They may also be useful for health care organisations and Higher Education Institutions as a tool for developing clinical academic roles

The organic seed regulations framework in Europe – current status and recommendations for future development

Organic agriculture regulations, in particular European regulation EC 889/2008, prescribe the use of organically produced seed. For many cultivated plants, however, organic seed is often not available. This is mainly because investment in organic plant breeding and seed production has been low in the past. To bridge the gap between organic seed supply and demand, national and European regulations define certain circumstances under which organic producers are permitted to use non-organically produced seed. While the organic sector currently depends on these concessions, they also threaten to impede a further increase in the demand for organic seed, thereby potentially restraining present and future investment in organic seed production and plant breeding. We review the current status of the organic seed regulations framework by analysing key issues such as the role of the national derogation regimes, the role of expert groups, databases and seed prices. Key points are that (a) the situation of the organic seed sector has improved over the last few years; however, (b) reporting on organic seed to the EU by different countries needs to be harmonised; (c) the success of the organic seed sector depends critically on the implementation and improvement of national expert groups; and (d) to protect genetic diversity, the use of local varieties and landraces should not be impeded by organic seed regulations

Implementing the Creating Learning Environments for Compassionate Care (CLECC) programme in acute hospital settings: a pilot RCT and feasibility study

BACKGROUND: Concerns about the degree of compassion in health care have become a focus for national and international attention. However, existing research on compassionate care interventions provides scant evidence of effectiveness or the contexts in which effectiveness is achievable. OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility of implementing the Creating Learning Environments for Compassionate Care (CLECC) programme in acute hospital settings and to evaluate its impact on patient care. DESIGN: Pilot cluster randomised trial (CRT) and associated process and economic evaluations. SETTING: Six inpatient ward nursing teams (clusters) in two English NHS hospitals randomised to intervention (n = 4) or control (n = 2). PARTICIPANTS: Patients (n = 639), staff (n = 211) and visitors (n = 188). INTERVENTION: CLECC is a workplace educational intervention focused on developing sustainable leadership and work team practices (dialogue, reflective learning, mutual support) theorised to support the delivery of compassionate care. The control setting involved no planned staff team-based educational activity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Quality of Interaction Schedule (QuIS) for staff–patient interactions, patient-reported evaluations of emotional care in hospital (PEECH) and nurse-reported empathy (as assessed via the Jefferson Scale of Empathy). DATA SOURCES: Structured observations of staff–patient interactions; patient, visitor and staff questionnaires and qualitative interviews; and qualitative observations of CLECC activities. RESULTS: The pilot CRT proceeded as planned and randomisation was acceptable to teams. There was evidence of potential contamination between wards in the same hospital. QuIS performed well, achieving a 93% recruitment rate, with 25% of the patient sample cognitively impaired. At follow-up there were more positive (78% vs. 74%) and fewer negative (8% vs. 11%) QuIS ratings for intervention wards than for control wards. In total, 63% of intervention ward patients achieved the lowest possible (i.e. more negative) scores on the PEECH connection subscale, compared with 79% of control group patients. These differences, although supported by the qualitative findings, are not statistically significant. No statistically significant differences in nursing empathy were observed, although response rates to staff questionnaire were low (36%). Process evaluation: the CLECC intervention is feasible to implement in practice with medical and surgical nursing teams in acute care hospitals. Strong evidence of good staff participation was found in some CLECC activities and staff reported benefits throughout its introductory period and beyond. Further impact and sustainability were limited by the focus on changing ward team behaviours rather than wider system restructuring. Economic evaluation: the costs associated with using CLECC were identified and it is recommend that an impact inventory be used in any future study. LIMITATIONS: Findings are not generalisable outside hospital nursing teams, and this feasibility work is not powered to detect differences attributable to the CLECC intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the experimental methods is feasible. The use of structured observation of staff–patient interaction quality is a promising primary outcome that is inclusive of patient groups often excluded from research, but further validation is required. Further development of the CLECC intervention should focus on ensuring that it is adequately supported by resources, norms and relationships in the wider system by, for instance, improving the cognitive participation of senior nurse managers. Funding is being sought for a more definitive evaluation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN16789770. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 6, No. 33. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. The systematic review reported in Chapter 2 was funded by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Wessex, the University of Örebro and the Karolinska Institutet

A Multi-Actor Literature Review on Alternative and Sustainable Food Systems for the Promotion of Cereal Biodiversity

Organic and low-input food systems are emerging worldwide in answer to the sustainability crisis of the conventional agri-food sector. “Alternative” systems are based on local, decentralized approaches to production and processing, regarding quality and health, and short supply-chains for products with strong local identities. Diversity is deeply embedded in these food systems, from the agrobiodiversity grown in farmers’ fields, which improves resilience and adaptation, to diverse approaches, contexts and actors in food manufacturing and marketing. Diversity thus becomes a cross-sectoral issue which acknowledges consumers’ demand for healthy products. In the framework of the European project “CERERE, CEreal REnaissance in Rural Europe: embedding diversity in organic and low-input food systems”, the paper aims at reviewing recent research on alternative and sustainable food systems by adopting an innovative and participatory multi-actor approach; this has involved ten practitioners and twenty-two researchers from across Europe and a variety of technical backgrounds in the paper and analysis stages. The participatory approach is the main innovation and distinctive feature of this literature review. Partners selected indeed what they perceived as most relevant in order to facilitate a transition towards more sustainable and diversity based cereal systems and food chains. This includes issues related to alternative food networks, formal and informal institutional settings, grass root initiatives, consumer involvement and, finally, knowledge exchange and sustainability. The review provides an overview of recent research that is relevant to CERERE partners as well as to anyone interested in alternative and sustainable food systems. The main objective of this paper was indeed to present a narrative of studies, which can form the foundation for future applied research to promote alternative methods of cereal production in Europe.Peer reviewe

A Re-Examination of Global Suppression of RNA Interference by HIV-1

The nature of the interaction between replicating HIV-1 and the cellular RNAi pathway has been controversial, but it is clear that it can be complex and multifaceted. It has been proposed that the interaction is bi-directional, whereby cellular silencing pathways can restrict HIV-1 replication, and in turn, HIV-1 can suppress silencing pathways. Overall suppression of RNAi has been suggested to occur via direct binding and inhibition of Dicer by the HIV-1 Tat protein or through sequestration of TRBP, a Dicer co-factor, by the structured TAR element of HIV-1 transcripts. The role of Tat as an inhibitor of Dicer has been questioned and our results support and extend the conclusion that Tat does not inhibit RNAi that is mediated by either exogenous or endogenous miRNAs. Similarly, we find no suppression of silencing pathways in cells with replicating virus, suggesting that viral products such as the TAR RNA elements also do not reduce the efficacy of cellular RNA silencing. However, knockdown of Dicer does allow increased viral replication and this occurs at a post-transcriptional level. These results support the idea that although individual miRNAs can act to restrict HIV-1 replication, the virus does not counter these effects through a global suppression of RNAi synthesis or processing

Relationships of PBMC microRNA expression, plasma viral load, and CD4+ T-cell count in HIV-1-infected elite suppressors and viremic patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HIV-1-infected elite controllers or suppressors (ES) maintain undetectable viral loads (< 50 copies/mL) without antiretroviral therapy. The mechanisms of suppression are incompletely understood. Modulation of HIV-1 replication by miRNAs has been reported, but the role of small RNAs in ES is unknown. Using samples from a well-characterized ES cohort, untreated viremic patients, and uninfected controls, we explored the PBMC miRNA profile and probed the relationships of miRNA expression, CD4+ T-cell counts, and viral load.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>miRNA profiles, obtained using multiple acquisition, data processing, and analysis methods, distinguished ES and uninfected controls from viremic HIV-1-infected patients. For several miRNAs, however, ES and viremic patients shared similar expression patterns. Differentially expressed miRNAs included those with reported roles in HIV-1 latency (miR-29 family members, miRs -125b and -150). Others, such as miR-31 and miR-31*, had no previously reported connection with HIV-1 infection but were found here to differ significantly with uncontrolled HIV-1 replication. Correlations of miRNA expression with CD4+ T-cell count and viral load were found, and we observed that ES with low CD4+ T-cell counts had miRNA profiles more closely related to viremic patients than controls. However, expression patterns indicate that miRNA variability cannot be explained solely by CD4+ T-cell variation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The intimate involvement of miRNAs in disease processes is underscored by connections of miRNA expression with the HIV disease clinical parameters of CD4 count and plasma viral load. However, miRNA profile changes are not explained completely by these variables. Significant declines of miRs-125b and -150, among others, in both ES and viremic patients indicate the persistence of host miRNA responses or ongoing effects of infection despite viral suppression by ES. We found no negative correlations with viral load in viremic patients, not even those that have been reported to silence HIV-1 in vitro, suggesting that the effects of these miRNAs are exerted in a focused, cell-type-specific manner. Finally, the observation that some ES with low CD4 counts were consistently related to viremic patients suggests that miRNAs may serve as biomarkers for risk of disease progression even in the presence of viral suppression.</p

RNAi in the regulation of mammalian viral infections

Although RNA interference (RNAi) is known to play an important part in defense against viruses of invertebrates, its contribution to mammalian anti-viral defense has been a matter of dispute. This is surprising because all components of the RNAi machinery necessary for robust RNAi-mediated restriction of viruses are conserved in mammals, and the introduction of synthetic small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) into cells efficiently silences the replication of viruses that contain siRNA complementary sequences in those cells. Here, I discuss the reasons for the dispute, and review the evidence that RNAi is a part of the physiological defense of mammalian cells against viral infections

Human cellular restriction factors that target HIV-1 replication

Recent findings have highlighted roles played by innate cellular factors in restricting intracellular viral replication. In this review, we discuss in brief the activities of apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme 3G (APOBEC3G), bone marrow stromal cell antigen 2 (BST-2), cyclophilin A, tripartite motif protein 5 alpha (Trim5α), and cellular microRNAs as examples of host restriction factors that target HIV-1. We point to countermeasures encoded by HIV-1 for moderating the potency of these cellular restriction functions