Agriecol, Spanish Research Network for Organic Food and Farming - Building bridges between researchers and the organic sector

The launch of Agriecol Thematic Network has strengthened communication between the research groups working in the field of organic farming and the economic and social sector (companies, associations and groups of organic agriculture and livestock, including forest systems and their use by organic production techniques, and the production and processing of organic food). This paper aims to show the activities of the Agriecol to increase national and international presence of the network in order to establish synergies with organic sector and with leading research groups working on organic farming worldwide

El reto de conciliar la productividad y la conservación de la biodiversidad: el caso de los cultivos herbáceos extensivos en la Región Mediterránea

La revisión de los estudios realizados por el equipo de investigación muestra que la intensificación agrícola afecta negativamente la abundancia y la riqueza de la flora. La complejidad del paisaje es el principal factor que modula la vegetación de los linderos, mientras que la intensidad de las prácticas agrícolas es el factor más importante para explicar las diferencias en la flora arvense en el centro de los campos. Diversos experimentos que analizan los efectos del control de la flora arvense sobre la riqueza específica y el rendimiento muestran que la grada de púas flexibles evita que la flora arvense sea un factor limitante de la producción en los cultivos de cereales ecológicos. Los herbicidas afectan negativamente la riqueza, mientras que el control mecánico permite mantener la diversidad de la flora arvense en los campos ecológicos. El trabajo discute propuestas para la gestión agrícola que permitan la conciliación de la producción y la conservación de la biodiversidad.The review of several studies conducted by the research team shows that agricultural intensification negatively affects the abundance and richness of the flora. The effect of both agricultural practices and landscape complexity depends on the studied flora. Thus, landscape complexity is the main factor shaping vegetation of field boundaries whereas the intensity of agricultural practices is the most important factor in explaining differences in the in-field weed flora. Several experiments analysing the effects of weed control practices on weed flora and crop yield show that weed harrowing prevents weeds from being a limiting factor of crop yield in organic cereal fields. Herbicides diminished weed species richness and changed the species composition whereas harrowing allowed the maintenance of high levels of weed diversity in the organic fields. The presentation discusses proposals for farmland management aiming at reconciling crop production and biodiversity conservation.Eje A4: Ambiente, Naturaleza y AgroecologíaFacultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Agriecol, Red de Investigación en Agricultura, Ganadería y Selvicultura Ecológica

La creación de la red de investigación Agriecol ha fortalecido la comunicación entre los grupos de investigación españoles que trabajan en el campo de la agricultura y la alimentación ecológica. Agriecol también tiene como objetivo favorecer la comunicación entre los grupos de investigación y las empresas y asociaciones para que puedan identificar y desarrollar líneas de investigación. Este artículo tiene como objetivo mostrar las actividades de la red de investigación para incrementar su presencia a nivel nacional e internacional con el fin de establecer sinergias con el sector ecológico y con los grupos de investigación que trabajan en la agricultura y la alimentación ecológica en todo el mundo.The launch of the research network Agriecol has strengthened the communication among the Spanish research groups working in the field of organic food and farming. Agriecol also aims to provide communication among research groups and companies and associations to enable them to identify and develop lines of research. This paper aims to show the activities of the research network to increase its national and international presence in order to establish synergies with organic sector and with leading research groups working on organic food farming worldwide.Eje A5: Sistemas de conocimientoFacultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

El reto de conciliar la productividad y la conservación de la biodiversidad: el caso de los cultivos herbáceos extensivos en la Región Mediterránea

La revisión de los estudios realizados por el equipo de investigación muestra que la intensificación agrícola afecta negativamente la abundancia y la riqueza de la flora. La complejidad del paisaje es el principal factor que modula la vegetación de los linderos, mientras que la intensidad de las prácticas agrícolas es el factor más importante para explicar las diferencias en la flora arvense en el centro de los campos. Diversos experimentos que analizan los efectos del control de la flora arvense sobre la riqueza específica y el rendimiento muestran que la grada de púas flexibles evita que la flora arvense sea un factor limitante de la producción en los cultivos de cereales ecológicos. Los herbicidas afectan negativamente la riqueza, mientras que el control mecánico permite mantener la diversidad de la flora arvense en los campos ecológicos. El trabajo discute propuestas para la gestión agrícola que permitan la conciliación de la producción y la conservación de la biodiversidad.The review of several studies conducted by the research team shows that agricultural intensification negatively affects the abundance and richness of the flora. The effect of both agricultural practices and landscape complexity depends on the studied flora. Thus, landscape complexity is the main factor shaping vegetation of field boundaries whereas the intensity of agricultural practices is the most important factor in explaining differences in the in-field weed flora. Several experiments analysing the effects of weed control practices on weed flora and crop yield show that weed harrowing prevents weeds from being a limiting factor of crop yield in organic cereal fields. Herbicides diminished weed species richness and changed the species composition whereas harrowing allowed the maintenance of high levels of weed diversity in the organic fields. The presentation discusses proposals for farmland management aiming at reconciling crop production and biodiversity conservation.Eje A4: Ambiente, Naturaleza y AgroecologíaFacultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Agriecol, Red de Investigación en Agricultura, Ganadería y Selvicultura Ecológica

La creación de la red de investigación Agriecol ha fortalecido la comunicación entre los grupos de investigación españoles que trabajan en el campo de la agricultura y la alimentación ecológica. Agriecol también tiene como objetivo favorecer la comunicación entre los grupos de investigación y las empresas y asociaciones para que puedan identificar y desarrollar líneas de investigación. Este artículo tiene como objetivo mostrar las actividades de la red de investigación para incrementar su presencia a nivel nacional e internacional con el fin de establecer sinergias con el sector ecológico y con los grupos de investigación que trabajan en la agricultura y la alimentación ecológica en todo el mundo.The launch of the research network Agriecol has strengthened the communication among the Spanish research groups working in the field of organic food and farming. Agriecol also aims to provide communication among research groups and companies and associations to enable them to identify and develop lines of research. This paper aims to show the activities of the research network to increase its national and international presence in order to establish synergies with organic sector and with leading research groups working on organic food farming worldwide.Eje A5: Sistemas de conocimientoFacultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

El reto de conciliar la productividad y la conservación de la biodiversidad: el caso de los cultivos herbáceos extensivos en la Región Mediterránea

La revisión de los estudios realizados por el equipo de investigación muestra que la intensificación agrícola afecta negativamente la abundancia y la riqueza de la flora. La complejidad del paisaje es el principal factor que modula la vegetación de los linderos, mientras que la intensidad de las prácticas agrícolas es el factor más importante para explicar las diferencias en la flora arvense en el centro de los campos. Diversos experimentos que analizan los efectos del control de la flora arvense sobre la riqueza específica y el rendimiento muestran que la grada de púas flexibles evita que la flora arvense sea un factor limitante de la producción en los cultivos de cereales ecológicos. Los herbicidas afectan negativamente la riqueza, mientras que el control mecánico permite mantener la diversidad de la flora arvense en los campos ecológicos. El trabajo discute propuestas para la gestión agrícola que permitan la conciliación de la producción y la conservación de la biodiversidad.The review of several studies conducted by the research team shows that agricultural intensification negatively affects the abundance and richness of the flora. The effect of both agricultural practices and landscape complexity depends on the studied flora. Thus, landscape complexity is the main factor shaping vegetation of field boundaries whereas the intensity of agricultural practices is the most important factor in explaining differences in the in-field weed flora. Several experiments analysing the effects of weed control practices on weed flora and crop yield show that weed harrowing prevents weeds from being a limiting factor of crop yield in organic cereal fields. Herbicides diminished weed species richness and changed the species composition whereas harrowing allowed the maintenance of high levels of weed diversity in the organic fields. The presentation discusses proposals for farmland management aiming at reconciling crop production and biodiversity conservation.Eje A4: Ambiente, Naturaleza y AgroecologíaFacultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Pd/C catalysts based on synthetic carbons with bi- and tri-modal pore-size distribution: Applications in flow chemistry

Synthetic carbons with hierarchical mesopores are promising for developing new catalysts for intensified continuous-flow catalysis in structured reactors.Financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Engineering Functional Materials, EP/C519736/1), the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme and the University of Bath Research Studentship is gratefully acknowledged. The assistance of Dr Martin Jennings Dr. Chris Muryn (School of Chemistry, The University of Manchester) on ICP-OES and XPS analyses is acknowledged. KW acknowledges the Royal Society for the award of an Industry Fellowship.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from RSC via http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5CY01401

Pd/C catalysts based on synthetic carbons with bi- and tri-modal pore-size distribution: applications in flow chemistry

Two new types of phenolic resin-derived synthetic carbons with bi-modal and tri-modal pore-size distributions were used as supports for Pd catalysts. The catalysts were tested in chemoselective hydrogenation and hydrodehalogenation reactions in a compact multichannel flow reactor. Bi-modal and tri-modal micro-mesoporous structures of the synthetic carbons were characterised by N2 adsorption. HR-TEM, PXRD and XPS analyses were performed for characterising the synthesised catalysts. N2 adsorption revealed that tri-modal synthetic carbon possesses a well-developed hierarchical mesoporous structure (with 6.5 nm and 42 nm pores), contributing to a larger mesopore volume than the bi-modal carbon (1.57 cm3 g–1 versus 1.23 cm3 g–1). It was found that the tri-modal carbon promotes a better size distribution of Pd nanoparticles than the bi-modal carbon due to presence of hierarchical mesopore limitting the growth of Pd nanoparticles. For all the model reactions investigated, the Pd catalyst based on tri-modal synthetic carbon (Pd/triC) show high activity as well as high stability and reproducibility. The trend in reactivities of different functional groups over the Pd/triC catalyst follows a general order alkyne >> nitro > bromo >> aldehyde.Financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Engineering Functional Materials, EP/C519736/1), the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme and the University of Bath Research Studentship is gratefully acknowledged. The assistance of Dr Martin Jennings Dr. Chris Muryn (School of Chemistry, The University of Manchester) on ICP-OES and XPS analyses is acknowledged. KW acknowledges the Royal Society for the award of an Industry Fellowship.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from RSC via http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5CY01401

Extremity exposure in nuclear medicine: preliminary results of a European study

The Work Package 4 of the ORAMED project, a collaborative project (2008-11) supported by the European Commission within its seventh Framework Programme, is concerned with the optimisation of the extremity dosimetry of medical staff in nuclear medicine. To evaluate the extremity doses and dose distributions across the hands of medical staff working in nuclear medicine departments, an extensive measurement programme has been started in 32 nuclear medicine departments in Europe. This was done using a standard protocol recording all relevant information for radiation exposure, i.e. radiation protection devices and tools. This study shows the preliminary results obtained for this measurement campaign. For diagnostic purposes, the two most-used radionuclides were considered: 99mTc and 18F. For therapeutic treatments, Zevalin® and DOTATOC (both labelled with 90Y) were chosen. Large variations of doses were observed across the hands depending on different parameters. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of the positioning of the extremity dosemeter for a correct estimate of the maximum skin dose

The Differential Expression of Cide Family Members is Associated with Nafld Progression from Steatosis to Steatohepatitis.

Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the progression from a "non-pathogenic" steatotic state to Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis is an important clinical requirement. The cell death-inducing DFF45 like effector (CIDE) family members (A, B and FSP27) regulate hepatic lipid homeostasis by controlling lipid droplet growth and/or VLDL production. However, CIDE proteins, particularly FSP27, have a dual role in that they also regulate cell death. We here report that the hepatic expression of CIDEA and FSP27 (α/β) was similarly upregulated in a dietary mouse model of obesity-mediated hepatic steatosis. In contrast, CIDEA expression decreased, but FSP27-β expression strongly increased in a dietary mouse model of steatohepatitis. The inverse expression pattern of CIDEA and FSP27β was amplified with the increasing severity of the liver inflammation and injury. In obese patients, the hepatic CIDEC2 (human homologue of mouse FSP27β) expression strongly correlated with the NAFLD activity score and liver injury. The hepatic expression of CIDEA tended to increase with obesity, but decreased with NAFLD severity. In hepatic cell lines, the downregulation of FSP27β resulted in the fractionation of lipid droplets, whereas its overexpression decreased the expression of the anti-apoptotic BCL2 marker. This, in turn, sensitized cells to apoptosis in response to TNF α and saturated fatty acid. Considered together, our animal, human and in vitro studies indicate that differential expression of FSP27β/CIDEC2 and CIDEA is related to NAFLD progression and liver injury