Low Greenhouse Gas Agriculture: Mitigation and Adaptation Potential of Sustainable Farming Systems

Is low greenhouse gas emission (GHG) agriculture possible? Is it, in fact, desirable? In seeking answers to these two basic but extremely relevant questions, this study examines current farming practices, and incorporates scientific databases from longterm field experiments as case studies for low GHG agriculture. Further, the study examines the changes that will be needed for low greenhouse gas agriculture systems to become a reality. It also elucidates the adaptive capacity of agro-ecological farming system approaches, using organic system case studies from the scientific literature. Each year, agriculture emits 10 to 12 percent of the total estimated GHG emissions, some 5.1 to 6.1 Gt CO2 equivalents per year. Smith, et al. (2007) and Bellarby, et al. (2008) have proposed mitigation options for GHG emissions, finding that both farmers and policymakers will face challenges from the GHG-related changes needed in agriculture. Areas for improvement include increased use of no-till cropping, agro-forestry, and integrated crop and animal farming, and decreased use of external inputs in food and agriculture. The techniques offered by organic agriculture are valuable for consideration in these efforts

Inulin for Cancer Therapy: Present and Perspectives

Inulin is an extremely adaptable polysaccharides consisting of glucopyranose end-capped (\u3b2-1,2) fructose repeating units and, as it is, can be classified as an inherently multifunctional polymeric scaffold. It may be further functionalized employing mild conditions to give rise desired biological and physicochemical properties exploitable for targeted anticancer applications (e.g., active targeting toward specific cytotypes, self-assembling behavior, selective cytoxicity and hyperthermia features). In this review, the main chemical features and the inulin derivatives applications in the field of targeted anticancer therapy is reported and discusse

Folic acid-functionalized graphene oxide nanosheets via plasma etching as a platform to combine NIR anticancer phototherapy and targeted drug delivery

PEGylated graphene oxide (GO) has shown potential as NIR converting agent to produce local heat useful in breast cancer therapy, since its suitable photothermal conversion, high stability in physiological fluids, biocompatibility and huge specific surface. GO is an appealing nanomaterial for potential clinical applications combining drug delivery and photothermal therapy in a single nano-device capable of specifically targeting breast cancer cells. However, native GO sheets have large dimensions (0.5-5 mu m) such that tumor accumulation after a systemic administration is usually precluded. Herein, we report a step-by-step synthesis of folic acid-functionalized PEGylated GO, henceforth named GO-PEG-Fol, with small size and narrow size distribution (similar to 30 +/- 5 nm), and the ability of efficiently converting NIR light into heat. GO-PEG-Fol consists of a nano-GO sheet, obtained by fragmentation of GO by means of non-equilibrium plasma etching, fully functionalized with folic acid-terminated PEG(2000) chains through amidic coupling and azide-alkyne click cycloaddition, which we showed as active targeting agents to selectively recognize breast cancer cells such as MCF7 and MDA-MB-231. The GO-PEG-Fol incorporated a high amount of doxorubicin hydrochloride (Doxo) (> 33%) and behaves as NIR-light-activated heater capable of triggering sudden Doxo delivery inside cancer cells and localized hyperthermia, thus provoking efficient breast cancer death. The cytotoxic effect was found to be selective for breast cancer cells, being the IC50 up to 12 times lower than that observed for healthy fibroblasts. This work established plasma etching as a cost-effective strategy to get functionalized nano-GO with a smart combination of properties such as small size, good photothermal efficiency and targeted cytotoxic effect, which make it a promising candidate as photothermal agent for the treatment of breast cancer

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies – Organic Agriculture

This psoter presents information on the following - The concept of organic farming in the context of climate change - Carbon sequestration on organic farms - Consequences of an area-wide conversion to organic agricultur

Factors Affecting Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Eco-friendly Food in China: The Evidence from Respondents in Beijing

The purpose aims to examine the key factors influencing Chinese consumer’s purchasing behaviour of eco-friendly food in China giving its context as an emerging economy and its rapidly rising importance in the world eco-friendly food market. This paper adopts and extends the Responsible Environmental Behaviour (REB) theory by empirically testing key psycho-social factors influencing the purchase intention of eco-friendly food and the moderating effects of consumers’ demographic characteristics on the relationship between the key psycho-social factors and the purchase intention.  A number of hypotheses are proposed. A questionnaire was designed and distributed via online survey in Beijing, China.  A total of 239 valid responses were received. The empirical data was used to test the research hypotheses using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The research finds that the personality factors in the REB model (i.e., pro-environmental attitudes, the internal locus of control and personal responsibly) have significant positive effects on the consumers’ eco-friendly food purchase intention. Such effect is stable across consumers with different income levels. On the other hand, the knowledge-skill factors in the REB model do not have significant effect on the purchase intention of consumers. This study contributes to a better understanding of factors affecting eco-friendly food consumption intention in China and the behavioural characteristics of consumers in developing countries. Moreover, the findings also shed light on the applicability of the REB theory in emerging economies and a specific industrial context

Antibody response elicited by the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine booster in patients with multiple sclerosis: Who gains from it?

Background and purpose: Although two doses of COVID-19 vaccine elicited a protective humoral response in most persons with multiple sclerosis (pwMS), a significant group of them treated with immunosuppressive disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) showed less efficient responses. Methods: This prospective multicenter observational study evaluates differences in immune response after a third vaccine dose in pwMS. Results: Four hundred seventy-three pwMS were analyzed. Compared to untreated patients, there was a 50-fold decrease (95% confidence interval [CI] = 14.3–100.0, p < 0.001) in serum SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in those on rituximab, a 20-fold decrease (95% CI = 8.3–50.0, p < 0.001) in those on ocrelizumab, and a 2.3-fold decrease (95% CI = 1.2–4.6, p = 0.015) in those on fingolimod. As compared to the antibody levels after the second vaccine dose, patients on the anti-CD20 drugs rituximab and ocrelizumab showed a 2.3-fold lower gain (95% CI = 1.4–3.8, p = 0.001), whereas those on fingolimod showed a 1.7-fold higher gain (95% CI = 1.1–2.7, p = 0.012), compared to patients treated with other DMTs. Conclusions: All pwMS increased their serum SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels after the third vaccine dose. The mean antibody values of patients treated with ocrelizumab/rituximab remained well below the empirical "protective threshold" for risk of infection identified in the CovaXiMS study (>659 binding antibody units/mL), whereas for patients treated with fingolimod this value was significantly closer to the cutoff

Second asymptomatic carotid surgery trial (ACST-2): a randomised comparison of carotid artery stenting versus carotid endarterectomy

Background: Among asymptomatic patients with severe carotid artery stenosis but no recent stroke or transient cerebral ischaemia, either carotid artery stenting (CAS) or carotid endarterectomy (CEA) can restore patency and reduce long-term stroke risks. However, from recent national registry data, each option causes about 1% procedural risk of disabling stroke or death. Comparison of their long-term protective effects requires large-scale randomised evidence. Methods: ACST-2 is an international multicentre randomised trial of CAS versus CEA among asymptomatic patients with severe stenosis thought to require intervention, interpreted with all other relevant trials. Patients were eligible if they had severe unilateral or bilateral carotid artery stenosis and both doctor and patient agreed that a carotid procedure should be undertaken, but they were substantially uncertain which one to choose. Patients were randomly allocated to CAS or CEA and followed up at 1 month and then annually, for a mean 5 years. Procedural events were those within 30 days of the intervention. Intention-to-treat analyses are provided. Analyses including procedural hazards use tabular methods. Analyses and meta-analyses of non-procedural strokes use Kaplan-Meier and log-rank methods. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN21144362. Findings: Between Jan 15, 2008, and Dec 31, 2020, 3625 patients in 130 centres were randomly allocated, 1811 to CAS and 1814 to CEA, with good compliance, good medical therapy and a mean 5 years of follow-up. Overall, 1% had disabling stroke or death procedurally (15 allocated to CAS and 18 to CEA) and 2% had non-disabling procedural stroke (48 allocated to CAS and 29 to CEA). Kaplan-Meier estimates of 5-year non-procedural stroke were 2·5% in each group for fatal or disabling stroke, and 5·3% with CAS versus 4·5% with CEA for any stroke (rate ratio [RR] 1·16, 95% CI 0·86–1·57; p=0·33). Combining RRs for any non-procedural stroke in all CAS versus CEA trials, the RR was similar in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients (overall RR 1·11, 95% CI 0·91–1·32; p=0·21). Interpretation: Serious complications are similarly uncommon after competent CAS and CEA, and the long-term effects of these two carotid artery procedures on fatal or disabling stroke are comparable. Funding: UK Medical Research Council and Health Technology Assessment Programme