Intra-regional Wealth-Deforestation Relationships in the Brazilian Pantanal: An Examination of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis

This paper provides an examination of the EKC Hypothesis applied to deforestation in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland. It is hypothesized that the unsustainable subdivision of many of the larger ranches due to inheritance may result in greater deforestation pressure than a less equal distribution of land and animal resources. The analysis advances understanding in this area on several dimensions: an intra-regional rather than international approach is examined; deforestation is addressed; and land and cattle wealth serve as proxies for income and wealth among agriculturists, where income measures are notoriously poor indicators of welfare.Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Tourists' Value of Ranch Open Space Over Time: A Panel Data Estimation

Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A NATIONWIDE, STATE-LEVEL, ANALYSIS OF ANIMAL CONFINEMENT POLICY BY SELECTED SPECIES

We have addressed the impact of state environmental regulation on the livestock industry by selected two species. Beef cattle, as a leading livestock of the U.S, has experienced relatively steady structural transformation, on the other hand, hog industry has changed rapidly of its size and the location. The beef industry more or less sticks with traditional factors rather than regulation. On the other hand, the hog industry, which has more chance to adopt the stringency of state regulation during the special movement, is more sensitive by the stringency of regulation, especially in the large operation.Livestock Production/Industries,

Conservation Provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008: Evolutionary Changes and Challenges

Farm Bill, Conservation, Agricultural land retirement, Agricultural land preservation, Working lands, Agricultural and Food Policy, H59, Q58, Policy,

COOPERATIVE SOLUTIONS TO OPEN ACCESS COMPETITION FOR LAND AMONG MUNICIPALITIES

Land Economics/Use,

Tourists’ and Residents’ Values for Maintaining Working Landscapes of the ‘Old West’

The value of agricultural landscapes to tourists and local residents is not captured in the marketplace. Landowners provide stewardship over these valuable landscape attributes, but do not receive any ‘uncaptured’ value. Through real estate markets, it is easy to reveal the value of converting landscapes, but less easy to understand the value of not converting them. Redistributive policies have the potential to provide incentives to landowners to act on behalf of these other stakeholders by lowering the opportunity cost of (raising the returns to) open lands stewardship. This article will examine this issue for a rural county in Colorado. Tourist and resident demographics and travel behavior will be identified. The value of ranch open space that currently is not reflected in the market will be estimated and further discussed in terms of its implications for the local economy. Policy implications for the local decision makers to capture this currently ‘uncaptured’ value of ranch open space will be briefly explored

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY INFLUENCES ON LIVESTOCK STOCKING AND LOCATION DECISIONS

This paper explores the relationship between state level environmental regulations and stocking and location decisions in the U.S livestock and poultry industry (beef, chicken, dairy and hogs). Rather than conduct this analysis on a species-by-species basis, we choose to focus upon the overall size of the livestock industry (expressed in animal units) and the size of industry found on large, medium and small operations by state (48) and over time (28 yrs). Results indicate that industry may drive policy rather than the converse. However, since we also find that existing policy rules have differential impacts on the industry by operation size, we conclude that structural change in the industry may be driven in part by size or legal structure discriminating regulations.Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

A thousand-genome panel retraces the global spread and adaptation of a major fungal crop pathogen

Human activity impacts the evolutionary trajectories of many species worldwide. Global trade of agricultural goods contributes to the dispersal of pathogens reshaping their genetic makeup and providing opportunities for virulence gains. Understanding how pathogens surmount control strategies and cope with new climates is crucial to predicting the future impact of crop pathogens. Here, we address this by assembling a global thousand-genome panel of Zymoseptoria tritici, a major fungal pathogen of wheat reported in all production areas worldwide. We identify the global invasion routes and ongoing genetic exchange of the pathogen among wheat-growing regions. We find that the global expansion was accompanied by increased activity of transposable elements and weakened genomic defenses. Finally, we find significant standing variation for adaptation to new climates encountered during the global spread. Our work shows how large population genomic panels enable deep insights into the evolutionary trajectory of a major crop pathogen

Perinatal asphyxia: current status and approaches towards neuroprotective strategies, with focus on sentinel proteins

Delivery is a stressful and risky event menacing the newborn. The mother-dependent respiration has to be replaced by autonomous pulmonary breathing immediately after delivery. If delayed, it may lead to deficient oxygen supply compromising survival and development of the central nervous system. Lack of oxygen availability gives rise to depletion of NAD+ tissue stores, decrease of ATP formation, weakening of the electron transport pump and anaerobic metabolism and acidosis, leading necessarily to death if oxygenation is not promptly re-established. Re-oxygenation triggers a cascade of compensatory biochemical events to restore function, which may be accompanied by improper homeostasis and oxidative stress. Consequences may be incomplete recovery, or excess reactions that worsen the biological outcome by disturbed metabolism and/or imbalance produced by over-expression of alternative metabolic pathways. Perinatal asphyxia has been associated with severe neurological and psychiatric sequelae with delayed clinical onset. No specific treatments have yet been established. In the clinical setting, after resuscitation of an infant with birth asphyxia, the emphasis is on supportive therapy. Several interventions have been proposed to attenuate secondary neuronal injuries elicited by asphyxia, including hypothermia. Although promising, the clinical efficacy of hypothermia has not been fully demonstrated. It is evident that new approaches are warranted. The purpose of this review is to discuss the concept of sentinel proteins as targets for neuroprotection. Several sentinel proteins have been described to protect the integrity of the genome (e.g. PARP-1; XRCC1; DNA ligase IIIα; DNA polymerase β, ERCC2, DNA-dependent protein kinases). They act by eliciting metabolic cascades leading to (i) activation of cell survival and neurotrophic pathways; (ii) early and delayed programmed cell death, and (iii) promotion of cell proliferation, differentiation, neuritogenesis and synaptogenesis. It is proposed that sentinel proteins can be used as markers for characterising long-term effects of perinatal asphyxia, and as targets for novel therapeutic development and innovative strategies for neonatal care

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701