‘I’d like to report a suspicious looking tree’: public concern, public attention and the nature of reporting about ash dieback in the UK

‘Public concern’, a ubiquitous notion used in descriptive and explanatory modes by policymakers, academics, and the media, is often presented as axiomatic. However, the variability with which it is deployed in different contexts, e.g. as justification for policy attention or having equivalence with what is considered ‘newsworthy’, belies this status. This paper presents an empirical analysis of emails and phone calls from the UK public, to UK government agencies, reporting suspected cases of ash dieback disease; a tree health issue which attracted intense media and policy attention in the UK in 2012. We challenge the view that public attentiveness is necessarily indicative of public concern, or that media attention can be taken as its proxy. Examination of concern at macro and micro levels reveals heterogeneous processes with multiple dimensions. Understanding the nature of public concern is crucial in enabling more effective policy development and operational responses to risk related issues

Side-by-side analysis of five clinically tested anti-EpCAM monoclonal antibodies

Background: Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is frequently and highly expressed on human carcinomas. The emerging role of EpCAM as a signalling receptor and activator of the wnt pathway, and its expression on tumor-initiating cells, further add to its attractiveness as target for immunotherapy of cancer. Thus far, five conventional monoclonal IgG antibodies have been tested in cancer patients. These are murine IgG2a edrecolomab and its murine/human chimeric IgG1 antibody version, and humanized, human-engineered and fully human IgG1 antibodies 3622W94, ING-1, and adecatumumab (MT201), respectively. Here we compared all anti-EpCAM antibodies in an attempt to explain differences in clinical activity and safety. Methods: We recombinantly produced all antibodies but murine edrecolomab and investigated them for binding affinity, EpCAM epitope recognition, ADCC and CDC, and inhibition of breast cancer cell proliferation. Results: ING-1 and 3622W94 bound to EpCAM with much higher affinity than adecatumumab and edrecolomab. Edrecolomab, ING-1, and 3622W94 all recognized epitopes in the exon 2-encoded N-terminal domain of EpCAM, while adecatumumab recognized a more membrane proximal epitope encoded by exon 5. All antibodies induced lysis of EpCAM-expressing cancer cell lines by both ADCC and CDC with potencies that correlated with their binding affinities. The chimeric version of edrecolomab with a human Fc gamma 1 domain was much more potent in ADCC than the murine IgG2a version. Only adecatumumab showed a significant inhibition of MCF-7 breast cancer cell proliferation in the absence of complement and immune cells. Conclusion: A moderate binding affinity and recognition of a distinct domain of EpCAM may best explain why adecatumumab showed a larger therapeutic window in cancer patients than the two high-affinity IgG1 antibodies ING-1 and 3622W94, both of which caused acute pancreatitis

Clustering of antibiotic resistance of E. coli in couples: suggestion for a major role of conjugal transmission

BACKGROUND: Spread of antibiotic resistance in hospitals is a well-known problem, but studies investigating the importance of factors potentially related to the spread of resistant bacteria in outpatients are sparse. METHODS: Stool samples were obtained from 206 healthy couples in a community setting in Southern Germany in 2002–2003. E. coli was cultured and minimal inhibition concentrations were tested. Prevalences of E. coli resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics according to potential risk factors were ascertained. RESULTS: Prevalences of ampicillin resistance were 15.7% and 19.4% for women and men, respectively. About ten percent and 15% of all isolates were resistant to cotrimoxazole and doxycycline, respectively. A partner carrying resistance was the main risk factor for being colonized with resistant E. coli. Odds ratios (95% CI) for ampicillin and cotrimoxazole resistance given carriage of resistant isolates by the partner were 6.9 (3.1–15.5) and 3.3 (1.5–18.0), respectively. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that conjugal transmission may be more important for the spread of antibiotic resistance in the community setting than commonly suspected risk factors such as previous antibiotic intake or hospital contacts

Highly Efficient Elimination of Colorectal Tumor-Initiating Cells by an EpCAM/CD3-Bispecific Antibody Engaging Human T Cells

With their resistance to genotoxic and anti-proliferative drugs and potential to grow tumors and metastases from very few cells, cancer stem or tumor-initiating cells (TICs) are a severe limitation for the treatment of cancer by conventional therapies. Here, we explored whether human T cells that are redirected via an EpCAM/CD3-bispecific antibody called MT110 can lyse colorectal TICs and prevent tumor growth from TICs. MT110 recognizes EpCAM, a cell adhesion molecule expressed on TICs from diverse human carcinoma, which was recently shown to promote tumor growth through engagement of elements of the wnt pathway. MT110 was highly potent in mediating complete redirected lysis of KRAS-, PI3 kinase- and BRAF-mutated colorectal TICs, as demonstrated in a soft agar assay. In immunodeficient mice, MT110 prevented growth of tumors from a 5,000-fold excess of a minimally tumorigenic TIC dose. T cells engaged by MT110 may provide a potent therapeutic means to eradicate TICs and bulk tumor cells derived thereof

A web content-based method of stakeholder analysis : The case of forestry in the context of natural resource management

A range of approaches have been developed to support natural resource management. One such approach, stakeholder analysis, involves the use of a range of tools to identify and assess stakeholder interests and influence. Comprehensive empirical stakeholder analysis, however, can be time consuming and resource intensive. Approaches therefore frequently rely on the researcher's personal interpretation rather than empirical analysis. To address this limitation, a web content-based method (WCM) is proposed. Innovative and user-friendly, this empirical method comprises stakeholder information and the use of keywords in a content analysis of preselected stakeholder webpages, demonstrated here, through UK forestry, as an illustrative example. In this study, the application of WCM provides a comprehensive overview of the multitude of stakeholders in UK forestry and in the various goods and services they provide: Stakeholders' primary interests were in the provisioning services of timber and fuel wood; the cultural services of education and recreation; and to a lesser extent, the regulating services of climate and water regulation. While not without limitations, this systematic method provides an effective tool to support researchers, industry, and non-governmental organisations in different fields and countries, to undertake stakeholder analysis, especially in the case of small-scale studies in complex contexts and where resources are limited

Tree insect pests and pathogens: a global systematic review of their impacts in urban areas

Trees contribute greatly to urban environments and human well-being, yet relatively little is known about the extent to which a rising incidence of tree insect pests and pathogens may be affecting these contributions. To address this issue, we undertook a systematic review and synthesis of the diverse global empirical evidence on the impacts of urban tree insect pests and pathogens, using bibliographic databases. Following screening and appraisal of over 3000 articles from a wide range of fields, 100 studies from 28 countries, spanning 1979-2021, were conceptually sorted into a three-part framework: (1) environmental impacts, representing 95 of the studies, including those reporting on tree damage, mortality, reduced growth, and changes in tree function; (2) social impacts were reported by 35 of studies, including on aesthetics, human health, and safety hazards; and (3) economic impacts, reported in 24 of studies, including on costs of pest management, and economic losses. There has been a considerable increase in urban impact studies since 2011. Evidence gaps exist on impacts on climate-regulating capacity, including temperature regulation, water retention, soil erosion, and wind protection, but also on specific hazards, nuisances, human well-being, property damages, and hazard liabilities. As a knowledge synthesis, this article presents the best available evidence of urban tree insect / pathogen impacts to guide policy, management and further research. It will enable us to better forecast how growing threats will affect the urban forest and plan for these eventualities

Berufliche Weiterbildung von Frauen in Deutschland Sonderauswertung des Berichtssystems Weiterbildung 1991

IAB-96-231-55 AX 899 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Smart Urban Forestry: Is It the Future?

The urban forest, i.e. the stock of urban trees, is a major component of urban green spaces. It can make significant contributions to urban sustainability and climate change adaptation. Urban forest governance and management play a key role in the extent to which these contributions are realized for good. This chapter presents a selection of promising new technologies in support of urban forestry. Techniques and applications are introduced in the domains of remote sensing, modeling and citizen science. These technology-driven developments offer new potentials for ‘smart’ urban forestry but may also create new risks of a shift towards techno-managerialism as opposed to more open and democratic processes

Synchrotron X-ray phase nano-tomography-based analysis of the lacunar–canalicular network morphology and its relation to the strains experienced by osteocytes in situ as predicted by case-specific finite element analysis

International audienceOsteocytes are hypothesized to regulate bone remodeling guided by both biological and mechanical stimuli. Morphology of the lacunar-canalicular network of osteocytes has been hypothesized to be strongly related to the level of mechanical loading and to various bone diseases. Finite element modeling could help to better understand the mechanosensation process by predicting the physiological strain environment. The aims of this study were to (i) quantify the lacunar-canalicular morphology in the cortex of the human femur; (ii) predict the in situ local deformations around and in osteocytes by means of case-specific finite element models; and (iii) investigate the potential relationship between morphology and deformations. Human femoral cortical bone samples were imaged using synchrotron X-ray phase nano-tomography with 50 nm voxel size. Rectangular volumes of interest were selected to contain single osteocyte lacunae and the surrounding matrix. Lacunar-canalicular morphology was quantified and the cell geometry was artificially reconstructed based on a priori assumptions. Finite element models of the volumes of interest were generated, containing the extracellular matrix, osteocyte and peri-cellular matrix, and subjected to uniaxial compression. The morphological analysis revealed that canalicular number was dictated by lacunar size, that the spacing of canaliculi fell within a narrow range, suggesting that these pores are well distributed throughout the bone matrix and indicated the trend that lacunae at the outer osteon boundary were less elongated than others. No apparent relationship was found between the morphological parameters and the predicted strains. The globally applied strain was amplified locally by factors up to 10 and up to 70 in the extracellular matrix and the in cells, respectively. Cell deformations were localized mainly at the body-dendrite junctions, with magnitudes reaching the in vitro stimulatory threshold reported for osteocytes