Transforum system innovation towards sustainable food. A review

Innovations in the agri-food sector are needed to create a sustainable food supply. Sustainable food supply requires unexpectedly that densely populated regions remain food producers. A Dutch innovation program has aimed at showing the way forward through creating a number of practice and scientific projects. Generic lessons from the scientific projects in this program are likely to be of interest to agricultural innovation in other densely populated regions in the world. Based on the executed scientific projects, generic lessons across the whole innovation program are derived. We found that the agricultural sector requires evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes to reshaping institutions. Measuring sustainability is possible against benchmarks and requires stakeholder agreement on sustainability values. Results show the importance of multiple social views and multiple stakeholder involvement in agricultural innovation. Findings call for flexible goal rather than process-oriented management of innovation. Findings also emphasise the essential role of profit in anchoring sustainable development in business. The results agree with concepts of evolutionary innovation. We conclude that there is no single best solution to making the agri-food sector more sustainable densely populated areas, but that the combination of a range of solutions and approaches is likely to provide the best way forward

Samenvatting Monitoring Nulsituatie-Rapport Resultaten meetronde 2005-2006

Eind 2004 is door het Hoofdproductschap Akkerbouw (HPA), het Productschap Tuinbouw (PT) en LTO Nederland het initiatief genomen om de aaltjesproblemen gezamenlijk aan te pakken. Hiervoor is het actieplan aaltjesbeheersing gelanceerd. Eén van de projecten binnen dit actieplan was het monitoren van de nulsituatie. Dit project is uitgevoerd door een consortium van Blgg BV, NAK AGRO BV, en PPO-AGV. Binnen het project zijn tussen 2005 en 2006 425 akkerbouwbedrijven grondmonsters genomen. Deze zijn geanalyseerd op de meest bekende plantenparasitaire aaltjes. Daarnaast is aan de deelnemers gevraagd mee te werken aan een enquête over hun bedrijfsvoering en hun ervaringen met aaltje

Is locally advanced head and neck cancer ‘increasing’ in the Netherlands? The paradox of absolute numbers, standardized incidence rates and proportional share

Background: Several reports have indicated that locally advanced head and neck cancer (LAHNC) has increased in the past decade. However, incidence trends cannot be easily compared because slightly different definitions of LAHNC were used. Aim: To investigate if the incidence of locally advanced disease (LAD) in the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx is indeed increasing over time, considering the growing and ageing population in the Netherlands. Patients and methods: Data were obtained from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR). Primary head and neck squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx diagnosed between 1989 and 2017 were included. Yearly numbers and European standardized incidence rates (ESRs) were reported by extent of disease. The annual percentage change (APC) over time in ESRs was calculated to assess trends. Results: Absolute numbers and ESRs of LAD increased over time for oral cavity and most prominently for oropharynx carcinomas (before 1996, APC: 0.4, 95%CI: 0.1; 0.8 and APC: 5.7 (95%CI: 3.1; 8.4) after 1996: 1.5 (1.0; 2.0) respectively. For hypopharynx cancer the absolute number and ESR of LAD increased until 1997 and declined with 0.8% per year since 1997. Absolute numbers of patients with larynx cancer stayed stable over time, while ESR decreased (APC: −0.8 (95%CI: −1.1; −0.6)). Conclusion: The perception of an increasing trend in LAD in the Netherlands can be attributed to the increasing incidence of oral cavity and oropharynx carcinomas. For LAD of the hypopharynx a decreasing trend was observed. In larynx cancer, the proportional share of LAD of the larynx increased, even though incidence rates declined.</p

Automated array-CGH optimized for archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor material

BACKGROUND: Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) is a rapidly evolving technology that still lacks complete standardization. Yet, it is of great importance to obtain robust and reproducible data to enable meaningful multiple hybridization comparisons. Special difficulties arise when aCGH is performed on archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue due to its variable DNA quality. Recently, we have developed an effective DNA quality test that predicts suitability of archival samples for BAC aCGH. METHODS: In this report, we first used DNA from a cancer cell-line (SKBR3) to optimize the aCGH protocol for automated hybridization, and subsequently optimized and validated the procedure for FFPE breast cancer samples. We aimed for highest throughput, accuracy, and reproducibility applicable to FFPE samples, which can also be important in future diagnostic use. RESULTS: Our protocol of automated array-CGH on archival FFPE ULS-labeled DNA showed very similar results compared with published data and our previous manual hybridization method. CONCLUSION: This report combines automated aCGH on unamplified archival FFPE DNA using non-enzymatic ULS labeling, and describes an optimized protocol for this combination resulting in improved quality and reproducibility

Distances to Galactic high-velocity clouds. Complex C

We report the first determination of a distance bracket for the high-velocity cloud (HVC) complex C. Combined with previous measurements showing that this cloud has a metallicity of 0.15 times solar, these results provide ample evidence that complex C traces the continuing accretion of intergalactic gas falling onto the Milky Way. Accounting for both neutral and ionized hydrogen as well as He, the distance bracket implies a mass of 3-14x10^6 M_sun, and the complex represents a mass inflow of 0.1-0.25 M_sun/yr. We base our distance bracket on the detection of CaII absorption in the spectrum of the blue horizontal branch star SDSS J120404.78+623345.6, in combination with a significant non-detection toward the BHB star BS 16034-0114. These results set a strong distance bracket of 3.7-11.2 kpc on the distance to complex C. A more weakly supported lower limit of 6.7 kpc may be derived from the spectrum of the BHB star BS 16079-0017.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter