Use of land evaluation techniques to assess the market value of agricultural land

Abstract The value and sale price of land are determined by its production and income generation potential. Current valuation procedures use mainly an economic approach, but this cannot be applied when there is no or only a "thin" functional land market. In that case valuators are forced to adopt alternatives and/or to rely on their subjective personal experience, with a risk for objections and legal disputes. Numerical (parametric) land evaluation techniques based on natural physical parameters provide an excellent tool to define objectively the production potential of agricultural land, and obviously of its sale value. Examples are given from such procedures effectively implemented to determine (taxable) land values in the United States, Germany and Russia

Characteristics of survivors: growth and nutritional condition of early stages of the hake species Merluccius paradoxus and M. capensis in the southern Benguela ecosystem

Larval mortality in marine fish is strongly linked to characteristic traits such as growth and condition, but the variability in these traits is poorly understood. We tried to identify the variability in growth in relation to conditions leading to greater survival chances for early stages of Cape hake, Merluccius paradoxus and M. capensis, in the Benguela upwelling ecosystem. During two cruises in 2007 and one cruise in 2008, hake larvae and juveniles were caught. Otolith microstructures revealed a larval age ranging from 2 to 29 days post-hatching (dph), whereas juvenile age was 67–152 dph. RNA:DNA ratios, used to evaluate nutritional condition, were above the relevant threshold level for growth. No strong coupling between growth and condition was detected, indicating a complex relationship between these factors in the southern Benguela ecosystem. Merluccius paradoxus juveniles caught in 2007 (the surviving larvae of 2006) had significantly higher larval growth rates than larvae hatched in 2007 and 2008, possibly indicating selection for fast growth in 2006. High selection pressure on growth could be linked to predation avoidance, including cannibalism

Percutaneous Ventricular Restoration (PVR) Therapy Using the Parachute Device in 100 Subjects with Ischaemic Dilated Heart Failure: One-Year Primary Endpoint Results of PARACHUTE III, a European Trial

AIMS: This prospective, non-randomised, observational study conducted in Europe was designed in order to assess the long-term safety and efficacy of the Parachute device in ischaemic heart failure subjects as a result of left ventricle remodelling after anterior wall myocardial infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred subjects with New York Heart Association Class II-IV ischaemic heart failure (HF), ejection fraction (EF) between 15% and 40%, and dilated akinetic or dyskinetic anterior-apical wall without the need to be revascularised were enrolled. The primary safety endpoint was procedural- or device-related major adverse cardiac cerebral events (MACCE). The secondary safety endpoint was the composite of mortality and morbidity. Secondary efficacy endpoints included haemodynamic measurements determined by echocardiography, LV volume indices, and assessment of functional improvement measured by a standardised six-minute walk test. Of the 100 subjects enrolled, device implantation was successful in 97 (97%) subjects. The one-year rates of the primary and secondary safety endpoints were 7% and 32.3%, respectively. The secondary endpoints, LV volume reduction (p<0.0001) and six-minute walk distance improvement (p<0.01), were achieved. CONCLUSIONS: The favourable outcomes observed in this high-risk population provide reassuring safety and efficacy data to support adoption of this technology as a therapeutic option for HF subjects.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

AfrOBIS: a marine biogeographic information system for sub-Saharan Africa

AfrOBIS is one of 11 global nodes of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), a freely accessible network of databases collating marine data in support of the Census of Marine Life. Versatile graphic products, provided by OBIS, can be used to display the data. To date, AfrOBIS has loaded about 3.2 million records of more than 23 000 species located mainly in the seas around southern Africa. This forms part of the 13.2 million records of more than 80 000 species currently stored in OBIS. Scouting for South African data has been successful, whereas locating records in other African countries has been much less so

New approaches for the assessment of vessel sizes in quantitative (cardio-)vascular X-ray analysis

This paper presents new approaches for the assessment of the arterial and reference diameters in (cardio-)vascular X-ray images, designed to overcome the problems experienced in conventional quantitative coronary and vascular angiography approaches. In single or “straight” vessel segments, the arterial and reference diameter directions were made independent of each other in order to be able to measure the minimal lumen diameter (MLD) more accurately, especially in curved vessel segments. For ostial segments, an extension of this approach was used, to allow measurement of ostial lesions in sidebranches more proximal than using conventional methods. Furthermore, two new bifurcation approaches were developed. The validation study shows that the straight segment approach results in significant smaller MLDs (on average 0.032 mm) and the ostial approach achieves on average an increase in %DS of 3.8% and an increase in lesion length of 0.59 mm due to loosening the directional constraint. The validation of our new bifurcation approaches in phantom data as well as clinical data shows only small differences between pre- and post-intervention measurements of the reference diameters outside the bifurcation core (errors smaller than 0.06 mm) and the bifurcation core area (errors smaller than 1.4% for phantom data). In summary, these new approaches have led to further improvements in the quantitative analyses of (cardio-)vascular X-ray angiographies

Tasquinimod suppresses tumor cell growth and bone resorption by targeting immunosuppressive myeloid cells and inhibiting c-MYC expression in multiple myeloma

Background: Immunotherapy emerged as a promising treatment option for multiple myeloma (MM) patients. However, therapeutic efficacy can be hampered by the presence of an immunosuppressive bone marrow microenvironment including myeloid cells. S100A9 was previously identified as a key regulator of myeloid cell accumulation and suppressive activity. Tasquinimod, a small molecule inhibitor of S100A9, is currently in a phase Ib/IIa clinical trial in MM patients (NCT04405167). We aimed to gain more insights into its mechanisms of action both on the myeloma cells and the immune microenvironment. Methods: We analyzed the effects of tasquinimod on MM cell viability, cell proliferation and downstream signaling pathways in vitro using RNA sequencing, real-time PCR, western blot analysis and multiparameter flow cytometry. Myeloid cells and T cells were cocultured at different ratios to assess tasquinimod-mediated immunomodulatory effects. The in vivo impact on immune cells (myeloid cell subsets, macrophages, dendritic cells), tumor load, survival and bone disease were elucidated using immunocompetent 5TMM models. Results: Tasquinimod treatment significantly decreased myeloma cell proliferation and colony formation in vitro, associated with an inhibition of c-MYC and increased p27 expression. Tasquinimod-mediated targeting of the myeloid cell population resulted in increased T cell proliferation and functionality in vitro. Notably, short-term tasquinimod therapy of 5TMM mice significantly increased the total CD11b+ cells and shifted this population toward a more immunostimulatory state, which resulted in less myeloid-mediated immunosuppression and increased T cell activation ex vivo. Tasquinimod significantly reduced the tumor load and increased the trabecular bone volume, which resulted in prolonged overall survival of MM-bearing mice in vivo. Conclusion: Our study provides novel insights in the dual therapeutic effects of the immunomodulator tasquinimod and fosters its evaluation in combination therapy trials for MM patients

Cryptic species in a well-known habitat: applying taxonomics to the amphipod genus Epimeria (Crustacea, Peracarida)

Taxonomy plays a central role in biological sciences. It provides a communication system for scientists as it aims to enable correct identification of the studied organisms. As a consequence, species descriptions should seek to include as much available information as possible at species level to follow an integrative concept of ‘taxonomics’. Here, we describe the cryptic species Epimeria frankei sp. nov. from the North Sea, and also redescribe its sister species, Epimeria cornigera. The morphological information obtained is substantiated by DNA barcodes and complete nuclear 18S rRNA gene sequences. In addition, we provide, for the first time, full mitochondrial genome data as part of a metazoan species description for a holotype, as well as the neotype. This study represents the first successful implementation of the recently proposed concept of taxonomics, using data from highthroughput technologies for integrative taxonomic studies, allowing the highest level of confidence for both biodiversity and ecological research