Impacts of climate change on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) treated with biostimulants.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Vigna unguiculata L. Walp, commonly known as cowpea, is a warm-season herbaceous legume considered native in Africa and Asia. The crop is traditionally consumed as both a leafy vegetable and staple pulse. Although the growth behaviour and nutritional composition of V. unguiculata have been explored by the research community, information regarding the plant’s response to biostimulants under abiotic stresses remain limited. Therefore, studies of this nature are pertinent, especially in the presence of climate change which manifests into global warming, drought episodes and dissipating of natural resources. Hence, a better understanding of the effects of temperature and drought stress on V. unguiculata physiology, morphology, nutrition and phytochemistry are important to ensure high yields which is important for meeting the goals of global food security. Firstly, this study investigated the effects of seed priming with biostimulants [vermicompost leachate, VCL (1:20 v/v), commercial seaweed extract Kelpak®, KEL (0.6%) and smoke-water, SW (1:1000 v/v)] and distilled water (dH2O) on V. unguiculata germination and seedling parameters under constant day/night temperatures of 30/30, 35/35 and 40/40 °C in Conviron® plant chambers. In addition, hydroponic experiments were set-up to evaluate biostimulant efficacy on rooting. Secondly, post-germination effects of VCL 1:20 (v/v), KEL (0.6%) and SW 1:1000 (v/v) were evaluated under similar temperature conditions to ascertain the influence on morphological parameters 28 days after sowing (DAS). Thirdly, postgermination effects of VCL 1:20 (v/v), KEL (0.6%) and SW 1:1000 (v/v) were investigated under different watering regimes using greenhouse protocols to ascertain biostimulation influence on growth variables and flowering after 13 weeks. Finally, the effects of VCL 1:20 (v/v), KEL (0.6%) and SW 1:1000 (v/v) were tested on V. unguiculata’s photosynthetic pigments [chlorophyll a, b, (a + b) and carotenoids], carbohydrates, proteins and phytochemicals (total phenolics and flavonoids) grown for 11 weeks under different watering regimes in the greenhouse. Despite the biostimulants not differing significantly with the corresponding controls, KEL and SW induced marked germination at 30, 35 and 40 °C while VCL being potent under 30 and 40 °C. Seed priming (i.e. biostimulant and hydropriming) significantly improved shoot length and root length over non-priming, with biostimulant-priming being more effective under 40 °C by also inducing significantly higher leaf number, fresh weights and seedling areas compared to non-primed controls. At 30 °C, priming with the three biostimulants improved peduncle diameter, fresh weight and established a significant increase on root length and dry biomass over hydropriming. VCL was most effective at promoting shoot length, root elongation and dry weight under 30 °C while KEL was most effective in increasing seedling leaves, shoot length, root number, fresh and dry biomass of plants exposed to 35 °C. Although overall, biostimulant-non-priming was second best after biostimulantpriming, non-priming with biostimulants was able to promote key variables compared to both controls (i.e. non-primed and hydroprimed controls). Hydroponic results revealed that non-priming with VCL and SW increased root number by 3 and 4-fold, respectively, at 40 °C. SW also stands out at enhancing a significant increase in leaf number and seedling area whereas KEL was the most significant solution promoting shoot length and seedling area. At 30 °C, SW-non-priming promoted significant root elongation, improved fresh and dry weights while VCL was best at promoting root number and root length. KEL and SW also exhibited post-germination effects over the control at 40 °C by improving leaf number on a weekly basis. Fresh and dry weight were improved similarly with significant improvements at 30 °C by KEL and SW. Increasing watering regimes from once to thrice a week significantly increased the number of leaves, root length and flower number. The number of nodules, however, did not differ significantly. Restricting watering frequency to once a week significantly increased shoot length, root length and leaf area in SW-treated plants compared to the control. Shoot length and root length of KEL-treated plants were also increased similarly. Remarkably, VCL increased the number of nodules and shoot length by 4 and 3-fold, respectively. Relative leaf weekly growth in SW, VCL and KEL was higher by 1, 4 and 5 leave(s), respectively, after 11 weeks under high water deficits. This foliage increase remained high by more than 4 leaves in KEL and SW-treated plants watered twice and thrice a week. Accompanying increase in number of flowers was only established in SW water-stressed plants. However, raising watering frequency to twice a week increased flower number in SW, VCL and KEL-treated plants by 2, 4 and 7-fold, respectively, compared to the control. This floral increase was still comparatively high by 2, 4 and 2-fold, respectively, in plants watered thrice a week with biostimulants. VCL also induced a marked significant increase on root length, peduncle diameter and dry weights of plants watered thrice a week. Decreasing substrate water availability from thrice to once a week induced a general increase in leaf soluble proteins, total phenolics and flavonoids. This watering transition significantly enhanced root soluble carbohydrates and proteins while root phenolics and flavonoids markedly declined. VCL, KEL and SW promoted leaf carbohydrates coupled with significant increases in those of roots of SW plants compared to the corresponding controls. Remarkably, leaf soluble proteins of biostimulant plants significantly declined to within the ranges of the plants watered twice and thrice a week. Root proteins were significantly greater to those of leaves in high water-stressed plants and statistically the same to those of roots of plants watered twice and thrice a week. Total phenolics and flavonoids of foliage of the biostimulant plants were lowered and relatively the same in the different watering regimes. Root total phenolics were highly inhibited in less watered plants and gradually increased with an increase in watering regimes. Similar trends were established in flavonoids although they were greater than in the corresponding controls. Biostimulant photosynthetic pigments [i.e. chlorophyll a, b, (a + b) and carotenoid contents] did not differ significantly with those of the control in plants watered once a week. However, the three biostimulants were able to improve chlorophyll a and a + b. KEL and SW induced higher increase in chlorophyll b and carotenoid concentrations. The biostimulants increased chlorophyll a in 3-day-watered plants by more than 2-fold. These biostimulants also improved the chlorophyll a + b and carotenoid contents. Both increasing and decreasing trends in compatible solutes (i.e. soluble sugars and proteins), photosynthetic pigments and phytochemicals under water deficits indicated biostimulant-induced capacity in cowpea for osmotic adjustment, drought tolerance or adaptive mechanisms to water stress. These findings demonstrated the biological potential of VCL, KEL and SW to improve germination, seedling/plant growth and yield in legumes even under temperature stress and drought stress. Thus, establishing their stress amelioration properties to offset negative impacts of climate change on plants and yield

Aplikimi I Monitorimit Të Pluralizmit Të Medias Në Bashkimin Evropian, Shqipëri, Republikën E Maqedonisë Së Veriut, Malin E Zi, Serbi Dhe Turqi. Raport Kombëtar : Shqipëri

This report presents the results of the implementation of the Media Pluralism Monitor for the year 2021 (MPM2022) in Albania. The MPM is a holistic tool geared at assessing the risks to media pluralism in EU member states and selected candidate countries (32 European countries in total, including Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey). The MPM takes into account legal, political and economic variables that are relevant to analysing the levels of plurality of media systems in a democratic society. The Media Pluralism Monitor has been implemented, on a regular basis, by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, since 2013/2014.The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom is co-financed by the European Unio

Monitorimi i pluralizmit të medias në epokën dixhitale : aplikimi i monitorimit të pluralizmit të medias në Bashkimin Evropian, Shqipëri, Republikën e Maqedonisë së Veriut, Malin e Zi, Serbi dhe Turqi. Raport kombëtar : Shqipëri

This report presents the results of the implementation of the Media Pluralism Monitor for the year 2022 (MPM2023) in Albania. The MPM is a holistic tool geared at assessing the risks to media pluralism in EU member states and selected candidate countries (32 European countries in total, including Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey). The MPM takes into account legal, political and economic variables that are relevant to analysing the levels of plurality of media systems in a democratic society. The Media Pluralism Monitor has been implemented, on a regular basis, by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, since 2013/2014.Ky raport paraqet rezultatet e vlerësimit të Monitorimit të Pluralizmit të Medias për vitin 2022 (MPM2023) në Shqipëri. MPM është një mjet gjithëpërfshirës i orientuar drejt vlerësimit të rreziqeve për pluralizmin e medias në vendet anëtare të BE-së dhe në vendet e përzgjedhura kandidate (32 vende evropiane në total, duke përfshirë Shqipërinë, Malin e Zi, Republikën e Maqedonisë së Veriut, Serbinë dhe Turqinë). MPM merr parasysh variablat ligjorë, politikë dhe ekonomikë që janë të rëndësishëm për të analizuar nivelet e pluralizmit të sistemeve mediatike në një shoqëri demokratike. Monitorimi i Pluralizmit të Medias zbatohet në mënyrë periodike nga Qendra për Pluralizmin e Medias dhe Lirinë e Medias, që nga periudha 2013/2014.The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom is co-financed by the European Unio

EQUIPT: protocol of a comparative effectiveness research study evaluating cross-context transferability of economic evidence on tobacco control

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Tobacco smoking claims 700 000 lives every year in Europe and the cost of tobacco smoking in the EU is estimated between €98 and €130 billion annually; direct medical care costs and indirect costs such as workday losses each represent half of this amount. Policymakers all across Europe are in need of bespoke information on the economic and wider returns of investing in evidence-based tobacco control, including smoking cessation agendas. EQUIPT is designed to test the transferability of one such economic evidence base-the English Tobacco Return on Investment (ROI) tool-to other EU member states

Time to do more

AbstractAimsClinical inertia, the tendency to maintain current treatment strategies despite results demanding escalation, is thought to substantially contribute to the disconnect between clinical aspirations for patients with diabetes and targets achieved. We wished to explore potential causes of clinical inertia among physicians and people with diabetes.MethodsA 20-min online survey of 652 adults with diabetes and 337 treating physicians in six countries explored opinions relating to clinical inertia from both perspectives, in order to correlate perceptions and expectations relating to diagnosis, treatment, diabetes complications and therapeutic escalation.ResultsPhysicians had low expectations for their patients, despite the belief that the importance of good glycaemic control through lifestyle and pharmacological interventions had been adequately conveyed. Conversely, people with diabetes had, at best, a rudimentary understanding of the risks of complications and the importance of good control; indeed, only a small proportion believed lifestyle changes were important and the majority did not intend to comply.ConclusionsThe principal findings of this survey suggest that impairments in communication are at the heart of clinical inertia. This manuscript lays out four key principles that we believe are achievable in all environments and can improve the lives of people with diabetes

A cluster randomised trial of strategies to increase cervical screening uptake at first invitation (STRATEGIC)

Acknowledgements The STRATEGIC study research team thanks Sara Rodgers and Laura Clark at the University of York for their input conducting qualitative interviews. We are grateful to Maggie Redshaw at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) for helpful suggestions to attempt to improve the response rate in our study. We also would like to thank the NPEU design team who significantly improved the look of our final questionnaire, and the NPEU administration team for their assistance preparing the mail-out material. Special thanks are given to our data entry team Sissi Hernandez-Quesada, Jacob Stevens and Pamela White. The authors would also like to thank Zeinab Abbas for her valuable assistance in the economic evaluation. We would like to express our gratitude to the teams at the English and Scottish screening agencies for their willingness to collaborate in this study. Finally, we thank all women who participated and completed the DCE survey. Any errors or omissions are entirely our own. We are indebted to the support provided by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Agency, without whom we could not have provided the interventions. We also wish to thank Linsey Nelson for her painstaking work in helping to compile this report. Funding Funding for this study was provided by the Health Technology Assessment programme of the National Institute for Health Research.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Comparing policies to tackle ethnic inequalities in health: Belgium 1 Scotland 4

Ethnic-minority health is a public health priority in Europe. This study compares strategies for tackling ethnic inequalities in health from two countries, Scotland and Belgium. Methods: We compared the countries using the Whitehead framework. Official policy documents were retrieved and reviewed and two databases related to immigrant health policies were also used. Ethnic inequalities in health were compared using the UK and Belgian Censuses of 2001. We analysed the recognition of the problem, the policies and the services and described ethnic health inequalities. Results: Scotland has recognized the problem of ethnic inequalities in health, thanks to better data and the Scottish Government has come up with a bold strategy. Belgium is a later starter, unable to properly monitor ethnic inequalities. In addition, there is no clear government commitment to tackling either health inequalities or ethnic inequalities in health. Both countries provide health-care services to ethnic minority groups through the mainstream services, although ethnic minority groups have more choice in Belgium than in Scotland. Overall, ethnic heath inequalities are lower in Scotland than in Belgium. Conclusion: Scotland has provided a more advanced and comprehensive response to tackling ethnic inequalities in health than Belgium. It has acknowledged that discrimination exists and that ethnic minority groups may have different needs. Belgium still assumes non-discrimination in health care and effectively denies the need for policy to tailor services to meet these needs. In Scotland, public organizations have been made accountable for promoting equality in health. This is an important contribution to European health policy

EQ-5D in Central and Eastern Europe : 2000-2015

Objective: Cost per quality-adjusted life year data are required for reimbursement decisions in many Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. EQ-5D is by far the most commonly used instrument to generate utility values in CEE. This study aims to systematically review the literature on EQ-5D from eight CEE countries. Methods: An electronic database search was performed up to July 1, 2015 to identify original EQ-5D studies from the countries of interest. We analysed the use of EQ-5D with respect to clinical areas, methodological rigor, population norms and value sets. Results: We identified 143 studies providing 152 country-specific results with a total sample size of 81,619: Austria (n=11), Bulgaria (n=6), Czech Republic (n=18), Hungary (n=47), Poland (n=51), Romania (n=2), Slovakia (n=3) and Slovenia (n=14). Cardiovascular (20%), neurologic (16%), musculoskeletal (15%) and endocrine/nutritional/metabolic diseases (14%) were the most frequently studied clinical areas. Overall 112 (78%) of the studies reported EQ VAS results and 86 (60%) EQ-5D index scores, of which 27 (31%) did not specify the applied tariff. Hungary, Poland and Slovenia have population norms. Poland and Slovenia also have a national value set. Conclusions: Increasing use of EQ-5D is observed throughout CEE. The spread of health technology assessment activities in countries seems to be reflected in the number of EQ-5D studies. However, improvement in informed use and methodological quality of reporting is needed. In jurisdictions where no national value set is available, in order to ensure comparability we recommend to apply the most frequently used UK tariff. Regional collaboration between CEE countries should be strengthened