Semi-natural habitats in boreal Europe: a rise of a social-ecological research agenda

The European continent contains substantial areas of semi-natural habitats, mostly grasslands, which are among the most endangered habitats in Europe. Their continued existence depends on some form of human activity, for either production or conservation purposes, or both. We examined the share of semi-natural grasslands within the general grassland areas in boreal Europe. We reviewed research literature across the region to compile evidence on semi-natural grasslands and other semi-natural habitats, such as wooded pastures, in respect to a range of topics such as ecology, land-use change, socioeconomics, and production. We also explored drivers of the research agenda and outlined future research needs. Challenges are faced when defining and quantifying semi-natural habitats even across a restricted region. Agricultural development and other policies clearly impact the research agenda in various countries. There are recent signs of a shift from classical ecological studies toward more multidisciplinary and integrated research. To sufficiently address the threats faced by semi-natural habitats, political and research frameworks in the European Union should pay more attention to the social-ecological complexity inherent in their management and should support the engagement of various actors into participatory governance processes. This is in line with a full-farm approach implicit in high nature value farming systems

Cryptococcal Neuroradiological Lesions Correlate with Severity during Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis in HIV-Positive Patients in the HAART Era

Cryptococcal meningoencephalitis has an overall global mortality rate of 20% in AIDS patients despite antifungals. There is a need for additional means of precise assessment of disease severity. We thus studied the radiological brain images available from 62 HIV-positive patients with cryptococcocal meningoencephalitis to analyse the brain lesions associated with cryptococcosis in relationship with disease severity, and the respective diagnostic contribution of magnetic resonance (MR) versus computed tomography (CT)

Positron annihilation response and broadband dielectric spectroscopy: Salol

A phenomenological analysis of the ortho-positronium (o-Ps) annihilation from positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) and the dynamics from broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) are reported on a small molecular glass former of intermediate H-bonding and fragility: salol. The dielectric spectra extend over a very broad frequency range of about 2 × 10−2−3.5 × 1011 Hz, providing information on the α-relaxation, the secondary relaxation giving rise to the excess wing, and the shallow high-frequency minimum in the micro- to milli-meter wave range. A number of empirical correlations between the o-Ps lifetime, τ 3(T), and the various spectral and relaxation features have been observed. Thus, the phenomenological evaluation of the τ 3(T) dependence of the PALS response of the amorphous sample reveals three characteristic PALS temperatures: T g PALS , T b1 L = 1.15T g PALS and T b2 L = 1.25T g PALS , which are discussed in relation to similar findings for some typical small molecular vdW- and H-bonded glass formers. A slighter change of the slope at T b1 L appears to be related to the transition from excess wing to the primary α-process-dominated behavior, with the secondary process dominating in the deeply supercooled liquid state below T b1 L . The high-temperature plateau effect in the τ 3(T) plot occurs at T b2 L and agrees with the characteristic Stickel temperature, T B ST , marking a qualitative change of the primary α process, but it does not follow the relation T b2 L < T α [τ 3(T b2) < τ α ]. Both effects at T b1 L and T b2 L correlate with two crossovers in the spectral shape and related non-exponentiality parameter of the structural relaxation, β KWW. Finally, the application of the two-order parameter (TOP) model to the structural relaxation as represented by the primary α relaxation times from BDS leads to the characteristic TOP temperature, T m c , close to T b1 from PALS. Within this model the phenomenological interpretation is offered based on changes in the probability of occurrence of solid-like and liquid-like domains to explain the dynamic as well as PALS responses. In summary, all the empirical correlations support further very close connections between the PALS response and the dielectric relaxation behavior in small molecule glass formers

Semi-natural habitats in boreal europe: A rise of a social-ecological research agenda

The European continent contains substantial areas of semi-natural habitats, mostly grasslands, which are among the most endangered habitats in Europe. Their continued existence depends on some form of human activity, for either production or conservation purposes, or both. We examined the share of semi-natural grasslands within the general grassland areas in boreal Europe. We reviewed research literature across the region to compile evidence on semi-natural grasslands and other semi-natural habitats, such as wooded pastures, in respect to a range of topics such as ecology, land-use change, socioeconomics, and production. We also explored drivers of the research agenda and outlined future research needs. Challenges are faced when defining and quantifying semi-natural habitats even across a restricted region. Agricultural development and other policies clearly impact the research agenda in various countries. There are recent signs of a shift from classical ecological studies toward more multidisciplinary and integrated research. To sufficiently address the threats faced by semi-natural habitats, political and research frameworks in the European Union should pay more attention to the social-ecological complexity inherent in their management and should support the engagement of various actors into participatory governance processes. This is in line with a full-farm approach implicit in high nature value farming systems

The Prosigna gene expression assay and responsiveness to adjuvant cyclophosphamide-based chemotherapy in premenopausal high-risk patients with breast cancer

Background: The PAM50-based (Prosigna) risk of recurrence (ROR) score and intrinsic subtypes are prognostic for women with high-risk breast cancer. We investigate the predictive ability of Prosigna regarding the effectiveness of cyclophosphamide-based adjuvant chemotherapy in premenopausal patients with high-risk breast cancer. Methods: Prosigna assays were performed on the NanoString platform in tumors from participants in Danish Breast Cancer Group (DBCG) 77B, a four-arm trial that randomized premenopausal women with high-risk early breast cancer to no systemic treatment, levamisole, oral cyclophosphamide (C) or cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and fluorouracil (CMF). Results: In total, this retrospective analysis included 460 women (40% of the 1146 randomized patients). The continuous Prosigna ROR score was prognostic in the no systemic treatment group (unadjusted P < 0.001 for disease-free survival (DFS), P = 0.001 for overall survival (OS)). No statistically significant interaction of continuous ROR score and treatment on DFS and OS was found. A highly significant association was observed between intrinsic subtypes and C/CMF treatment for DFS (Pinteraction = 0.003 unadjusted, P = 0.001 adjusted) and OS (Pinteraction = 0.04). In the adjusted analysis treatment with C/CMF was associated with a reduced risk of DFS events in patients with basal-like (hazard ratio (HR) 0.14; 95% CI 0.06; 0.32) and luminal B (HR 0.48; 95% CI 0.27; 0.84) subtypes but not in patients with Human epidermal growth factor receptor-enriched (HR 1.05; 95% CI 0.56; 1.95) or luminal A (HR 0.61; 95% CI 0.32; 1.16) subtypes. Conclusion: The Prosigna ROR score and intrinsic subtypes were prognostic in high-risk premenopausal patients with breast cancer, and intrinsic subtypes identify high-risk patients with or without major benefit from adjuvant C/CMF treatment.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCPathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department ofReviewedFacult

Novel ASIC architecture and synthesis methodologies for future multiplexed datapath designs

International audienceAn overview is presented of the main objectives and current achievements of the architecture synthesis work within part of the Basic Research Action ASCIS (Architecture synthesis for complex integrated systems) project. The main goal of this work is to contribute to the solution of one of the major bottlenecks restricting the use of ASICs in industrial systems, namely, the lack of efficient design methodologies and corresponding CAD techniques which support the development of cost-effective application-specific architectures for given throughput or latency. The following areas of the project are emphasized: novel design methodologies and CAD techniques for partitioning, memory management, allocation, binding and scheduling; generic global optimization techniques to support those synthesis approaches; and performance-driven controller synthesis