SYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS AND EMPLOYERS IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL WORK

Typical of post-communist and post-industrial development of society in Central Europe is inter alia the inability of a significant part of the population to keep pace with the global societal requirements. The statistical data of social security offices indicate that the disintegrated persons or persons at risk of disintegration represent about one third of the population. The complexity of the phenomenon and the size of social demand for professions dealing with it trigger the process of training for professional qualification of social workers and the competition between quantitative and qualitative requirements for vocational training and its standardisation. From the perspective of both the educators and employers, it is necessary to assess the importance of theoretical training and experiential learning of future social workers and also the employability of young graduates from social work study programmes in the labour market

Report on the 15th inter-laboratory comparison organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - Four marker PAHs in smoked meat

This report presents the results of the fifteenth inter-laboratory comparison (ILC) organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (EURL PAH) on the determination of the four EU marker PAHs, benz[a]anthracene (BAA), benzo[a]pyrene (BAP), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BBF) and chrysene (CHR) in smoked meat. It was conducted under ISO 17043 accreditation. Both officially nominated National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) and official food control laboratories (OCLs) of the EU Member States were admitted as participants. In agreement with National Reference Laboratories, the test material used in this exercise was smoked sausage. Participants also received a solution of PAHs in solvent of their choice (either toluene or acetonitrile) with disclosed content for the verification of their instrument calibration. The participants were free to choose the method of analysis. Reference values were used to benchmark the results reported by participants. The performance of the participating laboratories in the determination of the target PAHs in smoked meat was expressed by z-scores. Satisfactory performance with regard to z-scores was assigned to about 93% of the reported results.JRC.D.5-Standards for Food Bioscienc

Report on the 14th inter-laboratory comparison organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - Four marker PAHs in food supplements

This report presents the results of the fourteenth inter-laboratory comparison (ILC) organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (EURL PAH) on the determination of the four EU marker PAHs, benz[a]anthracene (BAA), benzo[a]pyrene (BAP), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BBF) and chrysene (CHR), in food supplements, particularly in fish oil and spirulina powder. It was conducted under ISO Standard 17043 accreditation. The test materials used in this exercise were commercial products naturally contaminated (spirulina) or spiked with the 4 markers PAHs (fish oil). Participants also received a solution of PAHs in solvent of their choice (either toluene or acetonitrile) with disclosed content for the verification of their instrument calibration. Reference values were used to benchmark the results reported by participants. Both National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) and official food control laboratories (OCLs) of the EU Member States were admitted as participants. The participants were free to choose the method of analysis. The performance of the participating laboratories in the determination of the target PAHs in test materialss was expressed by z-scores. Satisfactory performance expressed by z scores was assigned to about 83.6 % of the reported results.JRC.D.5-Standards for Food Bioscienc

Report on the 12th inter-laboratory comparison organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - Four marker PAHs in bivalve molluscs

This report presents the results of the twelfth inter-laboratory comparison (ILC) organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (EURL PAHs) on the determination of the four EU marker PAHs, benz[a]anthracene (BAA), benzo[a]pyrene (BAP), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BBF) and chrysene (CHR), in bivalve moluscs, particularly in frozen and freeze dried (lyophilized) mussels. It was conducted under ISO Standard 17043 accreditation. In agreement with National Reference Laboratories, the test material used in this exercise were commercial products spiked with 4 markers PAHs and reference material provided by IAEA. Participants also received a solution of PAHs in solvent of their choice (either toluene or acetonitrile) with disclosed content for the verification of their instrument calibration. Reference values were used to benchmark the results reported by participants, Both officially nominated National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) and official food control laboratories (OCLs) of the EU Member States were admitted as participants. The participants were free to choose the method of analysis. The performance of the participating laboratories in the determination of the target PAHs in frozen and freeze dried mussels was expressed by z-scores. Satisfactory performance with regard to z-scores was assigned to about 82 % of the reported results.JRC.D.5-Standards for Food Bioscienc

Report on the 10th inter-laboratory comparison organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - Four marker PAHs in chocolate and cocoa butter

This report presents the results of the tenth inter-laboratory comparison (ILC) organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (EU-RL PAHs) on the determination of the four EU marker PAHs, benz[a]anthracene (BAA), benzo[a]pyrene (BAP), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BBF) and chrysene (CHR), in cocoa products, particularly in plain chocolate and cocoa butter. It was conducted under ISO Standard 17043 accreditation. In agreement with National Reference Laboratories, the test material used in this exercise were commercial products. Participants also received a solution of PAHs in solvent of their choice (either toluene or acetonitrile) with disclosed content for the verification of their instrument calibration. Consensus values were used to benchmark the results reported by participants, as the experience of the analytical community with this analysis scope was considered not sufficient to provide reference values. Both officially nominated National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) and official food control laboratories (OCLs) of the EU Member States were admitted as participants. The participants were free to choose the method of analysis. The performance of the participating laboratories in the determination of the target PAHs in cocoa butter and plain chocolate was expressed by z-scores. Satisfactory performance with regard to z-scores was assigned to about 81 % of the reported results.JRC.D.5-Standards for Food Bioscienc

Scientific-technical support activities to DG TAXUD-C-2 on the option to include e-cigarettes within the scope of excisable goods for the Impact Assessment on a possible revision of Directive 2011/64/EU

Electronic cigarettes are electrical devices that produce an inhalable aerosol from a special liquid. The liquids (e liquids) may consist of a solution of nicotine and flavourings in an appropriate solvent. Nicotine-free products are available as well. A large range of differently flavoured e liquids is offered to the consumer. The market of electronic cigarettes and corresponding e liquids experienced in recent years enormous growth. Some EU Member States reacted on this development and introduced excise duties on e liquids. The partial introduction of excise duties in the common market and the lack of harmonisation of their magnitude might cause distortions of the market. For that reason, the Directorate-General Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) commissioned a study on the identification and characterisation of e liquids, which should be based on substances naturally occurring in tobacco. The Administrative Arrangement (AA) with DG TAXUD foresaw the determination of the concentrations of nicotine and related tobacco alkaloids in e liquid samples, and to evaluate the agreement of the measured concentrations with concentrations indicated on the product label. Additionally, the possibility of identifying e liquids containing tobacco derived flavours had to be studied with the aim to use this information for product classification. More than 200 e liquid samples acquired in different countries were analysed for their tobacco alkaloid contents by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. A high proportion of the investigated products contained nicotine at a level significantly different from the indicated concentration. Mostly lower concentrations were found. However, significant amounts of nicotine were determined in some products declared as "zero-nicotine". Volatile profiles of 108 e liquid samples were measured by gas chromatography hyphenated to high resolution quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) mass spectrometry. The tested samples were classified either as tobacco flavoured/non tobacco flavoured, or, according to their characteristic flavour, into a larger number of categories. Flavour profile based identification of tobacco products was possible for tested samples. Ninety substances were measured in each sample. The data matrix obtained from the analysis of about 80 samples was investigated with multivariate statistical methods for possibilities of discriminating tobacco and non tobacco flavoured e liquids. The developed models were cross validated and validated against about 30 independent samples. Both partial least square discrimination and decision tree analysis provided models that allow categorization of e liquids with high accuracy. If a harmonized taxation of e-liquids were to be proposed, the following considerations should be taken into account in designing the tax base: • The declared nicotine content often does not match with the measured nicotine content; • Moreover, in products declared as ''zero-nicotine'' significant amounts of nicotine can be found; • Chemical analysis allows distinguishing tobacco and non-tobacco e-liquids with high probability.JRC.F.4-Fraud Detection and Preventio

Technical analysis of anomalies in respect of the test set out in point (b) of Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 900/2008 for the determination of milk fat content in processed agricultural products for the purpose of establishing import duties, when fats other than milk fat are present Final Report - Administrative Arrangement S12.670777-1 between DG Enterprise and Industry (DG ENTR) and Joint Research Centre (JRC)

The agricultural element (EA) of certain processed agricultural products (PAPs) is an element of the tariff classification and the determination of import duties of imported products. Commission Regulation (EC) No 900/2008 lays down provisions and analysis methods for certain parameters necessary for the determination of the agricultural element. The milk fat content is one of the parameters related to the agricultural element. A problem became apparent when the analysis of an instantised whey protein concentrate (WPC) imported from the USA into the EU revealed that the milk fat contained in the product was much below the expected one. This caused the classification of the product under a different additional code in the “Meursing” table, leading to a disadvantage of the importer. The Administrative Arrangement (AA) S12.670777-1 between DG Enterprise (DG ENTR) and DG Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) was set up to elucidate the reasons for this anomaly, to characterise the magnitude of the underestimation across relevant dairy products, and to propose a solution for the determination of the appropriate additional tariff code of concerned PAPs.JRC.D.5-Standards for Food Bioscienc

On reproduction and other gender and sex-related issues in inflammatory bowel disease

No one would argue that men and women differ. The differences between the sexes are obvious and affect every aspect of life. The biological grounds for these differences are determined by the complementary yet distinct roles of the two sexes in the process of procreation. The success of human reproduction is related to the very efficient selection process for the proper genetic material that will, after 40 weeks of intense physical investm

Development and validation of analytical methods for the analysis of 3-MCPD (both in free and ester form) and glycidyl esters in various food matrices and performance of an ad-hoc survey on specific food groups in support to a scientific opinion on comprehensive risk assessment on the presence of 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters in food

3-Monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD), and 2-monochloropropane-1,3-diol (2-MCPD), are substances that might be generated in the processing of food. EU legislation specifies maximum levels for 3-MCPD in hydrolysed vegetable proteins and soya sauce. However, besides the free forms of 2- and 3-MCPD high levels of esterified MCPD forms were found in fats and oils. Another group of substances identified in fats and oils are glycidyl esters (GE). In order to provide reliable occurrence data on the levels of both bound and free forms of those substances, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) requested the Joint Research Centre (JRC) to develop suitable analysis methods and test the analysis methods on different kinds of food. Consequently two analytical methods were developed. One of the developed methods allows the determination of ester-bound analytes, whereas the other analysis method is suitable to determine free 2-MCPD and free 3-MCPD. Reliability of analysis results and robustness of the analysis methods were the main focus during method development and optimisation. The analytes were extracted with organic solvents under mild conditions. GEs are converted to monobromopropanediol esters (MBPD esters) prior to transesterification. MCPD esters and MBPD esters were transesterified followed by derivatisation of the analytes with phenyl boronic acid (PBA) in organic solvent. The PBA derivatives were measured by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) applying stable isotope labelled analogues of the analytes for quantification. The performance of both analysis methods was compliant with criteria specified by EFSA. The analytical methods were applied for the analysis of breads and bread rolls, fine bakery wares, smoked fish and meat products, fried and roasted meat, potato-based snacks and fried potato products, cereal-based snacks, and margarines. Analysis results were compiled and reported to EFSA in standard sample description (SSD) format.JRC.D.5-Standards for Food Bioscienc

Immunogenicity negatively influences the outcome of adalimumab treatment in Crohn's disease

Background: Adalimumab is an effective treatment in patients with Crohn's disease; as it is a humanized anti-tumour necrosis factor monoclonal antibody, immunogenicity is thought not to be of any significance. Aim: To assess whether antibodies to adalimumab (ATAs) affect adalimumab treatment outcome in patients with Crohn's disease previously treated with infliximab. Methods: A retrospective study was p