Smart and sustainable cities in the Mediterranean region: The contribution of short supply chains of food

The cities around the world in general, and in the Mediterranean area in particular, are facing tremendous challenges at the environmental, social, economic, and institutional levels, due to the urbanization trend, environmental climatic changes and challenges due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, cities need to be sustainable and smart in the future. An economically important and innovative sector in urban areas is food security. Nowadays, most of the literature explores the concept of smart cities from the point of view of information and communications technology, indeed, the connection with the sustainability aspects of the food supply chain and the ways to operationalize that, remains unsolved. This paper tries to overcome this gap in the literature. The main aim is to analyze the contribution of the short supply chain of food in terms of sustainability in smart cities, regarding current urban trends in cities in general and in Mediterranean areas in particular. The methodology was based on a literature review and includes quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results confirm the existence of positive impacts in the short supply chains of food in urban areas in terms of sustainability. Despite the existence of a considerable number of papers about smart cities and ICT-related topics, the benefits from society of short supply chains of food, and the linkage among the topics and subjects, remain unreferred to or with a limited knowledge exchange. The conclusions of this paper will be helpful for public decision makers to implement policies in order to promote the sustainability of Mediterranean cities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Commodity risk assessment of specified species of Lonicera potted plants from Turkey

The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk assessments for commodities listed in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as ‘High-risk plants, plant products and other objects’. This Scientific Opinion covers plant health risks posed by potted plants (2–4 years old) of specified Lonicera species produced in nurseries and that are imported from Turkey, taking into account the available scientific information, including the technical information provided by the NPPO of Turkey. The relevance of any pest for this Opinion was based on evidence following defined criteria listed in Section 4.1. Three species, the EU-quarantine pests Lopholeucaspis japonica and Meloidogyne chitwoodi and the protected zone quarantine pest Bemisia tabaci, fulfilled these criteria and were selected for further evaluation. For these pests, the risk mitigation measures proposed in the technical dossier from Turkey were evaluated taking into account the possible limiting factors. For these pests, an expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The estimated degree of pest freedom varies among the pests evaluated, with B. tabaci on evergreen species of Lonicera spp. being the pest most frequently expected on the imported plants. The Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated, with 95% certainty, that between 9,293 and 10,000 plants per 10,000 would be free of B. tabaci

Preferências da população de diferentes estratos sociais no manejo das águas pluviais urbanas

Resumo Muitos municípios brasileiros possuem legislação específica voltada para o manejo das águas pluviais no meio urbano, tendo como principal objetivo a redução do escoamento superficial. Entre as medidas promovidas se encontra a obrigatoriedade de implantação de diferentes dispositivos nos lotes que funcionem armazenando ou infiltrando o excesso do escoamento superficial causado pela urbanização, de forma a compensar o impacto desta. Esse tipo de prática é conhecido como técnica compensatória (TC). Diante das diferentes TC que podem ser escolhidas, neste artigo são apresentadas as preferências e principais percepções da população de três diferentes estratos socioeconômicos a respeito das TCs. O estudo foi conduzido na cidade de Santa Maria, RS, que como outros municípios brasileiros de médio porte, ainda deverá adotar algum tipo de política pública voltada para a gestão das águas pluviais no meio urbano. Foram entrevistadas 518 residências em bairros representativos da baixa classe alta, alta classe média e baixa classe média, que possuem a mesma diretriz para ocupação do solo. Os resultados revelaram importantes aspectos a respeito do entendimento dos entrevistados no que se refere ao manejo das águas pluviais em meio urbano e evidenciaram que a preferência por TC de armazenamento ou infiltração pode ser influenciada pela classe socioeconômica. Ainda, a entrevista permitiu identificar que em mais de 90% dos domicílios entrevistados já existe conhecimento sobre esse tipo de política pública

Bacterial cellulose production by Gluconacetobacter xylinus by employing alternative culture media

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is used in different fields as a biological material due to its unique properties. Despite there being many BC applications, there still remain many problems associated with bioprocess technology, such as increasing productivity and decreasing production cost. New technologies that use waste from the food industry as raw materials for culture media promote economic advantages because they reduce environmental pollution and stimulate new research for science sustainability. For this reason, BC production requires optimized conditions to increase its application. The main objective of this study was to evaluate BC production by Gluconacetobacter xylinus using industry waste, namely, rotten fruits and milk whey, as culture media. Furthermore, the structure of BC produced at different conditions was also determined. The culture media employed in this study were composed of rotten fruit collected from the disposal of free markets, milk whey from a local industrial disposal, and their combination, and Hestrin and Schramm media was used as standard culture media. Although all culture media studied produced BC, the highest BC yield60 mg/mLwas achieved with the rotten fruit culture. Thus, the results showed that rotten fruit can be used for BC production. This culture media can be considered as a profitable alternative to generate high-value products. In addition, it combines environmental concern with sustainable processes that can promote also the reduction of production cost.The authors would like to acknowledge the Brazil National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq, FAPESP, and CAPES), the financial support from FAPESP 2009/14897-7, and Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT)/Portugal through the project PTDC/EBB-EBI/112170/2009 for the financial support and scholarship. Special thanks to Talita Almeida Vicentin for technical support

Acesso a Tratamento Endovascular para Acidente Vascular Cerebral Isquémico em Portugal

Introduction: Since the publication of endovascular treatment trials and European Stroke Guidelines, Portugal has re-organized stroke healthcare. The nine centers performing endovascular treatment are not equally distributed within the country, which may lead to differential access to endovascular treatment. Our main aim was to perform a descriptive analysis of the main treatment metrics regarding endovascular treatment in mainland Portugal and its administrative districts. Material and methods: A retrospective national multicentric cohort study was conducted, including all ischemic stroke patients treated with endovascular treatment in mainland Portugal over two years (July 2015 to June 2017). All endovascular treatment centers contributed to an anonymized database. Demographic, stroke-related and procedure-related variables were collected. Crude endovascular treatment rates were calculated per 100 000 inhabitants for mainland Portugal, and each district and endovascular treatment standardized ratios (indirect age-sex standardization) were also calculated. Patient time metrics were computed as the median time between stroke onset, first-door, and puncture. Results: A total of 1625 endovascular treatment procedures were registered. The endovascular treatment rate was 8.27/100 000 inhabitants/year. We found regional heterogeneity in endovascular treatment rates (1.58 to 16.53/100 000/year), with higher rates in districts closer to endovascular treatment centers. When analyzed by district, the median time from stroke onset to puncture ranged from 212 to 432 minutes, reflecting regional heterogeneity. Discussion: Overall endovascular treatment rates and procedural times in Portugal are comparable to other international registries. We found geographic heterogeneity, with lower endovascular treatment rates and longer onset-to-puncture time in southern and inner regions. Conclusion: The overall national rate of EVT in the first two years after the organization of EVT-capable centers is one of the highest among European countries, however, significant regional disparities were documented. Moreover, stroke-onset-to-first-door times and in-hospital procedural times in the EVT centers were comparable to those reported in the randomized controlled trials performed in high-volume tertiary hospitals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of differentially expressed genes in Quercus suber in response to Phytophthora cinnamomi infection

cDNA-AFLP methodology was used to gain insight into gene fragments differentially present in the mRNA profiles of Quercus suber roots infected with zoospores of Phytophthora cinnamomi at different post challenge time points. Fifty-three transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) were identified and sequenced. Six candidate genes were selected based on their expression patterns and homology to genes known to play a role in defence. They encode a cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase2 (QsCAD2), a protein disulphide isomerase (QsPDI), a CC-NBS-LRR resistance protein (QsRPc), a thaumatin-like protein (QsTLP), a chitinase (QsCHI) and a 1,3-β-glucanase (QsGlu). Evaluation of the expression of these genes by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) revealed that transcript levels of QsRPc, QsCHI, QsCAD2 and QsPDI increased during the first 24 h post-inoculation, while those of thaumatin-like protein decreased. No differential expression was observed for 1,3-β-glucanase (QsGlu).Four candidate reference genes, polymerase II (QsRPII), eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (QsEIF-5A), β-tubulin (QsTUB) and a medium subunit family protein of clathrin adaptor complexes (QsCACs) were assessed to determine the most stable internal references for qRT-PCR normalization in the Phytophthora-Q. suber pathosystem in root tissues. Those found to be more stable, QsRPII and QsCACs, were used as internal reference in the present work.Knowledge on the Quercus defence mechanisms against biotic stress is scarce. This study provides an insight into the gene profiling of a few important genes of Q. suber in response to P. cinnamomi infection contributing to the knowledge of the molecular interactions involving Quercus and root pathogens that can be useful in the future to understand the mechanisms underlying oak resistance to soil-borne oomycetes.Peer Reviewe