Measurement, reporting and verification of livestock GHG emissions by developing countries in the UNFCCC: current practices and opportunities for improvement

This report provides an overview of current practices, challenges and opportunities in the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of livestock greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and emission reductions by developing countries in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). MRV of livestock GHG emissions is relevant because (i) livestock production makes a significant contribution to global GHG emissions; (ii) livestock GHG emissions have been contributing an increasing share of agricultural emissions over time; and (iii) better characterization of livestock GHG emissions can assist policy makers to target and design efforts to mitigate GHG emissions. As national climate change mitigation policies increasingly focus on GHG reduction targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), this report assesses the extent to which current MRV practices are able to meet the evolving policy needs. The report describes MRV obligations under the UNFCCC (Chapter 2), current practices in compiling and reporting livestock GHG emissions through national GHG inventories (Chapter 3) and MRV of mitigation actions (Chapter 4), and highlights opportunities for improvement (Chapter 5).This report is also available in:French: http://hdl.handle.net/10568/93125Spanish: http://hdl.handle.net/10568/93127A summary brief is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10568/80890

Sick or Sad? A Qualitative Study on How Dutch GPs Deal With Sadness Complaints Among Young Adults

Feelings of sadness among young adults related to a certain phase of life or to societal factors run the risk of being interpreted as an individual medical problem. Therefore, healthcare professionals should more often widen their perspective and consider de-medicalization as being part of their professional responsibility too. This article presents results from a qualitative interview conducted with 13 GPs in different phases of their career to get more insight into the way they deal with complaints of sadness among young adults. All participants acted proactively but in different ways. Based on the interviews, a typology of three types of general practitioners has been created: the fast referrer, the expert, and the societal GP. There seems to be a paradox in the way GPs think about de-medicalization on a macro level and the way they act on a micro level. Elaborating on Parsons’(1951) classical concept of the sick role, this study introduces the term semi-legitimized sick role to clarify this paradox. The third type, “the societal GP”, appears to be the most able to show a more multifactorial view on complaints of sadness. Therefore, this type connects the most to a course of de-medicalization

The Loupe : tangible augmented reality for learning to look at Ancient Greek art

With the advent of digital museum interactives as a widely available learning offer in all types of museums, including history of art and archaeology museums, an ongoing debate has been established: Do these - usually screen-based - museum interactives assist visitors in focusing on museum objects and artefacts? Or do they distract and take away the attention from the real museum objects on display? We present the Loupe, a tangible Augmented Reality prototype in form of a magnifying lens, which allows museum visitors to get information in context about museum artefacts. We detail the design and content creation process that was employed in order to create a thematic tour for the the Greek Gallery of Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. An evaluation study with 22 adult participants was carried out, using both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methodologies, so as to explore the utility and usability of the Loupe as well its learning and affective impact. Our findings suggest that the acceptance of the Loupe as a museum interactive and learning resource, was related both with its qualities as a tangible as well as with the structure of the content and the narratives revealed

The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib sensitizes AML with myelomonocytic differentiation to TRAIL mediated apoptosis

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive stem cell malignancy that is difficult to treat. There are limitations to the current treatment regimes especially after disease relapse, and therefore new therapeutic agents are urgently required which can overcome drug resistance whilst avoiding unnecessary toxicity. Among newer targeted agents, both tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and proteasome inhibitors show particular promise. In this report we show that a combination of the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib and TRAIL is effective against AML cell lines, in particular, AML cell lines displaying myelomonocytic/monocytic phenotype (M4/M5 AML based on FAB classification), which account for 20-30% of AML cases. We show that the underlying mechanism of sensitization is at least in part due to bortezomib mediated downregulation of c-FLIP and XIAP, which is likely to be regulated by NF-κB. Blockage of NF-κB activation with BMS-345541 equally sensitized myelomonocytic AML cell lines and primary AML blasts to TRAIL

The impact of the intensity of fear on patient’s delay regarding health care seeking behavior: a systematic review

This systematic review focuses on the role of the intensity of fear in patient's delay in cancer and in myocardial infarction. In a search of literature published between 1990 and June 2009, 161 articles were found. After the use of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 11 articles in cancer and 4 articles in myocardial infarction remained. High levels of fear are associated with earlier help-seeking in both diseases; for low levels of fear, the picture is unclear. The level of fear is an important factor, which should be taken into account when facilitating help-seeking by patients

Hand preference predicts behavioral responses to threats in Barbary macaques

The structure and functioning of the brain are lateralized-the right hemisphere processes unexpected stimuli and controls spontaneous behavior, while the left deals with familiar stimuli and routine responses. Hemispheric dominance, the predisposition of an individual using one hemisphere over the other, may lead to behavioral differences; particularly, an individual may be programed to act in a certain way concerning hemispheric dominance. Hand preference is a robust estimator of hemispheric dominance in primates, as each hemisphere controls the opposing side of the body. Studies have found links between hand preference and the exhibition of behaviors in contexts such as exploring and manipulating objects. However, little is known whether hand preference predicts behavioral variations in other ecologically relevant contexts like predation. We investigated the relationship between hand preference and behavioral responses to two types of predator models in captive Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) (n = 22). Besides, a nonpredator novel object was included as control. We found 91% of the macaques to be lateralized with no group-level bias. A higher rate of tension and focus (behavioral response) behavior was found in predator contexts than in the novel object condition. Unlike their right-hand counterparts, individuals with a strong left-hand preference elicited frequent focus and tension behavior toward the predator models. Additionally, the behavioral response varied with predator type. We also found an interaction effect between hand preference and predator type. Our study suggests that hand preference can reliably predict behavioral variations in the context of potential predation. While these results are consistent with lateralized brain function, indicating lateralization a neural mechanism of behavioral variation, the interaction effect between hand preference and predator type elucidates the importance of context-specificity when investigating laterality noninvasively. Future research on other nonhuman primates using the current framework may provide insights into the evolution of laterality and underlying behavioral predispositions

Remote sensing of LAI, chlorophyll and leaf nitrogen pools of crop- and grasslands in five European landscapes

Leaf nitrogen and leaf surface area influence the exchange of gases between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, and they play a significant role in the global cycles of carbon, nitrogen and water. Remote sensing data from satellites can be used to estimate leaf area index (LAI), leaf chlorophyll (CHLl) and leaf nitrogen density (Nl). However, methods are often developed using plot scale data and not verified over extended regions that represent a variety of soil spectral properties and canopy structures. In this paper, field measurements and high spatial resolution (10–20 m) remote sensing images acquired from the HRG and HRVIR sensors aboard the SPOT satellites were used to assess the predictability of LAI, CHLl and Nl. Five spectral vegetation indices (SVIs) were used (the Normalized Difference Vegetation index, the Simple Ratio, the Enhanced Vegetation Index-2, the Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and the green Chlorophyll Index) together with the image-based inverse canopy radiative transfer modelling system, REGFLEC (REGularized canopy reFLECtance). While the SVIs require field data for empirical model building, REGFLEC can be applied without calibration. Field data measured in 93 fields within crop- and grasslands of five European landscapes showed strong vertical CHLl gradient profiles in 20% of fields. This affected the predictability of SVIs and REGFLEC. However, selecting only homogeneous canopies with uniform CHLl distributions as reference data for statistical evaluation, significant (p < 0.05) predictions were achieved for all landscapes, by all methods. The best performance was achieved by REGFLEC for LAI (r2=0.7; rmse = 0.73), canopy chlorophyll content (r2=0.51; rmse = 439 mg m−2) and canopy nitrogen content (r2 = 0.53; rmse = 2.21 g m−2). Predictabilities of SVIs and REGFLEC simulations generally improved when constrained to single land use categories (wheat, maize, barley, grass) across the European landscapes, reflecting sensitivity to canopy structures. Predictability further improved when constrained to local (10 × 10 km2) landscapes, thereby reflecting sensitivity to local environmental conditions. All methods showed different predictabilities for land use categories and landscapes. Combining the best methods, LAI, canopy chlorophyll content (CHLc) and canopy nitrogen content (CHLc) for the five landscapes could be predicted with improved accuracy (LAI rmse = 0.59; CHLc rmse = 346 g m−2; Ncrmse = 1.49 g m−2). Remote sensing-based results showed that the vegetation nitrogen pools of the five agricultural landscapes varied from 0.6 to 4.0 t km−2. Differences in nitrogen pools were attributed to seasonal variations, extents of agricultural area, species variations, and spatial variations in nutrient availability. Information on Nl and total Nc pools within the landscapes is important for the spatial evaluation of nitrogen and carbon cycling processes. The upcoming Sentinel-2 satellite mission will provide new multiple narrow-band data opportunities at high spatio-temporal resolution which are expected to further improve remote sensing predictabilities of LAI, CHLl and Nl.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Parental experiences of rapid exome sequencing in cases with major ultrasound anomalies during pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Adding rapid Exome Sequencing (rES) to conventional genetic tests improves the diagnostic yield of pregnancies showing ultrasound abnormalities but also carries a higher chance of unsolicited findings. We evaluated how rES, including pre- and post-test counseling, was experienced by parents investigating its impact on decision-making and experienced levels of anxiety. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Participating couples (n=46) were asked to fill in two surveys (pre-test and post-test counseling) and 11 couples were approached for an additional interview. RESULTS: All couples accepted the rES test-offer with the most important reason for testing emphasizing their hope of finding an underlying diagnosis that would aid decision-making. The actual impact on decision-making was low, however, since most parents decided to terminate the pregnancy based on the major and multiple fetal ultrasound anomalies and did not wait for their rES results. Anxiety was elevated for most participants and decreased over time. CONCLUSION: Major congenital anomalies detected on ultrasound seem to have more impact on prenatal parental decision-making and anxiety then the offer and results of rES. However, the impact of rES on reproductive decision-making and experienced anxiety requires further investigation, especially in pregnancies where less (severe) fetal anomalies are detected on ultrasound. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Screening av nye PFAS-stoffer 2018

This screening project has focused on the occurrence of conventional andemerging PFASs in terrestrial and marine environments, including the Arctic. Conventional PFASs were found to be wide-spread in the environment and for the first time in Norway reported in wolf, a top predator from the terrestrial environment.Otters living in close proximity to human settlements and preying on the marine food chain,are heavily contaminated with PFASs. Areas where ski-testing activitiesare common are a potential “hotspot” where PFASs can enter the food chain. The difference in PFAS-profile between the samples indicatesthat the diversity in samples are necessary to reveal the complete picture of PFASs in the environment