The macro-environment for liquid biofuels in the German science, mass, media and government

The purpose of this study is to investigate under which dimensions the macro-environment for liquid biofuels has been structured during time, respectively by science, mass media, and government in Germany, and how these three social expressions related to each other. Research was carried out on German official government documents, mass media news, and scientific papers on the topic 'liquid biofuels'. Text Mining was used to extract knowledge from their content. The results indicate that in configurating the macro-environment for liquid biofuels there is some degree of proximity between media and government, less between media and science, and the least between government and science

The macro-environment for liquid biofuels in the US mass media, science and government

The purpose of this study is to investigate under which dimensions the macro-environment for liquid biofuels has been structured during time, respectively by science, mass media, and government in Germany, and how these three social expressions related to each other. Research was carried out on German official government documents, mass media news, and scientific papers on the topic ‘liquid biofuels’. Text Mining was used to extract knowledge from their content. The results indicate that in configurating the macro-environment for liquid biofuels there is some degree of proximity between media and government, less between media and science, and the least between government and scienc

The meat market in Brazil: an econometric approach.

We describe the relative participation of the meat market (beef, pork and chicken) in Brazil in the total agribusiness and in total country?s exports. An analysis of the world meat market is carried out from the point of view of the values of consumption, production, exports and imports. A multi-criteria DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) approach is then used to generate world market classifications. Particularly, the Brazilian insertion in the world market is viewed from these perspectives. A partial equilibrium model for the meat market is fit to Brazilian data by three stages least squares. The model is consistent with the data and is used for simulation purposes. In this context we investigate the joint and the separate effects of changes in corn price and in the exchange rate on the market endogenous variables, ceteris paribus

Cancer and Non-Cancer Controls in Studies on the Effect of Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption

A comparison of risk estimates using controls with other cancers versus controls with acute diseases unrelated to tobacco and alcohol consumption in the study of the effect of these two factors has been performed using data on tumours of the oral cavity and pharynx from an ongoing case-control surveillance programme in Northeastern Italy. Similar results were obtained using either type of controls: as compared to never smokers, moderate smokers (≤14 cigarettes/day) showed age-and sex-adjusted odds ratio (OR)=5.2 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.9-9.2) when using cancer controls and 5.8 (95% CI: 3.3-10.1) when using non-cancer controls. Similarly, those who had smoked for 40 years or longer showed ORs of 7.4(95% CI: 4.0-13.6) and 8.8 (95% CI: 4.9-15.6), respectively, using cancer and non-cancer controls: For moderate drinkers of alcoholic beverages (21-34 drinks/week) and heavy drinkers (≥84 drinks/ week) the ORs, as compared to individuals who drank <21 drinks/week, were 1.9 (95%CI: 1.0-3.6) and 2.2 (95% CI: 1.2-4.0) and 10.6(95% CI: 5.5-20.6) and 11.4(95% CI: 6.0-21.4) using cancer and non-cancer controls, respectively. The same comparability of ORs for tobacco- and alcohol-related variables using either type of controls was observed when separate analyses of the two sexes were performed. The close similarity between cancer and non-cancer controls in studies on tabacco- and alcohol-related risks may be exploited when the choice of other types of controls would increase the costs and the feasibility of the study, and thus hamper its statistical power. Moreover, this investigation provides some reassurance about the validity of risk estimates using carefully selected groups of hospital control

Nutrition, social factors and prostatic cancer in a Northern Italian population.

The relationship between prostate cancer and indicators of nutrition, diet and social factors was evaluated in a case-control study of 166 patients with histologically confirmed prostatic carcinoma and 202 control subjects hospitalized for acute diseases other than malignant, hormonal or urogenital. The relative risk increased with increasing body mass index, men being moderately overweight showing a 2.3 elevated risk, and those grossly overweight an over four-fold higher risk of prostate cancer, when allowance was made for several identified potential confounding factors. Cases also reported more frequent consumption of milk and other dairy products and meat, but no significant difference was noted for vegetable intake. The risk of prostate cancer was unrelated to marital status or indicators of social class based on occupation

Folate intake and risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer

Background: Diet has been recognised as having a role in the aetiology of oral and pharyngeal cancer, and dietary factors may account for 10-15% of cases in Europe. Folate deficiency has been linked to risk of several cancers, but has not been studied adequately with respect to oral cancer. Patients and methods: This case-control study, conducted in Italy and French-speaking Switzerland, included 749 patients with incident cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, and 1772 hospital controls with acute, non-neoplastic conditions. The interviews used a validated food frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using multiple logistic regression. Results: The ORs were 0.68 (95% CI 0.52-0.88) for the intermediate tertile and 0.53 (95% CI 0.40-0.69) for the highest tertile of dietary folate intake, compared with the lowest tertile. No heterogeneity was found in strata of gender, age, methionine intake or alcohol consumption. The combined OR for low-folate and high-alcohol intake versus high-folate and low-alcohol intake was 22.3 (95% CI 13.1-38). Conclusions: Our study supports a protective role of folate against oral and pharyngeal carcinogenesis. Compared with low folate intake, a consistent reduction in risk was already observed from intermediate levels of intake, suggesting that cancer risk may be related to relative folate deficienc