Regional Yield Insurance for Arable Crops in EU-27

Replaced with revised version of paper 11/18/08.Area yield insurance, index insurance, yield risk, Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty,

Mapping climatic risks in the EU agriculture

Replaced with revised version of paper 11/18/08.Agrometeorological models, climatic risk, European Union, Vegetation indices, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,

Agricultural risk management in Europe

Replaced with revised version of paper 11/18/08Risk management policy, agricultural insurance, calamity funds, ad-hoc aids, natural disaster, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty,

In vivo evaluation of antimyotonic efficacy of β-adrenergic drugs in a rat model of myotonia

AbstractThe sodium channel blocker mexiletine is considered the first-line drug in myotonic syndromes, a group of muscle disorders characterized by membrane over-excitability. We previously showed that the β-adrenoceptor modulators, clenbuterol and propranolol, block voltage-gated sodium channels in a manner reminiscent to mexiletine, whereas salbutamol and nadolol do not. We now developed a pharmacological rat model of myotonia congenita to perform in vivo preclinical test of antimyotonic drugs. Myotonia was induced by i.p. injection of 30 mg/kg of anthracene-9-carboxylic acid (9-AC), a muscle chloride channel blocker, and evaluated by measuring the time of righting reflex (TRR). The TRR was prolonged from <0.5 s in control conditions to a maximum of ∼4 s, thirty minutes after 9-AC injection, then gradually recovered in a few hours. Oral administration of mexiletine twenty minutes after 9-AC injection significantly hampered the TRR prolongation, with an half-maximum efficient dose (ED50) of 12 mg/kg. Both propranolol and clenbuterol produced a dose-dependent antimyotonic effect similar to mexiletine, with ED50 values close to 20 mg/kg. Antimyotonic effects of 40 mg/kg mexiletine and propranolol lasted for 2 h. We also demonstrated, using patch-clamp methods, that both propranolol enantiomers exerted a similar block of skeletal muscle hNav1.4 channels expressed in HEK293 cells. The two enantiomers (15 mg/kg) also showed a similar antimyotonic activity in vivo in the myotonic rat. Among the drugs tested, the R(+)-enantiomer of propranolol may merit further investigation in humans, because it exerts antimyotonic effect in the rat model, while lacking of significant activity on the β-adrenergic pathway. This study provides a new and useful in vivo preclinical model of myotonia congenita in order to individuate the most promising antimyotonic drugs to be tested in humans

Agricultural Insurance Schemes II

Index insurances, diversely from traditional agricultural insurances, do not refer to the actual farm losses but to the losses evaluated from an index. The study evaluates the feasibility of index insurances for EU and makes a cross-validation based on the yield loss risk calculated from FADN data. Premiums have been estimated for a Regional Yield Insurance (RYI) for FADN regions and a number of arable crops. Some meteorological, agro-meteorological and NDVI indicators were also analysed according to the model of the area yield-tailored insurance. From the statistical analysis the indicators do not explain yields optimally. Due to the strong heterogeneity within the EU regions, a meteorological yield-tailored index could have a better explanation capacity at a more disaggregated level. FADN data are used to compute and map the risk of yield reduction for major field crops and of income reduction by farm type. The cross validation of area yield insurance consisted on the calculation of the risk with FADN data with and without insurance. Results show that the risk reduction capacity of yield area index for the case analysed is not very high, but in some regions the risk can be reduced up to a 68%. The risk reduction capacity of other indexes is expected to be lower than the yield area index. Finally, the study shows that index products efficiency is relatively low at farm level due to the European heterogeneity of climates and geography and to the large geographical scale that had to be used in the study. So, index products could be more efficient for reinsurance that works at aggregated level.JRC.G.3-Monitoring agricultural resource

Agricultural Insurance Schemes

Agricultural producers face a series of risks affecting the income and welfare of their households. These are mainly production risks related to weather conditions, pests and diseases, market conditions, liberalization policies, climate change, etc. In recent years the European Union has been considering a possible integration of risk management in the common agricultural policy and is analysing risk and crisis management strategies to provide an improved response to crises in the agricultural sector. This report reviews the agricultural risk management systems in the EU-27 (candidate countries Turkey and Croatia are also analysed) with a special focus on types of agricultural insurance. The study contains a collection of data on the realities and modalities of agricultural insurance in Europe. This information mainly comes from fact sheets filled in by experts or consultants from the different European countries and data from the European Committee of Insurers (CEA). Many of these data were unpublished because there is no obligation for the insurance companies to report to the EU institutions. The report quantifies and maps different types of risks, from climatic risks to yield and revenue risks. The role of Governments in helping farmers to face disasters is analyzed for every country: providing aid ex-post and offering or subsidizing insurances. The Member States definitions of crisis and disaster when authorising state aids are described and contrasted with the EU and international legislation. Aid is sometimes given on an ad-hoc basis through compensation schemes, or funds partially financed by the agricultural sector (on a voluntary or compulsory basis). Mutual funds, calamity funds and ad-hoc payments existing in European countries are summarised. The levels of ad-hoc payments per country are compared. Agricultural insurances are fostered in a number of countries. The different types of agricultural insurance systems and key figures in each country are analysed. Some technicalities are described, such as reinsurance, triggers and deductibles. The relationship between Government involvement and insurance development is highlighted. Usually private companies insure only hail and fire, and the government subsidies and public reinsurance are needed to make possible the insurance of agricultural systemic risks. One conclusion is that the risk management tools available in the Member States (MS) could be further developed. Conditions for a feasible EU-wide insurance scheme have been analysed. The possible amount of costs of an EU-supported insurance system has been roughly quantified for a few hypothetical scenarios. However, given the heterogeneous situation in the MS, the interest of a harmonised EU-wide system of agricultural insurances is debatable.JRC.G.3-Agricultur

White matter alterations in drug-naïve children with Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder

Tourette syndrome (TS) and early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are frequently associated and conceptualized as distinct phenotypes of a common disease spectrum. However, the nature of their relationship is still largely unknown on a pathophysiological level. In this study, early structural white matter (WM) changes investigated through diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were compared across four groups of drug-naive children: TS-pure (n = 16), TS+OCD (n = 14), OCD (n = 10), and 11 age-matched controls. We analyzed five WM tracts of interest, i.e., cortico-spinal tract (CST), anterior thalamic radiations (ATR), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), corpus callosum (CC), and cingulum and evaluated correlations of DTI changes to symptom severity. Compared to controls, TS-pure and TS+OCD showed a comparable pattern of increased fractional anisotropy (FA) in CST, ATR, ILF and CC, with FA changes displaying negative correlation to tic severity. Conversely, in OCD, FA decreased in all WM tracts (except for the cingulum) compared to controls and negatively correlated to symptoms. We demonstrate different early WM microstructural alterations in children with TS-pure/TS+OCD as opposed to OCD. Our findings support the conceptualization of TS+OCD as a subtype of TS while suggesting that OCD is characterized by independent pathophysiological mechanisms affecting WM development

Molecular Insights into the Local Anesthetic Receptor within Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels Using Hydroxylated Analogs of Mexiletine

We previously showed that the β-adrenoceptor modulators, clenbuterol and propranolol, directly blocked voltage-gated sodium channels, whereas salbutamol and nadolol did not (Desaphy et al., 2003), suggesting the presence of two hydroxyl groups on the aromatic moiety of the drugs as a molecular requisite for impeding sodium channel block. To verify such an hypothesis, we synthesized five new mexiletine analogs by adding one or two hydroxyl groups to the aryloxy moiety of the sodium channel blocker and tested these compounds on hNav1.4 channels expressed in HEK293 cells. Concentration–response relationships were constructed using 25-ms-long depolarizing pulses at −30 mV applied from an holding potential of −120 mV at 0.1 Hz (tonic block) and 10 Hz (use-dependent block) stimulation frequencies. The half-maximum inhibitory concentrations (IC50) were linearly correlated to drug lipophilicity: the less lipophilic the drug, minor was the block. The same compounds were also tested on F1586C and Y1593C hNav1.4 channel mutants, to gain further information on the molecular interactions of mexiletine with its receptor within the sodium channel pore. In particular, replacement of Phe1586 and Tyr1593 by non-aromatic cysteine residues may help in the understanding of the role of π–π or π–cation interactions in mexiletine binding. Alteration of tonic block suggests that the aryloxy moiety of mexiletine may interact either directly or indirectly with Phe1586 in the closed sodium channel to produce low-affinity binding block, and that this interaction depends on the electrostatic potential of the drug aromatic tail. Alteration of use-dependent block suggests that addition of hydroxyl groups to the aryloxy moiety may modify high-affinity binding of the drug amine terminal to Phe1586 through cooperativity between the two pharmacophores, this effect being mainly related to drug lipophilicity. Mutation of Tyr1593 further impaired such cooperativity. In conclusion, these results confirm our former hypothesis by showing that the presence of hydroxyl groups to the aryloxy moiety of mexiletine greatly reduced sodium channel block, and provide molecular insights into the intimate interaction of local anesthetics with their receptor

MARS Bulletin Vol 17 No 1

The annexed document is the template for the bulletin that will be issued on the 10th March. This bulletin covers meteorological analysis and crop yield forecasts for the period 21 November 2008 - 28 February 2009 (since the day after the last covered period, to the last day of the decade before)JRC.G.3-Monitoring agricultural resource

Cortico-Subcortical White Matter Bundle Changes in Cervical Dystonia and Blepharospasm

Dystonia is thought to be a network disorder due to abnormalities in the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuit. We aimed to investigate the white matter (WM) microstructural damage of bundles connecting pre-defined subcortical and cortical regions in cervical dystonia (CD) and blepharospasm (BSP). Thirty-five patients (17 with CD and 18 with BSP) and 17 healthy subjects underwent MRI, including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Probabilistic tractography (BedpostX) was performed to reconstruct WM tracts connecting the globus pallidus, putamen and thalamus with the primary motor, primary sensory and supplementary motor cortices. WM tract integrity was evaluated by deriving their DTI metrics. Significant differences in mean, radial and axial diffusivity between CD and HS and between BSP and HS were found in the majority of the reconstructed WM tracts, while no differences were found between the two groups of patients. The observation of abnormalities in DTI metrics of specific WM tracts suggests a diffuse and extensive loss of WM integrity as a common feature of CD and BSP, aligning with the increasing evidence of microstructural damage of several brain regions belonging to specific circuits, such as the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuit, which likely reflects a common pathophysiological mechanism of focal dystonia