Nonresponse in the 1996 income survey (supplement to the microcensus)

Einkommensstudie: ergänzender freiwilliger Fragebogen für ein Viertel des Mikrozensus vom April 1996, 18117 Haushalte, 16% Verweigerer (2988). Die eine Beteiligung verweigernden Haushalte sind nicht zufallsverteilt. Vielmehr weisen einige im Rahmen des Mikrozensus erhobenen Merkmale eine Verbindung mit Antwortverweigerung auf. Vor allem das Qualifikationsniveau des Haushaltsvorstands und regionale Faktoren sind für das Antwortverhalten aussagekräftig. Ältere Haushalte auf dem Land mit niedrigem Einkommen und niedrigem Qualifikationsniveau weisen eine höhere Beteiligung an der Befragung auf, während in Budapest, vor allem in den Gruppen mit hohem Einkommen und hoher Qualifikation, die Quote der Antwortverweigerer hoch ist. (ICEÜbers)"Income survey: supplementary voluntary questionnaire to the randomly selected one quarter of the April 1996 microcensus, 18.117 households, 16% (2.988) refusals. The characteristics of the households which refused to answer the income survey (they are not randomly distributed) were carefully studied The most important results and measures which were done to reduce the bias are presented. A substantial number of census variables for households were found to be associated with nonresponse. The characteristics most strongly associated with Income Survey response rate were the qualification level of head of household and the type of region. Higher response rate was found in the countryside among the older households with low income and low qualification and high refusal rate in Budapest, mainly in high income groups with high qualification level, as well." (author's abstract

The Combination of Single-Cell and Next-Generation Sequencing Can Reveal Mosaicism for BRCA2 Mutations and the Fine Molecular Details of Tumorigenesis

Simple Summary Germline and somatic BRCA1/2 mutations may define therapeutic targets and refine cancer treatment options. However, routine BRCA diagnostic approaches cannot reveal the exact time and origin of BRCA1/2 mutation formation, and thus, the fine details of their contribution to tumor progression remain less clear. We established a diagnostic pipeline using high-resolution microscopy and laser microcapture microscopy to test for BRCA1/2 mutations in tumors at the single-cell level, followed by deep next-generation sequencing of various tissues from the patient. To demonstrate the power of our approach, here we present a detailed analysis of an ovarian cancer patient, in which we describe constitutional somatic mosaicism of a BRCA2 mutation. Characterization of the mosaic mutation at the single-cell level contributes to a better understanding of BRCA mutation formation and supports the concept that the combination of single-cell and next-generation sequencing methods is advantageous over traditional mutational analysis methods. Germline mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are responsible for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome. Germline and somatic BRCA1/2 mutations may define therapeutic targets and refine cancer treatment options. However, routine BRCA diagnostic approaches cannot reveal the exact time and origin of BRCA1/2 mutation formation, and thus, the fine details of their contribution to tumor progression remain less clear. Here, we establish a diagnostic pipeline using high-resolution microscopy and laser microcapture microscopy to test for BRCA1/2 mutations in the tumor at the single-cell level, followed by deep next-generation sequencing of various tissues from the patient. To demonstrate the power of our approach, here, we describe a detailed single-cell-level analysis of an ovarian cancer patient we found to exhibit constitutional somatic mosaicism of a pathogenic BRCA2 mutation. Employing next-generation sequencing, BRCA2 c.7795G>T, p.(Glu2599Ter) was detected in 78% of reads in DNA extracted from ovarian cancer tissue and 25% of reads in DNA derived from peripheral blood, which differs significantly from the expected 50% of a hereditary mutation. The BRCA2 mutation was subsequently observed at 17-20% levels in the normal ovarian and buccal tissue of the patient. Together, our findings suggest that this mutation occurred early in embryonic development. Characterization of the mosaic mutation at the single-cell level contributes to a better understanding of BRCA mutation formation and supports the concept that the combination of single-cell and next-generation sequencing methods is advantageous over traditional mutational analysis methods. This study is the first to characterize constitutional mosaicism down to the single-cell level, and it demonstrates that BRCA2 mosaicism occurring early during embryogenesis can drive tumorigenesis in ovarian cancer.Peer reviewe

Swedish consumers' cognitive approaches to nutrition claims and health claims

Introduction and Aim: Studies show frequent use of nutrition claims and health claims in consumers’ choice of food products. The aim of the present study was to investigate how consumers’ thoughts about these claims and food products are affected by various types of food-related experiences. Material and Methods: The data collection comprised 30 individual interviews among Swedish consumers aged 25 to 64 years. Results: The results indicated that participants who expressed special concern for their own and their families’ health were eager to find out the meaning of concepts and statements made. A lack of understanding and lack of credibility of concepts and expressions often caused suspicion of the product. However, in some cases this was counterbalanced by confidence in manufacturers, retailers, and/or the Swedish food legislation. Discussion and Conclusion: To achieve effective written communication of food products’ health-conducive properties on food labels, there is a need to consider the importance many consumers attach to understanding the meaning of concepts and expressions used and the importance of credibility in certain expressions. Consumers’ varying cognitive approaches are suggested as a basis for pre-tests of nutrition claims and health claims

Evaluating the Sustainability Performance of Typical Conventional and Certified Coffee Production Systems in Brazil and Ethiopia Based on Expert Judgements

Increasing consumer awareness on sustainability issues has led to the growing adoption of voluntary sustainability standards in agriculture. This study assesses the sustainability performance of typical conventional and certified coffee production systems in Brazil and Ethiopia based on expert judgements. We apply the SMART-Farm Tool, which represents an operationalization of the SAFA (Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems) framework of FAO. Data were collected through expert interviews and uncertainties were estimated using Monte-Carlo simulations. A higher sustainability performance of the certified systems was observed regarding product information (+37%) and transparency (+39%) in Ethiopia. In Brazil, the certified system showed a higher overall sustainability performance compared to the conventional system in the environmental dimension and in some social and governance aspects, e.g., gender equality (+49%) and public health (+36%). Geographical or political conditions and farm type also had a strong influence on the observed sustainability performance. Typical smallholder production systems in Ethiopian coffee production performed comparable in the environmental dimension since all were low-input systems due to economic constraints. The conventional Brazilian system showed a better performance concerning employment relations (+14%) and profitability (+13%), as compared to the certified Brazilian systems, because larger farms were more likely to employ permanent staff and benefit from economies of scale

Raman spectroscopy of amorphous carbon prepared by pulsed arc discharge in various gas mixtures

To meet various application requirements, it is important to enable an improvement of a-C structure and properties, such as hardness, adhesion, and wear resistance. In this study, we used the Raman spectroscopy to investigate the a-C thin films structure dependence on the different deposition parameters. The effect of nitrogen, argon, and hydrogen gas flow rate was analyzed to determine the influence on the film properties. The change in the gas type, combination, and flow had a significant influence on the D and G bands of the a-C Raman spectra. The addition of N2 into the chamber promoted the sp2 creation, while with adding hydrogen the layer contained more sp3 bonds. The depositions of a-C thin films were carried out in pulsed arc discharge vacuum installation. Micro-Raman measurements of the deposited materials were performed using an ISA Dilor-Jobin Yvon-Spex Labram confocal system with 632.8 nm radiation from a He-Ne laser using a back-scattering geometry

Andrea Chénier

Programa de les funcions d'"Andrea Chénier" d'U. Giordano amb llibret de L. Illica, que van tenir lloc al Gran Teatre del Liceu durant el mes de novembre de 1985. El repartiment va estar format per L. Bartolini com Andrea Chénier, V. Sarindero com a Carlo Gérard, E. Marton com a Maddalena, R. M. Ysàs com la mulata Bersi, C. Fondevila com la comtessa de Coigny, M. Aparici com a Madelon, A. Echeverría com a Roucher, V. Esteve com a Pietro Fleville i Fouquier Tinville, G. Tosi com el "sanculotto" Mathieu, Piero de Palma com un "incredibile", A. Heilbron com l'Abate i J. Castillón com a Schmidt, el majordom i DumasOrquestra del Gran Teatre del Liceu dirigida per Romano Gandolf

Lohengrin

Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu, dirigida per Uwe Mund, i Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu, dirigit per Romano GandolfiPrograma de mà de l'òpera Lohengrin, de Richard Wagner, representada el desembre del 1992 i interpretada pels següents cantants: Hans Sotin i Kurt Rydl (Heinrich) Thomas Sunnegardh i Gösta Winbergh (Lohengrin) ; Sue Patchell i Mechthild Gessendorf (Elsa von Brabant) ; Bent Norup i Karl-Heinz Stryczek (Friedrich von Telramund) ; Eva Marton i Joy McIntyre (Ortrud) ; Wolfgang Rauch (herald) ; Josep Ruiz, Antoni Lluch, Manuel Garrido i Joan Tomàs (cavallers) ; Begoña Alberdi, Natascha Orlob, Francesca Roig i Mercè Obiol (joves nobles

Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe

Update notice Author Correction: Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe (Nature, (2022), 608, 7922, (336-345), 10.1038/s41586-022-05010-7) Nature, Volume 609, Issue 7927, Pages E9, 15 September 2022In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years(1). Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configuration and specific interactions(2,3). Here we provide detailed distributions of milk exploitation across Europe over the past 9,000 years using around 7,000 pottery fat residues from more than 550 archaeological sites. European milk use was widespread from the Neolithic period onwards but varied spatially and temporally in intensity. Notably, LP selection varying with levels of prehistoric milk exploitation is no better at explaining LP allele frequency trajectoriesthan uniform selection since the Neolithic period. In the UK Biobank(4,5) cohort of 500,000 contemporary Europeans, LP genotype was only weakly associated with milk consumption and did not show consistent associations with improved fitness or health indicators. This suggests that other reasons for the beneficial effects of LP should be considered for its rapid frequency increase. We propose that lactase non-persistent individuals consumed milk when it became available but, under conditions of famine and/or increased pathogen exposure, this was disadvantageous, driving LP selection in prehistoric Europe. Comparison of model likelihoods indicates that population fluctuations, settlement density and wild animal exploitation-proxies for these drivers-provide better explanations of LP selection than the extent of milk exploitation. These findings offer new perspectives on prehistoric milk exploitation and LP evolution.Peer reviewe