Presentations from the Workshop on Data Collection in Organic Agriculture, held at the 17th IFOAM Organic World Congress

At this workshop the following papers were presented and discussed * Data collection on organic agriculture world-wide Status of collection activities, tools developed. Helga Willer, FiBL * Collection of data on the domestic market: Case Study Japan. Heinz Kuhlmann, BioFach Japan * Collection of data on the domestic market: Case study Australia. Alexandra Mitchell, University of Armidale Australia * Data collection on organic agriculture in Asia. Current status. Ong Kung Wai, IFOAM World Boar

Erstellung einer Übersicht über die rechtlichen Regelungen zum ökologischen Landbau wichtiger Import- und Exportländer

Ziel des Projektes ist es, einen Überblick über die in wichtigen Import- und Exportländern geltenden gesetzlichen Regelungen und privatrechtlich Vereinbarungen zum ökologischen Landbau zu erstellen. Es wurde eine Datenbank entwickelt, die über die gesetzlichen Regelungen und die wichtigsten Verbandsrichtlinien für Ökoprodukte in den für Deutschland relevanten Import- und Exportländern informiert. Das Angebot beschreibt in leicht verständlicher Sprache die verschiedenen nationalen gesetzlichen Vorgaben für die Erzeugung, Verarbeitung, Kennzeichnung und Kontrolle von Ökoprodukten sowie deren Unterschiede zur EU-Öko-Verordnung. Darüber hinaus werden Richtlinien von Zertifizierungsorganisationen beschrieben, die eine marktbeherrschende Stellung in den lokalen Märkten einnehmen. Ergänzt wird das Angebot durch Originaltexte der Verordnungen und Richtlinien, soweit verfügbar in deutscher oder englischer Übersetzung sowie zahlreiche Adressen von Kontroll-/Zertifizierungsstellen und Behörden. Zielgruppen sind an Öko-Produkten interessierte Handels- und Verarbeitungsunternehmen sowie Beratungsorganisationen, Kontrollstellen und Behörden. Die Festlegung von Schwerpunktländern erfolgte auf Basis der Auswertung verfügbarer Import-/Export-Statistiken sowie einer schriftlichen Befragung ausgewählter Im- und Exportunternehmen für Öko-Produkte in Deutschland. Die Daten wurden in Form einer über das Internet verfügbaren Datenbank bereitgestellt. Die Datenbank wurde im Mai und Oktober 2003 aktualisiert

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Effects of once-weekly exenatide on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo