Looking to the states for new rural policies

Rural development ; Rural areas

Rural policy lessons from abroad

Rural areas ; Rural development

Exploring policy options for a new rural America : a conference summary

The United States needs a new rural policy. That was the conclusion of ten policy experts and 250 rural leaders from throughout the nation who met in Kansas City for the Center for the Study of Rural America’s second annual conference on rural policy matters, Exploring Policy Options for a New Rural America. The conference examined a menu of promising policy options and also considered ways to combine these options into a more coherent overall approach to the challenges facing rural communities.> Drabenstott and Sheaff highlight the issues raised at the conference. Participants agreed that new rural policy will be needed to help local communities seize the economic opportunities ahead. Fostering more entrepreneurs and tapping digital technology will be critical ingredients of a new policy approach. Participants also agreed that capital—especially equity capital—will be an important part of the mix. Cooperation among firms and communities was a major theme in discussing ways to reinvigorate traditional rural industries, whether helping manufacturing clusters to form, encouraging new alliances in a more product-oriented agriculture, or helping rural places make more of their scenic amenities.> Perhaps the most challenging discussion at the conference centered on building a new overall framework for rural policy and a new slate of policy options. The United Kingdom and Italy provided interesting new experiments in rural policy. Yet participants concluded that moving the United States from a longstanding reliance on supporting one sector to a broader focus on rural policy will not be easy. No matter how difficult, though, participants agreed that the transition was one worth making.Rural areas ; Rural development

The new power of regions : a policy focus for rural America : a conference summary

Rural policy should encourage more regional partnering among rural firms, communities, and governments. That was the conclusion reached by a dozen policy experts and 200 rural leaders from throughout the nation who gathered at the Center’s third annual rural policy conference, The New Power of Regions: A Policy Focus for Rural America. The conference was also sponsored by the bank’s Community Affairs Department.> Drabenstott and Sheaff summarize the conference, which began by exploring why regional synergies are important in seizing a new frontier of rural opportunities. Participants were quite upbeat about that frontier, with considerable discussion of pharmaceuticals grown in fields, advanced manufacturing, and e-commerce.> But participants were even more convinced that such opportunities will develop only with new models of partnering—across firms and across governments. Case studies of pharmaceutical farming in Iowa and new business initiatives in the Four Corners region underscored the point. In the final session, policy experts and conference participants agreed that building new regional partnerships needs new policy directions. This will require new efforts by leading federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by state and local governments, and by public institutions, such as land grant universities and community colleges.Rural areas ; Rural development

The new power of regions : a policy focus for rural America

Rural areas ; Rural development

Exploring policy options for a new rural America

Rural areas ; Rural development

A new generation of rural policy : more lessons from abroad

Rural areas ; Rural development

Synthesising and utilising complex evidence to inform policy in education and health.

Oslo, Norway, May 19 to 21, 200

The role of platelet-derived growth factor in radiation injury to the lower urinary tract

MD ResApproximately half of all patients diagnosed with cancer will receive radiotherapy as a part of the management of their tumours. Radiotherapy allows organ sparing treatment but it is associated with a number of acute and late unwanted effects. Radiotherapy has a crucial role to play in the treatment of urothelial malignancies. However, the late non-tumoricidal consequences cause significant morbidity, particularly in relation to fibrosis of the pelvic structures. The unwanted effects of radiotherapy were originally though to be due to the result of direct cell injury, cell death and subsequent fibroatrophic changes. It is now clear that radiation initiates a series of events in cells and tissues that is primarily based upon the release of cytokines, including growth factors, which lead to the development of late radiation injury. This study investigates the changes that occur in the lower urinary tract after radiotherapy and looks for a possible role for platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) in this process. Fifty-six cystectomy specimens were retrieved from the archives of the Pathology Department of patients who had been treated with a similar schedule of radiotherapy for bladder cancer. Morphological changes were identified by routine light microscopy, focussing mainly on the bladder and prostate gland. The degree of fibrosis was measured using an image analysis system and this was related to time since irradiation. Immunohistochemistry for fibronectin, PDGFs and PDGF receptors was performed and the expression assessed by a semiquantitative scoring method. The results were compared to non-irradiated control bladders, either with or without tumours. A range of histological changes were identified including inflammatory, epithelial, stromal, vascular and neural alterations. These were either more commonly seen in the irradiated group or the normal age/physiological changes usually encountered in these organs were exaggerated in this group after irradiation. Predictably, fibrosis and fibronectin production was more obvious in the irradiated group, and this increased with time since irradiation for period of study. PDGFs and their receptors were expressed after irradiation and the levels were higher than in the non-irradiated group. The histological basis for the unwanted side effects of irradiation is described in this study. The fibrosis is progressive, with accumulation of connective tissue long after the radiation dose has been delivered. It is likely, from these results, that PDGF and its 11 receptors play a role in this process. These results pave the way for manipulation of growth factors and/or their receptors, including PDGF, in the future management of patients who are symptomatic with radiation injury.Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Peel Medical Research Foundation Ernst Schering Research Foundatio