Description of the subject. With increasing concerns on the sustainability of agricultural systems, many tools have been developed to assess farm sustainability. Objectives. The main objective of ...this study was to assess and compare the sustainability of different forms of family farm organization. A second objective was to test the relevance of the IDEA method (Indicateurs de Durabilité des Exploitations Agricoles or Farm Sustainability Indicators) to compare tree-crop-based family farms in tropical areas. Method. Percentages of sustainability were calculated based on individual interviews conducted with 25 rubber farmers representing three different types of farm (typology based on the labor used for farming activities), using three scales and 10 components. Results. The socio-territorial scale was the weak point of the rubber farms. In contrast, the economic scale was relatively the best asset on all farms. The factor that most differentiated the three types of farm was the agro-ecological scale followed by the socio-territorial scale. The economic scale did not discriminate. Moreover, only the diversity of production and efficiency components showed a notable difference between the different types of farm. Conclusions. Overall, the three types of farm with contrasting forms of farm organization were not much different in terms of sustainability performance. Family business farms with managerial family labor appeared to be the least sustainable. Thus, as family business farms are becoming more and more important in Thai agriculture, if these results are confirmed on a broader scale, this represents an issue for the sustainability of the Thai rubber sector that would require government intervention.
BackgroundCyclosporine is an immunosuppressive drug known for its narrow therapeutic range. The only formulation available on the market offers a concentration of 100 mg/mL. However, in our hospital, ...the paediatric department regularly requires dosages as low as 4 mg that are difficult to prepare from the pharmaceutical specialty. This may lead to inaccurate doses that can have a marked clinical impact. In this context, we developed a 10 mg/mL cyclosporine formulation.PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine the physicochemical stability of our 10 mg/mL cyclosporine formulation, to establish the shelf-life.Material and methodsInitially, we developed a stability indicating method. We assessed the accuracy, repeatability and linearity of the procedure. We also characterised the degradation products. The concentrations were assessed by high performance liquid chromatography-UV detection method using a Xterra RP18 150x4.6mm-5 µm column. The mobile phase used was acetonitrile/water, 70/30. We then prepared three batches of solution, using cyclosporine powder and olive oil, complying with the European Pharmacopoeia. We used alpha-tocopherol as an antioxidant. All three batches were packaged in amber vials to protect from light and stored at room temperature. Several parameters where monitored on different days (0, 1, 4, 10, 14, 30): physical stability (visual inspection) and chemical stability (cyclosporine residual concentration and degradation product detection).ResultsAfter 30 days, no concentration variations were observed. All three batches showed cyclosporine concentration variation of <5%, which is considered acceptable based on ICH recommendations. No degradation products were detected throughout the study. No macroscopic alteration was observed. However, microbiological stability was not assessed. This parameter will be evaluated in further studies.ConclusionThis study showed that 10 mg/mL cyclosporine oral solution in olive oil was stable for at least 30 days at room temperature and protected from light. Therefore, we can set a shelf-life of 30 days. This 10 mg/mL cyclosporine solution will provide an interesting alternative to the pharmaceutical specialty to administer more accurate cyclosporine doses to paediatric patients.References and/or acknowledgementshttp://www.ich.org/fileadmin/Public_Web_Site/ICH_Products/Guidelines/Quality/Q1A_R2/Step4/Q1A_R2__Guideline.pdfNo conflict of interest
A 75-year old man with rheumatoid arthritis developed bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP), which responded to treatment with prednisolone (1 mg/kg/d) and cyclophosphamide (100 mg/d).
To describe asthma deaths and to identify the principal short term risk factors in a population followed by twelve thoracic physicians in the South West of France between 1989 and 1995.
A multicentre ...clinical study in 312 pure asthmatics recruited freely and reviewed on average 37.4 months later by the same specialist. The attribution of deaths due to asthma was discussed case by case. Predicted risk factors for survival have been researched from variables on the identify card (T0) and analyses using Cox's model.
Twenty one subjects died, 16 were due to asthma. This was an annual mortality due to asthma of 1.6%. Seven deaths occurred at home (an acute crisis was the most common) and nine in hospital (respiratory prolonged distress). The principal variables linked to poor survival were: advanced years, asthma with continuous dyspnoea, previous stay in intensive care unit, taking inhaled beta 2 mimetics continuously after inclusion, decreasing FEV1 (P < 0.001). Other variables had a weaker link: duration of asthma, exacerbation of asthma at T0 (P = 0.01), social and psychological problems (P = 0.05), severity of disease at T0 (1992 consensus) were linked to asthma mortality: 75% of the deaths concerned severe asthmatics but 25% occurred in an unforeseen fashion in moderate asthmatics. The presence of personal allergy and of rhinitis was linked to better survival independent of age and severity of asthma.
This study has shown that it was possible to determine predicted risk factors for asthma deaths in the short term at the time of consultation with an asthmatic and so, to identify the most threatened subjects. The institution of assistance programs could be beneficial as a result of the knowledge of these risk factors.
The RNA binding proteins Rbfox1/2/3 regulate alternative splicing in the nervous system, and disruption of Rbfox1 has been implicated in autism. However, comprehensive identification of functional ...Rbfox targets has been challenging. Here, we perform HITS-CLIP for all three Rbfox family members in order to globally map, at a single-nucleotide resolution, their in vivo RNA interaction sites in the mouse brain. We find that the two guanines in the Rbfox binding motif UGCAUG are critical for protein-RNA interactions and crosslinking. Using integrative modeling, these interaction sites, combined with additional datasets, define 1,059 direct Rbfox target alternative splicing events. Over half of the quantifiable targets show dynamic changes during brain development. Of particular interest are 111 events from 48 candidate autism-susceptibility genes, including syndromic autism genes Shank3, Cacna1c, and Tsc2. Alteration of Rbfox targets in some autistic brains is correlated with downregulation of all three Rbfox proteins, supporting the potential clinical relevance of the splicing-regulatory network.
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