The first commercial aquaponics companies are starting up in Europe. The main focus has been on solving technology issues and optimizing production. However, increasing attention is now being paid to ...certification and regulations linked to aquaponics, as well as the marketing of products and services. The paper presents the results of a study whose main aim was to estimate consumers' knowledge about aquaponics and their acceptance of aquaponics products in different European regions. An on-line questionnaire was administered to the general public through the aquaponics network of Food and Agriculture COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action FA1305 "The EU Aquaponics Hub-Realising Sustainable Integrated Fish and Vegetable Production for the EU" in 16 European countries. The methodology includes univariate and multivariate statistical techniques. The results show that, on average, attitudes towards aquaponics were positive, showing no significant differences between those who already knew about aquaponics and those who only heard about it through the survey. More than 50% of respondents had never heard of aquaponics, whilst more than 70% had already heard of hydroponics. No more than 17% of respondents were willing to pay more for aquaponically produced products and no more than 40% more when compared to the price of products from conventional farming. The results confirm three different clusters of potential consumers of aquaponics products. They also suggest an urgent need for implementing integrated and holistic approaches involving all stakeholders in aquaponics, in order to define a marketing plan and efficient communication strategies. This COST action, other projects and public decision makers must invest in educating consumers about aquaponics through the organization of guided tours, thematic workshops and tastings of aquaponics products in order to raise their awareness about this new technology. It is absolutely urgent that public decision makers, in cooperation with aquaponics stakeholders, address the main institutional constraints, namely the introduction of aquaponics as an economic activity and the organic certification of aquaponics products.
Raznovrstne krize znatno vplivajo na celoten prehranski sektor in spreminjajo stališča Evropejcev in politik o pomenu prehranske varnosti, trajnostno pridelane, kakovostne in varne hrane za zdravje ...potrošnikov. Prispevek se osredotoča na strah glede prehranske varnosti v času prvega vala COVID-19 krize v Sloveniji, na z njim povezan strah glede prehranske varnosti v prihodnje in na spremembe potrošnih vedenj. Spletno anketiranje je bilo v Sloveniji izvedeno v juniju 2020 na način »snežene kepe« in je zajelo 490 posameznikov. Rezultati so pokazali, da sta obe merjeni obliki strahu (i) strah o prehranski varnosti med prvim valom COVID-19 krize in (ii) strah o prehranski varnosti v prihodnosti statistično značilno, srednje močno in pozitivno povezani s skoraj vsemi samozaznanimi spremembami lastnega vedenja zaradi pojava COVID-19 krize. Anketiranci so se najbolj osredotočili na nakup živil, ki so pridelana in predelana v Sloveniji, na ustvarjanje večjih prehranskih zalog ter na večjo pazljivost pri tem, koliko hrane zavržejo. Zgolj manjše spremembe pa so izrazili glede nakupnih kanalov, pri čemer so neposredno od kmetov pogosteje nakupovali starejši, višje izobraženi in ti, ki se samouvrščajo v višji družbeni razred. V prihodnje bi bilo treba vključiti reprezentativen vzorec in primerjati rezultate z rezultati v drugih državah in podrobneje analizirati vpliv posameznikovega ekonomskega položaja in vpliv promocijskih kampanj na spremembo potrošnih vedenj.
•Influence of the historical land use situation in river catchment were investigated.•Climate, terrain and market demand are main factors of changing land use pattern.•Historical land use change ...situation lead to increased occurrence of erosion.•Present land use pattern is not the best solution for river organisms.•Historical examples serve as lessons learned for the future.
The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the historical land use situations on the river water quality under present climate and land management conditions and what can be lessons learned from it. The historical land use situations are based on digitised historical maps of existing past land use cover distribution of small Slovenian catchment (River Reka) from 1787, 1827, 1940 and 1984. Maps were compared between each other and baseline land use situation in 2009. The well-known river basin model SWAT was used to simulate the influences of land use situations on water quality, especially in terms of suspended sediments concentration. Results indicate that the historical land use situations would decrease water quality. Lessons learned from the study are as follows: (1) based on the more than 200-year-wide research time window, we can state that vineyards and orchards are preferred agricultural land use with undesired side effect on water quality; (2) climate, terrain characteristics and wine demand on the market are the driving factors for the land use pattern – share of vineyards remains fairly constant through the years, regardless of changes in authorities; (3) historical land use patterns would, in present times, cause an increased occurrence of erosion and deterioration of environmental conditions for organisms in surface waters; and (4) the present land use pattern with regard to the observed sediment concentration is still not an optimal solution. Further land use adjustments or agri-environmental measures are required to achieve water quality improvements. Historical examples can serve as lessons learned for the future with the purpose of minimising the influences of planned land use changes on water resource quality and quantity.
Current LUCC research employs scenario-based analysis to explore possible future trends and impacts by defining a coherent set of plausible future socio-economic development pathways. Typically, ...computational models are therein used to interpret qualitative future storylines in terms of quantitative future changes. This paper addresses these challenges and illustrates some of the advantages of a scenario-based approach using an Agent-Based Model (ABM). Storylines are shown to be useful in integrate a broad variety of knowledge sources, such as subjective expert judgement and results from other (integrative) models, which rely on a similar set of assumptions about the future. The advantages of ABMs are demonstrated for interpreting future scenarios in the context of spatial and temporal variations in socio-ecological outcomes based on heterogeneous individual behaviour. For example, ABMs are shown to enable potential hotspots of future development and LUCC to be identified. Furthermore, a procedure is presented for downscaling and interpreting storylines from general qualitative trends to local quantitative parameters within an ABM framework. This framework is applied to the Municipality of Koper, Slovenia, where the future impacts of LUCC on the loss of agricultural land and residential quality-of-life are simulated. The results are compared to a “business-as-usual” baseline and it is shown that industrial and commercial development has the greatest impact on the loss of high quality agricultural land across all scenarios. Furthermore, the model indicates an increase in inequality in the perceived quality-of-life of residential households, with new households achieving higher quality-of-life than existing residents.
► We use downscaled European socioeconomic scenarios to drive local analysis of land-use change. ► Agent-based modelling combines data from multiple sources for analysis of downscaled scenarios. ► Prime farmland is susceptible to industrial and commercial development. ► We simulate quality of life changes, showing increasing inequality between residents. ► Newly created residential areas provide increased quality-of-life.
Defining certain parameters of the oocyte microenvironment that can be simply and quickly detected and that enable differentiation of oocytes that have better or worse quality could potentially ...increase the efficacy of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) method. Follicular fluid represents the microenvironment for the development of oocytes during different stages of maturation. Enzymes present in the follicular fluid may affect the quality of oocytes. There are inconsistencies in the literature concerning enzyme concentration in follicular fluid. The main aim of this study was to examine whether the concentration of enzymes aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase, and lactate dehydrogenase in follicular fluid can influence the outcome of IVF. The study included 120 patients who were involved in the process of IVF. We used the follicular fluid obtained after follicular aspiration in the ovaries as biological material for the analysis. The values of enzymes LDL (method-kinetic UV test), aspartate aminotransferase (method-kinetic UV test), ALT (method-kinetic UV test) and alkaline phosphatase (method-colorimetric kinetic test) in the follicular fluid were determined on the analyzer АU 680, Becman Coulter. The criteria of the Istanbul consensus of clinical embryologists were used for the embryo assessment. The software package SPSS 20 was used for the statistical processing of data. The results of follicular fluid sample analysis showed a correlation between ALT concentration in the follicular fluid and IVF outcome. Based on our results, we can conclude that ALT concentration affects the outcome of IVF.
Psoriasis is defined as chronic, immune-mediated disease. Regardless of the development of new therapeutic approaches, the precise etiology of psoriasis remains unknown and speculative. The aim of ...this review was to systematize the results of previous research on the role of oxidative stress and aberrant immune response in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, as well as the impact of certain therapeutic modalities on the oxidative status in patients with psoriasis. Complex immune pathways of both the innate and adaptive immune systems appear to be major pathomechanisms in the development of psoriasis. Oxidative stress represents another important contributor to the pathophysiology of disease, and the redox imbalance in psoriasis has been reported in skin cells and, systemically, in plasma and blood cells, and more recently, also in saliva. Current immune model of psoriasis begins with activation of immune system in susceptible person by some environmental factor and loss of immune tolerance to psoriasis autoantigens. Increased production of IL-17 appears to be the most prominent role in psoriasis pathogenesis, while IL-23 is recognized as master regulator in psoriasis having a specific role in cross bridging the production of IL-17 by innate and acquired immunity. Other proinflammatory cytokines, including IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-22, IL-26, IL-29, or IL-36, have also been reported to play important roles in the development of psoriasis. Oxidative stress can promote inflammation through several signaling pathways. The most noticeable and most powerful antioxidative effects exert various biologics compared to more convenient therapeutic modalities, such as methotrexate or phototherapy. The complex interaction of redox, immune, and inflammatory signaling pathways should be focused on further researches tackling the pathophysiology of psoriasis, while antioxidative supplementation could be the solution in some refractory cases of the disease.
The agri-food and forestry sectors are under increasing pressure to adapt to climate change, consumer concern, technological and economic change, and complex global value chains. In turn, such ...challenges require that the necessary skills and competences are identified at various levels and within specific areas of the sectors. For that purpose, eleven focus groups in nine different EU-countries and two at EU-level were organized within the ERASMUS+ project “FIELDS” with the participation of farmers, cooperatives, agri-food companies, foresters, forest industries, advisors, and education providers to identify the skills needed in the agri-food and forestry sectors. The focus group participants identified business and strategic management skills, communication skills, and other skills related to sustainability, entrepreneurship, digital and soft skills to be most important for the agri-food and forestry sectors as a whole.
Background: We aimed to identify the quality of life (QoL) of patients with psoriasis, to determine the possible differences depending on the therapeutic modalities (biologic, conventional treatment ...and phototherapy), and to examine other variables that could affect the success of the treatment.
Methods: This research was a non-experimental, quantitative, observational study that included 183 psoriasis patients. The study was conducted from November 2021 to December 2022 at the University Clinical Center Kragujevac, Serbia. The following instruments were used: Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), as well as a general questionnaire that contained a set of questions which referred to sociodemographic data.
Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the average values of the DLQI score concerning the application of different therapeutic modalities (P<0.001). Biologic treatment was the modality with the lowest impairments in the QoL domain (average value of DLQI score 10.6±7.3), followed by patients on conventional treatment (average value of DLQI score 12.9±7.9), and the highest levels of impaired QoL were in patients who received phototherapy (average value of the DLQI score 13.7±9.3).
Conclusion: Patients on biological therapy at all four time points individually (baseline, 4, 12 and 16 weeks) had the lowest average values of the DLQI score, i.e. the best QoL compared to subjects who received other therapy.
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