Concentration in the ownership of plant variety rights: Some implications for developing countries

This paper explores concentration levels in the ownership of intellectual property rights over plant varieties worldwide. An analysis of data for 30 UPOV member-countries shows a high degree of concentration in the ownership of plant variety rights for six major crops at the national level in the developed world. Much of this concentration has arisen owing to the rapid consolidation of the seed industry through mergers and acquisitions, especially in the 1990s. A high degree of concentration in the ownership of plant variety rights, in combination with recent efforts to strengthen plant variety protection regimes, is likely to have significant effects on the prospects for future innovation in plant breeding and the distribution of market power between companies. For developing countries, concentration in intellectual property right ownership may have important implications for the structure of domestic seed industries and access to protected varieties and associated plant breeding technologies. These implications for developing countries are likely to become apparent in the context of the rapid spread of plant variety protection and access legislation, emerging changes in the international exchange regime for plant material and liberalised investment policies permitting foreign investment in the seeds sector.

Concentration in ownership of plant variety rights: some implications for developing countries

This paper explores concentration levels in the ownership of intellectual property rights over plant varieties worldwide. An analysis of data for 30 UPOV member-countries shows a high degree of concentration in the ownership of plant variety rights for six major crops at the national level in the developed world. Much of this concentration has arisen owing to the rapid consolidation of the seed industry through mergers and acquisitions, especially in the 1990s. A high degree of concentration in the ownership of plant variety rights, in combination with recent efforts to strengthen plant variety protection regimes, is likely to have significant effects on the prospects for future innovation in plant breeding and the distribution of market power between companies. For developing countries, concentration in intellectual property right ownership may have important implications for the structure of domestic seed industries and access to protected varieties and associated plant breeding technologies. These implications for developing countries are likely to become apparent in the context of the rapid spread of plant variety protection and access legislation, emerging changes in the international exchange regime for plant material and liberalised investment policies permitting foreign investment in the seeds sector. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Concentration of aluminium in breast cyst fluids collected from women affected by gross cystic breast disease

Gross cystic breast disease (GCBD) is the most common benign breast disorder, but the molecular basis of cyst formation remains to be identified. If the use of aluminium-based antiperspirant salts is involved in the etiology of gross breast cyst formation, it might be expected that aluminium would be at elevated levels in human breast cyst fluid (BCF). Aluminium was measured by ICP-MS in 48 samples of BCF, 30 samples of human blood serum and 45 samples of human breast milk at different stages of lactation (colostrum, intermediate, mature). The median level of aluminium in apocrine type I BCF (n:= 27, 150 mu g I-1) was significantly higher than in transuclative type II BCF (n = 21, 32 mu g I-1; P < 0.0001). By comparison, aluminium measurements gave a median concentration of 6 mu g I-1 in human serum and 25 mu g I-1 in human breast milk, with no difference between colostrum, intermediate and mature milk. Levels of aluminium were significantly higher in both types of BCF than in human serum (P < 0.0001). However when compared with human breast milk, aluminium levels were only significantly higher in apocrine type I BCF (P < 0.0001) and not in transudative type II BCF (P = 0.152). It remains to be identified why such high levels of aluminium were found in the apocrine type I BCF and from where the aluminium originated. However, if aluminium-based antiperspirants are found to be the source and to play any causal role in development of breast cysts, then it might become possible to prevent this common breast disorder. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Clonal variation in acetylcholinesterase biomarkers and life history traits following OP exposure in Daphnia magna

Two clones of Daphnia magna (Standard and Ruth) were exposed for 7 days to sub-lethal concentrations of acephate (5.0 and 10.0 mg/L). Survivorship, individual growth, reproduction and the population growth rate (lambda) were evaluated over three weeks. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was measured on days 2, 7 and 21. Acephate exposure inhibited AChE activity but had no direct effect on life history (LH) traits. There was also no effect of clone on AChE activity, LH and lambda. However, a significant interaction between clone and acephate concentration was found on both fecundity and AChE inhibition at 48 h was associated with a decrease in lambda the Standard clone and an increase in lambda in clone Ruth. Therefore, our findings show that genotypic variation will influence the link between AChE activity and toxic effects at higher levels of biological organisation in D. magna. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Uneven distribution of nutrients in the root zone affects the incidence of blossom end rot and concentration of calcium and potassium in fruits of tomato

Tomato plants ( Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. var. DRK) were grown hydroponically to determine the effect of an uneven distribution of nutrients in the root zone on blossomend rot (BER) and Ca and K concentrations in the fruits. The plants were grown in rockwool with their root system divided into two portions. Each portion was irrigated with nutrient solutions with either the same or the different electrical conductivity (EC) in the range 0 to 6 dS m(-1). Solutions with high EC supplied to both sides of the root system significantly increased the incidence of BER. However, when only water or a solution of low EC was supplied to one portion, BER was reduced by 80%. Fruit yields were significantly higher ( P < 0.01) for plants that received solutions of the uneven EC treatments (6/0 or 4.5/0 EC treatment). Plants supplied with solutions of uneven EC generally had higher leaf and fruit concentrations of Ca but lower concentrations of K than those supplied with solutions of high EC. There was no difference in Ca concentration at the distal end of young fruits of the uneven EC treatment but it was reduced in the high EC treatments. The concentration of K in the mature fruits of the uneven EC treatments was lower than that of the high EC treatments and higher or similar that of the 3/3 or 2.5/2.5 EC treatments ( controls). A clear relationship was found between the incidence of BER and the exudation rate. High rate of xylem exudation was observed in the uneven EC treatments. Reduction of BER in the uneven EC treatments is most likely to be the effect of high exudation rate on Ca status in the young fruits. It was concluded that high EC of solution had positive effects on Ca concentration and incidence of BER provided that nutrient solution with low EC or water is supplied to the one portion of the root system.

Haem peroxidase activity in Daphnia magna: A biomarker for sub-lethal toxicity assessments of kerosene-contaminated groundwater

A novel biomarker was developed in Daphnia magna to detect organic pollution in groundwater. The haem peroxidase assay, which is an indirect means of measuring oxidase activity, was particularly sensitive to kerosene contamination. Exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of kerosene-contaminated groundwater resulted in a haem peroxidase activity increase by dose with a two-fold activity peak at 25%. Reproduction in D. magna remained unimpaired when exposed to concentrations below 25% for 21 days, and a decline in fecundity was only observed at concentrations above the peak in enzyme activity. The measurement of haem peroxidase activity in D. magna detected sublethal effects of kerosene in just 24 h, whilst offering information on the health status of the organisms. The biomarker may be useful in determining concentrations above which detrimental effects would occur from long-term exposure for fuel hydrocarbons. Moreover, this novel assay detects exposure to chemicals in samples that would normally be classified as non-toxic by acute toxicity tests.

Particulate matter mass concentration (PM10) under different ventilation methods in classrooms

Recently, studies have shown that the classroom environment is very important for students' health and performance. Thus, the evaluation of indoor air quality (IAQ) in a classroom is necessary to ensure students' well-being. In this paper the emphasis is on airborne concentration of particulate matter (PM) in adult education rooms. The mass concentration of PM10 particulates was measured in two classrooms under different ventilation methods in the University of Reading, UK, during the winter period of 2008. In another study the measurement of the concentration of particles was accompanied with measurements of CO2 concentration in these classrooms but this study is the subject of another publication. The ambient PM10, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and rainfall events were monitored as well. In general, this study showed that outdoor particle concentrations and outdoor meteorological parameters were identified as significant factors influencing indoor particle concentration levels. Ventilation methods showed significant effects on air change rate and on indoor/outdoor (I/O) concentration ratios. Higher levels of indoor particulates were seen during occupancy periods. I/O ratios were significantly higher when classrooms were occupied than when they were unoccupied, indicating the effect of both people presence and outdoor particle concentration levels. The concentrations of PM10 indoors and outdoors did not meet the requirements of WHO standards for PM10 annual average.

Modeling the variability of single-cell lag times for Listeria innocua populations after sublethal and lethal heat treatments

Optical density measurements were used to estimate the effect of heat treatments on the single-cell lag times of Listeria innocua fitted to a shifted gamma distribution. The single-cell lag time was subdivided into repair time ( the shift of the distribution assumed to be uniform for all cells) and adjustment time (varying randomly from cell to cell). After heat treatments in which all of the cells recovered (sublethal), the repair time and the mean and the variance of the single-cell adjustment time increased with the severity of the treatment. When the heat treatments resulted in a loss of viability (lethal), the repair time of the survivors increased with the decimal reduction of the cell numbers independently of the temperature, while the mean and variance of the single-cell adjustment times remained the same irrespective of the heat treatment. Based on these observations and modeling of the effect of time and temperature of the heat treatment, we propose that the severity of a heat treatment can be characterized by the repair time of the cells whether the heat treatment is lethal or not, an extension of the F value concept for sublethal heat treatments. In addition, the repair time could be interpreted as the extent or degree of injury with a multiple-hit lethality model. Another implication of these results is that the distribution of the time for cells to reach unacceptable numbers in food is not affected by the time-temperature combination resulting in a given decimal reduction.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus associated with mass mortality of postlarval abalone, Haliotis diversicolor supertexta (L.), in Sanya, China

Outbreaks of mass mortality in postlarval abalone, Haliotis diversicolor supertexta (L.), have swept across south China since 2002 and in turn have resulted in many abalone farms closing. Twenty-five representative bacterial isolates were isolated from a sample of five diseased postlarval abalone, taken 15 d postfertilization during an outbreak of postlarval disease in Sanya, Hainan Province, China in October 2004. A dominant isolate, referred to as Strain 6, was found to be highly virulent to postlarvae in an experimental challenge test, with a 50% lethal dose (LD50) value of 3.2 x 10(4) colony forming units (CFU)/mL, while six of the other isolates were weakly virulent with LD50 values ranging from 1 x 10(6) to 1 x 10(7) CFU/mL, and the remaining 18 isolates were classified as avirulent with LD50 values greater than 1 x 10(8) CFU/mL. Using both an API 20E kit and 16S recombinant DNA sequence analysis, Strain 6 was shown to be Vibrio parahaemolyticus. It was sensitive to 4 and intermediately sensitive to 5 of the 16 antibiotics used when screening the antibiotic sensitivities of the bacterium. Extracellular products (ECPs) prepared from the bacterium were lethal to postlarvae when used in a toxicity test at a concentration of 3.77 mg protein/mL, and complete liquefaction of postlarvae tissues occurred within 24 h postexposure. Results from this study implicate V. parahaemolyticus as the pathogen involved in the disease outbreaks in postlarval abalone in Sanya and show that the ECPs may be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.

Office noise and employee concentration: identifying causes of disruption and potential improvements

A field study assessed subjective reports of distraction from various office sounds among 88 employees at two sites. In addition, the study examined the amount of exposure the workers had to the noise in order to determine any evidence for habituation. Finally, respondents were asked how they would improve their environment ( with respect to noise), and to rate examples of improvements with regards to their job satisfaction and performance. Out of the sample, 99% reported that their concentration was impaired by various components of office noise, especially telephones left ringing at vacant desks and people talking in the background. No evidence for habituation to these sounds was found. These results are interpreted in the light of previous research regarding the effects of noise in offices and the 'irrelevant sound effect'.

Inactivation of Escherichia coli by citral

Aims: The aim was to evaluate (i) the resistance of Escherichia coli BJ4 to citral in a buffer system as a function of citral concentration, treatment medium pH, storage time and initial inoculum size, (ii) the role of the sigma factor RpoS on citral resistance of E. coli, (iii) the role of the cell envelope damage in the mechanism of microbial inactivation by citral, and (iii) possible synergistic effects of mild heat treatment and pulsed-electric fields (PEF) treatment combined with citral. Methods and Results: The initial inoculum size greatly affected the efficacy of citral against E. coli cells. Exposure to 200 µl l-1of citral at pH 4.0 for 24 h at 20 ºC caused the inactivation of more than 5 log10 cycles of cells starting at an inoculum size of 106 or 107 CFU ml-1, whereas increasing the cell concentration to 109 CFU ml-1 caused less than 1 log10 cycle of inactivation. E. coli showed higher resistance to citral at pH 4.0 than pH 7.0. The rpoS null mutant strain E. coli BJ4L1 was less resistant to citral than the wild-type strain. Occurrence of sublethal injury to both, the cytoplasmic and outer membranes was demonstrated by adding sodium chloride or bile salts to the recovery media. The majority of sublethally-injured cells by citral required energy and lipid synthesis for repair. A strongly synergistic lethal effect was shown by mild heat treatment combined with citral but the presence of citral during the application of a PEF treatment did not show any advantage. Conclusions: This work confirms that cell envelope damage is an important event in citral inactivation of bacteria, and it describes the key factors on the inactivation of E. coli cells by citral. Significance and Impact of Study: Knowledge about the mechanism of microbial inactivation by citral helps establish successful combined preservation treatments.

Serum vitamin D concentration does not predict insulin action or secretion in European subjects with the metabolic syndrome

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relation between serum concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and insulin action and secretion. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In a cross-sectional study of 446 Pan-European subjects with the metabolic syndrome, insulin action and secretion were assessed by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) indexes and intravenous glucose tolerance test to calculate acute insulin response, insulin sensitivity, and disposition index. Serum 25(OH)D was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. RESULTS The 25(OH)D3 concentration was 57.1 ± 26.0 nmol/l (mean ± SD), and only 20% of the subjects had 25(OH)D3 levels ≥75 nmol/l. In multiple linear analyses, 25(OH)D3 concentrations were not associated with parameters of insulin action or secretion after adjustment for BMI and other covariates. CONCLUSIONS In a large sample of subjects with the metabolic syndrome, serum concentrations of 25(OH)D3 did not predict insulin action or secretion. Clear evidence that D vitamin status directly influences insulin secretion or action is still lacking.