The Function and Consequences of Alternative Fresh Produce Supply Chain Models

Around the world, consumers and retailers of fresh produce are becoming more and more discerning about factors such as food safety and traceability, health, convenience and the sustainability of production systems, and in doing so they are changing the way in which fresh produce supply chains are configured and managed. When consumers demand fresh, safe, convenient, value-for-money produce, retailers in an increasingly competitive environment are attracted to those business models most capable of meeting these demands profitably. Traditional models are proving less and less able to deliver competitive advantage in such an environment. As a result, opportunistic, adversarial, price-based approaches to doing business between chain members are being replaced by approaches that are more strategic, collaborative and value-based. The shaping force behind this change is the need for producers, wholesalers, category managers, retailers and consumers to have more certainty about the performance of the supply chains upon which they rely. Certainty is generated through the supply chain's ability to create, deliver and share value. How to build supply chains that create, deliver and share value is arguably the single biggest challenge to the competitiveness of fresh produce firms, and therefore to the industries to which they belong.

Direct protein interaction underlies gene-for-gene specificity and coevolution of the flax resistance genes and flax rust avirulence genes

Plant resistance proteins (R proteins) recognize corresponding pathogen avirulence (Avr) proteins either indirectly through detection of changes in their host protein targets or through direct R-Avr protein interaction. Although indirect recognition imposes selection against Avr effector function, pathogen effector molecules recognized through direct interaction may overcome resistance through sequence diversification rather than loss of function. Here we show that the flax rust fungus AvrLS67 genes, whose products are recognized by the L5, L6, and L7 R proteins of flax, are highly diverse, with 12 sequence variants identified from six rust strains. Seven AvrL567 variants derived from Avr alleles induce necrotic responses when expressed in flax plants containing corresponding resistance genes (R genes), whereas five variants from avr alleles do not. Differences in recognition specificity between AvA567 variants and evidence for diversifying selection acting on these genes suggest they have been involved in a gene-specific arms race with the corresponding flax R genes. Yeast two-hybrid assays indicate that recognition is based on direct R-Avr protein interaction and recapitulate the interaction specificity observed in planta. Biochemical analysis of Escherichia coli-produced AvrL567 proteins shows that variants that escape recognition nevertheless maintain a conserved structure and stability, suggesting that the amino acid sequence differences directly affect the R-Avr protein interaction. We suggest that direct recognition associated with high genetic diversity at corresponding R and Avr gene loci represents an alternative outcome of plant-pathogen coevolution to indirect recognition associated with simple balanced polymorphisms for functional and nonfunctional R and Avr genes.

Efficacy and Safety of Ticagrelor for Long-term Secondary Prevention of Atherothrombotic Events in Relation to Renal Function: Insights from the PEGASUS TIMI-54 trial

Aims: We evaluated the relationship of renal function and ischaemic and bleeding risk as well as the efficacy and safety of the P2Y12 platelet receptor inhibitor ticagrelor in stable patients with prior myocardial infarction (MI). Methods & Results: Patients with a history of MI 1-3 years prior from the Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Prior Heart Attack Using Ticagrelor Compared to Placebo on a Background of Aspirin (PEGASUS)-TIMI 54 were stratified based on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), with<60 ml/min/1.73m2 prespecified for analysis of the effect of ticagrelor on the primary efficacy composite of cardiovascular death, MI, or stroke (MACE) and the primary safety endpoint of TIMI major bleeding. Of 20,898 patients, those with eGFR<60 (N=4,849, 23.2%) had a greater risk of MACE at 3 years relative to those without, which remained significant after multivariable adjustment (HRadj 1.54, 95% CI 1.27–1.85, p<0.001). The relative risk reduction in MACE with ticagrelor was similar in those with eGFR<60 (ticagrelor pooled vs. placebo: HR 0.81; 95% CI 0.68–0.96) vs. ≥60 (HR 0.88; 95% CI 0.77–1.00, pinteraction=0.44). However, due to the greater absolute risk in the former group, the absolute risk reduction with ticagrelor was higher: 2.7% vs. 0.63%. Bleeding tended to occur more frequently in patients with renal dysfunction. The absolute increase in TIMI major bleeding with ticagrelor was similar in those with and without eGFR<60 (1.19% vs. 1.43%), whereas the excess of minor bleeding tended to be more pronounced (1.93% vs. 0.69%). Conclusion: In patients with a history of MI, patients with renal dysfunction are at increased risk of MACE and consequently experience a particularly robust absolute risk reduction with long-term treatment with ticagrelor.

Lichtspielkunstwerk und Sprachkunstwerk. Zur Funktion und Rolle des Films im oeuvre von Gerhard Roth:the function and role of film in the oeuvre of Gerhard Roth

This article examines the multi-layered interrelation between Gerhard Roth’s writing and film. It charts the corresponding relationship of his early books to their accompanying television documentaries. The main focus of this essay however is on the film adaptation of Stille Ozean (1980) and Landäufiger Tod (1984), the two major novels in his cycle Archive des Shweigens. Supplemented by a look at the two radically different adaptations of his volume of topographical essays on Vienna called Eine Reise in das Innere von Wien (1991), the article also provides a summary overview of the seven dramas written by Roth for Austrian television in the 1990s, some of which were directed by his son Thomas. Finally Roth's approach to the medium of film is being discussed by drawing on the 59 reviews he published between 1995 and 1997 as a film critic for the Austrian magazine NEWS.

Characterization of 45º-tilted fiber grating and its polarization function in fiber ring laser

We have proposed and demonstrated a fiber ring laser with single-polarization output using an intracavity 45°-tilted fiber grating (45°-TFG). The properties of the 45°-TFG have been investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The fiber ring laser incorporating the 45°-TFG has been systematically characterized, showing a significant improvement in the polarization extinction ratio (PER) and achieving a PER of >30 dB. The slope efficiencies of the ring laser with and without the 45°-TFG have been measured. This laser shows a very stable polarized output with a PER variation of less than 2 dB for 5 hours at laboratory conditions. In addition, we also demonstrated the tunability of the laser.