Implementation of European standards of care for cystic fibrosis - Control and treatment of infection

Background: Several guidelines oil infection control and treatment of infection exist for cystic fibrosis (CF) caregivers, although the extent of implementation is variable.

And We’d Like to Thank…::Romania’s Integration into the European Union, 1989-2007

Conditionality is formally a key determinant of many non-member states’ relations with the EU. It is particularly so for states intent on membership. As the case of Romania shows, the EU’s use of conditionality is far from consistent. Relations can develop and accession take place without the requisite conditions being met. This follows from the use the EU makes of the flexibility evident in its evolving and generally vague definitions of the conditions that need to be met. Hence it was often extraneous factors over which Romania had either limited or no influence that were responsible for key developments in relations. These factors include the geopolitical and strategic interests of the EU and its member states, the actions of the Commission and the agenda-setting and constraining effects of rhetorical commitments and timetables, and the dynamics of the EU’s evolving approach to eastern enlargement.

Continuity and Change in the European Union’s Approach to Enlargement::Turkey and Central and Eastern Europe compared

Existing studies of European Union (EU) enlargement provide few answers to questions concerning continuity and change in the dynamics of the process. This article identifies a number of conditioning factors that have shaped the EU’s approach to eastern enlargement and traces elements of continuity and change in the EU’s handling of Turkey’s membership aspirations. The article focuses on three established factors – member state preferences, supranational activism and EU capacity – and two less prominent factors – public opinion and narrative frame

Patterns of variation at a mitochondrial sequence-tagged-site locus provides new insights into the postglacial history of European Pinus sylvestris populations

Due to their maternal mode of inheritance, mitochondrial markers can be regarded as almost 'ideal' tools in evolutionary studies of conifer populations. In the present study, polymorphism was analysed at one mitochondrial intron (nad 1, exon B/C) in 23 native European Pinus sylvestris populations. In a preliminary screening for variation using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism approach, two length variants were identified. By fully sequencing the 2.5 kb region, the observed length polymorphism was found to result from the insertion of a 31 bp sequence, with no other mutations observed within the intron. A set of primers was designed flanking the observed mutation, which identified a novel sequence-tagged-site mitochondrial marker for P. sylvestris. Analysis of 747 trees from the 23 populations using these primers revealed the occurrence of two distinct haplotypes in Europe. Within the Iberian Peninsula, the two haplotypes exhibited extensive population differentiation (Phi(ST) = 0.59; P less than or equal to 0.001) and a marked geographical structuring. In the populations of central and northern Europe, one haplotype largely predominated, with the second being found in only one individual of one population.

Willingness to use functional breads. Applying the Health Belief Model across four European countries

The present study focused on the role of the Health Belief Model (HBM) in predicting willingness to use functional breads, across four European countries: UK (N = 552), Italy (N = 504), Germany (N = 525) and Finland (N = 513). The behavioural evaluation components of the HBM (the perceived benefits and barriers conceptualized respectively as perceived healthiness and pleasantness) and the health motivation component were good predictors of willingness to use functional breads whereas threat perception components (perceived susceptibility and perceived anticipated severity) failed as predictors. This result was common in all four countries and across products. The role of 'cue to action' was marginal. On the whole the HBM fit was similar across the countries and products in terms of significant predictors (the perceived benefits, barriers and health motivation) with the exception of self-efficacy which was significant only in Finland. Young consumers seemed more interested in the functional bread with a health claim promoting health rather than in reducing risk of disease, whereas the opposite was true for older people. However, functional staple foods, such as bread in this European study, are still perceived as common foods rather than as a means of avoiding diseases. Consumers seek these foods for their healthiness (the perceived benefits) as they expect them to be healthier than regular foods and for the pleasantness (the perceived barriers) as they do not expect any change in the sensory characteristics due to the addition of the functional ingredients. The importance of health motivation in willingness to use products with health claims implies that there is an opening for developing better models for explaining health-promoting food choices that take into account both food and health-related factors without making a reference to disease-related outcome. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.