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Background: Despite ageing populations and increasing cancer deaths, many European countries lack national policies regarding palliative and end-of-life care. The aim of our research was to determine public views regarding end-of-life care in the face of serious illness. Methods: Implementation of a pan-European population-based survey with adults in England, Belgium (Flanders), Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Three stages of analysis were completed on open-ended question data: (i) inductive analysis to determine a category-code framework; (ii) country-level manifest deductive content analysis; and (iii) thematic analysis to identify cross-country prominent themes. Results: Of the 9344 respondents, 1543 (17%) answered the open-ended question. Two prominent themes were revealed: (i) a need for improved quality of end-of-life and palliative care, and access to this care for patients and families and (ii) the recognition of the importance of death and dying, the cessation of treatments to extend life unnecessarily and the need for holistic care to include comfort and support. Conclusions: Within Europe, the public recognizes the importance of death and dying; they are concerned about the prioritization of quantity of life over quality of life; and they call for improved quality of end-of-life and palliative care for patients, especially for elderly patients, and families. To fulfil the urgent need for a policy response and to advance research and care, we suggest four solutions for European palliative and end-of-life care: institute government-led national strategies; protect regional research funding; consider within- and between-country variance; establish standards for training, education and service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe, root-knot nematodes are increasingly important. Out of more than 90 Meloidogyne species currently described, 23 have been found on the continent. In the cooler climates, Meloidogyne hapla, M. naasi, M. chitwoodi and M. fallax are prevalent. Meloidogyne arenaria, M. javanica and M. incognita are the most common species in warmer conditions of southern Europe, but also in glasshouses in northern Europe. Morphological identification of root-knot nematodes is difficult and time consuming; therefore, many research groups have been developing molecular techniques for identification of Meloidogyne species. Meloidogyne chitwoodi and M. fallax are quarantine organisms and subject to regulations, and the highly aggressive M. enterolobii has been added to the EPPO alert list. Differences between temperate and tropical Meloidogyne species and their prevalence in Europe imply the need for different management strategies in south and north Europe. Possible crop rotations for the control of root-knot nematodes are limited due to the wide host range of several important species. The banning of methyl bromide and restrictions on other fumigant pesticides in the EU have increased the application of biofumigation significantly in south Europe. The egg-parasitising fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus is commercialised in Germany and applied as dispersible granules for application in water. Intensive research is conducted on the egg-parasitising fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia, and the obligate parasitic bacterium Pasteuria penetrans. European research has paid much attention to resistance breeding and selection. The Mi gene of tomato is widely used but resistance-breaking populations of M. incognita and M. javanica have been reported in different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The enemy release hypothesis states that the absence of effective natural enemies can be a fundamental aspect leading to the successful establishment of an invasive species. This study investigates the impact of the native braconid parasitoid Dinocampus coccinellae on European populations of the invasive ladybird Harmonia axyridis. The parasitoid attacked adults and fourth instars of the ladybird more frequently than pupae and third instars. When given a choice, D. coccinellae attacked non-melanic adults and adults of a long term laboratory population of H. axyridis more often than melanic adults and adults of a field population, respectively. However, in no choice tests the parasitoid attacked individuals of either morph type and of the field and laboratory populations with the same frequency. Immature development of D. coccinellae took longer at lower temperatures and when less advanced developmental host stages (larvae and pupae) were successfully parasitized. The parasitoid emergence rates ranged from 0% to 14.7% on field populations of H. axyridis depending on life stage of the host attacked and up to 16.9% when adults of a long term laboratory population were attacked. Successfully parasitized ladybirds showed reduced reproductive capacities (6–12% of unparasitized individuals) and aphid consumption rates (85% of unparasitized individuals), but these effects together with the low emergence rates of the parasitoid suggest that D. coccinellae may only have a marginal impact on the population growth of H. axyridis in Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the challenges facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) concerning the plan of Europe to build a security and defense identity within the organization. It states that France has withdrawn its participation in NATO's military structure, however, states to extend its support to NATO's Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTF) and Councils as well as take part in carrying out plans in the Western European Union. It shows that the disapproval extended by French authorities concerning the reforms in the command structures carried out by NATO resulted to the rise of arguments from its members and affected the military structure of the alliance.

Chemical or feedstock recycling of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) by thermal degradation is an important societal challenge to enable polymer circularity. The annual PMMA world production capacity is over 2.4 × 106 tons, but currently only 3.0 × 104 tons are collected and recycled in Europe each year. Despite the rather simple chemical structure of MMA, a debate still exists on the possible PMMA degradation mechanisms and only basic batch and continuous reactor technologies have been developed, without significant knowledge of the decomposition chemistry or the multiphase nature of the reaction mixture. It is demonstrated in this review that it is essential to link PMMA thermochemical recycling with the PMMA synthesis as certain structural defects from the synthesis step are affecting the nature and relevance of the subsequent degradation reaction mechanisms. Here, random fission plays a key role, specifically for PMMA made by anionic polymerization. It is further highlighted that kinetic modeling tools are useful to further unravel the dominant PMMA degradation mechanisms. A novel distinction is made between global conversion or average chain length models, on the one hand, and elementary reaction step-based models on the other hand. It is put forward that only by the dedicated development of the latter models, the temporal evolution of degradation product spectra under specific chemical recycling conditions will become possible, making reactor design no longer an art but a science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Women with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) often receive biologicals during pregnancy to maintain disease remission. Data on outcome of vedolizumab-exposed pregnancies (VDZE) are sparse., Aims: To assess pregnancy and child outcomes of VDZE pregnancies and to compare these results to anti-TNF exposed (TNFE) or both immunomodulatory and biologic unexposed (CON IBD) pregnancies., Methods: A retrospective multicentre case-control observational study was performed., Results: VDZE group included 79 pregnancies in 73 IBD women. The TNFE and CON IBD group included 186 pregnancies (162 live births) in 164 IBD women and 184 pregnancies (163 live births) in 155 IBD women, respectively. At conception, cases more often had active disease ([VDZE: 36% vs TNFE: 17%, P = .002] and [VDZE: 36% vs CON IBD: 24%, P = .063]). No significant difference in miscarriage rates were found between groups (VDZE and TNFE: 16% vs 13%, P = .567; VDZE and CON IBD: 16% vs 10%, P = .216). In live-born infants, median gestational age and birthweight were similar between groups. Median Apgar score at birth was numerically equal. Prematurity was similar in the VDZE group compared to the control groups, even when correcting for disease activity during pregnancy. The frequency of congenital anomalies was comparable between groups as were the percentages of breastfed babies. During the first year of life, no malignancies were reported and infants' infection risk did not significantly differ between groups., Conclusion: No new safety signal was detected in VDZE pregnancies although larger, prospective studies are required for confirmation., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)