Impact of Covid-19 on farming systems in Europe through the lens of resilience thinking.

Context: Resilience is the ability to deal with shocks and stresses, including the unknown and previously unimaginable, such as the Covid-19 crisis. Objective: This paper assesses (i) how different farming systems were exposed to the crisis, (ii) which resilience capacities were revealed and (iii) how resilience was enabled or constrained by the farming systems' social and institutional environment. Methods: The 11 farming systems included have been analysed since 2017. This allows a comparison of pre-Covid-19 findings and the Covid-19 crisis. Pre-Covid findings are from the SURE-Farm systematic sustainability and resilience assessment. For Covid-19 a special data collection was carried out during the early stage of lockdowns. Results and conclusions: Our case studies found limited impact of Covid-19 on the production and delivery of food and other agricultural products. This was due to either little exposure or the agile activation of robustness capacities of the farming systems in combination with an enabling institutional environment. Revealed capacities were mainly based on already existing connectedness among farmers and more broadly in value chains. Across cases, the experience of the crisis triggered reflexivity about the operation of the farming systems. Recurring topics were the need for shorter chains, more fairness towards farmers, and less dependence on migrant workers. However, actors in the farming systems and the enabling environment generally focused on the immediate issues and gave little real consideration to long-term implications and challenges. Hence, adaptive or transformative capacities were much less on display than coping capacities. The comparison with pre-Covid findings mostly showed similarities. If challenges, such as shortage of labour, already loomed before, they persisted during the crisis. Furthermore, the eminent role of resilience attributes was confirmed. In cases with high connectedness and diversity we found that these system characteristics contributed significantly to dealing with the crisis. Also the focus on coping capacities was already visible before the crisis. We are not sure yet whether the focus on short-term robustness just reflects the higher visibility and urgency of shocks compared to slow processes that undermine or threaten important system functions, or whether they betray an imbalance in resilience capacities at the expense of adaptability and transformability. Significance: Our analysis indicates that if transformations are required, e.g. to respond to concerns about transnational value chains and future pandemics from zoonosis, the transformative capacity of many farming systems needs to be actively enhanced through an enabling environment.

A new twist in trypanosome RNA metabolism: cis-splicing of pre-mRNA.

It has been known for almost a decade and a half that in trypanosomes all mRNAs are trans-spliced by addition to the 5' end of the spliced leader (SL) sequence. During the same time period the conviction developed that classical cis-splicing introns are not present in the trypanosome genome and that the trypanosome gene arrangement is highly compact with small intergenic regions separating one gene from the next. We have now discovered that these tenets are no longer true. Poly(A) polymerase (PAP) genes in Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi are split by intervening sequences of 653 and 302 nt, respectively. The intervening sequences occur at identical positions in both organisms and obey the GT/AG rule of cis-splicing introns. PAP mRNAs are trans-spliced at the very 5' end as well as internally at the 3' splice site of the intervening sequence. Interestingly, 11 nucleotide positions past the actual 5' splice site are conserved between the T. bruceiand T. cruzi introns. Point mutations in these conserved positions, as well as in the AG dinucleotide of the 3' splice site, abolish intron removal in vivo. Our results, together with the recent discovery of cis-splicing introns in Euglena gracilis, suggest that both trans- and cis-splicing are ancient acquisitions of the eukaryotic cell.

[Considerations regarding two cases of macromastia (author's transl)]. / Uber die Makromastie bei zwei klinischen Fällen.

Two cases of macromastia have been shown; one which appeared during puberty, the other during menopause. Histopathological examination has demonstrated for the both cases a cystic degeneracy of the glandular tissue with a hyperplazia and hypertrophy of the conjunctive tissue. The pathogeny of macromastia is being discussed and it is demonstrated both the role of hypophysis hormones (prolactine and growth hormone) and of ovarian hormones (estrogens). The treatment was surgical for the both cases.

[Anatomical and clinical deliberations on the phyllodes tumor of the breast]. / Anatomische und klinische Erwägungen zum phylloden Tumor der Brustdrüsen

The authors report on three phyllod Tumours of the breast, two benign and one malignant conditions. They insist on the histological aspect of the tumour, underlining that in the benign forme both, epithelial and mesenchymal components does not present atypies, while in the malignant form only the mesenchymal component gets malign sarcomatous character. The microscopic aspect of the tumour and its clinical evolution are suspicious. The diagnosis can be specified only by the histopathological examination. The origin of the phyllod tumour is not clear and the authors discuss the possibility of its development upon a preexistent tumour, specifically on a fibroadenoma of the breast. The treatment is guided by the microscopic appearances. Generally they perform the ablation of the tumour when its dimensions are not greater then 10 cm. and the simple mastectomy when its diameter exceeds this dimension.