Innovation strategies in a fruit growers association impacts assessment by using combined LCA and s-LCA methodologies.

In the challenging world of territorial transformations within the agriculture, there is an increasing need for an integrated methodological framework of assessment that is able to reconcile the demand for solutions that are both economically sustainable and contribute to environmental and social improvement. This study aims to assess the introduction of innovation into agro-food systems by combining an environmental life cycle (LCA) assessment and a social life cycle assessment (s-LCA) to support the decision making process of a fruit growers co-op for the adoption of mulching and covering in raspberry farming. LCA and s-LCA have been applied independently under specific consistency requirements, selecting two scenarios to compare the impact with (1) and without (2) the innovation and then combined within a cause-effect chain.

From "farm to fork" strawberry system: current realities and potential innovative scenarios from life cycle assessment of non-renewable energy use and green house gas emissions.

In this study, we analysed the environmental profile of the strawberry industry in Northern Italy. The analysis was conducted using two scenarios as reference systems: strawberry crops grown in unheated plastic tunnels using currently existing cultivation techniques, post-harvest management practices and consumption patterns (scenario 1) and the same strawberry cultivation chain in which some of the materials used were replaced with bio-based materials (scenario 2). In numerous studies, biodegradable polymers have been shown to be environmentally friendly, thus potentially reducing environmental impacts.

A life cycle assessment of non-renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with blueberry and raspberry production in northern Italy.

This study examined the emissions produced during the pre-farm, farm and post-farm phases of the production cycle of raspberries and giant American whortleberries (blueberries) cultivated in one of the best-adapted areas in northern Italy. The pre-farm phase included the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of plants in the nursery and the transportation of the plants to the production farms. The farm phase involved the emissions of greenhouse gases from chemical products, the water used for irrigation, the generation of waste, and the consumption of electricity and other energy.

[Diastolic function in Chagas disease].

With the purpose of analyzing diastolic function in Chagas, disease (ECh), 42 patients were studied: 31 males (aged 33 +/- 9), 22 of them with positive serology for ECh and 9 with negative serology; 11 female patients (aged 36 +/- 12), 10 with positive serology and 1 with negative serology. In all patients 2 D-Echo and simultaneous EKG, phonocardiogram, apexcardiogram and M-mode Echo at 100 mm/sec were taken. The A2-D, A2-O (total apexcardiographic relaxation-RAT), a/D (diastolic amplitude of "a" wave), ITRAT = A2 - C/RAT, DDVI, DSVI, shortening fraction (FA) and percentage of dimension changes (D D%) were determined.