Publications

European meat and fish producers are continuously challenges for efficiency of production, animal welfare and meat/fish quality. In meat/fish production muscle growth is the most important trait of the production economy and the muscle growth rate may influence the quality of the meat produced. Muscle fibres are formed during foetal development, and number and hypertopic growth determines the growth rate of the animal to a large extent. The number of muscle fibre formed during foetal development is directly related to postnatal muscle growth.

However, because studies on the number of muscle fibres are tedious and costly it is important that research in this area is complementary instead of duplicating. An initiative was consequently taken to initiate a COST Action entitled 3The Importance of prenatal Events for Postnatal Muscle Growth in Relation to the Quality of Muscle Based Foods”.

This Special Issue of Archives of Animal Breeding contains the contributions of the participants to the sessions of the two working groups presented as one invited paper, 16 oral contributions and 20 posters that report on current scientific activities and results. Furthermore, a workshop on the relationship between gene expression and muscle fibre number was held followed by a plenary discussion.

Proceedings of the International Workshop on “Earthquake Engineering on Timber Structures”, which took place in Coimbra, Portugal on 9-10 November 2006.

This Special Issue outlines the results of COST Action FP1202 “Marginal and peripheral tree populations: a key genetic resource for European forests”.

This book provides up-to-date information on the environmental impact of transgenic trees on genetically modified tree (GMT) communication strategy. It is useful to public/private organisations as well as to private and public research bodies and universities worldwide since it reports on the global status of GMT research and policy. A high number of genetically modified trees (GMTs) with altered or novel characteristics have been produced in the last 15 years. However, their very low public acceptance is a basic problem in their commercialization. Breeders anticipate economic and ecological benefits, like reduced product costs and less pressure on native forests, while opponents fear risks, such as unintended spread of GMTs. But what is true? To answer this question, the COST Action FP0905 focused on key aspects related to GMTs: (a) biological characterization; (b) assessment of possible environmental impacts; (c) socio-economic implications and public acceptance/concerns; (d) providing science-based information to communicate with the public.