| 21. |
- Hoek, Gerard, et al.
(författare)
-
A review of exposure assessment methods for epidemiological studies of health effects related to industrially contaminated sites
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Epidemiologia & Prevenzione. - : Inferenze. - 1120-9763 .- 2385-1937. ; 42:5-6, s. 21-36
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: this paper is based upon work from COST Action ICSHNet. Health risks related to living close to industrially contaminated sites (ICSs) are a public concern. Toxicology-based risk assessment of single contaminants is the main approach to assess health risks, but epidemiological studies which investigate the relationships between exposure and health directly in the affected population have contributed important evidence. Limitations in exposure assessment have substantially contributed to uncertainty about associations found in epidemiological studies. OBJECTIVES: to examine exposure assessment methods that have been used in epidemiological studies on ICSs and to provide recommendations for improved exposure assessment in epidemiological studies by comparing exposure assessment methods in epidemiological studies and risk assessments. METHODS: after defining the multi-media framework of exposure related to ICSs, we discussed selected multi-media models applied in Europe. We provided an overview of exposure assessment in 54 epidemiological studies from a systematic review of hazardous waste sites; a systematic review of 41 epidemiological studies on incinerators and 52 additional studies on ICSs and health identified for this review. RESULTS: we identified 10 multi-media models used in Europe primarily for risk assessment. Recent models incorporated estimation of internal biomarker levels. Predictions of the models differ particularly for the routes 'indoor air inhalation' and 'vegetable consumption'. Virtually all of the 54 hazardous waste studies used proximity indicators of exposure, based on municipality or zip code of residence (28 studies) or distance to a contaminated site (25 studies). One study used human biomonitoring. In virtually all epidemiological studies, actual land use was ignored. In the 52 additional studies on contaminated sites, proximity indicators were applied in 39 studies, air pollution dispersion modelling in 6 studies, and human biomonitoring in 9 studies. Exposure assessment in epidemiological studies on incinerators included indicators (presence of source in municipality and distance to the incinerator) and air dispersion modelling. Environmental multi-media modelling methods were not applied in any of the three groups of studies. CONCLUSIONS: recommendations for refined exposure assessment in epidemiological studies included the use of more sophisticated exposure metrics instead of simple proximity indicators where feasible, as distance from a source results in misclassification of exposure as it ignores key determinants of environmental fate and transport, source characteristics, land use, and human consumption behaviour. More validation studies using personal exposure or human biomonitoring are needed to assess misclassification of exposure. Exposure assessment should take more advantage of the detailed multi-media exposure assessment procedures developed for risk assessment. The use of indicators can be substantially improved by linking definition of zones of exposure to existing knowledge of extent of dispersion. Studies should incorporate more often land use and individual behaviour.
|
|
| 22. |
- Jakovljevic, Mihajlo, et al.
(författare)
-
Underlying Differences in Health Spending Within the World Health Organisation Europe Region-Comparing EU15, EU Post-2004, CIS, EU Candidate, and CARINFONET Countries
- 2019
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1660-4601. ; 16:17
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examined the differences in health spending within the World Health Organization (WHO) Europe region by comparing the EU15, the EU post-2004, CIS, EU Candidate and CARINFONET countries. The WHO European Region (53 countries) has been divided into the following sub-groups: EU15, EU post-2004, CIS, EU Candidate countries and CARINFONET countries. The study period, based on the availability of WHO Global Health expenditure data, was 1995 to 2014. EU15 countries have exhibited the strongest growth in total health spending both in nominal and purchasing power parity terms. The dynamics of CIS members' private sector expenditure growth as a percentage of GDP change has exceeded that of other groups. Private sector expenditure on health as a percentage of total government expenditure, has steadily the highest percentage point share among CARINFONET countries. Furthermore, private households' out-of-pocket payments on health as a percentage of total health expenditure, has been dominated by Central Asian republics for most of the period, although, for the period 2010 to 2014, the latter have tended to converge with those of CIS countries. Western EU15 nations have shown a serious growth of health expenditure far exceeding their pace of real economic growth in the long run. There is concerning growth of private health spending among the CIS and CARINFONET nations. It reflects growing citizen vulnerability in terms of questionable affordability of healthcare. Health care investment capability has grown most substantially in the Russian Federation, Turkey and Poland being the classical examples of emerging markets.
|
|
| 23. |
- Kehoe, Laura, et al.
(författare)
-
Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 364:6438, s. 341-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 24. |
- Keogan, Katharine, et al.
(författare)
-
Global phenological insensitivity to shifting ocean temperatures among seabirds
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Nature Climate Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 8:4, s. 313-318
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reproductive timing in many taxa plays a key role in determining breeding productivity(1), and is often sensitive to climatic conditions(2). Current climate change may alter the timing of breeding at different rates across trophic levels, potentially resulting in temporal mismatch between the resource requirements of predators and their prey(3). This is of particular concern for higher-trophic-level organisms, whose longer generation times confer a lower rate of evolutionary rescue than primary producers or consumers(4). However, the disconnection between studies of ecological change in marine systems makes it difficult to detect general changes in the timing of reproduction(5). Here, we use a comprehensive meta-analysis of 209 phenological time series from 145 breeding populations to show that, on average, seabird populations worldwide have not adjusted their breeding seasons over time (-0.020 days yr(-1)) or in response to sea surface temperature (SST) (-0.272 days degrees C-1) between 1952 and 2015. However, marked between-year variation in timing observed in resident species and some Pelecaniformes and Suliformes (cormorants, gannets and boobies) may imply that timing, in some cases, is affected by unmeasured environmental conditions. This limited temperature-mediated plasticity of reproductive timing in seabirds potentially makes these top predators highly vulnerable to future mismatch with lower-trophic-level resources(2).
|
|
| 25. |
- Leino, Hannu, et al.
(författare)
-
Characterization of ten H-2 producing cyanobacteria isolated from the Baltic Sea and Finnish lakes
- 2014
-
Ingår i: International journal of hydrogen energy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0360-3199 .- 1879-3487. ; 39:17, s. 8983-8991
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The genetic background and activities of the enzymes involved in H-2 production were investigated from ten distinct H-2 producing cyanobacteria, revealed by a recent screening. All strains are N-2-fixing, filamentous and heterocystous. Southern hybridization revealed that the tested strains possess the genes encoding the conventional nitrogenase (nifHDK1), and lack the alternative nitrogenases. The high H-2 production rate of these strains was shown not to be dependent on the presence of highly active nitrogenase or bidirectional hydrogenase enzymes. Moreover, most of the strains possessed a highly active uptake hydrogenase enzyme. We also examined the structure of the nif and hup operons encoding nitrogenase and uptake hydrogenase enzymes in the Calothrix 336/3 strain, the best H-2 producer in the screening. We concluded that the ability of the cyanobacteria to produce high levels of H-2 is not directly linked to the maximum capacities of the enzymes involved in H-2 production.
|
|
| 26. |
- Li, Shuijie, et al.
(författare)
-
Impaired oxygen-sensitive regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis within the von Hippel–Lindau syndrome
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Nature Metabolism. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2522-5812. ; 4:6, s. 739-758
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mitochondria are the main consumers of oxygen within the cell. How mitochondria sense oxygen levels remains unknown. Here we show an oxygen-sensitive regulation of TFAM, an activator of mitochondrial transcription and replication, whose alteration is linked to tumours arising in the von Hippel–Lindau syndrome. TFAM is hydroxylated by EGLN3 and subsequently bound by the von Hippel–Lindau tumour-suppressor protein, which stabilizes TFAM by preventing mitochondrial proteolysis. Cells lacking wild-type VHL or in which EGLN3 is inactivated have reduced mitochondrial mass. Tumorigenic VHL variants leading to different clinical manifestations fail to bind hydroxylated TFAM. In contrast, cells harbouring the Chuvash polycythaemia VHLR200W mutation, involved in hypoxia-sensing disorders without tumour development, are capable of binding hydroxylated TFAM. Accordingly, VHL-related tumours, such as pheochromocytoma and renal cell carcinoma cells, display low mitochondrial content, suggesting that impaired mitochondrial biogenesis is linked to VHL tumorigenesis. Finally, inhibiting proteolysis by targeting LONP1 increases mitochondrial content in VHL-deficient cells and sensitizes therapy-resistant tumours to sorafenib treatment. Our results offer pharmacological avenues to sensitize therapy-resistant VHL tumours by focusing on the mitochondria.
|
|
| 27. |
- Lindblad, Peter, et al.
(författare)
-
CyanoFactory, a European consortium to develop technologies needed to advance cyanobacteria as chassis for production of chemicals and fuels
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Algal Research. - : Elsevier. - 2211-9264. ; 41
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- CyanoFactory, Design, construction and demonstration of solar biofuel production using novel (photo) synthetic cell factories, was an R&D project developed in response to the European Commission FP7-ENERGY-2012-1 call "Future Emerging Technologies" and the need for significant advances in both new science and technologies to convert solar energy into a fuel. CyanoFactory was an example of "purpose driven" research and development with identified scientific goals and creation of new technologies. The present overview highlights significant outcomes of the project, three years after its successful completion. The scientific progress of CyanoFactory involved: (i) development of a ToolBox for cyanobacterial synthetic biology; (ii) construction of DataWarehouse/Bioinformatics web-based capacities and functions; (iii) improvement of chassis growth, functionality and robustness; (iv) introduction of custom designed genetic constructs into cyanobacteria, (v) improvement of photosynthetic efficiency towards hydrogen production; (vi) biosafety mechanisms; (vii) analyses of the designed cyanobacterial cells to identify bottlenecks with suggestions on further improvements; (viii) metabolic modelling of engineered cells; (ix) development of an efficient laboratory scale photobioreactor unit; and (x) the assembly and experimental performance assessment of a larger (1350 L) outdoor flat panel photobioreactor system during two seasons. CyanoFactory - Custom design and purpose construction of microbial cells for the production of desired products using synthetic biology - aimed to go beyond conventional paths to pursue innovative and high impact goals. CyanoFactory brought together ten leading European partners (universities, research organizations and enterprises) with a common goal - to develop the future technologies in Synthetic biology and Advanced photobioreactors.
|
|
| 28. |
- Lozano, Rafael, et al.
(författare)
-
Measuring progress from 1990 to 2017 and projecting attainment to 2030 of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for 195 countries and territories: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
- 2018
-
Ingår i: The Lancet. - : Elsevier. - 1474-547X .- 0140-6736. ; 392:10159, s. 2091-2138
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Efforts to establish the 2015 baseline and monitor early implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight both great potential for and threats to improving health by 2030. To fully deliver on the SDG aim of “leaving no one behind”, it is increasingly important to examine the health-related SDGs beyond national-level estimates. As part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017), we measured progress on 41 of 52 health-related SDG indicators and estimated the health-related SDG index for 195 countries and territories for the period 1990–2017, projected indicators to 2030, and analysed global attainment. Methods: We measured progress on 41 health-related SDG indicators from 1990 to 2017, an increase of four indicators since GBD 2016 (new indicators were health worker density, sexual violence by non-intimate partners, population census status, and prevalence of physical and sexual violence [reported separately]). We also improved the measurement of several previously reported indicators. We constructed national-level estimates and, for a subset of health-related SDGs, examined indicator-level differences by sex and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile. We also did subnational assessments of performance for selected countries. To construct the health-related SDG index, we transformed the value for each indicator on a scale of 0–100, with 0 as the 2·5th percentile and 100 as the 97·5th percentile of 1000 draws calculated from 1990 to 2030, and took the geometric mean of the scaled indicators by target. To generate projections through 2030, we used a forecasting framework that drew estimates from the broader GBD study and used weighted averages of indicator-specific and country-specific annualised rates of change from 1990 to 2017 to inform future estimates. We assessed attainment of indicators with defined targets in two ways: first, using mean values projected for 2030, and then using the probability of attainment in 2030 calculated from 1000 draws. We also did a global attainment analysis of the feasibility of attaining SDG targets on the basis of past trends. Using 2015 global averages of indicators with defined SDG targets, we calculated the global annualised rates of change required from 2015 to 2030 to meet these targets, and then identified in what percentiles the required global annualised rates of change fell in the distribution of country-level rates of change from 1990 to 2015. We took the mean of these global percentile values across indicators and applied the past rate of change at this mean global percentile to all health-related SDG indicators, irrespective of target definition, to estimate the equivalent 2030 global average value and percentage change from 2015 to 2030 for each indicator. Findings: The global median health-related SDG index in 2017 was 59·4 (IQR 35·4–67·3), ranging from a low of 11·6 (95% uncertainty interval 9·6–14·0) to a high of 84·9 (83·1–86·7). SDG index values in countries assessed at the subnational level varied substantially, particularly in China and India, although scores in Japan and the UK were more homogeneous. Indicators also varied by SDI quintile and sex, with males having worse outcomes than females for non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality, alcohol use, and smoking, among others. Most countries were projected to have a higher health-related SDG index in 2030 than in 2017, while country-level probabilities of attainment by 2030 varied widely by indicator. Under-5 mortality, neonatal mortality, maternal mortality ratio, and malaria indicators had the most countries with at least 95% probability of target attainment. Other indicators, including NCD mortality and suicide mortality, had no countries projected to meet corresponding SDG targets on the basis of projected mean values for 2030 but showed some probability of attainment by 2030. For some indicators, including child malnutrition, several infectious diseases, and most violence measures, the annualised rates of change required to meet SDG targets far exceeded the pace of progress achieved by any country in the recent past. We found that applying the mean global annualised rate of change to indicators without defined targets would equate to about 19% and 22% reductions in global smoking and alcohol consumption, respectively; a 47% decline in adolescent birth rates; and a more than 85% increase in health worker density per 1000 population by 2030. Interpretation: The GBD study offers a unique, robust platform for monitoring the health-related SDGs across demographic and geographic dimensions. Our findings underscore the importance of increased collection and analysis of disaggregated data and highlight where more deliberate design or targeting of interventions could accelerate progress in attaining the SDGs. Current projections show that many health-related SDG indicators, NCDs, NCD-related risks, and violence-related indicators will require a concerted shift away from what might have driven past gains—curative interventions in the case of NCDs—towards multisectoral, prevention-oriented policy action and investments to achieve SDG aims. Notably, several targets, if they are to be met by 2030, demand a pace of progress that no country has achieved in the recent past. The future is fundamentally uncertain, and no model can fully predict what breakthroughs or events might alter the course of the SDGs. What is clear is that our actions—or inaction—today will ultimately dictate how close the world, collectively, can get to leaving no one behind by 2030.
|
|
| 29. |
|
|
| 30. |
- Monteiro, Ana, et al.
(författare)
-
Contributo para uma maior e melhor perceção e consciência dos Riscos Climáticos. Citizen Sensing - O caso do Porto
- 2019
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- O projeto Citizen Sensing (projecto europeu no âmbito do programa ERA4CS) pretende desenvolver um sistema participativo de gestão de risco climático capaz de incorporar informação local, no quadro das diretrizes sobre adaptação face aos riscos climáticos e analisar até que ponto um sistema deste tipo pode contribuir para melhorar o nível de preparação e de resposta por parte dos cidadãos e das autoridades de modo aumentar a resiliência urbana em diferentes contextos europeus.O projeto irá desenvolver e testar um sistema piloto de gestão de risco participativo em quatro cidades europeias - Porto (Portugal), Roterdão (Holanda), Norrköping (Suécia) e Trondheim (Noruega), estudando se e como o sistema poderá aumentar o envolvimento dos cidadãos e a contribuição para a resiliência urbana.A plataforma conjuga informação recolhida pelas formas clássicas com informação fornecida pelas pessoas e, simultaneamente, fornece-lhes informação para responderem de forma adequada às situações de risco a que estão expostas, tal como serão utilizados sensores de monitorização de elementos climáticos na cidade.
|
|
