Human factors in the design of sustainable built environments

Scientific research provides convincing evidence that climate change is having significant impacts on many aspects of life. In the built-environment domain, regulatory requirements are pushing the challenges of environmental, economic, and social sustainability at the core of the professional agenda, although the aims of carbon reduction and energy conservation are frequently given a priority over occupants' comfort, well-being, and satisfaction. While most practitioners declare to embrace sustainability as a driver of their professional approach, a general lack of integrated creative and technical skills hinders the design of buildings centred on articulate and comprehensive sustainability goals, encompassing, other than energy criteria, also human-centred and ethical values founded on competent and informed consideration of the requirements of the site, the programme, and the occupants. Built environments are designed by humans to host a range of human activities. In response, this article aims to endorse a sustainable approach to design founded on the knowledge arising from scholarly and evidence-based research, exploring principles and criteria for the creation and operation of human habitats that can respond to energy and legislative demands, mitigate their environmental impacts, and adapt to new climate scenarios, while elevating the quality of experience and delight to those occupying them

Effect of some factors of variability on carcass weight of organically reared beef.

..Introduction - During the last few years, organic production has showed an increasing trend. This trend is mainly due to the EU supporting policy, in order to guarantee food security and sustainable productions for the future. In addition, since the nineties, producers and consumers have shown a growing interest towards organic production and the market have been developed. Moreover in Tuscany, a lot of farmers which own marginal land and/or forested areas have decided to turn to organic livestock, both for the ethical value of their products and for the greater bargaining power that the goods have on the market. Aim - The aim of this research was to study the effects of some variability factors on carcass weight. Materials and methods - Breed, slaughtering age, sex, season of birth, interactions year x management, breed x age and sex x age on carcass weight of 457 cattle slaughtered during the period 2001-2011 were evaluated. The animals were Chianina, Maremmana, Limousine and crossbreed Maremmana x Limousine veals and were raised in the same farm in Tuscany. The animals received the same feed and were slaughtered at an average age of 18/24 months, depending on the breed and sex. Data were stratified on the basis of the slaughtering age (five levels), then a statistical analysis was performed. Results and discussion - Chianina and crossbreed Limousine x Maremmana gave heavier carcasses: 389.3 +/- 6.39 and 323.4 +/- 5.41 kg, respectively. In general the farming system (conventional or organic) did not affect carcass weight. Chianina cattle showed a wide range of slaughtering weights. Moreover in the farm, the larger number of Chianina beef was slaughtered between 22 and 26 months like Limousine and crossbreeds, whereas Maremmana was slaughtered between 18-22 months. Males had heavier carcass than female: 353.2 +/- 4.35 vs 299.4 +/- 5.85 respectively but the differences between sexes were significant only after 18 months. The management system (conventional/organic) and the season of birth did not affect the carcass weight of cattle. Conclusion - The management system (conventional/organic) do not seem to influence the productivity, indeed it does not affect the carcass weight of beef cattle. On the other hands the choices of management play an important roles on productivity as demonstrated by the effects of the slaughter age and the breed on the carcass weight

Autologous graft-versus-host disease induction in advanced breast cancer: role of peripheral blood progenitor cells

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of the use of peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) on the induction of autologous graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in patients with advanced breast cancer. 14 women with stage IIIB and 36 women with stage IV breast cancer received cyclosporine (CsA) 2.5 mg kg–1 i.v. daily, d 0–28, and interferon-gamma (IFNg) 0.025 mg/m2 s.c. qod, d7–28, following PBPC-T ± bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Preceding high-dose chemotherapy consisted of cyclophosphamide 6 g/m2 and thiotepa 800 mg/m2. Histologically proven ≥grade II cutaneous GVHD was induced in18/50 (36%) of patients and was independent of the source of haematopoietic support. In vitro studies showed that post-transplant, 76% of patients had developed auto-cytotoxicity against their own pre-transplant PHA-lymphoblasts. A significant correlation between the occurrence of GVHD ≥grade II and cytolysis was observed in the NK cell-line K562 and the T47D breast cancer cell-line. With a median follow-up of 2½ years, the overall survival (OS) is 58%, the disease-free survival (DFS) 26%, both independent of the development of GVHD and similar to what has been observed in other studies on high-dose chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer. It therefore remains unclear whether the induction of autologous GVHD with the occurrence of auto-cytotoxic lymphocytes can result in an anti-tumour effect in this group of patients. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Temporal variables and personal factors in glare sensation

Previous laboratory experiments have provided evidence of an effect of time of day on glare sensation. During the tests, temporal variables and personal factors were also measured to analyse their influence on levels of visual discomfort as the day progresses. The results revealed statistically significant and practically relevant tendencies towards greater tolerance to source luminance from artificial lighting at all times of day for earlier chronotypes and for participants not having ingested caffeine. No conclusive evidence was found for the effect of fatigue, sky condition and prior light exposure on glare sensation throughout the day. These findings suggest that temporal variables and personal factors should be measured in conjunction with visual discomfort levels to explore the causes of the wide individual differences commonly associated with the subjective evaluation of glare sensation

Remaking Europe: the new manufacturing as an engine for growth. Bruegel Blueprint Series 26 September 2017

Europe needs to know how it can realise the potential for industrial rejuvenation. How well are European firms responding to the new opportunities for growth, and in which global value chains are they developing these new activities? The policy discussion on the future of manufacturing requires an understanding of the changing role of manufacturing in Europe’s growth agenda

Clinical experience with ipilimumab 3 mg/kg: real-world efficacy and safety data from an expanded access programme cohort.

Ipilimumab improves survival in patients with advanced melanoma. The activity and safety of ipilimumab outside of a clinical trial was assessed in an expanded access programme (EAP).Ipilimumab was available upon physician request for patients aged 16 or over with pretreated stage III (unresectable)/IV melanoma, for whom no other therapeutic option was available. Patients received ipilimumab 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks for four doses. Patients with stable disease or an objective response to ipilimumab were eligible for retreatment upon disease progression. Tumour assessments were conducted at baseline and week 12. Patients were monitored for adverse events (AEs) within 3 to 4 days of each scheduled visit.Of 855 patients participating in the EAP in Italy, 833 were evaluable for response. Of these, 13\% had an objective immune response, and the immune-related disease control rate was 34\%. Median progression-free survival and overall survival were 3.7 and 7.2 months, respectively. Efficacy was independent of BRAF and NRAS mutational status. Overall, 33\% of patients reported an immune-related AE (irAE). The frequency of irAEs was not associated with response to ipilimumab.Outside of a clinical trial setting, ipilimumab is a feasible treatment option in patients with pretreated metastatic melanoma, regardless of BRAF and NRAS mutational status. Data from this large cohort of patients support clinical trial evidence that ipilimumab can induce durable disease control and long-term survival in patients who have failed to respond to prior treatment

Indoor environmental quality and occupant satisfaction in green-certified buildings

Green building certification systems aim at improving the design and operation of buildings. However, few detailed studies have investigated whether green rating leads to higher occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ). This research builds on previous work to address this. Based on the analysis of a subset of the Center for the Built Environment Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality survey database featuring 11,243 responses from 93 LEED-rated office buildings, we explored the relationships between the points earned in the IEQ category and the satisfaction expressed by occupants with the qualities of their indoor environment. We found that the achievement of a specific IEQ credit did not substantively increase satisfaction with the corresponding IEQ factor, while the rating level, and the product and version under which certification had been awarded, did not affect workplace satisfaction. There could be several reasons for this lack of relationships, some of which are outside the control of designers and beyond the scope of rating systems based primarily on design intent. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges and priorities that building professionals, researchers, and green building certification systems need to consider for moving us towards more comfortable, higher performing, and healthier green-rated buildings

FoxO1 Links Insulin Resistance to Proinflammatory Cytokine IL-1β Production in Macrophages

© 2009 by the American Diabetes Association.[Objetives]: Macrophages play an important role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance via the production of proinflammatory cytokines. Our goal is to decipher the molecular linkage between proinflammatory cytokine production and insulin resistance in macrophages.[Research design and methods]: We determined cytokine profiles in cultured macrophages and identified interleukin (IL)-1 gene as a potential target of FoxO1, a key transcription factor that mediates insulin action on gene expression. We studied the mechanism by which FoxO1 mediates insulin-dependent regulation of IL-1 expression in cultured macrophages and correlated FoxO1 activity in peritoneal macrophages with IL-1 production profiles in mice with low-grade inflammation or insulin resistance.[Results]: FoxO1 selectively promoted IL-1 production in cultured macrophages. This effect correlated with the ability of FoxO1 to bind and enhance IL-1 promoter activity. Mutations of the FoxO1 binding site within the IL-1 promoter abolished FoxO1 induction of IL-1 expression. Macrophages from insulinresistant obese db/db mice or lipopolysaccharide-inflicted mice were associated with increased FoxO1 production, correlating with elevated levels of IL-1 mRNA in macrophages and IL-1 protein in plasma. In nonstimulated macrophages, FoxO1 remained inert with benign effects on IL-1 expression. In response to inflammatory stimuli, FoxO1 activity was augmented because of an impaired ability of insulin to phosphorylate FoxO1 and promote its nuclear exclusion. This effect along with nuclear factor-B acted to stimulate IL-1 production in activated macrophages.[Conclusions]: FoxO1 signaling through nuclear factor-B plays an important role in coupling proinflammatory cytokine production to insulin resistance in obesity and diabetesThis study was supported in part by American Diabetes Association and National Health Institute Grant DK-066301. No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.Peer reviewe