Environmental Assessment of University Campuses: The Case of the University of Navarra in Pamplona (Spain)

Current European environmental sustainability standards call for achieving a reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions for a horizon set in the year 2050. It has been verified that buildings and cities have a higher incidence in this regard. It is necessary to have tools for initial assessment that can quickly analyse whether the improvement scenarios put forward by different organisations and governments will be able to meet the goals set at European level. Universities are an important factor for the intended change and therefore offer an excellent environment for testing such tools. A case study focusing on a university in northern Spain is presented, through an evaluation tool using 3D models including life-cycle assessment. Different reform scenarios are evaluated for two key years, 2030 and 2050. The novelty lies in considering, not only the impact of the operational phase but also the impact of the different stages of the life cycle and processes, obtaining an impact value closer to reality. The results indicate that, even with major retrofitting and adaptation efforts, the European targets are difficult to achieve by 2050. Moreover, solutions such as biomass help to achieve greenhouse gas reductions but not to improve energy efficiency.This research was funded by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine/Euskadi/Navarre Euro-region (AECT). Project co-financed through the second session of the 2019 AECT call for projects

Surveillance and Foresight Process of the Sustainable City Context: Innovation Potential Niches and Trends at the European Level

Over the last decades, the environmental situation of the planet has worsened. Much of the pollution and energy consumption is attributed to cities, which are expected to increase in size and population in the coming years. It is therefore necessary to develop systems to make them more sustainable and resilient. In this regard, different agendas, strategies, and regulations have been published, such as the 2030 Agenda. The current research carried out a surveillance and foresight process at the European level in the field of the sustainable city, analyzing actions accomplished, ongoing, or forthcoming from 2014 to the present (2020) and coming years. The objective is to identify the potential niches and opportunities for decision making to develop successful projects in this sector. The study concludes that one of the most promoted themes is related to the environment, highlighting nature and biodiversity in cities to improve environmental quality and achieve the decarbonization necessary to fight climate change. Furthermore, society plays an important role, emphasizing the need to promote the population’s inclusion and empowerment. It also underlines the promotion of urban regeneration, which should include energy transition and digitalization to create smart cities, with local circular economies.This research is included in the project CISO30, which was funded by the directorate of territorial planning and the urban agenda of the department of territorial planning, housing, and transport of the Basque government

Effective Implementation of Urban Agendas through Urban Action Structures (UAS): The Case of the Basque Country

Cities are the main contributors to pollution, resource consumption and social inequalities. Therefore, they should play a key role in the path towards a more sustainable scenario in line with SDGs and different Urban Agendas. However, there are still difficulties in their implementation and citizen can play a central role. This paper presents the Urban Action Structures (UAS), understood as entities with a catalytic capacity with respect to innovative urban policies. Methodologically, firstly, a prospective analysis from regional to international level has been developed, making it possible to identify innovative lines of action in the field of sustainable cities. Secondly, the study has focused on identifying and studying UAS that can make it possible to implement the lines of action previously identified. This paper has shown that there are already social structures that can be understood as UAS, since they implement actions aligned with the priorities of the Urban Agenda for the Basque Country and, therefore, of the SDGs. The research concludes that UAS can play a key role in facilitating the implementation of Urban Agendas. Hence, urban policies should favor the generation of UAS, in order to promote long-term urban development and to foster a more sustainable spatial planning.This research was funded by the Directorate of territorial planning and urban agenda of the department of territorial planning, housing and transport of the Basque government as part of the financing for CISO30 project, “Action plan for the promotion and implementation of the PCTI Euskadi 2020–2030 in the field of sustainable cities”

How can local energy communities promote sustainable development in European cities?

n the context of the current planetary environmental and social emergency, it is essential to seek strategies for sustainable development. In line with the Social Development Goals (SDG), these strategies must facilitate action from an energy perspective and give citizens a central role. Given that global challenges must be addressed through local action, the transition towards energy decentralisation through Local Energy Communities (LEC) is of central importance. The general objective of this research is to identify characteristics that are key in order for a LEC to act as a driver of local sustainable development and social innovation. This paper has deepened knowledge around these structures in order to identify the keys to their effective operation. Attention is also focused on actions carried out by these communities in the field of energy and beyond. This research corroborates that while some of them only engage with energy, others are more integrative. These latter implement a number of different actions - in line with SDGs- that promote local sustainable development. This study concludes that LECs are high-potential structures that can act as drivers of local sustainable development

Unibertsitateen ingurumen-inpaktuaren analisia NESTen bidez eta haren eginkizuna GIHekin bat datorren hiri-plangintza jasangarri bati begira

Over the past few years, urban planners and architects have had to seek solutions to improve the performance of urban projects in terms of environmental impact, quality of life and socio-economic problems, in order to achieve the objectives set by the European regulations and by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) established by the United Nations. The environmental and energy impacts at the building scale are amplified at the urban level. In the case of University Campuses, due to their size, population and activity, they can be considered as "small cities" and it has been observed that their environmental impact is significant. In recent years, new tools have been developed to assess this environmental impact at the district level by a life cycle analysis. Among them, it is worth highlighting NEST, an agile and fast tool used to analyze the baseline scenario and improvement hypotheses. It assesses environmental and socio-economic indicators and serves as a life cycle analysis tool for the built environment at the neighborhood level. The authors of this publication have used NEST in different research projects and they have analyzed different baseline scenarios and evaluated improvements in some cases. The article presents a summary of the evolution of the research carried out, explaining each case of study and the general conclusions obtained. It also presents the research project that was recently started that study the possibility to set up the forest biomass as renewable energy source in the university campuses in different regions, governments and countries. The cooperation between universities and cities to establish synergies and cooperation actions will allow substantial progress in the improvement of the key SDGs for society.; Azken urteotan, hirigileek eta arkitektoek irtenbideak bilatu behar izan dituzte hiri-proiektuen errendimendua hobetzeko, ingurumenaren gaineko eraginari, bizi-kalitateari eta arazo sozioekonomikoei dagokienez, bai Europako araudiek ezarritako helburuak lortzeko, bai Nazio Batuek ezarritako Garapen Iraunkorrerako Helburuak (GIH) lortzeko. Eraikinaren eskalako ingurumen- eta energia-inpaktuak anplifikatu egiten dira hiri mailan, eta ikusi da unibertsitate-campusak, beren tamaina, populazioa eta jarduera direla eta, "hiri txikitzat" har daitezkeela, ingurumenean duten eragina nabarmena dela. Azken urteotan, tresna berriak garatu dira ingurumen-inpaktu hori barruti mailan ebaluatzeko, bizi-zikloaren analisi baten bidez. Haien artean, NEST nabarmendu behar da, oinarrizko agertokia eta hobekuntza-hipotesiak aztertzeko tresna arin eta azkarra. Ingurumen-adierazleak eta adierazle sozioekonomikoak ebaluatzen ditu, eta bizi-zikloaren analisirako tresna gisa balio du auzo-eskalan eraikitako inguruneetan. Argitalpen honen egileek NEST erabili izan dute hainbat ikerketa-proiektutan, eta oinarrizko agertokiak aztertu eta zenbait kasuistikatan hobekuntzak ebaluatu dituzte. Artikulu honetan, egindako ikerketen bilakaeraren laburpen bat aurkeztu, eta azterketa-kasu bakoitza eta ondorio orokorrak azaltzen dira. Duela gutxi hasi den ikerketa-proiektu bat ere aurkezten da, baso-biomasa energia-iturri berriztagarri gisa ezartzea helburu duena askotariko izaera, gobernantza, eskualde eta herrialdetako unibertsitate-campusetan. Unibertsitateen eta hirien arteko kooperazioak, sinergiak eta lankidetza-ekintzak ezartzeko, gizartearentzat funtsezkoak diren GIHen hobekuntzan aurrera egitea ahalbidetuko du

Common variants in Alzheimer’s disease and risk stratification by polygenic risk scores

Funder: Funder: Fundación bancaria ‘La Caixa’ Number: LCF/PR/PR16/51110003 Funder: Grifols SA Number: LCF/PR/PR16/51110003 Funder: European Union/EFPIA Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Number: 115975 Funder: JPco-fuND FP-829-029 Number: 733051061Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer's disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer's disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene). Assessment of the polygenic risk score and stratifying by APOE reveal a 4 to 5.5 years difference in median age at onset of Alzheimer's disease patients in APOE ɛ4 carriers. Because of this study, the underlying mechanisms of APP can be studied to refine the amyloid cascade and the polygenic risk score provides a tool to select individuals at high risk of Alzheimer's disease

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Common variants in Alzheimer's disease and risk stratification by polygenic risk scores.

Funder: Funder: Fundación bancaria ‘La Caixa’ Number: LCF/PR/PR16/51110003 Funder: Grifols SA Number: LCF/PR/PR16/51110003 Funder: European Union/EFPIA Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Number: 115975 Funder: JPco-fuND FP-829-029 Number: 733051061Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer's disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer's disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene). Assessment of the polygenic risk score and stratifying by APOE reveal a 4 to 5.5 years difference in median age at onset of Alzheimer's disease patients in APOE ɛ4 carriers. Because of this study, the underlying mechanisms of APP can be studied to refine the amyloid cascade and the polygenic risk score provides a tool to select individuals at high risk of Alzheimer's disease

Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues