Will the Sustainable Development Goals address the links between poverty and the natural environment?

The relationships between the natural environment and poverty have been a central theme in the sustainability and development literatures. However, they have been less influential in mainstream international development and conservation policies, which often neglect or fail to adequately address these relationships. This paper examines how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may influence the framing of environment-poverty relationships. We argue that the SDGs’ comprehensive nature could provide an opportunity for better environment-poverty integration. To realise this potential, SDG-related activities will need to challenge the institutional status quo; transform how we measure, understand and implement development; design interventions that reflect local visions of development; make trade-offs between SDGs explicit; and address ultimate drivers of environmental degradation and poverty.Cambridge Humanities Research Gran

Anticancer Activities of Resveratrol in Colorectal Cancer

Resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene) is a dietary polyphenolic phytochemical that has demonstrated health benefits such as cardioprotection, the prevention of neurodegeneration and chemoprevention. Resveratrol has shown great potential in the prevention and treatment of carcinomas and clinical trials support resveratrol as anticancer compound in colorectal carcinoma. Colorectal cancer remains a major cause of cancer-related deaths for both men and women in industrialized countries. Because of this widespread prevalence, identifying major risk factors and initiating colorectal screening procedures provide the distinct advantage for recognizing early disease and addressing treatable forms of CRC. Epidemiological studies of fruit and vegetable consumption in relationship to developing CRC have led to the notion that safe and inexpensive chemopreventive agents might be a valuable tool in diminishing the morbidity and mortality of CRC. While clinical trials and in vivo data show positive effects of resveratrol in CRC, the mechanism of action is relatively unclear. In this review, we will evaluate the current literature on the actions of resveratrol in CRC and provide a more mechanistic view of resveratrol in relationship with CRC

Application of Open-Access Databases to Determine Functional Connectivity Between Resveratrol-Binding Protein QR2 and Colorectal Carcinoma

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of cancer-associated deaths worldwide. Recently, oral administration of resveratrol (trans-3,5,4\u27-trihydroxystilbene) has been reported to significantly reduce tumor proliferation in colorectal cancer patients, however, with little specific information on functional connections. The pathogenesis and development of colorectal cancer is a multistep process that can be categorized using three phenotypic pathways, respectively, chromosome instability (CIN), microsatellite instability (MSI), and CpG island methylator (CIMP). Targets of resveratrol, including a high-affinity binding protein, quinone reductase 2 (QR2), have been identified with little information on disease association. We hypothesize that the relationship between resveratrol and different CRC etiologies might be gleaned using publicly available databases. A web-based microarray gene expression data-mining platform, Oncomine, was selected and used to determine whether QR2 may serve as a mechanistic and functional biotarget within the various CRC etiologies. We found that QR2 messenger RNA (mRNA) is overexpressed in CRC characterized by CIN, particularly in cells showing a positive KRAS (Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog) mutation, as well as by the MSI but not the CIMP phenotype. Mining of Oncomine revealed an excellent correlation between QR2 mRNA expression and certain CRC etiologies. Two resveratrol-associated genes, adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and TP53, found in CRC were further mined, using cBio portal and Colorectal Cancer Atlas which predicted a mechanistic link to exist between resveratrol→QR2/TP53→CIN. Multiple web-based data mining can provide valuable insights which may lead to hypotheses serving to guide clinical trials and design of therapies for enhanced disease prognosis and patient survival. This approach resembles a BioGPS, a capability for mining web-based databases that can elucidate the potential links between compounds to provide correlations of these interactions with specific diseases

Comparative visual and DNA-based diet assessment extends the prey spectrum of polar cod Boreogadus saida

The Arctic marine ecosystem is changing fast due to climate change, emphasizing the need for solid ecological baselines and monitoring. The polar cod Boreogadus saida functions as key species in the Arctic marine food web. We investigated the stomach content of polar cod from the northern Barents Sea using DNA metabarcoding with the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene in parallel with classical visual analysis. Arctic amphipods and krill dominated the diet in both methods. Yet, metabarcoding allowed for the identification of digested and unidentifiable prey and provided higher taxonomic resolution, revealing new and undiscovered prey items of polar cod in the area. Furthermore, molecular results suggest a higher importance of barnacles and fish (supposedly eggs and pelagic larvae) in the diet than previously recorded. Parasites and, in 6 cases other prey items, were only visually identified, demonstrating the complementary nature of both approaches. The presence of temperate and boreal prey species such as Northern krill and (early life stages of) European flounder and European plaice illustrate the advection of boreal taxa into the polar region or may be indicative of ongoing borealization in the Barents Sea. We show that a combination of visual analysis and metabarcoding provides complementary and semi-quantitative dietary information, and integrative insights to monitor changing marine food webs

Integrated modelling for economic valuation of the role of forests and woodlands in drinking water provision to two African cities

Rapidly growing economies often have high population growth, resulting in agricultural expansion in rural areas and increased water demand in urban areas. Conversion of forests and woodlands to agriculture may threaten safe and reliable water supply in cities. This study assesses the regulating functions and economic values of forests and woodlands in meeting the water needs of two major cities in Tanzania and proposes an integrated modelling approach with a scenario-based analysis to estimate costs of water supply avoided by forest conservation. We use the process-based hydrological Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate the role of woody habitats in the regulation of hydrological flow and sediment control. We find that the forests and woodlands play a significant role in regulating sediment load in rivers and reducing peak flows, with implications for the water supply from the Ruvu River to Dar es Salaam and Morogoro. A cost-based value assessment under water treatment works conditions up to 2016 suggests that water supply failure due to deforestation would cost Dar es Salaam USD 4.6-17.6 million per year and Morogoro USD 308 thousand per year. Stronger enforcement of forest and woodland protection in Tanzania must balance water policy objectives and food security

Local costs of conservation exceed those borne by the global majority

Cost data are crucial in conservation planning to identify more efficient and equitable land use options. However, many studies focus on just one cost type and neglect others, particularly those borne locally. We develop, for a high priority conservation area, spatial models of two local costs that arise from protected areas: foregone agricultural opportunities and increased wildlife damage. We then map these across the study area and compare them to the direct costs of reserve management, finding that local costs exceed management costs. Whilst benefits of conservation accrue to the global community, significant costs are borne by those living closest. Where livelihoods depend upon opportunities forgone or diminished by conservation intervention, outcomes are limited. Activities can be displaced (leakage); rules can be broken (intervention does not work); or the intervention forces a shift in livelihood profiles (potentially to the detriment of local peoples’ welfare). These raise concerns for both conservation and development outcomes and timely consideration of local costs is vital in conservation planning tools and processes

Accounting students' expectations and transition experiences of supervised work experience

Political and economic discourses position employability as a responsibility of higher education, which utilise mechanisms such as supervised work experience (SWE) to embed employability into the undergraduate curriculum. However, sparse investigation of students' contextualised experiences of SWE results in little being known about the mechanisms through which students derive employability benefits from SWE. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of students' expectation and conception of workplace learning on their transition into SWE. Analysis of accounting students' experiences reveal two broad conceptions of workplace learning, the differing impacts of which on transition experience are explored using existing learning transfer perspectives. Students displaying the more common 'technical' conception construct SWE as an opportunity to develop technical, knowledge-based expertise and abilities that prioritize product-based or cognitive learning transfer. Students with an 'experiential' conception were found to construct SWE primarily as an experience through which the development of personal skills and abilities beyond technical expertise are prioritized using process-based or socio-cultural learning transfer. Further data analysis suggests that these two learning transfer approaches have differing impacts on students' employability development which may indicate a need for universities to consider how to develop appropriate student expectations of and approaches to SWE and meaningful support for students' SWE transition

Effectiveness of e-learning in continuing medical education for occupational physicians

Background Within a clinical context e-learning is comparable to traditional approaches of continuing medical education (CME). However, the occupational health context differs and until now the effect of postgraduate e-learning among occupational physicians (OPs) has not been evaluated

Comparison of Six Artificial Diets for Western Corn Rootworm Bioassays and Rearing

The western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is considered the most important maize (Zea mays L.) pest in the U.S. Corn Belt. Bioassays testing susceptibility to Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) and other toxins of corn rootworm larvae often rely on artificial diet formulations. Successful bioassays on artificial diet for corn rootworm have sometimes been challenging because of microbial contamination. Toward the long-term goal of developing a universal artificial diet for western corn rootworm larvae, we compared larval survival, dry weight, and percentage of molt in 10-d bioassays from six current diets of which we were aware. In addition, as part of longer term rearing efforts, we recorded molting over an extended period of development (60 d). Six different artificial diets, including four proprietary industry diets (A, B, C, and D), the first published artificial diet for western corn rootworm (Pleau), and a new diet (WCRMO-1) were evaluated. Western corn rootworm larval survival was above 90% and contamination was 0% on all diets for 10 d. Diet D resulted in the greatest dry weight and percentage molting when compared with the other diets. Although fourth-instar western corn rootworm larvae have not been documented previously (only three instars have been previously documented), as many as 10% of the larvae from Diet B molted into a fourth instar prior to pupating. Overall, significant differences were found among artificial diets currently used to screen western corn rootworm. In order for data from differing toxins to be compared, a single, reliable and high-quality western corn rootworm artificial diet should eventually be chosen by industry, academia, and the public as a standard for bioassays

International Law association’s guidelines on intellectual property and private international law (“Kyoto guidelines”): jurisdiction

Coherent privaatrech