From Manaus to Maputo: Toward a Public Health and Biodiversity Framework

The linkages between human health, biodiversity, ecosystems, and the life-supporting services that they provide are varied and complex. The traditional neglect of this nexus by policy-makers perpetuates threats posed to ecosystems with potentially critical impacts on global health. The Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Health Organization recently co-convened two regional workshops on these intricate but vital linkages. From discussions held with policy-makers and experts in the biodiversity and health sectors, spanning some 50 countries in Africa and the Americas, we derive a broad framework for the development of national and regional public health and biodiversity strategies relevant to strategic planning processes in the emerging post-2015 development context

Understanding the rise of cardiometabolic diseases in low- and middle-income countries

Increases in the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), particularly cardiometabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes, and their major risk factors have not been uniform across settings: for example, cardiovascular disease mortality has declined over recent decades in high-income countries but increased in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The factors contributing to this rise are varied and are influenced by environmental, social, political and commercial determinants of health, among other factors. This Review focuses on understanding the rise of cardiometabolic diseases in LMICs, with particular emphasis on obesity and its drivers, together with broader environmental and macro determinants of health, as well as LMIC-based responses to counteract cardiometabolic diseases

Our planet, our health, our future. Human health and the Rio conventions: biological diversity, climate change and desertification

Health is our most basic human right and one of the most important indicators of sustainable development. We rely on healthy ecosystems to support healthy communities and societies. Wellfunctioning ecosystems provide goods and services essential for human health. These include nutrition and food security, clean air and fresh water, medicines, cultural and spiritual values, and contributions to local livelihoods and economic development. They can also help to limit disease and stabilize the climate. Health policies need to recognize these essential contributions. The three so-called Rio Conventions arising from the 1992 Earth Summit – the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification – together aim to maintain well-functioning ecosystems for the benefit of humanity. There is growing evidence of the impacts of global environmental changes on ecosystems and people, and a renewed consciousness among peoples and nations of the need to act quickly to protect the planet’s ecological and climatic systems. In the last two decades, the Rio Conventions have brought global attention to the impacts of anthropogenic change on the ecosystems of the planet. Increasingly unsustainable practices are placing pressure on natural resources to meet the demands of our economies and the needs of a rapidly growing global population, resulting in soil, water and air pollution, increased emissions of greenhouse gases, deforestation and land use change, expanded urban areas, introduction of non-native species, and inadequately planned development of water and land resources to meet food and energy needs. These changes are having both direct and indirect impacts on our climate, ecosystems and biological diversity. More than ever, the pursuit of public health, at all levels from local to global, now depends on careful attention to the processes of global environmental change. Traditional knowledge and scientific evidence both point to the inexorable role of global environmental changes in terms of their impact on human health and well-being. In many countries, anthropogenic changes to agriculture-related ecosystems have resulted in great benefits for human health and well-being, in particular through increased global food production and improved food security. These positive impacts, however, have not benefited everyone, and unsustainable levels of use of ecosystems have resulted in irreparable loss and degradation, with negative consequences for health and well-being. These range from emerging infectious diseases to malnutrition, and contribute to the rapid rise in noncommunicable diseases. Large-scale human transformation of the environment has contributed to increased disease burdens associated with the expansion of ecological and climatic conditions favourable for disease vectors. For all humans, the provision of adequate nutrition, clean water, and long-term food security depend directly on functioning agro-ecosystems and indirectly on the regulating ecosystem services of the biosphere; these ecosystem services can be eroded if overexploited and poorly managed

Foods for a Mission to Mars: Equivalent System Mass and Development of a Multipurpose Small-Scale Seed Processor

The candidate crops for planetary food systems include: wheat, white and sweet potatoes, soybean, peanut, strawberry, dry bean including le ntil and pinto, radish, rice, lettuce, carrot, green onion, tomato, p eppers, spinach, and cabbage. Crops such as wheat, potatoes, soybean, peanut, dry bean, and rice can only be utilized after processing, while others are classified as ready-to-eat. To process foods in space, the food processing subsystem must be capable of producing a variety of nutritious, acceptable, and safe edible ingredients and food produ cts from pre-packaged and resupply foods as well as salad crops grown on the transit vehicle or other crops grown on planetary surfaces. D esigning, building, developing, and maintaining such a subsystem is b ound to many constraints and restrictions. The limited power supply, storage locations, variety of crops, crew time, need to minimize waste , and other equivalent system mass (ESM) parameters must be considere d in the selection of processing equipment and techniques

Gliomas de bajo grado: implicancias de la nueva clasificación

En el año 2016 se presentó formalmente la nueva clasificación de tumores cerebrales de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), la misma se dio debido a la gran variabilidad que existía entre diversos centros en los diagnósticos anatomopatológicos, se pasó de una clasificación meramente histológica para incorporar parámetros moleculares que dio un nuevo enfoque no solo en la anatomía patológica sino un cambio de paradigma a nivel clínico-quirúrgico. Objetivos: revisión de la nueva clasificación de la OMS para tumores gliales de bajo grado y su implicancia clínicoquirúrgica.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Meeting Report: Development of Environmental Health Indicators in Brazil and Other Countries in the Americas

This report summarizes the Brazilian experience on the design and implementation of environmental health, with contributions from Argentina, Canada, and Cuba, presented at the International Symposium on the Development of Indicators for Environmental Health Integrated Management, held in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, on 17–18 June 2004. The methodology for the development of environmental health indicators has been used as a reference in the implementation of environmental health surveillance in Brazil. This methodology has provided tools and processes to facilitate the understanding and to measure the determinants of risks to environmental health, to help decision makers control those risks

2018 Global Nutrition Report

The 2018 Global Nutrition Report shares insights into the current state of global nutrition, highlighting the unacceptably high burden of malnutrition in the world. It identifies areas where progress has been made in recent years but argues that it is too slow and too inconsistent. It puts forward five critical steps that are needed to speed up progress to end malnutrition in all its forms and argues that, if we act now, it is not too late to achieve this goal. In fact, we have an unprecedented opportunity to do so