How UK climate change policy has been made sustainable

UK climate change policy is based on the advice of the Committee on Climate Change established under the Climate Change Act 2008. This Committee is an independent, expert agency established as part of the reconceiving of the regulatory state as a response to the neo-liberal critique of older forms of regulation. But the quality of the advice given in the Committee’s recent Fourth Carbon Budget Review is so tendentious as to barely be able to be described as advice at all. This grave shortcoming poses the most serious questions for contemporary constitutional and regulatory processes

PI3K and ERK-Induced Rac1 Activation Mediates Hypoxia-Induced HIF-1α Expression in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1α) expression induced by hypoxia plays a critical role in promoting tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the induction of HIF-1α in tumor cells remain unknown.In this study, we reported that hypoxia could induce HIF-1α and VEGF expression accompanied by Rac1 activation in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Blockade of Rac1 activation with ectopic expression of an inactive mutant form of Rac1 (T17N) or Rac1 siRNA downregulated hypoxia-induced HIF-1α and VEGF expression. Furthermore, Hypoxia increased PI3K and ERK signaling activity. Both PI3K inhibitor LY294002 and ERK inhibitor U0126 suppressed hypoxia-induced Rac1 activation as well as HIF-1α expression. Moreover, hypoxia treatment resulted in a remarkable production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). N-acetyl-L-cysteine, a scavenger of ROS, inhibited hypoxia-induced ROS generation, PI3K, ERK and Rac1 activation as well as HIF-1α expression.Taken together, our study demonstrated that hypoxia-induced HIF-1α expression involves a cascade of signaling events including ROS generation, activation of PI3K and ERK signaling, and subsequent activation of Rac1

Cardiovascular effects of sub-daily levels of ambient fine particles: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While the effects of daily fine particulate exposure (PM) have been well reviewed, the epidemiological and physiological evidence of cardiovascular effects associated to sub-daily exposures has not. We performed a theoretical model-driven systematic non-meta-analytical literature review to document the association between PM sub-daily exposures (≤6 hours) and arrhythmia, ischemia and myocardial infarction (MI) as well as the likely mechanisms by which sub-daily PM exposures might induce these acute cardiovascular effects. This review was motivated by the assessment of the risk of exposure to elevated sub-daily levels of PM during fireworks displays.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Medline and Elsevier's EMBase were consulted for the years 1996-2008. Search keywords covered potential cardiovascular effects, the pollutant of interest and the short duration of the exposure. Only epidemiological and experimental studies of adult humans (age > 18 yrs) published in English were reviewed. Information on design, population and PM exposure characteristics, and presence of an association with selected cardiovascular effects or physiological assessments was extracted from retrieved articles.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 231 articles identified, 49 were reviewed. Of these, 17 addressed the relationship between sub-daily exposures to PM and cardiovascular effects: five assessed ST-segment depression indicating ischemia, eight assessed arrhythmia or fibrillation and five considered MI. Epidemiologic studies suggest that exposure to sub-daily levels of PM is associated with MI and ischemic events in the elderly. Epidemiological studies of sub-daily exposures suggest a plausible biological mechanism involving the autonomic nervous system while experimental studies suggest that vasomotor dysfunction may also relate to the occurrence of MI and ischemic events.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Future studies should clarify associations between cardiovascular effects of sub-daily PM exposure with PM size fraction and concurrent gaseous pollutant exposures. Experimental studies appear more promising for elucidating the physiological mechanisms, time courses and causes than epidemiological studies which employ central pollution monitors for measuring effects and for assessing their time course. Although further studies are needed to strengthen the evidence, given that exposure to sub-daily high levels of PM (for a few hours) is frequent and given the suggestive evidence that sub-daily PM exposures are associated with the occurrence of cardiovascular effects, we recommend that persons with cardiovascular diseases avoid such situations.</p

Thyroid and pituitary gland development from hatching through metamorphosis of a teleost flatfish, the Atlantic halibut

Fish larval development, not least the spectacular process of flatfish metamorphosis, appears to be under complex endocrine control, many aspects of which are still not fully elucidated. In order to obtain data on the functional development of two major endocrine glands, the pituitary and the thyroid, during flatfish metamorphosis, histology, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques were applied on larvae of the Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), a large, marine flatfish species, from hatching through metamorphosis. The material was obtained from a commercial hatchery. Larval age is defined as day-degrees (D =accumulated daily temperature from hatching). Sporadic thyroid follicles are first detected in larvae at 142 D (27 days post-hatch), prior to the completion of yolk sack absorption. Both the number and activity of the follicles increase markedly after yolk sack absorption and continue to do so during subsequent development. The larval triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) content increases, subsequent to yolk absorption, and coincides with the proliferation of thyroid follicles. A second increase of both T3 and T4 occurs around the start of metamorphosis and the T3 content further increases at the metamorphic climax. Overall, the T3 content is lower than T4. The pituitary gland can first be distinguished as a separate organ at the yolk sack stage. During subsequent development, the gland becomes more elongated and differentiates into neurohypophysis (NH), pars distalis (PD) and pars intermedia (PI). The first sporadic endocrine pituitary cells are observed at the yolk sack stage, somatotrophs (growth hormone producing cells) and somatolactotrophs (somatolactin producing cells) are first observed at 121 D (23 days post-hatch), and lactotrophs (prolactin producing cells) at 134 D (25 days post-hatch). Scarce thyrotrophs are evident after detection of the first thyroid follicles (142 D ), but coincident with a phase in which follicle number and activity increase (260 D ). The somatotrophs are clustered in the medium ventral region of the PD, lactotrophs in the anterior part of the PD and somatolactotrophs are scattered in the mid and posterior region of the pituitary. At around 600 D , coinciding with the start of metamorphosis, somatolactotrophs are restricted to the interdigitating tissue of the NH. During larval development, the pituitary endocrine cells become more numerous. The present data on thyroid development support the notion that thyroid hormones may play a significant role in Atlantic halibut metamorphosis. The time of appearance and the subsequent proliferation of pituitary somatotrophs, lactotrophs, somatolactotrophs and thyrotrophs indicate at which stages of larval development and metamorphosis these endocrine cells may start to play active regulatory roles.This work has been carried out within the projects ‘‘Endocrine Control as a Determinant of Larval Quality in Fish Aquaculture’’ (CT-96-1422) and ‘‘Arrested development: The Molecular and Endocrine Basis of Flatfish Metamorphosis’’ (Q5RS-2002-01192), with financial support from the Commission of the European Communities. However, it does not necessarily reflect the Commission’s views and in no way anticipates its future policy in this area. This project was further supported by the Swedish Council for Agricultural and Forestry Research and Pluriannual funding to CCMAR by the Portuguese Science and Technology Council

Tradable Permits for Greenhouse Gases

Reducing greenhouse gases emissions to address global warming implies high costs for all economic sectors. These costs can be reduced by introducing some compliance flexibility, allowing the trade of emission permits. However, the design of emission trading schemes is key to their effectiveness, i.e., their ability to reduce a pollution at a lower cost compared to traditional command and control policies