Gastric Cancer: How Can We Reduce the Incidence of this Disease?

Gastric cancer remains a prevalent disease worldwide with a poor prognosis. Helicobacter pylori plays a major role in gastric carcinogenesis. H. pylori colonization leads to chronic gastritis, which predisposes to atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, and eventually gastric cancer. Screening, treatment, and prevention of H. pylori colonization can reduce the incidence of gastric cancer. Other interventions that may yield a similar effect, although of smaller magnitude, include promotion of a healthy lifestyle including dietary measures, non-smoking, low alcohol intake, and sufficient physical activity. This chapter reviews interventions that can lead to a decline in gastric cancer incidence in high and low incidence countries

Where everyday mobility meets tourism : an age-friendly perspective on cycling in the Netherlands and the UK

Tourism is traditionally presented as an escape from daily life and located at places we do not normally visit. Against a backdrop of problematic pressures on (urban) tourist centres and mobility systems, some scholars have explored the possibility of tourism nearer the home. Such locations, however, are often perceived too mundane or are not sufficiently equipped as tourist destinations. In addition, the study of tourist experiences is often dominated by motorised transport, and with limited consideration of older age groups. This paper combines different strands of literature to consider the role of active mobility among older people and its contribution to age-friendliness and more proximate forms of tourism. Two case studies in the contrasting mobility contexts of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom show how everyday mobility contains implicit and explicit tourism elements. Commutes, local visits, and active travel itself may act as springboards for tourism close(r) to home. Using biographical and mobile methods, this paper shows how local tourism roots in individual lifecourses, depends on the transport environment, and supports social and physical well-being. The findings provide much-needed empirical insight in the convergence of tourism and everyday mobilities, and underline the growing importance of slower and more age-friendly approaches to tourism

Energy Transition in Europe's Coal Regions : Issues for Regional Policy

Climate change is generating new pressures for transition in coal intensive regions. The 2016 Paris Climate Agreement has led to new strategies and targets for reducing climate emissions at EU and national levels. Decarbonisation of the energy sector is a vital component of these strategies. The EU aims to reduce climate emissions from the energy sector by at least 54 percent by 2030 (compared to 1990) and at least 93 percent by 2050. These targets imply a shift out of coal-mining and coal-fired power in coming decades. Coal transition requires regional policy intervention. Coal production and power stations are inevitably concentrated in particular places, and also typically become linked into other regional sectors and supply chains, as well as political, social and cultural networks, which support economic development but can also inhibit economic transition. Coal production in the Europe-30 is concentrated in specific regions in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania. Germany and Poland together account for 54 percent of the EU’s coal-related climate emissions. EU Cohesion policy 2021-27 is expected to include a focus on the carbon-free economy, including energy transition. This could include support for coal transition regions e.g. through an Energy Transition Fund. Wider EU support is seen in the Coal Regions in Transition Platform, as well as in INTERREG and HORIZON projects. National regional policies are also targeting coal regions. Poland’s coal sector has seen major restructuring since 1990 but it remains an important regional employer. Poland is committed to meeting international targets on climate emissions and energy transition but also faces the need to ensure energy supply and regional employment. The Programme for Silesia supports a shift from traditional sectors such as coal towards future-oriented sectors. Germany is committed to the phasing-out of coal-fired power in order to meet climate targets. In 2019, the federal government agreed an ambitious programme of support for the transition of the remaining brown coal regions, with €40 billion of federal funding to 2038. Historic experiences of coal transition suggest the need for future policies to prioritise a long-term, well-funded and multi-faceted strategic approach, drawing on the participation of a wide range of stakeholders at multiple levels, and including efforts to generate new ideas, mobilise regional capacities and reconfigure social capital, as well as to involve local communities in transition

Skeletal muscle fiber-type distribution and habitual physical activity in daily life.

The capacity to perform physical activity largely depends on physical fitness. Muscle fiber-type distribution (Muscle(FTD)) is associated with physical fitness and may influence the capacity to perform physical activity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether habitual physical activity in daily life (PA(DL)) and Muscle(FTD) are related. Thirty-eight healthy non-athletes (31 women, 7 men) were recruited. PA(DL) was measured twice for 14 days using a tri-axial accelerometer for movement registration (Tracmor). From Tracmor output, the proportion of time subjects were physically active at low, moderate, and high intensities was determined (%Low, %Moderate, and %High, respectively). A total activity index (PA(index)) and sub-scores on work, leisure-time and sports were obtained using the Baecke questionnaire. Muscle(FTD) was determined using immuno-fluorescence against respective myosin heavy chain isoforms. No relationship was observed between PA(DL) and Muscle(FTD). %Low, %Moderate, and %High, as well as PA(index) and its sub-scores, were not related to Muscle(FTD) either. The time spent on sports was associated with the proportion of type I and II(X) fibers (P=0.06 and P<0.01, respectively). In conclusion, Muscle(FTD) probably cannot explain why some people are more prone to engaging in physical activities than others. AD - Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

An Analysis of Pressure Fluctuations in a CFB of Heavy Minerals

Pressure fluctuations were measured at high frequencies in a CFB model operated with air at ambient conditions. The model comprises an 80-mm-ID, 5-m-tall riser with a blind-T exit, a cyclone, a 50-mm-ID standpipe, and an L-valve. Tests were conducted with particles of natural rutile (TiO2), a heavy mineral mined from coastal dunes. The particles fall into group B of Geldart’s classification. The solids inventory was kept at 25 kg. The superficial gas velocity ranged from 3 to 6 m/s. The solid circulation flux varied between 10 and 40 kg/m2.s. Profiles of solid concentrations in the riser are C-shaped. The amplitude of pressure fluctuations increases with increasing solids-circulation rate, and the increase appears to be linear. The amplitude does not correlate with solids concentration, however. The implication is that gas-solid interactions differ significantly at the bottom and the top of the riser, despite similar solids concentrations in these two zones. The analysis in the frequency domain shows that the power of signals resides in those of low frequencies (less than 2 Hz). The pressure fluctuations reflect white noise: there is no dominant frequency and no periodic component. Pressure waves move at 25–45 m/s up the riser, an order of magnitude greater than the superficial gas velocity