Determinants of Carbon Emission Disclosures and UN Sustainable Development Goals: The Case of UK Higher Education Institutions

In recent years, organisational sustainability has become a topical issue in many institutional fields and a number of calls have been made to improve the disclosure of carbon information as part of sustainability efforts. This paper responds to these calls, chiefly examining the determinants of (CED) in the annual reports of UK higher education institutions (HEIs). It also aims to predict the relationship between the extent of CED and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting by UK universities. We construct a disclosure index to capture the extent and type of CED in the annual reports of UK HEIs, finding that carbon reduction targets imposed by the Government, environmental audit, and the amount of actual carbon emissions are significant and positively associated with CED. However, we find no relationship between CED and the disclosure of SDGs. We argue that HEIs'. CED can be useful in developing relevant regulatory policies given the targets are carefully set. Our research has important implications for policymakers regarding carbon reduction targets and related non?mandatory guidance, as these can be utilised as an effective mechanism in increasing carbon emission disclosure voluntary CED that are integrated into SDG disclosures

Multi-omics analyses reveal that HIV-1 alters CD4+ T cell immunometabolism to fuel virus replication

Individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) show metabolic alterations of CD4+ T cells through unclear mechanisms with undefined consequences. We analyzed the transcriptome of CD4+ T cells from patients with HIV-1 and revealed that the elevated oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway is associated with poor outcomes. Inhibition of OXPHOS by the US Food and Drug Administration–approved drug metformin, which targets mitochondrial respiratory chain complex-I, suppresses HIV-1 replication in human CD4+ T cells and humanized mice. In patients, HIV-1 peak viremia positively correlates with the expression of NLRX1, a mitochondrial innate immune receptor. Quantitative proteomics and metabolic analyses reveal that NLRX1 enhances OXPHOS and glycolysis during HIV-1-infection of CD4+ T cells to promote viral replication. At the mechanistic level, HIV infection induces the association of NLRX1 with the mitochondrial protein FASTKD5 to promote expression of mitochondrial respiratory complex components. This study uncovers the OXPHOS pathway in CD4+ T cells as a target for HIV-1 therapy

Track E Implementation Science, Health Systems and Economics

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138412/1/jia218443.pd

The Cholecystectomy As A Day Case (CAAD) Score: A Validated Score of Preoperative Predictors of Successful Day-Case Cholecystectomy Using the CholeS Data Set

Background Day-case surgery is associated with significant patient and cost benefits. However, only 43% of cholecystectomy patients are discharged home the same day. One hypothesis is day-case cholecystectomy rates, defined as patients discharged the same day as their operation, may be improved by better assessment of patients using standard preoperative variables. Methods Data were extracted from a prospectively collected data set of cholecystectomy patients from 166 UK and Irish hospitals (CholeS). Cholecystectomies performed as elective procedures were divided into main (75%) and validation (25%) data sets. Preoperative predictors were identified, and a risk score of failed day case was devised using multivariate logistic regression. Receiver operating curve analysis was used to validate the score in the validation data set. Results Of the 7426 elective cholecystectomies performed, 49% of these were discharged home the same day. Same-day discharge following cholecystectomy was less likely with older patients (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), higher ASA scores (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), complicated cholelithiasis (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.48), male gender (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.58–0.74), previous acute gallstone-related admissions (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.48–0.60) and preoperative endoscopic intervention (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.34–0.47). The CAAD score was developed using these variables. When applied to the validation subgroup, a CAAD score of ≤5 was associated with 80.8% successful day-case cholecystectomy compared with 19.2% associated with a CAAD score >5 (p < 0.001). Conclusions The CAAD score which utilises data readily available from clinic letters and electronic sources can predict same-day discharges following cholecystectomy

Fewer sites but better data? Optimising the representativeness and statistical power of a national monitoring network

Indicators of large-scale ecological change are typically derived from long-term monitoring networks. As such, it is important to assess how well monitoring networks provide evidence for ecological trends in the regions they are monitoring. In part, this depends on the network’s representativeness of the full range of environmental conditions occurring in the monitored region. In addition, the statistical power to detect trends and ecological changes using the network depends on its structure, size and the intensity and accuracy of monitoring. This paper addresses the optimisation of representativeness and statistical power when re-designing existing large-scale ecological monitoring networks, for example due to financial constraints on monitoring programmes. It uses a real world example of a well-established river monitoring network of 254 sites distributed across Scotland. We first present a novel approach for assessing a monitoring network’s representativeness of national habitat and pressure gradients using the multivariate two-sample Cramér’s T statistic. This compares multivariate gradient distributions among sites inside and outside of the network. Using this test, the existing network was found to over-represent larger and more heavily polluted sites, reflecting earlier research priorities when it was originally designed. Network re-design was addressed through stepwise selection of individual sites to remove from or add to the network to maximise multivariate representativeness. This showed that combinations of selective site retention and addition can be used to modify existing monitoring networks, changing the number of sites and improving representativeness. We then investigated the effect of network re-design on the statistical power to detect long-term trends across the whole network. The power analysis was based on linear mixed effects models for long-term trends in three ecological indicators (ecological quality ratios for diatoms, invertebrates and macrophytes) over a ten-year period. This revealed a clear loss of power in smaller networks with less accurate sampling, but sampling schedule had a smaller effect on power. Interestingly, more representative networks had slightly lower trend detection power than the current unrepresentative network, though they should give a less biased estimate of national trends. Our analyses of representativeness and statistical power provide a general framework for designing and adapting large-scale ecological monitoring networks. Wider use of such methods would improve the quality of indicators derived from them and improve the evidence base for detecting and managing ecological change