Waste prevention and education in five european countries

Artigo desenvolvido no âmbito de uma Unidade Curricular que funcionou em rede entre várias Universidades Europeias. Este artigo foi desenvolvido num trabalho em rede desenvolvido entre estudantes de diversas universidade e que avaliaram a implementação da diretiva quadro de resíduos em diversos países da União Europeia e apresentarem um conjunto de recomendações para se uniformizar e melhorar a gestão de resíduos na Europa com a aplicação da hierarquia dos resíduos.This research assessed the different goals of the EU Waste Framework Directive (2008) concerning waste prevention in five countries of the EU. The countries under research are the home countries of the EVS group members: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal. The research about the status quo of waste prevention revealed that waste preven-tion has not reached yet. All the countries have high recycling rates and low dumping rate, ex-cept Portugal. Although decoupling trends start to appear and the countries are climbing up the waste hierarchy, waste prevention is still a mountain too far. The EVS group also checked if education was included in the waste prevention programmes and education plays a very im-portant role. The group looked for good examples of waste prevention and analyzed them with SWOT. The examples are a success in the home countries and can be implemented in other EU or even worldwide countries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of mobile telephones on sperm quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

types: REVIEWThis is an open access article that is freely available in ORE or from the publisher's web site. Please cite the published version.© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Mobile phones are owned by most of the adult population worldwide. Radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) from these devices could potentially affect sperm development and function. Around 14% of couples in high- and middle-income countries have difficulty conceiving, and there are unexplained declines in semen quality reported in several countries. Given the ubiquity of mobile phone use, the potential role of this environmental exposure needs to be clarified. A systematic review was therefore conducted, followed by meta-analysis using random effects models, to determine whether exposure to RF-EMR emitted from mobile phones affects human sperm quality. Participants were from fertility clinic and research centres. The sperm quality outcome measures were motility, viability and concentration, which are the parameters most frequently used in clinical settings to assess fertility. We used ten studies in the meta-analysis, including 1492 samples. Exposure to mobile phones was associated with reduced sperm motility (mean difference -8.1% (95% CI -13.1, -3.2)) and viability (mean difference -9.1% (95% CI -18.4, 0.2)), but the effects on concentration were more equivocal. The results were consistent across experimental in vitro and observational in vivo studies. We conclude that pooled results from in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that mobile phone exposure negatively affects sperm quality. Further study is required to determine the full clinical implications for both sub-fertile men and the general population.Open Access funded by Natural Environment Research CouncilJessica Elliott-Friend is supported by a Natural Environment Research Council PhD scholarship NE/J500185/

Chemical Proteomics-Based Analysis of Off-target Binding Profiles for Rosiglitazone and Pioglitazone: Clues for Assessing Potential for Cardiotoxicity

Drugs exert desired and undesired effects based on their binding interactions with protein target(s) and off-target(s), providing evidence for drug efficacy and toxicity. Pioglitazone and rosiglitazone possess a common functional core, glitazone, which is considered a privileged scaffold upon which to build a drug selective for a given target—in this case, PPARγ. Herein, we report a retrospective analysis of two variants of the glitazone scaffold, pioglitazone and rosiglitazone, in an effort to identify off-target binding events in the rat heart to explain recently reported cardiovascular risk associated with these drugs. Our results suggest that glitazone has affinity for dehydrogenases, consistent with known binding preferences for related rhodanine cores. Both drugs bound ion channels and modulators, with implications in congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, and peripheral edema. Additional proteins involved in glucose homeostasis, synaptic transduction, and mitochondrial energy production were detected and potentially contribute to drug efficacy and cardiotoxicity

The Safety and Efficacy of a New Patient-Controlled Analgesia Device in Hospitalized Trauma and Surgery Patients

The objective of this investigation was to evaluate a new patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device. Eighteen trauma and surgical patients were allowed to use a self-activated, intravenous infusion device for two to seven days for postoperative pain relief. Initial PCA dosage/interval settings were adjusted to provide a 0.5 to 1 mg dosage of morphine per injection with a six-minute lockout interval. Adjustments were made to these initial settings based on the individual patient\u27s response. Pain and sedation scores and respiratory rates were recorded. Subjective evaluations of PCA indicated that 17 of the 18 patients (94.4%) participating in the study preferred this [PCA] method or would probably choose this [PCA] method for pain relief in the future. Patients self-administered narcotic analgesic to a maximum level of pain relief with minimum sedation. No respiratory depression was noted with use of the PCA device. Investigators judged and patients attested to PCA being safe, effective, capable of accommodating wide fluctuations of analgesic needs, and suitable for widespread use

Subclinical Abnormalities in Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ Release Promote Eccentric Myocardial Remodeling and Pump Failure Death in Response to Pressure Overload

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Subclinical abnormalities in sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release promote eccentric myocardial remodeling and pump failure death in response to pressure overload.

OBJECTIVE: We explored whether subclinical alterations of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release through cardiac ryanodine receptors (RyR2) aggravate cardiac remodeling in mice carrying a human RyR2R4496C+/- gain-of-function mutation in response to pressure overload. BACKGROUND: RyR2 dysfunction causes increased diastolic SR Ca2+ release associated with arrhythmias and contractile dysfunction in inherited and acquired cardiac diseases, such as catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) and heart failure (HF). METHODS: Functional and structural properties of wild-type (WT) and CPVT-associated RyR2R4496C+/- hearts were characterized under conditions of pressure overload induced by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). RESULTS: WT and RyR2R4496C+/- hearts had comparable structural and functional properties at baseline. After TAC, RyR2R4496C+/- hearts responded with eccentric hypertrophy, substantial fibrosis, ventricular dilatation and reduced fractional shortening, ultimately resulting in overt HF. RyR2R4496C+/--TAC cardiomyocytes showed increased incidence of spontaneous SR Ca2+ release events, reduced Ca2+ transient peak amplitude and SR Ca2+ content as well as reduced SR Ca2+-ATPase2a and increased Na+/Ca2+-exchange protein expression. HF phenotype in RyR2R4496C+/--TAC mice was associated with increased mortality due to pump failure, but not tachyarrhythmic events. RyR2-stabilizer K201 markedly reduced Ca2+ spark frequency in RyR2R4496C+/--TAC cardiomyocytes. Mini-osmotic pump infusion of K201 prevented deleterious remodeling and improved survival in RyR2R4496C+/--TAC mice. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of subclinical congenital alteration of SR Ca2+ release and pressure overload promotes eccentric remodeling and HF death in RyR2R4496C+/- mice, and pharmacological RyR2 stabilization prevents this deleterious interaction. These findings imply potential clinical relevance for patients with acquired or inherited gain-of-function of RyR2-mediated SR Ca2+ release

Effects of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) exposure on B6C3F1 mice

OBJECTIVE: Long-term exposure study was conducted to investigate the effects of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field on the tumor promotion process and fertility. METHODS: Ten pregnant C57BL/6NCrj mice were exposed to 50 Hz field 500 mG for 1 week (12 h per day), and 24 male and 42 female B6C3F1mice born from them were further exposed up to 15.5 months. As a control group, 10 pregnant mice were bred without exposure, and 30 produced male and 32 female mice were observed without exposure for the same period. RESULTS: Mean body weights of exposed groups of male and female mice were decreased significantly than those of the control groups. In exposed mice, there was no increased incidence of liver and lung tumor. In female mice, the incidence of chronic myeloid leukemia [3/42 (7 %)] in the exposed group was significantly greater than in the control group. The size of seminiferous tubules in the EMF exposed groups were significantly less than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the hypothesis that long-term exposure of 50 Hz magnetic fields is a significant risk factor for neoplastic development and fertility in mice