The environment as a resource : lessons from Prince Edward Island from other sub-national island jurisdictions

Laws governing the environment and the natural resources may be enacted by national or federal legislatures. These may have a wide coverage, particularly in large countries like Canada which span various geographic, climatic and ecological zones. At the sub-national or provincial level, relatively large provinces like Ontario and Quebec comprise different environmental types across latitudes and longitudes, and this necessitates an appreciation for the diversity of environmental conditions and resources. On the other hand, a small province like Prince Edward Island becomes a special case study by reason of its geography and particularly its physical definition as an island. Physically, Prince Edward Island is a province that is well delineated by the sea surrounding it and with a relatively homogeneous terrestrial environment throughout. As a sub-national island jurisdiction, the provincial government is vested with authority and some autonomy from the national government in the crafting of its laws that respond to the special and particular needs and demands of its island environment. The Prince Edward Island Development Plan of 1969, for example, has set the pace for the process of provincial state building and has led to greater empowerment of provincial authorities, reducing federal intervention in decision-making (Bickerton, 1998). This contribution is divided in three sections. The first reviews the state of the environment on PEl. The second scans some comparable environmental practices by various sub-national island jurisdictions, teasing out some of those policies which PEl appears to be in a position to consider and perhaps benefit from. The third and final section draws up a summative 'environmental score card' for PEl and reaffirms the opportunities that islandness could provide towards sounder environmental management for the island province.peer-reviewe

Analysis of rDNA reveals a high genetic diversity of Halophila major in the Wallacea region

The genus Halophila shows the highest species diversity within the seagrass genera. Southeast Asian countries where several boundary lines exist were considered as the origin of seagrasses. We hypothesize that the boundary lines, such as Wallace’s and Lydekker’s Lines, may act as marine geographic barriers to the population structure of Halophila major. Seagrass samples were collected at three islands in Vietnamese waters and analyzed by the molecular maker ITS. These sequences were compared with published ITS sequences from seagrasses collected in the whole region of interest. In this study, we reveal the haplotype and nucleotide diversity, linking population genetics, phylogeography, phylogenetics and estimation of relative divergence times of H. major and other members of the Halophila genus. The morphological characters show variation. The results of the ITS marker analysis reveal smaller groups of H. major from Myanmar, Shoalwater Bay (Australia) and Okinawa (Japan) with high supporting values. The remaining groups including Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Two Peoples Bay (Australia) and Tokushima (Japan) showed low supporting values. The Wallacea region shows the highest haplotype and also nucleotide diversity. Non-significant differences were found among regions, but significant differences were presented among populations. The relative divergence times between some members of section Halophila were estimated 2.15–6.64 Mya

Satellite image analysis reveals changes in seagrass beds at Van Phong Bay, Vietnam during the last 30 years

Seagrass meadows are fragile ecosystems in the coastal zone. Natural disasters, land reclamation and various human activities seem to exert negative impacts on the distribution and biological performance of seagrass beds in Vietnam. In this present study, satellite Landsat TM/OLI image analysis was applied to determine changes in seagrass distribution at Van Phong Bay, Vietnam in the last 30 years. The maximum likelihood decision rule was used to extract seagrass bed distribution data. The error matrix using the in situ reference data for HLM image classification was 81–95% accurate, and Kappa coefficients were between 0.72 and 0.91. The results indicated that 186.2 ha (or 35.8%) of the original seagrass beds were lost in the last three decades at Van Phong Bay, and decline in each specific site may have been due to different causes. Typhoons may have caused the loss of seagrass beds at open-sea sites whereas aquaculture activities, excavation and terrigenous obliteration may have caused such losses in protected sites

Investigation of Relationships between Urinary Biomarkers of Phytoestrogens, Phthalates, and Phenols and Pubertal Stages in Girls

BackgroundHormonally active environmental agents may alter the course of pubertal development in girls, which is controlled by steroids and gonadotropins.ObjectivesWe investigated associations of concurrent exposures from three chemical classes (phenols, phthalates, and phytoestrogens) with pubertal stages in a multiethnic longitudinal study of 1,151 girls from New York City, New York, greater Cincinnati, Ohio, and northern California who were 6-8 years of age at enrollment (2004-2007).MethodsWe measured urinary exposure biomarkers at visit 1 and examined associations with breast and pubic hair development (present or absent, assessed 1 year later) using multivariate adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Modification of biomarker associations by age-specific body mass index percentile (BMI%) was investigated, because adipose tissue is a source of peripubertal hormones.ResultsBreast development was present in 30% of girls, and 22% had pubic hair. High-molecular-weight phthalate (high MWP) metabolites were weakly associated with pubic hair development [adjusted PR, 0.94 (95% CI, 0.88-1.00), fifth vs. first quintile]. Small inverse associations were seen for daidzein with breast stage and for triclosan and high MWP with pubic hair stage; a positive trend was observed for low-molecular-weight phthalate biomarkers with breast and pubic hair development. Enterolactone attenuated BMI associations with breast development. In the first enterolactone quintile, for the association of high BMI with any development, the PR was 1.34 (95% CI, 1.23-1.45 vs. low BMI). There was no BMI association in the fifth, highest quintile of enterolactone.ConclusionsWeak hormonally active xenobiotic agents investigated in this study had small associations with pubertal development, mainly among those agents detected at highest concentrations

An Active Learning Approach for Rapid Characterization of Endothelial Cells in Human Tumors

Currently, no available pathological or molecular measures of tumor angiogenesis predict response to antiangiogenic therapies used in clinical practice. Recognizing that tumor endothelial cells (EC) and EC activation and survival signaling are the direct targets of these therapies, we sought to develop an automated platform for quantifying activity of critical signaling pathways and other biological events in EC of patient tumors by histopathology. Computer image analysis of EC in highly heterogeneous human tumors by a statistical classifier trained using examples selected by human experts performed poorly due to subjectivity and selection bias. We hypothesized that the analysis can be optimized by a more active process to aid experts in identifying informative training examples. To test this hypothesis, we incorporated a novel active learning (AL) algorithm into FARSIGHT image analysis software that aids the expert by seeking out informative examples for the operator to label. The resulting FARSIGHT-AL system identified EC with specificity and sensitivity consistently greater than 0.9 and outperformed traditional supervised classification algorithms. The system modeled individual operator preferences and generated reproducible results. Using the results of EC classification, we also quantified proliferation (Ki67) and activity in important signal transduction pathways (MAP kinase, STAT3) in immunostained human clear cell renal cell carcinoma and other tumors. FARSIGHT-AL enables characterization of EC in conventionally preserved human tumors in a more automated process suitable for testing and validating in clinical trials. The results of our study support a unique opportunity for quantifying angiogenesis in a manner that can now be tested for its ability to identify novel predictive and response biomarkers

A Multi-Institutional Approach to Delivering Shared Curricula for Developing a Next-Generation Energy Workforce

In this paper, we consider collaborative power systems education through the FEEDER consortium. To increase students\u27 access to power engineering educational content, the consortium of seven universities was formed. A framework is presented to characterize different collaborative education activities among the universities. Three of these approaches of collaborative educational activities are presented and discussed. These include 1) cross-institutional blended courses (“MS-MD”); 2) cross-institutional distance courses (“SS-MD”); and 3) single-site special experiential courses and concentrated on-site programs available to students across consortium institutions (“MS-SD”). This paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of each approach

Influence of family and friend smoking on intentions to smoke and smoking-related attitudes and refusal self-efficacy among 9-10 year old children from deprived neighbourhoods: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Smoking often starts in early adolescence and addiction can occur rapidly. For effective smoking prevention there is a need to identify at risk groups of preadolescent children and whether gender-specific intervention components are necessary. This study aimed to examine associations between mother, father, sibling and friend smoking and cognitive vulnerability to smoking among preadolescent children living in deprived neighbourhoods. METHODS: Cross-sectional data was collected from 9-10 year old children (n =1143; 50.7% girls; 85.6% White British) from 43 primary schools in Merseyside, England. Children completed a questionnaire that assessed their smoking-related behaviour, intentions, attitudes, and refusal self-efficacy, as well as parent, sibling and friend smoking. Data for boys and girls were analysed separately using multilevel linear and logistic regression models, adjusting for individual cognitions and school and deprivation level. RESULTS: Compared to girls, boys had lower non-smoking intentions (P = 0.02), refusal self-efficacy (P = 0.04) and were less likely to agree that smoking is 'definitely' bad for health (P < 0.01). Friend smoking was negatively associated with non-smoking intentions in girls (P < 0.01) and boys (P < 0.01), and with refusal self-efficacy in girls (P < 0.01). Sibling smoking was negatively associated with non-smoking intentions in girls (P < 0.01) but a positive association was found in boys (P = 0.02). Boys who had a smoking friend were less likely to 'definitely' believe that the smoke from other people's cigarettes is harmful (OR 0.57, 95% CI: 0.35 to 0.91, P = 0.02). Further, boys with a smoking friend (OR 0.38, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.69, P < 0.01) or a smoking sibling (OR 0.45, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.98) were less likely to 'definitely' believe that smoking is bad for health. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that sibling and friend smoking may represent important influences on 9-10 year old children's cognitive vulnerability toward smoking. Whilst some differential findings by gender were observed, these may not be sufficient to warrant separate prevention interventions. However, further research is needed

Genetic inhibition of hepatic acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity increases liver fat and alters global protein acetylationa

Lipid deposition in the liver is associated with metabolic disorders including fatty liver disease, type II diabetes, and hepatocellular cancer. The enzymes acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1) and ACC2 are powerful regulators of hepatic fat storage; therefore, their inhibition is expected to prevent the development of fatty liver. In this study we generated liver-specific ACC1 and ACC2 double knockout (LDKO) mice to determine how the loss of ACC activity affects liver fat metabolism and whole-body physiology. Characterization of LDKO mice revealed unexpected phenotypes of increased hepatic triglyceride and decreased fat oxidation. We also observed that chronic ACC inhibition led to hyper-acetylation of proteins in the extra-mitochondrial space. In sum, these data reveal the existence of a compensatory pathway that protects hepatic fat stores when ACC enzymes are inhibited. Furthermore, we identified an important role for ACC enzymes in the regulation of protein acetylation in the extra-mitochondrial space

Complement C3 Inhibitor Pegcetacoplan for Geographic Atrophy Secondary to Age-Related Macular Degeneration : A Randomized Phase 2 Trial

Copyright © 2019 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewedPublisher PD