The environmental effect of car-free housing: A case in Vienna

A case-control study of the car-free model housing project in Vienna was conducted to evaluate whether people living in this settlement have more [`]sustainable lifestyles' than people living in comparable buildings in Vienna. Another aim was to identify the lifestyle characteristics and household activities which significantly influence the environmental impact of the residents of the car-free housing project and a control group. The control group, referred to as the reference settlement, was chosen from a nearby building complex, with similar characteristics, but without the car-free feature. Household consumption patterns were estimated based on interviews in combination with data from the Austrian consumer expenditure survey and the national accounts. The evaluation of household environmental impacts uses emissions estimates from the Austrian national accounting matrices including environmental accounts and data from life-cycle assessments. Households from the car-free settlement have substantially lower environmental impacts in the categories of ground transportation and energy use; their CO2 emissions of these two categories are less than 50% of those living in the reference settlement. The households in the car-free settlement have somewhat higher emissions in the categories air transport, nutrition, and [`]other' consumption, reflecting the higher income per-capita. As a result, the CO2 emissions are only slightly lower than in the reference settlement, but the emissions intensity is 20% lower. Both household groups have significantly lower environmental impacts than the Austrian average reflecting less car use and cleaner heating energy in Vienna

The drivers of Chinese CO2 emissions from 1980 to 2030

China's energy consumption doubled within the first 25 years of economic reforms initiated at the end of the 1970s, and doubled again in the past 5 years. It has resulted of a threefold CO2 emissions increase since early of 1980s. China's heavy reliance on coal will make it the largest emitter of CO2 in the world. By combining structural decomposition and input–output analysis we seek to assess the driving forces of China's CO2 emissions from 1980 to 2030. In our reference scenario, production-related CO2 emissions will increase another three times by 2030. Household consumption, capital investment and growth in exports will largely drive the increase in CO2 emissions. Efficiency gains will be partially offset the projected increases in consumption, but our scenarios show that this will not be sufficient if China's consumption patterns converge to current US levels. Relying on efficiency improvements alone will not stabilize China's future emissions. Our scenarios show that even extremely optimistic assumptions of widespread installation of carbon dioxide capture and storage will only slow the increase in CO2 emissions

The association between APOA5 haplotypes and plasma lipids is not modified by energy or fat intake: The Czech HAPIEE study.

Several smaller studies reported interactions between dietary factors and apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5) gene polymorphisms in determination of plasma lipids. We tested interactions between APOA5 haplotypes and dietary intake in determination of plasma triglycerides (TG) and other lipids

Nobody Is Perfect: Comparison of the Accuracy of PCR-RFLP and KASP (TM) Method for Genotyping. ADH1B and FTO Polymorphisms as Examples

DNA genotyping is among the most common analyses currently performed in scientific research. Two high-throughput genotyping techniques are widely used – the “classic” PCR-RFLP and probe-based methods such as TaqMan® PCR assay or KASP™ genotyping. The probe-based techniques are claimed to be more accurate than PCR-RFLP; however, the evidence for this claim is sparse. We have directly compared results of genotyping of two SNPs (rs1229984 and rs17817449) obtained by the PCR-RFLP and KASP™ in 1,502 adult Caucasians. The results were identical in 97.3 % and 95.9 % cases, respectively. Discrepancies (either different results or result obtained with one but not with the other method) were addressed by confirmatory analysis using direct sequencing. The sequencing revealed that both methods can give incorrect results, but the frequency of incorrect genotyping of rs1229984 and rs17817449 was very low for both methods – 0.1 % and 0.5 %, respectively, for PCR-RFLP and 0.1 % and 0.3 %, respectively, for KASP™. These results confirm that the KASP™ technique is slightly more accurate, but it achieves slightly lower call rates than PCR-RFLP. When carefully set up, both PCR-RFLP and KASP™ could have accuracy of 99.5 % or higher

Genetics of Cardiovascular Disease: How Far Are We from Personalized CVD Risk Prediction and Management?

Despite the rapid progress in diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD), this disease remains a major cause of mortality and morbidity. Recent progress over the last two decades in the field of molecular genetics, especially with new tools such as genome-wide association studies, has helped to identify new genes and their variants, which can be used for calculations of risk, prediction of treatment efficacy, or detection of subjects prone to drug side effects. Although the use of genetic risk scores further improves CVD prediction, the significance is not unambiguous, and some subjects at risk remain undetected. Further research directions should focus on the “second level” of genetic information, namely, regulatory molecules (miRNAs) and epigenetic changes, predominantly DNA methylation and gene-environment interactions

Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of dyslipidemia in older persons in urban and rural population in the Astana region, Kazakhstan.

BACKGROUND: Despite high cardiovascular mortality in Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union, there is limited information about major risk factors, including blood lipids. We investigated the prevalence of impaired concentrations of blood lipids, the awareness, treatment and control of hypercholesterolemia, and factors associated with these indicators in urban and rural populations in Kazakhstan. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of random urban and rural population samples (the state capital Astana and Akmol village). Men and women aged 50-74 years were examined; a total of 954 adults participated (response rate 59%). Serum concentrations of total, LDL and HDL cholesterol and triglycerides and a range of other cardiovascular risk factors were measured. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of hypercholesterolemia (total cholesterol ≥6.2 mmol/l) was 37%; among subjects with hypercholesterolemia, 57% were aware of their condition, 41% took medication and 23% had total cholesterol <6.2 mmol/l (4.5% <5 mmol/l). The prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypercholesterolemia were all higher in the urban than the rural area. Similarly, the proportions of subjects with impaired concentrations of specific lipids fractions were also considerably higher in the urban population. Most associations with other covariates were in the expected direction. CONCLUSIONS: This study found relatively high prevalence of dyslipidemia in the Kazakh population, and the blood lipid profile was less favourable in the urban area. These pronounced urban-rural differences may be related to urbanization, the associated nutrition transition and to access to health care

A cost–benefit analysis of the environmental taxation policy in China: A frontier analysis‐based environmentally extended input–output optimization method

China's high‐speed economic development and reliance on overconsumption of natural resources have led to serious environmental pollution. Environmental taxation is seen as an effective economic tool to help mitigate air pollution. In order to assess the effects of different scenarios of environmental taxation policies, we propose a frontier‐based environmentally extended input–output optimization model with explicit emission abatement sectors to reflect the inputs and benefits of abatement. Frontier analysis ensures policy scenarios are assessed under the same technical efficiency benchmark, while input–output analysis depicts the wide range of economic transactions among sectors of an economy. Four scenarios are considered in this study, which are increasing specific tax rates of SO2, NOx, and soot and dust separately and increasing all three tax rates simultaneously. Our estimation results show that: raising tax rates of SO2, NOx, and soot and dust simultaneously would have the highest emission reduction effects, with the SO2 tax rate making the greatest contribution to emission reduction. Raising the soot and dust tax rate is the most environmentally friendly strategy due to its highest abatement to welfare through avoided health costs. The combination of frontier analysis and input–output analysis provides policy makers a comprehensive and sectoral approach to assess costs and benefits of environmental taxation

The Environmental Impacts of Consumption: Research Methods and Driving Forces

The aim of this study is to develop an operational method to determine the direct and indirect environmental impacts of Austrian household's consumption pattern and to apply this method together with social research methods to evaluate the household's consumption pattern of two different settlements. The operational method is set up on the Household Environmental Impact (HEI) assessment based on household interviews, and without conducting a full consumer expenditure survey. The empirical research is designed as a case-control study of the car-free settlement in Vienna and aims to evaluate how the consumption patterns of the inhabitants differ from a 'control group', what that impact has on the environment taking the income (or 'rebound') effect into account, and how the attitudes and social determinants of behavior differ between the two groups. The environmental profile of the household is calculated by using consumer expenditure surveys, information from the national accounting tables (with environmental accounts), from product life cycle assessment, and data from the conducted survey. Survey research on the motivations, preferences, and social factors is used to evaluate the driving forces and social dynamics that determine the environmental profiles of the selected households. Residents in the car-free settlement have changed their daily mobility routines for good. Daily mobility needs are covered by public transport and bicycle. The high importance of the issue "car-use" in the car-free settlement, the fact that car mobility is still a very important topic in the settlement, and the environmentally conscious micro-culture in the car-free settlement contributes to the stabilization of the car-free habit of the tenants. Due to that only people with low car mileage state adequate attitudes, and do have much more car-free friends. Whereas the extremely low car traffic in the car-free settlement could only be partly explained by settlement attributes, there is no empirical indication to explain air traffic. The results show that car-free households have substantially lower environmental impacts in the categories of ground transportation and energy use, their CO2 emissions of these two categories are less than 50% of those of the reference settlement. The car-free households have somewhat higher emissions in the categories air transport, nutrition, and 'other' consumption, reflecting the slightly higher income per-capita. As a result, the CO2 emissions are only slightly lower than in the reference settlement. The research is designed to lay the foundation for policy making through providing tools to determine the environmental impacts of consumption, as well as insight into alternative consumption patterns and factors that shape those patterns