Local Air pollution and global climate change taxes: a distributional analysis for the case of Spain.

Global climate change measures are difficult to implement. In this context, local air pollution measures may play an important role in the political agenda since their effects are felt more immediately by citizens. Distributional implications are one of the main barriers for implementing environmental policies. This paper explores the distributional implications of air pollution taxes and compares them to climate change taxes. For the comparison, both tax schemes were set to yield the same revenue. Methodologically, the study uses a top down approach linking a macro model to a micro model. We find that taxes on local air pollutants are more regressive than those levied on CO2. This is because the goods implicitly taxed have a greater weight in the consumer basket of low-income groups, even if the tax revenues are recycled. Furthermore, the revenue-neutral recycle scheme increases both taxes efficiency, but, at the same time, can increase regressivity

Impuestos ambientales sobre la contaminación del aire y el cambio climático: un análisis comparativo de los impactos distributivos para España

4 p.Los impactos distributivos de los impuestos ambientales son claves para su viabilidad política. - El efecto de los impuestos ambientales en el bienestar es reducido, especialmente cuando se reciclan los ingresos. - Los impuestos sobre los contaminantes del aire resultan más regresivos que aquellos que gravan las emisiones de carácter global. - Los impactos distributivos de los impuestos a la contaminación del aire puede mermar su aceptabilidad. - Reciclar los ingresos impositivos vía cotizaciones incrementa el carácter regresivo de los impuestos

Soluble platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1, a biomarker of ventilator-induced lung injury

Introduction: Endothelial cell injury is an important component of acute lung injury. Platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM1) is a transmembrane protein that connects endothelial cells to one another and can be detected as a soluble, truncated protein (sPECAM1) in serum. We hypothesized that injurious mechanical ventilation (MV) leads to shedding of PECAM1 from lung endothelial cells resulting in increasing sPECAM1 levels in the systemic circulation. Methods: We studied 36 Sprague–Dawley rats in two prospective, randomized, controlled studies (healthy and septic) using established animal models of ventilator-induced lung injury. Animals (n = 6 in each group) were randomized to spontaneous breathing or two MV strategies: low tidal volume (VT) (6 ml/kg) and high-VT (20 ml/kg) on 2 cmH2O of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). In low-VT septic animals, 10 cmH2O of PEEP was applied. We performed pulmonary histological and physiological evaluation and measured lung PECAM1 protein content and serum sPECAM1 levels after four hours ventilation period. Results: High-VT MV caused severe lung injury in healthy and septic animals, and decreased lung PECAM1 protein content (P < 0.001). Animals on high-VT had a four- to six-fold increase of mean sPECAM1 serum levels than the unventilated counterpart (35.4 ± 10.4 versus 5.6 ± 1.7 ng/ml in healthy rats; 156.8 ± 47.6 versus 35.6 ± 12.6 ng/ml in septic rats) (P < 0.0001). Low-VT MV prevented these changes. Levels of sPECAM1 in healthy animals on high-VT MV paralleled the sPECAM1 levels of non-ventilated septic animals. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that circulating sPECAM1 may represent a promising biomarker for the detection and monitoring of ventilator-induced lung injury

Serum Lipopolysaccharide Binding Protein Levels Predict Severity of Lung Injury and Mortality in Patients with Severe Sepsis

Background: There is a need for biomarkers insuring identification of septic patients at high-risk for death. We performed a prospective, multicenter, observational study to investigate the time-course of lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) serum levels in patients with severe sepsis and examined whether serial serum levels of LBP could be used as a marker of outcome. Methodology/Principal Findings: LBP serum levels at study entry, at 48 hours and at day-7 were measured in 180 patients with severe sepsis. Data regarding the nature of infections, disease severity, development of acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and intensive care unit (ICU) outcome were recorded. LBP serum levels were similar in survivors and non-survivors at study entry (117.4±75.7 µg/mL vs. 129.8±71.3 µg/mL, P = 0.249) but there were significant differences at 48 hours (77.2±57.0 vs. 121.2±73.4 µg/mL, P<0.0001) and at day-7 (64.7±45.8 vs. 89.7±61.1 µg/ml, p = 0.017). At 48 hours, LBP levels were significantly higher in ARDS patients than in ALI patients (112.5±71.8 µg/ml vs. 76.6±55.9 µg/ml, P = 0.0001). An increase of LBP levels at 48 hours was associated with higher mortality (odds ratio 3.97; 95%CI: 1.84–8.56; P<0.001). Conclusions/Significance: Serial LBP serum measurements may offer a clinically useful biomarker for identification of patients with severe sepsis having the worst outcomes and the highest probability of developing sepsis-induced ARDS

Geodivulgar: Geología y Sociedad 2018

Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasFALSEsubmitte

GEODIVULGAR: Geología y Sociedad

Fac. de Ciencias GeológicasFALSEsubmitte

Geodivulgar: Geología y Sociedad

Con el lema “Geología para todos” el proyecto Geodivulgar: Geología y Sociedad apuesta por la divulgación de la Geología a todo tipo de público, incidiendo en la importancia de realizar simultáneamente una acción de integración social entre estudiantes y profesores de centros universitarios, de enseñanza infantil, primaria, de educación especial y un acercamiento con público con diversidad funcional

Local air pollution and global climate change taxes: a distributional analysis

25 p.Local air pollution and global climate change are two significant environmental problems which are interrelated. Some recent papers examine them together, but most of the relevant literature has focused either on climate change alone or on the ancillary benefits of mitigating it (in terms of air pollution). In regard to distribution, most publications have focused on the impacts of climate change-related taxes such as excise duties on CO2, energy or fuels. This paper explores the distributional implications of policies for taxing local air pollution and compares them with climate change taxes. The framework of taxation on air pollution is based on the estimated damage associated with the main local air pollutants, while the climate change framework is based on a CO2 tax. The case of Spain is examined, using an Input-Output model in combination with a micro-simulation model. The distributional implications of a revenue-neutral tax reform are also explored. We find that taxes on local pollutants are more regressive than those levied on climate change pollutants, because the goods implicitly taxed have a greater weight in the consumer basket of low income groups, even if the tax revenues are recycled

Impuestos ambientales sobre la contaminación del aire y el cambio climático: un análisis comparativo de los impactos distributivos para España

4 p.Los impactos distributivos de los impuestos ambientales son claves para su viabilidad política. - El efecto de los impuestos ambientales en el bienestar es reducido, especialmente cuando se reciclan los ingresos. - Los impuestos sobre los contaminantes del aire resultan más regresivos que aquellos que gravan las emisiones de carácter global. - Los impactos distributivos de los impuestos a la contaminación del aire puede mermar su aceptabilidad. - Reciclar los ingresos impositivos vía cotizaciones incrementa el carácter regresivo de los impuestos