Climate change mitigation and adaptation as a sustainable regional development strategy: lessons from the Selangor River Basin, Malaysia

Spatial planning practice in Malaysia has given greater prominence to environmental matters since the amendment of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 in 1995, in which sustainable development has become the core emphasis of all planning policies and plans. However, climate change elements, which are necessary to be addressed in strategic planning, have not been explicitly incorporated in spatial plans that cover urban and rural areas at state and local levels. This paper presents a framework to evaluate the extent of spatial planning responses to climate change adaptation and mitigation across various critical components that defines the quality of plan, including facts, analysis, goals, policies and implementation, in the case of the Selangor River Basin, a river basin that can be considered as a life support in the Kuala Lumpur Conurbation, the biggest urban mega region in Malaysia. A content analysis of national, state and local level spatial plans reveals that quality of plans is higher at the national level but gradually decline towards the lower tiers plans, and that generally equal emphasis has been paid to both climate change mitigation and adaptation. The findings support the argument that spatial planning provides a platform for coordinating mitigation and adaptation responses through its sustainable development policies, however the scope of sustainable development in Malaysia need to be reframed for this purpose

Keperluan peta kerentanan bencana sebagai input dalam pengurusan guna tanah: kajian kes Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Limpahan pesat aktiviti tepu bina di UKM Bangi untuk memenuhi kehendak dan juga keperluan warganya menjadikan ia setara fungsi satu pekan kecil. Di samping pembangunan yang pesat, UKM turut mengalami insiden kegagalan cerun, tanah runtuh dan banjir kecil di beberapa kawasan dalam kampus. Kajian ini direka untuk menyepadukan maklumat pelbagai dimensi untuk menyokong membuat keputusan dalam pengurusan guna tanah untuk menangani isu bencana di kampus ini. Objektif kajian adalah untuk: mengenal pasti maklumat pelbagai dimensi yang menyumbang kepada bencana di UKM dan membangunkan satu peta kerentanan tanah runtuh dan banjir untuk menyokong dalam membuat keputusan secara termaklum. Melalui pendekatan heuristik, tiga kaedah utama telah digunakan untuk menghasilkan peta kerentanan tanah runtuh dan banjir iaitu: analisis kandungan untuk mengenal pasti kriteria yang menyumbang kepada tanah runtuh dan banjir; elisitasi pakar untuk memberi nilai pemberat terhadap kriteria; dan analisis tindan-lapis untuk memproses dan menjana peta tematik. Kriteria yang menyumbang kepada tanah runtuh dan banjir dikategorikan kepada faktor hujan, topografi, struktur geologi dan ciri-ciri geomorfologi yang seterusnya diberi nilai pemberat. Peta kerentanan tanah runtuh yang terhasil menunjukkan kelas kerentanan tinggi merupakan kelas terbesar di UKM dengan keluasan sebanyak 6.10 km2 bersamaan 51.91% daripada jumlah keluasan asal kampus. Analisis terhadap lokasi insiden lepas mendapati kesemua taburan tanah runtuh berlaku pada kelas kerentanan sederhana, tinggi dan sangat tinggi. Hampir separuh daripada jumlah taburan tanah runtuh berlaku pada kelas kerentanan tinggi iaitu 57.14% yang merupakan peratusan terbesar. Peta kerentanan banjir menunjukkan UKM turut terdedah kepada banjir. Majoriti kawasan kampus didominasi oleh kelas kerentanan sederhana dengan keluasan sebanyak 6.5 km2 kira-kira hampir 56% daripada keluasan asal. Aset penting universiti dan laluan utama kampus ini yang bersebelahan dengan saliran sungai terletak di dalam kawasan berkerentanan tinggi. Situasi ini agak membimbangkan kerana terdapat infrastruktur penting di sekitar kawasan ini. Input berguna yang diperoleh melalui kajian ini telah menunjukkan keupayaan peta kerentanan tanah runtuh dan banjir sebagai medium yang bermaklumat dalam perancangan guna tanah sebelum menjalankan sebarang aktiviti pembangunan di sesuatu kawasan

Development – led marginalisation: a historical analysis of the Jahai in RPS Air Banun from the early 1900s to the 1980s

The Jahai from RPS Air Banun are amongst the indigenous ethnics found in Peninsular Malaysia who still grapple below the stated level of poverty. Various efforts have been initiated with intentions of extracting them from their traditional ways of life in order to live on par amongst the multicultural – multiracial Malaysian population. Even so, fast paced development and urbanization has caused them to be left far behind when compared with their non-indigenous Malaysian counterparts. Despite extensive planning and implementation, development programmes have shown little success in changing their socio-economic status for the better and they have only been further marginalized and threatened by these initiatives. The deterioration in socio-economic status of the Jahai from RPS Air Banun is found to be closely related to the history of this nation’s development especially after achieving independence. Rapid urbanization and economic growth during the post-communist period had vastly changed the country’s physical landscape, thus changing the lives of the indigenous minority whose livelihood was still greatly dependant on natural resources. By employing the historical perspective, this paper examines the socio-economic status of the Jahai in RPS Air Banun who still live below the poverty level even after three decades of involvement in the Orang Asli Resettlement Programme

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist

IPCC, 2023: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, Summary for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland.

This Synthesis Report (SYR) of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) summarises the state of knowledge of climate change, its widespread impacts and risks, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. It integrates the main findings of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) based on contributions from the three Working Groups1 , and the three Special Reports. The summary for Policymakers (SPM) is structured in three parts: SPM.A Current Status and Trends, SPM.B Future Climate Change, Risks, and Long-Term Responses, and SPM.C Responses in the Near Term.This report recognizes the interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies; the value of diverse forms of knowledge; and the close linkages between climate change adaptation, mitigation, ecosystem health, human well-being and sustainable development, and reflects the increasing diversity of actors involved in climate action. Based on scientific understanding, key findings can be formulated as statements of fact or associated with an assessed level of confidence using the IPCC calibrated language

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Platforms of climate change: an evolutionary perspective and lessons for Malaysia

The discourse on climate change of both natural and anthropogenic origins has a long history and the subject has been discussed from both scientific and social perspectives. This paper reports on a study that begins with a review of the historical perspective of the subject with a focus on the enhanced greenhouse effect from the 15th to 19th centuries by identifying the main discussion platforms and delineating their temporal and substantial interactions. The three main climate change platforms are the science platform, the media platform and the policy platform. The science platform is where theories related to the greenhouse effects and their enhancements are developed. The media platform comprises newspaper coverage on climate change themes, while the policy platform is mainly the UN and its decisions relating to climate change. The authors assert that if not for the discussion, attention and actions within each, the climate change discussion would not have become so intense and the climate change agenda would not have been furthered. It is observed that less attention is given to science-media interaction compared to science-policy interaction. Similarly, NGOs have received little attention in these platforms and their interactions. The second part of the paper presents a descriptive case study that was undertaken to discuss the climate change agenda at a national level to determine whether the national scenario will have a pathway similar to that of the global one. It is suggested that in Malaysia this agenda is more likely to be driven by policy. The country’s climate change policy is expected to address the needs and gaps identified in this study