A critical review of the epidemiological evidence of effects of air pollution on dementia, cognitive function and cognitive decline in adult population

Dementia is arguably the most pressing public health challenge of our age. Since dementia does not have a cure,identifying risk factors that can be controlled has become paramount to reduce the personal, societal and eco-nomic burden of dementia. The relationship between exposure to air pollution and effects on cognitive function,cognitive decline and dementia has stimulated increasing scientific interest in the past few years. This review ofthe literature critically examines the available epidemiological evidence of associations between exposure to am-bient air pollutants, cognitive performance, acceleration of cognitive decline, risk of developing dementia, neuro-imaging and neurological biomarker studies, following Bradford Hill guidelines for causality.The evidence reviewed has been consistent in reporting associations between chronic exposure to air pollutionand reduced global cognition, as well as impairment in specific cognitive domains including visuo-spatial abili-ties. Cognitive decline and dementia incidence have also been consistently associated with exposure to air pollu-tion. The neuro-imaging studies reviewed report associations between exposure to air pollution and whitematter volume reduction. Other reported effects include reduction in gray matter, larger ventricular volume,and smaller corpus callosum. Findings relating to ischemic (white matter hyperintensities/silent cerebralinfarcts) and hemorrhagic (cerebral microbleeds) markers of cerebral small vessel disease have been heteroge-neous, as have observations on hippocampal volume and air pollution. The few studies available on neuro-inflammation tend to report associations with exposure to air pollution. everal effect modifiers have been suggested in the literature, but more replication studies are required. Tradi-tional confounding factors have been controlled or adjusted for in most of the reviewed studies. Additional con-founding factors have also been considered, but the inclusion of these has varied among the different studies.Despite all the efforts to adjust for confounding factors, residual confounding cannot be completely ruled out, es-pecially since the factors affecting cognition and dementia are not yet fully understood.The available evidence meets many of the Bradford Hill guidelines for causality. The reported associations be-tween a range of air pollutants and effects oncognitive function in older people,including the acceleration of cog-nitive decline and the induction of dementia, are likely to be causal in nature.However, the diversity of study designs, air pollutants and endpoints examined precludes the attribution of theseadverse effects to a single class of pollutant and makes meta-analysis inappropriate

D-Fagomine lowers postprandial blood glucose and modulates bacterial adhesion

d-Fagomine is an iminosugar originally isolated from seeds of buckwheat (Fagopyrum sculentum Moench), present in the human diet and now available as a pure crystalline product. We tested d-fagomine for activities connected to a reduction in the risk of developing insulin resistance, becoming overweight and suffering from an excess of potentially pathogenic bacteria. The activities were: intestinal sucrase inhibition in vitro (rat mucosa and everted intestine sleeves), modulation of postprandial blood glucose in rats, bacterial agglutination and bacterial adhesion to pig intestinal mucosa. When ingested together with sucrose or starch, d-fagomine lowered blood glucose in a dose-dependent manner without stimulating insulin secretion. d-Fagomine reduced the area under the curve (0-120 min) by 20 % (P < 0•01) and shifted the time to maximum blood glucose concentration (T max) by 15 min at doses of 1-2 mg/kg body weight when administered together with 1 g sucrose/kg body weight. Moreover, d-fagomine (0•14 mm) agglutinated 60 % of Enterobacteriaceae (Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium) populations (P < 0•01), while it did not show this effect on Bifidobacterium spp. or Lactobacillus spp. At the same concentration, d-fagomine significantly (P < 0•001) inhibited the adhesion of Enterobacteriaceae (95-99 % cells in the supernatant) and promoted the adhesion of Lactobacillus acidophilus (56 % cells in the supernatant) to intestinal mucosa. d-Fagomine did not show any effect on bacterial cell viability. Based on all this evidence, d-fagomine may be used as a dietary ingredient or functional food component to reduce the health risks associated with an excessive intake of fast-digestible carbohydrates, or an excess of potentially pathogenic bacteria. © 2011 The Authors

Esquema para la gestión financiera del desarrollo local

Se propuso un esquema para la administración eficiente de los recursos financieros que potencien la gestión del desarrollo local. Se abordaron en el territorio los mecanismos para la administración de los recursos financieros; el proceso de administración financiera; las principales limitantes de la gestión del proceso de inversión y financiación de las estrategias de desarrollo; las potencialidades, necesidades, y posibles sinergias del sistema empresarial en la búsqueda de ingresos endógenos en la localidad y se determinó el requerimiento financiero para materializar una estrategia de planificación financiera local. El esquema permitió la aplicación de un sistema coherente de procedimientos sobre la base de las funciones fundamentales de la administración financiera y propició la articulación con el proceso administrativo de forma general. Se concluyó que la administración financiera juega un papel decisivo dentro del proceso de dirección. Se trata no sólo de "administrar las finanzas”; sino también de "administrar a través de las finanzas" con el fin de contribuir a la gestión del financiamiento del desarrollo local

Carga tributaria territorial: herramienta de análisis y contribución financiera al desarrollo local

Se analizó la carga tributaria como herramienta de estudio y control para el gobierno local, en función de las decisiones de financiamiento para el desarrollo de los territorios. Se estudió la carga tributaria territorial como elemento clave para la captación de ingresos por concepto de tributos y a su vez su relación con el valor agregado territorial. Así, el elemento estudiado —desde la gestión financiera de gobierno— puede contribuir a la satisfacción de las necesidades reales de desarrollo local. Se partió de un enfoque totalmente analítico de las principales dificultades, tanto de la gestión tributaria en su conjunto como de su vinculación con la gestión estratégica del territorio. Se propone un esquema lógico, descriptor de los pasos para determinar (y analizar) la carga tributaria territorial, en el cual se considera este proceso, no desde la oficina tributaria, sino desde el gobierno local. Éste —con su alcance en la toma de decisiones—, puede utilizar esta herramienta de análisis para intervenir en las principales dificultades en la captación de ingresos por concepto de impuestos que se revertirán en financiamiento para el desarrollo local

Evaluation and calibration of Aeroqual Series 500 portable gas sensors for accurate measurement of ambient ozone and nitrogen dioxide

Low-power, and relatively low-cost, gas sensors have potential to improve understanding of intra-urban air pollution variation by enabling data capture over wider networks than is possible with 'traditional' reference analysers. We evaluated an Aeroqual Ltd. Series 500 semiconducting metal oxide O3 and an electrochemical NO2 sensor against UK national network reference analysers for more than 2months at an urban background site in central Edinburgh. Hourly-average Aeroqual O3 sensor observations were highly correlated (R2=0.91) and of similar magnitude to observations from the UV-absorption reference O3 analyser. The Aeroqual NO2 sensor observations correlated poorly with the reference chemiluminescence NO2 analyser (R2=0.02), but the deviations between Aeroqual and reference analyser values ([NO2]Aeroq-[NO2]ref) were highly significantly correlated with concurrent Aeroqual O3 sensor observations [O3]Aeroq. This permitted effective linear calibration of the [NO2]Aeroq data, evaluated using 'hold out' subsets of the data (R2≥0.85). These field observations under temperate environmental conditions suggest that the Aeroqual Series 500 NO2 and O3 monitors have good potential to be useful ambient air monitoring instruments in urban environments provided that the O3 and NO2 gas sensors are calibrated against reference analysers and deployed in parallel

The past, present, and future of the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS)

The Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) is a community-driven standard for the organization of data and metadata from a growing range of neuroscience modalities. This paper is meant as a history of how the standard has developed and grown over time. We outline the principles behind the project, the mechanisms by which it has been extended, and some of the challenges being addressed as it evolves. We also discuss the lessons learned through the project, with the aim of enabling researchers in other domains to learn from the success of BIDS