Degraded lands worth protecting: the biological importance of Southeast Asia's repeatedly logged forests

Southeast Asia is a hotspot of imperilled biodiversity, owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to oil palm agriculture. The degraded forests that remain after multiple rounds of intensive logging are often assumed to be of little conservation value; consequently, there has been no concerted effort to prevent them from being converted to oil palm. However, no study has quantified the biodiversity of repeatedly logged forests. We compare the species richness and composition of birds and dung beetles within unlogged (primary), once-logged and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. Logging had little effect on the overall richness of birds. Dung beetle richness declined following once-logging but did not decline further after twice-logging. The species composition of bird and dung beetle communities was altered, particularly after the second logging rotation, but globally imperilled bird species (IUCN Red List) did not decline further after twice-logging. Remarkably, over 75 per cent of bird and dung beetle species found in unlogged forest persisted within twice-logged forest. Although twice-logged forests have less biological value than primary and once-logged forests, they clearly provide important habitat for numerous bird and dung beetle species. Preventing these degraded forests from being converted to oil palm should be a priority of policy-makers and conservationists

Acute intermittent hypoxia drives hepatic de novo lipogenesis in humans and rodents.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver condition. It is tightly associated with an adverse metabolic phenotype (including obesity and type 2 diabetes) as well as with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) of which intermittent hypoxia is a critical component. Hepatic de novo lipogenesis (DNL) is a significant contributor to hepatic lipid content and the pathogenesis of NAFLD and has been proposed as a key pathway to target in the development of pharmacotherapies to treat NAFLD. Our aim is to use experimental models to investigate the impact of hypoxia on hepatic lipid metabolism independent of obesity and metabolic disease. METHODS: Human and rodent studies incorporating stable isotopes and hyperinsulinaemic euglycaemic clamp studies were performed to assess the regulation of DNL and broader metabolic phenotype by intermittent hypoxia. Cell-based studies, including pharmacological and genetic manipulation of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF), were used to examine the underlying mechanisms. RESULTS: Hepatic DNL increased in response to acute intermittent hypoxia in humans, without alteration in glucose production or disposal. These observations were endorsed in a prolonged model of intermittent hypoxia in rodents using stable isotopic assessment of lipid metabolism. Changes in DNL were paralleled by increases in hepatic gene expression of acetyl CoA carboxylase 1 and fatty acid synthase. In human hepatoma cell lines, hypoxia increased both DNL and fatty acid uptake through HIF-1α and -2α dependent mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: These studies provide robust evidence linking intermittent hypoxia and the regulation of DNL in both acute and sustained in vivo models of intermittent hypoxia, providing an important mechanistic link between hypoxia and NAFLD

Digital Service Transformation: Pathways to human and economic wellbeing White Paper

This White Paper is the result of a roundtable we held in Brisbane in November 2022, which brought together 64 participants – industry representatives from financial services, health services, construction, consulting, tourism, and government, with an interdisciplinary group of academics. We jointly identified, articulated, and ranked managerial challenges and opportunities stemming from the grand challenges associated with digital transformation of service. Each team addressed a unique ‘service need’, with the academics providing scholarly expertise and the industry partners providing important real-world insights

Antecedents of CSR Practices in MNCs’ Subsidiaries: A Stakeholder and Institutional Perspective

corporate social responsibility, emerging economies, institutions, international, legitimacy, multinational corporations’ subsidiaries, stakeholders,