The impact of environmental noise generated from ports: outcome of MESP project

Ports are characterized by several complex operations. Accordingly, the analysis of noise results is complicated due to the presence in the same area of diverse sound from ships, trade and also from industrial and shipyards activities aswell as auxiliary services producing negative effects on natural ecosystem and the urban population. The ENPI CBC MED project Managing the Environmental Sustainability of Ports for a durable development (MESP) addressed the pollution reduction from port activities through the implementation of a multidisciplinary approach in air, noise andwater sectors, encompassing technological, regulatory and administrative solutions to ensure natural and urban sustainability and high level of life quality in surrounding territories. To prevent a heterogeneous development, the \u201cstatus quo\u201d of ports in Northern and Southern Shores of the Mediterranean Sea was analyzed and a guideline on methodologies, good practices and measurement assessment, adaptable and transferable in different port contexts was elaborated. To assess the procedures, validation tests have been carried out to different real cases. In noise sector pilot projects in the ports of Patras, Greece, and Tripoli, Lebanon, have been implemented. Due to the dissimilar scenarios, in terms of orography, facilities and activities, different noise mitigation actions and interventions were consequently accomplished

The impact of environmental noise generated from ports: outcome of MESP project

Ports are characterized by several complex operations. Accordingly, the analysis of noise results is complicated due to the presence in the same area of diverse sound from ships, trade and also from industrial and shipyards activities aswell as auxiliary services producing negative effects on natural ecosystem and the urban population. The ENPI CBC MED project Managing the Environmental Sustainability of Ports for a durable development (MESP) addressed the pollution reduction from port activities through the implementation of a multidisciplinary approach in air, noise andwater sectors, encompassing technological, regulatory and administrative solutions to ensure natural and urban sustainability and high level of life quality in surrounding territories. To prevent a heterogeneous development, the “status quo” of ports in Northern and Southern Shores of the Mediterranean Sea was analyzed and a guideline on methodologies, good practices and measurement assessment, adaptable and transferable in different port contexts was elaborated. To assess the procedures, validation tests have been carried out to different real cases. In noise sector pilot projects in the ports of Patras, Greece, and Tripoli, Lebanon, have been implemented. Due to the dissimilar scenarios, in terms of orography, facilities and activities, different noise mitigation actions and interventions were consequently accomplished

Managing European Cross Border Cooperation Projects on Sustainability: A Focus on MESP Project

International cooperation is a must to achieve the goal of sustainable development, since only through cross border actions’ complex issues like environmental degradation can be faced. Supranational initiatives and shared objectives are the only path for getting a durable and effective green strategy, which transcends boundaries or governments and fosters a common effort for sustainability through networking. The European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) aims at reinforcing cooperation between the European Union (EU) and partner countries’ regions placed along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. To this extent, MESP (Managing the Environmental Sustainability of Ports for a durable development) can be considered as a typical cross border cooperation project, willing to create a sustainable environmental management of port in northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean basin. This has been achieved through the development of specific guidelines towards environmental sustainability and the collection of common tools, methodologies, good practices and innovations focused on pollution reduction that can be replicated in Mediterranean ports and further. This was possible through the creation of a strong cooperation network and long-lasting collaborations among partners and stakeholders such as harbour cities, port authorities, universities, research centres and scientific skills

A novel mechanism for variable phenotypic expressivity in Mendelian diseases uncovered by an AU-rich element (ARE)-creating mutation

Abstract Background Variable expressivity is a well-known phenomenon in which patients with mutations in one gene display varying degrees of clinical severity, potentially displaying only subsets of the clinical manifestations associated with the multisystem disorder linked to the gene. This remains an incompletely understood phenomenon with proposed mechanisms ranging from allele-specific to stochastic. Results We report three consanguineous families in which an isolated ocular phenotype is linked to a novel 3′ UTR mutation in SLC4A4, a gene known to be mutated in a syndromic form of intellectual disability with renal and ocular involvement. Although SLC4A4 is normally devoid of AU-rich elements (AREs), a 3′ UTR motif that mediates post-transcriptional control of a subset of genes, the mutation we describe creates a functional ARE. We observe a marked reduction in the transcript level of SLC4A4 in patient cells. Experimental confirmation of the ARE-creating mutation is shown using a post-transcriptional reporter system that reveals consistent reduction in the mRNA-half life and reporter activity. Moreover, the neo-ARE binds and responds to the zinc finger protein ZFP36/TTP, an ARE-mRNA decay-promoting protein. Conclusions This novel mutational mechanism for a Mendelian disease expands the potential mechanisms that underlie variable phenotypic expressivity in humans to also include 3′ UTR mutations with tissue-specific pathology