Transitions of cardio-metabolic risk factors in the Americas between 1980 and 2014

Describing the prevalence and trends of cardiometabolic risk factors that are associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is crucial for monitoring progress, planning prevention, and providing evidence to support policy efforts. We aimed to analyse the transition in body-mass index (BMI), obesity, blood pressure, raised blood pressure, and diabetes in the Americas, between 1980 and 2014

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol—which is a marker of cardiovascular risk—changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million–4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.</p

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol�which is a marker of cardiovascular risk�changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95 credible interval 3.7 million�4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)

Development of deep geothermal energy resources in the UK

Deep geothermal exploration in the UK in the 1980s resulted in only one operative borehole (in Southampton). In 2004, a 995 m deep borehole was drilled into the Weardale granite in County Durham. This project differed markedly from the earlier ‘hot dry rock’ investigations in the granites of Cornwall, in that it deliberately targeted possible high natural permeability derived from large fault zones. The new approach met with success, discovering what is believed to be the highest natural permeability ever found in granite anywhere in the world. Drilling of a second borehole at Eastgate in 2010 confirmed that high permeability is preferentially associated with major west–east geological faults. Further deep drilling is now targeting similar faults cutting nearby sedimentary sequences. Meanwhile, renewed interest is being shown in Cornish prospects, as well as in previously unexplored resources in Scotland and Northern Ireland. There is also significant interest in the possible geothermal exploitation of hot brines, which are co-produced with hydrocarbons in existing oilfields. Technological advances in directional drilling, reservoir stimulation and power generation using binary-cycle turbine plants are finally making deep geothermal energy a realistic target for full-scale development in the UK

Supplementary Material for: Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Complement C5a Production within Bacterial Extracellular Polymeric Substance

Opsonization and anaphylatoxin production are early events in the innate response to bacterial pathogens. Opsonization alone is frequently not lethal and production of anaphy-latoxins, especially C5a, allows for recruitment of cellular defenses. Complement biochemistry is extensively studied and computational models have been reported previously. However, a critical feature of complement-mediated attack is its spatial dependence: diffusion of mediators into and away from a bacterium is central to understanding C5a generation. Spatial dependence is especially important in biofilms, where diffusion limitation is crucial to bacterial counterdefense. Here we develop a model of opsonization and C5a production in the presence of a common blood-borne pathogen, <i>Staphylococcus epidermidis</i>. Our results indicate that when complement attacks a single cell, diffusion into the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) is complete within 10 ms and that production of C5a peaks over the next 15 min. When longer diffusion lengths (as in an EPS-rich biofilm) are incorporated, diffusion limitation appears such that the intensity and duration of C5a production is increased. However, the amount of C5a produced under several likely clinical scenarios where single cells or sparse biofilms are present is below the k_D of the C5a receptor suggesting that complement activation by a single bacterium may be difficult to detect when diffusion is taken into account

Keeping warm; a review of deep geothermal potential of the UK

In 2015, the primary energy demand in the UK was 202.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe = 848 EJ). Of this, about 58 mtoe (2.43 EJ) was used for space heating. Almost all of this heat was from burning fossil fuels either directly (50% of all gas used is for domestic purposes) or indirectly for power generation. Burning fossil fuels for heat released about 160 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2015. The UK must decarbonise heating for it to meet its commitments on emissions reduction. UK heat demand can be met from ultra-low-carbon, low enthalpy geothermal energy. Here we review the geothermal potential of the UK, comprising a combination of deep sedimentary basins, ancient warm granites and shallower flooded mines. A conservative calculation of the contained accessible heat in these resources is 200 EJ, about 100 years supply. Presently only one geothermal system is exploited in the UK. It has been supplying about 1.7MWT (heat) to Southampton by extracting water at a temperature of 76 ℃ from a depth of 1.7 km in the Wessex Basin. Like Southampton, most of the major population centres in the UK lie above or adjacent to major geothermal heat sources. The opportunity for using such heat within district heating schemes is considerable. The consequences of developing a substantial part of the UK’s geothermal resource are profound. The baseload heating that could be supplied from low enthalpy geothermal energy would cause a dramatic fall in the UK’s emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce the need for separate energy storage required by the intermittent renewables (wind and solar) and underpin a significant position of the nation’s energy security for the foreseeable future, so lessening the UK’s dependence on imported oil and gas. Investment in indigenous energy supplies would also mean retention of wealth in the UK