Factors Affecting Seasonal Walkability in a Cold Climate Community: A Case Study of East Lansing, Michigan, in Collaboration with Michigan State University

At its most basic level, community involvement has as its primary goal the betterment of the community. In this study, we investigated how community involvement (a form of social capital) interrelates with seasonal walkability, cycling, and running in a cold climate community like East Lansing, Michigan. A head of household survey (of 505 individuals in three different neighborhoods) was conducted that asked residents about their weekly exercise patterns, and their personal service involvement with others in their neighborhoods. Poor walkability in a community is thought to be an important limiting factor to human health and a contributing factor to obesity due to an increased dependency on the automobile. Previous studies show strong correlations between physical characteristics of the built environment and the incidence of obesity in a community. In this study, we integrated dimensions of seasonal weather phenomena, socio-demographic characteristics of neighborhoods (including current levels of physical activity), and expressions of social capital into a social-environmental model of the built environment and human health. Results of this communityuniversity partnership suggest ways to enhance the city’s ability to mobilize community resources, and prioritize its own resources, in creating a more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly environment for its citizens. It also provides insight into how, when and why citizens engage in community life, and what public officials can do to improve long-term citizen involvement in issues affecting health and quality of life in East Lansing, Michigan, USA.</p

Shared Principles of Restoration Practice in the Chicago Wilderness Region

We describe the rules, norms, and strategies (institutional statements) that characterize ecological restoration across 10 organizations in the Chicago Wilderness region. Our use of Ostrom’s IAD ADICO grammar tool is novel in both context (non-extractive resource management) and data type (qualitative interviews). Results suggest that, in contrast to a focus on rules in the literature, restoration is overwhelmingly guided by strategies (institutional statements void of tangible or emotional sanctions). Moreover, a small, but critical set of norms exist. From over 1,700 institutional statements extracted, we found a suite of rich principles that guide behavior in all of the organizations: (1) qualify, don’t quantify; (2) listen to the land; (3) practice follow-up; (4) do no harm; (5) respond to sanctions from the land; (6) balance diverse internal stakeholders; and (7) balance diverse external factors. These principles suggest that Chicago Wilderness restorationists have a strong shared understanding upon which collective action and adaptive management occurs

Mannose impairs tumour growth and enhances chemotherapy

It is now well established that tumours undergo changes in cellular metabolism1. As this can reveal tumour cell vulnerabilities and because many tumours exhibit enhanced glucose uptake2, we have been interested in how tumour cells respond to different forms of sugar. Here we report that the monosaccharide mannose causes growth retardation in several tumour types in vitro, and enhances cell death in response to major forms of chemotherapy. We then show that these effects also occur in vivo in mice following the oral administration of mannose, without significantly affecting the weight and health of the animals. Mechanistically, mannose is taken up by the same transporter(s) as glucose3 but accumulates as mannose-6-phosphate in cells, and this impairs the further metabolism of glucose in glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the pentose phosphate pathway and glycan synthesis. As a result, the administration of mannose in combination with conventional chemotherapy affects levels of anti-apoptotic proteins of the Bcl-2 family, leading to sensitization to cell death. Finally we show that susceptibility to mannose is dependent on the levels of phosphomannose isomerase (PMI). Cells with low levels of PMI are sensitive to mannose, whereas cells with high levels are resistant, but can be made sensitive by RNA-interference-mediated depletion of the enzyme. In addition, we use tissue microarrays to show that PMI levels also vary greatly between different patients and different tumour types, indicating that PMI levels could be used as a biomarker to direct the successful administration of mannose. We consider that the administration of mannose could be a simple, safe and selective therapy in the treatment of cancer, and could be applicable to multiple tumour types