Towards integration of environmental and health impact assessments for wild capture fishing and farmed fish with particular reference to public health and occupational health dimensions

The paper offers a review and commentary, with particular reference to the production of fish from wild capture fisheries and aquaculture, on neglected aspects of health impact assessments which are viewed by a range of international and national health bodies and development agencies as valuable and necessary project tools. Assessments sometimes include environmental health impact assessments but rarely include specific occupational health and safety impact assessments especially integrated into a wider public health assessment. This is in contrast to the extensive application of environmental impact assessments to fishing and the comparatively large body of research now generated on the public health effects of eating fish. The value of expanding and applying the broader assessments would be considerable because in 2004 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reports there were 41,408,000 people in the total ‘fishing’ sector including 11,289,000 in aquaculture. The paper explores some of the complex interactions that occur with regard to fishing activities and proposes the wider adoption of health impact assessment tools in these neglected sectors through an integrated public health impact assessment tool

The incidence function model as a tool for landscape ecological impact assessments

Landscape-scale approaches to assessing the impact of land-use change on species' persistence are necessary because species depend on processes acting at varying scales, yet existing approaches to ecological impact assessment tend only to be site-based. A further major criticism of current ecological impact assessments is that they tend to be qualitative. Here we develop methods that apply the Incidence Function Model (IFM) in real urban planning contexts, by generating repeatable and comparable quantitative measures of ecological impacts. To demonstrate the methods for a case study (Nottingham, UK), we estimated landscape-scale measures of species' persistence that indicate metapopulation viability. We based these on Nottingham’s landscape when urban developments were recently proposed, then adjust the land cover to include the proposed developments, and also for two projected landscapes where 10% and 20% of the original natural or semi-natural land cover is lost. We find that the IFM shows promise as a tool for quantitative landscape-scale ecological impact assessment, depending on the size of the impact. We detected minimal differences in the species' viability measures between the original and post-development landscapes. This suggests that for small (around 2%) cumulative losses of natural/ semi-natural space, current site-based approaches are sufficient. However, when the cumulative effect of continued development was modelled by increasing the losses of natural/semi-natural land cover to 10–20% of existing cover, the impact on many of the species studied was more substantial. This indicates that a landscape-scale approach is necessary for larger, prolonged and cumulative habitat losses

Adiposity in early, middle and later adult life and cardiometabolic risk markers in later life; findings from the British regional heart study.

OBJECTIVES: This research investigates the associations between body mass index (BMI) at 21, 40-59, 60-79 years of age on cardiometabolic risk markers at 60-79 years. METHODS: A prospective study of 3464 British men with BMI measured at 40-59 and 60-79 years, when cardiometabolic risk was assessed. BMI at 21 years was ascertained from military records, or recalled from middle-age (adjusted for reporting bias); associations between BMI at different ages and later cardiometabolic risk markers were examined using linear regression. Sensitive period, accumulation and mobility life course models were devised for high BMI (defined as BMI≥75th centile) and compared with a saturated BMI trajectory model. RESULTS: At ages 21, 40-59 and 60-79 years, prevalences of overweight (BMI≥25 kg/m2) were 12%, 53%, 70%, and obesity (≥30 kg/m2) 1.6%, 6.6%, and 17.6%, respectively. BMI at 21 years was positively associated with serum insulin, blood glucose, and HbA1c at 60-79 years, with increases of 1.5% (95%CI 0.8,2.3%), 0.4% (0.1,0.6%), 0.3% (0.1,0.4%) per 1 kg/m2, respectively, but showed no associations with blood pressure or blood cholesterol. However, these associations were modest compared to those between BMI at 60-79 years and serum insulin, blood glucose and HbA1c at 60-79 years, with increases of 8.6% (8.0,9.2%), 0.7% (0.5,0.9%), and 0.5% (0.4,0.7%) per 1 kg/m2, respectively. BMI at 60-79 years was also associated with total cholesterol and blood pressure. Associations for BMI at 40-59 years were mainly consistent with those of BMI at 60-79 years. None of the life course models fitted the data as well as the saturated model for serum insulin. A sensitive period at 50 years for glucose and HbA1c and sensitive period at 70 years for blood pressure were identified. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort of men who were thin compared to more contemporary cohorts, BMI in later life was the dominant influence on cardiovascular and diabetes risk. BMI in early adult life may have a small long-term effect on diabetes risk

Global variations and time trends in the prevalence of childhood myopia, a systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis: implications for aetiology and early prevention.

The aim of this review was to quantify the global variation in childhood myopia prevalence over time taking account of demographic and study design factors. A systematic review identified population-based surveys with estimates of childhood myopia prevalence published by February 2015. Multilevel binomial logistic regression of log odds of myopia was used to examine the association with age, gender, urban versus rural setting and survey year, among populations of different ethnic origins, adjusting for study design factors. 143 published articles (42 countries, 374 349 subjects aged 1-18 years, 74 847 myopia cases) were included. Increase in myopia prevalence with age varied by ethnicity. East Asians showed the highest prevalence, reaching 69% (95% credible intervals (CrI) 61% to 77%) at 15 years of age (86% among Singaporean-Chinese). Blacks in Africa had the lowest prevalence; 5.5% at 15 years (95% CrI 3% to 9%). Time trends in myopia prevalence over the last decade were small in whites, increased by 23% in East Asians, with a weaker increase among South Asians. Children from urban environments have 2.6 times the odds of myopia compared with those from rural environments. In whites and East Asians sex differences emerge at about 9 years of age; by late adolescence girls are twice as likely as boys to be myopic. Marked ethnic differences in age-specific prevalence of myopia exist. Rapid increases in myopia prevalence over time, particularly in East Asians, combined with a universally higher risk of myopia in urban settings, suggest that environmental factors play an important role in myopia development, which may offer scope for prevention

Theoretical reflections on the connection between environmental assessment methods and conflict

Today there is a great variety of methods for evaluating the environmental impact of plans, programs and projects. But which of these methods should planners and managers choose? This theoretical article explores the connection between conflicts, communication and rationality in assessment methods. It focuses on the form (rationality) and substance of communication, i.e. what we should communicate about. The outcome supports the view that environmental assessments should be based on value- and interest-focused thinking, following a teleological ethic, when goals, alternatives and compensations are to be developed and impacts evaluated

Are placental lakes of any clinical significance?

The aim of this study was to determine prospectively whether an association exists between the finding of placental lakes at the 20 week scan and an increased risk of uteroplacental complications or a poor pregnancy outcome. We studied the placental appearances in 1198 consecutive second trimester ultrasound scans performed for routine foetal abnormality screening at our institution. The placental thickness was measured at its widest diameter in the sagittal plane and the presence or absence of placental lakes was recorded. The birth weight in each case was plotted against the centile charts in use at the hospital and recorded. Specific outcome measures included foetal growth restriction (IUGR) with a birth weight below the 5th centile, pre-eclampsia, placental abruption, and perinatal deaths. Placental lakes were seen in 17.8 per cent of the scans. There was no significant association with either maternal socio-demographic factors or perinatal mortality (OR 0.94, 95 per cent CI 0.35–2.51). No association was seen with maternal cigarette smoking (OR 1.07, 95 per cent CI 0.75–1.52), a birth weight below the 5th centile (OR 0.68, 95 per cent CI 0.39–1.18), the development of pregnancy induced hypertension (OR 0.68, 95 per cent CI 0.35–1.32), severe pre-eclampsia (OR 0.72, 95 per cent CI 0.21–2.50), or placental abruption (OR 1.79, 95 per cent CI 0.46–6.99). A finding of placental lakes was six times more likely with a thick placenta >3 cm at 20 weeks gestation (OR 6.30, 95 per cent CI 4.39 to 9.05). A finding of placental lakes during the second trimester ultrasound scan does not appear to be associated with uteroplacental complications or an adverse pregnancy outcome. The lesions are more prevalent with increasing placental thickness

Environmentally sensitive areas Does E.S.A. really mean the enforced surrender of the arena?

SIGLECopy held by FIZ Karlsruhe; available from UB/TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Issues of air pollution in environmental impact assessment of development projects

The aim of this study is to establish the trends in approaches and techniques being used to address the air pollution issues in project-related development. The interest was to look at the overall issues of air pollution and how it was dealt with in the context of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). However, the review was not based upon individual Environmental Impact Assessment techniques. Twenty eight samples from four different sectors were reviewed and information pertaining to construction activities, baseline condition, impact predictions and mitigating measures were extracted and analyzed. It was established that only 17% of reports had described the existing air quality in an appropriate manner. The constructions activity was mainly confused with the description of intended development. Only 39 % had described the activities as ‘true’ construction activities. The impacts of the construction phase on air quality for all projects were mainly associated with the generation of dust and particulates and emissions from vehicles exhaust. The predictions were made through quantitative or qualitative techniques. The later were being used in most projects. Nevertheless, there are reports especially from road schemes, which did not mention, the impacts of construction phase of the projects on air quality, at all. There are common mitigating measures to all or most projects types such as; wetting of exposed earth surfaces and unpaved roads, covering transported materials which may potentially release dust and particles, imposing speed limits within construction site. In order, to ensure that the mitigation measures will be implemented, the written approval should be linked with terms and conditions, which include the implementation of all mitigation measures identifie