Current Global Status Research Articles

Integrated and Consolidated Review of Plastic Waste Management and Bio-Based Biodegradable Plastics: Challenges and Opportunities

Cumulative plastic production worldwide skyrocketed from about 2 million tonnes in 1950 to 8.3 billion tonnes in 2015, with 6.3 billion tonnes (76%) ending up as waste. Of that waste, 79% is either in landfills or the environment. The purpose of the review is to establish the current global status quo in the plastics industry and assess the sustainability of some bio-based biodegradable plastics. This integrative and consolidated review thus builds on previous studies that have focused either on one or a few of the aspects considered in this paper. Three broad items to strongly consider are: Biodegradable plastics and other alternatives are not always environmentally superior to fossil-based plastics; less investment has been made in plastic waste management than in plastics production; and there is no single solution to plastic waste management. Some strategies to push for include: increasing recycling rates, reclaiming plastic waste from the environment, and bans or using alternatives, which can lessen the negative impacts of fossil-based plastics. However, each one has its own challenges, and country-specific scientific evidence is necessary to justify any suggested solutions. In conclusion, governments from all countries and stakeholders should work to strengthen waste management infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries while extended producer responsibility (EPR) and deposit refund schemes (DPRs) are important add-ons to consider in plastic waste management, as they have been found to be effective in Australia, France, Germany, and Ecuador.

A global survey on trends in advanced practice and specialisation in the pharmacy workforce.

Despite the increasingly complex care and demanding health challenges shaping pharmacy, little work has been carried out to understand the global status of advanced and/or specialised pharmacy practice scopes and the models in which they exist. This study aims to describe the current global status of initiatives relating to advancement of pharmacy practice. A global survey was conducted between January and May 2015 to collect country-level data from member organisations of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), and national-level contacts from regulatory, professional and government agencies or universities; data requests were sent to 109 countries. The collected data were triangulated (comparing multiple sources from single countries, e.g.), cleaned and analysed by descriptive and comparative statistics. Full data sets from 48 countries and territories were obtained. The findings demonstrate varying systems of advanced pharmacy practice and specialisation often linked to income level. The study found that there are variations within terminology and definitions, frameworks for specialisation and advanced practice, professional recognition mechanisms and benefits across countries. This survey of 48 countries and territories was the first of its kind to describe the range of specialisation and professional recognition systems for advanced pharmacy practice worldwide. Despite the variance, it is clear from this global study that professional advancement and the recognition of advancement in practice are developing around the world and this could be due to the increasingly complex nature of pharmaceutical care delivery and a consequent need to be able to endorse professional capabilities.

Strategy for the South-South cooperation on schistosomiasis control under the Belt and Road Initiative

Following the concerted efforts for nearly 70 years, great successes have been achieved in the national schistosomiasis control programme in China. Currently, the national schistosomiasis control programme in China is facing the challenges to solve the problems during the"final mile"stage towards schistosomiasis elimination, and contribute Chinese experiences, Chinese strategy and Chinese wisdom to the global schistosomiasis control programmes, so as to facilitate the transformation of the joint efforts in the Belt and Road Initiative to a high-quality development, thereby well supporting the activities on global health security. This paper analyzes the current global status of schistosomiasis and the challenges of the global schistosomiasis control programmes, describes the basis for the cooperation on schistosomiasis control among the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, illustrates the challenges for translation of Chinese experiences and techniques in schistosomiasis control to other diseaseendemic countries, and proposes the patterns and prospects of the South-South cooperation on schistosomiasis control under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Habitat transformation and climate change: Implications for the distribution, population status, and colony extinction of Southern Bald Ibis (Geronticus calvus) in southern Africa

Abstract Habitat transformation and loss is one of the greatest threats currently facing avian species. The cumulative impact of climate change on habitat loss is projected to produce disproportionate risk for endemic high-altitude species. The Southern Bald Ibis (Geronticus calvus) is an endemic high-altitude species found throughout highland grassland habitats in South Africa and Lesotho. The historical distribution has contracted notably and causal factors remain ambiguous. Furthermore, the historical population (1950–1970) was believed to be stable, but recent local surveys suggest colony declines and the current global population status remains largely unquantified. We assessed the current distribution and population status of the species through predictive modeling and trends in historical and recent colony counts across the species’ range. We examined climate and habitat change as potential causal factors contributing to the historical contraction in distribution, and projected the potential impact of future climate change predicted by global circulation models. Our study confirms that Southern Bald Ibis are of conservation concern. The loss of grasslands to expanding woody vegetation through bush encroachment was the most detrimental habitat transformation type associated with decreased colony growth and colony collapse. We recommend maintaining a minimum threshold of 50% or greater intact grassland habitat surrounding colonies to reduce colony extinction risk and promote colony persistence.

Sharing intangible cultural heritage: disparities of distribution

ABSTRACT The UNESCO Conventions for the Protection of the material World Heritage (1972) and for the Preservation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (ICH) (2003) use the listing practice for worldwide identification and global recognition. Listing their ICH on the Representative List (RL) lends prestige to the States Parties and enables economic exploitation. Thematic imbalances and spatial disparities arising from the listing of material heritage have already been discussed and analysed in the scientific literature. After more than a decade and more than 500 inscriptions in the framework of the convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage (ICHC) of 2003, this article will try for the first time to examine which regions and States Parties have so far been able to actively participate in the ICHC through listings. The analysis examines the chronological distribution and growth development in the regions after a current global status analysis of the globally distributed ICH on the RL. A distinction is always made between national and multinational inscriptions, between aggregated frequency and spatial distribution, and between these two possibilities. The aim is to demonstrate the extent to which participation in the sense of ICH sharing is possible in the regions and what implications can be derived from the listing practice to date.

A global invasion by the thrip, Frankliniella occidentalis: Current virus vector status and its management.

Western flower thrip, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), is among the most economically important agricultural pests globally, attacking a wide range of vegetable and horticultural crops. In addition to causing extensive crop damage, the species is notorious for vectoring destructive plant viruses, mainly belonging to the genera Orthotospovirus, Ilarvirus, Alphacarmovirus and Machlomovirus. Once infected by orthotospoviruses, thrips can remain virulent throughout their lifespan and continue transmitting viruses to host plants when and wherever they feed. These irruptive viral outbreaks in crops will permanently disrupt functional integrated pest management systems, and typically require a remedial treatment involving insecticides, contributing to further development of insecticide resistance. To mitigate against this continuing cycle, the most effective management is early and comprehensive surveillance of the pest species and recognition of plant viruses in the field. This review provides information on the pest status of F. occidentalis, discusses the current global status of the viruses vectored by this thrip species, examines the mechanisms involved in transmitting virus‐induced diseases by thrips, and reviews different management strategies, highlighting the potential management tactics developed for various cropping systems. The early surveillance and the utilization of potential methods for control of both F. occidentalis and viruses are proposed.

Tendencies of Mining Technology Development in Relation to Deep Mines

Mineral demand rapidly increases; as a result, underground mining activities gradually dig into the earth’s crust to deeper levels. For instance, the depth of coal mines has reached 1500 m, whereas the depth of mines for nonferrous metals has already achieved around 4500 m. Deep mining faces a number of technical and environmental challenges, first of all, great rock mass stresses, high temperature and long winding distance. The traditional technologies are hardly capable to provide the development and extraction efficiency and safety. That is why the need in developing and implementation of new modern mining technologies arose. In roadheading, TBM (tunnelboring machine) method is gradually introduced. A TBM combines the functions of rock breaking, support installation, mucking and conveying rock. In mining industry, smart mining based on mechanized and automated mining methods is successfully implemented at coal mines. Besides, a technical concept of fluidized mining for deepseated mineral resources (6000 m and more) was proposed. This paper presents the review of the current global status of deep mining and highlights some of the newest technological achievements in roadheading and the mineral extraction processes.

Fifty shades of red: Lost or threatened bryophytes in Africa

Background: A Red List of threatened bryophytes is lacking for Africa. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) Bryophyte Specialist Group has recently launched the ‘Top 10 Initiative’ to identify the 10 species on each continent that are at highest risk of extinction.Objectives: The main aim of this paper was to highlight some of the lost or strongly threatened bryophyte species in sub-Saharan Africa and the East African islands and to draw up a Top 10 list for Africa.Method: Lost or threatened species have been identified with the help of experts on the bryoflora of Africa, global and regional Red Lists and taxonomic literature. Each species on this candidate list is discussed at the hand of its taxonomy, distribution, habitat, threat and current global or regional Red List status as far as previously assessed.Results: Fifty bryophyte species, representing 40 genera and 23 families, have been identified as Top 10 candidates. Of these, 29 are endemic to Africa and 21 are restricted to the East African islands. The majority of the candidate species occur in one of eight ‘biodiversity hotspots’ with most species (19) in the Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands hotspot.Conclusion: This is the first list of lost or threatened bryophytes for Africa and the first Top 10 list of the IUCN Bryophyte Specialist Group. It represents an important step towards regional and global Red List assessment of bryophytes, thus meeting the targets of the Updated Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011–2020 and priorities of The Shenzhen Declaration on Plant Sciences.

East to West: Population genòmics and hierarchical analyses reveal differential adaptation footprints in the edible sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

East to West: Population genòmics and hierarchical analyses reveal differential adaptation footprints in the edible sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

Petawatt and exawatt class lasers worldwide

In the 2015 review paper ‘Petawatt Class Lasers Worldwide’ a comprehensive overview of the current status of high-power facilities of ${>}200~\text{TW}$ was presented. This was largely based on facility specifications, with some description of their uses, for instance in fundamental ultra-high-intensity interactions, secondary source generation, and inertial confinement fusion (ICF). With the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded to Professors Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou for the development of the technique of chirped pulse amplification (CPA), which made these lasers possible, we celebrate by providing a comprehensive update of the current status of ultra-high-power lasers and demonstrate how the technology has developed. We are now in the era of multi-petawatt facilities coming online, with 100 PW lasers being proposed and even under construction. In addition to this there is a pull towards development of industrial and multi-disciplinary applications, which demands much higher repetition rates, delivering high-average powers with higher efficiencies and the use of alternative wavelengths: mid-IR facilities. So apart from a comprehensive update of the current global status, we want to look at what technologies are to be deployed to get to these new regimes, and some of the critical issues facing their development.

Update on global epidemiology of viral hepatitis and preventive strategies.

Viral hepatitis is one of the major public health concerns around the world but until recently it has drawn little attention or funding from global health policymakers. Every year 1.4 million people die from viral hepatitis-related cirrhosis and liver cancer. However, the majority of the infected population are unaware of their condition. This population have significant obstacles to overcome such as lack of awareness, vulnerability, increased migration, disease stigma, discrimination, as well as poor health resources, conflict in policy development and program implementation. Despite implementing infection control measures over the last few decades eradication or significant disease reduction remains elusive. This study aims to present the current global prevalence status and examines potential elimination strategies. The information for this research were obtained through a systematic review, published scientific literatures, the official websites of various government organisations, international public health organisations and internationally recognised regulatory bodies over a period of 40 years between 1978 and 2018.

A Review of the Current Status of Percutaneous Endovascular Arteriovenous Fistula Creation for Haemodialysis Access.

Surgical fistulas were first described over 50years ago and have revolutionized the outlook for millions of dialysis-dependent patients. Despite many developments, results remain sub-optimal with high rates of primary failure and re-intervention to maintain patency. Surgical fistulas are known to fail in part due to intimal hyperplasia leading to stenosis, and vessel manipulation during anastomosis creation can be contributory. New technology is emerging that allows the endovascular creation of fistulas with minimal vessel trauma and the initial results demonstrate encouraging outcomes with high technical success rates, low re-intervention, and failure rates and good usability for hemodialysis. Two such device systems are currently available, and here, we provide an overview of the current global status of endoAVF, patient selection criteria, trial results, technical aspects, re-interventions, and outlook for the future.

Intellectual and cognitive profiles in patients affected by schizophrenia.

Intellectual abilities display high heterogeneity in patients with schizophrenia that might depend on the interaction among neurodevelopmental processes, environmental factors and neurocognitive decline. This study aimed to disentangle the interplay between intellectual level, cognitive status and each cognitive domain, with a focus on speed-related abilities, also including pre-morbid factors. In details, by means of cluster analysis, we identified both in global sample of 452 patients affected by schizophrenia and in a subsample with high pre-morbid functioning, different profiles based on current intellectual level and global cognitive status, analysing the distribution of deficits in each cognitive domains between groups. Then, through regression models, we analysed the contribution of speed-related domains and global cognitive profile to each other cognitive function. Considering the whole sample, results highlight three groups (high, medium and low cognitive level), while among patients with high pre-morbid level, the heterogeneity was best captured by two groups (high and medium level). Still, within each group, a small to high percentage of patients achieved normal score in neurocognitive abilities depending on the cluster they belong to. Speed of processing and psychomotor coordination resulted impaired in all clusters, even in patients with high pre-morbid functioning. The regression analyses revealed significant effects of both cognitive profile and speed-dependent domains on the other cognitive abilities. This study confirms, in a large sample, previous data about the heterogeneity of intellectual and neurocognitive functioning in schizophrenia and highlights the main role of speed-dependent neurocognitive functioning, also as an important target of rehabilitation.

Global shortage of neonatal and paediatric antibiotic trials: rapid review

ObjectivesThere have been few clinical trials (CTs) on antibiotics that inform neonatal and paediatric drug labelling. The rate of unlicensed and off-label prescribing in paediatrics remains high. It is unclear...

Confirming cross-protection of bivalent HPV vaccine

Prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have exceeded expectations in preventing infection with oncogenic HPV, the underlying cause of cervical cancer. Both the bivalent HPV vaccine and quadrivalent HPV vaccine contain virus-like particles that induce high-level antibody responses to HPV types 16 and 18, the two most oncogenic HPV types, which are responsible for 71% of cervical cancer cases globally. 1 Serrano B Alemany L Tous S et al. Potential impact of a nine-valent vaccine in human papillomavirus related cervical disease. Infect Agents Cancer. 2012; 7: 38 Crossref PubMed Scopus (224) Google Scholar In the 11 years since their first licensure, the vaccines have been distributed globally in over 270 million doses and are demonstrably safe in population usage. 2 WHOMeeting of the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, 7–8 June 2017. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2017; 28: 393-402 Google Scholar The vaccines are remarkably effective in real-world prevention of targeted type HPV infection and high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN; potentially pre-cancerous lesions, the target for detection and treatment in cervical screening programmes). 3 Drolet M Bénard É Boily MC et al. Population-level impact and herd effects following human papillomavirus vaccination programmes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Infect Dis. 2015; 15: 565-580 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (503) Google Scholar , 4 Brotherton JML Zuber PLF Bloem PJN Primary prevention of HPV through vaccination: update on current global status. Curr Obst Gynecol Reports. 2016; (published online July 7.)DOI: 10.1007/s13669-016-0165-z Google Scholar In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Kimberley Kavanagh and colleagues 5 Kavanagh K Pollock KG Cuschieri K et al. Changes in the prevalence of human papillomavirus following a national bivalent human papillomavirus vaccination programme in Scotland: a 7-year cross-sectional study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2017; (published online Sept 28.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30468-1 PubMed Google Scholar confirm an initially unanticipated benefit of the bivalent vaccine: clinically important cross-protection against three further oncogenic HPV types (31, 33, and 45), detected in approximately 13% of cervical cancers globally. 1 Serrano B Alemany L Tous S et al. Potential impact of a nine-valent vaccine in human papillomavirus related cervical disease. Infect Agents Cancer. 2012; 7: 38 Crossref PubMed Scopus (224) Google Scholar Changes in the prevalence of human papillomavirus following a national bivalent human papillomavirus vaccination programme in Scotland: a 7-year cross-sectional studyBivalent vaccination has led to a startling reduction in vaccine and cross-protective HPV types 7 years after vaccination. There is also evidence of herd protection against the vaccine-specific and cross-protective types in unvaccinated individuals born in 1995. These findings should be considered in cost-effectiveness models informing vaccine choice and models to shape the future of cervical screening programmes. Full-Text PDF

The Current Global Status and Production Trends of Plasma Fractionation

The Current Global Status and Production Trends of Plasma Fractionation

Opportunities and Challenges in Deep Mining: A Brief Review

Abstract Mineral consumption is increasing rapidly as more consumers enter the market for minerals and as the global standard of living increases. As a result, underground mining continues to progress to deeper levels in order to tackle the mineral supply crisis in the 21st century. However, deep mining occurs in a very technical and challenging environment, in which significant innovative solutions and best practice are required and additional safety standards must be implemented in order to overcome the challenges and reap huge economic gains. These challenges include the catastrophic events that are often met in deep mining engineering: rockbursts, gas outbursts, high in situ and redistributed stresses, large deformation, squeezing and creeping rocks, and high temperature. This review paper presents the current global status of deep mining and highlights some of the newest technological achievements and opportunities associated with rock mechanics and geotechnical engineering in deep mining. Of the various technical achievements, unmanned working-faces and unmanned mines based on fully automated mining and mineral extraction processes have become important fields in the 21st century.

The Systems of Technical Barriers to Trade of China and Mexico under the Framework of WTO

In 2009, a financial crisis swept the globe and the world economy entered the “Severe Winter Period” causing a significant decline in spite of the international trade or the transitional capital flow. In order to deal with the crisis, all countries issued a series of policies in an attempt to stimulate the economy into its recovery while, at the same time, they implemented a variety of trade measures, among which, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) was one of the main ones since it was focused in the protection of domestic economy, one aspect that has become a major obstacle for the recovery of the global economy, and the proposition of submitting the international trade system, whose main contents include a multilateral trading system and the rules of WTO, to a severe test. China and Mexico are both emerging economies affected by other countries’ TBT measures, especially China, who became one of the main victims of the current round of trade protectionism. Taking base on the analysis of the current global tbt status and the regulations of the wto, the research will compare similarities and differences of tbt systems between China and Mexico, making recommendations to both nations in order for them to cope with the trade protectionism impact currently prevailing in the world.

Primary Prevention of HPV through Vaccination: Update on the Current Global Status

Ten years after the first licencing of a prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, this paper reviews global information on programme coverage, as reported to WHO and from the published and grey literature. As of May 2016, 74 countries report that the HPV vaccine is on the national schedule or reimburse vaccine costs. We also summarise the latest available information on programme implementation, vaccine effectiveness, the nine-valent HPV vaccine and the accumulated safety experience with HPV vaccines.

Global status of GM crop development and commercialization

Global GM crops continue to grow. They have reached 181 million hectares. A total of 28 countries have approved biotech crops for planting. More than 60 countries have approved biotech crops to be imported as food and feed since 1996, meaning that biotech crops are now commonly accepted in those countries. Although biotech crops provide key solutions for the challenge of global food security in the future due to population growth and climate change, there are still some debates on whether biotech crops should be accepted in many countries including Korea. Therefore, it is very important to make people understand that GM crops will provide benefits to both farmers and consumers. In this review, current global status of GM crop development and commercialization are summarized.