Environmental Questions Research Articles

Systematic review and their application to toxicological and environmental health questions

Systematic review and their application to toxicological and environmental health questions

Written Test for the 1995 Open Selection and Promotion of Deputy at Department Level Leading Cadres in Henan Province: Environmental Protection Specialization Test Questions

Written Test for the 1995 Open Selection and Promotion of Deputy at Department Level Leading Cadres in Henan Province: Environmental Protection Specialization Test Questions

The emergence of systematic reviews for addressing toxicological and environmental health questions

In this research the levels of organochlorine compounds (OCs) and mercury (Hg) in several food items from Menorca Island were presented. The dietary exposure assessment was performed in children population from the island. Finally, body burden of OCs and Hg in these infants were associated with their dietary intakes of the selected food items.The dietary exposure to persistent pollutants by children population from Menorca Island was assessed. The concentrations of 11 organochlorine pesticides, 6 polychlorinated biphenils (PCBs) and 1 inorganic toxic element, Hg, were determined in 46 food samples that included fish, shellfish, meat, fruit, vegetables, cheese and eggs, which were acquired in local markets and department stores in the Menorca Island. The most contaminated food items were fish and shellfish, followed by meat and cheese products. OC levels were similar or lower than in other previous studies. However, 66% of the analysed fish and shellfish species for Hg exceeded the human consumption safety limits according to the European Union Legislation. Pollutant data from food was combined with the pattern of consumption of these foodstuffs in order to calculate the estimated daily intake (EDI) of these contaminants. According to our results, fish and fruit were the main sources of OCs to the EDIs (contributing to 37% and 29%, respectively) while fish and shellfish were the main sources of Hg (76% and 17%). The estimated EDIs of OCs were well below to the reported FAO/WHO Tolerable Intakes. However, estimated weekly intake of Hg would exceed the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake indicated by EFSA in the case that the only fish and seafood source would be from the central western Mediterranean. Direct associations between fish/shellfish consumption and hair concentrations of Hg and fish and meat consumption and 4,4’-DDT concentrations in venous serum in the Menorcan children were observed.

What's in the Literature?

The Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is one of the few neuropathies well known to the general public, in part because of its association with swine flu vaccinations in 1976. GBS has again reached the general public with its possible association with Zika virus. The virus, borne by infected Aedes aegypti mosquitos, is being linked to birth defects when pregnant women are bitten and infected. There are early reports also linking GBS to Zika infection, which could expose a wider range of infected people to the neuropathy. This summer infected Aedes mosquitos will likely reach southern portions of the United States, and travelers to countries where Aedes is endemic will increase. It is important to appreciate that the neurologic consequences of Zika virus are being actively investigated, and firm associations and consequences are yet to be established. Small fiber neuropathies are common and can be due to a number of underlying diseases, and a recent review also indicates that many are idiopathic. One cause is Sjögren syndrome, and a case series reviews clinical features. The diagnosis and underlying features of primary lateral sclerosis are a clinical challenge. Similarities between primary lateral sclerosis and hereditary spastic paraparesis (HSP) have long been noted. With a wide spectrum of gene mutations associated with HSP, clinical distinction between the 2 disorders is problematic. A review covers the wide spectrum of HSP. With no cure, the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to respiratory failure is predictable. This could easily result in marked depression among patients, and 2 studies have explored the frequency and severity of depression. The cause of ALS remains unknown, and when no hereditary factor is apparent, environmental questions arise as possible contributing factor(s). The most notable association is with military service, although specific occupational or environmental linkages are not well sorted out. Two recent reports address these issues. There is good news for ALS patients with muscle cramps with the results of a multicenter randomized and placebo-controlled trial showing that mexiletine is effective in reducing this common symptom. The treatment of myasthenia gravis with various agents, the use of patient-reported outcome measures in myasthenia gravis, and the occurrence of myocarditis in this disease are reviewed. Necrotizing autoimmune neuropathies, the co-occurrence of inclusion body myositis and a form of T-cell leukemia are discussed as are valosin-containing protein (VCP)-opathy and bone health in patients with dystrophinopathy.

Mud and Modernity

What is concrete? Loved and loathed in equal measure, this building material, as soon as we try to define it, to specify it, to describe it, becomes, well, not very concrete at all, but rather fluid and surprisingly abstract! Concrete is a material which has been going through an interesting intellectual and practical renaissance in recent years, in no small part driven by the convergence of several different kinds of technology-driven manufacturing changes - ranging from computer aided manufacturing of formworks, to photograph etching, to engineering software, to nano- and bio-chemistry to 3D printing - which have opened up new worlds of realizable, expressive and performance optimised form. The demands posed by anthropogenic climate change, energy use, resource scarcity, and the environmental question more generally, have equally transformed the technologies and industries that are now feeding into developments in this material. On its own though, that is not enough to understand the revival in interest. In this paper I will argue that there are indeed profound relationships between capital, modernity and concrete. However, I will suggest that in order to really start to grasp these relations, we will need to explore some ways of thinking about concrete that have not been developed so far within the recent literature on the material. Notably I will develop an ecological approach to thinking about what concrete is, and in so doing redefine this material as a particular form of mud, or mudcrete: a material which is deployed by both human and non-human builders. I will note the ecological energetics and extended materialities of mudcrete, and will reflect upon the conceptual 'forms' or ‘patterns’ of this matter as a particular modality of the production of nature. Mudcretes always internalise in particularly interesting ways I argue, their external relations, the extended networks of materials, skills, labours and energies that go into their production. Mudcretes frequently stage fascinating bio-semiotic performances, whichever species or processes are dominant. But when the mudcretes in question are the product of human labour, they always act as social media.

Avaliação neuropsicomotora e classificação funcional em escolares de 10 a 12 anos da rede pública.

O desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor (DNPM) envolve as áreas motoras e cognitivas e é influenciado por questões do ambiente e da tarefa, o que numa visão ampliada de saúde pode ser classificado por meio da Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade, Incapacidade e Saúde (CIF). O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o DNPM de escolares e classificá-los de acordo com a CIF. Participaram do estudo 22 pré-adolescentes (10 a 12 anos) de ambos os sexos, na região metropolitana de Curitiba, avaliados por meio da Bateria Psicomotora de Fonseca, Medida da independência funcional, entrevista semiestruturada e check-list da CIF para crianças e jovens (CIF-CJ). Observou-se que a maioria dos estudantes não apresentou alterações no DNPM, e que o auto-relato identificou: mudança no modelo familiar, poucas possibilidades para esporte e lazer, preferência pelas brincadeiras como entretenimento, escola como ambiente predominante, boa autopercepção de saúde, dificuldade de acessibilidade. Além disso, identificou-se uma criança com atraso em fatores psicomotores isolados, mas com bom desempenho psicomotor geral. A utilização do modelo proposto pelos autores respondeu às dimensões da CIF, indicando sua aplicabilidade e possibilidades de uso em ambiente escolar.

AN ADAPTIVE WEB-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING IN SCHOOLS

Abstract. Satellite images have great educational potential for teaching on environmental issues and can promote the motivation of young people to enter careers in natural science and technology. Due to the importance and ubiquity of remote sensing in science, industry and the public, the use of satellite imagery has been included into many school curricular in Germany. However, its implementation into school practice is still hesitant, mainly due to lack of teachers’ know-how and education materials that align with the curricula. In the project “Space4Geography” a web-based learning platform is developed with the aim to facilitate the application of satellite imagery in secondary school teaching and to foster effective student learning experiences in geography and other related subjects in an interdisciplinary way. The platform features ten learning modules demonstrating the exemplary application of original high spatial resolution remote sensing data (RapidEye and TerraSAR-X) to examine current environmental issues such as droughts, deforestation and urban sprawl. In this way, students will be introduced into the versatile applications of spaceborne earth observation and geospatial technologies. The integrated web-based remote sensing software “BLIF” equips the students with a toolset to explore, process and analyze the satellite images, thereby fostering the competence of students to work on geographical and environmental questions without requiring prior knowledge of remote sensing. This contribution presents the educational concept of the learning environment and its realization by the example of the learning module “Deforestation of the rainforest in Brasil”.

AN ADAPTIVE WEB-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING IN SCHOOLS

Satellite images have great educational potential for teaching on environmental issues and can promote the motivation of young people to enter careers in natural science and technology. Due to the importance and ubiquity of remote sensing in science, industry and the public, the use of satellite imagery has been included into many school curricular in Germany. However, its implementation into school practice is still hesitant, mainly due to lack of teachers’ know-how and education materials that align with the curricula. In the project “Space<i>4</i>Geography” a web-based learning platform is developed with the aim to facilitate the application of satellite imagery in secondary school teaching and to foster effective student learning experiences in geography and other related subjects in an interdisciplinary way. The platform features ten learning modules demonstrating the exemplary application of original high spatial resolution remote sensing data (RapidEye and TerraSAR-X) to examine current environmental issues such as droughts, deforestation and urban sprawl. In this way, students will be introduced into the versatile applications of spaceborne earth observation and geospatial technologies. The integrated web-based remote sensing software “BLIF” equips the students with a toolset to explore, process and analyze the satellite images, thereby fostering the competence of students to work on geographical and environmental questions without requiring prior knowledge of remote sensing. This contribution presents the educational concept of the learning environment and its realization by the example of the learning module “Deforestation of the rainforest in Brasil”.

O Consumo Colaborativo e Sustentável na Sociedade da Informação

The present paper analyses the evolution of collaborative consumption, that have a direct impact on sustainability issues, in the context of information society. To that end,we start from the pathologies of consumption in modern society, go through the different implications in social, environmental and economic questions, culminating in the study of the possible alternatives viable in the digital age. In conclusion, we found that the Internet rises as a valuable instrument, within collaborative economy standards, for reaching the social, environmental and economic sustainability, driving the development of an equal, fair and solidary society.

Are Union Members More or Less Likely to Be Environmentalists? Some Evidence from Two National Surveys

This study examines the relationship between unionization and environmental attitudes and behaviors in two national surveys. We begin by comparing the responses of union versus nonunion respondents to sixteen environmental questions in the General Social Survey for various years between 1993 and 2010. Overall, union members are, on average, slightly more likely than the general population to display pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors—having moderately greater mean values for ten of the sixteen pro-environmental items and displaying no difference on the remaining six items. Next, we look at three environmental questions in the American National Election Studies in various years between 1980 and 2012 and find union members on average to be more likely to support environmentalism than the general population for all three items. Finally, we conduct a robustness check by reducing the sample to just employed workers for each of the surveys and find the results to be substantively similar to those for the general population. This study contributes to the ongoing “jobs vs. the environment” debate as well as discussions about the ability of the labor and environmental movements to work together as a broad-based progressive movement for social change.

The End of FUN by Sean McGinty (review)

Reviewed by: The End of FUN by Sean McGinty Karen Coats McGinty, Sean The End of FUN. Hyperion, 2016 [416p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4847-2211-4 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10 After six years in a medicated fog, sixteen-year-old Aaron decides it’s time to get off the meds and live on his own terms. Unfortunately, he ends up nearly broke in a “hivehouse” in San Francisco, so when he learns that he can earn ameros, the new online currency that is replacing the dollar, by testing the Fully Ubiquitous Neuralnet augmented reality program (FUN® for short), he agrees to get chipped and lensed. Soon a robot buddy named Homie is living inside his head. Despite a few bugs, FUN® makes everything brighter, and Aaron earns ameros for doing things like saying the tagline and giving YAY!s to products and services. Unfortunately, he gets addicted to a game and goes into debt, and now he can’t get off FUN® unless he earns enough ameros to repay what he owes. Aaron’s experience reads like an upgrade to Anderson’s Feed (BCCB 11/02), with similarly imagined ethical and environmental questions, a slightly-smarter-than-his-peers protagonist, a doomed love interest, and a slick sense of humor; the difference lies in the fact that FUN® is not universally embraced in Aaron’s society . . . yet. This allows for more diffuse and diverse protests as well as an exploration of how to successfully recover and maintain one’s sovereignty over the technology rather than being completely subjected to it. Indeed, there is ultimately a strong sense that not all connection to other people or appreciation of the natural world will be lost, even if these become filtered through an electronic interface. Still, the richly imagined implications are disturbing enough to put readers off Candy Crush, if only for a little while. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Social rearing environment influences dog behavioral development

Early life experiences are known to influence behavior later in life. In dogs, environmental influences of early home rearing could be exploited to improve the chances of developing adult behavior most suited to the adult environment. For working dog organizations, such as Guide Dogs, suitable adult behavior is important to ensure that dogs can fulfill their role as guides for people with visual impairment. Here, we test the hypothesis that dogs' home rearing environment will influence behavioral development. To investigate this hypothesis, carers of potential guide dogs (puppy walkers) completed a questionnaire, termed the Puppy Walker Questionnaire (PWQ), about the dog's behavior at 5, 8, and 12 months of age. An additional 11 questions were answered about the home environment at the last assessment. Because no questionnaire existed which measured behavior most relevant to Guide Dogs, questions from an existing questionnaire (Canine Behaviour and Research Questionnaire) were combined with additional questions. Thus, a subsidiary aim of the study was to test the reliability of the PWQ for measuring behavioral development of potential guide dogs. The PWQ, scored on a 100-mm visual analogue scale, grouped into 5 new scales: trainability, distractibility, general anxiety, body sensitivity, and stair anxiety, with 4 Canine Behaviour and Research Questionnaire scales: excitability, separation-related behavior, attachment and attention seeking, and energy level. For each reliable scale, multivariate linear regression identified significant predictors from the home environmental questions. The results suggest that home rearing environment is indeed important for behavioral development: 9 of 11 environmental variables were significant predictors of behavioral scores. Those environmental variables that appeared most important were social in nature. Dogs were scored as higher in energy level, excitability, and distractibility if they had been raised in a home with children, lower on energy level and distractibility the more experience of puppy walking their carer had, and lower on separation-related behavior the more they had been able to play with other dogs. These findings have implications for matching between dogs' early and later home environments. Follow-up of dogs in this study could help to elucidate effects on guiding suitability and matching between dog and guide dog owner.

Challenges to Labour Law

The article deals with three main challenges to labour law referring especially to the German experience.The world-wide market induced enterprises to relocate their production and to reduce labour costs at home.In Germany, a quite indirect way of exercising pressure on the workers was developed; counter-measureswere rare and did not really change the situation. TTIP and CETA will worsen the situation because nationalsovereignty in social and environmental questions will fade away. The second challenge comes from inequalityexisting among workers as well as in society as a whole. There is a scission between very wealthypeople on one side and people becoming poorer and poorer on the other side. Labour law has not yetdeveloped the instruments to realize more equality among workers but some ideas are discussed. The thirdchallenge is the digitalisation of many activities; they are no more bound to certain places or certain timesof the day. The “freedom” to work at any moment and at any place entails very long working hours, work atnight and work on Sundays. Legal rules on working time lose more and more there importance. A solutioncan be the right of workers´ representatives to discuss the tasks given to individual workers, but other meansare examined in the article, too. The internet makes crowdworking possible - a new form of work which iscurrently not covered by labour law.

Determinantes das atitudes dos jovens face ao ambiente: contributos para a educação multidisciplinar

INTRODUCTION The concept of Environmental Education (EE) contains a variety of objectives, based on the improvement of the human-nature relationship. Therefore, the EE should be implemented in schools, as they represent institutions that create the foundations for the construction of concepts and values, directing subjects right sustainable environment behaviours. OBJECTIVES We aim to explore the interactive correlation between social, scholar, familiar and psychological related variables which could influence the subjects behaviours in environmental related questions. METHODS A cohort of 500 subjects belonging from the Viseu district, studying in basic-level, from the economy-middle-classe (45.0%), were analysed. The majority were females (50.5%) from urban areas (57,4%) and with an average age of 13 years old (M=13.38). Different protocols of analysis were applied, using distinct tools to examine the collected data. The used scales of measurement were previous validated and gauged for the Portuguese population. Moreover, in the present work we constructed a new data-evaluation scale, called Scale for School performance in Environmental Education, which was validated and presented significative consistency/reliability value (Cronbach's Alpha =0.861). RESULTS The results pointed out female living in urban areas as subjects having the more positive attitudes in questions related to environmental care (M=18.05). Religion practices (M=109.4) and familiar functionality (F=4,603; p=0,010) were shown as significative variables in the promotion of positive environmental behaviours. However, the most significative value, explaining the major percentage of subjects attitudes variances (R2=189 ; p=0,000), was the role of School entities promoting EE, encouraging positive environmental behaviours. The subjects Self-Knowledge was also presented as a statistically significative value, evidencing an interaction/correlation between the environmental responsibility and the behavioural factor showed as a determinant and predictive in what concerns to subjects environmental attitudes. CONCLUSIONS Psychological variables, family and school context, associated with the attitudes of young adolescents towards the environment and should therefore be considered when designing and implementing programs and support interventions for environmental education.

From the MONICA-project via KORA to the NAKO-study: Practical Utility of Epidemiological Studies in Augsburg Region

The objective of the WHO-MONICA study was to determine the influence of changing risk factors and treatment options on myocardial infarction rates in populations in a 10-year time period. For this purpose, a population-based myocardial infarction registry was established in 1984 in Augsburg (covering the city of Augsburg and 2 adjacent counties) in order to continuously register all inhabitants of the region who had a myocardial infarction during the study period. In addition, three cross-sectional studies based on random population samples (1984/85, 1989/90 and 1994/95) were carried out. Our data revealed a continuous decrease of myocardial infarction incidence and demonstrated that the decrease of coronary mortality can be ascribed to decreasing myocardial infarction incidence and longer survival after myocardial infarction. Until today the myocardial infarction registry continues to be a permanent part of the Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (KORA). Moreover, within the framework of KORA, a fourth population-based cross-sectional study was carried out in 1999/2001. Meanwhile, more than 18 000 study participants have been followed-up for specific endpoints for up to 30 years. A large number of publications, which address cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, lung diseases, environmental and genetic questions, health services research and numerous other topics, are based on the KORA study. Today we know that the development of chronic diseases can be ascribed to a complex interaction of social factors, health policy conditions, health behavior, risk factors and molecular mechanisms. To tackle the challenges posed by these multiple factors in Germany, NAKO (Nationale Kohorte), the largest nation-wide long-term study so far, was initiated. Within the framework of the NAKO study, 200 000 persons aged between 20 and 69 years in Germany - thereof 20 000 persons in the region of Augsburg - will be examined and interviewed in the next 10 years, and widespread diseases will be investigated with modern epidemiological methods. The results of these epidemiological long-term studies will contribute to the prevention, early diagnosis and best possible treatment of widespread diseases.

Theory-based assessment in environmental education: a tool for formative evaluation

This article reports on the development of a theory-informed assessment instrument for use in evaluating environmental education programs. The instrument involves coding learners’ brief reflective writing on five established educational and social psychological constructs that correspond to five important goals of environmental education: promoting learners’ perceived relevance of environmental content, sense of personal and collective responsibility for sustainability, knowledge of environmental content, readiness for environmental action, and identity exploration around environmental questions. The article describes the development of the instrument and its use for coding the reflective writing of 242 early adolescents who participated in a large-scale environmental education program.

Una visión social de la bioética para el siglo XXI: El impulso de la encíclica «Laudato Si»

La encíclica Laudato si´ del papa Francisco plantea el vínculo irrompible que hay entre cuestiones ambientales y cuestiones sociales y humanas, a través de la categoría de la «ecología integral» y la apuesta por la «ética del cuidado». Es un excelente ejercicio de diálogo honesto y decidido del pensamiento teológico y filosófico con las aportaciones de las ciencias naturales y sociales, para preservar la supervivencia de la humanidad. Ideas similares movieron a la bioética potteriana hace más de cuarenta años, y hoy, cuando la bioética no parecer atravesar su mejor momento, esta encíclica constituye un valioso impulso para reenfocar la «bioética global» y enfatizar la necesidad del diálogo tanto interdisciplinar como intercultural/interreligioso, de los cuales nuestro mundo no puede prescindir. La injusticia y la desigualdad adoptan nuevas formas en este tiempo de interdependencia global, demandando de la ética una nueva visión social, con la ampliación del campo de la moralidad que incluya a la naturaleza y de una justicia social que alcance lo global y se piense intra e intergeneracionalmente.

GRADE: Assessing the quality of evidence in environmental and occupational health

There is high demand in environmental health for adoption of a structured process that evaluates and integrates evidence while making decisions and recommendations transparent. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework holds promise to address this demand. For over a decade, GRADE has been applied successfully to areas of clinical medicine, public health, and health policy, but experience with GRADE in environmental and occupational health is just beginning. Environmental and occupational health questions focus on understanding whether an exposure is a potential health hazard or risk, assessing the exposure to understand the extent and magnitude of risk, and exploring interventions to mitigate exposure or risk. Although GRADE offers many advantages, including its flexibility and methodological rigor, there are features of the different sources of evidence used in environmental and occupational health that will require further consideration to assess the need for method refinement. An issue that requires particular attention is the evaluation and integration of evidence from human, animal, in vitro, and in silico (computer modeling) studies when determining whether an environmental factor represents a potential health hazard or risk. Assessment of the hazard of exposures can produce analyses for use in the GRADE evidence-to-decision (EtD) framework to inform risk-management decisions about removing harmful exposures or mitigating risks. The EtD framework allows for grading the strength of the recommendations based on judgments of the certainty in the evidence (also known as quality of the evidence), as well as other factors that inform recommendations such as social values and preferences, resource implications, and benefits. GRADE represents an untapped opportunity for environmental and occupational health to make evidence-based recommendations in a systematic and transparent manner. The objectives of this article are to provide an overview of GRADE, discuss GRADE's applicability to environmental health, and identify priority areas for method assessment and development.

DANO AMBIENTAL E A NECESSIDADE DE UMA ATUAÇÃO PROATIVA DA ADMINISTRAÇÃO PÚBLICA

As questões ambientais relacionadas à proteção dos bens naturais são discutidas no âmbito político e jurídico devido às proporções de degradação ecológica que atingem toda esfera global. No entanto, solucionar as problemáticas ambientais torna-se tarefa árdua na medida em que se colocam em jogo os sistemas políticos e legislativos dos Estados que, necessariamente, devem se ajustar a essas novas demandas protetivas. Assim, este texto analisa a busca pela proteção ambiental por parte do Estado, colocando-se em pauta as teorias da responsabilidade civil do Estado, bem como algumas linhas gerais sobre a atuação do Estado na proteção ambiental tendo como base a teoria do risco. Realiza-se uma breve análise de decisões importantes proferidas por tribunais brasileiros, verificando-se a forma como o Poder Público respondeu aos danos ambientais. Utiliza-se o método dedutivo e a técnica de pesquisa de documentação indireta, mediante análise da doutrina e de decisões judiciais. Como resultado, alerta-se para a ausência de uma atuação proativa do Poder Público, verificando a resposta dada pelo Poder Judiciário diante dessa atuação.

Retirantes cearenses na província do Amazonas: colonização, trabalho e conflitos (1877-1879)

RESUMO O artigo trata da migração de cearenses para a província do Amazonas em decorrência da grande seca que afetou o Ceará entre 1877 e 1879. Acompanhamos os esforços de rearticulação de colônias agrícolas, anteriormente planejadas para receber imigrantes europeus, as quais acabaram incorporando levas de retirantes que buscavam manter atividades similares às de seus locais de origem, com destaque para a agricultura. Destacamos ainda a segunda tentativa de construção da Ferrovia Madeira-Mamoré, frente de trabalho que, além de cearenses, incorporou também imigrantes norte-americanos, irlandeses e italianos. Questões ambientais, esgotamento financeiro, ações de resistência e desvios de recursos inviabilizaram tanto as colônias agrícolas como a ferrovia, causando o retorno dos trabalhadores estrangeiros e a insatisfação generalizada entre os nativos. As elites amazônicas passaram a direcionar as migrações para as afastadas regiões de extração de borracha, isolando e pulverizando novas aglomerações e insubordinações.