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PubMed2006

Heart rate as a predictor of development of sustained hypertension in subjects screened for stage 1 hypertension: the HARVEST Study.

OBJECTIVE: Whether heart rate predicts the development of sustained hypertension in individuals with hypertension is not well known. We carried out a prospective study to investigate whether clinic and ambulatory heart rates assessed at baseline and changes in clinic heart rate during 6 months of follow-up were independent predictors of subsequent blood pressure (BP). METHODS: The study was conducted in a cohort of 1103 white, stage 1 hypertensive individuals from the HARVEST study, never treated for hypertension and followed-up for an average of 6.4 years. Data were adjusted for baseline BP, age, sex, body fatness, physical activity habits, parental hypertension, duration of hypertension, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and change of body weight from baseline. RESULTS: Clinic heart rate and heart rate changes during the first 6 months of follow-up were independent predictors of subsequent systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) regardless of initial BP and other confounders (all P < 0.01). A significant interaction was found between sex (male) and baseline resting heart rate on final SBP (P = 0.017) and DBP (P < 0.001). The ambulatory heart rate and the heart rate white-coat effect did not add prognostic information to that provided by the clinic heart rate. Patients whose heart rate was persistently elevated during the study had a doubled fully adjusted risk (95% confidence interval 1.4-2.9) of developing sustained hypertension in comparison with subjects with a normal heart rate. CONCLUSIONS: Baseline clinic heart rate and heart rate changes during the first few months of follow-up are independent predictors of the development of sustained hypertension in young persons screened for stage 1 hypertension.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

A method using sustainability indicators to compare conventional and animal-friendly egg production systems.

The objective of this paper was to describe a method that enables a comparison of egg production systems for their contribution to sustainable development of egg production, using data from the Netherlands for demonstration purposes. One conventional system, the battery cage system, and two animal-friendly systems, the deep-litter and the aviary systems, illustrate this method. The method is based on a three-phase framework that identifies relevant issues regarding sustainable development (Phase 1), translates issues into sustainability indicators (Phase 2), and assesses the contribution of sustainability indicators to sustainable development (Phase 3). Phases 1 and 2 are based on analysis of literature and consultation with experts. Phase 3 is based on graphical and numerical comparisons. A graphical comparison presents the relative deviation between actual and target values for each sustainability indicator. A numerical comparison combines the relative deviation for each sustainability indicator into an overall contribution of an egg production system to sustainable development. Sustainability indicators selected include economic performance, ammonia emission, energy use, hen welfare, farmer welfare, and egg quality. Based on equal importance of these indicators, the battery cage system shows the least negative contribution to sustainable development. The aviary system is considered a better animal-friendly alternative for a battery cage system when compared with a deep-litter system. The aviary system especially needs to improve economic performance and farmer welfare. The conclusion can only be tentative, however, because methodological aspects such as selection and weighting of sustainability indicators will need careful attention and further research.

Animal Welfare↗
PubMed2005

Microalbuminuria, renal function and development of sustained hypertension: a longitudinal study in the early stage of hypertension.

OBJECTIVE: Microalbuminuria (MA) is a marker of adverse outcome in hypertension. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of MA with cardiovascular risk factors and glomerular hyperfiltration in the early stage of hypertension and to assess its predictive value for the development of sustained hypertension requiring antihypertensive treatment. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: We studied 1041 young stage 1 hypertensive subjects. Study variables were 24-h ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate, anthropometric measures, metabolic variables, creatinine clearance and lifestyle factors analyzed as a function of ascending urinary albumin measured from 24-h collections. Subjects were followed until they developed sustained hypertension and were eligible for antihypertensive medication according to current guidelines. SETTING: Seventeen outpatient clinics in Italy. RESULTS: Eighty-five percent of the subjects were normoalbuminuric, 9% had borderline MA, and 6% had overt MA. No between-group differences were found for age, body mass index, heart rate, lifestyle factors and biochemistry in both genders. Creatinine clearance was greater in the subjects with overt MA and borderline MA than in the normoalbuminuric subjects (P = 0.003 and 0.011, respectively). In a two-way ANCOVA, microalbuminuric subjects both with hyperfiltration (P < 0.001) and with normal filtration (P = 0.04) had higher 24-h systolic blood pressure than subjects with normoalbuminuria and normal filtration. In a Cox analysis, neither MA nor hyperfiltration were significant predictors of development of sustained hypertension. CONCLUSION: MA is not associated with an adverse metabolic risk profile in the early stage of hypertension. MA is associated with greater hemodynamic load and with glomerular hyperfiltration in this clinical setting, but does not help in predicting those subjects destined to develop sustained hypertension requiring antihypertensive therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Health promotion, environmental health and Agenda 21.

In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, many governments, including our own, committed themselves to developing local strategies for sustainable development in the form of Local Agenda 21. Sustainable development is discussed, as is the philosophy and practice of health promotion and environmental health. Common approaches are identified and the links in relation to key areas of activities, strategies, values and principles are outlined. Finally, recommendations are made and conclusions drawn in relation to the overlap between environmental health action, Agenda 21 strategies and health promotion practice.

Environmental Health↗
PubMed2003

Operational indicators for measuring agricultural sustainability in developing countries.

This paper reviews relevant literature on the sustainability indicators theoretically proposed and practically applied by scholars over the past 15 years. Although progress is being made in the development and critical analysis of sustainability indicators, in many cases existing or proposed indicators are not the most sensitive or useful measures in developing countries. Indicator selection needs to meet the following criteria: relative availability of data representing the indicators, sensitivity to stresses on the system, existence of threshold values and guidelines, predictivity, integratability and known response to disturbances, anthropogenic stresses, and changes over time. Based on these criteria, this paper proposes a set of operational indicators for measuring agricultural sustainability in developing countries. These indicators include ecological indicators involving amounts of fertilizers and pesticides used, irrigation water used, soil nutrient content, depth to the groundwater table, water use efficiency, quality of groundwater for irrigation, and nitrate content of both groundwater and crops. Economic indicators include crop productivity, net farm income, benefit-cost ratio of production, and per capita food grain production. Social indicators encompass food self-sufficiency, equality in food and income distribution among farmers, access to resources and support services, and farmers' knowledge and awareness of resource conservation. This article suggests that the selection of indicators representing each aspect of sustainability should be prioritized according to spatial and temporal characteristics under consideration.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2005

Extreme environments as a resource for microorganisms and novel biocatalysts.

The steady increase in the number of newly isolated extremophilic microorganisms and the discovery of their enzymes by academic and industrial institutions underlines the enormous potential of extremophiles for application in future biotechnological processes. Enzymes from extremophilic microorganisms offer versatile tools for sustainable developments in a variety of industrial application as they show important environmental benefits due to their biodegradability, specific stability under extreme conditions, improved use of raw materials and decreased amount of waste products. Although major advances have been made in the last decade, our knowledge of the physiology, metabolism, enzymology and genetics of this fascinating group of extremophilic microorganisms and their related enzymes is still limited. In-depth information on the molecular properties of the enzymes and their genes, however, has to be obtained to analyze the structure and function of proteins that are catalytically active around the boiling and freezing points of water and extremes of pH. New techniques, such as genomics, metanogenomics, DNA evolution and gene shuffling, will lead to the production of enzymes that are highly specific for countless industrial applications. Due to the unusual properties of enzymes from extremophiles, they are expected to optimize already existing processes or even develop new sustainable technologies.

Archaea↗
PubMed2026

Leveraging environmental applications and risks of coal gangue: A critical review on authigenic inorganic heavy metals, organic contaminants, and the removal of exogenetic contaminants.

Coal gangue (CG) as bulk solid waste has seriously threatened the ecosystem. Therefore, identifying the key risk drivers and exploring feasible disposal methods for CG are essential for developing a sustainable strategy. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive information that balances the contamination risks with the valuable constituents present in CG, which hinders its full potential for sustainable use without negative environmental impacts. Given the complex composition and associated risks, we propose that addressing the critical properties related to contamination is crucial for the efficient utilization of CG. On this premise, we summarized several practical resource pathways (ecological multifunctional materials, extraction of rare elements, and soil additives) that are more favorable for sustainable development relative to conventional disposals. Meanwhile, we also propose that coupling disposals could intensely reduce CG's environmental footprints and capital costs. Consequently, regardless of the number of challenges to be solved, we believe the CG has broad application prospects, and we hope this review will promote the conversion of CG into an asset with lower ecological and social impacts.

Metals, Heavy↗
PubMed2003

The need for global environmental health policy.

The world economy has been growing by an average of 3.5% a year. Continued global development is sustainable if overall social assets remain constant or rise over time, including manufactured, human, and environmental capital. Sustainable development requires that society not decrease its overall assets. But unregulated global trade may result in long-term loss of environmental capital. Multilateral governance is needed. Classical business models tend to view environmental damage as an externality--an impact on a third party's welfare that is neither compensated nor appropriated. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development clearly states that economic development must err on the side of environmental integrity. Whereas UN Environmental Program policy requires precaution in the face of scientific uncertainty, World Trade Organization policy requires scientific certainty before precaution can be used. The conflict is obvious. In fact, there is gross lack of policy coordination across institutions. This article looks at some environmental strains and concludes that trade policy must address all aspects of human welfare, not merely the economic.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Manifesto for sustainable investment: investing for a sustainable future.

Environmental, labor, and non-governmental organizations in Europe are waging a campaign for sustainable investment to hold members of the European Union to their pledges to work for sustainable development and sustainable societies. The comment explains how to achieve sustainability by taking action at many levels of society.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

[The experience in emergency medical care in Lagos (Nigeria): cost-benefit analysis ... politics?].

In both the South and North, meeting the demand for health care services is a major issue in establishing political stability for sustainable development. Neither the need for emergency medicine nor the emergency need for medical care can escape this reality. At first glance, "bringing medical care outside hospitals ... to the bottom of the tree" by implementing an advanced rescue system would seem to overstep the usual goal of providing basic health services and capabilities in a developing country. However, the operational, tactical and strategic implications of a "French style SAMU" medical controlled system may contribute to the fair and equitable distribution of emergency health care resources during critical situations in a given environment. In this respect, such system cannot only become a measurable component in responding to increasingly intolerable health disasters, but also an institutional tool for health resources management in any insecure environment, where access to medical facilities usually involves a number of economic, structural, and ethical obstacles. In France, the effectiveness of such a system is still under evaluation with good results in terms of overall health performance for the year 2000. In 1997 the Nigerian authorities with the support of the French Embassy began a novel experience by setting up a state run SAMU services in Lagos. The purpose of this prospective approach was to answer the question "what emergency care system, for what environment?" with an ultimate goal: developing a sustainable service, not only in terms of medical and economic factors, but also ethical and political considerations.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed2005

[Ecological carrying capacity and Chongming Island's ecological construction].

This paper overviewed the goals of Chongming Island's ecological construction and its background, analyzed the current eco-economic status and constraints of the Island, and put forward some scientific issues on its ecological construction. It was suggested that for the resources-saving and sustainable development of the Island, the researches on its ecological construction should be based on its ecological carrying capacity, fully take the regional characteristics into consideration, and refer the successful development modes at home and abroad. The carrying capacity study should ground on systemic and dynamic views, give a thorough evaluation of the Island's present carrying capacity, simulate its possible changes, and forecast its demands and risks. Operable countermeasures to promote the Island's carrying capacity should be worked out, new industry structure, population scale, and optimized distribution projects conforming to regional carrying capacity should be formulated, and effective ecological security alarming and control system should be built, with the aim of providing suggestions and strategic evidences for the decision-making of economic development and sustainable environmental resources use of the region.

China↗
PubMed1994

The impact of nagana.

The disease in cattle, called nagana in Zululand, was linked with trypanosomal parasitaemia and tsetse flies. Nagana occurs in livestock throughout the tsetse belts of Africa. Wild animals are tolerant of trypanosomal infections. Nagana affects individual animals, herds and socio-economic development. In susceptible animals nagana may be acute, but chronic infections are more common. The host-parasite interaction produces extensive pathology and severe anaemia. Clinically affected animals lose condition and become weak and unproductive. Nagana is often fatal and, at herd level, its impact is wide ranging. All aspects of production are depressed: fertility is impaired; milk yields, growth and work output are reduced; and the mortality rate may reduce herd size. Africa has to feed its rapidly growing human population, and animal products are a vital dietary component. However, in most tsetse areas, there is not enough meat and milk. Furthermore, animal draft power is often not available, which limits cultivation and local transport. These factors lower household incomes and retard socio-economic development. Sustainable rural development requires that nagana be controlled. This in turn needs considerable resources, whichever control strategy is adopted.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Roles and approaches of nongovernmental organizations in health development.

The use of a systems model of rural society for analysing the roles and approaches of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in health development is outlined with special reference to conditions in northern Thailand. Comparisons are drawn between approaches in the fields of relief and welfare, community development, sustainable systems development, and people's movements.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed2007

Ecosystem objectives to support the UK vision for the marine environment.

European Maritime States already have commitments to protect species and habitats and maintain quality standards in coastal and offshore waters. These are a direct response to environmental legislation in Europe and commitments made to biodiversity conservation in OSPAR and at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. An integrated approach to management requires that these are consistent with the requirements for sustainable development, and include wider social considerations and active stakeholder participation. This review describes a hierarchical framework that incorporates the marine objectives and delivery statements of ecological, social and economic sectors. The framework leads from the UK's guiding principles for sustainable development, through visionary statements and strategic goals for high level delivery, to operational objectives and statements of action which deliver management. Parts of this hierarchy can already be populated for the UK, especially those at the higher levels. At the operational level, however, there is less clarity. The review shows that, despite some gaps, existing commitments for ecological components of the ecosystem are transparent and generally conform to this framework, due largely to high profile government funding of environmental protection and science and a single national vision for the marine environment. Specific objectives for six components of the ecosystem were developed; benthic habitats, seabirds and mammals, phytoplankton and zooplankton, fish, and physical/chemical quality of the water and atmosphere. The objectives included some that avoided limits and others that aimed to achieve targets, and for management to be effective it will be important to have a common understanding of how these can together be interpreted and made operational. In a review of 13 social and economic sectors, few provided a clear breakdown of objectives leading from a high level vision or a sustainable development principle. Six sectors did not have high level government targets for production or other measures of sectoral performance. Such commercial operations generally determine their own operational delivery targets based on market forces. Recent proposals in Europe to create an integrated framework for social, economic and environmental activities will need to carefully balance the development of a strong and competitive marine economy with existing international obligations to environmental protection.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Force development during sustained locomotion: a determinant of gait, speed and metabolic power.

This paper develops three simple ideas about force development during sustained locomotion which provide some insights into the mechanisms that determine why animals change gait, how fast they can run, and how much metabolic energy they consume. The first idea is that the alternate stretch-shorten pattern of activity of the muscles involved in locomotion allows muscle-tendon units to function as springs, affecting the amount of force a given cross-sectional area of muscle develops, and the metabolic requirements of the muscles for force development. Animals select speeds and stride frequencies which optimize the performance of these springs. The second idea is that muscle stress (force/cross-sectional area) determines when animals change gait, how fast they run and their peak accelerations and decelerations. It is proposed that terrestrial birds and mammals develop similar muscle stresses under equivalent conditions (i.e. preferred speed within a gait) and that animals change gaits in order to reduce peak stresses as they increase speed. Finally, evidence is presented to support the idea that it is the time course of force development during locomotion, rather than the mechanical work that the muscles perform, that determines the metabolic cost of locomotion.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Strategic environmental assessment in Hong Kong.

This review examines the development and application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process in the planning framework of Hong Kong. Two strategic planning case studies are evaluated within the context of SEA, namely the Territorial Development Strategy Review (TDS Review) and the Third Comprehensive Transport Study (CTS-3). Rapid population growth and urbanisation in Hong Kong, coupled with a historic lack of planning controls and inherent conflicts between government departments have been major obstacles to achieving sustainable development in the territory. Despite these challenges, Hong Kong was one of the first Asian countries to apply SEA to major development plans, where the implementation of the 'SUSDEV 21' study on sustainable development has demonstrated the government's commitment towards integrated environmental protection. The application of SEA has provided decision-makers with key information on potential environment impacts arising from proposed developments, resulting in greater accountability and transparency in the decision-making process. SEA in Hong Kong has also prompted an increased level of environmental awareness and co-operation between government departments and agencies responsible for the management of Hong Kong's natural and urban environments. However, the application of SEA in Hong Kong continues to have notable limitations. SEA needs to evolve beyond its current sectoral application to examine ways in which development decisions can not only pre-empt and prevent environmental damage, but also positively enhance and restore existing natural resources. Current land use plans and transportation strategies still largely determine the pattern of development in the near future without adequate longer-term environmental cost-benefit analysis. Sustainable development includes environmental, social and economic considerations, and these inter-related elements need be suitably balanced. SEA is not a means to obstruct development in Hong Kong, but should be recognised for its inherent socio-economic and ecological value, and fully integrated with the decision-making process. Whilst it is admirable that Hong Kong has taken positive steps in this direction, it is now an opportune moment for the government to have the foresight and tenacity to create a sustainable development framework for Hong Kong into the future.

Cities↗
PubMed2002

Workshop 2 (synthesis): driving forces and incentives for change towards sustainable water development.

Water is a key resource in attaining sustainability--in social and economic development as well as in the long-term carrying capacity of the planet's life support systems, but consensus on the meaning and priority of these terms is still needed. Amongst the key points identified for water professionals: it is necessary to challenge compartmentalisation in water policy and management; water management strategies must focus clearly on the interdependence of the environment and socio-economic development; water professionals have a key role but must package the information and insight they can provide in a way that is attractive to intended recipients such as policy makers.

Commerce↗