This paper examines contemporary national scale responses to tropical storm risk in a small island in the Caribbean to derive lessons for adapting to climate change. There is little empirical ...evidence to guide national planners on how to adapt to climate change, and less still on how to build on past adaptation experiences. The paper investigates the construction of institutional resilience and the process of adaptation to tropical storm risk by the Cayman Islands’ Government from 1988 to 2002. It explains the roles of persuasion, exposure and collective action as key components in developing the ability to buffer external disturbance using models of institutional economics and social resilience concepts. The study finds that self-efficacy, strong local and international support networks, combined with a willingness to act collectively and to learn from mistakes appear to have increased the resilience of the Cayman Islands’ Government to tropical storm risk. The lessons learned from building resilience to storm risk can contribute to the creation of national level adaptive capacity to climate change, but climate change has to be prioritised before these lessons can be transferred.
RATIONALE:Formation of heart valves requires early endocardial to mesenchymal transformation (EMT) to generate valve mesenchyme and subsequent endocardial cell proliferation to elongate valve ...leaflets. Nfatc1 (nuclear factor of activated T cells, cytoplasmic 1) is highly expressed in valve endocardial cells and is required for normal valve formation, but its role in the fate of valve endocardial cells during valve development is unknown.
OBJECTIVE:Our aim was to investigate the function of Nfatc1 in cell-fate decision making by valve endocardial cells during EMT and early valve elongation.
METHODS AND RESULTS:Nfatc1 transcription enhancer was used to generate a novel valve endocardial cell–specific Cre mouse line for fate-mapping analyses of valve endocardial cells. The results demonstrate that a subpopulation of valve endocardial cells marked by the Nfatc1 enhancer do not undergo EMT. Instead, these cells remain within the endocardium as a proliferative population to support valve leaflet extension. In contrast, loss of Nfatc1 function leads to enhanced EMT and decreased proliferation of valve endocardium and mesenchyme. The results of blastocyst complementation assays show that Nfatc1 inhibits EMT in a cell-autonomous manner. We further reveal by gene expression studies that Nfatc1 suppresses transcription of Snail1 and Snail2, the key transcriptional factors for initiation of EMT.
CONCLUSIONS:These results show that Nfatc1 regulates the cell-fate decision making of valve endocardial cells during valve development and coordinates EMT and valve elongation by allocating endocardial cells to the 2 morphological events essential for valve development.
Developing country deltas are important food producing areas and are home to large numbers of subsistence farmers. In particular, rice farmers dominate the populous deltas of South and South-East ...Asia and face frequent climate hazards which have short- and long-term impacts on rice production and livelihoods. The aim of this study is to identify and explain proximal and ultimate factors (land access, cultural practices, and institutional support) that affect rice farmer resilience; that is to explain why some farmers are more sensitive to climate shocks, why some farmers suffer long-term impacts from climate shocks, and what underlying 'ultimate' factors reproduce this vulnerability over time. We undertake this analysis using qualitative interviews and household survey data from two districts in the Mahanadi Delta, Odisha, India. We show that climate hazards cause rice production shocks that are problematic for farmers as rice is predominantly used for household consumption in a context of unreliable off-farm income sources and a lack of insurance and credit. Our research emphasizes that 'ultimate' drivers interact with the current mode of rice cultivation to reproduce a low resilience farming state. We argue that agricultural development interventions seeking to make rice farming more resilient to climate hazards should focus on boosting productivity and shock-resistance, but also be cognizant of the system within which rice farming is practiced and the contextual 'ultimate' factors that reproduce vulnerability.
Climate change impacts and responses are presently observed in physical and ecological systems. Adaptation to these impacts is increasingly being observed in both physical and ecological systems as ...well as in human adjustments to resource availability and risk at different spatial and societal scales. We review the nature of adaptation and the implications of different spatial scales for these processes. We outline a set of normative evaluative criteria for judging the success of adaptations at different scales. We argue that elements of effectiveness, efficiency, equity and legitimacy are important in judging success in terms of the sustainability of development pathways into an uncertain future. We further argue that each of these elements of decision-making is implicit within presently formulated scenarios of socio-economic futures of both emission trajectories and adaptation, though with different weighting. The process by which adaptations are to be judged at different scales will involve new and challenging institutional processes.
This paper develops definitions of adaptation and successful adaptation to climate change, with a view to evaluating adaptations. There is little consensus on the definition of adapting to climate ...change in existing debates or on the criteria by which adaptation actions can be deemed successful or sustainable. In this paper, a variant of the Delphi technique is used to elicit expert opinion on a definition of successful adaptation to climate change. Through an iterative process, expert respondents coalesced around a definition based on risk and vulnerability and agreed that a transparent and acceptable definition should reflect impacts on sustainability. According to the final definition, agreed by the Delphi panel, successful adaptation is any adjustment that reduces the risks associated with climate change, or vulnerability to climate change impacts, to a predetermined level, without compromising economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
Helicobacter pylori, present in half of the world's population, is a very successful pathogen. It can survive for decades in the human stomach with few obvious consequences to the host. However, it ...is also the cause of gastric diseases ranging from gastritis to ulcers to gastric cancer and has been classified a type 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization. We have previously shown that phosphorylation of a 145-kDa protein and activation of signal transduction pathways are associated with the attachment of H. pylori to gastric cells. Here we identify the 145-kDa protein as the H. pylori CagA protein. We also show that CagA is necessary to induce a growth-factor-like phenotype (hummingbird) in host gastric cells similar to that induced by hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). Additionally, we identify a second cellular phenotype induced after attachment by H. pylori, which we call SFA (stress fiber associated). SFA is CagA independent and is produced by type I and type II H. pylori.
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► We explore privately provided adaptation public goods. ► These goods are intangible and abstract with asymmetric distribution of costs and benefits. ► These goods are increasingly ...a feature of climate change adaptation/social transformation problems. ► Deliberate suppliers of these goods are either altruists or those seeking (in)direct compensation. ► Many institutional mechanisms are needed to deliver adequate supply of these goods.
Adaptation to climate change is already being delivered by public and private actors, yet there has been little analysis of the relationships between the providers and beneficiaries of adaptation. This paper reviews the type of actors that are supplying adaptation services and their motivations. We then focus on a specific, under-explored case of adaptation: that of privately provided adaptation public goods and services, the realization of which is contingent on the individual management of private goods and private risks. Following the work of Olson (1965) we find that the benefits of the privately provided adaptation public good do not necessarily accrue back to the (same) individuals who are the providers. The characteristics of this particular form of public good pose specific institutional challenges. In this paper we: 1) explore the characteristics and defining features of these privately provided adaptation public goods; 2) argue that this form of adaptation provisioning is increasingly recognised as a feature in climate change adaptation (and/or social transformation) problems; 3) review existing cases of effective/ineffective management of these public goods; and 4) outline the institutions that may be required to facilitate the management of these public goods for adaptation.
Laser skin resurfacing is a popular cosmetic procedure for noninvasive skin rejuvenation. Since health insurance plans often do not cover these types of procedures, patients often pay out of pocket. ...Consequently, there is an incentive to go abroad, where prices are more affordable. However, practitioners in destination countries may lack rigorous training on laser safety, regulatory oversight, or licensing, especially on devices used for "cosmetic" procedures. In certain cases, this can lead to tragic outcomes, especially when underqualified practitioners operate medical-grade laser devices.
A 29-year-old woman suffered a retinal burn from a handheld Q-switched neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser pulse device used to perform skin resurfacing treatment at a medical spa in Vietnam. The patient was not adequately informed about the potential risk to her vision and was not provided with any eye protection. A momentary, unintended laser exposure to the patient's right eye led to irreversible vision loss due to a macular burn. This incident caused immediate pain, followed by the sudden appearance of floaters, along with a retinal and vitreous hemorrhage. Despite treatment with off-label bevacizumab for the development of a choroidal neovascular membrane, vision remained at the level of counting fingers because of the presence of the macular scar.
When utilizing laser-based devices, it is crucial to employ safety measures, such as the wearing of safety goggles or the use of eye shields to protect ocular tissues from potential damage. The growing availability of cosmetic laser devices presents a substantial public health risk, because numerous operators lack adequate training in essential safety standards, or they neglect to follow them. Furthermore, patients seeking services abroad are subject to the regulatory practices of the destination country, which may not always enforce the requisite safety standards. Further research is needed to determine regional and global incidence of laser-related injuries to help direct educational and regulatory efforts.
Identification of multipotent cardiac progenitors has provided important insights into the mechanisms of myocardial lineage specification, yet has done little to clarify the origin of the ...endocardium. Despite its essential role in heart development, characterization of the endocardial lineage has been limited by the lack of specific markers of this early vascular subpopulation. To distinguish endocardium from other vasculature, we generated an
NFATc1-nuc-LacZ BAC transgenic mouse line capable of labeling this specific endothelial subpopulation at the earliest stages of cardiac development. To further characterize endocardiogenesis, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) derived from
NFATc1-nuc-LacZ blastocysts were utilized to demonstrate that endocardial differentiation
in vitro recapitulates the close temporal–spatial relationship observed between myocardium and endocardium seen
in vivo. Endocardium is specified as a cardiac cell lineage, independent from other vascular populations, responding to BMP and Wnt signals that enhance cardiomyocyte differentiation. Furthermore, a population of Flk1+ cardiovascular progenitors, distinct from hemangioblast precursors, represents a mesodermal precursor of the endocardial endothelium, as well as other cardiovascular lineages. Taken together, these studies emphasize that the endocardium is a unique cardiac lineage and provides further evidence that endocardium and myocardium are derived from a common precursor.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation decisions made by governments are usually taken in different policy domains. At the individual level however, adaptation and mitigation activities are ...undertaken together as part of the management of risk and resources. We propose that a useful starting point to develop a national climate policy is to understand what societal response might mean in practice. First we frame the set of responses at the national policy level as a trade off between investment in the development and diffusion of new technology, and investment in encouraging and enabling society to change its behaviour and or adopt the new technology. We argue that these are the pertinent trade-offs, rather than those usually posited between climate change mitigation and adaptation. The preference for a policy response that focuses more on technological innovation rather than one that focuses on changing social behaviour will be influenced by the capacity of different societies to change their greenhouse gas emissions; by perceived vulnerability to climate impacts; and by capacity to modify social behaviour and physical environment. Starting with this complete vision of response options should enable policy makers to re-evaluate the risk environment and the set of response options available to them. From here, policy makers should consider who is responsible for making climate response decisions and when actions should be taken. Institutional arrangements dictate social and political acceptability of different policies, they structure worldviews, and they determine the provision of resources for investment in technological innovation and social change. The importance of focussing on the timing of the response is emphasised to maximise the potential for adjustments through social learning and institutional change at different policy scales. We argue that the ability to respond to climate change is both enabled and constrained by social and technological conditions. The ability of society to respond to climate change and the need for technological change for both decarbonisation and for dealing with surprise in general, are central to concepts of sustainable development.
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