Search

Older people with rheumatic diseases tend to have a greater number of associated comorbidities, which will require the use of more drugs, increasing the risk of hospitalizations, complications, and drug interactions. In Mexico, there has been an estimated prevalence of polypharmacy of up to 55%, however there are scarce reports on the topic in our elderly population with rheumatic diseases. We aimed to determine the prevalence of polypharmacy and the association of drug interactions in patients treated for rheumatic disease. A retrospective observational study was conducted on patients undergoing treatment for rheumatic diseases who were treated in geriatrics and rheumatology clinics from January to December 2021. The presence of polypharmacy and drug interactions was evaluated using the BOT Plus Pharmacological Surveillance System. The prevalence of polypharmacy and the association of drug interactions were estimated. We evaluated 320 patients, with a mean age of 67.05 ± 5.8 years, predominantly female (85%). The prevalence of polypharmacy was 68.1% (n = 218), of which 214 (98.1%) patients had related drug interactions; 27.1% were severe and 53.2% as moderate interactions. Factors related with increased risk of drug interactions were being exposed to hypertension increased the risk of drug interactions (POR 1.75, 95% CI 1.44–2.14; P < 0.001), having osteoarthritis (POR 1.21, 95% CI 1.04–1.42; P = 0.032) and thyroid disease (POR 1.45, 95% CI 1.28–1.65; P = 0.001). The most prevalent serious interactions were leflunomide–methotrexate in 27 (46.5%) patients and buprenorphine–tramadol in 8 (13.7%). A high prevalence of polypharmacy and drug interactions was observed in elderly patients with rheumatic diseases. The main associated factors were comorbidities, particularly high blood pressure, osteoarthritis and thyroid diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which showed that the activation of non-muscle myosin IIC (NM IIC) or physical restriction to young topology improves in vitro regeneration by old epithelium. Topics discussed include contribution of various cell types to the overall curvature of the intestinal niche in the domains at the bottom of the crypts of self-organized organoids, effect of high surface-to-volume ratio on signal reception in intestinal stem cells (ISCs,) and preparation of collagen scaffold.

Frosty pod rot (FPR) of cacao is caused by Moniliophthora roreri (MR). Effective management must include chemical or biological control, in addition to agronomic tactics. Flutolanil has been effective in controlling FPR. The objective of this research was to determine the response to flutolanil of MR isolates from the Amazon and Coast regions of Ecuador. Percentage of mycelial growth inhibition (PGI), and medium inhibitory concentration (IC50) against three concentrations of the fungicide were determined. One µg mL-1 of flutolanil in the culture medium inhibited completely the growth of the 76 MR isolates. At 0.1 µg mL-1, 74/76 were inhibited between 70- 97 % compared to the control. Conversely, at the lower concentrations (0.01-0.001 µg mL-1) the results of inhibition were only of 22 % and 47 %, respectively. Four groups were identified: one included the most sensitive (66/76) to different degrees, and three groups representing 10 isolates that were stimulated at low concentrations of flutolanil. IC50 values were low, indicating very high sensitivity in the MR population. IC50max were 0.1342 and 0.1457 in two isolates from the Coast and the Amazon regions, respectively. Isolates from the Coast were significantly less sensitive to flutolanil than those from the Amazon (χIC50 = 0.046 ± 0.03 and χIC50 = 0.030 ± 0.02, respectively), however, the differences were minimal. There were no significant differences when comparing the provinces. The most stimulated isolates were found in the provinces of Orellana and Los Ríos. It is concluded that flutolanil seems effective against the causal agent of FPR in Ecuador, both Coast and Amazon regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adaptability of endophytic fungi to their hosts, the ecological benefits that it provides and the various antagonistic mechanisms against pests make them an alternative for the biological control of diseases. The potential of 17 strains of foliar endophytic fungi (FEF) obtained from healthy Theobroma cacao tissue as candidates for the biological control of Moniliophthora roreri (MR) and M. perniciosa (MP) was determined. We evaluated: i) mycoparasitism of FEF against colonies of Moniliophthora spp., ii) the effects of crude metabolites of FEF on the pathogens' growth, and iii) the ability to recolonize healthy leaves of the host by leaf assays. Three strains of Lasiodiplodia theobromae were the most promising: Ec098, Ec151 and Ec157. These strains inhibited the growth of MR and MP, both in the confrontation of the colonies and by their metabolites and, additionally, recolonized the host between 80-100 % of the time. Other strains showed outstanding values in one indicator, and not desirable in others. For example, Ec035 (L. theobromae) showed the highest levels of mycoparasitism against both pathogens in the interaction of the colonies, and the second best for its metabolites, but could not reinfect the host. Strain Ec059 (Xylaria feejeensis) reinfected 100 %, but did not show desirable attributes of antagonism. On the other hand, the metabolites of Ec107 (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides s.l.) inhibited MR by 60 %, but also stimulated the growth of MP. No strain achieved all desirable characteristics for a biological control agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop residues represent more than half of the world’s agricultural phytomass. Residual biomass, from agriculture or forestry, can be converted into synthesis gas (syngas) to generate energy (electrical or thermal) or chemicals. The paper uses eco-efficiency as a tool to compare these two options. A basis of 1000 kg/hour of residual pecan nut shell residue was considered to estimate the material flow of chemicals that can be produced, as well as the power that can be generated through residual biomass gasification. This study compares two alternate routes: (1) gasification with air, which renders a gas stream with hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane and other hydrocarbons, as well as nitrogen; and (2) gasification with steam, where a residual biomass amount is used as fuel, rendering a gas stream like the first route, but without nitrogen. The eco-efficiency index shows that a decrease of environmental influence leads to a high output material flow for the alternative process with higher economic values, thus a higher proportion of input raw materials can be transformed into chemical products. The paper highlights that eco-efficiency can be used as a decision-making tool to choose between transformation processes by combining scientific and technical issues with economic ones. This can help to move towards a better and more sustainable use of natural resources through the utilisation of residual biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The special volume on green and sustainable chemistry and engineering has fourteen papers that were considered relevant to the present day issues and discussion, such as adequate use of raw materials and efficient energy, besides considering renewable sources for materials and energy; and changing economical canons towards circular economy. Businesses, governments and Society are facing a number of challenges to tread the sustainability path and provide wellbeing for future generations. This special volume relevance provides discussions and contributions to foster that desirable future. Chemicals are ubiquitous in everyday activities. Their widespread presence provides benefits to societies’ wellbeing, but can have some deleterious effects. To counteract such effect, green engineering and sustainable assessment in industrial processes have been gathering momentum in the last thirty years. Green chemistry, green engineering, eco-efficiency, and sustainability are becoming a necessity for assessing and managing products and processes in the chemical industry. This special volume presents fourteen articles related to sustainable resource and energy use (five articles), circular economy (one article), cleaner production and sustainable process assessment (five article), and innovation in chemical products (three articles). Green and sustainable chemistry, as well as sustainable chemical engineering and renewable energy sources are required to foster and consolidate a transition towards more sustainable societies. This special volume present current trends in chemistry and chemical engineering, such as sustainable resource and energy use, circular economy, cleaner production and sustainable process assessment, and innovation in chemical products. This special volume provides insights in this direction and complementing other efforts towards such transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability Reporting has become a key element in different organisations. Although there have been a number of academic publications discussing the adoption of sustainability reports in the public sector, their numbers have been quite low when compared to those focussing on corporate reports. Additionally, there has been little research on the link between sustainability reporting in Public Sector Organisations (PSOs) and Organisational Change Management for Sustainability (OCMS). This paper focuses on the contribution of sustainability reporting to OCMS. A survey was sent to all PSOs that have published at least one sustainability report based on the GRI guidelines. The study provides a critical analysis of the relation between sustainability reporting and OCMS in PSOs, including the drivers for reporting, the impacts on organisation change management, and the role of stakeholders in the process. Despite still lagging in sustainability reporting journey, PSOs are starting to use sustainability reporting as a communication tool, and this could drive organisational changes for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete genomic sequence of a variant of the recently reported maize-associated totivirus (MATV) from China was obtained from commercial maize in Ecuador. The genome of MATV-Ec (Ecuador) (4,998 bp) is considerably longer than that of MATV-Ch (China) (3,956 bp), the main difference due to a ≈ 1-kb-long capsid-protein-encoding fragment that is completely absent from the Chinese genome. Sequence alignments between MATV-Ec and MATV-Ch showed an overall identity of 82% at the nucleotide level, whereas at the amino acid level, the viruses exhibited 95% and 94% identity for the putative capsid protein and the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the viral RdRp domain indicated that MATV-Ec and MATV-Ch share a common ancestor with other plant-associated totiviruses, with Panax notoginseng virus A as the closest relative. MATV-Ec was detected in 46% (n = 80) of maize plants tested in this study, but not in endophytic fungi isolated from plants positive for the virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Context: Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) causes irreversible damage with loss of motor, sensory, and autonomic functions. Currently, there is not an effective treatment to restore the lost neurologic functions.Purpose: Injection of polypyrrole-iodine(PPy-I) particle suspension is proposed as a therapeutic strategy.Study Design: This is an in vivo animal study.Methods: This study evaluates the use of such particles in rats after SCI by examining spared nervous tissue and the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scale to evaluate the functional outcome. Diffusive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was employed to measure the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) as non-invasive biomarkers of damage after SCI.Results: Fractional anisotropy decreased, whereas ADC increased in all groups after the lesion. There were significant differences in FA when compared with the SCI-PPy-I group versus the SCI group (p<.05). Significant positive correlations between BBB and FA (r2=0.449, p<.05) and between FA and preserved tissue (r2=0.395, p<.05) were observed, whereas significant negative associations between BBB and ADC (r2=0.367, p<.05) and between ADC and preserved tissue (r2=0.421, p<.05) were observed.Conclusions: The results suggested that PPy-I is neuroprotective as it decreased the amount of damaged tissue while improving the motor function. Non-invasive MRI proved to be useful in the characterization of SCI and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of companies have, during the last two decades, engaged in reporting their sustainability efforts. Although Sustainability Reporting is considered to be a key driver for organisational change in companies; research into the link between these two processes has been limited. This paper is aimed at elucidating the interrelations between these processes. A survey was applied to 91 companies from the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Disclosure Database that published sustainability reports in 2013. The data from the survey were analysed using a combination of descriptive, Grounded Theory, and inferential analyses. The results showed that the decision to publish the first sustainability report has been primarily driven by company internal motivations, whilst for subsequent reports it has been due to a combination of internal motivations and external stimuli. The development and publication of a sustainability report drives sustainability changes in the company, leading to a transition period during the development of the next report. This leads to changes in data and indicators, strategy, organisational change, reputation and validation, stakeholders, and the report itself. The changes become part of the organisation until the start of the following report. The research shows that Sustainability Reporting and Organisational Change Management for Sustainability have reciprocal reinforcing relationships, where Sustainability Reporting provides a starting point for planning organisational change for sustainability and organisational change for sustainability improves the reporting process. The paper reinforces that planning organisational changes can help companies better and more holistically integrate their efforts for sustainability into their systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last two decades, many higher education institutions have become involved in embedding sustainable development into their academic systems. The research for this paper was built upon discussions on declarations, charters, and other initiatives designed to commit their institutions to education for sustainable development. It analyses if such commitment leads to more sustainable development implementation within the academic institution. The research was performed using a survey, based upon a literature review of 60 peer-reviewed papers. The survey was divided into eight categories: background; institutional framework; campus operations; education; research; outreach and collaboration; on-campus experiences; and assessment and reporting. The survey was answered by 84 respondents from 70 institutions, worldwide. The responses were analysed via descriptive analysis, grounded theory, and inferential statistics. The results revealed that there were many examples of sustainable development implementation throughout the system; however, generally the efforts tended to be compartmentalised. The analyses also highlighted strong linkages between the institution's commitment to sustainability, implementation, and signing a declaration, charter, or initiative. The findings suggested that academic leadership's commitment was a leading cause for signing a declaration, charter, or initiative, and implementing sustainable development. The research team provided recommendations for higher educational leaders, including acknowledge that the higher education institution system is comprised of several inter-related elements; commit to sustainability by integrating it into policies and strategies; show the commitment by signing a declaration, charter, or initiative; establish short-, medium-, and long-term plans for its institutionalisation; and ensure that sustainable development is implemented throughout the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of universities worldwide have created new courses and degrees or modified existing ones, as a response to the increasing interest by companies to hire sustainability literate graduates. However, many of such courses have been developed with a focus on ‘hard’ technocentric or managerial issues. The examples that have been published in academic journal have tended to be descriptive, and in only a limited number of cases have they been based on theories of teaching and learning. This paper presents the process of designing and delivering a new course on organisational change management for sustainability for the BA Environment and Business degree at the University of Leeds. The course was developed based on holism and a constructivist position to help deal with the complexities of sustainability and organisational change management. The course objective was to educate students as sustainability change agents by dealing with the complexities of sustainability and ‘soft’ issues in organisational change management. The process had three key elements: (1) the learning outcomes; (2) the course delivery; and (3) the course assessment (including feedback). During the process a number of challenges had to be overcome. The paper provides a more complete, systematic, robust, and focused approach to education for sustainable development, specifically on course design and delivery, by using theories of teaching and learning and linking the course aims, delivery, and assessment. The paper integrates education for sustainability development and corporate sustainability into a relatively new discipline, organisational change management for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate Sustainability has arisen as an alternative to traditional, short-term, profit-oriented approaches to managing the firm by holistically balancing economic, environmental, and social issues in the present generation and for future ones. Although a number of theories of the firm have been proposed within recent decades, their application to Corporate Sustainability has been limited. This paper presents an overview of the most widely used theories of the firm (such as the Stockholder Theory, the Aggregate Theory, the Contractual Theory, the Resource Based View, and the Stakeholder Theory), and analyses their contributions to Corporate Sustainability from an interpretative perspective. The discussion highlights the point that each of the theories, on its own, is limited in addressing sustainability's four dimensions ( i.e. the economic, environmental, social, and time). Nonetheless, each theory, or group of theories, has a particular perspective or principles that can contribute to one or more of the four dimensions. The authors of this paper propose a ‘Sustainability Oriented Theory of the Firm’, which is built upon elements of those theories as they relate to Corporate Sustainability. This new theory can be useful in providing the firm's leaders and all of its stakeholders with a more complete vision of its obligations, opportunities, relations, and processes that the firm should address as it engages in helping to make societies become more equitable and sustainable in the short- and long-terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brain is an enormously complex organ structured into various regions of layered tissue. Researchers have attempted to study the brain by modeling the architecture using two dimensional (2D) in vitro cell culturing methods. While those platforms attempt to mimic the in vivo environment, they do not truly resemble the three dimensional (3D) microstructure of neuronal tissues. Development of an accurate in vitro model of the brain remains a significant obstacle to our understanding of the functioning of the brain at the tissue or organ level. To address these obstacles, we demonstrate a new method to bioprint 3D brain-like structures consisting of discrete layers of primary neural cells encapsulated in hydrogels. Brain-like structures were constructed using a bio-ink consisting of a novel peptide-modified biopolymer, gellan gum-RGD (RGD-GG), combined with primary cortical neurons. The ink was optimized for a modified reactive printing process and developed for use in traditional cell culturing facilities without the need for extensive bioprinting equipment. Furthermore the peptide modification of the gellan gum hydrogel was found to have a profound positive effect on primary cell proliferation and network formation. The neural cell viability combined with the support of neural network formation demonstrated the cell supportive nature of the matrix. The facile ability to form discrete cell-containing layers validates the application of this novel printing technique to form complex, layered and viable 3D cell structures. These brain-like structures offer the opportunity to reproduce more accurate 3D in vitro microstructures with applications ranging from cell behavior studies to improving our understanding of brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The unprecedented scale of food waste in global food supply chains is attracting increasing attention due to its environmental, social and economic impacts. Drawing on interviews with food waste specialists, this study construes the boundaries between food surplus and food waste, avoidable and unavoidable food waste, and between waste prevention and waste management. This study suggests that the first step towards a more sustainable resolution of the food waste issue is to adopt a sustainable production and consumption approach and tackle food surplus and waste throughout the global food supply chain. The authors examine the factors that give rise to food waste throughout the food supply chain, and propose a framework to identify and prioritize the most appropriate options for prevention and management of food waste. The proposed framework interprets and applies the waste hierarchy in the context of food waste. It considers the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social), offering a more holistic approach in addressing food waste. Additionally, it considers the materiality and temporality of food. The food waste hierarchy posits that prevention, through minimization of food surplus and avoidable food waste, is the most attractive option. The second most attractive option involves the distribution of food surplus to groups affected by food poverty, followed by the option of converting food waste to animal feed. Although the proposed food waste hierarchy requires a fundamental re-think of the current practices and systems in place, it has the potential to deliver substantial environmental, social and economic benefits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With a growing interest in sustainability, a number of universities have engaged in educating the future leaders, decision makers, scientists, and engineers on how their decisions can help societies become more sustainable. This paper presents the process for developing the Bachelor's degree curriculum in Engineering for Sustainable Development at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. The process was initiated in response to a request from top management of the university to a small committee of faculty members to prepare a draft of the degree's curriculum structure. Subsequently, a wider committee was appointed to design the courses' content and to refine the degree's structure. The process of developing a new degree posed a number of challenges, such as connectivity of courses and the curricular contribution to sustainability. These challenges were overcome by: using Concept Maps to help characterise and to overcome the challenges of inter-connecting courses by providing a systemic framework through a qualitative graphical tool titled, the ‘Sustainability Tool for Assessing UNiversities’ Curricula Holistically’ (STAUNCH®). This tool helped the faculty team to develop a quasi-quantitative approach to the courses' coverage and their individual and collective contribution to education of their students for sustainability. The two methods provided a broader, more holistic, and systemic approach when developing a degree, because it allowed assessing the needed connectivity among curriculum courses from a systemic perspective, as well as evaluating the contribution of environmental, economic, and social issues in the degree. The systematic process followed in developing this degree curriculum can help other institutions to design and implement their own sustainability curricula. This can ensure that they develop sustainability-educated and empowered students, who can be change agents in making societies more sustainable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: There has been a rapid increase on the number of engineering schools in higher educational institutions that have incorporated sustainability into their teaching. Nonetheless, curricula reforms are still needed to better educate engineers on the implications that their work has on the environment and societies in this generation and future ones. A step to facilitate this is assessing the contribution of engineering curricula to sustainability. This assessment can provide a starting point on how sustainability is being taught, and how this can be improved. This paper presents the results from the assessment of the sustainability content of the Civil and Environmental Engineering curriculum at the Georgia Institute of Technology using two complementary approaches: the Sustainability Tool for Assessing UNiversity's Curricula Holistically system and two students' perceptions surveys. The results from the curriculum assessment indicated that the courses addressed mainly environmental issues, and that the depth of coverage could be improved. The results from the students' surveys concurred with the curriculum assessment, although there were some differences in regard to social issues. Using both approaches provides a more holistic overview of the contribution of engineering courses and degrees to sustainability, and it allows detecting discrepancies between sustainability content in the syllabus and sustainability teaching in the classroom. The approaches can help to foster educational changes by: guiding university leaders in devising curricula reforms to promote sustainability learning; providing students with opportunities to reflect upon the topic; and bridging the gap between the activities being done at the university to foster sustainability and student perception of what needs to be achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recently, there has been a rapid growth in company sustainability reporting, as well as an improvement in quality of reports. A number of guidelines have been instrumental in this process; however, they still do not consider the importance of the inter-linkages and synergies among the different indicators and dimensions. This paper focuses on assessing sustainability inter-linkages in corporate sustainability reporting. For this study, the reports from fifty-three European companies, covering thirteen industries at A+ Global Reporting Initiative level and third party certified, were selected. These reports were analysed following a two prong, quasi-quantitative approach – firstly by checking which of the reports covered any of the inter-linking issues, and secondly by checking how well these were covered (i.e. the performance). The results showed that, although not explicitly demanded by the guidelines, the coverage of the interlinking issues ranged from medium to high, whilst performance ranged from low to high. Given the holistic nature of business and of sustainability, and the lack of inclusion of this in the current reporting guidelines, this paper calls for an update of the theory, and of the guidelines, to ensure that a more systemic approach is adopted in business praxis. It also makes an appeal to SR managers and champions, and those compiling the reports, to actively look for the inter-linking issues and dimensions, in order to gain new insights with a view to reducing, or even avoiding, conflicts between/among issues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As more universities become interested in, and engaged with, sustainability, there has been a growing need to assess how their curricula addresses sustainable development and its myriad issues. Different tools and assessment exercises have looked at course descriptors; however, the influence of the number of students enrolled on courses, or the relative weight in credits of the courses in respect of the degrees, has not been explored. The paper compares, with the help of t-tests, three hypotheses developed to investigate the effect of these two influences. The analysis was done using the results from an updated version of the Sustainability Tool for Assessing UNiversities’ Curricula Holistically (STAUNCH®) for the Bachelor and Master programmes from the Faculty of Business and the Faculty of Environment of the University of Leeds. The analysis shows that the results are not statistically dissimilar. Nonetheless, the curricula assessment (including the number of students enrolled and the number of credits) can help to better understand where the university’s courses and programmes are, and how they could be changed to become more sustainability oriented, and, ultimately, to have the greatest impact to help make societies more sustainable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: It is widely acknowledged that environmental literacy, in the early stages of education, can provide a strong foundation for future environmental behaviours, as well as help in the transition towards more sustainable societies. This paper is based upon an evaluation of the environmental attitudes of students in a primary school in rural Slovenia. The attitudes were assessed according to the students’ behaviours in their family (primary) and school (secondary) and family contexts. The results show that traditional teaching, in this school, accounts for only one-third of the recognised factors that influence the students’ environmental behaviours. The other factors that foster environmental behaviours include the primary and secondary social environments, the structural and infrastructural condition in the school, and gender, where emotional attitudes play a key role. The authors suggest that, in order to more adequately address the gap between learning and acting, school administrators, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders should integrate an array of sustainability issues throughout formal and informal efforts so as to more effectively encourage the development of positive environmental attitudes, and behaviours among their youth and among themselves as role models. Additionally, school principals are urged to improve infrastructural and structural, attitudinal and procedural parameters at the schools, and to change the curricula in order to foster pro-environmental behaviours. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In spite of a number of Sustainable Development (SD) initiatives and an increasing number of universities becoming engaged with SD, most higher education institutions (HEIs) continue to be traditional, and rely upon Newtonian and Cartesian reductionist and mechanistic paradigms. As a result many universities are still lagging behind companies in helping societies become more sustainable. This paper analyses the texts of eleven declarations, charters, and partnerships developed for HEIs, which can be considered to represent university leaders’ intentions to help improve the effectiveness of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The analysis was done against two sets of criteria: (1) the university system, including curricula, research, physical plant operations, outreach and engagement with stakeholders, and assessment and reporting; and (2) the texts’ complexity, number of bullet points, and number of words. The analysis was done continuously; whenever a new element was found in a text it was added to the university system (first criteria set) and applied to the analysis of the other texts. In this way, the system was augmented with the following elements: collaborating with other universities; fostering transdisciplinarity; making SD an integral part of the institutional framework; creating on-campus life experiences; and ‘Educating-the-Educators’. The authors of the paper propose that for universities to become sustainability leaders and change drivers, they must ensure that the needs of present and future generations be better understood and built upon, so that professionals who are well versed in SD can effectively educate students of ‘all ages’ to help make the transition to ‘sustainable societal patterns’. In order to do so, university leaders and staff must be empowered to catalyse and implement new paradigms, and ensure that SD is the ‘Golden Thread’ throughout the entire university system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Historically, universities have played many roles in transforming societies, by educating decision-makers, leaders, entrepreneurs, and academics. However, education and research on sustainability in universities is at an early stage in many institutions. This introduction highlights findings from articles, most of which were presented at the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) 2010 conference, held at Delft, the Netherlands. The articles contribute to answering the questions: 1. Are universities leading in the development of sustainable development mental models and paradigms and in transferring the related sustainable development memes to their students or are they reacting to stimuli from society and thus the sustainable development memes are being transferred to the universities from the society? 2. What can university leaders and their faculty do to ensure that sustainable development becomes an integral part of the University's culture? The starting point of this special volume is a paper on declarations and initiatives for Education for Sustainable Development which is complemented by a paper on inter-linking the declarations to the university's commitment and policies. Two papers explore campus operations and greenhouse gases, whilst three papers focus on curricula for sustainable development. Then two papers are included, which address multi-stakeholder regional collaboration, via linking the university to small and medium size enterprises through sustainable development initiatives. They are complemented with new perspectives on attitudes and perceptions of students to environmental and sustainability issues. The final two papers focus on transdisciplinary research and on a new metaphor designed to help faculty, students and societal members work is harmony with our eco-system. Collectively, these articles provide an encouraging, holistic and trans-disciplinary perspective on higher education for sustainable development via articles that provide critical reflections on methodological perspectives where ‘the sciences meet the arts’. The articles were selected to encourage educators, globally to engage in sustainable development initiatives within and outside their universities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Corporate leaders and employees have been increasingly recognising their role in contributing to sustainability. In this context, different voluntary tools, approaches, and initiatives have been developed by and for corporations to engage with sustainability. However, there has been a lack of clarity in explaining how the initiatives address the different elements of the company system (operations and processes, management and strategy, organisational systems, procurement and marketing, and assessment and communication), how they contribute to sustainability’s dimensions (economic, environmental, social, and time), how they are linked, or combined to help leaders better embed sustainability into their company''s system. The paper provides an analysis of sixteen of the most widely used initiatives (e.g. life cycle assessment, eco-design, cleaner production, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability reporting). Each initiative was analysed on how it contributes or addresses the four dimensions of sustainability, and the company system. It was found that each initiative has advantages with respect to scope and focus for the sustainability dimensions and the company system’s elements, but it has certain disadvantages when it comes to dealing with the complexity and broadness of sustainability. The paper discusses how relying on one initiative can result in a limited and narrow contribution to sustainability and curtail coverage of the company’s system. The results indicate that the least addressed elements of the company system have been organisational systems and procurement and marketing. A new framework, the Corporate Integration of Voluntary Initiatives for Sustainability (CIVIS), is proposed with two purposes: (1) to help company leaders better understand how to improve their company’s contribution to sustainability, and (2) to foster a holistic approach through the combination of company initiatives that would help to embed sustainability into a company’s system with the least effort and maximum results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: During the last decade, Sustainability Reporting (SR) has been increasingly adopted by corporations worldwide. This is evidenced by the adoption of several guidelines, such as the ISO 14000 series, the Social Accountability 8000 standard, and the GRI Sustainability Guidelines. SR shows promise to help corporate leaders and their employees to contribute towards achieving sustainable societies. However, most of the guidelines and standards address sustainability issues through comparmentalisation, thereby, leading to the separation of the economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Due to these divisive approaches, holistic assessments of the effects of their efforts are seldom properly integrated into coporate decisions and procedures to make improvements for example through Cleaner Production, Worker Health and Safety, Consumer Safety, and reductions in the negative short and long-term Social and Environmental Impacts. This paper analyses SR reports from three companies with the help of Grounded Theory''s constant comparative analysis. This analytical framework helped the authors to systematically assess the degree to which the companies addressed economic, ecological and social issues separately or in an integrated and inter-linked manner. From the inter-linkages found, a new category is proposed to be added to future SR. This new category can help corporate SR planners and researchers on sustainability reports to better understand how the company leaders understand their responsibilities with regard to SD. These inter-connectednesses are highly relevant in many short and long-term dimensions of supply chain management, global warming, ecological disruption and societal equity issues, especially with regard to the local, national and global energy issues of fuels and oils, the central themes of the conference at which this paper was originally presented. It also plays a key role in real, long-term changes towards Sustainability, where the time dimension plays a key role in human survival on Planet Earth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: During the last decade an increasing number of higher education institutions (HEIs) have been incorporating and institutionalizing the principles of Sustainable development (SD) into their curricula, research, operations, outreach, and assessment and reporting. This article focuses on the adoption and diffusion of SD in curricula by analyzing the results from the curricula audit of over 5800 course descriptions from 19 of the 28 schools from Cardiff University. The audit was done using the Sustainability Tool for Auditing UNiversities Curricula in Higher Education (STAUNCH©). The STAUNCH© analysis results are analyzed using a combination of diffusion of innovation theory with systems thinking. The analysis of the SD adoption and diffusion indicates that although some of the schools might be ‘innovators’ in a particular dimension, when the overall SD contribution is considered (i.e. the inter-connectedness and synergies among economic, environmental, social, and cross-cutting themes) they do not necessarily fall into the ‘innovators’ category. This indicates that to better incorporate SD into curricula, a transformation from compartmentalization, over-specialization, and reductionism towards more balanced, synergistic, trans-disciplinary, and holistic perspectives, is required. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In October 2008, the 5th Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) international conference was held in Barcelona, Spain. It dealt with the need to rethink how our higher educational institutions are facing sustainability. This special issue has been primarily derived from contributions to that conference. This issue builds upon related academic international publications, which have analysed how to use the critical position of universities to accelerate their pace of working to help to make the transition to truly SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES! This issue focus is on the ‘softer’ issues, such as changes in values, attitudes, motivations, as well as in curricula, societal interactions and assessments of the impacts of research. Insights derived from the interplay of the ‘softer’ issues with the ‘harder’ issues are empowering academic leaders to effectively use leverage points to make changes in operations, courses, curricula, and research. Those changes are being designed to help their students and faculty build resilient and sustainable societies within the context of climate change, the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The overall systems approach presented by Stephens and Graham provides a structured framework to systematize change for sustainability in higher education, by stressing on the one hand the need for “learning to learn” and on the other hand by integrating leadership and cultural aspects. The “niche” level they propose for innovative interactions between practitioners such as EMSU is exemplary developed by all of the other documents in this special issue. To highlight some of the key elements of the articles in this issue, there are proposals for new educational methods based in sustainability science, a set of inspirational criteria for SD research activities, new course ranking and assessment methods and results of psychological studies that provide evidence that participatory approaches are the most effective way to change values within university members in order to facilitate the development and sharing of new sustainability norms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Sustainability has arisen as an alternative to the dominant socio-economic paradigm (DSP). However, it is still a difficult concept for many to fully understand. To help to communicate it and make it more tangible visual representations have been used. Three of the most used, and critiqued, sustainability representations are: (1) a Venn diagram, i.e. three circles that inter-connect, where the resulting overlap that represents sustainability can be misleading; (2) three concentric circles, the inner circle representing economic aspects, the middle social aspects, and the outer environmental aspects; and (3) the Planning Hexagon, showing the relationships among economy, environment, the individual, group norms, technical skills, and legal and planning systems. Each has been useful in helping to engage the general public and raising sustainability awareness. However, they all suffer from being highly anthropocentric, compartmentalised, and lacking completeness and continuity. These drawbacks have reduced their acceptance and use by more advanced sustainability scholars, researchers and practitioners. This paper presents an innovative attempt to represent sustainability in three dimensions which show the complex and dynamic equilibria among economic, environmental and social aspects, and the short-, long- and longer-term perspectives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: One of the defining characteristics of humankind is that we are, by nature, a social species. This makes the individualistic behaviours that increasingly characterise our society and culture both “unnatural” and it tends to create imbalances and conflicts between individuals, groups and organisations. This paper presents two approaches to build stronger and more Sustainability oriented organisations through collaboration. The first one is the Japanese concept of Kyosei, or “spirit of cooperation”, which invokes collaboration among labour, companies, customers, governments, and others. Kyosei is complemented with a Multi-dimensional Sustainability Influence Change (MuSIC) memework as a means of understanding and promoting integrated progress towards Sustainability. The MuSIC memework explores the complexity and interconnectedness of the three types of attitudes: (1) informational, (2) emotional, and (3) behavioural, within three organisational levels: (a) individuals, (b) groups, and (c) the organisation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Corporations are increasingly recognising their role in helping to make societies more sustainable. To incorporate sustainability principles into their systems and activities, companies have developed and fostered the development of a variety of voluntary efforts. In many cases these efforts have been limited by focusing on one particular sustainability issue, offering 'hard' technocentric solutions, or not being effectively integrated into organisational change processes. This paper offers a perspective to help 'orchestrate' organisational change to incorporate and institutionalise corporate sustainability (CS). A model is proposed that focuses on helping the move from the status quo to a more sustainability-oriented state, in an iterative process. The model is used to analyse three case studies. In this process, the CS drivers promote change. However, their efficacy is blocked by barriers to change. The use of appropriate strategies is essential to overcome the barriers throughout the organisation (including individuals and groups) and their respective attitudes, making CS part of the institutional framework, helping to maintain stability and facilitate CS institutionalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents: (1) a comparison between different tools that have been developed to assess and report upon academic institutions'' sustainability efforts; (2) a modification of one of these tools, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Guidelines, for use in universities; and (3) a tool developed by the author, the Graphical Assessment of Sustainability in Universities (GASU), that offers a condensed graphical overview of the myriad of indicators from the GRI modification. The GASU was designed to facilitate the analysis, longitudinal comparison and benchmarking of universities'' sustainability efforts and achievement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Many years have passed since sustainable development (SD) became world famous in the Brundtland Commission publication, “Our Common Future”; however, still many universities are unaware of it or confuse it with environmental sustainability. The SD concept contrasts with existing teaching methods, mainly focused into resource depletion. This paper focuses on SD incorporation and institutionalization into universities. This process is bound to face resistance from inside and outside stakeholders. Several approaches and strategies are presented to overcome this resistance. The paper also presents the types of conflicts that might arise and the role of the campus SD champion in preventing or solving them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose This paper aims to conceptualize impacts of higher education institutions (HEIs) on sustainable development (SD), complementing previous literature reviews by broadening the perspective from what HEIs do in pursuit of SD to how these activities impact society, the environment and the economy.Design/methodology/approach The paper provides a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2005 and 2017. Inductive content analysis was applied to identify major themes and impact areas addressed in the literature to develop a conceptual framework detailing the relationship between HEIs' activities and their impacts on SD.Findings The paper identifies six impact areas where direct and indirect impacts of HEIs on SD may occur. The findings indicate a strong focus on case studies dealing with specific projects and a lack of studies analyzing impacts from a more holistic perspective.Practical implications This systematic literature review enables decision-makers in HEIs, researchers and educators to better understand how their activities may affect society, the environment and the economy, and it provides a solid foundation to tackle these impacts.Social implications The review highlights that HEIs have an inherent responsibility to make societies more sustainable. HEIs must embed SD into their systems while considering their impacts on society.Originality/value This paper provides a holistic conceptualization of HEIs' impacts on SD. The conceptual framework can be useful for future research that attempts to analyze HEIs' impacts on SD from a holistic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study. OBJECTIVE: To verify the feasibility of performing in vivo quantitative magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of moderate traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats using a clinical 3T scanner. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Animal models of human diseases are essential for translational medicine. Potential treatments of SCI are evaluated in 2 ways: anatomical and functional. Advanced magnetic resonance sequences allow a noninvasive assessment of the spinal cord depicting both. This study describes and validates a very reproducible, feasible, affordable, and reliable method, designed to be applied in commercial 3T equipment, using a novel stereotactic device for spinal cord, leading to a readily available assessment of the progression of damage generated after traumatic SCI in rats. METHODS: Four Long-Evans female rats were injured with a New York University weight-drop device to produce the SCI by contusion at thoracic level 10. All animals were placed in a fixation system, using a commercial wrist antenna to obtain magnetic resonance imaging data of the relaxometry time, apparent diffusion coefficient, and fractional anisotropy. Three sets of data obtained before SCI and 1 and 4 weeks after injury were compared. RESULTS: The data showed a progressive decline in fractional anisotropy measurements after SCI comparing baseline versus the 1-week period (P < 0.001) and baseline versus the 4-week period (P < 0.019), with a significant progressive increase in apparent diffusion coefficient values and T2 after SCI only in the baseline versus the 4-week period (P < 0.045 and P < 0.024, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our results helped us to validate a novel method to acquire highly reproducible and reliable quantitative biomarkers of traumatic SCI in vivo by using a 3T clinical MR scanner coupled with a novel stereotactic device for rats.Level of Evidence: N/A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste has significant detrimental economic, environmental and social impacts. The magnitude and complexity of the global food waste problem has brought it to the forefront of the environmental agenda; however, there has been little research on the patterns and drivers of food waste generation, especially outside the household. This is partially due to weaknesses in the methodological approaches used to understand such a complex problem. This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework to identify and explain the patterns and drivers of food waste generation in the hospitality sector, with the aim of identifying food waste prevention measures. This conceptual framework integrates data collection and analysis methods from ethnography and grounded theory, complemented with concepts and tools from industrial ecology for the analysis of quantitative data. A case study of food waste generation at a hotel restaurant in Malaysia is used as an example to illustrate how this conceptual framework can be applied. The conceptual framework links the biophysical and economic flows of food provisioning and waste generation, with the social and cultural practices associated with food preparation and consumption. The case study demonstrates that food waste is intrinsically linked to the way we provision and consume food, the material and socio-cultural context of food consumption and food waste generation. Food provisioning, food consumption and food waste generation should be studied together in order to fully understand how, where and most importantly why food waste is generated. This understanding will then enable to draw detailed, case specific food waste prevention plans addressing the material and socio-economic aspects of food waste generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent years, universities have been incorporating sustainable development (SD) into their systems, including their curricula. This article analyses the incorporation of SD into the curricula of chemical and environmental engineering or technology bachelor degrees at universities in the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states. Available textbooks of some courses were analysed regarding their content and pedagogical-didactical perspectives based on a revised Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive domains. The research showed that both the universities and textbooks reviewed have room for improvement regarding SD incorporation into their curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estrogen hormones protect against colorectal cancer (CRC) and a preventative role of estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) on CRC has been supported using full knockout animals. However, it is unclear through which cells or organ ERβ mediates this effect. To investigate the functional role of intestinal ERβ during colitis-associated CRC we used intestine-specific ERβ knockout mice treated with azoxymethane and dextran sodium sulfate, followed by ex vivo organoid culture to corroborate intrinsic effects. We explored genome-wide impact on TNFα signaling using human CRC cell lines and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay to mechanistically characterize the regulation of ERβ. Increased tumor formation in males and tumor size in females was noted upon intestine-specific ERβ knockout, accompanied by enhanced local expression of TNFα, deregulation of key NFκB targets, and increased colon ulceration. Unexpectedly, we noted especially strong effects in males. We corroborated that intestinal ERβ protects against TNFα-induced damage intrinsically, and characterized an underlying genome-wide signaling mechanism in CRC cell lines whereby ERβ binds to cis-regulatory chromatin areas of key NFκB regulators. Our results support a protective role of intestinal ERβ against colitis-associated CRC, proposing new therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a condition that puts the patient's life at risk in the acute phase and, during the chronic stage, results in permanent deficits in motor, sensory and autonomic functions. Isolated therapeutic strategies have not shown an effect on this condition. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) and curcumin, alone or combined, on the oxidative balance, motor function recovery and amount of preserved tissue following a traumatic SCI. Long-Evans rats were divided into five groups: SHAM, SCI, SCI + EA, SCI + Curcumin, and SCI + EA + Curcumin. Nitric oxide was significantly decreased in the Curcumin group; the EA, Curcumin and SCI + EA + Curcumin groups had significantly decreased hydroxyl radical and lipid peroxidation levels. Motor function recovery and the amount of preserved spinal cord tissue were significantly greater in the EA, Curcumin and EA + Curcumin groups. The results show that EA and Curcumin treatment alone or in combination decreased oxidative stress, improved functional motor recovery and increased the amount of preserved spinal cord tissue following a traumatic injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) make it possible to obtain functional data on the activity of somatosensory pathway. Objective: To evaluate the ontogeny of electrical nerve conduction in male rhesus monkeys using SEPs in correlation with the development of the musculoskeletal system based on somatometry and musculoskeletal enzymes. Methods: Somatosensory evoked potentials of the medial and tibial nerves were performed, and somatometric measurements were obtained: total length, arm and forearm length, and thigh and calf length. Analysis of the musculoskeletal enzymes, lactic dehydrogenase, and creatininase was conducted using blood samples in 20 rhesus monkeys divided into 5 groups. Results: Statistical analysis manifested a delay in the appearance of latencies as age increased. Also evident was a strong, direct relation between the lengths and the value of the latencies of the SEP, together with an inverse relation between the musculoskeletal enzymes. Conclusions: These findings contribute to standardizing this animal model in the neurophysiological sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there have been a considerable number of efforts to integrate sustainability into Higher Education Institutions (HEIs); however, there are still challenges that need to be overcome. A process that has received an increasing attention has been the Organisational Change Management for Sustainability. This article is aimed at reviewing the main drivers of the integration of sustainable practices and the barriers to change slowing or stopping it. A systematic literature review was carried out using Web of Science de Thomson Reuters and in Scopus databases focusing on retrieving all papers on sustainability in HEIs published between 2000 and 2016. The drivers of and barriers found for the integration of sustainability in HEIs were compared to those previously described for companies. The similarities on drivers to change found in HEIs and companies were greater for external ones. A lower number of barriers to change were reported in the literature for HEIs than those reported for corporations, nonetheless, it was found that HEIs and companies have several common barriers to change. The article proposes a list of main drivers of and barriers to change, some general and others context specific. The findings on the drivers of the integration of sustainable practices in HEIs can serve to identify additional good practices at companies and vice versa. The barriers to change detected for the process of integration can help into anticipating, preventing and overcoming them. This knowledge can help institutions better plan and use their resources in working to becoming more sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]