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Canada has an important responsibility for the research, conservation, and management of polar bears (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) because the majority of polar bears in the world occur within the nation's borders. Two fundamental and recent changes for polar bears and their conservation have arisen: (1) the ongoing and projected further decline of sea-ice habitat as a result of climate change and (2) the implementation of aboriginal land claims and treaties in Canada's North. Science has documented empirical links between productivity of polar bear population and sea-ice change. Predictive modeling based on these data has forecast significant declines in polar bear abundance and distribution of polar bears. With the signing of northern land claims and treaties, polar bear management in Canada has integrated local aboriginal participation, values, and knowledge. The interaction of scientific and local perspectives on polar bears as they relate to harvest, climate change, and declining habitat has recently caused controversy. Some conservation, management, and research decisions have been contentious because of gaps in scientific knowledge and the polarization and politicization of the roles of the various stakeholders. With these ecological and governance transitions, there is a need to re-focus and re-direct polar bear conservation in Canada. Le Canada est en grande partie responsable de la recherche, la conservation et la gestion des ours polaires (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) parce que la majorite de ces ours sur la planete se retrouvent a l'interieur des frontieres nationales. Il s' est produit recemment deux changements fondamentaux en ce qui concerne les ours polaires et leur conservation : (1) le declin persistant et projete de l'habitat des glaces de mer a cause du changement climatique et (2) la mise en application des revendications territoriales et des traites avec les premieres nations dans le Nord canadien. La science a etabli des liens empiriques bien documentes entre la productivite des populations d'ours polaires et les modifications des glaces de mer. Les modeles predictifs bases sur ces donnees laissent entrevoir des declins significatifs dans l'abondance et la repartition des ours polaires. Avec la signature des revendications territoriales et des traites dans le nord, la gestion des ours polaires au Canada integre maintenant la participation des premieres nations, avec leurs valeurs et leurs connaissances. L'interaction des perspectives scientifiques et locales au sujet des ours polaires en ce qui a trait a la recolte, le changement climatique et la reduction de l' habitat a recemment genere des controverses. Certaines decisions de conservation, de gestion et de recherche ont ete mises en doute a cause de lacunes dans les connaissances scientifiques et a cause de la polarisation et de la politisation des roles des divers partenaires. En presence de telles transitions dans l'ecologie et la gestion, il est necessaire de recibler et de reorienter la conservation des ours polaires au Canada. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Threats posed by habitat loss, climate change, and harvest are concerns for the conservation of many species, but large mammals are often at elevated risk owing to slow reproduction [...]

CVD is a major burden on the health system in the UK. On average, diets are not aligned with current dietary recommendations, including those for salt, saturated fat, fibre, fruit and vegetables. Obesity prevalence is high and the majority of the population is consuming more energy than required. Addressing these issues would reduce the burden of CVD and help reduce inequalities in health. There is currently a range of policy interventions in place in England designed to help improve diets and reduce obesity, which in turn should help reduce the risk of CVD. Further actions may be needed in the long term to deliver sustained improvements to diet and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RATIONALE Archaeological keratin samples are increasingly the subject of palaeodietary, provenancing and dating studies. Keratin samples from wet archaeological contexts are microbiologically and chemically degraded, causing differential diagenesis of protein structures in hair fibres. The effects of these processes on the analytical parameters of interest are currently unknown. METHODS This study examined the impact of degradation of wool fibres on isotopic (δ13C, δ15N, un-exchangeable δ2H and δ18O values) composition. It compared two models of archaeological protein degradation in wet burial environments: (1) short term (up to 8 years) experimental burial in three contrasting soil environments; and (2) laboratory wet conditions, in which elevated temperature (80 °C, 110 °C, and 140 °C) and pressure simulated longer exposure. Elemental and amino acid (AA) composition were also measured. RESULTS In experimentally soil-buried samples, AA, elemental and isotopic composition changes were small, despite extensive macroscopic alteration. Isothermally heated samples showed preferential loss of hydrophilic AAs (Asx, Glx, Ser, Gly) from wool residues, with depletion in 2H and 18O at higher temperatures (up to −73‰ change in δ2H and −2.6‰ in δ18O values). The δ13C and δ15N values showed little change except in densely pigmented samples at low temperatures only. Samples dyed with madder/alum were better preserved than undyed samples. CONCLUSIONS Diagenesis in experimentally soil-buried wool textiles was consistent with microbiological, non-protein-selective activity, in contrast to highly AA-selective hydrolytic behaviour under laboratory wet conditions. Changes in δ2H and δ18O values were correlated with degree of AA change, but the δ13C and δ15N values were not. The results contribute to a baseline for interpreting analytical data from archaeological hair samples preserved by burial in wet environments. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]