25 Years (1988-2012) of Freshwater Research in the Philippines: What has been done and what to do next?

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  

Globally, declines in freshwater biodiversity have been recognized to be far greater than those in marine or terrestrial realms. And like the rest of tropical Asia, the Philippine freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity have been neglected. Our goals in this review are to provide indications where further research is needed, what systems are underrepresented and which organisms have been neglected. In this study, we determined the current knowledge on freshwater ecosystems in the country through critical evaluation of available peer-reviewed literature. A structured search on studies on Philippine freshwater systems published from January 1988 to December 2012 was performed using the Thomson Reuter’s Web of Science and Zoological Records. A total of 281 papers that have directly assessed Philippine freshwater systems and/or have actually collected and examined aquatic organisms from these systems were included in the review. More than 70% of the papers were produced solely by local researchers or with international collaborators. There was a significant steady increase in Philippine freshwater studies, with systematics (105 papers) and freshwater fish (78 papers) being the most frequently studied research area and organism, respectively. Rivers (116 studies) and lakes (112 studies) are still the most frequently studied freshwater systems. Among the papers reviewed, Luzon freshwater systems were the focus of most studies with Laguna de Bay being the most researched. Freshwater systems in the Visayas and Mindanao received little research attention. Finally, we presented a four-point research agenda, the results of which could form the basis for policy or management decisions to aid future conservation and sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity in the Philippines.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Veronika Weiß ◽  
Michael Minge ◽  
Bernhard Preim ◽  
Steffi Hußlein

Since the 1960s, atopic dermatitis has seen a steady increase in prevalence in developed countries. Most often, the onset begins at an early age and many patients are very young children. Due to their young age, their parents are forced to take over handling of the disease. As a consequence, atopic dermatitis places a high burden not only on affected children, but also on their parents and siblings, limiting human flourishing of a whole family. Therefore, the described research area calls for a possibility-driven approach that looks beyond mere problem-solving while building on existing support possibilities and creating new ones. This paper presents atopi as a result of such a possibility-driven approach. It incorporates existing patient education and severity scoring into an extensive service, adding new elements to turn necessary practices into joyful experiences, to create feelings of relatedness and to increase perceived self-efficacy, thus is suitable to enable human flourishing.


Nematology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Taciana Kramer de Oliveira Pinto ◽  
Sérgio A. Netto ◽  
André Morgado Esteves ◽  
Francisco José Victor de Castro ◽  
Patricia Fernandes Neres ◽  
...  

Summary Brazil has one of the largest varieties of aquatic ecosystems and rich freshwater biodiversity, but these components have constantly been damaged by the expansion of unsustainable activities. Free-living nematodes are an abundant and ubiquitous component of continental benthic communities, occurring in all freshwater habitats, including extreme environments. Despite this, hardly any studies have examined the generic composition of nematodes in different latitudes and the geographic overlap of assemblages. We provide data on nematode genera from six regions in Brazil, over a north-south gradient spanning about 4000 km, encompassing rivers, coastal lakes, and reservoirs with different levels of human impact. Interpolation/extrapolation curves were generated and the zeta diversity was used to assess the overlap of nematode assemblages. Freshwater nematode assemblages comprised 54 families and 132 genera. Mononchidae, Monhysteridae, Chromadoridae, Tobrilidae and Dorylaimidae were the most diverse families. Differences in diversity and high turnover of genera were found among regions, probably related to stochastic processes. Mononchus was the only widely distributed genus. Our results revealed a high biodiversity of free-living freshwater nematodes among the regions. The limited spatial coverage of the data reveals an enormous knowledge gap in a country with 12% of the world’s freshwater resources. The lack of spatial patterns, e.g., latitudinal variation, suggests that freshwater nematode assemblages are primarily structured by the intrinsic properties of habitats. This reinforces the uniqueness of freshwater ecosystems and suggests that the nematode assemblages may be sensitive to environmental disturbances, since the limited distributions of taxa may lead to lower resilience.


2003 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S Ashton

Dipterocarp forests of the Asian wet tropics have a long history of silvicultural research. This paper provides a review of this history and a summary of the ecological principles guiding the regeneration methods used. Dipterocarp forests are here defined as those of the seasonally wet regions of Thailand, Burma, and India, and those that are considered of the mixed dipterocarp forest type that dominate the aseasonal wet regions of Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and parts of Indonesia and the Philippines. Two silvicultural regeneration methods are described, shelterwoods and their variants, and selection systems. Both systems can be justified but emphasis is given to the development of shelterwood and selection regeneration methods that are tailored to the particular biological and social context at hand. The paper concludes with a call for improved land-use planning and stand typing to better integrate service and protection values with those values focused on commodity production. Key words: Dipterocarpus, hill forest, non-timber forest products, polycyclic, regeneration, selection, shelterwood, Shorea


Water ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Maria Papale ◽  
Angelina Lo Giudice ◽  
Alessandro Ciro Rappazzo ◽  
Maurizio Azzaro ◽  
Carmen Rizzo

Antarctic freshwater ecosystems are especially vulnerable to human impacts. Polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants that have a long lifetime in the environment. Despite their use having either been phased out or restricted, they are still found in nature, also in remote areas. Once in the environment, the fate of PCBs is strictly linked to bacteria which represent the first step in the transfer of toxic compounds to higher trophic levels. Data on PCB-oxidizing bacteria from polar areas are still scarce and fragmented. In this study, the occurrence of PCB-oxidizing cold-adapted bacteria was evaluated in water and sediment of four coastal lakes at Edmonson Point (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica). After enrichment with biphenyl, 192 isolates were obtained with 57 of them that were able to grow in the presence of the PCB mixture Aroclor 1242, as the sole carbon source. The catabolic gene bphA, as a proxy for PCB degradation potential, was harbored by 37 isolates (out of 57), mainly affiliated to the genera Salinibacterium, Arthrobacter (among Actinobacteria) and Pusillimonas (among Betaproteobacteria). Obtained results enlarge our current knowledge on cold-adapted PCB-oxidizing bacteria and pose the basis for their potential application as a valuable eco-friendly tool for the recovery of PCB-contaminated cold sites.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 605
Author(s):  
Meththa Ranasinghe ◽  
Ioannis Manikas ◽  
Sajid Maqsood ◽  
Constantinos Stathopoulos

Date (Phoenix dactylifera L. Arecaceae) fruits and their by-products are rich in nutrients. The health benefits of dates and their incorporation into value-added products have been widely studied. The date-processing industry faces a significant sustainability challenge as more than 10% (w/w) of the production is discarded as waste or by-products. Currently, food scientists are focusing on bakery product fortification with functional food ingredients due to the high demand for nutritious food with more convenience. Utilizing date components in value-added bakery products is a trending research area with increasing attention. Studies where the researchers tried to improve the quality of bakery goods by incorporating date components have shown positive results, with several drawbacks that need attention and further research. The objective of this review is to present a comprehensive overview of the utilization of date components in bakery products and to identify gaps in the current knowledge. This review will help focus further research in the area of valorization of date by-products and thereby contribute to the generation of novel functional bakery products that meet consumer expectations and industry standards, thus generating income for the relevant industry and considerable alleviation of the environmental burden this waste and by-products contribute to. Only a few studies have been focused on utilizing date by-products and their extracts for baked goods, while a research area still remaining under-explored is the effect of incorporation of date components on the shelf life of bakery products.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanos Sakellaropoulos ◽  
Dimitra Lekaditi ◽  
Stefano Svab

A robust literature, over the last years, supports the indication of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Understanding exercise physiology is a crucial component of the critical evaluation of exercise intolerance. Shortness of breath and exercise limitation is often treated with an improper focus, partly because the pathophysiology is not well understood in the frame of the diagnostic spectrum of each subspecialty. A vital field and research area have been cardiopulmonary exercise test in heart failure with preserved/reduced ejection fraction, evaluation of heart failure patients as candidates for LVAD-Implantation, as well as for LVAD-Explantation and ultimately for heart transplantation. All the CPET variables provide synergistic prognostic discrimination. However, Peak VO2 serves as the most critical parameter for risk stratification and prediction of survival rate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-256
Author(s):  
Eldrin De Los Reyes ARGUELLES

In spite of the fact that epiphytic algae are considered an important component of freshwater ecosystems, our knowledge of their diversity and distribution is still rather poor. Taxonomic study on the composition of epiphytic algae living on submerged leaf and root tissues of macrophyte Nymphaea pubescens Willd, found at Laguna de Bay (Philippines), was conducted. In total, 21 algal taxa were identified: 10 Cyanophyceae, 6 Trebouxiophyceae, and 5 Bacillariophyceae. The taxa described in this study represent 13 orders, 16 families, 18 genera, and 21 species based on the recent combined taxonomical approach. Of these taxa, the occurrence of a rare cyanobacteria, Chroococcus schizodermaticus West, is reported for the first time in the Philippines. One species is also reported here for the first time in the Philippines, based on current taxonomic nomenclature, and this is Cyanothece aeruginosa (Nägeli) Komárek, which is based on the former name of Synechococcus aeruginosus Nägeli. These taxonomic records are considered important basal information in enriching the knowledge about the diversity and habitat distribution of cyanobacteria and microalgae in macrophytes found in freshwater habitats in the Philippines.


Author(s):  
Matthew McCartney

Freshwater ecosystems are naturally dynamic. The source of water, discharge, turnover, and residence times all affect which organisms can live in different freshwater habitats and are key determinants of freshwater ecosystem structure and function. Human-induced changes to the volume and timing of both surface and ground water flows are a leading driver of global declines in freshwater biodiversity and are likely to be exacerbated by climate change. The conservation of many wetlands around the world, including in some cases the preservation of unique flora and fauna, is now entirely dependent on continued human intervention and water management. Such management can only be successful if based on sound understanding of water budgets and hydrological processes informed by accurate hydrological monitoring. This chapter provides a brief introduction to hydrological monitoring—what needs to be measured and how—for freshwater ecology and conservation.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakesh Sindhi ◽  
Vinayak Rohan ◽  
Andrew Bukowinski ◽  
Sameh Tadros ◽  
Jean de Ville de Goyet ◽  
...  

Unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was first removed successfully with total hepatectomy and liver transplantation (LT) in a child over five decades ago. Since then, children with unresectable liver cancer have benefitted greatly from LT and a confluence of several equally important endeavors. Regional and trans-continental collaborations have accelerated the development and standardization of chemotherapy regimens, which provide disease control to enable LT, and also serve as a test of unresectability. In the process, tumor histology, imaging protocols, and tumor staging have also matured to better assess response and LT candidacy. Significant trends include a steady increase in the incidence of and use of LT for hepatoblastoma, and a significant improvement in survival after LT for HCC with each decade. Although LT is curative for most unresectable primary liver sarcomas, such as embryonal sarcoma, the malignant rhabdoid tumor appears relapse-prone despite chemotherapy and LT. Pediatric liver tumors remain rare, and diagnostic uncertainty in some settings can potentially delay treatment or lead to the selection of less effective chemotherapy. We review the current knowledge relevant to diagnosis, LT candidacy, and post-transplant outcomes for these tumors, emphasizing recent observations made from large registries or larger series.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 561-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayantunji Gbadamosi

Although postmodernism and celebrity culture are closely linked, research attention on this has not been adequately synthesized with ethnic minority groups. Hence, this article, which is rooted in an interpretive research paradigm, explores the symbolic consumption of Black African women in the UK with specific reference to celebrity culture. Although the study shows some purchase decisions based on products’ functionality, generally, it shows the robust interplay of personal, cultural, social, and commercial factors in the symbolic consumption of these women. This is shown to be linked to the prevalent celebrity culture in the society. They consume to enhance their self-esteem and keep up with the societal trend in the host environment. Hence, the notion of acculturation features prominently in their consumption. The article extends the discourse on the extant ethnic minority studies and augments the current knowledge about symbolic consumption especially with reference to Black African women.


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