scholarly journals In Vitro Effects of Particulate Matter Associated with a Wildland Fire in the North-West of Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (20) ◽  
pp. 10812
Author(s):  
Marta Gea ◽  
Sara Bonetta ◽  
Daniele Marangon ◽  
Francesco Antonio Pitasi ◽  
Caterina Armato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Estrogenic Activity ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Mutagenic Effect ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Pm10 And Pm2.5 ◽  
Gene Reporter Assay

Wildland fires, increasing in recent decades in the Mediterranean region due to climate change, can contribute to PM levels and composition. This study aimed to investigate biological effects of PM2.5 (Ø < 2.5 µm) and PM10 (Ø < 10 µm) collected near a fire occurred in the North-West of Italy in 2017 and in three other areas (urban and rural areas). Organic extracts were assessed for mutagenicity using Ames test (TA98 and TA100 strains), cell viability (WST-1 and LDH assays) and genotoxicity (Comet assay) with human bronchial cells (BEAS-2B) and estrogenic activity using a gene reporter assay (MELN cells). In all sites, high levels of PM10 and PM2.5 were measured during the fire suggesting that near and distant sites were influenced by fire pollutants. The PM10 and PM2.5 extracts induced a significant mutagenicity in all sites and the mutagenic effect was increased with respect to historical data. All extracts induced a slight increase of the estrogenic activity but a possible antagonistic activity of PM samples collected near fire was observed. No cytotoxicity or DNA damage was detected. Results confirm that fires could be relevant for human health, since they can worsen the air quality increasing PM concentrations, mutagenic and estrogenic effects.

Systemic School Improvement Interventions in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
South African ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
North West ◽  
Household Level ◽  
The North ◽  
Improvement Interventions ◽  
Academic Review

Looking at two smaller-scale systemic school improvement projects implemented in selected district circuits in the North West and Eastern Cape by partnerships between government, JET Education Services, and private sector organisations, this book captures and reflects on the experiences of the practitioners involved. The Systemic School Improvement Model developed by JET to address an identified range of interconnected challenges at district, school, classroom and household level, is made up of seven components. In reflecting on what worked and what did not in the implementation of these different components, the different chapters set out some of the practical lessons learnt, which could be used to improve the design and implementation of similar education improvement projects. Many of the lessons in this field that remain under-recorded to date relate to the step-by-step processes followed, the relationship dynamics encountered at different levels of the education system, and the local realities confronting schools and districts in South Africa's rural areas. Drawing on field data that is often not available to researchers, the book endeavours to address this gap and record these lessons. It is not intended to provide an academic review of the systemic school improvement projects. It is presented rather to offer other development practitioners working to improve the quality of education in South African schools, an understanding of some of the real practical and logistical challenges that arise and how these may be resolved to take further school improvement projects forward at a wider district, provincial and national scale.

MORE ON THE QUESTION OF RURAL AREAS MULTIFUNCTIONALITY

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 2397-2415
Author(s):  
A.I. Kostyaev ◽  
◽  
S.B. Letunov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Production Functions ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Regional Markets ◽  
Specially Protected Natural Areas ◽  
Protected Natural Areas ◽  
Market Perception ◽  
Market Consequences

The approaches of Russian and foreign scientists to studying rural areas multifunctionality differ significantly. Domestic researchers consider this problem from the standpoint of public goods in agricultural production, agricultural production diversification, rural population livelihoods, land use, and sustainable development of rural areas. In all cases, we are talking about implementation of functions within rural areas without raising the question of buying and selling their intangible attributes. In foreign publications, two pragmatic approaches are seen within the concept of multifunctionality. The first approach is the market perception of rural areas as consumer spaces. In this case, the intangible attributes of the territories (landscape, nature, heritage or culture) are considered as a sold and bought product. The second approach is an approach from the standpoint of protection against negative market consequences in international food trade. The non-productive functions of agriculture are taken into account in the WTO negotiations as non-trade factors. This helps to protect the agriculture of many countries from the destructive effects of foreign trade. The article proposes to move from staged studies of the issue of multifunctionality to a constructive consideration of the material and non-material potential for implementing the rural areas' production and non-production functions. The purpose of the study is to determine the material and non-material basis of rural areas multifunctionality using the example of the North-West of Russia. The objectives of the study are to establish the capabilities of rural areas to perform their functions of: a) the international, b) the federal, c) the regional and d) the local significance; and on the basis of the idea of multifunctionality, to determine the ways for creating consumer spaces in rural areas. The following methods were used: decomposition of goals, the index one, the monographic and the grouping method. We used the materials by: Rosstat, Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, Ministry of Culture of Russia. Municipal areas with the orientation of agricultural products to the international, federal and regional markets have been identified. The characteristic of intangible attributes - the carriers of non-production functions of rural areas for the international, federal, regional and local levels - was given. The objects of specially protected natural areas and objects of cultural heritage are considered in accordance with their level of importance. The sequence of forming the consumer spaces in rural areas has been established in the direction from defining a geographical image through creating an image to developing a brand.

scholarly journals Indigenous healers in the North West province: A survey of their clinical activities in health care in the rural areas

Curationis ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. N. Shai-Mahoko
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Simple Random Sample ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Clinical Conditions

The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical conditions brought to indigenous healers by people in the rural areas in search of health care. The demographic variables and preventive, promotive, curative and follow-up activities of indigenous healers were investigated. Data were collected from a simple random sample of 35 indigenous healers. A questionnaire designed by Mogoba (1984) for investigation of training and functioning of traditional doctors in Southern Africa was modified and used to collect data.

THE PERSISTENCE AND EFFECTS OF NON-WATER-BASED DRILLING FLUIDS ON AUSTRALIA'S NORTH WEST SHELF: PROGRESS FINDINGS FROM THREE SEABED SURVEYS

1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 647 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.A. Oliver ◽  
S.J. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Biological Effects ◽  
Drilling Fluids ◽  
Well Drilling ◽  
North West ◽  
Sediment Dispersal ◽  
Discharge Point ◽  
The North ◽  
Sediment Redistribution ◽  
Water Based ◽  
One Year

The effects and persistence of non-water-based drilling fluids discharged into the marine environment were investigated at three locations on Western Australia's North West Shelf (NWS), namely the North Rankin 4A' (NRA) drilling platform, the Wanaea–6 production well and the Lynx–la exploration well. For the multiple-well drilling operation at NRA, acute biological effects at the completion of drilling were restricted to within 400 m in the direction of the prevailing current. High total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations within the NRA cuttings pile persisted between 1991 and 1993. Away from the cuttings pile itself, a consistent downward trend in TPH concentrations was evident, indicating an approximate half-life of one year for surface sediments. Three years after the completion of drilling at Wanaea–6, biological effects appeared to be limited to within 100 m of the cuttings discharge point, with background concentrations of TPH and trace metals occurring near 1,200 m in the direction of the prevailing current. Sediment hydrocarbon concentrations greater than 1 mg/kg were found to be restricted to within 200 m of the cuttings discharge point. Dramatic reductions in TPH and barium concentrations occurred in the 12-month period between the completion of drilling and the follow- up survey at Lynx–la. The reductions are attributed to sediment dispersal mechanisms which appear to play a major role in reducing sediment TPH and trace metal concentrations in mid-shelf water depths (70–80 m) on the NWS. The installation and presence of subsea production facilities may result in sediment redistribution and changed dispersal mechanisms, complicating the interpretation of the presence of contaminants within sediments.

Studies on antimalarial drug susceptibility in Colombia, in relation to Pfmdr1 and Pfcrt

Parasitology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
pp. 547-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. RESTREPO-PINEDA ◽  
E. ARANGO ◽  
A. MAESTRE ◽  
V. E. DO ROSÁRIO ◽  
P. CRAVO
Keyword(s):  
Drug Resistance ◽  
Drug Susceptibility ◽  
Snp Analysis ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
West Region ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Pcr Rflp ◽  
Alternative Drugs

SUMMARYIn Colombia, Plasmodium resistance to antimalarials such as chloroquine and antifolates is a serious problem. As a result, the national Colombian health authorities are monitoring the efficacy of alternative drugs and schemes. The study of genetic polymorphisms related with drug resistance is required in the region. In vitro responses to chloroquine, quinine, mefloquine, amodiaquine, desethylamodiaquine, artesunate and dihydroartesunate were carried out by HRP ELISA. SNP analysis in Pfcrt and Pfmdr1 genes was performed by PCR-RFLP in 77 samples from the North West region of Colombia. In vitro resistance to chloroquine was high (74%), followed by mefloquine (30%) and desethylamodiaquine (30%). A positive correlation between the IC50 of paired drugs was also detected. The allele Pfmdr1 N86 (wild) was present in 100% of the samples and 1246Y (mutant) in 92%. However, their presence did not correlate with in vitro drug resistance. Presence of the mutations K76T and N75E in Pfcrt was confirmed in all samples. Analysis of 4 codons (72, 74, 75 and 76) in pfcrt confirmed the presence of the haplotypes CMET in 91% and SMET in 9% of the samples.

Population Geography and Settlement Studies

1989 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 251-258
Author(s):  
R. I. Lawless
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Interregional Migration ◽  
North West ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Rural To Urban Migration ◽  
Settlement Studies

Oil wealth has transformed Libya, a desertic and sparsely populated country, bringing dramatic demographic changes (Zoghlami 1979). El Mehdawi and Clarke (1982) and Lawless and Kezeiri (1983) describe and analyse the growing polarisation of the population in the north-west and north-east coastal regions which contain the two largest cities, Tripoli and Benghazi. They show that in recent years spatial duality has been sharply intensified by strong rural to urban migration and also by an increase in interregional migration. The concentration of new development programmes in certain urban centres has been the main cause of the development differential among the regions. As a result the regions which include the most important urban centres have become the most prosperous and the others have become less developed or even depressed. This has been the main cause of the rapid increase in both rural to urban migration and interregional migration. The inhabitants of the less developed regions have continued to move in increasing numbers to those which are more developed. The large majority of migrants who moved from these less developed regions are represented by rural people who have changed their place of residence and their occupation. They have left their work in the rural sector to seek employment in the industrial and service sector. As a result agricultural production has declined. The agrarian sector now employs less than a quarter of the Libyan workforce and the percentage of nomads and semi-nomads has declined to under 10% of the population. Albergani and Vignet-Zunz (1982) have shown that colonial invasion and occupation followed by the Second World War threatened the Bedouin of the Jebel Akhdar with extinction, not through sedentarisation but through the mass migration of a devastated rural population. The advent of oil and the high salary levels available in urban centres further encouraged this tendency. Gannous (1979) studied the movement of Bedouin from rural areas to the town of Al Abiyar and the erosion of Bedouin culture by urban values.

scholarly journals Profil Epidemiologique De La Leishmaniose Cutanee Dans La Region Du Gharb- Maroc De 2006 À 2014

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 243
Author(s):  
Aziz El Aasri ◽  
Alaoui Zakaria ◽  
Khadija El Kharrim ◽  
Driss Belghyti ◽  
Yassine Aqachmar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cutaneous Leishmaniasis ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
North West ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
The North ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Leishmaniose Cutanée

Between 2006 and 2014, 439 cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis were recorded in the region of Gharb Chrarda Beni Hssen in the north-west of Morocco. With an annual incidence of 49.1 cases per year and a sex-ratio (M / F) of 0.71. The disease has affected all age groups. The most stricken population is children and young people between the ages of 6 months and 30 years with more than 60.26 % of cases. Therefore, Cutaneous leishmaniasis almost hits the rural and urban areas but with an uneven impact. It is higher in rural areas where they are registered with a percentage of 56.7% of cases in contrast to a percentage of 43.3% in urban areas.

scholarly journals Rural areas of russia’s north-west borderland: problems and development paths

Baltic Region ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-113
Author(s):  
Аlexander I. Kostyaev
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Resource Potential ◽  
North West ◽  
Internal Resources ◽  
The North ◽  
Major Development ◽  
Development Paths ◽  
Development Trajectories ◽  
Recreational Resources

This article focuses on the rural areas of Russia’s North-West borderlands, particularly, the municipal districts and towns that are closest to the national border. The study aims to identify problems in the development of these territories and provide solutions to them. The methodological framework employed is the neo-endogenous approach, which suggests the maximal multifunctionality-driven use of internal resources, bottom-up initiatives supported by the authorities, extensive use of innovations, the Internet, and scientific knowledge. The study takes into account and assesses the heterogeneity of rural areas by producing a typology of districts built on the structure of agricultural production, using the Hall-Tideman index. The study used several indicators to identify the role and place of border districts in their respective regions. Three types of districts were distinguished according to the structure of agricultural production: districts dominated by agricultural organisations, districts dominated by small farms, and mixed-type districts. Cross-district differences in output dynamics were described. The socially essential functions of rural areas and the economic entities performing those functions were identified. The analysis of the recreational resources of border districts helped to determine the directions in which the transformation of rural areas into consumer spaces was moving. The major development trajectories of rural areas were plotted using the non-endogenous approach and differentiated by the district types. The rural areas of the North-West borderlands were confirmed to have a unique and diverse resource potential that is sufficient to ensure their sustainable development based on the non-endogenous approach.

scholarly journals Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D. Don) Soo: A Critically Endangered Perennial Orchid from the North-West Himalayas

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1644
Author(s):  
Ishfaq Ahmad Wani ◽  
Vijay Kumar ◽  
Susheel Verma ◽  
Arif Tasleem Jan ◽  
Irfan A. Rather
Keyword(s):  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Folk Medicine ◽  
Critically Endangered ◽  
Perennial Herb ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Alpine Regions

Dactylorhiza hatagirea (Orchidaceae) is a perennial herb inhabiting sub-alpine to alpine regions, ranging at elevations between 2500 and 5000 m.a.s.l. With palmately lobed rhizome and lanceolate leaves having a sheathing leaf base, it bears pink flowers with purple-colored notches and a curved spur. It finds wide use in ayurveda, siddha, unani, and folk medicine in curing disorders of the circulatory, respiratory, nervous, digestive, skeletal, and reproductive systems, besides boosting the immune system to fight infectious diseases. Secondary metabolites such as dactylorhins A–E, dactyloses A–B, and others exhibit a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities (antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiseptic, anticancer, and immune enhancing activities). Its use as a dietary supplement was found to be beneficial in increasing testosterone levels, resulting in improved sexual desire and arousal. Incessant overexploitation of this medicinally important herb has resulted in the dwindling of its populations in the wild, which has resulted in its classification as a critically endangered plant species. Efforts involving mass reproduction through in vitro (through tissue culture) and in vivo (by vegetative propagation) means are currently being made to maintain the germplasm of this critically endangered orchid. Holding immense significance in clinical research and drug discovery, work on the genomic front (transcriptomics) has recently been carried out to discover the wealth of unexplored genetic information for this perennial herb. The present study is aimed at reviewing different aspects of the orchid to present collective (summarized) information on this medicinally important herb in the present, particularly its botany, ethnobotanical uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacognosy, along with the strategies that need to be adopted to prevent its overexploitation in natural habitats.

Thinness in a population of rural girls in Poland: 14-year changes and regional differentiation

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 737-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Chrzanowska ◽  
Agnieszka Suder ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Homeostasis ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Regional Differentiation ◽  
North West ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Farming Families

AbstractWorldwide data indicate a growing number of energy homeostasis disorders, which are especially dangerous in childhood. The distribution and growing trends of overweight and obesity in children have been widely investigated, unlike the prevalence of too-low body weight and its determinants. This study aimed to estimate the frequency of body mass deficiency in Polish rural girls and differences among four Polish regions – Choszczno and Leszno in the north-west, and Ostrów Mazowiecka and Suwałki in the north-east. Data were taken from 7764 rural girls aged 9–18 years examined in 1987, when the country was in economic crisis, and 9431 such girls examined in 2001, when the country was undergoing political transformation. The frequency of weight deficiency was estimated based on BMI by applying the international standards of Cole. An Extent of Overweight (EOW) index was used to create an Extent of Thinness (EOT) index. A significant increase in weight deficiency was found in the rural girls – from 7.5% in 1987 to 8.9% in 2001 – and an increase in the EOT index from 0.37 in 1987 to 0.43 in 2001. Analysis by area of residence demonstrated significant differentiation. In the regions in north-west Poland, mainly inhabited by non-farming families, the prevalence of weight deficiency in girls almost doubled from 1987 to 2001, probably because of the mass and long-term unemployment that resulted from the closure of state farms in 1992. In contrast, in the north-east regions, the prevalence of weight deficiency remained almost unchanged over this period, with only a slight decrease, probably because the inhabitants were mainly farm and farm/working families with better living conditions. Despite the overall increase in thinness prevalence in rural girls in Poland, different living conditions have had different biological effects.

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