Location location location: a carbon footprint calculator for transparent travel to the UN Climate Conference 2022.

Addressing the large carbon footprint of conferences such as the United Nations Climate Change Convention Conference of the Parties (COP) will be important for maintaining public confidence in climate policy. Transparency is also a vital aspect of creating equitable outcomes in climate policies, as those most likely to be affected or who can create change on the ground are often unable to attend in person because of the high financial costs as well as having a large carbon footprint. The selection of host locations for the regular meetings of the UN Climate Change Convention is based on a rotation amongst the five UN regions, which for 2022 was Africa.

Africa and climate justice at COP27 and beyond: impacts and solutions through an interdisciplinary lens.

Climate justice is not just a financial transaction to protect the environment. It needs to be seen as the protection of the most vulnerable in society after centuries of resource exploitation. African countries disproportionately face impacts of climate change on their environments, their economies, their resources and their infrastructure.

Human Health and Ocean Pollution.

Background: Pollution - unwanted waste released to air, water, and land by human activity - is the largest environmental cause of disease in the world today. It is responsible for an estimated nine million premature deaths per year, enormous economic losses, erosion of human capital, and degradation of ecosystems. Ocean pollution is an important, but insufficiently recognized and inadequately controlled component of global pollution.

Medulloblastoma Down Under 2013: a report from the third annual meeting of the International Medulloblastoma Working Group.

Medulloblastoma is curable in approximately 70% of patients. Over the past decade, progress in improving survival using conventional therapies has stalled, resulting in reduced quality of life due to treatment-related side effects, which are a major concern in survivors. The vast amount of genomic and molecular data generated over the last 5-10 years encourages optimism that improved risk stratification and new molecular targets will improve outcomes.

Differences in control by UV radiation of inflammatory airways disease in naïve and allergen pre-sensitised mice.

Exposure of skin to UV radiation (UVR) prior to allergen exposure can inhibit inflammatory airways disease in mice by reducing effector CD4+ T cells in both the trachea and the airway draining lymph nodes. This study analysed the immunomodulatory properties of UVR delivered to naïve versus allergen pre-sensitised mice. In a model of inflammatory airways disease, BALB/c mice were sensitised by peritoneal injection of the allergen, ovalbumin (OVA) (20 μg/mouse), in the adjuvant, alum (4 mg/mouse), on days 0 and 14.

UV exposure and protection against allergic airways disease.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the small and large conducting airway mucosa characterised by Th2 cell immunity. Allergen-specific IgE levels control the immediate response whilst the interplay between airway mucosal antigen presenting cells, Th2 effector cells and CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells control the late phase, cell-mediated response. Using two experimental systems in mice with ovalbumin and papain, respectively, as the allergens, UV irradiation of skin prior to allergen sensitisation reduced the expression of allergic airways disease, particularly the late phase response.

More a plowshare than a sword: the legacy of US Cold War agricultural diplomacy.

Recently, agriculture has assumed an elevated role in world diplomacy due to pressing issues like international poverty relief, changing environmental conditions, farm trade imbalances, rising food prices, and the diversion of crops into bio-fuel production. Consequently, agricultural interests and production have become increasingly entwined with the politics of national protectionism and identity, domestic security, and the preservation of trading advantage in developed and developing countries alike. This study examines the current impasse in world agricultural negotiations as an outgrowth of US foreign aid and trade policymaking as it evolved during the Cold War.

Topically applied 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 enhances the suppressive activity of CD4+CD25+ cells in the draining lymph nodes.

The immunomodulatory effects of vitamin D have been described following chronic oral administration to mice or supplementation of cell cultures with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25(OH)(2)D(3)), the active form of vitamin D. In this study, topically applied 1,25(OH)(2)D(3), enhanced the suppressive capacity of CD4(+)CD25(+) cells from the draining lymph nodes. The effects of topical 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) were compared with those of UVB irradiation, which is the environmental factor required for 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) production in skin.

Effect of both ultraviolet B irradiation and histamine receptor function on allergic responses to an inhaled antigen.

Exposure of skin to UVB radiation (290-320 nm) modulates the immune system, with most studies showing a suppression of Th1-driven immune responses. This study investigated the effects of UVB on Th2-associated immune responses using a murine model of allergic respiratory inflammation. C57BL/6, histamine receptor-1 knockout (H1RKO), and histamine receptor-2 knockout (H2RKO) mice were exposed to a single 4 kJ/m(2) dose of UVB (twice a minimal edemal dose) on shaved dorsal skin 3 days before intranasal sensitization with papain, a cysteine protease homologue of the dust mite allergen Der p 1.