This scoping review examines environmental impacts related to food production and consumption in Nordic and Baltic countries. The overarching advice to all Nordic and Baltic countries, in line with the current body of scientific literature, is to shift to a more plant-based dietary pattern and avoid food waste. Taking into account current consumption patterns, there is a high potential and necessity to shift food consumption across the countries to minimise its environmental impact.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcotoxicological impacts of chemicals released into the environment are characterized by combining fate, exposure, and effects. For characterizing effects, species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) estimate toxic pressures of chemicals as the potentially affected fraction of species. Life cycle assessment (LCA) uses SSDs to identify products with lowest ecotoxicological impacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAssessing the prospective climate preservation potential of novel, innovative, but immature chemical production techniques is limited by the high number of process synthesis options and the lack of reliable, high-throughput quantitative sustainability pre-screening methods. This study presents the sequential use of data-driven hybrid prediction (ANN-RSM-DOM) to streamline waste-to-dimethyl ether (DME) upcycling using a set of sustainability criteria. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are developed to generate waste valorization experimental results and model the operating space of biorefineries applying the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and sewage sludge (SS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Endocrinol (Lausanne)
August 2023
Introduction: Turner syndrome association with multi-organ system comorbidities highlights the need for effective implementation of follow-up guidelines. We aimed to assess the adequacy of care with international guidelines published in 2007 and 2017 and to describe the phenotype of patients.
Methods: In this multicenter retrospective descriptive cohort study, we collected growth and pubertal parameters, associated comorbidities, treatment, and karyotype in patients diagnosed at age <18 years between 1993 and 2022.
Background: Metabolic programming of glucose homeostasis in the first 1,000 days of life may impact lifelong metabolic and cardiovascular health. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices may help measure the impact of dietary intake on glucose rhythms and metabolism in infants during the complementary feeding period.
Objectives: Demonstrate the feasibility of CGM to measure and quantify glucose variability in response to infant feeding and to evaluate associations between macronutrient meal composition and glucose variability.
Purpose: Extensive agriculture activities for crop production have led to increasing environmental impacts that threaten to exceed environmentally safe limits. The purpose of this study is to analyze resource efficiency of the agri-food industry, considering the case of sugarcane production in Pakistan.
Methods: A holistic approach has been applied by determining the relevant impact categories and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and linking them with Planetary Boundary-based Life Cycle Assessment (PB-LCA).
Balancing human communities' and ecosystems' need for freshwater is one of the major challenges of the 21 century as population growth and improved living conditions put increasing pressure on freshwater resources. While frameworks to assess the environmental impacts of freshwater consumption have been proposed at the regional scale, an operational method to evaluate the consequences of consumption on different compartments of the water system and account for their interdependence is missing at the global scale. Here, we develop depletion factors that simultaneously quantify the effects of water consumption on streamflow, groundwater storage, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration globally.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity is a chronical disease, which leads to multiple short- and long-term complications. 4% of Swiss children and adolescents are obese. A prompt diagnosis and multicomponent lifestyle intervention is mandatory to avoid persistence of the disease into adulthood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetes mellitus in children is subdivided into several categories depending on the underlying pathological mechanism. Type 1 diabetes is due to the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta-cells, type 2 diabetes to progressive impairment in insulin secretion or insulin sensitivity, and monogenic diabetes due to genetic abnormalities, impairing insulin secretion. In monogenic diabetes, genetic defects result in pancreatic or beta-cell defects (abnormal function or destruction), resulting in neonatal or MODY (Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young) diabetes, depending on the age of onset.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral water footprint indicators have been developed to curb freshwater stress. Volumetric footprints support water allocation decisions and strive to increase water productivity in all sectors. In contrast, impact-oriented footprints are used to minimize the impacts of water use on human health, ecosystems, and freshwater resources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypovitaminosis D is common in populations with obesity. This study aimed at assessing (1) the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D and (2) the associations between vitamin D levels and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents attending a reference centre for the treatment of obesity. Design: Cross-sectional pilot study conducted in the paediatric obesity unit of the Lausanne university hospital, Switzerland.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemicals emitted to the environment affect ecosystem health from local to global scale, and reducing chemical impacts has become an important element of European and global sustainability efforts. The present work advances ecotoxicity characterization of chemicals in life cycle impact assessment by proposing recommendations resulting from international expert workshops and work conducted under the umbrella of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative in the GLAM project (Global guidance on environmental life cycle impact assessment indicators). We include specific recommendations for broadening the assessment scope through proposing to introduce additional environmental compartments beyond freshwater and related ecotoxicity indicators, as well as for adapting the ecotoxicity effect modelling approach to better reflect environmentally relevant exposure levels and including to a larger extent chronic test data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe introduction of a new technology for the management of diabetes raises questions about their actual use. This is the case with the Freestyle Libre sensor, a tool that measures the interstitial glucose levels. Some studies have provided recommendations about its use, but little is known about how users learn to use it in the daily management of the disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKlinefelter syndrome (KS) is the most common aneuploidy in men and has long-term sequelae on health and wellbeing. KS is a chronic, lifelong condition and adolescents/young adults (AYAs) with KS face challenges in transitioning from pediatric to adult-oriented services. Discontinuity of care contributes to poor outcomes for health and wellbeing and transition programs for KS are lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMarine eutrophication and hypoxia caused by excess nutrient availability is a growing environmental problem. In this study, we explore marine nitrogen enrichment in the context of Absolute Environmental Sustainability Assessment (AESA), a method combining life cycle assessment (LCA) with environmental boundaries aiming to compare environmental impacts from an activity (product or system) with the safe operating space (SOS) for the activity. Specifically, we aim to increase the spatial resolution and improve life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) models for marine eutrophication for use in AESAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Technol
April 2022
Chemicals are widely used in modern society, which can lead to negative impacts on ecosystems. Despite the urgent relevance for global policy setting, there are no established methods to assess the absolute sustainability of chemical pressure at relevant spatiotemporal scales. We propose an absolute environmental sustainability framework (AESA) for chemical pollution where (1) the chemical pressure on ecosystems is quantified, (2) the ability for ecosystems to withstand chemical pressure (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe submit that the safe operating space of the planetary boundary of novel entities is exceeded since annual production and releases are increasing at a pace that outstrips the global capacity for assessment and monitoring. The novel entities boundary in the planetary boundaries framework refers to entities that are novel in a geological sense and that could have large-scale impacts that threaten the integrity of Earth system processes. We review the scientific literature relevant to quantifying the boundary for novel entities and highlight plastic pollution as a particular aspect of high concern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Mauriac syndrome was described in 1930 as a peculiar combination of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus type 1, stunted growth and glycogenic hepatopathy. More recently, lactic acidosis was recognized as an additional feature, often induced by insulin treatment.
Case Presentation: A 17-year old girl known for diabetes type 1A and Mauriac syndrome was admitted to the emergency room with hyperglycemia of > 41 mmol/l without ketoacidosis.
Background: Central precocious puberty (CPP) in females is characterized by thelarche before 8 years of age. Evidence of reproductive axis activation confirms the diagnosis (basal serum luteinizing hormone (LH) ≥0.3 IU/L or LH-releasing hormone (LHRH)-stimulated LH ≥5 IU/L).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSteel production is a difficult-to-mitigate sector that challenges climate mitigation commitments. Efforts for future decarbonization can benefit from understanding its progress to date. Here we report on greenhouse gas emissions from global steel production over the past century (1900-2015) by combining material flow analysis and life cycle assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: This study assessed lifestyle-related risk factors for cardiovascular disease in young women with Turner syndrome.
Methods: In 2012, we sent a questionnaire to women with Turner syndrome aged ≥18 years and living in Switzerland with questions on socio-demographic and medical data as well as health behaviour. We compared the reported lifestyle with that of women from the Swiss Health Survey 2012, a representative survey of the general population.