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Topic Review
Adaptation to EUTR Requirements: Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia
Eight years after the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) came into force, its effectiveness is still unsatisfactory due to deficient and uneven implementation among member states.  In addition, some Western Balkan countries have poor legality monitoring systems, increasing the risk of trade in illegally harvested timber. Regardless of this, no recent work has analyzed the adaptation of national forest policies to the EUTR obligations. Author study aims to contribute to the understanding of EUTR implementation by analyzing the adaptation of policies of the Western Balkan countries (Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia) to the EUTR. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on 22 policy documents from Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. Documents were coded using coding categories derived from EUTR. Our results point out that none of the analyzed countries have a policy to directly address illegal logging or prevention of illegal activities. As EU members, Slovenia and Croatia has implemented EUTR through laws. The Slovenian Forest Act addresses all EUTR obligations, while Croatian Law on EUTR Implementation does not directly address the obligation of legality. This obligation is addressed by the Law on Forests. As Serbia is not an EU member, it did not implement EUTR. Nevertheless, Serbian Law on Forests addresses all EUTR obligations, but has some discrepancies regarding Traceability obligation. With ongoing discourses on Green Deal policies and the increasing focus on “deforestation-free” commodities, stricter implementation might be expected of EUTR at EU level. Most countries would probably have to build capacities for EUTR implementation and become more transparent and responsible concerning information availability. To successfully implement EUTR, an increased number of checks as well as stricter fines will be needed.
  • 1.5K
  • 22 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Adaptation to Global Warming in Australia
According to non-governmental organizations such as Greenpeace and global scientific organisations such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the frequency and intensity of disasters brought about by greenhouse gas emissions and climate change will grow rapidly in the world. The risks are particularly severe in some regions of Australia , such as the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, the Macquarie Marshes in New South Wales. The Department of Climate Change said in its Climate Change Impacts and Costs fact sheet: "...ecologically rich sites, such as the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland Wet Tropics, Kakadu Wetlands, Australian Alpine areas, south-western Australia and sub- Antarctic islands are all at risk, with significant loss of biodiversity projected to occur by 2020". It also said: "Very conservatively, 90 Australian animal species have so far been identified at risk from climate change, including mammals, insects, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians from all parts of Australia." Australia is already the driest populated continent in the world. Climate change is recognised as one of the largest global crises. The issue has gained traction around the world as the world becomes increasingly urbanised. This is because urbanisation brings irreversible changes in our patterns of resource/waste production and consumption. Therefore, how to plan, manage and live in cities will be largely determined by the progress of the climate change phenomenon. According to projections by the Department of Climate Change in Australia, it is expected that national average temperatures would increase by 0.4 to 2.0 °C . Based on some predictions for 2070, data suggests that people who are not used to the hotter climate may experience as much as 45 days per year where they are unable to handle being outside in comparison to the current 4–6 days per year. Rainfall patterns and the degree of droughts and storms brought about by extreme weather conditions are likely to be affected. Research has suggested that nearly three-quarters of global energy consumption occur in cities, while emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming come from urban areas. Nearly a third of these emissions are caused by the burning of fossil fuels used in urban transportation. Another third is formed from the energy used to regulate building temperature and to run personal appliances. The final third is contributed by the industrial sector. The main emitters of greenhouse gases are the construction, real estate, agriculture and metallurgical industries, the transportation sector, the industrial uses of fossil fuels and the burning of biomass. Some examples of daily activities that contribute to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere include the use of carbon-based electricity in street lighting, driving motor vehicles, cooking, and the lighting, heating and cooling of housing. If the policies of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries remain unchanged, specifically Australia and the United States, and also China and India, carbon dioxide emissions, which represents 72% of all greenhouse gas emissions, will increase by a third in the year 2020 instead of the 5% reduction as was approved in the Kyoto Protocol. With the current path of climate change, the world population is entering an era of growing urban vulnerability. The accelerated pace of urbanisation and the increasing percentage of the world's population living in cities has significantly increased the vulnerability of urban areas as anthropogenic hazards and agents for climate change.
  • 426
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Adaptive Evolution
Adaptive evolution is a process in which variation that confers an evolutionary advantage in a specific environmental context arises and is propagated through a population. When investigating this process, researchers have mainly focused on describing advantageous phenotypes or putative advantageous genotypes. The main molecular mechanism underlying adaptive evolution in vertebrates is mutations, leading to regulatory changes in gene expression and/or cellular pathways.
  • 552
  • 06 May 2023
Topic Review
Adaptive Immune-Response to Tick-Borne Hemoparasites
Interactions between tick-borne pathogenic hemoparasites and different host effector mechanisms of T- and/or B cell-mediated adaptive immunity, involved in the late and long-lasting protective immune response. 
  • 709
  • 02 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Adaptive Immunity and Diabetic Retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is currently one of the common causes of vision loss in working-age adults. It is clinically diagnosed and classified according to the vascular changes in the fundus. The activation of immune cells occurs before these vascular changes become detectable. These, together with molecular studies and the positive clinical outcomes of anti-inflammatory treatment, highlight the pivotal involvement of the immune system. The role of innate immunity in DR pathophysiology has been studied in depth, but the contribution of adaptive immunity remains largely elusive.
  • 340
  • 16 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Adaptive Immunity in Older People
Vaccination is the best strategy to prevent this fact, but older people present a less efficient response, as their immune system is weaker due mainly to a phenomenon known as immunosenescence. The adaptive immune system is constituted by two types of lymphocytes, T and B cells, and the function and fitness of these cell populations are affected during ageing.
  • 252
  • 08 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Adaptive Natural Killer Cells
Natural killer (NK) cells play a significant and vital role in the first line of defense against infection through their ability to target cells without prior sensitization. They also contribute significantly to the activation and recruitment of both innate and adaptive immune cells through the production of a range of cytokines and chemokines. In the context of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, NK cells and CMV have co-evolved side by side to employ several mechanisms to evade one another. However, during this co-evolution the discovery of a subset of long-lived NK cells with enhanced effector potential, increased antibody-dependent responses and the potential to mediate immune memory has revolutionized the field of NK cell biology. The ability of a virus to imprint on the NK cell receptor repertoire resulting in the expansion of diverse, highly functional NK cells to this day remains a significant immunological phenomenon that only occurs in the context of CMV. 
  • 736
  • 23 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Adaptive Response to Environmental Stress
Exposure of living organisms to environmental stress triggers defensive responses resulting in the activation of protective processes. Whenever exposure occurs at low doses, defensive effects overwhelm the adverse effects of the exposures; this adapative situation is referred as ‘hormesis’. Environmental, physical and nutritional hormetins lead to the stimulation and strengthening of the maintenance and repair systems in cells and tissues. Exercise, heat and irradiation are examples of physical hormetins, which activate heat shock-, DNA repair- and anti-oxidative-stress responses. The health promoting effect of many bio-actives in fruits and vegetables can be seen as the effect of mildly toxic compounds triggering this adaptive stimulus. Numerous studies indicate that living organisms possess the ability to adapt to adverse environmental conditions studies as examplified by the fact that DNA damage and gene expression profiling in populations living in the environment with high levels of air pollution do not correspond to the concentrations of pollutants. The molecular mechanisms of the hormetic response include modulation of (a) transcription factor Nrf2 activating the synthesis of glutathione and the subsequent protection of the cell; (b) DNA methylation; and (c) microRNA. These findings provide evidence that hormesis is a toxicological event, occurring at low exposures doses to environmental stressors, having benefit for the maintenance of healthy status.
  • 2.1K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
ADAR Gene
adenosine deaminase, RNA specific
  • 398
  • 24 Dec 2020
Topic Review
ADAR-Mediated Site-Specific RNA Editing in Immune-Related Disease
ADAR (Adenosine Deaminases Acting on RNA) proteins are a group of enzymes that play a vital role in RNA editing by converting adenosine to inosine in RNAs. This process is a frequent post-transcriptional event observed in metazoan transcripts. Recent studies indicate widespread dysregulation of ADAR-mediated RNA editing across many immune-related diseases, such as human cancer. 
  • 115
  • 09 Jan 2024
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