Environmental quality and its impact on total fertility rate: an econometric analysis from a new perspective

BACKGROUND

Environmental quality significantly affects various aspects of human existence. This study employs ecological footprint as a proxy to assess the impact of environmental quality on the TFR, measured as births per woman. This study investigates the extent to which ecological footprint indicators impact on the TFR in across 31 countries between from 1990 to 2017.

METHODS

We gathered data on ecological footprints, specifically carbon, agricultural land, grazing land, forest products, and fisheries, from the Global Footprint Network. Information on the TFR, Human Development Index (HDI), and per capita Gross National Income (GNI) were sourced from the World Bank and the United Nations. We applied static panel and quantile regression models to scrutinize the connection between the ecological footprint and TFR, showing how the former influences the latter.

RESULTS

The outcomes reveal that, in both fixed and random effects models, factors including HDI, carbon, and fishing grounds exert a negative influence on TFR, all at a significance level of p < 0.01. Conversely, cropland and forest product footprints exhibited a favorable impact on the TFR (p < 0.01). Furthermore, GNI per capita positively affected the TFR in both models, with a p-value of 0.01. Quantiles regression analysis demonstrated that HDI and carbon footprint had a negative impact on TFR across all quantiles. This statistical significance is maintained for all quantiles, although it is only significant for the carbon footprint up to the 60th quantile, at p < 0.01.

CONCLUSIONS

This study establishes a negative correlation between specific ecological footprint indicators, such as carbon and fishing grounds, and TFR. Conversely, there was a positive correlation between the footprint of forest products and the TFR. The primary conclusion drawn is that there is heterogeneity in the results regarding the relationship between ecological footprint and TFR. Moreover, the ecological footprint indicators considered in this study did not uniformly influence TFR. Each ecological footprint indicator exhibited distinct effects on the TFR, displaying either positive or negative correlation coefficients. Future research endeavors may delve into how ecological footprints impact other population dynamics, such as mortality and migration.

Genes Impacting Grain Weight and Number in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. aestivum)

The primary goal of common wheat (T. aestivum) breeding is increasing yield without negatively impacting the agronomic traits or product quality. Genetic approaches to improve the yield increasingly target genes that impact the grain weight and number. An energetic trade-off exists between the grain weight and grain number, the result of which is that most genes that increase the grain weight also decrease the grain number. QTL associated with grain weight and number have been identified throughout the hexaploid wheat genome, leading to the discovery of numerous genes that impact these traits. Genes that have been shown to impact these traits will be discussed in this review, including TaGNI, TaGW2, TaCKX6, TaGS5, TaDA1, WAPO1, and TaRht1. As more genes impacting the grain weight and number are characterized, the opportunity is increasingly available to improve common wheat agronomic yield by stacking the beneficial alleles. This review provides a synopsis of the genes that impact grain weight and number, and the most beneficial alleles of those genes with respect to increasing the yield in dryland and irrigated conditions. It also provides insight into some of the genetic mechanisms underpinning the trade-off between grain weight and number and their relationship to the source-to-sink pathway. These mechanisms include the plant size, the water soluble carbohydrate levels in plant tissue, the size and number of pericarp cells, the cytokinin and expansin levels in developing reproductive tissue, floral architecture and floral fertility.

Use of partial order in environmental pollution studies demonstrated by urban BTEX air pollution in 20 major cities worldwide

Urban air pollution with benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX) is a common phenomenon in major cities where the pollution mainly originates from traffic as well as from residential heating. An attempt to rank cities according to their BTEX air pollution is not necessarily straight forward as we are faced with several individual pollutants simultaneously. A typical procedure is based on aggregation of data for the single compounds, a process that not only hides important information but is also subject to compensation effects. The present study applies a series of partial ordering tools to circumvent the aggregation. Based on partial ordering, most important indicators are disclosed, and an average ranking of the cities included in the study is derived. Since air pollution measurements are often subject to significant uncertainties, special attention has been given to the possible effect of uncertainty and/or data noise. Finally, the effect of introducing weight regimes is studied. In a concluding section the gross national income per person (GNI) is brought into play, demonstrating a positive correlation between BTEX air pollution and GNI. The results are discussed in terms of the ability/willingness to combat air pollution in the cities studied. The present study focuses on Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan and compares the data from Almaty to another 19 major cities around the world. It is found that the benzene for Almaty appears peculiar high. Overall Almaty appears ranked as the 8th most BTEX polluted city among the 20 cities included in the study.

No sex differences in neuropsychological performance in first episode psychosis patients

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to verify whether male patients with psychosis have greater neurocognitive impairment than female patients at illness onset.

METHOD

Participants with a first episode of psychosis (74 women/86 men) and healthy controls (62 women/97 men) were assessed with an extensive neuropsychological test battery.

RESULTS

Women in the clinical group were older at illness onset and had achieved higher formal education than men. This trend was the same for the control group. The patient group presented with lower premorbid IQ compared to healthy controls, and performed below for most neuropsychological tests. Women scored higher than men on a test of verbal memory, whereas men scored higher than women on a test of reaction time, visual memory, and a planning task. There were no group-by-sex interactions for any of the neuropsychological tests.

CONCLUSION

The present study shows that at the onset of psychosis there are no differences between males and females in neuropsychological performance. The differential pattern of cognitive performance observed is similar to that in healthy males and females. Furthermore, females with a late onset of psychosis may represent a subgroup with specific visuospatial and problem solving impairments.

Cardiovascular diseases and diabetes as economic and developmental challenges in Africa

Current estimates and projections suggest that the burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes and related risk factors in African countries is important, somewhat unique and rapidly growing. Various segments of the population are affected; however, the group mostly affected is young adults residing in urban areas, and increasingly those in the low socioeconomic strata. The African milieu/environment is compounded by weak health systems, which are unable to cope with the looming double burden of communicable and chronic non-communicable diseases. This review discusses the economic and developmental challenges posed by CVDs and diabetes in countries in Africa. Using several lines of evidence, we demonstrate that the cost of care for major CVDs and diabetes is beyond the coping capacities of individuals, households, families and governments in most African countries. We have reviewed modeling studies by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and other major international agencies on the current and projected impact that CVDs and diabetes have on the economy and development of countries in the region. Locally, appropriate strategies to limit the impact of the conditions on the economies and development of countries in Africa are suggested and discussed. These include monitoring diseases and risk factors, and primordial, primary and secondary preventions implemented following a life-course perspective. Structural, logistic, human capacity and organizational challenges to be surmounted during the implementations of these strategies will be reviewed.