• Energy Research
• Restricted close
• 3. Good health close
• DK close

Abstract The Kyoto Protocol allows emissions trading between countries. The Protocol does however not specify how such trade is to take place. So far two options have been discussed in the literature: government trading and permit trading. This paper discusses a third option: credit trading. Credit trading is based on abatement projects, but differs from joint implementation in that it does not require direct foreign investment. Furthermore, credit trading can be implemented both domestically and internationally. The main advantages of credit trading are that it excludes trading in hot air, while it still makes trade between private entities possible. However, the environmental effectiveness is doubtful, especially when it is based on relative targets. The paper shows that several interest groups prefer credit trading based on relative targets to permit trading. Also governments may have reasons to prefer credit trading to permit trading. Hence, the political acceptability of credit trading is larger than that of permit trading, making it more likely that credit trading will be allowed than permit trading.

We have recently shown, in studies with patients with Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes, that alcohol intake at 21:00 h significantly reduced blood glucose values after 10-12 h, compared with control studies with no alcohol.We hypothesised that this was due to the following effects of alcohol: (1) alcohol metabolism increases NADH, leading to a reduction in hepatic gluconeogenesis; (2) increased glycogen phosphorylase activity depletes hepatic glycogen stores; (3) after the alcohol is metabolised, hepatic insulin sensitivity is increased, leading to the restoration of glycogen stores and reduction in blood glucose levels; and (4) consequently, after several hours, glycogen stores and insulin sensitivity return to normal.A model describing these changes (DiasNet-Alcohol) was implemented into the DiasNet model of human glucose metabolism. Our study suggests that the DiasNet-Alcohol model gives a reasonable approximation of these effects of alcohol on blood glucose concentration observed in our study and supports our hypothesis for the mechanism behind these effects in Type 1 diabetes.

Alcohol is a risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer. One of several proposed mechanisms is that alcohol-related breast cancer is caused by increased sex hormone levels. PPARγ inhibits aromatase transcription in breast adipocytes. We reproduced previously found allele-specific effects of the wildtype Pro-allele of PPARG Pro(12)Ala in alcohol related breast cancer. In transiently transfected cells, transcriptional activation by PPARγ and the PPARγ-PGC-1α complex was inhibited by ethanol. PPARγ 12Ala-mediated transcription activation was not enhanced by PGC-1α, resulting in allele-specific transcription activation by the PPARγ 12Pro-PGC-1α complex. Our results suggest that PPARγ and PGC-1α activity is an important determinant of alcohol related breast cancer.

SummaryBackgroundWe recently demonstrated that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a considerable reduction in the risk of autoimmune hypothyroidism, similar to findings in other autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. We aimed to study a possible association between alcohol intake and autoimmune Graves′ hyperthyroidism.DesignThis is a population‐based, case–control study.MethodsIn a well‐defined Danish population (2 027 208 person‐years of observation), we prospectively identified patients with new overt thyroid dysfunction and studied 272 patients with Graves′ hyperthyroidism. For each patient, we recruited four age–gender–region–matched controls with normal thyroid function (n = 1088).MeasurementsParticipants gave detailed information on current and previous alcohol intake as well as other factors to be used for analyses. The association between alcohol intake and development of hyperthyroidism was analysed in conditional multivariate Cox regression models.ResultsGraves′ patients had a lower reported alcohol consumption than controls (median units of alcohol (12 g) per week: 2 vs 4, P < 0·001). In a multivariate regression model, alcohol consumption was associated with a dose‐dependent reduction in risk for development of overt Graves′ hyperthyroidism. Odds ratios (95% confidence interval) compared with the reference group with a recent (last year) consumption of 1–2 units of alcohol per week were as follows: 0 units/week 1·73 (1·17–2·56), 3–10 units/week 0·56 (0·39–0·79), 11–20 units/week 0·37 (0·21–0·65), ≥21 units/week 0·22 (0·08–0·60). Similar results were found for maximum previous alcohol consumption during a calendar year. No interaction was found with the type of alcohol consumed (wine vs beer), smoking habit, age, gender or region of inhabitancy.ConclusionsModerate alcohol consumption is associated with a considerable reduction in the risk of Graves′ disease with hyperthyroidism – irrespective of age and gender. Autoimmune thyroid disease seems to be much more dependent on environmental factors than hitherto anticipated.

This paper describes the testing of the gas-diffusion electrodes for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells utilizing phosphoric acid doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) electrolyte, which allows for an operating temperature as high as 200 °C. In order to determine the optimum structure of our anodes and cathodes, the platinum content in the Pt/C catalyst and catalyst loading were varied, as well as the loading of the PBI electrolyte dispersed in the catalyst layer. The different MEAs were tested in terms of their performance by recording polarization curves using pure oxygen and hydrogen. It was found that a high platinum content and a thin catalyst layer on both anode and cathode, gave the overall best performance. This was attributed to the different catalyst surface areas, the location of the catalyst in relation to the electrolyte membrane and particularly the amount of PBI dispersed in the catalyst layer. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used in order to examine the cross-section of the MEAs and measure the thickness of the catalyst layers. With this information, it was possible to give an estimate of the porosity of the catalyst layer.

AbstractA protease‐deficient strain of Aspergillus niger has been used as a host for the production of human tissue plasminogen activator (t‐PA). In defined medium, up to 0.07 mg t‐PA (g biomass)−1 was produced in batch and fed‐batch cultures and production was increased two‐ to threefold in two‐phase batch cultures in which additional glucose was provided as a single pulse at the end of the first batch growth phase. Production was increased [up to 1.9 mg t‐PA (g biomass)−1] by the addition of soy peptone to the defined medium. The rate of t‐PA production in batch cultures supplemented with soy peptone (0.2 to 0.6 mg t‐PA L−1 h−1) was comparable to rates observed previously in high‐producing mammalian or insect cell cultures. In glucose‐limited chemostat culture supplemented with soy peptone, t‐PA was produced at a rate of 0.7 mg t‐PA L−1 h−1. Expression of t‐PA in A. niger resulted in increased expression of genes (bipA, pdiA, and cypB) involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR). However, when cypB was overexpressed in a t‐PA‐producing strain, t‐PA production was not increased. The t‐PA produced in A. niger was cleaved into two chains of similar molecular weight to two‐chain human melanoma t‐PA. The two chains appeared to be stable for at least 16 h in culture supernatant of the host strain. However, in general, <1% of the t‐PA produced in A. niger was active, and active t‐PA disappeared from the culture supernatant during the stationary phase of batch cultures, suggesting that the two‐chain t‐PA may have been incorrectly processed or that initial proteolytic cleavage occurred within the proteolytic domain of the protein. Total t‐PA (detected by enzyme‐linked immunoassay) also eventually disappeared from culture supernatants, confirming significant extracellular proteolytic activity, even though the host strain was protease‐deficient. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 76: 164–174, 2001.

Abstract High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells are a promising choice for renewable power generation. We present an experimental study that investigates the durability of a full-size fuel cell stack, where membrane electrode assemblies were continuously extracted during operation of the stack, and analysed in detail with electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The evolution of membrane thinning, the loss of phosphoric acid and the changes in the catalyst layer of the electrodes have been investigated as a function of operation time. A correlation between the acid loss and the decrease of cell voltage has been determined to provide detailed insight into durability data of the HT-PEM fuel cell on a commercial sized stack level.

Women have a higher susceptibility to alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD) than men. Gender-related differences in food preference were described in previous studies for several populations, but not in alcohol abusers. As certain micronutrients are reported to take influence on the development of ALD in animal experiments, the hypothesis of the present retrospective cross-sectional study was that gender-dependent (micro-) nutrient intake in patients with ALD may cause the higher susceptibility of women to this disease.In 210 patients (male: 158, female: 52) with different stages of ALD (ALD1: mild stage of liver damage; ALD2: moderately severe changes of the liver with signs of hepatic inflammation; ALD3: severely impaired liver function) and in 336 controls (male: 208, female: 128), nutrient intake was determined by a computer-guided diet history, and related to the severity of ALD in dependence on the sex of the patients.No significant differences between males and females with ALD were calculated for the intake (per kg body weight/day) of protein, carbohydrates, fat, and the intake (per kg body weight/day) of most micronutrients. In females with ALD, higher intake was found for vitamin C (ALD3), calcium (ALD2), iron (ALD1 and ALD2), and zinc (ALD1), but the consumption of none of these micronutrients seems to contribute to a higher susceptibility to ALD in females.Though the present study confirms the higher susceptibility to ALD in women, the data of calculated daily macro- and micronutrient intake do not suggest any explicit influence of gender-specific nutrition in the development of ALD.