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Background and Purpose: Chronic inflammation plays a pivotal role in the development of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Previous studies have shown that haem oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) plays a proinflammatory role during metabolic stress, suggesting that HO‐1 inhibition could be an effective strategy to treat T2DM. However, the application of HO‐1 inhibitors is restricted due to solubility‐limited bioavailability. In this study, we encapsulated the HO‐1 inhibitor, zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP), within nanoparticles and investigated their role in regulating glucose homeostasis and chronic inflammation during obesity. Experimental Approach: We delivered DMSO‐dissolved ZnPP (DMSO‐ZnPP) and ZnPP‐laden nanoparticles (Nano‐ZnPP) to diet‐induced obese male mice for 6 weeks. Glucose and insulin tolerance tests were carried out, liver and adipose tissue gene expression profiles analysed, and systemic inflammation analysed using flow cytometry. Key Results: Nanoparticles significantly increased the delivery efficiency of ZnPP in both cells and mice. In mice with diet‐induced obesity, inhibition of HO‐1 by Nano‐ZnPP significantly decreased adiposity, increased insulin sensitivity, and improved glucose tolerance. Moreover, Nano‐ZnPP treatment attenuated both local and systemic inflammatory levels during obesity. Mechanistically, Nano‐ZnPP significantly attenuated glucagon, TNF, and fatty acid synthesis signalling pathways in the liver. In white adipose tissue, the oxidative phosphorylation signalling pathway was enhanced and the inflammation signalling pathway diminished by Nano‐ZnPP. Our results show that Nano‐ZnPP has better effects on the improvement of glucose homeostasis and attenuation of chronic inflammation, than those of DMSO‐dissolved ZnPP. Conclusions and Implications: These findings indicate that ZnPP‐laden nanoparticles are potential therapeutic agents for treating T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Millennium Drought in Southeast Australia forced greater Melbourne, a city of 4.3 million people, to find innovative ways of increasing water supply and decreasing water demand. This article explores how water managers in Melbourne reacted to the crisis and evaluates the short-and long-term impacts of their decisions. Reduced water demand occurred primarily through residential and industrial water conservation programs, restrictions, together with emergency reductions in the environmental release of water to streams. The city also experimented with using recycled water, in place of surface water, to support agriculture in the Werribee Irrigation District. Water pricing was not strengthened during the drought, and thus not regarded as a drought demand management tool, primarily because Melbourne water companies lacked independent price-setting powers. Today, five years after the end of the Millennium Drought, gains in water conservation appear to be holding steady, but recycled water for irrigation has declined for various reasons. We contend that the Millennium Drought provided Melbourne with the opportunity to develop and implement a more integrated approach to water management. Many of the innovations it forged (e.g., distributed harvesting and use of stormwater) will continue to enhance the city’s resilience to drought and reduce its vulnerability to climate variability for years to come. Nevertheless, a challenge going forward is how to sustain these achievements in light of anticipated population growth and continued climatic change. This challenge—coupled with Melbourne’s successes—hold important lessons for water-stressed cities around the world.

This article explores governance issues in developing innovative pollutant offset programs by focusing on a case study being piloted at the Gisborne Recycled Water Plant in Jacksons Creek, a rural sub-catchment of the Maribyrnong River north of Melbourne, Australia. The paper offers preliminary lessons from the ongoing design and anticipated challenges facing this innovative program based on reflections from the literature and project progress to-date. This case exemplifies a form of adaptive governance – an approach well suited to achieving broad sustainability objectives – and for which an early assessment is both appropriate and opportune. Adaptive governance is characterized by governmental collaboration with civil society groups, social learning through public participation, and experimentation leading to more flexible policy outcomes. Early assessment affords the possibility of mid-course corrections, drawing on experience acquired elsewhere. We contend that the approach being developed in Victoria through this pilot program has implications beyond the use of recycled wastewater for achieving various social objectives. It may also contribute to the development of an expansive water quality offset framework applicable to point source discharges, nonpoint source pollution, and sewerage overspills. Moreover, the approach can be applied to design of offset systems elsewhere – with appropriate economic savings and effective application to multiple water quality challenges if potential problems are discerned early.

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