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The frequency and severity of natural or human-induced disaster events, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, pandemics, hazardous material spills, groundwater contamination, structural failures, explosions, etc., as well as their impacts, have greatly increased in recent decades due to population growth and extensive urbanization, among other factors. The World Bank estimates that the total cost of cities' and communities' vulnerability to these types of disasters could reach more than USD 300 billion per year by 2030. However, it has been argued that investment to improve the quality and resilience of engineered physical assets that are the backbone of modern societies, such as critical infrastructure, industrial facilities, and buildings, could significantly contribute to more sustainable and prosperous societies. Engineered assets are key to the delivery of essential services, such as transport, food, water, electricity supply, health and safety, etc. Some of these physical assets are integrated into asset systems and national or regional networks, with life cycles of several decades or even centuries. It is, therefore, of great importance that strategies and life cycle decisions, such as those related to short- and long-term capital investment planning, maintenance strategies, operational plans, and asset disposal, lead to the maximization of the value derived from these assets. Moreover, it is essential that the achievement of these goals is sustainable over time. Organizations dealing with engineering assets, both public and private, must, therefore, integrate sustainability and resilience concerns into everyday operations, using budgets that are often restricted, while also meeting demanding performance requirements in risky and uncertain environments. This Special Issue collates a selection of papers reporting the latest research and case studies regarding the trends and emerging strategies used to address these challenges, with contributions discussing how asset management principles and techniques can help to push the boundaries of sophistication and innovation to improve the life cycle management of engineered assets to ensure more sustainable and resilient cities and societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial greyhound racing is legal in Australia but controversial due to concerns around animal welfare. To make evidence-based recommendations of animal welfare standards, a comprehensive analysis of available data on race events, animal health, injuries and fatalities is required. We undertook a review of publicly available data and reports published by official greyhound racing bodies for the purpose of determining how morbidity and mortality events associated with dog training and racing could be benchmarked. 6 years of available data from stewards' reports, quarterly and annual reports were descriptively analyzed from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Whole-of-life tracking for individual dogs was sparse. Although stewards' reports were published in all three states, the availability of aggregated quarterly and annual reports varied. When available these provided additional information such as injury incidents standardized per thousand starts. In Queensland, quarterly and annual reports provided an overview of greyhound mortality and morbidity rates. In contrast with Victoria, quarterly reports were unavailable and only annual reports were published, meaning quarterly trends could not be determined. Therefore, injuries categorized by severity that were routinely included in quarterly reports in Queensland and New South Wales were unavailable in Victoria. Our findings demonstrate that data recording and reporting practices must be standardized to accurately evaluate whether animal welfare standards are being met in the Australian greyhound racing industry. Our recommendation is to have national standardized reporting of injuries and deaths, and a publicly available database for whole-of-life tracking for individual racing greyhounds.

BackgroundFormula brands have modified the ingredients in standard infant formulas and extensively market modified formulas, claiming benefits for infants that are not supported by scientific evidence. This exploratory study examined the proportion of infant caregivers who reported serving modified formula, demographic differences, and reasons for providing them.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional online survey of US caregivers of infants (6–11 months) who provided formula in the past month (N = 436). Participants reported the type of formula served most often and agreement with potential reasons for provision. Logistic regression assessed the odds of serving modified formula by demographic characteristics. MANOVA examined differences in agreement with purchase reasons between caregivers by the type of formula provided.ResultsApproximately one-half (47%) of participants reported serving modified formula most often; sensitive and organic/non-GMO were the most common types provided. Caregivers in the middle-income group were most likely to serve modified formulas, but the provision did not differ by other demographic characteristics. Agreement with reasons for providing was highest for “pediatricians recommend” and “benefits my child” (M = 4.2 out of 5). Agreement with “my pediatrician prescribed” and “natural ingredients” was significantly higher for modified vs. standard formula providers.ConclusionWidespread provision of modified formula by infant caregivers raises concerns due to its higher cost and the lack of scientific evidence supporting benefits for babies. These findings suggest that regulations limiting unsubstantiated formula claims and restrictions on misleading marketing to consumers are necessary. Additional research is needed to understand pediatricians' perceptions of modified formulas and reasons for recommending them to patients.

Clinical islet allotransplantation has been successfully regulated as tissue/organ for transplantation in number of countries and is recognized as a safe and efficacious therapy for selected patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, in the United States, the FDA considers pancreatic islets as a biologic drug, and islet transplantation has not yet shifted from the experimental to the clinical arena for last 20 years. In order to transplant islets, the FDA requires a valid Biological License Application (BLA) in place. The BLA process is costly and lengthy. However, despite the application of drug manufacturing technology and regulations, the final islet product sterility and potency cannot be confirmed, even when islets meet all the predetermined release criteria. Therefore, further regulation of islets as drugs is obsolete and will continue to hinder clinical application of islet transplantation in the US. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network together with the United Network for Organ Sharing have developed separately from the FDA and BLA regulatory framework for human organs under the Human Resources & Services Administration to assure safety and efficacy of transplantation. Based on similar biologic characteristics of islets and human organs, we propose inclusion of islets into the existing regulatory framework for organs for transplantation, along with continued FDA oversight for islet processing, as it is for other cell/tissue products exempt from BLA. This approach would reassure islet quality, efficacy and access for Americans with diabetes to this effective procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical islet allotransplantation has been successfully regulated as tissue/organ for transplantation in number of countries and is recognized as a safe and efficacious therapy for selected patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, in the United States, the FDA considers pancreatic islets as a biologic drug, and islet transplantation has not yet shifted from the experimental to the clinical arena for last 20 years. In order to transplant islets, the FDA requires a valid Biological License Application (BLA) in place. The BLA process is costly and lengthy. However, despite the application of drug manufacturing technology and regulations, the final islet product sterility and potency cannot be confirmed, even when islets meet all the predetermined release criteria. Therefore, further regulation of islets as drugs is obsolete and will continue to hinder clinical application of islet transplantation in the US. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network together with the United Network for Organ Sharing have developed separately from the FDA and BLA regulatory framework for human organs under the Human Resources & Services Administration to assure safety and efficacy of transplantation. Based on similar biologic characteristics of islets and human organs, we propose inclusion of islets into the existing regulatory framework for organs for transplantation, along with continued FDA oversight for islet processing, as it is for other cell/tissue products exempt from BLA. This approach would reassure islet quality, efficacy and access for Americans with diabetes to this effective procedure.

Background: To identify peer-reviewed research on consumers’ usage and attitudes towards the nutrition label and the food industry's response to labelling regulations outside Europe, North America, and Australia and to determine knowledge gaps for future research. Design: Narrative review. Results: This review identified nutrition labelling research from 20 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Consumers prefer that pre-packaged food include nutrition information, although there is a disparity between rates of use and comprehension. Consumer preference is for front-of-pack labelling and for information that shows per serving or portion as a reference unit, and label formats with graphics or symbols. Research on the food and beverage industry's response is more limited but shows that industry plays an active role in influencing legislation and regulation. Conclusions: Consumers around the world share preferences with consumers in higher income countries with respect to labelling. However, this may reflect the research study populations, who are often better educated than the general population. Investigation is required into how nutrition labels are received in emerging economies especially among the urban and rural poor, in order to assess the effectiveness of labelling policies. Further research into the outlook of the food and beverage industry, and also on expanded labelling regulations is a priority. Sharing context-specific research regarding labelling between countries in the global South could be mutually beneficial in evaluating obesity prevention policies and strategies.

Commercial greyhound racing is legal in Australia but controversial due to concerns around animal welfare. To make evidence-based recommendations of animal welfare standards, a comprehensive analysis of available data on race events, animal health, injuries and fatalities is required. We undertook a review of publicly available data and reports published by official greyhound racing bodies for the purpose of determining how morbidity and mortality events associated with dog training and racing could be benchmarked. 6 years of available data from stewards' reports, quarterly and annual reports were descriptively analyzed from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Whole-of-life tracking for individual dogs was sparse. Although stewards' reports were published in all three states, the availability of aggregated quarterly and annual reports varied. When available these provided additional information such as injury incidents standardized per thousand starts. In Queensland, quarterly and annual reports provided an overview of greyhound mortality and morbidity rates. In contrast with Victoria, quarterly reports were unavailable and only annual reports were published, meaning quarterly trends could not be determined. Therefore, injuries categorized by severity that were routinely included in quarterly reports in Queensland and New South Wales were unavailable in Victoria. Our findings demonstrate that data recording and reporting practices must be standardized to accurately evaluate whether animal welfare standards are being met in the Australian greyhound racing industry. Our recommendation is to have national standardized reporting of injuries and deaths, and a publicly available database for whole-of-life tracking for individual racing greyhounds., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Chang, Descovich, Henning and Allavena.)

Abstract: Quarries that are left untreated after closure cause extensive land disturbances and have negative safety and environmental impacts. The original ecosystems have been removed, the original topography has been significantly changed, the fundamental ecological relations are irreversibly disrupted, and the biodiversity is greatly reduced. This research focuses on the environmental aspects of rehabilitating abandoned quarries and their future designation land use, emphasizing the theme of abandoned quarries in Israel. Quarry rehabilitation legislation guidelines obligate implementation of reclamation but, unfortunately, these have proven to be ineffective. The purpose of this current research was to locate abandoned quarries according to Israeli Comprehensive National Outline Plan for Planning, Building and Conservation, and to determine the best future land use of the abandoned quarries as open spaces or as developmental projects. The research findings show that more abandoned quarries are located in areas designated for conservation than in areas intended for development projects. Therefore, abandoned quarries that are located in conservation areas should be rehabilitated as open spaces. Those in urban and rural areas should be rehabilitated as development projects, or as open spaces and agricultural land uses, or as combined land uses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Formula brands have modified the ingredients in standard infant formulas and extensively market modified formulas, claiming benefits for infants that are not supported by scientific evidence. This exploratory study examined the proportion of infant caregivers who reported serving modified formula, demographic differences, and reasons for providing them., Methods: This is a cross-sectional online survey of US caregivers of infants (6-11 months) who provided formula in the past month ( N = 436). Participants reported the type of formula served most often and agreement with potential reasons for provision. Logistic regression assessed the odds of serving modified formula by demographic characteristics. MANOVA examined differences in agreement with purchase reasons between caregivers by the type of formula provided., Results: Approximately one-half (47%) of participants reported serving modified formula most often; sensitive and organic/non-GMO were the most common types provided. Caregivers in the middle-income group were most likely to serve modified formulas, but the provision did not differ by other demographic characteristics. Agreement with reasons for providing was highest for "pediatricians recommend" and "benefits my child" ( M = 4.2 out of 5). Agreement with "my pediatrician prescribed" and "natural ingredients" was significantly higher for modified vs. standard formula providers., Conclusion: Widespread provision of modified formula by infant caregivers raises concerns due to its higher cost and the lack of scientific evidence supporting benefits for babies. These findings suggest that regulations limiting unsubstantiated formula claims and restrictions on misleading marketing to consumers are necessary. Additional research is needed to understand pediatricians' perceptions of modified formulas and reasons for recommending them to patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Gershman, Romo-Palafox, Rajeh, Fleming-Milici and Harris.)

To identify peer-reviewed research on consumers' usage and attitudes towards the nutrition label and the food industry's response to labelling regulations outside Europe, North America, and Australia and to determine knowledge gaps for future research. Narrative review. This review identified nutrition labelling research from 20 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Consumers prefer that pre-packaged food include nutrition information, although there is a disparity between rates of use and comprehension. Consumer preference is for front-of-pack labelling and for information that shows per serving or portion as a reference unit, and label formats with graphics or symbols. Research on the food and beverage industry's response is more limited but shows that industry plays an active role in influencing legislation and regulation. Consumers around the world share preferences with consumers in higher income countries with respect to labelling. However, this may reflect the research study populations, who are often better educated than the general population. Investigation is required into how nutrition labels are received in emerging economies especially among the urban and rural poor, in order to assess the effectiveness of labelling policies. Further research into the outlook of the food and beverage industry, and also on expanded labelling regulations is a priority. Sharing context-specific research regarding labelling between countries in the global South could be mutually beneficial in evaluating obesity prevention policies and strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]