Using plants for health: Indigenous knowledge in health care in a tribal region of Bihar,India

While the potential of indigenous knowledge for health care is fully recognised in the literature and by many health professionals, the practices of so many indigenous peoples go unrecorded and untested. Indigenous knowledge remains essentially untapped, an unwritten resource involving information, language and skills in many groups, languages, cultures and environments. An attempt is made in this paper to identify selected indigenous health technologies in a tribal area of Bihar State, India; to describe the treatments, their application and preparation; and to link the traditional practice with the relevant scientific information to test or determine the validity of the practices. These practices were found to be effective in the treatment of a variety of health problems, and most were also scientifically confirmed. The paper argues, however, that other plant uses practised by tribal people still need to be explored: in order to popularise more widely the authenticated practices; to preserve indigenous knowledge; to integrate or blend it with scientific knowledge so that health professionals and healthcare users may benefit from a wider range of healthcare strategies which are environmentally unthreatening.     

太湖不同湖区生态系统健康评价方法研究

基于长期的监测资料，计算了表征湖泊生态系统健康的系统能（Ex）、系统能结构（Exs1）和生态缓冲容量（｜β｜）指标，以及湖泊营养状态指数（Its）。结果表明，太湖不同湖区生态系统健康状况差异明显，1998-2001年太湖典型湖区健康状况由好到差的相对顺序为：东太湖、贡湖和湖心区、梅梁湾、五里湖。在此基础上，提出了富营养化浅水湖泊生态系统健康指标阈值和湖泊系统能量健康指数（IEx）及其健康状况分级。经2002、2003年太湖不同湖区实测检验表明，所提出的湖泊系统能量健康指数及其健康状况分级适用于评价太湖不同湖区生态系统健康的区域分异状况。     

海南岛半干旱区农用地土壤重金属富集因素、健康风险及来源识别

为了解海南岛半干旱区农业土壤中重金属富集因素和污染状况,在感城镇采集1818件表层土壤样品,测定其重金属含量和化学组成.采用相关分析、地累积指数（I_geo）、综合生态风险指数（RI）、危害指数（HI）、致癌风险指数（CR）和正定矩阵因子分析（PMF）开展重金属风险评价和来源识别.结果显示,重金属ω（As）、ω（Cd）、ω（Cr）、ω（Cu）、ω（Hg）、ω（Ni）、ω（Pb）和ω（Zn）的平均值分别为22.7、0.128、33.4、14.5、0.032、9.32、32.5和43.3 mg ·kg^-1,除Zn外,均高于海南岛土壤背景值.相关分析表明,重金属富集与土壤中Fe、Mn、Al和有机质含量密切相关.I_geo结果表明,研究区农业土壤主要受到As的污染,其次为Cd和Cu;RI结果显示,高风险以上的样品占比为29.4%,其中As是潜在生态风险的主要贡献者;健康风险评估结果显示,As、Cr和Ni对儿童存在致癌风险,需要引起注意.基于PMF模型,确定了研究区重金属的4种主要来源,其中Hg主要来自工业排放;As主要来自农业活动;Ni、Cu、Cr和Zn主要来自与成土母质密切相关的自然来源;Pb和Cd主要来自农业活动和机动车尾气的混合源.研究表明PMF模型与相关分析相结合,能够有效识别土壤重金属来源.     

2000年北京大气中SO2浓度削减50%的健康效益—人力资本法实例研究

人力资本法是评估环境污染健康损害价值（或治理污染的健康效益）的常用方法，但在发达国家，它逐渐被隐含价格法等所取代。本文通过实例研究，探讨了人力资本法在我国目前的适用性，研究结果表明，当使用流行病学关于疾病负担的计量方法（ＹＰＬＬ）时，人力资本法在我国有很大的适用性。     

北京城乡结合地空气中挥发性有机物健康风险评价

采用低温固体吸附采样,热脱附-气相色谱-质谱方法对北京城乡结合地空气中挥发性有机物（VOCs）进行了观测分析,并利用国际公认的健康风险评价四步法评价模型,对北京城乡结合地空气中挥发性有机物的健康风险进行了初步评价.结果表明,芳香族类的非致癌风险值在10-4～10-1数量级,卤代烃的非致癌风险值在10-4～10-5数量级,挥发性有机污染物的非致癌风险系数〈1,不会对暴露人群健康造成明显的非致癌危害.但苯的致癌指数较高（2.21×10-5）,超过了USEPA的建议值（1×10-6）,可能对人体健康造成潜在危害.在一年四季的健康风险中,冬季VOCs的健康风险最高,秋季次之,夏季最低.     

Motivations for Conserving Urban Biodiversity

Abstract: In a time of increasing urbanization, the fundamental value of conserving urban biodiversity remains controversial. How much of a fixed budget should be spent on conservation in urban versus nonurban landscapes? The answer should depend on the goals that drive our conservation actions, yet proponents of urban conservation often fail to specify the motivation for protecting urban biodiversity. This is an important shortcoming on several fronts, including a missed opportunity to make a stronger appeal to those who believe conservation biology should focus exclusively on more natural, wilder landscapes. We argue that urban areas do offer an important venue for conservation biology, but that we must become better at choosing and articulating our goals. We explored seven possible motivations for urban biodiversity conservation: preserving local biodiversity, creating stepping stones to nonurban habitat, understanding and facilitating responses to environmental change, conducting environmental education, providing ecosystem services, fulfilling ethical responsibilities, and improving human well‐being. To attain all these goals, challenges must be faced that are common to the urban environment, such as localized pollution, disruption of ecosystem structure, and limited availability of land. There are, however, also challenges specific only to particular goals, meaning that different goals will require different approaches and actions. This highlights the importance of specifying the motivations behind urban biodiversity conservation. If the goals are unknown, progress cannot be assessed.     

“Food Metaphors and Ethics: Towards More Attention for Bodily Experience”

Official Dutch food information apparently tries to avoid images but is implicitly shaped by the metaphor that food is fuel. The image of food as fuel and its accompanying view of the body as a machine are not maximally helpful for integrating two important human desires: health and pleasure. At the basis of the split between health and pleasure is the traditional mind–body dichotomy, in which the body is an important source of evil and bodily pleasure is sinful and dangerous. In the search for alternatives, new metaphors are proposed that integrate mind and body as well as pleasure and health. The relevance of metaphors for ethics is at least twofold. (1) Moral thought and theory are at least partly shaped by metaphors. In the light of this growing recognition, the analysis of morality needs innovation. (2) With regard to food, new metaphors, such as slow food, or the image of enjoyment as an art, enable a new search for morally responsible forms of hedonism, based on more love and respect for human as well as animal bodies. But new metaphors are specific and selective, just like old ones. I argue that a search for the best overall metaphor would be misguided, but that more diverse forms of attention to bodily aspects of life, including experiences related to food, will result in richer vocabularies of the body, the mind, and body–mind relations. This holds a promise of moral progress.     

矿区生态系统健康内涵及评价指标体系研究

结合生态系统健康理论及矿区发展特点，探讨了矿区生态系统健康内涵、阐述了矿区生态系统健康评价目的和评价指标体系的设置思想，构建了矿区生态系统健康评价指标体系。     

淮河流域某地区地下水污染健康风险评价

为研究淮河流域下游某地区地下水中污染物对人体产生的潜在健康危害风险,对该地区的水质进行了监测分析,并采用美国环境保护署（U.S.EPA）推荐的健康风险评价模型对该地区地下水中污染物所引起的健康风险进行了评价.结果表明,所监测的污染物浓度都在生活饮用水卫生标准（GB 5749—2006）和地下水质量标准（GB/T 148...     

城市工业区环境系统中的Cd污染循环及其健康风险——以杭州市半山工业区为例

为揭示重金属元素Cd在城市环境系统多种介质中的迁移途径及其潜在危害性,系统分析了杭州市半山工业区主要环境介质（土壤-尘埃-水-底泥-生物）样品中Cd的指标含量,并用连续提取法分析了土壤、尘埃、底泥中Cd的化学形态特征.结果表明,Cd的迁移途径主要有两种,一是以尘埃为媒介在地表环境中迁移,二是通过水介质进入水体环境（水和...