Environmental resource footprinting of drug manufacturing: Effects of scale-up and tablet dosage

The formulation and scale-up of batch processes is one of the major challenges in the development of pharmaceutical dosage forms and at the same time a significant resource demanding process which is generally overlooked in environmental sustainability assessments. First, this paper proposes general trends in the experience curve of cumulative resource consumption of pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing of PREZISTA^® 800 mg through wet granulation (WG) at four consecutive scales in both R&D and manufacturing environments (resp. WG1 = 1 kg/h, WG5 = 5 kg/h, WG30 = 30 kg/h and WG240 = 240 kg/h). Second, the authors aim at evaluating the environmental impact from a life cycle perspective of a daily consumption of PREZISTA^® 2× 400 mg tablets versus the bioequivalent PREZISTA^® 800 mg tablet which was launched to enhance patient compliance. Environmental sustainability assessment was conducted at three different system boundaries, which enables identification, localization and eventually reduction of burdens, in this case natural resource extraction. Exergy Analysis (EA) was used at process level (α) and plant level (β) while a cradle-to-gate Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA) was conducted at the overall industrial level (γ) by means of the CEENE method (Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment). Life cycle stages taken into account are Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) production, Drug Product (DP) production and Packaging. At process level (α), the total resource extraction for the manufacturing of one daily dose of PREZISTA^® (800 mg tablet) amounted up to 0.44 MJ_ex at the smallest scale (WG1) while this amount proved to be reduced by 58%, 79% and 83% at WG5, WG30 and WG240 respectively. Expanding the boundaries to the overall industrial level (γ) reveals that the main resource demand is at the production of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), excipients, packaging materials and cleaning media used in DP production. At the largest scale (WG240) the use of cleaning media during DP production contributes considerably less to the total resource extraction. Overall, the effect of scale-up and learning on resource consumption during DP production showed to possess a power-law experience curve y = 2.40 * x^−0.57 when shifting from WG1 (smallest lab scale) to WG240 (industrial manufacturing). Tablet dosage (2× 400 mg versus 1× 800 mg) did not significantly affect the absolute environmental burden. However, the relative contribution of resource categories did change due to the different production technology. It could be concluded that in meeting social and economic demands by launching the PREZISTA^® 800 mg tablet, no trade-off in environmental burden occurred. On the long term, future research should strive to take into account R&D processes and all services related to pipeline activities taking place prior to market launch and eventually to allocate impacts to the final product.     

体验式生态旅游初探

由于我国生态旅游发展中出现了较严重的泛化问题,不少学者把生态旅游分成了严格意义的生态旅游与一般意义的生态旅游,深层生态旅游与浅层生态旅游,大众化生态旅游与小众型生态旅游等。笔者更愿意把严格意义的生态旅游、深层生态旅游和小众型生态旅游归纳为体验式生态旅游,并从体验旅游的视角对生态旅游进行再认识,尝试对体验式生态旅游进行分析和界定。     

How experienced individuals contribute to an improvement in collective performance in ants

Certain groups of organisms are capable of improving their collective performance with experience. In a recent study, we demonstrated that, over successive emigrations, colonies of the ant Temnothorax albipennis are able to improve their collective performance by reducing the time taken to complete an emigration (Langridge et al., Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:523–529, 2004). In this paper, by recording the performance of individually marked workers during repeated emigrations, we were able to analyse some of the ways in which time gains are achieved. We found that: (1) those transporters that also transported in the preceding emigration began to transport earlier in the current emigration and, in the majority of emigrations, transported more items than those transporters that had not transported in the preceding emigration; (2) the time that elapsed before the first item was transported into the new nest reduced over successive emigrations, and this first item was, in the majority of emigrations, carried by a transporter that had also transported in the preceding emigration; (3) the number of adults that were transported reduced over successive emigrations. Our results strongly suggest that the behaviour of transporters that also transported in a preceding emigration may be modified as a result of their experience and that, consequently, their efforts in the next emigration make a major contribution to the improved performance of the colony as a whole.     

中国职业安全卫生概论及建筑业安全生产经验

保护劳动者在劳动过程中的安全与健康,明载于《中华人民共和国宪法》,是我国的一项基本国策,中国政府为贯彻执行这一国策,在职业安全卫生工作中实行了“安全第一,预防为主”的方针,实行了“国家劳动安全监察制度”,建立了国家监察、检测检验、宣传教育、科学研究和信息的五大保证系统,并加快了职业安全卫生立法工作的进程,为降低伤亡事故,改善劳动条件做出了很大的贡献。随着经济建设的迅速发展,中国大陆的建筑队伍不断扩大。为确保建筑施工安全,国家对建筑队伍、对起重机械和机动车辆、对建筑企业经理与特殊工种的操作人员、对施工现场均采取了一系列行之有效的安全监察措施,促进了建筑安全工作的开展。     

日本战略环境评价的经验及对我国的启示

战略环境评价（SEA）在日本已成为政府和地方公共团体实施可持续发展战略的一个重要手段。简要回顾了日本战略环境评价的发展情况，着重介绍了开展战略环境评价的基本指导原则及实施过程中的注意事项。综合日本的实践经验及我国的实际情况。提出了我国开展SEA的几点建议。     

从严治内强化管理把环境保护工作提高到新水平

较详细地介绍了燕化公司近几年运用经济杠杆，不断健全环保激励和约束机制，加强生产源头环保管理，积极开展清洁生产，使燕化地区环境质量不断改善的做法。     

攀钢修建公司安全管理工作的经验

叙述了安全与经济效益及安全管理与施工进度、工期的关系,指出安全工作必须从严从细、从实管理,走现代化的管理之路。     

从世界银行对二滩水电站环境影响评估中得到的启示

本文介绍了二滩水电站环境影响评价，以及世界银行评估过程中专家提出的一系列环境问题，并结合我院１０多年来的环境影响评价工作简述几点启示，供参考。     

主要发达国家职业安全培训与社会保障体系的构成对构建我国职业安全培训体系的启迪

美、日及西欧一些发达国家 ,把安全培训教育提到了十分重要的地位。经过半个世纪不断完善 ,先后都建立了一整套具有各自特点的安全培训体系。对构建我国职业安全培训体系会有很多借鉴和启示。     

安全生产标准化的实施与效果

介绍了太原钢铁集团第二轧钢厂开展安全生产标准化工作的几点做法及经验。