Cultural group selection and the design of REDD+: insights from Pemba

Evolutionary analyses of the ways humans manage natural resources have until recently focused on the costs and benefits of prudent resource use to the individual. In contrast, the fields of environmental resource management and sustainability focus on institutions whereby successful practices can be established and maintained, and the extent to which these fit specific environmental conditions. Furthermore, recent theoretical work explores how resource conservation practices and institutions can emerge through co-evolutionary processes if there are substantial group-level benefits. Here we examine the design of a prominent yet controversial institutional intervention for reducing deforestation and land degradation in the developing world (REDD+), and its ongoing implementation on Pemba Island (Zanzibar, Tanzania) to determine the extent to which the features of REDD+ might allow for the endogenous adoption of sustainable forest management institutions. Additionally, we consider factors that might impede such outcomes, such as leakage, elite capture, and marginal community participation. By focusing on prospective features of REDD+ design that could facilitate the spread of environmentally sustainable behavior within and between communities, we identify distinct dynamics whereby institutional practices might coevolve with resource conservation practices. These insights should contribute to the design of more effective forest management institution in the future.

Increased urinary CD80 excretion and podocyturia in Fabry disease

BACKGROUND

Certain glomerulopathies are associated with increased levels of CD80 (B7-1). We measured the urinary excretion of CD80, podocyturia and proteinuria in controls and in subjects with Fabry disease either untreated or on enzyme replacement therapy (ERT).

METHODS

Cross-sectional study including 65 individuals: controls (n = 20) and Fabry patients (n = 45, 23 of them not on ERT and 22 on ERT). Variables included age, gender, urinary protein/creatinine ratio (UPCR), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), urinary uCD80/creatinine ratio (uCD80) and podocyturia. CD80 mRNA expression in response to lyso-Gb3, a bioactive glycolipid accumulated in Fabry disease, was studied in cultured human podocytes.

RESULTS

Controls and Fabry patients did not differ in age, eGFR and gender. However, UPCR, uCD80 and podocyturia were significantly higher in Fabry patients than in controls. As expected, Fabry patients not on ERT were younger and a higher percentage were females. Non-ERT Fabry patients had less advanced kidney disease than ERT Fabry patients: UPCR was lower and eGFR higher, but uCD80 and podocyturia did not differ between non-ERT or ERT Fabry patients. There was a significant correlation between uCD80 and UPCR in the whole population (r 0.44, p 0.0005) and in Fabry patients (r 0.42, p 0.0046). Lyso-Gb3 at concentrations found in the circulation of Fabry patients increased uCD80 expression in cultured podocytes.

CONCLUSIONS

Fabry disease is characterized by early occurrence of increased uCD80 excretion that appears to be a consequence of glycolipid accumulation. The potential for uCD80 excretion to reflect early, subclinical renal Fabry involvement should be further studied.