A Bird\u27s-Eye View of the Multiple Biochemical Mechanisms that Propel Pathology of Alzheimer\u27s Disease: Recent Advances and Mechanistic Perspectives on How to Halt the Disease Progression Targeting Multiple Pathways.

Neurons consume the highest amount of oxygen, depend on oxidative metabolism for energy, and survive for the lifetime of an individual. Therefore, neurons are vulnerable to death caused by oxidative-stress, accumulation of damaged and dysfunctional proteins and organelles. There is an exponential increase in the number of patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s (AD) as the number of elderly increases exponentially. Development of AD pathology is a complex phenomenon characterized by neuronal death, accumulation of extracellular amyloid-β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, and most importantly loss of memory and cognition. These pathologies are most likely caused by mechanisms including oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction/stress, accumulation of misfolded proteins, and defective organelles due to impaired proteasome and autophagy mechanisms. Currently, there are no effective treatments to halt the progression of this disease. In order to treat this complex disease with multiple biochemical pathways involved, a complex treatment regimen targeting different mechanisms should be investigated. Furthermore, as AD is a progressive disease-causing morbidity over many years, any chemo-modulator for treatment must be used over long period of time. Therefore, treatments must be safe and non-interfering with other processes. Ideally, a treatment like medicinal food or a supplement that can be taken regularly without any side effect capable of reducing oxidative stress, stabilizing mitochondria, activating autophagy or proteasome, and increasing energy levels of neurons would be the best solution. This review summarizes progress in research on different mechanisms of AD development and some of the potential therapeutic development strategies targeting the aforementioned pathologies

Sectoral Decomposition of Technology-adjusted CO2 Emissions from International Trade in China 1999-2009

In the context of increasing focus on the climate change China is being blamed for its large contribution to global CO2 emissions, which have been produced within China’s territory. However, increasing number of researches have started to argue that the developed countries should be held responsible for displacing their emissions by outsourcing pollution-heavy production to the developing countries. Using Multi-Region Input-Output (MRIO) analysis for 41 countries disaggregated into 35 sectors and Log-Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition, this academic research paper attempts to find out what are the driving forces of China’s CO2 emissions and whether China has become the “factory of the world” when different technologies between countries have been taken into account. The results indeed point to the existence of CO2 emissions displacement to China and China becoming the “factory of the world”. However compared to conventional accounting methods, the magnitude of displacement is lower in the case of technology-adjusted emissions embodied in trade, holding China accountable for its carbon-intense production process. The decomposition results point to the trade specialization effect as the largest contributor to China’s emissions embodied in trade, which has mostly been caused by the electricity, gas and water supply sector