University of Stirling

About: University of Stirling is a education organization based out in Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Polyunsaturated fatty acid. The organization has 7722 authors who have published 20549 publications receiving 732940 citations. The organization is also known as: Stirling University.

Evidence review of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products 2018: a report commissioned by Public Health England.

Abstract: The report covers e-cigarette use among young people and adults, public attitudes, the impact on quitting smoking, an update on risks to health and the role of nicotine It also reviews heated tobacco products The main findings of PHE’s evidence review are that: • vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks of smoking and switching completely from smoking to vaping conveys substantial health benefits • e-cigarettes could be contributing to at least 20,000 successful new quits per year and possibly many more • e-cigarette use is associated with improved quit success rates over the last year and an accelerated drop in smoking rates across the country • many thousands of smokers incorrectly believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking; around 40% of smokers have not even tried an e-cigarette • there is much public misunderstanding about nicotine (less than 10% of adults understand that most of the harms to health from smoking are not caused by nicotine) • the use of e-cigarettes in the UK has plateaued over the last few years at just under 3 million • the evidence does not support the concern that e-cigarettes are a route into smoking among young people (youth smoking rates in the UK continue to decline, regular use is rare and is almost entirely confined to those who have smoked)

Bushmeat hunting and extinction risk to the world's mammals

Abstract: Terrestrial mammals are experiencing a massive collapse in their population sizes and geographical ranges around the world, but many of the drivers, patterns and consequences of this decline remain poorly understood. Here we provide an analysis showing that bushmeat hunting for mostly food and medicinal products is driving a global crisis whereby 301 terrestrial mammal species are threatened with extinction. Nearly all of these threatened species occur in developing countries where major coexisting threats include deforestation, agricultural expansion, human encroachment and competition with livestock. The unrelenting decline of mammals suggests many vital ecological and socio-economic services that these species provide will be lost, potentially changing ecosystems irrevocably. We discuss options and current obstacles to achieving effective conservation, alongside consequences of failure to stem such anthropogenic mammalian extirpation. We propose a multi-pronged conservation strategy to help save threatened mammals from immediate extinction and avoid a collapse of food security for hundreds of millions of people.

Evolution in closely adjacent plant populations VIII. Clinal patterns at a mine boundary

Abstract: SEVERAL previous papers in this series have been concerned with the evolution of differences between tolerant and non-tolerant populations of grasses growing over the boundaries of mine tip and pasture soils (Jam and Bradshaw, 1966, McNeilly and Antonovics, 1968, Antonovics, 1968a). Metal tolerant plants differ both physiologically and morphologically from normal plants in several features other than tolerance. Differences in calcium and phosphate response are recorded by Jowett (1959) and McNeilly (1966); Turner (1967) has shown differences in sulphur response; and Schwanitz and Hahn (1 954a, 1 954b) showed from a study of a range of plant species grown under standard conditions that in general tolerant plants had smaller flowers, smaller leaves and thinner stems. This was confirmed for Silene inflata by Broker (1963) who concluded from segregating progenies that dwarfness was not linked to tolerance and had probably been selected independently. Similarly, morphological differences have been recorded in the grass Agrostis tenuis on lead mines (Bradshaw, 1959; Jowett, 1964) and copper mines (McNeiIly, 1966). The morphological characters of plants of the grass Anthoxant hum odoratum L. taken from sites along a transect across a mine/pasture boundary were investigated with three main points in view.