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Probiotics and Plant-Based Foods as Preventive Agents of Urinary Tract Infection:A Narrative Review of Possible Mechanisms Related to Health
Get PDFUrinary tract infections (UTIs) are a prevalent global health issue, often requiring antibiotic treatment, which contributes to antimicrobial resistance. This narrative review explores the potential of probiotics and plant-based foods as alternative or complementary preventive strategies against UTIs. Fermented foods, such as yogurt, kefir, and kombucha, contain probiotic strains that can modulate the gut and urogenital microbiota, enhancing resistance to uropathogens. Likewise, plant-based foods, including cranberry, garlic, bearberry, juniper, and nettle, possess bioactive compounds with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic properties. Laboratory and clinical studies suggest that these natural interventions may reduce the incidence of UTIs by inhibiting pathogen adhesion, modulating immune responses, and promoting urinary tract health. However, despite promising findings, inconsistencies in study methodologies, dosage standardization, and long-term efficacy warrant further investigation. Future research should focus on optimizing probiotic formulations, standardizing plant-based supplement dosages, and assessing potential food–drug interactions to establish evidence-based guidelines for UTI prevention
Scales of trust:an exploration of the social licence to operate of mining at the societal level
No full textThis thesis is an exercise in theory building around the function of SLO at the societal scale. A well-established concept applied at the scale of local communities, research on the nature of SLO at the societal scale is still at a nascent stage. There are many reasons for this including the challenge of defining who comprises ‘society,’ whether trust can underlie a relationship between society and industry given the complexity of actors, and the blurring of the SLO concept itself as a private governance mechanism given the levers of change involve policy makers and legislation. There also exists an ideological obstacle, as some academics hesitate to explore scales beyond the community because it suggests a possible diluting of social licence as it is understood, that power lies in a community as it does in government. To delve more deeply into these issues, the research begins with the proposition that SLO is a concept with the community-company relationship at its core, but that it is scalable, meaning the drivers, actors and relationship-building goals can be scaledup from the community level to the societal level. This idea has been operationalised via development of the Scalar SLO Model, which integrates within a single model the drivers of acceptance and loss at both scales. In so doing, the model ultimately allows testing both intra- and inter-scales to address the objective of the thesis, explaining the mechanism behind the functioning of societal SLO and to determine its relevance for a community’s acceptance of a mining project.The community and societal scales are integrated in the model through shared drivers of gaining or losing trust and acceptance. As the drivers of community SLO can be scaled up to also function as the drivers of societal SLO, so too are the roles that trust and acceptance play. Where a company must build a relationship with a community based on trust for there to be acceptance of a project, so too must industry build a trust-based relationship with society for there to be acceptance of the mining industry. One important difference between the Scalar SLO Model and other models is the incorporation of government as a foundational driver both at the community and societal scales. Previously, government was theorised to have a role in SLO, albeit undefined, only at scales beyond the community.The research is situated in Europe, where welfare democracies have positioned the state to act as the gatekeeper of mining acceptance and where the majority of societal level research and practice on SLO has been undertaken. Testing of the Scalar SLO Model reveals that the drivers and roles of trust and acceptance do not scale neatly. This has provoked a re-thinking of SLO as a scalar concept to one more contingent on the satisfaction of preconditions and drivers. Government and its associated legal and regulatory frameworks are not, as originally assumed, the foundational driver of societal SLO but rather a precondition for the relationship-building between industry and society to then begin. In Europe, fulfilment of the preconditions is a large part of developing trust and acceptance.Development of the Scalar SLO Model is rooted in the extant SLO models with additional research on trust-building in Finland and Spain. The subsequent testing of the model to determine the accuracy of the drivers and the influence between scales necessitated a further refinement of the individual drivers at each scale. These more nuanced drivers allow for the testing of the interactions and influences of the scales themselves, both in terms of the effect scale has on SLO and the effects different scales have on one another. The outcomes are a result of utilizing multiple methods consisting of both qualitative and semi-quantitative data analysis.The model and the thesis in general respond to the quickly evolving discourse and legislative actions now taking place in Europe. From 2008 when raw materials first appeared on the European Commission’s agenda to the present day, the importance of incentivising critical and strategic raw materials production for the energy transition has leapt to the top of the Commission’s policy priorities. The lightning-fast process of adopting the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) is the clearest demonstration of this. Incentivising mining and gaining a social licence are not, however, the same. Concerns as to the loose environmental and social standards in the CRMA have already been voiced by civil society. With the sufficiency of the preconditions questionable, efforts by the mining industry to build relationships with the broader public are not likely to succeed and tensions around mining activities will probably increase.What began as an enquiry into SLO as a two-tiered concept of community scale and societal scale, where the broad-gauge public acceptance of the mining industry was thought to be important for the local acceptance of mining projects, has resulted in several surprising findings. The first is that societal and community SLO are each comprised of preconditions and drivers with good governance and strong legal frameworks being the preconditions at the societal scale. It is not clear what the preconditions for the community scale are precisely as the research focuses on the functioning of societal SLO, but it is clear they exist and are related to governance. Fulfilment of these preconditions are necessary before the trust-building work industry must subsequently undertake with society, based on the drivers, can begin. The second finding is that SLO at the societal scale is not important for the local acceptance of a project. What matters for acceptance is the community-company relationship and the ability to negotiate issues that happen at the site level. Societal acceptance plays a supportive role to community acceptance and is dependent on it. The third finding is that because the reconditions are so important at the societal level, there is little room for the mining industry to build relationships with the general citizenry because there are fewer benefits that industry has the power to negotiate. This could change over time, for example, if the public feels the preconditions are adequate and they demand more from industry. For now, however, the space for relationship-building in Europe is minimal
The European Union and Justice in the European Arctic
No full textThe chapter considers the issue of distributive and procedural justice in the EU-Arctic nexus by looking at three themes that are currently particularly visible in the European Arctic: Green transition (with focus on renewable energy and critical raw materials), tensions between conservation and traditional livelihoods, as well as the efforts to ensure meaningful participation of Arctic stakeholders. Three features of EU-Arctic nexus emerge as relevant: a) The perception of the EU as a normative power, b) two disconnections, between EU goals and concrete projects’ implementation, and between the EU’s Arctic policy and EU policy frameworks that exert actual impact on Arctic realities, and c) the use of abstract sustainability language that obscures challenges and tensions in the pursuit of developmental goals. These three features, in connection with limited EU competences, lead to difficulties in assessing and pursuing substantive/distributive and procedural justice within the EU
Developing New Blended Teacher Training Program for Adult Students in Finland
No full textSustainable education necessitates inclusive and accessible teacher training programs that acknowledge the diverse backgrounds of students. Blended learning programs have demonstrated their potential in promoting sustainable acquisition of skills and knowledge among adult learners. However, existing programs frequently fail to cater to the unique needs of non-traditional learners. Additionally, adult students with professional work experience possess distinct requirements and competencies that higher education institutions must consider. This study focuses on a novel teacher training program in Finland known as the 1000+ program, specifically designed for childminders engaged in early childhood education (ECE) work life. Within this chapter, we investigate the program’s design, implementation, and evaluation, as perceived by university teachers and study administrators. The study also scrutinizes the program’s sustainability factors. Data was collected through interviews conducted with seven teachers and study administrators from three universities, subsequently analyzed using content analysis. The findings suggest that blended learning models can effectively support adult students in their teacher education endeavors, if they are purposefully crafted to meet the distinct needs of the target group
Strategies for Sámi Teacher Education with a Sustainability Perspective
No full textThis chapter, grounded in the rich experiences and work of two professionals in the field, delves into teacher education strategies within the diverse contexts of Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Russian Sámi education. It combines a comprehensive literature review with the authors’ expertise to address challenges and opportunities associated with pre-service and in-service teacher education, emphasizing the critical need for competent teachers in Sámi contexts and the overarching objective of raising awareness about Indigenous Sámi culture and languages. Highlighting the endangered status of Sámi languages, the narrative underscores the essential role of teacher education in efforts to revitalize these languages, integrating it within a broader discourse on sustainability in cultural, linguistic, and Indigenous education. The chapter offers insights into the multifaceted nature of Sámi teacher education by weaving together literature review findings and personal professional experiences. It reiterates the perpetual demand for qualified teachers at all levels of the educational sector and enriches the discourse with firsthand insights from authors who have contributed significantly to Sámi educational practices. The approach not only highlights the importance of sustainable strategies in the preservation and revitalization of Sámi cultural and linguistic heritage but also emphasizes the value of expert knowledge in navigating the complexities of Indigenous education.This chapter, grounded in the rich experiences and work of two professionals in the field, delves into teacher education strategies within the diverse contexts of Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Russian Sámi education. It combines a comprehensive literature review with the authors’ expertise to address challenges and opportunities associated with pre-service and in-service teacher education, emphasizing the critical need for competent teachers in Sámi contexts and the overarching objective of raising awareness about Indigenous Sámi culture and languages. Highlighting the endangered status of Sámi languages, the narrative underscores the essential role of teacher education in efforts to revitalize these languages, integrating it within a broader discourse on sustainability in cultural, linguistic, and Indigenous education. The chapter offers insights into the multifaceted nature of Sámi teacher education by weaving together literature review findings and personal professional experiences. It reiterates the perpetual demand for qualified teachers at all levels of the educational sector and enriches the discourse with firsthand insights from authors who have contributed significantly to Sámi educational practices. The approach not only highlights the importance of sustainable strategies in the preservation and revitalization of Sámi cultural and linguistic heritage but also emphasizes the value of expert knowledge in navigating the complexities of Indigenous education
Domestication and adaptation of pastoral animals and human livelihoods to the Arctic:An integrated genetic-anthropological approach
No full textThis chapter investigates the added value of genetic-anthropological integrated research on Arctic pastoralism for contributing to the question how the adaptation of living organisms to an environment is determined by both natural and socio-cultural influence. Rather than testing one vs the other, we follow a ʼnatureculture approach’ (Valkonen et al. 2022). In doing so, we stand on the shoulders of anthropological giants, who 20 years ago, urged for overcoming the divide between ʼnature’ and ‘culture’ in our perception of the environment (Ingold 2004). Correspondingly, research design on domestication and adaptation can strive to dismantle disciplinary borders between natural and social sciences. We review, on the one hand, the evidence from genetics on the adaptive capacity of native domestic pastoral animal breeds in the Arctic to adapt to a harsh environment. On the other hand, we document how people have contributed with management and selection practices to the specific character traits of these animal breeds that enhance their ‘Arctic fitness.' This allows us to illustrate our main argument: native breeds of Arctic domesticated pastoral animal species are a co-creation of humans jointly with other beings in the environment. Hence, they are a ʼnaturalcultural’ heritage, an outcome of reciprocal human-animal intentional relationality.</p