Wastewater is widely used to irrigate urban agricultural land in developing countries, a practice that has both advantages and disadvantages, a 53-city study presented at a water conference in Stockholm showed Monday.

Wastewater agriculture contributes importantly to urban food supplies and helps provide a livelihood for the poor, but can also lead to health risks for consumers, particularly for vegetables consumed uncooked, the report by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said.

Swedish researchers have launched a scathing attack on the scientific credentials of an international advisory body on biodiversity, warning that its effectiveness is being undermined by the increasing dominance of politicians and professional negotiators. Their concerns about the work of the scientific body that advises the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are widely shared, the convention's own executive secretary, Ahmed Djoghlaf, has told Nature.

Renewable Energy Credits/Green Certificates (RECs) is a policy instrument which provides evidence that an electricity generator has produced a certain quantum of power from a renewable energy source.

Cancer survival rate varies widely between countries, according to a worldwide study of the cancers of the breast (women), colon, rectum and prostate.
The five-year survival rate for prostate cancer is the highest in the United States as compared to any of the 31 countries studied as part of the study published in Lancet Oncology. However, in the US, cancer survival in black men and women is systematically and substantially lower than in white men and women.

Hart Energy Publishing's International Fuel Quality Center recently released a ranking of the top 100 countries based on sulfur limits on on-road diesel. Sweden was found to be at the top of the ranking, followed by Germany and Japan, being sole position-holders of second and third place, respectively.

The capacity of countries to take advantage of the patent system bears a relationship with their stage of development. This paper explores the relationship between economic development and domestic and foreign patenting behaviour. The study uses a unique data set covering 55 countries and 24 years. It determines the association of domestic patenting with gross domestic product per capita and openness to trade, and the association of foreign patenting with these variables and with foreign direct investment as a proportion of gdp.

Exposure to toxic methylmercury (MeHg) through fish consumption is a large problem worldwide, and it has led to governmental recommendations of reduced fish consumption and blacklisting of mercury-contaminated fish. The elimination kinetics of MeHg varies greatly among individuals. Knowledge about the reasons for such variation is of importance for improving the risk assessment for MeHg. One possible explanation is hereditary differences in MeHg metabolism. MeHg is eliminated from the body as a glutathione (GSH) conjugate.

Exposure to fine particulate air pollution is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The researchers conducted a study to determine whether exposure to ambient particulate matter causes vascular dysfunction.

Dean C. K. Cox for The International Herald Tribune The Dutch ship Schieborg, employed by Stora Enso, uses the shore-side electrical plug at the Port of Gothenburg. GOTHENBURG, Sweden

The arctic fox is inching back from the brink of extinction in the Nordic region, but intensive conservation efforts must continue if the species is to survive in the longer term, a report said on Tuesday. The Swedish-Finnish-Norwegian Arctic Fox Project has managed to double the number of breeding foxes since starting in 1998, it said in its report. "We have succeeded in saving the arctic fox and getting the population to grow," said Professor Anders Angerbjorn, who leads the project.

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