In South Asia, a region facing rapid economic growth, immense population pressure, and high climate vulnerability, the circular economy (CE) has become a critical imperative for sustainable development. This study provides a comparative overview of the CE landscape across eight South Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The analysis reveals the CE transition is nascent region-wide, though India has advanced its policy landscape through a comprehensive suite of rules and missions and Pakistan is developing a national policy. The primary focus remains on waste management, evidenced by programs like Bhutan’s ‘Zero Waste by 2030’ vision, the Maldives’ Single-Use Plastic Phase-Out Plan, and Sri Lanka’s Clean Sri Lanka Programme. While Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is emerging for plastics and e-waste in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, a significant “policy-practice gap” persists, undermined by weak enforcement and governance fragmented across priority sectors like plastics, food systems, and textiles. Most major CE initiatives are catalyzed by international development partners, with regional programs playing a key role in funding innovation. Finally, while the informal sector is the backbone of material recovery, ensuring a just transition that improves working conditions and secures livelihoods remains a critical challenge. The absence of a cohesive regional framework limits collaboration. Scaling the circular economy in South Asia requires integrated national strategies, prioritizing a just transition for the informal sector, and establishing a regional platform for policy harmonization to create self-sustaining system through multi-sectoral involvement, including the business sector.
Abstract Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a major pathway of DNA double strand break (DSB) repair, capable of directly joining both damaged strands of DNA through the coordinated activities of repair factors that detect the termini, physically bridge them together, and perform the chemistry necessary to complete repair. NHEJ is capable of repairing a variety of damaged DNA, employing various accessory end-processing factors to resolve chemically blocked ends, trim overhangs, and fill gaps in order to achieve directly ligatable DNA ends. To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying end-processing, we determine the cryo-EM structure of the NHEJ specific polymerase Pol λ bound to the short-range synaptic complex, detailing the mode of its recruitment to the complex as well as a putative model for its activity. Furthermore, the coordinated end-processing activities of the short-range (SR) synaptic complex simultaneously bound by both Pol λ and PNKP, another accessory factor, demonstrates the ability of NHEJ to form large, multifunctional repair complexes capable of processing a variety of different DNA end structures to effect repair.
Abstract Breeding wheat varieties with a high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) reduces both production costs and threats to the ecological environment. Here, using candidate-gene and genome-wide association studies, we identify TaNPF7.6-A1 as a positive regulator of NUE in wheat. A widely conserved polymorphism in the coding region of TaNPF7.6-A1 produces allele TaNPF7.6-A1mod with a higher transcription level and nitrate transport activity than TaNPF7.6-A1lan, resulting in a greater NUE. We also reveal the mechanism by which TaEIL3-TaJAZ1-TaNPF7.6-A1 regulates NUE in wheat. TaNPF7.6-A1mod interacts more strongly with TaJAZ1 than TaNPF7.6-A1lan and promotes the retention of nuclear-localized TaJAZ1 in the cytoplasm. TaJAZ1 interacts with TaEIL3 and represses TaEIL3, binding to the TaNPF7.6-A1mod promoter, influencing allele expression and causing phenotypic differences. TaNPF7.6-A1mod also shows significant geographical distribution aggregation globally and undergoes continuous positive selection during the breeding process. Overall, this study provides molecular and evolutionary insights into the regulation of NUE.
Abstract Chronic hard-to-heal skin wounds in diabetes mellitus pose a significant clinical challenge, underscoring the urgent need for additional therapeutics. Herein, we report the identification of a polyether biosynthetic gene cluster (pdm BGC) from the marine-derived Streptomyces marincola SCSIO 03032 through genome mining. By overexpressing the positive regulator gene pdmRI, we increase the product of the pdm BGC 48-fold to enable the isolation, structural determination, and biosynthesis investigation of an octalin-containing polyether ionophore polydecalinmycin (PDM). Functionally, PDM demonstrates remarkable efficacy in promoting acute skin wound healing in BALB/c mice and significantly accelerating chronic wound closure in a diabetic mouse (db/db, male) model. Mechanistically, PDM induces an elevation of mitochondrial Na+ levels to trigger a transient burst of reactive oxygen species, a critical signal for initiating acute wound closure. Upon prolonged exposure, PDM activates a robust Nrf2-mediated antioxidant response, restoring mitochondrial homeostasis and conferring cytoprotection against high-glucose-induced oxidative stress. These insights highlight the therapeutic potential of PDM as a natural polyether candidate for developing ionophore-based strategies for diabetic wound healing.
Abstract Urban flood management requires street-level situational awareness, yet existing monitoring remains limited by overhead sensing constraints and socially uneven reporting. Here we show that citizen-generated flood imagery can complement official data by providing localized and interpretable evidence of flood impacts. We develop a two-stage framework that turns social media flood images into spatially explicit aftermath information. First, a flood-masked strategy improves street-level localization by focusing on stable urban features rather than temporary changes caused by flooding. Second, a fine-tuned vision-language model converts the images into standardized measures of flood aftermath. Applied in San Francisco, the framework shows strong agreement with institutional reporting in dense urban areas while revealing additional hotspots that deviate from official records. Furthermore, institutional reporting intensity declines with increasing social vulnerability, whereas social media signals do not show the same monotonic decline. These results demonstrate the potential of citizen-generated imagery to broaden flood visibility and reduce informational gaps in urban aftermath monitoring. Explore related subjects Discover the latest articles and news in related subjects. Climate-change mitigation Natural hazards Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge Gabriele Berton, Carlo Masone, and Barbara Caputo for making the SF-XL dataset publicly available, and Qihua Chen for valuable suggestions on fine-tuning the FAE module. Funding This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72404233), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2025A1515010190), and the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (Grant No. 21211126). Open Access made possible with partial support from the Open Access Publishing Fund of the City University of Hong Kong. Author information Authors and Affiliations Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China Zihua Zhu, Zhiyao Tian & Xianfei Yin Authors Zihua Zhu View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Zhiyao Tian View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Xianfei Yin View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Corresponding author Correspondence to Xianfei Yin. Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Supplementary information Transparent Peer Review File (download PDF ) Supplementary Information (download PDF ) Rights and permissions Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Reprints and permissions About this article Cite this article Zhu, Z., Tian, Z. & Yin, X. Citizen flood imagery enhances urban aftermath monitoring and exposes reporting inequities. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-04049-y Download citation Received: 28 January 2026 Accepted: 31 August 2026 Published: 09 September 2026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-04049-y Share this article Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy shareable link to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Abstract Urban flood management requires street-level situational awareness, yet existing monitoring remains limited by overhead sensing constraints and socially uneven reporting. Here we show that citizen-generated flood imagery can complement official data by providing localized and interpretable evidence of flood impacts. We develop a two-stage framework that turns social media flood images into spatially explicit aftermath information. First, a flood-masked strategy improves street-level localization by focusing on stable urban features rather than temporary changes caused by flooding. Second, a fine-tuned vision-language model converts the images into standardized measures of flood aftermath. Applied in San Francisco, the framework shows strong agreement with institutional reporting in dense urban areas while revealing additional hotspots that deviate from official records. Furthermore, institutional reporting intensity declines with increasing social vulnerability, whereas social media signals do not show the same monotonic decline. These results demonstrate the potential of citizen-generated imagery to broaden flood visibility and reduce informational gaps in urban aftermath monitoring. Explore related subjects Discover the latest articles and news in related subjects. Climate-change mitigation Natural hazards Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge Gabriele Berton, Carlo Masone, and Barbara Caputo for making the SF-XL dataset publicly available, and Qihua Chen for valuable suggestions on fine-tuning the FAE module. Funding This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72404233), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2025A1515010190), and the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (Grant No. 21211126). Open Access made possible with partial support from the Open Access Publishing Fund of the City University of Hong Kong. Author information Authors and Affiliations Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China Zihua Zhu, Zhiyao Tian & Xianfei Yin Authors Zihua Zhu View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Zhiyao Tian View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Xianfei Yin View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Corresponding author Correspondence to Xianfei Yin. Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Supplementary information Transparent Peer Review File (download PDF ) Supplementary Information (download PDF ) Rights and permissions Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Reprints and permissions About this article Cite this article Zhu, Z., Tian, Z. & Yin, X. Citizen flood imagery enhances urban aftermath monitoring and exposes reporting inequities. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-04049-y Download citation Received: 28 January 2026 Accepted: 31 August 2026 Published: 09 September 2026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-04049-y Share this article Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy shareable link to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Abstract To enhance the practical application of the evaluation index system for chronic disease prevention and control in county-level areas of Chongqing, this study retrospectively evaluated the effectiveness of chronic disease prevention and control in districts and counties from 2022 to 2024. Indicator data were collected from April to May 2025 and standardized using Z-scores. The 2024 composite scores varied greatly, ranging from − 0.122 to 0.892 (mean: 0.276 ± 0.301); 15 districts (39.5%) scored above average and 23 districts (60.5%) scored below, indicating uneven development. Input, service, and output dimensions showed similar disparities; service indicators varied most (range: -0.061 to 0.412; CV = 0.947). The index system is feasible and scientifically based. Chongqing has established a foundation for chronic disease prevention and control, but development among districts and counties is imbalanced, especially in resource input and health output; some areas also show lagging improvements in residents’ health outcomes. Future efforts should improve policy conversion efficiency, ensure service quality, and strive for citywide coverage. Explore related subjects Discover the latest articles and news in related subjects. Diseases Environmental social sciences Health care Funding This work was supported by Chongqing Municipal Health Commission (Grant X10531) to investigator Bo Yan. Author information Author notes Yang Liu and Qiao Zhang contributed equally to this work. Authors and Affiliations School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China Yang Liu, Qiao Zhang & Bo Yan School of Pharmacy, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China Hang Zheng Authors Yang Liu View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Qiao Zhang View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Hang Zheng View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Bo Yan View author publications Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar Corresponding author Correspondence to Bo Yan. Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Rights and permissions Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Reprints and permissions About this article Cite this article Liu, Y., Zhang, Q., Zheng, H. et al. Application research on the evaluation index system of chronic disease prevention and control effects in county areas of Chongqing city, China. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-68518-2 Download citation Received: 16 January 2026 Accepted: 21 August 2026 Published: 09 September 2026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-68518-2 Share this article Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy shareable link to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative Keywords Chronic disease prevention and control Evaluation research Z-score standardization County-level areas of Chongqing City