Whistler mode wave growth and propagation in the prenoon magnetosphere

Pitch-angle scattering of electrons can limit the stably trapped particle flux in the magnetosphere and precipitate energetic electrons into the ionosphere. Whistler-mode waves generated by a temperature anisotropy can mediate this pitch-angle scattering over a wide range of radial distances and latitudes, but in order to correctly predict the phase-space diffusion, it is important to characterise the whistler-mode wave distributions that result from the instability. We use previously-published observations of number density, pitch-angle anisotropy and phase space density to model the plasma in the quiet pre-noon magnetosphere (defined as periods when AE<100nT). We investigate the global propagation and growth of whistler-mode waves by studying millions of growing ray paths and demonstrate that the wave distribution at any one location is a superposition of many waves at different points along their trajectories and with different histories. We show that for observed electron plasma properties, very few raypaths undergo magnetospheric reflection, most rays grow and decay within 30 degrees of the magnetic equator. The frequency range of the wave distribution at large L can be adequately described by the solutions of the local dispersion relation, but the range of wavenormal angle is different. The wave distribution is asymmetric with respect to the wavenormal angle. The numerical results suggest that it is important to determine the variation of magnetospheric parameters as a function of latitude, as well as local time and L-shell

Policies on pets for healthy cities: A conceptual framework.

Drawing on the One Health concept, and integrating a dual focus on public policy and practices of caring from the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, we outline a conceptual framework to help guide the development and assessment of local governments' policies on pets. This framework emphasizes well-being in human populations, while recognizing that these outcomes relate to the well-being of non-human animals. Five intersecting spheres of activity, each associated with local governments' jurisdiction over pets, are presented: (i) preventing threats and nuisances from pets, (ii) meeting pets' emotional and physical needs, (iii) procuring pets ethically, (iv) providing pets with veterinary services and (v) licensing and identifying pets. This conceptual framework acknowledges the tenets of previous health promotion frameworks, including overlapping and intersecting influences. At the same time, this framework proposes to advance our understanding of health promotion and, more broadly, population health by underscoring interdependence between people and pets as well as the dynamism of urbanized ecologies. Key words: Health promotion, animal welfare, environmental policy, urban healthThis work was supported by an operating grant (CIHR-GIR-112745) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute for Population and Public Health, for which Melanie Rock and Gavin McCormack are principal investigators and the other authors are members of the research team. During the process of analysis and writing, Melanie Rock held a Population Health Investigator Award from Alberta Innovates—Health Solutions (funded by the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Endowment). Coordination with CD was, in addition, facilitated by Visiting Scholar awards, held in 2012 and 2013 at the University of Sydney, from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute for Population and Public Health

The challenge of overdiagnosis begins with its definition

Overdiagnosis means different things to different people. S M Carter and colleagues argue that we should use a broad term such as too much medicine for advocacy and develop precise, case by case definitions of overdiagnosis for research and clinical purposes The implicit social contract underpinning healthcare is that it will reduce illness and preventable death and improve quality of life. But sometimes these promises are not delivered. Sometimes health services take people who don’t need intervention, subject them to tests, label them as sick or at risk, provide unnecessary treatments, tell them to live differently, or insist on monitoring them regularly.1 These interventions don’t improve things for people; they produce complications or illness, reduce quality of life, or even cause premature death. Active health intervention is not always a good thing: it can be “too much medicine,” or produce what is often called overdiagnosis. Although the concept of overdiagnosis has been described in the literature for nearly 50 years in relation to cancer screening,2 3 it was Welch and colleagues’ 2011 book, Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health, that popularised the term.4 Overdiagnosis is now an acknowledged problem for patients, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers; it is discussed in journals5 6 7 and at specialist conferences8 and addressed through policy and practice initiatives.9 10 11 There is, however, no formal, agreed definition of overdiagnosis. Rather, the word has become a banner under which disparate people with similar general concerns can unite. This vagueness and breadth allows the appearance of unity but does not serve the more exacting demands of research and healthcare. Here we examine the meanings of overdiagnosis more closely and discuss related challenges for healthcare professionals, patients, and researchers. If overdiagnosis is to be understood and mitigated, the broad concept should be subdivided into different problems and its ethical dimensions better acknowledged.NHMR

Implementing One Health approaches to Emerging Infectious Disease: Reflections on the socio-political, ethical and legal dimensions

Background: ‘One Health’ represents a call for health researchers and practitioners at the human, animal and environmental interfaces to work together to mitigate the risks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). A One Health approach emphasizing inter-disciplinary co-operation is increasingly seen as necessary for effective EID control and prevention. There are, however, socio-political, ethical and legal challenges, which must be met by such a One Health approach. Discussion: Based on the philosophical review and critical analysis of scholarship around the theory and practice of One Health it is clear that EID events are not simply about pathogens jumping species barriers; they are comprised of complex and contingent sets of relations that involve socioeconomic and socio-political drivers and consequences with the latter extending beyond the impact of the disease. Therefore, the effectiveness of policies based on One Health depends on their implementation and alignment with or modification of public values. Summary: Despite its strong motivating rationale, implementing a One Health approach in an integrated and considered manner can be challenging, especially in the face of a perceived crisis. The effective control and prevention of EIDs therefore requires: (i) social science research to improve understanding of how EID threats and responses play out; (ii) the development of an analytic framework that catalogues case experiences with EIDs, reflects their dynamic nature and promotes inter-sectoral collaboration and knowledge synthesis; (iii) genuine public engagement processes that promote transparency, education and capture people’s preferences; (iv) a set of practical principles and values that integrate ethics into decision-making procedures, against which policies and public health responses can be assessed; (v) integration of the analytic framework and the statement of principles and values outlined above; and (vi) a focus on genuine reform rather than rhetoric. Keywords: One health, Emerging infectious disease, Zoonoses, Bioethics, Health policy, Health lawThe work was funded by NHMRC grant #1083079 and seed funding from the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Disease and Biosecurity and the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney

Implementing One Health approaches to Emerging Infectious Disease: Reflections on the socio-political, ethical and legal dimensions

Background: ‘One Health’ represents a call for health researchers and practitioners at the human, animal and environmental interfaces to work together to mitigate the risks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). A One Health approach emphasizing inter-disciplinary co-operation is increasingly seen as necessary for effective EID control and prevention. There are, however, socio-political, ethical and legal challenges, which must be met by such a One Health approach. Discussion: Based on the philosophical review and critical analysis of scholarship around the theory and practice of One Health it is clear that EID events are not simply about pathogens jumping species barriers; they are comprised of complex and contingent sets of relations that involve socioeconomic and socio-political drivers and consequences with the latter extending beyond the impact of the disease. Therefore, the effectiveness of policies based on One Health depends on their implementation and alignment with or modification of public values. Summary: Despite its strong motivating rationale, implementing a One Health approach in an integrated and considered manner can be challenging, especially in the face of a perceived crisis. The effective control and prevention of EIDs therefore requires: (i) social science research to improve understanding of how EID threats and responses play out; (ii) the development of an analytic framework that catalogues case experiences with EIDs, reflects their dynamic nature and promotes inter-sectoral collaboration and knowledge synthesis; (iii) genuine public engagement processes that promote transparency, education and capture people’s preferences; (iv) a set of practical principles and values that integrate ethics into decision-making procedures, against which policies and public health responses can be assessed; (v) integration of the analytic framework and the statement of principles and values outlined above; and (vi) a focus on genuine reform rather than rhetoric. Keywords: One health, Emerging infectious disease, Zoonoses, Bioethics, Health policy, Health lawThe work was funded by NHMRC grant #1083079 and seed funding from the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Disease and Biosecurity and the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney

Assessing the public acceptability of proposed policy interventions to reduce the misuse of antibiotics in Australia: A report on two community juries

Objective To elicit the views of well-informed community members on the acceptability of proposed policy interventions designed to improve community use of antibiotics in Australia. Design Two community juries held in 2016. Setting and participants Western Sydney and Dubbo communities in NSW, Australia. Twenty-nine participants of diverse social and cultural backgrounds, mixed genders and ages recruited via public advertising: one jury was drawn from a large metropolitan setting; the other from a regional/rural setting. Main outcome measure Jury verdict and rationale in response to a prioritization task and structured questions. Results Both juries concluded that potential policy interventions to curb antibiotic misuse in the community should be directed towards: (i) ensuring that the public and prescribers were better educated about the dangers of antibiotic resistance; (ii) making community-based human and animal health-care practitioners accountable for their prescribing decisions. Patient-centred approaches such as delayed prescribing were seen as less acceptable than prescriber-centred approaches; both juries completely rejected any proposal to decrease consumer demand by increasing antibiotic prices. Conclusion These informed citizens acknowledged the importance of raising public awareness of the risks, impacts and costs of antibiotic resistance and placed a high priority on increasing social and professional accountability through restrictive measures. Their overarching aim was that policy interventions should be directed towards creating collective actions and broad social support for changing antibiotic use through establishing and explaining the need for mechanisms to control and support better prescribing by practitioners, while not transferring the burdens, costs and risks of interventions to consumers.This work was supported by a seed grant from the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Disease and Biosecurity and NHMRC CRE 1102962. CD, JJ and GLG received funding support from a NHMRC Project grant (#1083079). SMC is funded through NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (#1032963)

Van Allen probes observations of a three-dimensional field line resonance at a plasmaspheric plume

Funding: JKS, KRM, and IJR acknowledge support from NERC Grants NE/P017185/2, NE/V002554/2, and STFC Grants ST/V006320/1, ST/X001008/1. DPH acknowledges NASA Grant 80NSSC20K1324. ANW was funded in part by STFC Grant ST/W001195/1. AWS was supported by NERC Independent Research Fellowship NE/W009129/1.Field Line Resonances (FLRs) are a critical component in Earth's magnetospheric dynamics, associated with the transfer of energy between Ultra Low Frequency waves and local plasma populations. In this study we investigate how the polarisation of FLRs are impacted by cold plasma density distributions during geomagnetic storms. We present an analysis of Van Allen Probe A observations, where the spacecraft traversed a storm time plasmaspheric plume. We show that the polarisation of the FLR is significantly altered at the sharp azimuthal density gradient of the plume boundary, where the polarisation is intermediate with significant poloidal and toroidal components. These signatures are consistent with magnetohydrodynamic modeling results, providing the first observational evidence of a 3D FLR associated with a plume in Earth's magnetosphere. These results demonstrate the importance of cold plasma in controlling wave dynamics in the magnetosphere, and have important implications for wave-particle interactions at a range of energies.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Entanglements of affect, space, and evidence in pandemic healthcare: An analysis of Australian healthcare workers' experiences of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to highlight both global interconnectedness and schisms across place, context and peoples. While countries such as Australia have securitised their borders in response to the global spread of disease, flows of information and collective affect continue to permeate these boundaries. Drawing on interviews with Australian healthcare workers, we examine how their experiences of the pandemic are shaped by affect and evidence 'traveling' across time and space. Our analysis points to the limitations of global health crisis responses that focus solely on material risk and spatial separation. Institutional responses must, we suggest, also consider the affective and discursive dimensions of health-related risk environments

Electron Dispersion and Parallel Electron Beam Observed Near the Separatrix

The separatrix region is the region between the separatrix and the reconnection jet. Due to the E×B drift and velocity filter effect in which high‐energy particles with high parallel speed can be seen prior to low‐energy particles along the field line, electrons are separated from ions. The electron dynamics in this region is of interest; however it has not been studied in detail, because of the insufficient resolution of plasma data. We present a slow separatrix crossing event observed by Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) satellite constellation on 1 January 2016, from the magnetosheath side with high‐resolution burst mode data. The electron edge and ion edge are clearly distinguished in the separatrix region. Two types of electron dispersion, one with a short duration (~0.3 s) and the other with a longer duration (~13 s) were detected between the electron and ion edges. The rapid dispersion (with small time scale) is mainly in the parallel direction, which might originate from a thin layer with non‐frozen‐in electrons close to the separatrix. The gradual (long time scale) dispersion is seen from parallel to perpendicular directions, which comes from the E×B drift of a curved D‐shape distribution of electrons. The width of the electron diffusion region on the magnetosheath side is estimated based on MMS observation. The observation also reveals an unexpected parallel electron beam outside of the electron edge. Wave‐particle interaction or parallel potential in the inflow region may be responsible for the generation of this electron population