The Association between Drought Exposure and Respiratory-Related Mortality in the United States from 2000 to 2018

Climate change has brought increasing attention to the assessment of health risks associated with climate and extreme events. Drought is a complex climate phenomenon that has been increasing in frequency and severity both locally and globally due to climate change. However, the health risks of drought are often overlooked, especially in places such as the United States, as the pathways to health impacts are complex and indirect. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the effects of monthly drought exposure on respiratory mortality for NOAA climate regions in the United States from 2000 to 2018. A two-stage model was applied to estimate the location-specific and overall effects of respiratory risk associated with two different drought indices over two timescales (the US Drought Monitor and the 6-month and 12-month Evaporative Demand Drought Index). During moderate and severe drought exposure, respiratory mortality risk ratio in the general population increased up to 6.0% (95% Cr: 4.8 to 7.2) in the Northeast, 9.0% (95% Cr: 4.9 to 13.3) in the Northern Rockies and Plains, 5.2% (95% Cr: 3.9 to 6.5) in the Ohio Valley, 3.5% (95% Cr: 1.9 to 5.0) in the Southeast, and 15.9% (95% Cr: 10.8 to 20.4) in the Upper Midwest. Our results showed that age, ethnicity, sex (both male and female), and urbanicity (both metro and non-metro) resulted in more affected population subgroups in certain climate regions. The magnitude and direction of respiratory risk ratio differed across NOAA climate regions. These results demonstrate a need for policymakers and communities to develop more effective strategies to mitigate the effects of drought across regions

Assessment of brain response in operators subject to recoil force from firing long-range rifles

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) may be caused by occupational hazards military personnel encounter, such as falls, shocks, exposure to blast overpressure events, and recoil from weapon firing. While it is important to protect against injurious head impacts, the repeated exposure of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) service members to sub-concussive events during the course of their service may lead to a significant reduction in quality of life. Symptoms may include headaches, difficulty concentrating, and noise sensitivity, impacting how personnel complete their duties and causing chronic health issues. This study investigates how the exposure to the recoil force of long-range rifles results in head motion and brain deformation. Direct measurements of head kinematics of a controlled population of military personnel during firing events were obtained using instrumented mouthguards. The experimentally measured head kinematics were then used as inputs to a finite element (FE) head model to quantify the brain strains observed during each firing event. The efficacy of a concept recoil mitigation system (RMS), designed to mitigate loads applied to the operators was quantified, and the RMS resulted in lower loading to the operators. The outcomes of this study provide valuable insights into the magnitudes of head kinematics observed when firing long-range rifles, and a methodology to quantify effects, which in turn will help craft exposure guidelines, guide training to mitigate the risk of injury, and improve the quality of lives of current and future CAF service members and veterans

Weak Regulations Threaten the Safety of Consumers from Harmful Weight-Loss Supplements Globally: Results from a Pilot Global Policy Scan

Abstract Objective: To pilot a global policy scan assessing how governments worldwide regulate weight-loss supplements (WLS). Design: Experts on WLS policies from 30 countries that varied by World Bank income classification, with five from each of the six World Health Organization regions, completed an online survey on WLS regulation in their country. The survey covered six domains: legal frameworks; pre-market requirements; claims, labeling, and advertisements; product availability; adverse events reporting; and monitoring and enforcement. Percentages were calculated for presence or absence of a type of regulation. Setting: Experts were recruited through websites of regulatory bodies and professional LinkedIn networks and scientific article searches on Google Scholar. Participants: 30 experts, one from each country (i.e., researchers, regulators, other experts in food and drug regulation). Results: WLS regulations varied widely across countries and a number of gaps were identified. One country (Nigeria) has a minimum legal age to purchase WLS. Thirteen countries reported independently evaluating the safety of a new WLS product sample. Two countries have limitations on where WLS can be sold. In 11 countries, reports on adverse events related to WLS are publicly available. In 18 countries, safety of new WLS is to be established through scientific criteria. Penalties for WLS non-compliance with pre-market regulations exist in 12 countries and labeling requirements in 16 countries. Conclusions: Results of this pilot study document wide variability in national WLS regulations globally, exposing many gaps in important components of consumer protection regulatory frameworks for WLS, which likely put consumer health at risk

Seismic geomorphology of cretaceous megaslides offshore Namibia (Orange Basin):Insights into segmentation and degradation of gravity-driven linked systems

This study applies modern seismic geomorphology techniques to deep-water collapse features in the Orange Basin (Namibian margin, Southwest Africa) in order to provide unprecedented insights into the segmentation and degradation processes of gravity-driven linked systems. The seismic analysis was carried out using a high-quality, depth-migrated 3D volume that images the Upper Cretaceous post-rift succession of the basin, where two buried collapse features with strongly contrasting seismic expression are observed. The lower Megaslide Complex is a typical margin-scale, extensional-contractional gravity-driven linked system that deformed at least 2 km of post-rift section. The complex is laterally segmented into scoop-shaped megaslides up to 20 km wide that extend downdip for distances in excess of 30 km. The megaslides comprise extensional headwall fault systems with associated 3D rollover structures and thrust imbricates at their toes. Lateral segmentation occurs along sidewall fault systems which, in the proximal part of the megaslides, exhibit oblique extensional motion and define horst structures up to 6 km wide between individual megaslides. In the toe areas, reverse slip along these same sidewall faults, creates lateral ramps with hanging wall thrust-related folds up to 2 km wide. Headwall rollover anticlines, sidewall horsts and ramp anticlines may represent novel traps for hydrocarbon exploration on the Namibian margin.The Megaslide Complex is unconformably overlain by few hundreds of metres of highly contorted strata which define an upper Slump Complex. Combined seismic attributes and detailed seismic facies analysis allowed mapping of headscarps, thrust imbrications and longitudinal shear zones within the Slump Complex that indicate a dominantly downslope movement of a number of coalesced collapse systems. Spatial and stratal relationships between these shallow failures and the underlying megaslides suggest that the Slump Complex was likely triggered by the development of topography created by the activation of the main structural elements of the lower Megaslide Complex. This study reveals that gravity-driven linked systems undergo lateral segmentation during their evolution, and that their upper section can become unstable, favouring the initiation of a number of shallow failures that produce widespread degradation of the underlying megaslide structures. Gravity-driven linked systems along other margins are likely to share similar processes of segmentation and degradation, implying that the megaslide-related, hydrocarbon trapping structures discovered in the Namibian margin may be common elsewhere, making megaslides an attractive element of deep-water exploration along other gravitationally unstable margins

Role of hypertension in progressive glomerular immune injury.

The relationship between hypertension, ferritin-antiferritin mesangial immune injury (FIC), and progressive glomerular damage was studied in hypertensive (8% NaCl chow) Dahl saltsensitive rats (DS) and in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The glomeruli of SHR are protected from the increased perfusion pressure that accompanies systemic hypertension by preglomerular vasoconstriction, while the glomeruli of hypertensive DS are not. Blood pressure, serum creatinine levels, urinary protein excretion, and glomerular injury (assessed by semiquantitative morphometric analysis) were determined in 20-week-old SHR and DS with FIC. In addition, half of a group of 20-week-old SHR with FIC were uninephrectomized and progression of glomerular injury was assessed 12 weeks later. Control rats for each of the groups did not receive FIC. Our studies showed that more extensive mesangial expansion and glomerulosclerosis developed in hypertensive DS with FIC than in rats without FIC. Glomerular injury in DS with FIC affected cortical and deep glomeruli. Similarly, hypertensive SHR with FIC had minimal damage in cortical glomeruli. In deep glomeruli of SHR, mesangial expansion was similar to that of DS, but glomerulosclerosis was absent. In SHR, a 50% reduction in renal mass, a maneuver known to decrease preglomerular vasoconstriction, resulted in mesangial expansion similar to that in DS in cortical glomeruli while deep glomeruli developed mesangial expansion as well as glomerulosclerosis. Our results suggest that when hypertension and mesangial immune injury coexist with renal vasodilatation (as occurs in DS with 2 kidneys and in SHR after uninephrectomy), they act synergistically to induce progressive glomerular damage. Similar mechanisms may be operative in hypertensive humans with glomerulonephritis and may condition the rate of progression to renal insufficiency

DataSheet1_Assessment of brain response in operators subject to recoil force from firing long-range rifles.docx

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) may be caused by occupational hazards military personnel encounter, such as falls, shocks, exposure to blast overpressure events, and recoil from weapon firing. While it is important to protect against injurious head impacts, the repeated exposure of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) service members to sub-concussive events during the course of their service may lead to a significant reduction in quality of life. Symptoms may include headaches, difficulty concentrating, and noise sensitivity, impacting how personnel complete their duties and causing chronic health issues. This study investigates how the exposure to the recoil force of long-range rifles results in head motion and brain deformation. Direct measurements of head kinematics of a controlled population of military personnel during firing events were obtained using instrumented mouthguards. The experimentally measured head kinematics were then used as inputs to a finite element (FE) head model to quantify the brain strains observed during each firing event. The efficacy of a concept recoil mitigation system (RMS), designed to mitigate loads applied to the operators was quantified, and the RMS resulted in lower loading to the operators. The outcomes of this study provide valuable insights into the magnitudes of head kinematics observed when firing long-range rifles, and a methodology to quantify effects, which in turn will help craft exposure guidelines, guide training to mitigate the risk of injury, and improve the quality of lives of current and future CAF service members and veterans.</p