Carbon Free Boston: Buildings Technical Report

Part of a series of reports that includes: Carbon Free Boston: Summary Report; Carbon Free Boston: Social Equity Report; Carbon Free Boston: Technical Summary; Carbon Free Boston: Transportation Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Waste Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Energy Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Offsets Technical Report; Available at http://sites.bu.edu/cfb/OVERVIEW: Boston is known for its historic iconic buildings, from the Paul Revere House in the North End, to City Hall in Government Center, to the Old South Meeting House in Downtown Crossing, to the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill, to 200 Clarendon (the Hancock Tower) in Back Bay, to Abbotsford in Roxbury. In total, there are over 86,000 buildings that comprise more than 647 million square feet of area. Most of these buildings will still be in use in 2050. Floorspace (square footage) is almost evenly split between residential and non-residential uses, but residential buildings account for nearly 80,000 (93 percent) of the 86,000 buildings. Boston’s buildings are used for a diverse range of activities that include homes, offices, hospitals, factories, laboratories, schools, public service, retail, hotels, restaurants, and convention space. Building type strongly influences energy use; for example, restaurants, hospitals, and laboratories have high energy demands compared to other commercial uses. Boston’s building stock is characterized by thousands of turn-of-the-20th century homes and a postWorld War II building boom that expanded both residential buildings and commercial space. Boston is in the midst of another boom in building construction that is transforming neighborhoods across the city. [TRUNCATED]Published versio

Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 Regulates Myoendothelial Junction Formation

Rationale: Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is a biomarker for several vascular disease states; however, its target of action within the vessel wall is undefined. Objective: Determine the ability of PAI-1 to regulate myoendothelial junction (MEJ) formation. Methods and Results: MEJs are found throughout the vasculature linking endothelial cells (ECs) and vascular smooth muscle cells. Using a vascular cell coculture we isolated MEJ fractions and performed two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis. Mass spectrometry identified PAI-1 as being enriched within MEJ fractions, which we confirmed in vivo. In the vascular cell coculture, recombinant PAI-1 added to the EC monolayer significantly increased MEJs. Conversely, addition of a PAI-1 monoclonal antibody to the EC monolayer reduced the number of MEJs. This was also observed in vivo where mice fed a high fat diet had increased PAI-1 and MEJs and the number of MEJs in coronary arterioles of PAI-1(-/-) mice was significantly reduced when compared to C57Bl/6 mice. The presence of MEJs in PAI-1(-/-) coronary arterioles was restored when their hearts were transplanted into and exposed to the circulation of C57Bl/6 mice. Application of biotin-conjugated PAI-1 to the EC monolayer in vitro confirmed the ability of luminal PAI-1 to translocate to the MEJ. Functionally, phenylephrine-induced heterocellular calcium communication in the vascular cell coculture was temporally enhanced when recombinant PAI-1 was present, and prolonged when PAI-1 was absent. Conclusion: Our data implicate circulating PAI-1 as a key regulator of MEJ formation and a potential target for pharmacological intervention in diseases with vascular abnormalities (eg, diabetes mellitus). (Circ Res. 2010; 106: 1092-1102.

Understanding recovery from a family perspective: a survey of life in recovery for families

A growing body of research describes how the lives of dependent drinkers can change as they move from active addiction to recovery. The Life in Recovery surveys in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa all reveal marked improvements in physical and psychological health, family functioning, employment and education, reductions in crime and community engagement (Best, 2014; Best et al, 2015). However, no surveys have, until now, assessed the experience of recovery from the perspective of family members. For family members, recovery is experienced in two senses. They observe the journey of the recovering drinker; however, they also embark on their own journey of change as a consequence of their experiences. The work presented here attempts to describe both aspects

The UK Life in Recovery Survey 2015 : the first national UK survey of addiction recovery experiences

This report contains some of the first insights into how recovery has transformed the lives of many people in the UK. It is hoped that documenting the pathways to recovery and the benefits that recovery can infer on individuals, families and communities contained in this report can be used to inform policy makers about what promotes and enables recovery, and the pathways and timings of key recovery milestones. The key messages from the UK Life in Recovery survey 2015 are that recovery is attainable, is sustainable and is beneficial to a range of individuals and groups. Finally, that advancing our knowledge of recovery will reduce the stigma and discrimination that many in active addiction and recovery experience

Right Turn Veteran-Specific Recovery Service: 5 site evaluation pilot: Interim report

The Right Turn project works with the ex-service personnel community in recovery from substance misuse. This report presents the interim findings from a two-year evaluation on the impact on health and wellbeing outcomes on military veterans engaging in this innovative peer-focussed recovery service. The evaluation is designed around a structured quantitative data collection process using an established repeat measure design and utilises qualitative methodologies to explore both the life experiences of this veteran cohort and to take account of their own perceptions of the model of services they feel they require. This report suggests that the military veteran community experience distinct barriers to accessing main stream health and wellbeing services. Alongside comorbidity issues, management of chronic physical conditions and social isolation, this report demonstrates that this cohort's own previous military conditioning forms a further barrier to accessing support services. This report contains recommendations to inform generic support staff when encountering veterans within health and wellbeing settings

Seismic Wave Attenuation in Carbonates

The effect of pore fluids on seismic wave attenuation in carbonate rocks is important for interpreting remote sensing observations of carbonate reservoirs undergoing enhanced oil recovery. Here we measure the elastic moduli and attenuation in the laboratory for five carbonate samples with 20% to 30% porosity and permeability between 0.03 and 58.1 mdarcy. Contrary to most observations in sandstones, bulk compressibility losses dominate over shear wave losses for dry samples and samples fully saturated with either liquid butane or brine. This observation holds for four out of five samples at seismic (10–1000 Hz) and ultrasonic frequencies (0.8 MHz) and reservoir pressures. Attenuation modeled from the modulus data using Cole-Cole relations agrees in that the bulk losses are greater than the shear losses. On average, attenuation increases by 250% when brine substitutes a light hydrocarbon in these carbonate rocks. For some of our samples, attenuation is frequency-dependent, but in the typical exploration frequency range (10–100 Hz), attenuation is practically constant for the measured samples

Evaluating the Efficacy of Point-of-Use Water Filtration Units in Fiji

Background: To develop and evaluate a strategy for reducing the prevalence and impact of waterborne disease, a water quality intervention was developed for Fiji by Give Clean Water, Inc. in partnership with the Fiji Ministry of Health. Residents were provided and trained on how to use a Sawyer® PointONE™ filter, while also being taught proper handwashing techniques. At the time of the filter installation, all households were surveyed inquiring about the prior 2- to 4-week period. Households were measured a second time between 19 and 225 days later (mean = 66 days). Results: To date, five economic and health outcomes have been tracked on 503 households to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention. When comparing baseline to follow-up among the 503 households, the 2-week diarrhea prevalence decreased in households from 17.5% at baseline to 1.8% at follow-up. Also, the 2-week prevalence of severe diarrhea decreased per household from 9.7% at baseline to 0.6% at follow-up. Finally, monthly diarrhea-related medical costs reduced by an average of Fijian (FJ) $3.54 per person, and monthly water expenses reduced by FJ$0.63 per person. All estimated values are obtained from general linear and logistic mixed-effect models, which adjusted for location, season, time to follow-up, household size, water source, and respondent changing. Changes in economic and health outcomes from installation to follow-up were statistically significant (p \u3c 0.05) in all cases, in both unadjusted and adjusted models. Conclusions: The installation of water filters shows promise for the reduction of diarrhea prevalence in Fiji, as well as the reduction of diarrhea-related medical costs and water expenses. Future work entails evaluation in other countries and contexts, long-term health monitoring, and comparison to alternative water quality interventions

Hippocampal Functional Dynamics Are Clinically Implicated in Autoimmune Encephalitis With Faciobrachial Dystonic Seizures

This is the first study to investigate functional brain activity in patients affected by autoimmune encephalitis with faciobrancial dystonic seizures (FBDS). Multimodal 3T MRI scans, including structural neuroimaging (T1-weighted, diffusion weighted) and functional neuroimaging (scene-encoding task known to activate hippocampal regions), were performed. This case series analysis included eight patients treated for autoimmune encephalitis with FBDS, scanned during the convalescent phase of their condition (median 1.1 years post-onset), and eight healthy volunteers. Compared to controls, 50% of patients showed abnormal hippocampal activity during scene-encoding relative to familiar scene-viewing. Higher peak FBDS frequency was significantly related to lower hippocampal activity during scene-encoding (p = 0.02), though not to markers of hippocampal microstructure (mean diffusivity, p = 0.3) or atrophy (normalized volume, p = 0.4). During scene-encoding, stronger within-medial temporal lobe (MTL) functional connectivity correlated with poorer Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised memory score (p = 0.03). These findings suggest that in autoimmune encephalitis, frequent seizures may have a long-term impact on hippocampal activity, beyond that of structural damage. These observations also suggest a potential approach to determine on-going MTL performance in this condition to guide long-term management and future clinical trials