Coastal eutrophication assessment in the United States

Recent national assessments document that nitrogen-driven coastal eutrophication is widespread and increasing in the United States. This significant coastal pollution problem includes impacts including increased areas and severity of hypoxic and anoxic waters; alteration of food webs; degradation and loss of sea grass beds, kelp beds and coral reefs; loss of biodiversity; and increased incidences and duration of harmful algal blooms. In this paper, we review two complementary approaches to assessing the causes and consequences of these trends, as well as potential remedies for them. The first is a national-scale assessment, drawn primarily from expert knowledge of those most familiar with the individual estuaries and integrated into a common analysis framework. The second approach, focused on the Mississippi/Atchafalaya basin – the largest US drainage basin – draws upon both quantitative and qualitative analyses within a comprehensive framework, Integrated Assessment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46795/1/10533_2006_Article_9011.pd

Smoking Cessation Smartphone App Use Over Time: Predicting 12-Month Cessation Outcomes in a 2-Arm Randomized Trial

BACKGROUND: Little is known about how individuals engage over time with smartphone app interventions and whether this engagement predicts health outcomes. OBJECTIVE: In the context of a randomized trial comparing 2 smartphone apps for smoking cessation, this study aimed to determine distinct groups of smartphone app log-in trajectories over a 6-month period, their association with smoking cessation outcomes at 12 months, and baseline user characteristics that predict data-driven trajectory group membership. METHODS: Functional clustering of 182 consecutive days of smoothed log-in data from both arms of a large (N=2415) randomized trial of 2 smartphone apps for smoking cessation (iCanQuit and QuitGuide) was used to identify distinct trajectory groups. Logistic regression was used to determine the association of group membership with the primary outcome of 30-day point prevalence of smoking abstinence at 12 months. Finally, the baseline characteristics associated with group membership were examined using logistic and multinomial logistic regression. The analyses were conducted separately for each app. RESULTS: For iCanQuit, participants were clustered into 3 groups: "1-week users" (610/1069, 57.06%), "4-week users" (303/1069, 28.34%), and "26-week users" (156/1069, 14.59%). For smoking cessation rates at the 12-month follow-up, compared with 1-week users, 4-week users had 50% higher odds of cessation (30% vs 23%; odds ratio [OR] 1.50, 95% CI 1.05-2.14; P=.03), whereas 26-week users had 397% higher odds (56% vs 23%; OR 4.97, 95% CI 3.31-7.52; P<.001). For QuitGuide, participants were clustered into 2 groups: "1-week users" (695/1064, 65.32%) and "3-week users" (369/1064, 34.68%). The difference in the odds of being abstinent at 12 months for 3-week users versus 1-week users was minimal (23% vs 21%; OR 1.16, 95% CI 0.84-1.62; P=.37). Different baseline characteristics predicted the trajectory group membership for each app. CONCLUSIONS: Patterns of 1-, 3-, and 4-week smartphone app use for smoking cessation may be common in how people engage in digital health interventions. There were significantly higher odds of quitting smoking among 4-week users and especially among 26-week users of the iCanQuit app. To improve study outcomes, strategies for detecting users who disengage early from these interventions (1-week users) and proactively offering them a more intensive intervention could be fruitful

Therapeutic efficacy of favipiravir against Bourbon virus in mice

Bourbon virus (BRBV) is an emerging tick-borne RNA virus in the orthomyxoviridae family that was discovered in 2014. Although fatal human cases of BRBV have been described, little is known about its pathogenesis, and no antiviral therapies or vaccines exist. We obtained serum from a fatal case in 2017 and successfully recovered the second human infectious isolate of BRBV. Next-generation sequencing of the St. Louis isolate of BRBV (BRBV-STL) showed >99% nucleotide identity to the original reference isolate. Using BRBV-STL, we developed a small animal model to study BRBV-STL tropism in vivo and evaluated the prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy of the experimental antiviral drug favipiravir against BRBV-induced disease. Infection of Ifnar1-/- mice lacking the type I interferon receptor, but not congenic wild-type animals, resulted in uniformly fatal disease 6 to 10 days after infection. RNA in situ hybridization and viral yield assays demonstrated a broad tropism of BRBV-STL with highest levels detected in liver and spleen. In vitro replication and polymerase activity of BRBV-STL were inhibited by favipiravir. Moreover, administration of favipiravir as a prophylaxis or as post-exposure therapy three days after infection prevented BRBV-STL-induced mortality in immunocompromised Ifnar1-/- mice. These results suggest that favipiravir may be a candidate treatment for humans who become infected with BRBV

One-step isolation and biochemical characterization of a highlyactive plant PSII monomeric core

We describe a one-step detergent solubilization protocol for isolating a highly active form of Photosystem II (PSII) from Pisum sativum L. Detailed characterization of the preparation showed that the complex was a monomer having no light harvesting proteins attached. This core reaction centre complex had, however, a range of low molecular mass intrinsic proteins as well as the chlorophyll binding proteins CP43 and CP47 and the reaction centre proteins D1 and D2. Of particular note was the presence of a stoichiometric level of PsbW, a low molecular weight protein not present in PSII of cyanobacteria. Despite the high oxygen evolution rate, the core complex did not retain the PsbQ extrinsic protein although there was close to a full complement of PsbO and PsbR and partial level of PsbP. However, reconstitution of PsbP and PsbPQ was possible. The presence of PsbP in absence of LHCII and other chlorophyll a/b binding proteins confirms that LHCII proteins are not a strict requirement for the assembly of this extrinsic polypeptide to the PSII core in contrast with the conclusion of Caffarri et al. (2009)

Effectiveness of proactive telephone counselling for smoking cessation in parents: Study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Contains fulltext : 99284.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Background Smoking is the world's fourth most common risk factor for disease, the leading preventable cause of death, and it is associated with tremendous social costs. In the Netherlands, the smoking prevalence rate is high. A total of 27.7% of the population over age 15 years smokes. In addition to the direct advantages of smoking cessation for the smoker, parents who quit smoking may also decrease their children's risk of smoking initiation. Methods/Design A randomized controlled trial will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of proactive telephone counselling to increase smoking cessation rates among smoking parents. A total of 512 smoking parents will be proactively recruited through their children's primary schools and randomly assigned to either proactive telephone counselling or a control condition. Proactive telephone counselling will consist of up to seven counsellor-initiated telephone calls (based on cognitive-behavioural skill building and Motivational Interviewing), distributed over a period of three months. Three supplementary brochures will also be provided. In the control condition, parents will receive a standard brochure to aid smoking cessation. Assessments will take place at baseline, three months after start of the intervention (post-measurement), and twelve months after start of the intervention (follow-up measurement). Primary outcome measures will include sustained abstinence between post-measurement and follow-up measurement and 7-day point prevalence abstinence and 24-hours point prevalence abstinence at both post- and follow-up measurement. Several secondary outcome measures will also be included (e.g., smoking intensity, smoking policies at home). In addition, we will evaluate smoking-related cognitions (e.g., attitudes towards smoking, social norms, self-efficacy, intention to smoke) in 9-12 year old children of smoking parents. Discussion This study protocol describes the design of a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of proactive telephone counselling in smoking cessation. It is expected that, in the telephone counseling condition, parental smoking cessation rates will be higher and children's cognitions will be less favorable about smoking compared to the control condition. Trial registration The protocol for this study is registered with the Netherlands Trial Register NTR2707.6 p

Assessment of Sex Differences for Treatment, Procedures, Complications, and Associated Conditions Among Adolescents Hospitalized with Crohnʼs Disease:

Sex differences among adults in healthcare treatment and outcomes have been reported, however, there is a paucity of literature regarding pediatric populations, particularly adolescents with Crohn’s disease (CD). The objective was to identify whether sex differences exist with respect to complications, procedures, and medication usage (corticosteroids, biologic agents, and total parenteral nutrition (TPN)) among hospitalized adolescents with CD

Lessons from SARS: A retrospective study of outpatient care during an infectious disease outbreak

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Toronto, outpatient clinics at SickKids Hospital were closed to prevent further disease transmission. In response, a decision was made by the neonatal neuro-developmental follow up (NNFU) clinic staff to select patients with scheduled appointments to have a mail/telephone assessment using Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) or to postpone/skip their visit. The objective of this study was to compare the developmental assessment and its outcome in two groups of NNFU clinic patients, SARS versus non-SARS, over three standard clinic appointments.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We compared the diagnostic accuracy (identification of developmental delay), and patient management (referral for therapy or communication of a new diagnosis) of the strategies used during SARS, April/May 2003, to the standard assessment methods used for patients seen in April/May 2005 (non-SARS). In all cases data were obtained for 3 patient visits: before, during and after these 2 months and were compared using descriptive statistics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 95 patients in the SARS group and 99 non-SARS patients. The gestational age, sex, entry diagnosis and age at the clinic visit was not different between the groups. The NNFU clinic staff mailed ASQ to 27 families during SARS, 17 (63%) were returned, and 8 of the 17 were then contacted by telephone. Criteria used to identify infants at risk selected for either mailed ASQ or phone interviews were not clearly defined in the patients' charts. There was a significant under identification of developmental delay during SARS (18% versus 45%). Of those who responded to the mailed questionnaire, referrals for therapy rates were similar to non-SARS group. The lost to follow up rate was 24% for the SARS group compared with 7% for non-SARS. There was no difference in the overall rate of developmental delay in the two groups as identified at the 'after' visit.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Poor advanced planning led to a haphazard assessment of patients during this infectious disease outbreak. Future pandemic plans should consider planning for outpatient care as well as in hospital management of patients.</p