Tree Planting in Prince George’s County, Maryland: Case Studies and Benefits Assessment in Four Parks

Final project for LARC452: Green Infrastructure and Community Greening (Fall 2019). University of Maryland, College Park.The benefits of trees and forests and the ecosystems services that they provide is well documented. Ecosystems services include carbon sequestration, stormwater retention, water pollution reduction, air pollution retention and others. In addition, tree planting efforts provide numerous social benefits including improvement of community cohesion, increase in social capital, and environmental stewardship and education. In order to provide a greater understanding of tree planting efforts and assessing tree benefits locally, two major project components were undertaken: 1) the research and documentation using case studies of individual tree planting efforts, and 2) assessment of benefits of recent and proposed trees for four selected parks in Prince George’s county.Prince George's Count

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Patterns and distribution of presynaptic and postsynaptic elements within serial electron microscopic reconstructions of neuronal arbors from the medicinal leech Hirudo verbana

Microscale connectomics involves the large-scale acquisition of high resolution serial electron micrographs from which neuronal arbors can be reconstructed and synapses detected. In addition to connectivity information, these datasets are also rich with structural information including vesicle types, number of postsynaptic partners at a given presynaptic site, and spatial distribution of synaptic inputs and outputs. Using serial blockface scanning electron microscopy (SBEM), we collected two volumes of serial EM data from ganglia of the medicinal leech. In the first volume, we sampled a small fraction of the neuropil belonging to an adult ganglion. From this dataset we measured the proportion of arbors that contain vesicles, the types of vesicles contained, and developed criteria to identify synapses and measure the number of apparent postsynaptic partners in apposition to presynaptic boutons. In the second dataset, we sampled an entire juvenile ganglion, which included the somata and arbors of all the neurons. We used this dataset to put our findings from mature tissue into the context of fully reconstructed arbors and to explore the spatial distribution of synaptic inputs and outputs on these arbors. We observed that some neurons segregate their arbors into input-only and mixed input/output zones, that other neurons contained exclusively mixed input/output zones, and that still others contained only input zones. These results provide a groundwork for future behavioral studies

Calcification in the ovine intervertebral disc: a model of hydroxyapatite deposition disease

The study design included a multidisciplinary examination of the mineral phase of ovine intervertebral disc calcifications. The objective of the study was to investigate the mineral phase and its mechanisms of formation/association with degeneration in a naturally occurring animal model of disc calcification. The aetiology of dystrophic disc calcification in adult humans is unknown, but occurs as a well-described clinical disorder with hydroxyapatite as the single mineral phase. Comparable but age-related pathology in the sheep could serve as a model for the human disorder. Lumbar intervertebral discs (n = 134) of adult sheep of age 6 years (n = 4), 8 years (n = 12) and 11 years (n = 2) were evaluated using radiography, morphology, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, histology, immunohistology and proteoglycan analysis. Half of the 6-year, 84% of the 8-year and 86% of the 11-year-old discs had calcific deposits. These were not well delineated by plain radiography. They were either: (a) punctate deposits in the outer annulus, (b) diffuse deposits in the transitional zone or inner annulus fibrosus with occasional deposits in the nucleus, or (c) large deposits in the transitional zone extending variably into the nucleus. Their maximal incidence was in the lower lumbar discs (L4/5–L6/7) with no calcification seen in the lumbosacral or lower thoracic discs. All deposits were hydroxyapatite with large crystallite sizes (800–1,300 Å) compared to cortical bone (300–600 Å). No type X-collagen, osteopontin or osteonectin were detected in calcific deposits, although positive staining for bone sialoprotein was evident. Calcified discs had less proteoglycan of smaller hydrodynamic size than non-calcified discs. Disc calcification in ageing sheep is due to hydroxyapatite deposition. The variable, but large, crystal size and lack of protein markers indicate that this does not occur by an endochondral ossification-like process. The decrease in disc proteoglycan content and size suggests that calcification may precede or predispose to disc degeneration in ageing sheep