Are housing improvements an effective supplemental vector control strategy to reduce malaria transmission? A Systematic Review

Malaria, a preventable disease caused by a mosquito-transmitted parasitic infection, continues to be a prominent public health problem today. Progress has been made in the last decade demonstrated by malaria mortality reductions primarily attributed to current vector control strategies. However, the continuing threat of resistance, both resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides and parasites to antimalarial medicines, requires the development of new and improved strategies to supplement those already in place. Housing improvements such as screening doors and windows, closing eaves, patching cracks in walls, and installing ceilings are one such intervention that help stop contact between malaria vectors and humans, and therefore, help stop malaria transmission. Historically considered successful in helping fight malaria, housing improvements are being looked to again today

The temperature response of nitrate removal in denitrification beds

The addition of reactive nitrogen (Nᵣ) to agricultural systems has helped crop production match human population growth. However, the addition of Nᵣ comes at a cost to environment in the form of ozone destruction, habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. Denitrification beds represent an effective method for the removal of Nᵣ from a range of wastewaters and groundwater with high nitrate (NO₃¯) concentrations. Beds are lined containers filled with a carbon (C) source to enhance denitrification: the conversion of NO₃¯ to unreactive dinitrogen (N₂). In general, the rate of NO₃¯ removal in denitrification beds increases with increasing temperature. However, the temperature response of NO₃¯ removal in beds is poorly constrained as other controlling factors (e.g. NO₃¯ concentration and C source availability) can obscure the effect of temperature. The objective of this study was to measure the rates of NO₃¯ removal in three denitrification beds as temperature changed seasonally. The beds were located in the North Island of New Zealand and were loaded with NO₃¯ from wastewater from a hydroponic glasshouse (Karaka), domestic effluent from a campground (Motutere) and wastewater and domestic effluent from a research station (Newstead). Water samples were collected from wells installed along the length of each bed every month and were analysed for NO₃¯ concentration by ion chromatography. Rates of NO₃¯ removal were calculated using the change in NO₃¯ concentration and the flow rate. The temperatures of the beds were also measured at each sampling. Nitrate concentrations declined along the length of each denitrification bed and rates of NO₃¯ removal were calculated to average 3.6, 4.3 and 1.7 g N m¯³ day¯¹ for Karaka, Motutere and Newstead, respectively. The rates of removal increased with increasing temperature at Karaka and Motutere and the Q₁₀ values (the factor by which the rate of removal increased for a 10 °C increase in temperature) were calculated as 4.1 and 2.2 for Karaka and Motutere, respectively. The rates of NO₃¯ removal and Q₁₀ values were similar to those reported in previous studies of denitrification beds both in New Zealand and overseas. However, the rate of NO₃¯ removal at Karaka was less than the rate of removal of 7.6 g N m¯³ day¯¹ previously measured at Karaka in a study 5 years ago. Similarly, the temperature response at Karaka was higher than the Q₁₀ of 2 reported in this previous study at Karaka. The decrease in removal and increase in Q₁₀ may have been due to a decline in C source quality. There was no evidence of an increase in the rate of NO₃¯ removal with temperature at Newstead, with a Q₁₀ calculated as 1.0. The denitrification bed had been recently installed and was in a start-up phase. It was likely that the pretreatment system, in particular the nitrifying component responsible for converting ammonium (NH4+) in the effluent to NO₃¯, was not functioning effectively which resulted in low NO₃¯ concentrations entering the bed at Newstead. Nitrate was depleted within the beds at Motutere and Newstead which indicated that the rates of removal were NO₃¯ limited and that the temperature response may not have been adequately measured. This study confirmed that the rate of NO₃¯ removal increased with increasing temperature in the denitrification beds at Karaka and Motutere. The temperature response of NO₃¯ removal was similar to the response reported in previous studies of denitrification beds. However, additional research is required to further constrain the range of Q₁₀ values from which future denitrification beds can be designed to optimise NO₃¯ removal. Whether Q₁₀ values increase as wood chips age and C quality decreases also requires further investigation

Vascular Tissue Engineering in Metabolic Syndrome Conditions – in vitro Studies

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is on the rise in the US and is the leading cause of death worldwide [1]. Associated disorders including stenosis of the vasculature and formation of atherosclerotic plaques can necessitate the need for repair or replacement. Tissue engineering, based on stem cells and scaffolds, is an emerging strategy for the treatment of vascular diseases. Patients who typically require vascular replacement often have comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension. There remains the challenge of understanding the fate of tissue engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) in a harsh diabetic environment. In these experiments we aimed to develop an in-vitro vascular bioreactor model to 1) condition our tissue engineered vascular grafts and 2) model both a hyperglycemic and hypertensive environment. Our goal was to illicit an appropriate response from the vascular grafts caused by exposure to these pathologic environments to better inform us regarding the fate of our grafts before requiring an in-vivo model

Effectiveness, equity, and ethics of Costa Rica\u27s Payment for Environmental Services Program.

This paper examines the effectiveness of Costa Rica’s Payments for Environmental Services, or PSA program, which provides government subsidies to participants who protect forested lands or reforest their land. Effectiveness is determined in terms of the program’s progress in reversing deforestation and generating reforestation efforts, with particular attention paid to the success and failings of the program in reaching small landowners. The claim that the PSA program can act as a tool for human development is evaluated through its accessibility to small landowners. Finally, the ethical costs and benefits of the market based scheme underlying the PSA program as a process of commodifying nature is examined, looking to existing literature to determine if market based solutions negatively or positively change the values small landowners hold about the environment. This paper fills a unique gap in the existing research on Costa Rica’s PSA program as it combines practical concerns about the effectiveness of an environmental policy with questions of equity and ethics. Methodologies of policy analysis, a sociological approach, and philosophical examination of the PSA program are synthesized to conclude that the program is somewhat effective in curbing deforestation and regenerating reforestation, institutional and financial barriers still restrict small landowner access to the program, and ethical concerns about the nature of the program have remained unrealized. Answering these questions supports the conclusion that the PSA program should continue to be implemented, but understood as only one small part of the fight in addressing the climate crisis

How effective are exercise and physical therapy for chronic low back pain?

Exercise is more effective for chronic low back pain than treatment with medication plus return to usual activity and as effective as conventional physiotherapy. The evidence is less consistent in showing that any particular exercise format provides greater benefit or that exercise provides a long-term increase in function or a decrease in pain or disability. (Grade of recommendation: A, based on systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials [RCTs].

How HELP Provided the Pathway to become Age-Friendly

In assessing how the 4Ms framework applies to the Hospital Elder Life Program, we were able to target specific ways to deliver more Age-Friendly care to those enrolled in the program

ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE GREEK COLONIAL SYSTEM IN SOUTHERN ITALY: POLLEN AND NPPS EVIDENCE OF GRAZING FROM THE RURAL SITE OF FATTORIA FABRIZIO (VI-IV CENT. BC; METAPONTO, BASILICATA)

this paper reports a study case showing integrated analyses of microscopic records from an archaeological site of southern italy. pollen and non pollen palynomorphs-Npps were found in archaeological layers and were basic in reconstructing both the past environment and the economic activities of the site. the site, Fattoria Fabrizio, is a modest 4th-cenury bc farmhouse of the chora (rural territory) of the Greek city (polis) of Metaponto (basilicata). pollen analyses in addition to the study of Npps have been particularly worthwhile for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomical reconstructions of this site and others in the chora. the pollen spectra delineate an open plant landscape, with scanty woodlands and presence of local wet environments. Olea pollen is fairly well represented in all samples, suggesting that this tree was an important element of the agricultural economy of the chora. shrubby grasslands and a well-developed macchia characterized the territory, probably as result of grazing activities by sheep and goats. accordingly, the high percentages of poaceae and cichorieae pollen, together with coprophilous fungal spores (such as Sordaria type and Sporormiella type), suggest that pastoral activities were widely practiced. the low number of cerealia pollen grains suggests that the inhabitants’ fields covered small areas or were quite far from the farmhouse

Personality Measures Link Slower Binocular Rivalry Switch Rates to Higher Levels of Self-Discipline

In this paper we investigated the relation between personality and the rate of perceptual alternations during binocular rivalry. Studies have demonstrated that slower rivalry alternations are associated with a range of clinical conditions. It is less clear whether rivalry dynamics similarly co-vary with individual differences in psychological traits seen across non-clinical population. We assessed rivalry rates in a non-clinical population (n = 149) and found slower rivalry alternations were positively related r(149) = 0.20, p = 0.01 to industriousness, a trait characterized by a high level of self-discipline using the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS). Switch rates were also negatively related r(149) = -0.20, p = 0.01 to cognitive disorganization, a schizotypy trait capturing schizophrenia-like symptoms of disorganization using the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE). Furthermore, we showed that that these relations with personality were unaffected by the inclusion or exclusion of mixed percept in the response analysis. Together these results are relevant to theoretical models of rivalry investigating individual differences in rivalry temporal dynamics and they may reduce concerns about the impact of task compliance in clinical research using rivalry as a potential diagnostic tool