Water Security for Texas: A Post-Secondary Education Pathway for the Water Workforce

Water and wastewater industry leaders in Texas and throughout the United States have expressed concern over high rates of retirement eligibility and difficulties finding and attracting workers ready to fill job openings, especially for work in smaller systems. In late January 2018, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report on water workforce readiness and a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate to establish a water infrastructure workforce development program. Concern over existing education of workers in water and demographic information projecting future workforce readiness are commonly cited as signaling a coming crisis for the water industry. An alignment of post-secondary training and industry needs is recommended to meet coming workforce employment requirements for Texas and the nation. A model post-secondary education pathway for water science and technology is described to support water workforce readiness

Modulatory Effect of 2-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)amino-1,4-naphthoquinone on Endothelial Vasodilation in Rat Aorta

The vascular endothelium plays an essential role in the control of the blood flow. Pharmacological agents like quinone (menadione) at various doses modulate this process in a variety of ways. In this study, Q7, a 2-phenylamino-1,4-naphthoquinone derivative, significantly increased oxidative stress and induced vascular dysfunction at concentrations that were not cytotoxic to endothelial or vascular smooth muscle cells. Q7 reduced nitric oxide (NO) levels and endothelial vasodilation to acetylcholine in rat aorta. It also blunted the calcium release from intracellular stores by increasing the phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction when CaCl2 was added to a calcium-free medium but did not affect the influx of calcium from extracellular space. Q7 increased the vasoconstriction to BaCl2 (10-3 M), an inward rectifying K+ channels blocker, and blocked the vasodilation to KCl (10-2 M) in aortic rings precontracted with BaCl2. This was recovered with sodium nitroprusside (10-8 M), a NO donor. In conclusion, Q7 induced vasoconstriction was through a modulation of cellular mechanisms involving calcium fluxes through K+ channels, and oxidative stress induced endothelium damage. These findings contribute to the characterization of new quinone derivatives with low cytotoxicity able to pharmacologically modulate vasodilation

The Route to Water Security for Texas: The 2015–2016 Texas Water Roadmap Forums

Three forums were held between February 2015 and November 2016, bringing together Texas water experts from business, industry, government, academia, research, and the investment community in impartially facilitated sessions to deter-mine ways to secure Texas’ water future through accelerating growth of infrastructure, technologies, research, education, and sustainable use. Consensus emerged after the first forum that Texas is approaching a water crisis reflecting matters of supply, allocation, and quality that demands immediate action to ensure water security and equitable access to this vital resource. Participant focus rested on new technology acceleration and investment, workforce education, research underway and desired by segments of the water sector, the water-energy-food nexus, outreach and public education, data management and access, water valuation, water security, and legal and regulatory frameworks. Participants also examined funding and partnership options for development of water treatment and supply infrastructure, water rights and allocation methods, aging infrastructure, and conservation, as well as the nearly ubiquitous fragmenting and compartmentalizing of just about everything having to do with water throughout the entire water sector. The forums generated and summarized a wealth of information that can be used by any party to make progress toward the goal of building a Texas water roadmap. This report summarizes the discussions and the path forward for securing Texas’ water resources

Fuel-cell grade hydrogen production by coupling steam reforming of ethanol and carbon monoxide removal

Challenges of coupling steam reforming of ethanol (SRE) and carbon monoxide (CO) removal to continuous fuel-cell grade hydrogen (H2) production were assessed. A SRE reactor, based on a previous optimized RhPt/CeO2SiO2 catalyst, was coupled to a CO removal reactor, based on AuCu/CeO2 catalysts with different Au:Cu weight ratios. Fuel-cell grade H2 was achieved with a Au1.0Cu1.0/CeO2 catalyst at 210 °C on the CO removal reactor. AuCu/CeO2 catalysts characterization suggests that Au favors CO conversion by the formation of possible Au0-COad species, and Cu improves CO2 yield by promoting oxygen vacancies on CeO2. However, operando DRIFTS by 95 h showed that Au1.0Cu1.0/CeO2 catalyst is susceptible to deactivation by the diminish on the COad species and oxygen vacancies, and the formation of carbonate species. These results allowed us to propose a cyclic reduction treatment to prevent catalyst deactivation of Au1.0Cu1.0/CeO2 (95 h of time-on-stream) while producing fuel-cell grade H2.The authors are grateful to Colciencias (Francisco Jose de Caldas Fund) and Universidad de La Sabana for the financial support of this work through the Project ING-163 (Colciencias contract 174-2016). The authors also acknowledge Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad de Alicante and Universidad Nacional de Colombia for their support to this project. B. Cifuentes acknowledges Colciencias for the doctoral scholarship (grant number 727-2015)

The threat of climate change on population health and the urgent need to act

Climate change is associated with negative health outcomes, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. This article analyses the threat of climate change on population health and the urgent need to implement measures to avoid this damage. Heat vulnerability, heatwave exposures, and wildfire exposure to forest fires have increased in Chile. In 2018, the annual mean concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceeded the safe level proposed by the World Health Organization, increasing the risk of negative health outcomes. Thus, multidisciplinary and intersectoral mitigation and adaptation policies are needed. Among other elements, mental health impacts of climate change, health education provided by health workers to reduce negative health impacts of climate change, greater engagement of academia to generate evidence useful for policy-making processes and a better articulation between central and local governments should be considered. Finally, achieving a healthy population should be the aim of all these policies and efforts

Comparación de la efectividad del láser Diodo Helio-Neón en los procesos de oseointegración de implantes dentales en conejos new zealand

Objetivo: evaluar los cambios histológicos producidos por el uso del láser helioneónen la cicatrización de tejidos óseos, alrededor de implantes dentales oseointegradosen conejos new zealand, durante 30 días (4 primeras semanas) conaplicaciones, cada 72 horas a una exposición de 7 minutos por sesión.Métodos y materiales: el estudio fue experimental in vivo, se utilizaron 15 conejosde la raza new zealand; a los cuales se les practicó cirugía de implante enel área de la tibia, a nivel de fascia crural sobre el cuerpo medial del hueso. Paraesta investigación se utilizaron implantes marca IMETI®, con un diámetro de 3mm x 4 mm, de titanio clase V. Se siguió el protocolo de fresado establecido porla casa comercial. Finalizado el procedimiento, se formaron tres grupos, G1 conimplante y láser, G2 implante sin láser, y un tercer grupo sin ninguna intervención.Resultados: en G1, el láser produjo mayor vascularización, aumento de osteoblastosy de osteocitos en la cuarta semana especialmente. Zonas de hemorragiay discontinuidad de la malla de osteoide se describen con más frecuencia en elgrupo tratado con láser que en el control.Conclusiones: se demostró que el uso del láser helio-neón en la cirugía deimplantes acelera la cicatrización ósea obteniendo como resultado una disminuciónen los tiempos de oseointegración

Toxicidad hematológica asociada al tratamiento con sulfonamidas y pirimetamina en pacientes VIH positivos y toxoplasmosis cerebral en un hospital de tercer nivel en Colombia

Objective. To determine the frequency of hematologic adverse effects associated with treatment for cerebral toxoplasmosis in HIV / AIDS patients. Design: Retrospective case series. Location: University Hospital Hernando Moncaleano Perdomo (HMP), Neiva, Colombia. Population. Patients with cerebral toxoplasmosis and HIV / AIDS treated at the infection service unit between 2006 and 2009. Población. Pacientes con toxoplasmosis cerebral y VIH/SIDA atendidos en el servicio de infectología entre 2006-2009. Results. 51 patients were evaluated during the study period. 40 (78%) were men. The average age was 33 years. 25 patients had cerebral toxoplasmosis as the first marker of HIV infection. 60.7% of cases had hematologic toxicity. 42% of patients had anemia before treatment. The peak onset of bone marrow toxicity was the sixth day of the start of treatment schedule. The anti-toxoplasma scheme that was most commonly associated with myelotoxicity was the combination of pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and clindamycin in 48% of cases. Objetivo. Determinar la frecuencia efectos adversos hematológicos asociados al tratamiento para toxoplasmosis cerebral en pacientes VIH/SIDA. Diseño. Serie de casos retrospectiva. Lugar. Hospital Universitario Hernando Moncaleano Perdomo (HMP), Neiva- Colombia. Población. Pacientes con toxoplasmosis cerebral y VIH/SIDA atendidos en el servicio de Infectología entre 2006-2009. Resultados. 51 pacientes fueron evaluados durante el periodo de estudio. 40 (78%) fueron hombres. El promedio de edad fue 33 años. 25 pacientes presentaban toxoplasmosis cerebral como primer marcador de Infección VIH. El 60,7% de los casos presentaron toxicidad hematológica. 42% de los pacientes presentaron anemia previa al tratamiento. El pico de aparición de toxicidad medular fue al sexto día de inicio del esquema de tratamiento. El esquema antitoxoplasma que más comúnmente fue asociado a mielotoxicidad fue la combinación de pirimetamina/sulfadoxina, trimetoprimsulfametoxazol y clindamicina en 48% de los casos