A review of the processes and effects of droughts and summer floods in rivers and threats due to climate change on current adaptive strategies

Europe is expected to experience a greater frequency of floods and droughts as precipitation and evapotranspiration patterns are modified by climate change in future. Several large scale drought and flooding events have occurred in Europe since 2000. Studies of drought are rare but indicate important impacts on freshwater habitats, water quality, plants and animals, which may have wider consequences for ecosystem functioning. The main factors determining the impacts of droughts and floods are event duration and seasonality of the event. A diverse habitat distribution and the presence of refugia at the reach scale confer the most resilience against droughts and floods. Management measures will also be impacted particularly with regard to riparian zones, channel morphology, flow and floodplain connectivity. However there is a conflict between management actions that target the effects of drought, and those that target floods. This report reviews information on droughts and aseasonal floods (summer floods) published since 2000 with a principal focus on small lowland rivers. Using several recent (post 2000) reviews on these topics, we describe abiotic and biotic effects of droughts and floods, providing recent European examples where possible. We explain the current status of droughts and summer floods in Europe, and where the main sources of data can be found. We highlight the threats posed by these phenomena to some of the most common current adaptive management strategies in place in the EU. To this end we use measures already described within REFRESH under Deliverables 1.1 and 1.2, and we focused solely on adaptive measures relating to riparian zones, channel morphology, flow and floodplain connectivity

Distribution of two rotation-resistant corn pests in eastern Iowa and effects of soybean varieties on biology of Diabrotica virgifera virgifera

The western corn rootworm Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (WCR) and the northern corn rootworm Diabrotica barberi Smith & Lawrence (NCR) are two significant insect pests of corn in North America. Both species have adapted to crop rotation in the Midwest, NCR through extended diapause and WCR by ovipositing in alternative crops. We conducted surveys during 2008 and 2009 to collect data on the presence of rotation-resistant NCR and WCR. Data were collected by placing Pherocon AM sticky traps in soybean and corn fields and by placing emergence cages in corn fields. Rotation-resistant WCR was most common in the northeastern and east-central Iowa, although no populations were above the economic threshold. Rotation-resistant NCR was found throughout eastern Iowa, the majority captured in the north-central and south-central regions. In 2009 a laboratory study was conducted to test whether soybean varieties with varying resistance to soybean aphid Aphis glycines affected survival and fecundity of several WCR strains. Soybean varieties included lines with resistance genes rag1 and rag1/rag3 as well as a near yisoline that lacked rag1 or rag1/rag3. All WCR strains displayed similar longevity, fecundity, and consumption of leaf tissue across the soybean lines tested. We interpret the results of our laboratory study to indicate that soybean varieties with rag1and rag1/rag3 resistance to A. glycines are selectively neutral for rotation-resistance trait in WCR

Energy analysis of cool, medium, and dark roofs on residential buildings in the U.S.

This study reports an energy analysis of cool, medium, and dark roofs on residential buildings in the U.S. Three analyses were undertaken in this study: energy consumption, economic analysis, and an environmental analysis. The energy consumption reports the electricity and natural gas consumption of the simulations. The economic analysis uses tools such as simple payback period (SPP) and net present value (NPV) to determine the profitability of the cool roof and the medium roof. The variable change for each simulation model was the roof color. The default color was a dark roof and the results were focused on the changes produced by the cool roof and the medium roof. The environmental analysis uses CO2 emissions to assess the environmental impact of the cool roof and the medium roof. The analysis uses the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) EnergyPlus software to produce simulations of a typical, two-story residential home in the U.S. The building details of the typical, two-story U.S. residential home and the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) building code standards used are discussed in this study. This study indicates that, when material and labor costs are assessed, the cool roof and the medium roof do not yield a SPP less than 10 years. Furthermore, the NPV results assess that neither the cool roof nor the medium roof are a profitable investment in any climate zone in the U.S. The environmental analysis demonstrates that both the cool roof and the medium roof have a positive impact in warmer climates by reducing the CO2 emissions as much as 264 kg and 129 kg, respectively

The TrueBlue study : is practice nurse-led collaborative care effective in the management of depression for patients with heart disease or diabetes?

Background: In the presence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) or coronary heart disease (CHD), depression is under diagnosed and under treated despite being associated with worse clinical outcomes. Our earlier pilot study demonstrated that it was feasible, acceptable and affordable for practice nurses to extend their role to include screening for and monitoring of depression alongside biological and lifestyle risk factors. The current study will compare the clinical outcomes of our model of practice nurse-led collaborative care with usual care for patients with depression and T2DM or CHD.Methods: This is a cluster-randomised intervention trial. Eighteen general practices from regional and metropolitan areas agreed to join this study, and were allocated randomly to an intervention or control group. We aim to recruit 50 patients with co-morbid depression and diabetes or heart disease from each of these practices. In the intervention group, practice nurses (PNs) will be trained for their enhanced roles in this nurse-led collaborative care study. Patients will be invited to attend a practice nurse consultation every 3 months prior to seeing their usual general practitioner. The PN will assess psychological, physiological and lifestyle parameters then work with the patient to set management goals. The outcome of this assessment will form the basis of a GP Management Plan document. In the control group, the patients will continue to receive their usual care for the first six months of the study before the PNs undergo the training and switch to the intervention protocol. The primary clinical outcome will be a reduction in the depression score. The study will also measure the impact on physiological measures, quality of life and on patient attitude to health care delivered by practice nurses.Conclusion: The strength of this programme is that it provides a sustainable model of chronic disease management with monitoring and self-management assistance for physiological, lifestyle and psychological risk factors for high-risk patients with co-morbid depression, diabetes or heart disease. The study will demonstrate whether nurse-led collaborative care achieves better outcomes than usual care.<br /

NICOTINE DEPENDENCE AND LABORATORY CUE-INDUCED CIGARETTE CRAVING

NICOTINE DEPENDENCE AND LABORATORY CUE-INDUCED CIGARETTE CRAVING Michael Dunbar, M.S. University of Pittsburgh, 2011 Background: The relationship between laboratory cue-induced craving and nicotine dependence is unclear. Some models consider cue-induced craving part of dependence, while others imply that responsiveness to cues disappears with dependence. These relationships are further complicated by different measures of nicotine dependence and craving. Method: Participants (n=207, 57% men) were daily smokers averaging 15.92 (6.70) cigarettes per day. We examined data from 4 cue-reactivity sessions, with cue sets (smoking, negative affect, positive affect, neutral) counterbalanced across sessions. In each session, after a 30-minute deprivation period, participants viewed 30 cue-relevant photos validated for content and shown over 3 minutes (6 seconds each). Participants rated their craving before and after cues (QSU-Brief, scaled as 1-49). Participants completed measures of nicotine dependence (FTND, NDSS, WISDM-68), which were used to predict craving. Multiple regression models were used to predict cue-induced craving (pre-post cue change scores) for QSU Factors 1 and 2. Results: Dependence measures were associated with background craving across sessions, but did not predict cue change in craving (Factor 1 or 2) for any cue. Conclusion: Laboratory cue-induced craving in response to smoking-relevant cues is unrelated to nicotine dependence, as traditionally assessed. Future work should investigate the relationship between reactivity to cues and actual smoking behavior, in order to better understand how reactivity to cues and dependence may function independently or synergistically to influence smoking behavior

Consistency of gene starts among Burkholderia genomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evolutionary divergence in the position of the translational start site among orthologous genes can have significant functional impacts. Divergence can alter the translation rate, degradation rate, subcellular location, and function of the encoded proteins.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Existing Genbank gene maps for <it>Burkholderia </it>genomes suggest that extensive divergence has occurred--53% of ortholog sets based on Genbank gene maps had inconsistent gene start sites. However, most of these inconsistencies appear to be gene-calling errors. Evolutionary divergence was the most plausible explanation for only 17% of the ortholog sets. Correcting probable errors in the Genbank gene maps decreased the percentage of ortholog sets with inconsistent starts by 68%, increased the percentage of ortholog sets with extractable upstream intergenic regions by 32%, increased the sequence similarity of intergenic regions and predicted proteins, and increased the number of proteins with identifiable signal peptides.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings highlight an emerging problem in comparative genomics: single-digit percent errors in gene predictions can lead to double-digit percentages of inconsistent ortholog sets. The work demonstrates a simple approach to evaluate and improve the quality of gene maps.</p

Two-photon-induced photoconductivity enhancement in semiconductor microcavities: a theoretical investigation

We describe a detailed theoretical investigation of two-photon absorption photoconductivity in semiconductor microcavities. We show that high enhancement (by a factor of >10, 000) of the nonlinear response can be obtained as a result of the microcavity effect. We discuss in detail the design and performance (dynamic range, speed) of such a device with the help of the example of an AlGaAs/GaAs microcavity operating at 900 nm. This device shows promise for low-intensity, fast autocorrelation and demultiplexing applications