Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in the Mid-Atlantic States: Assessing Grower Perceptions, Economic Impact, and Progress

Attendees at mid-Atlantic grower meetings were surveyed in 2012 and 2014 regarding their knowledge of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) and its impact. Responses to individual questions were paired and analyzed for independence between survey years. Despite a large-scale effort by Extension to inform growers and others about BMSB, there remains a clear need for more training on the identification of BMSB nymphs. Respondents also want more information on effective chemical options, scouting methods for BMSB, and BMSB biology, and they prefer to receive this information from Cooperative Extension

Finite difference modelling of rupture propagation with strong velocity-weakening friction

We incorporate rate- and state-dependent friction in explicit finite difference (FD) simulations of mode II dynamic ruptures in elastic media, using the Mimetic Operators Split-Node (MOSN) method, with adjustable order of spatial accuracy (second-, fourth- or mixed-order accurate), including an option that is fourth-order accurate at the fault discontinuity as well as in the elastic volume. At fault points, the rate and state equations combined with the spatially discretized momentum conservation equations form a coupled system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) for slip velocity and state variable. As a consequence of the rapid damping of velocity perturbations due to the direct effect, this system exhibits numerical stiffness that is inversely proportional to velocity squared. Approximate solutions to this velocity-state system are achieved by two different implicit schemes: (i) a fourth-order Rosenbrock integration of the full system using multiple substeps and (ii) low order integrations (backward Euler and trapezoidal) of the velocity equation, time-staggered with analytic integration of the state equation under the approximation of constant slip velocity over the time step. In assessing the numerical schemes, we use three test problems: ruptures with frictional resistance controlled by (i) a slip evolution law with strong velocity-weakening behaviour at high slip rates, representing thermal weakening due to flash heating of microscopic asperity contacts, (ii) the classic (low-velocity) slip evolution law and (iii) the classic aging evolution law. A convergence analysis is carried out using reference solutions from a spectral boundary integral equation method (BIEM) (a method restricted to homogeneous media, with nominal spectral accuracy in space and second-order accuracy in time for smooth solutions). Errors are measured by root-mean-square differences of fault-plane time histories (slip, slip rate, traction and state). MOSN shows essentially the same convergence rates as BIEM: second-order convergence for slip and state-variable misfits, with slower (but at least first-order) convergence for slip rates and tractions. For a given grid spacing, fourth-order MOSN is as accurate as BIEM for all variables except slip-rate. MOSN-Rosenbrock nominally has fourth-order temporal accuracy for the fault-plane velocity-state ODE integration (compared to lower-order accuracy for the other two MOSN schemes) and therefore provides an important theoretical benchmark. However, it is sensitive to details of the elastic calculation scheme and occasionally its adaptive substepping performs poorly, leading to large excursions from the reference solution. In contrast, MOSN-trapezoidal is robust and reliable, much easier to implement than MOSN-Rosenbrock, and in all cases achieves precision as good as the latter without recourse to substepping. MOSN-Euler has the same advantages as MOSN-trapezoidal, except that its nominal first-order temporal accuracy ultimately leads to larger errors in slip and state variable compared with the higher-order MOSN schemes at sufficiently small grid spacings and time step

Orthopaedic provider perceptions of virtual care : which providers prefer virtual care?

AIMS: The purpose of our study was to determine which groups of orthopaedic providers favour virtual care, and analyze overall orthopaedic provider perceptions of virtual care. We hypothesize that providers with less clinical experience will favour virtual care, and that orthopaedic providers overall will show increased preference for virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic and decreased preference during non-pandemic circumstances. METHODS: An orthopaedic research consortium at an academic medical system developed a survey examining provider perspectives regarding orthopaedic virtual care. Survey items were scored on a 1 to 5 Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree , 5 = strongly agree ) and compared using nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: Providers with less experience were more likely to recommend virtual care for follow-up visits (3.61 on the Likert scale (SD 0.95) vs 2.90 (SD 1.23); p = 0.006) and feel that virtual care was essential to patient wellbeing (3.98 (SD 0.95) vs 3.00 (SD 1.16); p \u3c 0.001) during the pandemic. Less experienced providers also viewed virtual visits as providing a similar level of care as in-person visits (2.41 (SD 1.02) vs 1.76 (SD 0.87); p = 0.006) and more time-efficient than in-person visits (3.07 (SD 1.19) vs 2.34 (SD 1.14); p = 0.012) in non-pandemic circumstances. During the pandemic, most providers viewed virtual care as effective in providing essential care (83.6%, n = 51) and wanted to schedule patients for virtual care follow-up (82.2%, n = 50); only 10.9% (n = 8) of providers preferred virtual visits in non-pandemic circumstances. CONCLUSION: Orthopaedic providers with less clinical experience seem to favourably view virtual care both during the pandemic and under non-pandemic circumstances. Providers in general appear to view virtual care positively during the pandemic but are less accommodating towards it in non-pandemic circumstances

Manufacturing Workers Have a Higher Incidence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

OBJECTIVE: It is unclear whether clerical or labor-type work is more associated with risk for developing work-related carpal tunnel syndrome (WrCTS). METHODS: National employment, demographic, and injury data were examined from the Bureau of Labor Statistics databases for the years 2003 to 2018. Injuries for clerical and labor industries were compared using linear regression, two-group t test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis. RESULTS: WrCTS injuries are decreasing over time (B = -1002.62, P \u3c 0.001). The labor industry demonstrated a significantly higher incidence of WrCTS when compared with the clerical industries (P \u3c 0.001). Within labor industries, the manufacturing industry had the highest incidence of WrCTS over time (P \u3c 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed WrCTS injuries have declined over time. Additionally, our findings may suggest that the labor industry has a stronger association with WrCTS than the clerical industry

Differentiation of Zebrafish Melanophores Depends on Transcription Factors AP2 Alpha and AP2 Epsilon

A model of the gene-regulatory-network (GRN), governing growth, survival, and differentiation of melanocytes, has emerged from studies of mouse coat color mutants and melanoma cell lines. In this model, Transcription Factor Activator Protein 2 alpha (TFAP2A) contributes to melanocyte development by activating expression of the gene encoding the receptor tyrosine kinase Kit. Next, ligand-bound Kit stimulates a pathway activating transcription factor Microphthalmia (Mitf), which promotes differentiation and survival of melanocytes by activating expression of Tyrosinase family members, Bcl2, and other genes. The model predicts that in both Tfap2a and Kit null mutants there will be a phenotype of reduced melanocytes and that, because Tfap2a acts upstream of Kit, this phenotype will be more severe, or at least as severe as, in Tfap2a null mutants in comparison to Kit null mutants. Unexpectedly, this is not the case in zebrafish or mouse. Because many Tfap2 family members have identical DNA–binding specificity, we reasoned that another Tfap2 family member may work redundantly with Tfap2a in promoting Kit expression. We report that tfap2e is expressed in melanoblasts and melanophores in zebrafish embryos and that its orthologue, TFAP2E, is expressed in human melanocytes. We provide evidence that Tfap2e functions redundantly with Tfap2a to maintain kita expression in zebrafish embryonic melanophores. Further, we show that, in contrast to in kita mutants where embryonic melanophores appear to differentiate normally, in tfap2a/e doubly-deficient embryonic melanophores are small and under-melanized, although they retain expression of mitfa. Interestingly, forcing expression of mitfa in tfap2a/e doubly-deficient embryos partially restores melanophore differentiation. These findings reveal that Tfap2 activity, mediated redundantly by Tfap2a and Tfap2e, promotes melanophore differentiation in parallel with Mitf by an effector other than Kit. This work illustrates how analysis of single-gene mutants may fail to identify steps in a GRN that are affected by the redundant activity of related proteins

Upper-Extremity Injuries are the 2nd Most Common Workplace Injuries from 1992 to 2018

Musculoskeletal injuries occur frequently in the workplace, yet it is unclear whether upper-extremity, lower-extremity, or trunk injuries are the most prevalent. We hypothesize that: (1) trunk injuries are the most common in the overall workplace, and (2) upper-extremity injuries are more common in labor-based industries than non-labor industries. Workplace related injury data from 1992 to 2018 was collected from the Bureau of Labor Statistics “Workplace Injuries & Illnesses” database. Occurrence of trunk, upper-extremity, and lower-extremity injuries in major industries (agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and healthcare) were aggregated during this time period and compared. Overall workplace related injury occurrence in major industries from 1992 to 2018 for the following body regions were tabulated as follows: upper-extremity (4,471,340 cases), lower-extremity (3,296,547 cases), and trunk (5,889,940 cases) (p\u3c.05). Upper-extremity injury incidence was observed to be significantly higher than lower-extremity injury incidence in the manufacturing industry (p\u3c.001) and significantly lower than trunk injury incidence in the healthcare industry (p\u3c.001). However, differences between upper-extremity injury incidence and both lower-extremity and trunk injury incidence were not significant for the other industries. When comparing the occurrence of upper-extremity injuries across industries from 1992 to 2018, significant differences were determined between all industries except for healthcare (p\u3c.001). When identifying changes in injury occurrence in each respective industry across this time span, manufacturing was shown to have the largest decrease (x=-5,432, r=-.91) followed by construction (x=-966, r=-.87) and then agriculture (x=-270, r=-.79). Weak correlation was observed for healthcare (x=118, r=.15)

Are orthopaedic providers willing to work overtime to address COVID-19-related patient backlogs and financial deficits?

AIMS: COVID-19-related patient care delays have resulted in an unprecedented patient care backlog in the field of orthopaedics. The objective of this study is to examine orthopaedic provider preferences regarding the patient care backlog and financial recovery initiatives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An orthopaedic research consortium at a multi-hospital tertiary care academic medical system developed a three-part survey examining provider perspectives on strategies to expand orthopaedic patient care and financial recovery. Section 1 asked for preferences regarding extending clinic hours, section 2 assessed surgeon opinions on expanding surgical opportunities, and section 3 questioned preferred strategies for departmental financial recovery. The survey was sent to the institution\u27s surgical and nonoperative orthopaedic providers. RESULTS: In all, 73 of 75 operative (n = 55) and nonoperative (n = 18) providers responded to the survey. A total of 92% of orthopaedic providers (n = 67) were willing to extend clinic hours. Most providers preferred extending clinic schedule until 6pm on weekdays. When asked about extending surgical block hours, 96% of the surgeons (n = 53) were willing to extend operating room (OR) block times. Most surgeons preferred block times to be extended until 7pm (63.6%, n = 35). A majority of surgeons (53%, n = 29) believe that over 50% of their surgical cases could be performed at an ambulatory surgery centre (ASC). Of the strategies to address departmental financial deficits, 85% of providers (n = 72) were willing to work extra hours without a pay cut. CONCLUSION: Most orthopaedic providers are willing to help with patient care backlogs and revenue recovery by working extended hours instead of having their pay reduced. These findings provide insights that can be incorporated into COVID-19 recovery strategies. Level of Evidence: II

Brown carbon aerosol in the North American continental troposphere: sources, abundance, and radiative forcing

Chemical components of organic aerosol (OA) selectively absorb light at short wavelengths. In this study, the prevalence, sources, and optical importance of this so called brown carbon (BrC) aerosol component are investigated throughout the North American continental tropospheric column during a summer of extensive biomass burning. Spectrophotometric absorption measurements on extracts of bulk aerosol samples collected from an aircraft over the central USA were analyzed to directly quantify BrC abundance. BrC was found to be prevalent throughout the 1 to 12 km altitude measurement range, with dramatic enhancements in biomass-burning plumes. BrC to black carbon (BC) ratios, under background tropospheric conditions, increased with altitude, consistent with a corresponding increase in the absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) determined from a three-wavelength particle soot absorption photometer (PSAP). The sum of inferred BC absorption and measured BrC absorption at 365 nm was within 3 % of the measured PSAP absorption for background conditions and 22 % for biomass burning. A radiative transfer model showed that BrC absorption reduced top-of atmosphere (TOA) aerosol forcing by ∼ 20 % in the background troposphere. Extensive radiative model simulations applying this study background tropospheric conditions provided a look-up chart for determining radiative forcing efficiencies of BrC as a function of a surface-measured BrC : BC ratio and single scattering albedo (SSA). The chart is a first attempt to provide a tool for better assessment of brown carbon’s forcing effect when one is limited to only surface data. These results indicate that BrC is an important contributor to direct aerosol radiative forcing

Evolution of brown carbon in wildfire plumes

Particulate brown carbon (BrC) in the atmosphere absorbs light at subvisible wavelengths and has poorly constrained but potentially large climate forcing impacts. BrC from biomass burning has virtually unknown lifecycle and atmospheric stability. Here, BrC emitted from intense wildfires was measured in plumes transported over 2 days from two main fires, during the 2013 NASA SEAC4RS mission. Concurrent measurements of organic aerosol (OA) and black carbon (BC) mass concentration, BC coating thickness, absorption Ångström exponent, and OA oxidation state reveal that the initial BrC emitted from the fires was largely unstable. Using back trajectories to estimate the transport time indicates that BrC aerosol light absorption decayed in the plumes with a half-life of 9 to 15 h, measured over day and night. Although most BrC was lost within a day, possibly through chemical loss and/or evaporation, the remaining persistent fraction likely determines the background BrC levels most relevant for climate forcing