Arrested Development: A Call for Feasible Market-Control Measures to Incentivize Alternative Fuel Innovation and Combat Global Climate Change

This Comment examines the implementation and perceived effectiveness of measures like California’s LCFS (Low Carbon Fuel Standard). The following Parts explore the United States’ arrested development in implementing effective market-based measures to reduce GHGs, and how a market-based approach to incentivize fuel innovation is simply one facet in addressing the complex issue of global climate change. Part I addresses the science of global warming, identifying the immediate need to transition from an economy reliant on fossil fuels to one buoyed by the promise of new, zero-emission fuels. Part II provides background on how current notions of federalism shape environmental policy and the obstacles that have hindered comprehensive efforts to reduce GHG emissions in the United States. Part III chronicles the feverish debate over California’s LCFS and how a federal market-based plan to reduce GHG emissions is vital to the United States. Part IV proposes ways Congress can go about employing a low carbon fuel standard in a market-based approach to GHG reduction. Part IV presents two trains of thought on how Congress can craft policy that will stimulate innovation in alternative fuels while reducing overall GHG emissions

Arrested Development: A Call for Feasible Market-Control Measures to Incentivize Alternative Fuel Innovation and Combat Global Climate Change

This Comment examines the implementation and perceived effectiveness of measures like California’s LCFS (Low Carbon Fuel Standard). The following Parts explore the United States’ arrested development in implementing effective market-based measures to reduce GHGs, and how a market-based approach to incentivize fuel innovation is simply one facet in addressing the complex issue of global climate change. Part I addresses the science of global warming, identifying the immediate need to transition from an economy reliant on fossil fuels to one buoyed by the promise of new, zero-emission fuels. Part II provides background on how current notions of federalism shape environmental policy and the obstacles that have hindered comprehensive efforts to reduce GHG emissions in the United States. Part III chronicles the feverish debate over California’s LCFS and how a federal market-based plan to reduce GHG emissions is vital to the United States. Part IV proposes ways Congress can go about employing a low carbon fuel standard in a market-based approach to GHG reduction. Part IV presents two trains of thought on how Congress can craft policy that will stimulate innovation in alternative fuels while reducing overall GHG emissions

The influence of a major disaster on suicide risk in the population

The authors investigated the relationship between the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and suicide risk in New York City from 1990 to 2006. The average monthly suicide rate over the study period was 0.56 per 100,000 people. The monthly rate after September 2001 was 0.11 per 100,000 people lower as compared to the rate in the period before. However, the rate of change in suicide was not significantly different before and after the disaster, and regression discontinuity analysis indicated no change at this date. There was no net change in the suicide rate in New York City attributable to this disaster, suggesting that factors other than exposure to traumatic events (e.g., cultural norms, availability of lethal methods) may be key drivers of suicide risk in this context.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64557/1/20473_ftp.pd

Asthma and posttraumatic stress symptoms 5 to 6 years following exposure to the World Trade Center terrorist attack

Context. The World Trade Center Health Registry provides a unique opportunity to examine long-term health effects of a large-scale disaster. Objective. To examine risk factors for new asthma diagnoses and event-related posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms among exposed adults 5 to 6 years following exposure to the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center (WTC) terrorist attack. Design, Setting, and Participants. Longitudinal cohort study with wave 1 (W1) enrollment of 71 437 adults in 2003-2004, including rescue/recovery worker, lower Manhattan resident, lower Manhattan office worker, and passersby eligibility groups; 46 322 adults (68%) completed the wave 2 (W2) survey in 2006-2007. Main Outcome Measures. Self-reported diagnosed asthma following September 11; event-related current PTS symptoms indicative of probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), assessed using the PTSD Checklist (cutoff score >= 44). Results. Of W2 participants with no stated asthma history, 10.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 9.9%-10.5%) reported new asthma diagnoses post-event. Intense dust cloud exposure on September 11 was a major contributor to new asthma diagnoses for all eligibility groups: for example, 19.1% vs 9.6% in those without exposure among rescue/recovery workers (adjusted odds ratio, 1.5 [95% CI, 1.4-1.7]). Asthma risk was highest among rescue/recovery workers on the WTC pile on September 11 (20.5% [95% CI, 19.0%-22.0%]). Persistent risks included working longer at the WTC site, not evacuating homes, and experiencing a heavy layer of dust in home or office. Of participants with no PTSD history, 23.8% (95% CI, 23.4%-24.2%) reported PTS symptoms at either W1(14.3%) orW2(19.1%). Nearly 10% (9.6% [95% CI, 9.3%-9.8%]) had PTS symptoms at both surveys, 4.7% (95% CI, 4.5%-4.9%) had PTS symptoms at W1 only, and 9.5% (95% CI, 9.3%-9.8%) had PTS symptoms at W2 only. At W2, passersby had the highest rate of PTS symptoms (23.2% [95% CI, 21.4%-25.0%]). Event-related loss of spouse or job was associated with PTS symptoms at W2. Conclusion. Acute and prolonged exposures were both associated with a large burden of asthma and PTS symptoms 5 to 6 years after the September 11 WTC attack

Resilience in the Face of Disaster: Prevalence and Longitudinal Course of Mental Disorders following Hurricane Ike

Objectives: Natural disasters may increase risk for a broad range of psychiatric disorders, both in the short- and in the medium-term. We sought to determine the prevalence and longitudinal course of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), depression, and suicidality in the first 18 months after Hurricane Ike. Methods: Six hundred fifty-eight adults representative of Galveston and Chambers Counties, Texas participated in a random, population-based survey. The initial assessment was conducted 2 to 5 months after Hurricane Ike struck Galveston Bay on September 13, 2008. Follow-up assessments were conducted at 5 to 9 and 14 to 18 months after Hurricane Ike. Results: Past-month prevalence of any mental disorder (20.6% to 10.9%) and hurricane-related PTSD (6.9% to 2.5%) decreased over time. Past-month prevalence of PTSD related to a non-disaster traumatic event (5.8% to 7.1%), GAD (3.1% to 1.8%), PD (0.8% to 0.7%), depression (5.0% to 5.6%), and suicidality (2.6% to 4.2%) remained relatively stable over time. Conclusions: PTSD, both due to the hurricane and due to other traumatic events, was the most prevalent psychiatric disorder 2 to 5 months after Hurricane Ike. Prevalence of psychiatric disorders declined rapidly over time, suggesting that the vast majority of individuals exposed to this natural disaster ‘bounced back’ and were resilient to long-term mental health consequences of this large-scale traumatic event

The severity of pandemic H1N1 influenza in the United States, from April to July 2009: A Bayesian analysis

Background: Accurate measures of the severity of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza (pH1N1) are needed to assess the likely impact of an anticipated resurgence in the autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Severity has been difficult to measure because jurisdictions with large numbers of deaths and other severe outcomes have had too many cases to assess the total number with confidence. Also, detection of severe cases may be more likely, resulting in overestimation of the severity of an average case. We sought to estimate the probabilities that symptomatic infection would lead to hospitalization, ICU admission, and death by combining data from multiple sources. Methods and Findings: We used complementary data from two US cities: Milwaukee attempted to identify cases of medically attended infection whether or not they required hospitalization, while New York City focused on the identification of hospitalizations, intensive care admission or mechanical ventilation (hereafter, ICU), and deaths. New York data were used to estimate numerators for ICU and death, and two sources of data - medically attended cases in Milwaukee or self-reported influenza-like illness (ILI) in New York - were used to estimate ratios of symptomatic cases to hospitalizations. Combining these data with estimates of the fraction detected for each level of severity, we estimated the proportion of symptomatic patients who died (symptomatic case-fatality ratio, sCFR), required ICU (sCIR), and required hospitalization (sCHR), overall and by age category. Evidence, prior information, and associated uncertainty were analyzed in a Bayesian evidence synthesis framework. Using medically attended cases and estimates of the proportion of symptomatic cases medically attended, we estimated an sCFR of 0.048% (95% credible interval [CI] 0.026%-0.096%), sCIR of 0.239% (0.134%-0.458%), and sCHR of 1.44% (0.83%-2.64%). Using self-reported ILI, we obtained estimates approximately 7-96lower. sCFR and sCIR appear to be highest in persons aged 18 y and older, and lowest in children aged 5-17 y. sCHR appears to be lowest in persons aged 5-17; our data were too sparse to allow us to determine the group in which it was the highest. Conclusions: These estimates suggest that an autumn-winter pandemic wave of pH1N1 with comparable severity per case could lead to a number of deaths in the range from considerably below that associated with seasonal influenza to slightly higher, but with the greatest impact in children aged 0-4 and adults 18-64. These estimates of impact depend on assumptions about total incidence of infection and would be larger if incidence of symptomatic infection were higher or shifted toward adults, if viral virulence increased, or if suboptimal treatment resulted from stress on the health care system; numbers would decrease if the total proportion of the population symptomatically infected were lower than assumed.published_or_final_versio

An Overview of 9/11 Experiences and Respiratory and Mental Health Conditions among World Trade Center Health Registry Enrollees

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61276/1/farfel m, digrande l, brackbill r, galea s, overview of 9-11 experiences and respiratory and mental haelth conditions.pd