Evaluating the Impact of the Clean Heat Program on Air Pollution Levels in New York City

Residual heating oil is a class of heavy oil that remains after the lighter components are distilled away from crude oil in the refining process (EIA 2020) and has been linked to adverse health outcomes (Bell et al. 2009). In New York City (NYC), residual heating oil has been identified as a major source of multiple air pollutants, including fine particulate matter [PM less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM₂.₅)] (Clougherty et al. 2010; Kheirbek et al. 2014), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) (U.S. EPA 1998), and black carbon (Cornell et al. 2012). Prior to policy implementation, three types of heating oil were used in NYC: heating oil #4, #6, and ultra-low sulfur oil #2. Both #6 and #4 are referred to as residual heating oils, and oil #2, which is the lightest of the three, has been considered a cleaner alternative (Kheirbek et al. 2014). In 2012, NYC established the Clean Heat Program (CHP) to eliminate the use of residual heating oil and move toward cleaner energy forms (Hernández 2016). Here, we have evaluated the CHP outcomes, quantified the CHP-attributable air pollution reductions between 2012 and 2016, and assessed if and how these reductions vary by neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES). We aim to contribute to the knowledge of CHP effects since its implementation, assess relevant equity issues, and inform future policy improvements

Patterns and universals of mate poaching across 53 nations : the effects of sex, culture, and personality on romantically attracting another person’s partner

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, 16,954 participants from 53 nations were administered an anonymous survey about experiences with romantic attraction. Mate poaching--romantically attracting someone who is already in a relationship--was most common in Southern Europe, South America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe and was relatively infrequent in Africa, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Evolutionary and social-role hypotheses received empirical support. Men were more likely than women to report having made and succumbed to short-term poaching across all regions, but differences between men and women were often smaller in more gender-egalitarian regions. People who try to steal another's mate possess similar personality traits across all regions, as do those who frequently receive and succumb to the poaching attempts by others. The authors conclude that human mate-poaching experiences are universally linked to sex, culture, and the robust influence of personal dispositions.peer-reviewe

Are men universally more dismissing than women? Gender differences in romantic attachment across 62 cultural regions

The authors thank Susan Sprecher (USA), Del Paulhus (Canada), Glenn D. Wilson (England), Qazi Rahman (England), Alois Angleitner (Germany), Angelika Hofhansl (Austria), Tamio Imagawa (Japan), Minoru Wada (Japan), Junichi Taniguchi (Japan), and Yuji Kanemasa (Japan) for helping with data collection and contributing significantly to the samples used in this study.Gender differences in the dismissing form of adult romantic attachment were investigated as part of the International Sexuality Description Project—a survey study of 17,804 people from 62 cultural regions. Contrary to research findings previously reported in Western cultures, we found that men were not significantly more dismissing than women across all cultural regions. Gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment were evident in most cultures, but were typically only small to moderate in magnitude. Looking across cultures, the degree of gender differentiation in dismissing romantic attachment was predictably associated with sociocultural indicators. Generally, these associations supported evolutionary theories of romantic attachment, with smaller gender differences evident in cultures with high–stress and high–fertility reproductive environments. Social role theories of human sexuality received less support in that more progressive sex–role ideologies and national gender equity indexes were not cross–culturally linked as expected to smaller gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment.peer-reviewe

A Drosophila-centric view of protein tyrosine phosphatases

AbstractMost of our knowledge on protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) is derived from human pathologies and mouse knockout models. These models largely correlate well with human disease phenotypes, but can be ambiguous due to compensatory mechanisms introduced by paralogous genes. Here we present the analysis of the PTP complement of the fruit fly and the complementary view that PTP studies in Drosophila will accelerate our understanding of PTPs in physiological and pathological conditions. With only 44 PTP genes, Drosophila represents a streamlined version of the human complement. Our integrated analysis places the Drosophila PTPs into evolutionary and functional contexts, thereby providing a platform for the exploitation of the fly for PTP research and the transfer of knowledge onto other model systems

Land use diversity and park use in New York City

Neighborhood parks and mixed-use land development are both understood to be important independent contributors to physical activity levels. It has been hypothesized that mixed-use land development could increase park use as a result of mixed-use neighborhoods being consistently activated throughout the day, but the results of previous research on this question have been inconsistent and the mediational role of neighborhood activation has not been tested. This study leverages data from Google Places Popular Times and the National Establishment Time Series to directly test the mediational role of the daily temporal distribution of neighborhood activation, to construct a novel measure of commercial activity diversity, and to help disentangle built-environment density from commercial diversity. Park use data was measured from 10,004 systematic observations of 20 neighborhood parks in New York City in the spring and summer of 2017. The hypothesis that commercial activity diversity is positively associated with park use was not supported in any models. However, a positive relationship between built-environment density and park use was found, which may help to explain prior inconsistent findings

Novel Methods of Identifying Individual and Neighborhood Risk Factors for Loss to Follow-Up After Ophthalmic Screening

Précis Residence in a middle-class neighborhood correlated with lower follow-up compared to residence in more affluent neighborhoods. The most common explanations for not following up were the process of making an appointment and lack of symptoms. Purpose: To explore which individual and neighborhood-level factors influence follow-up as recommended after positive ophthalmic and primary care screening in a vulnerable population using novel methodologies. Participants and Methods: From 2017 to 2018, 957 participants were screened for ophthalmic disease and cardiovascular risk factors as part of the Real-Time Mobile Teleophthalmology study. Individuals who screened positive for either ophthalmic or cardiovascular risk factors were contacted to determine whether or not they followed up with a healthcare provider. Data from the Social Vulnerability Index, a novel virtual auditing system, and personal demographics were collected for each participant. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine which factors significantly differed between participants who followed up and those who did not. Results: As a whole, the study population was more socioeconomically vulnerable than the national average (mean summary Social Vulnerability Index score=0.81). Participants whose neighborhoods fell in the middle of the national per capita income distribution had lower likelihood of follow-up compared to those who resided in the most affluent neighborhoods (relative risk ratio=0.21, P-value\u3c0.01). Participants cited the complicated process of making an eye care appointment and lack of symptoms as the most common reasons for not following up as instructed within four months. Conclusions: Residence in a middle-class neighborhood, difficulty accessing eye care appointments, and low health literacy may influence follow up among vulnerable populations

Generalization of Runoff Risk Prediction at Field Scales to a Continental- Scale Region Using Cluster Analysis and Hybrid Modeling

As surface water resources in the U.S. continue to be pressured by excess nutrients carried by agricultural runoff, the need to assess runoff risk at the field scale continues to grow in importance. Most landscape hydrologic models developed at regional scales have limited applicability at finer spatial scales. Hybrid models can be used to address the scale mismatch between model simulation and applicability, but could be limited by their ability to generalize over a large domain with heterogeneous hydrologic characteristics. To assist the generalization, we develop a regionalization approach based on the principal component analysis and K- means clustering to identify the clusters with similar runoff potential over the Great Lakes region. For each cluster, hybrid models are developed by combining National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Water Model and a data- driven model, eXtreme gradient boosting with field- scale measurements, enabling prediction of daily runoff risk level at the field scale over the entire region.Plain Language SummaryNutrient loading is an important factor determining water quality in the Great Lakes. Transport of nutrients to surface water is often correlated with runoff, causing detrimental effects to aquatic ecosystems, such as harmful algal blooms. Runoff risk forecasts constituting an early warning system can be used to improve timing of nutrient application, leading to dual benefits of reducing nutrient transport to surface water and leaving more nutrients in the field for crop growth. However, measurements of the edge- of- field runoff are conducted at the field scale and sparse over the Great Lakes region, posing a great challenge to developing such a warning system over the continental scale. To address the challenge, we developed a generalization approach that allows predictive models developed using the runoff measurements at the field scale to be generalized to large regions with similar hydrogeologic characteristics. We can then predict the daily runoff risk level over the entire Great Lakes domain at 1 km- by- 1 km resolution, which shows promise to be the backbone of the early warning system on the forecast of daily risk level for the Contiguous U.S.Key PointsIdentify five clusters in the Great Lakes region with similar runoff potentialGeneralize hybrid models developed at field scales to a continental- scale regionPredict daily runoff risk on 1 km- by- 1 km grid over the entire Great Lakes regionPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/174817/1/grl64743.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/174817/2/2022GL100667-sup-0001-Supporting_Information_SI-S01.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/174817/3/grl64743_am.pd

HIV Status and Other Risk Factors for Prevalent and Incident Sexually Transmitted Infection during Pregnancy (2000-2014)

Background. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are associated with adverse birth outcomes. Current prenatal STI screening guidelines define “risk” without explicit consideration of HIV status. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that HIV status is associated with bacterial STI in pregnant women. Methods. We designed a retrospective cohort study to identify pregnant women with HIV who delivered at our facility during 2000-2014. HIV+ women were compared to HIV- women with matching by year of delivery. Logistic regression was used to model adjusted odds of prevalent and incident STI. Prevalent STI was defined as chlamydia (CT), gonorrhea (GC), syphilis, or trichomoniasis detected on an initial prenatal screening test and incident STI as a newly positive result following a negative prenatal test. Results. The cohort included 432 women, 210 HIV+ and 222 HIV-. Most pregnant women were screened for STI (92% of HIV+ women and 74% of HIV- women). STI rates were high and particularly elevated in HIV+ women: 29% vs 18% (p=0.02), for prevalent STI and 11% vs 2% (p<0.001) for incident STI. Risk factors for prevalent STI were as follows: HIV status (aOR 3.0, CI: 1.4-6.4), Black race (aOR 2.7, 95% CI: 1.1-6.6), and more recent delivery (2007-2014 compared to 2000-2006) (aOR 2.3, CI: 1.1-4.7). HIV status was an independent risk factor for incident STI (aOR 7.2, CI: 2.1-25.0). Conclusion. Pregnant women who delivered in our center had high STI rates. Since HIV infection was independently associated with prevalent and incident STI, prenatal screening guidelines may need to incorporate HIV status as a high-risk group for repeat testing