Simulation-based flood fragility and vulnerability analysis for expanding cities

Accurately quantifying flood-induced impacts on buildings and other infrastructure systems is essential for risk-sensitive planning and decision-making in expanding urban regions. Flood-induced impacts are directly related to the physical components of assets damaged due to contact with water. Such components include building contents (e.g., appliances, furniture) and other non-structural components whose damage/unavailability can severely impact the buildingsﾒ functionality. Conventional fragility analysis approaches for flooding do not account for the physical damage to the individual components, mostly relying on empirical methods based on historical data. However, recent studies proposed simulation-based, assembly-based fragility models that account for the damage to the building components. Such fragility models require developing detailed inventories of vulnerable components of households and identifying building archetypes to be considered in a building portfolio for the region of interest. Content inventories and building portfolios have so far been obtained for specific socio-economic contexts such as the United States of America. However, building types and their content can significantly differ between countries, making the available fragility models and computational frameworks unsuitable for flood vulnerability analysis in rapidly expanding cities characterised by extensive informal settlements, such as low- and middle-income countries. This paper details how to adapt the available methodologies for flood vulnerability assessment to the context of formal and informal settlements of expanding cities in the global south. It also details the development of content inventories for households in these cities using field surveys. The proposed survey is deployed in various areas vulnerable to floods in Kathmandu, Nepal. Based on the survey results, each component within the household is associated with a corresponding flood capacity (resistance) distribution (in terms of water height and flood duration). These distributions are then employed in a simulation-based probabilistic framework to obtain fragility relationship and consequence models. The relevant differences between the results obtained in this study and those from previous studies are then investigated for a case-study building type. In addition, the influence of socio-economic factors (e.g., household income) and past flood experience (possibly resulting in various flood-risk mitigation strategies at a household level) on the resulting flood impacts is also included in the model

Microplásticos e imposex en el caracol marino Thaisella chocolata procedente de la costa central marina del Perú

Contamination by microplastics (MP) and the presence of imposex (IMP) in snails for human consumption has become an issue of global concern in marine ecosystems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of MP and IMP in the sea snail Thaisella chocolata in four locations and two seasons of the year on the central coast of Peru. The selected sites were the coves of Chorrillos and Cerro Azul, and the minor seaports of Chancay and Huacho, in the department of Lima, Peru. Individuals of T. chocolata were collected in each location and in two seasons of 2021. The snails were examined for the quantification of MP, according to their shape and color, and in the females, the IMP was determined and qualified as a percentage. The global analysis shows a Frequency of Occurrence (FO%) of MP of was 97.86% ± 3.34 (range from 90.90 to 100%), and the abundance (MP microparticles/individual) was 9.07 ± 4.71 (range 4.72 to 17.82). The colors of the black, blue and magenta MPs were the dominant ones. The FO%, and the abundance of MP microparticles did not show differences between both seasons. The highest MP detection values occurred in individuals from Cerro Azul. The MP micro-fragments presented the highest abundance and the black color was the dominant one. The IMP was rated as high in 50% of the female snails. No differ­ences were observed in FO% or in the abundance of MP microparticles between seasons. The IMP was not associated with the FO% or with the abundance of MP in T. chocolata. The abundance of MP in T. chocolata was negatively related to nitrites, nitrates, and ammonium, and positively related to dissolved oxygen in seawater. The findings indicate that the marine snail T. chocolata is a suitable organism for monitoring MP and IMP contamination.La contaminación por microplásticos (MP) y por la presencia de imposex (IMP) en caracoles de consumo humano se ha convertido en un tema de preocupación mundial en los ecosistemas marinos. El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar la presencia de MP y de IMP en el caracol marino Thaisella chocolata en cuatro localidades y dos temporadas del año de la costa central del Perú. Los sitios seleccionados fueron las caletas de Chorrillos, y de Cerro Azul, y los puertos marítimos menores de Chancay y de Huacho, del departamento de Lima, Perú. Individuos de T. chocolata fueron colectados en cada localidad y en dos temporadas del 2021. Los caracoles fueron examinados para la cuantificación de MP, de acuerdo a su forma y coloración, y en las hembras fue determinado el IMP y calificado porcentualmente. El análisis global muestra una Frecuencia de Ocurrencia (FO%) de MP de 97,86% ± 3,34 (rango de 90,90 al 100%), y la abundancia (micropartículas de MP/individuo) fue de 9,07 ± 4,71 (rango 4,72 a 17,82). Los colores de los MP negro, azul y magenta fueron los dominantes. La FO%, y la abundancia de micropartículas de MP no mostraron diferencias entre ambas temporadas. Los mayores valores de detección de MP ocurrieron en los individuos de Cerro Azul. Los microfragmentos de MP presentaron las mayores abundancias y el color negro fue el dominante. El IMP fue calificado mayormente como alto en un 50% de los caracoles hembras. No se observaron diferencias en la FO% ni en la abundancia de micropartículas de MP entre temporadas. El IMP no se asoció con la FO% ni con la abundancia de MP en T. chocolata. La abundancia de MP en T. chocolata se relacionó negativamente con los nitritos, nitratos, y amonio, y positivamente con el oxígeno disuelto del agua de mar. Los hallazgos indican que el carac

Imaging technologies in the differential diagnosis and follow-up of brown tumor in primary hyperparathyroidism: case report and review of the literature

Brown tumors are osteolytic lesions associated with hyperparathyroidism (HPT). They may involve various skeletal segments, but rarely the cranio-facial bones. We report a case of a young boy with a swelling of the jaw secondary to a brown tumor presenting as the first manifestation of primary HPT (PHPT). He was found to have brown tumor located in the skull, as well. Different imaging technologies were employed for the diagnosis and follow-up after parathyroidectomy. We enclose a review of the literature on the employment of such imaging technologies in the differential diagnosis of osteolytic lesions. A multidisciplinary approach comprising clinical, laboratory and imaging findings is essential for the differential diagnosis of brown tumor in PHPT

Diagnosis and grading of radiographic osteoporotic vertebral deformity by general radiologists after a brief self-learning period

Background: The expanded semi-quantitative (eSQ) osteoporotic vertebral deformity (OVD) classification has minimal, mild, moderate, moderately-severe, severe, and collapsed grades with <20%, 20-25%, >25%-1/3, >1/3-40%, >40%-2/3, >2/3 vertebral height loss respectively. This study evaluates the performance of using this grading criterion by radiology readers who did not have former training in OVD assessment. Methods: Spine radiographs of 44 elderly women with 278 normal appearing vertebrae and 65 OVDs were selected, with two senior readers agreed the reference reading. Three readers from Italy and three readers from China were invited to evaluate these radiographs after reading five reference articles including one detailing eSQ criteria with illustrative examples. Before the second round of reading, the readers were asked to read an additional explanatory document. For the readers in Italy an additional on-line demonstration was given on how to measure vertebral height loss in another five cases of OVD. Two Chinese readers had a third round of reading after a 90 minutes' on-line lecture. Results: The final absolute agreement rate with the reference reading (i.e., exactly the same grading as the reference) ranged between 46.2% to 68.2% for the six readers, and the final relative agreement (with one eSQ grade difference allowed) ranged between 78.5% to 92.5%. The >1 grade disagreement rate was all below 11%, and mostly below 7%. The missed OVD were mostly minimal grade. The rate for missing a ≥ mild OVD was <4.5%, and false positive rate was generally <1.4% among the final reading. If the minimal grade was removed and the remaining gradings were converted to Genant's semi-quantitative (GSQ) grading, the mean kappa values against the reference reading for SQ grades-1,2,3 were 0.813, 0.814, and 0.916 respectively. Conclusions: This study demonstrates good performance of the six learner readers for assessing radiographic after a brief self-learning period

Kupffer Cells Hasten Resolution of Liver Immunopathology in Mouse Models of Viral Hepatitis

Kupffer cells (KCs) are widely considered important contributors to liver injury during viral hepatitis due to their pro-inflammatory activity. Herein we utilized hepatitis B virus (HBV)-replication competent transgenic mice and wild-type mice infected with a hepatotropic adenovirus to demonstrate that KCs do not directly induce hepatocellular injury nor do they affect the pathogenic potential of virus-specific CD8 T cells. Instead, KCs limit the severity of liver immunopathology. Mechanistically, our results are most compatible with the hypothesis that KCs contain liver immunopathology by removing apoptotic hepatocytes in a manner largely dependent on scavenger receptors. Apoptotic hepatocytes not readily removed by KCs become secondarily necrotic and release high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB-1) protein, promoting organ infiltration by inflammatory cells, particularly neutrophils. Overall, these results indicate that KCs resolve rather than worsen liver immunopathology

RIESGO EPIDEMIOLÓGICO Y ZOONÓTICO DE LA MALACOFAUNA FLUVIALY TERRESTRE EN EL ÁREA DE SALUD CAPITÁN ROBERTO FLEITES, CUBA

The main objective was to identify the epidemiological and zoonotic risk of fluvial and terrestrial molluscs in the Health Area Roberto Fleites, municipality Santa Clara, Villa Clara province, Cuba. Snails were sampled monthly during 2011-2012. Mollusc species with greater frequency and distribution were Praticolella griseola, Tarebia granifera and Pseudosuccinea columella. The most medically important species were: P. griseola, Physella columella, Subulina octona, Physa acuta, Pomacea poeyana and Galba cubensis that are intermediate hosts and transmitters of parasitic helminth diseases. A greater abundance of molluscs in orchards organoponic in relation to bodies of water sampled was observed; however, higher species richness of molluscs was obtained in water bodies in the orchards-organoponics. There is an increased epidemiological risk-in organopónicos orchard, where 96.49% of molluscs are capable of transmitting disease to man and animals, while in the bodies of water, only 8.32% of the mollusks are capable of transmitting diseases to man and animals. Asignificant relationship between the mollusc and the maximum relative humidity and precipitation was evident.El objetivo fundamental fue identificar el riesgo epidemiológico y zoonótico de la malacofauna fluvial y terrestre en el Área de Salud Roberto Fleites, perteneciente al municipio Santa Clara, provincia Villa Clara, Cuba. Los caracoles fueron muestreados mensualmente durante el 2011- 2012. Las especies de moluscos con mayor frecuencia y distribución fueron: Praticolella griseola, Tarebia granifera y Pseudosuccinea columella. Las especies con mayor interés médico fueron: P. griseola, P. columella, Subulina octona, Physella acuta, Pomacea poeyana y Galba cubensis que son hospederos intermediarios y transmisores de enfermedades parasitarias helmínticas. Se observó una mayor abundancia de moluscos en huertos-organopónicos en relación a los cuerpos de agua muestreados; sin embargo, se obtuvo mayor riqueza de especies de moluscos en los cuerpos de agua que en los huertos-organopónicos. Existe mayor riesgo epidemiológico en huertos-organopónicos, donde el 96,49 % de los moluscos son capaces de transmitir enfermedades al hombre y los animales, mientras que en los cuerpos de agua, solo el 8,32 % de los moluscos son capaces de transmitir enfermedades al hombre y animales. Se evidenció una relación significativa entre las poblaciones de moluscos y la humedad relativa máxima y la precipitación