Rules of Engagement: The Why, What, and How of Professional Engagement for Pharmacy

The development of student pharmacists must include inspiring within them a sense of engagement in their profession. This paper provides the rationale for and the potential implications of this concept, as well as an overview of experiences with professional engagement in student pharmacists at one college of pharmacy. Curricular-based experiences and research will be discussed, including the insights gained and suggestions for developing and encouraging professional engagement. Lastly, this article provides future direction for furthering professional engagement on both the conceptual and curricular level.   Type: Idea Pape

Stormwater Pond Maintenance, and Wetland Management for Phosphorus Retention

(c) 1036202Reduction in phosphorus is critical because phosphate, a dissolved form of phosphorus, sustains algal and cyanobacteria growth and causes a wide range of water-quality impairments in the ponds and downstream waters including algal blooms, excess floating plants, taste, and odor problems. Many stormwater ponds and wetlands that treat stormwater appear to be less effective than expected or originally intended in phosphorus retention, a key function of these ponds in urban environments. There is evidence that many old ponds are releasing phosphorus from bottom sediments at high rates and likely exporting phosphorus to downstream surface water bodies. A major outcome of this project is a pond Assessment Tool to assess the risk of high phosphorus concentrations in ponds and sediment release of phosphorus. The tool is based on 20 ponds with detailed water quality and phosphorus release measurements and a meta-analysis of 230 ponds in the Twin Cities metro area. Other outcomes included a working definition of a constructed stormwater pond and a wetland treating stormwater in the framework of water-body regulations, the development of recommendations for stormwater pond maintenance and wetland management, and an update to the sections on the constructed stormwater ponds section of the 2009 Stormwater Maintenance BMP Guide

Tubulin polyglutamylation stimulates spastin-mediated microtubule severing

Microtubules with long polyglutamylated C-terminal tails are more prone to severing by spastin, establishing the importance of tubulin posttranslational modifications

Trees and Streets as Drivers of Urban Stormwater Nutrient Pollution

Expansion of tree cover is a major management goal in cities because of the substantial benefits provided to people, and potentially to water quality through reduction of stormwater volume by interception. However, few studies have addressed the full range of potential impacts of trees on urban runoff, which includes deposition of nutrient-rich leaf litter onto streets connected to storm drains. We analyzed the influence of trees on stormwater nitrogen and phosphorus export across 19 urban watersheds in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, U.S.A., and at the scale of individual streets within one residential watershed. Stormwater nutrient concentrations were highly variable across watersheds and strongly related to tree canopy over streets, especially for phosphorus. Stormwater nutrient loads were primarily related to road density, the dominant control over runoff volume. Street canopy exerted opposing effects on loading, where elevated nutrient concentrations from trees near roads outweighed the weak influence of trees on runoff reduction. These results demonstrate that vegetation near streets contributes substantially to stormwater nutrient pollution, and therefore to eutrophication of urban surface waters. Urban landscape design and management that account for trees as nutrient pollution sources could improve water quality outcomes, while allowing cities to enjoy the myriad benefits of urban forests

Detecting phosphorus release from stormwater ponds to guide management and design

This dataset includes stormwater pond water quality field data, pond surface vegetation data, pond and watershed attributes, laboratory sediment phosphorus release experiment data, and laboratory sediment phosphorus fractionation data.There is growing concern that aging stormwater retention ponds may become net sources of phosphorus (P) to receiving waters. Release of P previously deposited in sediments (i.e. internal loading) is a major contributor to eutrophication in lakes. Stormwater ponds often have high external P loading, and other characteristics that may increase the likelihood of internal loading as ponds age. However, stormwater ponds have received comparatively little research attention, even though they are widely used with the intended goal of permanent immobilization of phosphorus. The ability of these systems to retain phosphorus over their lifespan is essentially unknown. The proposed research will build understanding necessary to assess the capacity of stormwater ponds to retain or release phosphorus in Minnesota’s stormwater pond infrastructure. The projects aim to develop methods for rapid and efficient identification of pond phosphorus release, to guide management of existing ponds, and to reveal factors that underlie poor performance for P removal. The results of this project will be used to inform and improve pond maintenance, pond design and decision making around construction of new ponds, and to ultimately improve the water quality of our lakes, rivers and wetlands.University of Minnesota Water Resources CenterMinnesota Stormwater Research Counci