A nested environmental approach to typhoid epidemiology in Central Division, Fiji

Many current disease threats involve interactions within and between nested subsystems of biological organisation. Typhoid fever is a serious disease threat in the South Pacific region, with Fiji reporting the highest annual number of cases, yet risk factors in this setting have been poorly studied. While localised behaviours have dominated perspectives on typhoid transmission, interactions between distal ecological conditions, conditions of the residential environment and localised behaviour deserve greater attention for their potential to influence transmission. This thesis demonstrates a nested approach to typhoid epidemiology using a fivefold methodology to explore how regional, river basin, residential, socio-cultural and behavioural subsystems influence the risk of typhoid transmission in Central Division, Fiji, whereby I: (1) provide a regionally specific literature review examining health consequences of wetland ecosystem service interruption associated with common natural disasters; (2) use quantitative geospatial analysis to evaluate relationships between sub-catchment environmental characteristics and typhoid incidence and recurrence; (3) use a case-control design at a residential level to investigate bacterial contamination and chemical composition of water and soil as vehicles of exposure, complemented with observational analysis of living conditions, spatial analysis of household position and factor analysis to explore multivariate relationships influencing typhoid risk; (4) question 160 typhoid fever cases and 319 control subjects to reveal risky socio-cultural and behavioural practices and; (5) synthesize significant risk factors within and across nested subsystems and test several intervention scenarios using a Bayesian Network approach. Regional typhoid burden is influenced by climate change induced warming, altered rainfall patterns, increased storm severity and rising seas, coupled with population growth, slow economic growth, urbanisation, environmental change and limited capacity for adaptive management. The most parsimonious models for incidence and recurrence at the sub-catchment scale included total high soil-erosion risk area, percentage area that was highly erodible, connectivity between road and river networks and riparian forest fragmentation as predictor variables. In the residential setting, five factors, related to drainage, housing and condition of water and sanitation were significant in predicting typhoid. Multivariate analysis of household questionnaires indicated the following significant risk factors for typhoid fever: using an unimproved pit latrine, not washing produce (i.e. fruit or vegetables) or hands before eating, bathing outside, water not always accessible, having sand/wood plank floors and attending mass gatherings. The above results suggest that anthropogenic alteration of land cover and hydrology in river basin and residential systems increases risk of exposure where sediment increases following runoff. Localised socio-cultural and behavioural subsystems interact with residential and river basin subsystems to enhance risk of typhoid transmission. Bayesian network analysis suggests combined interventions within a subsystem provides greater exposure reduction than the sum of individual interventions and simultaneous interventions on select risk factors, across multiple nested subsystems, provides greater exposure reduction than elimination of risk factors in any one subsystem. A nested epidemiological approach to studying and interrupting waterborne disease transmission extends the testing of causal assumptions beyond the domestic domain, enhances traditional case-control approaches and provides evidence for multi-scale interventions on both distal and proximal drivers of disease and environmental degradation

Letter from Alfred Jenkins, Aaron Jenkins & Joshua James to James B. Finley

The authors write concerning the suspension of Local Elder Abraham Robinson from the Wilmington Circuit at its last Quarterly Conference. Robinson wants to appeal his case before the Ohio Conference, hoping that the suspension will be lifted. The authors encourage Finley to do all he can to get Robinson ( a perfect nuisance to the Church ) rebuked by the Ohio Conference, and the decision of the Wilmington Quarterly Conference sustained. Abstract Number - 289https://digitalcommons.owu.edu/finley-letters/1286/thumbnail.jp

Functionality, Parsimony, Discovery, Avoiding Hamartia: How Evolutionary Perspectives are Changing Psychology

Evolutionary psychology offers an important perspective to scientific psychology. Evolutionary psychology, in its short existence, has added an abundance of knowledge to the social sciences, let alone psychology. The study of human cognition and behavior remains incomplete without an evolutionary perspective. Here, we argue that evolutionary psychology uniquely provides a complete understanding of scientific psychology because it explains the functions of our psychological traits, provides us with the most parsimonious explanation of many psychological phenomena, predicts undocumented phenomena, and possibly allows us to avoid the downfalls of some of our contemptible evolved psychological mechanisms

Utilizing Short- and Long-Term Evaluation to Measure the Impact of a Long-Standing, Multi-State Educational Venue

The purpose of this program evaluation was to utilize short- and long-term surveys to measure the impact of a multi-state Range Beef Cow Symposium on knowledge change and changes in beef cattle production practices. Symposium participants completed end-of-session surveys and ranked their degree of knowledge change, with a 36% return rate. Follow-up surveys were mailed to past symposium participants who noted changes made to their production practices, with a 23% return rate. For symposium survey respondents, 70% were male, a majority were white, over 60% were under 50 years, and they represented 16 states. The estimated annual increase in profitability was positively associated with symposium attendance. Participants gained knowledge across all topics presented. For follow-up survey respondents, 86% were male, a majority were white, 62% were between 50-69 years old, and they represented 9 states. The estimated annual increase in profitability was positively associated with the likelihood to make operational changes, as well as notable changes made to genetics and selection, marketing options and plans for cattle, risk management, and time of calving. Over 70% made notable changes to cattle genetics, nutrition, health, marketing, replacement heifer development, and range management

How community participation in water and sanitation interventions impacts human health, WASH infrastructure and service longevity in low-income and middle-income countries: A realist review

Objective: To understand how, and under what circumstances community participation in water and sanitation interventions impacts the availability of safe water and sanitation, a change in health status or behaviour and the longevity of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) resources and services. Design: Realist review. Data sources: PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were used to identify papers from low-income and middle-income countries from 2010 to 2020. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Criteria were developed for papers to be included. The contribution of each paper was assessed based on its relevance and rigour (eg, can it contribute to context, mechanism or outcome, and is the method used to generate that information credible). Analysis: Inductive and deductive coding was used to generate context-mechanism-outcome configurations. Results: 73 studies conducted in 29 countries were included. We identified five mechanisms that explained the availability, change and longevity outcomes: (1) accountability (policies and procedures to hold communities responsible for their actions and outcomes of an intervention), (2) diffusion (spread of an idea or behaviour by innovators over time through communication among members of a community), (3) market (the interplay between demand and supply of a WASH service or resource), (4) ownership (a sense of possession and control of the WASH service or resource) and (5) shame (a feeling of disgust in one\u27s behaviour or actions). Contextual elements identified included community leadership and communication, technical skills and knowledge, resource access and dependency, committee activity such as the rules and management plans, location and the level of community participation. Conclusions: The findings highlight five key mechanisms impacted by 19 contextual factors that explain the outcomes of community water and sanitation interventions. Policymakers, programme implementers and institutions should consider community dynamics, location, resources, committee activity and practices and nature of community participation, before introducing community water and sanitation interventions

Benefit Transfer And Ecosystem Services: Linking Water Quality And Recreation In North Carolina

Nitrogen concentrations are a prominent indicator of water pollution, frequently leading to algal blooms which in turn cause fish kills and unappealing odors and appearance. As such, water quality may influence the water recreation decisions of individual recreators, who tend to prefer higher water quality and are willing to pay for it. This paper employs the benefit transfer method to estimate the economic benefits of freshwater-based recreation in response to changes in ambient water quality