Redefining Expectations for Place-based Philanthropy

This article discusses how The California Endowment has used a midcourse strategic review to refine Building Healthy Communities, aiming to provide insight for other place-based initiatives and to add to the body of knowledge about how to support transformative community change. With Building Healthy Communities, the endowment is taking a new approach to community change using a dual strategy to build community capacity in 14 places and scale the impact of its local efforts through statewide policy advocacy and communications. In 2013, it commissioned a strategic review to reflect on what it has learned from the first three years of this innovation in place-based work. Through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and document review, examples have emerged of how this unique approach is contributing to community change. The review also surfaced tensions created by the design and implementation of the strategy that could impede progress

Hypervelocity Impact of Unstressed and Stressed Titanium in a Whipple Configuration in Support of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle Service Module Propellant Tanks

Hypervelocity impacts were performed on six unstressed and six stressed titanium coupons with aluminium shielding in order to assess the effects of the partial penetration damage on the post impact micromechanical properties of titanium and on the residual strength after impact. This work is performed in support of the definition of the penetration criteria of the propellant tanks surfaces for the service module of the crew exploration vehicle where such a criterion is based on testing and analyses rather than on historical precedence. The objective of this work is to assess the effects of applied biaxial stress on the damage dynamics and morphology. The crater statistics revealed minute differences between stressed and unstressed coupon damage. The post impact residual stress analyses showed that the titanium strength properties were generally unchanged for the unstressed coupons when compared with undamaged titanium. However, high localized strains were shown near the craters during the tensile tests

Healthcare utilisation patterns for respiratory and gastrointestinal syndromes and meningitis in Msunduzi municipality Pietermaritzburg KwaZuluNatal Province South Africa 2013

Background. Public health facilities are used by the majority of South Africans, and healthcare utilisation surveys have been a useful tool to estimate the burden of disease in a given area.Objectives. To describe care-seeking behaviour in a periurban site with a high prevalence of HIV infection, as well as barriers to seeking appropriate healthcare.Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional household survey in 22 wards of the Msunduzi municipality in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, from October to December 2013 using a simple random sample of households selected from a 2011 census enumeration. A primary caregiver/adult decision-maker was interviewed regarding demographic data as well as health status and recent self-reported episodes of selected illnesses and healthcare utilisation.Results. Of the 2 238 eligible premises visited, 1 936 households (87%) with a total of 9 733 members were enrolled in the study. Of these, 635 (7%) reported one or more episodes of infectious illness during the study period. Public health clinics were most frequently consulted for all illnesses (361/635, 57%). Private healthcare (general practitioner, private clinic, private hospital) was sought by 90/635 of individuals (14%), only 13/635 (2%) reported seeking care from traditional healers, religious leaders or volunteers, and 71/635 (11%) did not seek any medical care for acute illnesses. Individuals in the lowest income group were more likely to seek care at public health facilities than those in the highest income group (70% v. 32%).Conclusions. Public health facility-based surveillance may be representative of disease patterns in this community, although surveillance at household level shows that high-income individuals may be excluded because they were more likely to use private healthcare, and the proportion of individuals who died at home would have been missed by facility-based surveillance. Data obtained in such surveys may be useful for public health planning.Â

High-Resolution Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Analysis Distinguishes Recrudescence and Reinfection in Recurrent Invasive Nontyphoidal Salmonella Typhimurium Disease

Invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella Typhimurium disease is a common and frequently recurrent cause of bacteremia across sub-Saharan Africa. We use high-resolution single nucleotide polymorphism analysis to distinguish between reinfection and recrudescence in disease recurrence within single individuals over time

Building Babies - Chapter 16

In contrast to birds, male mammals rarely help to raise the offspring. Of all mammals, only among rodents, carnivores, and primates, males are sometimes intensively engaged in providing infant care (Kleiman and Malcolm 1981). Male caretaking of infants has long been recognized in nonhuman primates (Itani 1959). Given that infant care behavior can have a positive effect on the infant’s development, growth, well-being, or survival, why are male mammals not more frequently involved in “building babies”? We begin the chapter defining a few relevant terms and introducing the theory and hypotheses that have historically addressed the evolution of paternal care. We then review empirical findings on male care among primate taxa, before focusing, in the final section, on our own work on paternal care in South American owl monkeys (Aotus spp.). We conclude the chapter with some suggestions for future studies.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HU 1746/2-1) Wenner-Gren Foundation, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation (BCS-0621020), the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation, the Zoological Society of San Dieg

Pollination and dispersal trait spectra recover faster than the growth form spectrum during spontaneous succession in sandy old‐fields

Question: Spontaneous succession is the most natural and cost‐effective solution for grassland restoration. However, little is known about the time required for the recovery of grassland functionality, i.e., for the recovery of reproductive and vegetative processes typical of pristine grasslands. Since these processes operate at different scales, we addressed the question: do reproductive and vegetative processes require different recovery times during spontaneous succession? Location: Kiskunság sand region (Central Hungary). Methods: As combinations of plant traits can be used to highlight general patterns in ecological processes, we compared reproductive (pollination‐ and dispersal‐related) and vegetative (growth form) traits between recovered grasslands of different age (<10 years old; 10–20 years old; 20–40 years old) and pristine grasslands. Results: During spontaneous succession, the reproductive trait spectra became similar to those of pristine grasslands earlier than the vegetative ones. In arable land abandoned for 10 years, pollination‐ and dispersal‐related trait spectra did not show significant difference to those of pristine grasslands; anemophily and anemochory were the prevailing strategies. Contrarily, significant differences in the growth form spectrum could be observed even after 40 years of abandonment; in recovered grasslands erect leafy species prevailed, while the fraction of dwarf shrubs and tussock‐forming species was significantly lower than in pristine grasslands. Conclusions: The recovery of the ecological processes of pristine grasslands might require different amounts of time, depending on the spatial scale at which they operate. The reproductive trait spectra recovered earlier than the vegetative one, since reproductive attributes first determine plant species sorting at the regional level towards their respective habitats. The recovery of the vegetative trait spectrum needs more time as vegetative‐based interactions operate on a smaller spatial scale. Thus, vegetative traits might be more effective in the long‐term assessment of restoration success than the reproductive ones

Norovirus epidemiology in South African children < 5 years hospitalised for diarrhoeal illness between 2009 and 2013

Public health interest in norovirus (NoV) has increased in recent years following improved diagnostics, global burden estimates and the development of NoV vaccine candidates. This study aimed to describe the detection rate, clinical characteristics and environmental features associated with NoV detection in hospitalized children <5 years with diarrhoea in South Africa (SA). Between 2009 and 2013, prospective diarrhoeal surveillance was conducted at four sites in SA. Stool specimens were collected and screened for NoVs and other enteric pathogens using molecular and serological assays. Epidemiological and clinical data were compared in patients with or without detection of NoV. The study detected NoV in 15% (452/3103) of hospitalized children <5 years with diarrhoea with the majority of disease in children <2 years (92%; 417/452). NoV-positive children were more likely to present with diarrhoea and vomiting (odds ratio (OR) 1·3; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·1–1·7; P = 0·011) with none-to-mild dehydration (adjusted OR 0·5; 95% CI 0·3–0·7) compared with NoV-negative children. Amongst children testing NoV positive, HIV-infected children were more likely to have prolonged hospitalization and increased mortality compared with HIV-uninfected children. Continued surveillance will be important to consider the epidemic trends and estimate the burden and risk of NoV infection in SA.GlaxoSmithKline (E-Track 200238)https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-infection2018-01-30hj2017Medical Virolog

Genomic history of the seventh pandemic of cholera in Africa.

The seventh cholera pandemic has heavily affected Africa, although the origin and continental spread of the disease remain undefined. We used genomic data from 1070 Vibrio cholerae O1 isolates, across 45 African countries and over a 49-year period, to show that past epidemics were attributable to a single expanded lineage. This lineage was introduced at least 11 times since 1970, into two main regions, West Africa and East/Southern Africa, causing epidemics that lasted up to 28 years. The last five introductions into Africa, all from Asia, involved multidrug-resistant sublineages that replaced antibiotic-susceptible sublineages after 2000. This phylogenetic framework describes the periodicity of lineage introduction and the stable routes of cholera spread, which should inform the rational design of control measures for cholera in Africa

Vegetative Ecological Characteristics of Restored Reed (Phragmites australis) Wetlands in the Yellow River Delta, China

In this study, we compared ecological characteristics of wetland vegetation in a series of restoration projects that were carried out in the wetlands of Yellow River Delta. The investigated characteristics include plant composition structure, species diversity and community similarity in three kinds of Phragmites australis wetlands, i.e. restored P. australis wetlands (R1, R2, R3 and R4: restored in 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2009, respectively), natural P. australis wetland (N) and degraded P. australis wetland (D) to assess the process of wetlands restoration. The coverage of the R1 was 99%, which was similar to natural wetland. Among all studied wetlands, the highest and lowest stem density was observed in R1 and R2, respectively, Plant height and stem diameter show the same trend as N > R2 > R1 > R3 > D > R4. Species diversity of restored P. australis wetlands became closed to natural wetland. Both species richness and Shannon–Wiener index had similar tendency: increased first and then decreased with restored time. The highest species richness and species diversity were observed in R2, while the lowest values of those parameters were found in natural P. australis wetland. Similarity indexes between restored wetlands and natural wetland increased with the restoration time, but they were still less than 50%. The results indicate that the vegetation of P. australis wetlands has experienced a great improvement after several years’ restoration, and it is feasible to restored degraded P. australis wetlands by pouring fresh water into those wetlands in the Yellow River Delta. However, it is notable that costal degraded P. australis wetland in this region may take years to decades to reach the status of natural wetland