Using smartphone technology to reduce health impacts from atmospheric environmental hazards

Background: Global environmental change is exacerbating human vulnerability to adverse atmospheric conditions including air pollution, aeroallergens such as pollen, and extreme weather events. Public information and advisories are a central component of responses to mitigate the human impacts of environmental hazards. Digital technologies are emerging as a means of providing personalised, timely and accessible warnings. Method: We describe AirRater, an integrated online platform that combines symptom surveillance, environmental monitoring, and notifications of changing environmental conditions via a free smartphone app. It was developed and launched in Tasmania, Australia (population 510,000), with the aim of reducing health impacts and improving quality of life in people with conditions such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. We present environmental data, user uptake and results from three online evaluation surveys conducted during the first 22 months of operation, from October 2015 through August 2017.Results: There were 3,443 downloads of the app from all parts of Tasmania. Of the 1,959 individuals who registered, 79% reported having either asthma or allergic rhinitis. Downloads increased during adverse environmental conditions and following publicity. Symptom reports per active user were highest during spring (72%), lowest in autumn (37%) and spiked during periods of reduced air quality. In response to online surveys, most users reported that the app was useful and had improved their understanding of how environmental conditions affect their health, and in some cases had prompted action such as the timely use of medication.Conclusion: Active engagement and consistent positive feedback from users demonstrates the potential for considerable individual clinical and wider public health benefits from integrated and personalised monitoring systems such as AirRater. The perceived health benefits require objective verification, and such systems need to address several challenges in providing timely, reliable and valid environmental data

How can humans understand their automated cars? HMI principles, problems and solutions

As long as vehicles do not provide full automation, the design and function of the Human Machine Interface (HMI) is crucial for ensuring that the human “driver” and the vehicle-based automated systems collaborate in a safe manner. When the driver is decoupled from active control, the design of the HMI becomes even more critical. Without mutual understanding, the two agents (human and vehicle) will fail to accurately comprehend each other’s intentions and actions. This paper proposes a set of design principles for in-vehicle HMI and reviews some current HMI designs in the light of those principles. We argue that in many respects, the current designs fall short of best practice and have the potential to confuse the driver. This can lead to a mismatch between the operation of the automation in the light of the current external situation and the driver’s awareness of how well the automation is currently handling that situation. A model to illustrate how the various principles are interrelated is proposed. Finally, recommendations are made on how, building on each principle, HMI design solutions can be adopted to address these challenges

Fulani cattle productivity and management in the Kachia grazing reserve, Nigeria

Kachia Grazing Reserve (KGR) in northern Nigeria was home to some 10,000 Fulani pastoralists and their 40,000 cattle in June 2011. This study examines productivity and management of cattle belonging to livestock keepers within the reserve before and after a mass immigration event when 3,000 refugees moved into the reserve with their cattle to escape inter-community violence during May 2011. Data, on livestock management strategies (transhumance) and production parameters (herd size, composition, fertility, dynamics), were collected in March, June and October 2011.Cattle productivity in KGR is geared to supporting Fulani households while maintaining herd wealth. High offtake of young animals, especially the selling of heifers, was an unusual finding and may indicate that KGR pastoralists have been restricting their herd size voluntarily as well as limiting milk production to household requirements. This is probably due to the absence of a commercial milk market and a higher reliance on the sale of young stock to meet cash needs.Despite the widespread perception that grazing reserves are promoting sedentarisation of Fulani pastoralists and curbing transhumance, the inhabitants of the KGR were observed to practise wide-ranging transhumance both during wet and dry seasons driven by the limited availability of grazing. Some households selected a sub-sample of animals for transhumance rather than sending their whole herd, and some maintained cattle on alternative land-holdings outside the reserve. KGR households described modifying their usual transhumance practices in response to the mass immigration event and insecurity.Nevertheless, the herd demography results from this study are broadly similar to data obtained from other studies over the past 40 years, indicating that productivity and management practices have remained relatively unchanged

Synchronized ATP oscillations have a critical role in prechondrogenic condensation during chondrogenesis

The skeletal elements of embryonic limb are prefigured by prechondrogenic condensation in which secreted molecules such as adhesion molecules and extracellular matrix have crucial roles. However, how the secreted molecules are controlled to organize the condensation remains unclear. In this study, we examined metabolic regulation of secretion in prechondrogenic condensation, using bioluminescent monitoring systems. We here report on ATP oscillations in the early step of chondrogenesis. The ATP oscillations depended on both glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration, and their synchronization among cells were achieved via gap junctions. In addition, the ATP oscillations were driven by Ca2+ oscillations and led to oscillatory secretion in chondrogenesis. Blockade of the ATP oscillations prevented cellular condensation. Furthermore, the degree of cellular condensation increased with the frequency of ATP oscillations. We conclude that ATP oscillations have a critical role in prechondrogenic condensation by inducing oscillatory secretion

Age, coloration and dominance in nonbreeding hummingbirds: A test of the asymmetry hypothesis

During the nonbreeding season, adult Anna and black-chinned hummingbirds ( Calypte anna and Archilochus alexandri ) have lower defense costs and more exclusive territories than juveniles. Adult C. anna are victorious over juveniles in aggressive encounters, and tend to monopolize the most temporally predictable resources.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46906/1/265_2004_Article_BF00300667.pd

The Secret Life of the Anthrax Agent Bacillus anthracis: Bacteriophage-Mediated Ecological Adaptations

Ecological and genetic factors that govern the occurrence and persistence of anthrax reservoirs in the environment are obscure. A central tenet, based on limited and often conflicting studies, has long held that growing or vegetative forms of Bacillus anthracis survive poorly outside the mammalian host and must sporulate to survive in the environment. Here, we present evidence of a more dynamic lifecycle, whereby interactions with bacterial viruses, or bacteriophages, elicit phenotypic alterations in B. anthracis and the emergence of infected derivatives, or lysogens, with dramatically altered survival capabilities. Using both laboratory and environmental B. anthracis strains, we show that lysogeny can block or promote sporulation depending on the phage, induce exopolysaccharide expression and biofilm formation, and enable the long-term colonization of both an artificial soil environment and the intestinal tract of the invertebrate redworm, Eisenia fetida. All of the B. anthracis lysogens existed in a pseudolysogenic-like state in both the soil and worm gut, shedding phages that could in turn infect non-lysogenic B. anthracis recipients and confer survival phenotypes in those environments. Finally, the mechanism behind several phenotypic changes was found to require phage-encoded bacterial sigma factors and the expression of at least one host-encoded protein predicted to be involved in the colonization of invertebrate intestines. The results here demonstrate that during its environmental phase, bacteriophages provide B. anthracis with alternatives to sporulation that involve the activation of soil-survival and endosymbiotic capabilities