Rainwater Harvesting, Alternative to the Water supply in Indian Urban Areas : the Case of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

NAgestion de l'eau;développement;récupération de l'eau de pluie;Inde

Open to All? Different Cultures, Same Communities

Produced for the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs with the support of the Chicago Community Trust, this report aims to better understand immigrants living in the northern suburbs of Chicago -- who they are, where they live in relation to housing patterns and conditions, and the extent to which they exert political influence on local housing decisions. It was produced as part of The Chicago Community Trust's three-year Immigrant Integration Initiative, which began in 2007 to come up with strategies that could help immigrants successfully integrate into the civic and economic fabric of their new communities. A goal of this report is to provide a firm foundation for important discussions -- and decisions -- facing our communities

The health effects of air pollution in Delhi, India

The authors report the results of a time-series study of the impact of particulate air pollution on daily mortality in Delhi. They find: a) A positive, significant relationship between particulate pollution and daily nontraumatic deaths as well as deaths from certain causes (respiratory and cardiovascular problems) and for certain age groups. b) In general, these impacts are smaller than those estimated for other countries, where on average a 100-microgram increase in total suspended particulates (TSP) leads to a 6-percent increase in nontraumatic mortality. In Delhi, such an increase in TSP is associated with a 2.3-percent increase in deaths. c) The differences in magnitudes of the effects are most likely explained by differences in distributions of age at death and cause of death, as most deaths in Delhi occur before the age of 65 and are not attributed to causes with a strong association with air pollution. d) Although air pollution seems to have less impact on mortality counts in Delhi, the number of life-years saved per death avoided is greater in Delhi than in US cities -- because the age distribution of impacts in these two places varies. In the United States particulates have the greatest influence on daily deaths among persons 65 and older. In Delhi, they have the greatest impact in the 15-to-44 age group. That means that for each death associated with air pollution, on average more life-years would be saved in Delhi than in the United States. Large differences in the magnitude of effects do call into question the validity of the"concentration-response transfer"procedure. In that procedure, concentration-response relationships found for industrial countries are applied to cities in developing countries with little or no adjustment, to estimate the effects of pollution on daily mortality.Demographics,Public Health Promotion,Montreal Protocol,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Air Quality&Clean Air,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Montreal Protocol,Demographics,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Systems Development&Reform

Unusual cause of mechanical ileus: abdominal cocoon syndrome

A 38-year-old black male patient was admitted with diarrhea and nausea over two days and aggravating pain in the meso- and epigastium that resolved after urination. He had no surgical history and only an episode of pulmonary tuberculosis five years earlier, for which he was properly treated. Physical examination revealed a tender and distended abdomen with clangorous sounds. His temperature was 36.1°C. Routine laboratory blood analyses were normal. An abdominal ultrasound revealed diffuse distention of the small intestine. A computed tomography (CT) scan showed a conglomerate of dilated small bowel loops in the meso- and hypogastrium, suggestive for a supravesical mechanical small bowel obstruction. Peritoneal thickening was seen in the right epigastrium (Figure A, white arrow). An explorative laparoscopy revealed a whitish, thickened membrane encapsulating the small bowels as a ‘cocoon’ (Figure B). Extensive adhesiolysis released an intestinal kinking in the lower abdomen, just above the bladder. No resection was needed. Histopathology of the membrane showed fibrocollagenous tissue with mixed inflammatory infiltrate

Development of a pig jejunal explant culture for studying the gastrointestinal toxicity of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol: histopathological analysis

The digestive tract is a target for the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON), a major cereals grain contaminant of public health concern in Europe and North America. Pig, the most sensitive species to DON toxicity, can be regarded as the most relevant animal model for studying the intestinal effects of DON. A pig jejunal explants culture was developed to assess short-term effects of DON. In a first step, jejunal explants from 9-13 week-old and from 4-5 week-old pigs were cultured in vitro for up to 8 hours. Explants from younger animals were better preserved after 8 hours, as assessed by morphological scores and by villi lengths. In a second step, dose-related alterations of the jejunal tissue were observed, including shortened and coalescent villi, lysis of enterocytes, oedema. After 4h of DON exposure of explants from 4-5 week-old pigs, a no-effect concentration level of 1 µM was estimated (corresponding to diet contaminated with 0.3 mg DON/kg) based on morphological scores, and of 0.2 µM based on villi lengths. In conclusion, our data indicate that pig intestinal explants represent a relevant and sensitive model to investigate the effects of food contaminants

The cycling of carbon into and out of dust

Observational evidence seems to indicate that the depletion of interstellar carbon into dust shows rather wide variations and that carbon undergoes rather rapid recycling in the interstellar medium (ISM). Small hydrocarbon grains are processed in photo-dissociation regions by UV photons, by ion and electron collisions in interstellar shock waves and by cosmic rays. A significant fraction of hydrocarbon dust must therefore be re-formed by accretion in the dense, molecular ISM. A new dust model (Jones et al., Astron. Astrophys., 2013, 558, A62) shows that variations in the dust observables in the diffuse interstellar medium (nH = 1000 cm^3), can be explained by systematic and environmentally-driven changes in the small hydrocarbon grain population. Here we explore the consequences of gas-phase carbon accretion onto the surfaces of grains in the transition regions between the diffuse ISM and molecular clouds (e.g., Jones, Astron. Astrophys., 2013, 555, A39). We find that significant carbonaceous dust re-processing and/or mantle accretion can occur in the outer regions of molecular clouds and that this dust will have significantly different optical properties from the dust in the adjacent diffuse ISM. We conclude that the (re-)processing and cycling of carbon into and out of dust is perhaps the key to advancing our understanding of dust evolution in the ISM.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Uveitis and Gender: The Course of Uveitis in Pregnancy

The hormonal and immunological changes in pregnancy have a key role in maintaining maternal tolerance of the semiallogeneic foetus. These pregnancy-associated changes may also influence the course of maternal autoimmune diseases. Noninfectious uveitis tends to improve during pregnancy. Specifically, uveitis activity tends to ameliorate from the second trimester onwards, with the third trimester being associated with the lowest disease activity. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is likely to be multifactorial and complex. Possible mechanisms include Th1/Th2 immunomodulation, regulatory T-cell phenotype plasticity, and immunosuppressive cytokines. This clearly has management implications for patients with chronic sight threatening disease requiring systemic treatment, as most medications are not recommended during pregnancy due to lack of safety data or proven teratogenicity. Given that uveitis activity is expected to decrease in pregnancy, systemic immunosuppressants could be tapered during pregnancy in these patients, with flare-ups being managed with local corticosteroids till delivery. In the postpartum period, as uveitis activity is expected to rebound, patients should be reviewed closely and systemic medications recommenced, depending on uveitis activity and the patient’s breastfeeding status. This review highlights the current understanding of the course of uveitis in pregnancy and its management to help guide clinicians in managing their uveitis patients during this special time in life

Cultivating Global Citizens through Study Abroad and the Use of Technology with Undergraduate Social Work Students

This article examines factors of successful use of faculty-led short-term study abroad programs as a teaching strategy in promoting cultural humility among undergraduate social work students. Key attributes that influence improved cultural awareness in social work students are detailed, including the use of social media prior to, during and after travel abroad. Undergraduate social work students (n=8) participated in a summer course including travel to Costa Rica. Description of the teaching techniques and strategies are described pre-travel, in-country and post-travel. Two measures are described given to students pre-travel and post-travel to assess cultural flexibility, adaptability, openness and personal autonomy. These include the Cross Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) and the Short Term Study Abroad Survey. Results included all of the students reporting a change in their world view, attitude changes as a result of in- home stays, and agency visits. There was a significant difference on the CCAI on the Personal Autonomy subscale

Spectral evidence for jets from Accreting Millisecond X-ray Pulsars

Transient radio emission from X-ray binaries is associated with synchrotron emission from collimated jets that escape the system, and accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (AMXPs) are no exception. Although jets from black hole X-ray binaries are well-studied, those from neutron star systems appear much fainter, for reasons yet uncertain. Jets are usually undetectable at higher frequencies because of the relative brightness of other components such as the accretion disc. AMXPs generally have small orbital separations compared with other X-ray binaries and as such their discs are relatively faint. Here, I present data that imply jets in fact dominate the radio-to-optical spectrum of outbursting AMXPs. They therefore may provide the best opportunity to study the behaviour of jets produced by accreting neutron stars, and compare them to those produced by black hole systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "A Decade of Accreting Millisecond X-ray Pulsars", Amsterdam, April 2008, eds. R. Wijnands et al. (AIP Conf. Proc.