Structural and psycho-social limits to climate change adaptation in the great barrier reef region

Adaptation, as a strategy to respond to climate change, has limits: there are conditions under which adaptation strategies fail to alleviate impacts from climate change. Research has primarily focused on identifying absolute bio-physical limits. This paper contributes empirical insight to an emerging literature on the social limits to adaptation. Such limits arise from the ways in which societies perceive, experience and respond to climate change. Using qualitative data from multi-stakeholder workshops and key-informant interviews with representatives of the fisheries and tourism sectors of the Great Barrier Reef region, we identify psycho-social and structural limits associated with key adaptation strategies, and examine how these are perceived as more or less absolute across levels of organisation. We find that actors experience social limits to adaptation when: i) the effort of pursuing a strategy exceeds the benefits of desired adaptation outcomes; ii) the particular strategy does not address the actual source of vulnerability, and; iii) the benefits derived from adaptation are undermined by external factors. We also find that social limits are not necessarily more absolute at higher levels of organisation: respondents perceived considerable opportunities to address some psycho-social limits at the national-international interface, while they considered some social limits at the local and regional levels to be effectively absolute

Next Steps: Improving the Medicaid Buy-in for Workers with Disabilities

The Bipartisan Policy Center's Health Program is building on its previous report, Improving Opportunities for Working People with Disabilities (January 2021), to address barriers to employment for Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities who often rely on Medicaid's unique services, such as home and community-based services (HCBS), to live independently in the community and work.The Medicaid Buy-In (MBI) for Workers with Disabilities refers to three eligibility groups within Medicaid that allow states to cover working individuals with disabilities who, excluding earned income, generally meet Social Security's definition of disability. The MBI for Workers with Disabilities therefore allows individuals with disabilities to work and retain their Medicaid coverage, or to use their Medicaid coverage to access wraparound services that are not covered under employer-sponsored insurance or Medicare. Enrollment in the MBI for Workers with Disabilities eligibility groups is associated with increased employment and earnings, while also having a positive impact on the economy, state Medicaid agencies, employers, and state and federal governments.In this report, BPC identifies federal policy reforms that will encourage more states to cover or optimize their coverage of the MBI for Workers with Disabilities eligibility groups. These reforms will improve access to the MBI for Workers with Disabilities programs and, thus, allow more Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities to work and achieve their employment potential. More specifically, BPC has identified a set of federal policy recommendations that Congress and the administration should advance. These federal policy reforms will clarify existing flexibilities that states can adopt when designing their MBI for Workers with Disabilities programs while also strengthening outreach, data, and interagency coordination.

Applying phylogenomics to understand the emergence of Shiga Toxin producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains causing severe human disease in the United Kingdom

Shiga Toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 is a recently emerged zoonotic pathogen with considerable morbidity. Since the serotype emerged in the 1980s, research has focussed on unravelling the evolutionary events from the E. coli O55:H7 ancestor to the contemporaneous globally dispersed strains. In this study the genomes of over 1000 isolates from human clinical cases and cattle, spanning the history of STEC O157:H7 in the United Kingdom were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis reveals the ancestry, key acquisition events and global context of the strains. Dated phylogenies estimate the time to the most recent common ancestor of the current circulating global clone to 175 years ago, followed by rapid diversification. We show the acquisition of specific virulence determinates occurred relatively recently and coincides with its recent detection in the human population. Using clinical outcome data from 493 cases of STEC O157:H7 we assess the relative risk of severe disease including HUS from each of the defined clades in the population and show the dramatic effect Shiga toxin complement has on virulence. We describe two strain replacement events that have occurred in the cattle population in the UK over the last 30 years; one resulting in a highly virulent strain that has accounted for the majority of clinical cases in the UK over the last decade. This work highlights the need to understand the selection pressures maintaining Shiga-toxin encoding bacteriophages in the ruminant reservoir and the study affirms the requirement for close surveillance of this pathogen in both ruminant and human populations

Genes Involved in Feed Efficiency Identified in a Meta-Analysis of Rumen Tissue from Two Populations of Beef Steers

In cattle, the rumen is an important site for the absorption of feed by-products released by bacterial fermentation, and variation in ruminal function plays a role in cattle feed efficiency. Studies evaluating gene expression in the rumen tissue have been performed prior to this. However, validating the expression of genes identified in additional cattle populations has been challenging. The purpose of this study was to perform a meta-analysis of the ruminal transcriptome of two unrelated populations of animals to identify genes that are involved in feed efficiency across populations. RNAseq data from animals with high and low residual feed intake (RFI) from a United States population of cattle (eight high and eight low RFI) and a Canadian population of cattle (nine high and nine low RFI) were analyzed for differences in gene expression. A total of 83 differentially expressed genes were identified. Some of these genes have been previously identified in other feed efficiency studies. These genes included ATP6AP1, BAG6, RHOG, and YPEL3. Differentially expressed genes involved in the Notch signaling pathway and in protein turnover were also identified. This study, combining two unrelated populations of cattle in a meta-analysis, produced several candidate genes for feed efficiency that may be more robust indicators of feed efficiency than those identified from single populations of animals

Chronic Nicotine Differentially Regulates ␣6-and ␤3- Containing Nicotinic Cholinergic Receptors in Rat Brain

ABSTRACT We investigated the effects of chronic nicotine on ␣6-and ␤3-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in two rat brain regions using three methodological approaches: radioligand binding, immunoprecipitation, and nicotine-stimulated synaptosomal release of dopamine. Nicotine was administered by osmotic minipumps for 2 weeks. Quantitative autoradiography with [ 125 I]␣-conotoxin MII to selectively label ␣6* nAChRs showed a 28% decrease in binding in the striatum but no change in the superior colliculus. Immunoprecipitation of nAChRs labeled by [ 3 H]epibatidine in these two regions showed that chronic nicotine increased ␣4-and ␤2-containing nAChRs by 39 to 67%. In contrast, chronic nicotine caused a 39% decrease in ␣6-containing nAChRs in striatum but no change in superior colliculus. No changes in ␤3-containing nAChRs were seen in either region after chronic nicotine. The decreased expression of ␣6-containing nAChRs persisted for at least 3 days, recovering to baseline by 7 days after removal of the pumps. There was a small but significant decrease in total nicotine-stimulated dopamine release in striatal synaptosomes after nicotine exposure. However, the component of dopamine release that was resistant to ␣-conotoxin MII blockade was unaffected, whereas dopamine release that was sensitive to blockade by ␣-conotoxin MII was decreased by 56%. These findings indicate that the ␣6* nAChR is regulated differently from other nAChR subtypes, and they suggest that the inclusion of a ␤3 subunit with ␣6 may serve to inhibit nicotineinduced down-regulation of these receptors

On the variability of simulated source-receptor relationships for sulfur deposition

The use of Lagrangian models to estimate source-receptor relationships for ambient SO 4 = concentrations and S deposition has become fairly widespread over the past several years. This paper addresses the sensitivity of long-term simulations of a Lagrangian S transport and deposition model to actual variations in SO 2 emissions and meteorological conditions. The variations of predicted source-receptor relationships due to (1) the inclusion of day to day variations in emissions strength as opposed to the use of the annual average daily emission rate and (2) year-to-year variations in meteorological conditions were studied to identify causes of uncertainty in a Lagrangian model. The results suggested that adding information on day to day emission variations for a specific point source resulted in variations in estimated S wet deposition of the order of only 20% within 500 km of the source.Year-to-year variations in meteorological conditions, on the other hand, resulted in variations in predicted S wet deposition of the order of 50% for some receptors. The variation in estimated source-receptor relationships for a given source/receptor combination was found to range as high as 70% over a 5-yr modeling period.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43900/1/11270_2004_Article_BF00303346.pd

Docetaxel-Loaded PLGA Nanoparticles Improve Efficacy in Taxane-Resistant Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Novel treatment strategies, including nanomedicine, are needed for improving management of triple-negative breast cancer. Patients with triple-negative breast cancer, when considered as a group, have a worse outcome after chemotherapy than patients with breast cancers of other subtypes, a finding that reflects the intrinsically adverse prognosis associated with the disease. The aim of this study was to improve the efficacy of docetaxel by incorporation into a novel nanoparticle platform for the treatment of taxane-resistant triple-negative breast cancer. Rod-shaped nanoparticles encapsulating docetaxel were fabricated using an imprint lithography based technique referred to as Particle Replication in Nonwetting Templates (PRINT). These rod-shaped PLGA-docetaxel nanoparticles were tested in the C3(1)-T-antigen (C3Tag) genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) of breast cancer that represents the basal-like subtype of triple-negative breast cancer and is resistant to therapeutics from the taxane family. Thi..

Signaling in Secret: Pay-for-Performance and the Incentive and Sorting Effects of Pay Secrecy

Key Findings: Pay secrecy adversely impacts individual task performance because it weakens the perception that an increase in performance will be accompanied by increase in pay; Pay secrecy is associated with a decrease in employee performance and retention in pay-for-performance systems, which measure performance using relative (i.e., peer-ranked) criteria rather than an absolute scale (see Figure 2 on page 5); High performing employees tend to be most sensitive to negative pay-for- performance perceptions; There are many signals embedded within HR policies and practices, which can influence employees’ perception of workplace uncertainty/inequity and impact their performance and turnover intentions; and When pay transparency is impractical, organizations may benefit from introducing partial pay openness to mitigate these effects on employee performance and retention

First observations of separated atmospheric nu_mu and bar{nu-mu} events in the MINOS detector

The complete 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking data since the beginning of August 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters water-equivalent in the Soudan mine, Minnesota. This paper presents the first MINOS observations of nuµ and [overline nu ]µ charged-current atmospheric neutrino interactions based on an exposure of 418 days. The ratio of upward- to downward-going events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation in the absence of neutrino oscillations, giving Rup/downdata/Rup/downMC=0.62-0.14+0.19(stat.)±0.02(sys.). An extended maximum likelihood analysis of the observed L/E distributions excludes the null hypothesis of no neutrino oscillations at the 98% confidence level. Using the curvature of the observed muons in the 1.3 T MINOS magnetic field nuµ and [overline nu ]µ interactions are separated. The ratio of [overline nu ]µ to nuµ events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation assuming neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate in the same manner, giving R[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]data/R[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]MC=0.96-0.27+0.38(stat.)±0.15(sys.), where the errors are the statistical and systematic uncertainties. Although the statistics are limited, this is the first direct observation of atmospheric neutrino interactions separately for nuµ and [overline nu ]µ