Prevalence of Probable Hoarding and Associated Consequences at the Scene of Mississippi Fires, 2009-2019

Background: Increased risk for fire is an often-discussed consequence of hoarding disorder; however, the source of this association has been largely through clinicians’ accounts or hoarding patients’ self-reports.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between probable hoarding and incidence of fires using archival data from Mississippi.Methods: Incidents of residential fires from 2009-2019 were provided by the Mississippi State Fire Marshal’s Office. Fires that were classified as having “a significant amount of fire load present” were classified as probable hoarding fires for analysis.Results: Of the 5,194 unique residential fires identified across the study period, 96 fires (1.9% of all residential fires) were classified as potentially linked to hoarding. Compared to fires not classified as probable hoarding fires, probable hoarding fires were more likely to have at least one individual injured (8.3% vs 5.2%) and to have one or more deaths (4.2% vs 2.1).Conclusion: Our results suggest that the recorded prevalence of probable hoarding at the scene of residential fires in the state of Mississippi is lower than national estimates of the incidence of hoarding; however, residential fires with probable hoarding conditions appear to be more deadly than other fires

Toward an effective protocol on land-based marine pollution in the wider Caribbean Region

This study was undertaken to advance the basis for discussions among Contracting Parties to the Cartagena Convention concerning a protocol on land-based marine pollution (LBMP) in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR). The study has four principal objectives: (1) a review and summary of LBMP problems to determine common problems and priority areas; (2) a survey of broadly defined environmental infrastructure to help identify national commitments and national capacities to prevent, reduce, or control LBMP; (3) a survey and analysis of subregional differences in commitment or interest in regional control of LBMP; and (4) a comparison of program approaches from other regions, providing lessons from which an effective program for the Caribbean might be designed. The study argues that the environmental, economic, and institutional diversity of the region as a whole suggests (1) an incremental approach to international resolution of LBMP problems, one that builds upon successful arangements among states that have appropriate incentives for solving real transboundary pollution problems; and (2) a subregional approach to the control of localized but widely occurring pollution problems, in which the "umbrella" function of a regional protocol would concentrate on the need to ensure uniform access to all clearinghouse products and on the internal allocation of financial and technical assistance to individual states and subregions.Funding provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of International Activities under Co-operative Agreement No. CX82IS40-01-0

Marine area governance and management in the Gulf of Maine : a case study

This case study provides a description and evaluation of marine area governance and management in the Gulf of Maine. On the advice of the Oversight Committee, we began the study at a broad level by identifying marine resources, uses of the resources, existing management regimes, and conflicts among users of the resources. The results of these initial reviews are collected in the tables in Appendix A. The Oversight Committee also suggested that we develop a chronology of important events relating to marine area governance and management in the Gulf of Maine, which is included as Appendix B. As is clear from even a quick scan of the material in Appendix A, almost every conceivable use of the marine environment occurs in the Gulf of Maine at some scale. However, some of these uses are more problematic than others in terms of the governance and management problems they engender. Rather than take a broadbrush approach that might not have done justice to any of the region's many ocean resources and uses, we decided to focus the case study on one or more of its most difficult and consequential governance and management issues. The initial survey enabled us to focus in on a subset of resources, use conflicts, and governance issues, namely those associated mainly with marine fisheries governance and management. Several considerations support the argument for a focus on fisheries governance and management. The marine fisheries are a regional-scale resource and industry, due to the mobility of the fish stocks, the geographic distribution of the users of the resource, and the fact that governance institutions have been designed to have regionwide authority. Thus fisheries mismanagement has the potential to inflict widespread social detriment and significant economic losses. Indeed, the net cost of depleted groundfish stocks under the current management structure, relative to the condition of stocks in an optimally managed fishery, has been estimated at about $139 million annually, or just under one-fifth the landed value of the entire Gulf of Maine commercial catch. Other ocean resources with potentially regional impacts, such as offshore energy, are not being pursued in the Gulf of Maine region at levels that pose significant concerns. Consequently, non-fishery resource management problems in the Gulf of Maine are, for the most part, local in scale, of comparatively minor economic significance, and not unique to the region. There is no evidence, for example, of "system-wide degradation of marine environmental quality in the Gulf of Maine. . . . The Gulf as a whole remains relatively clean, although the deep central basins appear to be accumulating several pollutants, including PAHs and PCBs" (GOMCME 1994; see also Dow and Braasch 1996 and Gould, Clark, and Thurberg 1994). Given that most pollutants of concern are concentrated in inshore waters near urban areas and in the mouths of industrialized rivers, it is not at all clear that they could be dealt with more effectively or efficiently at the regional level. In sum, our focus on fisheries reflects our judgment that the greatest net benefits might be obtained from improvements in the governance and management of these marine resources within the Gulf of Maine region.This case study was produced for the purposes of the Committee on Marine Area Governance and Management of the National Research Council (NRC), Agreement No. DOT -3830-96-002

Cytoplasmic Dynein Heavy Chain 1b Is Required for Flagellar Assembly in Chlamydomonas

A second cytoplasmic dynein heavy chain (cDhc) has recently been identified in several organisms, and its expression pattern is consistent with a possible role in axoneme assembly. We have used a genetic approach to ask whether cDhc1b is involved in flagellar assembly in Chlamydomonas. Using a modified PCR protocol, we recovered two cDhc sequences distinct from the axonemal Dhc sequences identified previously. cDhc1a is closely related to the major cytoplasmic Dhc, whereas cDhc1b is closely related to the minor cDhc isoform identified in sea urchins, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Tetrahymena. TheChlamydomonas cDhc1b transcript is a low-abundance mRNA whose expression is enhanced by deflagellation. To determine its role in flagellar assembly, we screened a collection of stumpy flagellar (stf) mutants generated by insertional mutagenesis and identified two strains in which portions of the cDhc1bgene have been deleted. The two mutants assemble short flagellar stumps (<1–2 μm) filled with aberrant microtubules, raft-like particles, and other amorphous material. The results indicate that cDhc1b is involved in the transport of components required for flagellar assembly in Chlamydomonas

Experimental Infection of Brazilian Free-Tailed Bats (\u3ci\u3eTadarida brasiliensis\u3c/i\u3e) with Two Strains of SARS-CoV-2

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is presumed to have originated from wildlife and shares homology with other bat coronaviruses. Determining the susceptibility of North American bat species to SARS-CoV-2 is of utmost importance for making decisions regarding wildlife management, public health, and conservation. In this study, Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) were experimentally infected with two strains of SARS-CoV-2 (parental WA01 and Delta variant), evaluated for clinical disease, sampled for viral shedding and antibody production, and analyzed for pathology. None of the bats (n = 18) developed clinical disease associated with infection, shed infectious virus, or developed histopathological lesions associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. All bats had low levels of viral RNA in oral swabs, six bats had low levels of viral RNA present in the lungs during acute infection, and one of the four bats that were maintained until 28 days post-infection developed a neutralizing antibody response. These findings suggest that Brazilian free-tailed bats are permissive to infection by SARS-CoV-2, but they are unlikely to contribute to environmental maintenance or transmission