Fire and Flow: Assessing the Long-Term Effects of Wildfires and Impact of High Flow Events on Phosphorus Concentrations in Mountain Streams

Climate change has led to significant shifts in the Earth’s weather patterns, often leading to longer, more intense droughts, irregular but extreme storms, and more severe wildfires with longer burn durations. These weather pattern changes have frequently led to shifts in ecosystem dynamics, impacting aspects such as nutrient flux, species diversity, and overall habitat health. Regarding nutrient flux specifically, changes in phosphorus (P) concentrations can negatively impact stream systems as elevated levels can lead to toxic algal blooms, which can cause habitat degradation, loss of usable recreational areas, and large fish kills. A common trigger of these P spikes is the occurrence of wildfires. As fire burns plants and other organic matter, it can often release trapped P, making it available for uptake by flora and fauna. However, if it is not immediately taken up, it can be transported to streams via storm runoff. Furthermore, as droughts, another common trigger, continue to get more severe, the likelihood of P accumulation throughout undisturbed water pathways and riverbed sediments significantly increases. Then, once a storm finally occurs and the flow pathways are disturbed, the accumulated P is mobilized and transported to streams via runoff, further contributing to spikes in P levels. In this study, we explored the influence of riverbed disturbance on stream P concentrations as well as the potential existence of any long-term repercussions of wildfire on P mobility. For one spring snowmelt season and two summer monsoon seasons, we collected water samples during riverbed-disturbing high flow events and deployed P catching devices in streams located in a 9-year-old burn scar. We found that riverbed sediments disturbed by high intensity rainstorms can influence the overall source of P in water columns, which switched between proximal and distal sources. We also found that despite short-term spikes typically found after a wildfire, stream P levels can significantly decrease long-term. This knowledge is important because a better understanding of these trends could foster improvements of strategies for water quality monitoring, restoration efforts, and the protection of natural resources by managing agencies

Recognizing Our Dangerous Gifts: Applying the Social Model to Individuals with Mental Illness

Our society and laws allow a space for a multitude of identities and forms of expression. Many kinds of differences are legally protected in various ways, such as differences in race, religion, and gender. Sometimes protection takes the form of requiring social institutions to adapt to the unique needs of certain individuals or groups. Rights for disabled individuals, as exemplified by the Americans with Disabilities Act, rest on the principle that impairment disables because the world is structured around an incompatible model of human ability; not because of a fundamental deficit within the individual. This conception, termed the social model of disability, functions well for the paradigmatic physical impairments such as a paraplegic in a wheelchair, but not all impairments fall so neatly into this framework. While the social model of dis ability has been essential in the evolution of disability rights law, those who are disabled by mental illness have been excluded from application of this progressive model. There are many reasons proffered for such exclusion, such as safety, and the so-called right to cure. \u27 Nevertheless, a more critical look at the lives and experiences of individuals with mental illness reveals that their legal disadvantages have more to do stigma, fear, and discrimination than with altruistic goals, such as safety or a right to treatment. In a society in which sanism reins, the medical model remains the lens through which the law views the mentally ill. By taking the side of doctors who believe that the mentally ill require medical treatment, lawyers and judges accept without question the invisible oppression of sanist ideology. I argue that the current medical model of mental illness is deeply insufficient for mentally ill litigants. Under the guise of objective knowledge-that is, a psychiatric diagnosis-the medical model as it is applied in the law fails to recognize the dignity in the identities of the mentally ill and thereby perpetuates, if not worsens, their collective denigration as members of society

Attention and regional gray matter development in very preterm children at age 12 years

Objectives: This study examines the selective, sustained, and executive attention abilities of very preterm (VPT) born children in relation to concurrent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of regional gray matter development at age 12 years. Methods: A regional cohort of 110 VPT (≤32 weeks gestation) and 113 full term (FT) born children were assessed at corrected age 12 years on the Test of Everyday Attention-Children. They also had a structural MRI scan that was subsequently analyzed using voxel-based morphometry to quantify regional between-group differences in cerebral gray matter development, which were then related to attention measures using multivariate methods. Results: VPT children obtained similar selective (p=.85), but poorer sustained (p=.02) and executive attention (p=.01) scores than FT children. VPT children were also characterized by reduced gray matter in the bilateral parietal, temporal, prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, bilateral thalami, and left hippocampus; and increased gray matter in the occipital and anterior cingulate cortices (family-wise error-corrected

Economic evaluation of public health interventions: an application to interventions for the prevention of violence against women and girls implemented by the “what works to prevent violence against women and girls?” global program

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) has important social, economic, and public health impacts. Governments and international donors are increasing their investment in VAWG prevention programs, yet clear guidelines to assess the ?value for money? of these interventions are lacking. Improved costing and economic evaluation of VAWG prevention can support programming through supporting priority setting, justifying investment, and planning the financing of VAWG prevention services. This article sets out a standardized methodology for the economic evaluation of complex, that is, multicomponent and/or multiplatform, programs designed to prevent VAWG in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It outlines an approach that can be used alongside the most recent guidance for the economic evaluation of public health interventions in LMICs. It defines standardized methods of data collection and analysis, outcomes, and unit costs (i.e., average costs per person reached, output or service delivered), and provides guidance to investigate the uncertainty in cost-effectiveness estimates and report results. The costing approach has been developed and piloted as part of the ?What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls?? (What Works?) program in five countries. This article and its supplementary material can be used by both economists and non-economists to contribute to the generation of new cost-effectiveness data on VAWG prevention, and ultimately improve the allocative efficiency and financing across VAWG programs

Tracking infectious diseases in a warming world.

Using infectious diseases sensitive to climate as indicators of climate change helps stimulate andinform public health response

Mne1 Is a Novel Component of the Mitochondrial Splicing Apparatus Responsible for Processing of a \u3ci\u3eCOX1\u3c/i\u3e Group I Intron in Yeast

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells lacking Mne1 are deficient in intron splicing in the gene encoding the Cox1 subunit of cytochrome oxidase but contain wild-type levels of the bc1 complex. Thus, Mne1 has no role in splicing of COB introns or expression of the COB gene. Northern experiments suggest that splicing of the COX1 aI5β intron is dependent on Mne1 in addition to the previously known Mrs1, Mss116, Pet54, and Suv3 factors. Processing of the aI5_ intron is similarly impaired in mne1∆ and mrs1∆ cells and overexpression of Mrs1 partially restores the respiratory function of mne1∆ cells. Mrs1 is known to function in the initial transesterification reaction of splicing. Mne1 is a mitochondrial matrix protein loosely associated with the inner membrane and is found in a high mass ribonucleoprotein complex specifically associated with the COX1 mRNA even within an intronless strain. Mne1 does not appear to have a secondary function in COX1 processing or translation, because disruption of MNE1 in cells containing intronless mtDNA does not lead to a respiratory growth defect. Thus, the primary defect in mne1∆ cells is splicing of the aI5β intron in COX1

Alcohol consumption and protective behavioural strategy use among Australian young adults

This study examines the use of safeguards or protective behaviours by young adults to reduce the harm and negative consequences associated with excessive alcohol consumption. Participants were 210 Australian university students. Participants completed an online questionnaire which focused on their alcohol consumption and engagement in protective behaviours. Results indicate that all participants who consumed alcohol engaged in protective behaviours at some level, with females reporting similar levels of these behaviours to males. Protective strategy use was related to less negative consequences of alcohol use. These findings suggest that the promotion of harm reduction strategies is needed to complement prevention programmes which aim to reduce the consumption of alcohol

Africa’s oesophageal cancer corridor: geographic variations in incidence correlate with certain micronutrient deficiencies

Background The aetiology of Africa’s easterly-lying corridor of squamous cell oesophageal cancer is poorly understood. Micronutrient deficiencies have been implicated in this cancer in other areas of the world, but their role in Africa is unclear. Without prospective cohorts, timely insights can instead be gained through ecological studies. Methods Across Africa we assessed associations between a country’s oesophageal cancer incidence rate and food balance sheet-derived estimates of mean national dietary supplies of 7 nutrients: calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), iodine (I), magnesium (Mg), selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn). We included 32 countries which had estimates of dietary nutrient supplies and of better-quality GLOBCAN 2012 cancer incidence rates. Bayesian hierarchical Poisson lognormal models were used to estimate incidence rate ratios for oesophageal cancer associated with each nutrient, adjusted for age, gender, energy intake, phytate, smoking and alcohol consumption, as well as their 95% posterior credible intervals (CI). Adult dietary deficiencies were quantified using an estimated average requirements (EAR) cut-point approach. Results Adjusted incidence rate ratios for oesophageal cancer associated with a doubling of mean nutrient supply were: for Fe 0.49 (95% CI: 0.29–0.82); Mg 0.58 (0.31–1.08); Se 0.40 (0.18–0.90); and Zn 0.29 (0.11–0.74). There were no associations with Ca, Cu and I. Mean national nutrient supplies exceeded adult EARs for Mg and Fe in most countries. For Se, mean supplies were less than EARs (both sexes) in 7 of the 10 highest oesophageal cancer ranking countries, compared to 23% of remaining countries. For Zn, mean supplies were less than the male EARs in 8 of these 10 highest ranking countries compared to in 36% of other countries

Comparison of image analysis software packages in the assessment of adhesion of microorganisms to mucosal epithelium using confocal laser scanning microscopy

We have compared current image analysis software packages in order to find the most useful one for assessing microbial adhesion and inhibition of adhesion to tissue sections. We have used organisms of different sizes, the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and the yeast Candida albicans. Adhesion of FITC-labelled H. pylori and C. albicans was assessed by confocal microscopy. Four different Image analysis software packages, NIH-Image, IP Lab, Image Pro+, and Metamorph, were compared for their ability to quantify adhesion of the two organisms and several quantification methods were devised for each package. For both organisms, the dynamic range that could be detected by the software packages was 1×106?1×109 cells/ml. Of the four software packages tested, our results showed that Metamorph software, using our ?Region of Interest? method, with the software's ?Standard Area Method? of counting, was the most suitable for quantifying adhesion of both organisms because of its unique ability to separate clumps of microbial cells. Moreover, fewer steps were required. By pre-incubating H. pylori with the glycoconjugate Lewis b-HSA, an inhibition of binding of 48.8% was achieved using 250 ?g/ml Lewis b-HSA. The method we have devised using Metamorph software, provides a simple, quick and accurate way of quantifying adhesion and inhibition of adhesion of microbial cells to the epithelial surface of tissue sections. The method can be applied to organisms ranging in size from small bacteria to larger yeast cells

Dietary iron intakes based on food composition data may underestimate the contribution of potentially exchangeable contaminant iron from soil

Iron intakes calculated from one-day weighed records were compared with those from same day analyzed duplicate diet composites collected from 120 Malawian women living in two rural districts with contrasting soil mineralogy and where threshing may contaminate cereals with soil iron. Soils and diet composites from the two districts were then subjected to a simulated gastrointestinal digestion and iron availability in the digests measured using a Caco-2 cell model. Median analyzed iron intakes (mg/d) were higher (p < 0.001) than calculated intakes in both Zombwe (16.6 vs. 10.1 mg/d) and Mikalango (29.6 vs. 19.1 mg/d), attributed to some soil contaminant iron based on high Al and Ti concentrations in diet composites. A small portion of iron in acidic soil from Zombwe, but not Mikalango calcareous soil, was bioavailable, as it induced ferritin expression in the cells, and may have contributed to higher plasma ferritin and total body iron for the Zombwe women reported earlier, despite lower iron intakes. In conclusion, iron intakes calculated from food composition data were underestimated, highlighting the importance of analyzing duplicate diet composites where extraneous contaminant iron from soil is likely. Acidic contaminant soil may make a small but useful contribution to iron nutrition