THE INFLUENCE OF URBAN LAND USE ON PEDESTRIANS CASUALTIES

This study investigates how urban land use affects pedestrian and bicyclist casualties in children, adults, and elderly, and takes into account both people killed or seriously injured (KSI) and minor casualties. The study took into account ages of pedestrians and urban land use patterns, not traffic flow. The study used governmental United Kingdom land use classifications and separate models for different times of day, as pedestrian traffic varies during working and non-working hours. Land use data, casualty data, and population density data were taken from Newcastle upon Tyne and analyzed. The study found that most causalities involved adult pedestrians during non-working hours, and suggests that attention be paid to the number, location, and open hours of retail outlets in order to reduce the incidence of traffic accidents. Document type: Articl

Risk Assessment Matrices for Workplace Hazards: Design for Usability

In occupational safety and health (OSH), the process of assessing risks of identified hazards considers both the (i) foreseeable events and exposures that can cause harm and (ii) the likelihood or probability of occurrence. To account for both, a table format known as a risk assessment matrix uses rows and columns for ordered categories of the foreseeable severity of harm and likelihood/ probability of that occurrence. The cells within the table indicate level of risk. Each category has a text description separate from the matrix as well as a word or phrase heading each row and column. Ideally, these header terms will help the risk assessment team distinguish among the categories. A previous project provided recommended sets of header terms for common matrices based on findings from a survey of undergraduate OSH students. This paper provides background on risk assessment matrices, discusses usability issues, and presents findings from a survey of people with OSH-related experience. The aim of the survey was to confirm or improve the prior recommended sets of terms. The prior recommendations for severity, likelihood, and extent of exposure were confirmed with minor modifications. Improvements in the probability terms were recommended

Investigating the traffic-related environmental impacts of hydraulic-fracturing (fracking) operations

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been used extensively in the US and Canada since the 1950s and offers the potential for significant new sources of oil and gas supply. Numerous other countries around the world (including the UK, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia and Argentina) are now giving serious consideration to sanctioning the technique to provide additional security over the future supply of domestic energy. However, relatively high population densities in many countries and the potential negative environmental impacts that may be associated with fracking operations has stimulated controversy and significant public debate regarding if and where fracking should be permitted. Road traffic generated by fracking operations is one possible source of environmental impact whose significance has, until now, been largely neglected in the available literature. This paper therefore presents a scoping-level environmental assessment for individual and groups of fracking sites using a newly-created Traffic Impacts Model (TIM). The model produces estimates of the traffic-related impacts of fracking on greenhouse gas emissions, local air quality emissions, noise and road pavement wear, using a range of hypothetical fracking scenarios to quantify changes in impacts against baseline levels. Results suggest that the local impacts of a single well pad may be short duration but large magnitude. That is, whilst single digit percentile increases in emissions of CO2, NOx and PM are estimated for the period from start of construction to pad completion (potentially several months or years), excess emissions of NOx on individual days of peak activity can reach 30% over baseline. Likewise, excess noise emissions appear negligible (< 1 dBA) when normalised over the completion period, but may be considerable (+ 3.4 dBA) in particular hours, especially in night-time periods. Larger, regional scale modelling of pad development scenarios over a multi-decade time horizon give modest CO2 emissions that vary between 2.5 and 160.4 kT, dependent on the number of wells, and individual well fracking water and flowback waste requirements. The TIM model is designed to be adaptable to any geographic area where the required input data are available (such as fleet characteristics, road type and quality), and we suggest could be deployed as a tool to help reach more informed decisions regarding where and how fracking might take place taking into account the likely scale of traffic-related environmental impacts

Rater Reliability of the Hardy Classification for Pituitary Adenomas in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Era

Objectives The Hardy classification is used to classify pituitary tumors for clinical and research purposes. The scale was developed using lateral skull radiographs and encephalograms, and its reliability has not been evaluated in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) era. Design Fifty preoperative MRI scans of biopsy-proven pituitary adenomas using the sellar invasion and suprasellar extension components of the Hardy scale were reviewed. Setting This study was a cohort study set at a single institution. Participants There were six independent raters. Main Outcome Measures The main outcome measures of this study were interrater reliability, intrarater reliability, and percent agreement. Results Overall interrater reliability of both Hardy subscales on MRI was strong. However, reliability of the intermediate scores was weak, and percent agreement among raters was poor (12-16%) using the full scales. Dichotomizing the scale into clinically useful groups maintained strong interrater reliability for the sellar invasion scale and increased the percent agreement for both scales. Conclusion This study raises important questions about the reliability of the original Hardy classification. Editing the measure to a clinically relevant dichotomous scale simplifies the rating process and may be useful for preoperative tumor characterization in the MRI era. Future research studies should use the dichotomized Hardy scale (sellar invasion Grades 0-III versus Grade IV, suprasellar extension Types 0-C versus Type D)

The Primacy of Public Health Considerations in Defining Poor Quality Medicines

Paul Newton and colleagues argue that public health, and not intellectual property or trade issues, should be the prime consideration in defining and combating counterfeit medicines, and that the World Health Organization (WHO) should take a more prominent role

Epigenetic Regulation of Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 and -3 Expression in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.

In pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), the inflammatory immune response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is associated with tissue destruction and cavitation, which drives disease transmission, chronic lung disease, and mortality. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 is a host enzyme critical for the development of cavitation. MMP expression has been shown to be epigenetically regulated in other inflammatory diseases, but the importance of such mechanisms in Mtb-associated induction of MMP-1 is unknown. We investigated the role of changes in histone acetylation in Mtb-induced MMP expression using inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs) and histone acetyltransferases (HAT), HDAC siRNA, promoter-reporter constructs, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Mtb infection decreased Class I HDAC gene expression by over 50% in primary human monocyte-derived macrophages but not in normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBEs). Non-selective inhibition of HDAC activity decreased MMP-1/-3 expression by Mtb-stimulated macrophages and NHBEs, while class I HDAC inhibition increased MMP-1 secretion by Mtb-stimulated NHBEs. MMP-3 expression, but not MMP-1, was downregulated by siRNA silencing of HDAC1. Inhibition of HAT activity also significantly decreased MMP-1/-3 secretion by Mtb-infected macrophages. The MMP-1 promoter region between -2,001 and -2,942 base pairs from the transcriptional start site was key in control of Mtb-driven MMP-1 gene expression. Histone H3 and H4 acetylation and RNA Pol II binding in the MMP-1 promoter region were increased in stimulated NHBEs. In summary, epigenetic modification of histone acetylation via HDAC and HAT activity has a key regulatory role in Mtb-dependent gene expression and secretion of MMP-1 and -3, enzymes which drive human immunopathology. Manipulation of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms may have potential as a host-directed therapy to improve outcomes in the era of rising TB drug resistance

Drivers for Rift Valley fever emergence in Mayotte: A Bayesian modelling approach

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a major zoonotic and arboviral hemorrhagic fever. The conditions leading to RVF epidemics are still unclear, and the relative role of climatic and anthropogenic factors may vary between ecosystems. Here, we estimate the most likely scenario that led to RVF emergence on the island of Mayotte, following the 2006–2007 African epidemic. We developed the first mathematical model for RVF that accounts for climate, animal imports and livestock susceptibility, which is fitted to a 12-years dataset. RVF emergence was found to be triggered by the import of infectious animals, whilst transmissibility was approximated as a linear or exponential function of vegetation density. Model forecasts indicated a very low probability of virus endemicity in 2017, and therefore of re-emergence in a closed system (i.e. without import of infected animals). However, the very high proportion of naive animals reached in 2016 implies that the island remains vulnerable to the import of infectious animals. We recommend reinforcing surveillance in livestock, should RVF be reported is neighbouring territories. Our model should be tested elsewhere, with ecosystem-specific data

Diversity of Tanaidacea (Crustacea: Peracarida) in the World's Oceans – How Far Have We Come?

Tanaidaceans are small peracarid crustaceans which occur in all marine habitats, over the full range of depths, and rarely into fresh waters. Yet they have no obligate dispersive phase in their life-cycle. Populations are thus inevitably isolated, and allopatric speciation and high regional diversity are inevitable; cosmopolitan distributions are considered to be unlikely or non-existent. Options for passive dispersion are discussed. Tanaidaceans appear to have first evolved in shallow waters, the region of greatest diversification of the Apseudomorpha and some tanaidomorph families, while in deeper waters the apseudomorphs have subsequently evolved two or three distinct phyletic lines. The Neotanaidomorpha has evolved separately and diversified globally in deep waters, and the Tanaidomorpha has undergone the greatest evolution, diversification and adaptation, to the point where some of the deep-water taxa are recolonizing shallow waters. Analysis of their geographic distribution shows some level of regional isolation, but suffers from inclusion of polyphyletic taxa and a general lack of data, particularly for deep waters. It is concluded that the diversity of the tanaidomorphs in deeper waters and in certain ocean regions remains to be discovered; that the smaller taxa are largely understudied; and that numerous cryptic species remain to be distinguished. Thus the number of species currently recognized is likely to be an order of magnitude too low, and globally the Tanaidacea potentially rival the Amphipoda and Isopoda in diversity

Selective effects of NF-jB1 deficiency in CD4 1 T cells on Th2 and TFh induction by alum-precipitated protein vaccines

NF-jB1-dependent signaling directs the development of CD4 1 Th2 cells during allergic airway inflammation and protective responses to helminth infection. Here, we show that IL-4 and IL-13 production is NF-jB1-dependent in mouse OVA-specific CD