Temporary streams in temperate zones: recognizing, monitoring and restoring transitional aquatic-terrestrial ecosystems

Temporary streams are defined by periodic flow cessation, and may experience partial or complete loss of surface water. The ecology and hydrology of these transitional aquatic-terrestrial ecosystems have received unprecedented attention in recent years. Research has focussed on the arid, semi-arid, and Mediterranean regions in which temporary systems are the dominant stream type, and those in cooler, wetter temperate regions with an oceanic climate influence are also receiving increasing attention. These oceanic systems take diverse forms, including meandering alluvial plain rivers, ‘winterbourne’ chalk streams, and peatland gullies. Temporary streams provide ecosystem services and support a diverse biota that includes rare and endemic specialists. We examine this biota and illustrate that temporary stream diversity can be higher than in comparable perennial systems, in particular when differences among sites and times are considered; these diversity patterns can be related to transitions between lotic, lentic, and terrestrial instream conditions. Human impacts on temperate-zone temporary streams are ubiquitous, and result from water-resource and land-use-related stressors, which interact in a changing climate to alter natural flow regimes. These impacts may remain uncharacterized due to inadequate protection of small temporary streams by current legislation, and hydrological and biological monitoring programs therefore require expansion to better represent temporary systems. Novel, temporary-stream-specific biomonitors and multi-metric indices require development, to integrate characterization of ecological quality during lotic, lentic, and terrestrial phases. In addition, projects to restore flow regimes, habitats, and communities may be required to improve the ecological quality of temporary stream

The Vehicle, Fall 2002

Table of Contents Caterpillar DreamsAubrey Bonannopage 4 GrandmotherNatalie Espositopage 5 PhotographNatalie Espositopage 5 For My SisterAnn Hudsonpage 6 BuckeyeCaleb Judypage 6 A Moment\u27s GlowMelissa Knoblockpage 7 April 8,1994Andy Kochpage 8 Koch FuneralsAndy Kochpage 9 Grandpa Koch\u27s Sense of HumorAndy Kochpage 10 DeparturesDave Moutraypage 11 1958 VetteAlex Nicolpage 11 HomelandDave Moutraypage 12 The TravelerDave Moutraypage 12 GrandpaJennifer Probstpage 13 Confusion upon LearningJody Sanchezpage 14 Chucktown PrideMike Scalespage 14 I Might be WrongDallas Schumacherpage 15-20 UntitledAlex Nicholpage 21 Late NightRachel Seftonpage 22 Old DreamsRachel Seftonpage 23 Two-Minded ThoughtsRachel Sefton & Jodi Sanchezpage 24 Strange GraffitiMike Scalespage 24 On PoetryNick Slicerpage 25-26 Sometimes Things Just Happen That WayThomas Webbpage 26-33 Biographiespage 34-35 Editor\u27s Notepage 36https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1076/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, Spring 2003

Table of Contents Knowledge of SelfGreg Baptistepage 4 Coleman 3371Amanda Beardpage 5 Mixed Messages (after Stephen Dunn)Colette Beausoleilpage6 Returning to RhythmAubrey Bonannopage 6 Pecan GroveNatalie Espositopage 7 Childhood\u27s EndRachael Harzinskipage 15 Unknown InfantAmanda Beard and Andy Kochpage 16 NeverRachael Harzinskipage 16 alone she sitsKrystal Heringpage 18 A Sketch of GrandmaKrystal Heringpage 19 Two HeadstonesAmanda Beard and Andy Kochpage 19 Shattuc, Summer 1995Andy Kochpage 20 Sky PoemAndy Kochpage 21 Wild Years (For: Tom)Scott E. Lutzpage 21 All Air, No Net!Lora Ann Neihartpage 22 The Evil ApostleJanet McGrathpage 23 DifferentRachel Seftonpage 27 Dear Insurance ExecutivePatti Smithpage 27 Dancing MusicJosh Sopiarzpage 28 The Picnic For LisaJosh Sopiarzpage 29 Today (an unusually warm and sunny winter day)Josh Sopiarzpage 30 Silver and NeonStanley (Buck) Weisspage 30 About the sacredness of dandruff, of peoples\u27 essences; or why I feared cleaning my father\u27s roomLevi Woollen-Dannerpage 32 In Boulder on a blustery day that reminded me I wasn\u27t running away from anythingLevi Woollen-Dannerpage 33 Biographiespage 35https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1079/thumbnail.jp

Accuracy of a Modified qSOFA Score for Predicting Critical Care Admission in Febrile Children

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The identification of life-threatening infection in febrile children presenting to the emergency department (ED) remains difficult. The quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) was only derived for adult populations, implying an urgent need for pediatric scores. We developed and validated a novel, adapted qSOFA score (Liverpool quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [LqSOFA]) and compared its performance with qSOFA, Pediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS), and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) high-risk criteria in predicting critical care (CC) admission in febrile children presenting to the ED. METHODS: The LqSOFA (range, 0–4) incorporates age-adjusted heart rate, respiratory rate, capillary refill, and consciousness level on the Alert, Voice, Pain, Unresponsive scale. The primary outcome was CC admission within 48 hours of ED presentation, and the secondary outcome was sepsis-related mortality. LqSOFA, qSOFA, PEWS, and NICE high-risk criteria scores were calculated, and performance characteristics, including area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, were calculated for each score. RESULTS: In the initial (n = 1121) cohort, 47 CC admissions (4.2%) occurred, and in the validation (n = 12 241) cohort, 135 CC admissions (1.1%) occurred, and there were 5 sepsis-related deaths. In the validation cohort, LqSOFA predicted CC admission with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.81 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76 to 0.86), versus qSOFA (0.66; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.71), PEWS (0.93; 95% CI, 0.90 to 0.95), and NICE high-risk criteria (0.81; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.85). For predicting CC admission, the LqSOFA outperformed the qSOFA, with a net reclassification index of 10.4% (95% CI, 1.0% to 19.9%). CONCLUSIONS: In this large study, we demonstrate improved performance of the LqSOFA over qSOFA in identifying febrile children at risk for CC admission and sepsis-related mortality. Further validation is required in other settings

Local and regional drivers influence how aquatic community diversity, resistance and resilience vary in response to drying

Disturbance events govern how the biodiversity of ecological communities varies in both space and time. In freshwater ecosystems, there is evidence that local and regional‐scale drivers interact to influence ecological responses to drying disturbances. However, most research provides temporal snapshots at the local scale, whereas few studies encompass a gradient of drying severity spanning multiple years. Using a dataset of rare spatiotemporal extent and detail, we demonstrate how independent and interacting local and regional‐scale factors drive shifts in the α and β diversities of communities in dynamic river ecosystems. We examined aquatic invertebrate assemblage responses to hydrological variability (as characterized by monthly observations of instream conditions) at 30 sites over a 12‐year period encompassing typical years and two severe drought disturbances. Sites varied in their disturbance regimes and hydrological connectivity at both local (i.e. site‐specific) and regional (i.e. river catchment) scales. Whereas α diversity was mainly influenced by local factors including flow permanence and the temporal extent of ponded and dry conditions, both temporal and spatial β diversities also responded to regional‐scale metrics such as the spatial extent of flow and hydrological connectivity. We observed stronger local negative responses for taxa with lower capacities to tolerate drying (i.e. resistance) and/or to recover after flow resumes (i.e. resilience), whereas taxa with functional traits promoting resilience made an increasing contribution to spatial β diversity as hydrological connectivity declined. As droughts increase in extent and severity across global regions, our findings highlight the functional basis of taxonomic responses to disturbance and connectivity, and thus advance understanding of how drying disturbances shape biodiversity in river networks. Our identification of the role of regional hydrological factors could inform catchment‐scale management strategies that support ecosystem resilience in a context of global change

Effects of IKAP/hELP1 Deficiency on Gene Expression in Differentiating Neuroblastoma Cells: Implications for Familial Dysautonomia

Familial dysautonomia (FD) is a developmental neuropathy of the sensory and autonomous nervous systems. The IKBKAP gene, encoding the IKAP/hELP1 subunit of the RNA polymerase II Elongator complex is mutated in FD patients, leading to a tissue-specific mis-splicing of the gene and to the absence of the protein in neuronal tissues. To elucidate the function of IKAP/hELP1 in the development of neuronal cells, we have downregulated IKBKAP expression in SHSY5Y cells, a neuroblastoma cell line of a neural crest origin. We have previously shown that these cells exhibit abnormal cell adhesion when allowed to differentiate under defined culture conditions on laminin substratum. Here, we report results of a microarray expression analysis of IKAP/hELP1 downregulated cells that were grown on laminin under differentiation or non-differentiation growth conditions. It is shown that under non-differentiation growth conditions, IKAP/hELP1 downregulation affects genes important for early developmental stages of the nervous system, including cell signaling, cell adhesion and neural crest migration. IKAP/hELP1 downregulation during differentiation affects the expression of genes that play a role in late neuronal development, in axonal projection and synapse formation and function. We also show that IKAP/hELP1 deficiency affects the expression of genes involved in calcium metabolism before and after differentiation of the neuroblastoma cells. Hence, our data support IKAP/hELP1 importance in the development and function of neuronal cells and contribute to the understanding of the FD phenotype

East London Experience with Enteric Fever 2007-2012

The clinical presentation and epidemiology for patients with enteric fever at two hospitals in East London during 2007-2012 is described with the aim to identify preventive opportunities and to reduce the cost of treatment.A retrospective analysis of case notes from patients admitted with enteric fever during 2007 to 2012 with a microbiologically confirmed diagnosis was undertaken. Details on clinical presentation, travel history, demographic data, laboratory parameters, treatment, patient outcome and vaccination status were collected.Clinical case notes were available for 98/129 (76%) patients including 69 Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) and 29 Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi (S. Paratyphi). Thirty-four patients (35%) were discharged from emergency medicine without a diagnosis of enteric fever and then readmitted after positive blood cultures. Seventy-one of the 98 patients (72%) were UK residents who had travelled abroad, 23 (23%) were foreign visitors/new entrants to the UK and four (4%) had not travelled abroad. Enteric fever was not considered in the initial differential diagnosis for 48/98 (49%) cases. The median length of hospital stay was 7 days (range 0-57 days). The total cost of bed days for managing enteric fever was £454,000 in the two hospitals (mean £75,666/year). Median time to clinical resolution was five days (range 1-20). Seven of 98 (7%) patients were readmitted with relapsed or continued infection. Six of the 71 (8%) patients had received typhoid vaccination, 34 (48%) patients had not received vaccination, and for 31 cases (44%) vaccination status was unknown.Further interventions regarding education and vaccination of travellers and recognition of the condition by emergency medicine clinicians in travellers to South Asia is required

Biological indices to characterize community responses to drying in streams with contrasting flow permanence regimes

Many river networks include temporary reaches that stop flowing and may dry during unpredictable droughts (near-perennial) or more frequently (intermittent). A few biological indices have been developed to assess invertebrate community responses to hydrological variability, including the instream conditions associated with drought, but their performance in temporary streams remains poorly known. We evaluated the ability of two such indices, the Lotic-invertebrate Index for Flow Evaluation (LIFE) and the Drought Effect of Habitat Loss on Invertebrates (DEHLI), to predict responses to flow cessation and drying in temporary streams with contrasting flow permanence regimes. We used a 26-year dataset comprising spring-season invertebrate community samples and daily discharge measurements from 46 sites in a cool, wet temperate region, to examine relationships between hydrological variables and changes in index scores. We also identified taxon-specific thresholds at which occurrence changed with increasing drying and flowing durations. Both indices effectively characterized responses to increasing no-flow durations. DEHLI also reflected community changes following flow resumptions, identified differences in responses among flow permanence groups, and was particularly able to predict community responses at near-perennial sites. DEHLI scores at near-perennial sites took on average three years after a drying event to return to values typical of perennial sites, whereas responses to increasing flow duration were more erratic at intermittent sites. Lotic specialists declined whereas lentic and semi-aquatic taxa increased in occurrence with no-flow duration after summers with <50 days without flow, due to changes in the availability of preferred habitat types. Community responses to drying events were less predictable among intermittent than near-perennial sites, likely because differences in habitat conditions and connectivity may lead intermittent communities to harbour contrasting pools of species with strategies that promote persistence during and/or recolonization after drying. We identify DEHLI as an index that can characterize community responses to drying in temporary streams with contrasting flow permanence regimes. We also recommend the development of new indices that include lentic, semi-aquatic and terrestrial as well as lotic taxa, to more comprehensively describe and predict community responses to changing instream conditions