Waterborne diseases in Peru

The cholera epidemic in Peru brought to light the miserable state of local water and sanitation conditions. The author discusses the relationship between waterbone diseases and water and sewerage conditions in Peruvian peri-urban areas, or pueblos jovenes. These diseases are associated with poor living conditions. In 1989, only 52 percent of the population had access to piped water, and only 39 percent to sewerage. About 52 percent of schools lack light, water, and sewerage. In Lima, 2 million people daily eat meals from street vendors who lack access to fresh water or toilet facilities - 90 percent of a sample of their food was fecally contaminated. The author estimates the per capita costs of providing in-house water and sewerage facilities in urban areas to be $150 in urban and$180 in rural areas. The cost of constructing easy-access water facilities (a standpipe less than 1,000 meters from each house) and latrines in urban and rural areas is an estimated $30 per capita. In contrast, the author estimates the annual per capita cost borne by urban households without in-house continuous water connections (that is, households that buy water from vendors) to be$40. In short, the total cost borne by the urban poor over four years is equivalent to the cost of providing them with permanent water and sewerage facilities. Providing those facilities would relieve the urban poor devoting an average of 23 percent of their income to meeting their water needs.Water Conservation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions

Faculty COVID-19 Reflection 22

As part of its documentation for Spring 2020 Faculty Development Workshop attendance, Faculty Commons requested that attendees share their reflections on the workshop content. Faculty were also asked to document the impact that COVID-19 and the switch to online instruction has had on their teaching and professional duties during the Spring 2020 semester

Population Characteristics within the Portland-Vancouver MSA

In this article, we will explore population characteristics in different parts of the Portland MSA using Census Public Use Microsample (PUMS) data from 2005-2007. For the spatial component, we will use a Census-defined small area geography called Public Use Microsample Area (PUMA), designed to follow existing county boundaries and contain around 100,000 people. (The Census reports the one-year and three-year ACS data only to the detail of this geography in order to maintain the privacy of survey respondents and to improve the precision of the estimates.) We will sometimes focus on a couple of example PUMAs to show the interesting differences within the region. (The information shown is available for all PUMAs in this case, but for the sake of space, we will Population Characteristics within the PortlandVancouver MSA Webb Sprague, Emily Picha, Sheila Martin Institute of Metropolitan Studies, PSU May 2010 just focus on a few.

Interpreting Kant in Education: Dissolving Dualisms and Embodying Mind

Immanuel Kant is one of the most influential thinkers of modern philosophy but he receives some fierce criticisms by theorists of education - mostly for intellectualism, a disconnect between mind and reality, and a ‘detached’ mind making and imposing meaning. This thesis challenges the typical ‘Kantian’ picture that is widespread in education, suggesting that some deep-seated assumptions about mind and world rooted in empiricist epistemology have shaped interpretations. Drawing on contemporary literature from philosophy of mind and epistemology, it argues that Kant can be read in quite a different way - as non-dualist, with mind as embodied and his subject responsive and sensitive to context. In the increasingly ‘standards’ culture in education, in which knowledge is too readily seen as a commodity, Kant’s first person ‘capacity’ view, with judgement at its core, offers a way to think about knowledge that has more in common with Aristotle than the dominant paradigms in education of empiricism and constructivism. Kant’s epistemology when read through a non-dualist lens offers rich conceptions of knowledge, mind and cognition that, due to the prevalence of the conventional ‘Kantian’ picture, have yet to be appreciated in educational thought

How Can Nutrition Research Better Reflect the Relationship Between Wasting and Stunting in Children? Learnings from the Wasting and Stunting Project

Childhood wasting and stunting affect large numbers of children globally. Both are important risk factors for illness and death yet, despite the fact that these conditions can share common risk factors and are often seen in the same child, they are commonly portrayed as relatively distinct manifestations of undernutrition. In 2014, the Wasting and Stunting project was launched by the Emergency Nutrition Network. Its aim was to better understand the complex relationship and associations between wasting and stunting and examine whether current separations that were apparent in approaches to policy, financing, and programs were justified or useful. Based on the project's work, this article aims to bring a wasting and stunting lens to how research is designed and financed in order for the nutrition community to better understand, prevent, and treat child undernutrition. Discussion of lessons learnt focuses on the synergy and temporal relationships between children's weight loss and linear growth faltering, the proximal and distal factors that drive diverse forms of undernutrition, and identifying and targeting people most at risk. Supporting progress in all these areas requires research collaborations across interest groups that highlight the value of research that moves beyond a focus on single forms of undernutrition, and ensures that there is equal attention given to wasting as to other forms of malnutrition, wherever it is present

Potential hazards of air pollutant emissions from unconventional oil and natural gas operations on the respiratory health of children and infants

Abstract: Research on air pollutant emissions associated with unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development has grown significantly in recent years. Empirical investigations have focused on the identification and measurement of oil and gas air pollutants [e.g. volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM), methane] and the influence of UOG on local and regional ambient air quality (e.g. tropospheric ozone). While more studies to better characterize spatial and temporal trends in exposure among children and newborns near UOG sites are needed, existing research suggests that exposure to air pollutants emitted during lifecycle operations can potentially lead to adverse respiratory outcomes in this population. Children are known to be at a greater risk from exposure to air pollutants, which can impair lung function and neurodevelopment, or exacerbate existing conditions, such as asthma, because the respiratory system is particularly vulnerable during development inutero, the postnatal period, and early childhood. In this article, we review the literature relevant to respiratory risks of UOG on infants and children. Existing epidemiology studies document the impact of air pollutant exposure on children in other contexts and suggest impacts near UOG. Research is sparse on long-term health risks associated with frequent acute exposures -especially in children -hence our interpretation of these findings may be conservative. Many data gaps remain, but existing data support precautionary measures to protect the health of infants and children

A central role for hepatic conventional dendritic cells in supporting Th2 responses during helminth infection

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the key initiators of T-helper (Th) 2 immune responses against the parasitic helminth Schistosoma mansoni. Although the liver is one of the main sites of antigen deposition during infection with this parasite, it is not yet clear how distinct DC subtypes in this tissue respond to S. mansoni antigens in vivo, or how the liver microenvironment might influence DC function during establishment of the Th2 response. In this study, we show that hepatic DC subsets undergo distinct activation processes in vivo following murine infection with S. mansoni. Conventional DCs (cDCs) from schistosome-infected mice upregulated expression of the costimulatory molecule CD40 and were capable of priming naive CD4+ T cells, whereas plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) upregulated expression of MHC class II, CD86 and CD40 but were unable to support the expansion of either naive or effector/memory CD4+ T cells. Importantly, in vivo depletion of pDCs revealed that this subset was dispensable for either maintenance or regulation of the hepatic Th2 effector response during acute S. mansoni infection. Our data provides strong evidence that S. mansoni infection favors the establishment of an immunogenic, rather than tolerogenic, liver microenvironment that conditions cDCs to initiate and maintain Th2 immunity in the context of ongoing antigen exposure

Designing a web-application to support home-based care of childhood CKD stages 3-5: Qualitative study of family and professional preferences

Background: There is a lack of online, evidence-based information and resources to support home-based care of childhood CKD stages 3-5. Methods. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with parents, patients and professionals to explore their views on content of the proposed online parent information and support (OPIS) web-application. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis, guided by the concept of Self-efficacy. Results: 32 parents, 26 patients and 12 professionals were interviewed. All groups wanted an application that explains, demonstrates, and enables parental clinical care-giving, with condition-specific, continously available, reliable, accessible material and a closed communication system to enable contact between families living with CKD. Professionals advocated a regularly updated application to empower parents to make informed health-care decisions. To address these requirements, key web-application components were defined as: (i) Clinical care-giving support (information on treatment regimens, video-learning tools, condition-specific cartoons/puzzles, and a question and answer area) and (ii) Psychosocial support for care-giving (social-networking, case studies, managing stress, and enhancing families' health-care experiences). Conclusions: Developing a web-application that meets parents' information and support needs will maximise its utility, thereby augmenting parents' self-efficacy for CKD caregiving, and optimising outcomes. Self-efficacy theory provides a schema for how parents' self-efficacy beliefs about management of their child's CKD could potentially be promoted by OPIS. © 2014 Swallow et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd