Hydromorphological, hydraulic and ecological effects of restored wood: findings and reflections from an academic partnership approach

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Pinto, C. , Ing, R. , Browning, B. , Delboni, V. , Wilson, H. , Martyn, D. and Harvey, G. L. (2019), Hydromorphological, hydraulic and ecological effects of restored wood: findings and reflections from an academic partnership approach. Water and Environment Journal. doi:10.1111/wej.12457, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/wej.12457. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions© 2019 CIWEM Large wood (re)introduction can deliver multiple benefits in river restoration, but there is a dearth of the detailed and longer-term post-project monitoring and evaluation required for improving best practice. We present findings from an academic partnership approach to post-project evaluation, based on successive MSc research projects on restored large wood in the Loddon catchment, UK. Field and modelling data reveal: (i) key differences in large wood features between restored and natural reaches; (ii) increased hydraulic retention and changes to mesohabitats associated with large wood; (iii) differences in macroinvertebrate community composition around large wood but a lack of site-level effects; (iv) interactions between macrophytes and large wood that may be specific to restored reaches; (v) a need for further field and modelling studies to inform the accurate representation of large wood in hydraulic models. Some key challenges in partnership working are identified to aid planning and effectiveness of future collaborations

Neglected Tropical Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of Their Prevalence, Distribution, and Disease Burden

The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are the most common conditions affecting the poorest 500 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and together produce a burden of disease that may be equivalent to up to one-half of SSA's malaria disease burden and more than double that caused by tuberculosis. Approximately 85% of the NTD disease burden results from helminth infections. Hookworm infection occurs in almost half of SSA's poorest people, including 40–50 million school-aged children and 7 million pregnant women in whom it is a leading cause of anemia. Schistosomiasis is the second most prevalent NTD after hookworm (192 million cases), accounting for 93% of the world's number of cases and possibly associated with increased horizontal transmission of HIV/AIDS. Lymphatic filariasis (46–51 million cases) and onchocerciasis (37 million cases) are also widespread in SSA, each disease representing a significant cause of disability and reduction in the region's agricultural productivity. There is a dearth of information on Africa's non-helminth NTDs. The protozoan infections, human African trypanosomiasis and visceral leishmaniasis, affect almost 100,000 people, primarily in areas of conflict in SSA where they cause high mortality, and where trachoma is the most prevalent bacterial NTD (30 million cases). However, there are little or no data on some very important protozoan infections, e.g., amebiasis and toxoplasmosis; bacterial infections, e.g., typhoid fever and non-typhoidal salmonellosis, the tick-borne bacterial zoonoses, and non-tuberculosis mycobaterial infections; and arboviral infections. Thus, the overall burden of Africa's NTDs may be severely underestimated. A full assessment is an important step for disease control priorities, particularly in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the greatest number of NTDs may occur

Lithium in stars with exoplanets

We present a comparison of the lithium abundances of stars with and without planetary-mass companions. New lithium abundances are reported in 79 planet hosts and 38 stars from a comparison sample. When the Li abundances of planet host stars are compared with the 157 stars in the sample of field stars of Chen et al. (2001) we find that the Li abundance distribution is significantly different, and that there is a possible excess of Li depletion in planet host stars with effective temperatures in the range 5600--5850 K, whereas we find no significant differences in the temperature range 5850--6350 K. We have searched for statistically significant correlations between the Li abundance of parent stars and various parameters of the planetary companions. We do not find any strong correlation, although there are may be a hint of a possible gap in the Li distribution of massive planet host stars.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepte