Occupational Health and Safety Issues in Ontario Sawmills and Veneer/Plywood Plants: A Pilot Study

A pilot study was conducted within the Ontario sawmill and veneer/plywood manufacturing industry. Information was collected by postal questionnaire and observational walk-through surveys. Industrial hygiene walk-through surveys were conducted at 22 work sites, and measurements for wood dust, noise, and bioaerosol were taken. The aim of the study was to obtain data on the current status regarding health and safety characteristics and an estimate of wood dust, noise, and bioaerosol exposures. The occupational exposure to wood dust and noise are similar to what has been reported in this industry in Canada and elsewhere. Airborne wood dust concentration ranged between 0.001 mg/m3 and 4.87 mg/m3 as total dust and noise exposure ranged between 55 and 117 dB(A). The study indicates the need for a more comprehensive industry-wide study of wood dust, noise, and bioaersols

Exile Vol. XXXVII No. 1

And It Was Sunday by Julie Gruen 1-6 Like a Lady by Grace Mulvihill 7 The Final You by Eric Franzon 8 Joseph\u27s Children by Seneca Murley 9 Ain\u27t the 1950s Anymore by Ellen Stader 10-12 Bonding Women by Shannon salser 13 Ice Man (for mami 1905-1975) by Anne Mulligan 14 The Car Salesman by Tom Ream 15 Cancelling the Bunny by Stewart Engesser 16-17 Richard Brautigan\u27s Body by Michael Payne 18-19 Dinner in Barcelona by Holly Kurtz 20 Untitled by Margaret Strachen 21 Candles by Eric Franzon 22 Summer Rules by Jim Cox 23-31 My Boat by Holly Kurtz 32 Untitled by Michael Payne 33 Half the Birds in the City by Tiffany Richardson 34-35 Down Queen Anne Hill by Julie Gruen 36-37 Your Music by Tim Emrick 38 Zephyrs by Steve Corinth 39-41 Mother by Anne Mulligan 42 As I Look to the Sky, Maize by Shannon Salser 43-45 Close Book before Striking by Sarah Verdon 46-47 Smoked by Tom Ream 48 Driving through Rain by Stewart Engesser 49-50 Contributors 51 Editorial decision is shared equally among the Editorial Board. -i 35th Yea

Occupational Health and Safety Issues in Ontario Sawmills and Veneer/Plywood Plants: A Pilot Study

A pilot study was conducted within the Ontario sawmill and veneer/plywood manufacturing industry. Information was collected by postal questionnaire and observational walk-through surveys. Industrial hygiene walk-through surveys were conducted at 22 work sites, and measurements for wood dust, noise, and bioaerosol were taken. The aim of the study was to obtain data on the current status regarding health and safety characteristics and an estimate of wood dust, noise, and bioaerosol exposures. The occupational exposure to wood dust and noise are similar to what has been reported in this industry in Canada and elsewhere. Airborne wood dust concentration ranged between 0.001 mg/m 3 and 4.87 mg/m 3 as total dust and noise exposure ranged between 55 and 117 dB(A). The study indicates the need for a more comprehensive industry-wide study of wood dust, noise, and bioaersols

CLASH: Precise New Constraints on the Mass Profile of Abell 2261

We precisely constrain the inner mass profile of Abell 2261 (z=0.225) for the first time and determine this cluster is not "over-concentrated" as found previously, implying a formation time in agreement with {\Lambda}CDM expectations. These results are based on strong lensing analyses of new 16-band HST imaging obtained as part of the Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). Combining this with revised weak lensing analyses of Subaru wide field imaging with 5-band Subaru + KPNO photometry, we place tight new constraints on the halo virial mass M_vir = 2.2\pm0.2\times10^15 M\odot/h70 (within r \approx 3 Mpc/h70) and concentration c = 6.2 \pm 0.3 when assuming a spherical halo. This agrees broadly with average c(M,z) predictions from recent {\Lambda}CDM simulations which span 5 <~ 8. Our most significant systematic uncertainty is halo elongation along the line of sight. To estimate this, we also derive a mass profile based on archival Chandra X-ray observations and find it to be ~35% lower than our lensing-derived profile at r2500 ~ 600 kpc. Agreement can be achieved by a halo elongated with a ~2:1 axis ratio along our line of sight. For this elongated halo model, we find M_vir = 1.7\pm0.2\times10^15 M\odot/h70 and c_vir = 4.6\pm0.2, placing rough lower limits on these values. The need for halo elongation can be partially obviated by non-thermal pressure support and, perhaps entirely, by systematic errors in the X-ray mass measurements. We estimate the effect of background structures based on MMT/Hectospec spectroscopic redshifts and find these tend to lower Mvir further by ~7% and increase cvir by ~5%.Comment: Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal. 19 pages, 14 figure

Exile Vol. XII No. 1

POETRY Elsinore by Alan Pavlik 8 Geraniums in Winter by Tom Getz 9 Clytemnestra by Sharon Hornberger 11-12 Panes by Bonnie Bishop 12 Vantage Point by Hugh Wilder 17 The Return by Alan Pavlik 18 Chiaroscuro by Bonnie Bishop 23 Poem by Gretchen Schenck 24 Waiting to Die by Kit Andrews 25 Poem by Trudi Spaeth 32 Dragon by Barbara Bergantz 33 After Alice by Barbara Bergantz 41-42 Reeds by Lauren Shakely 42 Inferno by Hugh Wilder 44 FICTION That Horrible War-Dream by James Jacobi 5-7 In a Family Way by Kathy Swiger 13-16 George by Buck Niehoff 19-23 Perfection by Susan Kurtz 27-32 Blue in Green by Alan Pavlik 35-40 The Streetcar Named Desire by Cem Kozlu 45-46 ART Whoever Dies, Dies in Pain by Nedra Veatch 4 Job and Patientia by Dan Thaxton 10 Specimen by David Goodwin 17 Isabel by Mary Davidson 26 Birds by Clare Conrad 34 Eli, Eli, Lama Sabacthani by Dan Thaxton Cover design by Jamie Foste

Next-Generation Sequencing of Coccidioides immitis Isolated during Cluster Investigation

Next-generation sequencing enables use of whole-genome sequence typing (WGST) as a viable and discriminatory tool for genotyping and molecular epidemiologic analysis. We used WGST to confirm the linkage of a cluster of Coccidioides immitis isolates from 3 patients who received organ transplants from a single donor who later had positive test results for coccidioidomycosis. Isolates from the 3 patients were nearly genetically identical (a total of 3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms identified among them), thereby demonstrating direct descent of the 3 isolates from an original isolate. We used WGST to demonstrate the genotypic relatedness of C. immitis isolates that were also epidemiologically linked. Thus, WGST offers unique benefits to public health for investigation of clusters considered to be linked to a single source

Boolean analysis reveals systematic interactions among low-abundance species in the human gut microbiome

The analysis of microbiome compositions in the human gut has gained increasing interest due to the broader availability of data and functional databases and substantial progress in data analysis methods, but also due to the high relevance of the microbiome in human health and disease. While most analyses infer interactions among highly abundant species, the large number of low-abundance species has received less attention. Here we present a novel analysis method based on Boolean operations applied to microbial co-occurrence patterns. We calibrate our approach with simulated data based on a dynamical Boolean network model from which we interpret the statistics of attractor states as a theoretical proxy for microbiome composition. We show that for given fractions of synergistic and competitive interactions in the model our Boolean abundance analysis can reliably detect these interactions. Analyzing a novel data set of 822 microbiome compositions of the human gut, we find a large number of highly significant synergistic interactions among these low-abundance species, forming a connected network, and a few isolated competitive interactions

Alternative splicing of the Anopheles gambiae Dscam gene in diverse Plasmodium falciparum infections

Background: In insects, including Anopheles mosquitoes, Dscam (Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule) appears to be involved in phagocytosis of pathogens, and shows pathogen-specific splice-form expression between divergent pathogen (or parasite) types (e.g. between bacteria and Plasmodium or between Plasmodium berghei and Plasmodium falciparum). Here, data are presented from the first study of Dscam expression in response to genetic diversity within a parasite species. Methods: In independent field and laboratory studies, a measure of Dscam splice-form diversity was compared between mosquitoes fed on blood that was free of P. falciparum to mosquitoes exposed to either single or mixed genotype infections of P. falciparum. Results: Significant increases in Anopheles gambiae Dscam (AgDscam) receptor diversity were observed in parasite-exposed mosquitoes, but only weak evidence that AgDscam diversity rises further upon exposure to mixed genotype parasite infections was found. Finally, a cluster of AgDscam exon 4 variants that become especially common during Plasmodium invasion was identified. Conclusions: While the data clearly indicate that AgDscam diversity increases with P. falciparum exposure, they do not suggest that AgDscam diversity rises further in response to increased parasite diversit

Echinocandin Treatment of Pneumocystis Pneumonia in Rodent Models Depletes Cysts Leaving Trophic Burdens That Cannot Transmit the Infection

Fungi in the genus Pneumocystis cause pneumonia (PCP) in hosts with debilitated immune systems and are emerging as co-morbidity factors associated with chronic diseases such as COPD. Limited therapeutic choices and poor understanding of the life cycle are a result of the inability of these fungi to grow outside the mammalian lung. Within the alveolar lumen, Pneumocystis spp., appear to have a bi-phasic life cycle consisting of an asexual phase characterized by binary fission of trophic forms and a sexual cycle resulting in formation of cysts, but the life cycle stage that transmits the infection is not known. The cysts, but not the trophic forms, express β -1,3-D-glucan synthetase and contain abundant β -1,3-D-glucan. Here we show that therapeutic and prophylactic treatment of PCP with echinocandins, compounds which inhibit the synthesis of β -1,3-D-glucan, depleted cysts in rodent models of PCP, while sparing the trophic forms which remained in significant numbers. Survival was enhanced in the echincandin treated mice, likely due to the decreased β -1,3-D-glucan content in the lungs of treated mice and rats which coincided with reductions of cyst numbers, and dramatic remodeling of organism morphology. Strong evidence for the cyst as the agent of transmission was provided by the failure of anidulafungin-treated mice to transmit the infection. We show for the first time that withdrawal of anidulafungin treatment with continued immunosuppression permitted the repopulation of cyst forms. Treatment of PCP with an echinocandin alone will not likely result in eradication of infection and cessation of echinocandin treatment while the patient remains immunosuppressed could result in relapse. Importantly, the echinocandins provide novel and powerful chemical tools to probe the still poorly understood bi-phasic life cycle of this genus of fungal pathogens

A dimensional summation account of polymorphous category learning

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this record.Data and code availaibility: The data and code for all analyses for all experiments are available at the OSF addresses given in each Results section. The stimuli are available at the same locations.Polymorphous concepts are hard to learn, and this is perhaps surprising because they, like many natural concepts, have an overall similarity structure. However, the dimensional summation hypothesis (Milton & Wills, 2004) predicts this difficulty. It also makes a number of other predictions about polymorphous concept formation, which are tested here. In Experiment 1 we confirm the theory’s prediction that polymorphous concept formation should be facilitated by deterministic pretraining on the constituent features of the stimulus. This facilitation is relative to an equivalent amount of training on the polymorphous concept itself. In Experiments 2–4, the dimensional summation account of this single feature pretraining effect is contrasted with some other accounts, including a more general strategic account (Experiment 2), seriality of training and stimulus decomposition accounts (Experiment 3), and the role of errors (Experiment 4). The dimensional summation hypothesis provides the best account of these data. In Experiment 5, a further prediction is confirmed — the single feature pretraining effect is eliminated by a concurrent counting task. The current experiments suggest the hypothesis that natural concepts might be acquired by the deliberate serial summation of evidence. This idea has testable implications for classroom learning.Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC