Water Management Decision Making in the Face of Multiple Forms of Uncertainty and Risk

In the Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area of Northern Utah, water management decision makers confront multiple forms of uncertainty and risk. Adapting to these uncertainties and risks is critical for maintaining the long‐term sustainability of the region\u27s water supply. This study draws on interview data to assess the major challenges climatic and social changes pose to Utah\u27s water future, as well as potential solutions. The study identifies the water management adaptation decision‐making space shaped by the interacting institutional, social, economic, political, and biophysical processes that enable and constrain sustainable water management. The study finds water managers and other water actors see challenges related to reallocating water, including equitable water transfers and stakeholder cooperation, addressing population growth, and locating additional water supplies, as more problematic than the challenges posed by climate change. Furthermore, there is significant disagreement between water actors over how to best adapt to both climatic and social changes. This study concludes with a discussion of the path dependencies that present challenges to adaptive water management decision making, as well as opportunities for the pursuit of a new water management paradigm based on soft‐path solutions. Such knowledge is useful for understanding the institutional and social adaptations needed for water management to successfully address future uncertainties and risks

A wider Europe? The view from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine

On the evidence of national surveys conducted between 2000 and 2006, there is a declining sense of European self-identity in the three Slavic post-Soviet republics of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Attitudes towards the European Union and the possibility of membership are broadly supportive, but with a substantial proportion who find it difficult to express a view, and substantial proportions are poorly informed in comparison with the general public in EU member or prospective member countries. Those who are better informed are more likely to favour EU membership and vice versa. Generally, socioeconomic characteristics (except for age and region) are relatively poor predictors of support for EU membership as compared with attitudinal variables. But ‘Europeanness’ should not be seen as a given, and much will depend on whether EU member countries emphasize what is common to east and west or establish ‘new dividing lines’ in place of those of the cold war

Manageable creativity

This article notes a perception in mainstream management theory and practice that creativity has shifted from being disruptive or destructive to 'manageable'. This concept of manageable creativity in business is reflected in a similar rhetoric in cultural policy, especially towards the creative industries. The article argues that the idea of 'manageable creativity' can be traced back to a 'heroic' and a 'structural' model of creativity. It is argued that the 'heroic' model of creativity is being subsumed within a 'structural' model which emphasises the systems and infrastructure around individual creativity rather than focusing on raw talent and pure content. Yet this structured approach carries problems of its own, in particular a tendency to overlook the unpredictability of creative processes, people and products. Ironically, it may be that some confusion in our policies towards creativity is inevitable, reflecting the paradoxes and transitions which characterise the creative process

Taenia solium Cysticercosis, Irian Jaya, Indonesia

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Toni, Wandra ; Akira, Ito ; Hiroshi, Yamasaki ; Thomas, Suroso ; Sri S. Margono, Emerging Infectious Diseases, 9(7), 2003, 884-885. publishe

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three available genomic nomenclature systems for SARS-CoV-2 to all sequence data from the WHO European Region available during the COVID-19 pandemic until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation. We provide a comparison of the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.Peer reviewe

HFE Genotype in Patients with Hemochromatosis and Other Liver Diseases

Background: Hereditary hemochromatosis is a common inherited disorder of iron metabolism. The gene HFE, which contains two missense mutations (C282Y and H63D), was recently identified. Objective: To determine how HFE genotyping for the C282Y and H63D mutations contributes to the diagnosis of hemochromatosis and to determine the prevalence of HFE mutations in a group of patients with liver disease. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Academic medical center. Patients: 66 patients with hereditary hemochromatosis and 132 referred patients with other liver diseases. Measurements: At initial diagnosis, fasting transferrin saturation, ferritin level, routine chemistry panel, and complete blood count were determined. Percutaneous liver biopsy was done on all patients for histologic analysis and measurement of hepatic iron concentration and hepatic iron index. HFE genotyping for the C282Y and H63D mutations was done on all patients by using genomic DNA samples. Results: Of the 66 patients with hemochromatosis diagnosed on the basis of serum iron studies and liver biopsy findings, 60 (91%) were C282Y homozygotes, 2 (3%) were compound heterozygotes, 1 (1.5%) was a C282Y heterozygote, 2 (3%) were H63D heterozygotes, and 1 (1.5%) was negative for both mutations. Of the 132 patients with liver disease, 6 (5%) were C282Y homozygotes, 8 (6%) were compound heterozygotes, 6 (5%) were C282Y heterozygotes, 5 (4%) were H63D homozygotes, 20 (15%) were H63D heterozygotes, and 87 (66%) were negative for both mutations. All 66 C282Y homozygotes had an elevated hepatic iron concentration, and 65 of the 66 patients (98%) had a transferrin saturation of at least 45%. Ten of the 66 patients (15% [95% CI, 7.5% to 26%]) had a hepatic iron index less than 1.9 mmol/kg per year; hemochromatosis was not suspected in 6 of the 10 patients before genotyping. Cirrhosis or substantial hepatic fibrosis was not seen in any (0% [CI, 0% to 18%]) of the 19 patients younger than 40 years of age who were homozygous for the C282Y mutation. Conclusions: All 66 patients homozygous for the C282Y mutation of HFE had an elevated hepatic iron concentration, but approximately 15% of these patients did not meet a previous diagnostic criterion for hemochromatosis (hepatic iron index > 1.9 mmol/kg per year). Determination of HFE genotype is clinically useful in patients with liver disease and suspected iron overload and may lead to identification of otherwise unsuspected C282Y homozygotes