Regional Economic Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise in San Diego County

One of the consequences of climate change and sea level rise that has not been extensively examined is the possible damages that can be done to regional economies. Even under scenarios of relatively small sea level rise, areas historically at risk from flooding will find flooding increasing as storms increase in frequency and severity. The result will likely be temporary disruptions of business activity lasting days to weeks. Climate change and accompanying higher sea levels will mean increasing severity of flood risk that will well to areas that have been historically immune to flooding. The cumulative effect of these flood threats poses a significant risk to the San Diego County economy. To investigate these vulnerabilities, the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative engaged the Center for the Blue Economy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey to investigate the potential effects from climate change and projected sea level rise, and coastal storms on the economy of San Diego County. The importance of assessing these vulnerabilities arises because San Diego County is the 17th largest metropolitan area in the country and the 5th largest in California. San Diego County has a GDP that is larger than 25 other states. Much of this economy is located near the ocean and bays. In 2014, the 30 zip codes in the county that are adjacent to the shore were the location of over 34,000 employment establishments, with over 543,000 employees accounting for nearly $30 billion in wages and salaries. These zip codes accounted for 42% of county employment establishments, 46% of employment, and 50% of county wages & salaries. This report consists of a regional economic vulnerability assessment using flooding projections developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal Storm Modeling System and economic activity and asset data available for San Diego County. The economic vulnerability assessment seeks to identify whether important parts of the economic base of the region (the industries which sell outside the region) are vulnerable and where adaptation strategies may be needed to sustain commercial and industrial activity. This type of vulnerability assessment does not forecast specific impacts, but points to possible effects of the conditions that define the scenario. It is designed to alert about possible future issues and highlight aspects that require priority attention in planning. It does not consider planned adaptation strategies, which many jurisdictions in the region are currently working on but seeks to help inform those planning efforts. Vulnerability was identified by spatially analyzing the relationship between potential flooding projected by the USGS Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) under assumptions of no sea level rise, 1 meter (39.7” or 3.3. feet) of sea level rise and 2 meters (78.7” or 6.6 feet). These assumptions are generally consistent with other sea level rise vulnerability assessments conducted by jurisdictions in the San Diego region that assume between 1.5 to 2 feet of sea level rise by 2050 and 3 to 6.6 feet by 2100

Keith Hopper and Neil Murphy (eds.), Dermot Healy, The Collected Plays

With Dermot Bolger’s The Lament for Arthur Cleary (1989), the stage world of Connemara kitchens was decisively displaced by a play which was formally radical and broke with the traditional tropes of Irish theatre in presenting a bleak contemporary Dublin scarred by unemployment and heroin addiction. However, five years before Bolger’s iconoclastic breakthrough, Dermot Healy’s first play, Here, and There, and Going to America (1985), broke equally new ground in following the journey of a Sligo..

The Market Transfer Effect in the Hawaiian Longline Fishery: Why Correlation Does Not Imply Causation

A lot of discussion and controversy has surrounded whether the “market transfer” effect in the Hawaii longline swordfish fishery occurred during the swordfish closure of 2001-2004, because of its potential impacts on sea turtle mortality. The primary academic work in support of the market transfer effect during the closure is a paper by Rausser et al. (2009): “Unintended Consequences: The Spillover Effects of Common Property Regulations.” In this paper, the authors claim to find evidence in support of the market transfer hypothesis.To our knowledge, no analysis has yet been undertaken to assess whether this analysis is sound, and yet it remains the principle academic work in support of the market transfer effect. It is cited frequently in hearings and briefings in which the case is made to reduce fishing restrictions on US fleets. Our analysis shows that Rausser et al. is flawed; the authors erroneously linked the increased catch by foreign fleets in the EPO to the Hawaii closure, when in fact there is no evidence of a causal relationship

(Dis)Embodied Professionalisms: Doctors & Scientists In U.s. Literature, 1895-1935

The United States of America was founded upon patriarchal, white supremacist, and capitalist ideologies that have been concealed from the eyes of the world. (Dis)Embodied Professionalisms offers a viewpoint from which to see and understand how these traditions were mythologized during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries in the modern professions and its representative identity: the doctor-scientist. His professionalization consolidated the power-knowledge of the gaze into an ideal figure of disembodied masculine rational and scientific authority premised on a visual epistemology. Through close readings of four novels written by Harold Frederic, Charles W. Chesnutt, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitzgerald during a crucial period of social transformation and uncertainty, this dissertation reveals how the paradox of disembodied professionalism culminated in a failed embodiment of authority. Through ocularcentric metaphors of the modern profession of scientific medicine, these writers articulate and elide the promise, ambivalence, and ultimate impossibility of what this dissertation calls the myth of professionalization and, thus, of the hegemony of traditional hierarchies

Interferon-γ inhibits interleukin-1β-induced matrix metalloproteinase production by synovial fibroblasts and protects articular cartilage in early arthritis

Introduction: The first few months after symptom onset represents a pathologically distinct phase in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We used relevant experimental models to define the pathological role of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) during early inflammatory arthritis. Methods: We studied IFN-γ's capacity to modulate interleukin-1β (IL-1β) induced degenerative responses using RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS), a bovine articular cartilage explant (BACE)/RA-FLS co-culture model and an experimental inflammatory arthritis model (murine antigen-induced arthritis (AIA)). Results: IFN-γ modulated IL-1β driven matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) synthesis resulting in the down-regulation of MMP-1 and MMP-3 production in vitro. IFN-γ did not affect IL-1β induced tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) production by RA FLS but skewed the MMP/TIMP-1 balance sufficiently to attenuate glycosaminoglycan-depletion in our BACE model. IFN-γ reduced IL-1β expression in the arthritic joint and prevented cartilage degeneration on Day 3 of AIA. Conclusions: Early therapeutic intervention with IFN-γ may be critical to orchestrate tissue-protective responses during inflammatory arthritis

Recommendations for lung cancer screening in Southern Africa

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in southern Africa. Early trials of chest radiograph-based screening in males at high risk for lung cancer found no mortality benefit of a radiograph alone, or a radiograph plus sputum cytology screening strategy. Large prospective studies, including the National Lung Screening Trial, have shown an all-cause mortality benefit when low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) was used as a screening modality in patients that are at high risk of developing lung cancer. The South African Thoracic Society, based on these findings, and those from several international guidelines, recommend that annual LDCT should be offered to patients between 55-74 years of age who are current or former smokers (having quit within the preceding 15 years), with at least a 30-pack year smoking history and with no history of lung cancer. Patients should be in general good health, fit for surgery, and willing to undergo further investigations if deemed necessary. Given the high local prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) infection and post-TB lung disease, which can radiographically mimic lung cancer, a conservative threshold (nodule size ?6 mm) should be used to determine whether the baseline LDCT screen is positive (thus nodules <6 mm require no action until the next annual screen). If a non-calcified, solid or partly solid nodule is ?6 mm, but <10 mm with no malignant features (e.g., distinct spiculated margins), the LDCT should be repeated in 6 months. If a solid nodule or the largest component of a non-solid nodule is ?10 or ?6 mm and enlarging or with additional malignant features present, definitive action to exclude lung cancer is warranted. Patients should be screened annually until 15 years have elapsed from date of smoking cessation, they turn 80, become unfit for a curative operation or significant changes are observed

Recommendations for lung cancer screening in Southern Africa

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in southern Africa. Early trials of chest radiograph-based screening in males at high risk for lung cancer found no mortality benefit of a radiograph alone, or a radiograph plus sputum cytology screening strategy. Large prospective studies, including the National Lung Screening Trial, have shown an all-cause mortality benefit when lowdose computed tomography (LDCT) was used as a screening modality in patients that are at high risk of developing lung cancer. The South African Thoracic Society, based on these findings, and those from several international guidelines, recommend that annual LDCT should be offered to patients between 55–74 years of age who are current or former smokers (having quit within the preceding 15 years), with at least a 30-pack year smoking history and with no history of lung cancer. Patients should be in general good health, fit for surgery, and willing to undergo further investigations if deemed necessary. Given the high local prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) infection and post-TB lung disease, which can radiographically mimic lung cancer, a conservative threshold (nodule size ≥6 mm) should be used to determine whether the baseline LDCT screen is positive (thus nodules <6 mm require no action until the next annual screen). If a non-calcified, solid or partly solid nodule is ≥6 mm, but <10 mm with no malignant features (e.g., distinct spiculated margins), the LDCT should be repeated in 6 months. If a solid nodule or the largest component of a non-solid nodule is ≥10 or ≥6 mm and enlarging or with additional malignant features present, definitive action to exclude lung cancer is warranted. Patients should be screened annually until 15 years have elapsed from date of smoking cessation, they turn 80, become unfit for a curative operation or significant changes are observed.K Dheda is supported by the South African MRC (RFA-EMU-02-2017) and the EDCTP (TMA- 2015SF-1043 & TMA-1051-TESAII).http://jtd.amegroups.comam2020Cardiolog