Wildfire is the dominant disturbance in northern peatlands and can release large quantities of carbon to the atmosphere through combustion. Post-fire peat hydrophobicity can inhibit moss ...regeneration, thereby decreasing the potential for post-fire carbon sequestration. To investigate how to enhance post-fire recovery we assessed two moss restoration methods (plugs and fragments) in an Alberta poor fen two and three years following wildfire. We first characterized post-fire peat hydrophobicity and moss regeneration in four surface cover types: Severely Burned Feather moss hollows (SB-F), Severely Burned Sphagnum fuscum hummocks (SB-S), Lightly Burned S. fuscum hummocks (LB-S), and Lightly Burned Feather moss lawns (LB-F). Across burn severities, hydrophobicity was high in feather moss and relatively low in Sphagnum moss. Similarly, hydrophobicity increased with depth over the top several centimeters in feather moss, but not in Sphagnum moss surface cover. Peat hydrophobicity appears to limit post-fire regeneration. LB-S was the least hydrophobic of the four treatments and was the only cover type in which Sphagnum moss recovered to >10% surface area, though SB-F had marginal recovery of pioneer moss species. Consequently, we conducted experiments testing the success of moss plugs and fragments of varying moss species at LB-F and SB-F surface covers, which had high hydrophobicity and low post-fire moss recovery. Experimental results indicate that the species type used in transplants is less critical in their survival than the microenvironment into which they are transplanted (i.e., burn severity). Transplant success was slightly higher in plugs than fragments, and larger plug sizes (10–15 cm) were more successful than small plugs (<10 cm). Growth was greater in SB-F than LB-F surface cover, owing to differences in post-fire hydrophobicity, and thus moisture availability. We conclude that in appropriate areas post-fire, peatland management efforts could employ large mixed-moss or Sphagnum moss transplant units while accounting for pre-fire vegetation composition and burn severity to fast-track post-fire moss and ecosystem recovery.
Objective
To estimate the effect of improving waste collection services on waste disposal behaviour and exposure to environmental risk factors in urban, low‐income communities in Pakistan.
Methods
We ...enrolled six low‐income communities in Islamabad (Pakistan), four of which received an intervention consisting of a door‐to‐door low‐cost waste collection service with centralised waste processing and recycling sites. Intervention communities underwent community‐level and household‐level mobilisation. The effect of the intervention on waste disposal behaviour, exposure to waste and synanthropic fly counts was measured using two cross‐sectional surveys in 180 households per community.
Results
Intervention communities had less favourable socio‐economic indicators and poorer access to waste disposal services at baseline than control communities. Use of any waste collection service increased from 5% to 49% in the intervention communities (difference 44%, 95% CI 41%, 48%), but the increase was largely confined to two communities where post‐intervention coverage exceeded 80% and 90%, respectively. An increase in the use of waste collection services was also found in the two control communities (from 21% to 67%, difference 47%, 95% CI 41%, 53%). Fly counts decreased by about 60% in the intervention communities (rate ratio 0.4, 95% CI 0.3, 0.4) but not in the control communities (rate ratio 1.52, 95% CI 1.1, 2.2). The decrease in fly counts was largely confined to the two high‐coverage intervention communities.
Conclusion
Introduction of a low‐cost waste collection service has the potential for high uptake in low‐income communities and for decreasing the exposure to waste and synanthropic flies at household level. Intervention success was constrained by low uptake in half of the intervention communities.
Almeida and colleagues randomised controlled trial on the impact of cold water immersion on heart rate variability during recovery suggests that this technique is beneficial if used for 15min at ...14°C. Ramirez-Campillo and co-workers describe a potential technique for enhancing plyometric training in female football players with dietary creatine supplementation.
The nucleus accumbens is a terminal area of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system that arises in the ventral tegmental area. Opioids are thought to enhance dopaminergic activity in the nucleus accumbens ...by activating δ- and μ-opioid receptors in the ventral tegmental area. However, δ- and μ-opioid receptor agonists increase extracellular levels of accumbal dopamine when infused directly into the nucleus accumbens of rats. Therefore, the roles of δ- and μ-opioid receptors in regulation of accumbal dopaminergic neural activity have been analyzed by using δ- and μ-opioid receptor ligands. This review describes the mechanisms underlying the stimulatory effects on accumbal dopamine efflux, which are induced by local administration of δ- and μ-opioid receptor agonists into the nucleus accumbens of freely moving rats. The focus of this article is neurochemical studies that use in vivo microdialysis techniques. Taken together, the in vivo neurochemical evidence from these studies indicates that δ- and μ-opioid receptor agonists increase accumbal dopamine efflux by activating naloxone-sensitive opioid receptors, and by mechanisms independent of naloxone-sensitive opioid receptors, in the nucleus accumbens.
Clarkson, Conway and Warmington begin the sport and exercise medicine section with a report of a randomised controlled trial of blood flow restricted walking and physical function in older adults. In ...the second article Nathan and co-workers report a trial examining the feasibility and effectiveness of a program to enhance children’s physical activity and object control skills, and Scott and colleagues assess the feasibility of hip and wrist worn accelerometers for measuring activity in free-living adolescents.
Flucloxacillin is a β-lactam antibiotic associated with a high incidence of drug-induced liver reactions. Although expression of HLA-B*57:01 increases susceptibility, little is known about the ...pathological mechanisms involved in the induction of the clinical phenotype. Irreversible protein modification is suspected to drive the reaction through the presentation of flucloxacillin-modified peptides by the risk allele. In this study, the binding of flucloxacillin to proteins of liver-like cells was characterized. Flucloxacillin was shown to bind to proteins localized in bile canaliculi regions, coinciding with the site of clinical disease. The localization of flucloxacillin was mediated primarily by the membrane transporter multidrug resistance-associated protein 2. Modification of multiple proteins by flucloxacillin in bile canaliculi regions may provide a potential local source of neo-antigens for HLA presentation in the liver.
Summary
1. Abandoned cutover peatlands are persistent sources of atmospheric CO2. Net ecosystem CO2 exchange and Sphagnum net primary production of an abandoned block‐cut bog were measured in the ...field and in the laboratory using gas exchange techniques to determine the processes controlling CO2 exchange in these ecosystems.
2. Sphagnum net primary production was offset by peat respiration, resulting in the peatland becoming a net source of CO2 during the summer months.
3. Sphagnum photosynthesis was greatest at wet sites. In addition, sites with vascular plant cover photosynthesized at approximately twice the rate of sites where vascular plants were removed.
4. Laboratory results indicate that drying and wetting cycles negatively affect Sphagnum net primary production and net ecosystem CO2 exchange. Sphagnum and peat respiration increased 4–14‐fold upon rewetting, whereas Sphagnum photosynthesis did not recover until 20 days of saturation.
5. Synthesis and applications. This research emphasizes the importance of stable moisture availability for the growth of Sphagnum and the eventual development of a new acrotelm on the cutover bog surface. Restoration techniques must therefore include companion species and a constant moisture supply above the minimum threshold for Sphagnum mosses.
•There is limited research published on Midwives’ immunisation attitudes and practice.•The majority of midwives support immunisation, however a spectrum of beliefs and concerns emerged.•The ...reservations expressed focussed on what is not yet known rather than mistrust of current evidence.•The midwifery focus on the individual and parental choice has implications for immunisation promotion.
Vaccine hesitancy in industrialised countries is an area of concern. Health professionals play a significant role in parental vaccination decisions, however, to date the role of midwives has not been widely explored. This review sought to describe the attitudes and communication practices of midwives in developed countries towards childhood vaccines.
Medline, Cinahl, PsychInfo, Embase and the grey literature were searched. Inclusion criteria were qualitative and quantitative studies reporting midwives’ beliefs, attitudes and communication practices toward childhood vaccination.
The search returned 366 articles, of which 359 were excluded by abstract. Two additional articles were identified from the grey literature and references, resulting in nine studies from five countries included in the review.
Across the studies, the majority of midwives supported vaccination, although a spectrum of beliefs and concerns emerged. A minority expressed reservations about the scientific justification for vaccination, which focussed on what is not yet known rather than mistrust of current evidence. Most midwives felt that vaccines were safe; a minority were unsure, or believed they were unsafe. The majority of midwives agreed that childhood vaccines are necessary. Among those who expressed doubt, a commonly held opinion was that vaccine preventable diseases such as measles are relatively benign and didn’t warrant vaccination against them. Finally, the midwifery model of care was shown to focus on providing individualised care, with parental choice being placed at a premium.
The midwifery model care appears to differ in approach from others, possibly due to a difference in the underpinning philosophies. Research is needed to understand how midwives see vaccination, and why there appears to be a spectrum of views on the subject. This information will inform the development of resources tailored to the midwifery model of care, supporting midwives in advocating for childhood vaccination.
Fringe-projection measurement systems are susceptible to image saturation and measurement error if ambient illuminance is increased during measurement after earlier calibration. This paper presents ...analyses of fringe-projection measurement-accuracy sensitivity to object illuminance and fringe-pattern gray levels for an adaptive approach to fringe-pattern projection. Calibrations of a measurement system with no ambient light using eight different maximum fringe-pattern gray levels between 175 and 255 were performed utilizing the two-step triangular-pattern phase-shifting method. Measurements using the same patterns and corresponding calibration parameters performed with 0 and 300
lx ambient illuminance had mean RMS errors over depth below 0.5 and 0.7
mm, respectively, for maximum gray levels ranging from 195 to 255. The optimal tradeoff of lower maximum gray level to tolerate ambient lighting and avoid image saturation and higher maximum gray level for greater robustness to image noise occurred at 215, where the minimum error was 0.44
mm. In an adaptive fringe-pattern projection approach, the maximum gray level would be adjusted based on images acquired during measurement, and calibration parameters determined in earlier calibrations would be utilized. The approach is applicable to single or multiple-step measurement methods.
This article provides a tribute to the life and career of Eric Dunning. It explores how Eric Dunning was one of the first people to recognize the potential of sport as a field of sociological study ...and how, in the 1960s, he was central in both the intellectual and organizational development of the emerging field. In the 1970s and 1980s Dunning collaborated on some key historical sociological research which enabled the field to consolidate, expand and exert some significant political influence in the UK in relation to the social issue of football hooliganism. It concludes with a review of some of the formal and informal recognition Dunning received from both sociological and historical scholars of sport, and notes that he will be much missed in both communities.
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