Significance of riverine carbon transport: A case study of a large tropical river, Godavari (India)

Although riverine carbon fluxes are a minor component of the global carbon cycle, the transfer of organic carbon from land to ocean represents a flux of potential carbon storage, irreversible over 103 to 104 a. Future carbon transfers through river basins are expected to accelerate, with respect to both sources and sinks, because of the large-scale human driven land-use and land-cover changes. Thus, the increased amounts of carbon transported to and sequestered in marine sediments (through fertilization by river-borne inorganic nutrients) may be an important net sink for anthropogenic CO2. Particularly, the humid tropics of South Asia are regions very sensitive to this lateral C transport because of high precipitation and high rates of land use and cover change. In this paper we report on the role of upland tributaries in the transport processes influencing the lateral carbon and nitrogen fluxes of the Godavari, a large tropical river of India. By far, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is the dominant form of carbontransport in the river basin. It constitutes as much as 75% to the total carbonload. Particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC) fluxes account for21% and 4%, respectively. In the upper basin, DOC fluxes exceed that of POC dueto large-scale anthropogenic activities. In contrast, tributaries in the central basin are characterized by comparable fluxes of POC and DOC. However, downriver POC export is 35% less than the import from upriver and tributaries due to theentrainment of sediments in river channels and dam sites. We argue that for highly disturbed watersheds in tropical regions, downstream transport of sediments and carbon requires long-term sampling programmes.     

2014-2016年南充市儿童手足口病重症流行病学调查及危险因素分析

摘要 目的：了解南充市儿童重症手足口病流行病学特征及其相关危险因素,为降低儿童重症手足口病发病率提供依据。方法：对中国"疾病监测信息报告管理系统"中确诊的南充市（顺庆区、高坪区、嘉陵区、阆中市）2014-2016年儿童手足口病的病例信息进行研究,分析该市儿童手足口病疫情、时间分布、地区分布和人群分布特征,并应用单因素和多因素Logistic回归分析儿童重症手足口病危险因素。结果：2014-2016年顺庆区、高坪区、嘉陵区、阆中市共报告儿童手足口病8068例,其中重症病例426例,占5.28%。全年均有手足口病发生,4~7月为手足口病发病高峰期,2014年峰值明显高于2015年、2016年,重症手足口病时间分布和发病高峰期与以上相同。顺庆区、高坪区、嘉陵区、阆中市均有手足口病发生,阆中市重症病例比例均高于其他辖区,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。男性患儿重症病例构成比较高,不同性别患儿重症病例构成比比较差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;重症病例主要集中在1~3岁儿童,不同年龄段重症病例构成比比较差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）,重症病例主要分布在散居儿童和农村儿童,不同生活方式、不同家庭住址重症病例构成比比较差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;重症病例主要分布在3~6天时间间隔的就诊患儿,不同就诊时间间隔重症病例构成比比较差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。多因素Logistic分析显示：年龄为1-3岁、散居、家庭住址为农村是重症手足口病的危险因素（P<0.05）。结论：年龄为1-3岁、散居、家庭住址为农村是重症手足口病的危险因素,应在流动人口集中、生活条件较差的地区开展手足口病的宣传教育,提高人们对手足口病防治的认知,对于1-3岁儿童应作为疾病重点防控对象,提高家长疾病防控意识,以降低重症手足口病的发病率。     

Mortality rates in subjects with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and their siblings

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to estimate the mortality rate in subjects with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and their siblings whose FASD status was unknown. METHODS: We used the state FASD Registry to link subjects with FASD to a North Dakota birth certificate. We were able to link 304 of 486 cases (63%). We used the birth certificates to identify the mother and children born to the mother (siblings). We then searched for death certificates for both the FASD cases and their siblings. We then calculated the annual and age‐adjusted mortality rates for the siblings of the Registry cases and compared them with mortality rates from North Dakota. RESULTS: The FASD case mortality rate was 2.4%, with a 4.5% mortality rate for their sibings, accounting for 14% of all deaths when compared to the North Dakota residents matched by age and year of death. The sibling deaths accounted for 21.5% of all cause mortality matched by age and year of death. The age‐standardized mortality ratios were 4.9 for the FASD cases and 2.6 for their siblings whose FASD status was unknown. CONCLUSIONS: Mortality rates for FASD cases and their siblings were increased and represent a substantial proportion of all cause mortality in North Dakota. Prevention of FASD may be a useful strategy to decrease mortality. Birth Defects Research (Part A), 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The coproduction of moral discourse in U.S. community psychiatry

Anthropologists often criticize the discipline of bioethics because its remote, abstract theories fail to capture how front-line clinicians experience and resolve moral uncertainty. The critique overlooks, however, the ways that everyday, emergent moral discourse is influenced—over time and through several mediations—by formal ethical notions. High-order ethical pronouncements become sedimented into the conditions of work, illustrated in this article by a two-year ethnographic study of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), a popular mode of outpatient psychiatric services. ACT clinicians' moral unease when they break the confidentiality of patients is connected to high-order debates, dating back 35 years, about ensuring patients' autonomy without abandoning them. These debates originally spurred the invention of ACT, and they get braided into today's moral discourse through several mediations: regulatory paperwork, the mandates and micropolitics of staff–patient interactions, and the idealized self-image of front-line staff. This article shows how everyday moral talk is coproduced by both the immediate contexts of clinical work and the categories of formal bioethics.     

Orbital Dirofilariasis in Iran: A Case Report

Dirofilariasis is a common parasitic disease in both domestic and wild animals around the world, with canines as the principal reservoir host and mosquitoes as the vector. Human ophthalmic dirofilariasis is an uncommon condition, but there have been reports from many parts of the world, including Africa, Australia, the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Ophthalmic involvement with Dirofilaria may present itself as periorbital, subconjunctival, orbital, or intraocular infections. In this report, we present a case of orbital dirofilariasis with lateral rectus muscle involvement. To our knowledge, this is the first orbital dirofilariasis case reported in Iran. Although debulking of the tumor usually leads to resolution, our patient showed an episode of recurrence after biopsy. Complete recovery was achieved after a spontaneous discharge, without the need for systemic medication.     

浙江省首例人禽流感病例的病原学与分子生物学研究

为确认浙江省首例疑似人禽流感病例,进行病原学分析,对患者气管吸出物进行核酸RT-PCR、荧光定量RT-PCR检测以及病毒分离,并对患者血清进行HI抗体测定。结果表明:患者气管吸出物H5N1亚型和A型流感病毒特异核酸均呈阳性,分离到禽流感病毒A/Zhejiang/16/06(H5N1)株;双份血清中禽流感病毒(H5N1)HI抗体滴度分别为1:320和1:640,从病原学和血清学上证实为人禽流感病例。分离毒株测序结果显示,A/Zhejiang/16/06(H5N1)株在HA裂解位点为多个碱性氨基酸,符合高致病性禽流感病毒特征;该毒株的HA、NA、PB2、NP、M和NS基因序列均为禽源,与2005年我国福建、安徽等地禽流感病毒分离株高度同源,而与越南、泰国以及香港1997年分离到的禽流感病毒株之间存在明显差异。     

A GIS-based risk reduction approach for the hazardous materials routing problem in Gaziantep

The transportation of hazardous materials assumes a fundamental importance, especially in urban areas, in order to identify possible alternative routes and to choose the route with minimum risk. Therefore, considering minimization risk rather than minimization distance to prevent a potential danger being transformed into a real event is necessary. In this article , a geographic information system (GIS)–based solution approach is developed to quantify the factors on each link in the network that contribute to a possible route. Based on the origin and destination of each shipment, the risks associated with the routes that minimize (1) the transport distance, (2) the population exposure, (3) the probability of an incident, and (4) the emergency response are evaluated. Proposed risk models are applied to fuel-oil transportation problem between resource point and 78 gasoline stations through the road network of Gaziantep city center. Results show that the proposed framework can contribute to the thought processes of policy-makers and carriers when they evaluate possible routes in order to minimize damage for transporting fuel oil.