A Geochemical and Biological Basis for Marine Sediment Quality Guidelines

This document describes a basis for the establishment of marine sediment quality guidelines for regulatory applications. It outlines a geochemical basis for identifying potential anomalies in the presence of inorganic contaminants in marine sediments and a biological or ecotoxicological basis for determining concentrations unlikely to result in adverse biological effects. These approaches are discussed in an exploratory fashion. It is intended that both approaches could be combined in a manner that takes account of sedimentary nature and composition as a conceptual and practical approach to the establishment of guidelines for regulatory applications associated with the protection of the marine environment.     

Motor vehicle restraint system use and risk of spine injury

OBJECTIVE: Motor vehicle collision (MVC)-related spinal injury is a severe and often permanently disabling injury. In addition, strain injuries have been reported as a common outcome of MVCs. Although advances in automobile crashworthiness have reduced both fatalities and severe injuries, the impact of varying occupant restraint systems (seatbelts and airbags) on thoracolumbar spine injuries is unknown. This study examined the relationship between the occurrence of mild to severe cervical and thoracolumbar spine injury and occupant restraint systems among front seat occupants involved in frontal MVCs. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted among subjects obtained from the 1995-2004 National Automotive Sampling System. Cases were identified based on having sustained a spine injury of >/=1 on the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), 1990 Revision. Risk risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed comparing occupant restraint systems with unrestrained occupants. RESULTS: We found an overall incidence of AIS1 cervical (11.8%) and thoracolumbar (3.7%) spinal injury. Seatbelt only restraints were associated with increased cervical AIS1 injury (RR = 1.40, 95% CI 1.04-1.88). However, seatbelt only restraints showed the greatest risk reduction for AIS2 spinal injuries. Airbag only restraints reduced thoracolumbar AIS1 injuries (RR = 0.29, 95% CI 0.08-1.04). Seatbelt combined with airbag use was protective for cervical AIS3+ injury overall (RR = 0.29, 95% CI 0.14-0.58), cervical neurological injury (RR = 0.19, 95% CI 0.05-0.81), and thoracolumbar AIS3+ injury overall (RR = 0.20, 95% CI 0.05-0.70). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that seatbelts alone or in combination with an airbag increased the incidence of AIS1 spinal injuries, but provide protection against more severe injury to all regions of the spine. Airbag deployment without seatbelt use did not show increased protection relative to unrestrained occupants.     

Staying in place during times of change in Arctic Alaska: the implications of attachment,alternatives, and buffering

The relationship between stability and change in social-ecological systems has received considerable attention in recent years, including the expectation that significant environmental changes will drive observable consequences for individuals, communities, and populations. Migration, as one example of response to adverse economic or environmental changes, has been observed in many places, including parts of the Far North. In Arctic Alaska, a relative lack of demographic or migratory response to rapid environmental and other changes has been observed. To understand why Arctic Alaska appears different, we draw on the literature on environmentally driven migration, focusing on three mechanisms that could account for the lack of response: attachment, the desire to remain in place, or the inability to relocate successfully; alternatives, ways to achieve similar outcomes through different means; and buffering, the reliance on subsidies or use of reserves to delay impacts. Each explanation has different implications for research and policy, indicating a need to further explore the relative contribution that each makes to a given situation in order to develop more effective responses locally and regionally. Given that the Arctic is on the front lines of climate change, these explanations are likely relevant to the ways changes play out in other parts of the world. Our review also underscores the importance of further attention to the details of social dynamics in climate change impacts and responses.

     

A Geochemical and Biological Basis for Marine Sediment Quality Guidelines

This document describes a basis for the establishment of marine sediment quality guidelines for regulatory applications. It outlines a geochemical basis for identifying potential anomalies in the presence of inorganic contaminants in marine sediments and a biological or ecotoxicological basis for determining concentrations unlikely to result in adverse biological effects. These approaches are discussed in an exploratory fashion. It is intended that both approaches could be combined in a manner that takes account of sedimentary nature and composition as a conceptual and practical approach to the establishment of guidelines for regulatory applications associated with the protection of the marine environment.     

A syntrophic propionate-oxidizing microflora and its bioaugmentation on anaerobic wastewater treatment for enhancing methane production and COD removal

Methane fermentation process can be restricted and even destroyed by the accumulation of propionate because it is the most difficult to be anaerobically oxidized among the volatile fatty acids produced by acetogenesis. To enhance anaerobic wastewater treatment process for methane production and COD removal, a syntrophic propionate-oxidizing microflora B83 was obtained from an anaerobic activated sludge by enrichment with propionate. The inoculation of microflora B83, with a 1:9 ratio of bacteria number to that of the activated sludge, could enhance the methane production from glucose by 2.5 times. With the same inoculation dosage of the microflora B83, COD removal in organic wastewater treatment process was improved from 75.6% to 86.6%, while the specific methane production by COD removal was increased by 2.7 times. Hydrogen-producing acetogenesis appeared to be a rate-limiting step in methane fermentation, and the enhancement of hydrogen-producing acetogens in the anaerobic wastewater treatment process had improved not only the hydrogen-producing acetogenesis but also the acidogenesis and methanogenesis.

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Birnessite mediated debromination of decabromodiphenyl ether

Decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) is a major component of a commercial flame retardant formulation; however, there is limited information on the fate of BDE-209 in the environment, including metal oxide mediated degradation. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the birnessite (delta-MnO(2))-promoted debromination of BDE-209 in tetrahydrofuran (THF)-water systems as well as catechol solutions. Up to 100% (0.1044 micromol initial charge) of BDE-209 disappeared upon reaction with birnessite in THF/H(2)O (4:6-9:1). The formation of aqueous Br(-) from BDE-209 reduction was determined and up to 16 mole% of initial bromine was released over the course of the reaction indicating approximately 1.7 Br-C bonds were reduced per BDE-209 molecule. The distribution of debrominated congeners, however, indicated a much greater extent of debromination for some products than what was inferred from an average bromine mass balance. The produced congeners varied from tetra- to nona-bromodiphenyl ether, including BDE-47 and -99, during the 24 h reaction. Experiments with deuterated water indicated that water was not the major hydrogen donor in the reduction but rather THF provided the reducing power. This conclusion was supported by the presence of succinic acid, which was produced from oxidation of THF. The reactions with aqueous catechol, rather than THF-water mixtures, were performed to assess the possible role that compounds found in natural environments, such a tannin-like phenols, might have on the chemistry. These experiments indicated that birnessite mediated debromination of BDE-209 might occur in natural settings.     

Food,culture, and human health in Alaska: an integrative health approach to food security

Multiple climatic and socioeconomic drivers have come in recent years to interfere with the ability of Alaska's ‘bush’ communities to achieve food security with locally available food resources. Livelihoods traditionally centered on the harvest of wild, country foods, are transitioning to a cash economy, with increasing reliance on industrially produced, store-bought foods. While commercially available foods provide one measure of food security, availability and quality of these foods is subject to the vagaries and vulnerabilities of a global food system: access is dependent on one's ability to pay; most importantly, perhaps these foods often do not fulfill many of the roles that country foods have played in these communities and cultures. This transition is having severe consequences for the health of people and viability of rural communities, yet in ways not always tracked by conventional food security methodologies and frameworks. This paper expands the discussion of food security, premised on an integrative model of health that links sociocultural, ecological, psychological, and biomedical aspects of individual and community health. We use the Alaska case to illustrate that if food security is to be understood as a matter of human health, then our definitions of and designs for food security must recognize food's multifaceted and often regionally nuanced role in creating positive health outcomes.     

Methodology for the Study of Public Attitudes Concerning Air Pollution

A significant element of a community's total air pollution picture is the “state of mind” of the people living in the area with respect to air pollution. The reasons why a study of public attitudes can be an important factor in planning an air pollution control program are briefly summarized. The methodology applied in one such study in the St. Louis Metropolitan area is described, and possible variations related to different scope, objectives and survey area characteristics are suggested.