Fall-related traumatic brain injury deaths and hospitalizations among older adults--United States, 2005

PROBLEM: Among older adults, both unintentional falls and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) result in significant morbidity and mortality; however, only limited national data on fall-related TBI are available. METHOD: To examine the relationship between older adult falls and TBI deaths and hospitalizations, CDC analyzed 2005 data from the National Center for Health Statistics' National Vital Statistics System and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Nationwide Inpatient Sample. RESULTS: In 2005, among adults>or=65 years, there were 7946 fall-related TBI deaths and an estimated 56,423 hospitalizations for nonfatal fall-related TBI in the United States. Fall-related TBI accounted for 50.3% of unintentional fall deaths and 8.0% of nonfatal fall-related hospitalizations. SUMMARY: These findings underscore the need for greater dissemination and implementation of evidence-based fall prevention interventions.     

Insect herbivory may cause changes in the visual properties of leaves and affect the camouflage of herbivores to avian predators

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology - An individual’s metabolic competence is important when escalating to costly behaviours in agonistic encounters. The use of broken shells in the wild...     

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis of pericentric inversions

Inversions are structural chromosome abnormalities that may be associated with infertility, multiple miscarriage and chromosomally unbalanced offspring. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) with subtelomeric probes was used to select for transfer only those embryos that were normal or balanced for three pericentric inversions. In contrast to previous protocols the present procedure allows the detection of unbalanced embryos that might arise from U-recombination in the inverted region. Additionally, aneuploidy screening was carried out in two cases by a second round of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with centromeric probes. Of the three couples that underwent the procedure one became pregnant twice. The first pregnancy delivered a healthy and chromosomally normal baby and the second pregnancy is ongoing with triplets. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development and application of GIS datasets for assessing and managing coastal impacts and future change on the central coast of Western Australia

The coastal zone between Guilderton and Kalbarri, north of Perth, Western Australia, is a highly dynamic area of high landscape and conservation values under increasing development pressures. Intensification of terrestrial and coastal impacts has highlighted the need to develop a georeferenced data base for land management. The Coastal Assessment and Restoration project aimed to document the natural resources and coastal developments to the region and to identify & assess threats to the coastal strip through the creation of GIS datasets. GIS datasets provide a key source of reference information which can be accessed by a number of stakeholders for future coastal planning and management and provide a basis for developing a risk management assessment of the coastal zone and a strategy for coastal managers in our climate change future.     

Surrogate Measures for Providing High Frequency Estimates of Total Suspended Solids and Total Phosphorus Concentrations1

Spackman Jones, Amber, David K. Stevens, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, and Nancy O. Mesner, 2010. Surrogate Measures for Providing High Frequency Estimates of Total Suspended Solids and Total Phosphorus Concentrations. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1‐15. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00505.x Abstract: Surrogate measures like turbidity, which can be observed with high frequency in situ, have potential for generating high frequency estimates of total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations. In the semiarid, snowmelt‐driven, and irrigation‐regulated Little Bear River watershed of northern Utah, high frequency in situ water quality measurements were recorded in conjunction with periodic chemistry sampling. Site‐specific relationships were developed using turbidity as a surrogate for TP and TSS at two monitoring locations. Methods are presented for employing censored data and for investigating categorical explanatory variables (e.g., hydrologic conditions). Turbidity was a significant explanatory variable for TP and TSS at both sites, which differ in hydrologic and water quality characteristics. The relationship between turbidity and TP was stronger at the upper watershed site where TP is predominantly particulate. At both sites, the relationships between turbidity and TP varied between spring snowmelt and base flow conditions while the relationships between TSS and turbidity were consistent across hydrological conditions. This approach enables the calculation of high frequency time series of TP and TSS concentrations previously unavailable using traditional monitoring approaches. These methods have broad application for situations that require accurate characterization of fluxes of these constituents over a range of hydrologic conditions.     

Patterns in soil fertility and root herbivory interact to influence fine-root dynamics

Fine-scale soil nutrient enrichment typically stimulates root growth, but it may also increase root herbivory, resulting in trade-offs for plant species and potentially influencing carbon cycling patterns. We used root ingrowth cores to investigate the effects of microsite fertility and root herbivory on root biomass in an aggrading upland forest in the coastal plain of South Carolina, USA. Treatments were randomly assigned to cores from a factorial combination of fertilizer and insecticide. Soil, soil fauna, and roots were removed from the cores at the end of the experiment (8-9 mo), and roots were separated at harvest into three diameter classes. Each diameter class responded differently to fertilizer and insecticide treatments. The finest roots (< 1.0 mm diameter), which comprised well over half of all root biomass, were the only ones to respond significantly to both treatments, increasing when fertilizer and when insecticide were added (each P < 0.0001), with maximum biomass found where the treatments were combined (interaction term significant, P < 0.001). These results suggest that root-feeding insects have a strong influence on root standing crop with stronger herbivore impacts on finer roots and within more fertile microsites. Thus, increased vulnerability to root herbivory is a potentially significant cost of root foraging in nutrient-rich patches.     

Scales of integration for sustainable development governance

Efforts at integration are central in the Sustainable Development Goals and the wider Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. While integration forms a major focus of this agenda, there are fundamental limitations on pursuing this focus. The global governance discussions on integration lack a clear conceptualization of what it is, do not have any tools for measurement or assessment, and are narrowly focused around policy integration between global institutions. This article develops a framework for conceptualizing cross-level and cross-scale integration which addresses these problems and introduces the opportunities and challenges of pursuing different types of integration in global governance. Cross-level integration involves governance efforts which seek to bridge similar institutions with one another (for example, bringing together efforts by environmental ministries and development ministries). Cross-scale integration, in contrast, deals with governance efforts that bring together institutions which have distinct scopes, jurisdictions, and epistemologies. With this important distinction, the article explores the opportunities for cross-scale integration as part of the global sustainable development efforts and particularly expanding the policy integration focus with spatial and temporal integration as well. The conclusion uses the Earth System Governance perspective to focus on the trade-offs that are likely as wider forms of institutional integration are pursued beyond environmental mainstreaming and policy integration.     

Fly ash as a liming material for cotton

A field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of fly ash from a coal combustion electric power facility on soil acidity in a cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) field. Fresh fly ash was applied to a Bosket fine sandy loam (fine-loamy, mixed, thermic Mollic Hapludalf) soil with an initial soil pH(salt) of 4.8. The fly ash was equivalent to 42 g kg(-1) calcium carbonate with 97% passing through a 60 mesh (U.S. standard) sieve. Fly ash was applied one day before cotton planting in 1999 at 0, 3.4, 6.7, and 10.1 Mg ha(-1). No fly ash was applied in 2000. Within 60 d of fly ash application in 1999, all rates of fly ash significantly increased soil pH above 6.0. Manganese levels in cotton petioles were reduced significantly by 6.7 and 10.1 Mg ha(-1) of fly ash. Soil boron (B) and sodium (Na) concentrations were significantly increased with fly ash. In 1999, B in cotton leaves ranged from 72 to 84 mg kg(-1) in plots with fly ash applications. However, no visual symptoms of B toxicity in plants were observed. In 1999, cotton lint yield decreased on average 12 kg ha(-1) for each Mg of fly ash applied. In 2000, cotton yields were significantly greater for the residual 3.4 and 6.7 Mg fly ash ha(-1) plots than the untreated check. Due to the adverse yield effects measured in the first year following application, fly ash would not be a suitable soil amendment for cotton on this soil at this time.