Inactivation of Murine Norovirus Suspended in Organic Matter Simulating Actual Conditions of Viral Contamination

Food and Environmental Virology - Foodborne viral illnesses are frequent worldwide and costly for the society. Human norovirus is one of the most common causal agents. Although some norovirus...     

Featured Collection Introduction: Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters

Connectivity is a fundamental but highly dynamic property of watersheds. Variability in the types and degrees of aquatic ecosystem connectivity presents challenges for researchers and managers seeking to accurately quantify its effects on critical hydrologic, biogeochemical, and biological processes. However, protecting natural gradients of connectivity is key to protecting the range of ecosystem services that aquatic ecosystems provide. In this featured collection, we review the available evidence on connections and functions by which streams and wetlands affect the integrity of downstream waters such as large rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and estuaries. The reviews in this collection focus on the types of waters whose protections under the U.S. Clean Water Act have been called into question by U.S. Supreme Court cases. We synthesize 40+ years of research on longitudinal, lateral, and vertical fluxes of energy, material, and biota between aquatic ecosystems included within the Act's frame of reference. Many questions about the roles of streams and wetlands in sustaining downstream water integrity can be answered from currently available literature, and emerging research is rapidly closing data gaps with exciting new insights into aquatic connectivity and function at local, watershed, and regional scales. Synthesis of foundational and emerging research is needed to support science‐based efforts to provide safe, reliable sources of fresh water for present and future generations.     

Meadow Restoration Increases Baseflow and Groundwater Storage in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California

In mountains of the western United States, channel incision has drawn down the water table across thousands of square kilometers of meadow floodplain. Here climate change is resulting in earlier melt and reduced snowpack and water resource managers are responding by investing in meadow restoration to increase springtime storage and summer flows. The record‐setting California drought (2012–2015) provided an opportunity to evaluate this strategy under the warmer and drier conditions expected to impact mountain water supplies. In 2012, 0.1 km² of meadow floodplain was reconnected by filling an incised channel through Indian Valley in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Despite sustained drought conditions after restoration, summer baseflow from the meadow increased 5–12 times. Before restoration, the total summer outflow from the meadow was 5% more than the total summer inflow. After restoration, total summer outflow from the meadow was between 35% and 95% more than total summer inflow. In the worst year of the drought (2015), when inflow to the meadow ceased for at least one month, summer baseflow was at least five times greater than before restoration. Groundwater levels also rose at four out of five sites near the stream channel. Filling the incised channel and reconnecting the meadow floodplain increased water availability and streamflow, despite unprecedented drought conditions.     

Electronic waste recycling: A review of U.S. infrastructure and technology options

The useful life of consumer electronic devices is relatively short, and decreasing as a result of rapid changes in equipment features and capabilities. This creates a large waste stream of obsolete electronic equipment, electronic waste (e-waste).Even though there are conventional disposal methods for e-waste, these methods have disadvantages from both the economic and environmental viewpoints. As a result, new e-waste management options need to be considered, for example, recycling. But electronic recycling has a short history, so there is not yet a solid infrastructure in place.In this paper, the first half describes trends in the amount of e-waste, existing recycling programs, and collection methods. The second half describes various methods available to recover materials from e-waste. In particular, various recycling technologies for the glass, plastics, and metals found in e-waste are discussed. For glass, glass-to-glass recycling and glass-to-lead recycling technologies are presented. For plastics, chemical (feedstock) recycling, mechanical recycling, and thermal recycling methods are analyzed. Recovery processes for copper, lead, and precious metals such as silver, gold, platinum, and palladium are reviewed. These processes are described and compared on the basis of available technologies, resources, and material input–output systems.     

BENEFITS OF ITERATIVE WATER SUPPLY FORECASTING IN THE WASHINGTON,D.C., METROPOLITAN AREA1

The three largest water utilities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (WMA) rely on the Potomac River and its reservoirs for water supply. These utilities have committed to a periodic review of the system's adequacy to meet future demands. In 1990, 1995, 2000, and again in 2004 (for publication in 2005) the utilities requested that the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) conduct a 20‐year water demand and resource adequacy study to fulfill this need. The selection of the five‐year interval provides multiple benefits. It allows regular updates and incorporation of recent demographic forecasts, and it increases visibility and understanding of the adequacy of the region's water resources. It also provides adequate time to conduct research on the physical system and to incorporate modifications based on this research into subsequent studies. The studies and lessons learned are presented in this case study of the WMA. The work has been a natural outgrowth of a long history of cooperative water supply planning and management among the main WMA water utilities and ICPRB.     

Subhumid pasture plant communities entrained by management

Many annual cropping lands are being converted to perennial pasture in humid and subhumid areas of the USA as the economic, social, and environmental benefits of managed grazing become evident. Recent evidence about the positive effects of plant diversity on productivity is driving farmers towards management for more complex species mixes than were promoted historically for grazed pastures, but this emphasis has highlighted a lack of understanding about plant community management in pastures. To better understand this system we examined sources of variability in the plant community of a subhumid grassland that was subjected to combinations of disturbance (graze or burn), and amendment (nitrogen, carbon, or ambient), and native grass seeding treatments over 3 years (2004 to 2006). We estimated species cover five times during the study period and ordinated these data with nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMS). The ordination explained 80% of the variation in the plant community data set. Variance in ordination site scores was ascribed to management (disturbance, soil amendment, and native grass seeding time), the environment (year, season within year, and block), or unexplained (residual) realms with a linear mixed-effects model. The overwhelming source of variability in the plant community (62–99%) was attributed to management. Ordination results illustrated that plant groups sorted out along management gradients: burned plots were shifted towards grasses while forbs and clovers were associated with grazed plots. We demonstrate how a community-level approach can be used to evaluate management regimes in agroecosystems. Our results indicate that disturbance and soil amendments can be used to shape plant communities in subhumid grasslands for specific agronomic and conservation goals.     

Unintentional injuries among infants age 0-12 months

Each year an estimated 328,500 infants age 0-12 months are treated for unintentional injuries in emergency departments (EDs): one infant every minute and a half. The leading cause, overall and by month of age, was fall-related injury. The second leading cause was 'struck by or against.' The majority of patients were injured at home. Younger infants were more likely to be hospitalized than older ones and more males than females were injured. Gender differences suggest that parenting practices may play a role, but ecological approaches should be considered in an effort to understand the connection between injuries and an infant's developmental stage.     

Reconstruction of crashes involving injured child occupants: the risk of serious injuries associated with sub-optimal restraint use may be reduced by better controlling occupant kinematics

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether injuries to sub-optimally restrained child occupants in real-world crashes were likely to be preventable by alternative restraint usage practices and to assess the usefulness of crash reconstruction for exploring injury mechanisms in child occupants. METHODS: Real-world crashes in which child occupants sustained significant injuries were reconstructed on a laboratory crash sled using the Hybrid III family of child dummies. Alternative restraint scenarios and cases in which children were not seriously injured were also simulated to compare dummy kinematics and dynamic responses in optimal restraint configurations. RESULTS: Restraint misuse was associated with greater motion of the dummy torso and head during crashes, often allowing contact between the child and the vehicle interior, resulting in injury. Poor pre-crash posture for a child inappropriately restrained in an adult belt appeared to worsen the geometry of the sash (shoulder) belt, resulting in a cervical injury due to direct interaction with the belt. Dynamic dummy data did not appear to discriminate between injury and non-injury cases. CONCLUSIONS: Dummy kinematics suggest that injuries in which inappropriate use and misuse were a factor were less likely if the most appropriate restraint was used correctly. Adequately controlling the head and upper body of the child occupant was seen to prevent undesirable interactions with the vehicle interior and restraint system, which were associated with injury in the real world. Neck forces and moments and injury criteria calculated from these did not predict injury reliably.     

DNA damage in mouse organs and in human sperm cells by bisphenol A

Abstract

The in vivo genotoxic potential of bisphenol A using the comet assay in mice and in human sperm cells in vitro without metabolizing enzymes was studied. Male mice were exposed by oral gavage to the following doses of bisphenol A (0 125, 250 and 500?mg/kg body weight). DNA damage was investigated in liver, kidney, testes, urinary bladder, colon and lungs cells. In testicular cells, a significant increase in DNA strand breaks was observed in the lowest, but not in the medium or highest dose groups. Histopathological investigation of the testicular samples did not show any treatment dose-related effects. No DNA strand breaks were observed in any of the other investigated tissues. In human sperm cells in vitro, bisphenol A did not induce DNA strand breaks.