Bridging the gap: bringing together intentional and unintentional injury prevention efforts to improve health and well being

PROBLEM: Intentional and unintentional injury prevention efforts have traditionally been independent and non-integrated. Fostering collaboration between the sub-fields would enhance work within both sub-fields and advance injury prevention work as a whole. METHOD: A systematic assessment of similarities and differences between the sub-fields was performed, including an examination of relevant definitions and norms, research methods and findings, key risk and resiliency factors, and prevention strategies that would promote collaboration and better advance current prevention efforts. RESULTS/SUMMARY: Several areas exist in which injury prevention efforts could be coordinated or ideas and practices could be cross-applied, including training of practitioners, data collection and analysis, application of tools and methodologies, examination of risk and resiliency factors, and identification of funding sources and partners. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This paper delineates how intentional and unintentional injury prevention practitioners can more effectively collaborate to promote safer environments and further reduce incidence of injury. An integrated injury prevention approach could significantly impact the underlying contributors to both types of injury, allowing practitioners within both sub-fields to achieve greater outcomes through increased credibility, reduced duplication of efforts, more efficient use of resources, and unified injury prevention messages.     

Terrestrial Biodiversity Analyses in Dalmatia (Croatia): A Complementary Approach Using Diversity and Rarity

Here we present the methodology used for terrestrial biodiversity analysis and site selection in Phase B of the UNDP/GEF COAST project. The analysis was focused on the problem of biodiversity evaluation in four Croatian counties stretching from sea level to the highest mountain in Croatia. Data on habitats, vascular flora, and fauna (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, ground beetles, and underground invertebrates) were collected and analyzed for each of the four counties. Emphasis was given to the richness of endangered species and the rarity of endemic species. Based on the spatial analyses of habitat, fauna, and flora data, four to six areas were selected from each county and ranked according to their biodiversity importance. Overlap between areas important for richness and those important for rarity was highest for data on flora (65.5%) and lowest for data on fauna (16.7%). When different data sets were compared, the lowest overlap was between flora and fauna (17.1%) and largest between fauna and habitats (23.9%). Simultaneous overlap among all three data sets was found in just 6.5% of the overall selected areas. These results suggest that less specific data, with respect to taxa threat status, could better serve as surrogate data in estimating overall biodiversity. In summary, this analysis has demonstrated that Dalmatia is a region with a high overall biodiversity that is important in a broader European context.     

Life stage- dependent bioconcentration of a nonylphenol isomer in Daphnia magna

Bioaccumulation is an important aspect for the fate and effects of xenobiotics in the environment. In this study we used a radiolabeled nonylphenol isomer to investigate the bioconcentration in Daphnia magna at different ages. Apart from the total radioactivity we measured the metabolism of p353-NP in D. magna, to calculate the amount of p353-NP compared to total radioactivity found within the daphnids. Bioconcentration factors, based on wet weight, calculated from the rate constants for total radioactivity in neonates and adults were 4271 kg/l and 760 kg/l respectively, leading to a 5.6 deviance in bioconcentration. This deviance was even more pronounced, nearly one order of magnitude, for the p353-NP concentration with bioconcentration factors of 302 kg/l for neonates and 31 kg/l for adults. We were able to describe the bioconcentration for all daphnids by a weight-dependent one- compartment model. These results pointed out that it is not possible to compare bioconcentration experiments conducted with different substances and different sized daphnids. Additionally it was shown that it is not possible to describe the bioconcentration by measuring the total radioactivity. Metabolism of nonylphenol occurs at a very fast rate and bioconcentration is not triggered by the partition between two phases, but by metabolism. Discrimination between the two mechanisms was achieved using radiolabeled substances and a pseudo two-compartment model to describe metabolism and elimination by two rate constants which afterwards can be compared between different substances.     

Relatedness communicated in lemur scent

Lemurs are the most olfactory-oriented of primates, yet there is still only a basic level of understanding of what their scent marks communicate. We analyzed scent secretions from Milne-Edwards' sifakas (Propithecus edwardsi) collected in their natural habitat of Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. We sought to test whether the scent mark could signal genetic relatedness in addition to species, sex, season, and individuality. We not only found correlations (r ²?=?0.38, P?=?0.017) between the total olfactory fingerprint and genetic relatedness but also between relatedness and specific components of the odor, despite the complex environmental signals from differences in diet and behavior in a natural setting. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an association between genetic relatedness and chemical communication in a wild primate population. Furthermore, we found a variety of compounds that were specific to each sex and each sampling period. This research shows that scent marks could act as a remote signal to avoid inbreeding, optimize mating opportunities, and potentially aid kin selection.     

液相色谱-正离子模式电喷雾质谱分析源水和饮用水中的22种碱性和中性农药及其代谢物

本文开发了一种定量分析源水和饮用2种农药及其代谢物的方法.本法采用固相萃取法处理水样,液相色谱和电喷雾质谱进行检测.回收率、灵敏度、准确性及精密度均达到了英国法规的要求.     

Yolk hormones and sexual conflict over parental investment in the pied flycatcher

Female birds might be able to manipulate the parental effort of their male partner through elevated transfer of hormones to the eggs, since these hormones affect many chick traits that males might use as cues for adjusting the level of their investment. We experimentally studied whether female pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca could manipulate male investment via yolk androgens. There is much more variation in yolk androgen levels between females than within clutches, and in order to change the androgen levels of the eggs, we swapped whole clutches between nests. To estimate the androgen levels of the clutch, we measured the androgen content of a single egg per clutch. Females did not succeed in manipulating male effort using yolk androgens, since there was no relationship between the division of parental care within a pair and either original or foster egg androgen levels. One of these relationships should have occurred if females were manipulating males. The proportion of feeding visits by the male was higher when the male was old (55%) than when he was young (45%) and females laid eggs with higher androgen levels when mated with a young male. Young males did not exhibit any responses to yolk androgen levels either, which indicates that females cannot exploit their effort more than that of old males. We suggest that females may allocate yolk androgens to adjust the growth trajectories of the chicks to poor growing conditions when mated with young males that are poor providers or occupying a poor territory.     

Climate change effects on phytoplankton depend on cell size and food web structure

We investigated the effects of warming on a natural phytoplankton community from the Baltic Sea, based on six mesocosm experiments conducted 2005–2009. We focused on differences in the dynamics of three phytoplankton size groups which are grazed to a variable extent by different zooplankton groups. While small-sized algae were mostly grazer-controlled, light and nutrient availability largely determined the growth of medium- and large-sized algae. Thus, the latter groups dominated at increased light levels. Warming increased mesozooplankton grazing on medium-sized algae, reducing their biomass. The biomass of small-sized algae was not affected by temperature, probably due to an interplay between indirect effects spreading through the food web. Thus, under the higher temperature and lower light levels anticipated for the next decades in the southern Baltic Sea, a higher share of smaller phytoplankton is expected. We conclude that considering the size structure of the phytoplankton community strongly improves the reliability of projections of climate change effects.     

A process-based population dynamics model to explore target and non-target impacts of a biological control agent

The risks and benefits associated with efforts to control invasive alien species using classical biological control are being subjected to increasing scrutiny. A process-based population dynamics model was developed to explore the interactions between a folivorous biological control agent, Cleopus japonicus, and its plant host Buddleja davidii. The model revealed that climate could have a significant impact upon the interactions between B. davidii and C. japonicus. At the coolest sites, the impact of C. japonicus on B. davidii was slowed, but it was still eventually capable of controlling populations of B. davidii. At the warmer sites where both B. davidii and C. japonicus grew faster, B. davidii succumbed rapidly to weevil damage. We hypothesise that barring an encounter with a natural enemy, C. japonicus will eventually be able to provide sustained control B. davidii throughout the North Island of New Zealand. The model scenarios illustrate the potential for the C. japonicus population to attain high densities rapidly, and to defoliate patches of B. davidii, creating the potential for spill-over feeding on non-target plants. The potential magnitude of this threat will depend partly on the climate suitability for C. japonicus, the pattern by which it migrates in response to a reduction in the available leaf resource, and the suitability of non-target plants as hosts. In all migration scenarios considered, the pattern of population growth and resource consumption by C. japonicus was exponential, with a strong tendency toward complete utilisation of resource patches more quickly at the warmer compared to colder sites. In addition to providing some useful hypotheses about the effects of climate on the biological control system, and the non-target risks, it also provides some insight into the mechanisms by which climate affects the system.     

The CPCAT as a novel tool to overcome the shortcomings of NOEC/LOEC statistics in ecotoxicology: a simulation study to evaluate the statistical power

Species reproduction is an important determinant of population dynamics. As such, this is an important parameter in environmental risk assessment. The closure principle computational approach test (CPCAT) was recently proposed as a method to derive a NOEC/LOEC for reproduction count data such as the number of juvenile Daphnia. The Poisson distribution used by CPCAT can be too restrictive as a model of the data-generating process. In practice, the generalized Poisson distribution could be more appropriate, as it allows for inequality of the population mean \(\mu\) and the population variance \(\sigma ^2\). It is of fundamental interest to explore the statistical power of CPCAT and the probability of determining a regulatory relevant effect correctly. Using a simulation, we varied between Poisson distribution (\(\mu =\sigma ^2\)) and generalized Poisson distribution allowing for over-dispersion (\(\mu <\sigma ^2\)) and under-dispersion (\(\mu >\sigma ^2\)). The results indicated that the probability of detecting the LOEC/NOEC correctly was \(\ge 0.8\) provided the effect was at least 20% above or below the mean level of the control group and mean reproduction of the control was at least 50 individuals while over-dispersion was missing. Specifically, under-dispersion increased, whereas over-dispersion reduced the statistical power of the CPCAT. Using the well-known Hampel identifier, we propose a simple and straight forward method to assess whether the data-generating process of real data could be over- or under-dispersed.