A new framework for environmental assessment is needed because no existing framework explicitly includes all types of environmental
assessments. We propose a framework that focuses on resolving environmental problems by integrating different types of assessments.
Four general types of assessments are included: (1) condition assessments to detect chemical, physical, and biological impairments;
(2) causal pathway assessments to determine causes and identify their sources; (3) predictive assessments to estimate environmental,
economic, and societal risks, and benefits associated with different possible management actions; and (4) outcome assessments
to evaluate the results of the decisions of an integrative assessment. The four types of assessments can be neatly arrayed
in a two-by-two matrix based on the direction of analysis of causal relationships (rows) and whether the assessment identifies
problems or solves them (columns). We suggest that all assessments have a common structure of planning, analysis, and synthesis,
thus simplifying terminology and facilitating communication between types of assessments and environmental programs. The linkage
between assessments is based on intermediate decisions that initiate another assessment or a final decision signaling the
resolution of the problem. The framework is applied to three cases: management of a biologically impaired river, remediation
of a contaminated site, and reregistration of a pesticide. We believe that this framework clarifies the relationships among
the various types of assessment processes and their links to specific decisions. 相似文献
Amphibians are globally threatened, but not all species are affected equally by different threatening processes. This is true for the threat posed by the chytridiomycete fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). We compiled a European data set for B. dendrobatidis to analyze the trends of infection in European amphibians. The risk of infection was not randomly distributed geographically or taxonomically across Europe. Within countries with different prevalence, infection was nonrandom in certain amphibian taxa. Brown frogs of the genus Rana were unlikely to be infected, whereas frogs in the families Alytidae and Bombinatoridae were significantly more likely to be infected than predicted by chance. Frogs in the 2 families susceptible to B. dendrobatidis should form the core of attempts to develop spatial surveillance studies of chytridiomycosis in Europe. Ideally, surveys for B. dendrobatidis should be augmented by sampling the widespread genus Pelophylax because this taxon exhibits geographically inconsistent overinfection with B. dendrobatidis and surveillance of it may facilitate recognition of factors causing spatial variability of infection intensity. Several European amphibian taxa were not represented in our data set; however, surveillance of unsampled species should also occur when warranted. Evaluación de Riesgo y Orientación para el Monitoreo de Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis en Europa Mediante la Identificación de la Selectividad Taxonómica de la Infección 相似文献
正Introduction Assessment of environmental health effects arising from exposure to multiple substances is often very challenging.This is particularly true when humans are exposed to a mixture that contains both beneficial and harmful substances.A good example relates to the risk and benefits of fish consumption. 相似文献
Objectives: We examined associations among race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and driving status in a nationally representative sample of >26,000 U.S. high school seniors.
Methods: Weighted data from the 2012 and 2013 Monitoring the Future surveys were combined and analyzed. We imputed missing values using fully conditional specification multiple imputation methods. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was conducted to explore associations among race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and driving status, while accounting for selected student behaviors and location. Lastly, odds ratios were converted to prevalence ratios.
Results: 23% of high school seniors did not drive during an average week; 14% of white students were nondrivers compared to 40% of black students. Multivariate analysis revealed that minority students were 1.8 to 2.5 times more likely to be nondrivers than their white counterparts, and students who had no earned income were 2.8 times more likely to be nondrivers than those earning an average of ≥$36 a week. Driving status also varied considerably by student academic performance, number of parents in the household, parental education, census region, and urbanicity.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that resources—both financial and time—influence when or whether a teen will learn to drive. Many young people from minority or lower socioeconomic families who learn to drive may be doing so after their 18th birthday and therefore would not take advantage of the safety benefits provided by graduated driver licensing. Innovative approaches may be needed to improve safety for these young novice drivers. 相似文献
Objective: The objective of this study was to obtain information about the current knowledge and habits of parents who transport children in cars in Brazil.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using specifically designed self-report questionnaires to parents of children attending a private pediatric office in a town in southwest Brazil. Data were collected regarding children's age, gender, height, and weight and possession of an automobile child restraint system (CRS), its type, frequency and adequacy of use, and reasons for not possessing or not using the devices. Parents were asked whether their cars were equipped with airbags and about the use of the restraints in seats with airbags.
Results: We interviewed parents of 293 children transported in cars who met the criteria for use of a CRS. Children were younger than 1 year in 15.3% of the cases, between 1 and 4 years in 38.6%, and older than 4 in 46.1%. Cars were equipped with CRS in 78.5% of the cases, but in only 58% of the cases was the device proper for child's age and adequately installed in the seat. Among owners of the devices, 84.3% reported that they always used it. Reasons for infrequency were forgetting the device at home or in another car (6.4%), the child disliking the device (3.2%), or the false impression that the child was grown enough not to use it (3.2%)l 87.1% did not justify why they did not always use the CRS. Considering type of CRS, correct installation of the seat, and frequency of use, only 44.4% of children under 1 year, 69.9% of those 1 to 4 years, and 52.6% over age 4 were protected. Only 28.6% of the parents knew that children should never be positioned in a seat with active airbags.
Conclusion: Considering appropriateness for age, correctness of installation (in the back seat in the correct orientation), and frequency of use, only 50.85% (149/293) of the children were reported as always protected with a CRS. Children between 1 and 4 years were more likely to always use a CRS in this Brazilian survey. We were also able to identify an important gap in the knowledge about airbags among parents. Further efforts are needed to correct those distortions. 相似文献
ABSTRACT: Systematic sampling of waterways and irrigation runoff from agricultural lands in the North Platte Project of Nebraska in July and August of 1972–1974 demonstrated that phytopathogenic organisms were disseminated. The organisms monitored included the bean common blight bacterium Xanthomonas phaseoli, the bean white mold fungus Whetzelinia sclerotiorum and various nematodes. Although many types of nematodes often were recovered from irrigation water, Heterodera sp. cysts which cause significant disease problems in the valley were found infrequently. Patterns of movement of the bacterial and fungal organisms were correlated with previous or current season infection of bean plants. The short-term survival of X. phaseoli in sterile deionized water may explain the detection of this organism only in runoff or ditches receiving runoff from common blight infected bean fields. Sclerotial bodies of W. sclerotiorum remained viable for at least 10–21 days in flowing water and were found throughout the irrigation waterways. Irrigation of beans with contaminated water can result in both common blight and white mold diseases. Dissemination of phytopathogenic organisms in irrigation reuse systems as well as agricultural land runoff should be considered in irrigation planning and system design. 相似文献
Whether general environmental exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (including pesticides and dioxin) might induce decreased
sex ratios (male/female ratio at birth) is discussed. To address this issue, the authors looked for a space-time clustering
test which could detect local areas of significantly low risk, assuming a Bernoulli distribution. As a matter of fact, if the endocrine disruptor hypothesis holds true, and if the
sex ratio is a sentinel health event indicative of new reproductive hazards ascribed to environmental factors, then in a given
region, either a cluster of low male/female ratio among newborn babies would be expected in the vicinity of polluting municipal
solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) (supporting the dioxin hypothesis), or local clusters would be expected in some rural areas
where large amounts of pesticides are sprayed.
Among cluster detection tests, the spatial scan statistic has been widely used in various applications to scan for areas
with high rates, and rarely (if ever) with low rates. Therefore, the goal of this paper was to check the properties of the
scan statistics under a given scenario (Bernoulli distribution, search for clusters with low rates) and to assess its added
value in addressing the sex ratio issue.
This study took place in the Franche-Comté region (France), mainly rural, comprising three main MSWIs, among which only one
had high dioxin emissions level in the past. The study population consisted of 192,490 boys and 182,588 girls born during
the 1975–1999 period.
On the whole, the authors conclude that: (i) spatial and space-time scan statistics provide attractive features to address
the sex ratio issue; (ii) sex ratio is not markedly affected across space and does not provide a reliable screening measure
for detecting reproductive hazards ascribed to environmental factors. 相似文献
Abstract: Estimating disease-associated mortality and transmission processes is difficult in free-ranging wildlife but important for understanding disease impacts and dynamics and for informing management decisions. In a capture–mark–recapture study, we used a PCR-based diagnostic test in combination with multistate models to provide the first estimates of disease-associated mortality and detection, infection, and recovery rates for frogs endemically infected with the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which causes the pandemic amphibian disease chytridiomycosis. We found that endemic chytridiomycosis was associated with a substantial reduction (approximately 38%) in apparent monthly survival of the threatened rainforest treefrog Litoria pearsoniana despite a long period of coexistence (approximately 30 years); detection rate was not influenced by disease status; improved recovery and reduced infection rates correlated with decreased prevalence, which occurred when temperatures increased; and incorporating changes in individuals' infection status through time with multistate models increased effect size and support (98.6% vs. 71% of total support) for the presence of disease-associated mortality when compared with a Cormack–Jolly–Seber model in which infection status was restricted to the time of first capture. Our results indicate that amphibian populations can face significant ongoing pressure from chytridiomycosis long after epidemics associated with initial Bd invasions subside, an important consideration for the long-term conservation of many amphibian species worldwide. Our findings also improve confidence in estimates of disease prevalence in wild amphibians and provide a general framework for estimating parameters in epidemiological models for chytridiomycosis, an important step toward better understanding and management of this disease. 相似文献