Circulating Mycobiota Signatures and Cardiovascular Mortality among Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis.

Background: Alterations of the circulating microbiota have recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiometabolic disease. However, the evidence is based primarily on bacterial DNA signatures, while the characteristics and roles of circulating fungal DNA signatures (mycobiota) remain unknown.

Methods: In a nationwide prospective cohort of 960 hemodialysis patients, we characterized circulating cell-free mycobiota signatures in baseline serum samples using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequencing and examined their associations with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality using Cox models with adjustment for potential confounders.

Meta-analysis of the impacts of digital information interventions on agricultural development.

Digital means of delivering advisory and other information services to small-scale agricultural producers are widely expected to expand the reach of extension and other information provision services while reducing costs. However, there is currently little evidence systematically quantifying these benefits. In this paper, we synthesize quantitative information on the impacts of digital information interventions, which may integrate human support, on adoption of modern farm inputs (fertilizer and improved seeds), yield, and income, covering interventions implemented between 2005 and 2019.

Health and air pollutant emission impacts of Net Zero CO2 by 2050 scenarios from the Energy Modeling Forum 37 study.

Carbon dioxide and non-greenhouse gas air pollutants are emitted from many of the same sources. Decarbonization actions thus typically yield air pollutant emission reductions, resulting in significant air quality benefits. Although several studies have highlighted this connection, including in the context of net zero carbon emission targets, substantial uncertainty remains regarding how alternative technological pathways to this goal will affect the spatial distribution and magnitude of air pollutants.

Insights from Adding Transportation Sector Detail into an Economy-Wide Model: The Case of the ADAGE CGE Model.

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models provide valuable insights into economy-wide impacts of anticipated future structural changes in the transportation sector, yet few CGE models offer detailed transportation representations. We use an enhanced Applied Dynamic Analysis of the Global Economy (ADAGE) CGE model to incorporate disaggregated transportation modes and technologies in on-road passenger and freight transportation. We assess the impacts of these inclusions on U.

Effective options for addressing air quality- related environmental public health burdens in Saudi Arabia.

Air pollution poses major disease burdens globally and accounts for approximately 10% of deaths annually through its contribution to a variety of respiratory, cardiovascular, and other diseases. The burden of disease is particularly acute in Saudi Arabia, where a mix of anthropogenic and natural sources of air pollution threatens public health. Addressing these burdens requires careful study of the costs and effectiveness of available technologies and policies for reducing emissions (mitigation) and avoiding exposure (adaptation).

Land-based measures to mitigate climate change: Potential and feasibility by country.

Land-based climate mitigation measures have gained significant attention and importance in public and private sector climate policies. Building on previous studies, we refine and update the mitigation potentials for 20 land-based measures in >200 countries and five regions, comparing "bottom-up" sectoral estimates with integrated assessment models (IAMs). We also assess implementation feasibility at the country level.

Disability-adjusted life years due to chronic and hidden hunger under food system evolution with climate change and adaptation to 2050.

Background: Climate change presents an increasing challenge for food-nutrition security. Nutrition metrics calculated from quantitative food system projections can help focus policy actions.

Objectives: To estimate future chronic and hidden hunger disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)-due to protein-energy undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, respectively-using food systems projections to evaluate the potential impact of climate change and agricultural sector investment for adaptation.

Combining the effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on protein, iron, and zinc availability and projected climate change on global diets: a modelling study.

Background: Increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO) affect global nutrition via effects on agricultural productivity and nutrient content of food crops. We combined these effects with economic projections to estimate net changes in nutrient availability between 2010 and 2050.

Methods: In this modelling study, we used the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade to project per capita availability of protein, iron, and zinc in 2050.

Importance of Cross-Sector Interactions When Projecting Forest Carbon across Alternative Socioeconomic Futures.

In recent decades, the carbon sink provided by the U.S. forest sector has offset a sizable portion of domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Re-Searching for Hidden Costs: Evidence from the Adoption of Fuel-Saving Technologies in Light-Duty Vehicles.

A variety of fuel-saving technologies have been implemented in light-duty vehicles since 2012 under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT)'s light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards.

Consumer Willingness to Pay for Vehicle Attributes: What Do We Know?

As standards for vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy have become more stringent, concerns have arisen that the incorporation of fuel-saving technologies may entail tradeoffs with other vehicle attributes important to consumers such as acceleration performance. Assessing the effects of these tradeoffs on consumer welfare requires estimates of both the degree of the tradeoffs, and consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for the foregone benefits. This paper has two objectives.

Structural change as a key component for agricultural non-CO mitigation efforts.

Agriculture is the single largest source of anthropogenic non-carbon dioxide (non-CO) emissions. Reaching the climate target of the Paris Agreement will require significant emission reductions across sectors by 2030 and continued efforts thereafter. Here we show that the economic potential of non-CO emissions reductions from agriculture is up to four times as high as previously estimated.

Evaluating the effects of climate change on US agricultural systems: sensitivity to regional impact and trade expansion scenarios.

Agriculture is one of the sectors that is expected to be most significantly impacted by climate change. There has been considerable interest in assessing these impacts and many recent studies investigating agricultural impacts for individual countries and regions using an array of models. However, the great majority of existing studies explore impacts on a country or region of interest without explicitly accounting for impacts on the rest of the world.

Bile Cast Nephropathy in Cirrhotic Patients: Effects of Chronic Hyperbilirubinemia.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of bile cast nephropathy (BCN) in autopsied cirrhotic patients and to correlate BCN with clinical and laboratory data to direct attention to this underrecognized renal complication of liver failure.

Methods: We assessed 114 autopsy cases of cirrhosis for the presence of renal intratubular bile casts using Hall stain for bile. Presence of bile casts was correlated with etiology of cirrhosis, clinical and laboratory data, and histologic findings.

Levamisole-Adulterated Cocaine Nephrotoxicity: Ultrastructural Features.

Objectives: The issue of levamisole-adulterated cocaine is emerging as a rapidly growing public health concern due to an increasing number of reports describing its role in cutaneous vasculitis and agranulocytosis. Of note, levamisole is recognized as a contaminant in 69% of the cocaine used within the United States.

Methods: We describe a patient who was a chronic cocaine user and developed systemic vasculitis characterized by polyarthralgia, bullous skin lesions, agranulocytosis, and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-positive rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis.

Visual field defects after radiosurgery for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Purpose: Gamma knife radiosurgery (RS) may be an alternative to open surgery for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), but morbidities and the anticonvulsant mechanisms of RS are unclear. Examination of visual field defects (VFDs) after RS may provide evidence of the extent of a postoperative fixed lesion. VFDs occur in 52-100% of patients following open surgery for MTLE.

Microcap pharmaceutical firms: linking drug pipelines to market value.

This article examines predictors of the future market value of microcap pharmaceutical companies. This is problematic since the large majority of these firms seldom report positive net income. Their value comes from the potential of a liquidity event such as occurs when a key drug is approved by the FDA.

North Carolina tobacco farmers' changing perceptions of tobacco control and tobacco manufacturers.

Purpose: To examine tobacco farmers' attitudes toward tobacco control, public health, and tobacco manufacturers in order to determine the extent to which rapidly changing economic conditions have influenced North Carolina tobacco farmer attitudes in ways that may provide tobacco control advocates with new opportunities to promote tobacco control policies in tobacco-dependent US communities.

Methods: We used data from a longitudinal sample of North Carolina tobacco farmers across 5 waves of data collection (1997-2005) (baseline N = 749 farmers). Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine changes in attitudes toward tobacco control and tobacco manufacturers, controlling for economic dependence on tobacco, and demographic factors.

A multicenter, prospective pilot study of gamma knife radiosurgery for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy: seizure response, adverse events, and verbal memory.

Objective: The safety, efficacy, and morbidity of radiosurgery (RS) must be established before it can be offered as an alternative to open surgery for unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. We report the 3-year outcomes of a multicenter, prospective pilot study of RS.

Methods: RS was randomized to 20 or 24Gy targeting the amygdala, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus.

Tobacco farmers and tobacco manufacturers: implications for tobacco control in tobacco-growing developing countries.

Assisting tobacco farmers to transition to non-tobacco alternatives is a key element of comprehensive tobacco control's end-game strategy and specifically required by the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC). We examine the historical relationship between tobacco manufacturers and tobacco farmers in the United States, where the duration of the relationship has been longest and use information obtained to inform possible end-game strategies for tobacco control advocates working with tobacco farmers in developing countries. Tobacco Documents obtained under the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) provide evidence of conflicts between tobacco manufacturers and tobacco farmers.

Seizures in pregnancy: diagnosis and management.

Most seizures during pregnancy occur in women who already have epilepsy. During pregnancy most women will continue their previous level of seizure control, although 15-30% may experience an increase in seizures. Pregnancy-induced changes in antiepileptic drug pharmacokinetics are a major factor affecting changes in seizure control during pregnancy, although compliance is also a significant factor.

Global cost estimates of reducing carbon emissions through avoided deforestation.

Tropical deforestation is estimated to cause about one-quarter of anthropogenic carbon emissions, loss of biodiversity, and other environmental services. United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change talks are now considering mechanisms for avoiding deforestation (AD), but the economic potential of AD has yet to be addressed. We use three economic models of global land use and management to analyze the potential contribution of AD activities to reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Avoided deforestation as a greenhouse gas mitigation tool: economic issues.

Tropical deforestation is a significant contributor to accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. GHG emissions from deforestation in the tropics were in the range of 1 to 2 Pg C yr(-1) for the 1990s, which is equivalent to as much as 25% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. While there is growing interest in providing incentives to avoid deforestation and consequently reduce net carbon emissions, there is limited information available on the potential costs of these activities.

Funding of North Carolina tobacco control programs through the Master Settlement Agreement.

Changing political and economic forces in 1 tobacco-dependent state, North Carolina, demonstrate how the interplay between these forces and public health priorities has shaped current allocation of Master Settlement Agreement funds. Allocation patterns demonstrate lawmakers' changing priorities in response to changes in the economic climate; some of the agreement's funds targeted to tobacco farmers appear to reflect objectives favored by tobacco manufacturers. Funds earmarked for health have underfunded youth tobacco prevention and tobacco control initiatives, and spending for tobacco farmers in North Carolina has not lived up to the rhetoric that accompanied the original agreement.

Integrating geriatric content into a medical school curriculum: description of a successful model.

Most medical school curricula do not equip students with adequate attitudes, knowledge and skills to care for elderly populations. We describe an effective geriatric curricular infusion model compatible with preserving the overall curricula schema. Course and clerkship directors, staff and faculty from the Office of Educational Development, Center on Aging, curriculum committee and Associate/Assistant Deans of Education, and faculty from the schools of medicine, nursing, and allied health collaborated in the effort.