Search

Abstract Background Indonesian peatlands have been drained for agricultural development for several decades. This development has made a major contribution to economic development. At the same time, peatland drainage is causing significant air pollution resulting from peatland fires. Peatland fires occur every year, even though their extent is much larger in dry (El Niño) years. We examine the health effects of long-term exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) from all types of peatland fires (including the burning of above and below ground biomass) in Sumatra and Kalimantan, where most peatland fires in Indonesia take place. Methods We derive PM2.5 concentrations from satellite imagery calibrated and validated with Indonesian Government data on air pollution, and link increases in these concentrations to peatland fires, as observed in satellite imagery. Subsequently, we apply available epidemiological studies to relate PM2.5 exposure to a range of health outcomes. The model utilizes the age distribution and disease prevalence of the impacted population. Results We find that PM2.5 air pollution from peatland fires, causes, on average, around 33,100 adults and 2900 infants to die prematurely each year from air pollution. In addition, peatland fires cause on average around 4390 additional hospitalizations related to respiratory diseases, 635,000 severe cases of asthma in children, and 8.9 million lost workdays. The majority of these impacts occur in Sumatra because of its much higher population density compared to Kalimantan. A main source of uncertainty is in the Concentration Response Functions (CRFs) that we use, with different CRFs leading to annual premature adult mortality ranging from 19,900 to 64,800 deaths. Currently, the population of both regions is relatively young. With aging of the population over time, vulnerabilities to air pollution and health effects from peatland fires will increase. Conclusions Peatland fire health impacts provide a further argument to combat fires in peatlands, and gradually transition to peatland management models that do not require drainage and are therefore not prone to fire risks.

Este artigo busca contribuir com os estudos sobre práticas investigativas para o Ensino Médio. A pesquisa se vale de análises bibliográficas para a produção de uma Sequência de Ensino Investigativa (SEI) com atividades interdisciplinares e contextualizadas sobre recursos hídricos. Os estudantes participantes eram de uma escola pública da rede estadual do Rio Grande do Sul. Para compreender o envolvimento nas atividades e as ideias dos estudantes sobre a SEI, aplicou-se um questionário. Dentre os principais resultados, destaca-se que os estudantes valorizam as práticas de ensino que relacionam os conceitos científicos à sua realidade, construindo aprendizagens mais significativas quando se envolvem ativamente na aprendizagem. As opiniões dos estudantes revelam que as abordagens interdisciplinares dão maior significado aos conteúdos porque rompe-se com a visão fragmentada do conhecimento, partindo para uma interpretação integral dos fenômenos e situações reais.

It is well documented that young children need social Interaction, self-determination, and play to learn. But in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, how does that translate to online learning? Psychologist and professor Wendy Ostroff suggests strategies and tips for engaging our youngest learners remotely.

Advance Illinois is an independent, objective voice for a healthy public education system that prepares all students in Illinois for success in college, careers, and civic life. Advocacy efforts have focused on securing equitable funding for schools, Common Core State Standards, high-quality assessments, and teacher quality efforts. As advocates for the building blocks of Illinois's education system, Advance Illinois saw Every Student Succeeds Act's (ESSA's) passage as a generational opportunity to develop a more robust, refined accountability system and improve results for students--especially students of color and low income students--and to ensure that the state's system of supports and assistance truly helps struggling schools. Advance Illinois saw ESSA as a new day for education, and an opportunity to evaluate schools fairly by uncovering true academic growth and reinforcing the belief that all students can learn. With ESSA, the state could develop new mechanisms to assist schools and lift achievement for every student. Illinois State Board of Education's (ISBE) final ESSA plan ultimately adopted many of the recommendations proposed by Advance Illinois and the array of partners that came together through the P-20 Council, Illinois Balanced Accountability Measures (IBAM), and ISBE meetings. Yet all agreed the work was not over when the plan was submitted. The partnership, trust, and working relationships built during the ESSA planning process will be the foundation for work going forward as the plan is refined and implementation begins.

Audience: This scenario was developed to educate emergency medicine residents on the diagnosis and management of patients with an inhalational airway injury secondary to a house fire. Background: Burn injuries are a common occurrence encountered by the emergency physician. According to the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, around 371,000 patients were treated in emergency departments for fire or burn injuries across the United States in 2020. This represents around 1% of emergency department visits related to injury, poisoning, or adverse effects.1 One of the most dangerous and time critical aspects of managing severely burned patients is inhalation injury. Inhalation injury is a relatively vague term which may refer to pulmonary exposure to a wide range of chemicals in various forms. In the context of burn patients, this is most often smoke exposure. It is critical that the emergency medicine provider rapidly identifies the potential for an inhalational injury in order to determine the need for definitive airway management. It is also important that the provider has the necessary skills and systematic approach to manage what is likely to be a difficult airway. Furthermore, providers must then have the knowledge of how to best manage and resuscitate these severely burned patients post-intubation. Educational Objectives: At the conclusion of the simulation session, learners will be able to: 1) recognize the indications for intubation in a thermal burn/inhalation injury patient; 2) develop a systematic approach to an inhalational injury airway; and 3) recognize indications for transfer to burn center. Educational Methods: This session was conducted using high-fidelity simulation, followed by a debriefing session and lecture on the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and management of inhalational airway injury secondary to a house fire. Debriefing methods may be left to the discretion of participants, but the authors have utilized advocacy-inquiry techniques. This scenario may also be run as an oral board case. Research Methods: Our residents are provided a survey at the completion of the debriefing session so they may rate different aspects of the simulation, as well as provide qualitative feedback on the scenario. The local institution's simulation center's electronic feedback form is based on the Center of Medical Simulation's Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH) Student Version Short Form2 with the inclusion of required qualitative feedback if an element was scored less than a 6 or 7. Results: Nine learners completed a feedback form. This session received all 6 & 7 scores (consistently effective/very good and extremely effective/outstanding, respectively) other than one isolated 5 score. Discussion: This is a cost-effective method for reviewing inhalational airway injury diagnosis and management. The case may be modified for targeted audiences, expected resources, and learning objectives, such as removal of a bronchoscope availability in settings which are expected to be resource-limited. Some readers may choose to focus on other aspects of burn management instead of airway securement such as cyanide and/or carbon monoxide toxicity. We encourage readers to limit the number of learning objectives because airway algorithms and troubleshooting for this scenario was a rich, stand-alone debriefing. There was not enough time to review in detail all nuanced aspects of the burned patient, including: Lund-Browder versus rule of 9's, modified Brooke versus Parkland formulas, indications for and completion of escharotomies, and/or identification and treatment of cyanide and carbon monoxide toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is associated with adverse health effects, including mortality, even at low concentrations. Rail conveyance of coal, accounting for one-third of American rail freight tonnage, is a source of PM2.5. However, there are limited studies of its contribution to PM2.5, especially in urban settings where residents experience higher exposure and vulnerability to air pollution. We developed a novel artificial intelligence-driven monitoring system to quantify average and maximum PM2.5 concentrations of full and empty (unloaded) coal trains compared to freight and passenger trains. The monitor was close to the train tracks in Richmond, California, a city with a racially diverse population of 115,000 and high rates of asthma and heart disease. We used multiple linear regression models controlling for diurnal patterns and meteorology. The results indicate coal trains add on average 8.32 µg/m3 (95% CI = 6.37, 10.28; p < 0.01) to ambient PM2.5, while sensitivity analysis produced midpoints ranging from 5 to 12 µg/m3. Coal trains contributed 2 to 3 µg/m3 more of PM2.5 than freight trains, and 7 µg/m3 more under calm wind conditions, suggesting our study underestimates emissions and subsequent concentrations of coal train dust. Empty coal cars tended to add 2 µg/m3. Regarding peak concentrations of PM2.5, our models suggest an increase of 17.4 µg/m3 (95% CI = 6.2, 28.5; p < 0.01) from coal trains, about 3 µg/m3 more than freight trains. Given rail shipment of coal occurs globally, including in populous areas, it is likely to have adverse effects on health and environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify major sources of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5, dp < 2.5 μm) and quantify their contributions in the state of California, a positive matrix factorization (PMF) receptor model was applied on Speciation Trends Network (STN) data, collected between 2002 and 2007 at eight distinct sampling locations, including El Cajon, Rubidoux, Los Angeles, Simi Valley, Bakersfield, Fresno, San Jose, and Sacramento. Between five to nine sources of fine PM were identified at each sampling site, several of which were common among multiple locations. Secondary aerosols, including secondary ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate, were the most abundant contributor to ambient PM2.5 mass at all sampling sites, except for San Jose, with an annual average cumulative contribution of 26 to 63%, across the state. On an annual average basis, vehicular emissions (including both diesel and gasoline vehicles) were the largest primary source of fine PM at all sampling sites in southern California (17–18% of total mass), whereas in Fresno and San Jose, biomass burning was the most dominant primary contributor to ambient PM2.5 (27 and 35% of total mass, respectively), in general agreement with the results of previous source apportionment studies in California. In Bakersfield and Sacramento, vehicular emissions and biomass burning displayed relatively equal annual contributions to ambient PM2.5 mass (12 and 25%, respectively). Other commonly identified sources at all sites included aged and fresh sea salt and soil, which contributed to 0.5–13%, 2–27%, and 1–19% of the total mass, respectively, across all sites and seasons. In addition, a few minor sources were identified exclusively at some of the sites (e.g., chlorine sources, sulfate-bearing road dust, and different types of industrial emissions). These sources overall accounted for a small fraction of the total PM mass across the sampling locations (1 to 15%, on an annual average basis).