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Purpose of reviewIncreasing wildfire size and severity across the western United States has created an environmental and social crisis that must be approached from a transdisciplinary perspective. Climate change and more than a century of fire exclusion and wildfire suppression have led to contemporary wildfires with more severe environmental impacts and human smoke exposure. Wildfires increase smoke exposure for broad swaths of the US population, though outdoor workers and socially disadvantaged groups with limited adaptive capacity can be disproportionally exposed. Exposure to wildfire smoke is associated with a range of health impacts in children and adults, including exacerbation of existing respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, worse birth outcomes, and cardiovascular events. Seasonally dry forests in Washington, Oregon, and California can benefit from ecological restoration as a way to adapt forests to climate change and reduce smoke impacts on affected communities.Recent findingsEach wildfire season, large smoke events, and their adverse impacts on human health receive considerable attention from both the public and policymakers. The severity of recent wildfire seasons has state and federal governments outlining budgets and prioritizing policies to combat the worsening crisis. This surging attention provides an opportunity to outline the actions needed now to advance research and practice on conservation, economic, environmental justice, and public health interests, as well as the trade-offs that must be considered. Scientists, planners, foresters and fire managers, fire safety, air quality, and public health practitioners must collaboratively work together. This article is the result of a series of transdisciplinary conversations to find common ground and subsequently provide a holistic view of how forest and fire management intersect with human health through the impacts of smoke and articulate the need for an integrated approach to both planning and practice.

Wildland fires are diminishing air quality on a seasonal and regional basis, raising concerns about respiratory health risks to the public and occupational groups. This American Thoracic Society (ATS) workshop was convened in 2019 to meet the growing health threat of wildland fire smoke. The workshop brought together a multidisciplinary group of 19 experts, including wildland fire managers, public health officials, epidemiologists, toxicologists, and pediatric and adult pulmonologists. The workshop examined the following four major topics: 1) the science of wildland fire incidence and fire management, 2) the respiratory and cardiovascular health effects of wildland fire smoke exposure, 3) communication strategies to address these health risks, and 4) actions to address wildland fire health impacts. Through formal presentations followed by group discussion, workshop participants identified top priorities for fire management, research, communication, and public policy to address health risks of wildland fires. The workshop concluded that short-term exposure to wildland smoke causes acute respiratory health effects, especially among those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Research is needed to understand long-term health effects of repeated smoke exposures across fire seasons for children, adults, and highly exposed occupational groups (especially firefighters). Other research priorities include fire data collection and modeling, toxicology of different fire fuel sources, and the efficacy of health protective measures to prevent respiratory effects of smoke exposure. The workshop committee recommends a unified federal response to the growing problem of wildland fires, including investment in fire behavior and smoke air quality modeling, research on the health impacts of smoke, and development of robust clinical and public health communication tools.

The unprecedented 2021 Heat Dome caused wide-ranging and long-lasting impacts in western Canada, including 619 confirmed heat-related deaths in British Columbia, a doubling of emergency medical calls, increased hospitalisations, infrastructure failures and stress on plants and animals. However, such varied socio-economic consequences of extreme heat can be challenging to capture using a single post-event analysis method. Therefore, there is a need to explore alternative approaches and data sources. Using the 2021 Heat Dome as a case study, a post-event analysis using online news media articles (n = 2909) from 5 subscription news databases and a grey literature search was conducted to identify the socio-economic impacts of the extreme heat event in Canada. The articles reported a wide range of effects to the natural environment (n = 1366), social infrastructure and services (n = 1121), human health (n = 1074), critical infrastructure (n = 988) and the private sector (n = 165). The media-based post-event analysis captured various impacts, some of which have not been identified through other data sources and approaches. Overall, we show that media analysis can complement traditional post-event analysis methods and provide additional perspectives to governments and public health and safety officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mind wandering is typically characterized as a failure of attentional control, yet despite age-related executive function deficits, older adults typically report less mind wandering than younger adults during cognitive tasks and in daily life. Self-reported mind wandering episodes usually result in similar behavioral detriments in younger and older adults (e.g., greater RT variability, more task errors). However, the relatively few studies investigating the neural correlates of mind wandering and aging have revealed mixed findings, possibly because they typically rely on infrequent thought probes and, therefore, few trials for neural analyses. In the current study, we propose a method to recover more task data by categorizing trials from a commonly used sustained attention to response task according to RT variability. Behavioral data (n = 49 younger; n = 40 older) revealed that compared with younger adults, older adults reported fewer mind wandering episodes, but showed similar behavioral impacts thereof. Furthermore, in both age groups, subjective reports of mind wandering predicted the more objective sorting of trials into "on-" and "off-task" according to RT variability. Using these objectively sorted trials, we investigated two commonly reported EEG measures of mind wandering (diminished P1 and P3 amplitude) in 26 younger and 24 older adults. Although the P1 did not differ between on- and off-task trials for either group, the P3 was diminished for off-task trials in both age groups (albeit significantly less in older adults) suggesting preserved perceptual but reduced higher-order processing during off-task periods in both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the expansion of postgraduate educational qualifications for health professionals, graduate attributes have become important markers of outcomes and value. However, it is not clear how or when graduate attributes develop, or how they are applied in professional practice after graduation. We interviewed 17 graduates from two online Master's programmes to explore their perceptions of how postgraduate study had influenced their practice and professional identity. Our thematic analysis produced three main themes (academic voice, infectious curiosity, and expanding worldview) which reflected changes in the participants' confidence, attitude, perspective, and agency across professional and academic settings. We then conducted a secondary phase of analysis using Bourdieu's concepts of 'field', 'capital', and 'habitus'. While graduate attributes have been conceptualised as the context-independent acquisition of traits that can be employed by individuals, Bourdieu's framework highlights their relational qualities: they are caught up in the cultural history and context of the student/professional, the reputation of the awarding institution, and the graduate's location within a network of professional peers.

Due to the creation of biotoxins, marine benthic dinoflagellates have caused many concerns in the ecological, economic, and health sectors. The occurrence of marine toxic microalgae blooms has increased and has caused prevalent poisoning in humans. Many dinoflagellates are benthic and epiphytic, in the sense that they usually live on the bottom of coastal areas or coral reefs and macroalgae, and during widespread blooms, because of their proximity to the coast, they can cause widespread health and economic damage. In addition, by entering the food web, dinoflagellates can spread from small organisms (such as zooplankton) to the bodies of larger aquatic organisms (such as fish), thus threatening human health. The current study was conducted to study the potential risks of dinoflagellates causing harmful algal blooms as species with the potential to produce toxins. The findings of this study showed that 80 phytoplankton species have the potential to produce poison, of which 20 benthic species cause the strongest marine biotoxins, which are deadly for aquatic animals and humans. The most dangerous of these biotoxins include gomyautoxin, brevetoxins, saxitoxin, palytoxin, yessotoxins, maitotoxins, ciguatoxins, okadaic acid, and azaspiracid, which cause widespread death of aquatic organisms in case of harmful algal blooms, and cause acute and fatal poisoning if they enter the human body. The findings of the review of previous research clearly show the notability of knowing benthic toxic dinoflagellates and the requirement to include them in monitoring programs for harmful algal blooms on beaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mentoring of pre-service teachers in school contexts is acknowledged as an important part of initial teacher education. However, finding sufficient school-based professional experience placements for pre-service teachers, ensuring the quality of the learning experiences provided by such placements, and gaining a clear understanding of what teachers actually learn during placements continue to be of concern to all involved in this component of teacher education. In this paper, three interconnected perspectives are provided as a university-based teacher educator, a school-based teacher educator and a pre-service teacher learn together in a dialogic mentoring relationship. The work of Mikhail Bakhtin and Valentin Voloshinov is employed to theorise the nature of dialogic relationships and how such relationships differ from 'having a conversation'.

Background: There is increasing evidence that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter [PM Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the associations between daily and subdaily (hourly) P[M.sub.2.5] and wildfire smoke exposure and cognitive performance in adults. Methods: Scores from 20 plays of an attention-oriented brain-training game were obtained for 10,228 adults in the United States (U.S.). We estimated daily and hourly P[M.sub.2.5] exposure through a data fusion of observations from multiple monitoring networks. Daily smoke exposure in the western U.S. was obtained from satellite-derived estimates of smoke plume density. We used a longitudinal repeated measures design with linear mixed effects models to test for associations between short-term exposure and attention score. Results were also stratified by age, gender, user behavior, and region. Results: Daily and subdaily P[M.sub.2.5] were negatively associated with attention score. A 10 [micro]g/[m.sup.3] increase in P[M.sub.2.5] in the 3 h prior to gameplay was associated with a 21.0 [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.3, 38.7]-point decrease in score. P[M.sub.2.5] exposure over 20 plays accounted for an estimated average 3.7% (95% CI: 0.7%, 6.7%) reduction in final score. Associations were more pronounced in the wildfire-impacted western U.S. Medium and heavy smoke density were also negatively associated with score. Heavy smoke density the day prior to gameplay was associated with a 117.0 (95% CI: 1.7, 232.3)-point decrease in score relative to no smoke. Although differences between subgroups were not statistically significant, associations were most pronounced for younger (18-29 y), older ([greater than or equal to]70 y), habitual, and male users. Discussion: Our results indicate that P[M.sub.2.5] and wildfire smoke were associated with reduced attention in adults within hours and days of exposure, but further research is needed to elucidate these relationships. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10498, Introduction Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of particulate matter (PM) and gases containing many chemical species. (1) Both wildfire smoke and many of its components have been previously associated [...]

Solar wind protons can charge exchange with the extensive hydrogen corona of Mars, resulting in a significant flux of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). As these solar wind hydrogen ENAs precipitate into the upper atmosphere, they can experience electron attachment or detachment, resulting in populations of H- and H+, respectively, with upstream velocity. We seek to characterize the behavior of H- in the ionosphere of Mars through a combination of in situ data analysis and mathematical models. Observations indicate that measurable H- precipitation in the ionosphere of Mars is rare, occurring during only 1.8% of available observations. These events occur primarily during high energy solar wind conditions near perihelion. We also compare H- fluxes to those of H+ and find that H- fluxes are ~4.5 times less than H+, indicating preferential conversion of hydrogen ENAs to H+. We develop a simple model describing the evolution of the charged and neutral fraction of ENAs and H- ions versus altitude. We find that 0.29%-0.78% of ENAs are converted to H- for solar wind energies 1-3 keV. We also predict that the effects of photodetachment on the H-H- system are non-negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Forest, grass, and peat fires release approximately 2 petagrams of carbon into the atmosphere each year, influencing weather, climate, and air quality.Objective: We estimated the annual global mortality attributable to landscape fire smoke (LFS).Methods: Daily and annual exposure to particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) from fire emissions was estimated globally for 1997 through 2006 by combining outputs from a chemical transport model with satellite-based observations of aerosol optical depth. In World Health Organization (WHO) subregions classified as sporadically affected, the daily burden of mortality was estimated using previously published concentration–response coefficients for the association between short-term elevations in PM2.5 from LFS (contrasted with 0 μg/m3 from LFS) and all-cause mortality. In subregions classified as chronically affected, the annual burden of mortality was estimated using the American Cancer Society study coefficient for the association between long-term PM2.5 exposure and all-cause mortality. The annual average PM2.5 estimates were contrasted with theoretical minimum (counterfactual) concentrations in each chronically affected subregion. Sensitivity of mortality estimates to different exposure assessments, counterfactual estimates, and concentration–response functions was evaluated. Strong La Niña and El Niño years were compared to assess the influence of interannual climatic variability.Results: Our principal estimate for the average mortality attributable to LFS exposure was 339,000 deaths annually. In sensitivity analyses the interquartile range of all tested estimates was 260,000–600,000. The regions most affected were sub-Saharan Africa (157,000) and Southeast Asia (110,000). Estimated annual mortality during La Niña was 262,000, compared with 532,000 during El Niño.Conclusions: Fire emissions are an important contributor to global mortality. Adverse health outcomes associated with LFS could be substantially reduced by curtailing burning of tropical rainforests, which rarely burn naturally. The large estimated influence of El Niño suggests a relationship between climate and the burden of mortality attributable to LFS.