West County Research Articles

Changing the role of traditional birth attendants in Yirol West County, South Sudan.

Effective from May 2014, community-based traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in Yirol West County, South Sudan, were directed to start referring all women in labour to health facilities for childbirth instead of assisting them in the villages. This study aimed to understand the degree of integration of TBAs in the health system, to reveal the factors influencing the integration, and to explore the perceived solutions to the challenges faced by TBAs. A qualitative study utilising 11 focus group discussions with TBAs, 6 focus group discussions with women, and 18 key informant interviews with members of village health committees, staff of health facilities, and staff of the County Health Department was conducted. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The study found that many TBAs were referring women to health facilities for delivery, but some were still attending to deliveries at home. Facilitators of the adoption of the new role by TBAs were: acceptance of the new TBAs’ role by the community, women and TBAs, perceptions about institutional childbirth and risks of home childbirth, personal commitment and motivation by some TBAs, a good working relationship between community-based TBAs and health facility staff, availability of incentives for women at health facilities, and training of TBAs. Challenges of integrating TBAs in the health system included, among others, communication problems between TBAs and health care facilities, delays in seeking care by women, insecurity, lack of materials and supplies for TBAs, health system constraints, insufficient incentives for TBAs, long distances to health facilities and transportation problems. This study has revealed encouraging developments in TBAs’ integration in the formal health system in Yirol West. However, there is need to address the challenges faced by TBAs in assuming their new role in order to sustain the integration.

Discussion: Breast Implant-Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma in Australia and New Zealand: High-Surface-Area Textured Implants Are Associated with Increased Risk.

Saint Louis, Mo. From the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine. Received for publication April 24, 2017; accepted May 2, 2017. Disclosure:Dr. Myckatyn is a paid consultant with Allergan and receives grant funding from them. Dr. Parikh is supported by Siteman Cancer Center and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the NIH. Terence M. Myckatyn, M.D., Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, West County Plastic Surgeons, Washington University School of Medicine, 1020 North Mason, Suite 120, Saint Louis, Mo. 63141, [email protected]

Hunter perceptions toward chronic wasting disease: Implications for harvest and management

ABSTRACTPrevious human dimension research has reported negative perceptions among hunters toward Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and disease‐related regulations that may limit hunter participation, reduce harvest, and generally complicate management. During 2013, we surveyed 1,524 Maryland, USA, deer (Odocoileus spp.) hunters from 3 counties of varying proximity to the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Area (CWDMA) regarding hunter behavioral changes due to CWD. We linked responses to each individual's harvest history to examine hunter retention, potential harvest reduction related to CWD presence and management, and degree to which distance from the disease affected behavior. Overall, 1.1% of respondents claimed to have stopped hunting because of CWD; however, 47.1% of those respondents continued to register deer after disease discovery, resulting in a true decrease in retention of no >0.6%. In the county containing the CWDMA, we observed the greatest percentage of negative perception (22.6%) and greatest reduction in harvest reportedly related to CWD (7.0%). In an adjacent county west of the CWDMA, we observed fewer negative perceptions (16.8%) and no reduction in harvest in response to disease discovery. Similar negative perceptions were reported in the county 200 km southeast of the CWDMA (14.1%), but also resulted in no reduction in harvest. Negative hunter perceptions did not seem to be directly related with hunter behavior. Behavioral shifts due to CWD were localized at the county scale and had less impact on annual harvest than normal year‐to‐year stochastic variability. Upon initial detection of CWD, we recommend implementing necessary protocols for disease management with the understanding that hunter perceptions may have negligible impact on harvest management. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

Identification of Mosquitos Potentially Carrying Zika Virus in Marion County West Virginia

EMILY BOLINGER, Department of Biology, Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV 26554, JAMIE MOORE, Marion County Health Department, Fairmont, WV 26554, PHILLIP YEAGER, Department of Biology, Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV 26554, and MARK FLOOD, Department of Biology, Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV 26554. Identification of Mosquitos Potentially Carrying Zika Virus in Marion County West Virginia. This study was targeted at identifying different types of mosquitos found in Marion County, West Virginia and testing Ae. albopictus for Zika virus. This study used a wide variety of sampling locations within Marion County, using traps such as: larvae catch, gravid traps, and CDC traps. There were several different types of mosquitos found in Marion County, however Zika virus testing on Ae. albopictus came up negative on every group tested. Groups that were gathered by a trap, at a given sampling location, that had less than ten Ae. Albopictus were not tested for Zika virus; these groups were thrown out of testing. Zika virus was not found in Marion County, West Virginia. Funding for this study was provided by the Marion County Health Department.

Effects of Acid Mine Drainage on Plant Community Structure in the Central Appalachians

Acid mine drainage (AMD), is one of the major environmental complications in West Virginia. AMD occurs when abandoned mines leak heavy metals into streams and rivers. AMD leaches into the groundwater, which in turn may have implications on plant community composition and health. Five abandoned mine sites in Tucker County West Virginia were identified and all necessary permissions to conduct research at the sites were obtained. Sites were chosen based on remediation activities ranging from completely reclaimed to unreclaimed. Field work consisted of laying out two transects radiating outwards approximately 200 meters from a highwall. Along each transect two plots were established. Within each plot all mature trees were identified and soil pH was measured. Water samples were collected to find an estimate of iron concentration. Measures of species composition, diversity, and richness were calculated and modelled against soil properties.Data suggests that the effects of groundwater contamination did not have a negative impact on community composition, diversity, and within species performance. Community composition was predicted to shift from dominance of low pH tolerant species to less tolerant species, and within species performance was expected to rise with distance from mine. Data shows no significant differences between soil pH, species richness and diversity. This study was important for understanding which tree species are able to inhabit acidic soils and if there were any differences with soil pH of mine that has been reclaimed and one that is not.

The Social Background of Ireland’s Pre-World War I Association Football Clubs, Players and Administrators: The Case of South and West Ulster

This paper examines the development of association football in the South and West Ulster counties of Fermanagh, Tyrone, Cavan, and Monaghan in the pre-World War One era against the backdrop of the sporting ‘revolution’ and the political and social climate in Ireland at that time. While the Irish Football Association was founded in Belfast in 1880 and the game’s early growth in Ireland was centred in East Ulster, South and West Ulster were areas which were rather dislocated from the hearth of soccer in the province’s largest city, where professional structures were in place by 1894 and where senior and junior association football clubs were strongest. The origins of a number of clubs are examined and it will be shown that despite a lack of major industry and a professional structure, by the early 1900s, the game of soccer had established a strong role within society in many local communities in the area. An examination of the social backgrounds of players and administrators illustrates that leagues and cups were played on a cross-community basis in many areas and that patronage, as well as player participation and administration, came from nationalists as well as unionists.

Impact of white-tailed deer on the spread of Borrelia burgdorferi.

There is a public perception that the white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus (Artiodactyla: Cervidae) is the main reservoir supporting the maintenance and spread of the causative agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi. This study examines the pathogen prevalence rate of Borrelia in adult Ixodes scapularis (Ixodida: Ixodidae), the black-legged tick, collected from white-tailed deer and compares it with pathogen prevalence rates in adult ticks gathered by dragging vegetation in two contiguous counties west of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York. In both Broome and Chenango Counties, attached and unattached ticks harvested from white-tailed deer had significantly lower prevalences of B. burgdorferi than those collected from vegetation. No attached ticks on deer (n = 148) in either county, and only 2.4 and 7.3% of unattached ticks (n = 389) in Broome and Chenango Counties, respectively, were harbouring the pathogen. This contrasts with the finding that 40.8% of ticks in Broome County and 46.8% of ticks in Chenango County collected from vegetation harboured the pathogen. These data suggest that a mechanism in white-tailed deer may aid in clearing the pathogen from attached deer ticks, although white-tailed deer do contribute to the spatial distribution of deer tick populations and also serve as deadend host breeding sites for ticks.

Are Population and Land Use Changes Perceived as Threats to Sense of Place in the New West? A Multilevel Modeling Approach

AbstractThe Intermountain West's rapid changes in population growth and land use may be welcome to some, but others perceive such changes as threats to sense of place. The objective of this study is to assess whether New West and Old West contextual variables predict how agricultural landowners view threats to agricultural lifestyles and sense of place. We analyze survey data collected from 2,270 agricultural landowners in Colorado and Wyoming utilizing a multilevel regression model (MLM). We posit that this analytical approach is effective for evaluating hierarchal New West or Old West economic configurations that may otherwise be difficult to observe. Our study specifically examines whether population pressures threaten agricultural lifestyles in the amenity‐based New West or in Old West economic regimes with proclivity toward large‐scale agricultural production. Our results show that landowners in farming‐dependent counties and in high‐amenity areas express greater concern than other landowners surveyed about increases in population growth that could threaten an agricultural way of life. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these perceptions relate to whether individuals reside in New West or Old West counties. In summary, some of the contextual variables of New West and Old West economic structures predict whether individuals perceive population growth and land use changes as threats to sense of place.

Berecz, Ágoston The Politics of Early Language Teaching: Hungarian in the Primary Schools of the Late Dual Monarchy (review)

SEER, 94, 2, APRIL 2016 358 other Christian feasts, created conditions that favored acts of violence, as huge crowds of people gathered at such times’ (pp. 191–92). I really like this expression of uncertainty. Maybe the pogroms occurred for religious or economic or social reasons; or were dependent on circumstances of the day. Or maybe it was a mixture of all or part. Although the author isn’t entirely a sceptic, I would add that maybe there were other reasons that had to do less with Lithuanian-Jewish relations than with Russian-Lithuanian relations. It is important to recall that Jews were leaving the region in massive numbers to resettle elsewhere. Furthermore, Lithuanian nationalism was on the rise and aimed largely at Poles and Russians as much as Jews. In fact, Jews may have been beaten because of their weakness as much as because they did anything to provoke violence. At the end of the book Staliūnas compares anti-Jewish violence committed in Belarus to that in Lithuania and notes that the violence in Belarus was more intense —more frequent and with more deaths. He blames the absence of traditional ties and inhibitions. In Belarus there were more cities and the wellhoned and conventional forms of inter-group contact were easily ignored. I liked this book a great deal. It doesn’t offer a new vision of pogroms, but it does ask for more careful examination of the pogrom contexts, including the identities of agents and victims. My only criticism is that the author relies perhaps too strongly on local testimonies and therefore neglects to see violence as part of the political discourse in the Empire as a whole. It is a fine study that can serve as a model for historians of pogroms. Jewish Studies Brian Horowitz Tulane University Berecz, Ágoston. The Politics of Early Language Teaching: Hungarian in the Primary Schools of the Late Dual Monarchy. Pasts Inc., Central European University, Budapest, 2013. 284 pp. Map. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. $29.95: €24.95: £22.99. Ágoston Berecz’s book is a comprehensive study of Hungarian language teaching policies at primary school level in the non-Magyar communities of Dualist Hungary between 1870 and the First World War. As such, it provides unprecedented insight into the rationale, implementation, pitfalls and paradoxes of the Hungarian state-directed effort at linguistic assimilation. The territory covered corresponds to historical Transylvania, the Banat (Temes and Krassó-Szörény counties) and the three counties west of Transylvania — Bihar, Szilágy and Szatmár. REVIEWS 359 This is a landmark book that takes on a minefield of a subject, which has more often than not been used as nationalist ammunition in conflicting claims over this territory, the spread of Hungarian being viewed as a history of oppression and suppression by the non-Hungarian minorities and as a glorious civilization campaign by Hungarian nationalists. The truth lies somewhere in between and the success or failure of this educational enterprise did not always have much to do with nationalist struggles. A host of other factors shaped grassroots responses to the Hungarian state school system and conditioned its effectiveness: school infrastructure, availability of native Hungarian teachers, existing levels of literacy, degree of linguistic isolation of a given community, opportunities for social mobility, extent of urban interactions. The book thus points out the gap between the desiderata and high expectations of Hungarian statesmen and educationalists and the reality on the ground, which more often than not, had little to do with nationalist rhetoric and purposes and was of a decidedly pragmatic nature. Ágoston Berecz explores how state language acquisition trickled down to village level in Dualist Hungary and how the policies of the Hungarian establishment were implemented to further Hungarian as a state language and the actual degree of their success. The book dwells on the system of confessional schools, which formed the backbone of primary school education in Hungary and pre-dated the assimilationist drive of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century;itspellsouttheiroperationandthechallengestheyencountered;itthen moves on to assess literacy levels and patterns of school attendance; explores state schools, their infrastructure and staff, as well as the web of regulations bothstateandnon-stateschoolswereembeddedinto.Inastatewheremorethan half of the...

Job strain and resting heart rate: a cross-sectional study in a Swedish random working sample.

BackgroundNumerous studies have reported an association between stressing work conditions and cardiovascular disease. However, more evidence is needed, and the etiological mechanisms are unknown. Elevated resting heart rate has emerged as a possible risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but little is known about the relation to work-related stress. This study therefore investigated the association between job strain, job control, and job demands and resting heart rate.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey of randomly selected men and women in Västra Götalandsregionen, Sweden (West county of Sweden) (n = 1552). Information about job strain, job demands, job control, heart rate and covariates was collected during the period 2001–2004 as part of the INTERGENE/ADONIX research project. Six different linear regression models were used with adjustments for gender, age, BMI, smoking, education, and physical activity in the fully adjusted model. Job strain was operationalized as the log-transformed ratio of job demands over job control in the statistical analyses.ResultsNo associations were seen between resting heart rate and job demands. Job strain was associated with elevated resting heart rate in the unadjusted model (linear regression coefficient 1.26, 95 % CI 0.14 to 2.38), but not in any of the extended models. Low job control was associated with elevated resting heart rate after adjustments for gender, age, BMI, and smoking (linear regression coefficient −0.18, 95 % CI −0.30 to −0.02). However, there were no significant associations in the fully adjusted model.ConclusionsLow job control and job strain, but not job demands, were associated with elevated resting heart rate. However, the observed associations were modest and may be explained by confounding effects.

Prevalence of ADHD in adult psychiatric outpatient clinics in Sligo/Leitrim Area, Ireland

Introduction The prevalence of ADHD in adult population has been estimated at 2.5%. Higher rates (23.9%) have been reported among adult mental health service (AMHS) users. Aims To estimate the prevalence of ADHD among adult MH users in west county Ireland. Methods All consecutive patients attending any of 5 Sligo/Leitrim AMHS were invited to participate. Participants completed the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) and the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS). Clinical notes were reviewed to identify those with preexisting ADHD diagnosis. Exclusion criteria applied were: age: less 18 or above 65, illiterate, non-English speaking patients. Results From 792 attending the clinics, n = 59 (47 aged above 65, 10 severe learning difficulties and 2 non-English speaking) were excluded. Ninety-three (11.7%) decline to participate, giving a total of n = 640 (87% eligible response rate). Mean age was 41.27 (SD: 12.8), and 336 (52.5%) were females. Three had diagnosis of ADHD. Two hundred and thirteen (33.8%) met criteria on the WURS for childhood onset ADHD and 238 (37.5%) participants met caseness on the ASRS. Applying more stringent criteria of scoring on both scales, suggested 125 (19.5%) with unrecognised ADHD. Conclusions While recall bias (WURS) and the possibility of overlapping symptoms with other major psychiatric disorders in adulthood need to be considered, the use of both screening reduces these confounders and suggests a very high rate of ADHD. Given the low number previously identified, this becomes a clinical priority, both to offset the negative trajectories associated with untreated ADHD, but also to effect optimal treatments in comorbid conditions.

Spatial and temporal analysis of tuberculosis in Zhejiang Province, China, 2009-2012.

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of major public health concern. The disease has demonstrated large space-time variations. This study aims to explore the space-time dynamics of TB cases in an economically and geographically dynamic province in China with specific references of TB control for policy makers.MethodsData on all reported TB cases from 2009 to 2012 were collected from the TB program at the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. We employed time series and exploratory spatial data analyses, including Moran’s I, Local Getis’s Gi*, and Kulldorff’s space-time scan statistics, to identify the temporal trends and spatial patterns of TB at a county level.ResultsA total of 147,941 TB cases were reported during 2009–2012 in Zhejiang. A higher proportion of TB cases were younger, male, and registered permanent residents among all TB cases notified in the province. TB cases were reported most frequently in April with small peaks in June, July, and October. This disease was spatially clustering with Moran’s I values ranged from 0.29 to 0.32 (p < 0.001). A most likely cluster and ten secondary clusters were identified, mainly concentrated in the southeast and west counties of the province.ConclusionsThis study identified seasonal patterns and significant space-time clusters of TB cases in Zhejiang, China. Poverty, migration, and seasonal effects may play important roles in potential clusters.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40249-016-0104-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Psychosocial job conditions, fear avoidance beliefs and expected return to work following acute coronary syndrome: a cross-sectional study of fear-avoidance as a potential mediator.

BackgroundDespite improvements in treatment, acute coronary syndrome remains a substantial cause for prolonged sick absences and premature retirement. Knowledge regarding what benefits return to work is limited, especially the effect of psychological processes and psychosocial work factors. The purposes of this cross-sectional study were two-fold: to examine associations between adverse psychosocial job conditions and fear-avoidance beliefs towards work, and to determine whether such beliefs mediated the relationship between work conditions and expected return to work in acute coronary syndrome survivors.MethodsStudy inclusion criteria: acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina diagnosis, below 65 years of age, being a resident in the West county of Sweden and currently working. In all, 509 individuals (21.8 % women) accepted study participation and for whom all data of study interest were available for analysis. Psychosocial work variables; job demand-control and effort-reward imbalance, were assessed with standard questionnaire batteries. Linear regression models were used to investigate relationships between psychosocial factors and fear-avoidance, and to evaluate mediator effects for fear-avoidance. Both total sample and gender stratified analyses were calculated.ResultsFear-avoidance beliefs about work were associated to psychosocial job environments characterized by high strain (β 1.4; CI 1.2–1.6), active and passive work and high effort-reward imbalance (β 0.6; CI 0.5–0.7). Further, such beliefs also mediated the relationship between adverse work conditions and expected time for return to work. However, these results were only observed in total sample analyses or among or male participants. For women only high strain was linked to fear-avoidance, and these relationships became non-significant when entering chosen confounders.ConclusionsThis cross-sectional study showed that acute coronary syndrome survivors, who laboured under adverse psychosocial work conditions, held fear-avoidance beliefs towards their workplace. Furthermore, these beliefs mediated the relationships between - high strained or high effort-reward imbalanced work - and expected return to work. However, mentioned results were primarily found among men, which could results from few female study participants or gender differences in return to work mechanisms. Still, an earlier return to work might be promoted by interventions focusing on improved psychosocial work conditions and cognitive behavioural therapy targeting fear-avoidance beliefs.

Bayesian network-based risk assessment for hazmat transportation on the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China

A Bayesian network-based risk assessment (BN-RA) model was developed to assess the risk of hazmat transportation by identifying, modeling, and quantitatively calculating the risk on the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (MRSNWTP) in China. First, we selected seven parameters from five categories of impact factors (i.e., human, vehicle, tank, weather, and road environment) as quintessential risk factors for accidents. Second, we used the developed BN-RA model to predict the probability of accidents. Third, using bidirectional inference in the BN approach, we analyzed and ranked the importance of the effects of these factors. The developed model was subsequently applied to assess the risks of major bridges crossing canals with different pavement grades and traffic flow levels both at present and in the future for the Beijing-Shijiazhuang Section of the MRSNWTP. The results indicated the following: (1) Although the overall potential risk of hazmat transportation accidents on all bridges in the Beijing-Shijiazhuang Section was fairly low (e.g., 0.08 %), the impacts cannot be ignored because of the potential for huge losses. (2) According to the analysis of many factors that may affect accidents, the driving patterns of drivers exerted the strongest influence on the probability of an accident, followed by vehicle conditions and lighting conditions. (3) If a vehicle were to fail, the highest probability (0.17 %) of an accident would arise if it were traveling on a road with no street lighting and poor road conditions at night. (4) Assuming that a vehicle was in good condition, the highest probability (0.12 %) of an accident arised when the vehicle suddenly encountered poor road conditions with no lights on a foggy night. (5) The predicted probabilities of accidents on Bridge TCWRR (short for the Tang County West Ring Road Bridge) in the short (i.e., the year 2017), medium (i.e., the year 2022) and long terms (i.e., the year 2027) were 3.25 × 10−4, 5.37 × 10−4, and 8.89 × 10−4, respectively. For Bridge DNR (short for the Dian Bridge on the North Road), these values were 8.64 × 10−6, 1.02 × 10−5, and 1.21 × 10−5, respectively. Based on the risk assessment results, to lower the accident probability and avoid the serious consequences resulting from hazmat transportation accidents, we developed an appropriate emergency response program to reduce potential hazards. This research resolved the problems of randomness and uncertainty associated with hazmat transportation in the MRSNWTP and can provide a reference for the effective prevention of hazmat transportation accidents and scientific decision-making in risk management.

Brigid (Breda) T McCoy

Brigid Teresa McCoy (“Breda”) came from a farming family in west County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. An aspiring linguist, she taught Gaelic in summer schools in Donegal while an A...

West Nile Virus Seroprevalence in Horses from Romania: First Step in the Infection Risk Assessment

West Nile virus (WNV) infections are known to be endemic in some areas of Romania. After the last epidemics registered in 2010 in the country, it is considered that WNV has changed its patterns of evolution. The surveillance of West Nile virus includes surveillance of host species and mosquitoes vectors in order to assess the risk of WNV infection in human population. In this paper we describe the preliminary investigations made for the establishment of mosquitoes collection sites consisting in a seroepidemiological study for the detection of WNV specific antibodies made in three counties from the eastern Romania. Horse blood samples were collected from Buzau, Braila and Tulcea Counties. From these, 60 samples were chosen randomly (at least 5 from each sampling area) and tested using a competitive ELISA. The results showed that in Tulcea and Braila Counties WNV is enzootic. In Tulcea, high values of seroconversion were registered not only in Danube Delta (eastern part of the County), but also in the central and southern area of the county. As for Buzau County, the tested sera were negative for specific anti WNV antibodies. In Braila and Tulcea Counties, the high rates of seroprevalence in certain areas permitted us to establish collecting sites for mosquitoes. In Buzau County West Nile virus specific antibodies were not detected until now. The collection of mosquitoes and further detection of WNV will gave us the possibility to characterize WNV circulating strains in Romania and to determine the risk areas for human infection.

The House of Ussher: Histories and Heritages of Improvement, Conspicuous Consumption, and Eviction on an Early Nineteenth-Century Irish Estate

Arthur Ussher, owner of the Ballysaggartmore estate in west County Waterford in the early 1800s, was one among many notorious landlords in Ireland during the Great Famine of 1847–52. He is remembered to this day in the locality for evicting hungry tenants and demolishing their houses for the non-payment of rents on his small estate, having earlier secured some improvement of land-quality through their labor. Buildings and designed-landscape features of Ussher’s demesne remain today, and are capable of an archaeological reading. They speak eloquently, even spectacularly, of the self-aggrandizing values of his social class. Relatively little “tenant archaeology” survives above-ground on the former estate, and most of the sites of eviction before and during the Famine are unidentified, but the story of their removal, and of tenant resistance—or non-resistance, more accurately—to it, is of some interest to students of the historical archaeology of the period. This paper documents the rise and fall of the Ussher project, illuminating the social violence that was often unleashed from landlord culture through the agency of Improvement.

An association between rainfall and bovine TB in Wicklow, Ireland

The advisability of evaluating the local impact of climate on herd bovine tuberculosis (bTB) occurrence has arisen due to recent climatic changes, manifested by more extreme weather events and changeable weather conditions, including changes in temperature, rainfall and vapour pressure deficit (VPD, a measure of atmospheric dryness) (Walsh 2012). Despite many studies on risk factors for herd bTB occurrence, there has been limited work evaluating the influence of weather variables. Wint and others (2002), Gilbert and others (2005) both over all of Great Britain, and Pfeiffer and others (2008, pp 86–88), in a region in southwest England found an association between the environmental variables atmospheric temperature and VPD with herd bTB occurrence, but no biological explanation was offered. In these studies, environmental variables were derived from remotely sensed data, rainfall variables were not included in the studies, and large numbers of explanatory variables were used sometimes on relatively small datasets. In this study, we conducted a preliminary evaluation of the influence of weather variables on bTB incidence in cattle herds together with well- established risk factors from 2005 to 2009 in the area of west county Wicklow (WW) in the east of Ireland. Complete data were obtained on herd- and animal-level bTB testing history from the Animal Health Computer System (AHCS), land usage from Herdfinder (each maintained by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, DAFM), and weather from Met Eireann for the period 2005–2009 at the time of study The area was chosen mainly as it has variation in weather, and herd bTB incidence was similar to the national average for the period under study. All herds registered …

Search and Rescue in the Intermountain West States

Minimal data exist regarding the activity, membership, training, and medical oversight of search and rescue (SAR) teams. Our objective was to describe these characteristics in the Intermountain West SAR organizations. A contact list was generated and electronic surveys were sent to SAR officials in each Intermountain West county. Results were descriptively analyzed. Of the contacted jurisdictions, 56% (156) responded to the survey. The annual average call volume was 29 missions (range, 5 to 152). Multiple levels of medical training were represented on SAR teams, ranging from first aid/cardiopulmonary resuscitation providers to the physician level, and 79% of teams provided some medical training to their membership. Of the SAR medical professionals, 23% had formal wilderness medical training. Local emergency medical services provided 60% of the medical care on SAR missions rather than SAR personnel. Formal physician medical oversight was present in 41% of the SAR teams. These physicians participated in a range of SAR activities including medical protocol drafting (including expanded scope of practice), medical trainings, mission participation, medical consultation, and prescribing medications for field use. The majority (69%) of those physicians were trained in emergency medicine, and 45% of the active medical directors had protocols allowing for an expanded scope of practice due to the remote nature of SAR medical care. Intermountain West SAR teams vary in their activity, composition, training, and level of medical oversight. This study confirms that opportunities exist for physician integration with SAR teams in the studied states and likely throughout the United States.

Fracture model of the Upper Freeport coal: Marshall County West Virginia pilot ECBMR and CO2 sequestration site

A model discrete fracture or cleat network was developed for the Pennsylvanian Upper Freeport coal seam at a carbon sequestration pilot site in southeastern Marshall Co., West Virginia, U. S. A. The model reservoir cleat network was developed using 3D seismic post-stack processing and interpretation workflows combined with observations of fracture systems in the surrounding region. The Upper Freeport coal is unminable in this area and served as a test for the feasibility of combined enhanced coalbed methane recovery (ECBMR) operations with CO2 storage in unminable coals. Well log-derived subsurface structure maps were used to calibrate 3D seismic time-to-depth conversion. Post-stack processing was used to enhance and identify subtle discontinuities in the seismic data that could be related to field-scale faults, fracture zones or stratigraphic heterogeneity. The cleat model was developed using power law fracture length and aperture distributions. Spatial variations of cleat intensity in the model were controlled using measures of localized structural discontinuity extracted from 3D seismic attribute workflows. The cleat model identifies a permeable fracture facies within the reservoir most likely to be impacted by CO2 injection and migration. Areas of concentrated seismic discontinuity bear some spatial association to areas of positive vertical deformation observed in a tiltmeter survey of the site and attributed to CO2 injection. The model could help focus time-lapse processing and interpretation in regions estimated to have higher permeability and porosity and higher probability for change of acoustic properties in response to CO2 injection and methane production. The approach developed here has general applicability to identification of fracture facies and development of unconventional naturally fractured reservoirs in other lithologies and basins.