2,459 research outputs found
Environmental economics and the Murray-Darling river system
Get PDFMuch concern about the negative environmental consequences of agricultural development in Australia, including salinisation, waterlogging and algal blooms, has focused on the problems of the Murray–Darling Basin. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the environmental problems of the Murray–Darling Basin from an economic perspective, and a selective survey of the relevant economic literature, including theoretical analysis, modelling and contributions to the development of water policy. In attempting to understand the complex problems of the Murray–Darling Basin, an eclectic approach drawing on externality, sustainability and property rights perspectives seems most appropriate.Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
James Murray
No full textPhotograph - A crowd of men listening to James Murray, the principal of Olds School of Agriculture, on Field Day at the farm of E.J. Shank, Athabasca, Albert
Complex Adaptive System Modelling of River Murray Salinity Policy Options
Get PDFThis paper reports on complex adaptive system (CAS) simulation of the River Murray Basin in Australia to compare capacity of institutional options to maintain functioning of key river system within a "bandwidth" that limits irreversible system state changes and highly adverse consequences. The modelling framework characterise diverse irrigation agents who profit from water diversion and cause external salinity impacts, water and salt process that form the link between irrigator actions and agricultural profits and external costs, and a river manager who sets institutional rules. Emphasis is on the CAS nature of the system and on institutional rules to accommodate choosing actions differently based on con dition of the system has been referred to as state contingent management (Wills, 2003) or threshold based management (Roe and Van Eeten, 2001). Key findings are that policy focus on the source of salinity by reducing drainage are much more cost effective than strategies to mitigate salinity once it occurs and that state contingent dilution provision when it has high benefit and low opportunity cost is also a cost effective way to manage salinity.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Serologically Active Clinically Quiescent Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Clinical and Immunological Correlates
No full textAim: Some remitted systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients are serologically active (by elevated anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies and/or hypocomplementemia) despite longstanding clinical quiescence ("SACQ"), thus presenting a management dilemma. We described the SACQ period and its patients, and sought biomarkers heralding disease flare in them. Methods: Patients with a prolonged SACQ period were followed prospectively, with clinical and laboratory data collected at each visit. Serologically and clinically active (SACA) and serologically and clinically quiescent (SQCQ) patients served as positive and negative controls, respectively. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were utilized.Results: SACQ patients were phenotypically unique prior to remission onset, and did not accrue subclinical organ damage over the quiescent period. Fluctuation in immunoglobulin isotype did not predict flare. The SACQ interferon and cytokine/chemokine profiles mirror SQCQ patients.Conclusions: SACQ patients' active serology should not guide treatment decisions, and these patients are best managed conservatively. Alternate biomarkers must be sought.M.Sc
Serologically Active Clinically Quiescent Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Clinical and Immunological Correlates
Get PDFAim: Some remitted systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients are serologically active (by elevated anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies and/or hypocomplementemia) despite longstanding clinical quiescence ("SACQ"), thus presenting a management dilemma. We described the SACQ period and its patients, and sought biomarkers heralding disease flare in them. Methods: Patients with a prolonged SACQ period were followed prospectively, with clinical and laboratory data collected at each visit. Serologically and clinically active (SACA) and serologically and clinically quiescent (SQCQ) patients served as positive and negative controls, respectively. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were utilized.Results: SACQ patients were phenotypically unique prior to remission onset, and did not accrue subclinical organ damage over the quiescent period. Fluctuation in immunoglobulin isotype did not predict flare. The SACQ interferon and cytokine/chemokine profiles mirror SQCQ patients.Conclusions: SACQ patients' active serology should not guide treatment decisions, and these patients are best managed conservatively. Alternate biomarkers must be sought.M.Sc
Systemic lupus erythematosus and pulmonary arterial hypertension: links, risks, and management strategies
No full textKonstantinos Tselios, Dafna D Gladman, Murray B Urowitz, University of Toronto Lupus Clinic, Centre for Prognosis Studies in the Rheumatic Diseases, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada Abstract: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by the second highest prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), after systemic sclerosis, among the connective tissue diseases. SLE-associated PAH is hemodynamically defined by increased mean pulmonary artery pressure at rest (≥25 mmHg) with normal pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (≤15 mmHg) and increased pulmonary vascular resistance. Estimated prevalence ranges from 0.5% to 17.5% depending on the diagnostic method used and the threshold of right ventricular systolic pressure in studies using transthoracic echocardiogram. Its pathogenesis is multifactorial with vasoconstriction, due to imbalance of vasoactive mediators, leading to hypoxia and impaired vascular remodeling, collagen deposition, and thrombosis of the pulmonary circulation. Multiple predictive factors have been recognized, such as Raynaud’s phenomenon, pleuritis, pericarditis, anti-ribonuclear protein, and antiphospholipid antibodies. Secure diagnosis is based on right heart catheterization, although transthoracic echocardiogram has been shown to be reliable for patient screening and follow-up. Data on treatment mostly come from uncontrolled observational studies and consist of immunosuppressive drugs, mainly corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide, as well as PAH-targeted approaches with endothelin receptor antagonists (bosentan), phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (sildenafil), and vasodilators (epoprostenol). Prognosis is significantly affected, with 1- and 5-year survival estimated at 88% and 68%, respectively. Keywords: systemic lupus erythematosus, pulmonary arterial hypertension, immunosuppressive, transthoracic echocardiogram, endothelin receptor antagonist
GSV Murray Basin Kerang B Vic pot tho ura totg 4band radiometric grid geodetic
No full textMaintenance and Update Frequency: notPlannedStatement: This GSV Murray Basin Kerang B Vic pot tho ura totg 4band radiometric grid geodetic is an airborne-derived radiometric Potassium, Thorium and Uranium data over a sun shaded total countrate data for the Murray Basin - Kerang B, Vic, 1980 (GSV0191). The survey was acquired in 1980 under the project No. 1505 for the geological survey of VIC. The data consisted of 45745 line-kilometres of data at 250m line spacing and 80m terrain clearance. The radiometric count rate is contaminated by background radiation contributions from the aircraft, cosmic rays, and the presence of Radon gas escaping from the ground. It is also affected by the ground clearance of the detector, as well as the volume of the detector. Radiometric corrections were applied to the four window (K, Th, U and TC) data from the survey. Noise-adjusted singular value decomposition (NASVD) has been applied to the data. NASVD is a spectral component analysis procedure for the removal of noise from gamma-ray spectra. The final grid is checked for quality by GA geophysicists to ensure that the final data released are fit-for-purpose. This GSV Murray Basin Kerang B Vic pot tho ura totg 4band radiometric grid geodetic was produced by applying the colours red to the Potassium ground concentration, green to the Thorium concentration and blue to the Uranium concentration. The colours were clipped to a 99% linear scale. These colours were transparent over a shaded Total Count. This clipping will necessarily introduce some artefacts into the ratio grids in areas of very low radioelement concentrations. The 3-band image was superposed on the sun shaded TC grid of the same survey to produce the final image. The %MV_DATASETS/ARCHIVE_FILE_DESCRIPTION%% has a cell size of 0.0005 degrees (approximately 50m) and shows the K-Th-U-TC window countrate of the Murray Basin - Kerang B, Vic, 1980 (GSV0191). Details of the specifications of individual airborne surveys can be found in the Fourteenth Edition of the Index of Airborne Geophysical Surveys (Percival, 2014). This Index is also available online at http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/79134.
Reference:
Percival, P.J., 2014. Index of airborne geophysical surveys (Fourteenth Edition).This GSV Murray Basin Kerang B Vic pot tho ura totg 4band radiometric grid geodetic is an airborne-derived radiometric Potassium, Thorium and Uranium data over a sun shaded total count radiometric data for the Murray Basin - Kerang B, Vic, 1980 (GSV0191). The radiometric, or gamma-ray spectrometric method, measures the natural variations in the gamma-rays detected near the Earth's surface as the result of the natural radioactive decay of uranium (K), uranium (U) and uranium (Th). The data collected are processed via standard methods to ensure the response recorded is that due only to the rocks in the ground. The results produce datasets that can be interpreted to reveal the geological structure of the sub-surface. The processed data is checked for quality by GA geophysicists to ensure that the final data released by GA are fit-for-purpose.<br/>This GSV Murray Basin Kerang B Vic pot tho ura totg 4band radiometric grid geodetic has a cell size of 0.0005 degrees (approximately 50m). The data used to produce this grid was acquired in 1980 by the VIC Government, and consisted of 45745 line-kilometres of data at 250m line spacing and 80m terrain clearance. The grid was produced by applying the colours red to the Potassium ground concentration, green to the Thorium concentration and blue to the Uranium concentration. The colours were clipped to a 99% linear scale. These colours were transparent over a shaded Total Count. This clipping will necessarily introduce some artefacts into the ratio grids in areas of very low radioelement concentrations. The 3-band image was superposed on the sun shaded TC grid of the same survey to produce the final image
Acquired Low Immunoglobulin Levels and Risk of Clinically Relevant Infection in Adult Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Cohort Study
No full textInfection is a leading cause of mortality in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Low immunoglobulin levels might be a potential risk for infection. We aim to examine the effect of acquired hypogammaglobulinemia on risk of infection in adults with SLE.
Methods: We used Toronto Lupus Cohort to compare adult SLE patients who had acquired any low immunoglobulin levels to those who did not with respect to infection using time to event analysis. Several propensity score methods were used to improve group balance.
Results: Patients with hypogammaglobulinemia had longer disease duration, more proteinuria and history of lupus nephritis. Low IgA levels increased the risk of infection. Recovery of immunoglobulins occurred in 64 percent of acquired hypogammaglobulinemia over four years.
Conclusion: The majority of acquired hypogammaglobulinemia in adults with SLE is transient. Only low acquired IgA increases the risk of infection among adult patients with SLE. Mechanism of this association requires further investigation.M.Sc
Derivation of an Appropriate Outcome Measure in Lupus
No full textAim: To develop an outcome measure to identify “responders” for patients who had a clinically important improvement in lupus disease activity with treatment.
Methods: The outcome measure derived was based on the commonly used disease activity measure SLEDAI-2K which documents findings over the previous 10 days. Since patients in drug trials are followed at monthly intervals it was necessary to validate SLEDAI-2K 30 days against SLEDAI-2K 10 days. Two prospective studies were accomplished for this purpose. SLEDAI-2K 30 days was used to develop the new responder index, SLEDAI-2K Responder Index-50 (SRI-50). The SRI-50 data retrieval form was developed to standardize the documentation of the descriptors. The construct validity of SRI-50 was prospectively evaluated against an external construct. The reliability of SRI-50 was tested in a multi-centre study. A retrospective analysis over 10 years was used to further validate SRI-50. SRI-50 ability to enhance the SLE Responder Index (SRI) in detecting “responders” was evaluated. The performance of SRI-50 was investigated against SLEDAI-2K and SRI over 12 months.
Results: SLEDAI-2K 30 days was validated to describe disease activity over the previous 30 days. The responder index to SLEDAI-2K, SRI-50 was developed including the SRI-50 Definitions and SRI-50 Data Retrieval Forms. The initial validation of SRI-50 confirmed its construct validity to identify ≥ 50 % improvement. SRI-50 is reliable and can be used by both rheumatologists and trainees. The retrospective analysis confirmed that SRI-50 is valid in identifying ≥ 50 % improvement in an efficient time. SRI-50 enhances the performance of SRI and identifies more “responders” than SLEDAI-2K and SRI at 6 and 12 months.
Conclusions: SRI-50, is a valid and reliable responder index to identify patients with partial, ≥50% improvement in disease activity in an efficient time. SRI-50 can be used as an independent outcome measure of improvement in patients with SLE.Ph
Side A: Pauli Murray, speaker. Side B: Morning Session A) Conclusion of Pauli Murray Presentation.
No full textThis audio features a presentation by Pauli Murray on Black and Feminist theology. In her presentation, she argues that Black theologians have not maintained a universal perspective. She also discusses feminism as a monolithic analysis. Pauli Murrays presentation is followed by responses from Lillian Doe Webb and John Cartwright.The Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library acknowledges the generous support of the National Endowment for Humanities - Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Implementation Project Grant in supporting the processing and digitization of a number of its major archival collections as part of the project: Spreading the Word: Expanding Access to African American Religious Archival Collections at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library.</em
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