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Urban Locations (urban + locations)
Selected AbstractsGenotoxicity and physicochemical characteristics of traffic-related ambient particulate matterENVIRONMENTAL AND MOLECULAR MUTAGENESIS, Issue 2 2005Theo M. de Kok Abstract Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) has been linked to several adverse health effects. Since vehicular traffic is a PM source of growing importance, we sampled total suspended particulate (TSP), PM10, and PM2.5 at six urban locations with pronounced differences in traffic intensity. The mutagenicity, DNA-adduct formation, and induction of oxidative DNA damage by the samples were studied as genotoxicological parameters, in relation to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) levels, elemental composition, and radical-generating capacity (RGC) as chemical characteristics. We found pronounced differences in the genotoxicity and chemical characteristics of PM from the various locations, although we could not establish a correlation between traffic intensity and any of these characteristics for any of the PM size fractions. Therefore, the differences between locations may be due to local sources of PM, other than traffic. The concentration of total (carcinogenic) PAHs correlated positively with RGC, direct and S9-mediated mutagenicity, as well as the induction of DNA adducts and oxidative DNA damage. The interaction between total PAHs and transition metals correlated positively with DNA-adduct formation, particularly from the PM2.5 fraction. RGC was not associated with one specific PM size fraction, but mutagenicity and DNA reactivity after metabolic activation were relatively high in PM10 and PM2.5, when compared with TSP. We conclude that the toxicological characteristics of urban PM samples show pronounced differences, even when PM concentrations at the sample sites are comparable. This implies that emission reduction strategies that take chemical and toxicological characteristics of PM into account may be useful for reducing the health risks associated with PM exposure. Environ. Mol. Mutagen., 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Heimische Orchideen in urbanen Biotopen,FEDDES REPERTORIUM, Issue 5-6 2008W. Heinrich Dr. In den letzten Jahren häufen sich Angaben über das Auftreten von Orchideen an sekundären und vor allem auch urbanen Standorten. Durch diese auffällige Biotoperweiterung muss die Aussage, dass Orchideen als Anzeiger intakter Lebensräume gelten, relativiert werden. Gerade als konkurrenzschwache Arten haben dabei vermutlich euryöke Orchideen mit einer relativ breiten ökologischen Amplitude auf jungen, anthropogen entstandenen Böden, zumindest über eine begrenzte Zeit, Chancen einer Erstansiedlung, teilweise mit Massenvorkommen. Zahlreiche konkrete Beispiele werden dafür aus Deutschland mit Schwerpunkt Jena und Thüringen aufgeführt. Es wird belegt, dass vor allem klonal wachsende Orchideen (Epipactis helleborine, Listera ovata, Cephalanthera damasonium) sowie die autogame Ophrys apifera ihre ökologische Amplitude und ihre Biotopbindung erweitert haben. Man sollte aber auch in diesem Zusammenhang Aspekte eines Klimawandels berücksichtigen. Lohnenswert erscheint es, diese Prozesse weiter zu verfolgen, auf neue Fundorte an urbanen Standorten in Städten und Dörfern zu achten. Wichtig aber ist es, künftig die Zusammenhänge zwischen Keimungsbedingungen, Individualansiedlung und Populationsbildung im Wechselspiel mit Klima und Bodeneigenschaften (und ihren darin siedelnden Organismen) gezielt in solchen Biotopen zu erforschen. Weitere populationsökologische Studien sind daher dringend erforderlich, um diese neuen Prozesse folgerichtig interpretieren zu können. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) Indigenous orchids in urban biotopes During the last years informations about the appearance of orchids multiplied in secondary and urban locations. The statement that orchids count as an indicator of intact habitats must be qualified by this remarkable biotope extension. Even as competition-weak species have, besides, presumably euryoecious orchids with relatively spread ecological amplitude on young, anthropogen resulted soils, at least on a restricted time, chances of a first settlement, partially with mass occurrence. Numerous precise examples from Germany with main focus Jena and Thuringia are mentioned for it. It is proved that, above all, klonal growing orchids (Epipactis helleborine, Listera ovata, Cephalanthera damasonium) as well as autogame Ophrys apifera her ecological amplitude and her biotope links have extended. Worthwhile appears to investigate these relations between germination terms, individual colonization, and development of population in the interaction with climate and soil qualities (and her organisms settling in it) concerted in urban biotopes. Further population-ecological studies are urgently necessary to interpret these new processes consistently. [source] Automobile Reliance Among the Elderly: Race and Spatial Context EffectsGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2003Brigitte Waldorf To meet their mobility needs, the elderly assign pivotal importance to the automobile despite the potential challenge of driving cessation and searching for alternatives to automobile transportation. Older persons' generally strong reliance on the automobile varies, however, by land use patterns (density) as well as by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. This paper analyzes the effects of spatial context and personal attributes on automobile reliance among the elderly. Using the 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) trip data, two models of automobile reliance among elderly (65+) trip makers are estimated. The results show that spatial context effects of automobile reliance vary by demographic characteristics; in particular, they are more pronounced for black than for white elderly. Moreover, race variation in automobile reliance is strongest in urban locations rather than less dense spatial contexts. Finally, the differentiation between being a passenger rather than a driver is salient in order to understand locational and racial variations in automobile reliance among the elderly. [source] On-screen print: the role of captions as a supplemental literacy toolJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING, Issue 2 2010Deborah Linebarger Children living in poverty are 1.3 times as likely as non-poor children to experience reading difficulties and lack key oral experiences that contribute to early literacy development. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of viewing commercially available educational television with closed captions. Seventy second- and third-grade economically disadvantaged children living in urban locations participated in this experimental research design. Children were randomly assigned to view videos with or without closed captions. Captions helped children recognise and read more words, identify the meaning of those words, generate inferences regarding programme content and transfer these skills to a normative code-related skill task. Risk status moderated word recognition performance: those at risk benefited from captions while those who were not at risk recognised more words when captions were absent. [source] Relationship between therapeutic use and abuse of opioid analgesics in rural, suburban, and urban locations in the United States,PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 8 2007Theodore J. Cicero PhD Abstract Purpose The goal of these studies was to determine the relationship between prescribed use of opioid analgesics and their non-medically related use (abuse) at a regional level across the country. Methods To gather information about prescription drug abuse, we asked 233 drug abuse treatment specialists to provide us Quarterly reports on the number of cases of prescription opioid analgesic abusers who used opioid analgesics to get high in the past 30 days. Results and Conclusions We found that there was a very strong correlation between therapeutic exposure to opioid analgesics, as measured by prescriptions filled, and their abuse. There were, however, geographical loci that represented outliers in which abuse was disproportionately high relative to therapeutic use (>95th percentile), most of which were in very small urban, suburban, and rural areas. The rank order of abuse shows that buprenorphine products, extended release (ER) oxycodone and methadone are the most intensely abused prescription opioid analgesics, with hydrocodone the least abused, when the data are corrected for degree of exposure, i.e., cases/1000 persons filling a prescription. If, on the other hand, one uses the number of cases/100,000 population, hydrocodone ranked as high as ER oxycodone and all other drugs grouped together at very low levels of abuse. Since the latter conclusion ignores therapeutic exposure, we conclude that the rate of abuse of highly efficacious opioid analgesics is best expressed as cases of abuse/1000 persons filling a prescription, which yields the best possible estimate of the risk-benefit ratio of these drugs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Integrating ecology with hydromorphology: a priority for river science and managementAQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 1 2009I.P. Vaughan Abstract 1.The assessment of links between ecology and physical habitat has become a major issue in river research and management. Key drivers include concerns about the conservation implications of human modifications (e.g. abstraction, climate change) and the explicit need to understand the ecological importance of hydromorphology as prescribed by the EU's Water Framework Directive. Efforts are focusing on the need to develop ,eco-hydromorphology' at the interface between ecology, hydrology and fluvial geomorphology. Here, the scope of this emerging field is defined, some research and development issues are suggested, and a path for development is sketched out. 2.In the short term, major research priorities are to use existing literature or data better to identify patterns among organisms, ecological functions and river hydromorphological character. Another early priority is to identify model systems or organisms to act as research foci. In the medium term, the investigation of pattern,processes linkages, spatial structuring, scaling relationships and system dynamics will advance mechanistic understanding. The effects of climate change, abstraction and river regulation, eco-hydromorphic resistance/resilience, and responses to environmental disturbances are likely to be management priorities. Large-scale catchment projects, in both rural and urban locations, should be promoted to concentrate collaborative efforts, to attract financial support and to raise the profile of eco-hydromorphology. 3.Eco-hydromorphological expertise is currently fragmented across the main contributory disciplines (ecology, hydrology, geomorphology, flood risk management, civil engineering), potentially restricting research and development. This is paradoxical given the shared vision across these fields for effective river management based on good science with social impact. A range of approaches is advocated to build sufficient, integrated capacity that will deliver science of real management value over the coming decades. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||