Associations of anthropogenic activity and tributaries with the physicochemical, nutrient and microbial composition of the Ganga (Ganges) River, India.

The Ganga River (known internationally as the Ganges) is one of the world's most prominent rivers, running from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal and supporting the livelihoods of > 40 % of India's 1.4 billion population. The Ganga River is regionally and globally important, supporting agriculture and industry, yet faces potentially detrimental water quality challenges arising from runoff and discharge from increasing urbanization, industry and agriculture.

Assessing river discharge dynamics through relative surface water extent changes in river basins.

Surface water in rivers is vital for human society. However, our current understanding of the dynamics and drivers of river flows relies predominantly on stream gauging data, which are limited in spatial coverage and involve significant costs. Remote sensing techniques have emerged as complementary tools for monitoring river discharge, but these satellite-based methods often require complex data processing.

The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in Australian children: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Following reduction of public health and social measures concurrent with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron emergence in late 2021 in Australia, COVID-19 case notification rates rose rapidly. As rates of direct viral testing and reporting dropped, true infection rates were most likely to be underestimated.

Objective: To better understand infection rates and immunity in this population, we aimed to estimate SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Australians aged 0-19 years.

Development and implementation of an on-demand competency-based onboarding program for clinical research professionals in academic medicine.

Over the past 7 years, Duke has implemented competency-based job classifications for clinical research professionals (CRPs) with a defined pathway for career advancement. The workforce is defined specifically as the collection of staff employed across the clinical research enterprise to operationalize clinical research and human participatory protocols through the hands-on conduct of protocol activities including participant enrollment, regulatory coordination, study documentation, data collection and management, and sponsor engagement. The competency framework for this critical workforce laid the foundation for a centrally developed on-demand onboarding program at Duke.

Tackling standardization in clinical research workforce hiring using competency-based job classifications.

In 2016, Duke reconfigured its clinical research job descriptions and workforce to be competency-based, modeled around the Joint Taskforce for Clinical Trial Competency framework. To ensure consistency in job classification amongst new hires in the clinical research workforce, Duke subsequently implemented a Title Picker tool. The tool compares the research unit's description of job responsibility needs against those standardized job descriptions used to map incumbents in 2016.

Comparison of the Frontal Plane Projection Angle and the Dynamic Valgus Index to Identify Movement Dysfunction in Females with Patellofemoral Pain.

Background: Clinicians typically measure the knee frontal plane projection angle (FPPA) during a single-leg squat to identify females with patellofemoral pain (PFP). A limitation of this measure is minimal attention to movement of the pelvis on the femur that can create knee valgus loading. The dynamic valgus index (DVI) may be a better assessment.

Inequality of household water security follows a Development Kuznets Curve.

Water security requires not only sufficient availability of and access to safe and acceptable quality for domestic uses, but also fair distribution within and across populations. However, a key research gap remains in understanding water security inequality and its dynamics, which in turn creates an impediment to tracking progress towards sustainable development. Therefore, we analyse the inequality of water security using data from 7603 households across 28 sites in 22 low- and middle-income countries, measured using the Household Water Insecurity Experiences Scale.

Analysis of Prescriptions for Dual Antiplatelet Therapy After Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Importance: After the publication of the CHANCE (Clopidogrel in High Risk Patients With Acute Nondisabling Cerebrovascular Events) and POINT (Platelet-Oriented Inhibition in New Transient Ischemic Attack and Minor Ischemic Stroke) clinical trials, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) issued a new class 1, level of evidence A, recommendation for dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT; aspirin plus clopidogrel) for secondary prevention in patients with minor ischemic stroke (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score ≤3). The extent to which variations in DAPT prescribing patterns remain and the extent to which practice patterns in the US are consistent with evidence-based guidelines are unknown.

Objective: To evaluate the discharge DAPT prescribing patterns after publication of the new AHA/ASA guidelines and assess the extent of hospital-level variation in the use of DAPT for secondary prevention in patients with minor stroke (NIHSS score ≤3), as indicated by guidelines, and in patients with nonminor stroke (NIHSS score >3), for whom the risks and benefits of DAPT have not been fully established.

The Time Machine framework: monitoring and prediction of biodiversity loss.

Transdisciplinary solutions are needed to achieve the sustainability of ecosystem services for future generations. We propose a framework to identify the causes of ecosystem function loss and to forecast the future of ecosystem services under different climate and pollution scenarios. The framework (i) applies an artificial intelligence (AI) time-series analysis to identify relationships among environmental change, biodiversity dynamics and ecosystem functions; (ii) validates relationships between loss of biodiversity and environmental change in fabricated ecosystems; and (iii) forecasts the likely future of ecosystem services and their socioeconomic impact under different pollution and climate scenarios.

Calibration of an in-situ fluorescence-based sensor platform for reliable BOD measurement in wastewater.

Reliance on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) as an indicator of wastewater quality has hindered the development of efficient process control due to the associated uncertainty and lag-times. Surrogate measurements have been proposed, with fluorescence spectroscopy a promising technique. Yet, assessment of in-situ fluorescence sensors across multiple wastewater treatment plants (WwTPs), and at different treatment stages, is limited.

Estimation of river flow using CubeSats remote sensing.

River flow characterizes the integrated response from watersheds, so it is essential to quantify to understand the changing water cycle and underpin the sustainable management of freshwaters. However, river gauging stations are in decline with ground-based observation networks shrinking. This study proposes a novel approach of estimating river flows using the Planet CubeSats constellation with the possibility to monitor on a daily basis at the sub-catchment scale through remote sensing.

Junior and Collegiate Tennis Players Display Similar Bilateral Asymmetries of Humeral Retroversion.

Context: Overhead throwing athletes consistently display significant bilateral differences in humeral retroversion (HRV). However, there is limited evidence regarding HRV asymmetries in tennis players despite similarities between the overhead throw and tennis serve.

Objective: To determine if junior and collegiate tennis players demonstrate bilateral differences in HRV, and whether the magnitude of the side-to-side difference (HRVΔ) was similar across different age groups.

Macrophyte Controls on Urban Stream Microbial Metabolic Activity.

Urban rivers worldwide are affected directly by macrophyte growth, causing reduced flow velocity and risks of flooding. Therefore, cutting macrophytes is a common management practice to ensure free drainage. The impacts of macrophyte removal on transient storage dynamics and microbial metabolic activity of wastewater-fed urban streams are unknown, preventing any assessment of the hydrodynamic and biogeochemical consequences of this management practice.

Patterns of antidepressant therapy and clinical outcomes among ischaemic stroke survivors.

Background And Purpose: Depression is common after stroke and is often treated with antidepressant medications (AD). ADs have also been hypothesised to improve stroke recovery, although recent randomised trials were neutral. We investigated the patterns of in-hospital AD initiation after ischaemic stroke and association with clinical and readmission outcomes.

This Place Is Full of It: Towards an Organizational Bullshit Perception Scale.

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Organizational Bullshit Perception Scale (OBPS) using two samples of employees of organizations in various sectors. The scale is designed to gauge perceptions of the extent of organizational bullshit that exists in a workplace, where bullshit is operationalized as individuals within an organization making statements with no regard for the truth. Analyses revealed three factors of organizational bullshit, termed and .

Long-term river invertebrate community responses to groundwater and surface water management operations.

River flow regimes have been transformed by groundwater and surface water management operations globally, prompting widespread ecological responses. Yet, empirical evidence quantifying the simultaneous effects of groundwater and surface water management operations on freshwater ecosystems remains limited. This study combines a multi-decadal freshwater invertebrate dataset (1995-2016) with groundwater model outputs simulating the effects of different anthropogenic flow alterations (e.

Combining in-situ fluorometry and distributed rainfall data provides new insights into natural organic matter transport dynamics in an urban river.

Urbanization alters the quality and quantity of Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) fluxes to rivers potentially leading to water quality problems and impaired ecosystem function. Traditional synoptic and point sampling approaches are generally inadequate for monitoring DOM source dynamics. To identify links between spatial heterogeneity in precipitation and DOM dynamics, we used a unique approach combining high spatial and temporal resolution precipitation datasets featuring point, catchment, and land-cover weighted precipitation to characterise catchment transport dynamics.

Peak grain forecasts for the US High Plains amid withering waters.

Irrigated agriculture contributes 40% of total global food production. In the US High Plains, which produces more than 50 million tons per year of grain, as much as 90% of irrigation originates from groundwater resources, including the Ogallala aquifer. In parts of the High Plains, groundwater resources are being depleted so rapidly that they are considered nonrenewable, compromising food security.

Moving beyond the Technology: A Socio-technical Roadmap for Low-Cost Water Sensor Network Applications.

In this paper, we critically review the current state-of-the-art for sensor network applications and approaches that have developed in response to the recent rise of low-cost technologies. We specifically focus on water-related low-cost sensor networks, and conceptualize them as socio-technical systems that can address resource management challenges and opportunities at three scales of resolution: (1) technologies, (2) users and scenarios, and (3) society and communities. Building this argument, first we identify a general structure for building low-cost sensor networks by assembling technical components across configuration levels.

'A balancing act'. Living with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Southern New Zealand: a qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common chronic condition managed in primary care. AIM To understand how patients with severe COPD living in the Southern Health Region (Otago and Southland) experience and cope with the condition. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 23 patients with severe COPD (defined using the 2013 GOLD classification).

River temperature research and practice: Recent challenges and emerging opportunities for managing thermal habitat conditions in stream ecosystems.

There is growing evidence that river temperatures are increasing under climate change, which is expected to be exacerbated by increased abstractions to satisfy human water demands. Water temperature research has experienced crucial advances, both in terms of developing new monitoring and modelling tools, as well as understanding the mechanisms of temperature feedbacks with biogeochemical and ecological processes. However, water practitioners and regulators are challenged with translating the widespread and complex technological, modelling and conceptual advances made in river temperature research into improvements in management practice.

Health Care Utilisation and Health Needs of People with Severe COPD in the Southern Region of New Zealand: A Retrospective Case Note Review.

We examined health care utilisation and needs of people with severe COPD in the low-population-density setting of the Southern Region of New Zealand (NZ). We undertook a retrospective case note review of patients with COPD coded as having an emergency department attendance and/or admission with at least one acute exacerbation during 2015 to hospitals in the Southern Region of NZ. Data were collected and analysed from 340 case notes pertaining to: demographics, hospital admissions, outpatient contacts, pulmonary rehabilitation, advance care planning and comorbidities.