Cost implications of agricultural land degradation in Ghana:

"An economywide, multimarket model is constructed for Ghana and the effects of agricultural soil erosion on crop yields are explicitly modeled at the subnational regional level for eight main staple crops. The model is used to evaluate the aggregate economic costs of soil erosion by taking into account economywide linkages between production and consumption, across sectors and agricultural subsectors. To fill a gap in the literature regarding economic cost analysis of soil erosion, this paper also analyzes the poverty implications of land degradation. The model predicts that land degradation reduces agricultural income in Ghana by a total of US$4.2 billion over the period 2006–2015, which is approximately five percent of total agricultural GDP in these ten years. The effect of soil loss on poverty is also significant at the national level, equivalent to a 5.4 percentage point increase in the poverty rate in 2015 compared to the case of no soil loss. Moreover, soil loss causes a slowing of poverty reduction over time in the three northern regions, which currently have the highest poverty rates in the country. Sustainable land management (SLM) is the key to reducing agricultural soil loss. The present findings indicate that through the adoption of conventional SLM practices, the declining trend in land productivity can be reversed, and that use of a combination of conventional and modern SLM practices would generate an aggregate economic benefit of US$6.4 billion over the period 2006–2015. SLM practices would therefore significantly reduce poverty in Ghana, particularly in the three northern regions." Authors' AbstractLand degradation, Costs, Agricultural soil loss, Economywide modeling, Modeling cost of land degradation,

Prise en charge du priapisme à Dakar

Résumé Objectif Évaluer la prise en charge des patients présentant un priapisme. Patients et méthodes Il s’agit d’une étude rétrospective sur quatre ans, du 1er août 2002 au 31 juillet 2006, portant sur 35 patients. Les cadres d’étude ont été les trois grands services d’urologie du Sénégal qui sont tous à Dakar. Les paramètres suivants ont été étudiés: l’âge, le temps d’évolution du priapisme, les données anamnestiques, le type hémodynamique du priapisme, les résultats du bilan paraclinique, le traitement chirurgical (la technique chirurgicale, la technique d’anesthésie), la durée d’hospitalisation, le traitement associé, les complications per- et postopératoires, les résultats immédiats et à long terme. Résultats L’âge moyen des patients était de 21,2 ans. Le groupe d’âge le plus représenté était celui de 20 à 30 ans. La majorité des patients (43 %) avaient une notion de drépanocytose connue. La plupart des patients (65 %) ont été pris en charge avant 24 heures d’évolution. Chez tous nos patients, le priapisme était de bas débit. Dans 50 % des cas, les patients drépanocytaires avaient une forme SS. Dans près de la moitié des cas (62 %), la technique d’anesthésie choisie a été le bloc pénien. La ponction des corps caverneux a été le moyen thérapeutique le plus utilisé (63 %). Aucune complication postopératoire majeure n’a été déplorée dans la prise en charge des patients dans notre série. Chez presque tous les patients (95 %), la détumescence durable a été notée le jour même du début du traitement ou le lendemain. Conclusion: Le priapisme, bien que rare en Afrique, est caractérisé par la prédominance de la drépanocytose comme étiologie et le délai particulièrement long de la prise en charge. </jats:sec

A prospective cohort study of the association between drinking water arsenic exposure and self-reported maternal health symptoms during pregnancy in Bangladesh

Background: Arsenic, a common groundwater pollutant, is associated with adverse reproductive health but few studies have examined its effect on maternal health. Methods: A prospective cohort was recruited in Bangladesh from 2008–2011 (N = 1,458). At enrollment (<16 weeks gestational age [WGA]), arsenic was measured in personal drinking water using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Questionnaires collected health data at enrollment, at 28 WGA, and within one month of delivery. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for self-reported health symptoms were estimated for each arsenic quartile using logistic regression. Results: Overall, the mean concentration of arsenic was 38 μg/L (Standard deviation, 92.7 μg/L). A total of 795 women reported one or more of the following symptoms during pregnancy (cold/flu/infection, nausea/vomiting, abdominal cramping, headache, vaginal bleeding, or swollen ankles). Compared to participants exposed to the lowest quartile of arsenic (≤0.9 μg/L), the aOR for reporting any symptom during pregnancy was 0.62 (95% CI = 0.44-0.88) in the second quartile, 1.83 (95% CI = 1.25-2.69) in the third quartile, and 2.11 (95% CI = 1.42-3.13) in the fourth quartile where the mean arsenic concentration in each quartile was 1.5 μg/L, 12.0 μg/L and 144.7 μg/L, respectively. Upon examining individual symptoms, only nausea/vomiting and abdominal cramping showed consistent associations with arsenic exposure. The odds of self-reported nausea/vomiting was 0.98 (95% CI: 0.68, 1.41), 1.52 (95% CI: 1.05, 2.18), and 1.81 (95% CI: 1.26, 2.60) in the second, third and fourth quartile of arsenic relative to the lowest quartile after adjusting for age, body mass index, second-hand tobacco smoke exposure, educational status, parity, anemia, ferritin, medication usage, type of sanitation at home, and household income. A positive trend was also observed for abdominal cramping (P for trend <0.0001). A marginal negative association was observed between arsenic quartiles and odds of self-reported cold/flu/infection (P for trend = 0.08). No association was observed between arsenic and self-reported headache (P for trend = 0.19). Conclusion: Moderate exposure to arsenic contaminated drinking water early in pregnancy was associated with increased odds of experiencing nausea/vomiting and abdominal cramping. Preventing exposure to arsenic contaminated drinking water during pregnancy could improve maternal health

Geographical interdependence, international trade and economic dynamics: the Chinese and German solar energy industries

The trajectories of the German and Chinese photovoltaic industries differ significantly yet are strongly interdependent. Germany has seen a rapid growth in market demand and a strong increase in production, especially in the less developed eastern half of the country. Chinese growth has been export driven. These contrasting trajectories reflect the roles of market creation, investment and credit and the drivers of innovation and competitiveness. Consequent differences in competiveness have generated major trade disputes

Clarifying the Dominant Sources and Mechanisms of Cirrus Cloud Formation

Formation of cirrus clouds depends on the availability of ice nuclei to begin condensation of atmospheric water vapor. Although it is known that only a small fraction of atmospheric aerosols are efficient ice nuclei, the critical ingredients that make those aerosols so effective have not been established. We have determined in situ the composition of the residual particles within cirrus crystals after the ice was sublimated. Our results demonstrate that mineral dust and metallic particles are the dominant source of residual particles, whereas sulfate and organic particles are underrepresented, and elemental carbon and biological materials are essentially absent. Further, composition analysis combined with relative humidity measurements suggests that heterogeneous freezing was the dominant formation mechanism of these clouds.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF AGS-0840732)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant AGS-1036275)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Earth and Space Science Graduate Fellowship)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Radiation Sciences Program award number NNX07AL11G)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Radiation Sciences Program award number NNX08AH57G)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Earth Science Division Atmospheric Composition program award number NNH11AQ58UI

Measurements of J/ψJ/\psi and ψ(2S)\psi(2S) decays into ΛΛˉπ0\Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\pi^0 and ΛΛˉη\Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\eta

Using 58 million $J/\psi$ and 14 million $\psi(2S)$ events collected by the BESII detector at the BEPC, branching fractions or upper limits for the decays $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S) \to \Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\pi^0$ and $\Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\eta$ are measured. For the isospin violating decays, the upper limits are determined to be ${\cal B}(J/\psi \to \Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\pi^0)<6.4\times 10^{-5}$ and ${\cal B}(\psi(2S) \to \Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\pi^0)<4.9\times 10^{-5}$ at the 90% confidence level. The isospin conserving process $J/\psi \to \Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\eta$ is observed for the first time, and its branching fraction is measured to be ${\cal B}(J/\psi \to \Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\eta)=(2.62\pm 0.60\pm 0.44)\times 10^{-4}$, where the first error is statistical and the second one is systematic. No $\Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\eta$ signal is observed in $\psi(2S)$ decays, and ${\cal B}(\psi(2S) \to \Lambda \bar{\Lambda}\eta)<1.2\times 10^{-4}$ is set at the 90% confidence level. Branching fractions of $J/\psi$ decays into $\Sigma^+ \pi^- bar{\Lambda}$ and $\bar{\Sigma}^- \pi^+ \Lambda$ are also reported, and the sum of these branching fractions is determined to be ${\cal B}(J/\psi \to \Sigma^+\pi^- \bar{\Lambda} + c.c.)=(1.52\pm 0.08\pm 0.16)\times 10^{-3}$.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures. Phys.Rev.D comments considere