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Sustainable Production of Aquatic and Wetland Plants
Published in Namrita Lall, Aquatic Plants, 2020
Galinato et al. (1986) emphasized that environmental conditions such as temperature, salinity, and light influence each species differently, leading to differences in species composition of wetlands from identical seed banks. This may be as a result of microenvironment variation during the drawdown when there is no stagnant water. Van der Valk et al. (1978) explained that the species composition of prairie marshes varies temporally due to fluctuating water levels, which are conducive to germination of wetland plant types. For example, emergent species (such as Typha, Scirpus, Sparganium, and Sagittaria species) tend to germinate on exposed mudflats or in very shallow water. Submerged and free-floating species (such as Lemna, Spirodela, Ceratophyllum, Naias, and Potamogeton species) germinate when there is stagnant water, remaining dormant and viable for up to a year on exposed mudflats. Mudflat ephemeral species (Bidens, Cyperus, Polygonum, and Rumex species) only germinate in the absence of standing water and cease when floods return (Van der Valk and Davis 1978). Therefore, it should be clear that a good understanding of a species’ habitat is necessary to achieve/improve germination success.
Principles and theories
Published in Emily Ying Yang Chan, Disaster Public Health and Older People, 2019
Climate change, urbanisation, increase of income disparity and globalisation are macro-determinants that lead to increase of natural disasters in the twenty-first century. Climate change affects human well-being. Abnormal temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, sea-level rise and extreme weather affect environment and human health. Temperature rise and increased rainfall may lead to collection of stagnant water, which provide favourable breeding grounds for mosquitoes and enhance the risk of vector-borne diseases to human habitat. Global warming has accelerated the melting of high mountain snow and glaciers, exposing some regions to the threat of flooding. Sea-level rise could make the coastal areas susceptible to inland flowing of seawater that floods farmlands. Since seawater is high in salt and other harmful materials that cannot be assimilated by crops, it might cause crop withering and food crises. Extreme weather events like Super Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines in 2013, could cause high casualties and huge property losses.
The Specific Human Health Impacts of Natural Disasters
Published in Emily Ying Yang Chan, Public Health Humanitarian Responses to Natural Disasters, 2017
Floods may be caused by fresh water or salt water. Freshwater floods may leave mud and soil when the waters recede, saltwater can affect the salinity of ground water, making water undrinkable and harming the aquatic animals (Smith, 2009). Floods may cause water contamination by bacteria and viruses. For example, floods in Mozambique in 2000 caused a rising number of diarrhoea cases, floods in Mauritius in 1980 triggered an outbreak of typhoid fever, and floods in West Bengal in 1998 created a cholera epidemic (WHO, 2005). Cholera is an infectious diarrhoeal disease, caused by Vibrio cholerae. It is estimated that there are 1.4 to 4.3 million cases of cholera annually, causing 28,000 to 142,000 annual deaths (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015a). Studies have shown that V. cholerae is native to coastal ecosystems, particularly in the tropics and subtropics (Colwell, Kaper, & Joseph, 1977; Lipp, Huq, & Colwell, 2002). Therefore, coastal flooding increases the risk of cholera infections. Furthermore, stagnant water, remaining for days or weeks after the initial flood, increases the risk of vector-borne illnesses by providing new breeding sites for vectors. Floodwater also destroys power lines and submerges electrical equipment, causing electrical shocks and increasing the risk of fires. Table 4.3 summarises the health impact of flooding.
Protocol with non-toxic chemicals to control biofilm in dental unit waterlines: physical, chemical, mechanical and biological perspective
Published in Biofouling, 2022
Rachel Maciel Monteiro, Viviane de Cassia Oliveira, Rodrigo Galo, Denise de Andrade, Ana Maria Razaboni, Evandro Watanabe
Water in dentistry is essential for several procedures related to dental treatment, such as hand hygiene, sterilization of instruments and cooling of high-speed handpieces. Nonetheless, stagnant water in a long, thin and flexible waterlines from a reservoir to syringes and high-speed handpieces is associated with the presence of an alarming number of microorganisms, even with the institution of basic asepsis principles (Blake 1963; Kelstrup et al. 1977; Mills and Karpay 2002; Monteiro et al. 2018). The design of the water distribution system is considered a favorable environment for biofilm growth, since the long and narrow dental unit waterlines can remain mostly filled with water (Mills and Karpay 2002). Another concern of microbial contamination is the failure of the dental equipment’s non-return valves, which can facilitate the contamination of the dental unit water system by microbiota and oral body fluids (Lizzadro et al. 2019; Giacomuzzi et al. 2019).
A Cross-Sectional Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Toward Leptospirosis among Rural and Urban Population of a South Indian District
Published in Ocular Immunology and Inflammation, 2021
Sivakumar Rathinam, Rajesh Vedhanayaki, Kandasamy Balagiri
Infected cattle shed millions of leptospires in their urine and they can survive in moist alkaline soil for months. Study in an agricultural population of Thailand identified important risk factors which included farming for more than 6 hours and walking through stagnant water two weeks prior to illness.22 Combination of tropical climate and need to immerse their bare foot in moisture for hours offer plenty of opportunity to Indian farmers to get infected (Figure 2). Previous study from Madurai on seroprevalence of leptospirosis in animals confirmed field rats to be carriers.4 90% of rural population had rats in their field and 54% of urban (Table 1) had rats at home; however, most (93%) could not name any specific rodent-borne diseases (Table 2). It is noteworthy that similar to population of Peru, our population was not aware of rodent-borne diseases. Like them, our population was not worried about the presence of rats which were seen only as nuisance and not as microbial carriers.7Surprisingly, very few could recollect about the plague but not leptospirosis (Table 2).
Combating malaria in Kenya through collaborative population health education: a systematic review and pilot case study
Published in Infectious Diseases, 2023
Hester Lacey, Nityanand Jain, Mai Sugimoto, Masako Shimato, Ieva Reine, Kevin Oria
Local social factors such as inadequate housing and living conditions, financial poverty, food and water insecurity, unemployment and lack of social services, and limited access to secondary education contribute to the burden of disease [15]. Climate change is also a major contributor to the problem. Fluctuations in temperature and weather patterns have led to an increase in the transmission of vector-borne diseases over longer periods, and an increase in stagnant water, which serves as a habitat and breeding ground for mosquito vectors. Interestingly, as a direct result of changing weather patterns and rising temperatures, climate change is thought to explain the eightfold increase in malaria cases seen in western Kenya since the 1970s [16].