scholarly journals “Ticking Bomb”: The Impact of Climate Change on the Incidence of Lyme Disease

Author(s):  
Igor Dumic ◽  
Edson Severnini

Lyme disease (LD) is the most common tick-borne disease in North America. It is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted to humans by blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis. The life cycle of the LD vector, I. scapularis, usually takes two to three years to complete and goes through three stages, all of which are dependent on environmental factors. Increases in daily average temperatures, a manifestation of climate change, might have contributed to an increase in tick abundance via higher rates of tick survival. Additionally, these environmental changes might have contributed to better host availability, which is necessary for tick feeding and life cycle completion. In fact, it has been shown that both tick activity and survival depend on temperature and humidity. In this study, we have examined the relationship between those climatic variables and the reported incidence of LD in 15 states that contribute to more than 95% of reported cases within the Unites States. Using fixed effects analysis for a panel of 468 U.S. counties from those high-incidence states with annual data available for the period 2000–2016, we have found sizable impacts of temperature on the incidence of LD. Those impacts can be described approximately by an inverted U-shaped relationship, consistent with patterns of tick survival and host-seeking behavior. Assuming a 2°C increase in annual average temperature—in line with mid-century (2036–2065) projections from the latest U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA4)—we have predicted that the number of LD cases in the United States will increase by over 20 percent in the coming decades. These findings may help improving preparedness and response by clinicians, public health professionals, and policy makers, as well as raising public awareness of the importance of being cautious when engaging in outdoor activities.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa I. Couper ◽  
Andrew J. MacDonald ◽  
Erin A. Mordecai

AbstractLyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in temperate zones and a growing public health threat in the United States (US). The life cycles of the tick vectors and spirochete pathogen are highly sensitive to climate, but determining the impact of climate change on Lyme disease burden has been challenging due to the complex ecology of the disease and the presence of multiple, interacting drivers of transmission. Here we incorporated 18 years of annual, county-level Lyme disease case data in a panel data statistical model to investigate prior effects of climate variation on disease incidence while controlling for other putative drivers. We then used these climate-disease relationships to project Lyme disease cases using CMIP5 global climate models and two potential climate scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). We find that interannual variation in Lyme disease incidence is associated with climate variation in all US regions encompassing the range of the primary vector species. In all regions, the climate predictors explained less of the variation in Lyme disease incidence than unobserved county-level heterogeneity, but the strongest climate-disease association detected was between warming annual temperatures and increasing incidence in the Northeast. Lyme disease projections indicate that cases in the Northeast will increase significantly by 2050 (23,619 ± 21,607 additional cases), but only under RCP8.5, and with large uncertainty around this projected increase. Significant case changes are not projected for any other region under either climate scenario. The results demonstrate a regionally variable and nuanced relationship between climate change and Lyme disease, indicating possible nonlinear responses of vector ticks and transmission dynamics to projected climate change. Moreover, our results highlight the need for improved preparedness and public health interventions in endemic regions to minimize the impact of further climate change-induced increases in Lyme disease burden.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 11633
Author(s):  
Alessio Cimini

Food production and consumption account for a significant share of the impact of various pressing and important environmental concerns such as climate change, eutrophication, and loss of biodiversity. In this work, a bibliometric analysis of the last 50 years of research papers, written in English and indexed on Scopus database, was carried out to highlight the evolution of the global scientific research in the environmental assessment of food production (EAFP). The research papers in EAFP started to significantly increase from 2005, being most frequently published by the Journal of Cleaner Production and International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. The United States of America was the first publishing country, followed by China, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Wheat, rice, fish, maize, and milk were the food items mainly studied, with different importance depending on the authors’ publishing country. Life Cycle Analysis, Carbon Footprint, and Water Footprint were the first three standard methods used to assess climate change, energy consumption, and environmental impact. The Wageningen University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Research Centre, and China Agricultural University were the main publishing research centers. All the papers published worldwide received 18.1 citations per paper, the UK and Chinese papers being those mostly and minimally cited, respectively. Over the last five years, this research field largely aimed to managing the agricultural practices, mitigating global warming and water use, assuring food security and sustainable food consumption, while minimizing food waste formation. Such an objective evaluation of this research topic might help guide researchers on where to address their future research work.


Author(s):  
Aref Emamian

This study examines the impact of monetary and fiscal policies on the stock market in the United States (US), were used. By employing the method of Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) developed by Pesaran et al. (2001). Annual data from the Federal Reserve, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund, from 1986 to 2017 pertaining to the American economy, the results show that both policies play a significant role in the stock market. We find a significant positive effect of real Gross Domestic Product and the interest rate on the US stock market in the long run and significant negative relationship effect of Consumer Price Index (CPI) and broad money on the US stock market both in the short run and long run. On the other hand, this study only could support the significant positive impact of tax revenue and significant negative impact of real effective exchange rate on the US stock market in the short run while in the long run are insignificant. Keywords: ARDL, monetary policy, fiscal policy, stock market, United States


Rice ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun-Hung Kuang ◽  
Yu-Fu Fang ◽  
Shau-Ching Lin ◽  
Shin-Fu Tsai ◽  
Zhi-Wei Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The impact of climate change on insect resistance genes is elusive. Hence, we investigated the responses of rice near-isogenic lines (NILs) that carry resistance genes against brown planthopper (BPH) under different environmental conditions. Results We tested these NILs under three environmental settings (the atmospheric temperature with corresponding carbon dioxide at the ambient, year 2050 and year 2100) based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prediction. Comparing between different environments, two of nine NILs that carried a single BPH-resistant gene maintained their resistance under the environmental changes, whereas two of three NILs showed gene pyramiding with two maintained BPH resistance genes despite the environmental changes. In addition, two NILs (NIL-BPH17 and NIL-BPH20) were examined in their antibiosis and antixenosis effects under these environmental changes. BPH showed different responses to these two NILs, where the inhibitory effect of NIL-BPH17 on the BPH growth and development was unaffected, while NIL-BPH20 may have lost its resistance during the environmental changes. Conclusion Our results indicate that BPH resistance genes could be affected by climate change. NIL-BPH17 has a strong inhibitory effect on BPH feeding on phloem and would be unaffected by environmental changes, while NIL-BPH20 would lose its ability during the environmental changes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-75
Author(s):  
Tomasz M. Napiórkowski

Abstract The aim of this research is to asses the hypothesis that foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade have had a positive impact on innovation in one of the most significant economies in the world, the United States (U.S.). To do so, the author used annual data from 1995 to 2010 to build a set of econometric models. In each model, 11 in total) the number of patent applications by U.S. residents is regressed on inward FDI stock, exports and imports of the economy as a collective, and in each of the 10 SITC groups separately. Although the topic of FDI is widely covered in the literature, there are still disagreements when it comes to the impact of foreign direct investment on the host economy [McGrattan, 2011]. To partially address this gap, this research approaches the host economy not only as an aggregate, but also as a sum of its components (i.e., SITC groups), which to the knowledge of this author has not yet been done on the innovation-FDI-trade plane, especially for the U.S. Unfortunately, the study suffers from the lack of available data. For example, the number of patents and other used variables is reported in the aggregate and not for each SITC groups (e.g., trade). As a result, our conclusions regarding exports and imports in a specific SITC category (and the total) impact innovation in the U.S. is reported in the aggregate. General notions found in the literature are first shown and discussed. Second, the dynamics of innovation, trade and inward FDI stock in the U.S. are presented. Third, the main portion of the work, i.e. the econometric study, takes place, leading to several policy applications and conclusions.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huy Viet Hoang ◽  
Cuong Nguyen ◽  
Khanh Hoang

PurposeThis study compares the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stock returns in the first two waves of infection across selected markets, given built-in corporate immunity before the global outbreak.Design/methodology/approachThe data are collected from listed firms in five markets that have experienced the second wave of COVID-19 contagion, namely the United States (US), Australia, China, Hong Kong and South Korea. The period of investigation in this study ranges from January 24 to August 28, 2020 to cover the first two COVID-19 waves in selected markets. The study estimates the research model by employing the ordinary least square method with fixed effects to control for the heterogeneity that may confound the empirical outcomes.FindingsThe analysis reveals that firms with larger size and more cash reserves before the COVID-19 outbreak have better stock performance under the first wave; however, these advantages impede stock resilience during the second wave. Corporate governance practices significantly influence stock returns only in the first wave as their effects fade when the second wave emerges. The results also suggest that in economies with greater power distance, although stock price depreciation was milder in the first wave, it is more intense when new cases again surge after the first wave was contained.Practical implicationsThis paper provides practical implications for corporate managers, policymakers and governments concerning crisis management strategies for COVID-19 and future pandemics.Originality/valueThis study is the first to evaluate built-in corporate immunity before the COVID-19 shock under successive contagious waves. Besides, this study accentuates the importance of cultural understanding in weathering the ongoing pandemic across different markets.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Magri ◽  
Robert Xuereb ◽  
Sandra Distefano ◽  
Neville Calleja ◽  
Victor Grech

Objectives: The introduction of laws that make indoor public areas and workplaces smoke-free has resulted in a significant<br />reduction in the incidence of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Malta was the second European country to introduce the<br />smoking ban legislation in April 2004. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of the smoking ban in Malta on<br />ACS morbidity and mortality.<br />Methods: The number of ACS hospital admissions and the number of cardiovascular deaths were retrospectively analysed.<br />The annual data for 5 years prior to and following the introduction of the Tobacco Act were obtained according to age-groups<br />for both genders. Poisson regression analyses were performed to assess for decline in ACS admission and cardiovascular<br />death.<br />Results: The ACS admission rate increased throughout the 5 years following the introduction of the smoking ban. There was<br />no change in mortality rate in the 5 years following the legislation, except in 2007 when a small but significant decline was<br />noted.<br />Conclusions: The Malta smoking ban did not have a significant impact on cardiovascular mortality and ACS admissions<br />rates, indicating the need for proper enforcement of the public smoking ban and increase in public awareness regarding the<br />adverse effects of smoking.<br />Key words: Coronary heart disease; Mortality; Prevention; Smoking.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-56
Author(s):  
Vesna Karadžić ◽  
Nikola Đalović

Abstract The subject of research in this paper is the profitability of the biggest banks in the European financial market, some of which operate in Montenegro. The profitability of banks is influenced by a large number of factors, including internal banking and external macroeconomic factors. The aim of this paper is to use statistical and econometric methods to examine which factors and with what intensity affect the profitability of large banks in Europe. The empirical analysis used highly balanced panel models with annual data on 47 large banks from 14 European countries over the period 2013-2018. Three static panel models were estimated and evaluated (pooled ordinary least squares, model with fixed effects and model with random effects), as well as dynamic model utilizing general methods of moments. The POLS model was chosen as the best, confirming that all macroeconomic factors have a statistically significant impact on the profitability of big banks, while the impact of internal factors, which are controlled by the bank’s management, is not significant. GDP growth rate, inflation rate and market concentration have a positive effect on profitability, while the membership of the European Union has a negative impact on profit, meaning that banks with headquarters outside the EU are more profitable.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karine Bastos Leal ◽  
Luís Eduardo de Souza Robaina ◽  
André de Souza De Lima

Abstract An increase in the global mean sea is predicted during the 21st century as a consequence of global average temperature projections. In addition, changes in the strength of atmospheric cyclonic storms may alter the development of storm surges, exacerbating the risks to coastal communities. Based on the fact that the interest and range of papers are growing on this topic, this study aims to present the global scientific production status of studies that have correlated climate change and the impact of storm surges on the coastal zone leading to erosion and flooding (inundation) via a bibliometric analysis. We analyzed 429 papers published in journals between 1991 and February 2021 from the Scopus database. Through the VOSviewer and Bibliometrix R package, we describe the most relevant countries, affiliations, journals, authors, and keywords. Our results demonstrate that there has been an exponential growth in the research topic, and that authors from the United States and the United Kingdom are the most prolific. Among the 1454 authors found, 10 researchers published at least 5 papers on the topic and obtained at least 453 citations in the period. The most represented journals were the Journal of Coastal Research, Climatic Change, and Natural Hazards. We also found, and discuss, the lack of standardization in the choice of keywords, of which climate change, storm surge, and sea level rise are the most frequent. Finally, we have written a guide to facilitate the authors' bibliographic review.


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