Browsing by Subject "Humidity"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Environmental predictors and incubation period of AIDS-associated penicillium marneffei infection in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
    (Clin Infect Dis, 2013-05) Bulterys, Philip L; Le, Thuy; Quang, Vo Minh; Nelson, Kenrad E; Lloyd-Smith, James O
    BACKGROUND: Penicillium marneffei is an emerging dimorphic mycosis endemic in Southeast Asia, and a leading cause of mortality among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected people in the region. Factors governing the seasonal incidence of P. marneffei infection are unknown, and may yield critical insights into possible reservoirs or modes of acquisition. METHODS: This study included HIV-infected patients presenting with P. marneffei (n = 719) and Cryptococcus neoformans (n = 1598) infection to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from 2004 to 2010, and temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, and HIV-related admissions data for the corresponding period. We used multivariate regression modeling to identify factors associated with P. marneffei and C. neoformans admissions. We estimated the P. marneffei incubation period by considering profile likelihoods for different exposure-to-admission delays. RESULTS: We found that P. marneffei admissions were strongly associated with humidity (P < .001), and that precipitation, temperature, and wind did not add explanatory power. Cryptococcus neoformans admissions were not seasonal, and P. marneffei admissions were more common relative to C. neoformans admissions during months of high (≥85%) humidity (odds ratio, 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-2.01). Maximum likelihood estimation suggested a P. marneffei incubation period of 1 week (95% CI, 0-3 weeks). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that humidity is the most important environmental predictor of P. marneffei admissions, and may drive exposure by facilitating fungal growth or spore release in the environment. In addition, it appears that a high proportion of penicilliosis patients present to the hospital with primary disseminated infection within 3 weeks of exposure.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Increased labor losses and decreased adaptation potential in a warmer world.
    (Nature communications, 2021-12) Parsons, Luke A; Shindell, Drew; Tigchelaar, Michelle; Zhang, Yuqiang; Spector, June T
    Working in hot and potentially humid conditions creates health and well-being risks that will increase as the planet warms. It has been proposed that workers could adapt to increasing temperatures by moving labor from midday to cooler hours. Here, we use reanalysis data to show that in the current climate approximately 30% of global heavy labor losses in the workday could be recovered by moving labor from the hottest hours of the day. However, we show that this particular workshift adaptation potential is lost at a rate of about 2% per degree of global warming as early morning heat exposure rises to unsafe levels for continuous work, with worker productivity losses accelerating under higher warming levels. These findings emphasize the importance of finding alternative adaptation mechanisms to keep workers safe, as well as the importance of limiting global warming.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Quantification of the humidity effect on HR by Ion leakage assay.
    (Bio-protocol, 2019-04-05) Mwimba, Musoki; Dong, Xinnian
    We describe a protocol to measure the contribution of humidity on cell death during the effector-triggered immunity (ETI), the plant immune response triggered by the recognition of pathogen effectors by plant resistance genes. This protocol quantifies tissue cell death by measuring ion leakage due to loss of membrane integrity during the hypersensitive response (HR), the ETI-associated cell death. The method is simple and short enough to handle many biological replicates, which improves the power of test of statistical significance. The protocol is easily applicable to other environmental cues, such as light and temperature, or treatment with chemicals.