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The intention of this article is to look at radon contamination; the various housing design solutions that may be implemented to overcome the problem; as well as the possibility that private developers will buy into this form of development. It is not sufficient to have designs and a population willing to live on this land if private developers are not willing to take a risk and develop these sites (Simons et al., 2006). By addressing these issues, three questions shall be answered: 1. What are the potential complications in building housing on mining dumps? 2. What are the practical solutions for dealing with housing in such areas? 3. Are private developers willing to develop contaminated land? The actual cost of construction on the sites although important to the overall feasibility of development shall not be discussed. This component certainly needs further research in order to sufficiently grasp the willingness to develop on behalf of the developers. From the onset of this research, the developers showed some ignorance towards the issues of radon contamination. They did show willingness to develop certain types of designs, but the recommendation of the research is the need for education to facilitate the use of this contaminated sites. Die bedoeling van hierdie artikel is om na radon besmette terreine te kyk; die verskillende huis ontwerp oplossings wat geïmplimenteer kan word om die probleem te oorkom; asook die moontlikheid van privaat ontwikkelaars wat in hierdie tipe ontwikkeling sal wil belê. Dit is nie genoeg om ontwerpe en 'n populasie gewillig om op hierdie grond te bly te hê indien privaat ontwikkelaars nie bereid is om 'n risiko te neem en in hierdie terreine belê nie (Simons et al., 2006). Deur hierdie sake aan te spreek sal drie vrae beantwoord word: 1. Wat is die potensiele komplikasies om huise op ou mynhope te bou? 2. Wat is die praktiese oplossings wanneer met huise in hierdie areas gewerk word? 3. Is privaat ontwikkelaars gewillig om hierdie besmette terreine te ontwikkel? Die werklike konstruksiekoste van hierdie terreine alhoewel belangrik tot die oorhoofse lewensvatbaarheid van ontwikkeling sal nie bespreek word nie. Hierdie komponent vereis verdere navorsing om die bereidheid van ontwikkeling namens die ontwikkelaars genoegsaam aan te spreek. Uit die navorsing blyk dit dat ontwikkelaars die sake oor radon besmette terreine grootliks ignoreer. Ontwikkelaars het wel bereidwilligheid getoon om sekere tipes ontwerpe te ontwikkel. Die aanbeveling is dat daar 'n behoefte bestaan vir inligting rondom hoe om die gebruik van besmette land te fasiliteer.

The intention of this article is to look at radon contamination; the various housing design solutions that may be implemented to overcome the problem; as well as the possibility that private developers will buy into this form of development. It is not sufficient to have designs and a population willing to live on this land if private developers are not willing to take a risk and develop these sites (Simons et al., 2006). By addressing these issues, three questions shall be answered:1. What are the potential complications in building housing on mining dumps?2. What are the practical solutions for dealing with housing in such areas?3. Are private developers willing to develop contaminated land?The actual cost of construction on the sites although important to the overall feasibility of development shall not be discussed. This component certainly needs further research in order to sufficiently grasp the willingness to develop on behalf of the developers. From the onset of this research, the developers showed some ignorance towards the issues of radon contamination. They did show willingness to develop certain types of designs, but the recommendation of the research is the need for education to facilitate the use of this contaminated sites. 

Many bacteria are able to survive in the presence of antibiotics in part because they possess pumps that can remove a broad range of small molecules; here, the structure of one such pump, AcrAB–TolC, is determined using X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. AcrAB–TolC efflux pump structure Many bacteria are able to survive in the presence of antibiotics and other toxic compounds because they possess versatile energy-dependent transmembrane pumps. For example, the AcrAB–TolC efflux pump, which spans the inner and outer membranes of the bacterium, is able to transport a broad range of structurally unrelated small molecules/drugs out of some Gram-negative bacteria. The pump is comprised of an outer-membrane channel (TolC), a secondary transporter (AcrB; located in the inner membrane), and AcrA, a periplasmic protein that acts as a bridge for these two integral membrane proteins. In this paper, the authors solve an X-ray crystal structure of AcrB bound to AcrZ (a small protein that appears to alter the substrate preferences of AcrB) and a cryo-EM structure of the entire 771 kDa efflux pump. The capacity of numerous bacterial species to tolerate antibiotics and other toxic compounds arises in part from the activity of energy-dependent transporters. In Gram-negative bacteria, many of these transporters form multicomponent ‘pumps’ that span both inner and outer membranes and are driven energetically by a primary or secondary transporter component 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 . A model system for such a pump is the acridine resistance complex of Escherichia coli 1 . This pump assembly comprises the outer-membrane channel TolC, the secondary transporter AcrB located in the inner membrane, and the periplasmic AcrA, which bridges these two integral membrane proteins. The AcrAB–TolC efflux pump is able to transport vectorially a diverse array of compounds with little chemical similarity, thus conferring resistance to a broad spectrum of antibiotics. Homologous complexes are found in many Gram-negative species, including in animal and plant pathogens. Crystal structures are available for the individual components of the pump 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 and have provided insights into substrate recognition, energy coupling and the transduction of conformational changes associated with the transport process. However, how the subunits are organized in the pump, their stoichiometry and the details of their interactions are not known. Here we present the pseudo-atomic structure of a complete multidrug efflux pump in complex with a modulatory protein partner 8 from E. coli . The model defines the quaternary organization of the pump, identifies key domain interactions, and suggests a cooperative process for channel assembly and opening. These findings illuminate the basis for drug resistance in numerous pathogenic bacterial species.

A global zoning scheme is proposed to limit the environmental costs of road building while maximizing its benefits for human development, by discriminating among areas where road building would have high environmental costs but relatively low agricultural advantage, areas where strategic road improvements could promote agricultural production with relatively modest environmental costs, and ‘conflict areas’ where road building may have large agricultural benefits but also high environmental costs. The number and extent of roads will expand dramatically this century 1 . Globally, at least 25 million kilometres of new roads are anticipated by 2050; a 60% increase in the total length of roads over that in 2010. Nine-tenths of all road construction is expected to occur in developing nations 1 , including many regions that sustain exceptional biodiversity and vital ecosystem services. Roads penetrating into wilderness or frontier areas are a major proximate driver of habitat loss and fragmentation, wildfires, overhunting and other environmental degradation, often with irreversible impacts on ecosystems 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 . Unfortunately, much road proliferation is chaotic or poorly planned 3 , 4 , 6 , and the rate of expansion is so great that it often overwhelms the capacity of environmental planners and managers 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 . Here we present a global scheme for prioritizing road building. This large-scale zoning plan seeks to limit the environmental costs of road expansion while maximizing its benefits for human development, by helping to increase agricultural production, which is an urgent priority given that global food demand could double by mid-century 8 , 9 . Our analysis identifies areas with high environmental values where future road building should be avoided if possible, areas where strategic road improvements could promote agricultural development with relatively modest environmental costs, and ‘conflict areas’ where road building could have sizeable benefits for agriculture but with serious environmental damage. Our plan provides a template for proactively zoning and prioritizing roads during the most explosive era of road expansion in human history.

Transitions in community genomic features and biogeochemical processes were examined in surface and subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) microbial communities across a trophic gradient from mesotrophic waters near San Diego, California to the oligotrophic Pacific. Transect end points contrasted in thermocline depth, rates of nitrogen and CO 2 uptake, new production and SCM light intensity. Relative to surface waters, bacterial SCM communities displayed greater genetic diversity and enrichment in putative sulfur oxidizers, multiple actinomycetes, low-light-adapted Prochlorococcus and cell-associated viruses. Metagenomic coverage was not correlated with transcriptional activity for several key taxa within Bacteria. Low-light-adapted Prochlorococcus , Synechococcus , and low abundance gamma-proteobacteria enriched in the>3.0-μm size fraction contributed disproportionally to global transcription. The abundance of these groups also correlated with community functions, such as primary production or nitrate uptake. In contrast, many of the most abundant bacterioplankton, including SAR11, SAR86, SAR112 and high-light-adapted Prochlorococcus , exhibited low levels of transcriptional activity and were uncorrelated with rate processes. Eukaryotes such as Haptophytes and non-photosynthetic Aveolates were prevalent in surface samples while Mamielles and Pelagophytes dominated the SCM. Metatranscriptomes generated with ribosomal RNA-depleted mRNA (total mRNA) coupled to in vitro polyadenylation compared with polyA-enriched mRNA revealed a trade-off in detection eukaryotic organelle and eukaryotic nuclear origin transcripts, respectively. Gene expression profiles of SCM eukaryote populations, highly similar in sequence identity to the model pelagophyte Pelagomonas sp. CCMP1756, suggest that pelagophytes are responsible for a majority of nitrate assimilation within the SCM.

Background. The provision of starter packs for human immunodeficiency virus postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) is practiced in many settings to facilitate rapid initiation by nonexperts and encourage adherence. However, the impact of starter packs on PEP completion rates has not been systematically assessed. We systematically reviewed the evidence on outcomes associated with starter packs for PEP compared to full prescriptions. Methods. Four databases and 2 conference abstract sites were searched up to December 2013; this search was updated in 1 database in June 2014. PEP completion rates, stratified by prescribing practice, were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Results. Fifty-four studies provided data on 11 714 PEP initiations. Thirty-seven studies, including 3 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 34 observational cohorts, provided information on starter packs (although none of the RCTs specifically assessed starter packs), and 17 studies, including 2 RCTs and 15 observational cohorts, provided information on full prescriptions. Overall, outcomes were better when participants were offered a full 28-day course of PEP at initial presentation to healthcare, with fewer refusals (11.4% [95% confidence interval {CI}, 5.3%–17.5%] vs 22% [95% CI, 16.7%–28.1%]) and higher completion rates (70% [95% CI, 56.7%–77.3%] vs 53.2% [95% CI, 44.4%–62.2%]). More than a quarter (28% [95% CI, 21.4%–34.5%]) of individuals provided with a PEP starter pack failed to return for their subsequent appointment and therefore defaulted prior to receiving a full course of PEP. The quality of the evidence overall was rated as very low. Conclusions. The findings of this review suggest that starter packs do not improve adherence to PEP and may result in lower adherence and completion rates.

IntroductionIn Canada, many families want to breastfeed, but there are several common challenges they may encounter. Currently, 91% of Canadian families initiate breastfeeding after giving birth, yet only 38% of babies are breastfed exclusively to 6 months. In 1991, the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada (BCC) was established to implement the World Health Organization’s Ten-Step Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a series of evidence-based in-hospital practices to support families to breastfeed. Then, in recognition of the need to support breastfeeding beyond the hospital setting, the BCC expanded the Baby-Friendly Initiative (BFI) to apply the Ten Steps to both hospitals and community health settings. However, uptake of the BFI Ten Steps in community settings has been low and methodology on how to optimise implementation of the Ten Steps in community is not well developed. Therefore, the objective of this project is to develop and evaluate a quality improvement collaborative with 25 community health services from across Canada to learn how to best support the implementation of the BFI Ten Steps in community, with the ultimate goal of improving breastfeeding outcomes.Methods and analysisThis protocol describes the activities of the Community Baby-Friendly Initiative Collaborative (CBFI-C) and the methods used to evaluate its effectiveness. We will use the Institute for Healthcare Information Breakthrough Series (IHI-BTS) model, a proven quality improvement model that has been widely used in clinical settings, but is not yet widely used in community settings. The IHI-BTS combines three virtual learning sessions with action cycles that allow the participating sites time to test and track small practice changes. Sites will be asked to track care indicator and breastfeeding outcome data, engage in monthly webinars, receive coaching from trained mentors, participate in focus groups and participate in a final summative workshop. We will use a multi-site case study approach, combining aggregate care indicator data and qualitative data from webinars, focus groups and workshops to evaluate how the CBFI-C model supports community sites in the process of implementing the BFI Ten Steps.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval for this evaluation was obtained from the CHIPER Health Research Ethics Board (Number HS26947-H2025:157)). The results of the CBFI-C evaluation will be shared in a report, peer-reviewed publications and presentations to government and academic audiences. The findings will inform effective quality improvement strategies to enhance uptake of the BFI in community health settings.

The 2014 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) developed recommendations for PEP irrespective of exposure source in recognition of the need to simplify eligibility assessment and prescribing practices. Traditionally, separate PEP guidelines have been developed according to exposure type, with difference guidelines for occupational exposure, nonoccupational exposure, and sexual assault. Recognizing the need to improve uptake and completion rates for PEP, the WHO 2014 guideline does not differentiate between exposure sources, but rather provides recommendations across all exposures. Recommendations for simplifying prescribing approaches and supporting adherence are also provided. In translating this guidance into national PEP guidelines, countries are encouraged to consider the need to provide PEP in a way that maximizes uptake and completion rates.

Current conservation templates prioritize biogeographic regions with high intensity ecosystem values, such as exceptional species richness or threat. Intensity-based targets are an important consideration in global efforts, but they do not capture all available opportunities to conserve ecosystem values, including those that accrue in low intensity over large areas. We assess six globally-significant ecosystem values—intact wilderness, freshwater availability, productive marine environments, breeding habitat for migratory wildlife, soil carbon storage, and latitudinal potential for range shift in the face of climate change—to highlight opportunities for highimpact broadly-distributed contributions to global conservation. Nations can serve as a cohesive block of policy that can profoundly influence conservation outcomes. Contributions to global ecosystem values that exceed what is predicted by a nation’s area alone, can give rise to countries with the capacity to act as ‘conservation superpowers’, such as Canada and Russia. For these conservation superpowers, a relatively small number of national policies can have environmental repercussions for the rest of the world.