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Background In the USA, access to quality healthcare varies greatly across racial and ethnic groups, resulting in significant health disparities. A new term, “racial health equity” (RHE), is increasingly reported in the medical literature, but there is currently no consensus definition of the term. Additionally, related terms such as “health disparities,” “health inequities,” and “equality” have been inconsistently used when defining RHE. Methods The primary purpose of this scoping review is to investigate the current use and underlying concepts used to define racial health equity. The study will address two key questions: (1) “What terminology and definitions have been used to characterize RHE?” and (2) “What knowledge gaps and challenges are present in the current state of RHE research and theory?” The review will collect and analyze data from three sources: (1) websites from key national and international health organizations, (2) theoretical and narrative published articles, and (3) evidence synthesis studies addressing interventions targeting racial health equity and minority stakeholder engagement. Discussion Defining “racial health equity” and related terminology is the first step to advancing racial health equity within the USA. This review aims to offer an improved understanding of RHE constructs and definitions, bringing greater unity to national racial health equity research efforts across disciplines. Systematic review registration This protocol is registered with the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/7pvzq .

Resistance surfaces are often used to fill gaps in our knowledge surrounding animal movement and are frequently the basis for modeling connectivity associated with conservation initiatives. However, the methods for quantifying resistance surfaces are varied and there is no general consensus on the appropriate choice of environmental data or analytical approaches. We provide a comprehensive review of the literature on this topic to highlight methods used and identify knowledge gaps. Our review includes 96 papers that parameterized resistance surfaces (sometimes using multiple approaches) for a variety of taxa. Data types used included expert opinion ( n  = 76), detection ( n  = 23), relocation ( n  = 8), pathway ( n  = 2), and genetic ( n  = 28). We organized the papers into three main analytical approaches; one-stage expert opinion, one-stage empirical, and two-stage empirical, each of which was represented by 43, 22, and 36 papers, respectively. We further organized the empirical approaches into five main resource selection functions; point ( n  = 16), matrix ( n  = 38), home range ( n  = 3), step ( n  = 1), and pathway ( n  = 1). We found a general lack of justification for choice of environmental variables and their thematic and spatial representation, a heavy reliance on expert opinion and detection data, and a tendency to confound movement behavior and resource use. Future research needs include comparative analyses on the choice of environmental variables and their spatial and thematic scales, and on the various biological data types used to estimate resistance. Comparative analyses amongst analytical processes is also needed, as well as transparency in reporting on uncertainty in parameter estimates and sensitivity of final resistance surfaces, especially if the resistance surfaces are to be used for conservation and planning purposes.

PurposeAntibiotics are growing environmental contaminants leading to public health concern. Antibiotics are commonly used as growth promoters and therapeutic agents in poultry feed that are not completely metabolized in the body tissues of chicken, get deposited in meat as parent compounds, and ultimately excreted via poultry droppings into the environment. These antibiotics in the soil result into the creation of antibiotic resistance in bacteria via activation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). The development of ARGs and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) lead to huge physical and economic losses, as these bacteria cannot be treated with commonly used antibiotics. Moreover, these antibiotics after entering into food chains seriously affect the human immune system, growth, and metabolism of the body. Therefore, to reduce the future health risks of antibiotics, there is a dire need to understand the fate of poultry antibiotics and spread of ARGs in the soil environment.Materials and methodsIn this manuscript, we reviewed the existing literature about the antibiotics used in the poultry sector, soil contamination through application of poultry manures, and development of ARB in environment. An attempt has been done to present a better understanding of emerging contaminants (ARGs, ARB) in the soil environment and their associated human health effects.Results and discussionIn this paper, we summarized the use of antibiotics in the poultry sector, persistence of antibiotics in animal body, and their release into environment. Transfer mechanism of antibiotics and their metabolites to the human body and their fatal effects have been investigated. Developments of ARB and ARGs in the soil due to excessive use of veterinary antibiotics have been highlighted.ConclusionsPoultry antibiotics are causing human health risks by development of ARGs and ARB. Such antibiotic resistance cannot be treated with common antibiotics. Therefore, effective measures are needed to control this emerging problem by improving the efficiency of antibiotics, reducing the spread of resistance genes, and proper monitoring of antibiotics in poultry feed and manure. Manure composting and biochar application are the possible ways to reduce the risk and spread of ARGs in environment due to manure application in agriculture field. The pathways that allow antibiotic, ARGs, and ARB to move through the environment are not fully understood and there is a need for further research to make clear the reservoirs and routes of antibiotic-related contaminants in the ecosystem.

This paper summarizes a strategy for supplying ecosystem services in urban areas through a participatory planning process targeting multifunctional green infrastructure. We draw from the literature on landscape multifunctionality, which has primarily been applied to agricultural settings, and propose opportunities to develop urban green infrastructure that could contribute to the sustainable social and ecological health of the city. Thinking in terms of system resilience, strategies might focus on the potential for green infrastructure to allow for adaptation and even transformation in the face of future challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, and limited resources. Because planning for multiple functions can be difficult when many diverse stakeholders are involved, we explored decision support tools that could be applied to green infrastructure planning in the early stages, to engage the public and encourage action toward implementing a preferred solution. Several specific ecosystem services that could be relevant for evaluating current and future urban green spaces include: plant biodiversity, food production, microclimate control, soil infiltration, carbon sequestration, visual quality, recreation, and social capital. Integrating such ecosystem services into small-scale greening projects could allow for creativity and local empowerment that would inspire broader transformation of green infrastructure at the city level. Those cities committing to such an approach by supporting greening projects are likely to benefit in the long run through the value of ecosystem services for urban residents and the broader public.

Biological invasions and changes in land-use are two components of global change affecting biodiversity worldwide. There is overriding evidence that invasions can dramatically change the landscape and that particular land-use types facilitate invasions. Still, these issues have not formally percolated into risk analysis of biological invasions, and only recently has the influence of the surrounding landscape on invasive species spread started to be considered. In this paper we review the literature on the influence of the surrounding landscape on the local level of plant invasions (i.e., abundance and richness of alien plants in plant communities). Our review confirms that there are more alien plant species and they are more abundant at fragment edges than in the interior of fragments. The decline on the level of invasion towards the interior of fragments is sharp. To a lesser extent, there is higher invasion in small isolated fragments than in large connected patches. However, despite their relevance, the influence of connectivity and shape of the fragments have been scarcely explored. Besides the fact that a site has more invaders if surrounded by a human-dominated landscape than by a natural one, the past history and the configuration of that landscape are also important. Invasion within land-uses is often associated with the historical legacy of changes in land-use, indicating that current land-uses might represent an invasion credit to future invasions. Accurate accounts of the invasion process and effective conservation programs will depend on such considerations.

In these times of rapidly changing climate, the science of detecting and modeling shifts in the ranges of tree species is advancing of necessity. We briefly review the current state of the science on several fronts. First, we review current and historical evidence for shifting ranges and migration. Next, we review two broad categories of methods, focused on the spatial domain, for modeling potential range shifts and future suitable habitat: empirical species-distribution models and more process-based simulations. We propose long-term demography studies as a complementary approach in the time domain when sufficient data are available. Dispersal and successful migration into newly suitable habitat are key mechanisms constraining range shifts. We review three approaches to estimating these processes, followed by a discussion of the potential for assisted migration. We conclude that there have been significant recent advances on several fronts but there are still large uncertainties that need further research.

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the development of antitussive therapies and the first new therapy, gefapixant has been licenced in Europe. This review describes current unlicenced treatments for chronic cough and details treatments currently in development for refractory chronic cough and cough in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, as well as compounds previously explored.

PurposeThe slightly exuberant appearance suggests a misleading idea of an insignificant diversity of microorganisms in Cerrado soils. Thus, a review is necessary, gathering essential information on the microbiology of the Cerrado soil, and its biogeochemical processes, as well as the effects of anthropogenic impacts on this important biome.Materials and methodsWe reviewed studies of microbiota, bacteria, archaea, and fungi, from the Cerrado soil, which were carried out by metagenomic methods, or amplicons sequencing. Also, we evaluated the descriptions of the Cerrado’s characteristics, and describe the implications of the expansion of agricultural areas, anthropic impacts, and wildfires on the soil microbiota.Results and discussionThe acidic soil, subject to variations in nutrient cycling depending on the climatic season, reflects on the structures of the communities of the main bacterial groups of Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria. Members of the Archaea are also abundant in the Cerrado soil, with an emphasis on representatives of the groups Euryarchaeota, Crenarchaeota, and Thaumarchaeota. The fungi found in Cerrado soils are normally dominated by Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, which exert influence of the impact of land use, such as grazing and agriculture. Despite its immense microbial biodiversity, the Cerrado constantly suffers the impacts of the “new agricultural frontier,” which has been devastating the biome through the cultivation of sugarcane, maize, cotton, and soybean monocultures, in particular.ConclusionsThese activities, with consequent loss of native areas of the Cerrado, modify the microbiome present in the soil, changing the flow of nutrients and interfering in biogeochemical processes.

Understanding the influence of large and small-scale heterogeneity on species distribution and abundance is one of the major foci of landscape ecology research in fragmented environments. Although a large number of studies have addressed this issue individually, little effort has been made to synthesize the vast amount of literature published in the last decade. We reviewed 122 focal patch studies on 954 species published between 1998 and 2009 to determine the probability of species responding significantly to landscape, patch, and within-patch variables. We assessed the influence of taxonomic, life history, and methodological variables on probability of response to these 3 levels. Species in diverse taxa responded at high rates to factors at all three levels, suggesting that a multi-level approach is often necessary for understanding species response in patchy systems. Mammals responded at particularly high rates to landscape variables and therefore may benefit more than other taxa from landscape-level conservation efforts in fragmented environments. The probability of detecting a species response to landscape context, patch, and within-patch factors was influenced by a variety of methodological aspects of the studies such as type of landscape metric used, type of response variable, and sample size. Study design issues rarely are discussed by authors as reasons why a particular study did not find an effect of a variable, but should be given more consideration in future studies.

The need to understand how anthropogenic landscape alteration affects fauna populations has never been more pressing. The importance of developing an understanding of the processes behind local extinction is widely acknowledged, but inference from spatial patterns of fauna distribution continues to dominate. However, this approach is limited in its ability to generate strong predictions about future distributions and local extinctions, especially when population-level responses to landscape alteration are subject to long time lags. We review the potential for indices of physiological stress and condition to contribute to understanding of how landscape pattern affects species persistence. Such measures can indicate habitat quality from the perspective of the individual animal, and can reveal environmental stressors before their negative consequences begin to manifest at a population level. Spatial patterns of chronic stress may therefore yield valuable insight into how landscape alteration influences species. We propose that the emerging disciplines of conservation physiology and macrophysiology have much to offer spatial ecology, and have great potential to reveal the physiological pathways through which habitat alteration affects fauna populations and their persistence in fragmented landscapes.