CLICK HERE - STUDY - Pew Research Center - America’s Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas

latimes.com - by Don Lee - May 11, 2016

America's shrinking middle class, a growing concern for the economy and a central issue in the presidential race, cuts across virtually all communities from coast to coast, according to a study released Wednesday.

The report by Pew Research Center found that the share of the middle class fell in 203 of the 229 U.S. metropolitan areas examined from 2000 to 2014, including major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which saw a relatively sharp drop in its middle class.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index

The 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index shows gaps in health readiness among states.

hhnmag.com - by Matt O'Connor - April 25, 2016

Summer is rapidly approaching, and so is ideal mosquito weather and the opportunity for the spread of Zika — something hospitals need to be ready for.

The 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index, released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows that the United States scores 6.7 out of 10 for preparedness against public health emergencies, a 3.6 percent increase since the survey began three years ago. But, some of the regions most susceptible to the spread of Zika scored below the national level, including the Deep South.

Having many states improve their scores is a positive sign that the nation is improving, but there is concern that the South isn’t as prepared for the approaching mosquito season, says Glen Mays, professor of health policy at the University of Kentucky's College of Public Health, who leads the team overseeing the Index.

Dengue-infected tissue - CDC; Frederick Murphy, Cynthia Goldsmith

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Dengue Virus Antibodies Enhance Zika Virus Infection

Previous flavivirus infection could help explain the severity of symptoms in some people infected during the ongoing Zika outbreak, researchers report.

The Scientist - by Tanya Lewis - April 28, 2016

Scientists at Florida Gulf Coast University and their colleagues have found that human cells were more likely to be infected with Zika virus in vitro if they contained antibodies to dengue virus. Their findings, detailed Monday (April 25) in a bioRxiv preprint, could help explain why Zika infection appears to be more severe in areas where dengue is endemic, and points to a potential unintended effect of dengue vaccination.

Antibodies to dengue can increase the virus’s infectivity for certain types of immune cells through a process called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), resulting in the production of more virus and more severe illness.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

An Aedes Aegypti mosquito photographed on human skin. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Cell Host & Microbe - Wolbachia Blocks Currently Circulating Zika Virus Isolates in Brazilian Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes

Presence of Wolbachia bacterium in the insects seen limiting their ability to transmit the rapidly spreading virus

wsj.com - by REED JOHNSON, ROGERIO JELMAYER, and BETSY MCKAY - May 4, 2016

Introducing a common bacterium into a species of mosquitoes drastically limits the insects’ ability to transmit the dangerous Zika virus that has been spreading rapidly, according to researchers at Brazil’s leading medical-research institute.

In a new study published on Wednesday in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, researchers at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in Rio de Janeiro, said their experiments have shown that injecting Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs with the Wolbachia bacterium makes the eventual adult mosquitoes highly resistant to the Zika virus, thereby limiting their ability to spread it.

CLICK HERE - Quest Diagnostics - Zika Virus Infection - Important Testing Information and Helpful Resources

nbcnews.com - by Maggie Fox - April 28, 2016

The first commercial U.S. test to diagnose Zika virus won emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration Thursday.

It's a rare piece of good news as states and the federal government struggle to get out ahead of the Zika virus epidemic as it makes its way north to the U.S.

Quest Diagnostics says it should be able to handle any demand for the test, which uses the same method that government labs use to look for Zika virus in a patient's blood.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Sarah Yatcko, left, holds her son Tucker Neal as they are evacuated by boat with her father Jim Yatcko, by Bossier Parish Sheriff personnel during rising floodwaters in Bossier Parish, La., Thursday, March 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

weather.com - by Quincy Vagell and Chris Dolce and Jon Erdman - March 10, 2016

Torrential rainfall continues to swamp parts of the South, smashing March records, and triggering major flash flooding and worsening river flooding in parts of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. Heavy rain has also spread into parts of western Tennessee, western Kentucky, and western Mississippi.

More than 20 inches of rain had fallen near Monroe, Louisiana, by Thursday morning, prompting numerous rescues. The official airport reporting station in Monroe had picked up 18.96 inches of rain in less than two days by 12 p.m. CST Thursday. This is closing in on the record wettest month for that location set in October 2009 when 20.56 inches was recorded.

Major flooding has also swamped the Shreveport, Louisiana, area where up to 16 inches of rain has fallen. Elsewhere, double-digit rainfall totals have been recorded in east Texas, southern Arkansas, and northwest Mississippi.

Dallas County Health and Human Services confirms its first case of Zika virus transmitted through sexual activity

CLICK HERE - Dallas County Health and Human Services - DCHHS Reports First Zika Virus Case in Dallas County Acquired Through Sexual Transmission (2 page .PDF file)

cnn.com - by Sandee LaMotte - February 2, 2016

The first case of locally acquired Zika in the continental United States has occurred through sexual transmission in Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

The case, announced by Dallas County health officials, involved a patient who had sex with someone who had recently returned from Venezuela infected with the mosquito-borne virus.

In a statement to CNN, the CDC said it confirmed the test results showing Zika present in the blood of a "nontraveler in the continental United States." They stressed that there was no risk to a developing fetus in this instance.

Based on that, the CDC says it will soon provide guidance on sexual transmission, with a "focus on the male sexual partners of women who are or who may be pregnant."

WHO Director-General summarizes the outcome of the Emergency Committee on Zika

who.int - February 1, 2016

WHO statement on the first meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee on Zika virus and observed increase in neurological disorders and neonatal malformations 

I convened an Emergency Committee, under the International Health Regulations, to gather advice on the severity of the health threat associated with the continuing spread of Zika virus disease in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Committee met today by teleconference.

In assessing the level of threat, the 18 experts and advisers looked in particular at the strong association, in time and place, between infection with the Zika virus and a rise in detected cases of congenital malformations and neurological complications.

The experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven. All agreed on the urgent need to coordinate international efforts to investigate and understand this relationship better.

Dengue fever, chikungunya virus and Zika virus are spread by the bite of infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. PHOTO: UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG/GETTY IMAGES

wsj.com - by BETSY MCKAY and REED JOHNSON - January 12, 2016

A Houston-area woman who traveled in November to El Salvador has been diagnosed with the Zika virus, public health officials said, raising concern that the mosquito-borne illness linked to a health crisis in Brazil could spread through the Americas. . . .

. . . The Texas case shows how the Zika virus is spreading after sparking an epidemic in Brazil that has led to an estimated 500,000 to 1.5 million cases, public health officials say.

Health officials in Brazil believe the virus is behind thousands of cases of microcephaly in that country—a condition in which infants are born with undersized brains and skulls—though it hasn’t before been linked to that rare condition. . . .

. . . U.S. officials say they are preparing for a possible influx of Zika this spring and summer, when populations of the mosquitoes that transmit it—Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus—flourish. . . .

. . . The department is also urging people to protect themselves from mosquitoes.

AN EXPANDING LIST OF FLOOD-RELATED INFORMATION

CLICK HERE - National Weather Service - Alerts - Forecasts - Radar - Rivers, Lakes, Rainfall

CLICK HERE - Texas Department of Public Safety - Emergency Management - Situation Reports

CLICK HERE - Texas Department of Transportation - Map - Road Closures

CLICK HERE - City of Austin - Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

CLICK HERE - Hays County Emergency Information

CLICK HERE - City of San Marcos - Flood Resources and Situation Update

CLICK HERE - City of Houston - Emergency Information - AlertHouston

CLICK HERE - Harris County Flood Warning System

CLICK HERE - FLOOD STATUS - Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)

CLICK HERE - The Weather Channel - UPDATES

odi.org - Aditya Bahadur, Emma Lovell, Emily Wilkinson, Thomas Tanner - August 2015

CLICK HERE - Resilience in the SDGs - Developing an indicator for Target 1.5 that is fit for purpose (7 page .PDF file)

We outline a comprehensive approach for developing a cross-sectoral, multi-dimensional and dynamic understanding of resilience. This underpins the core message of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that development is multi-faceted and the achievement of many of the individual development goals is dependent on the accomplishment of other goals. It also acknowledges that shocks and stresses can reverse years of development gains and efforts to eradicate poverty by 2030. Crucially, this approach to understanding resilience draws on data that countries will collect for the SDGs anyway and entails only a small additional burden in this regard.

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

Solar panels are seen in the Palm Springs area, California April 13, 2015. Picture taken April 13, 2015.
Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

reuters.com - by Nichola Groom - August 14, 2015

By almost any measure, the U.S. solar market is on fire.

Installations of solar panels are expected to soar by a third this year, the price of solar power is now cheap enough to compete neck and neck with gas and coal-fired power in places like California, and the fledgling industry received a vote of confidence last week when U.S. President Barack Obama announced a groundbreaking plan to curb power plant emissions. Even China's currency devaluation could cut panel costs for U.S. solar installers.

Wall Street, however, has been dumping solar shares this year, largely on concern, which investors say is misplaced, that tumbling oil prices will sap demand for alternative energy, even though oil isn't used to generate power.

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This "pinkhouse" at Caliber Biotherapeutics in Bryan, Texas, grows 2.2 million plants under the glow of blue and red LEDs.  Courtesy of Caliber Therapeutics

npr.org - by Michaeleen Doucleff - May 21, 2013

The future of vertical farming . . . lies not in city skyscrapers, but rather in large warehouses located in the suburbs, where real estate and electricity are cheaper.

And oh, yeah, instead of being traditional greenhouses lit by fluorescent lamps . . . these plant factories will probably be "pinkhouses," glowing magenta from the mix of blue and red LEDs.

Vertical farmers can lower the energy bill . . . by giving plants only the wavelengths of light they need the most: the blue and red.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE)

The Brazos River in Knox County during the summer of 2011.  Photo by Earl Nottingham/Texas Parks & Wildlife

CLICK HERE - Come Heat and High Water: Climate Risk in the Southeastern U.S. - Executive Summary

CLICK HERE - Come Heat and High Water: Climate Risk in the Southeastern U.S. (114 page .PDF report)

texastribune.org - by Kiah Collier - July 28, 2015

Texas probably will see a sharp increase in heat-related deaths and coastal storm-related losses in the coming decades if nothing is done to mitigate a changing climate, according to a new study commissioned by a bipartisan group of prominent policymakers and company executives aiming to spawn concern – and action – in the business community over the much-debated warming trend.

huffingtonpost.com - by Dr. James Hansen - July 27, 2015

. . . 2°C global warming, rather than being a safe "guardrail," is highly dangerous. . . .

. . . My conclusion, based on the total information available, is that continued high emissions would result in multi-meter sea level rise this century and lock in continued ice sheet disintegration such that building cities or rebuilding cities on coast lines would become foolish. . . .

. . . A startling conclusion of our paper is that effects of freshwater release onto the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic are already underway and 1-2 decades sooner in the real world than in the model (Fig. 2). 

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics - Earth's energy imbalance and implications

CLICK HERE - Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms: Evidence from Paleoclimate Data, Climate Modeling, and Modern Observations that 2°C Global Warming is Highly Dangerous

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