The value of marsh restoration for flood risk reduction in an urban estuary.

The use of nature-based solutions (NBS) for coastal climate adaptation has broad and growing interest, but NBS are rarely assessed with the same rigor as traditional engineering solutions or with respect to future climate change scenarios. These gaps pose challenges for the use of NBS for climate adaptation. Here, we value the flood protection benefits of stakeholder-identified marsh restoration under current and future climate change within San Francisco Bay, a densely urbanized estuary, and specifically on the shores of San Mateo County, the county most vulnerable to future flooding in California. Marsh restoration provides a present value of $21 million which increases to over $100 million with 0.5 m of sea level rise (SLR), and to about $500 million with 1 m of SLR. There are hotspots within the county where marsh restoration delivers very high benefits for adaptation, which reach $9 million/hectare with likely future sea level and storm conditions. Today's investments in nature and community resilience can result in increasing payoffs as climate change progresses and risk increases.

Retraction Note: Inequities in coverage of smokefree space policies within the United States.

The authors have retracted this article [1] because of an error with the data extraction process.

Inequities in coverage of smokefree outdoor space policies within the United States: school grounds and playgrounds.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found extensive geographic and demographic differences in tobacco use. These differences have been found to be reduced by effective public policies, including banning smoking in public spaces. Smokefree outdoor spaces reduce secondhand smoke exposure and de-normalize smoking. METHODS: After previously publishing a study of smokefree indoor and outdoor space policies, it was brought to the authors' attention that the dataset used in analyses was incomplete (Lowrie et al., BMC Public Health 17:456, 2017). The current manuscript is a corrected version. Here, we include analyses for outdoor space policies. We evaluated regional and demographic differences in the proportion of the population (both adult and child) covered by smokefree outdoor space policies for school grounds and playgrounds enacted in the United States prior to 2014. RESULTS: Children had a low level of protection in playgrounds and schools (8% covered nationwide in both settings). Significant differences in coverage were found by ethnicity, region, income, and education (p < 0.001). The odds of having a smokefree playgrounds policy was lower for jurisdictions with higher proportions of poor households, households with no high school diploma, whites and the Alaska/Hawaii region. Increased ethnic heterogeneity was found to be a significant predictor of increased odds of having a smokefree playgrounds policy, meaning that diversity is protective, with differential effect by region (p < 0.001) - which may relate to urbanicity. CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in smokefree outdoor space policies have potential to exacerbate existing health inequities. A national increase in smokefree outdoor space policies to protect children in playgrounds and schools is a crucial intervention to reduce such inequities.

Inequities in coverage of smokefree space policies within the United States.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found extensive geographic and demographic differences in tobacco use. These differences have been found to be reduced by effective public policies, including banning smoking in public spaces. Smokefree indoor and outdoor spaces reduce secondhand smoke exposure and denormalize smoking. METHODS: We evaluated regional and demographic differences in the proportion of the population covered by smokefree policies enacted in the United States prior to 2014, for both adults and children. RESULTS: Significant differences in coverage were found by ethnicity, region, income, and education (p < 0.001). Smokefree policy coverage was lower for jurisdictions with higher proportions of poor households, households with no high school diploma and the Southeast region. Increased ethnic heterogeneity was found to be a significant predictor of coverage in indoor "public spaces generally", meaning that diversity is protective, with differential effect by region (p = 0.004) - which may relate to urbanicity. Children had a low level of protection in playgrounds and schools (~10% covered nationwide) - these spaces were found to be covered at lower rates than indoor spaces. CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in smokefree space policies have potential to exacerbate existing health inequities. A national increase in smokefree policies to protect children in playgrounds and schools is a crucial intervention to reduce such inequities.

Analytical method and interlaboratory study for the quantitation of aminocyclopyrachlor residues in vegetation by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

The quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration pesticide multiresidue methods were systematically tested for the analysis of aminocyclopyrachlor, a new synthetic auxin herbicide. Results revealed that these procedures are not suitable, highlighting the need for a publicly available residue method for this new active ingredient. Such a method has been developed and is reported herein for aminocyclopyrachlor residue analysis in vegetation, including white pine, Norway spruce, grass forage, and grass hay. Aminocyclopyrachlor residues were purified from plant tissue extracts by filtration through SPE cartridges with strong anion exchange stationary phases and analyzed using LC/MS/MS. This method was validated at five laboratories across the United States; their results were compared to evaluate reproducibility and ruggedness. The method LOQ was 0.01 mg/kg (ppm) and the LOD 0.003 mg/kg (ppm) for the matrixes tested. A qualitative procedure to confirm the molecular identity of residues based on retention time measurements and ion transition peak area ratios (m/z 214 --> 681m/z 214 --> 101) is also presented.