No abstract

Findings suggest that CycloBia reached a large, low-income, predominantly Hispanic population and may be effective in promoting PA. Results help understand the effect of an open streets initiative on attendees living in a midsize, border city.

Aedes mosquitoes are vectors of several emerging diseases and are spreading worldwide. We investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) mosquito trap captures in Brownsville, TX, using high-resolution land cover, socioeconomic, and meteorological data. We modeled mosquito trap counts using a Bayesian hierarchical mixed-effects model with spatially correlated residuals. The models indicated an inverse relationship between temperature and mosquito trap counts for both species, which may be due to the hot and arid climate of southern Texas. The temporal trend in mosquito populations indicated Ae. aegypti populations peaking in the late spring and Ae. albopictus reaching a maximum in winter. Our results indicated that seasonal weather variation, vegetation height, human population, and land cover determine which of the two Aedes species will predominate.

Early research into the relationship between corporate sustainability programs and financial performance suggests a positive relationship between strong sustainability performance and a lower cost of capital. As investors increasingly incorporate sustainability information into financial decisionmaking, the importance of high‐quality sustainability disclosure is growing. Just as investors have relied on financial disclosures based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to assess corporate risk, a market standard is needed to help companies disclose comparable sustainability information. To address this issue, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) conducted a recent analysis of the current state of sustainability disclosure in annual Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The study reviewed the disclosures of over 700 U.S.‐and foreign‐domiciled companies, focusing on material sustainability topics as identified by SASB's industry‐specific accounting standards. The authors find large variations among different corporate sectors in the frequency and quality, as well as the focus, of their sustainability disclosures. Then, after examining in detail disclosures within the SASB Resource Transformation and Consumer Staples sectors, the authors suggest a number of possible drivers of this variation, including key sustainability and economic trends, while also presenting evidence of increasing investor interest in sustainability information. Although the authors' analysis was not intended to determine the extent to which the quality of sustainability disclosure affects investor returns, the findings provide a useful baseline for the as yet largely unexplored relationship between sustainability disclosure and corporate financial performance.

The diel biting activity of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (L) populations was extensively investigated in the early 1900s to gain more information on the biology of Ae. aegypti, and this information was used to devise effective approaches to controlling populations of this species and protect the human population from widespread arbovirus outbreaks. However, few contemporary studies are available regarding the diel activity patterns of Ae. aegypti. To assess the diel activity patterns of Ae. aegypti in southern Florida and Texas, we conducted 96-h uninterrupted mosquito collections once each month from May through November 2019 in Miami, Florida, and Brownsville, Texas, using BG-Sentinel 2 Traps. The overall diel activity pattern in both cities was bimodal with morning and evening peak activity between 7:00 and 8:00 and between 19:00 and 20:00. There were significant daily, monthly, seasonal, and site-specific differences in activity patterns, but these differences did not affect the overall peak activity times. These differences suggest daily, monthly, seasonal, and site-specific variations in human exposure to Ae. aegypti. Our observations can be used in planning and executing Ae. aegypti vector control activities in southern Florida and southern Texas, specifically those targeting the adult mosquito populations.

COVID-19 vaccination is being rapidly rolled out in the US and many other countries, and it is crucial to provide fast and accurate assessment of vaccination coverage and vaccination gaps to make strategic adjustments promoting vaccine coverage. We reported the effective use of real-time geospatial analysis to identify barriers and gaps in COVID-19 vaccination in a minority population living in South Texas on the US-Mexico Border, to inform vaccination campaign strategies. We developed 4 rank-based approaches to evaluate the vaccination gap at the census tract level, which considered both population vulnerability and vaccination priority and eligibility. We identified areas with the highest vaccination gaps using different assessment approaches. Real-time geospatial analysis to identify vaccination gaps is critical to rapidly increase vaccination uptake, and to reach herd immunity in the vulnerable and the vaccine hesitant groups. Our results assisted the City of Brownsville Public Health Department in adjusting real-time targeting of vaccination, gathering coverage assessment, and deploying services to areas identified as high vaccination gap. The analyses and responses can be adopted in other locations.

No abstract

South Texas is recognized as a potential area for the emergence and re-emergence of mosquitoborne diseases due to recent circulation of Zika, chikungunya, and dengue viruses. During 2017, high Aedes aegypti abundance found in the city of Brownsville, TX, in combination with the previous year's local transmission of Zika virus, triggered the activation of the Texas Department of State Health Services Emergency Mosquito Control Contingency Contract. A contract with the Clarke Environmental and Mosquito Control was a response to control Ae. aegypti, using a ground-based wide-area larvicide spray (WALSe) containing Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. The WALS application was evaluated through a field-based bioassay and by comparing surveillance data pre-and post-WALS application. The WALS application bioassay demonstrated that the larvicide was effective up to 60 m into the target properties. Additionally, the number of Ae. aegypti captured in traps decreased in the WALS intervention areas compared with the untreated control areas, with an estimated 29% control.