scholarly journals Exploring the Influence of Drug Trafficking Gangs on Overdose Deaths in the Largest Narcotics Market in the Eastern United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Nicole J. Johnson ◽  
Caterina G. Roman ◽  
Alyssa K. Mendlein ◽  
Courtney Harding ◽  
Melissa Francis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Rare Event ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Drug Markets ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Spatial Econometric ◽  
Accidental Overdose ◽  
Physical Environmental Factors ◽  
Overdose Deaths

Research has found that drug markets tend to cluster in space, potentially because of the profit that can be made when customers are drawn to areas with multiple suppliers. But few studies have examined how these clusters of drug markets—which have been termed “agglomeration economies”—may be related to accidental overdose deaths, and in particular, the spatial distribution of mortality from overdose. Focusing on a large neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for its open-air drug markets, this study examines whether deaths from accidental drug overdose are clustered around street corners controlled by drug trafficking gangs. This study incorporates theoretically-informed social and physical environmental characteristics of street corner units into the models predicting overdose deaths. Given a number of environmental changes relevant to drug use locations was taking place in the focal neighborhood during the analysis period, the authors first employ a novel concentration metric—the Rare Event Concentration Coefficient—to assess clustering of overdose deaths annually between 2015 and 2019. The results of these models reveal that overdose deaths became less clustered over time and that the density was considerably lower after 2017. Hence, the predictive models in this study are focused on the two-year period between 2018 and 2019. Results from spatial econometric regression models find strong support for the association between corner drug markets and accidental overdose deaths. In addition, a number of sociostructural factors, such as concentrated disadvantage, and physical environmental factors, particularly blighted housing, are associated with a higher rate of overdose deaths. Implications from this study highlight the need for efforts that strategically coordinate law enforcement, social service provision and reductions in housing blight targeted to particular geographies.

Accidental Overdose Deaths in Oklahoma, 2002–2017: Opioid and Methamphetamine Trends

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 672-678
Author(s):  
Rachel Bonk ◽  
Ross J Miller ◽  
Joshua Lanter ◽  
Cheryl Niblo ◽  
Jesse Kemp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Overdose ◽  
Sharp Increase ◽  
The State ◽  
Prescription Opioids ◽  
Opioid Epidemic ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Synthetic Opioids ◽  
Accidental Overdose ◽  
Overdose Deaths

Abstract To evaluate trends related to accidental overdose deaths in Oklahoma, with a focus on opioids and methamphetamine. All accidental drug overdose deaths in the state of Oklahoma from 2002 to 2017 were reviewed. Opioids were grouped into the following categories: all opioids, prescription opioids, synthetic opioids and heroin. Age-adjusted death rates for methamphetamine and each opioid category were calculated and analyzed. Accidental overdoses accounted for 9,936 deaths during the study period. Of these, opioids were seen in 62.9%, with prescription opioids comprising 53.8%, synthetic opioids 10.3% and heroin 2.8%. Synthetic opioids, despite a recent upward nationwide trend, showed a slight overall decrease (−6.8%) from 2009 to 2017. In contrast, methamphetamine showed a 402.2% increase from 2009 to 2017 and an overall increase of 1,526.7%. Methamphetamine was involved in the most overdoses (1,963), followed by oxycodone (1,724). Opioid-related deaths were most common among white individuals (90.3%) and showed a slight male predilection (56.9%). With the intent of assessing the opioid epidemic as it relates to accidental overdoses in Oklahoma, this study suggests that opioid-related overdoses have slowed in recent years amidst a sharp increase in methamphetamine deaths.

Research on Upper Level Drug Trafficking: A Review

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 827-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Desroches
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Drug Markets ◽  
Niche Markets ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Drug Traffickers ◽  
The Uk

This article examines research on upper level drug traffickers in the U.S., the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands. Included is an analysis and critique of typologies of drug traffickers and theoretical models of organized crime as they apply to upper level drug networks. Studies of higher level drug trafficking indicate that drug markets represent informal and loosely organized associations of relatively small syndicates or crews of independent drug entrepreneurs. They compete for market share and deal primarily or exclusively with trusted associates chosen from ethnic, kinship, and friendship networks. Most dealers are highly cautious, eschew the use of violence, typically make huge profits, attempt to maintain a low profile, rationalize their conduct as business activity, and operate within geographically niche markets.

The Current Community Context of Overdose Deaths: Relations among Drug Types, Drug Markets, and Socioeconomic Neighborhood Characteristics 1

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jascha Wagner ◽  
Logan Neitzke‐Spruill ◽  
Ellen A. Donnelly ◽  
Daniel J. O’Connell ◽  
Tammy L. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Community Context ◽  
Drug Markets ◽  
Neighborhood Characteristics ◽  
Overdose Deaths

scholarly journals Loop Dynamics and Enzyme Catalysis in Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory Crean ◽  
Michal Biler ◽  
Marc van der Kamp ◽  
Alvan C. Hengge ◽  
Shina Caroline Lynn Kamerlin
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Tyrosine Phosphatase ◽  
Conformational Dynamics ◽  
Rare Event ◽  
Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Tyrosine Phosphatases ◽  
Protein Tyrosine ◽  
Critical Residue ◽  
Loop Dynamics

<p>Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) play an important role in cellular signalling and have been implicated in human cancers, diabetes, and obesity. Despite shared catalytic mechanisms and transition states for the chemical steps of catalysis, catalytic rates within the PTP family vary over several orders of magnitude. These rate differences have been implied to arise from differing conformational dynamics of the closure of a protein loop, the WPD-loop, which carries a catalytically critical residue. The present work reports computational studies of the human protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), and YopH from <i>Yersinia pestis</i>, for which NMR has demonstrated a link between both their respective rates of WPD-loop motion and catalysis rates, which differ by an order of magnitude. We have performed detailed structural analysis, both conventional and enhanced sampling simulations of their loop dynamics, as well as empirical valence bond simulations of the chemical step of catalysis. These analyses revealed the key residues and structural features responsible for these differences, as well as the residues and pathways that facilitate allosteric communication in these enzymes. Curiously, our wild-type YopH simulations also identify a catalytically incompetent hyper-open conformation of its WPD-loop, sampled as a rare event, previously only experimentally observed in YopH-based chimeras. The effect of differences within the WPD-loop and its neighbouring loops on the modulation of loop dynamics, as revealed in this work, may provide a facile means for the family of PTP enzymes to respond to environmental changes and regulate their catalytic activities. </p>

scholarly journals The novel species Navicula eileeniae (Bacillariophyta, Naviculaceae) and its recent expansion in the Central Appalachian region of North America

2019 ◽  
Vol 152 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-377
Author(s):  
Marina G. Potapova ◽  
Ionel Ciugulea ◽  
Alison Minerovic
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Species ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Novel Species ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Historical Collections ◽  
Central Appalachia ◽  
Recent Arrival ◽  
Made In

Background and aims – A novel species of Navicula has been recently discovered in rivers of the central Appalachian Mountains, USA. The purpose of this paper is to formally establish this new species and to determine whether it had been overlooked in the past or is a recent arrival to the area. Methods – We studied historical collections made in Pennsylvania, Virginia and adjacent areas since the 1940s and housed at the ANSP Diatom Herbarium. Light and scanning electron microscopy was employed to study the morphology of the new species and similar Navicula taxa, including those commonly reported at the same locations, or originally described from the rivers of the eastern United States, such as N. radiosafallax, initially established as N. radiosa var. parva by J.H. Wallace. Key results – The new species has an unusual shape of the external raphe slit, which is undulate toward the proximal ends. This character was so far found in a single other Navicula species known only from Europe. Examination of historical materials confirmed that N. eileeniae was absent from collections made in the eastern United States before 2007, but has become progressively more common and abundant in the last decade. The prevalence of this species in streams of low to moderate mineral and nutrient content suggests that its recent expansion cannot be explained by pollution. Climate change is also unlikely to have caused the northward expansion of N. eileeniae, as it has never been recorded south from central Appalachia. Conclusions – The results of this study confirm that a population of previously unknown Navicula species has been expanding in Central Appalachia and suggest that rapid shifts of distributional ranges not readily explainable by environmental changes may occur in protists.

scholarly journals Stable isotope and trace element investigation of two contemporaneous annually-laminated stalagmites from northeastern China surrounding the "8.2 ka event"

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1591-1614 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Y. Wu ◽  
Y. J. Wang ◽  
H. Cheng ◽  
X. G. Kong ◽  
D. B. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Northeastern China ◽  
Liaoning Province ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
High Northern Latitude ◽  
History Of ◽  
Asian Monsoons

Abstract. The prominent "8.2 ka event" was well documented in the Greenland ice cores. It remains unclear, however, about its duration, structure and forcing mechanism at low- to mid-latitude regions. Here we use the physical and geochemical data of stalagmites from the Nuanhe Cave in Liaoning province, northeastern China to reconstruct a detailed history of East Asian monsoons throughout the event. Two contemporaneous stalagmites were annually counted for at least 770 yr anchored by five 230Th dates to establish an inter-calibrated high-resolution timescale. Two oxygen isotope profiles replicate each other at annual-decadal timescales although their counted growth rates are not consistent, indicating that the δ18O variability has a climatic origin, largely associated with changes in the rainfall δ18O from the West Pacific during summer season. A signal from the "8.2 ka event" was faint in our δ18O records, not as significant as Indian monsoon dominated stalagmite δ18O records from Qunf in Oman and Dongge in Southern China. However, our δ13C and Ba/Ca profiles, as indicators of local environmental changes, provide a strong support for a deteriorated climate episode centred at 8.2 ka BP, likely controlled by winter monsoon circulations via the westerly winds associated with North Atlantic climates. Therefore, we concluded that the winter- and summer-Asian monsoons responded independently to the high northern latitude climates.

scholarly journals Loop Dynamics and Enzyme Catalysis in Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory Crean ◽  
Michal Biler ◽  
Marc van der Kamp ◽  
Alvan C. Hengge ◽  
Shina Caroline Lynn Kamerlin
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Tyrosine Phosphatase ◽  
Conformational Dynamics ◽  
Rare Event ◽  
Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Tyrosine Phosphatases ◽  
Protein Tyrosine ◽  
Critical Residue ◽  
Loop Dynamics

<p>Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) play an important role in cellular signalling and have been implicated in human cancers, diabetes, and obesity. Despite shared catalytic mechanisms and transition states for the chemical steps of catalysis, catalytic rates within the PTP family vary over several orders of magnitude. These rate differences have been implied to arise from differing conformational dynamics of the closure of a protein loop, the WPD-loop, which carries a catalytically critical residue. The present work reports computational studies of the human protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), and YopH from <i>Yersinia pestis</i>, for which NMR has demonstrated a link between both their respective rates of WPD-loop motion and catalysis rates, which differ by an order of magnitude. We have performed detailed structural analysis, both conventional and enhanced sampling simulations of their loop dynamics, as well as empirical valence bond simulations of the chemical step of catalysis. These analyses revealed the key residues and structural features responsible for these differences, as well as the residues and pathways that facilitate allosteric communication in these enzymes. Curiously, our wild-type YopH simulations also identify a catalytically incompetent hyper-open conformation of its WPD-loop, sampled as a rare event, previously only experimentally observed in YopH-based chimeras. The effect of differences within the WPD-loop and its neighbouring loops on the modulation of loop dynamics, as revealed in this work, may provide a facile means for the family of PTP enzymes to respond to environmental changes and regulate their catalytic activities. </p>

Characterization of Diphenhydramine-Related Accidental Overdose Deaths

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elvy Varghese ◽  
Marie A. Abate ◽  
Lan Hu ◽  
James Kaplan ◽  
James Kraner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Accidental Overdose ◽  
Overdose Deaths

Late-Glacial Environmental Changes South of the Wisconsinan Terminal Moraine in the Eastern United States

2000 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily W.B. Russell ◽  
Scott D. Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Cold Climate ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Terminal Moraine ◽  
Arboreal Pollen ◽  
Land Surfaces ◽  
Glacial Time

AbstractPalynological analyses of two sediment cores, one 2.4 m long from northern Delaware, dated about 16,300 to 14,700 14C yr B.P., and one 1.8 m long from New Jersey just south of the Wisconsinan terminal moraine and dated about 13,600 to 12,500 14C yr B.P., give the first detailed evidence of vegetation in this area during these periods. The overall assemblages are similar to each other, with Picea and Pinus dominating the arboreal pollen and Poaceae and Cyperaceae the herbaceous flora. Nonarboreal pollen contributes about 30–50% of the total, indicating a very open vegetation or a mix of forest patches and open areas. Especially in Delaware, there is a diversity of other herbaceous pollen, including members of the Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Ranunculaceae. The assemblages do not resemble current North American tundra or boreal forest assemblages; rather, they resemble assemblages characteristic of tundra on recently exposed land surfaces north of the Wisconsinan terminal moraine. The persistence of the assemblages for 1500–2000 years in late-glacial time suggests stable and cold climate during this time of glacier retreat.

scholarly journals Loop Dynamics and Enzyme Catalysis in Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory Crean ◽  
Michal Biler ◽  
Marc van der Kamp ◽  
Alvan C. Hengge ◽  
Shina Caroline Lynn Kamerlin
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Tyrosine Phosphatase ◽  
Conformational Dynamics ◽  
Rare Event ◽  
Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Tyrosine Phosphatases ◽  
Protein Tyrosine ◽  
Critical Residue ◽  
Loop Dynamics

<p>Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) play an important role in cellular signalling and have been implicated in human cancers, diabetes, and obesity. Despite shared catalytic mechanisms and transition states for the chemical steps of catalysis, catalytic rates within the PTP family vary over several orders of magnitude. These rate differences have been implied to arise from differing conformational dynamics of the closure of a protein loop, the WPD-loop, which carries a catalytically critical residue. The present work reports computational studies of the human protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), and YopH from <i>Yersinia pestis</i>, for which NMR has demonstrated a link between both their respective rates of WPD-loop motion and catalysis rates, which differ by an order of magnitude. We have performed detailed structural analysis, both conventional and enhanced sampling simulations of their loop dynamics, as well as empirical valence bond simulations of the chemical step of catalysis. These analyses revealed the key residues and structural features responsible for these differences, as well as the residues and pathways that facilitate allosteric communication in these enzymes. Curiously, our wild-type YopH simulations also identify a catalytically incompetent hyper-open conformation of its WPD-loop, sampled as a rare event, previously only experimentally observed in YopH-based chimeras. The effect of differences within the WPD-loop and its neighbouring loops on the modulation of loop dynamics, as revealed in this work, may provide a facile means for the family of PTP enzymes to respond to environmental changes and regulate their catalytic activities. </p>

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