- (Focus Area) Health
Nutrition Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Cultiva La Salud, and Stanford Pediatrics, released three infographics with information on school meal programs. The cartoon-style one-pagers were developed after a PhotoVoice project suggested the need for culturally and linguistically relevant materials about school nutrition programs for Spanish-speaking families in California's San Joaquin Valley. The infographics emphasize federal nutrition requirements for school meals, factors influencing school meal offerings, and the role families and youth can play in advocating for changes.
- “What's on the menu?” promotes the benefits to student health and learning from school meals, including an overview of their nutritional components. It is available in Spanish, “¿Qué hay en el Menú de la?”, and complementary English and Spanish videos.
- “What goes into making school meals?” highlights the logistics and other factors that influence how schools provide meals. It is available in Spanish, “¿Qué se Necesita para Preparar las Comidas Escolares?” and complementary English and Spanish videos.
- “Make Your Voice Heard!” highlights avenues for parent and community involvement in advocating for policies and practices related to school meals at local, state, and federal levels. It is available in Spanish, “¡Alza tu Voz!
Parents, youth, school district officials, food service directors in the San Joaquin Valley, and other partners helped to co-create the infographics with designers at Tremendousness. The project partnership includes NPI's senior policy advisor Christina Hecht and policy director Ken Hecht. Initial investigation and infographic content development were funded by the Stanford University Office of Community Engagement, with video development and extended dissemination funded by the Thompson Family Foundation.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Being bothered by mosquitoes and troubled about the risk of diseases?
Mosquitoes are not just annoying. They can be deadly.
The seminar, titled "Natural Mosquito Control," is part of the California Farm Academy Speaker Series, and will take place from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at CLBL, located at 40140 Best Ranch Road, Woodland. The event begins with pizza and mingling, “until about 5:30, and then the presentation,” said spokesperson Julia Hobbs Thomas. Reservations can be made on Eventbrite.com at this link.
The event is billed as "a discussion about both native and invasive species, what diseases they can spread, and how healthy ecosystems can create habitats that keep them in check. Agriculture can play a big role, because pesticide use can damage populations of beneficial insects like dragonflies. You'll also pick up a few tips to avoid being bitten!"
Wood-fired pizza and beverages will served beneath the canopy of a century-old valley oak, she added. Attendees can also bring food or beverages to enjoy or share.
Said Attardo: “I will be focusing on educating people about the most imminent risks of mosquito-borne diseases in California coming from West Nile Virus—due to native Culex mosquitoes predominantly—and Aedes aegypti vectored diseases such as dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, and yellow fever. I'll discuss places these mosquitoes breed in suburban and urban habitats, as well as ways people can eliminate and prevent creation of breeding sites.“
Attardo specializes in medical entomology, reproductive physiology, molecular biology and genetics. He recently hosted a UC Davis symposium, sponsored by the Deaprtment of Entomology and Nematology and the Pacific Southwest Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases, on “Tule and Cattail: A Tale of the Marsh Economy and Its Role in Human Health and Wellbeing” that aimed "to advance the land management aims of local tribal communities and provide a platform to educate about the importance of maintaining wetland biology for climate change, ecological and human health, and vector control." Attardo addressed the symposium with collaborator Diana Almendariz, a traditional ecological knowledge specialist and a cultural practitioner of Maidu/Wintun, Hupa/Yurok traditions, heritage, and experiences.
A global expert on vectorborne diseases, and renowned for his groundbreaking work on tsetse flies, Attardo received the Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology Award in 2022 from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America. (See news story)
He joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2017 from the Yale School of Public Health, where he served as a research scientist studying the reproductive biology of tsetse flies. Attardo holds a doctorate in genetics (2004) from Michigan State University, studying with Alexander Raikhel.
For more information on the May 15 seminar, contact Thomas at julia@landbasedlearning.org or 415-271-0090.
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
The University of California Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM) has an exciting, newly updated resource to help you better understand pesticide active ingredients and the risks different active ingredients pose to people and the environment.
The Pesticide Active Ingredient Database is designed for urban audiences including the general public, Master Gardeners, nursery and garden center staff, pest control operators, landscapers, and more. The active ingredients included in this database can be found in many commonly available pesticide products in California. The database contains a variety of pesticide types, including insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, antimicrobial products, and more.
Each active ingredient in the database has its own page where you can learn what it is, how it works, and what pests it can control. You can also view example products available to the general public or licensed professionals, and a table displaying the potential hazards of the active ingredient. The potential hazards table includes toxicity information for water quality or aquatic wildlife, natural enemies, honey bees, and people or other mammals. A glossary of pesticide terms is available as well to help you understand pesticide terminology.
You can use this database to compare toxicity ratings of pesticides by clicking the “Compare Risks” link or button found on UC IPM's Pest Notes fact sheets. This will help you find the least-toxic pesticide active ingredients to control a specific pest.
We hope you find this newly updated resource helpful and share with others who may be interested.
- Author: Jill Santos
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.
– Chinese Proverb
What is your happiest memory that involves trees? Hopefully, most of those memories are positive. Trees provide a multitude of benefits that are hard to overlook. Reflecting on happy memories involving trees often evokes a sense of joy and wonder. These towering guardians not only serve as the backdrop to cherished moments but also provide an array of invaluable benefits.
However, in regions like the Western United States, escalating wildfire risks loom large, burdening homeowners with soaring insurance costs and stringent fuel reduction mandates. Balancing the delicate interface between natural landscapes and urban expansion becomes increasingly intricate, especially when community priorities diverge. As residential areas extend into undeveloped territories, trees, whether vibrant or ailing, transition from assets to potential hazards, underscoring humanity's profound dependence on their presence despite the associated challenges.
Trees are essential components of our daily lives, providing a multitude of human health benefits that we often take for granted. Regardless of whether they thrive in lush forests or line bustling urban boulevards, trees also offer a plethora of environmental advantages. Currently, forest ecosystems are the largest land-based carbon sink on earth. Forests in the U.S. alone offset about 16 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Ninety percent of Americans support tree planting as a climate change mitigation measure.
Trees are also an essential component to ecological systems. They produce oxygen, sequester carbon, lower surface temperatures, control erosion, mitigate stormwater runoff, enhance habitat and biodiversity, contribute to urban cooling, provide food and fiber, promote social-emotional well-being, and perhaps most importantly, provide beauty to the landscape. Trees also boost property values and can even attract shoppers to urban centers.
Amidst a global population surge and escalating food demands, rampant deforestation threatens nearly half of our planet's forests. This perilous trend undermines crucial opportunities for carbon sequestration, allowing emissions from vehicles, industries, and other sources to persist unchecked. Moreover, the absence of verdant canopies in urban landscapes exacerbates the formation of heat islands, posing serious public health risks.
Deciding what tree to plant where can be challenge for some. Some (native) trees are not adapted to urban environments, while others may drop leaves, flowers, fruit, or branches, push up sidewalks, require frequent pruning, become invasive or have other undesirable characteristics. Municipal tree maintenance programs are costly and even controversial in some communities.
The Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute at Cal Poly is a tree information site with "features to assist in narrowing down site conditions, watering needs, and phenological characteristics. The “Select a Tree" feature assists users in choosing a tree with desired characteristics suited to a particular location.
I personally cannot imagine a life without them. As stewards of the environment, it's imperative that we recognize the indispensable role trees play in sustaining life and take concerted action to protect and nurture them for generations to come.
Stay tuned for the upcoming UC Thelma Hansen Symposium webinar series “Trees to the Rescue: Solutions for Climate Change” on May 14-16, 2024. To register, please click here. UC ANR Cooperative Extension of Ventura County will host a virtual Tree Symposium on May 14-16, 2024. To register, please click here.
Green Tip (s) Related to Trees
- Visit the Arbor Day Foundation website to learn about all things related to trees
- Follow some of these ideas from the National Forest Foundation, to inspire others to love trees, especially young children
- Looking for a family-friendly adventure? Check out these guided opportunities with TreePeople LA.
- More local to Ventura County, the Ventura Tree Alliance host various events throughout the year related to urban forestry and community resilience.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Chow, an associate professor in the Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, will discuss "Flying to the Clinic: Drug Repurposing Screen for Rare Diseases" at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall and also via Zoom.
The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/9 5882849672
"Dr. Chow's research has made a tremendous impact on the lives of patients with rare diseases as well as their families and caretakers," said molecular geneticist and physicist Joanna Chiu, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. "His research program provides a shining example of how one can leverage many of the advantages of the Drosophila fly model to investigate molecular mechanisms disrupted in human diseases and efficiently translate that to medical interventions andFDA-approved drugs." The Chiu lab is hosting the seminar.
Professor Chow says in his abstract: "Our lab is focused on understanding the role of genetic variation on disease outcomes. We employ quantitative and functional tools, in a variety of model organisms, to study how genetic variation impacts basic cellular traits important to human health. Our work in model organisms will help to model and inform studies of genetic variation in the human population. We hope to identify variation that can lead to more precise, personalized therapies, especially for rare disease."
He and his research team "leverage the powerful genetic tools available in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) to build and study models of rare diseases," according to research news published on the University of Utah website. "The Chow lab has developed a fly model of NGLY1 deficiency, providing many new insights into the biology underlying this devastating autosomal recessive, genetic disorder."
"Using the fly model, the Chow lab discovered NGLY1 deficiency results in the absence of a sugar known as GlcNAc, which is important for different cellular processes," Martha Davis wrote in the news story. "When provided with a dietary GlcNAC supplement, flies with NGLY1 deficiency are healthier and live longer, suggesting this supplement may help NGLY1 patients...The Chow lab hopes to continue to translate basic science research of rare diseases to the clinic. The generosity of donors like the Might Family make this type of work possible. The Might family supports this research in hope that someday a treatment, or even a cure, will be found for NGLY1 deficiency."
Chow expanded on his fruit fly research on a University of Utah website heralding Academia in Action: Treating Patients as Individuals. "Because the fruit fly is small, cheap and fast, we can do massive experiments that people in mouse labs can only dream of. We take a model of a particular rare disease, and we cross it into a couple hundred different genetic backgrounds in the flies. What that gives us is basically a number of fly strains that you can think of as different individuals with different genetic backgrounds, all with the same disorder.”
D. melanogaster is widely used for biological research in genetics, physiology, microbial pathogenesis, and life history evolution. "As of 2017, six Nobel Prizes have been awarded to drosophilists for their work using the insect," according to Wikipedia.
Chow received his bachelor's degree in biology, neurobiology and behavior from Cornell University in 2003. He completed his Ph.D. in human genetics in 2008 in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan, where he worked with Miriam Meisler. He completed his postdoctoral training as a co-mentored postdoc with Andy Clark and Mariana Wolfner at Cornell University.
For any technical Zoom issues, contact seminar coordinator Brian Johnson at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The full list of spring seminars is here.