Chronic cough is a common symptom of patients in the United States. The vast majority of patients with chronic cough are treated by primary- and specialty-care physicians. The Cough Center in Southern California represents the first independent, community-based facility devoted entirely to diagnosing and treating cough. This article details that experience and represents the first ever attempt to evaluate quality-of-life (QOL) improvement, after treatment, in the community setting. Three hundred and ninety patients were evaluated at The Cough Center for chronic cough. Patients were investigated in a systematic fashion and empirically treated. A subjective assessment of treatment success was made using the Leicester QOL questionnaire. An objective assessment was made by documenting frequency and severity of coughing episodes. In the initial assessment of patients with cough, only 37% were identified as having had a systematic and dedicated work up. Using both subjective and objective measurements, it was determined that 73% of patients improved with an empiric course of treatment. Almost 17% demonstrated no improvement and 10% were lost to follow up. By analyzing treatment outcomes in a community setting, insight can be gained. Physicians need to become more diligent in systematic evaluation and treatment. Also, they should not be deterred from seeking resolution of cough just because it has persisted for a lengthy period of time or has several causes. Most importantly, the prevalence of patients having "unexplained cough" could very well be much greater than that reported at university-based, specialty cough clinics.

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Core Ideas Crude oil did not lower redox status of wetland soil. Crude oil delayed return to aerobic threshold after draining. Oil in marsh soil can depress redox during low water events. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill triggered extensive research on crude oil impacts on flora and fauna of the Gulf of Mexico. Little research has investigated impact of spilled oil on redox condition of wetland soil. Redox condition is an excellent proxy for oxygen levels, which control biogeochemical functions linked to valuable ecosystem services. The goal of this study was to quantify effects of crude oil on wetland soil redox conditions in cores collected from a salt marsh in Barataria Bay, LA. Treatments tested were nonoiled control, weathered crude oil at the soil surface, fresh crude oil at the soil surface, and a layer of buried weathered crude oil 5 cm beneath the soil surface to mimic the presence of buried oil found in marshes. No significant differences in redox potentials were detected among treatments at any depth at the end of the 35‐d flooded, anaerobic study. After drainage of the cores began, redox was measured to the time to reach the aerobic threshold (+300 mV) within the rhizosphere. Mean redox values for control cores reached +300 mV after 193 h. Both fresh and weathered crude oil surface treatments reached +300 mV after 316 h while the buried crude oil treatment reached the aerobic threshold after 370 h. These results suggest the presence and location of crude oil in the soil profile can impact soil redox conditions which could alter biogeochemical processes over the long term and induce oxygen stress on wetland vegetation and organisms in the soil.

Erosion leading to sedimentation in surface water may disrupt aquatic habitats and deliver sediment-bound nutrients that contribute to eutrophication. Land use changes causing loss of native vegetation have accelerated already naturally high erosion rates in New Zealand and increased sedimentation in streams and lakes. Sediment-bound phosphorus (P) makes up 71-79% of the 17-19 t P y À1 delivered from anthropogenic sources to Lake Rotorua in New Zealand. Detainment bunds (DBs) were first implemented in the Lake Rotorua catchment in 2010 as a strategy to address P losses from pastoral agriculture. The bunds are 1.5-2 m high earthen stormwater retention structures constructed across the flow path of targeted loworder ephemeral streams with the purpose of temporarily ponding runoff on productive pastures. The current DB design protocol recommends a minimum pond volume of 120 m 3 ha À1 of contributing catchment with a maximum pond storage capacity of 10 000 m 3 . No previous study has investigated the ability of DBs to decrease annual suspended sediment (SS) loads leaving pastoral catchments. Annual SS yields delivered to two DBs with 20 ha and 55 ha catchments were 109 and 28 kg SS ha À1 , respectively, during this 12-month study. The DBs retained 1280 kg (59%) and 789 kg (51%) of annual SS loads delivered from the catchments as a result of the bunds' ability to impede stormflow and facilitate soil infiltration and sediment deposition. The results of this study highlight the ability of DBs to decrease SS loads transported from pastures in surface runoff, even during large storm events, and suggests DBs are able to reduce P loading in Lake Rotorua.