A number of studies have evaluated the effects of forest harvest on mercury (Hg) concentrations and exports in surface waters, but few studies have tested the effect from forest harvest on the change in fish Hg concentrations over the course of several years after harvest. To address this question, mercury (Hg) concentrations in perch (Perca fluviatilis) muscle tissue from five lakes were analyzed for two years before (2010-2011) and three years after (2013-2015) forest harvest conducted in 2012. Fish Hg concentrations in the clear-cut catchments (n=1373 fish specimens) were related to temporal changes of fish Hg in reference lakes (n=1099 fish specimen) from 19 lakes in the Swedish National Environmental Monitoring Programme. Small (length<100mm) and large perch (length≥100mm) were analyzed separately, due to changing feeding habitats of fish over growing size. There was considerable year-to-year and lake-to-lake variation in fish Hg concentrations (-14%-121%) after forest harvest in the clearcut lakes, according to our first statistical model that count for fish Hg changes. While the effect ascribed to forest harvest varied between years, after three years (in 2015), a significant increase of 26% (p<0.0001) in Hg concentrations of large fish was identified in our second statistical model that pooled all 5 clearcut lakes. The large fish Hg concentrations in the 19 reference lakes also varied, and in 2015 had decreased by 7% (p=0.03) relative to the concentrations in 2010-2011. The majority of the annual changes in fish Hg concentrations in the clearcut lakes after harvest were in the lower range of earlier predictions for high-latitude lakes extrapolated primarily from the effects of forest harvest operations on Hg concentrations in water. Since the risk of forest harvest impacts on Hg extends to fish and not just surface water concentrations, there is even more reason to consider Hg effects in forestry planning, alongside other ecosystem effects.

Health and health care inequities persist because the efforts to eliminate them have ignored structural racism, typically using a power neutral approach to diagnose and solve the problem.

We examine relations between housing status, mortgage, financial burden, and healthy aging among older U.S. adults. We combine cross-sectional data from 2012 to 2014 Health and Retirement Study cohorts. Using regression models, we examined associations between owners and renters, mortgage and non-mortgage holders, financial strain, and difficulty paying bills, and poor self-rated health (SRH), heart condition (HC) and hospitalization (past two years). We find that compared to owners, renters had greater likelihood of poor SRH and hospitalization. Regardless of tenure, financial strain was associated with greater likelihood of poor SRH, HC and hospitalization, while difficulty paying bills was associated with poor SRH and HC. Mortgage holders had lower likelihood of poor SRH. Accounting for mortgage status, financial strain was associated with greater likelihood of poor SRH, HC and hospitalization, while difficulty paying bills was associated with poor SRH and HC. Associations between tenure or mortgage status and health were not modified by either financial burden factors. We conclude that there need to be more robust and inclusive programs that assist older populations with housing could improve self-rated health, with particular attention to renters, mortgage holders and those experiencing financial burden.

An analytical procedure for the determination of mercury in soil is described. After the digestion of organic matter, the mercury is removed from the soil by distillation in hydrochloric acid gas, extracted from the distillate with dithizone and measured spectrophotometrically. IntroductionAn earlier report1 described a method for the determination of mercury in plant material. In work on the uptake of mercury by plants2? a method was required for the determination of mercury in soil. Stock and his c o -w o r k e r~~-~ heated powdered minerals at 800' for several hours, and the 'volatilised mercury was collected and electrolytically deposited on copper, from which it was distilled to condense as droplets whose sizes were measured. Substances such as coal which gave interfering distillates were wet-digested to bring the mercury into solution. Arable and forest soils showed 0.01-0.3 p.p.m. and compost from gardens contained 0.8 p.p.m. of Hg. Stock' also used the electrolytic deposition procedure to examine soils and other materials ; soils showed 0.03-0.3 p.p.m., coal 0,02 p.p.m., street dust 0.9 p.p.m. and soot up to 28 p.p.m. Hg.