Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31220134›Full record

ArticlePloS one2019

HABscope: A tool for use by citizen scientists to facilitate early warning of respiratory irritation caused by toxic blooms of Karenia brevis.

D Ransom Hardison, William C Holland, Robert D Currier, Barbara Kirkpatrick, Richard Stumpf, Tracy Fanara, Devin Burris, Andrew Reich, Gary J Kirkpatrick, R Wayne Litaker

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. PredictingGeoHealth · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

D Ransom HardisonNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, Beaufort, North Carolina, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0001-9680-4924
William C HollandNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, Beaufort, North Carolina, United States of America.
Robert D CurrierGulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System, Department of Oceanography, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America.
Barbara KirkpatrickGulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System, Department of Oceanography, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America.
Richard StumpfNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Center for Coastal Management and Assessment, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America.
Tracy FanaraMote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, Sarasota, Florida, United States of America.
Devin BurrisMote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, Sarasota, Florida, United States of America.
Andrew ReichFlorida Department of Health, Public Health Toxicology Section, Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America.
Gary J KirkpatrickMote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, Sarasota, Florida, United States of America.
R Wayne LitakerNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, Beaufort, North Carolina, United States of America.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · USMote Marine Laboratory · USTexas A&M University at Galveston · USFlorida Department of Health · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Blooms of the toxic microalga Karenia brevis occur seasonally in Florida, Texas and other portions of the Gulf of Mexico. Brevetoxins produced during Karenia blooms can cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning in humans, massive fish kills, and the death of marine mammals and birds. Brevetoxin-containing aerosols are an additional problem, having a severe impact on beachgoers, triggering coughing, eye and throat irritation in healthy individuals, and more serious respiratory distress in those with asthma or other breathing disorders. The blooms and associated aerosol impacts are patchy in nature, often affecting one beach but having no impact on an adjacent beach. To provide timely information to visitors about which beaches are low-risk, we developed HABscope; a low cost (~$400) microscope system that can be used in the field by citizen scientists with cell phones to enumerate K. brevis cell concentrations in the water along each beach. The HABscope system operates by capturing short videos of collected water samples and uploading them to a central server for rapid enumeration of K. brevis cells using calibrated recognition software. The HABscope has a detection threshold of about 100,000 cells, which is the point when respiratory risk becomes evident. Higher concentrations are reliably estimated up to 10 million cells L-1. When deployed by volunteer citizen scientists, the HABscope consistently distinguished low, medium, and high concentrations of cells in the water. The volunteers were able to collect data on most days during a severe bloom. This indicates that the HABscope can provide an effective capability to significantly increase the sampling coverage during Karenia brevis blooms.

Indexed as

Harmful Algal BloomAerosolsAsthmaDinoflagellidaFloridaGulf of AmericaHumansMarine ToxinsMicroalgaeOxocinsPolyether ToxinsShellfish PoisoningTexasAerosolsbrevetoxinMarine ToxinsOxocinsPolyether Toxins

Identifiers

PMID31220134
PMCPMC6586399
OpenAlexW2952377765

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC0
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.