Opportunities for people to interact with nature have declined over the past century, as many now live in urban areas and spend much of their time indoors. Conservation attitudes and behaviors ...largely depend on experiences with nature, and this "extinction of experience" (EOE) is a threat to biodiversity conservation. In this paper, we propose that citizen science, an increasingly popular way to integrate public outreach with data collection, can potentially mitigate EOE. Our review of the literature on volunteers' motivations and/or outcomes indicates that nature-based citizen science (NBCS) fosters cognitive and emotional aspects of experiences in nature. Although these experiences can change participants' behaviors and attitudes toward the natural world, this field remains largely unstudied. As such, even though NBCS can complement efforts to increase opportunities for people to interact with nature, further research on the mechanisms that drive this relationship is needed to strengthen our understanding of various outcomes of citizen science.
Ecologically oriented citizen-science experiences engage the public in learning while facilitating the achievement of robust scientific program goals. Evaluation of learning outcomes has become ...increasingly prioritized, requiring citizen-science program managers to understand key issues in evaluation. We argue that citizen science can have other, more far-reaching community-level outcomes, which have received less attention but warrant consideration for continued programmatic improvement.
Citizen-science programs are often touted as useful for advancing conservation literacy, scientific knowledge, and increasing scientific-reasoning skills among the public. Guidelines for ...collaboration among scientists and the public are lacking and the extent to which these citizen-science initiatives change behavior is relatively unstudied. Over two years, we studied 82 participants in a three-day program that included education about non-native invasive plants and collection of data on the occurrence of those plants. Volunteers were given background knowledge about invasive plant ecology and trained on a specific protocol for collecting invasive plant data. They then collected data and later gathered as a group to analyze data and discuss responsible environmental behavior with respect to invasive plants. We tested whether participants without experience in plant identification and with little knowledge of invasive plants increased their knowledge of invasive species ecology, participation increased knowledge of scientific methods, and participation affected behavior. Knowledge of invasive plants increased on average 24%, but participation was insufficient to increase understanding of how scientific research is conducted. Participants reported increased ability to recognize invasive plants and increased awareness of effects of invasive plants on the environment, but this translated into little change in behavior regarding invasive plants. Potential conflicts between scientific goals, educational goals, and the motivation of participants must be considered during program design. Los programas de ciencia-ciudadana a menudo son vendidos como útiles para que el público avance en sus conocimientos sobre conservación, en su conocimiento científico y en el incremento de las habilidades de razonamiento científico. No existen directrices para la colaboración entre científicos y el público y casi no se ha estudiado el grado en que estas iniciativas ciudadanos-ciencia cambian el comportamiento. Durante dos años estudiamos a 82 participantes en un programa de 3 días que incluía educación sobre plantas invasoras no nativas y la recolección de datos sobre la ocurrencia de estas plantas. A los voluntarios se les proporcionó conocimiento básico sobre la ecología de plantas invasoras y fueron entrenados en un protocolo específico para la recolección de datos de plantas invasoras. Posteriormente recolectaron datos y se reunieron para analizarlos y discutir sobre comportamiento ambiental responsable en relación con plantas invasoras. Probamos si los participantes sin experiencia en la identificación de plantas y con poco conocimiento de plantas invasoras incrementaron su conocimiento de ecología de especies invasoras, si la participación incrementó su conocimiento de métodos científicos y si la participación afectó su comportamiento. El conocimiento de plantas invasoras incremento 24% en promedio, pero la participación no fue suficiente para incrementar el entendimiento de cómo se lleva a cabo la investigación científica. Los participantes reportaron incremento en su habilidadpara reconocer plantas invasoras e incremento en la conciencia sobre el efecto de las plantas invasoras sobre el ambiente, pero esto se tradujo en pocos cambios en el comportamiento respecto a las plantas invasoras. Los potenciales conflictos entre las metas científicas, las metas educativas y la motivación de participantes deben ser considerados durante el diseño del programa.
IMPORTANCE: There is a dearth of population-level data on major disruptive life events (defined here as arrests by a legal authority, address changes, bankruptcy, lien, and judgment filings) for ...patients with bipolar I disorder (BPI) or schizophrenia, which has limited studies on mental health and treatment outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a population-level study on disruptive life events by using publicly available data on disruptive life events, aggregated by a consumer credit reporting agency in conjunction with electronic health record (EHR) data. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This study used EHR data from 2 large, integrated health care systems, Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Henry Ford Health. Cohorts of patients diagnosed from 2007 to 2019 with BPI or schizophrenia were matched 1:1 by age at analysis, age at diagnosis (if applicable), sex, race and ethnicity, and Medicaid status to (1) an active comparison group with diagnoses of major depressive disorder (MDD) and (2) a general health (GH) cohort without diagnoses of BPI, schizophrenia, or MDD. Patients with diagnoses of BPI or schizophrenia and their respective comparison cohorts were matched to public records data aggregated by a consumer credit reporting agency (98% match rate). Analysis took place between November 2020 and December 2022. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The differences in the occurrence of disruptive life events among patients with BPI or schizophrenia and their comparison groups. RESULTS: Of 46 167 patients, 30 008 (65%) had BPI (mean SD age, 42.6 14.2 years) and 16 159 (35%) had schizophrenia (mean SD, 41.4 15.1 years). The majoriy of patients were White (30 167 65%). In addition, 18 500 patients with BPI (62%) and 6552 patients with schizophrenia (41%) were female. Patients with BPI were more likely to change addresses than patients in either comparison cohort (with the incidence ratio being as high as 1.25 95% CI, 1.23-1.28) when compared with GH cohort. Patients with BPI were also more likely to experience any of the financial disruptive life events with odds ratio ranging from 1.15 95% CI, 1.07-1.24 to 1.50 95% CI, 1.42-1.58). The largest differences in disruptive life events were seen in arrests of patients with either BPI or schizophrenia compared with GH peers (3.27 95% CI, 2.84-3.78 and 3.04 95% CI, 2.57-3.59, respectively). Patients with schizophrenia had fewer address changes and were less likely to experience a financial event than their matched comparison cohorts. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study demonstrated that data aggregated by a consumer credit reporting agency can support population-level studies on disruptive life events among patients with BPI or schizophrenia.
Globally, relationships between avian richness and elevation in mountain ecosystems typically reflect one of four well‐documented patterns, but the mechanisms responsible for these patterns are ...poorly understood. We investigated which pattern best described bird species richness in peatlands of the Upper Bow Basin of the Canadian Rocky Mountains (1300–2000 m a.s.l.) and used a model competition framework to investigate possible mechanisms. Avian richness displayed a plateauing (cubic) relationship in response to increasing elevation (AICc weight = 0.48). Log richness was significantly positively related to log peatland area (R2 = 0.42, p = 0.001); however, and once we accounted for the richness–area relationship (area was not related to elevation (R2 = 0.13, p = 0.083)), the richness–elevation relationship was best described by a negative linear model rather than a cubic model (AICc weight = 0.69, R2 = 0.39). Consequently, we reject the neutral model of the mid‐domain effect and conclude that peatland area and one or more environmental filters are simultaneously driving relationships between avian richness and elevation in Rocky Mountain peatlands. Multicausality likely explains why researchers in different geographies observe inconsistent patterns between richness and elevation: drivers and interactions among drivers may vary spatially. Importantly, Natural Subregion was a stronger predictor of avian species richness than elevation per se (AICc weight = 0.96), suggesting that the responsible environmental filter(s) is relatively homogenous within ecological land classes (e.g. primary productivity) rather than directly variable with elevation (e.g. temperature). The results also lend insight into priorities for future research on richness–elevation patterns in mountain birds.
AbstractBackgroundThe United States has experienced a significant rise in suicide. As decision makers identify how to address this national concern, healthcare systems have been identified as an ...optimal location for prevention. ObjectiveTo compare variation in patterns of healthcare use, by health setting, between individuals who died by suicide and the general population. DesignCase-Control Study. SettingEight healthcare systems across the United States. Participants2674 individuals who died by suicide between 2000 and 2013 along with 267,400 individuals matched on time-period of health plan membership and health system affiliation. MeasurementsHealthcare use in the emergency room, inpatient hospital, primary care, and outpatient specialty setting measured using electronic health record data during the 7-, 30-, 60-, 90-, 180-, and 365-day time periods before suicide and matched index date for controls. ResultsHealthcare use was more common across all healthcare settings for individuals who died by suicide. Nearly 30% of individuals had a healthcare visit in the 7-days before suicide (6.5% emergency, 16.3% outpatient specialty, and 9.5% primary care), over half within 30 days, and >90% within 365 days. Those who died by suicide averaged 16.7 healthcare visits during the year. The relative risk of suicide was greatest for individuals who received care in the inpatient setting (aOR = 6.23). There was both a large relative risk (aOR = 3.08) and absolute utilization rate (43.8%) in the emergency room before suicide. LimitationsParticipant race/ethnicity was not available. The sample did not include uninsured individuals. ConclusionsThis study provides important data about how care utilization differs for those who die by suicide compared to the general population and can inform decision makers on targeting of suicide prevention activities within health systems.
Citizen Science as a Tool for Mosquito Control Jordan, Rebecca C; Sorensen, Amanda E; Ladeau, Shannon
Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association
33, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In this paper, we share our findings from a 2-year citizen science program called Mosquito Stoppers. This pest-oriented citizen science project is part of a larger coupled natural-human systems ...project seeking to understand the fundamental drivers of mosquito population density and spatial variability in potential exposure to mosquito-borne pathogens in a matrix of human construction, urban renewal, and individual behaviors. Focusing on residents in West Baltimore, participants were recruited through neighborhood workshops and festivals. Citizen scientists participated in yard surveys of potential mosquito habitat and in evaluating mosquito nuisance. We found that citizen scientists, with minimal education and training, were able to accurately collect data that reflect trends found in a comparable researcher-generated database.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects men and women differently. Not only are women twice as likely as men to develop PTSD, they experience different symptoms and comorbidities associated ...with PTSD. Yet the dearth of preclinical research on females leaves a notable gap in understanding the underlying neuropathology of this sex difference.
Using two standard measures of PTSD-like responses in rats, the acoustic startle response (ASR) and dexamethasone suppression test (DST), we tested the effects of traumatic stress in adult male and female rats using two rodent models of PTSD, single prolonged stress and predator exposure. We then examined the neural correlates underlying these responses with cFos and glucocorticoid receptor immunohistochemistry in brain regions implicated in the traumatic stress response.
We now report that adult male and female rats across two models of PTSD show consistent sex-specific responses that recapitulate fundamental differences of PTSD in men and women. Trauma-exposed males showed the well-established hyper-responsive phenotype of enhanced ASR and exaggerated negative feedback control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, while the same traumatic event had little effect on these same measures in females. Dramatic sex differences in how trauma affected cFos and glucocorticoid receptor expression in the brain lend further support to the idea that the trauma response of male and female rats is fundamentally different.
Two standard measures, ASR and DST, might suggest that females are resilient to the effects of traumatic stress, but other measures make it clear that females are not resilient, but simply respond differently to trauma. The next important question to answer is why. We conclude that males and females show fundamentally different responses to trauma that do not simply reflect differences in resilience. The divergent effects of trauma in the brains of males and females begin to shed light on the neurobiological underpinnings of these sex differences, paving the way for improved diagnostics and therapeutics that effectively treat both men and women.
AP-4-associated hereditary spastic paraplegia (AP-4-HSP: SPG47, SPG50, SPG51, SPG52) is an emerging cause of childhood-onset hereditary spastic paraplegia and mimic of cerebral palsy. This study aims ...to define the spectrum of brain MRI findings in AP-4-HSP and to investigate radioclinical correlations.
We performed a systematic qualitative and quantitative analysis of 107 brain MRI studies from 76 individuals with genetically confirmed AP-4-HSP and correlation with clinical findings including surrogates of disease severity.
We define AP-4-HSP as a disorder of gray and white matter and demonstrate that abnormal myelination is common and that metrics of reduced white matter volume correlate with severity of motor symptoms. We identify a common diagnostic imaging signature consisting of (1) a thin splenium of the corpus callosum, (2) an absent or thin anterior commissure, (3) characteristic signal abnormalities of the forceps minor ("ears of the grizzly sign"), and (4) periventricular white matter abnormalities. The presence of 2 or more of these findings has a sensitivity of ∼99% for detecting AP-4-HSP; the combination of all 4 is found in ∼45% of cases. Compared to other HSPs with a thin corpus callosum, the absent anterior commissure appears to be specific to AP-4-HSP. Our analysis identified a subset of patients with polymicrogyria, underscoring the role of AP-4 in early brain development. These patients displayed a higher prevalence of seizures and status epilepticus, many at a young age.
Our findings define the MRI spectrum of AP-4-HSP, providing opportunities for early diagnosis, identification of individuals at risk for complications, and a window into the role of the AP-4 complex in brain development and neurodegeneration.
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