Urban densification continues to present a unique set of economic and environmental challenges. A growing shortage of green space and infrastructure is intrinsically linked with urban growth and ...development. With this comes the loss of ecosystem services such as urban heat island effects, reduction of air quality and biodiversity loss. Vertical greenery systems (VGS) offer an adaptive solution to space-constrained areas that are characteristic of dense urban areas, and can potentially improve the sustainability of cities. However, in order to promote VGS uptake, methods are required to enable systematic appraisal of whether existing walls can be retrofitted with VGS. Further, feasibility studies that quantify the potential for retrofit suitability of VGS across entire urban areas are lacking. This study established an evaluation tool for green wall constructability in urban areas and validated the assessment tool by determining the quantity of walls in five major Australian cities that could potentially have VGS incorporated into the existing infrastructure. Each wall was analysed using an exclusionary set of criteria that evaluated and ranked a wall based on its suitability to VGS implementation. Sydney and Brisbane recorded the greatest proportional length of walls suitable for VGS, with 33.74% and 34.12% respectively. Conversely, Perth's urban centre was the least feasible site in which to incorporate VGS, with over 97% of surveyed walls excluded, mainly due to the prevalence of <1 m high fence lines and glazed shopfronts. This study aimed to evaluate feasibility assessments of green wall retrofitability in highly urbanised areas with the intention of creating an analytical method that is accessible to all. This method, coupled with the promising number of feasible walls found in this study, emphasises the need for more government policy and incentives encouraging green wall uptake and could play a pivotal role in the expansion of green infrastructure and urban forestry.
•Vertical greenery presents is a potential solution to revegetate and regreen cities.•Methods and evaluation tools are needed to promote vertical greenery uptake.•A feasibility rating tool for green wall retrofitability was assessed in this study.•This tool demonstrated the different levels of retrofitability in urban areas of Australia.•The tool could be used by green stakeholders to increase urban greenspace and regreen cities.
Objectives: Tobacco use may be related to financial strain in people with depression. This study explored the relationship among tobacco expenditures, financial distress, and smoking-induced ...deprivation (SID) in smokers with and without depression. Methods: Adult tobacco
users in the United States (N = 234) completed a survey assessing depression (PHQ-8≥10), sociodemographics, tobacco use and spending, financial satisfaction and distress, and SID. Regression models controlling for income compared outcomes between participants with (N = 96) and without (N
= 138) depression. Results: Participants with depression were 4 times more likely to report SID (32% vs 8%, p = .00). Smokers with depression had lower financial satisfaction, greater worry about being able to meet monthly living expenses, higher frequency of being unable to afford
a leisure activity, higher frequency living paycheck to paycheck, and lower confidence in finding money for an emergency (p < .01). In smokers with depression, higher tobacco expenditures were independently associated with greater odds of SID and higher levels of financial distress (p <
.01). Conclusions: About one-third of smokers with depression forego essentials to pay for tobacco. Tobacco interventions may alleviate financial strain in people with depression.
Background
Evidence suggests that individuals with history of substance use disorder (SUD) are at increased risk of COVID-19, but little is known about relationships between SUDs, overdose and ...COVID-19 severity and mortality. This study investigated risks of severe COVID-19 among patients with SUDs.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective review of data from a hospital system in New York City. Patient records from 1 January to 26 October 2020 were included. We assessed positive COVID-19 tests, hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and death. Descriptive statistics and bivariable analyses compared the prevalence of COVID-19 by baseline characteristics. Logistic regression estimated unadjusted and sex-, age-, race- and comorbidity-adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for associations between SUD history, overdose history and outcomes.
Results
Of patients tested for COVID-19 (n = 188 653), 2.7% (n = 5107) had any history of SUD. Associations with hospitalization AORs (95% confidence interval) ranged from 1.78 (0.85–3.74) for cocaine use disorder (COUD) to 6.68 (4.33–10.33) for alcohol use disorder. Associations with ICU admission ranged from 0.57 (0.17–1.93) for COUD to 5.00 (3.02–8.30) for overdose. Associations with death ranged from 0.64 (0.14–2.84) for COUD to 3.03 (1.70–5.43) for overdose.
Discussion
Patients with histories of SUD and drug overdose may be at elevated risk of adverse COVID-19 outcomes.
Abstract
Fire-prone landscapes experience frequent fires, disrupting above-ground biomass and altering below-ground soil nutrient availability. Augmentation of leaf nutrients or leaf water balance ...can both reduce limitations to photosynthesis and facilitate post-fire recovery in plants. These modes of fire responses are often studied separately and hence are rarely compared. We hypothesized that under severe burning, woody plants of a coastal scrub ecosystem would have higher rates of photosynthesis (Anet) than in unburned areas due to a transient release from leaf nutrient and water limitations, facilitating biomass recovery post-burn. To compare these fire recovery mechanisms in regrowing plants, we measured leaf gas exchange, leaf and soil N and P concentrations, and plant stomatal limitations in Australian native coastal scrub species across a burn sequence of sites at 1 year after severe fire, 7 years following a light controlled fire, and decades after any fire at North Head, Sydney, Australia. Recent burning stimulated increases in Anet by 20% over unburned trees and across three tree species. These species showed increases in total leaf N and P as a result of burning of 28% and 50% for these macronutrients, respectively, across the three species. The boost in leaf nutrients and stimulated leaf biochemical capacity for photosynthesis, alongside species-specific stomatal conductance (gs) increases, together contributed to increased photosynthetic rates after burning compared with the long-unburned area. Photosynthetic stimulation after burning occurred due to increases in nutrient concentrations in leaves, particularly N, as well as stomatal opening for some species. The findings suggest that changes in species photosynthesis and growth with increased future fire intensity or frequency may be facilitated by changes in leaf physiology after burning. On this basis, species dominance during regrowth depends on nutrient and water availability during post-fire recovery.
Few studies have examined the effectiveness of telephone smoking cessation interventions by severity of behavioral health symptoms. Using data from a telephone counseling study, we examined whether ...abstinence rates varied by level of behavioral health symptoms.
The parent study recruited adults who smoke cigarettes (N = 577) referred by mental health providers at six Veterans Health Administration facilities. Participants were randomized to specialized telephone counseling (intervention) or state Quitline referral (control). Participants completed assessments at baseline and 6 months, including the BASIS-24, a self-report measure of behavioral health symptoms and functioning. We used the BASIS-24 median to dichotomize participants as having high or low scores. The primary outcome was 30-day self-reported abstinence at 6 months. We compared groups on outcomes by logistic regression and performed an interaction effect analysis between treatment assignment and groups.
At baseline, those with high behavioral health symptoms scores reported heavier nicotine dependence and more sedative and/or antidepressant use, compared to participants with low behavioral health symptoms. At 6 months, participants with low behavioral health symptoms scores in the intervention reported higher rates of 30-day abstinence compared to those in the control arm (26% vs 13%, OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.8, 2.9). People with high behavioral health symptoms scores reported no difference in 30-day abstinence between the treatment assignments at 6 months (12% vs. 13%, OR = 1.1, 95% CI = 0.6, 2.0).
Only participants with low behavioral health symptoms scores reported higher abstinence rates in the intervention compared to the state Quitline. Future research can examine alternative approaches for people with worse mental well-being and functioning.
The parent study is registered at www.
gov NCT00724308.
Abstract
Introduction
Veterans with mental health disorders smoke at high rates, but encounter low rates of tobacco treatment. We sought to understand barriers and facilitators to treating tobacco ...use in VA mental health clinics.
Methods
This qualitative study was part of a trial evaluating a telephone care coordination program for smokers using mental health services at six VA facilities. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 staff: 12 mental health clinic staff working at the parent study’s intervention sites (n = 6 psychiatrists, three psychologists, two social workers, one NP), as well as one psychiatrist and one psychologist on the VA’s national tobacco advisory committee. Interviews were transcribed and inductively coded to identify themes.
Results
Five “barriers” themes emerged: (1) competing priorities, (2) patient challenges/resistance, (3) complex staffing/challenging cross-discipline coordination, (4) mixed perceptions about whether tobacco is a mental health care responsibility, and (5) limited staff training/comfort in treating tobacco. Five “facilitators” themes emerged: (1) reminding mental health staff about tobacco, (2) staff belief in the importance of addressing tobacco, (3) designating a cessation medication prescriber, (4) linking tobacco to mental health outcomes and norms, and (5) limiting mental health staff burden.
Conclusions
VA mental health staff struggle with knowing that tobacco use is important, but they face competing priorities, encounter patient resistance, are conflicted on their role in addressing tobacco, and lack tobacco training. They suggested strategies at multiple levels that would help overcome those barriers that can be used to design interventions that improve tobacco treatment delivery for mental health patients.
Implications
This study builds upon the existing literature on the high rates of smoking, but low rates of treatment, in people with mental health diagnoses. This study is one of the few qualitative evaluations of mental health clinic staff perceptions of barriers and facilitators to treating tobacco. The study results provide a multi-level framework for developing strategies to improve the implementation of tobacco treatment programs in mental health clinics.
Smoking disproportionately affects individuals with psychiatric diagnoses. Providers can play a role in reducing tobacco-related morbidity among people with a psychiatric diagnosis by routinely ...screening and treating all patients for tobacco use. This study seeks to identify rates of tobacco screening, counseling, and medication orders during outpatient visits with adults who have a psychiatric diagnosis.
Data from the 2012–2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were examined to calculate the proportion of visits with people who have a psychiatric diagnosis that included tobacco screening, counseling, or smoking-cessation medications. Logistic regression was used to identify patient and visit factors associated with tobacco screening and treatment. All analyses were conducted in 2018.
Seventy-two percent of visits included tobacco screening, 23% of visits with tobacco users included cessation counseling, and 4% of visits with tobacco users included a cessation medication order. Visits were more likely to include tobacco screening if they were for a nonpsychiatric condition, were >30 minutes, or were with a primary care physician (p<0.05). Visits were less likely to include tobacco screening if they were with a black, non-Hispanic patient or patient with Medicaid (p<0.05). Visits were more likely to include cessation counseling if they were for a nonpsychiatric condition (p<0.05), and were less likely to include counseling if they were with a Hispanic or self-pay patient (p<0.05).
There is still room for improvement in providing equitable treatment for people with psychiatric conditions for smoking, particularly in nonprimary settings.
Savviness of prey to introduced predators Wallach, Arian D.; Ramp, Daniel; Benítez‐López, Ana ...
Conservation biology,
April 2023, 2023-04-00, 20230401, Volume:
37, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The prey naivety hypothesis posits that prey are vulnerable to introduced predators because many generations in slow gradual coevolution are needed for appropriate avoidance responses to develop. It ...predicts that prey will be more responsive to native than introduced predators and less responsive to introduced predators that differ substantially from native predators and from those newly established. To test these predictions, we conducted a global meta‐analysis of studies that measured the wariness responses of small mammals to the scent of sympatric mammalian mesopredators. We identified 26 studies that met our selection criteria. These studies comprised 134 experiments reporting on the responses of 36 small mammal species to the scent of six introduced mesopredators and 12 native mesopredators. For each introduced mesopredator, we measured their phylogenetic and functional distance to local native mesopredators and the number of years sympatric with their prey. We used predator and prey body mass as a measure of predation risk. Globally, small mammals were similarly wary of the scent of native and introduced mesopredators; phylogenetic and functional distance between introduced mesopredators and closest native mesopredators had no effect on wariness; and wariness was unrelated to the number of prey generations, or years, since first contact with introduced mesopredators. Small mammal wariness was associated with predator‐prey body mass ratio, regardless of the nativity. The one thing animals do not seem to recognize is whether their predators are native.
Resumen
La hipótesis de la ingenuidad de la presa plantea que ésta es vulnerable a los depredadores introducidos porque se requiere que muchas generaciones atraviesen una coevolución lenta y gradual para que se desarrollen las respuestas de evasión adecuadas. La hipótesis supone que la presa será más sensible a los depredadores introducidos que difieren notoriamente de los nativos y de aquellos recién establecidos. Realizamos un metaanálisis global de estudios que midieron las respuestas cautelosas de mamíferos pequeños ante el rastro de meso depredadores simpátricos para probar estas suposiciones. Identificamos 26 estudios que cumplieron con nuestro criterio de selección. Estos estudios estuvieron conformados por 134 experimentos que reportaban las respuestas de 36 especies de mamíferos pequeños ante el rastro de seis meso depredadores introducidos y 12 nativos. Medimos la distancia funcional y filogenética entre cada meso depredador introducido y los meso depredadores locales nativos y el número de años simpátricos con su presa. Usamos la masa corporal del depredador y la presa como medida del riesgo de depredación. A nivel mundial, los mamíferos pequeños compartieron la cautela ante el rastro de los meso depredadores nativos e introducidos; la distancia funcional y la filogenética entre los meso depredadores introducidos y el meso depredador nativo más cercano no tuvieron efecto sobre la cautela; y la cautela no estuvo relacionada con el número de generaciones de la presa, o años, desde el primer contacto con los meso depredadores introducidos. La cautela de los mamíferos pequeños estuvo asociada con las proporciones de masa corporal entre el depredador y la presa, sin importar el origen. Lo único que los animales parecen no reconocer es si el depredador es nativo o no.
【摘要】
猎物天真假说认为, 猎物容易受到外来捕食者的捕猎, 因为它们需要多个世代缓慢的共同进化才能恰当地躲避捕食者。该假说预测猎物对本地捕食者的反应比对外来捕食者的反应更强, 且对与本地捕食者和新出现捕食者差异较大的外来捕食者反应更弱。为了检验这些预测, 我们对全球小型哺乳动物对同域中型哺乳动物捕食者气味的警戒反应研究进行了荟萃分析。我们确定了 26 项符合筛选标准的研究, 包含报告了 36 种小型哺乳动物对 6 种外来中型捕食者和 12 种本地中型捕食者气味反应的 134 项实验。对于每一种外来中型捕食者, 我们测量了它们与本地中型捕食者的系统发育距离及功能距离, 及其与猎物同域分布的年数。我们还用捕食者和猎物的体重作为捕食风险的衡量标准。结果显示, 在全球范围内, 小型哺乳动物对本地和外来中型捕食者的气味具有相似的警惕性;外来中型捕食者与最接近的本地中型捕食者之间的系统发育距离及功能距离对警惕性没有影响;且警惕性与猎物和外来中型捕食者首次接触后的世代数或年数无关。小型哺乳动物的警惕性与捕食者‐猎物的体重比有关, 而与捕食者是否为本地物种无关。由此可见, 动物似乎无法分辨捕食者是本地物种还是外来物种。【翻译:胡怡思;审校:聂永刚】
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) face the highest burden of HIV in the United States, and there is a paucity of efficacious mobile health (mHealth) HIV prevention and care ...interventions tailored specifically for GBMSM. We tested a mobile app combining prevention messages and access to core prevention services for GBMSM.
This study aims to measure the efficacy of the Mobile Messaging for Men (M-cubed) app and related services to increase HIV prevention and care behaviors in diverse US GBMSM.
We conducted a randomized open-label study with a waitlist control group among GBMSM in 3 groups (low-risk HIV-negative group, high-risk HIV-negative group, and living-with-HIV LWH group) recruited online and in venues in Atlanta, Detroit, and New York City. Participants were randomly assigned to receive access to the app immediately or at 9 months after randomization. The app provided prevention messages in 6 domains of sexual health and offered ordering of at-home HIV and sexually transmitted infection test kits, receiving preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) evaluations and navigation, and service locators. Serostatus- and risk-specific prevention outcomes were evaluated at baseline, at the end of the intervention period, and at 3, 6, and 9 months after the intervention period.
In total, 1226 GBMSM were enrolled and randomized; of these 611 (49.84%) were assigned to the intervention group and 608 (99.51%) were analyzed, while 615 (50.16%) were assigned to the control group and 612 (99.51%) were analyzed. For high-risk GBMSM, allocation to the intervention arm was associated with higher odds of HIV testing during the intervention period (adjusted odds ratio aOR 2.02, 95% CI 1.11-3.66) and with higher odds of using PrEP in the 3 months after the intervention period (aOR 2.41, 95% CI 1.00-5.76, P<.05). No changes in HIV prevention or care were associated with allocation to the intervention arm for the low-risk HIV-negative and LWH groups.
Access to the M-cubed app was associated with increased HIV testing and PrEP use among high-risk HIV-negative GBMSM in 3 US cities. The app could be made available through funded HIV prevention providers; additional efforts are needed to understand optimal strategies to implement the app outside of the research setting.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03666247; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03666247.
RR2-10.2196/16439.
Background
Financial distress is a barrier to cessation among low-income smokers.
Objective
To evaluate an intervention that integrated financial coaching and benefits referrals into a smoking ...cessation program for low-income smokers.
Design
Randomized waitlist control trial conducted from 2017 to 2019.
Participants
Adult New York City residents were eligible if they reported past 30-day cigarette smoking, had income below 200% of the federal poverty level, spoke English or Spanish, and managed their own funds. Pregnant or breastfeeding people were excluded. Participants were recruited from two medical centers and from the community.
Intervention
The intervention (
n
= 208) offered smoking cessation coaching, nicotine replacement therapy, money management coaching, and referral to financial benefits and empowerment services. The waitlist control (
n
=202) was usual care during a 6-month waiting period.
Main Measures
Treatment engagement, self-reported 7-day abstinence, and financial stress at 6 months.
Key Results
At 6 months, intervention participants reported higher abstinence (17% vs. 9%,
P
=0.03), lower stress about finances (
β
, −0.8
SE
, 0.4,
P
=0.02), and reduced frequency of being unable to afford activities (
β
, −0.8 SE, 0.4,
P
=0.04). Outcomes were stronger among participants recruited from the medical centers (versus from the community). Among medical center participants, the intervention was associated with higher abstinence (20% vs. 8%,
P
=0.01), higher satisfaction with present financial situation (
β
, 1.0 SE, 0.4,
P
=0.01), reduced frequency of being unable to afford activities (
β
, −1.0 SE, 0.5,
P
=0.04), reduced frequency in getting by paycheck-to-paycheck (
β
, −1.0 SE, 0.4,
P
=0.03), and lower stress about finances in general (
β
, −1.0 SE, 0.4,
P
= 0.02). There were no group differences in outcomes among people recruited from the community (
P
>0.05).
Conclusions
Among low-income smokers recruited from medical centers, the intervention produced higher abstinence rates and reductions in some markers of financial distress than usual care. The intervention was not efficacious with people recruited from the community.
Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov
Identifier: NCT03187730
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