Social status and season of birth: a study of a metropolitan area in the southeastern United States

An analysis of live birth statistics obtained from the Health Department of Fulton County, Georgia for 1967-1977 indicated that seasonal variation in birth was significantly related to maternal social status. Mothers were assigned to social status classification on the basis of whether they lived in an upper, upper middle, lower middle, or lower socioeconomic census tract. Periodic regression analysis and analysis of variance was applied to the data. Specific findings were 1) upper status groups showed no significant variation in births; 2) upper and lower middle classes showed a similar and a significant degree of seasonal variation with depressed birth levels from January-June and elevated levels from July-December; 3) lower class birth patterns showed more seasonal variation than the other classes; 4) the periodic curve accounted for 92.3% of the monthly variation in births for the lower class, 70.6% for the lower middle class, and 64.6% for the upper middle class; 5) the relationship between social status and seasonal variation in births held for both whites and non-whites; 6) seasonal variations were somewhat more marked for non-whites than for white in the lower and lower middle class; and 7) the observed relationship held throughout the 11 year period of observation. The results were of special concern given previous studies which found that children born in September-October entered school on the average earlier than other children and did less well in school than other students. Major findings were presented in graphic and tabular form.     

Climate and tourism in the Black Forest during the warm season

Climate, climate change and tourism all interact. Part of the public discussion about climate change focusses on the tourism sector, with direct and indirect impacts being of equally high relevance. Climate and tourism are closely linked. Thus, climate is a very decisive factor in choices both of destination and of type of journey (active holidays, wellness, and city tours) in the tourism sector. However, whether choices about destinations or types of trip will alter with climate change is difficult to predict. Future climates can be simulated and projected, and the tendencies of climate parameters can be estimated using global and regional climate models. In this paper, the focus is on climate change in the mountainous regions of southwest Germany – the Black Forest. The Black Forest is one of the low mountain ranges where both winter and summer tourism are vulnerable to climate change due to its southern location; the strongest climatic changes are expected in areas covering the south and southwest of Germany. Moreover, as the choice of destination is highly dependent on good weather, a climatic assessment for tourism is essential. Thus, the aim of this study was to estimate climatic changes in mountainous regions during summer, especially for tourism and recreation. The assessment method was based on human-biometeorology as well as tourism-climatologic approaches. Regional climate simulations based on the regional climate model REMO were used for tourism-related climatic analyses. Emission scenarios A1B and B1 were considered for the time period 2021 to 2050, compared to the 30-year base period of 1971–2000, particularly for the warm period of the year, defined here as the months of March–November. In this study, we quantified the frequency, but not the means, of climate parameters. The study results show that global and regional warming is reflected in an increase in annual mean air temperature, especially in autumn. Changes in the spring show a slight negative trend, which is in line with the trend of a decrease in physiologically equivalent temperature as well as in thermal comfort conditions. Due to the rising air temperature, heat stress as well as sultry conditions are projected to become more frequent, affecting human health and recreation, especially at lower lying altitudes. The tops of the mountains and higher elevated areas still have the advantage of offering comfortable climatic conditions.     

Weather conditions during hunting season affect the number of harvested roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Due to human‐induced climate and landscape changes, distribution and abundance of many ungulate species have increased worldwide. Especially in areas where natural predators are absent, hunting is the essential management tool for regulating ungulate populations. Therefore, understanding the factors associated with harvest rates is the first step toward an adaptive management approach. Weather influences hunter and ungulate behavior and thus presumably harvest, but how and which meteorological parameters are linked to harvest numbers have rarely been evaluated. We used nearly 65,000 “sit and wait” and driven hunt harvests of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in Bavaria, Germany, and weather data from 2008 to 2017 to test for factors affecting roe deer harvests (i.e., temperature, rain hours, wind speed, sunshine duration, snow depth, workdays vs. weekends, month) using zero‐inflated negative binomial mixed‐effect models. Our results reveal that, besides workdays, high temperatures and prolonged rain resulted in fewer harvested animals, whereas sunshine duration in summer and snow height in snow‐rich areas partially favored harvests during sitting hunts in summer and winter, respectively. The influence of wind speed varied over the course of the year. In summer and autumn, wind speed commonly had a negative effect, positively affecting harvests in winter in some regions. Daily harvest numbers decreased during the summer and autumn hunting periods (May till mid‐October), while they increased during the winter period (mid‐October till mid‐January). Interestingly, harvest success during driven hunts, which are planned well in advance and therefore take place largely independent of weather conditions, was similarly affected by the weather. This result suggests that the inferred weather influence is not only due to the hunters'' decisions but also due to deer behavior. Since many ungulate populations may further benefit from climate change, building an understanding of the relationship between hunting success and weather will aid adaptive ungulate management.     

Incidence,severity and preventability of medication-related visits to the emergency department: a prospective study

Background

Medication-related visits to the emergency department are an important but poorly understood phenomenon. We sought to evaluate the frequency, severity and preventability of drug-related visits to the emergency department.

Methods

We performed a prospective observational study of randomly selected adults presenting to the emergency department over a 12-week period. Emergency department visits were identified as drug-related on the basis of assessment by a pharmacist research assistant and an emergency physician; discrepancies were adjudicated by 2 independent reviewers.

Results

Among the 1017 patients included in the study, the emergency department visit was identified as drug-related for 122 patients (12.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 10.1%–14.2%); of these, 83 visits (68.0%, 95% CI 59.0%–76.2%) were deemed preventable. Severity was classified as mild in 15.6% of the 122 cases, moderate in 74.6% and severe in 9.8%. The most common reasons for drug-related visits were adverse drug reactions (39.3%), nonadherence (27.9%) and use of the wrong or suboptimal drug (11.5%). The probability of admission was significantly higher among patients who had a drug-related visit than among those whose visit was not drug-related (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.46–3.27, p < 0.001), and among those admitted, the median length of stay was longer (8.0 [interquartile range 23.5] v. 5.5 [interquartile range 10.0] days, p = 0.06).

Interpretation

More than 1 in 9 emergency department visits are due to drug-related adverse events, a potentially preventable problem in our health care system.Adverse drug-related events are unfavourable occurrences related to the use or misuse of medications.¹ It has been estimated that such events account for 17 million emergency department visits and 8.7 million hospital admissions annually in the United States.^2,3 Between 1995 and 2000, costs associated with adverse drug-related events rose from US$76.6 billion to over US$177.4 billion.^3,4Adverse drug-related events have recently been evaluated in ambulatory care settings and among patients admitted to hospital,^5–9 and it has been estimated that 5%–25% of hospital admissions are drug-related.^7,8 Unfortunately, emergency department visits are not reflected in most hospital studies, because patients seen in the emergency department for an adverse drug-related event are typically not admitted.¹⁰ In addition, most research evaluating drug-related visits to the emergency department has involved retrospective studies or analysis of administrative data.^11–13 Retrospective studies may underestimate the incidence of drug-related visits because information may be missing or inaccurately documented.¹⁴ Finally, studies performed to date have used variable definitions of “drug-related events,”^1,10 which limits comparative evaluation and generalizability.Despite the burden of drug-related morbidity and mortality, prospective research characterizing drug-related visits to the emergency department has been limited.^15–17 We sought to overcome some of the limitations of research in this area by using a prospective design and a comprehensive definition of adverse drug-related events. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the frequency, severity and preventability of drug-related visits to the emergency department of a large tertiary care hospital, to classify the visits by type of drug-related problem and to identify patient, prescriber, drug and system factors associated with these visits.     

Studies on pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus during a warm weather season in the Seto Inland Sea,Japan

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a potentially pathogenic bacterium, occurring naturally in estuarine and marine environments throughout the world. The incidence of this organism in an aquatic environment depends upon many ecofactors. Sea water and organic material were collected during the warm weather season from a coast of the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, and analysed to determine V. parahaemolyticus densities and the occurrence of pathogenic strains, defined as those possessing tdh and/or trh genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using isolated DNA from enrichment culture of the samples. About 99% of samples were positive for V. parahaemolyticus with densities of 3 to >1400 cells per 100 ml of water or 10 g of organic samples by the most-probable-number (MPN)-PCR technique, but only 76.6% were positive by the conventional MPN culture technique, with densities ranging from 3 to >1400 cells per 100 ml of water or 10 g of organics. Furthermore, the tdh and trh genes were positive in 41.5% and 8.5% of samples, respectively, by the MPN-PCR technique. No tdh and trh gene-positive strains were isolated by the conventional MPN culture procedure. The difference in detection between the MPN culture and the MPN-PCR techniques appeared to be significant and may be attributed to different detection sensitivities and other factors.     

Relationship between the metereological conditions and the air-borne fungal flora of the Athens metropolitan area

The statistical relationship between the metereological conditions and the population of the air-borne fungi of the Athens metropolitan area were considered. It was found that during autumn and winter the number of suspended microfungi was more than double that which occurred during spring and summer. The fungal content appeared to be correlated positively with humidity and negatively with terperature, although during the analysis of the six predominant genera some exceptions were found to the general form of the results.     

The epidemiology and medical management of low back pain during ambulatory medical care visits in the United States

Background

Low back pain (LBP) is a common symptom.

Methods

Patient visits attributed to LBP in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) during 2003–2004 served as the basis for epidemiological analyses (n = 1539). The subset of patient visits in which LBP was the primary reason for seeking care (primary LBP patient visits) served as the basis for medical management analyses (n = 1042). National population estimates were derived using statistical weighting techniques.

Results

There were 61.7 million (SE, 4.0 million) LBP patient visits and 42.4 million (SE, 3.1 million) primary LBP patient visits. Only 55% of LBP patient visits were provided by primary care physicians. Age, geographic region, chronicity of symptoms, injury, type of physician provider, and physician specialty were associated with LBP patient visits. Age, injury, primary care physician status, type of physician provider, and shared physician care were associated with chronicity of LBP care. Osteopathic physicians were more likely than allopathic physicians to provide medical care during LBP patient visits (odds ratio [OR], 2.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.75–3.92) and chronic LBP patient visits (OR, 4.39; 95% CI, 2.47–7.80). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and narcotic analgesics were ordered during 14.2 million (SE, 1.2 million) and 10.5 million (SE, 1.1 million) primary LBP patient visits, respectively. Drugs (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.13–0.62) and, specifically, NSAIDs (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.25–0.64) were ordered less often during chronic LBP patient visits compared with acute LBP patient visits. Overall, osteopathic physicians were less likely than allopathic physicians to order NSAIDs for LBP (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24–0.76). Almost two million surgical procedures were ordered, scheduled, or performed during primary LBP patient visits.

Conclusion

The percentage of LBP visits provided by primary care physicians in the United States remains suboptimal. Medical management of LBP, particularly chronic LBP, appears to over-utilize surgery relative to more conservative measures such as patient counseling, non-narcotic analgesics, and other drug therapies. Osteopathic physicians are more likely to provide LBP care, and less likely to use NSAIDs during such visits, than their allopathic counterparts. In general, LBP medical management does not appear to be in accord with evidence-based guidelines.     

Evaluation of a Clostridium perfringens predictive model, developed under isothermal conditions in broth, to predict growth in ground beef during cooling

Proper temperature control is essential in minimizing Clostridium perfringens germination, growth, and toxin production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) offers two options for the cooling of meat products: follow a standard time-temperature schedule or validate that alternative cooling regimens result in no more than a 1-log(10) CFU/g increase of C. perfringens and no growth of Clostridium botulinum. A mathematical model developed by Juneja et al. (Food Microbiol. 16:335-349, 1999) may be helpful in determining if the C. perfringens performance standard has been achieved, but this model has not been extensively validated. The objective of this study was to validate the Juneja 1999 model in ground beef under a variety of changing temperature and temperature abuse situations. The Juneja 1999 model consistently underpredicted growth of C. perfringens during exponential cooling of ground beef. The model also underpredicted growth of C. perfringens in ground beef cooled at two different rates. The results presented here show generally good agreement with published data on the growth of C. perfringens in similar products. The model error may be due to faster-than-expected exponential growth rates in ground beef during cooling or an error in the mathematical formulation of the model.     

Movements of radio-tagged Grey Herons Ardea cinerea during the breeding season in a large pond area

This paper describes the strategies of resource utilization in the course of the breeding season by five radio-tagged Grey Herons Ardea cinerea. The seasonal changes in exploitation of the environment by two breeding adults, one non-breeding adult and two non-breeding first-year birds were studied from March to August 1982, near Zonhoven in Belgium. Two adult breeding birds could be followed continuously from the end of March until the middle of June. During the first month they explored an extended area all around the colony, but each concentrated its search in a specific direction. From the end of April until the beginning of June, most probably from egg-hatching until the end of breeding activities, each bird spent a very large proportion of its time at a particular feeding site, from which other herons were actively excluded. In the first part of June they again visited different sites, each maintaining its preferred direction. From the middle of June onwards they seemed to have left the fish-pond area. The pattern of movements of the first-year birds differed markedly from that of the breeding adults. In April, although both non-breeding and breeding birds explored large areas, only the areas used by non-breeders were centred on the colony. From the end of April onwards, probably after general egg-hatching in the colony, the non-breeders very rarely revisited the colony, and from May till August their ranges became more and more restricted to very small areas at an increasing distance from the colony. They were never observed defending particular sites. The results are discussed with regard to recent speculations about the evolution of colonies as an adaptation for the exploitation of food resources. Breeding herons seem to explore a large part of the environment during incubation and defend a particular site while feeding their young. Choice of feeding site by non-breeding birds may be influenced by the site defence of the breeding birds. Non-breeding birds exploit a large area when breeding birds occupy feeding territories. Perhaps they are forced to forage in less suitable places at this time. Colonies might have evolved as a strategy to minimize effort in resource esploitation as, especially at the beginning of the breeding season, the colony could act as an assembly point in the exploration of the environment. However, its importance as an assembly point diminishes in the course of the season, as non-breeding birds no longer visit the colony and adults defend territories.     

Exceptional carbon uptake in European forests during the warm spring of 2007: a data–model analysis

Temperate and boreal forests undergo drastic functional changes in the springtime, shifting within a few weeks from net carbon (C) sources to net C sinks. Most of these changes are mediated by temperature. The autumn 2006–winter 2007 record warm period was followed by an exceptionally warm spring in Europe, making spring 2007 a good candidate for advances in the onset of the photosynthetically active period. An analysis of a decade of eddy covariance data from six European forests stands, which encompass a wide range of functional types (broadleaf evergreen, broadleaf deciduous, needleleaf evergreen) and a wide latitudinal band (from 44° to 62°N), revealed exceptional fluxes during spring 2007. Gross primary productivity (GPP) of spring 2007 was the maximum recorded in the decade examined for all sites but a Mediterranean evergreen forest (with a +40 to +130 gC m^?2 anomaly compared with the decadal mean over the January–May period). Total ecosystem respiration (TER) was also promoted during spring 2007, though less anomalous than GPP (with a +17 to +93 gC m^?2 anomaly over 5 months), leading to higher net uptake than the long‐term mean at all sites (+12 to +79 gC m^?2 anomaly over 5 months). A correlative analysis relating springtime C fluxes to simple phenological indices suggested spring C uptake and temperatures to be related. The CASTANEA process‐based model was used to disentangle the seasonality of climatic drivers (incoming radiation, air and soil temperatures) and biological drivers (canopy dynamics, thermal acclimation of photosynthesis to low temperatures) on spring C fluxes along the latitudinal gradient. A sensitivity analysis of model simulations evidenced the roles of (i) an exceptional early budburst combined with elevated air temperature in deciduous sites, and (ii) an early relief of winter thermal acclimation in coniferous sites for the promotion of 2007 spring assimilation.     

Summer in the city: behaviour of large gulls visiting an urban area during the breeding season

Capsule: Large numbers of Herring Gulls Larus argentatus and Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus from a traditional colony in the Netherlands visit an urban area for food in the chick rearing period, causing nuisance while doing so.

Aims: To assess the potential contribution of large gulls breeding in a traditional colony to gull–human conflicts in cities.

Methods: Colour-ringed gulls from a nearby colony were counted in the study area throughout the 2014 breeding season. The average numbers observed daily per species and sex were compared between different breeding phases.

Results: Fluctuations in numbers of both species could be explained by breeding phase. Numbers of females of both species and male Lesser Black-backed Gulls dropped significantly during laying and incubation. Numbers peaked post-hatching, coinciding with increased engagement in nuisance events and more frequent displacements within the study area.

Conclusion: Large gulls from a traditional colony frequently visited the urban study area, especially when food demand for chick provisioning was high, suggesting that city visits are motivated by accessibility of urban food. The proportion of rooftop breeding gulls in this area is low. Therefore, measures to avoid nuisance should focus on reducing food availability rather than controlling gull breeding.     

Recapture of male and female dragonflies in relation to parasitism by mites, time of season, wing length and wing cell symmetry

For aquatic mites parasitic on dragonflies, completion of their life cycle depends on their being returned to appropriate water bodies by their hosts, after completion of engorgement. We examined whether differences among hosts in timing of emergence or phenotypic attributes might affect their probability of return to an emergence pond, and hence success of mites. Parasitized males and females of the dragonfly Sympetrum obtrusum (Hagen) did not differ in overall recapture rates. Females that had wing cell symmetry and emerged early were more likely to be recaptured than females that emerged later or had wing cell asymmetry, but there were no consistent relations between these variables and parasitism by mites. No such relations between wing cell asymmetry, emergence date, and recapture likelihood were found for males. Using randomization tests, we found that mean intensities of Arrenurus planus (Marshall) mites at host emergence were the same for recaptured females and females not recaptured; however, males that were recaptured had lower mean intensities of mites at emergence than males not recaptured. Further, mature females carried more mites than mature males, and the latter had fewer mites than newly emerged males not recaptured. Biases in detachment of engorging mites do not explain the differences in parasitism between mature males and females, nor the differences in mite numbers between mature males and newly emerged males that were not recaptured. Rather, heavily parasitized males appear to disperse or die and are not recaptured, which should have implications for dispersal of mites and fitness of male hosts.     

Recapture of male and female dragonflies in relation to parasitism by mites, time of season, wing length and wing cell symmetry

For aquatic mites parasitic on dragonflies, completion of their life cycle depends on their being returned to appropriate water bodies by their hosts, after completion of engorgement. We examined whether differences among hosts in timing of emergence or phenotypic attributes might affect their probability of return to an emergence pond, and hence success of mites. Parasitized males and females of the dragonfly Sympetrum obtrusum (Hagen) did not differ in overall recapture rates. Females that had wing cell symmetry and emerged early were more likely to be recaptured than females that emerged later or had wing cell asymmetry, but there were no consistent relations between these variables and parasitism by mites. No such relations between wing cell asymmetry, emergence date, and recapture likelihood were found for males. Using randomization tests, we found that mean intensities of Arrenurus planus (Marshall) mites at host emergence were the same for recaptured females and females not recaptured; however, males that were recaptured had lower mean intensities of mites at emergence than males not recaptured. Further, mature females carried more mites than mature males, and the latter had fewer mites than newlyemerged males not recaptured. Biases in detachment of engorging mites do not explain the differences in parasitism between mature males and females, nor the differences in mite numbers between mature males and newly emerged males that were not recaptured. Rather, heavily parasitized males appear to disperse or die and are not recaptured, which should have implications for dispersal of mites and fitness of male hosts.     

Developing of a model to predict lying behavior of dairy cows on silvopastoral system during the winter season

International Journal of Biometeorology - Lying behavior is an important indicator of the cows’ welfare and health. In this study, we evaluate the effect of the physical environment on dairy...     

Ecophysiology of Zigadenus nuttallii,a toxic spring ephemeral in a warm season grassland: effect of defoliation and fire

Summary Zigadenus nuttallii, a highly toxic spring ephemeral in tallgrass prairie, was studied in 1985 to ascertain: 1) several ecophysiological characteristics of the species, 2) seasonal patterns of biomass accumulation, and 3) its response to defoliation and fire. The maximum photosynthetic rate of Z. nuttallii measured in unburned prairie was 13.2 moles CO₂ m^-2 s^-1 which occurred at 24–28° C and an incident quantum flux of 0.8–1.0 mmoles m^-2 s^-1. Maximum stomatal conductance measured was 5.4 mm s^-1. Early in the season, belowground storage organs (bulbs) decreased in mass and supplied much of the energy for growth of leaves, even though CO₂ uptake was possible. Buld mass did not increase until about 6 weeks after shoot emergence implying that, at this time, leaves had become a source rather than a sink for carbohydrates. The result of a single, severe defoliation event was a decrease in biomass of bulbs, leaves and reproductive structures in Z. nuttallii. Intrinsic compensatory mechanisms were not detected. In contrast, fire, which also defoliated plants, did not result in any biomass decrease at the end of the season. Improved post-fire microclimate and increased nutrient supply (extrinsic factors) may have contributed to higher photosynthetic rates and led to biomass compensation in burned prairie. These data support arguments that intrinsic compensatory mechanisms have evolved in response to chronic herbivory.     

Pathophysiology of white-nose syndrome in bats: a mechanistic model linking wing damage to mortality

White-nose syndrome is devastating North American bat populations but we lack basic information on disease mechanisms. Altered blood physiology owing to epidermal invasion by the fungal pathogen Geomyces destructans (Gd) has been hypothesized as a cause of disrupted torpor patterns of affected hibernating bats, leading to mortality. Here, we present data on blood electrolyte concentration, haematology and acid–base balance of hibernating little brown bats, Myotis lucifugus, following experimental inoculation with Gd. Compared with controls, infected bats showed electrolyte depletion (i.e. lower plasma sodium), changes in haematology (i.e. increased haematocrit and decreased glucose) and disrupted acid–base balance (i.e. lower CO₂ partial pressure and bicarbonate). These findings indicate hypotonic dehydration, hypovolaemia and metabolic acidosis. We propose a mechanistic model linking tissue damage to altered homeostasis and morbidity/mortality.