Physical Activity during Pregnancy may Mitigate Adverse Outcomes Resulting from COVID-19 and Distancing Regulations: Perspectives of Prenatal Healthcare Providers in the Southern Region of the United States

International Journal of Exercise Science 14(3): 1138-1150, 2021. Prenatal physical activity (PA) may mitigate adverse outcomes that have increased as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, including poor maternal mental health. This study explored the perspectives of prenatal healthcare providers (PHCP) on maternal PA during the pandemic and identified resources providers would like to have to inform clinical discussions and prescription of PA. Semi-structured interviews were completed with PHCPs following a qualitative description approach. A content analysis coded data to inform three study objectives: 1. Changes to maternal health, 2. The role prenatal PA can have during a pandemic, 3. Resources PHCPs would find helpful to discuss and prescribe PA. Nine PHCPs completed interviews. Changes to maternal health include an increase in stress, fear surrounding labor and delivery, and risk of pre-existing problematic behaviors (e.g., substance abuse). PA was identified as helpful for improving mental health and preventing excessive gestational weight gain (EGWG). Providers expressed interest in having low cost referral options for prenatal PA that are accessible from home. PHCPs suggest PA during the pandemic can improve maternal mental health and prevent EGWG. To support clinical discussions and prescriptions of prenatal PA, knowledge translation initiatives should include informing PHCPs of referral resources for low cost at-home fitness options

A Comparison of Various Teaching Methods for Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases

The purpose of this study was to find out whether patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (C.O.P.D.) learn more from auditory or from visual teaching. Of the 30 patients in the sample, 10 used a programmed instruction booklet, 10 used a taped recording of the same programmed material and 10 were in a control group which received no specific teaching. A pre-test was given to each of the patients who met the criteria for the study. One researcher gave the pre-test through an oral interview with the patient. After the pre-test, the patient received the teaching device assigned to him by random selection. Forty-eight hours after he had had the teaching device a second researcher gave a post-test, also by interview. The difference in the score from the pre-test to the post-test was used to measure learning. A second post-test was given to fifteen of the patients two weeks after the first post-test. This score was measured against the previous scores to ascertain retention of learning. The hypothesis accepted for the study was that patients with C.O.P.D. instructed with auditory teaching techniques learn more than similar patients taught with visual teaching techniques. Analysis of the data showed support of this hypothesis in that the auditory group improved a mean of 1.8 points, the visual group improved a mean 1.0 points and the control group a mean 0.7 points. A similar sub-hypothesis related to retention of learning was not supported by this study because the control group scored highest on mean improvement. The effect of chronic hypoxia and motivation of the patient\u27s learning was discussed and tested. These results were for the main, statistically insignificant. Included in the findings were the following: Patients who admitted changes in reading habits consistently scored less in all groups, (P \u3c .10), Patients that lived at one address longer learned less in all groups (P \u3c .05 in visual and auditory groups), formal education a person had the greater the increase in post-test The more scores. The literature was reviewed in terms of C.O.P.D. and the role of education in the patient\u27s management, teaching methods commonly used in patient education, and specific problems related to learning in the C.O.P.D. patient (hypoxia, motivation, and vision)

The Distribution of Mating-Type Bias in Natural Populations of the Anther-Smut Ustilago violacea on Silene alba in Virginia

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/3761395.Complete individual-wide mating-type bias (retrieval of sporidia of only one mating type from germinated teliospores of one fungal individual) was observed to be a common and widespread feature of the anther-smut fungus, Ustilago violacea, collected from natural populations of its host, Silene alba. The bias was usually to mating type A1, but the frequency of bias and its spatial distribution varied from region to region. Populations with high frequencies of bias still showed high rates of disease transmission. Crosses between A1 mating type sporidial lines from completely biased individuals and A2 mating types from unbiased individuals showed no bias in the progeny. During teliospore germination, biased individuals often showed conjugation among adjacent cells of the promycelium, suggesting that both mating types are present in the germinating teliospore but one mating type is unable to grow as free-living sporidia. The complete bias was most readily interpreted as evidence of "haploid lethals" linked to mating type that cause poor survival or growth of the sporidial stage. The results show that such "haploid lethals" may be a common occurrence in natural populations, and that fungal mating systems may vary considerably over short distances

Livestock abundance predicts vampire bat demography, immune profiles, and bacterial infection risk

Human activities create novel food resources that can alter wildlife–pathogen interactions. If resources amplify or dampen, pathogen transmission probably depends on both host ecology and pathogen biology, but studies that measure responses to provisioning across both scales are rare. We tested these relationships with a 4-year study of 369 common vampire bats across 10 sites in Peru and Belize that differ in the abundance of livestock, an important anthropogenic food source. We quantified innate and adaptive immunity from bats and assessed infection with two common bacteria. We predicted that abundant livestock could reduce starvation and foraging effort, allowing for greater investments in immunity. Bats from high-livestock sites had higher microbicidal activity and proportions of neutrophils but lower immunoglobulin G and proportions of lymphocytes, suggesting more investment in innate relative to adaptive immunity and either greater chronic stress or pathogen exposure. This relationship was most pronounced in reproductive bats, which were also more common in high-livestock sites, suggesting feedbacks between demographic correlates of provisioning and immunity. Infection with both Bartonella and haemoplasmas were correlated with similar immune profiles, and both pathogens tended to be less prevalent in high-livestock sites, although effects were weaker for haemoplasmas. These differing responses to provisioning might therefore reflect distinct transmission processes. Predicting how provisioning alters host–pathogen interactions requires considering how both within-host processes and transmission modes respond to resource shifts

Measurement of Spinal Sagittal Curvatures using the Laser Triangulation Method

The purpose of the first part of the study was to establish the variability of repeated measurements in different measuring conditions. In the second part, we performed in a large number of patients, a measurement of thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis and compared them to age, gender, and level of nourishment. In the first part, measurements were performed on a plastic model of the back of a patient with a rigid and a normal spine. In the second part, 250 patients participated in the study (126 men and 124 women). For measuring spinal curvatures we used an apparatus for laser triangulation constructed at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana. A comparison of 30 repeated measurements was shown as the average value±2 SD which included 95% of the results. Thirty repeated readings of one 3D measurement: thoracic kyphosis 41.2°±0.6°, lumbar lordosis 4.4°±1.2°; 30 measurements on a plastic model: thoracic kyphosis 36.8°±1.2°, lumbar lordosis 30.9°±2.0°; 30 measurements on a patient with a rigid spine: thoracic kyphosis 41.5°±2.4°, lumbar lordosis 4.0°±1.8°; 30 measurements on a patient with a normal spine: thoracic kyphosis 48.8°±7.4°, lumbar lordosis 21.1°±4.4°. The average size of thoracic kyphosis in 250 patients was 46.8° (SD 10.1°) and lumbar lordosis 31.7° (SD 12.5°). The angle size was statistically significantly correlated to gender (increased thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis in women) and body mass index (increased thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis in more nourished patients). Age was not significantly correlated to the observed angles. During measurements of the spinal angles it was important to pay attention to relaxation and the patient’s position as well as to perform more measurements providing the average value. The age and the level of nourishment influence the size of the sagittal spinal angles. In the observed sample the effect of age was not confirmed

Migratory monarchs that encounter resident monarchs show life‐history differences and higher rates of parasite infection

Environmental change induces some wildlife populations to shift from migratory to resident behaviours. Newly formed resident populations could influence the health and behaviour of remaining migrants. We investigated migrant–resident interactions among monarch butterflies and consequences for life history and parasitism. Eastern North American monarchs migrate annually to Mexico, but some now breed year‐round on exotic milkweed in the southern US and experience high infection prevalence of protozoan parasites. Using stable isotopes (δ2H, δ13C) and cardenolide profiles to estimate natal origins, we show that migrant and resident monarchs overlap during fall and spring migration. Migrants at sites with residents were 13 times more likely to have infections and three times more likely to be reproductive (outside normal breeding season) compared to other migrants. Exotic milkweed might either attract migrants that are already infected or reproductive, or alternatively, induce these states. Increased migrant–resident interactions could affect monarch parasitism, migratory success and long‐term conservation.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146381/1/ele13144_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146381/2/ele13144.pd

Emerging Infectious Disease leads to Rapid Population Decline of Common British Birds

Emerging infectious diseases are increasingly cited as threats to wildlife, livestock and humans alike. They can threaten geographically isolated or critically endangered wildlife populations; however, relatively few studies have clearly demonstrated the extent to which emerging diseases can impact populations of common wildlife species. Here, we report the impact of an emerging protozoal disease on British populations of greenfinch Carduelis chloris and chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, two of the most common birds in Britain. Morphological and molecular analyses showed this to be due to Trichomonas gallinae. Trichomonosis emerged as a novel fatal disease of finches in Britain in 2005 and rapidly became epidemic within greenfinch, and to a lesser extent chaffinch, populations in 2006. By 2007, breeding populations of greenfinches and chaffinches in the geographic region of highest disease incidence had decreased by 35% and 21% respectively, representing mortality in excess of half a million birds. In contrast, declines were less pronounced or absent in these species in regions where the disease was found in intermediate or low incidence. Also, populations of dunnock Prunella modularis, which similarly feeds in gardens, but in which T. gallinae was rarely recorded, did not decline. This is the first trichomonosis epidemic reported in the scientific literature to negatively impact populations of free-ranging non-columbiform species, and such levels of mortality and decline due to an emerging infectious disease are unprecedented in British wild bird populations. This disease emergence event demonstrates the potential for a protozoan parasite to jump avian host taxonomic groups with dramatic effect over a short time period

First Principles Modeling of Nonlinear Incidence Rates in Seasonal Epidemics

In this paper we used a general stochastic processes framework to derive from first principles the incidence rate function that characterizes epidemic models. We investigate a particular case, the Liu-Hethcote-van den Driessche's (LHD) incidence rate function, which results from modeling the number of successful transmission encounters as a pure birth process. This derivation also takes into account heterogeneity in the population with regard to the per individual transmission probability. We adjusted a deterministic SIRS model with both the classical and the LHD incidence rate functions to time series of the number of children infected with syncytial respiratory virus in Banjul, Gambia and Turku, Finland. We also adjusted a deterministic SEIR model with both incidence rate functions to the famous measles data sets from the UK cities of London and Birmingham. Two lines of evidence supported our conclusion that the model with the LHD incidence rate may very well be a better description of the seasonal epidemic processes studied here. First, our model was repeatedly selected as best according to two different information criteria and two different likelihood formulations. The second line of evidence is qualitative in nature: contrary to what the SIRS model with classical incidence rate predicts, the solution of the deterministic SIRS model with LHD incidence rate will reach either the disease free equilibrium or the endemic equilibrium depending on the initial conditions. These findings along with computer intensive simulations of the models' Poincaré map with environmental stochasticity contributed to attain a clear separation of the roles of the environmental forcing and the mechanics of the disease transmission in shaping seasonal epidemics dynamics

Bursts of vertex activation and epidemics in evolving networks

The dynamic nature of contact patterns creates diverse temporal structures. In particular, empirical studies have shown that contact patterns follow heterogeneous inter-event time intervals, meaning that periods of high activity are followed by long periods of inactivity. To investigate the impact of these heterogeneities in the spread of infection from a theoretical perspective, we propose a stochastic model to generate temporal networks where vertices make instantaneous contacts following heterogeneous inter-event intervals, and may leave and enter the system. We study how these properties affect the prevalence of an infection and estimate , the number of secondary infections of an infectious individual in a completely susceptible population, by modeling simulated infections (SI and SIR) that co-evolve with the network structure. We find that heterogeneous contact patterns cause earlier and larger epidemics in the SIR model in comparison to homogeneous scenarios for a vast range of parameter values, while smaller epidemics may happen in some combinations of parameters. In the case of SI and heterogeneous patterns, the epidemics develop faster in the earlier stages followed by a slowdown in the asymptotic limit. For increasing vertex turnover rates, heterogeneous patterns generally cause higher prevalence in comparison to homogeneous scenarios with the same average inter-event interval. We find that is generally higher for heterogeneous patterns, except for sufficiently large infection duration and transmission probability

Investigation of the Climatic and Environmental Context of Hendra Virus Spillover Events 1994–2010

Hendra virus is a recently emerged bat-borne zoonotic agent with high lethality in horses and humans in Australia. This is a rare disease and the determinants of bat to horse transmission, including the factors that bring these hosts together at critical times, are poorly understood. In this cross-disciplinary study climatic and vegetation primary productivity variables are compared for the dispersed and heterogenic 1994–2010 outbreak sites. The significant occurrence of spillover events within the dry season (p =  0.013, 95% CI (0.57–0.98)) suggests seasonal forcing of transmission across species, or seasonal forcing of virus excretion by the reservoir host. We explore the evidence for both. Preliminary investigations of the spatial determinants of Hendra disease locations are also presented. We find that postal areas in the Australian state of Queensland in which pteropid fruit bat (flying fox) roosts occur are approximately forty times more likely (OR = 40.5, (95% CI (5.16, 317.52)) to be the location of Hendra spillover events. This appears to be independent of density of horses at these locations. We consider issues of scale of host resource use, land use change and limitations of existing data that challenge analysis and limit further conclusive outcomes. This investigation of a broad range of potential climatic and environmental influences provides a good base for future investigations. Further understanding of cross-species Hendra virus transmission requires better understanding of flying fox resource use in the urban-rural landscape