A Randomized Pilot Trial of a Mobile-Delivered Alcohol-Impaired Driving Brief Intervention with College Students

Alcohol-Impaired Driving (AI-Driving) among college students remains a significant public health concern. Counselor delivered and web based Brief Alcohol Interventions (BAIs) have been shown to reduce AI-driving among college students, but to date no study has selected students on the basis of recent AI-driving and evaluated the efficacy of a mobile-based BAI specific to AI-driving. The present study examined whether a mobile-based, AI-diriving specific BAI would significantly decrease AI-driving among college students compared to an informational control. Participants were 82 college students who endorsed driving after drinking two or more drinks at least twice in the past three months. After completing baseline measure, participants were randomly assigned to receive either: a) alcohol information or b) an AI-driving specific personalized feedback intervention. Participants in the personalized feedback condition received a personalized feedback document via text containing personalized feedback related to alcohol use and AI-driving. Students randomized to the information condition received standard information about alcohol and AI-driving via a link to a secure website included in text message and/or email. Participants completed outcome measures at three-month follow-up. Repeated measures mixed modeling analyses revealed that students receiving the AI-driving interventions reported significantly greater reductions in driving after drinking than students in the information condition at three-month follow-up. However, differential group differences were not found for estimated BAC prior to driving and alcohol use as both groups reduced on these outcomes at three-month follow-up. The findings of this study provide preliminary support for the efficacy of a mobile-based brief intervention for reducing alcohol-impaired driving among college students

Physiological Aeroecology: Anatomical and Physiological Adaptations for Flight

Flight has evolved independently in birds, bats, and insects and was present in the Mesozoic pterosaurians that have disappeared. Of the roughly one million living animal species, more than three-quarters are flying insects. Flying is an extremely successful way of locomotion. At first glance, this seems surprising because leaving the ground and moving in the air is energetically expensive. We will therefore start with the question: why do some animals spend a substantial proportion of their life in the air? To generate lift, a few key features are required, and yet, animals show incredible diversity in their flight mechanics. We will review constraints imposed by body size including anatomical adaptations of the skeleton, muscles, and organs necessary to stay airborne with a special focus on the wings. Ecology of the aerial organism, such as diet or migration, has diversified flight styles and the physiological adaptations required to optimize performance. For example, animals are exposed to low temperatures and low oxygen pressure at high altitude, whereas overheating can pose a problem at low altitudes. Moreover, aerial prey can be particularly apparent to aerial predators resulting in selection on flight speed and maneuverability of predators and prey. Flight is energetically costly, much more costly than walking, with the majority of the cost dictated by body mass. Hence, adding weight load to fuel flight also adds to the cost of flight. We review energy supply for flight, and special adaptations for long-term flights. Aeroecology has resulted in extraordinary visual and aural sensory systems of predators, which in coordination with the locomotor system are under strong selection to detect and intercept prey in flight

Agricultural land use and human presence around breeding sites increase stress-hormone levels and decrease body mass in barn owl nestlings.

Human activities can have a suite of positive and negative effects on animals and thus can affect various life history parameters. Human presence and agricultural practice can be perceived as stressors to which animals react with the secretion of glucocorticoids. The acute short-term secretion of glucocorticoids is considered beneficial and helps an animal to redirect energy and behaviour to cope with a critical situation. However, a long-term increase of glucocorticoids can impair e.g. growth and immune functions. We investigated how nestling barn owls (Tyto alba) are affected by the surrounding landscape and by human activities around their nest sites. We studied these effects on two response levels: (a) the physiological level of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, represented by baseline concentrations of corticosterone and the concentration attained by a standardized stressor; (b) fitness parameters: growth of the nestlings and breeding performance. Nestlings growing up in intensively cultivated areas showed increased baseline corticosterone levels late in the season and had an increased corticosterone release after a stressful event, while their body mass was decreased. Nestlings experiencing frequent anthropogenic disturbance had elevated baseline corticosterone levels, an increased corticosterone stress response and a lower body mass. Finally, breeding performance was better in structurally more diverse landscapes. In conclusion, anthropogenic disturbance affects offspring quality rather than quantity, whereas agricultural practices affect both life history traits

Pengaruh Model Kooperatif Tipe Make A-match Terhadap Hasil Belajar Siswa Pada Materi Virus Di SMA

This study was particularly aimed to reveal the effect of cooperative model of Make A-Match to student's achievement in virus material of tenth grade student's of SMAN 1 Anjongan. The form of this study was a quasi-experimental. The design of this study was nonequivalent control group design. Data were collected from two classes; those are Xc class (experimental group) and XB class (control group). The sample was taken by intact group. The instrument of this study was multiple choice tests. The average of student's achievement of experiment group was 14,42, while the average of student's achievement of control group was 10,76. The Mann-Whitney U test was obtained Zcount (-4,20)< -Ztable (-1,96), it means that there was a different between student's achievement who taught using cooperative model of Make A-Match with student's achievement who taught using conventional model

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Assessment of bio-accumulation of bacteria in oysters from shellfish growing waters in Ashtamudi Lake (Kerala, India): A RAMSAR wetland

Oysters are commercially cultured from the Ashtamudi Lake in India, and support 12,000 tonnes of bivalve fisheries/year. Oysters and oyster growing waters were sampled from July 2012 to June 2013 for analysis of total coliforms (TC), faecal coliforms (FC), Escherichia coli, faecal Streptococci (FS) and total plate counts (TPC). E. coli MPN values in oyster growing waters were below the threshold limits set by the USFDA and EU during the months of December to April. Seasonally, the highest MPN values for E. coli were obtained during the monsoon season (June–September), and this trend gradually decreased during the post-monsoon (October–January) and pre-monsoon (February–May) periods. E. coli displayed a significant (p < 0.01) variation in accumulation during different seasons. A strong negative correlation (R2 = −0.70, p < 0.05) between temperature and E. coli numbers in oysters was observed, while rainfall and E. coli were positively correlated (R2 = 0.695, p < 0.05). Hence, we strongly recommend depuration and proper cooking of oysters before consumption during the monsoon season

Feasibility of integrated bivalve farming at Pallipuram in Vypeen Island, Cochin

The technologies for edible oyster and mussel farming have been developed by CMFRI in 1980's. In order to facilitate the transfer of technologies, several demonstration trials have been carried out at various locations to test the adaptability, ecofriendliness, economic viability and sustainability of these technologies

Habitat destruction: a case study on the evaluation of litter in the marine zone of north Vembanad Lake, Kerala

Bivalves play key role in ecosystem stabilisation due to inherent filter feeding capability and clams are important components of soft bottom benthic communities. In the Tuticorin Bay, mass mortality of fishes and shellfishes was observed in Februay 2008. The probable cause for the large scale mortality has been indicated as increased levels of ammonia (Asha et al., 2009). A rapid survey was conducted in the bay to assess the impact on the bivalve fauna