The importance of habitat quality for marine reserve fishery linkages

We model marine reserve - fishery linkages to evaluate the potential contribution of habitat-quality improvements inside a marine reserve to fish productivity and fishery catches. Data from Mombasa Marine National Park, Kenya, and the adjacent fishery are used. Marine reserves increase total fish biomass directly by providing refuge from exploitation and indirectly by improving fish habitat in the reserve. As natural mortality of the fish stock decreases in response to habitat enhancement in the reserve, catches increase by up to 2.6 tonnes (t).km(-2).year(-1) and total fish biomass by up to 36 t.km(-2). However, if habitat-quality improvement reduces the propensity of fish to move out of the reserve, catches may fall by up to 0.9 t.km(-2).year(-1). Our results indicate that habitat protection in reserves can underpin fish productivity and, depending on its effects on fish movements, augment catches

Holistic Health: Does It Really Include Mental Health?

Holistic health, incorporating mind and body as equally important and unified components of health, is a concept utilized in some health care arenas in the United States (U.S.) over the past 30 years. However, in the U.S., mental health is not seen as conceptually integral to physical health and, thus, holistic health cannot be realized until the historical concept of mind-body dualism, continuing stigma regarding mental illness, lack of mental health parity in insurance, and inaccurate public perceptions regarding mental illness are adequately addressed and resolved. Until then, mental and physical health will continue to be viewed as disparate entities rather than parts of a unified whole. We conclude that the U.S. currently does not generally incorporate the tenets of holistic health in its view of the mental and physical health of its citizens, and provide some suggestions for changing that viewpoint

From Healing the Whole Person: An Argument for Therapeutic Touch as a Complement to Traditional Medical Practice

The growing popularity and use of therapeutic touch (TT) is an issue that has generated controversy and concern within the medical community. While anecdotal and traditional scientific evidence suggest that TT would be an advantageous addition for clinics and hospitals to include in their armamentarium of complementary interventions within the realm of traditional medicine, TT has not become widely available in the U.S. One reason for the lack of availability may be the dearth of conclusive scientific support for TT\u27s efficacy and, therefore, its inclusion in clinic and hospital treatment planning would give it the appearance of legitimate practice, which it may not yet deserve. Whether or not deserved, if TT were added to hospital and clinic treatment protocols without substantial scientific support, it would be thought to have the implicit support of the scientific community, at which point the question of its efficacy would be moot in the minds of many people; thus patients would utilize it, because they believe it works rather than because it works. Since TT has not yet been scientifically proven as per Western standards, leaders of the health care community are likely wary of lending support to TT at this time. If TT can be found to be a scientifically sound therapeutic technique, then it will be more readily accepted in the health care community. This paper reviews TT

Mental Health and Chronic Disease

By 2015, worldwide, 1.2 billion children aged 5-14 years will have some kind of significant chronic disease. Although scientific evidence indicates that children with chronic illness have more mental health issues than their healthy peers, many controversies and gaps in the literature exist. It is imperative that an understanding of the effects of chronic illness upon the mental health status of children and adolescents be undertaken. This chapter uses a biopsychosocial perspective to investigate the connection between chronic illness and mental health. The intent of the chapter is to suggest ways that medical and mental health professionals can provide services to chronically ill children and adolescents that foster positive mental health through the achievement of all developmental tasks with as little psychological stress as possible

Psychological and Social Development

The global epidemic of childhood and adolescent overweight has become a major public health concern. Not only are these youth more likely to become obese as adults, and thus more prone to obesity-related diseases than their non overweight peers, they are also likely to suffer emotional and social effects associated with overweight. Overweight in youth has been linked to depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, negative body image, and stigma. It appears to be bi-directional in nature, with overweight sometimes predicting certain psychological effects and psychosocial issues sometimes predicting overweight. Effective assessment and treatment of psychological and mental health issues in overweight youth will help overweight youth deal more effectively with their social and psychological milieus. Additionally, interventions for mental health concerns may have the added health benefit of increasing weight loss, thus decreasing obesity-related disease for which the overweight adolescent is prone

Chronic Illness and Mental Health Issues

By 2015, worldwide, 1.2 billion children aged 5-14 years will have some kind of significant chronic disease. Although scientific evidence indicates that children with chronic illness have more mental health issues than their healthy peers, many controversies and gaps in the literature exist. It is imperative that an understanding of the effects of chronic illness upon the mental health status of children and adolescent be undertaken. This article uses a biopsychosocial perspective to investigate the connection between chronic illness and mental health. The intent of the article is to suggest ways that medical and mental health professionals can provide services to chronically ill children and adolescents that foster positive mental health through the achievement of all developmental tasks with as little psychological stress as possible

A Policy and Intervention for Overweight Children and Adolescents

The global epidemic of childhood and adolescent overweight has become a major public health concern. Not only are these youth more likely to become obese adults, and thus more prone to obesity-related diseases than their non overweight peers, they are also likely to suffer emotional and social effects associated with overweight. Overweight in youth has been linked to depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, negative body image, and stigma. It appears to be bi-directional in nature, with overweight sometimes predicting certain psychological effects and psychosocial issues sometimes predicting overweight. Effective assessment and treatment of psychological and mental health issues in overweight youth will help overweight youth deal more effectively with their social and psychological milieus. Additionally, interventions for mental health concerns may have the added health benefit of increasing weight loss, thus decreasing obesity-related disease for which the overweight adolescent is prone

Chronic Illness and Mental Health Issues

By 2015, worldwide, 1.2 billion children aged 5-14 years will have some kind of significant chronic disease. Although scientific evidence indicates that children with chronic illness have more mental health issues than their healthy peers, many controversies and gaps in the literature exist. It is imperative that an understanding of the effects of chronic illness upon the mental health status of children and adolescent be undertaken. This article uses a biopsychosocial perspective to investigate the connection between chronic illness and mental health. The intent of the article is to suggest ways that medical and mental health professionals can provide services to chronically ill children and adolescents that foster positive mental health through the achievement of all developmental tasks with as little psychological stress as possible

Overweight Children and Adolescents: Impact on Psychological and Social Development

The global epidemic of childhood and adolescent overweight has become a major public health concern. Not only are these youth more likely to become obese as adults, and thus more prone to obesity-related diseases than their non overweight peers, they are also likely to suffer emotional and social effects associated with overweight. Overweight in youth has been linked to depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, negative body image, and stigma. It appears to be bi-directional in nature, with overweight sometimes predicting certain psychological effects and psychosocial issues sometimes predicting overweight. Effective assessment and treatment of psychological and mental health issues in overweight youth will help overweight youth deal more effectively with their social and psychological milieus. Additionally, interventions for mental health concerns may have the added health benefit of increasing weight loss, thus decreasing obesityrelated disease for which the overweight adolescent is prone

Psychological and Social Development

The global epidemic of childhood and adolescent overweight has become a major public health concern. Not only are these youth more likely to become obese as adults, and thus more prone to obesity-related diseases than their non overweight peers, they are also likely to suffer emotional and social effects associated with overweight. Overweight in youth has been linked to depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, negative body image, and stigma. It appears to be bi-directional in nature, with overweight sometimes predicting certain psychological effects and psychosocial issues sometimes predicting overweight. Effective assessment and treatment of psychological and mental health issues in overweight youth will help overweight youth deal more effectively with their social and psychological milieus. Additionally, interventions for mental health concerns may have the added health benefit of increasing weight loss, thus decreasing obesity-related disease for which the overweight adolescent is prone