MR398: Water Quality Affects Property Prices: A Case Study of Selected Maine Lakes

Lake-front property owners are potentially the recipients of the greatest economic gains from improved lake-water quality because the benefits of water quality can be capitalized in the price of lake-front properties. These same lake-front owners may also directly affect lake-water quality through the actions they take on their properties. The objective of this study is to estimate the effect of water clarity on lake-front property prices for selected Maine lakes using a hedonic property-price model. Hedonic models are used to estimate the share of property prices that are attributable to characteristics of the properties. The share of a property’s price that is attributable to water quality is identified through the price differentials between properties on lakes with differing levels of water quality, while controlling for other property characteristics.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_miscreports/1003/thumbnail.jp

Piloting the Alcohol Feedback, Reflection, and Morning Evaluation (A-FRAME) Program : A Smartphone-delivered Alcohol Intervention

Many college students engage in heavy drinking and experience negative consequences, but typically show little motivation to change their drinking behavior. Although personalized feedback interventions (PFIs) show promise, improved effect sizes, engagement, and potential for reach are needed. We developed and pilot-tested a theory-based, smartphone-delivered PFI for heavy-drinking college students that incorporated innovations, including a choice of feedback delivered in multiple doses that occur close in time to drinking events. In an open trial, we delivered the 4-week intervention to 18 heavy-drinking students, followed by individual interviews of participants’ experience. Feasibility was demonstrated by high enrollment and response rates, and acceptability was demonstrated by positive participant ratings and interview responses. Results will inform efforts to continue to develop this novel and scalable mobile intervention for alcohol misuse among college students, with potential impact for the public health problem of high-risk drinking

Effects of a Body-Oriented Response Measure on the Neural Substrate of Imagined Perspective Rotations

Previous behavioral studies suggest that response measures related to the body, such as pointing, serve to anchor participants to their physical body during mental rotation tasks in which their perspective must be shifted elsewhere. This study investigated whether such measures engage spatial and low-level cortical motor areas of the brain more readily than non-body-related measures. We directly compared activation found in two imagined perspective rotation tasks, using responses that varied in the degree to which they emphasized the human body. In the body minimize condition, participants imagined rotating themselves around an object and judged whether a prescribed part of the object would be visible from the imagined viewpoint. In the body maximize condition, participants imagined rotating around the object and then located the prescribed object part with respect to their bodies. A direct comparison of neural activation in both conditions revealed distinct yet overlapping neural regions. The body maximize condition yielded activation in low-level cortical motor areas such as premotor cortex and primary motor cortex, as well as bilateral spatial processing areas. The body minimize condition yielded activation in nonmotoric egocentric processing regions. However, both conditions showed activation in the parietal-occipital region that is thought to be involved in egocentric transformations. These findings are discussed in the context of recent hypotheses regarding the role of the body percept in imagined egocentric transformations. © 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Age Moderates the Effect of Self-Paced Exercise on Exercise Adherence among Overweight Adults

Objective: The present study tested the hypothesis that the effect of self-paced exercise on adherence to exercise programs is more pronounced with increasing age. Method: Fifty-nine low-active overweight adults (18-65 years) were encouraged to walk 30 to 60 min/day and randomized to either self-paced (n = 30) or prescribed moderate-intensity (n = 29) conditions. Results: The effect of study condition was moderated by age (main effect: b = 6.14, SE = 2.54, p = .02; Condition × Age: b = −11.55, SE = 3.77, p \u3c .01), such that among participants \u3e50 years, those in the self-paced condition exercised 6 more min/day than participants in the prescribed moderate-intensity condition (p = .02), whereas among participants \u3c50 \u3eyears, those in the self-paced condition exercised 5.4 fewer min/day compared with those in the moderate-intensity condition (p = .05). Affective response to physical activity did not mediate the moderating effect of age. Discussion: As age increases, adults may be more likely to adhere to self-paced versus prescribed moderate-intensity exercise

Affective response as a mediator of the association between the physical and social environment and physical activity behavior

Perceptions of the physical and social environment have been shown to be predictive of physical activity (PA) behavior. However, the mechanisms of this association have not been examined. Affective response to PA was examined as a putative mediator of the association between perceptions of the PA environment and subsequent PA behavior. As part of a PA promotion study, 59 low-active overweight or obese but otherwise healthy adults completed real-time assessments of the perceived physical and social PA environment, affective response to PA, and PA behavior over a 6-month period. As hypothesized, decreased latency to and greater duration of subsequent PA was predicted by engaging in PA with a partner (b = 17.24, SE = .45, p \u3c .01), engaging in PA outdoors versus indoors (b = 3.70, SE = 0.67, p \u3c .01), and perceived pleasantness of the physical (b = 0.59, SE = .17, p \u3c .01) and social settings (b = 0.68, SE = .16, p \u3c .01). Affective response to PA (a shift toward feeling good versus bad during PA) mediated the association between engaging in PA with a partner (a path: 0.53(.11), p \u3c .01, b path: 0.42(.12), p \u3c .01, ab path: 0.22(.08), 95% CI .09–.41) and perceived pleasantness of the physical (a path: .38(.02), p \u3c .01; b path: .65(.23), p = .01; ab path: .25(.09), 95% CI .08–.43) and social setting (apath: .35(.02), p \u3c .01; b path: .57(.23), p = .01; ab path: .20(.08), 95% CI .03–.37) and PA behavior, but not the association between engaging in PA outdoors versus indoors and PA behavior. These findings suggest that perceived environmental variables may have their effects on PA through the process of psychological hedonism

Development, validation and clinical utility of a risk prediction model for adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with gestational diabetes:The PeRSonal GDM model

BACKGROUND: The ability to calculate the absolute risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes for an individual woman with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) would allow preventative and therapeutic interventions to be delivered to women at high-risk, sparing women at low-risk from unnecessary care. We aimed to develop, validate and evaluate the clinical utility of a prediction model for adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with GDM. METHODS: A prediction model development and validation study was conducted on data from a observational cohort. Participants included all women with GDM from three metropolitan tertiary teaching hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. The development cohort comprised those who delivered between 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 and the validation cohort those who delivered between 1 July 2018 to 31 December 2018. The main outcome was a composite of critically important maternal and perinatal complications (hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, large-for-gestational age neonate, neonatal hypoglycaemia requiring intravenous therapy, shoulder dystocia, perinatal death, neonatal bone fracture and nerve palsy). Model performance was measured in terms of discrimination and calibration and clinical utility evaluated using decision curve analysis. FINDINGS: The final PeRSonal (Prediction for Risk Stratified care for women with GDM) model included body mass index, maternal age, fasting and 1-hour glucose values (75-g oral glucose tolerance test), gestational age at GDM diagnosis, Southern and Central Asian ethnicity, East Asian ethnicity, nulliparity, past delivery of an large-for-gestational age neonate, past pre-eclampsia, GWG until GDM diagnosis, and family history of diabetes. The composite adverse pregnancy outcome occurred in 27% (476/1747) of women in the development (1747 women) and in 26% (244/955) in the validation (955 women) cohorts. The model showed excellent calibration with slope of 0.99 (95% CI 0.75 to 1.23) and acceptable discrimination (c-statistic 0.68; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.72) when temporally validated. Decision curve analysis demonstrated that the model was useful across a range of predicted probability thresholds between 0.15 and 0.85 for adverse pregnancy outcomes compared to the alternatives of managing all women with GDM as if they will or will not have an adverse pregnancy outcome. INTERPRETATION: The PeRSonal GDM model comprising of routinely available clinical data shows compelling performance, is transportable across time, and has clinical utility across a range of predicted probabilities. Further external validation of the model to a more disparate population is now needed to assess the generalisability to different centres, community based care and low resource settings, other healthcare systems and to different GDM diagnostic criteria. FUNDING: This work is supported by the Mothers and Gestational Diabetes in Australia 2 NHMRC funded project #1170847

Abdominal aortic aneurysms part two: Surgical management, postoperative complications and surveillance.

Large, symptomatic and ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms are usually treated surgically if patients are deemed fit enough. This may be achieved through endovascular or open surgical repair. The type of treatment that a patient receives is dependant on many factors, such as the rupture status of the aneurysm. Each approach is also associated with different risks and postoperative complications. Multiple guidelines exist to inform the surgical management of abdominal aortic aneurysms. This literature review combines these recommendations and explores the evidence upon which they are based. In addition, it highlights the key perioperative considerations that need to be considered in cases of unruptured and ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms

Abdominal aortic aneurysms part one: Epidemiology, presentation and preoperative considerations.

An abdominal aortic aneurysm is an irreversible dilatation of the abdominal aorta. The majority of abdominal aortic aneurysms are asymptomatic and identified incidentally while investigating a separate pathology. Others are detected by national screening programmes and some present due to a growth or rupture. Symptomatic or ruptured aneurysms require urgent or emergency repair in patients fit for surgery. Perioperative practitioners should therefore be aware of how patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms present and are investigated, so that they can implement timely management. Guidelines have been recently updated to reflect this. This literature review discusses these recommendations and explores the evidence upon which they are based. The aim of this article is to highlight the important preoperative principles that need to be considered in cases of abdominal aortic aneurysm

Demographic profiles and environmental drivers of variation relate to individual breeding state in a long-lived trans-oceanic migratory seabird, the Manx shearwater.

Understanding the points in a species breeding cycle when they are most vulnerable to environmental fluctuations is key to understanding interannual demography and guiding effective conservation and management. Seabirds represent one of the most threatened groups of birds in the world, and climate change and severe weather is a prominent and increasing threat to this group. We used a multi-state capture-recapture model to examine how the demographic rates of a long-lived trans-oceanic migrant seabird, the Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus, are influenced by environmental conditions experienced at different stages of the annual breeding cycle and whether these relationships vary with an individual's breeding state in the previous year (i.e., successful breeder, failed breeder and non-breeder). Our results imply that populations of Manx shearwaters are comprised of individuals with different demographic profiles, whereby more successful reproduction is associated with higher rates of survival and breeding propensity. However, we found that all birds experienced the same negative relationship between rates of survival and wind force during the breeding season, indicating a cost of reproduction (or central place constraint for non-breeders) during years with severe weather conditions. We also found that environmental effects differentially influence the breeding propensity of individuals in different breeding states. This suggests individual spatio-temporal variation in habitat use during the annual cycle, such that climate change could alter the frequency that individuals with different demographic profiles breed thereby driving a complex and less predictable population response. More broadly, our study highlights the importance of considering individual-level factors when examining population demography and predicting how species may respond to climate change

Site use and connectivity of female grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) around Wales

The UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) provided core funding to the Sea Mammal Research Unit during this work and NERC Grant No. NE/G008930/1 to PP and LH to develop photo-ID use for grey seals. The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation provided additional funding to PP and LH for photo-ID work with grey seals. NRW funded survey work by MB, LM, SW and PS; contracted LH for survey design, software development and data management; IL and PP for work related to the production of this manuscript.Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are a qualifying feature of three special areas of conservation (SACs) in Wales, yet relatively little is known of their site use along this coastline. Since 1992, many individuals and organisations have contributed to a grey seal photographic identification database held by Natural Resources Wales, which is one of the largest and oldest of its kind, providing key information from grey seal haul-out sites around the Celtic and Irish Seas. Here, we investigated spatial connectivity of haul-out sites and fidelity of adult females to breeding sites. The minimum number of adult female grey seals using the area between 1992 and 2016 was 2688. Individual capture histories and relative spatial transition probabilities (Pij) between pairs of location groups were calculated. Adjacent locations were highly connected (e.g. Lleyn Peninsula and Bardsey, Pij = 0.7) but connections spanned the entire region, up to 230 km apart (e.g. Skomer and Dee Estuary, Pij = 0.004). Resights were recorded within SACs (e.g. Lleyn Peninsula and Bardsey [Lleyn Peninsula and the Sarnau SAC], Pij = 0.7), between SACs (e.g. Bardsey and Skomer [Pembrokeshire Marine], Pij = 0.03), between SACs and non-designated areas (e.g. Skerries and Bardsey, Pij = 0.09) and between sites outside any protected area (e.g. Dee Estuary and Anglesey, Pij = 0.5). While inter-annual fidelity to breeding sites was high (Pij = 0.82–1), individual female grey seals moved throughout the region. This evidence of extensive site use beyond protected areas is important for the management and conservation of grey seals around Wales.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe