The Effects Of Problem Drinking On The Utilization Of Physicians In Canadian Family Practice

This study was concerned with the extent to which the abuse of alcoholic beverages is associated with the frequency of use of physicians in Canadian family practice and the type of morbidity presented to the doctor. The study group was composed of 108 problem drinkers identified in two family medical practices in London, Ontario. The utilization of their family physician was compared to a matched control group over a two-year period. Utilization by the spouses and children living with the problem drinkers was also examined. Data were obtained retrospectively from a problem oriented, patient classification system and other aspects of the medical records. The main dependent variables were the average number of patient-physician contacts per year and the type of diagnoses made during each contact.;The results showed that problem drinkers were in contact with their family physician twice as often as matched control patients. They were also more likely to be diagnosed as having neoplastic disease, endocrine/nutrition disorders, mental health problems, drug or tobacco abuse, respiratory, digestive and skin disease, vague signs, symptoms and ill-defined conditions, traumatic injuries and social/marital/family problems. The higher rate of utilization was due primarily to the higher prevalence of psychosocial problems and traumatic injuries.;Spouses of the problem drinkers did not differ significantly from their matched controls on the frequency of utilization, although visits were more common for mental health problems and problems associated with social/marital/family relationships. No differences in utilization emerged when the overall sample of children of problem drinkers was compared to their control group. However, index children between the ages of six and eleven were more frequent attenders and had more psychosocial problems.;The findings of this investigation are discussed in terms of the development of case finding procedures to detect familial alcohol abuse and the planning of future studies into the efficacy of therapeutic interventions with these families

Soft X--Ray Properties of Seyfert Galaxies in the Rosat All--Sky Survey

We present the results of ROSAT All-Sky Survey observations of Seyfert and IR-luminous galaxies from the Extended 12 Micron Galaxy Sample and the optically-selected CfA Sample. Roughly half of the Seyferts (mostly Seyfert 1s) have been fitted to an absorbed power-law model, yielding an average gamma of 2.26+-0.11 for 43 Seyfert 1s and 2.45+-0.18 for 10 Seyfert 2s, with both types having a median value of 2.3. The soft X-ray (SXR) luminosity correlates with the 12um luminosity, with Seyfert 1s having relatively more SXR emission than Seyfert 2s of similar mid-infrared luminosities, by a factor of 1.6+-0.3. Several physical interpretations of these results are discussed, including the standard unified model for Seyfert galaxies. Infrared-luminous non-Seyferts are shown to have similar distributions of SXR luminosity and X-ray-to-IR slope as Seyfert 2s, suggesting that some of them may harbor obscured active nuclei (as has already been shown to be true for several objects) and/or that the soft X-rays from some Seyferts 2s may be non-nuclear. A SXR luminosity function (XLF) is calculated for the 12um sample, which is well described by a single power-law with a slope of -1.75. The normalization of this XLF agrees well with that of a HXR selected sample. Several of our results, related to the XLF and the X-ray-to-IR relation are shown to be consistent with the HXR observations of the 12um sample by Barcons et al.Comment: AASTeX, 40 pages. Text and Table 2 only. PostScript versions of this file, figures, and Table 1, and a latex version of Table 1 are available by ftp://ftp.astro.ucla.edu/pub/rush/papers, get rmfv*. Accepted by ApJ ~1996 May 10. Should be published in late 199

Housing for People with Substance Use and Concurrent Disorders: Summary of Literature and Annotated Bibliography

Researchers at the Centre for Applied Research on Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA) were contracted by Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to compile a brief, annotated bibliography focussing on the provision of housing for people with substance use and co-occurring mental disorders. A comprehensive literature review was completed. The list of publications and search methods are attached. The initial list was culled to extract those manuscripts with the greatest relevance. An expert panel reviewed each of the selected manuscripts and reached consensus on the major conclusions, implications, and quality of each paper. Finally, a brief synopsis of findings was produced

The Radio Properties of Seyfert Galaxies in the 12--Micron and CfA Samples

We report the results of 20, 6, and 2 cm VLA and 1.5 cm OVRO observations of the optically-selected CfA Seyfert galaxies and the bolometric-flux-limited 12-Micron active galaxy sample. Every object observed was detected at 6 cm. Only 6-8% of the 12um sample Seyferts (3-4 objects) are radio-loud (and none of the CfA sample), as compared to 15-20% for the BQS quasars. These radio-loud objects are compact and have flat spectra, distinguishing them from the more common radio-quiet objects. The 6-20 cm slopes of the Seyfert 1s and 2s are similar, with average values of about -0.7. Although several Seyfert 1s are significantly flatter than this in their 6-20 and/or 1.5-6 cm slopes, there is no systematic trend for either Seyfert type to display upward or downward spectral curvature. Excluding the radio-loud quasars, the integrated 6 cm radio luminosity is linearly proportional to the 60um luminosity over several orders of magnitude, with on average twice the radio power of normal spirals of the same far-infrared power. About half of the objects show extended 6 cm emission, contributing on average 33% of the total flux. Thus the luminosities of these extended components alone are comparable to normal spirals of similar infrared luminosities. The 12um sample radio luminosity function is slightly higher than that of the CfA sample. The integrated space density of Seyfert 2s is about 2 times that of Seyfert 1s over their common range in luminosity. In terms of the standard unified model, this ratio in space density corresponds to a typical half-angle of the torus of about 48 degress.Comment: AASTeX, 16 pages. Text and Tables 3-4 only. PostScript versions of this file, figures, and Tables 1-2, and a latex version of Tables 1-2 are available at ftp://ftp.astro.ucla.edu/pub/incoming/rush/, mget rme_*. Also get longtable.sty & fancyheadings.sty from there if you don't have them. Accepted by ApJ ~1996 July

Multiwavelength Energy Distributions and Bolometric Luminosities of the 12--Micron Galaxy Sample

Aperture photometry from our own observations and the literature is presented for the 12\um\ Galaxies in the near infrared J, H and K bands and, in some cases, in the L band. These data are corrected to ``total'' near--infrared magnitudes, (with a typical uncertainty of 0.3 magnitudes) for a direct comparison with our IRAS fluxes which apply to the entire galaxy. The corrected data are used to derive integrated total NIR and FIR luminosities. We then combine these with blue photometry and an estimate of the flux contribution from cold dust at wavelengths longward of 100\um\ to derive the first {\it bolometric\/} luminosities for a large sample of galaxies. We use multiwavelength correlations to identify several combinations of infrared colors which discriminate between Seyfert~1 and~2 galaxies, LINERs, and ultraluminous starbursts. We find that bolometric luminosity is more closely proportional to 12-micron luminosity than to 60-micron, 25-micron or optical luminosity.Comment: AASTeX, 18 pages. Text only. Figures (28) and tables (3) available at ftp://eggneb.astro.ucla.edu/pub/rush/, named Spinoglio95-Table*.dat (ASCII) and Spinoglio95-figs.ps (PostScript; 7 pages, by 4 per page). Scheduled for the 1995 November 10 issue of Ap

A tiered model of substance use severity and life complexity : potential for application to needs-based planning

Background: In order to improve long-term outcomes for individuals with substance use problems, one approach is to adopt a system planning model that considers both addiction severity and life complexities. The tiered approach has been developed and tested to describe systems-level need based on levels of risk and problem severity. Methods: An existing tiered model was modified to accommodate Australian data, incorporating substance use severity and life complexity. The hypothesis was that tiers would reflect differences in well-being amongst help seekers such that an increase in tier would be associated with a reduction in well-being, suggesting the need for more intensive (and integrated) interventions. The model was tested using 2 data sets of screening data, collected from face-to-face alcohol and other drug (AOD) service (n = 430) and online help (n = 309) seekers, drawn from a larger sample of 2,766 screens. The screen included demographic information and substance use, mental health, and quality of life measures. Results: There was a significant relationship between well-being and tier ranking, suggesting that the model adequately captured elements of severity and complexity that impact on well-being. There were notable differences between the help-seeking populations with a higher proportion of online respondents allocated to lower tiers and more face-to-face respondents allocated to higher tiers. However, there was an overlap in these populations, with more than half of online respondents classified as higher tiers and one fifth of face-to-face respondents classified as lower tiers. This suggests that the model can be used both to assess unmet need in out-of-treatment groups and demand in the absence of dependence in a subpopulation of the face-to-face treatment population. Conclusions: The tiered model provides a method to understand levels of AOD treatment need and, as part of needs-based planning, may be used to optimize treatment responses and resourcing

Double-Crested Cormorant Colony Effects on Soil Chemistry, Vegetation Structure and Avian Diversity in a Southeastern Reservoir System

Ornithogenic material delivered by Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) from their nesting colonies have been documented to effect vegetation, soil chemistry and tree and plant health in the northern breeding grounds of Canada and the United States (U.S.). However, little work has been done on impacts to avian communities or in temperate forest ecosystems. We compared soil chemistry, vegetation and tree structure and diversity and effects on avian communities among colony islands, uninhabited islands and abandoned colony islands within Guntersville Reservoir, a temperate forest ecosystem. Concentrations of potassium (K), phosphorus (P) and nitrate (NO3-) in soil were negatively related to cormorant use, while tree diversity was lower on historic (tree mean = 4.35 ± 2.46 species) and colony (tree mean = 3.91 ± 3.12 species) islands relative to control islands (tree mean = 9.11 ± 3.88 species). Canopy cover was less (min: \u3c 20%), and midstories denser on colony and historic islands relative to control islands. Avian diversity was lower for colony islands (mean = 6 ± 3 species) than both control (11 ± 7 species) and historic (10 ± 7 species) islands. These effects of cormorant nesting can be seen even after 10 years of colony abandonment supporting that cormorants can have long-term effects on insular habitats even in temperate forest ecosystems

Predicting consistent foraging ecologies of migrating waterbirds: Using stable isotope and parasite measurements as indicators of landscape use

The emergence of novel human pathogens is frequently linked with zoonotic events and human-wildlife interactions that promote disease transmission. Consequently, surveillance of wildlife populations for candidate diseases that could spread to humans is beneficial, but requires widespread collections of numerous samples. A legitimate means to acquire large sample sizes of waterfowl is through cooperation between researchers and hunters, who also work in concert with natural resource managers, landowners, and agricultural entities -e.g., aquaculture facilities. In addition to understanding the occurrence and spread of parasites and pathogens by birds, these samples can be used to answer questions about the ecology of various waterbird species. Body mass and morphometric data on hunter-donated specimen are useful for understanding bird condition and other dynamics of birds; however, when breast meat is removed prior to the acquisition of specimen weight, samples might not be as desirable. Here, we evaluate the utility of data obtained from a bird species that might be targeted by hunters and subsequently used to learn about their disease dynamics. Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) collected at aquaculture facilities were assessed for their stable isotope concentrations and parasites communities to learn about the birds’ foraging ecology. Discriminant analyses designed to classify birds by the aquaculture pond type from which they were collected included isotope data, Principal Components derived from parasite community data of 7 types, and birds’ body mass. We compared these to Double-crested Cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) feeding on catfish and found the two waterbird species exhibited different infracommunities of parasites Furthermore, some scaup demonstrated fish aquaculture pond type fidelity. Bird body mass was an important metric to include in analytical models when all parasite datatypes were not available. However, the combination of stable isotope concentrations and parasite infracommunity data (that includes prevalence, abundance, volume, and energy use) in models resulted in host ecology differentiation equal or better than models where bird body mass was included. Hunter-derived samples should be encouraged as a means for sample acquisition and be considered as an approach for aquaculture-wildlife conflict management as the information that can be obtained through these samples is multifaceted

Double-crested cormorant colony effects on soil chemistry, vegetation structure and avian diversity

Effects of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) on vegetation, soil chemistry and tree health have been documented from their breeding colonies in the northern breeding grounds of Canada and the United States (U.S.) but not for areas within the southeastern United States where breeding activity is relatively novel. We compared vegetation and tree metrics such as structure diversity, and soil chemistry among colony islands, uninhabited islands, and abandoned colony islands within Guntersville Reservoir, a temperate forest ecosystem. Avian diversity and community structure were also quantified on these islands. Concentrations of potassium (K), phosphorus (P) and nitrate (NO3 −) in soil were negatively related to cormorant use, while tree diversity was lower on historic (tree mean=4.35 ± 2.46 species) and colony (tree mean=3.91 ± 3.12 species) islands relative to reference islands (tree mean=9.11 ± 3.88 species). Canopy cover was less (min:\u3c20%), and midstories denser on colony and historic islands relative to reference islands. Avian diversity was significantly lower for colony islands (mean=6 ± 3 species) than both reference (11 ± 7 species) and historic (10 ± 7 species) islands. These effects of cormorant nesting can be seen even after 10 years of colony abandonment supporting that cormorants can have long-term effects on insular habitats in temperate forest ecosystems