'Leaves and Eats Shoots': Direct Terrestrial Feeding Can Supplement Invasive Red Swamp Crayfish in Times of Need

PMCID: PMC3411828This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Beyond Choice: 'Thick' Volunteering and the case of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

This article problematizes the dominant assumption in the literature on volunteer work that it is undertaken primarily as a matter of individual choice. Using findings from a qualitative study of volunteers at the not-for-profit organization, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, it is shown that volunteering exists within a dense web of social relations, especially familial and communal relations, so that volunteering is recursively constituted by structure and agency. The concept of 'thick volunteering' is developed to denote how in some cases these social relations, especially when the work involved is dangerous, may make volunteering especially significant

Probabilistic Assessment of the Benefits of Retrofitting Nonductile Concrete Buildings in Terms of Regional Losses

Los Angeles, California, is a densely populated city located in an area of high seismic hazard. The region’s aging building stock has contributed to concerns about the seismic resilience of the community. Recent research has highlighted the vulnerability of nonductile concrete buildings and their associated risk to safety and post-disaster recovery. Currently, there are approximately 1500 nonductile concrete buildings in the city of Los Angeles, motivating discussions for retrofit policies to mitigate the risk stemming from these buildings. While the understanding of individual building retrofit is important for the building owner, investor, and/or tenants, the evaluation of structural retrofit on an entire community can help influence policy decisions. This thesis combines advances in probabilistic regional seismic risk assessments with new assessments of retrofit performance of nonductile concrete buildings designed according to ASCE 41 to assess the benefits of retrofit policies in Los Angeles, considering a representation of the existing pre-1980 concrete buildings. Using the Seismic Performance Prediction Program (SP3) and the FEMA P-58 methodology, seismic losses for each building are presented in terms of economic losses, repair times, and fatalities. Sixty-seven different regional retrofit strategies are subsequently evaluated in terms of their ability to satisfy retrofit objectives addressing reduction in displacement of residents, in loss of occupiable building space, in earthquake-induced fatalities, and in earthquake-induced repair costs. The results show that retrofitting a minimum of 60% of the buildings to the Immediate Occupancy performance level fulfills a number of possible regional retrofit strategies and objectives for the City of Los Angeles. Design retrofits to Collapse Prevention and Life Safety performance levels require retrofitting a larger number of buildings to achieve the same improvements in regional performance, and in some cases cannot achieve the overall goals

An evaluation of sedation level using bispectral index (BIS) and correlated adverse events in patients undergoing colonoscopies

The purpose of this prospective, observational study was to provide data for anesthesia providers on current sedation practices during elective colonoscopies. This included determining the incidence of general anesthesia (GA) and the presence or absence of correlated adverse events. Additionally, this research considered if patients who are commonly consented for a MAC anesthetic should be more appropriately consented for GA. Participants (N = 39) consisted of a convenience sampling of physical status (PS) I, II, and III patients scheduled for elective colonoscopies and undergoing sedation with propofol. Data was collected by researchers over a four-week period at a non-teaching rural hospital in Western North Carolina. A bispectral index (BIS) monitor was used to monitor the depth of sedation and values were utilized to determine possible correlated adverse events. Statistical analysis showed that 100% (39/39) of patients reached levels of GA (i.e., BIS = 60) at some point during their procedure. Variables that showed a significant correlation with the occurrence of GA were smaller body mass index (BMI) (r = -.42, r2 = .17, p = .008), longer length of procedure (r = .85, r2 = .72, p < .001), and the number of minutes patients experienced an absent end tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) (i.e., apnea) waveform (r = .49, r2 = .24, p = .002). Additionally, greater BMI correlated with a greater nadir BIS value obtained throughout the entire procedure (r = .54, r2 = .29, p < .001), and was found to correlate with less time at BIS values = 40 (r = -.51, r2 = .26, p < .001). Longer procedures correlated with more minutes spent with BIS values = 40 (r = .43, r2 = .18, p = .007), and more minutes with absent ETCO2 waveform (r = .52, r2 = .27, p = .001); however, these findings were clinically insignificant since only one absent ETCO2 waveform actually resulted in a decrease in saturation of peripheral oxygen (SpO2) to = 90% (i.e., hypoxia), which quickly resolved with a chin lift. Additionally, the number of minutes with SpO2 = 90% was not significantly correlated with the minutes of GA (r = -.17, r2 = .03, p = .299). The results of this study indicate, in patients scheduled for colonoscopies who are consented for IV GA, it is common for anesthesia providers to consistently deliver a level of sedation concordant with GA. The significance of this finding relates to the pre-study clinical observation, that endoscopic patients being consented for anesthesia designated as MAC with IV sedation, actually demonstrate intraoperative signs of GA similar to what were observed in this study. Future studies are warranted to determine the frequency of the various forms of anesthesia consent obtained for elective colonoscopies, along with research that assesses anesthetic depth with BIS monitoring in patients consented for MAC with IV sedation. Such research would help to further enhance patient safety and address potential medical legal concerns

'We can tell them to get lost, but we won't do that':Cultural control and resistance in voluntary work

Although cultural control and resistance in organizations have been widely researched, this has invariably been within the context of paid work. This paper examines how they operate within voluntary work, using the case of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Here, volunteers undertake the dangerous work of sea rescues, working for local lifeboat stations. While the RNLI deploys standard techniques of cultural control, the combination of volunteering, localism and dangerous work creates the possibility of complex and ambiguous forms of resistance to cultural control, thereby extending our understanding of these phenomena

The health informatics cohort enhancement project (HICE): using routinely collected primary care data to identify people with a lifetime diagnosis of psychotic disorder

Background: We have previously demonstrated that routinely collected primary care data can be used to identify potential participants for trials in depression [1]. Here we demonstrate how patients with psychotic disorders can be identified from primary care records for potential inclusion in a cohort study. We discuss the strengths and limitations of this approach; assess its potential value and report challenges encountered. Methods: We designed an algorithm with which we searched for patients with a lifetime diagnosis of psychotic disorders within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) database of routinely collected health data. The algorithm was validated against the "gold standard" of a well established operational criteria checklist for psychotic and affective illness (OPCRIT). Case notes of 100 patients from a community mental health team (CMHT) in Swansea were studied of whom 80 had matched GP records. Results: The algorithm had favourable test characteristics, with a very good ability to detect patients with psychotic disorders (sensitivity > 0.7) and an excellent ability not to falsely identify patients with psychotic disorders (specificity > 0.9). Conclusions: With certain limitations our algorithm can be used to search the general practice data and reliably identify patients with psychotic disorders. This may be useful in identifying candidates for potential inclusion in cohort studies

Randomised controlled trial. Comparison Of iNfliximab and ciclosporin in STeroid Resistant Ulcerative Colitis:Trial design and protocol (CONSTRUCT)

Introduction: Many patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) present with acute exacerbations needing hospital admission. Treatment includes intravenous steroids but up to 40% of patients do not respond and require emergency colectomy. Mortality following emergency colectomy has fallen, but 10% of patients still die within 3 months of surgery. Infliximab and ciclosporin, both immunosuppressive drugs, offer hope for treating steroid-resistant UC as there is evidence of their short-term effectiveness. As there is little long-term evidence, this pragmatic randomised trial, known as Comparison Of iNfliximab and ciclosporin in STeroid Resistant Ulcerative Colitis: a Trial (CONSTRUCT), aims to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of infliximab and ciclosporin for steroid-resistant UC. Methods and analysis: Between May 2010 and February 2013, 52 UK centres recruited 270 patients admitted with acute severe UC who failed to respond to intravenous steroids but did not need surgery. We allocated them at random in equal proportions between infliximab and ciclosporin.The primary clinical outcome measure is quality-adjusted survival, that is survival weighted by Crohn's and Colitis Questionnaire (CCQ) participants' scores, analysed by Cox regression. Secondary outcome measures include: the CCQ—an extension of the validated but community-focused UK Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) to include patients with acute severe colitis and stoma; two general quality of life measures—EQ-5D and SF-12; mortality; survival weighted by EQ-5D; emergency and planned colectomies; readmissions; incidence of adverse events including malignancies, serious infections and renal disorders; disease activity; National Health Service (NHS) costs and patient-borne costs. Interviews investigate participants’ views on therapies for acute severe UC and healthcare professionals’ views on the two drugs and their administration. Ethics and dissemination: The Research Ethics Committee for Wales has given ethical approval (Ref. 08/MRE09/42); each participating Trust or Health Board has given NHS Reseach & Development approval. We plan to present trial findings at international and national conferences and publish in high-impact peer-reviewed journals.11 page(s

Population-Level Metrics of Trophic Structure Based on Stable Isotopes and Their Application to Invasion Ecology

Biological invasions are a significant driver of human-induced global change and many ecosystems sustain sympatric invaders. Interactions occurring among these invaders have important implications for ecosystem structure and functioning, yet they are poorly understood. Here we apply newly developed metrics derived from stable isotope data to provide quantitative measures of trophic diversity within populations or species. We then use these to test the hypothesis that sympatric invaders belonging to the same functional feeding group occupy a smaller isotopic niche than their allopatric counterparts. Two introduced, globally important, benthic omnivores, Louisiana swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and carp (Cyprinus carpio), are sympatric in Lake Naivasha, Kenya. We applied our metrics to an 8-year data set encompassing the establishment of carp in the lake. We found a strong asymmetric interaction between the two invasive populations, as indicated by inverse correlations between carp abundance and measures of crayfish trophic diversity. Lack of isotopic niche overlap between carp and crayfish in the majority of years indicated a predominantly indirect interaction. We suggest that carp-induced habitat alteration reduced the diversity of crayfish prey, resulting in a reduction in the dietary niche of crayfish. Stable isotopes provide an integrated signal of diet over space and time, offering an appropriate scale for the study of population niches, but few isotope studies have retained the often insightful information revealed by variability among individuals in isotope values. Our population metrics incorporate such variation, are robust to the vagaries of sample size and are a useful additional tool to reveal subtle dietary interactions among species. Although we have demonstrated their applicability specifically using a detailed temporal dataset of species invasion in a lake, they have a wide array of potential ecological applications

Clinical care of pregnant and postpartum women with COVID-19: Living recommendations from the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce

To date, 18 living recommendations for the clinical care of pregnant and postpartum women with COVID-19 have been issued by the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce. This includes recommendations on mode of birth, delayed umbilical cord clamping, skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding, rooming-in, antenatal corticosteroids, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, disease-modifying treatments (including dexamethasone, remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine), venous thromboembolism prophylaxis and advanced respiratory support interventions (prone positioning and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). Through continuous evidence surveillance, these living recommendations are updated in near real-time to ensure clinicians in Australia have reliable, evidence-based guidelines for clinical decision-making. Please visit https://covid19evidence.net.au/ for the latest recommendation updates