Symposium on Marine Diversity and Biogeography in the Tropics. Pacific Science Congress, May-June 1991, Honolulu

Seven persons were asked to discuss the diversity and biogeography of various groups of marine organisms from as wide a geographic span as possible in the warm Pacific. The organisms covered were marine algae, marine mollusks, and fishes; unfortunately, J. E. N. Veron of Australia, who was expected to speak on corals, was unable to attend. We present here three abstracts and three full-length papers. No symposium on marine diversity has ever been presented to the Congress, although each member country in the Congress is impacted by one or more oceans or seas. Of the major groups of marine organisms, probably the least studied (and least understood) are the marine algae. The three papers are on algae and show different perspectives although the subject matter is systematics and ecology. In "Geographic patterns of diversity in benthic marine algae," Paul Silva defines diversity and shows that although land plant diversity is greater in the tropics, marine algae show more diversity in the warm-temperate boundaries. In "Marine phytogeography of the Juan Fernandez Archipelago: A new assessment," Bernabe Santelices shows that the relatively high diversity with 32% endemism found in the Juan Fernandez Islands is largely due to the physical barrier of the cold northward-flowing Peru or Humboldt Current. Celia Smith in "Diversity in intertidal habitats: An assessment of the marine algae of select high islands in the Hawaiian Archipelago" revealed many data that furnished the bases for far-reaching comparisons: age-related basalt substrates and limestone benches on an island about 35,000 yr old yielded a flora with greater diversity than similar transects on a younger basalt island, contributing to the conclusion that similar diversity patterns appear to depend on substrate similarity as well as current patterns around islands. The three abstracts cover algae from French Polynesia, fishes, and marine mollusks. The papers that stem from these abstracts have been or are being published elsewhere

Marine Algae of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands

Reexamination of some previous collections of marine algae from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), also known as the Leeward Hawaiian Islands, and the addition of more recent collections have resulted in recognition of 48 taxa of Chlorophyta (green algae), with eight new records for the NWHI; 33 taxa of Phaeophyta (brown algae), with seven new records; and 124 species of Rhodophyta (red algae), of which 26 are new records for the NWHI. Among the 41 new records, 14 taxa are newly reported for the entire Hawaiian archipelago. Among the new records are Nemacystus decipiens, Halimeda copiosa, and H. velasquezii and among the microscopic algae Crouania mageshimensis. Total macroscopic marine flora consists of 205 taxa, a number close to the 222 species known from Eniwetak in the northern Marshall Islands. Proportions of greens and reds in the two places are markedly different, however, with more green and fewer red species in Eniwetak

Studies in the Helminthocladiaceae, III Liagoropsis

In the first paper in this series of studies of the Helminthocladiaceae (Dory and Abbott, 1961 ), we have shown that, in two species of Helminthocladia from Hawaii, the female reproductive structures are generally similar to those described by other workers for other species in the genus, and that vegetative structures such as internal cortical rhizoids may be used to distinguish at least the Hawaiian species. In the second paper of this series (Abbott and Dory, 1960) a new genus, Trichogloeopsis, was described as containing three species, one new and two transfers from the genus Liagora. They share a major character in common, that of sterile rhizoidal extensions of the gonimoblast, but again the three species may be distinguished from each other by their vegetative structures

Understanding the sleep-aggression relationship in a forensic mental health sample

The contribution of cognition to the sleep-aggression relationship is explored via three connected studies, involving adult male forensic patients detained in a high secure hospital. Study 1 included 31 patients, interviewed to examine their experiences of specific sleep problems. In Study 2, 42 patients completed a series of measures examining sleep dysfunction, aggression, and cognition, while Study 3 was designed to impact on sleep via a cognitive approach. In the latter, 48 patients were randomly assigned as part of a feasibility trial to one of three conditions: mindfulness (cognitive approach), sleep education, and treatment as usual. Collectively, the studies demonstrated the multifaceted nature of cognition in the sleep-aggression relationship, with a need to account fully for cognitive factors. A preliminary conceptual model is outlined - the Cognitive Sleep Model for Aggression and Self Harm (CoSMASH), as a direction for future research to consider

Hair cortisol levels, perceived stress and body mass index in women and children living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods: the READI study

Disadvantaged communities provide adverse psychosocial exposures that have been linked to high levels of stress, and this may provide one explanatory pathway linking socioeconomic disadvantage to obesity. This study used hair cortisol analysis to quantify associations between stress and body mass index (BMI), and between hair cortisol and perceived psychological stress levels, in women and children living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Participants were a volunteer sample of 70 women from the Resilience for Eating and Activity Despite Inequality study, including 30 maternal-child pairs. Women self-reported body weight, height and perceived psychological stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and provided hair samples for themselves and their child. Children\u27s body weight and height were measured. Following extraction, hair cortisol levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Multiple linear regression models examined associations between stress and BMI, and between hair cortisol and perceived stress levels in women and children. Women\u27s hair cortisol levels were not associated with their BMI or PSS scores. Women\u27s PSS scores were positively associated with their BMI (p = 0.015). Within maternal-child pairs, mothers and children\u27s hair cortisol levels were strongly positively associated (p = 0.006). Maternal hair cortisol levels and PSS scores were unrelated to their child\u27s zBMI. Children\u27s hair cortisol levels were not associated with their zBMI or with their mother\u27s PSS score. Findings suggest that cortisol-based and perceived psychological measures of stress may be distinct among women and children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Perceived psychological measures may be more important predictors of weight-related risk

An Overview of Marine Biodiversity in United States Waters

Marine biodiversity of the United States (U.S.) is extensively documented, but data assembled by the United States National Committee for the Census of Marine Life demonstrate that even the most complete taxonomic inventories are based on records scattered in space and time. The best-known taxa are those of commercial importance. Body size is directly correlated with knowledge of a species, and knowledge also diminishes with distance from shore and depth. Measures of biodiversity other than species diversity, such as ecosystem and genetic diversity, are poorly documented. Threats to marine biodiversity in the U.S. are the same as those for most of the world: overexploitation of living resources; reduced water quality; coastal development; shipping; invasive species; rising temperature and concentrations of carbon dioxide in the surface ocean, and other changes that may be consequences of global change, including shifting currents; increased number and size of hypoxic or anoxic areas; and increased number and duration of harmful algal blooms. More information must be obtained through field and laboratory research and monitoring that involve innovative sampling techniques (such as genetics and acoustics), but data that already exist must be made accessible. And all data must have a temporal component so trends can be identified. As data are compiled, techniques must be developed to make certain that scales are compatible, to combine and reconcile data collected for various purposes with disparate gear, and to automate taxonomic changes. Information on biotic and abiotic elements of the environment must be interactively linked. Impediments to assembling existing data and collecting new data on marine biodiversity include logistical problems as well as shortages in finances and taxonomic expertise

Facilitating knowledge exchange between health-care sectors, organisations and professions: A longitudinal mixed-methods study of boundary-spanning processes and their impact on health-care quality

Background: Relatively little is known about how people and groups who function in boundary-spanning positions between different sectors, organisations and professions contribute to improved quality of health care and clinical outcomes. Objectives: To explore whether or not boundary-spanning processes stimulate the creation and exchange of knowledge between sectors, organisations and professions and whether or not this leads, through better integration of services, to improvements in the quality of care. Design: A 2-year longitudinal nested case study design using mixed methods. Setting: An inner-city area in England (‘Coxford’) comprising 26 general practices in ‘Westpark’ and a comparative sample of 57 practices. Participants: Health-care and non-health-care practitioners representing the range of staff participating in the Westpark Initiative (WI) and patients. Interventions: The WI sought to improve services through facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration between general practitioners, community services, voluntary groups and acute specialists during the period late 2009 to early 2012. We investigated the impact of the four WI boundary-spanning teams on services and the processes through which they produced their effects. Main outcome measures: (1) Quality-of-care indicators during the period 2008–11; (2) diabetes admissions data from April 2006 to December 2011, adjusted for deprivation scores; and (3) referrals to psychological therapies from January 2010 to March 2012. Data sources: Data sources included 42 semistructured staff interviews, 361 hours of non-participant observation, 36 online diaries, 103 respondents to a staff survey, two patient focus groups and a secondary analyses of local and national data sets. Results: The four teams varied in their ability to, first, exchange knowledge across boundaries and, second, implement changes to improve the integration of services. The study setting experienced conditions of flux and uncertainty in which known horizontal and vertical structures underwent considerable change and the WI did not run its course as originally planned. Although knowledge exchanges did occur across sectoral, organisational and professional boundaries, in the case of child and family health services, early efforts to improve the integration of services were not sustained. In the case of dementia, team leadership and membership were undermined by external reorganisations. The anxiety and depression in black and minority ethnic populations team succeeded in reaching its self-defined goal of increasing referrals from Westpark practices to the local well-being service. From October to December 2010 onwards, referrals have been generally higher in the six practices with a link worker than in those without, but the performance of Westpark and Coxford practices did not differ significantly on three national quality indicators. General practices in a WI diabetes ‘cluster’ performed better on three of 17 Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicators than practices in the remainder of Westpark and in the wider Coxford primary care trust. Surprisingly, practices in Westpark, but not in the diabetes cluster, performed better on one indicator. No statistically significant differences were found on the remaining 13 QOF indicators. The time profiles differed significantly between the three groups for elective and emergency admissions and bed-days. Conclusions: Boundary spanning is a potential solution to the challenge of integrating health-care services and we explored how such processes perform in an ‘extreme case’ context of uncertainty. Although the WI may have been a necessary intervention to enable knowledge exchange across a range of boundaries, it was not alone sufficient. Even in the face of substantial challenges, one of the four teams was able to adapt and build resilience. Implications for future boundary-spanning interventions are identified. Future research should evaluate the direct, measurable and sustained impact of boundary-spanning processes on patient care outcomes (and experiences), as well as further empirically based critiques and reconceptualisations of the socialisation→externalisation→combination→internalisation (SECI) model, so that the implications can be translated into practical ideas developed in partnership with NHS managers. Funding: The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme

Iconic dishes, culture and identity: the Christmas pudding and its hundred years’ journey in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and India

Asserting that recipes are textual evidences reflecting the society that produced them, this article explores the evolution of the recipes of the iconic Christmas pudding in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and India between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Combining a micro-analysis of the recipes and the cookbook that provided them with contemporary testimonies, the article observes the dynamics revealed by the preparation and consumption of the pudding in these different societies. The findings demonstrate the relevance of national iconic dishes to the study of notions of home, migration and colonization, as well as the development of a new society and identity. They reveal how the preservation, transformation and even rejection of a traditional dish can be representative of the complex and sometimes conflicting relationships between colonists, migrants or new citizens and the places they live in

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection