Does environmental education benefit environmental outcomes in children and adolescents? A meta-analysis

Young people can be agents of sustainable change. To this end, environmental education programs aim to promote their environmental knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. We synthesized five decades of research into the effectiveness of environmental education for children and adolescents. We searched PsycINFO, ERIC, and Scopus and identified 169 studies (512 effect sizes; 176,007 participants) conducted in 43 countries, across 6 continents. Environmental education significantly improved environmental knowledge (g = 0.953), attitudes (g = 0.384), intentions (g = 0.256), and—mostly self-reported—behavior (g = 0.410). Heterogeneity in effect sizes was substantial; none of the tested moderators (including participant age, educational approach, and study design) accounted for this variance. Our findings demonstrate the potential for environmental education to improve students’ environmental knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behavior. They also reveal methodo- logical challenges for the field. Future research priorities include identifying effective environmental education components and approaches

Rationale and effect of reduction of immunosuppressive load in organ transplant recipients

Giving a patient immunosuppressive medication is creating an environment in which a transplanted organ will be accepted and rejection will be prevented. Unfortunately, the use of immunosuppression is complicated by serious side effects. After dealing with acute rejection in solid organ transplantation and reducing the incidence of infections in the early days of transplantation, other serious complications became more and more clear. The development of, for example, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, nephrotoxicity and malignancies after solid organ transplantation is a well known problem for every transplant clinician

Cardiac and metabolic effects in patients who present with a multinodular goitre

Twenty-six consecutive patients who presented with clinically euthyroid multinodular goitre were studied for an overnight fasting serum lipid profile and 24 h Holter monitoring. Mean serum TSH was 0.6 +/- 0.4 vs 2.4 +/- 1.3 mU/l (p < 0.0001) and mean TT3 2.4 +/- 0.4 vs 2.0 +/- 0.5 nmol/l (p = 0.009) in patients vs controls (n = 15) while mean FT4 was not different from controls. Total serum HDL, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides were lower in patients but creatinine, ferritin and SHBG levels did not differ between patients and controls. The 24-hour ambulatory continuous ECG recordings did not demonstrate significant differences in mean, minimal and maximal heart rate between the study and the control group. Nocturnal heart rate, measured between 23.00 and 06.00 hours, also showed no differences between the two groups. Atrial fibrillation was absent in both the study and the control group. Premature atrial and ventricular complexes occurred equally frequently in both groups. Comparison of patients with a serum TSH below 0.4 mU/l (n = 11) and patients with a TSH above 0.4 mU/l revealed no differences. In conclusion, in consecutive patients who present with multinodular goitre, effects were found on the lipid profile, but not on the heart. It is argued that in this type of patients, cardiac effects depend on the degree of subclinical hyperthyroidism

Aspects of life history characteristics and physiological processes in smolting Pacific Lamprey, Lampetra tridentata, in a central Oregon coast stream

Rotary screw traps were used to estimate Pacific lamprey smolt yield, outmigration timing, age structure and sex ratio for Tenmile Creek basin, Lane County, Oregon. Traps were fished March to June and August to December 1994 and March to June and October to December 1995. Lamprey smolts caught in the traps were marked and released upstream. Recaptured fish were used to calculate trap efficiencies and daily and weekly estimates of outmigrating smolts. Little movement of smolts occurred before November. Outmigration peaked in late November and was complete both years by 2 December. Ages of smolts were determined using length-frequency analysis and by reading statoliths. Tenmile Creek Pacific lamprey smolts have an extended freshwater residency. Male to female ratios were approximately 1:1 both years. Larval, metamorphosing and smolting Pacific lamprey were examined for changes in skin guanine concentrations, gill (Na+K)-ATPase activities and plasma thyroid hormone levels during a 14 mo period. Seasonal peaks were observed in gill (Na+K)-ATPase activities and plasma thyroid hormone levels in larvae. Metamorphosing and smolting lamprey showed increases in skin guanine concentrations and gill (Na+K)-ATPase activities along with decreases in plasma thyroid hormone levels. Smolting lamprey challenged with artificial seawater showed no significant changes in the parameters observed

A Situational Alignment Framework for PACS

This paper reports the outcomes of a study on an integrated situational alignment framework for picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) labeled as PISA. Following the design research cycle, complementary validation methods and pilot cases were used to assess the proposed framework and its operationalized survey. In this paper, the authors outline (a) the process of the framework’ development, (b) the validation process with its underlying iterative steps, (c) the outcomes of pilot cases, and (d) improvement opportunities to refine and further validate the PISA framework. Results of this study support empirical application of the framework to hospital enterprises in order to gain insights into their PACS maturity and alignment. We argue that the framework can be applied as a valuable tool for assessments, monitoring and benchmarking purposes and strategic PACS planning