Has the Western Chorus Frog (Pseudacris triseriata) Declined in Western Ottawa, Ontario?

To determine whether the Western Chorus Frog has declined in western Ottawa, we conducted auditory surveys at historical locations as well as at various other wetlands. Western Chorus Frogs were detected at 12 of 18 historical locations. Wetland habitat remained at all historical locations where the species was not detected. There was no difference in the year of historical records for sites where Western Chorus Frogs were (median 1987.5) and were not (median 1987.5) detected. In the present study, Western Chorus Frogs were also detected at 30 locations where they had not been previously reported. Historical sites where Western Chorus Frogs were not detected were not significantly farther away from known Western Chorus Frog sites (median distance: 2.2 km) than historical sites where Western Chorus Frogs were detected (median distance: 1.4 km). Land use variables for historical sites where Western Chorus Frogs were and were not detected did not vary significantly at any spatial scale from 0.5 to 2.0 km. Western Chorus Frogs were detected in areas with up to 50% forest cover and up to 86% agricultural cover at the 1.0-km radius. The lack of historical data makes it difficult to assess the current status of the Western Chorus Frog in western Ottawa. The species may have declined, remained approximately the same (by shifting to different breeding sites), or even increased its distribution (by colonizing additional sites)

Determination of Drinking Quality of Water near the Coastal Areas of Jaffna Lagoon

Ground water pollution by human activities is one of the areas of major concern to the world. Water quality is one of the principle health index of a country. Industrialization, urbanization and modern agriculture practices have direct impact on water resources. These factors influence both fresh and salt water bodies quantitatively and qualitatively. This paper presents ground water quality of an urbanized area in the marine coast of Jaffna. Twelve different locations were randomly selected for this comparative study and the following parameters were studied, temperature, pH, turbidity, total hardness, total alkalinity, sulphate, chloride, fluoride, conductivity, total dissolved solids, coliform bacterial count. A slight fluctuation in the physico-chemical parameters of the water samples analysed confirms the pollution of the ground water and it is not up to the quality of drinking

Association of common mental disorders and quality of life with the frequency of attendance in slovenian family medicine practices: longitudinal study.

Most research on frequent attendance has been cross-sectional and restricted to one year attendance rates. A few longitudinal studies suggest that frequent attendance is self-limiting. Frequent attenders are more likely to have social and psychiatric problems, medically unexplained physical symptoms, chronic somatic diseases (especially diabetes) and are prescribed more psychotropic medication and analgesics

The effect of two lottery-style incentives on response rates to postal questionnaires in a prospective cohort study in preschool children at high risk of asthma: A randomized trial

Background: In research with long-term follow-up and repeated measurements, quick and complete response to questionnaires helps ensure a study's validity, precision and efficiency. Evidence on the effect of non-monetary incentives on response rates in observational longitudinal research is scarce. Objectives. To study the impact of two strategies to enhance completeness and efficiency in observational cohort studies with follow-up durations of around 2 years. Method and intervention. In a factorial design, 771 children between 2 and 5 years old and their parents participating in a prospective cohort study were randomized to three intervention groups and a control group. Three types of lotteries were run: (i) daytrip tickets for the whole family to a popular amusement park if they returned all postal questionnaires, (ii) 12.50-worth gift vouchers for sending back the questionnaire on time after each questionnaire round and (iii) a combination of (i) and (ii). Main outcome measures. Primary outcome was the proportion of participants who returned all questionnaires without any reminder. Secondary outcomes were '100% returned with or without reminder', 'probability of 100% non-response', 'probability of withdrawal', 'proportion of returned questionnaires' and 'overall number of reminders sent'. Statistical analysis. After testing for interaction between the two lottery interventions, the two trials were analysed separately. We calculated risk differences (RD) and numbers needed to "treat" and their 95% confidence intervals. Results: Daytrip nor voucher intervention had an effect on the proportion of participants who returned all questionnaires (RD -0.01; 95% CI-0.07 - 0.06) and (RD 0.02; 95% CI-0.50 - 0.08), respectively. No effects were found on the secondary outcomes. Conclusion: Our findings do not support the idea that lottery-style incentives lead to more complete response to postal questionnaires in observational cohort studies with repeated data collection and follow-up durations of around 2 years

Forgotten antibiotics : a follow-up inventory study in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia

The objective of this study was to update a 2011 survey, conducted on behalf of the ESCMID Study Group for Antibiotic Policies (ESGAP), studying the availability of old but clinically useful antibiotics in North America, Europe and Australia. This follow-up survey was performed in 2015 in 40 countries among specialists from the pharmaceutical, infectious diseases and microbiology sectors in North America, Europe and Australia in order to assess the availability through usual marketing processes of 36 systemic antibiotics (addition of 3 antibiotics compared with the 2011 survey) selected for their ability to treat infections caused by resistant bacteria and their unique value for specific criteria. The questionnaire was sent by e-mail to national contacts belonging to ESGAP and ReAct networks. In all, 39 of the 40 countries participated in this survey. The number of available antibiotics differed considerably from one drug to another as well as from one country to another (e.g. 7 antibiotics available in Estonia, 24 in France). Overall, 25/36 selected antibiotics were marketed in 20/39 countries or less. From 2011 to 2015 (data available for both periods in 37 countries for 33 antibiotics), the number of available selected antibiotics increased in 13 countries and decreased in 17. In conclusion, despite the ongoing bacterial resistance crisis, the situation regarding the availability of ‘forgotten antibiotics’ has worsened since 2011. Urgent measures are needed to ensure better availability of these antibiotics on a global scale as a conservation measure to ensure sustainable and responsible use of antibiotics.peer-reviewe