Social-Ecological Change, Resilience, and Adaptive Capacity in the McKenzie River Valley, Oregon

This study explores perceptions of long-term residents regarding links between governance, landscape, and community change in the McKenzie River Valley (MRV) in western Oregon and provides a general assessment of factors affecting resilience and adaptive capacity. Residents interviewed indicated that dramatic changes driven by market competition, timber industry changes, increased regulation, and rural restructuring have occurred in both the landscape and community. The changes that have transpired have redefined the relationship between the community and the landscape, moving away from local dependence on timber harvests to an economy focused on tourism and other ecosystem services. In doing so the community has transitioned from one with a logging community identity to one that has begrudgingly become a retirement and vacation community. We found that the social-ecological system (SES) in the MRV is still in the midst of reorganization in the wake of the 1990s Timber Wars. As a result of low institutional capacity, the system is vulnerable to exogenous drivers of change. Using a modified version of Ostrom’s (2009) framework for SES analysis, this study recommends policymakers and policy entrepreneurs take three key steps to facilitate enhanced resilience and adaptive capacity: 1) support transboundary management strategies that transcend landownership classifications; 2) tighten system feedbacks to include more local influence; and 3) develop local multilayered institutions organized vertically and horizontally. Future research should explore the potential for collaborative forestry and stewardship contracting to enhance social-ecological resilience in this valley

Perceptions of Safety and Support among High School Football Players Utilizing a Helmet Impact Detection System

Background: Concussions are common in high school football athletes and can have short and long-term health impacts. New football helmets furnished with accelerometers to detect rate and location of impact have recently emerged. The use of these helmets offers the ability to rapidly and objectively assess concussions on the sideline. However, minimal research has explored athlete’s perceptions of the use of these helmets. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine high school football players’ perceptions of safety and support following a season of use of a Helmet Impact Detection System. Methods: 118 high school football players from a large parochial school completed an electronic 29-item cross-sectional survey to obtain demographic information and safety perceptions at the end of a football season. Participants wore Riddell InSite Helmets (Riddell, Inc. Elyria, OH) the entire football season prior to the survey. Descriptive statistics were computed utilizing SPSS software. Results: When asked to rate the degree to which players felt the concussion helmets helped keep them safe, 69.1% of students strongly agreed and 23.6% somewhat agreed. When asked if they agreed or disagreed that they felt safer than opposing teams that did not wear the helmets only 47.3% of players strongly agreed. When asked if they played harder or more confidently due to the helmets 57.3% of players strongly agreed. Finally, 17.3% of players somewhat or strongly agreed that they would not play football if it were not for the helmets. Conclusion: These findings suggest the use of instrumented helmets may encourage athletes’ feeling supported by coaches/administrators and their perceptions of safety which could impact their decision to engage in football. However, more research is needed to determine if these feelings of safety translate to a change in rates of concussions compared to players with traditional helmets

Ripple AT Plus - isthmus-guided vs conventional ablation in the treatment of scar-related atrial tachycardia: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background Catheter ablation is routinely used to treat scar-related atrial tachycardia (s-AT). Conventional ablation often involves creating anatomical “lines” that transect myocardial tissue supporting reentry. This can be extensive, creating iatrogenic scar as a nidus for future reentry, and may account for arrhythmia recurrence. High-density mapping may identify “narrower isthmuses” requiring less ablation, with ripple mapping proven to be an effective approach in identifying. This trial explores whether ablation of narrower isthmuses in s-AT, defined using ripple mapping, results in greater freedom from arrhythmia recurrence compared to conventional ablation. Methods The Ripple-AT-Plus trial (registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03915691) is a prospective, multicentre, single-blinded, randomised controlled trial with 12-month follow-up. Two hundred s-AT patients will be randomised in a 1:1 fashion to either “ripple mapping-guided isthmus ablation” vs conventional ablation on the CARTO3 ConfiDENSE system (Biosense Webster). The primary outcome will compare recurrence of any atrial arrhythmia. Multicentre data will be analysed over a secure web-based cloud-storage and analysis software (CARTONETTM). Conclusion This is the first trial that considers long-term patient outcomes post s-AT ablation, and whether targeting narrower isthmuses in the era of high density is optimal

Demulsification mechanism of asphaltene-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions by a polymeric ethylene oxide-propylene oxide demulsifier

The demulsification mechanism of asphaltene-stabilized water-in-toluene emulsions by an ethylene-oxide-propylene oxide (EO-PO) based polymeric demulsifier was studied. Demulsification efficiency was determined by bottle tests and correlated to the physicochemical properties of asphaltene interfacial films after demulsifier addition. From bottle tests and droplet coalescence experiments, the demulsifier showed an optimal performance at 2.3 ppm (mass basis) in toluene. At high concentrations, the demulsification performance deteriorated due to the intrinsic stabilizing capacity of the demulsifier, which was attributed to steric repulsion between water droplets. Addition of demulsifier was shown to soften the asphaltene film (i.e., reduce the viscoelastic moduli of asphaltene films) under both shear and compressional interfacial deformations. Study of the macrostructures and the chemical composition of asphaltene film at the toluene-water interface after demulsifier addition demonstrated gradual penetration of the demulsifier into the asphaltene film. Demulsifier penetration in the asphaltene film changed the asphaltene interfacial mobility and morphology, as probed with Brewster angle and atomic force microscopy

Educational Attainment Moderates the Association Between Hippocampal Volumes and Memory Performances in Healthy Older Adults

Objective: To examine whether educational attainment, as a proxy of cognitive reserve, moderated the association between hippocampal volumes and episodic verbal memory performances in healthy older adults.Methods: Data from 76 community dwelling older adults were included in the present study. Measures of hippocampal volumes (total, left, and right) were obtained using FreeSurfer software. Immediate and delayed verbal recall scores were derived from performances on the California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition and the Wechsler Memory Scale- Third Edition. Educational attainment was defined by years of education. Linear regression analyses were performed using immediate and delayed recall as dependent variables and hippocampal volumes, years of education, and their interaction terms as independent variables. All analyses were controlled for age, sex, depression, and health status.Results: Total and left Hippocampal volumes had a positive main effect on delayed recall only. Additionally, the interaction between total, left, and right hippocampal volumes and education was a significant predictor for delayed recall performance but not for immediate recall performance. The positive association between hippocampal volumes and delayed recall was greatest in those with more years of education.Conclusion: Larger hippocampal volumes were associated with better delayed verbal recall and the effect on delayed recall was greatest in those with more years of education. Having higher levels of education, or cognitive reserve, may enable individuals to capitalize on greater structural integrity in the hippocampus to support delayed recall in old age. However, longitudinal research is needed to investigate the directionality of these associations

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Development of a photo-controlled polymeric dry adhesive

The work presented in this thesis describes the design, synthesis, and analysis of a polymeric donor-acceptor Stenhouse adduct (DASA). This photoswitch was chosen as it switches between two isomeric states, open and closed, that are neutral and zwitterionic respectively. The goal of this project was to manipulate this change in polarity to induce a stronger adhesive response in the polymer, due to an increase in the dipole-dipole interaction between the polymer and a contact piece. While the single molecule exhibits reversibility in solution, the polymer does not appear to reverse in solution or in the solid state. There was a change of 18° in the contact angle, indicating a photoinduced change in the intermolecular forces did occur, however this has no significant effect on the bulk adhesive properties

Social Media\u27s Effect On Mental Health During COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media usage increased throughout the world. We decided to explore and study how social media affected our society\u27s mental health during the pandemic. We have pulled data from a study conducted by St. Xavier’s College in India (Gupta & Ganguly, 2021). The data we are using took 136 respondents to participate in a questionnaire given by the researchers to access how social media had affected them throughout the pandemic. Our project addresses this issue because we are analyzing data to find potential relationships between factors Gupta and Ganguly addressed in their questionnaires, for example, age in relation to the effect social media has on mental health. We hypothesize that social media had a negative impact on mental health during the pandemic. Our study will look at age, gender, and social media sites used to determine the impact social media has on mental health. We will run various tests on the data set to determine the relationships between our variables and any impact they may contribute to mental health challenges due to social media use. This research is applicable in the larger world because it will help us better understand how time spent on social media impacts our well-being. Results, presented in BURS, from this research can help improve mental health worldwide in our relationships with social media