Decreasing landslide erosion on steeper slopes in soil‐mantled landscapes

Slope‐stability models predict that steeper hillslopes require smaller hydrological triggers for shallow landslides to occur due to the added downslope pull of gravity, which should result in more frequent landslides and faster erosion. However, field observations indicate that landslide frequency does not consistently increase on steeper hillslopes. Here, we use measurements of 1,096 soil landslides in California and Switzerland, and a compilation of landslide geometries, to show that steeper hillslopes typically have thinner soils and that thin soils inhibit landslides due to enhanced roles of cohesion and boundary stresses. We find that the landscape‐averaged landslide erosion depth peaks near the threshold slope for instability, and it drops to half that value on hillslopes that are just 5° to 10° steeper. We propose that faster rates of soil creep on steeper slopes cause thin and more stable soils, which in turn reduces landslide erosion, despite the added pull of gravity

Food Insecurity in Bloomington-Normal: How a Grocery Cooperative Might Help Meet the Needs of Low-Income Residents

The purpose of this report is to understand the current food needs of marginalized community-members in the Bloomington-Normal area, to learn how Green Top Grocery may help improve food security among these residents, and to ascertain viable mechanisms to encourage involvement in the cooperative among a diversity of local residents. The findings are based on data from three focus groups and nine key-informant interviews conducted in the Bloomington-Normal community. Key findings most relevant to Green Top’s goal of encouraging a diverse membership include the following: Green Top may wish to use existing networks to build trust in the Bloomington-Normal community, keeping in mind they will need communicate in multiple languages; Green Top could educate the public about what a grocery cooperative is; Green Top could consider the needs of marginalized community members when making infrastructure decisions such was where to locate their store. A number of other findings are discussed. In conclusion, additional research is highly recommended for Green Top to move forward with their goals

Characteristics of Patients Accepting and Declining Participation in a Transition of Care Service Provided by a Community Pharmacy

Objectives: To identify characteristics of patients who accepted or declined an appointment for a transition of care service provided by an independent community pharmacist and identify the most common reasons patients declined the service. Methods: A transition of care service was offered by a community pharmacy to patients discharged to home from the cardiac unit of a local hospital. The community pharmacist approached patients prior to discharge for recruitment into the service. Outcomes included service acceptance rate, LACE score at discharge, readmission risk category, age, gender, geographic home location, and reason for refusing the service. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to compare characteristics between those who accepted or declined the service. Reasons for decline were assessed using content analysis. Results: Of the 87 patients that were included in the analysis, 21 patients received the transitions of care service (24.1%). None of the characteristics were found to be statistically significant between patients who received or declined the service. Patients at a moderate risk for readmission seemed more likely to accept the pharmacist-run appointment than those at high risk (27.9% vs 15.3%; P = 0.29). Of the 66 patients who declined, 51 gave a reason (77.3%). Thirty-nine patients saw no benefit (76.5%), five patients had perceived barriers (10%), and seven patients gave reasons that fell into both categories (13.5%). Conclusions: This evaluation did not find a statistically significant difference in characteristics between those patients who accepted or declined participation in a pharmacist-run transition of care service. Patients may be less likely to accept pharmacist-run transition of care appointments primarily due to no perceived benefits. To increase participation, we need to understand the patient’s health beliefs, educate patients on pharmacy services, and implement changes to recruit potential patients. Conflict of Interest Disclosures: The authors have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this evaluation. This evaluation was presented as a poster presentation at American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting and Exposition, March 4-7, 2016 and at the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin Education Conference, April 5-6, 2016. This evaluation was presented as a podium presentation at Great Lakes Residency Conference, April 27-29, 2016.   Type: Original Researc

The Development of a Community-Based, Pharmacist-Provided Falls Prevention MTM Intervention for Older Adults: Relationship Building, Methods, and Rationale

The objectives of this article are to discuss the process of community engagement experienced to plan and implement a pilot study of a pharmacist-provided MTM intervention focused on reducing the use of medications associated with falling, and to present the research methods that emerged from the community engagement process to evaluate the feasibility, acceptance, and preliminary impact of the intervention. Key lessons learned from the community engagement process also are presented and discussed. The relationship building and planning process took twelve months. The RE-AIM framework broadly guided the planning process since an overarching goal for the community partners was developing a program that could be implemented and sustained in the future. The planning phase focused on identifying research questions that were of most interest to the community partners, the population to study, the capacity of partners to perform activities, and process evaluation. Much of the planning phase was accomplished with face-to-face meetings. After all study processes, study materials, and data collection tools were developed, a focus group of older adults who represented the likely targets of the MTM intervention provided feedback related to the concept and process of the intervention. Nine key lessons were identified from the community engagement process. One key to successful community engagement is partners taking the time to educate each other about experiences, processes, and successes and failures. Additionally, partners must actively listen to each other to better understand barriers and facilitators that likely will impact the planning and implementation processes. Successful community engagement will be important to develop both formative and summative evaluation processes that will help to produce valid evidence about the effectiveness of pharmacists in modifying drug therapy and preventing falls as well as to promote the adoption and implementation of the intervention in other communities.   Type: Original Researc

Contemporary geomorphological activity throughout the proglacial area of an alpine catchment

Quantification of contemporary geomorphological activity is a fundamental prerequisite for predicting the effects of future earth surface process and landscape development changes. However, there is a lack of high-resolution spatial and temporal data on geomorphological activity within alpine catchments, which are especially sensitive to climate change, human impacts and which are amongst the most dynamic landscapes on Earth. This study used data from repeated laser scanning to identify and quantify the distribution of contemporary sediment sources and the intensity of geomorphological activity within the lower part of a glaciated alpine catchment; Ödenwinkelkees, central Austria. Spatially, geomorphological activity was discriminated by substrate class. Activity decreased in both areal extent and intensity with distance from the glacier, becoming progressively more restricted to the fluvially-dominated valley floor. Temporally, geomorphological activity was identified on annual, seasonal, weekly and daily timescales. Activity became more extensive with increasing study duration but more intense over shorter timescales, thereby demonstrating the importance of temporary storage of sediment within the catchment. The mean volume of material moved within the proglacial zone was 4400m.yr, which suggests a net surface lowering of 34mm.yr in this part of the catchment. We extrapolate a minimum of 4.8mm.yr net surface lowering across the whole catchment. These surface lowering values are approximately twice those calculated elsewhere from contemporary measurements of suspended sediment flux, and of rates calculated from the geological record, perhaps because we measure total geomorphological activity within the catchment rather than overall efflux of material. Repeated geomorphological surveying therefore appears to mitigate the problems of hydrological studies underestimating sediment fluxes on decadal-annual time-scales. Further development of the approach outlined in this study will enable the quantification of geomorphological activity, alpine terrain stability and persistence of landforms

Author Correction: Global dominance of tectonics over climate in shaping river longitudinal profiles

In the version of this Article originally published, it would not have been clear from the caption of Fig. 1 alone that the normalized concavity index is defined and calculated in ref. 7, thus the text “A similar diagram appears as Extended Data Fig. 1b of ref. 7.” has been added to the figure caption to clarify this. The online versions of the Article have been amended

Characteristics of Patients Accepting and Declining Participation in a Transition of Care Service Provided by a Community Pharmacy

Objectives: To identify characteristics of patients who accepted or declined an appointment for a transition of care service provided by an independent community pharmacist and identify the most common reasons patients declined the service. Methods: A transition of care service was offered by a community pharmacy to patients discharged to home from the cardiac unit of a local hospital. The community pharmacist approached patients prior to discharge for recruitment into the service. Outcomes included service acceptance rate, LACE score at discharge, readmission risk category, age, gender, geographic home location, and reason for refusing the service. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to compare characteristics between those who accepted or declined the service. Reasons for decline were assessed using content analysis. Results: Of the 87 patients that were included in the analysis, 21 patients received the transitions of care service (24.1%). None of the characteristics were found to be statistically significant between patients who received or declined the service. Patients at a moderate risk for readmission seemed more likely to accept the pharmacist-run appointment than those at high risk (27.9% vs 15.3%; P = 0.29). Of the 66 patients who declined, 51 gave a reason (77.3%). Thirty-nine patients saw no benefit (76.5%), five patients had perceived barriers (10%), and seven patients gave reasons that fell into both categories (13.5%). Conclusions: This evaluation did not find a statistically significant difference in characteristics between those patients who accepted or declined participation in a pharmacist-run transition of care service. Patients may be less likely to accept pharmacist-run transition of care appointments primarily due to no perceived benefits. To increase participation, we need to understand the patient’s health beliefs, educate patients on pharmacy services, and implement changes to recruit potential patients. Conflict of Interest Disclosures: The authors have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this evaluation. This evaluation was presented as a poster presentation at American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting and Exposition, March 4-7, 2016 and at the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin Education Conference, April 5-6, 2016. This evaluation was presented as a podium presentation at Great Lakes Residency Conference, April 27-29, 2016.   Type: Original Researc

A social marketing approach to implementing evidence-based practice in VHA QUERI: the TIDES depression collaborative care model

Abstract Collaborative care models for depression in primary care are effective and cost-effective, but difficult to spread to new sites. Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (TIDES) is an initiative to promote evidence-based collaborative care in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Social marketing applies marketing techniques to promote positive behavior change. Described in this paper, TIDES used a social marketing approach to foster national spread of collaborative care models. TIDES social marketing approach The approach relied on a sequential model of behavior change and explicit attention to audience segmentation. Segments included VHA national leadership, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) regional leadership, facility managers, frontline providers, and veterans. TIDES communications, materials and messages targeted each segment, guided by an overall marketing plan. Results Depression collaborative care based on the TIDES model was adopted by VHA as part of the new Primary Care Mental Health Initiative and associated policies. It is currently in use in more than 50 primary care practices across the United States, and continues to spread, suggesting success for its social marketing-based dissemination strategy. Discussion and conclusion Development, execution and evaluation of the TIDES marketing effort shows that social marketing is a promising approach for promoting implementation of evidence-based interventions in integrated healthcare systems

A social marketing approach to implementing evidence-based practice in VHA QUERI: the TIDES depression collaborative care model

Abstract Collaborative care models for depression in primary care are effective and cost-effective, but difficult to spread to new sites. Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (TIDES) is an initiative to promote evidence-based collaborative care in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Social marketing applies marketing techniques to promote positive behavior change. Described in this paper, TIDES used a social marketing approach to foster national spread of collaborative care models. TIDES social marketing approach The approach relied on a sequential model of behavior change and explicit attention to audience segmentation. Segments included VHA national leadership, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) regional leadership, facility managers, frontline providers, and veterans. TIDES communications, materials and messages targeted each segment, guided by an overall marketing plan. Results Depression collaborative care based on the TIDES model was adopted by VHA as part of the new Primary Care Mental Health Initiative and associated policies. It is currently in use in more than 50 primary care practices across the United States, and continues to spread, suggesting success for its social marketing-based dissemination strategy. Discussion and conclusion Development, execution and evaluation of the TIDES marketing effort shows that social marketing is a promising approach for promoting implementation of evidence-based interventions in integrated healthcare systems.</p