Congenital adrenal hyperplasia: Diagnostic advances

Summary: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is a group of autosomal recessive disorders resulting from the deficiency of one of the five enzymes required for the synthesis of cortisol in the adrenal cortex. The most frequent is steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency, accounting for more than 90% of cases. Much has been learned about the genetics of the various clinical forms of 21-hydroxylase deficiency, and correlations between the genotype and the phenotype have been studied extensively. Gene-specific diagnosis is now feasible and neonatal screening and prenatal treatment have been widely implemented. This discussion will be limited to the most common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia, with focus on the diagnostic advances in this diseas

Tailoring Communication about Suburban Deer Management to Stakeholders' Concerns

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Communicating about suburban deer management: Tailoring the message to the stakeholders

Public input plays an important role in selecting suburban deer management alternatives. Agencies often communicate with the public to ensure that citizens have accurate information when judging management alternatives. Research has shown that suburban residents evaluate deer management alternatives on the basis of different sets of criteria (e.g., effectiveness, humaneness, etc.). We explored whether people\u27s attitudes were more likely to be influenced by information if it addressed the criteria about which they were concerned. We conducted our research through two mail surveys of randomly selected residents of Irondequoit, New York, implemented 20 months apart. Some 512 people responded to both surveys. The first survey was used to: (1) determine those considerations respondents used to judge deer management alternatives; and (2) measure their attitudes toward contraception and other alternatives. We used these results to categorize respondents according to how important it was to them that a deer management method be: (1) effective; and (2) humane. The second survey contained a subset of questions from the first survey. Three versions of the second questionnaire were used, varying in the type of explanatory information contained: (1) effectiveness of contraception; (2) humaneness of contraception; or (3) neither topic. We used general linear models and logistic regression models to explore whether receiving effectiveness or humaneness information influenced attitudes toward contraception and whether the effect of the information was influenced by how important the concern described in the information was to respondents. We found that people were more likely to change their opinion about contraception if they received information addressing their concerns

Characterizing Healthy Urban Systems: Implications for Urban Environmental Education

A growing number of environmental educators have become interested in urban environmental education practice – in practice that is specifically tailored to the unique needs and characteristics of urban social-ecological systems. A clear conceptualization of the defining characteristics of healthy urban social-ecological systems can make an important contribution to urban environmental education programs. We synthesized urban environmental educators’ perspectives about the nature of healthy urban social-ecological systems and assessed the implications of those system characteristics for urban environmental education practice. We identified 14 different characteristics needed for urban environments to be healthy. These characteristics demonstrate that, from the perspective of urban environmental educators, the social components of healthy urban systems are equally important to the biophysical components, and these components have profound effects on each other. Through their practice, urban environmental educators cultivate awareness, appreciation, and willingness to act on behalf of both the social and biophysical components of urban systems

Communicating about Suburban Deer Management: Tailoring the Message to the Stakeholders

Public input plays an important role in selecting suburban deer management alternatives. Agencies often communicate with the public to ensure that citizens have accurate information when judging management alternatives. Research has shown that suburban residents evaluate deer management alternatives on the basis of different sets of criteria (e.g., effectiveness, humaneness, etc.). We explored whether people\u27s attitudes were more likely to be influenced by information if it addressed the criteria about which they were concerned. We conducted our research through two mail surveys of randomly selected residents of Irondequoit, New York, implemented 20 months apart. Some 512 people responded to both surveys. The first survey was used to: (I) determine those considerations respondents used to judge deer management alternatives; and (2) measure their attitudes toward contraception and other alternatives. We used these results to categorize respondents according to how important it was to them that a deer management method be: (1) effective; and (2) humane. The second survey contained a subset of questions from the first survey. Three versions of the second questionnaire were used, varying in the type of explanatory information contained: (1) effectiveness of contraception; (2) humaneness of contraception; or (3) neither topic. We used general linear models and logistic regression models to explore whether receiving effectiveness or humaneness information influenced attitudes toward contraception and whether the effect of the information was influenced by how important the concern described in the information was to respondents. We found that people were more likely to change their opinion about contraception if they received information addressing their concerns

Effects of 9-hour time zone changes on fatigue and circadian rhythms of sleep/wake and core temperature

Physiological and psychological disruptions caused by transmeridian flights may affect the ability of flight crews to meet operational demands. To study these effects, 9 Royal Norwegian Airforces P3-Orion crewmembers flew from Norway to California (-9 hr), and back (+9 hr). Rectal temperature, heart rate and wrist activity were recorded every 2 min, fatigue and mood were rated every 2 hr during the waking day, and logs were kept of sleep times and ratings. Subjects also completed 4 personality inventories. The time-zone shifts produced negative changes in mood which persisted longer after westward flights. Sleep quality (subjective and objective) and duration were slightly disrupted (more after eastward flights). The circadian rhythms of sleep/wake and temperature both completed the 9-hr delay by day 5 in California, although temperature adjusted more slowly. The size of the delay shift was significantly correlated with scores on extraversion and achievement need personality scales. Response to the 9-hr advance were more variable. One subject exhibited a 15-hr delay in his temperature rhythm, and an atypical sleep/nap pattern. On average, the sleep/wake cycle (but not the temperature rhythm), completed the 9-hr advance by the end of the study. Both rhythms adapted more slowly after the eastward flight

Building Local Capacity to Respond to Environmental Change: Lessons and Case Studies from New York State

CaRDI Reports Issue 1