Long Distance Movements and Disjunct Spatial Use of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) in the Inland Waters of the Pacific Northwest

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, adult harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) typically limit their movements and activity to <50 km from their primary haul-out site. As a result, the ecological impact of harbor seals is viewed as limited to relatively small spatial scales. Harbor seals in the Pacific Northwest are believed to remain <30 km from their primary haul-out site, one of several contributing factors to the current stock designation. However, movement patterns within the region are not well understood because previous studies have used radio-telemetry, which has range limitations. Our objective was to use satellite-telemetry to determine the regional spatial scale of movements. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Satellite tags were deployed on 20 adult seals (n=16 males and 4 females) from two rocky reefs and a mudflat-bay during April-May 2007. Standard filtering algorithms were used to remove outliers, resulting in an average (± SD) of 693 (± 377) locations per seal over 110 (± 32) days. A particle filter was implemented to interpolate locations temporally and decrease erroneous locations on land. Minimum over-water distances were calculated between filtered locations and each seal's capture site to show movement of seals over time relative to their capture site, and we estimated utilization distributions from kernel density analysis to reflect spatial use. Eight males moved >100 km from their capture site at least once, two of which traveled round trip to and from the Pacific coast, a total distance >400 km. Disjunct spatial use patterns observed provide new insight into general harbor seal behavior. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Long-distance movements and disjunct spatial use of adult harbor seals have not been reported for the study region and are rare worldwide in such a large proportion of tagged individuals. Thus, the ecological influence of individual seals may reach farther than previously assumed

Promotoras as Mental Health Practitioners in Primary Care: A Multi-Method Study of an Intervention to Address Contextual Sources of Depression

We assessed the role of promotoras—briefly trained community health workers—in depression care at community health centers. The intervention focused on four contextual sources of depression in underserved, low-income communities: underemployment, inadequate housing, food insecurity, and violence. A multi-method design included quantitative and ethnographic techniques to study predictors of depression and the intervention’s impact. After a structured training program, primary care practitioners (PCPs) and promotoras collaboratively followed a clinical algorithm in which PCPs prescribed medications and/or arranged consultations by mental health professionals and promotoras addressed the contextual sources of depression. Based on an intake interview with 464 randomly recruited patients, 120 patients with depression were randomized to enhanced care plus the promotora contextual intervention, or to enhanced care alone. All four contextual problems emerged as strong predictors of depression (chi square, p < .05); logistic regression revealed housing and food insecurity as the most important predictors (odds ratios both 2.40, p < .05). Unexpected challenges arose in the intervention’s implementation, involving infrastructure at the health centers, boundaries of the promotoras’ roles, and “turf” issues with medical assistants. In the quantitative assessment, the intervention did not lead to statistically significant improvements in depression (odds ratio 4.33, confidence interval overlapping 1). Ethnographic research demonstrated a predominantly positive response to the intervention among stakeholders, including patients, promotoras, PCPs, non-professional staff workers, administrators, and community advisory board members. Due to continuing unmet mental health needs, we favor further assessment of innovative roles for community health workers

Multisession Cognitive Bias Modification Targeting Multiple Biases in Adolescents with Elevated Social Anxiety

Research studies applying cognitive bias modification of attention (CBM-A) and interpretations (CBM-I) training to reduce adolescent anxiety by targeting associated cognitive biases have found mixed results. This study presents a new multi-session, combined bias CBM package, which uses a mix of training techniques and stimuli to enhance user-engagement. We present preliminary data on its viability, acceptability and effectiveness on reducing symptoms and biases using an A–B case series design. 19 adolescents with elevated social anxiety reported on their social anxiety, real-life social behaviours, general anxiety, depression, and cognitive biases at pre/post time-points during a 2-week baseline phase and a 2-week intervention phase. Retention rate was high. Adolescents also reported finding the CBM training helpful, particularly CBM-I. Greater reductions in social anxiety, negative social behaviour, and general anxiety and depression, characterised the intervention but not baseline phase. There was a significant correlation between interpretation bias change and social anxiety symptom change. Our enhanced multi-session CBM programme delivered in a school-setting appeared viable and acceptable. Training-associated improvements in social anxiety will require further verification in a study with an active control condition/group.Medical Research Counci