Massachusetts Angler Typologies: The Recreation Specialization Approach

As the abundance of fish stocks in the Northeast continues to decline, the need to regulate the marine recreational catch is a topic receiving much attention. Yet, the move to manage recreational anglers\u27 fishing activities raises a host of new questions. How should the resource be allocated among different groups of fishermen? Which group should take precedence over others; or should resources be divided equally among all? To manage the Massachusetts recreational fishery, many of these questions will have to be answered to ensure the success of conservation goals. With a comprehensive understanding of anglers and their relationship to fishery resources (i.e. is it consumptive or experiential, competition or socially based), it may be possible to regulate the fishery with the best interests of the species and the fishermen in mind. Therefore the research problem explored in this thesis was as follows: Not enough is known about the varying degrees of recreation specialization displayed by Massachusetts recreational fishermen to allow fishery managers to understand the variant characteristics of these divergent subgroups

Quantitative brain electrical activity in the initial screening of mild traumatic brain injuries

Introduction: The incidence of emergency department (ED) visits for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in the United States exceeds 1,000,000 cases/year with the vast majority classified as mild (mTBI). Using existing computed tomography (CT) decision rules for selecting patients to be referred for CT, such as the New Orleans Criteria (NOC), approximately 70% of those scanned are found to have a negative CT. This study investigates the use of quantified brain electrical activity to assess its possible role in the initial screening of ED mTBI patients as compared to NOC.Methods: We studied 119 patients who reported to the ED with mTBI and received a CT. Using a hand-held electroencephalogram (EEG) acquisition device, we collected data from frontal leads to determine the likelihood of a positive CT. The brain electrical activity was processed off-line to generate an index (TBI-Index, biomarker). This index was previously derived using an independent population, and the value found to be sensitive for significant brain dysfunction in TBI patients. We compared this performance of the TBI-Index to the NOC for accuracy in prediction of positive CT findings.Results: Both the brain electrical activity TBI-Index and the NOC had sensitivities, at 94.7% and 92.1% respectively. The specificity of the TBI-Index was more than twice that of NOC, 49.4% and 23.5% respectively. The positive predictive value, negative predictive value and the positive likelihood ratio were better with the TBI-Index. When either the TBI-Index or the NOC are positive (combining both indices) the sensitivity to detect a positive CT increases to 97%.Conclusion: The hand-held EEG device with a limited frontal montage is applicable to the ED environment and its performance was superior to that obtained using the New Orleans criteria. This study suggests a possible role for an index of brain function based on EEG to aid in the acute assessment of mTBI patients. [West J Emerg Med. 2012;13(5):394-400.

A central line care maintenance bundle for the prevention of central line–associated bloodstream infection in non–intensive care unit settings

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a central line care maintenance bundle to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) in non-ICU settings. DESIGN: Before-after trial with 12 month follow-up period. SETTING: 1250-bed teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with central lines on eight general medicine wards. Four wards received the intervention and four served as controls. INTERVENTION: A multifaceted catheter care maintenance bundle consisting of educational programs for nurses, update of hospital policies, visual aids, a competency assessment, process monitoring, regular progress reports, and consolidation of supplies necessary for catheter maintenance. RESULTS: Data were collected for 25,542 catheter-days including 43 CLABSI (rate = 1.68 per 1,000 CL-days) and 4,012 catheter dressing observations. Following the intervention, a 2.5% monthly decrease in the CLABSI incidence density was observed on intervention floors, but this was not statistically significant (95% confidence interval (CI); −5.3 – 0.4). On control floors, there was a smaller, but marginally significant decrease in CLABSI incidence during the study (change in monthly rate = −1.1%; 95% CI, −2.1 - −0.1). Implementation of the bundle was associated with improvement in catheter dressing compliance on intervention wards (78.8% compliance pre-intervention vs. 87.9% during intervention/follow-up; p<0.001) but improvement was also observed on control wards (84.9% compliance pre-intervention vs. 90.9% during intervention/follow-up; P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: A multi-faceted program to improve catheter care was associated with improvement in catheter dressing care, but no change in CLABSI rates. Additional study is needed to determine strategies to prevent CLABSI in non-ICU patients

Preventing mental health problems in offspring by targeting dietary intake of pregnant women

The concept of \u27early life programming\u27 considers the importance of very early environmental exposures throughout the gestational period on the subsequent health outcomes of offspring. The role of maternal dietary intake, specifically, has been highlighted after recent studies have shown maternal diet quality to predict mental health problems in offspring. Even in the pre-conception period, maternal nutrition can have permanent and sustained phenotypic consequences for offspring

Factors Influencing Common Raven Occurrence and Density Across Cold-Desert Sagebrush Ecosystems of the Southwestern U.S.

Common ravens (Corvus corax) are a predator of eggs and chicks of numerous species including greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Raven abundance and distribution is increasing within sagebrush ecosystems as a result of anthropogenic resource subsidies. Despite concerns about subsequent predation pressure on sage-grouse, broad-scale spatial information about raven populations remains lacking. We used hierarchical occupancy and distance sampling models to map raven density and distribution in response to natural and anthropogenic landscape covariates using \u3e15,000 point count surveys occurring within the Great Basin region since 2007. Anthropogenic factors contributing to greater raven occurrence included increased road density, presence of transmission lines, agricultural activity, and presence of roadside rest areas. Natural landscape characteristics included lower elevations with greener vegetation (NDVI), greater stream and habitat edge densities, and lower percentages of big sagebrush (A. tridentate spp.). Many of these same environmental factors influenced spatial variation in raven density, although the effects varied by field site. Both raven occurrence and density tended to increase in valleys with networks of agricultural fields, ranches, roads, and distribution lines. These features likely subsidize local raven populations, which then move into more remote shrubland environments with negative consequences for sage-grouse populations. We used the relationships identified in our model to make predictions of raven density and distribution across the Great Basin landscape. We show how these model outputs can be used to guide management decisions where raven distributions overlap with breeding sage-grouse concentration areas. Findings are preliminary and provided for timely best science