Projected sea level rise and the conservation ecology of the Micronesian Megapode (Megapodius laperouse senex) in Palau, Micronesia

Climate change has been a subject of numerous studies. While findings suggest that most biological taxa will be affected by its manifestations, aspects of a species life history may increase its susceptibility to climate change. Given their reliance on environmental sources of heat to incubate their eggs, I examined the vulnerability to climate change of the avian family Megapodiidae. I also assessed habitat use, susceptibility to sea level rise, and the effect of introduced rats and tourist presence, as added stressors to climate change, on the Micronesian Megapode (Megapodius laperouse senex) in Palau. Based on available literature, I employed a trait-based assessment to investigate the vulnerability of 21 species of megapodes to climate change. All species were predicted to experience at least a 2°C increase in mean annual temperature, 12 may experience a moderate or greater fluctuation in rainfall, and 16 would be exposed to rising seas. While the most vulnerable megapodes are intrinsically rare and range restricted, mound nesting species may be more resilient to climate change than others. I examined breeding and foraging habitat use by the mound nesting megapode in the Rock Islands Southern Lagoon Conservation Area (RISL), where it almost exclusively uses low-lying littoral strand habitat for breeding. Megapodes preferentially selected sites that were 1) relatively close to shore, 2) contained large trees, and 3) exhibited greater canopy heights than the surrounding forest. The subspecies foraged in a non-preferential manner and used all littoral habitat with no apparent influence of dominant plant species composition. Using GIS and the latest spatial data, I modelled the effect of three currently accepted scenarios (0.52 m, 0.98 m, and 1.9 m) of sea level rise on their known breeding habitat. The RISL is comprised of 3,857.5 ha of forested cover of which megapodes used 120.8 ha (3.1%) for breeding, with an additional 25.3 ha potentially available to them. Megapodes may lose at least 32.5% to 43.3% of known breeding habitat and 25.7% to 31.3% of potential habitat to inundation, respectively. Using passive chew-tag and call playback surveys, I examined whether introduced rats and tourist presence may negatively affect megapodes in the RISL. Rat detection probability and site occupancy were significantly higher on tourist visited iv (89% and 99%, respectively) compared to tourist-free islands (52% and 73%). I detected significantly more megapodes at stations on tourist-free islands (93%) than tourist visited (47%), but relative abundance was not significantly different between island types. My findings suggested no significant relationship between rats and megapodes, a negative relationship between tourist presence and megapodes, and augmentation of rat populations by tourist presence. I compared the ecology of, and IUCN listed threats for, Micronesian Megapodes in Palau with those in the Mariana Islands. I proposed both the inclusion of an additional climate change related threat based on my sea level rise modelling, and new ranking of all IUCN threats by subspecies. Lastly, I proposed research and data acquisition priorities necessary to fill current gaps in the knowledge of megapodes in Palau and facilitate its long-term conservation

Understanding and Treating Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using the Six Principles of Naturopathic Medicine

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a health condition that has been increasing in occurrence due to a high number of traumatic events individuals have been experiencing around the world as well as the awareness of the effects of such traumatic events on individuals. There are several effective treatment options available for those who have PTSD. This includes conventional therapies, as well as complementary and alternative medicine approaches. Naturopathic Medicine is one field of medicine that can be utilized by patients with PTSD seeking safe and effective treatments. A complete understanding of PTSD including risk factors, symptoms and neurophysiology is important in determining an appropriate treatment plan for patients. Knowing that each case presentation may be different will play a role in providing the most effective individualized treatment plan. With the increased understanding of PTSD, there are many ways to approach a PTSD case, one of which can involve the use of the six principles of Naturopathic Medicine. This approach uses a variety of modalities as part of an effective treatment plan. It will take into account the individuality of each case as well as constitute a holistic approach to each presenting PTSD patient. This thesis/poster aims to link the six principles of Naturopathic Medicine to aspects of PTSD that allows for us to understand and potentially treat PTSD

Obesogenic environments and obesity : a comment on ‘Are environmental area characteristics at birth associated with overweight and obesity in school-aged children? Findings from the SLOPE (Studying Lifecourse Obesity PrEdictors) population-based cohort in the south of England’

The term ‘obesogenic environment’ has been coined to refer to the influences that the surroundings, opportunities or conditions of life have on promoting obesity in individuals and populations. While the causes of obesity are complex and obesity is multifaceted in aetiology, it is plausible that the condition is driven largely by environmental factors, which undermine the self-regulatory capacity that people have to make responsible decisions about personal diet and physical activity

Assessing the short-term outcomes of a community-based intervention for overweight and obese children: The MEND 5-7 programme

Objective The aim of this study was to report outcomes of the UK service level delivery of MEND (Mind,Exercise,Nutrition...Do it!) 5-7, a multicomponent, community-based, healthy lifestyle intervention designed for overweight and obese children aged 5–7 years and their families. Design Repeated measures. Setting Community venues at 37 locations across the UK. Participants 440 overweight or obese children (42% boys; mean age 6.1 years; body mass index (BMI) z-score 2.86) and their parents/carers participated in the intervention. Intervention MEND 5-7 is a 10-week, family-based, child weight-management intervention consisting of weekly group sessions. It includes positive parenting, active play, nutrition education and behaviour change strategies. The intervention is designed to be scalable and delivered by a range of health and social care professionals. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was BMI z-score. Secondary outcome measures included BMI, waist circumference, waist circumference z-score, children's psychological symptoms, parenting self-efficacy, physical activity and sedentary behaviours and the proportion of parents and children eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables. Results 274 (62%) children were measured preintervention and post-intervention (baseline; 10-weeks). Post-intervention, mean BMI and waist circumference decreased by 0.5 kg/m2 and 0.9 cm, while z-scores decreased by 0.20 and 0.20, respectively (p<0.0001). Improvements were found in children's psychological symptoms (−1.6 units, p<0.0001), parent self-efficacy (p<0.0001), physical activity (+2.9 h/week, p<0.01), sedentary activities (−4.1 h/week, p<0.0001) and the proportion of parents and children eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day (both p<0.0001). Attendance at the 10 sessions was 73% with a 70% retention rate. Conclusions Participation in the MEND 5-7 programme was associated with beneficial changes in physical, behavioural and psychological outcomes for children with complete sets of measurement data, when implemented in UK community settings under service level conditions. Further investigation is warranted to establish if these findings are replicable under controlled conditions

Arctic Sea Ice and Its Role in Global Change

Sea ice is an important component of the global climate system. Sea ice forms, grows, and melts in the ocean. Sea ice grows during the fall and winter and melts during the spring and summer. Sea ice can melt completely in summer or survive multiple years. Sea ice can be classified by stages of development (thickness and age), that is, first-year sea ice (ice thickness typically 1.8 m). Sea ice occurs in both hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, sea ice develops in the Arctic Ocean and surrounding bodies including Hudson and Baffin Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Greenland Sea, the Bering Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk (sea ice can be observed as far south as Bohai Bay, China, ~38N). In the Southern Hemisphere, sea ice only develops around Antarctica, reaching a maximum equatorward extension at around ~55S)

Is BMI alone a sufficient outcome to evaluate interventions for child obesity?

BACKGROUND: BMI is often used to evaluate the effectiveness of childhood obesity interventions, but such interventions may have additional benefits independent of effects on adiposity. We investigated whether benefits to health outcomes following the Mind, Exercise, Nutrition…Do It! (MEND) childhood obesity intervention were independent of or associated with changes in zBMI. METHODS: A total of 79 obese children were measured at baseline; 71 and 42 participants were followed-up at 6 and 12 months respectively, and split into four groups depending on magnitude of change in zBMI. Differences between groups for waist circumference, cardiovascular fitness, physical and sedentary activities, and self-esteem were investigated. RESULTS: Apart from waist circumference and its z-score, there were no differences or trends across zBMI subgroups for any outcome. Independent of the degree of zBMI change, benefits in several parameters were observed in children participating in this obesity intervention. CONCLUSION: We concluded that isolating a single parameter like zBMI change and neglecting other important outcomes is restrictive and may undermine the evaluation of childhood obesity intervention effectiveness

Temperature and humidity based projections of a rapid rise in global heat stress exposure during the 21st century

As a result of global increases in both temperature and specific humidity, heat stress is projected to intensify throughout the 21st century. Some of the regions most susceptible to dangerous heat and humidity combinations are also among the most densely populated. Consequently, there is the potential for widespread exposure to wet bulb temperatures that approach and in some cases exceed postulated theoretical limits of human tolerance by mid- to late-century. We project that by 2080 the relative frequency of present-day extreme wet bulb temperature events could rise by a factor of 100–250 (approximately double the frequency change projected for temperature alone) in the tropics and parts of the mid-latitudes, areas which are projected to contain approximately half the world's population. In addition, population exposure to wet bulb temperatures that exceed recent deadly heat waves may increase by a factor of five to ten, with 150–750 million person-days of exposure to wet bulb temperatures above those seen in today's most severe heat waves by 2070–2080. Under RCP 8.5, exposure to wet bulb temperatures above 35 °C—the theoretical limit for human tolerance—could exceed a million person-days per year by 2080. Limiting emissions to follow RCP 4.5 entirely eliminates exposure to that extreme threshold. Some of the most affected regions, especially Northeast India and coastal West Africa, currently have scarce cooling infrastructure, relatively low adaptive capacity, and rapidly growing populations. In the coming decades heat stress may prove to be one of the most widely experienced and directly dangerous aspects of climate change, posing a severe threat to human health, energy infrastructure, and outdoor activities ranging from agricultural production to military training

How has big data contributed to obesity research? A review of the literature

There has been growing interest in the potential of ‘big data’ to enhance our understanding in medicine and public health. Although there is no agreed definition of big data, accepted critical components include greater volume, complexity, coverage and speed of availability. Much of these data are ‘found’ (as opposed to ‘made’), in that they have been collected for non-research purposes but could include valuable information for research. The aim of this paper is to review the contribution of ‘found’ data to obesity research to date, and describe the benefits and challenges encountered. A narrative review was conducted to identify and collate peer-reviewed research studies. Database searches conducted up to September 2017 found original studies using a variety of data types and sources. These included: retail sales, transport, geospatial, commercial weight management data, social media, and smartphones and wearable technologies. The narrative review highlights the variety of data uses in the literature: describing the built environment, exploring social networks, estimating nutrient purchases or assessing the impact of interventions. The examples demonstrate four significant ways in which ‘found’ data can complement conventional ‘made’ data: firstly, in moving beyond constraints in scope (coverage, size, and temporality); secondly, in providing objective, quantitative measures; thirdly, in reaching hard-to-access population groups; and lastly in the potential for evaluating real-world interventions. Alongside these opportunities, ‘found’ data come with distinct challenges, such as: ethical and legal questions around access and ownership; commercial sensitivities; costs; lack of control over data acquisition; validity; representativeness; finding appropriate comparators; and complexities of data processing, management and linkage. Despite widespread recognition of the opportunities, the impact of ‘found’ data on academic obesity research has been limited. The merit of such data lies not in their novelty, but in the benefits they could add over and above, or in combination with, conventionally collected data