Impact of housing improvement and the socio-physical environment on the mental health of children’s carers: a cohort study in Australian Aboriginal communities

BACKGROUND: The mental health of carers is an important proximate factor in the causal web linking housing conditions to child health, as well as being important in its own right. Improved understanding of the nature of the relationships between housing conditions, carer mental health and child health outcomes is therefore important for informing the development of housing programs. This paper examines the relationship between the mental health of the carers of young children, housing conditions, and other key factors in the socio-physical environment. METHODS: This analysis is part of a broader prospective cohort study of children living in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia at the time of major new community housing programs. Carer’s mental health was assessed using two validated scales: the Affect Balance scale and the Brief Screen for Depression. The quality of housing infrastructure was assessed through detailed surveys. Secondary explanatory variables included a range of socio-environmental factors, including validated measures of stressful life events. Hierarchical regression modelling was used to assess associations between outcome and explanatory variables at baseline, and associations between change in housing conditions and change in outcomes between baseline and follow-up. RESULTS: There was no clear or consistent evidence of a causal relationship between the functional state of household infrastructure and the mental health of carers of young children. The strongest and most consistent associations with carer mental health were the measures of negative life events, with a dose–response relationship, and adjusted odds ratio of over 6 for carers in the highest stress exposure category at baseline, and consistent associations in the follow up analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the need for housing programs to be supported by social, behavioral and community-wide environmental programs if potential health gains are to be more fully realized, and for rigorous evaluation of such programs for the purpose of informing future housing initiatives

Athlete Perceptions of Flavored, Menthol-enhanced Energy Gels Ingested Prior to Running in the Heat

Thermal perception during exercise is known to influence endurance performance and the onset of fatigue. L-menthol, an organic compound derived from peppermint, evokes a cooling sensation through its action on TRPM8 channels which also respond to cold stimuli. Recent work identified that the internal application of menthol-enhanced fluids can be ergogenic during exercise in the heat. Hence, the addition of menthol to energy gels may be practical and beneficial for athletes. PURPOSE: To determine athlete acceptability and preferences for flavored energy gels with different menthol concentrations. METHODS: With a randomized, crossover, and double-blind placebo-controlled design, 27 endurance athletes (34.8±6.7 y, BMI: 21.7±1.6 kg·m-2, 9 female) ingested an energy gel with a menthol additive at relative concentrations: low (0.1%), medium-low (0.3%), medium-high (0.5%), high (0.7%), or a non-menthol, flavor-matched placebo (CON), on separate days before outdoor running sessions. Athletes rated the gels for cooling sensation, irritation (tingling/burning), flavor, and overall experience on 100-point sensory and hedonic labeled magnitude scales. The duration of any cooling sensation was also reported. Repeated measures ANOVAs with a Bonferroni adjustment for pairwise comparisons were used to determine differences. RESULTS: All menthol gels successfully delivered a greater cooling sensation compared to CON (7.4±8.1 AU) with a significantly greater response for 0.7% (59.9±20.5 AU) and 0.5% (57.7±21.8 AU), compared to all others, which were both rated “moderate-strong” for intensity. Irritation intensity was higher for all menthol gels compared to CON (3.4±7.2 AU), and for 0.7% compared to 0.1% (31.1±31.0 vs 16.3±21.0 AU, p=0.041), with none reported higher than a “mild-moderate” intensity. The menthol gels delivered a significantly longer cooling duration (range: 12.3-19.6 min) compared to CON (2.2±4.8 min) with no significant difference between menthol gels. Ratings of overall experience and flavor were not different between gels (p\u3e.05). CONCLUSION: A flavored energy gel with the addition of menthol at 0.1-0.7% provides a cooling sensation for athletes when ingested before exercise. The 0.5% concentration is recommended to maximize the cooling sensation of the gel whilst minimizing irritation

Evaluation of an Australian indigenous housing programme: community level impact on crowding, infrastructure function and hygiene

Background and Aim: Housing programmes in indigenous Australian communities have focused largely on achieving good standards of infrastructure function. The impact of this approach was assessed on three potentially important housing-related influences on child health at the community level: (1) crowding, (2) the functional state of the house infrastructure and (3) the hygienic condition of the houses.\ud \ud Methods: A before-and-after study, including house infrastructure surveys and structured interviews with the main householder, was conducted in all homes of young children in 10 remote Australian indigenous communities.\ud \ud Results: Compared with baseline, follow-up surveys showed (1) a small non-significant decrease in the mean number of people per bedroom in the house on the night before the survey (3.4, 95% CI 3.1 to 3.6 at baseline vs 3.2, 95% CI 2.9 to 3.4 at follow-up; natural logarithm transformed t test, t=1.3, p=0.102); (2) a marginally significant overall improvement in infrastructure function scores (Kruskal–Wallis test, χ2=3.9, p=0.047); and (3) no clear overall improvement in hygiene (Kruskal–Wallis test, χ2=0.3, p=0.605).\ud \ud Conclusion: Housing programmes of this scale that focus on the provision of infrastructure alone appear unlikely to lead to more hygienic general living environments, at least in this study context. A broader ecological approach to housing programmes delivered in these communities is needed if potential health benefits are to be maximised. This ecological approach would require a balanced programme of improving access to health hardware, hygiene promotion and creating a broader enabling environment in communities.\u

Athlete perceptions of flavored, menthol-enhanced energy gels ingested prior to endurance exercise in the heat

Background L-menthol evokes a cooling sensation by activating cold sensing cation channels. Menthol-enhanced fluids can be ergogenic during exercise in the heat by improving thermal perception; hence, the addition of menthol to energy gels may benefit athletes. Previously, unflavored menthol gels were deemed acceptable at 0.1% concentration, but no research has been undertaken on menthol gels with additional flavoring. Therefore, we determined athlete perceptions of flavored energy gels with different menthol concentrations. Methods With a randomized, crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, 27 athletes (34.8 ± 6.7 y, 9 females) ingested an energy gel with either 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, or 0.7% menthol concentration, or a non-menthol, flavor-matched placebo (CON), on separate occasions before outdoor exercise. Gels were rated for cooling sensation, irritation, flavor, and overall experience on 100-point sensory and hedonic labeled magnitude scales. The duration of any cooling sensation was also reported. Results All menthol gels delivered a greater cooling sensation compared to CON (7.4 ± 8.1 AU) with a significantly greater response for 0.7% (59.9 ± 20.5 AU) and 0.5% (57.7 ± 21.8 AU), compared to all others. Irritation was higher for all menthol gels compared to CON (3.4 ± 7.2 AU) and for 0.7% compared to 0.1% (31.1 ± 31.0 vs. 16.3 ± 21.0 AU, p = 0.041), with none rated above a ‘mild-moderate’ intensity. The menthol gels delivered a significantly longer cooling sensation duration (12.3-19.6 min) versus CON (2.2 ± 4.8 min) with no difference between menthol gels. Conclusion A flavored menthol energy gel at 0.1–0.7% concentration provides a cooling sensation for athletes when ingested before exercise. The 0.5% concentration is recommended to maximize the cooling sensation whilst minimizing irritation

A menthol-enhanced “cooling” energy gel does not influence laboratory time trial performance in trained runners

l-menthol (menthol) is an organic compound derived from peppermint which imparts a refreshing mint flavor and aroma to oral hygiene products, chewing gum, and topical analgesics. Menthol has been identified as a non-thermal sensory cooling strategy for athletes when ingested or mouth-rinsed during exercise in hot environments. Therefore, sports nutrition products delivering a controlled concentration of menthol could be beneficial for athletes exercising in the heat. We sought to test the performance and perceptual outcomes of a novel menthol energy gel during treadmill running in the heat (33 °C, 49% RH). Fourteen trained runners (mean ± SD; age: 31 ± 6 years, VO2max: 56.5 ± 10.1 mL·kg−1·min−1, BMI: 23.2 ± 2.4 kg/m2; six female) participated in a randomized, crossover, double-blind, and placebo-controlled study. A menthol-enhanced energy gel (0.5% concentration; MEN) or flavor-matched placebo (PLA) was ingested 5 min before and again at 20 and 40 min of a 40 min treadmill exercise preload at 60% VO2max, followed by a 20 min self-paced time trial. The total distance, vertical distance, perceptual measures (thermal comfort, thermal sensation, rating of perceived exertion, and affect), and cognitive performance via computerized neurocognitive assessment were measured. No difference between 20 min self-paced time trial total distance (MEN: 4.22 ± 0.54 km, PLA: 4.22 ± 0.55 km, p = 0.867), vertical distance (MEN: 49.2 ± 24.6 m, PLA: 44.4 ± 11.4 m, p = 0.516), or any perceptual measures was observed (all p > 0.05). Cognitive performance was not different between the trials (all p > 0.05). These results suggest that a menthol energy gel is not superior to a non-menthol gel in terms of performance or perception during treadmill running in the heat. More research is needed to confirm whether these findings translate to ecologically valid settings, including outdoor exercise in ambient heat and during competition

Resilience of a tropical sport fish population to a severe cold event varies across five estuaries in southern Florida

For species that are closely managed, understanding population resilience to environmental and anthropogenic disturbances (i.e., recovery trajectories across broad spatial areas) can guide which suite of management actions are available to mitigate any impacts. During January 2010, an extreme cold event in south Florida caused widespread mortality of common snook, Centropomus undecimalis, a popular sport fish. Interpretation of trends using fishery-independent monitoring data in five south Florida estuaries showed that changes in catch rates of adult snook (\u3e500 mm standard length) varied between no effects postevent to large effects and 4-yr recoveries. The reasons for the variation across estuaries are unknown, but are likely related to differences in estuary geomorphology and habitat availability (e.g., extent of deep rivers and canals) and differences in the proportions of behavior contingents (i.e., segments of the population that use divergent movement tactics) that place snook in different areas of the estuary during winter. Emerging awareness of the presence of behavior contingents, identification of overwintering sites, and improvements of abundance indices in remote nursery habitats should provide a better understanding of population resilience to disturbance events for snook. Given that changes in the frequency of short-lived, severe cold events are currently unknown, the findings and management actions described here for a tropical species living at the edge of its distribution should be useful to scientists forecasting the effects of climate change

Evaluation of the transmitted exposure through lead equivalent aprons used in a radiology department, including the contribution from backscatter

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135071/1/mp3207.pd

Multi-dimensional modelling of X-ray spectra for AGN accretion-disk outflows III: application to a hydrodynamical simulation

We perform multi-dimensional radiative transfer simulations to compute spectra for a hydrodynamical simulation of a line-driven accretion disk wind from an active galactic nucleus. The synthetic spectra confirm expectations from parameterized models that a disk wind can imprint a wide variety of spectroscopic signatures including narrow absorption lines, broad emission lines and a Compton hump. The formation of these features is complex with contributions originating from many of the different structures present in the hydrodynamical simulation. In particular, spectral features are shaped both by gas in a successfully launched outflow and in complex flows where material is lifted out of the disk plane but ultimately falls back. We also confirm that the strong Fe Kalpha line can develop a weak, red-skewed line wing as a result of Compton scattering in the outflow. In addition, we demonstrate that X-ray radiation scattered and reprocessed in the flow has a pivotal part in both the spectrum formation and determining the ionization conditions in the wind. We find that scattered radiation is rather effective in ionizing gas which is shielded from direct irradiation from the central source. This effect likely makes the successful launching of a massive disk wind somewhat more challenging and should be considered in future wind simulations.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication by MNRA