Using visual methods to understand physical activity maintenance following cardiac rehabilitation

© 2015 Hardcastle et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Few studies have explored the factors associated with long-term maintenance of exercise following cardiac rehabilitation. The present study used auto-photography and interviews to explore the factors that influence motivation and continued participation in physical activity among post cardiac rehabilitation patients. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted alongside participant-selected photographs or drawings with participants that had continued participation in physical activity for at least two years following the cardiac rehabilitation programme. Participants were recruited from circuit training classes in East Sussex in the UK. Thematic content analysis revealed seven main themes: fear of death and ill health avoidance, critical incidents, overcoming aging, social influences, being able to enjoy life, provision of routine and structure, enjoyment and psychological well-being. Fear of death, illness avoidance, overcoming aging, and being able to enjoy life were powerful motives for continued participation in exercise. The social nature of the exercise class was also identified as a key facilitator of continued participation. Group-based exercise suited those that continued exercise participation post cardiac rehabilitation and fostered adherence

Following a foraging fish-finder : diel habitat use of Blainville's beaked whales revealed by echolocation

© The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e28353, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028353.Simultaneous high resolution sampling of predator behavior and habitat characteristics is often difficult to achieve despite its importance in understanding the foraging decisions and habitat use of predators. Here we tap into the biosonar system of Blainville's beaked whales, Mesoplodon densirostris, using sound and orientation recording tags to uncover prey-finding cues available to echolocating predators in the deep-sea. Echolocation sounds indicate where whales search and encounter prey, as well as the altitude of whales above the sea-floor and the density of organisms around them, providing a link between foraging activity and the bio-physical environment. Tagged whales (n = 9) hunted exclusively at depth, investing most of their search time either in the lower part of the deep scattering layer (DSL) or near the sea-floor with little diel change. At least 43% (420/974) of recorded prey-capture attempts were performed within the benthic boundary layer despite a wide range of dive depths, and many dives included both meso- and bentho-pelagic foraging. Blainville's beaked whales only initiate searching when already deep in the descent and encounter prey suitable for capture within 2 min of the start of echolocation, suggesting that these whales are accessing prey in reliable vertical strata. Moreover, these prey resources are sufficiently dense to feed the animals in what is effectively four hours of hunting per day enabling a strategy in which long dives to exploit numerous deep-prey with low nutritional value require protracted recovery periods (average 1.5 h) between dives. This apparent searching efficiency maybe aided by inhabiting steep undersea slopes with access to both the DSL and the sea-floor over small spatial scales. Aggregations of prey in these biotopes are located using biosonar-derived landmarks and represent stable and abundant resources for Blainville's beaked whales in the otherwise food-limited deep-ocean.The work was funded by the Office of Naval Research and the National Ocean Partnership Program (US), by a consortium consisting of the Canary Islands Government, the Spanish Ministry of Environment and the Spanish Ministry of Defense, and by the European environmental funding LIFE-INDEMARES program for the inventory and designation of the Natura 2000 network in marine areas of the Spanish territory, headed by Fundacion Biodiversidad, with additional support from the Cabildo Insular of El Hierro. PA is currently supported by the National Research Project: Cetacean, Oceanography and Biodiversity from La Palma and El Hierro (CGL2009-13112) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and NAS by a Marie Curie fellowship from the 7th European Frame Program. MJ was supported by grants from the Strategic Environmental Research Development Program and from the National Ocean Partnership Program. PTM was supported by frame grants from the National Danish Science Foundation

11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 has no effect on survival during experimental malaria but affects parasitemia in a parasite strain-specific manner

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Injury rates and injury risk factors among federal bureau of investigation new agent trainees

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A one-year prospective examination of injury rates and injury risk factors was conducted in Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) new agent training.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Injury incidents were obtained from medical records and injury compensation forms. Potential injury risk factors were acquired from a lifestyle questionnaire and existing data at the FBI Academy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 426 men and 105 women participated in the project. Thirty-five percent of men and 42% of women experienced one or more injuries during training. The injury incidence rate was 2.5 and 3.2 injuries/1,000 person-days for men and women, respectively (risk ratio (women/men) = 1.3, 95% confidence interval = 0.9-1.7). The activities most commonly associated with injuries (% of total) were defensive tactics training (58%), physical fitness training (20%), physical fitness testing (5%), and firearms training (3%). Among the men, higher injury risk was associated with older age, slower 300-meter sprint time, slower 1.5-mile run time, lower total points on the physical fitness test (PFT), lower self-rated physical activity, lower frequency of aerobic exercise, a prior upper or lower limb injury, and prior foot or knee pain that limited activity. Among the women higher injury risk was associated with slower 300-meter sprint time, slower 1.5-mile run time, lower total points on the PFT, and prior back pain that limited activity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this investigation supported those of a previous retrospective investigation emphasizing that lower fitness and self-reported pain limiting activity were associated with higher injury risk among FBI new agents.</p

Extreme events are more likely to affect the breeding success of lesser kestrels than average climate change

Climate change is predicted to severely impact interactions between prey, predators and habitats. In Southern Europe, within the Mediterranean climate, herbaceous vegetation achieves its maximum growth in middle spring followed by a three-month dry summer, limiting prey availability for insectivorous birds. Lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) breed in a time-window that matches the nestling-rearing period with the peak abundance of grasshoppers and forecasted climate change may impact reproductive success through changes in prey availability and abundance. We used Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a surrogate of habitat quality and prey availability to investigate the impacts of forecasted climate change and extreme climatic events on lesser kestrel breeding performance. First, using 14 years of data from 15 colonies in Southwestern Iberia, we linked fledging success and climatic variables with NDVI, and secondly, based on these relationships and according to climatic scenarios for 2050 and 2070, forecasted NDVI and fledging success. Finally, we evaluated how fledging success was influenced by drought events since 2004. Despite predicting a decrease in vegetation greenness in lesser kestrel foraging areas during spring, we found no impacts of predicted gradual rise in temperature and decline in precipitation on their fledging success. Notwithstanding, we found a decrease of 12% in offspring survival associated with drought events, suggesting that a higher frequency of droughts might, in the future, jeopardize the recent recovery of the European population. Here, we show that extreme events, such as droughts, can have more significant impacts on species than gradual climatic changes, especially in regions like the Mediterranean Basin, a biodiversity and climate change hotspotinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Role of Ethnic Directors in Corporate Social Responsibility: Does Culture matter? The Cultural Trait Theory Perspectives

This paper investigates the effect of cultural differences between ethnic directors on corporate social responsibility (CSR) of Public Liability Companies (PLCs) in Nigeria. Using the cultural trait theory, the study focuses on how the ethnic directors are influenced when making decisions concerning CSR. Adopting multiple regression analysis of data, the study investigates the three major ethnic groups (Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa) and finds cultural differences between the ethnic directors affect the adoption of CSR. Empirical results indicate that ethnic directors (Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa) were positively and significantly related to CSR. The paper contributes to the corporate governance and CSR debate concerning how ethnic directors’ decisions impact on CSR activities, particularly on the directors who are individualistic and collectivists towards CSR

Morphodynamic research challenges for braided river environments: Lessons from the iconic case of New Zealand

Pressures on braided river systems in New Zealand are increasing due to anthropogenic stresses such as demand for irrigation water, braidplain conversion to farmland and invasive vegetation, as well as extreme natural events associated with earthquakes and climate change. These pressures create issues around preserving braided river physical environments and associated ecosystems and managing hazards such as floods, aggradation and erosion. A need for more robust understanding and quantification of braided river morphodynamic processes underpins many of these issues. Here, we present eight morphodynamic research challenges to service this need. The first four research challenges relate to managing aggradation‐related flooding hazards; the last four address issues stemming largely from recent dairy expansion, which has created huge pressure to take land and irrigation water from the alp‐fed braided rivers and to alter flow regimes at their mouths. Hāpua, the freshwater lagoons found where most braided rivers meet the coast, show complex morphodynamic behaviour in response to the interplay of river and coastal processes, and their special ecosystems are sensitive to river flow and sediment load changes. We discuss how physical laboratory experiments and novel numerical modelling can help to understand the morphological processes braided rivers undergo, and we show how those research advances could inform planning and legal decisions to regulate land rights and irrigation water allocation on New Zealand’s braidplains. We illustrate these environmental and engineering issues and research challenges with examples from the Kowhai, Waiho, Waiau, Rangitata and Hurunui Rivers