20 research outputs found
Ichthyofaunal Assemblages in Three Approximate but Ecologically Diverse Streams in Clark County, Arkansas
Three tributaries to the Ouachita River in eastern Clark County, Arkansas, empty into the river within a collective distance of about 9 km. The streams drain basins derived from the Wilcox formation, partially overlain by terrace and alluvial deposits. Despite their proximity, the streams are very different: L\u27Eau Frais has a gravel substrate and was recognized by the French as a cool water stream, Tupelo Creek is a bottomland stream from which numerous Water Tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) emerge, and Saline Bayou was named due to its marked salinity. We studied the assemblages of fishes in these 3 very different drainages to evaluate the occurrence of species and the degree of similarity of the ichthyofaunas. L\u27Eau Frais differed from the other streams in a greater occurrence of lampreys (Petromyzontidae), including a disjunct population of Lampetra appendix, and suckers (Catostomidae), including the relatively uncommon Blacktail Redhorse (Moxostoma poecilurum). Tupelo Creek had an assemblage of species characteristic of a bottomland stream, and Saline Bayou had the least diverse fish fauna
Alzheimers Dement
Disturbances in the brain's capacity to meet its energy demand increase the risk of synaptic loss, neurodegeneration, and cognitive decline. Nutritional and metabolic interventions that target metabolic pathways combined with diagnostics to identify deficits in cerebral bioenergetics may therefore offer novel therapeutic potential for Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevention and management. Many diet-derived natural bioactive components can govern cellular energy metabolism but their effects on brain aging are not clear. This review examines how nutritional metabolism can regulate brain bioenergetics and mitigate AD risk. We focus on leading mechanisms of cerebral bioenergetic breakdown in the aging brain at the cellular level, as well as the putative causes and consequences of disturbed bioenergetics, particularly at the blood-brain barrier with implications for nutrient brain delivery and nutritional interventions. Novel therapeutic nutrition approaches including diet patterns are provided, integrating studies of the gut microbiome, neuroimaging, and other biomarkers to guide future personalized nutritional interventions
Health, education, and social care provision after diagnosis of childhood visual disability
Aim: To investigate the health, education, and social care provision for children newly diagnosed with visual disability.Method: This was a national prospective study, the British Childhood Visual Impairment and Blindness Study 2 (BCVIS2), ascertaining new diagnoses of visual impairment or severe visual impairment and blindness (SVIBL), or equivalent vi-sion. Data collection was performed by managing clinicians up to 1-year follow-up, and included health and developmental needs, and health, education, and social care provision.Results: BCVIS2 identified 784 children newly diagnosed with visual impairment/SVIBL (313 with visual impairment, 471 with SVIBL). Most children had associated systemic disorders (559 [71%], 167 [54%] with visual impairment, and 392 [84%] with SVIBL). Care from multidisciplinary teams was provided for 549 children (70%). Two-thirds (515) had not received an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP). Fewer children with visual impairment had seen a specialist teacher (SVIBL 35%, visual impairment 28%, χ2p < 0.001), or had an EHCP (11% vs 7%, χ2p < 0 . 01).Interpretation: Families need additional support from managing clinicians to access recommended complex interventions such as the use of multidisciplinary teams and educational support. This need is pressing, as the population of children with visual impairment/SVIBL is expected to grow in size and complexity.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Big data analytics: a threat or an opportunity for Knowledge Management?
Big Data Analytics is a rapidly developing field which already shows early promising successes. There are considerable synergies between this and Knowledge Management: both have the goal of improving decision-making, fostering innovation, fuelling competitive edge and economic success through the acquisition and application of knowledge. Both operate in a world of increasing deluges of information, with no end in sight. Big Data Analytics can be seen as a threat to the practice of knowledge management: it could relegate the latter to the mists of organizational history in the rush to adopt the latest techniques and technologies. Alternatively, it can be approached as an opportunity for knowledge management in that it wrestles with many of the same issues and dilemmas as knowledge management, The key, it is argued, lies in the application of the latter’s more social and discursive construction of knowledge, a growing trend in knowledge management. This conceptual paper explores the synergies, opportunities and contingencies available to both fields. It identifies challenges and opportunities for future research into the application of Big Data to Knowledge Management
A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic
Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges
Justifiable sensationalism
While prostitution had been a staple of sensational reporting for decades, the explosion of newspaper exposés about vice in London in the late 1940s and the early 1950s is difficult to miss. Taking this sexual sensationalism as its starting point, this article examines the relationship between the press, public opinion and policy change around the subject of prostitution, paying particular attention to the rise in media attention in the mid-twentieth century that is understood to have helped bring the Wolfenden Committee into being in 1954. It argues that while sexual sensationalism can be read as a kind of moral panic and as a tool of moral regulation, looking closely at the narratives and function of sensationalism, as well as its reception by the police, the State and the public, complicates this story. To understand the political impacts of sensational media, we need to look at the conflicts as much as the consensus within the ‘public sphere’, criminal justice and politics. In the formation of policies about commercial sex, public confusion was as important as public opinion and conflict was as central as consensus
The Angelina Jolie effect: how high celebrity profile can have a major impact on provision of cancer related services.
Endovascular implantation of covered stents in the extracranial carotid and vertebral arteries: Case series and review of the literature
Background : Covered stents are used endovascularly to seal arterial wall defects while preserving vessel patency. This report describes our experience with the use of covered stents to treat cervical pathology, and a review of the literature in regards to this topic is presented.
Case Description : Two patients presenting with the carotid blowout syndrome and one patient with a vertebrojugular fistula were treated with covered stents. This allowed for preservation of the vessel and was a treatment alternative to cerebral bypass.
Conclusion : Covered stents provide a viable means of preserving the cervical vessels in selected patients; however, long-term follow-up is necessary to determine stent patency and permanency of hemostasis