Associations between pro-environmental behaviour and neighbourhood nature, nature visit frequency and nature appreciation: Evidence from a nationally representative survey in England

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The effect of ambient temperature on type-2-diabetes: case-crossover analysis of 4+ million GP consultations across England.

BACKGROUND: Given the double jeopardy of global increases in rates of obesity and climate change, it is increasingly important to recognise the dangers posed to diabetic patients during periods of extreme weather. We aimed to characterise the associations between ambient temperature and general medical practitioner consultations made by a cohort of type-2 diabetic patients. Evidence on the effects of temperature variation in the primary care setting is currently limited. METHODS: Case-crossover analysis of 4,474,943 consultations in England during 2012-2014, linked to localised temperature at place of residence for each patient. Conditional logistic regression was used to assess associations between each temperature-related consultation and control days matched on day-of-week. RESULTS: There was an increased odds of seeking medical consultation associated with high temperatures: Odds ratio (OR) = 1.097 (95% confidence interval = 1.041, 1.156) per 1 °C increase above 22 °C. Odds during low temperatures below 0 °C were also significantly raised: OR = 1.024 (1.019, 1.030). Heat-related consultations were particularly high among diabetics with cardiovascular comorbidities: OR = 1.171 (1.031, 1.331), but there was no heightened risk with renal failure or neuropathy comorbidities. Surprisingly, lower odds of heat-related consultation were associated with the use of diuretics, anticholinergics, antipsychotics or antidepressants compared to non-use, especially among those with cardiovascular comorbidities, although differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Type-2 diabetic patients are at increased odds of medical consultation during days of temperature extremes, especially during hot weather. The common assumption that certain medication use heightens the risk of heat illness was not borne-out by our study on diabetics in a primary care setting and such advice may need to be reconsidered in heat protection plans

Pathogen seasonality and links with weather in England and Wales: A big data time series analysis

This is the final version. Available on open access from BMC via the DOI in this record.Background: Many infectious diseases of public health importance display annual seasonal patterns in their incidence. We aimed to systematically document the seasonality of several human infectious disease pathogens in England and Wales, highlighting those organisms that appear weather-sensitive and therefore may be influenced by climate change in the future. Methods: Data on infections in England and Wales from 1989 to 2014 were extracted from the Public Health England (PHE) SGSS surveillance database. We conducted a weekly, monthly and quarterly time series analysis of 277 pathogen serotypes. Each organism's time series was forecasted using the TBATS package in R, with seasonality detected using model fit statistics. Meteorological data hosted on the MEDMI Platform were extracted at a monthly resolution for 2001-2011. The organisms were then clustered by K-means into two groups based on cross correlation coefficients with the weather variables. Results: Examination of 12.9 million infection episodes found seasonal components in 91/277 (33%) organism serotypes. Salmonella showed seasonal and non-seasonal serotypes. These results were visualised in an online Rshiny application. Seasonal organisms were then clustered into two groups based on their correlations with weather. Group 1 had positive correlations with temperature (max, mean and min), sunshine and vapour pressure and inverse correlations with mean wind speed, relative humidity, ground frost and air frost. Group 2 had the opposite but also slight positive correlations with rainfall (mm, > 1 mm, > 10 mm). Conclusions: The detection of seasonality in pathogen time series data and the identification of relevant weather predictors can improve forecasting and public health planning. Big data analytics and online visualisation allow the relationship between pathogen incidence and weather patterns to be clarified.Medical Research Council (MRC)National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)National Institute of Health Research (NIHR

Spitzer Mapping of PAHs and H2 in Photodissociation Regions

The mid-infrared (MIR) spectra of dense photodissociation regions (PDRs) are typically dominated by emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the lowest pure rotational states of molecular hydrogen (H2); two species which are probes of the physical properties of gas and dust in intense UV radiation fields. We utilize the high angular resolution of the Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope to construct spectral maps of the PAH and H2 features for three of the best studied PDRs in the galaxy, NGC 7023, NGC 2023 and IC 63. We present spatially resolved maps of the physical properties, including the H2 ortho-to-para ratio, temperature, and G_o/n_H. We also present evidence for PAH dehydrogenation, which may support theories of H2 formation on PAH surfaces, and a detection of preferential self-shielding of ortho-H2. All PDRs studied exhibit average temperatures of ~500 - 800K, warm H2 column densities of ~10^20 cm^-2, G_o/n_H ~ 0.1 - 0.8, and ortho-to-para ratios of ~ 1.8. We find that while the average of each of these properties is consistent with previous single value measurements of these PDRs, when available, the addition of spatial resolution yields a diversity of values with gas temperatures as high as 1500 K, column densities spanning ~ 2 orders of magnitude, and extreme ortho-to-para ratios of 3.Comment: 14 figure

Direct photon production with effective field theory

The production of hard photons in hadronic collisions is studied using Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET). This is the first application of SCET to a physical, observable cross section involving energetic partons in more than two directions. A factorization formula is derived which involves a non-trivial interplay of the angular dependence in the hard and soft functions, both quark and gluon jet functions, and multiple partonic channels. The relevant hard, jet and soft functions are computed to one loop and their anomalous dimensions are determined to three loops. The final resummed inclusive direct photon distribution is valid to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order (NNLL), one order beyond previous work. The result is improved by including non-logarithmic terms and photon isolation cuts through matching, and compared to Tevatron data and to fixed order results at the Tevatron and the LHC. The resummed cross section has a significantly smaller theoretical uncertainty than the next-to-leading fixed-order result, particularly at high transverse momentum.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figures; v2: references added, minor changes; v3: typos; v4: typos, corrections in (16), (47), (72

Health status of older US workers and nonworkers, National Health Interview Survey, 1997-2011.

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.INTRODUCTION: Many US workers are increasingly delaying retirement from work, which may be leading to an increase in chronic disease at the workplace. We examined the association of older adults' health status with their employment/occupation and other characteristics. METHODS: National Health Interview Survey data from 1997 through 2011 were pooled for adults aged 65 or older (n = 83,338; mean age, 74.6 y). Multivariable logistic regression modeling was used to estimate the association of socioeconomic factors and health behaviors with 4 health status measures: 1) self-rated health (fair/poor vs good/very good/excellent); 2) multimorbidity (≤1 vs ≥2 chronic conditions); 3) multiple functional limitations (≤1 vs ≥2); and 4) Health and Activities Limitation Index (HALex) (below vs above 20th percentile). Analyses were stratified by sex and age (young-old vs old-old) where interactions with occupation were significant. RESULTS: Employed older adults had better health outcomes than unemployed older adults. Physically demanding occupations had the lowest risk of poor health outcomes, suggesting a stronger healthy worker effect: service workers were at lowest risk of multiple functional limitations (odds ratio [OR], 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71-0.95); and blue-collar workers were at lowest risk of multimorbidity (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.74-0.97) and multiple functional limitation (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.72-0.98). Hispanics were more likely than non-Hispanic whites to report fair/poor health (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.52-1.73) and lowest HALex quintile (OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.13-1.30); however, they were less likely to report multimorbidity (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.73-0.83) or multiple functional limitations (OR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.77-0.88). CONCLUSION: A strong association exists between employment and health status in older adults beyond what can be explained by socioeconomic factors (eg, education, income) or health behaviors (eg, smoking). Disability accommodations in the workplace could encourage employment among older adults with limitations.Funding sources included the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (grant no. R01OH03915), the National Institute on Aging (grant no. F30AG040886), and the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund to the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (University of Exeter Medical School)

Natural environments and subjective wellbeing: Different types of exposure are associated with different aspects of wellbeing

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Natural environments and subjective wellbeing: Different types of exposure are associated with different aspects of wellbeing journaltitle: Health & Place articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.03.008 content_type: article copyright: © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Young Muslim women's experiences of Islam and physical education in Greece and Britain: a comparative study

Previous research suggests that Muslim women can experience particular problems when taking physical education (PE) lessons, for example with dress codes, mixed-teaching and exercise during Ramadan; and they can face restrictions in extra-curricular activities for cultural and religious reasons. The area is under-researched and there is little evidence of comparative studies that explore similarities and differences in cross-national experiences, which is the aim of this paper. Two studies conducted in Greece and Britain that explored the views of Muslim women on school experiences of physical education are compared. Both studies focused on diaspora communities, Greek Turkish girls and British Asian women, living in predominantly non-Muslim countries. Growing concerns about global divisions between 'Muslims and the West' make this a particularly pertinent study. Qualitative data were collected by interviews with 24 Greek Muslim women, and 20 British Muslim women. \ud <P> \ud Physical education has national curriculum status and a similar rationale in both countries but with different cultures of formality and tradition, which impacted on pupils' experiences. Data suggested that Greek and British groups held positive views towards physical education but were restricted on their participation in extra-curricular activities. For the British women religious identity and consciousness of Islamic requirements were more evident than for the Greek women. Differences in stages of acculturation, historical and socio-cultural contexts contributed to less problematic encounters with physical education for Greek Muslims who appeared more closely assimilated into the dominant culture

BlueHealth: a study programme protocol for mapping and quantifying the potential benefits to public health and well-being from Europe's blue spaces

This is the final version of the article. Available from BMJ Publishing Group via the DOI in this record.INTRODUCTION: Proximity and access to water have long been central to human culture and accordingly deliver countless societal benefits. Over 200 million people live on Europe's coastline, and aquatic environments are the top recreational destination in the region. In terms of public health, interactions with 'blue space' (eg, coasts, rivers, lakes) are often considered solely in terms of risk (eg, drowning, microbial pollution). Exposure to blue space can, however, promote health and well-being and prevent disease, although underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. AIMS AND METHODS: The BlueHealth project aims to understand the relationships between exposure to blue space and health and well-being, to map and quantify the public health impacts of changes to both natural blue spaces and associated urban infrastructure in Europe, and to provide evidence-based information to policymakers on how to maximise health benefits associated with interventions in and around aquatic environments. To achieve these aims, an evidence base will be created through systematic reviews, analyses of secondary data sets and analyses of new data collected through a bespoke international survey and a wide range of community-level interventions. We will also explore how to deliver the benefits associated with blue spaces to those without direct access through the use of virtual reality. Scenarios will be developed that allow the evaluation of health impacts in plausible future societal contexts and changing environments. BlueHealth will develop key inputs into policymaking and land/water-use planning towards more salutogenic and sustainable uses of blue space, particularly in urban areas. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Throughout the BlueHealth project, ethics review and approval are obtained for all relevant aspects of the study by the local ethics committees prior to any work being initiated and an ethics expert has been appointed to the project advisory board. So far, ethical approval has been obtained for the BlueHealth International Survey and for community-level interventions taking place in Spain, Italy and the UK. Engagement of stakeholders, including the public, involves citizens in many aspects of the project. Results of all individual studies within the BlueHealth project will be published with open access. After full anonymisation and application of any measures necessary to prevent disclosure, data generated in the project will be deposited into open data repositories of the partner institutions, in line with a formal data management plan. Other knowledge and tools developed in the project will be made available via the project website (www.bluehealth2020.eu). Project results will ultimately provide key inputs to planning and policy relating to blue space, further stimulating the integration of environmental and health considerations into decision-making, such that blue infrastructure is developed across Europe with both public health and the environment in mind.This work was supported by funding received from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 666773

Evaluation of harmful algal bloom outreach activities

This is the final version of the article. Available from MDPI via the link in this record.With an apparent increase of harmful algal blooms (HABs) worldwide, healthcare providers, public health personnel and coastal managers are struggling to provide scientifically-based appropriately-targeted HAB outreach and education. Since 1998, the Florida Poison Information Center-Miami, with its 24 hour/365 day/year free Aquatic Toxins Hotline (1-888-232-8635) available in several languages, has received over 25,000 HAB-related calls. As part of HAB surveillance, all possible cases of HAB-related illness among callers are reported to the Florida Health Department. This pilot study evaluated an automated call processing menu system that allows callers to access bilingual HAB information, and to speak directly with a trained Poison Information Specialist. The majority (68%) of callers reported satisfaction with the information, and many provided specific suggestions for improvement. This pilot study, the first known evaluation of use and satisfaction with HAB educational outreach materials, demonstrated that the automated system provided useful HAB-related information for the majority of callers, and decreased the routine informational call workload for the Poison Information Specialists, allowing them to focus on callers needing immediate assistance and their healthcare providers. These results will lead to improvement of this valuable HAB outreach, education and surveillance tool. Formal evaluation is recommended for future HAB outreach and educational materials.The funding for this study was provided by the Florida Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Florida Harmful Algal Bloom Taskforce, as well as the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Oceans and Human Health Center at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School (NSF 0CE0432368; NIEHS 1 P50 ES12736), the former National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School (NIEHS P30ES05705), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Red Tide POI (P01 ES 10594)