Race and Sex Differences in Correlates of Systolic Blood Pressure in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Objectives: To describe correlates of measured systolic blood pressure (SBP) among community-dwelling older African American and White Medicare beneficiaries. Methods: Participants completed an in-home assessment and factors significantly correlated with SBP were tested using multivariable models. Results: Among the 958 participants (mean age= 75.3 [SD = 6.8]; 49% African American; 49% female; 52% rural) African Americans were more often diagnosed with hypertension, more likely on anti-hypertensives, and on more anti-hypertensive medications. SBP was 2.7 mmHg higher in African Americans than Whites (p=.03). SBP was higher in women than men. Multivariable models revealed differences in the factors associated with SBP by race/sex specific groups. Having a history of smoking and reports of being relaxed and free of tension were associated with higher SBP among African American men. Discussion: Although more likely prescribed anti-hypertensives, mean SBP was higher for older African Americans than Whites. Results support the hypothesis that behavioral and psychosocial factors are more important correlates of SBP levels among older African Americans than among Whites

Toward a Model for Fisheries Social Impact Assessment

This paper presents a model for Fisheries Social Impact Assessment (SIA) that lays the groundwork for development of fisheries-focused, quantitative social assessments with a clear conceptual model. The usefulness of current fisheries SIA’s has been called into question by some as incompatible with approaches taken by fisheries biologists and economists when assessing potential effects of management actions. Our model’s approach is closer to the economists’ and biologists’ assessments and is therefore more useful for Fishery Management Council members. The paper was developed by anthropologists initially brought together in 2004 for an SIA Modeling Workshop by the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. Opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA

Perceived Adaptive Capacity and Natural Disasters: A Fisheries Case Study

Fishermen may be increasingly impacted by natural disasters, given sea level rise and the likely increased frequency and severity of storms associated with climate change. Planning for resiliency in the face of these disasters requires understanding the factors that influence fishermen’s capacity to adapt. The paper examines perceptions of adaptive capacity of New York and New Jersey commercial and for-hire fishermen one year after Hurricane Sandy. Subjective adaptive capacity to changes in the fishery in general and those caused by natural disasters was assessed. A comparison between commercial and for-hire fishermen revealed important differences and similarities with regard to attributes influencing their perceived adaptive capacity. While both groups show high levels of coping capacity in general, for-hire fishermen presented more confidence in their ability to obtain work and income outside the fishery while commercial fishermen were more confident in their ability to remain in fishing. For both groups, those that suffered more intense impacts from the storm had more negative levels of perceived adaptive capacity. Understanding the perceived adaptive capacity of commercial and for-hire fishermen can help researchers and policy makers better understand and address each sector’s response to impacts of future natural disasters and human driven changes

Social Bonds and Recovery: An Analysis of Hurricane Sandy in the First Year after Landfall

Hurricane Sandy was one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit US shores. The brunt of the impact was felt in New York and New Jersey, especially among coastal towns such as fishing communities. A survey of these two states assessed social and economic impacts to 958 commercial and recreational fishermen and fishing-related business owners 12 months post-storm. Many businesses and communities were still struggling, due to heavy infrastructure damages and revenue losses with low insurance coverage, but also to disrupted fishing patterns for some species. Social bonds were credited by many as a key aid to recovery. Social bonds (sometimes called bonding social capital) have been shown to be critical for evacuation and recovery in other disasters. However, few studies examine social bonds and disasters within the context of fisheries. This paper expands upon that topic

Textural characterization, major and volatile element quantification and Ar-Ar systematics of spherulites in the Rocche Rosse obsidian flow, Lipari, Aeolian Islands:A temperature continuum growth model.

Spherulitic textures in the Rocche Rosse obsidian flow (Lipari, Aeolian Islands, Italy) have been characterized through petrographic, crystal size distribution (CSD) and in situ major and volatile elemental analyses to assess the mode, temperature and timescales of spherulite formation. Bulk glass chemistry and spherulite chemistry analyzed along transects across the spherulite growth front/glass boundary reveal major-oxide and volatile (H2O, CO2, F, Cl and S) chemical variations and heterogeneities at a ≤5 μm scale. Numerous bulk volatile data in non-vesicular glass (spatially removed from spherulitic textures) reveal homogenous distributions of volatile concentrations: H2O (0.089 ± 0.012 wt%), F (950 ± 40 ppm) and Cl (4,100 ± 330 ppm), with CO2 and S consistently below detection limits suggesting either complete degassing of these volatiles or an originally volatile-poor melt. Volatile concentrations across the spherulite boundary and within the spherulitic textures are highly variable. These observations are consistent with diffusive expulsion of volatiles into melt, leaving a volatile-poor rim advancing ahead of anhydrous crystallite growth, which is envisaged to have had a pronounced effect on spherulite crystallization dynamics. Argon concentrations dissolved in the glass and spherulites differ by a factor of ~20, with Ar sequestered preferentially in the glass phase. Petrographic observation, CSD analysis, volatile and Ar data as well as diffusion modeling support continuous spherulite nucleation and growth starting at magmatic (emplacement) temperatures of ~790–825 °C and progressing through the glass transition temperature range (T g ~ 750–620 °C), being further modified in the solid state. We propose that nucleation and growth rate are isothermally constant, but vary between differing stages of spherulite growth with continued cooling from magmatic temperatures, such that there is an evolution from a high to a low rate of crystallization and low to high crystal nucleation. Based on the diffusion of H2O across these temperature ranges (~800–300 °C), timescales of spherulite crystallization occur on a timescale of ~4 days with further modification up to ~400 years (growth is prohibitively slow <400 °C and would become diffusion reliant). Selective deformation of spherulites supports a down-temperature continuum of spherulite formation in the Rocche Rosse obsidian; indeed, petrographic evidence suggests that high-strain zones may have catalyzed progressive nucleation and growth of further generations of spherulites during syn- and post-emplacement cooling

An examination of social support, personality and psychological wellbeing in police employees

Introduction: Enhancing health and wellbeing of employees is becoming a growing concern for researchers, employers, policy makers and practitioners in today’s society. The promotion of employees’ psychological wellbeing can be mutually beneficial for individuals and organisations (Wright, 2010). Research has found that psychological wellbeing in a workforce is associated with a range of positive outcomes, including increased work performance (Ford, Cerasoli, Higgins & Decesare, 2011), enhanced job satisfaction (Wright & Cropanzano, 2000) and reduced voluntary staff turnover (Wright & Bonett, 2007). Given the desirability of these outcomes for employers, employees and broader society, this highlights the importance of understanding how psychological wellbeing can be enhanced and maintained in the workplace. Policing is becoming an increasingly complex and demanding work environment (e.g., Hesketh, Cooper & Ivy, 2015), and police can be exposed to a variety of stressors that can have a detrimental impact on health and wellbeing (Juniper, White & Bellamy, 2010). Higher levels of perceived organisational support have been associated with increased psychological wellbeing (Pannaccio & Vandenbergh, 2009), while an individual’s personality has also been identified as an important predictor of wellbeing (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998). To date, little research appears to have examined links between psychological wellbeing, social support and personality characteristics in policing. Therefore, the primary aim of the study was to examine the relationship between psychological wellbeing with received and perceived support from colleagues and personality characteristics in police. Design: The present study utilised a cross-sectional design. The variables assessed were psychological wellbeing, received social support, perceived social support and five personality characteristics, comprising agreeableness, openness to experience, emotional stability, conscientiousness and extraversion. Methods Participants: All operational and non-operational employees of a police force in the Midlands region of England were invited to participate in the study, with a total of 381 employees (M age = 42.49, SD = 9.85; female n = 187; male n = 183; unspecified gender n = 11) agreeing to take part (17.8% response rate). Ethical approval was obtained from a school ethics committee at a British university. Measures: Participants completed an online questionnaire via Qualtrics. The questionnaire comprised the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS; Tennant et al., 2007), an adapted version of the shortened Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviours (ISSB; Barrerra, Sandler & Ramsay, 1981), Social Provisions Scale (SPS; Russell & Cutrona, 1987), and Ten-Item Personality Inventory (Gosling, Renfrow & Swann, 2003). Responses for the WEMWBS and ISSB reflected a four-week period prior to completing the questionnaire. Data analysis Data were analysed in SPSS 22. Initially, data were examined to establish whether the assumptions required to run parametric tests were satisfied. Visual inspection of scatterplots and results of normality tests revealed that data for psychological wellbeing, perceived support, received support, and personality characteristics were not normally distributed. As a result, the median, interquartile range, and standard deviations of these measures were calculated, and non-parametric analyses undertaken. A Spearman’s rank order correlation analysis was conducted to examine relationships between the study variables. A multiple logistical regression analysis was used to examine whether perceived support, received support, and personality characteristics predicted psychological wellbeing. Results: Results of the Spearman’s rank correlational analysis showed that psychological wellbeing was significantly (p < .05) and positively associated with perceived support, received support, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience. The multiple logistical regression analysis indicated the likelihood of each variable predicting psychological wellbeing. In terms of social support, psychological wellbeing was significantly (p < .05) predicted by received support and perceived support. With regards to the predictive capacity of the personality characteristics, only extraversion and emotional stability significantly predicted psychological wellbeing. The remaining variables in the model, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness, were not significant predictors of psychological wellbeing. Discussion and Conclusions: The current findings advance understanding of the association between psychological wellbeing and received and perceived support, and personality in police employees. Both received and perceived support significantly predicted psychological wellbeing, demonstrating that employees that received more support from colleagues, and perceived support to be more readily available from colleagues, had elevated psychological wellbeing. Furthermore, the personality traits of extraversion and emotional stability significantly predicted psychological wellbeing, such that employees characterized by greater levels of these traits reported enhanced psychological wellbeing. These findings emphasise the important role that both received and perceived support, and certain personality traits, could have with respect to psychological wellbeing in police employees. These findings add to the organsational psychology literature, provide recommendations for employers of emergency service workers, and could help to inform the design of tailored psychosocial interventions

Teaching at the Bedside: Maximal impact in Minimal Time

Academic physicians encounter many demands on their time including patient care, quality and performance requirements, research, and education. In an era when patient volume is prioritized and competition for research funding is intense, there is a risk that medical education will become marginalized. Bedside teaching, a responsibility of academic physicians regardless of professional track, is challenged in particular out of concern that it generates inefficiency, and distractions from direct patient care, and can distort physician–patient relationships. At the same time, the bedside is a powerful location for teaching as learners more easily engage with educational content when they can directly see its practical relevance for patient care. Also, bedside teaching enables patients and family members to engage directly in the educational process. Successful bedside teaching can be aided by consideration of four factors: climate, attention, reasoning, and evaluation. Creating a safe environment for learning and patient care is essential. We recommend that educators set expectations about use of medical jargon and engagement of the patient and family before they enter the patient room with trainees. Keep learners focused by asking relevant questions of all members of the team and by maintaining a collective leadership style. Assess and model clinical reasoning through a hypothesis-driven approach that explores the rationale for clinical decisions. Focused, specific, real-time feedback is essential for the learner to modify behaviors for future patient encounters. Together, these strategies may alleviate challenges associated with bedside teaching and ensure it remains a part of physician practice in academic medicine