Typical tourists : Research into the theoretical and methodological foundations of a typology of tourism and recreation experiences

Typical tourists are recognisable from a distance. They appear out of place with their loud coloured outfits, often sunburned, walking around loaded with cameras and video-equipment and studying city maps. Yet, tourists are not always all the same. Adventurous eco-tourists, with hiking boots and a good quality daypack, clearly search for a different experience than middle-aged cultural tourists do. Typologies have been developed to classify different groups of tourists and recreationists. However, problems have arisen since the various approaches are quite different and the classification schemes used 'arbitrary'. The question remains "which typology should have preference"? This book reports a long-term project to establish a theoretical and useful approach to develop a typology of experiences for tourism and recreation. The theoretical framework used as a starting point was Eric Cohen's (1979) phenomenology of tourist experiences. The research covers different activities (camping, sight seeing by car, hiking) and settings (nature areas, bungalow parks, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Southeast Asia), while maintaining a degree of comparison with the theoretical framework adopted for this study. A detailed insight into the methodological aspects of the approach is provided to enable researchers and students alike to use and build upon the methodology and results. The approach is also meant to be a source of inspiration for policy development and planning for a diversified tourist environmen

Lokale participatie in het bos- en natuurbeheer in de gemeente Ede

Resultaten van een onderzoek onder de inwoners van Ede naar de behoefte aan participatie in het bosbeheer en naar de frequentie van bosbezoek, en een vergelijking met de participatiegedachten die leven bij enkele grote bos- en natuurbeheerders in de gemeente Ede. Op grond van het bosbezoek in relatie tot de participatiebehoeften zijn vier verschillende participatiegroepen onderscheiden , die niet alleen verschillen in sociaal-economisch opzicht maar ook in hun visie op de gewenste toekomst van het landelijk gebied (natuur- en landschapsontwikkeling, biologisch-organische plattelandsontwikkeling of economische ontwikkeling). De ideeën van de boseigenaren over participatie gaan minder ver (consultatie) dan de wensen van de gebruikers (meebeslissen

Can Waterlow score predict 30-day mortality and length of stay in acutely admitted medical patients (aged ≥65 years)? Evidence from a single centre prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the potential for the Waterlow score (WS) to be used as a predictor of 30-day mortality and length of hospital stay (LHS) in acutely admitted medical patients aged 65 years and older. DESIGN: Prospective observational cohort study. SETTING: UK District General Hospital. SUBJECTS: 834 consecutive patients aged 65 years and older admitted acutely to medical specialties between 30 May and 22 July 2014. METHODS ADMISSION: WS (range 4–64) assessment paired with the patient’s status at 30 days in terms of mortality and their LHS. PRIMARY OUTCOMES: 30-day mortality and length of inpatient stay. RESULTS: 834 consecutive acute medical admissions had their WS recorded. 30-day mortality was 13.1% (109 deaths). A significant difference in the distribution of WS (p<0.001) was seen between those who survived (median 12) and those who died (median 16) within 30 days, particularly within respiratory (p<0.001), stroke (p<0.001), cardiology (p<0.016), non-respiratory infections (p<0.018) and trauma (p<0.044) subgroups. Odds of dying within 30 days increased threefold for every 10-unit increase in the WS (p<0.001, 95% CI 2.1 to 4.3). LHS was also positively linearly associated with the WS in those who survived 30 days (median=5, IQR=10; r=0.32, p<0.01). A five-unit increase in WS was associated with approximately 5 days increase in LHS. On the other hand, quadratic regression showed this relationship was curvilinear and negative (concave) for those who died within 30 days where a five-unit increase in WS was associated with an approximately 10 days decrease in LHS. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates an association between a high WS and both 30-day mortality and LHS. This is particularly significant for mortality in patients in the respiratory, stroke and cardiac subcategories. The WS, a nursing-led screening tool that is carried out on virtually all admissions to UK hospitals, could have additional use at the time of patient admission as a risk assessment tool for 30-day mortality as well as a predictor of LHS

Biocultural diversity : a novel concept to assess human-nature interrelations, nature conservation and stewardship in cities

Biocultural diversity is an evolving perspective for studying the interrelatedness between people and their natural environment, not only in ecoregional hotspots and cultural landscapes, but also in urban green spaces. Developed in the 1990s in order to denote the diversity of life in all its manifestations. biological, cultural and linguistic. co-evolving within complex socio-ecological systems such as cities, biocultural diversity was identified in the GREEN SURGE project as a response to recent challenges cities face. Most important challenges are the loss of nature and degradation of ecosystems in and around cities as well as an alienation of urban residents from and loss of interaction with nature. The notion of biocultural diversity is dynamic in nature and takes local values and practices of relating to biodiversity of different cultural groups as a starting point for sustainable living with biodiversity. The issue is not only how to preserve or restore biocultural practices and values, but also how to modify, adapt and create biocultural diversity in ways that resonate with urban transformations. As future societies will largely diverge from today's societies, the cultural perspective on living with (urban) nature needs careful reconsideration. Biocultural diversity is not conceived as a definite concept providing prescriptions of what to see and study, but as a reflexive and sensitising concept that can be used to assess the different values and knowledge of people that reflect how they live with biodiversity. This short communication paper introduces a conceptual framework for studying the multi-dimensional features of biocultural diversity in cities along the three key dimensions of materialized, lived and stewardship, being departure points from which biocultural diversity can be studied.Peer reviewe

Overeating, caloric restriction and breast cancer risk by pathologic subtype: the EPIGEICAM study

This study analyzes the association of excessive energy intake and caloric restriction with breast cancer (BC) risk taking into account the individual energy needs of Spanish women. We conducted a multicenter matched case-control study where 973 pairs completed lifestyle and food frequency questionnaires. Expected caloric intake was predicted from a linear regression model in controls, including calories consumed as dependent variable, basal metabolic rate as an offset and physical activity as explanatory. Overeating and caloric restriction were defined taking into account the 99% confidence interval of the predicted value. The association with BC risk, overall and by pathologic subtype, was evaluated using conditional and multinomial logistic regression models. While premenopausal women that consumed few calories (>20% below predicted) had lower BC risk (OR = 0.36; 95% CI = 0.21–0.63), postmenopausal women with an excessive intake (≥40% above predicted) showed an increased risk (OR = 2.81; 95% CI = 1.65–4.79). For every 20% increase in relative (observed/predicted) caloric intake the risk of hormone receptor positive (p-trend < 0.001) and HER2+ (p-trend = 0.015) tumours increased 13%, being this figure 7% for triple negative tumours. While high energy intake increases BC risk, caloric restriction could be protective. Moderate caloric restriction, in combination with regular physical activity, could be a good strategy for BC prevention

Regulation of Intestinal Immune Response by Selective Removal of the Anterior, Posterior, or Entire Pituitary Gland in Trichinella spiralis Infected Golden Hamsters

The influence of anterior pituitary hormones on the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals has been previously reported. Hypophysectomy (HYPOX) in the rat causes atrophy of the intestinal mucosa, and reduction of gastric secretion and intestinal absorption, as well as increased susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections. However, to our knowledge, no findings have been published concerning the immune response following HYPOX during worm infection, particularly that which is caused by the nematode Trichinella spiralis. The aim of this work was to analyze the effects of total or partial HYPOX on colonization of T. spiralis in the intestinal lumen, together with duodenal and splenic cytokine expression. Our results indicate that 5 days post infection, only neurointermediate pituitary lobectomy (NIL) reduces the number of intestinally recovered T. spiralis larvae. Using semiquantitative inmunofluorescent laser confocal microscopy, we observed that the mean intensity of all tested Th1 cytokines was markedly diminished, even in the duodenum of infected controls. In contrast, a high level of expression of these cytokines was noted in the NIL infected hamsters. Likewise, a significant decrease in the fluorescence intensity of Th2 cytokines (with the exception of IL-4) was apparent in the duodenum of control and sham infected hamsters, compared to animals with NIL surgeries, which showed an increase in the expression of IL-5 and IL-13. Histology of duodenal mucosa from NIL hamsters showed an exacerbated inflammatory infiltrate located along the lamina propria, which was related to the presence of the parasite. We conclude that hormones from each pituitary lobe affect the gastrointestinal immune responses to T. spiralis through various mechanisms