Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change: How Montana Farmers Make Proactive Changes Despite Unpredictable Conditions

In Montana, climate change is projected to increase interannual variability and the severity of weather events like drought. To sustain agricultural production, farmers must adapt to climate change within a complex decision-making process responsive to a range of climate and non-climate stressors. This study explores how Montana farmers approach proactive and long-term adaptation, two types of adaptation which are not well studied, but are expected to be increasingly important for adapting to the impacts of climate change. To understand Montana farmers’ approaches to adaptation, I conducted 30 in-depth interviews with farmers across the state. Farmers explained how unpredictability in weather and markets fostered a lack of agency and the sense that proactive decisions were gambles. When asked about the utility of two forms of climate information designed to help make proactive decisions, three-month forecasts and mid-century projections, most farmers thought they lacked reliability and relevance. Instead, to buffer against short-term fluctuations and overcome a lack of agency, farmers prioritized long-term adaptations with short-term benefits. These findings suggest that improvements in climate information and agricultural policy could support farmers in pursuing proactive, long-term adaptations

Assessing The Public Health Significance Of Subsurface-Contaminant Vapors Intruding Into Indoor Air

To assess the public health significance of exposures via the vapor intrusion pathway for exposure a risk assessment was conducted for a common VOC trichloroethylene (TCE) in an unbiased sample of all the contaminated sites within a large geographic setting (northern New Jersey). Probabilistic methods were used to minimize the impact of single point-estimate input values and to help assess the impact of variability and uncertainty in input parameters. Central-tendency probabilistic methods were used to provide an estimate of the most likely exposure point concentrations. The exposure assessment involved 709 TCE-contaminated groundwater sites with 29,856 groundwater samples from 11,210 monitor wells in the state’s Hazsite database. The groundwater mapping component focused on the 78 sites with one or more TCE-contaminated wells located on land classified as residential. The extent of groundwater contamination beyond the monitor well locations was estimated (mapped) using generic GIS-based Inverse Distance Weighted methods on a natural-log scale and additional hypothetical ‘clean wells.’ The risk assessment focused on the 38 sites with one or more hypothetical residences overlying groundwater with a house-plot averaged concentration greater than 2.7 ug/L. The attenuation of vapors generated from the upper-most groundwater was estimated for the 883 hypothetical overlying residential structures using the USEPA’s national empirical database of vapor attenuation factors. Receptor characteristics based on county-level statistics are used to estimate adult individual and childhood age-specific exposures using probabilistic “age at move in” techniques and with possible in-utero and lactation exposures. The exposure estimates are combined with central-tendency probabilistic estimates of toxicity (primarily based on NYDOH, 2006a) to estimate central-tendency risks for the cancer and non-cancer outcomes under study (Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Central Nervous System effects). In general the risks are low and highly skewed. Only those few individuals at the highest level of exposure are estimated to be subject to risks of typical concern. However, the methods used include limitations and these results are not likely to be representative of some other areas of the country. Sensitivity and two-dimensional analyses indicate the inputs for vapor attenuation and groundwater concentration dominate the risk estimates

Cross-Institutional Exploratory of Faculty Compensation Models to Incentivize Distance Learning Participation

In higher education, courses and curriculum are purportedly the intellectual property of the academic departments. Academic departments, then, provide instructors or faculty to teach. The assignment of faculty to teach in distance-based programs directly implies there needs to exist some level of financial incentive for the home department of those faculty, as well as direct incentive to the faculty who are involved in teaching. After all expenses are accounted for, then,what model for faculty compensation provides the greatest level of incentive to participate in professional studies? Building on previous scholarship and over a year of additional research,this paper focuses on the impact of numerous employed faculty compensation models across multiple institutions of higher education.A survey of these many institutions of higher learning, regarding their compensation strategy for adjunct faculty, was collected and compiled. This presentation will share the results of this cross-institution study and encourage input from attendees on their experience with these and other methods/practices

Use of the oral sugar test in ponies when performed with or without prior fasting

Background It is recommended that the Oral Sugar Test (OST) for insulin dysregulation (ID) is performed after an overnight fast but fasting is impractical in ponies kept solely at pasture. There are few data on OST repeatability and reliability in ponies. Objectives To report: 1) whether OST results obtained in the morning after an overnight fast or without fasting in the afternoon (FASTING/FED) can be used interchangeably, 2) Tmax[insulin], repeatability and reliability of insulin response to the OST when FASTING or FED, 3) dichotomous agreement (ID/normal) within a small sample when FASTING or FED

Effect of varying the dose of corn syrup on the insulin and glucose response to the oral sugar test

After an overnight fast, in a three‐way randomised crossover study with a 7‐day washout, 0.15, 0.3 or 0.45 mL/kg bwt corn syrup was administered orally to eight ponies (5 PL and 3 NL) and blood obtained between 0 and 120 min. Serum [insulin] and [glucose] were measured using previously validated radioimmunoassay and colorimetric assays respectively. The repeatability of and the effect of continued pasture access on the dose that best distinguished PL and NL ponies were then assessed. The effect of dose, laminitis history and fasting on serum [insulin] and [glucose] responses were assessed using mixed‐effects models

Randomized trial examining the effect of exercise and wellness interventions on preventing postpartum depression and perceived stress

Background Approximately 13–19% of postpartum women experience postpartum depression and a majority report at least some stress during the postpartum phase. Traditional interventions such as psychotherapy and antidepressant medications are often not feasible or desirable. The purpose of this study was to examine two low cost, brief, accessible interventions designed to prevent postpartum depression and perceived stress among women at high risk. Methods Participants (n = 450) who were on average four weeks postpartum, had a history of depression before pregnancy, and exercised less than 60 min per week were randomly assigned to one of the following three conditions: (1) 6-month telephone-based exercise intervention; (2) 6-month telephone-based wellness/support intervention (e.g., healthy eating, sleep, and perceived stress); or (3) usual care. Results Overall, 2.4% of participants met criteria for depression at 6 months and 3.6% at 9 months with no differences between groups. At 6 months following randomization, median symptoms of depression were significantly lower among wellness participants compared to usual care participants (b = − 1.00, SE = 0.46, p = .03). Perceived stress at 6 months post-randomization was significantly lower among exercise vs. usual care participants (b = − 2.00, SE = .98, p = .04) and exercise vs. wellness participants (b = − 2.20, SE = 1.11, p = .04). Conclusions The wellness intervention was efficacious for preventing symptoms of depression; however, postpartum depression that met the diagnostic criteria was surprisingly low in all conditions among this at risk sample of postpartum women. Exercise interventions may have a protective effect on perceived stress among women at risk for postpartum depression. Practitioners should consider integrating exercise and wellness interventions into postpartum care. Trial registration Clinical Trials Number: NCT01883479 (06/21/2013)

Equine metabolic syndrome

Laminitis is one of the most common and frustrating clinical presentations in equine practice. While the principles of treatment for laminitis have not changed for several decades, there have been some important paradigm shifts in our understanding of laminitis. Most importantly, it is essential to consider laminitis as a clinical sign of disease and not as a disease in its own right. Once this shift in thinking has occurred, it is logical to then question what disease caused the laminitis. More than 90 per cent of horses presented with laminitis as their primary clinical sign will have developed it as a consequence of endocrine disease; most commonly equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). Given the fact that many horses will have painful protracted and/or chronic recurrent disease, a good understanding of the predisposing factors and how to diagnose and manage them is crucial. Current evidence suggests that early diagnosis and effective management of EMS should be a key aim for practising veterinary surgeons to prevent the devastating consequences of laminitis. This review will focus on EMS, its diagnosis and management