Road safe seniors: Screening for age-related driving disorders in inpatient and outpatient settings

Introduction

Older drivers are increasing in number and they often have health conditions that place them at high risk for motor-vehicle crashes (MVC). Screening is underutilized, and is rarely done in hospital settings.

Methods

A convenience sample of 755 older adults completed age related driving disorders screening at University of California, San Diego inpatient and outpatient health centers. Screening included three strength/frailty tests, two vision tests (acuity and fields), and two cognitive tests, based on AMA recommendations. The average age of participants was 72.5; 55.5% were male and 94% English-speaking; 17.8% of older adults failed at least one aspect of screening.

Results

In multivariate analysis, significant associations of failed status were age, male sex, selfrestrictions of driving, and inpatient screening locations. The screening identified one in six adults to be 'high-risk' for age related driving disorders. Screening was effective and feasible in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Impact on industry

As the driving population ages, industry, government and health car providers need to plan for the management of driving impairments in older adults.     

Incorporating Social Context Variables Into Paired Watershed Designs to Test Nonpoint Source Program Effectiveness1

Prokopy, Linda Stalker, Z. Asligül Göçmen, Jing Gao, Shorna Broussard Allred, Joseph E. Bonnell, Kenneth Genskow, Alicia Molloy, and Rebecca Power, 2011. Incorporating Social Context Variables Into Paired Watershed Designs to Test Nonpoint Source Program Effectiveness. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(1):196‐202. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00508.x Abstract: In a traditional paired watershed study, watersheds are selected to be as similar as possible so that conclusions may be drawn about the performance of Best Management Practices. We have extended the paired watershed concept to examine the effectiveness of watershed management programs by adding comparative criteria for social characteristics. For four different 8 or 11/12 digit hydrologic unit code (HUC) watersheds in the Midwest, we have piloted a systematic method for selecting paired subwatersheds. First, we developed a list of 11 key variables. Next, a factor analysis was conducted to determine the underlying structure of the 11 input variables. Finally, in each of the four watersheds, potential paired subwatersheds (all 14 digit HUCs) were selected using the factors in a cluster analysis. Informal interviews were then held with key informants in each watershed to provide qualitative assessments of criteria that could impact the comparability of the subwatersheds. This method for selecting paired watersheds should be helpful for other researchers to test the effectiveness of watershed management programs focused on behavior change.     

Soil microbes drive the classic plant diversity-productivity pattern

Ecosystem productivity commonly increases asymptotically with plant species diversity, and determining the mechanisms responsible for this well-known pattern is essential to predict potential changes in ecosystem productivity with ongoing species loss. Previous studies attributed the asymptotic diversity-productivity pattern to plant competition and differential resource use (e.g., niche complementarity). Using an analytical model and a series of experiments, we demonstrate theoretically and empirically that host-specific soil microbes can be major determinants of the diversity-productivity relationship in grasslands. In the presence of soil microbes, plant disease decreased with increasing diversity, and productivity increased nearly 500%, primarily because of the strong effect of density-dependent disease on productivity at low diversity. Correspondingly, disease was higher in plants grown in conspecific-trained soils than heterospecific-trained soils (demonstrating host-specificity), and productivity increased and host-specific disease decreased with increasing community diversity, suggesting that disease was the primary cause of reduced productivity in species-poor treatments. In sterilized, microbe-free soils, the increase in productivity with increasing plant species number was markedly lower than the increase measured in the presence of soil microbes, suggesting that niche complementarity was a weaker determinant of the diversity-productivity relationship. Our results demonstrate that soil microbes play an integral role as determinants of the diversity-productivity relationship.     

Do social spiders cooperate in predator defense and foraging without a web?

Nearly all social spiders spin prey-capture webs, and many of the benefits proposed for sociality in spiders, such as cooperative prey capture and reduced silk costs, appear to depend on a mutually shared web. The social huntsman spider, Delena cancerides (Sparassidae), forms colonies under bark with no capture web, yet these spiders remain in tightly associated, long-lasting groups. To investigate how the absence of the web may or may not constrain social evolution in spiders, we observed D. cancerides colonies in the field and laboratory for possible cooperative defense and foraging benefits. We observed spiders’ responses to three types of potential predators and to prey that were introduced into retreats. We recorded all natural prey capture over 447 h both inside and outside the retreats of field colonies. The colony’s sole adult female was the primary defender of the colony and captured most prey introduced into the retreat. She shared prey with younger juveniles about half the time but never with older subadults. Spiders of all ages individually captured and consumed the vast majority of prey outside the retreat. Young spiders benefited directly from maternal defense and prey sharing in the retreat. However, active cooperation was rare, and older spiders gained no foraging benefit by remaining in their natal colony. D. cancerides does not share many of the benefits of group living described in other web-building social spiders. We discuss other reasons why this species has evolved group living.     

A synthesis of current knowledge on forests and carbon storage in the United States

Using forests to mitigate climate change has gained much interest in science and policy discussions. We examine the evidence for carbon benefits, environmental and monetary costs, risks and trade-offs for a variety of activities in three general strategies: (1) land use change to increase forest area (afforestation) and avoid deforestation; (2) carbon management in existing forests; and (3) the use of wood as biomass energy, in place of other building materials, or in wood products for carbon storage. We found that many strategies can increase forest sector carbon mitigation above the current 162-256 Tg C/yr, and that many strategies have co-benefits such as biodiversity, water, and economic opportunities. Each strategy also has trade-offs, risks, and uncertainties including possible leakage, permanence, disturbances, and climate change effects. Because approximately 60% of the carbon lost through deforestation and harvesting from 1700 to 1935 has not yet been recovered and because some strategies store carbon in forest products or use biomass energy, the biological potential for forest sector carbon mitigation is large. Several studies suggest that using these strategies could offset as much as 10-20% of current U.S. fossil fuel emissions. To obtain such large offsets in the United States would require a combination of afforesting up to one-third of cropland or pastureland, using the equivalent of about one-half of the gross annual forest growth for biomass energy, or implementing more intensive management to increase forest growth on one-third of forestland. Such large offsets would require substantial trade-offs, such as lower agricultural production and non-carbon ecosystem services from forests. The effectiveness of activities could be diluted by negative leakage effects and increasing disturbance regimes. Because forest carbon loss contributes to increasing climate risk and because climate change may impede regeneration following disturbance, avoiding deforestation and promoting regeneration after disturbance should receive high priority as policy considerations. Policies to encourage programs or projects that influence forest carbon sequestration and offset fossil fuel emissions should also consider major items such as leakage, the cyclical nature of forest growth and regrowth, and the extensive demand for and movement of forest products globally, and other greenhouse gas effects, such as methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and recognize other environmental benefits of forests, such as biodiversity, nutrient management, and watershed protection. Activities that contribute to helping forests adapt to the effects of climate change, and which also complement forest carbon storage strategies, would be prudent.     

Factors affecting variability in the urinary biomarker 1,6-hexamethylene diamine in workers exposed to 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate

Although urinary 1,6-hexamethylene diamine (HDA) is a useful biomarker of exposure to 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), a large degree of unexplained intra- and inter-individual variability exists between estimated HDI exposure and urine HDA levels. We investigated the effect of individual and workplace factors on urine HDA levels using quantitative dermal and inhalation exposure data derived from a survey of automotive spray painters exposed to HDI. Painters' dermal and breathing-zone HDI-exposures were monitored over an entire workday for up to three separate workdays, spaced approximately one month apart. One urine sample was collected before the start of work with HDI-containing paints, and multiple samples were collected throughout the workday. Using mixed effects multiple linear regression modeling, coverall use resulted in significantly lower HDA levels (p = 0.12), and weekday contributed to significant variability in HDA levels (p = 0.056). We also investigated differences in urine HDA levels stratified by dichotomous and classification covariates using analysis of variance. Use of coveralls (p = 0.05), respirator type worn (p = 0.06), smoker status (p = 0.12), paint-booth type (p = 0.02), and more than one painter at the shop (p = 0.10) were all found to significantly affect urine HDA levels adjusted for creatinine concentration. Coverall use remained significant (p = 0.10), even after adjusting for respirator type. These results indicate that the variation in urine HDA level is mainly due to workplace factors and that appropriate dermal and inhalation protection is required to prevent HDI exposure.     

Iron,thermal stratification,Eucalyptus sp., and hypoxia: drivers to water blackening in southern China reservoirs

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The management of black water depends primarily on the knowledge of the dynamics of organic matter (OM), iron (Fe), sulfide (S), and manganese (Mn),...     

Multiple criteria decision making: Facilitating a learning environment

Effective decision making for sustainability requires consideration of multiple evaluation criteria. A numerical weight, assigned to each criterion, is the most common tool used to formalize preferences in Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). However, there are methods other than applying weights, which can be used to explore and articulate preferences. Two such groups have been identified as aspirational and holistic methods. The authors are interested in establishing if the different approaches to MCDM vary in their ability to facilitate a learning environment. There has been little examination of how this might best be achieved. An attempt is made to set out some hypotheses about which characteristics of MCDM tools may best support such learning. Additionally, three MCDM tools, representing the weighting, aspirational and holistic methods, are evaluated through a workshop for their ability to support individual learning. This includes a new tool, referred to as Target Ordering, which explores preferences through criteria targets rather than applying a weight to the criteria themselves.     

Part 1: The role of waste data in building knowledge: The South African waste information system

An empirical study was undertaken with 31 organisations submitting data to the South African Waste Information System (SAWIS) in order to explore the relationship between data and resultant waste knowledge generated through a process of learning. The results show that of the three constructs of knowledge (experience, data/information, and theory), experience has the greatest influence on building waste knowledge, nearly twice that of data/information and three times that of theory. Together the three constructs account for 54.1% of the variance in knowledge. Respondents from municipalities and private waste organisations reflect two distinct sub-groups in the data set. While the theoretical model remains the same for the two sub-groups, the way in which knowledge is constructed, and the variance in knowledge explained by the model, differs for the two. A mixed methods research design, combining quantitative statistical analysis and rich qualitative data, contributes to a comprehensive interpretation of the role of waste data in building knowledge in South Africa. While waste data has a minor influence on building knowledge, respondents acknowledge that waste data does have a positive impact on the way their organisations manage waste. However, it is not the data, but rather the resultant waste knowledge and raised level of awareness that causes the operational response. Experience is obtained predominantly through learning from others. Respondents in municipalities, emphasised learning from consultants, landfill site contractors, and colleagues in city-twinning programmes, while respondents in private waste companies, emphasised learning from experienced, senior colleagues.