Likelihood Of Encounters Research Articles

Disparities in telemedicine utilization among kidney transplant patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: Barriers and opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic allowed for the rapid implementation of telemedicine for kidney transplant patients; however, widespread adoption may worsen existing health care inequities among vulnerable populations. This study aimed to characterize telemedicine utilization by kidney transplant patients during the early pandemic with particular attention to healthcare equity. A retrospective analysis of kidney transplant patients interacting with telemedicine was performed. Patient demographic data and distance to the transplant center were obtained. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties and Brokamp Neighborhood Deprivation Index (NDI) score were used to characterize patients' counties of residence. Multivariable logistic regression evaluated associations between patient and community characteristics and the likelihood of an encounter being telemedicine. This study included 1033 patients who participated in 3727 encounters from March 11 through October 2020. Characteristics associated with decreased likelihood of telemedicine use were increased age (OR=.993; 95% CI=.986-.999, P=.022), non-White vs. White race (OR=.826, 95% CI=.697-.979; P=.028), male vs. female sex (OR=.746, 95% CI=.632-.880; P<.001), and a higher Brokamp Neighborhood Deprivation Index score (OR=.159; 95% CI=.029-.873; P=.034). The effect of distance to the transplant center on the likelihood of a telemedicine encounter differed by NCHS Urban-Rural designation (interaction P=.018), with its likelihood increasing by 2%-3% with each 10-mile increment among persons residing in medium-, small-, and non-metropolitan counties compared to those residing in the most rural counties. Telemedicine visits were less often completed by patients of older age, non-white race, male sex, and those residing in counties having higher NDI scores. While telemedicine has the potential to improve healthcare access and decrease costs, proactive efforts need to be taken to mitigate disparities in vulnerable populations.

The searchscape of fear: A global analysis of internet search trends for biophobias

Abstract Human relationships with nature may sometimes manifest through fear, disgust and other disease‐avoidance mechanisms. While there is an evolutionary utility to these so‐called ‘biophobias’, many people exhibit phobic responses towards organisms that pose no tangible threats, potentially leading to excessive anxiety and avoidance of interactions with nature. Understanding the drivers of the prevalence and spread of biophobias in modern societies is, therefore, a growing concern. Here, we posit that online information‐seeking patterns may reveal general insights into biophobias. Using a culturomics approach, we gathered temporal (2004–2022) and country‐level data on the volume of internet searches for 25 biophobias, as well as 25 general phobias acting as a benchmark group. We explored temporal trends in the volume of search for each biophobias and modelled relationships between search volume for biophobias and five country‐level variables. We observed a steady increase in online search volume for biophobias between 2004 and 2022. Yet, there were marked differences in individual trends, with 17 biophobias showing positive, three negative and five stationary temporal trends. Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) attracted the most interest, followed by mysophobia (fear of microbes) and parasitophobia (fear of parasites). The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Mexico and India recorded wide interest in most biophobias, whereas 49% of countries showed no search volume for any biophobia. Search patterns for biophobias were strongly associated with the percentage of urban population, urban population growth and the number of extant venomous species in a given country. Conversely, search patterns for biophobias were weakly correlated with the incidence of anxiety disorders in a country's population and the likelihood of encounters with venomous animals. Our results provide quantitative support to the hypothesis that biophobias are broadly prevalent and possibly increasing as a result of widespread urbanisation and loss of experiences with nature. We suggest that people affected by biophobic disorders may be using the Internet as a key venue to seek relevant information to appraise their condition and identify coping mechanisms. These findings have broad ramifications for understanding and mitigating human–wildlife conflicts and the prevalence of widespread biophobic sentiments in modern societies.

Incidence and characteristics of crocodilian incidents on humans in Brazil in the period 2000–2022

Brazil has the largest diversity of crocodilians in the world, with six species present in the country. Considered as opportunistic generalist predators, these animals occupy the top of the food chain in river ecosystems. Anthropic actions result in an impact both on habitats and on the behaviour of the crocodilians, in addition to facilitating the encounter between humans and crocodilian species. In this study, we evaluated the characteristics of alligator incidents on humans in Brazil during the years 2000–2022. We used online platforms for scientific articles and news, collecting information about the victims, the species involved, and the locality of occurrence. We found 86 records of incidents, of which 18 resulted in the victim's death. The Amazon biome encompass the highest number of incidents, and the black caiman Melanosuchus niger was the species involved most. Most incidents (n = 35) occurred with people who were fishing or on boats. Considering the size of the country's population, alligator incidents on humans in Brazil can be considered rare, but they should not be overlooked. The advancement of activities that degrade the environment, causing imbalances, can cause an increase in the likelihood of encounters and, consequently, incidents, which usually generates critical medical problems and negative consequences for the populations of these animals. Keywords: Alligator, attack, bite, Caiman, Melanosuchus

Hosts, microbiomes, and the evolution of critical windows.

The absence of microbial exposure early in life leaves individuals vulnerable to immune overreaction later in life, manifesting as immunopathology, autoimmunity, or allergies. A key factor is thought to be a "critical window" during which the host's immune system can "learn" tolerance, and beyond which learning is no longer possible. Animal models indicate that many mechanisms have evolved to enable critical windows, and that their time limits are distinct and consistent. Such a variety of mechanisms, and precision in their manifestation suggest the outcome of strong evolutionary selection. To strengthen our understanding of critical windows, we explore their underlying evolutionary ecology using models encompassing demographic and epidemiological transitions, identifying the length of the critical window that would maximize fitness in different environments. We characterize how direct effects of microbes on host mortality, but also indirect effects via microbial ecology, will drive the optimal length of the critical window. We find that indirect effects such as magnitude of transmission, duration of infection, rates of reinfection, vertical transmission, host demography, and seasonality in transmission all have the effect of redistributing the timing and/or likelihood of encounters with microbial taxa across age, and thus increasing or decreasing the optimal length of the critical window. Declining microbial population abundance and diversity are predicted to result in increases in immune dysfunction later in life. We also make predictions for the length of the critical window across different taxa and environments. Overall, our modeling efforts demonstrate how critical windows will be impacted over evolution as a function of both host-microbiome/pathogen interactions and dispersal, raising central questions about potential mismatches between these evolved systems and the current loss of microbial diversity and/or increases in infectious disease.

The Ethics of Social Distance and Proximity in the City

The genealogy of ethics starts in the polis. Plato and Aristotle had an optimistic view of polis life, even though Plato was born shortly after the plague of Athens, an experience that left a deep imprint in his society, and interestingly not a very good opinion of democracy. The idea of the polis as the ideal locus for human flourishing can be contested because we do not share the same face-to-face form of life with the ancient polis-dwellers. Contemporary megacities do not harbor an agora in which citizens debate current affairs. Such debates have shifted to social media. It is worth investigating the value of face-to-face interaction even today. Despite the risk of spreading airborne lung diseases like the Corona virus, the possibility of face-to-face interactions allows the cultivation of attention necessary for ethics. Knowing your neighbor by acquaintance, seeing her face every day can make pedestrians better attuned to the need to protect her in times of the pandemic, by maintaining distance and wearing a mask. If this is indeed the case, then it has implications for urban design: urban density can be designed in a way that affords functional proximity (the likelihood of encounters) and more humane neighborhoods.

Rio Doce Acoustic Surveys of Fish Biomass and Aquatic Habitat

ABSTRACTFollowing the failure of the Fundão mine tailings dam in Brazil, approximately 32 million cubic meters of Fe ore tailings were released into the downstream riverine system. The postevent monitoring surveys implemented the use of noninvasive acoustic methods to improve the understanding of the fish biomass distribution patterns and aquatic habitat condition of the impacted reaches of the Rio Gualaxo do Norte, Rio do Carmo, and Rio Doce. The primary focus of the program was to collect hydroacoustic measurements of fish biomass, which was accompanied by sonar imaging of aquatic habitats using high‐resolution side scan and downward imaging sonar at each site visited. The biannual surveys began in April 2017 and were fundamentally a multiple control–impact design because before data (prior to the dam failure event) were not available. Up to 22 sites were visited for each survey, including reservoir and river sites. Results indicate similar levels of instream habitat between control and impact river and reservoir sites. Average volumetric biomass was not significantly different between impact sites and their corresponding controls in the August 2018 survey (latest to date). Preliminary temporal analysis of the biomass data set collected indicates that either stable or increasing levels of biomass are detected at tailings impacted sites within the Rio Doce. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2020;16:615–621. © 2020 Hydrobiology QLD Pty Ltd. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)

Examining help-seeking patterns within modern and traditional resources for support in Afghanistan

Little is known about who and what Afghans turn to cope with mental distress precipitated by ongoing socio-political and economic problems. In a cross-sectional survey, the authors examined help-seeking behaviour for mental distress in 306 Afghans residing in Kabul, Afghanistan, and how their choice of what to access for help is influenced by various social and mental health-related factors. Factors predicting the use of six distinct resources for support were examined, including biomedical and behavioural health and community-based resources. Results indicated that Afghans mostly draw on their faith, followed by social support, to cope with mental distress. Higher distress symptoms had a moderate, but statistically significant influence, on seeking help across all resources, whereas demographic factors only predicted encounters with primary care physicians. Female gender predicted social support seeking, and income increased the likelihood of encounters with herbalists. Meeting the psychosocial needs of Afghans through promoting a more integrated mental healthcare system is discussed. Key implications for practice Help-seeking for mental distress among Afghans in Kabul is highly pluralistic Although religious activities were the most widely used coping resource, those seeking care outside, from biomedical practitioners and traditional healers were, on average, more distressed. An integrated mental health system that embraces both modern and traditional healing practices may be more efficacious than medicalised mental health systems in meeting the unmet psychosocial needs of Afghans.

Prospective Person Memory: The Role of Self-Efficacy, Personal Interaction, and Multiple Images in Recognition of Wanted Persons

Prospective person memory refers to recognition of individuals one has been asked to be on the lookout for, such as wanted criminals or missing persons. Past field experiments have tended to find very low rates of identification. The present experiments examine whether multiple pictures, personal interaction, and increased self-efficacy would improve prospective person memory. Participants viewed a mock wanted person alert and were told that if they saw the person depicted in the alert they could win a cash prize. The alert either showed a single picture of the target person or multiple pictures. The target individual then showed up at the dining hall participants routinely had lunch. Some participants had peronal interaction with the target and some participants were led to believe that the likelihood of encounter was quite high. Despite these manipulations, only a small number of participants reported seeing the target individual.

Occurrence of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus in natural gas fields of the northwestern Adriatic Sea

AbstractCommon bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, were surveyed in offshore gas fields off Ravenna, Italy, between Spring and Autumn, 2001–2005. These visual surveys provide the first density estimates of bottlenose dolphins in the Northwestern Adriatic Sea south of the Po River. Since no study has examined the distribution of bottlenose dolphins relative to gas platforms, when dolphins were encountered, their distance from the nearest gas platform was estimated and behaviour was assessed. Dolphins were sighted on ca. 36% of survey trips, which varied in duration from 1 to 6 h. Group size ranged from 1 to ~50 individuals, with no seasonal trend evident in the likelihood of encounter. Dolphin density was estimated to be approximately 80% higher within 750 m of gas platforms, relative to densities &gt;750 m from platforms, although variability around the estimates was high. From a limited number of behavioural observations, slightly higher frequencies of feeding and milling behaviour were observed closer to gas platforms, whereas dolphins observed further away exhibited higher frequencies of socialising and travelling. Gas platforms are known to provide habitat for demersal fishes and act as aggregation points for pelagic fishes, and these data provide some support for the idea that bottlenose dolphins may utilise gas platforms opportunistically as feeding sites.

Protection measures implemented by New Zealand for vulnerable marine ecosystems in the South Pacific Ocean

Interim measures for bottom fisheries adopted by the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) require participants to limit bottom fishing to currently fished areas and prevent significant adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). The New Zealand bottom trawl footprint consists of two hundred 20 min latitude × 20 min longitude blocks trawled over the period 2002-2006 within which New Zealand flagged vessels reported 11 425 tows, primarily targeting orange roughy Hoplostethus atlanticus. Past effort and seabed impact levels dif- fer substantially between these blocks, ranging from lightly ( 50 tows block -1 ), with a maximum of 1417 tows in the most heavily trawled block. Effort data were used to stratify the bottom trawl footprint into 3 effort tiers as the basis for a management approach tailored to levels of past impact: (1) adequate and representative spatial closure of areas likely to sup- port VMEs, with emphasis on less impacted areas; (2) a move-on rule in areas where likelihood of encounter with a VME is unknown; and (3) constraining fishing effort to remaining open areas most impacted by past fishing. Sixty-two lightly trawled blocks were closed to prevent impact in these areas; 69 moderately trawled blocks were subjected to a move-on rule; and 69 heavily trawled blocks were designated as open to fishing. A further 20 blocks were closed to provide representative protec- tion within the moderately and heavily trawled tiers. In the absence of seabed biodiversity data, bio- logically important physical factors, primarily depth range and topography, were used to select interim precautionary closures and to evaluate representativity of closed in comparison with open areas. Geospatial analyses are presented on the distribution and representivity of seabed depth within open, move-on and closed blocks in each fishing area in comparison with the overall SPRFMO Area.

Intergroup relations and home range use in Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi)

Relationships between neighboring groups feature prominently in socioecological theory, but few empirical studies have focused on the effects of neighbors on the behavior of primates. Interactions between neighboring groups are most conspicuous during intergroup encounters, but the likelihood of encounters with neighbors can also affect ranging and activity patterns indirectly, and, as a result, behavioral patterns in areas of exclusive use may differ from those in overlap areas of adjacent home ranges. The aim of this study was to examine intergroup relations and spatial variation in home range use in Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) during the annual mating season. Based on 230 hr of focal animal data collected from ten members of five adjacent groups, we found that behavioral patterns and patterns of resource utilization were not markedly different between areas of exclusive use and overlap areas of adjacent home ranges. Group cohesion tended to be higher in overlap than in core areas, but the proportion of time spent resting and foraging did not differ between these two areas. However, dominant males exhibited a higher scent-marking rate in overlap areas. Observations during intergroup encounters revealed that chases between males occurred frequently, whereas fights involving physical contact were not observed. We also found that the intergroup dominance hierarchy depended on the relative group size or the number of males in each group, with groups of lower dominance rank exhibiting a tendency to sleep proportionally more often in their core areas. The results of this study suggest that in primate species with a moderate level of intergroup aggression, such as Verreaux's sifaka, the possibility of encountering neighbors in areas of home range overlap does not exert strong influence on their behavior and resource utilization.