Puget Sound Research Articles

Evaluating outpatient diagnostic stewardship of comprehensive polymerase chain reaction Clostridioides difficile testing in a regional health system.

We examined the use of comprehensive and targeted polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) among immunocompetent patients with and without CDI risk factors across different outpatient settings. A priori, we expected patients with higher CDI risk to be associated with targeted testing to reflect providers incorporating pretest risk factors in their choice of test assay. Retrospective analysis of adult patients from clinic, emergency room, and non-medically acute inpatient settings. A tertiary academic medical center offering inpatient and outpatient medical, surgical, mental health, and rehabilitation services to Veterans across the Puget Sound region. Immunocompetent adult patients with ≥1 stool PCR assay performed between January 2016 and December 2019. Patients were tested with either a specific tcdB PCR assay or a comprehensive gastrointestinal PCR panel that tests for 22 pathogens. A total of 2,717 tests (74% targeted, 26% comprehensive) were obtained from 2,156 patients, among which 13% detected C. difficile and 7% detected other organisms. The proportion of comprehensive PCR tests increased nearly four-fold from 2016 to 2019 in clinic and emergency room settings, independent of CDI risk factors. Only two CDI risk factors (prior history of CDI and antibiotic use within three months before testing) were associated with increased targeted testing. The use of comprehensive GI PCR among immunocompetent adults with diarrhea is increasing in the outpatient setting. There may be an opportunity for diagnostic stewardship by nudging providers to consider all CDI risk factors at the time of test selection.

The Soviet Suppression of Academia: The Case of Konstantin Azadovsky By Peter A.Druzhinin. Translated by Sarah Vitali. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, 280 pp. $150.00. ISBN 978‐1‐3501‐3613‐7

The Russian ReviewVolume 82, Issue 1 p. 168-169 BOOK REVIEW The Soviet Suppression of Academia: The Case of Konstantin Azadovsky By Peter A. Druzhinin. Translated by Sarah Vitali. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, 280 pp. $150.00. ISBN 978-1-3501-3613-7 Benjamin Tromly, Corresponding Author Benjamin Tromly btromly@pugetsound.edu University of Puget Sound Email: btromly@pugetsound.eduSearch for more papers by this author Benjamin Tromly, Corresponding Author Benjamin Tromly btromly@pugetsound.edu University of Puget Sound Email: btromly@pugetsound.eduSearch for more papers by this author First published: 19 January 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.12416Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume82, Issue1January 2023Pages 168-169 RelatedInformation

Spatial policies for growth management in metropolitan regions. A comparison of U.S. American, Canadian and German approaches

Many metropolitan regions face concerns over sprawling development, increased costs of maintaining infrastructure, and loss of green space and farmland. Some metropolitan regions have intentionally created spatial policies to govern development patterns and manage growth within their region. This paper compares the spatial policies applied in three case studies: the Puget Sound region (Washington State, USA), Metro Vancouver region (British Columbia, Canada) and Stuttgart region (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). While all three regions share a vision that can broadly be summarised as transit-connected communities, each metropolitan planning organisation leverages a variety of spatial policies. Based on the unique planning cultures, various governmental actors take on different roles at the local, county, regional and state levels. This paper categorises and compares the multi-level responsibilities for defining, mapping, and implementing spatial policies. With this focus, the paper provides an international comparative perspective on approaches, context, and contents of multi-level growth management.

Assessing hydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (OHPAH) metabolites in bile of English sole (Parophrys vetulus) from Puget Sound, WA, USA by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that are widely monitored in marine biota from urbanized areas, due to their toxicity to aquatic organisms. Teleost fish can quickly metabolize PAHs into hydroxylated forms (OHPAHs) that, in some cases, are more toxic than the parent (unmetabolized) PAHs. But due to this fast metabolism, monitoring traditional parent PAHs in fish can cause underestimation on assessing PAH exposure. In addition, environmental levels of individual OHPAH metabolites are lacking in the literature worldwide. Therefore, we developed a rapid and accurate analytical method in which a number of individual OHPAHs metabolites are measured simultaneously in fish bile, via liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry, including low and high molecular weight mono- and diol-OHPAHs. We analyzed bile samples of 119 English sole (Parophrys vetulus) collected from 14 Puget Sound, WA, USA, sites, which has multiple sources of PAHs, including urban stormwater runoff, wastewater effluents, as well as an inactive creosote facility. The mean (± SD) biliary summed OHPAH (∑OHPAH) concentrations determined in English sole from urban, near-urban, and non-urban sites were 790 ± 1400 (n = 46), 310 ± 330 (n = 44) and 130 ± 200 (n = 29) ng/mL, respectively, with a maximum reaching 9400 ng/mL in a sample from an urban site. We compared these novel biliary OHPAH metabolite data with parent PAHs measured in stomach content of the same individual sole. Biliary ∑OHPAH concentrations were significantly correlated with the levels of ∑PAH in stomach content, however, with major differences in their distribution. We also demonstrated that biliary OHPAH metabolite data in English sole can potentially be used to distinguish different sampling sites due to a specific variety and intensity of PAH sources in the aquatic environment, which makes this a very important analytical approach for assessing PAH exposure in the environment.

Incorporating Evidence into Collaborative Ecosystem Restoration: A Content Analysis of Bibliographic References and their Use in Salmon Recovery Plans.

Collaborative environmental management draws on a wide range of information, from a variety of stakeholders, to inform policy. Scientific information is particularly relevant for ecosystem restoration plans, such as those created for recovering species on the brink of extinction. This study examines use of evidence in salmon recovery plans in Puget Sound, USA. Across 12 plans, coders characterized 1104 references to identify their source, recency, domain, and context. Subsequently, 11 plans were analyzed in-depth to identify how each reference was used to support particular kinds of claims. Results indicate the most frequent source of information cited in salmon recovery plans is government agencies, especially from national and state governments, followed by peer reviewed journal articles and scientific books. Journal articles come predominantly from high impact (top quartile) journals, although these articles are on average 15 years old. Sources are almost exclusively from the domain of natural sciences (97%), with just 1% social sciences and 2% non-scientific. More references come from beyond than within the local watershed. Different reference sources are used to support different kinds of claims, with government agency sources positively associated with claims about species status/trends, and peer reviewed journal articles positively associated with claims about causes of species decline. Overall, the lack of social science references, and lack of references to support claims about levels of community support, reduce managers' abilities to incorporate features of social systems into species recovery planning.

Future temperature and salinity in Puget Sound, Washington State, under CMIP6 climate change scenarios

AbstractClimate change will reshape estuarine ecosystems through bottom-up and top-down processes, directly affecting species at all trophic levels. To better understand future regional climate change effects on sea surface temperature and salinity, we used empirical downscaling to derive high-resolution time series of future sea surface temperature and salinity in Puget Sound (Washington State, USA). Downscaling was based on scenario outputs of two coarse-resolution Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) general circulation models, GFDL-CM4 and CNRM-CM6-1-HR. We calculated 30-year climatologies for historical and future simulations, calculated the anomalies between historical and future projections, interpolated to a fine-resolution, and applied these downscaled anomalies to a Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) time series, yielding short-term and long-term delta-downscaled forecasts. Downscaled output for Puget Sound showed temperature and salinity variability between scenarios and models, but overall, there was a strong model agreement of future surface warming and freshening in Puget Sound. Spatially, we found regional differences for both temperature and salinity, including higher temperatures in South Puget Sound and lower salinity in Whidbey Basin. Interpreting and applying downscaled CMIP6 projections of temperature and salinity will help assess climate change vulnerability and inform future ecosystem-based management decisions in Puget Sound and other coastal and estuarine systems.

Higher Early Marine Mortality of Steelhead Associated with Releases of Hatchery Coho Salmon but Not Chinook Salmon

AbstractUnderstanding the drivers of mortality during critical life history periods is an important part of increasing our capacity to rebuild depressed salmonid populations. For threatened steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss in Puget Sound, Washington, early marine predation has been implicated as a key source of mortality. Yet, the agents that mediate predation pressure are poorly understood. In this study, we characterize abundances of juvenile Coho Salmon O. kisutch and Chinook Salmon O. tshawytscha in Puget Sound and relate these abundance patterns to weekly steelhead survival to better understand whether pulses of hatchery‐released salmonids mediate steelhead survival. We found that weekly abundances of hatchery Coho Salmon and Chinook Salmon smolts vary by several orders of magnitude across weeks, indicating that large resource pulses are available to salmonid predators. We further found that weekly steelhead survival was significantly negatively related to abundances of hatchery‐released Coho Salmon but not Chinook Salmon, which had considerably smaller body sizes than both Coho Salmon and steelhead smolts. Together, our results suggest that releases of Coho Salmon into Puget Sound mediate mortality of steelhead smolts, possibly via increased predation pressure by shared predators.

Editor’s Column: Summoning the “Honest Spirit” of John Steinbeck: Back to Ireland

Editor’s Column: Summoning the “Honest Spirit” of John Steinbeck: Back to Ireland

Potential and kinetic energy of underwater noise measured below a passing ship and response to sub-bottom layering.

Observed near the seafloor, broadband noise emissions from a vessel passing directly above exhibit frequency bands where potential acoustic energy is greater than kinetic energy while the opposite occurs in neighboring frequency bands. The condition where the dynamic and kinematic energy forms differ in this manner is characteristic to interference involving steep angles or near-normal incidence reflection from the seafloor. Measurements are made at two experimental sites using a research vessel passing above a vector sensor, positioned ∼1.5 m above the seabed, resulting in a vessel horizontal range approaching ∼0. The data are expressed as a ratio of kinetic to potential energy in decibels and yield information on seabed properties. A model for kinetic and potential energy is developed from the method of images using a layered seabed and is used to invert data collected in Puget Sound. A higher-impedance seabed is identified via inversion, which is consistent with the thin Holocene sediments in the region. For data collected on the New England Mud Patch, the model is instead applied directly to nominal seabed parameters originating from prior studies that identify a low-speed mud layer atop a higher-speed transition layer separating the mud substrate from a sediment basement.

Perspectives from women who engaged in prenatal and postpartum cannabis use in a U.S. State with legal non-medical use

Evidence suggests fetal risks are associated with cannabis use during pregnancy. Yet, insights into women’s decision-making and cannabis use during pregnancy are limited. This study explored these concepts with postpartum women who used cannabis during and after pregnancy. We conducted interviews with 15 women (4 self-identifying a race other than White and 4 self-identifying Hispanic ethnicity) who: 1) lived in the Puget Sound region of Washington State, 2) reported past-year cannabis use on a routine screen, and 3) had documented pregnancy and delivery March 2015–May 2017. Semi-structured interviews asked about decision-making and cannabis use during pregnancy and postpartum. We used template analysis for coding and analysis. The key findings included that women: 1) gathered information about cannabis use during pregnancy primarily through internet searches and discussions with peers; 2) were reluctant to talk with health care providers about cannabis; 3) used cannabis while pregnant to treat health issues, including morning sickness, pain, and mental health conditions; 4) were comfortable with their decision to use cannabis while pregnant, but had questions about long-term effects; and 5) tried to mitigate transmission through breastmilk. Women decided about cannabis during pregnancy based on their experience, health symptoms, and information gathered from the internet and peers, often without guidance from their health care provider. Results point to opportunities for providers to become informed about and engage in discussion with patients about cannabis use during preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum.

ISLAND HOPPING COUGARS (PUMA CONCOLOR) IN THE SALISH SEA

Anecdotal and quantitative evidence of the Cougar's (Puma concolor) ability to swim across large bodies of water remains limited in the scientific literature. Here we report a 1.1-km swim by a dispersing male Cougar from the Olympic Peninsula to Squaxin Island in Puget Sound, Washington. We then predict the total number of islands in the Salish Sea that may be accessible to Cougars via swimming, using this Cougar's movement as a potential upper threshold distance, and present sightings records from islands in the Salish Sea to confirm or refute our results. We estimated that 3808 of 6153 islands in the Salish Sea could be accessible to Cougars with ≥1 or more 1.1-km swims, and we confirmed Cougar presence on 18 of those islands. Four islands with confirmed sightings required swims closer to 2 km. Increasing the threshold distance to 2 km yielded an additional 775 potentially accessible islands, including the 4 not captured by the 1.1-km threshold. Cougars are an umbrella species used to identify wildlife corridors across their range. We believe that improving our understanding of Cougar swimming abilities will aid us in determining the extent of habitat connectivity existing in the Pacific Northwest, where current habitat fragmentation characteristic of the Anthropocene may threaten Cougar metapopulation connectivity important to maintaining genetic health of the species.

Living and dead bivalves are congruent surrogates for whole benthic macroinvertebrate communities in Puget Sound

To integrate paleoecological data with the “whole fauna” data used in biological monitoring, analyses usually must focus on the subset of taxa that are inherently preservable, for example by virtue of biomineralized hardparts, and those skeletal remains must also be identifiable in fragmentary or otherwise imperfect condition, thus perhaps coarsening analytical resolution to the genus or family level. Here we evaluate the ability of readily preserved bivalves to reflect patterns of compositional variation from the entire infaunal macroinvertebrate fauna as typically sampled by agencies in ocean monitoring, using data from ten long-established subtidal stations in Puget Sound, Washington State. Similarity in compositional variation among these stations was assessed for five taxonomic subsets (the whole fauna, polychaetes, malacostracans, living bivalves, dead bivalves) at four levels of taxonomic resolution (species, genera, families, orders) evaluated under four numerical transformations of the original count data (proportional abundance, square root- and fourth root-transformation, presence-absence). Using the original matrix of species-level proportional abundances of the whole fauna as a benchmark of “compositional variation,” we find that living and dead bivalves had nearly identical potential to serve as surrogates of the whole fauna; they were further offset from the whole fauna than was the polychaete subset (which dominates the whole fauna), but were far superior as surrogates than malacostracans. Genus- and family-level data were consistently strong surrogates of species-level data for most taxonomic subsets, and correlations declined for all subsets with increasing severity of data transformation, although this effect lessened for subsets with high community evenness. The strong congruence of death assemblages with living bivalves, which are themselves effective surrogates of compositional variation in the whole fauna, is encouraging for using bivalve dead-shell assemblages to complement conventional monitoring data, notwithstanding strong natural environmental gradients with potential to bias shell preservation.

Evaluating ecosystem-based management alternatives for the Puget Sound, U.S.A. social-ecological system using qualitative watershed models

Population growth and the associated transformation of landscapes is a major management challenge for coastal ecosystems. Coastal conservation and management should be guided by social, cultural, economic, and ecological objectives, but integrative decision support tools appropriate for complex ecosystems remain underutilized. Evaluating alternative policies for objectives that span the interconnected terrestrial, freshwater, and estuarine habitats along coastlines is limited by the lack of appropriate quantitative tools and available data. We employed qualitative network models (QNMs) to evaluate multi-benefit outcomes of potential management interventions to address population growth and development using a case study of Puget Sound – a large, urbanized fjord-type estuary in Washington, U.S.A. With input from regional scientists and stakeholders, we developed a base conceptual model of the links among human stressors and ecosystem components across the terrestrial-freshwater-estuarine gradient of a generalized Puget Sound watershed. We simulated scenarios representing alternative strategies for accommodating human population growth, namely new development outside of urban centers versus redevelopment (densification) within urban centers, and characterized the responses of multiple recovery objectives and ecosystem stressors for each scenario. Of the urban redevelopment scenarios, reducing stormwater runoff and increasing green infrastructure provided the most favorable outcomes. On rural lands, limiting new development to existing transportation corridors and iincreasing floodplain and riparian habitat extent concomitant with new development produced similar outcomes. Moderate levels of coordinated interventions on both urban and rural lands had favorable outcomes for more ecosystem objectives compared to either moderate intervention applied separately. This study demonstrates the value of qualitative tools for cross-habitat evaluations of possible futures in complex ecosystem-based management systems.

Cross-sectional associations between neighbourhood walkability and objective physical activity levels in identical twins

ObjectivesPhysical activity is a cornerstone of chronic disease prevention and treatment, yet most US adults do not perform levels recommended for health. The neighborhood–built environment (BE) may support or hinder...

The metropolitan production of “urban” sustainability: Exploring industrial regionalism across the Puget Sound

This article engages governance visions for green urbanism and sustainability through the concept of “industrial regionalism”. Bringing together emerging research on the importance of manufacturing to inclusive economies and critiques of “methodological cityism”, we explore the relational production of the iconic “green city” of Seattle. Here we consider how secondary cities, suburbs, and other peripheral spaces get subsumed within the metropolitan production of “urban” sustainability in ways that go unacknowledged and underappreciated. By absorbing tasks of production and social reproduction, such peripheral spaces may enable primate cities like Seattle to claim the mantle of sustainability, highlighting the rain gardens, bike lanes, urban green spaces, and other infrastructures that score high on walkability indices. In contrast, the working-class livelihoods on the periphery are often marginalized from sustainability discourses, if not actively disparaged for their inability to measure up to the green city ideal. This paper aims to offer a corrective by exploring how peripheral spaces are involved in the production of primate city sustainability. Employing the concept of intra-regional relationality, and drawing from census and geospatial data as well as regional planning analyses and reports, we illustrate that “urban” sustainability is produced regionally and relationally. The aim here is to consider how the “industrial region” might gain purchase as an important component of the governance of urban sustainability.

Tsunami Early Warning From Global Navigation Satellite System Data Using Convolutional Neural Networks

AbstractWe investigate the potential of using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations to directly forecast full tsunami waveforms in real time. We train convolutional neural networks to use less than 9 min of GNSS data to forecast the full tsunami waveforms over 6 hr at select locations, and obtain accurate forecasts on a test data set. Our training and test data consists of synthetic earthquakes and associated GNSS data generated for the Cascadia Subduction Zone using the MudPy software, and corresponding tsunami waveforms in Puget Sound computed using GeoClaw. We use the same suite of synthetic earthquakes and waveforms as in earlier work where tsunami waveforms were used for forecasting, and provide a comparison. We also explore varying the number of GNSS stations, their locations, and their observation durations.

Numerical feasibility study for dredging and maintenance alternatives in Everett Harbor and Snohomish River

Snohomish River, which supports the third largest complex of tidally flooded estuarine and freshwater wetlands in Puget Sound, Washington, USA, delivers a large amount of sediment load to the lower estuary including the federal navigation channel and the Everett Harbor. In recent years, progressive sedimentation and diminished dredged material placement site capacity have led to economic impacts, particularly near the local service facilities maintained by the Port of Everett. An assessment of the performance of existing navigation features including jetties, dikes, and sedimentation basins was conducted using the latest generation of hydrodynamic and sediment transport numerical models to inform long-term sediment and navigation channel management decisions. This study assessed the relative merits of available alternatives for improving dredging and maintenance needs using hydrodynamic and sediment transport models: Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) and Adaptive Hydraulic model (AdH). In this paper, we present the refinement, setup, and calibration of morphological models using available data collected from the years 2017 and 2018 with a focus on in-channel sedimentation basins and the Port of Everett marinas. The potential for reduction in sedimentation through site-specific structure construction and repairs was evaluated. The results show that while it is feasible to modify in-channel sedimentation through river training structures, deposition at off-channel marinas along the banks and shelves may require sediment exclusion alternatives such as curtains and walls. Construction of training structures at the boat launch and reconstruction/repair of an existing training structure near the Port of Everett marinas provided promising response and merits further exploration. This study demonstrated that sediment transport simulation provided valuable information on the efficacy of proposed solutions and could help avoid unnecessary costs with alternatives likely to fail or be ineffective.

OneBusAway Multi-Region – Rapidly Expanding Mobile Transit Apps to New Cities

Real-time transit information offers many benefits to transit riders, including reduced wait times and increased customer satisfaction. However, offering real-time transit services has been challenging for many transit agencies. While mobile applications (apps) have emerged as a preferred dissemination method for real-time information, it is typically cost-prohibitive for transit agencies to fund custom development of native mobile apps for all popular smartphone platforms. Third-party developers can offer services if an agency openly shares real-time data, but these individuals are volunteers whose priorities and deadlines may not be the same as the agency’s. As a result, few cities have full app portfolios that cover all smartphone platforms. This paper presents the OneBusAway multi-region project, a collaborative effort that is enabling the rapid expansion of native mobile transit apps to new cities. OneBusAway is an open-source transit information system that has provided real-time transit services to the Puget Sound (Washington) area since 2008. The new OneBusAway multi-region feature expands the coverage of the existing Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, and Windows 8 apps for OneBusAway to new cities, including Tampa and Atlanta. The multi-region system architecture, collaborative design and development process, and lessons learned from this ground-breaking project are discussed. The fundamental shift from proprietary to open-source software in the transit industry that has made this type of project possible also is examined.

Assessing Park-and-Ride Efficiency and User Reactions to Parking Management Strategies

Increasing the number of spaces at overutilized park-and-rides often is not possible due to budgetary and other constraints. Instead, transit agencies may instead seek to maximize the number of people that are able to use the existing spaces through various parking management strategies. Unfortunately, the efficiency of park-and-rides is difficult to measure, so agencies cannot accurately quantify existing use or improvement after parking management strategies have been applied. This study proposed and tested a method to measure the person-efficiency of park-and-ride lots through an onsite audit. Additionally, a user survey was proposed to confirm the audit results and unveil reactions to parking management strategies to increase person-efficiency. The onsite audits and user surveys were conducted at several overutilized park-and-ride lots in the Central Puget Sound Region of Seattle, Washington. The results show that the person-efficiency can be measured easily, and several potential avenues to increase person-efficiency of park-and-rides are identified.

Mixing in a Salinity Variance Budget of the Salish Sea is Controlled by River Flow

Abstract A salinity variance framework is used to study mixing in the Salish Sea, a large fjordal estuary. Output from a realistic numerical model is used to create salinity variance budgets for individual basins within the Salish Sea for 2017–19. The salinity variance budgets are used to quantify the mixing in each basin and estimate the numerical mixing, which is found to contribute about one-third of the total mixing in the model. Whidbey Basin has the most intense mixing, due to its shallow depth and large river flow. Unlike in most other estuarine systems previously studied using the salinity variance method, mixing in the Salish Sea is controlled by the river flow and does not exhibit a pronounced spring–neap cycle. A “mixedness” analysis is used to determine when mixed water is expelled from the estuary. The river flow is correlated with mixed water removal, but the coupling is not as tight as with the mixing. Because the mixing is so highly correlated with the river flow, the long-term average approximation M = Qrsoutsin can be used to predict the mixing in the Salish Sea and Puget Sound with good accuracy, even without any temporal averaging. Over a 3-yr average, the mixing in Puget Sound is directly related to the exchange flow salt transport.