The Behavioral Cost of Care: Changes in Maintenance Behavior during Equine-Assisted Interventions.

This study examined human-animal symbiosis in an animal-assisted intervention through observations of animal maintenance behaviors. The rise of psychotherapy, learning, and recreation incorporating animals warrants exploration of the welfare of the animals involved in these interventions. The analysis of welfare in multispecies engagements can be discussed in terms of symbiosis. Regarding an intervention's animal provider (e.g., therapy horse) and human recipient (psychotherapy client), the balance of cost and benefit is important. Research describing human and animal interactive behavior during interventions is limited, whether focusing on client outcomes or animal welfare. The present study adapted ethological methods to study humans and animals in an equine-assisted intervention, observing equine maintenance behaviors and equid-human interactive behavior. Maintenance behaviors were recorded before, during, and after equine-assisted (psychosocial) learning sessions with youth, providing 1600 observations. Equine alertness, eating behavior, and ambulation varied significantly before, during, and after the equine-assisted sessions. Such interruptions of typical behavior are an important aspect of welfare and unit of analysis when examining symbiotic relationships. A total of 267 sequences of equid-human approach-response behavior were also recorded, indicating that human-animal interaction was predominantly from humans toward equids. Equids' dominant response to human approach was no response, followed by avoidance, while humans' dominant response to equid approach was reciprocation. The findings are discussed in terms of symbiosis and animal welfare.

Comparing foreign body injuries patterns between Turkey and European Countries: are female Turkish children more vulnerable?

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed at analyzing and comparing Foreign Body (FB) injuries patterns in children from Turkey and other European countries in order to assess any country and culturally specific aspects of FB risk. METHODS: Data from Susy Safe register were included in the analysis. For this study, ICD-935 (mouth, esophagus and stomach) and ICD-934 (trachea, bronchus, and lung) cases from European countries and from a single center in the Istanbul Bahcelievler State Hospital, Turkey, were extracted from the Susy database. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) approach was employed to identify differences or similarities between the groups of FB injuries. RESULTS: The Turkey dataset has a larger proportion of females in comparison to the European data (p-value 0.002). According to the MCA analysis, the first two dimensions are explaining 48.11% of the variability (dimension 1, 37.44%; dimension 2, 10.67%). The three largest contributions to dimension 1 are via naturalis removal, not hospitalized, and ICD-935. The greatest contributions to dimension 2 are FB type, and consistency. CONCLUSION: The most interesting study finding is the higher incidence of females suffering a FB injury in ICD-934-935 in the Turkey dataset compared to that seen in the European dataset and also higher than that for all ICD locations within the Susy Safe register. The higher incidence of females tends to go against the belief that boys suffer higher FB injuries and needs to be further investigated.

Nutrients and Caloric Intake Associated with Fruits, Vegetables, and Legumes in the Elderly European Population.

Nutrition is emerging as a key factor in promoting healthy lifestyles in the growing elderly population across Europe. In this study, we examined the non-animal-derived food source consumption among the elderly European population to evaluate the actual contributions of these foods to the diet of the elders. We gathered 21 studies conducted in 17 European countries to evaluate the fruit, vegetable, and legume (along with their derived products) consumption among the elderly (>65 years) population. Foods' nutritional values were calculated and compared to the recommended intakes. A Bayesian multilevel hierarchical analysis was conducted to estimate the caloric intake of food categories and to compare the elderly and general adult populations. Although the lowest consumption was generally associated with the lowest nutrient and fiber intake, the reverse was not always the case. Concerning the general adult population, no differences in the related caloric intake of elders were noticed. Differences were instead evident when foods were divided into subclasses. Elderly populations consume fruit and fruit products, but they drink less fruit and vegetable juices and nectars. In conclusion, elderlies' fruit and vegetable consumption showed a peculiar pattern with respect to the general adult population, whose recognition could be helpful to address tailored policies. Constantly updated studies, including all the lifespan ages, are warranted to design tailored effective public health interventions.

Increasing awareness of food-choking and nutrition in children through education of caregivers: the CHOP community intervention trial study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Choking is one of the leading causes of death among unintentional injuries in young children. Food choking represents a considerable public health burden, which might be reduced through increased effective preventative education programs. We present a protocol for a community intervention trial termed CHOP (CHOking Prevention project) that aimed to teach Italian families how to prevent food choking injuries and increase knowledge relating to nutrition. METHODS: Italian educational facilities were enrolled. Stratified randomization blocked by geographical area was performed. Each stratum was randomized to one of three different intervention strategies or to a control group. Educational intervention was delivered in the schools by experts and certified trainers as per the following three intervention strategies: directly to families (Strategy A); to teaching staff only, who subsequently delivered the same educational intervention to families (Strategy B); to health service staff only, who then delivered the educational intervention to teaching staff, who subsequently delivered the intervention to families (Strategy C). Participants completed a questionnaire about their knowledge on the topics presented during the educational interventions (pre-, post-, and follow-up of intervention). Information from the questionnaires was synthetized into 6 indicators in order to measure how effective each intervention strategy was. DISCUSSION: The issue of food choking injuries in children is relevant to public health. The protocol we present provides an opportunity to progress towards overcoming such challenges through a working model that can be implemented also in other countries. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03218618. The study was registered on 14 July 2017.

Foreign Body injuries in children in India: Recommendations for prevention from a comparative analysis with international experience.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to identify specific patterns of risk in order to contribute to the prevention of Foreign Body (FB) injuries by assessing FB injury characteristics in Indian children. METHODS: Single center case series are included in the worldwide registry on Foreign Bodies Injuries www.susysafe.org. Statistical analysis performed on FB injury data (age, medical information, FB anatomical location (ICD) and characteristics, and situational data) from 252 Indian children (0-14 years) was used to identify FB risk patterns. RESULTS: The study included 252 FB injury cases, out of which 110 occurred in females (43.7%). Most of the reported FB injuries (N = 252) were located in the mouth, esophagus and stomach, or intestines and colon (34.5%), and in the nose (31.3%). The analysis of the median duration of all injuries (i.e., the difference between the reported injury time/date and the reported time/date of arrival at hospital) showed that children with a FB in the airways were those referred to the hospital latest (median of 332.50 min, p-value <0.001). With regards to FB type, the majority of FB objects were non-food items and ingestion of coins accounted for 25% of all FB injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural differences may exist with regards to the Indian diet being conducive to lower choking food risk for children, and to acceptability and accessibility to objects such as coins and stationery. Such findings should be taken into account when developing primary and secondary prevention strategies aimed at reducing the burden of such injuries in India.

Perception of Choking Injury Risk Among Healthcare Students.

Choking injuries in children represent a severe public health burden. Although most choking injuries are due to food, parents have often been found to be unaware of the choking hazards presented by food. In this context, healthcare professionals may play an important role in choking prevention by educating families. We investigate the perception of choking injury risk among healthcare profession students by comparing their awareness and knowledge of choking hazards with those of people without a specific health education. A survey was conducted among a sample of final year healthcare profession students from two universities in northern Italy and a sample of adults from the general population without any health education. Respondents were asked to look at ten pictures and identify the items that pose the greatest choking hazard to children of different age groups. Seventy-one students and 742 adults without any health education responded to the survey. A higher percentage of the adults without a health education identified a food item as posing the greatest choking hazard in comparison to the percentage of healthcare profession students. The results of this study suggest that there is a need to include specific educational modules on choking prevention in healthcare-related degree programs.

Community exposure and vulnerability to water quality and availability: a case study in the mining-affected Pazña Municipality, Lake Poopó Basin, Bolivian Altiplano.

Assessing water sources for drinking and irrigation along with community vulnerability, especially in developing and rural regions, is important for reducing risk posed by poor water quality and limited water availability and accessibility. We present a case study of rural mining-agricultural communities in the Lake Poopó Basin, one of the poorest regions on the Bolivian Altiplano. Here, relatively low rainfall, high evaporation, salinization and unregulated mining activity have contributed to environmental degradation and water issues, which is a situation facing many Altiplano communities. Social data from 72 households and chemical water quality data from 27 surface water and groundwater sites obtained between August 2013 and July 2014 were used to develop locally relevant vulnerability assessment methodologies and ratings with respect to water availability and quality, and Chemical Water Quality Hazard Ratings to assess water quality status. Levels of natural and mining-related contamination in many waters (CWQHR ≥ 6; 78% of assessed sites) mean that effective remediation would be challenging and require substantial investment. Although waters of fair to good chemical quality (CWQHR ≤ 5; 22% of assessed sites) do exist, treatment may still be required depending on use, and access issues remain problematic. There is a need to comply with water quality legislation, improve and maintain basic water supply and storage infrastructure, build and operate water and wastewater treatment plants, and adequately and safely contain and treat mine waste. This study serves as a framework that could be used elsewhere for assessing and mitigating water contamination and availability affecting vulnerable populations.

Southern Ocean deep-water carbon export enhanced by natural iron fertilization.

The addition of iron to high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions induces phytoplankton blooms that take up carbon. Carbon export from the surface layer and, in particular, the ability of the ocean and sediments to sequester carbon for many years remains, however, poorly quantified. Here we report data from the CROZEX experiment in the Southern Ocean, which was conducted to test the hypothesis that the observed north-south gradient in phytoplankton concentrations in the vicinity of the Crozet Islands is induced by natural iron fertilization that results in enhanced organic carbon flux to the deep ocean. We report annual particulate carbon fluxes out of the surface layer, at three kilometres below the ocean surface and to the ocean floor. We find that carbon fluxes from a highly productive, naturally iron-fertilized region of the sub-Antarctic Southern Ocean are two to three times larger than the carbon fluxes from an adjacent high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll area not fertilized by iron. Our findings support the hypothesis that increased iron supply to the glacial sub-Antarctic may have directly enhanced carbon export to the deep ocean. The CROZEX sequestration efficiency (the amount of carbon sequestered below the depth of winter mixing for a given iron supply) of 8,600 mol mol(-1) was 18 times greater than that of a phytoplankton bloom induced artificially by adding iron, but 77 times smaller than that of another bloom initiated, like CROZEX, by a natural supply of iron. Large losses of purposefully added iron can explain the lower efficiency of the induced bloom(6). The discrepancy between the blooms naturally supplied with iron may result in part from an underestimate of horizontal iron supply.

Development and performance of the diffusive gradients in thin-films technique for the measurement of technetium-99 in seawater.

A novel technique for obtaining time-integrated 99Tc concentrations in seawater has been developed, using diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT). The performance of TEVA resin as a binding agent for 99Tc was investigated via laboratory experiments. The accumulated 99Tc activity per unit area of resin-gel was proportional to both the bulk solution activity and the exposure time for deployments of up to 2 weeks. The response of DGT was found to be independent of solution chemistries over the pH range 3-8 and ionic strength range 0.01-1.3 M. Seawater has pH 8 and ionic strength of approximately 0.7 M; therefore, the potential of the technique for field deployment in seawater was demonstrated. Detection limits of 0.05 and 0.025 Bq L(-1), for 2- and 4-week DGT deployments, respectively, were calculated for 99Tc measurement by liquid scintillation spectrometry. Using quadrupole ICPMS to measure bound 99Tc could reduce these detection limits to 0.125 mBq L(-1) for a 4-week deployment. These detection limits are sufficiently low for monitoring contaminated environments, including the Irish Sea. This method is simpler and faster than other 99Tc analysis methods and represents the only means of obtaining time-integrated data.