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BACKGROUND: This systematic review synthesizes the most recent neuroimaging procedures and machine learning approaches for the prediction of conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease dementia. METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) systematic review guidelines. RESULTS: Our search returned 2572 articles, 56 of which met the criteria for inclusion in the final selection. The multimodality framework and deep learning techniques showed potential for predicting the conversion of MCI to AD dementia. CONCLUSION: Findings of this systematic review identified that the possibility of using neuroimaging data processed by advanced learning algorithms is promising for the prediction of AD progression. We also provided a detailed description of the challenges that researchers are faced along with future research directions. The protocol has been registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews- CRD42019133402 and published in the Systematic Reviews journal.
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Doença de Alzheimer , Disfunção Cognitiva , Humanos , Doença de Alzheimer/diagnóstico por imagem , Disfunção Cognitiva/diagnóstico por imagem , Algoritmos , Aprendizado de Máquina , NeuroimagemRESUMO
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the wellbeing of the general US population, but even more so among Latinx young adults. The current study provides a detailed picture of the emotional wellbeing and coping of Latinx young adults during the first summer of the pandemic. Six virtual focus groups (n = 21) were conducted between May and August of 2020 with a community-based sample of Latinx young adults to explore (1) how the pandemic affected wellbeing and (2) how they coped with pandemic-related stress. Contextualistic thematic analysis identified important themes and subthemes. Perceived stressors impacting emotional wellbeing yielded one overarching theme: COVID-related disruptions in the participants' environment. To manage this heightened stress, another overarching theme was self-care and intentionality during the pandemic. Future studies should examine the wellbeing of young adults across social contexts and at more recent stages of the pandemic. Findings from this study suggest culturally- and developmentally-tailored interventions are needed as this population navigates contextual stress during a sensitive period in their life.
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COVID-19 , Humanos , Adulto Jovem , Pandemias , Adaptação Psicológica , Emoções , Hispânico ou LatinoRESUMO
A set of quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) criteria for nontargeted measurement of pesticide exposure markers in a large-scale study of human urine has been proposed and applied across five laboratories within the HBM4EU project. Quality control material, including reference standards and fortified pooled urine samples (QC urine) were prepared in a centralized way and distributed across participants to monitor analytical performance and consistency of the liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry data generated with a harmonized workflow. Signal intensities, mass accuracy, and retention times of selected QA/QC markers covering a broad range of physicochemical properties were monitored across QC solvent standards, QC urine samples, study urine samples, and procedural blanks, setting acceptance thresholds for repeatability and accuracy. Overall, results showed high repeatability of the collected data. The RSDs of the signal intensities were typically below 20-30% in QC and study samples, with good stability of the chromatographic separation (retention time drift within 2-4 s intrabatch and 5 s interbatch) and excellent mass accuracy (average error < 2 ppm). The use of the proposed criteria allowed for the identification of handling errors, instrumental issues, and potential batch effects. This is the first elaboration of harmonized QA/QC criteria applied across multiple laboratories to assess the quality of data generated by nontargeted analysis of human samples.
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Praguicidas , Biomarcadores , Cromatografia Líquida , Humanos , Espectrometria de Massas/métodos , Controle de QualidadeRESUMO
Maternal depressive symptoms are linked with child internalizing concerns, such as depressive symptoms. The impact that maternal depressive symptoms have on the onset and maintenance of child depressive symptoms might be especially salient in families of color who are low-income because of elevated rates of maternal depressive symptoms and environmental stressors in those populations. The relationship between maternal and child depressive symptoms might be partially explained by a child's capacity to flexibly respond to stressors in the environment, a construct known as adaptability. A simple mediation model was conducted with a sample of low-income, Black/African American and Latina mothers and their children (n = 128). Results suggested that child adaptability partially mediated the link between maternal and child depressive symptoms. We discussed how this study can inform research and practice that aim to assist low-income families of color with mental health needs.
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In the present article, we explore the hopes that immigrant parents of Mexican origin have for their children and the strategies they employ to foster such hopes in light of immigration status, immigration climate, and transnational lived experiences. We conducted six focus groups with 42 immigrant parents of Mexican origin living in Arizona and Texas to explore their hopes and strategies used to foster hopes. Parents, the majority of whom were mothers, defined hopes in terms of what they can provide to their children, including (a) a better life through education and economic opportunities, (b) a strong moral and civic upbringing, and (c) safety from neighborhood crime and hostile immigrant climates. Parents fostered these hopes through the strategies of using self as example, parental involvement and monitoring, self-sacrifice, and family unity. Mothers of unauthorized immigration status raising children in a harsh immigration climate also avoided undue public exposure to ensure their children's safety, a task that was difficult for fathers as breadwinners. Immigration status and climate influenced parents' ability to provide opportunities for their children to pursue educational and career opportunities. We discuss parents' hopes and parenting strategies in the context of different immigration climates, highlight emerging gender differences, and provide recommendations for research and practice.
En el presente artículo, analizamos las esperanzas que tienen los padres inmigrantes de origen mexicano para sus hijos y las estrategias que emplean para alimentar dichas esperanzas teniendo en cuenta la situación migratoria, el ambiente de inmigración y las experiencias transnacionales vividas. Organizamos seis grupos de análisis con 42 padres inmigrantes de origen mexicano que viven en Arizona y Texas con el fin de analizar sus esperanzas y estrategias utilizadas para alimentar esperanzas. Los padres, la mayoría de los cuales eran madres, definieron las esperanzas desde el punto de vista de lo que les pueden facilitar a sus hijos, por ejemplo, una vida mejor mediante oportunidades educativas y económicas, una fuerte educación cívica y moral, y protección contra la delincuencia barrial y los ambientes hostiles de inmigrantes. Los padres alimentaron estas esperanzas mediante las estrategias de uso de su propio ejemplo, su participación y supervisión, el sacrificio propio y la unidad familiar. Las madres de situación migratoria no autorizada que criaron hijos en un ambiente hostil de inmigrantes también evitaron la exposición pública excesiva para garantizar la seguridad de sus hijos, una tarea que fue difícil para los padres como sostenes de la familia. La situación y el ambiente migratorios influyeron en la capacidad de los padres de brindar posibilidades a sus hijos de seguir oportunidades educativas y profesionales. Explicamos las esperanzas de los padres y las estrategias de crianza en el contexto de diferentes ambientes de inmigración, destacamos las diferencias de género que surgieron, y ofrecemos recomendaciones para la investigación y la práctica.
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Emigrantes e Imigrantes , Poder Familiar , Criança , Emigração e Imigração , Feminino , Humanos , Pais , Características de ResidênciaRESUMO
Mental health professionals in schools and the community are often overburdened and underfunded in high-need areas, limiting their capacity to deliver needed family-based mental health interventions. To address this issue, paraprofessional school personnel (e.g., family engagement liaisons) can facilitate these family-based mental health interventions alongside licensed mental health professionals, thereby increasing access to mental health services for families with mental health needs. To train professional and paraprofessional school personnel in maternal depression and interventions, we used storyboarding, a narrative storytelling method traditionally used to create films. Latinx families who had previously participated in a family-focused program for maternal depression shared real life stories focused on themes of (a) maternal depression, (b) impact on children, (c) cultural views and role of immigration, (d) self-harm and suicide, and (e) what families need. In this conceptual paper, we describe our engagement of families in a multistep process of storyboarding that resulted in video modules of family stories for a training website and in-person workshop for school professionals and paraprofessionals. We conclude with how community-engaged tools such as storyboarding can be used to increase awareness and reduce stigma of maternal depression among staff training to deliver family-focused mental health programs in schools.
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Serviços de Saúde Mental , Saúde Mental , Criança , Depressão/terapia , Família , Humanos , Instituições AcadêmicasRESUMO
For many Latinx young adults, COVID-19 has exposed exclusionary policies that heighten risk for contracting the virus and that leave them and their parents unprotected. This study has a dual purpose; first, to quantitatively examine immigration policy impacts of discrimination, isolation, threats to family, and vulnerability, and their association to economic consequences experienced by Latinx young adults in Central Texas during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, to qualitatively explore how policy impacts affected Latinx young adults during the pandemic, and the coping mechanisms they utilized to minimize these impacts. Quantitative results show that on average, Latinx young adults (N = 83) reported low discrimination and isolation but moderate threats to family and vulnerability, with rates of isolation and vulnerability higher for foreign-born than U.S.-born Latinx young adults. Perceived discrimination due to one's own or family immigration status was associated with economic hardship. Qualitative findings show that Latinx young adults (n = 21) experienced (a) precarious conditions that pose a threat of COVID-19 infection for Latinxs, (b) parental job loss due to vulnerable employment leads to deprivation, and (c) policies that disproportionally discriminate against the Latinx community and exclude them from vital services. Despite these challenges, participants also drew on resilience and expressed hope for the future. The article concludes with implications for policymakers and practitioners to provide protections and services to Latinx young adults and their family members.
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COVID-19 , Emigração e Imigração , Adulto Jovem , Humanos , Pandemias , Políticas , EmpregoRESUMO
BACKGROUND AND AIM: The aim of this systematic review was to quantify the association between frailty and COVID-19 in relation to mortality in hospitalised patients. METHODS: Medline, Embase, Web of Science and the grey literature were searched for papers from inception to 10 September 2020; the search was re-run in Medline up until the 9 December 2020. Screening, data extraction and quality grading were undertaken by two reviewers. Results were summarised using descriptive statistics, including a meta-analysis of overall mortality; the relationships between frailty and COVID-19 mortality were summarised narratively. RESULTS: A total of 2,286 papers were screened resulting in 26 being included in the review. Most studies were from Europe, half from the UK, and one from Brazil; the median sample size was 242.5, median age 73.1 and 43.5% were female. In total, 22/26 used the Clinical Frailty Scale; reported mortality ranged from 14 to 65%. Most, but not all studies showed an association between increasing frailty and a greater risk of dying. Two studies indicated a sub-additive relationship between frailty, COVID-19 and death, and two studies showed no association. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst the majority of studies have shown a positive association between COVID-19-related death and increasing frailty, some studies suggested a more nuanced understanding of frailty and outcomes in COVID-19 is needed. Clinicians should exert caution in placing too much emphasis on the influence of frailty alone when discussing likely prognosis in older people with COVID-19 illness.
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COVID-19/mortalidade , Idoso Fragilizado , Fragilidade/complicações , Mortalidade Hospitalar , Idoso , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Metanálise como Assunto , SARS-CoV-2 , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
One of the most at-risk groups during the COVID-19 crisis is older adults, especially those who live in congregate living settings and seniors' care facilities, are immune-compromised, and/or have other underlying illnesses. Measures undertaken to contain the spread of the virus are far-reaching, and older adults were among the first groups to experience restrictions on face-to-face contact. Although reducing viral transmission is critical, physical distancing is associated with negative psychosocial implications, such as increased rates of depression and anxiety. Promising evidence suggests that participatory digital co-design, defined as the combination of user-centered design and community engagement models, is associated with increased levels of engagement with mobile technologies among individuals with mental health conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted shortcomings of existing technologies and challenges in their uptake and usage; however, strategies such as co-design may be leveraged to address these challenges both in the adaptation of existing technologies and the development of new technologies. By incorporating these strategies, it is hoped that we can offset some of the negative mental health implications for older adults in the context of physical distancing both during and beyond the current pandemic.
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COVID-19/psicologia , Tecnologia Digital , Saúde Mental , Isolamento Social/psicologia , Fatores Etários , Humanos , Pandemias , SARS-CoV-2/isolamento & purificação , TecnologiaRESUMO
The present study illuminates the emotions of mixed-status families as they anticipated the 2016 Presidential election. From a 6-year longitudinal case study of four Mexican immigrant families, we present interviews from May of 2016, prior to the presidential primaries, and from November of 2016, the day before or the day of the presidential election. Using a multiple case study method (Stake, 2006, Multiple case study analysis. Guilford Press, New York; Yin, 2014, Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Sage, Los Angeles, CA), our primary goal was to describe how immigrant Mexican adults and their preadolescent and adolescent children (or grandchildren) personally and collectively reacted emotionally to the events leading up to the 2016 presidential election, and how they managed and coped with their emotions. Our secondary goal was to explain how their emotional reactions changed over time and were influenced by age and immigration status. Initially, participants expressed concern and fear about the anti-immigration rhetoric by the conservative political movement, but largely felt reassured that such rhetoric would not prevail. In the days immediately preceding the election, a notable change seemed apparent among all participants, regardless of immigration status. They expressed having intense emotions ranging from fear and angst to disbelief, anger, and denial, which they attempted to manage through external (e.g., community involvement, activism, solidarity) and internal (e.g., family communication, cognitive strategies) actions. Older adolescents had a better understanding of the implications of the election for their family than younger adolescents did. We provide recommendations for family practice and policy aimed to support and advocate on behalf of immigrant families.
El presente estudio explica las emociones de las familias cuyos miembros tienen distinta situación migratoria mientras esperaban la elección presidencial de 2016. De un caso práctico longitudinal de seis años de cuatro familias de inmigrantes mexicanos, presentamos entrevistas de mayo de 2016, antes de las primarias presidenciales, y de noviembre de 2016, el día antes o el día de la elección presidencial. Utilizando un método de casos prácticos múltiples (Stake, 2006; Yin, 2014), nuestro objetivo principal fue describir cómo los adultos inmigrantes mexicanos y sus hijos preadolescentes y adolescentes (o nietos) reaccionaron personal y colectivamente a los acontecimientos previos a la elección presidencial de 2016, y cómo manejaron y afrontaron sus emociones. Nuestro objetivo secundario fue explicar cómo sus reacciones emocionales cambiaron con el tiempo y estuvieron influenciadas por la edad y la situación inmigratoria. Inicialmente, los participantes expresaron preocupación y miedo acerca de la retórica contra los inmigrantes por parte del movimiento político conservador, pero en su gran mayoría estaban convencidos de que dicha retórica no prevalecería. Los días inmediatamente anteriores a la elección, se hizo evidente un cambio notable entre todos los participantes, independientemente de la situación de inmigración. Ellos dijeron tener emociones intensas, desde miedo y angustia hasta incredulidad, ira y rechazo, que intentaron manejar mediante medidas externas (p. ej.: participación en la comunidad, activismo, solidaridad) e internas (p. ej.: comunicación familiar, estrategias cognitivas). Los adolescentes mayores tuvieron una mejor comprensión de las implicancias de la elección para su familia que los adolescentes más jóvenes. Ofrecemos recomendaciones para la práctica familiar orientadas a apoyar y a abogar por las familias inmigrantes.
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Emigrantes e Imigrantes , Emigração e Imigração , Adaptação Psicológica , Adolescente , Adulto , Criança , Emoções , Humanos , PolíticaRESUMO
A strong relationship exists between maternal depression and externalizing and internalizing problems in children, and caregiving burden might mediate this relationship. Yet, caregiving burden has rarely been tested as a mechanism underlying the relationship between maternal depression and child emotional and behavioral outcomes. Caregiving burden might be especially high in ethnic and racial minority mother-child dyads in low-income settings where there are more stressors in the environment and rates of maternal depression are elevated. A path analysis with 132 low-income urban mothers who mostly identified as racial and ethnic minorities confirmed our hypothesis that maternal depression has a direct effect on child externalizing and internalizing problems, and also an indirect effect through caregiving burden. We discuss implications of the findings with respect to research, practice, and policy with low-income, ethnic and racial minority families whose mothers have depression and care for children who exhibit externalizing and internalizing problems.
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Sintomas Comportamentais/psicologia , Educação Infantil/psicologia , Filho de Pais com Deficiência/psicologia , Transtorno Depressivo/psicologia , Grupos Minoritários/psicologia , Mães/psicologia , Pobreza/psicologia , População Urbana , Adulto , Sintomas Comportamentais/epidemiologia , Criança , Filho de Pais com Deficiência/estatística & dados numéricos , Pré-Escolar , Transtorno Depressivo/epidemiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Grupos Minoritários/estatística & dados numéricos , Mães/estatística & dados numéricos , Pobreza/estatística & dados numéricos , População Urbana/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
Maternal depression is a risk factor for the development of problem behavior in children. Although food insecurity and housing instability are associated with adult depression and child behavior, how these economic factors mediate or moderate the relationship between maternal depression and child problem behavior is not understood. The purpose of this study was to determine whether food insecurity and housing instability are mediators and/or moderators of the relationship between maternal depression when children are age 3 and children's problem behaviors at age 9 and to determine whether these mechanisms differ by race/ethnicity. We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Food insecurity and housing instability at age 5 were tested as potential mediators and moderators of the relationship between maternal depression status at age 3 and problem behavior at age 9. A path analysis confirmed our hypothesis that food insecurity and housing instability partially mediate the relationship between maternal depression when children are age 3 and problem behavior at age 9. However, housing instability was only a mediator for externalizing problem behavior and not internalizing problem behavior or overall problem behavior. Results of the moderation analysis suggest that neither food insecurity nor housing instability were moderators. None of the mechanisms explored differed by race/ethnicity. While our findings stress the continued need for interventions that address child food insecurity, they emphasize the importance of interventions that address maternal mental health throughout a child's life. Given the central role of maternal health in child development, additional efforts should be made to target maternal depression.
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Comportamento Infantil/psicologia , Depressão , Insegurança Alimentar , Habitação , Mães/psicologia , Comportamento Problema/psicologia , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Inquéritos e Questionários , Estados UnidosRESUMO
Private water wells have no requirements to be tested or monitored to ensure safe drinking water quality, and yet those receiving their primary drinking water from private supplies are more frequently confident that their tap drinking water is safe. Using data from surveys administered in 2008 and 2014, this study assesses public attitudes and perceptions regarding drinking water. This study examines the results of a random sample survey of Texans to evaluate citizen awareness and attitudes on water issues. Most respondents reported that they believe their drinking water is of high quality, with 81.4% responding that they believe their tap water is safe to drink. An even larger number, 92.1%, of those receiving their water from private sources believe their tap water is safe. Conversely, only 57.0% of respondents who consume bottled water as their primary source of drinking water believe their tap water is safe to drink. Additionally, more than 65% of Texans receiving their primary drinking water from private supplies (usually their private water well) have never had their water supply tested. A large majority (81.3%) of those primarily receiving their drinking water from private supplies believed groundwater in their area to be of good or excellent quality.
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Participação da Comunidade , Água Potável/normas , Setor Privado , Setor Público , Qualidade da Água/normas , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Coleta de Dados , Feminino , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Percepção , Texas , Microbiologia da Água , Adulto JovemRESUMO
This research examines the relationship of concentrations to stream order and watershed size and considers the implications on water quality standards. To assess geospatial effects, data were obtained from 743 monitoring stations in the Central Great Plains, Cross Timbers, and South Central Plains ecoregions of Texas and Oklahoma. Median and geometric mean concentrations were analyzed for correlation with stream order and watershed size at each site. Comparison of the three ecoregions revealed concentrations were highest in the westernmost Central Great Plains and lowest in the easternmost South Central Plains. Similarly, the strength of 's correlation with stream order and watershed area decreased with ecoregion moving west to east. Thus, incorporating ecoregion approaches when defining stream water quality standards is supported. Analysis showed no significant relationship of stream order or watershed size to concentrations in least-impacted watersheds (i.e., watersheds with minimal wastewater discharge and urbanization). Conversely, analysis of data from all sites showed a weak negative relationship between concentration and stream order and watershed size, with concentration generally decreasing with increasing stream order and watershed size. However, variability in smaller watersheds and lower-order streams supports continued use of site-specific studies to determine appropriate standards. Three-parameter exponential models provided an approach to estimate concentrations using Shreve stream order and watershed area and identify outlier streams potentially affected by anthropogenic activities where further investigation or remediation may be warranted.
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Escherichia coli , Qualidade da Água , Oklahoma , Texas , Águas ResiduáriasRESUMO
Earthworms benefit agriculture by providing several ecosystem services. Therefore, strategies to increase earthworm abundance and activity in agricultural soils should be identified, and encouraged. Lumbricus terrestris earthworms primarily feed on organic inputs to soils but it is not known which organic amendments are the most effective for increasing earthworm populations. We conducted earthworm surveys in the field and carried out experiments in single-earthworm microcosms to determine the optimum food source for increasing earthworm biomass using a selection of crop residues and organic wastes available to agriculture. We found that although farmyard manure increased earthworm populations more than cereal straw in the field, straw increased earthworm biomass more than manures when milled and applied to microcosms. Earthworm growth rates were positively correlated with the calorific value of the amendment and straw had a much higher calorific value than farmyard manure, greenwaste compost, or anaerobic digestate. Reducing the particle size of straw by milling to <3 mm made the energy in the straw more accessible to earthworms. The benefits and barriers to applying milled straw to arable soils in the field are discussed.
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Storm water runoff is increasingly assessed for fecal indicator organisms (e.g., Escherichia coli, E. coli) and its impact on contact recreation. Concurrently, use of autosamplers along with logistic, economic, technical, and personnel barriers is challenging conventional protocols for sample holding times and storage conditions in the field. A common holding time limit for E. coli is 8 h with a 10 °C storage temperature, but several research studies support longer hold time thresholds. The use of autosamplers to collect E. coli water samples has received little field research attention; thus, this study was implemented to compare refrigerated and unrefrigerated autosamplers and evaluate potential E. coli concentration differences due to field storage temperature (storms with holding times ≤24 h) and due to field storage time and temperature (storms >24 h). Data from 85 runoff events on four diverse watersheds showed that field storage times and temperatures had minor effects on mean and median E. coli concentrations. Graphs and error values did, however, indicate a weak tendency for higher concentrations in the refrigerated samplers, but it is unknown to what extent differing die-off and/or regrowth rates, heterogeneity in concentrations within samples, and laboratory analysis uncertainty contributed to the results. The minimal differences in measured E. coli concentrations cast doubt on the need for utilizing the rigid conventional protocols for field holding time and storage temperature. This is not to say that proper quality assurance and quality control is not important but to emphasize the need to consider the balance between data quality and practical constraints related to logistics, funding, travel time, and autosampler use in storm water studies.
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Monitoramento Ambiental , Escherichia coli/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Eliminação de Resíduos Líquidos/métodos , Microbiologia da Água , Fezes , Chuva , TemperaturaRESUMO
Bacterial contamination of surface water is a public health concern. To quantify the efflux of Escherichia coli into ephemeral and intermittent streams and assess its numbers in relation to secondary body contact standards, we monitored runoff and measured E. coli numbers from 10 experimental watersheds that differed in vegetation cover and cattle access in north-central Oklahoma. Escherichia coli numbers were not significantly different among the watersheds, with one exception; the grazed prairie watershed (GP1) had greater numbers compared to one ungrazed prairie watershed (UP2). Median E. coli numbers in runoff from ungrazed watersheds ranged from 260 to 1482 MPN/100 mL in comparison with grazed watersheds that ranged from 320 to 8878 MPN/100 mL. In the GP1 watershed, higher cattle stocking rates during pre- and post-calving (February-May) resulted in significantly greater bacterial numbers and event loading compared to periods with lower stocking rates. The lack of significance among watersheds is likely due to the grazed sites being rotationally (and lightly) grazed, data variability, and wildlife contributions. To address wildlife sources, we used camera trap data to assess the usage in the watersheds; however, the average number of animals in a 24-h period did not correlate with observed median E. coli numbers. Because of its impacts on E. coli numbers in water, grazing management (stocking rate, rotation, and timing) should be considered for improving water quality in streams and reservoirs.
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Ecossistema , Escherichia coli , Animais , Bovinos , Qualidade da Água , Rios , Bactérias , OklahomaRESUMO
Accurate prediction of instantaneous high lake water levels and flood flows (flood stages) from micro-catchments to big river basins are critical for flood forecasting. Lake Carl Blackwell, a small-watershed reservoir in the south-central USA, served as a primary case study due to its rich historical dataset. Bearing knowledge that both current and previous rainfall contributes to the reservoirs' water body, a series of hourly rainfall features were created to maximize predicting power, which include total rainfall amounts in the current hour, the past 2 h, 3 h, , 600 h in addition to previous-day lake levels. Notedly, the rainfall features are the accumulated rainfall amounts from present to previous hours rather than the rainfall amount in any specific hour. Random Forest Regression (RFR) was used to score the features' importance and predict the flood stages along with Neural Network - Multi-layer Perceptron Regression (NN-MLP), Support Vector Regression (SVR), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and the ordinary multi-variant linear regression (MLR) together with dimension reduced linear models of Principal Component Regression (PCR) and Partial Least Square Regression (PLSR). The prediction accuracy for the lake flood stages can be as high as 0.95 in R2, 0.11 ft. in mean absolute error (MAE), and 0.21 ft. in root mean square error (RMSE) for the testing dataset by the RFR (NN-MLP performed equally well), with small accuracy decreases by the other two non-linear algorithms of XGBoost and SVR. The linear regressions with dimension reductions had the lowest accuracy. Furthermore, our approach demonstrated high accuracy and broad applicability for surface runoff and streamflow predictions across three different-sized watersheds from micro-catchment to big river basins in the region, with increases of predicting power from earlier rainfall for larger watersheds and vice versa.
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Objective: To explore the impacts of parental deportation on the health and well-being of U.S. citizen children of Mexican immigrants. Methods: From 2019-2020, this ambi-directional cohort study recruited U.S.-based families with an undocumented Mexican immigrant parent and U.S.-citizen childrens (ages 13-17) recently exposed to parental deportation (N = 61), and similar families without a history of parental deportation (N = 51). Children health, behavioral, economic, and academic outcomes were measured via phone surveys upon enrollment and six months later. A subsample of "exposed" caregivers (N = 14) also completed in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using fixed-effects regression models and thematic analyses. Results: Childrens exposed to parental deportation had significantly worse health status, behavioral problems, material hardship, and academic outcomes than children in the control arm (p<.05). Caregivers' interviews illustrated these health, behavioral, academic and family impacts. Conclusions: Parental deportations have wide and potentially long-lasting health, behavioral, economic, and academic consequences for U.S. citizen youth. Changes in immigration policies and enforcement practices are urgently needed to protect the unity of mixed-legal status families in the U.S. and prevent the suffering of U.S. children in these families.
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Latino immigrant families in the United States were disproportionately affected by intensified interior immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. US-citizen children are victimized by policies targeting their immigrant parents; research is sparse regarding how these polices affect children who experience parental deportation and children who are at risk for parental deportation. Additionally, anti-immigrant rhetoric can result in increased discrimination that also threatens children's psychological health. This qualitative study (N = 22) explores children's lived experiences of discrimination, parental deportation or threat of parental deportation, and perceived impacts on mental health. Interviews conducted from 2019 to 2020 revealed that children who are directly affected by or at risk for parental deportation experience detrimental impacts to their psychological well-being. Children experience discrimination as Latinos and children of immigrants, which is also detrimental to their mental/emotional health. Incorporating children's perspectives is critical to informing public health interventions. Findings demonstrate the need for family-friendly immigration reform.
Las familias inmigrantes latinas en los Estados Unidos se vieron desproporcionadamente afectadas por las acciones del servicio de inmigración bajo la administración de Trump. Los niños y niñas con ciudadanía estadounidense son víctimas de las políticas dirigidas a sus padres inmigrantes; las investigaciones son escasas con respecto a cómo estas políticas afectan a los menores afectados por la deportación de sus padres así como los que corren riesgo de que sus padres sean deportados. Además, la retórica antiinmigrante puede provocar un aumento en la discriminación, lo cual también representa una amenaza para la salud psicológica de estos niños y niñas. Este estudio cualitativo (N = 22) explora las experiencias de discriminación y de deportación o amenaza de deportación de los padres vividas por los menores así como los impactos percibidos en su salud mental. Las entrevistas realizadas entre 2019 y 2020 revelan que las niñas y niños directamente afectados por la deportación o el riesgo de deportación de sus padres sufren un impacto perjudicial en su bienestar psicológico. Los menores experimentan discriminación como latinos e hijos de inmigrantes, lo cual también perjudica su salud mental y emocional. Es crucial que se incorporen las perspectivas de estos menores al informar las intervenciones de salud pública. Los hallazgos demuestran la necesidad de una reforma migratoria que sea solidaria con las familias.