bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Engaging with nature to promote health: new directions for nursing research
Authors: Hansen‐Ketchum Patricia , Marck Patricia , Reutter Linda 
Published: April 2009

AbstractTitle. Engaging with nature to promote health: new directions for nursing research.Aim. The aim of this paper is to offer a conceptual framework for nature‐based health promotion in nursing and provide related recommendations for future nursing research.Background. Empirical data suggest that interaction with nature has direct health benefits. When people attend to outdoor habitats, gardens and other forms of nature, they are more likely to engage in physical activity and other behaviours that improve health. Engaging with nature can even cultivate ecological sensibilities that motivate us to protect the health of our planet.Data sources. Multidisciplinary theoretical and research publications from 1985 to 2008 were examined in the development of the framework.Discussion. As the health of our planet continues to deteriorate, there is a pressing need for theoretically informed, ethical, sustainable ways of engaging with nature to promote human and environmental health. We adapt principles and socio‐ecological thinking from the fields of nursing, health promotion and ecological restoration to delineate the essential elements of the proposed framework.Implications for nursing. Although evidence‐based knowledge about nature‐based health promotion is not readily used in nursing and health care, its development and application are critical to designing effective strategies to strengthen both human and environmental health.Conclusion. Nurses can use nature‐based health promotion concepts to work with citizens, health practitioners and policymakers to explore and optimize reciprocal, health promoting relationships among humans and the natural environment. To the extent that nurses integrate nature‐based health promotion into their research efforts, we can expect to contribute meaningfully to both environmental and human health in communities across the globe.
Promoting self‐management improves the health status of patients having peritoneal dialysis
Authors: Su Chun‐Yan , Lu Xin‐Hong , Chen Wei , Wang Tao 
Published: April 2009

AbstractTitle.  Promoting self‐management improves the health status of patients having peritoneal dialysis. Aim.  This paper is a report of a study conducted to explore the effects of promoting self‐management on the well‐being of patients having peritoneal dialysis.Background.  Peritoneal dialysis is a home‐based treatment for end‐stage renal disease. Promoting self‐management has been shown to improve the health status of people with diabetes mellitus and other chronic diseases. However, little is known about the effects of self‐management support for patients having peritoneal dialysis.Method.  Thirty patients who had received peritoneal dialysis for at least 6 months and were clinically stable were enrolled in the study in 2006. A multidisciplinary team was built to support the patients’ self‐management. Various forms of education such as group discussion and individual consultation were used to improve patients’ self‐efficacy and all were followed up for 6 months. We compared the volume status, adequacy of dialysis, nutritional status, quality of life, rehabilitation status, self‐management capacity and self‐efficacy levels at baseline, 3 and 6 months after enrolment.Results.  During follow‐up, patients’ urine volume and residual renal function decreased, while the adequacy of dialysis (Kt/v and Ccr) did not change. Volume status, quality of life and rehabilitation status all improved, whereas nutritional status did not deteriorate. Both self‐management capacity and self‐efficacy level increased statistically significantly.Conclusion.  A team approach needs to be taken to achieve successful self‐management in patients having peritoneal dialysis, as with other chronic disease treatments. Nurses should use multiple strategies based on self‐efficacy theory to improve patients’ self‐efficacy levels and self‐management capacities.
Quality of life among older grandparent caregivers: a pilot study
Authors: Lo Meihan , Liu Yi‐Hsiu 
Published: April 2009

AbstractTitle.  Quality of life among older grandparent caregivers: a pilot study. Aim.  This article is a report of a study conducted to compare quality of life and levels of depressive symptoms among older grandparent caregivers and non‐caregivers in Taiwan.Background.  Little is known about grandparenthood in modern Chinese society. In particular, no research has been conducted to explore the consequences among Chinese grandparent caregivers of caring for grandchildren.Methods.  A cross‐sectional comparative pilot study was conducted in 2007 in a city in Taiwan. A convenience sample of 45 grandparent caregivers and 48 grandparent non‐caregivers was interviewed using a questionnaire including Taiwanese versions of the Short Form‐36 Health Survey and Geriatric Depression Scale.Results.  No statistically significant differences in measures of quality of life or depression were found between the caregiver and non‐caregiver groups. Physical health was poorer than mental health in both caregiver and non‐caregiver groups. Among caregivers, 55·6% reported psychological distress, even though 86·7% had support from family members.Conclusion.  Nurses in community settings should be aware of the physical burdens on older grandparent caregivers and offer advice to protect their health. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to generate more complete results on the consequences of caregiving by grandparents. The buffering role of family support on caregiving stress should also be further studied using validated measurement tools.
Community matrons: primary care professionals’ views and experiences
Authors: Chapman Linda , Smith Anne , Williams Veronika , Oliver David 
Published: April 2009

AbstractTitle.  Community matrons: primary care professionals’ views and experiences. Aim.  This article is a report of a study exploring how the role of the community matron is progressing and any barriers or facilitators to performing the role.Background.  Long‐term conditions are distressing for patients and costly for healthcare services. Government policy in western countries has increasingly focussed on more integrated and pro‐active management of patients with multiple long‐term conditions to maintain the ability of the aging population to function independently. The role of community matrons has been introduced in England in an attempt to address these issues.Method.  A purposive sample of 31 health and social care professionals participated in five focus group discussions. Reported experiences of the community matron role by community matrons, district nurses, social workers and general practitioners were analysed according to the principles of grounded theory. Data were collected in 2007.Findings.  The community matron role was seen as effective in meeting the medical and social needs of patients. This was achieved through patient education, developing patients’ self‐management of their health conditions and monitoring their social needs. Potential barriers to success of the role were associated with lack of role definition prior to its introduction.Conclusion.  It is unclear whether the role is financially viable in its current form. Further research is required to examine differing models for implementing the role and judging its effectiveness in bridging the primary‐secondary care interface.
Fine‐scale foraging behaviour of a medium‐ranging marine predator
Authors: Hamer K. C. , Humphreys E. M. , Magalhães M. C. , Garthe S. , Hennicke J. , Peters G. , Grémillet D. , Skov H. , Wanless S. 
Published: April 2009

Summary

Movement patterns of predators should allow them to detect and respond to prey patches at different spatial scales, particularly through the adoption of area‐restricted search (ARS) behaviour. Here we use fine‐scale movement and activity data combined with first‐passage time (FPT) analysis to examine the foraging strategy of northern gannets Morus bassanus in the western North Sea, and to test the following hypotheses: (i) birds adopt a hierarchical foraging strategy characterized by nested ARS behaviour; (ii) the locations and characteristics of ARS zones are strongly influenced by physical oceanography; (iii) the initiation of ARS behaviour is triggered by the detection and pursuit of prey; (iv) ARS behaviour is strongly linked to increased foraging effort, particularly within nested ARS areas.
Birds on 13 of 15 foraging trips adopted ARS behaviour at a scale of 9·1 ± 1·9 km, and birds on 10 of these 13 trips adopted a second, nested ARS scale of 1·5 ± 0·8 km, supporting hypothesis 1 above. ARS zones were located 117 ± 55 km from the colony and over half were within 5 km of a tidal mixing front ~50 km offshore, supporting hypothesis 2 above.
The initiation of ARS behaviour was usually followed after only a short time interval (typically ~5 min) by the commencement of diving. Gannets do not dive until after they have located prey, and so this pattern strongly suggests that ARS behaviour was triggered by prey detection, supporting hypothesis 3 above. However, ~33% of dives in mixed coastal water and 16% of dives in stratified water were not associated with any detectable ARS behaviour. Hence, while ARS behaviour resulted from the detection and pursuit of prey, encounters with prey species did not inevitably induce ARS behaviour.
Following the initiation of ARS behaviour, dive rates were almost four times higher within ARS zones than elsewhere and almost three times higher in zones with nested ARS behaviour than in those without, supporting hypothesis 4 above and suggesting that the foraging success of birds was linked to their ability to match the hierarchical distribution of prey.
Applying ecology for cave management in China and neighbouring countries
Authors: Whitten Tony 
Published: April 2009

Summary

Caves are arguably the hottest of the biodiversity hotspots as measured by endemism and threat, yet they receive very little attention or appropriate management. Some recent investigations in China have found that up to 90% of the animals collected in caves are new to science, yet environmental assessments for development projects in karst areas rarely if ever give attention to the cave fauna.
The lack of light, and the cave‐specific conditions of humidity, air flow and source of energy have resulted in extreme adaptations among the animals living within them.
There is no government agency or non‐governmental organization (NGO) on conservation concerned with caves in China or many other countries, and although there are caving expeditions, they concentrate on exploration rather than the cave fauna.
Disturbance by limestone quarrying, visitors, tourism infrastructure, and changes in water flow through, or from above, the cave can have devastating effects on the highly adapted and range‐restricted fauna.
Some examples of World Bank‐financed development projects which have led to cave conservation are given.
Synthesis and applications. The cave biodiversity of China and neighbouring countries is worthy of conservation and there is a huge number of nationally endemic species, most of which are unknown. Destruction or damage to caves can cause entire communities of cave species to become extinct. To address this problem, the disparate, taxon‐limited specialists interested in cave fauna need to reach out to the cave exploration community, the major conservation NGOs, and the state and local conservation agencies. Those charged with the task of conserving biodiversity should give thought to how the current national protected area systems and processes manage – and fail – to address the needs of the cave fauna, and look for the means to effect the necessary changes in management, based on the peculiar ecology of caves.
Galliformes – barometers of the state of applied ecology and wildlife conservation in China
Authors: McGowan Philip J. K. , Zhang Yan‐Yun , Zhang Zheng‐Wang 
Published: April 2009

Summary

Human population pressure is placing huge demands on China's environment. In recent years, the Chinese government has established a suite of programmes designed to meet these challenges and one such programme is the Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserves Development Programme launched in 2001. This is intended to safeguard the future of some of the country's highest profile and most threatened species.
The avian Order Galliformes (pheasants and their relatives) are one such high‐profile group and 38 of the 63 species that occur in China are listed as nationally protected. This is the most studied group of birds in the country and some of this research has contributed directly to informing conservation management and policy at all administrative levels.
There are examples of communication and collaboration between researchers in China and those from other countries since the late 1970s. However, there is now a pressing need for increased and more structured collaboration to take advantage of current opportunities to strengthen applied ecology in China and thus provide greater scientific input to environmental policy and decision‐making.
Synthesis and applications. China is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and faces substantial environmental challenges because of human population pressure. Applied ecological research is increasingly informing policy and decision‐making at all administrative levels. Strengthening China's applied ecology base therefore offers unprecedented opportunities. International collaborative research programmes have substantial potential to develop high quality research and train talented young Chinese researchers, both of which will substantially enhance the quality of science informing China's biodiversity conservation policy.
Price of prosperity: economic development and biological conservation in China ()
Authors: He Fangliang 
Published: April 2009

Summary

In the past three decades China has experienced fundamental changes to its economy, which have transformed it from one of the poorest countries in the world to the third largest economic body. This gain in wealth has, however, been achieved at severe cost to the environment.
I review the current state of environmental protection and examine the effectiveness of the existing nature reserves for biological conservation in China.
Synthesis and applications. Proactive approaches to environmental management – including significant investment in science and technology, science‐informed land‐use policy making and international collaboration – are necessary for China to significantly slow down or reverse its current environmental problems.
Tourism in protected areas can threaten wild populations: from individual response to population viability of the chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
Authors: Kerbiriou Christian , Le Viol Isabelle , Robert Alexandre , Porcher Emmanuelle , Gourmelon Françoise , Julliard Romain 
Published: April 2009

Summary

Many protected areas are now faced with increasing pressure from visitors and tourism development. There is thus an urgent need for conservation biologists to evaluate the full impact of human disturbance not only on individual responses, but also on the viability of protected populations, so that relevant management measures can be proposed.
We studied the impact of tourism on the rare and endangered chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax on a protected French island to assess the relationship between visitor pressure, bird individual behaviour and fitness, and population viability. During 8 years, we monitored foraging behaviour and estimated monthly juvenile survival using mark–recapture data. Population viability was examined under different tourism scenarios, using a stochastic individual‐based model that incorporated the impact of visitor numbers on juvenile survival.
In summer, the foraging probability of choughs was negatively correlated with the number of visitors. As a result, the time allocated to foraging during peak tourist season, adjusted to day length and prey availability, was 50% lower than expected.
Juvenile survival rates were lowest in August, the peak tourist season, and varied significantly across years. August survival rate and therefore annual survival were negatively correlated with the number of visitors on the island in August and, except for a minor negative effect of rainfall, were not influenced by other environmental variables.
Stochastic simulations predicted a low probability of extinction of the protected population if the number of visitors remains constant in the future. However, short‐term viability would be dramatically reduced if the current rate of increase in visitor numbers is maintained.
Synthesis and applications. We show that a relatively minor human‐induced disturbance (e.g. scaring individuals away) has dramatic effects on population viability in a protected area, even when breeding individuals are not directly affected. This suggests that the full impact of tourism in protected areas may be overlooked, and has direct consequences for the assessment of sustainable levels of human disturbance and the design of quantitative management options compatible with tourist activities in protected areas. We specifically emphasize the need for more integrative approaches combining research at individual and population levels.
Guidelines for restoring connectivity around water mills: a population genetic approach to the management of riverine fish
Authors: Raeymaekers Joost A. M. , Raeymaekers Dries , Koizumi Itsuro , Geldof Sarah , Volckaert Filip A. M. 
Published: April 2009

Summary

While freshwater systems provide important goods and services for society, they are threatened by human activity. Fragmentation is one of the most serious ecological concerns in the riverine environment.
Historical and cultural values may conflict with nature restoration. Here we use the Zwalm sub‐basin (Scheldt basin, Belgium) as a case study for reconciling the restoration of the native fish fauna with the preservation of historical water mills (320–1000 years old).
We assessed the genetic structure of a barrier‐sensitive species, the three‐spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, to estimate the impact of fragmentation on a local to catchment scale. We show how population genetic approaches may be used to generate guidelines for restoration and management, and advance the science of river restoration.
Dispersal was lower in above‐ than in below‐mill populations, and water mills provoked an average loss of almost 4% of the genetic variation. This loss accumulated to 40% over the entire system (~23 km, 13 barriers). The impact of individual mills strongly increased with upstream distance and water mill height. One mill provoked significant genetic differentiation, despite the presence of a fish passage.
This detailed picture of the genetic connectivity in stickleback is indicative for the basin's depauperate fauna. Many species share the same migratory pathways and barriers to dispersal. The physical properties of the water mills are likely to have similar effects on species with a similar genetic structure to stickleback.
Synthesis and applications. Population genetic studies may be particularly useful during the planning of river restoration and associated ecological studies. In the case of the Zwalm sub‐basin, we propose a number of management actions, such as building new fish passages and translocating individuals to above‐mill populations. These will counter the negative impact of the water mills on the genetic variation in aquatic fauna, whilst retaining their cultural–economical value and limiting the restoration costs. Simulations suggest that reassessment of stickleback genetic structure after a decade should reveal whether or not restoration actions have been effective.
Grazers on the plains: challenges and prospects for large herbivores in Central Asia
Authors: Mallon David P. , Zhigang Jiang 
Published: April 2009

Summary

Twelve species of large herbivores dwell on the steppes of Central Asia and the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau. Three of these species once occurred in vast herds in the three major rangeland ecosystems of the region. Populations of all species are now diminished, some reduced to a point close to extinction, mainly due to overharvesting and habitat loss.
The rate and effectiveness of hunting increased steadily throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Major social and economic changes that occurred across the region during the last 20 years have further accelerated the declining trend.
Synthesis and applications. Conservation of these species over the long‐term presents a challenge, especially across the spatial scale required for the migratory and nomadic species. Immediate efforts are urgently needed while substantial numbers remain and extensive tracts of habitat are still intact.
YgdE is the 2′‐O‐ribose methyltransferase RlmM specific for nucleotide C2498 in bacterial 23S rRNA
Authors: Purta Elzbieta , O'Connor Michelle , Bujnicki Janusz M. , Douthwaite Stephen 
Published: April 2009

SummaryThe rRNAs of Escherichia coli contain four 2′‐O‐methylated nucleotides. Similar to other bacterial species and in contrast with Archaea and Eukaryota, the E. coli rRNA modifications are catalysed by specific methyltransferases that find their nucleotide targets without being guided by small complementary RNAs. We show here that the ygdE gene encodes the methyltransferase that catalyses 2′‐O‐methylation at nucleotide C2498 in the peptidyl transferase loop of E. coli 23S rRNA. Analyses of rRNAs using MALDI mass spectrometry showed that inactivation of the ygdE gene leads to loss of methylation at nucleotide C2498. The loss of ygdE function causes a slight reduction in bacterial fitness. Methylation at C2498 was restored by complementing the knock‐out strain with a recombinant copy of ygdE. The recombinant YgdE methyltransferase modifies C2498 in naked 23S rRNA, but not in assembled 50S subunits or ribosomes. Nucleotide C2498 is situated within a highly conserved and heavily modified rRNA sequence, and YgdE's activity is influenced by other modification enzymes that target this region. Phylogenetically, YgdE is placed in the cluster of orthologous groups COG2933 together with S‐adenosylmethionine‐dependent, Rossmann‐fold methyltransferases such as the archaeal and eukaryotic RNA‐guided fibrillarins. The ygdE gene has been redesignated rlmM for rRNA large subunit methyltransferase M.
Perturbation of phosphatidylethanolamine synthesis affects mitochondrial morphology and cell‐cycle progression in procyclic‐form Trypanosoma brucei
Authors: Signorell Aita , Gluenz Eva , Rettig Jochen , Schneider André , Shaw Michael K. , Gull Keith , Bütikofer Peter 
Published: April 2009

SummaryPhosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) are the two major constituents of eukaryotic cell membranes. In the protist Trypanosoma brucei, PE and PC are synthesized exclusively via the Kennedy pathway. To determine which organelles or processes are most sensitive to a disruption of normal phospholipid levels, the cellular consequences of a decrease in the levels of PE or PC, respectively, were studied following RNAi knock‐down of four enzymes of the Kennedy pathway. RNAi against ethanolamine‐phosphate cytidylyltransferase (ET) disrupted mitochondrial morphology and ultrastructure. Electron microscopy revealed alterations of inner mitochondrial membrane morphology, defined by a loss of disk‐like cristae. Despite the structural changes in the mitochondrion, the cells maintained oxidative phosphorylation. Our results indicate that the inner membrane morphology of T. brucei procyclic forms is highly sensitive to a decrease of PE levels, as a change in the ultrastructure of the mitochondrion is the earliest phenotype observed after RNAi knock‐down of ET. Interference with phospholipid synthesis also impaired normal cell‐cycle progression. ET RNAi led to an accumulation of multinucleate cells. In contrast, RNAi against choline‐/ethanolamine phosphotransferase, which affected PC as well as PE levels, caused a cell division phenotype characterized by non‐division of the nucleus and production of zoids.