A benefit-cost comparison of varying scales and methods of coral reef restoration in the Philippines.

The slow rate of recovery in some reefs around the Philippines has prompted the widespread investment in active reef restoration in the country. However, from the point of view of society, these different coral reef restoration investments have not yet been fully compared in a benefit-cost analysis. In this paper, the economic efficiencies of four coral reef investments are compared - at two different scales (local and national) and two different technologies ('coral gardening' and 'mass larval enhancement'). The values are derived from a previous valuation study that used the Choice Modelling method of estimating non-market values of coral reef restoration. The capacity of these values to facilitate comparisons among reef investments is thus assessed in this paper. Based on predictions from reef restoration scientists the Philippines, the mass larval enhancement investments are estimated to produce higher net benefits and benefit-cost ratios compared to those of coral gardening. In terms of scale, higher net social outcomes for the local-scale investments support more localized approaches to coral restoration.

Understanding herders' stocking rate decisions in response to policy initiatives.

Overgrazing is widely accepted to be the main driver of grassland degradation. However, policies designed to reduce overgrazing are poorly understood in terms of their political acceptability and their effectiveness in improving the sustainability of grassland management. This study was conducted to explore herders' preferences across a range of policies aimed at reducing stocking rates and how those policies impact on their stocking rate decisions. Choice Modelling and Contingent Behavior methods were used in a survey distributed to a sample of Inner Mongolian herders. It was found that while increasing the extent of loan payments and subsidies were popular amongst the herder respondents; these policy options are predicted to have no significant effect on stocking rates. In contrast, less preferred policies such as increasing the probability of being caught exceeding stocking rate limits and increasing the financial penalties associated with such breaches would be effective in reducing grazing pressure. Only the policy of increasing pension payments was shown to be both popular amongst respondents and effective in reducing stocking rates. The results from this research provide useful information to policy makers in their consideration of new policy initiatives.

Decreasing unnecessary utilization in acute bronchiolitis care: results from the value in inpatient pediatrics network.

BACKGROUND: Acute viral bronchiolitis is the most common diagnosis resulting in hospital admission in pediatrics. Utilization of non-evidence-based therapies and testing remains common despite a large volume of evidence to guide quality improvement efforts. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to reduce utilization of unnecessary therapies in the inpatient care of bronchiolitis across a diverse network of clinical sites. METHODS: We formed a voluntary quality improvement collaborative of pediatric hospitalists for the purpose of benchmarking the use of bronchodilators, steroids, chest radiography, chest physiotherapy, and viral testing in bronchiolitis using hospital administrative data. We shared resources within the network, including protocols, scores, order sets, and key bibliographies, and established group norms for decreasing utilization. RESULTS: Aggregate data on 11,568 hospitalizations for bronchiolitis from 17 centers was analyzed for this report. The network was organized in 2008. By 2010, we saw a 46% reduction in overall volume of bronchodilators used, a 3.4 dose per patient absolute decrease in utilization (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-5.8). Overall exposure to any dose of bronchodilator decreased by 12 percentage points as well (95% CI 5%-25%). There was also a statistically significant decline in chest physiotherapy usage, but not for steroids, chest radiography, or viral testing. CONCLUSIONS: Benchmarking within a voluntary pediatric hospitalist collaborative facilitated decreased utilization of bronchodilators and chest physiotherapy in bronchiolitis.

Low-molecular-weight heparin use in a case of noncardiogenic multifocal perinatal thromboembolic stroke.

A full-term neonate suffered multifocal cerebral infarctions due to multiple large vessel thrombi. Thrombophilia and cardiovascular assessments were negative, but due to the severity of the lesions and the concern for expansion of the thrombi or future embolic events, treatment with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) was initiated. No complications from treatment were experienced. We present this severe case in order to highlight difficult management decisions for newborns with multifocal perinatal thromboembolic stroke and to stress the need for further practice guidelines and research in this area.

Including risk in stated-preference economic valuations: Experiments on choices for marine recreation.

Stated-preference surveys for the economic valuation of environmental resources typically assume no uncertainty in the hypothetical valuation scenarios. However, the outcomes of environmental policies are uncertain. We explored the effects of including information on probabilities of attribute improvement and provision in choice experiments. Our results suggest that stating explicitly a high probability for the occurrence of the valuation scenario can improve the goodness of fit of choice models and the consistency of choices. As the general public becomes more aware of the uncertainty of environmental outcomes under global change, omitting information on scenario risk may contribute to hypothetical bias and impair the validity of stated-preference valuations.

Detection of autoantibodies to neural cells of the cerebellum in the plasma of subjects with autism spectrum disorders.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of heterogeneous, behaviorally defined disorders characterized by disturbances in social interaction and communication, often with repetitive and stereotyped behavior. Previous studies have described the presence of antibodies to various neural proteins in autistic individuals as well as post-mortem evidence of neuropathology in the cerebellum. We examined plasma from children with ASD, as well as age-matched typically developing controls, for antibodies directed against human cerebellar protein extracts using Western blot analysis. In addition, the presence of cerebellar specific antibodies was assessed by immunohistochemical staining of sections from Macaca fascicularis monkey cerebellum. Western blot analysis revealed that 13/63 (21%) of subjects with ASD possessed antibodies that demonstrated specific reactivity to a cerebellar protein with an apparent molecular weight of approximately 52 kDa compared with only 1/63 (2%) of the typically developing controls (p=0.0010). Intense immunoreactivity, to what was determined morphologically to be the Golgi cell of the cerebellum, was noted for 7/34 (21%) of subjects with ASD, compared with 0/23 of the typically developing controls. Furthermore, there was a strong association between the presence of antibodies reactive to the 52 kDa protein by Western blot with positive immunohistochemical staining of cerebellar Golgi cells in the ASD group (r=0.76; p=0.001) but not controls. These studies suggest that when compared with age-matched typically developing controls, children with ASD exhibit a differential antibody response to specific cells located in the cerebellum and this response may be associated with a protein of approximately 52 kDa.

Autoantibodies in autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental disorders defined behaviorally by abnormalities in social, verbal, and nonverbal communication. The etiologies of ASD are unknown, likely to be the result of a variety of numerous genetic, neurological, environmental, and immunological interactions that lead to a general behavioral phenotype defined as ASD. This review will focus on the various immune system anomalies, in particular, autoantibodies, which have been reported in subjects with ASD. In addition, we will discuss recent studies performed by our group concerning the presence of autoantibodies directed against neural antigens, which are observed in patients with ASD.

A queer anxiety: assimilation politics and cinematic hedonics in Relax . . . It's Just Sex.

This essay explores the commodification of queer identities in independent cinema, offering particular attention to P. J. Castellaneta's 1998 film, Relax . . . It's Just Sex. Like many contemporary queer independent productions, Relax is ensnared in a representational cinematic hedonics, aspiring to sustain a traditional gay and lesbian politics and simultaneously produce pleasure for multiple audiences. While Relax attempts to position itself as a queer film that resists normative conceptions of sexuality, the feature inadvertently appropriates more essentialized understandings of identity closely aligned to liberation rhetoric.

Comparison between preferred and energetically optimal transition speeds in adolescents.

The primary focus of this investigation was to determine whether differences exist between the preferred transition speed (PTS) and the energetically optimal transition speed (EOTS) in a group of adolescents. Ten 11-, ten 13-, and ten 15-year-olds completed four testing sessions. Following 30 min of accommodation to treadmill walking and running (session 1), the PTS between walking and running was identified in session 2. In session 3, subjects walked on a level treadmill at 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, and 110% of respective PTS, while in session 4, children ran on a level treadmill at 90%, 100%, 110%, 120%, and 130% of respective PTS. During the last 2 min of each 5-min walking and running bout, expired gas samples were collected in a meteorological balloon and analyzed to calculate VO2 and the EOTS between walking and running. Data analyses revealed that mean EOTS was significantly higher than mean PTS within each age group. Furthermore, when subjects changed gaits, the aerobic demand needed to run at the PTS was not lower than the VO2 measured while walking at the PTS. A moderately strong positive coefficient (r = 0.71) between leg length and PTS was also observed. Taken together, these data suggest factors other than govern the walk-run transition in adolescent boys and girls.