Migration ecology of western gray catbirds.

BACKGROUND: For many songbirds in North America, we lack movement details about the full annual cycle, notably outside the breeding season. Understanding how populations are linked spatially between breeding and overwintering periods (migratory connectivity) is crucial to songbird conservation and management. We assessed migratory connectivity for 2 breeding populations of Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis) west of and within the Rocky Mountains by determining migration routes, stopover sites, and overwintering locations. Additionally, we compared apparent annual survivorship for both populations. METHODS: We deployed 39 archival light-level geolocators and 21 Global Positioning System (GPS) tags on catbirds in the South Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada, and 32 geolocators and 52 GPS tags in the Bitterroot River Valley, Montana, USA. These devices allowed us to determine migration routes, stopover sites, overwintering locations, and migratory connectivity. Migratory connectivity was quantified using Mantel's correlation. We used mark-recapture of colour banded catbirds in both sites to estimate apparent annual survivorship. RESULTS: We retrieved 6 geolocators and 19 GPS tags with usable data. Gray Catbirds from both populations passed through the Rocky Mountains eastward before heading south towards their overwintering locations in northeastern Mexico and Texas. Stopover sites during fall migration occurred primarily in Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Overwintering locations spanned Texas and 5 states in northeastern Mexico. Individual catbirds used up to 4 distinct sites during the overwintering period. Catbirds separated by almost 500 km during the breeding season overlapped during the non-breeding season, suggesting weak migratory connectivity among western populations (Mantel's correlation = 0.013, P-value = 0.41). Catbird apparent annual survivorship estimates were higher in British Columbia (0.61 ± 0.06 females; 0.64 ± 0.05 males) than in Montana (0.34 ± 0.05 females; 0.43 ± 0.04 males), though the main driver of these differences remain unclear. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide high precision geographic details during the breeding, migration, and overwintering phases of the annual cycle for western Gray Catbirds. Notably, we found that western catbirds followed the Central Flyway as opposed to the Pacific Flyway. We document that catbirds used multiple sites over winter, contrary to the popular belief that this phase of the annual cycle is stationary for most songbirds.

Effect of teaching motivational interviewing via communication coaching on clinician and patient satisfaction in primary care and pediatric obesity-focused offices.

OBJECTIVE: Studies indicate needed improvement in clinician communication and patient satisfaction. Motivational interviewing (MI) helps promote patient behavior change and improves satisfaction. In this pilot study, we tested a coaching intervention to teach MI to all clinic staff to improve clinician and patient satisfaction. METHODS: We included four clinics (n=29 staff members). In the intervention clinics (one primary care and one pediatric obesity-focused), we trained all clinic staff in MI through meetings as a group seven times, directly observing clinicians in practice 4-10 times, and providing real-time feedback on MI techniques. In all clinics, we assessed patient satisfaction via anonymous surveys and also assessed clinician burnout and self-rated MI skills. RESULTS: Clinicians in the intervention clinics reported improvements in burnout scores, self-rated MI skills, and perceived cohesion whereas clinicians in the control clinic reported worse scores. Patient satisfaction improved in the intervention clinics more than in the control clinics. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to find some benefit of training an entire clinic staff in MI via a coaching model. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: It might help to train staff in MI to improve clinician satisfaction, team cohesion, perceived skills, and patient satisfaction.

The chronic pain initiative and community care of North Carolina.

The rate of unintentional deaths from opioid poisoning has reached epidemic proportions. One model of successful intervention is Project Lazarus, an integrated-care pilot program in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Community Care of North Carolina, supported by a grant of $1.3 million from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and matching funds of $1.3 million from the North Carolina Office of Rural Health and Community Care, is now expanding the Project Lazarus approach statewide.

Co-location of behavioral health and primary care services: Community Care of North Carolina and the Center of Excellence for Integrated Care.

The North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services works with partners to reduce the impact of behavioral health conditions in communities throughout the state. We review state-funded behavioral health initiatives that provide support to military personnel and their families, with special attention to public services and co-location efforts.

Quantitative ultraviolet measurements on wetted thin-layer chromatography plates using a charge-coupled device camera.

This paper presents the first study of the UV imaging of spots on thin-layer chromatographic plates whilst still wet with solvent. Imaging of spots of benzophenone during and after development was carried out using a charge-coupled device camera. Limits of detection were found to be 5ng on a wetted plate and 3ng for a dry plate and the relationship between peak area and sample loading was found to be linear in the low nanogram range over an order of magnitude for both wet and dry modes with r(2) values>0.99. It was found that UV measurements on wet glass-backed plates suffer from low sensitivity; however, the use of aluminium-backed plates gave increased sensitivity. The apparent absorption coefficient epsilon(app) of 10AUm(2)g(-1) at 254nm is consistent with reflection of the light from the aluminium surface with a double pass through the sorbent layer, and suggests that use of aluminium-backed plates should enable monitoring of separations by UV absorbance during TLC development.

Real-time image acquisition for absorbance detection and quantification in thin-layer chromatography.

This paper presents the first quantitative study of real-time acquisition of images of spots on thin-layer chromatographic plates during development. Procedures are described for imaging using a CCD camera and for image processing, incorporating corrections for fixed pattern effects and compensation for the moving solvent front, to measure the absorbance of the analyte. Imaging of Sudan II was carried out in transmission mode, and peak areas were found to be time-independent. Quantification of the relationship between peak area and sample loading was established over the range 1-50 ng. After averaging 55 images obtained during a single chromatographic run, which attenuates noise contributions from local nonuniformities in the sorbent layer, precision and detection limits were found to be comparable with values obtained in previous work using offline measurements.

Quantitative measurements on wetted thin layer chromatography plates using a charge coupled device camera.

This paper presents the first study of imaging of spots on thin-layer chromatographic plates whilst still wet with solvent. Imaging and quantification of Sudan II after development with dichloromethane was carried out in both reflectance and transmission modes, using a charge coupled device (CCD) camera. The relationship between peak area and sample loading was established at low sample loading, and found to be linear over an order of magnitude for both wet and dry modes with r2-values > 0.99. All data processing was carried out using the Beer-Lambert equation. Curvature at high loadings in the plots of integrated absorbance as a function of sample loading was accounted for using an empirical expression designed for use with the Kubelka-Munk treatment and apparent absorbance of the stationary phase due to scattering. Results are consistent with an effective pathlength significantly longer than the thickness of the sorbent layer. The limit of detection on a dry plate (0.5 ng) was found to be lower than on a wetted plate (2 ng). Precision was found to be 1-4% RSD intra-plate and 8-14% RSD inter-plate. Results are compared with quantification of the same analyte on dried plates.