Mass Media Influence on Changing Healthy Lifestyle of Community People During COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Survey

We aimed to assess mass media influence on changing the healthy lifestyle behavior of people during the early phase of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. Principal component analysis and stepwise multiple regression model showed that knowledge level, media credibility, and media check-in had the most considerable contribution to influencing community people’s healthy lifestyle.

ECMO Retrieval over the Mediterranean Sea: Extending Hospital Arms

The retrieval and transport of patients from peripheral hospitals to high volume extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) centers aims to reduce complications and improve survival. In Sicily (Italy), our institute houses a mobile ECMO team that serves a population of around 10 million people for a vast area in southern Italy and Malta. This observational, descriptive study includes all patients that required veno–venous (V-V) ECMO and transport by a mobile team between October 2009 and May 2020. Linear and multiple logistic regressions were applied to explore the risk factors for mortality in the ICU. Kaplan–Meier estimates were generated to predict the survival in patients transported by helicopter or ambulance, and the two cohorts were compared according to their baseline characteristics. Of 122 patients transported, 89 (73%) survived to ICU discharge (50 (41%) patients were transported by ambulance, and 72 (59%) were transported by helicopter). Independent predictive factors associated with mortality in a stepwise multiple regression model were prone positioning, acute kidney injury, and the number of days spent on mechanical ventilation (MV). Kaplan–Meier estimates for survival favored the helicopter cohort (79%) rather than the ambulance cohort (64%). Patients transported by helicopter had better pre-ECMO profiles, with shorter hospital and ICU stays, a shorter duration of MV use, and higher RESP scores, which indicate better survival probabilities. ECMO transport can be carried out safely over long distances; in rural areas with underdeveloped roads, transportation via helicopter or ambulance can extend the arm of the hospital to remote areas. Early ECMO initiation can be crucial in improving survival outcomes, and when transportation is the limiting factor to starting ECMO support, it should be attempted at the earliest logistical stage possible.

A study on innovativeness and regulating conflicts between the fishers and farmers in the Balua wetland

Wetlands store ground and surface water even when the rainfall is erratic. However, the rising demand for water and land to sustain the ever increasing population has manifested in many kinds of conflicts in wetlands. In the study area, Balua Chaur (wetland) in Bihar state of India, 16 conflicts emerged when the flooded lands offarmers was accessed by the fishers to fish. Such conflicts had further marginalized the already indigent fishers. Factor analysis, to reduce the socioeconomic and psychological variables of the fishers that were associated with innovativeness and further analysis of ANOVA and regression was used. In case of fishers, two major groups of interrelated variables that accounted for 60.6 % of the total variance were identified through this method. Factor 1 accounted for 34.8 % of the total variance that included innovativeness, income, education, mass media exposure, extension contact, livestock ownership, land ownership, mobile use collaborating and competing style of conflict management and named as innovative factors. The ANOVA table and stepwise multiple regression model exhibited that the nuclear family type and livestock have significant impact on the innovativeness of fishers with R2 value 0.255. In this paper, peace and prosperity model based upon the analysis of primary information collected from the fishers, farmers and key informants is proposed to foster innovativeness to enhance the productivity of wetland and resolve conflict to mobilize the resources in efficient and judicial manner.

Trends of ozone total columns and vertical distribution from FTIR observations at eight NDACC stations around the globe

Ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurements of solar absorption spectra can provide ozone total columns with a precision of 2% but also independent partial column amounts in about four vertical layers, one in the troposphere and three in the stratosphere up to about 45km, with a precision of 5–6%. We use eight of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) stations having a long-term time series of FTIR ozone measurements to study the total and vertical ozone trends and variability, namely, Ny-Ålesund (79° N), Thule (77° N), Kiruna (68° N), Harestua (60° N), Jungfraujoch (47° N), Izaña (28° N), Wollongong (34° S) and Lauder (45° S). The length of the FTIR time series varies by station but is typically from about 1995 to present. We applied to the monthly means of the ozone total and four partial columns a stepwise multiple regression model including the following proxies: solar cycle, quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Arctic and Antarctic Oscillation (AO/AAO), tropopause pressure (TP), equivalent latitude (EL), Eliassen–Palm flux (EPF), and volume of polar stratospheric clouds (VPSC). At the Arctic stations, the trends are found mostly negative in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, very mixed in the middle stratosphere, positive in the upper stratosphere due to a large increase in the 1995–2003 period, and non-significant when considering the total columns. The trends for mid-latitude and subtropical stations are all non-significant, except at Lauder in the troposphere and upper stratosphere and at Wollongong for the total columns and the lower and middle stratospheric columns where they are found positive. At Jungfraujoch, the upper stratospheric trend is close to significance (+0.9 ± 1.0% decade−1). Therefore, some signs of the onset of ozone mid-latitude recovery are observed only in the Southern Hemisphere, while a few more years seem to be needed to observe it at the northern mid-latitude station.

Trends of ozone total columns and vertical distribution from FTIR observations at 8 NDACC stations around the globe

Ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurements of solar absorption spectra can provide ozone total columns with a precision of 2%, but also independent partial column amounts in about four vertical layers, one in the troposphere and three in the stratosphere up to about 45 km, with a precision of 5–6%. We use eight of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Compososition Change (NDACC) stations having a long-term time series of FTIR ozone measurements to study the total and vertical ozone trends and variability, namely: Ny-Alesund (79° N), Thule (77° N), Kiruna (68° N), Harestua (60° N), Jungfraujoch (47° N), Izaña (28° N), Wollongong (34° S) and Lauder (45° S). The length of the FTIR time-series varies by station, but is typically from about 1995 to present. We applied to the monthly means of the ozone total and four partial columns a stepwise multiple regression model including the following proxies: solar cycle, Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Arctic and Antarctic Oscillation (AO/AAO), tropopause pressure (TP), equivalent latitude (EL), Eliassen-Palm flux (EPF), and volume of polar stratospheric clouds (VPSC). At the Arctic stations, the trends are found mostly negative in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, very mixed in the middle stratosphere, positive in the upper stratosphere due to a large increase in the 1995–2003 period, and non-significant when considering the total columns. The trends for mid-latitude and subtropical stations are all non-significant, except at Lauder in the troposphere and upper stratosphere, and at Wollongong for the total columns and the lower and middle stratospheric columns; at Jungfraujoch, the upper stratospheric trend is close to significance (+0.9 ± 1.0 % decade−1). Therefore, some signs of the onset of ozone mid-latitude recovery are observed only in the Southern Hemisphere, while a few more years seems to be needed to observe it at the northern mid-latitude station.

Nutritional and socio-economic determinants of cognitive function and educational achievement of Aboriginal schoolchildren in rural Malaysia

A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among Aboriginal schoolchildren aged 7–12 years living in remote areas in Pos Betau, Pahang, Malaysia to investigate the potential determinants influencing the cognitive function and educational achievement of these children. Cognitive function was measured by intelligence quotient (IQ), while examination scores of selected school subjects were used in assessing educational achievement. Blood samples were collected to assess serum Fe status. All children were screened for soil-transmitted helminthes. Demographic and socio-economic data were collected using pre-tested questionnaires. Almost two-thirds (67·6 %) of the subjects had poor IQ and most of them (72·6 %) had insufficient educational achievement. Output of the stepwise multiple regression model showed that poor IQ was significantly associated with low household income which contributed the most to the regression variance (r2 0·059; P = 0·020). Low maternal education was also identified as a significant predictor of low IQ scores (r2 0·042; P = 0·043). With educational achievement, Fe-deficiency anaemia (IDA) was the only variable to show significant association (r2 0·025; P = 0·015). In conclusion, the cognitive function and educational achievement of Aboriginal schoolchildren are poor and influenced by household income, maternal education and IDA. Thus, effective and integrated measures to improve the nutritional and socio-economic status of rural children would have a pronounced positive effect on their education.

Light History, Phosphorus Status, and the Occurrence of Light Stimulation or Inhibition of Phosphate Uptake in Lake Superior Phytoplankton and Bacteria

Phosphate uptake in Lake Superior was stimulated by light on 17 out of 34 occasions, inhibited on 10, and unaffected on 7. In a stepwise multiple regression model the variables explaining most of the variance in the light effect on phosphate uptake were, in decreasing order of importance, the light history as estimated by hours of sunshine in previous 3 d, phosphate turnover time, phytoplankton biovolume, and time of day. Stimulation was most common in spring at inshore stations, while inhibition occurred mainly in spring at offshore stations. We suggest that light-limited but phosphorus-sufficient phytoplankton show the former, but extremely low light adapted populations, the latter response. We discovered an apparent diurnal pattern in the response, with maximal stimulation by light during daylight hours and inhibition predominating at sunrise and sunset.

Biomass predicted by soil-site factors: a case study in north central West Virginia

Soil-site characteristics and the biomass of trees larger than 5 cm dbh (diameter at breast height) were measured in a 50-year-old hardwood forest on a 269-ha watershed on the Allegheny Plateau. A weighted stepwise multiple regression model explained 65% of the variation in biomass. The significant variables were, in order of importance: aspect; iron and copper in the B horizon; lime requirement and calcium in the A horizon; calcium in the B horizon; surface stoniness; A horizon manganese, potassium, and iron.