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PubMed2003

The built environment and mental health.

The built environment has direct and indirect effects on mental health. High-rise housing is inimical to the psychological well-being of women with young children. Poor-quality housing appears to increase psychological distress, but methodological issues make it difficult to draw clear conclusions. Mental health of psychiatric patients has been linked to design elements that affect their ability to regulate social interaction (e.g., furniture configuration, privacy). Alzheimer's patients adjust better to small-scale, homier facilities that also have lower levels of stimulation. They are also better adjusted in buildings that accommodate physical wandering. Residential crowding (number of people per room) and loud exterior noise sources (e.g., airports) elevate psychological distress but do not produce serious mental illness. Malodorous air pollutants heighten negative affect, and some toxins (e.g., lead, solvents) cause behavioral disturbances (e.g., self-regulatory ability, aggression). Insufficient daylight is reliably associated with increased depressive symptoms. Indirectly, the physical environment may influence mental health by altering psychosocial processes with known mental health sequelae. Personal control, socially supportive relationships, and restoration from stress and fatigue are all affected by properties of the built environment. More prospective, longitudinal studies and, where feasible, randomized experiments are needed to examine the potential role of the physical environment in mental health. Even more challenging is the task of developing underlying models of how the built environment can affect mental health. It is also likely that some individuals may be more vulnerable to mental health impacts of the built environment. Because exposure to poor environmental conditions is not randomly distributed and tends to concentrate among the poor and ethnic minorities, we also need to focus more attention on the health implications of multiple environmental risk exposure.

Air Pollution↗

PubMed2005

How RNs view the work environment: results of a national survey of registered nurses.

OBJECTIVE: To determine registered nurses' (RNs') views of the workplace environment. BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have shown relationships between work environment, RN satisfaction and retention, and patient safety and outcomes. In 2002, NurseWeek Publishing and the American Organization of Nurse Executives completed a national survey on the views of RNs on the nursing shortage, workplace environments, and their future career intentions, which revealed areas needing improvement. Results from the follow-up survey conducted in 2004 provide new information on RNs' views of the work environment and a comparison of results to the previous survey. METHODS: A nationally representative random sample of 3500 RNs licensed to practice in the United States was surveyed. RESULTS: In the views of RNs, there have been improvements in a number of aspects of the work environment of nurses. While there are no areas of decline, there are areas in which little or no progress is apparent. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Some strategies designed to improve the work environment have resulted in positive outcomes, but creative solutions must be continuously developed and implemented to build on recent successes. Results of this survey help identify areas for continued improvement efforts.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

The impact of nursing work environments on patient safety outcomes: the mediating role of burnout/engagement.

OBJECTIVE: To test a theoretical model of professional nurse work environments linking conditions for professional nursing practice to burnout and, subsequently, patient safety outcomes. BACKGROUND: The 2004 Institute of Medicine report raised serious concerns about the impact of hospital restructuring on nursing work environments and patient safety outcomes. Few studies have used a theoretical framework to study the nature of the relationships between nursing work environments and patient safety outcomes. METHODS: Hospital-based nurses in Canada (N = 8,597) completed measures of worklife (Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index), burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Scale), and their report of frequency of adverse patient events. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling analysis supported an extension of Leiter and Laschinger's Nursing Worklife Model. Nursing leadership played a fundamental role in the quality of worklife regarding policy involvement, staffing levels, support for a nursing model of care (vs medical), and nurse/physician relationships. Staffing adequacy directly affected emotional exhaustion, and use of a nursing model of care had a direct effect on nurses' personal accomplishment. Both directly affected patient safety outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that patient safety outcomes are related to the quality of the nursing practice work environment and nursing leadership's role in changing the work environment to decrease nurse burnout.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Inositol phosphates in the environment.

The inositol phosphates are a group of organic phosphorus compounds found widely in the natural environment, but that represent the greatest gap in our understanding of the global phosphorus cycle. They exist as inositols in various states of phosphorylation (bound to between one and six phosphate groups) and isomeric forms (e.g. myo, D-chiro, scyllo, neo), although myo-inositol hexakisphosphate is by far the most prevalent form in nature. In terrestrial environments, inositol phosphates are principally derived from plants and accumulate in soils to become the dominant class of organic phosphorus compounds. Inositol phosphates are also present in large amounts in aquatic environments, where they may contribute to eutrophication. Despite the prevalence of inositol phosphates in the environment, their cycling, mobility and bioavailability are poorly understood. This is largely related to analytical difficulties associated with the extraction, separation and detection of inositol phosphates in environmental samples. This review summarizes the current knowledge of inositol phosphates in the environment and the analytical techniques currently available for their detection in environmental samples. Recent advances in technology, such as the development of suitable chromatographic and capillary electrophoresis separation techniques, should help to elucidate some of the more pertinent questions regarding inositol phosphates in the natural environment.

Agriculture↗

PubMed2001

Analyzing variety by environment data using multiplicative mixed models and adjustments for spatial field trend.

The recommendation of new plant varieties for commercial use requires reliable and accurate predictions of the average yield of each variety across a range of target environments and knowledge of important interactions with the environment. This information is obtained from series of plant variety trials, also known as multi-environment trials (MET). Cullis, Gogel, Verbyla, and Thompson (1998) presented a spatial mixed model approach for the analysis of MET data. In this paper we extend the analysis to include multiplicative models for the variety effects in each environment. The multiplicative model corresponds to that used in the multivariate technique of factor analysis. It allows a separate genetic variance for each environment and provides a parsimonious and interpretable model for the genetic covariances between environments. The model can be regarded as a random effects analogue of AMMI (additive main effects and multiplicative interactions). We illustrate the method using a large set of MET data from a South Australian barley breeding program.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1994

A comparison of hospital- and community-based mental health nurses: perceptions of their work environment and psychological health.

This study compares hospital- (n = 67) and community-based (n = 55) mental health nurses in relation to their perceptions of the work environment and also their psychological health. Measures include: the General Health Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Work Environment Scale. The data, obtained from self-returned questionnaires, show that community nurses rated their work environments higher for the dimensions of Involvement, Supervisor Support, Autonomy, Innovation and Work Pressure. Hospital nurses saw their environments as being higher in (managerial) Control. There were no differences between the groups for the dimensions of Peer Cohesion, Task Orientation, Clarity or (physical) Comfort. Furthermore, there were no overall differences between the two groups in relation to psychological health, although the pattern of factors associated with emotional well-being differed. Finally, analyses of the community data revealed that those nurses with 'flexitime' arrangements evaluated their work environments less positively and showed higher levels of psychological strain than did those working 'fixed-time' schedules. The findings suggest that the hospital and community environments make different demands on nursing staff, and that this should be considered when organizing nursing services if stress is to be avoided.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

How is the indoor environment related to asthma?: literature review.

AIMS: This paper reports a review conducted to identify the factors in the indoor environment that have an evidence-based link with the exacerbation or development of asthma and to identify measures that healthcare professionals can promote to reduce exposure to these risk factors in the home. BACKGROUND: The indoor environment, particularly at home, has been recognized as a major source of exposure to allergens and toxic chemicals. Exposure to allergens and toxins is thought to exacerbate respiratory conditions, in particular, asthma. METHODS: Searches were made of health and indoor environment databases, including Cochrane Library, National Health Services Centre for Reviews and Assessment Reports, British Medical Journal, CINAHL and Ovid library, MEDSCAPE/MEDLINE, EMBASE, INGENTA, Science Citation Index, Web of Science. Searches were also made of other Internet-based resources, including those of international and government bodies. The following keywords were used: allergens, allergen avoidance, asthma, asthma prevention, cat, damp, Der p 1, dog, environmental control, house dust mites, indoor air quality, indoor environment, meta analysis, mould, pets, remedial actions, respiratory illnesses and systematic reviews. FINDINGS: There is evidence of a link between asthma and a small number of indoor environmental factors. There is currently only reasonable evidence for one causative factor for asthma in the indoor environment and that is house dust mite allergen. Although there are many studies of different remedial actions that can be taken in the home, often these give evidence of reduced risk of exposure but not clinical improvement in asthma. Although there is a lack of medical evidence for the reduction of known sensitizers such as mould, this is because of a dearth of research rather than evidence of no association. CONCLUSIONS: There is some evidence of a link between the indoor environment and asthma. There are measures, which could be promoted by healthcare professionals to alleviate asthmatic symptoms.

Air Pollution, Indoor↗

PubMed2006

Distribution of mycobacteria in clinically healthy ornamental fish and their aquarium environment.

Some mycobacterial species (particularly Mycobacterium marinum) found in aquarium environments may cause chronic diseases in fish and cutaneous infections in humans, the so-called 'fish tank granuloma'. The presence and distribution of mycobacterial species in clinically healthy aquarium fish and their environment has not been adequately explored. The present study analysed the occurrence of mycobacteria in a decorative aquarium (Brno, South Moravia) and in five aquaria of a professional fish breeder (Bohumin, North Moravia). After Ziehl-Neelsen staining, acid-fast rods (AFR) were observed in six (14.3%) and mycobacteria were detected by culture in 18 (42.9%) of 42 tissue samples from 19 fish. Sixty-five samples of the aqueous environment from all six aquaria were examined; AFR were found in 16 (24.6%) and mycobacteria were detected by culture in 49 (75.4%) samples. Forty-one (70.7%) of 58 selected mycobacterial isolates were identified biochemically as follows: M. fortuitum, M. flavescens, M. chelonae, M. gordonae, M. terrae, M. triviale, M. diernhoferi, M. celatum, M. kansasii and M. intracellulare. The clinically important species for humans and fish, M. marinum, was not detected. Mycobacterium kansasii was isolated from one sample of the aquarium environment from North Moravia, which is a region of the Czech Republic with endemic incidence of M. kansasii in water. The incidence of other conditionally pathogenic mycobacterial species in healthy fish and in all investigated constituents of the aquarium environment including snails and crustaceans used for fish feeding, was quite high. Accordingly, mycobacterial species from aquarium environments may serve as a possible source of infection for both aquarium fish and immunodeficient fish handlers.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Identifying loci under selection across contrasting environments in Avena barbata using quantitative trait locus mapping.

We constructed recombinant inbred lines of a cross between naturally occurring ecotypes of Avena barbata (Pott ex Link), Poaceae, associated with contrasting moisture environments. These lines were assessed for fitness in common garden reciprocal transplant experiments in two contrasting field sites in each of two years, as well as a novel, benign greenhouse environment. An AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) linkage map of 129 markers spanned 644 cM in 19 linkage groups, which is smaller, with more linkage groups, than expected. Therefore parts of the A. barbata genome remain unmapped, possibly because they lack variation between the ecotypes. Nevertheless, we identified QTL (quantitative trait loci) under selection in both native environments and in the greenhouse. Across years at the same site, the same loci remain under selection, for the same alleles. Across sites, an overlapping set of loci are under selection with either (i) the same alleles favoured at both sites or (ii) loci under selection at one site and neutral at the other. QTL under selection in the greenhouse were generally unlinked to those under selection in the field because selection acted on a different trait. We found little evidence that selection favours alternate alleles in alternate environments, which would be necessary if genotype by environment interaction were to maintain genetic variation in A. barbata. Additive effect QTL were best able to explain the genetic variation among recombinant inbred lines for the greenhouse environment where heritability was highest, and past selection had not eliminated variation.

Chromosome Mapping↗

PubMed1988

Home environment and school performance: a ten-year follow-up and examination of three models of environmental action.

The home environments of 42 10- and 11-year-old children were examined when they were infants and again during middle childhood. Significant correlations were observed between home environments measured at both 2 years and 10 years and the children's SRA achievement test scores and their classroom behavior. However, the home environment at 6 months was only related to a limited number of classroom behaviors. Partial correlations were used to test 3 models of environmental action: Model I (primacy of early experience), Model II (predominance of the contemporary environment), Model III (cumulative effects in stable environments). Strongest relations were noted for the contemporary environment, but all 3 models received some support. Correlations between HOME scores and children's competence in middle childhood revealed a complex portrait that was not explainable with reference to a single model of environmental action. The version of the HOME Inventory used with families of elementary school children is also introduced.

Achievement↗

PubMed2005

Statistical convenience vs biological insight: consequences of data transformation for the analysis of fitness variation in heterogeneous environments.

In plants, more favourable environmental conditions can lead to dramatic increases in both mean fitness and variance in fitness. This results in data that violate the equality-of-variance assumption of anova, a problem that most empiricists would address by log-transforming fitness values. Using heuristic data sets and simple simulations, we show that anova on log-transformed fitness consistently fails to match the outcome of selection in a heterogeneous environment or its sensitivity to environmental frequency. Only anova based on relative fitness within environments accurately predicts the sensitivity of genotype selection to the frequency of alternative environments. Parallel analyses of variance based on absolute fitness and relative fitness can bracket the expected success of alternative genotypes under hard and soft selection, respectively. For example, for Sinapis arvensis growing in full sun and partial shade treatments, families achieving high fitness in the best environment are favoured under hard selection, whereas soft selection favours different families that achieve consistently good performance across environments. Based on these findings, we recommend that log-transformation of fitness should no longer be standard practice in ecological genetics studies. Weighted anova is a preferable method for dealing with unequal variances, and investigators should also make greater use of techniques such as quantile regression or resampling to describe and evaluate fitness variation across heterogeneous environments.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1983

Prolonged exposure to a war environment and its effects on the blood pressure of pregnant women.

The present research examined the effects of living in an area which had been a target of terrorist activities for a long period, as well as the effects of war, on blood pressure of pregnant women. For this purpose, the blood pressures of 5804 Israeli pregnant women, who gave birth between July 1973 and June 1975 and who had lived in either high, medium or low military stress environments were compared. Blood pressures that were measured immediately before delivery were taken from the delivery record of the pregnant women in the hospital. Results showed that the women in the high stress environment displayed significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, both during the relatively calm period and the period of the Yom Kippur War, than women who lived in the low stress environment. Women who lived in the medium stress area were in between these two groups. War increased the blood pressure in all three environments, but the increase in blood pressure from the calm period to the war period was greater in the high and medium stress environments than in the low stress environment. Results further showed that the younger women displayed greater increase in the systolic blood pressure than the older women. This finding was attributed to the fact that the husbands of the younger women serve in the front lines to a greater extent, which probably induces a higher level of anxiety.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Broadband time-reversing array retrofocusing in noisy environments.

Acoustic time reversal is a promising technique for spatial and temporal focusing of sound in unknown environments. Acoustic time reversal can be implemented with an array of transducers that listens to a remote sound source and then transmits a time-reversed version of what was heard. In a noisy environment, the performance of such a time-reversing array (TRA) will be degraded because the array will receive and transmit noise, and the intended signal may be masked by ambient noise at the retrofocus location. This article presents formal results for the signal-to-noise ratio at the intended focus (SNRf) for TRAs that receive and send finite-duration broadband signals in noisy environments. When the noise is homogeneous and uncorrelated, and a broadcast power limitation sets the TRA's electronic amplification, the formal results can be simplified to an algebraic formula that includes the characteristics of the signal, the remote source, the TRA, and the noisy environment. Here, SNRf is found to be proportional to the product of the signal bandwidth and the duration of the signal pulse after propagation through the environment. Using parabolic-equation propagation simulations, the formal results for SNRf are illustrated for a shallow water environment at source-array ranges of 1 to 40 km and bandwidths from several tens of Hz to more than 500 Hz for a signal center frequency of 500 Hz. Shallow-water TRA noise rejection is predicted to be superior to that possible in free space because TRAs successfully exploit multipath-propagation.

Acoustics↗

PubMed2005

Urban built environment and depression: a multilevel analysis.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the relations between characteristics of the neighbourhood internal and external built environment and past six month and lifetime depression. DESIGN AND SETTING: Depression and sociodemographic information were assessed in a cross sectional survey of residents of New York City (NYC). All respondents were geocoded to neighbourhood of residence. Data on the quality of the built environment in 59 NYC neighbourhoods were collected from the United Status census, the New York City housing and vacancy survey, and the fiscal 2002 New York City mayor's management report. MAIN RESULTS: Among 1355 respondents, residence in neighbourhoods characterised by a poor quality built environment was associated with greater individual likelihood of past six month and lifetime depression in multilevel models adjusting for individual age, race/ethnicity, sex, and income and for neighbourhood level income. In adjusted models, persons living in neighbourhoods characterised by poorer features of the built environment were 29%-58% more likely to report past six month depression and 36%-64% more likely to report lifetime depression than respondents living in neighbourhoods characterised by better features of the built environment. CONCLUSIONS: Living in neighbourhoods characterised by a poor quality built environment is associated with a greater likelihood of depression. Future prospective work designed to assess potential mechanisms underlying these associations may guide public health and urban planning efforts aimed at improving population mental health.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

The social environment and health: a discussion of the epidemiologic literature.

The environment can be thought of in terms of physical and social dimensions. The social environment includes the groups to which we belong, the neighborhoods in which we live, the organization of our workplaces, and the policies we create to order our lives. There have been recent reports in the literature that the social environment is associated with disease and mortality risks, independent of individual risk factors. These findings suggest that the social environment influences disease pathways. Yet much remains to be learned about the social environment, including how to understand, define, and measure it. The research that needs to be done could benefit from a long tradition in sociology and sociological research that has examined the urban environment, social areas, social disorganization, and social control. We summarize this sociological literature and discuss its relevance to epidemiologic research.

Epidemiologic Studies↗

PubMed1983

Hypohydration and exercise: effects of heat acclimation, gender, and environment.

This study examined the effects of heat acclimation and subject gender on treadmill exercise in comfortable (20 degrees C, 40% rh), hot-dry (49 degrees C, 20% rh), and hot-wet (35 degrees C, 79% rh) environments while subjects were hypo- or euhydrated. Six male and six female subjects, matched for maximal aerobic power and percent body fat, completed two exercise tests in each environment both before and after a 10-day heat acclimation program. One exercise test was completed during euhydration and one during hypohydration (-5.0% from baseline body weight). In general, no significant (P greater than 0.05) differences were noted between men and women at the completion of exercise for rectal temperature (Tre), mean skin temperature (Tsk), or heat rate (HR) during any of the experimental conditions. Hypohydration generally increased Tre and HR values and decreased sweat rate values while not altering Tsk values. In the hypohydration experiments, heat acclimation significantly reduced Tre (0.19 degrees C) and HR (13 beats X min-1) values in the comfortable environment, but only HR values were reduced in hot-dry (21 beats X min-1) and hot-wet (21 beats X min-1) environments. The present findings indicated that men and women respond in a physiologically similar manner to hypohydration during exercise. They also indicated that for hypohydrated subjects heat acclimation decreased thermoregulatory and cardiovascular strain in a comfortable environment, but only cardiovascular strain decreased in hot environments.

Acclimatization↗

PubMed1995

Head direction cell activity monitored in a novel environment and during a cue conflict situation.

1. Recent conceptualizations of the neural systems used during navigation have classified two types of sensory information used by animals: landmark cues and internally based (idiothetic; e.g., vestibular, kinesthetic) sensory cues. Previous studies have identified neurons in the postsubiculum and the anterior thalamic nuclei that discharge as a function of the animal's head direction in the horizontal plane. The present study was designed to determine how animals use head direction (HD) cells for spatial orientation and the types of sensory cues involved. 2. HD cell activity was monitored in the postsubiculum and anterior thalamic nucleus of rats in a dual-chamber apparatus in an experiment that consisted of two phases. In the first phase, HD cell activity was monitored as an animal moved from a familiar environment to a novel environment. It was hypothesized that if HD cells were capable of using idiothetic sensory information, then the direction of maximal discharge should remain relatively unchanged as the animal moved into an environment where it was unfamiliar with the landmark cues. In the second phase, HD cells were monitored under conditions in which a conflict situation was introduced between the established landmark cues and the animal's internally generated sensory cues. 3. HD cells were initially recorded in a cylinder containing a single orientation cue (familiar environment). A door was then opened, and the rat entered a U-shaped passageway leading to a rectangular chamber containing a different prominent cue (novel environment). For most HD cells, the preferred direction remained relatively constant between the cylinder and passageway/rectangle, although many cells showed a small (6-30 degrees) shift in their preferred direction in the novel environment. This directional shift was maintained across different episodes in the passageway/rectangle. 4. Before the next session, the orientation cue in the cylinder was rotated 90 degrees, and the animal returned to the cylinder. The cell's preferred direction usually shifted between 45 and 90 degrees in the same direction. 5. The rat was then permitted to walk back through the passageway into the now-familiar rectangle. Immediately upon entering the passageway, the preferred direction returned to its original (prerotation) orientation and remained at this value while the rat was in the rectangle. When the rat was allowed to walk back into the cylinder, one of three outcomes occurred: 1) the cell's preferred direction shifted, such that it remained linked to the cylinder's rotated cue card; 2) the cell's preferred direction remained unchanged from its orientation in the rectangle; or 3) the cell's preferred direction shifted to a new value that lay between the preferred directions for the rotated cylinder condition and rectangle. 6. There was little change in the HD cell's background firing rate, peak firing rate, or directional firing range for both the novel and cue-conflict situations. 7. Simultaneous recordings from multiple cells in different sessions showed that the preferred directions remained "in register" with one another. Thus, when one HD cell shifted its preferred direction a specific amount, the other HD cell also shifted its preferred direction the same amount. 8. Results across different series within the same animal showed that the amount the preferred direction shifted in the first Novel series was about the same amount as the shifts observed in subsequent Novel series. In contrast, as the animal experienced more Conflict series, HD cells tended to use the cylinder's cue card less as an orientation cue when the animal returned to the rotated cylinder condition from the rectangle. 9. These results suggest that HD cells in the postsubiculum and anterior thalamic nuclei receive information from both landmark and idiothetic sensory cues, and when both types of cues are available, HD cells preferentially use the landmark cues as long as they are perceived

Animals↗

PubMed1997

Studies on the influence of enriched-environment housing combined with systemic administration of an alpha2-adrenergic antagonist on spatial learning and hyperactivity after global ischemia in rats.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether an enriched housing environment and/or systemic administration of the alpha2-adrenergic receptor antagonist atipamezole facilitate the rate of spatial learning after global ischemia in rats. METHODS: Carotid arteries were closed for 20 minutes after permanent cauterization of vertebral arteries on the previous day. Enriched-environment housing and drug/saline treatment were begun 3 days after ischemia. For rehabilitation, housing in an enriched environment was combined with exploration in a labyrinth. Behavioral tests (the open-arena test and water-maze learning set task) were performed after 1-week periods of drug/saline treatment three times. In addition, the open-arena test was performed to evaluate the baseline level of animals 2 days after the induction of ischemia and at the end of the experiment, when the water-maze task was assessed in another room. RESULTS: Rats housed in an enriched environment after ischemia showed better acquisition of the water-maze learning set task after 1 week of housing. The influence of atipamezole treatment on this parameter did not reach statistical significance. In the open-arena test, ischemic animals were slightly hyperactive; however, this symptom was eliminated by housing in an enriched environment. CONCLUSIONS: The present data suggest that housing in an enriched environment facilitates the rate of spatial learning in rats with global ischemia. Rehabilitation also alleviated the hyperactivity observed in ischemic animals.

Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Antagonists↗