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Results for “Environmental behavior”

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PubMed1997

Environmental and behavioral circumstances associated with falls at home among healthy elderly individuals. Atlanta FICSIT Group.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct an in-depth examination of the environmental and behavioral circumstances associated with falls and near-falls experienced by elderly individuals and to evaluate the usefulness of reenactment as a method for studying falls. DESIGN: Observational and self-report data of incidents were obtained through a reenactment procedure. Environmental characteristics were documented with physical measurements, visual inspection, and photography. SETTING: Incidents occurred inside participants' homes, and reenactments were conducted at incident sites. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects were 15 community-dwelling, relatively healthy individuals, age 70 to 81 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidents were analyzed to determine patterns of interaction of individuals' personal characteristics, environmental use behaviors, and environmental characteristics. RESULTS: Seven patterns were identified: collisions in the dark, failing to avoid temporary hazards, preoccupation with temporary conditions, frictional variations between shoes and floor coverings, excessive environmental demands, habitual environmental use, and inappropriate environmental use. CONCLUSIONS: There is a dynamic interaction between environmental conditions and behavior involving use of the environment and its implications for falls in older people. Although some incidents involved familiar environmental and behavioral risk factors, less familiar factors also were critical contributors to the incidents. Successful elimination of these factors is likely to be closely related to an individual's perception that an environmental or environmental use problem is correctable, motivation to undertake changes in the environment, and a desire to integrate changes into daily activities.

Accidental Falls↗

PubMed1998

The effect of day of emergence from the insect cadaver on the behavior and environmental tolerances of infective juveniles of the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis megidis (strain UK211).

Infective juveniles (IJs) of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are obligate parasites of insect larvae. Inside the host they develop into sexually mature adult stages and complete their life cycle. Two or 3 adult nematode generations can occur in the insect host. The increase in nematode population density in the insect cadaver, together with limiting nutrient conditions, result in the formation of IJs. These IJs emerge into the soil to search for a new host. It typically takes 7-8 days for all IJs to emerge from a parasitized insect. We have investigated the effect of the day of emergence of IJs from insect cadavers on the environmental tolerance and behavior of the EPN Heterorhabditis megidis strain UK211. The IJs that emerge early display good initial host-finding ability and increased temperature tolerance but disperse poorly and have poor tolerance to desiccation. Conversely, the IJs that emerge later display poor initial host-finding ability and poor temperature tolerance but they disperse well and possess increased desiccation tolerance. These phenotypic differences are likely to facilitate early-emerging IJs in locating and infecting hosts in the vicinity of the cadaver, whereas IJs that emerge late are adapted to disperse away from their natal cadaver. We hypothesize that adaptive phenotypic plasticity rather than allelic variability may provide the genetic basis for the different physiological and behavioral phenotypes of the early- and late-emerging IJs.

Animals↗

PubMed1976

Studies in the behavioral toxicology of environmental contaminants.

Behavioral toxicology represents a relatively new research area in the West, and a new source of information pertinent to standard setting. Despite this abbreviated history, however, it can call on a rather advanced technology, largely provided by the rapid and extensive development of behavioral pharmacology during the past two decades. As exemplified by the U.S. contribution to the joint study of carbon disulfide, the approach derived from this background relies on the acquisition of dose--effect data with a preparation yielding stable baseline performance. The first study in this collaborative series employed pigeons trained to peck a response device consisting of a transilluminnated plastic disk. Various relationships between this response and the occasions on which it led to the delivery of food were explored in order to ascertain which behavioral variables were most sensitive to acute exposures. In addition, a central nervous system drug, whose neurochemical mode of action is believed to parallel that of carbon disulfide, was tested in the same preparations. Further research on these questions is being continued with monkeys.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Thyroid hormone and estrogen interact to regulate behavior.

Environmental perturbations that increase plasma thyroid hormone (T3) concentrations also profoundly affect female reproductive behavior and physiology. We explored whether these effects were mediated by interactions between T3 receptor (TR) and estrogen receptor (ER). This hypothesis was of interest because the half-site of a consensus T3 response element DNA sequence is identical to an ER response element (ERE), and TRs bind to a consensus ERE. Molecular data presented in the accompanying paper [Zhu, Y.-S., Yen, P.M., Chin, W.W.& Pfaff, D.W. (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 12587-12592] demonstrate that TRs and ERs are both present in rat hypothalamic nuclear extracts and that both can bind to the promoter the hypothalamic gene preproenkephalin and that interations between liganded TRs and ERs affect preproenkephalin transcription. In this paper, we show that molecular interactions between TRs and ERs are sufficient to mediate environmental effects on estrogen-controlled reproductive behavior. Ovariectomized (OVX) rats treated with high doses of T3 showed significantly lower levels of lordosis behavior in response to estradiol benzoate (EB) compared with OVX females treated with EB alone. Conversely, thyroidectomized/OVX females treated with EB showed significantly greater levels of lordosis behavior compared with OVX females treated with EB, showing the effect of endogenous T3. Thyroid hormone interference with EB-induced behavior could not be explained by a reduction in plasma E2 concentrations or by a general reduction in responsiveness of EB-sensitive tissues. Moreover, numbers of hypothalamic ER-immunoreactive cells increased dramatically following T3 treatment. These data suggest that T3 may reduce EB-dependent sexual behavior through interactions between TR and ER in the nuclei of behaviorally relevant hypothalamic neurons, envisioning for the first time a functional consequence of interactions between two nuclear hormone receptors in brain. These results also open up the possibility of molecular interactions on DNA encoding environmental signals, a new field for the study of neuronal integration.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Environmental and behavioral strategies to prevent and manage neonatal pain.

This article provides an overview of environmental and behavioral methods for pain management in newborn infants. Specific interventions in the areas of containing, positioning, nonpainful sensory stimuli, non-nutritive sucking, sucrose, and procedural technique are discussed. The conceptual framework and research evidence for the efficacy of these methods are examined. Opportunities for further research to evaluate the comparative efficacy of environmental and behavioral pain interventions are emphasized.

Analgesia↗

PubMed1999

Personal and family predictors of children's medically attended injuries that occurred in the home.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the independent contributions of demographic, behavioral, and environmental antecedents of pediatric medically attended injuries that occurred in the home. SETTING: Two household and thirty six American children aged 4-12 in 1988 were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. METHOD: Multiple logistic regression was used to examine whether having a medically attended injury that occurred in the home in 1990 was related to environmental, behavioral, and demographic indicators measured in 1988. To account for individual differences in access to care, results were stratified within samples of children that had, and had not, demonstrated a prior ability to access the medical care system for injury treatment. RESULTS: Among children who did not access the medical care system for injury treatment in 1988, measures of home environmental risk factors did not distinguish those injured at home from those not injured at home in 1990. However, among children who did access the medical care system for injury treatment in 1988, indicators of "dark" (relative risk 4.68, p = 0.019) and "cluttered" (relative risk 4.31, p = 0.038) home environments became significantly and independently associated with home injuries in 1990. CONCLUSION: If not accounted for in data collection or analyses, individual differences in non-financial barriers to medical care may read to an underestimation of the influences of important home environmental risk factors for medically attended injuries.

Accidents, Home↗

PubMed1994

A carbamate insecticide: a case study of aldicarb.

Aldicarb, the active ingredient in the insecticide TEMIK, was introduced to the agricultural community over 25 years ago. It has been registered worldwide to control a wide variety of insect, mite, and nematode pests in agriculture. The toxicological research database supporting the registration and use of aldicarb was generated over more than 25 years and contains more than 280 animal studies on 12 species of animals, 2 clinical human trials, and over 20 human monitoring studies. This database, which includes biochemical aspects (metabolism and mode-of-action studies), acute toxicity and special short-term toxicity studies, long-term toxicity studies, and epidemiological observations in humans, serves as the starting point for the evaluation of the risks associated with the acceptance of levels of aldicarb residues in food and drinking water and for the more direct occupational exposure. This article highlights the available toxicological data and reviews worldwide regulation of aldicarb. Included in these discussions is a brief description of the toxicological end point upon which regulatory decisions have been based, namely acetylcholinesterase depression. Aldicarb, the N-methylcarbamic acid ester of 2-methyl-2-(methylthio) propionaldehyde oxime, was the first of a limited group of insecticidal oxime N-methylcarbamates that have properties distinct from N-methylcarbamates which have a phenolic constituent, instead of the oxime moiety. Aldicarb is highly water-soluble (approximately 6000 ppm), nonvolatile, relatively stable under acidic conditions, and is easily degraded under alkaline conditions. These properties are important determinants of its systemic action in plants and of its problematic environmental behavior. Possible environmental hazards involving the chemical include groundwater contamination and (more recently) excessive terminal residues in certain foods.

Aldicarb↗

PubMed2005

Clinical, physiologic, and biologic impact of environmental and behavioral interventions in neonates during a routine nursing procedure.

UNLABELLED: The aim of this randomized crossover study was to evaluate the impact of environmental and behavioral interventions (EBI) on behavioral, physiologic, and biologic stress response during a weighing procedure in neonates. Three groups of 15 neonates included (A) gestational age (GA), < or =32 weeks; (B) GA, 32 weeks, 1 day to 36 weeks, 6 days; and (C) GA, > or =37 weeks. Each neonate experienced 2 weighing procedures with and without EBI. Pain was evaluated by using the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) and the Neonatal Pain and Discomfort Scale (EDIN). Heart rate and oxygen saturation were recorded. Salivary samples were obtained for cortisol assay. Cerebral tissue oxygenation index (TOI) was recorded with near-infrared spectroscopy. A significant decrease of NIPS and EDIN was observed with EBI versus control. Mean heart rate was lower with EBI. No difference in cortisol level changes was observed. For groups A and B, a trend of increased TOI was observed with EBI. We concluded that EBI during a nursing procedure provides a decrease in pain scores in preterm and term neonates with changes in heart rate. PERSPECTIVE: This study evaluates the impact of combined environmental and behavioral interventions on pain responses in neonates during a weighing procedure. The results indicate a decrease in behavioral pain scores and in heart rate for preterm and term neonates and a trend in increased brain oxygenation depending on gestational age.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1983

Use of environmental challenges in behavioral toxicology.

The term environmental challenges encompasses variables that are either known or suspected to affect a baseline of behavior. Environmental challenges can be used to provide information that is important for characterizing the behavioral effects of prior exposure to a toxicant, as well as for revealing effects of the toxicant that may not otherwise be apparent in the baseline under investigation. The use of environmental challenges can be applied in studies of all known classes of behavior, and in each case is limited only to the extent that appropriate variables can be identified and manipulated. Use of environmental challenges may be particularly relevant for studies of schedule-controlled operant behavior because many of the controlling variables have already been well specified. The rationale for using environmental challenges to characterize the behavioral effects of toxicants is very similar to that for using pharmacological challenges; both represent promising new research strategies in behavioral toxicology.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Mini mental state examination: influence of sociodemographic, environmental and behavioral factors and vascular risk factors.

Age and education have been found to affect the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of elderly normals, but there have been no studies assessing the influence of environmental and behavioral factors on this test. We therefore administered the MMSE to 1437 normal elderly subjects in the setting of a stroke prevention study and correlated their results to 16 sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors, and vascular risk factors. Study statistics composed of a multiple logistic regression analysis and graphical models revealed the relations between variables in greater detail. Logistic regression yielded education level, occupational status, living as a single, general life stress, physical strain, and physical inactivity to be independent predictors of the MMSE score. Age was not included in this model. Graphical models demonstrated similar results, but did not include living as a single and physical inactivity. As shown in our independence graph, general life stress is the crucial predictor and links other environmental and sociodemographic variables with the test performance of elderly normals.

Aged↗

PubMed1997

The impact of sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors, and cerebrovascular risk factors as potential predictors of the mattis dementia rating scale.

BACKGROUND: Age and education have been found to affect the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) score of elderly normals, but there have been no studies assessing the influence of environmental and behavioral factors on this scale. Their role as potential predictors of the MDRS total score was investigated. METHODS: The MDRS was administered to 1,927 normal elderly subjects in the setting of a stroke prevention study. Results were correlated with 16 sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors, and cerebrovascular risk factors. Study statistics resulted from multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Results indicated that higher age and arterial hypertension were associated with poorer cognitive performance, while better education and moderate general life stress exerted a positive effect on the participants' test results. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, besides the well-established factors of age and educational level, moderate general life stress and hypertension were identified as relevant predictors in determining the MDRS test performance of elderly normals.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Observations on the relation of environmental and behavioral factors to the occurrence of otitis media among Indian children.

Studies were conducted to assess the relation of environmental and behaviora factors to occurrence of acute suppurative otitis media (ASOM) among four populations of Indian children in Arizona. Episodes of ASOM were recorded for 1,428 children observed during the first year of life. Data obtained on the households and premises of these children included number of persons in the household, number of sleeping rooms, type of water supply and sewage disposal, type of heating and cooling, availability of electricity, method of infant feeding, distance to a health facility, and mother's education. The rates of ASOM for the four populations ranged from 1.1 to 2.2 attacks per child and differed significantly from each other, with one exception. The differences between populations apparently were not related to any of the factors evaluated. Additional analyses to evaluate the association of each factor with occurrence of ASOM included (a) a comparison of rates among children living in homes having each factor with rates among children living in homes lacking the factor, (b) a comparison of the frequency of each factor in homes of children who had no recorded attacks of ASOM with the frequency in homes of children who had three or more attacks (high-risk children), and (c) an evaluation of the relation between frequency of encounters for ASOM and the environmental factors. Results did not indicate that any environmental or behavioral factor observed was consistently or strongly associated with either the incidence of ASOM or the frequency of attacks. Similarly, no differences were apparent in the frequency of adverse environmental conditions in homes of infants with contrasting rates of ASOM. Rates of ASOM during the first year of life were not associated with either the presence or the absence of adverse environmental conditions.

Arizona↗

PubMed1990

Environmental control of asthma self-management.

We describe a model of asthma self-management based on environmental control of behavior. The model emphasizes aspects of the environment that either prompt or strengthen asthma self-management behavior. In prompting behavior, environmental events function as behavioral cues; in strengthening behavior, they represent reinforcers. We describe concepts related to cueing and reinforcement, and how these operations might be incorporated in individualized self-management programs. Finally, we discuss evidence supporting asthma self-management programs based on environmental control behavior.

Asthma↗

PubMed1998

Behavioral and environmental factors associated with acute exacerbation of asthma.

BACKGROUND: The relapse rate following treatment for acute asthma is high. While previous studies have evaluated the utility of pulmonary function measurements to identify patients likely to relapse, the results are conflicting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate other correctable, risk factors that may be associated with relapse. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred twenty-three patients treated in the emergency department during 1994, including those either admitted or discharged. METHODS: Patient interviews to identify behavioral and environmental risk factors for asthma exacerbation. Telephone contact and medical record review to determine incidence of relapse. RESULTS: Two hundred twenty-three patients were enrolled of whom follow-up data were available for 152 (68%). Twenty-one percent of the patients relapsed within 14 days. Relapse was associated with the lack of an identifiable primary care physician and inability to obtain discharge medications. There was no relationship between relapse and the use of a spacer, hypoallergenic pillow or mattress cover, cigarette smoking, the presence of pets in the home, or weekly carpet cleaning. CONCLUSION: Even following hospitalization for acute asthma, there is a significant relapse rate. Improving patients' access to primary care physicians and to appropriate medications may decrease the relapse rate. Although a significant portion of patients have behavioral and environmental risk factors for asthma exacerbation including cigarette smoking and failure to maintain a hypoallergenic environment, these factors are not associated with short-term relapse.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2002

Bacterial, behavioral and environmental factors associated with early childhood caries.

The goals of this cross-sectional study were to characterize and compare demographic, behavioral, and environmental factors potentially associated with early childhood caries (ECC) and to assess salivary levels of mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli (LB) in underserved, predominantly Hispanic children. One hundred forty-six children aged 3 to 55 months with a range of caries experience were identified and examined. ECC was primarily associated with the presence of MS and lack of access to dental care. Salivary MS levels among young children with ECC were higher than would be expected in a dentally healthy population, but lower than levels reported among older children at high risk for caries. After adjustment for age, children with log10 MS > or = 3.0 or log10 LB > or = 1.5 were about five times as likely (OR=4.9, 95% CI=2.0, 12.0) to have ECC than those with lower bacterial levels. This study demonstrated a significant association between relatively low cariogenic bacterial levels and dental caries in infants and toddlers. Antibiotic use, exposure to lead, and anemia were not significantly associated with the number of decayed and filled surfaces or decayed and filled teeth. ECC correlated significantly with child's age and lack of dental insurance of the children, as well as inversely with both family income and the educational level of the mother of the child.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2003

Environmental release and behavior of brominated flame retardants.

Recently, environmental problems relating to brominated flame retardants (BFRs) have become a matter of greater concern than ever before, because of the recent marked increase in levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) found in human milk in Sweden and North America. The question that arises is whether environmental levels of PBDEs and other BFRs will continue to increase, causing toxic effects to humans. In an attempt to elucidate the current state of the science of BFRs, we review the consumer demand for BFRs (mainly in Japan), the characteristics of waste flame-retarded products, sources of emission, environmental behavior, routes of exposure of humans, temporal trends, and thermal-breakdown products of BFRs. At present, flame-retarded consumer products manufactured 10-20 years ago, when PBDEs were frequently used, are being dumped. The possible major sources of emission of BFRs into the environment are effluent and flue gases from BFR factories and other facilities processing BFRs. With respect to the environmental behavior of BFRs, the lower brominated compounds are, on the whole, predicted to be more volatile, more water soluble, and more bioaccumulative than the higher brominated compounds. The most probable route for exposure of the general human population to PBDEs, especially the lower brominated congeners, is through the diet. The release of BFRs from consumer products treated with these compounds could also lead to human exposure. Temporal trends in PBDE levels in the environment and in humans worldwide seem to vary considerably, depending on the regions or country, with possible reflections of the historic and current use of PBDEs. The environment and the general human population are also exposed to the thermal-breakdown products of PBDEs, such as polybrominated and mixed brominated/chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDDs/DFs and mixed PXDDs/DFs).

Environmental Exposure↗

PubMed2003

Environmental and behavioral factors are associated with the calcium intake of low-income adolescent girls.

Based on social cognitive theory, the purpose of this study was to determine whether selected environmental and behavioral factors were associated with the calcium intake of low-income adolescent girls. Teachers in three public middle schools administered a written survey resulting in data from 105 girls (the majority were Asian American). Calcium intake was lower than recommended and was associated with eating breakfast, number of children in the household, availability of some high-calcium foods, and seeing important others drink milk or being encouraged to drink milk. Educational interventions should be targeted to parents in relation to making affordable sources of calcium available and modeling adequate intake to adolescents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Replication and extended analysis of behavior state, environmental events, and related variables among individuals with profound disabilities.

Knowledge from previous studies pertaining to state behavior of individuals with profound and multiple disabilities and its relation to other environmental and physiological variables was replicated and extended. Behavior state and environmental data were collected over a 5-hour period for most of 66 students with profound disabilities from 21 educational settings. Results showed general consistency in state patterns and profile groupings with previous investigations, a strong relation between different state profiles and measures of development, and consistency of state patterns across CA levels. Transitional probabilities and z scores were used to confirm changes in state behavior of half of the subjects following primarily adult interactions. Results were discussed in relation to theoretical implications and intervention recommendations.

Activities of Daily Living↗