Building up and sharing knowledge for better decision making on soil and water conservation in a changing mountain environment - the WOCAT experience

For successful implementation of any soil and water conservation (SWC) or sustainable land management practice, it is essential to have a proper understanding of the natural and human environment in which these practices are applied. This understanding should be based on comprehensive information concerning the application of the technologies and not solely on the technological details. The World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) is documenting and evaluating SWC practices worldwide, following a standardised methodology that facilitates exchange and comparison of experiences. Notwithstanding this standardisation, WOCAT allows flexible use of its outputs, adapted to different users and different environments. WOCAT offers a valuable tool for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of SWC practices and their potential for application in other areas. Besides collecting a wealth of information, gaps in available information are also exposed, showing the need for more research in those fields. Several key issues for development- oriented research have been identified and are being addressed in collaboration with a research programme for mitigating syndromes of global change.

The effects of benefit finding on athletes’ quality of adjustment to career termination

Retirement from elite sports requires athletes to cope with adjustments on an occupational, financial, physical, social or emotional level. Research on critical life events (e.g., Filipp & Aymanns, 2010) suggests that benefit finding, defined as “the process of deriving positive growth from adversity” (Cassidy et al., 2014), may have a positive impact on this transition. The present study examined the effects of benefit finding on the quality of adjustment to career termination in the short, middle and long term. Former Swiss elite athletes (N = 290) completed a written survey collecting information on a) their emotional reaction to career termination, b) the amount of adjustment in various respects, c) situational characteristics of their career termination, d) the duration and quality of the transition, and e) their subjective well-being. Using Latent Variable Modelling, finding benefit in career termination was found to have both a direct and an indirect effect on long-term well-being (γ=.18). It predicts favorable emotional reactions to career termination (γ = .53) and less adjustment (γ = -.38) which in turn shortens the transition duration (β = -.15 and β = .55, respectively) and quality (β = -.15), and finally augments well-being (β = .41). The data suggest that a focus on benefit finding in both crisis-prevention and crisis-coping interventions may prove useful to prevent crisis transitions.

Younger Stroke Patients With Large Pretreatment Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Lesions May Benefit From Endovascular Treatment.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Lesion volume on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) before acute stroke therapy is a predictor of outcome. Therefore, patients with large volumes are often excluded from therapy. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of endovascular treatment in patients with large DWI lesion volumes (>70 mL). METHODS Three hundred seventy-two patients with middle cerebral or internal carotid artery occlusions examined with magnetic resonance imaging before treatment since 2004 were included. Baseline data and 3 months outcome were recorded prospectively. DWI lesion volumes were measured semiautomatically. RESULTS One hundred five patients had lesions >70 mL. Overall, the volume of DWI lesions was an independent predictor of unfavorable outcome, survival, and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (P<0.001 each). In patients with DWI lesions >70 mL, 11 of 31 (35.5%) reached favorable outcome (modified Rankin scale score, 0-2) after thrombolysis in cerebral infarction 2b-3 reperfusion in contrast to 3 of 35 (8.6%) after thrombolysis in cerebral infarction 0-2a reperfusion (P=0.014). Reperfusion success, patient age, and DWI lesion volume were independent predictors of outcome in patients with DWI lesions >70 mL. Thirteen of 66 (19.7%) patients with lesions >70 mL had symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage with a trend for reduced risk with avoidance of thrombolytic agents. CONCLUSIONS There was a growing risk for poor outcome and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage with increasing pretreatment DWI lesion volumes. Nevertheless, favorable outcome was achieved in every third patient with DWI lesions >70 mL after successful endovascular reperfusion, whereas after poor or failed reperfusion, outcome was favorable in only every 12th patient. Therefore, endovascular treatment might be considered in patients with large DWI lesions, especially in younger patients.

Estimating the benefit of a second bone anchored hearing implant in unilaterally implanted users with a testband.

Conclusion Using a second bone anchored hearing implant (BAHI) mounted on a testband in unilaterally implanted BAHI users to test its potential advantage pre-operatively under-estimates the advantage of two BAHIs placed on two implants. Objectives To investigate how well speech understanding with a second BAHI mounted on a testband approaches the benefit of bilaterally implanted BAHIs. Method Prospective study with 16 BAHI users. Eight were implanted unilaterally (group A) and eight were implanted bilaterally (group B). Aided speech understanding was measured. Speech was presented from the front and noise came either from the left, right, or from the front in two conditions for group A (with one BAHI, and with two BAHIs, where the second device was mounted on a testband) and in three conditions for group B (same two conditions as group A, and in addition with both BAHIs mounted on implants). Results Speech understanding in noise improved with the additional device for noise from the side of the first BAHI (+0.7 to +2.1 dB) and decreased for noise from the other side (-1.8 dB to -3.9 dB). Improvements were highest (+2.1 dB, p = 0.016) and disadvantages were smallest (-1.8 dB, p = 0.047) with both BAHIs mounted on implants. Testbands yielded smaller advantages and higher disadvantages of the additional BAHI (average difference = -0.9 dB).

Compensatory saccades benefit from prediction during head impulse testing in early recovery from vestibular deafferentation

The head impulse test (HIT) can identify a deficient vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) by the compensatory saccade (CS) generated once the head stops moving. The inward HIT is considered safer than the outward HIT, yet might have an oculomotor advantage given that the subject would presumably know the direction of head rotation. Here, we compare CS latencies following inward (presumed predictable) and outward (more unpredictable) HITs after acute unilateral vestibular nerve deafferentation. Seven patients received inward and outward HITs delivered at six consecutive postoperative days (POD) and again at POD 30. All head impulses were recorded by portable video-oculography. CS included those occurring during (covert) or after (overt) head rotation. Inward HITs included mean CS latencies (183.48 ms ± 4.47 SE) that were consistently shorter than those generated during outward HITs in the first 6 POD (p = 0.0033). Inward HITs induced more covert saccades compared to outward HITs, acutely. However, by POD 30 there were no longer any differences in latencies or proportions of CS and direction of head rotation. Patients with acute unilateral vestibular loss likely use predictive cues of head direction to elicit early CS to keep the image centered on the fovea. In acute vestibular hypofunction, inwardly applied HITs may risk a preponderance of covert saccades, yet this difference largely disappears within 30 days. Advantages of inwardly applied HITs are discussed and must be balanced against the risk of a false-negative HIT interpretation.

Older patients with low Charlson score and high-risk prostate cancer benefit from radical prostatectomy

INTRODUCTION The aim of the study was to identify the appropriate level of Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) in older patients (>70 years) with high-risk prostate cancer (PCa) to achieve survival benefit following radical prostatectomy (RP). METHODS We retrospectively analyzed 1008 older patients (>70 years) who underwent RP with pelvic lymph node dissection for high-risk prostate cancer (preoperative prostate-specific antigen >20 ng/mL or clinical stage ≥T2c or Gleason ≥8) from 14 tertiary institutions between 1988 and 2014. The study population was further grouped into CCI < 2 and ≥2 for analysis. Survival rate for each group was estimated with Kaplan-Meier method and competitive risk Fine-Gray regression to estimate the best explanatory multivariable model. Area under the curve (AUC) and Akaike information criterion were used to identify ideal 'Cut off' for CCI. RESULTS The clinical and cancer characteristics were similar between the two groups. Comparison of the survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier curve between two groups for non-cancer death and survival estimations for 5 and 10 years shows significant worst outcomes for patients with CCI ≥ 2. In multivariate model to decide the appropriate CCI cut-off point, we found CCI 2 has better AUC and p value in log rank test. CONCLUSION Older patients with fewer comorbidities harboring high-risk PCa appears to benefit from RP. Sicker patients are more likely to die due to non-prostate cancer-related causes and are less likely to benefit from RP.

A Note on US Royalty Relief, Rent Sharing and Offshore Oil Production

This paper offers an economic analysis explaining why royalty relief under US Federal legislation is expensive in terms of revenue foregone, but is largely ineffective in increasing US offshore oil production. Repeal of royalty relief is therefore justified.

OPAC Design Enhancements and Their Effects on Circulation and Resource Sharing within the Library Consortium Environment

A longitudinal study of three discrete online public access catalog (OPAC) design enhancements examined the possible effects such changes may have on circulation and resource sharing within the automated library consortium environment. Statistical comparisons were made of both circulation and interlibrary loan (ILL) figures from the year before enhancement to the year after implementation. Data from sixteen libraries covering a seven-year period were studied in order to determine the degree to which patrons may or may not utilize increasingly broader OPAC ILL options over time. Results indicated that while ILL totals increased significantly after each OPAC enhancement, such gains did not result in significant corresponding changes in total circulation.