Evidence of a structural effect for alcohol outlet density: a multilevel analysis

BACKGROUND: Ecological studies reveal that alcohol-related outcomes tend to occur in high alcohol outlet density neighborhoods. The ecological design of these studies limits the interpretation of the findings in terms of the level of the effect. The effect of alcohol outlet density could be related to greater individual access to alcohol, an individual level effect, or to the grouping of drinkers by neighborhood, a structural effect at the neighborhood level. METHODS: To differentiate between individual and neighborhood level possibilities, we conducted a multilevel study. Individual distance to the closest alcohol outlet was the individual level measure of the effect of alcohol outlet density, whereas the mean distance to the closest alcohol outlet for all individuals within a census tract was the neighborhood level measure for the effect of alcohol outlet density. We analyzed telephone surveys of 2604 telephone households within 24 census tracts stratified by poverty status and alcohol outlet density. Individual distance to alcohol outlets, age, sex, race/ethnicity, and level of education were entered as individual level covariates, and their corresponding aggregated means were entered as census tract level covariates (i.e., mean distance to outlets, mean age, percentage male, percentage Black, mean education). RESULTS: Analysis of variance revealed that 16.2% of the variance in drinking norms and 11.5% of the variance in alcohol consumption were accounted for at the census tract level. In multivariate hierarchical analysis, individual distance to the closest alcohol outlet was unrelated with drinking norms and alcohol consumption, whereas mean distance to the closest alcohol outlet demonstrated a negative relation with drinking norms (betae = -5.50+/-2.37) and with alcohol consumption (betae = -0.477+/-0.195); that is, the higher the mean distance to the closest alcohol outlet, the lower the mean drinking norms score and mean level of alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the effect of alcohol outlet density on alcohol-related outcomes functions through an effect at the neighborhood level rather than at the individual level. Problem drinkers tend to be grouped in neighborhoods, an effect predicted by alcohol outlet density.     

新疆伽师县内脏利什曼病媒介白蛉调查

目的调查新疆伽师县的白蛉种类、季节消长等生态学特性。方法 2009年5月中旬至9月上旬,在伽师县卧里托克拉克乡的居民点和野外采集白蛉,鉴定后计算蛉种组成和性别比例,统计白蛉数量和密度,观察白蛉通宵活动情况。解剖白蛉,分析雌蛉生殖营养周期,检查白蛉体内利什曼原虫自然感染情况;以油纸、捕蛉罩等方法调查白蛉栖息地。结果捕获白蛉4540只,其中99.9%为吴氏白蛉,微小司蛉新疆亚种仅占0.1%。人房处在5月底6月初出现第1个密度高峰,8月中旬出现第2个密度高峰。白蛉的活动主要集中在22:00～次日4:00,午夜0:00达到活动最高峰。生殖营养周期分析表明吴氏白蛉为野生野栖蛉种,主要在户外吸血,有较强的嗜人血习性;在4只白蛉体内查到内脏利什曼原虫前鞭毛体,野外(3只)的自然感染率高于人房内(1只)。栖息地调查发现畜圈内墙壁缝隙等处是白蛉的栖息地。结论新疆伽师县的优势蛉种为吴氏白蛉,其每年有2个世代,主要栖息在各种隐蔽、恒温的洞穴和缝隙中。     

安徽产木通属药用植物资源调查

目的:调查安徽省木通属药用植物资源,研究木通生态分布特点,探讨合理利用方式。方法:野外调查、标本采集及文献研究。结果:安徽主要分布两种木通属植物;分布于皖东丘陵的五叶木通种群较大。结论:处于木通集中分布区域的皖东丘陵适宜开展五叶木通野生抚育。     

Cognitive Ecology

Cognitive ecology is the study of cognitive phenomena in context. In particular, it points to the web of mutual dependence among the elements of a cognitive ecosystem. At least three fields were taking a deeply ecological approach to cognition 30 years ago: Gibson’s ecological psychology, Bateson’s ecology of mind, and Soviet cultural‐historical activity theory. The ideas developed in those projects have now found a place in modern views of embodied, situated, distributed cognition. As cognitive theory continues to shift from units of analysis defined by inherent properties of the elements to units defined in terms of dynamic patterns of correlation across elements, the study of cognitive ecosystems will become an increasingly important part of cognitive science.     

三峡库区兴山县斯氏狸殖吸虫第一中间宿主生态学研究

目的调查斯氏狸殖吸虫第一中间宿主的种类、感染率、生态环境。方法在三峡库区兴山县各主要水系的小溪沟捕捉斯氏狸殖吸虫第一中间宿主螺类送中科院北京动物研究所鉴定种类,解剖镜检短尾蚴阳性率,在捕捉螺的同时记录、测定孳生溪沟生态环境、海拔、水温、流速、PH、密度等。结果标本经鉴定为1科3属4种,隶属于觿螺科小豆螺属湖北小豆螺,拟小豆螺属拟小豆螺(Sp),拟钉螺属齿拟钉螺,泥泞拟钉螺,其中湖北小豆螺为我国新发现的斯氏狸殖吸虫第一中间宿主;共解剖湖北小豆螺、泥泞拟钉螺、拟小豆螺12192只,阳性80只,阳性率为65.62/万,湖北小豆螺阳性率最高为193.33/万;湖北小豆螺、拟小豆螺主要分布在海拔500~1500m、泥泞拟钉螺主要分布在海拔800m以下的小山溪;螺的分布具有明显的节段性和聚集性,主要孳生小山溪在的中、上游,水深5~10 cm,水流缓慢的小水潭或常年滴流不断的滴湿水域的风化石块底面;泥泞拟钉螺、湖北小豆螺最高密度分别达560/?尺2、340/?尺2,结论湖北小豆螺、泥泞拟钉螺、拟小豆螺为斯氏狸殖吸虫第一中间宿主,平均阳性率为65.62/万,海拔、温度、水量、环境为影响螺类孳生繁殖的四要素。     

Impact of space, time and complex environments on microbial communities

The unparalleled accumulation of biological and contextual data is currently revolutionizing the way environmental microbiologists address ecological questions. Here, we briefly review the likely causes that may explain this remarkable scientific revolution and present a synthesized view about how to describe microbial communities in their complex environmental context.     

A framework for the integration of ecosystem and human health in public policy: two case studies with infectious agents

Despite that a significant body of published literature exists in the complex area of interconnection among the environment, ecosystems, and human activity, relatively little attention has been paid to the integration and analysis of ecological and human health data in the form of a conceptual model. Human and ecological health protection generally have been treated as separate domains of policy, with significant differences in both the analytic methods used to characterize risks and the policies developed for risk reduction. Understanding the relationships among population growth, development, natural resource use, the environment, human health, and ecosystems is an important area of both scientific inquiry and environmental policy. The present paper focuses on the development of a conceptual model for understanding disease causation, particularly infectious disease, and the implications of such a model for public policy. The conceptual model incorporates ecological and human health risk assessment information applied to case studies of two infectious diseases. This article takes an initial step toward formalizing the conceptual model so that research and assessment procedures can be developed.     

景观生态学探讨

本文在介绍了景观生态学学科形成，前人对该学科定义的基础上，认为景观生态学应该是指研究景观空间结构与形态特征对生物活动与人类活动影响，以及生物活动与人类活动对景观空间结构与形态特征影响的科学。进而认为我国景观生态学研究还应加强理论的深入研究，并尽可能与我国国情结合起来，加大投入力度以提高研究方法和手段，在今后的发展中要加强实践应用研究。     

The ecological determinants of reinforcement in the rat

The intake of a freely feeding animal can be characterized by four parameters: frequency of meals, duration of meals, rate or intensity of eating, and choice of items eaten. The values of these parameters characterize species and the ecological niche they occupy. Constraints on any one of these parameters leads to compensatory changes in other parameters over the feeding cycle. Any change in performance of the instrumental behavior ancillary to feeding which causes the values of these parameters to recover their optimum or privileged value, defined by their niche, will be strengthened. These changes in performance reflect what is usually meant by motivation and the process of reinforcement.     

A new approach of sleep and feeding behaviors in the laboratory rat

Sleep and feeding patterns were recorded in 24 rats housed in normal laboratory cages (control) and in niche equipped cages with either a foodcup continuously illuminated or not illuminated (experimental) for 10 to 15 consecutive days. The niche conditions brought about a complete disappearance of nibbling, a significant reduction in the daily number of meals (6.8 vs 9.3) and a significant increase in mean meal size. Though the daily food intake remained unchanged, body weight gain was significantly increased. When the foodcup is illuminated, meals were equally distributed between light and dark phases. Parallel to the latter, sleep durations (particularly Paradoxical Sleep) were increased during the dark phase tending towards an equal circadian distribution. Under the niche conditions, meal size was correlated with the post-prandial events (meal-to-meal intervals and sleep durations within them) during the dark phase as it was during the control period. However, unlike control animals, there were also correlations during the light phase. These results suggest that under the niche conditions, there is a stronger physiological (metabolic) motivation of meal taking and sleep occurrence. Henceforth, such an ecological artifact could be used in order to perform experiments aimed at a better understanding of behavioral regulatory mechanisms.