Demographic differences in response rates for PHQ9 in a university student population

Objective: To examine differences in complete response rates for depression screening questions based on demographic characteristics. Methods: Cross-sectional study examining associations between demographic characteristics and completely responding depression-screening questions. Participants: “Healthy Minds Study” data, collected in a public University in February 2016, where 7,326 students participated. Results: women (AOR: 0.69; 95% CI =0.57–0.83) and gay/lesbian students (AOR: 0.24; 95% CI =0.10–0.60) had better complete response rates. Non-US (AOR: 1.46; 95% CI =1.03–2.07), black (AOR: 3.32; 95% CI =1.92–5.77), and Middle-Eastern students (AOR: 3.73; 95% CI =1.73–8.02) had lower complete response rates. Conclusions: Our study shows sex, gender, citizenship, and race categories have significant differences in complete response rates for the outcome. Our findings have several implications; including recognizing interventions for depression based on responders may not target those that tend to be “partial-responders”. Efforts in survey design, recruiting and completion of surveys should be maximized.     

Urban open spaces from a dispersal perspective: lessons from an individual-based model approach to assess the effects of landscape patterns on the viability of wildlife populations

Green areas drawn on a city plan represent open spaces that have different meanings for humans and wildlife. Diverse kinds of green may influence species viability in urban environments. It is necessary to understand what those areas mean for wildlife populations and how land-use changes affect habitats and movements for making scientifically defensible planning and design decisions. My objective was to demonstrate how open space and urban development patterns affect the viability of wildlife populations in urbanizing landscapes from a movements perspective. Eight scenarios for 2060 for an urbanizing area near Portland, Oregon combined four open space (none, corridors, parks, and network) with two urban development patterns (compact and dispersed). Dispersal model HexSim simulated three target species – Red-legged frog (Rana aurora aurora), Western meadowlark (Sturnella neclecta) and Douglas squirrel (Tamasciurus douglasii) – movements on those scenarios to compare and contrast sustained populations to the ca. 2010 baseline landscape. Network scenarios presented the largest number of frog breeders. Greenway scenarios showed the largest populations of squirrels. Park and network scenarios sustained viable populations of meadowlarks, but park scenarios performed best. Compact development scenarios performed best for most indicators, while dispersed development scenarios performed better for meadowlarks. Network scenarios performed best when considering the collective of species. Networks presented more diverse habitats, sustaining higher diversity of species. For plans to sustain more species, more comprehensive and diverse habitats must be promoted, otherwise trade-offs should be expected – like the extinction of meadowlarks in greenway scenarios.

     

Just for fun? Alcohol and drugs in youth lifestyles: a survey

The article presents an analysis of the relationship between young people and alcohol and drug use, examining both their attitudes and behaviors. The analysis is based on statistics collected through a structured-questionnaire survey of 1071 students from the secondary schools of Rome and the Province. The first part of the article examines patterns and levels of alcohol and drug use and typical places of use. The central part is dedicated to the perceptions and opinions on alcohol and drugs, with particular regard to the dimensions of risk and sociality, and to the different roles of school and family in raising risk awareness. Sociality appears as a crucial element in young people's tendency to associate alcohol and drugs with an effect of relaxation and disinhibition that makes social relations easier. The article finally examines the relationship between young people and social norms, identifying transgressive models and habits. On the whole, the study highlights a connection between alcohol and drug use and desire of sociality, which is experienced more as a situational and ever-changing practice than as a search for close friendships.     

Size matters: vegetation patch size and surface temperature relationship in foothills cities of northwestern Argentina

Urbanization is one of the most extreme forms of land alteration. Energy fluxes are severely affected and cities tend to have the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon, although vegetated areas inside cities could have a positive effect in mitigating UHI effect. Our main objective was to analyze the relationship between vegetation characteristics, patch size and land surface temperature (LST) in three urban areas of northwestern Argentina. We selected 38 green spaces of different size distributed in four cities, all located in the eastern foothills of the subtropical mountain forests. We used Landsat TM satellite images to calculate Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and LST. We assessed the net effect of patch size on LST by computing a Difference Temperature Index. At the regional scale, our results showed that vegetation patch size had a direct effect on reducing the LST of the green space. At a local scale, the analysis of the relationship between vegetation on urban green spaces and LST along a gradient of urbanization showed that green spaces with more vegetation tends to reduce LST. The results showed that largest green spaces were between 1.5 and 2.8 °C cooler than the surrounding built. In order to mitigate the UHI effect in cities, larger green spaces appear to be a possible solution.