Using by‐catch data from wildlife surveys to quantify climatic parameters and the timing of phenology for plants and animals using camera traps

Gaining a better understanding of global environmental change is an important challenge for conserving biodiversity. Shifts in phenology are an important consequence of environmental change. Measuring phenology of different taxa simultaneously at the same spatial and temporal scale is necessary to study the effects of changes in phenology on ecosystems. Camera traps that take both time‐lapse as well as motion‐triggered images are increasingly used to study wildlife populations. The by‐catch data of these networks of camera traps provide a potential alternative for measuring several climatic and phenological variables. Here, we tested this ability of camera traps, and quantified climatic variables as well as the timing of changes in plant and animal phenology. We obtained data from 193 camera‐unit deployments during a year of camera trapping on a peninsula in northern Sweden aimed at studying wildlife. We estimated daily temperature at noon and snow cover using recordings provided by cameras. Estimates of snow cover were accurate, but temperature estimates were higher compared with a local weather station. Furthermore, we were able to identify the timing of leaf emergence and senescence for birches (Betula sp.) and the presence of bilberry berries (Vaccinium myrtillus ), as important food sources for herbivores. These were linked to the timing of the growth of antlers and the presence of new‐born young for three ungulate species as well as the presence of migratory Eurasian cranes (Grus grus ). We also identified the timing of spring and autumn moulting of mountain hares (Lepus timidus ) in relation to snow cover. In this novel study, we show the potential of (by‐catch) data from camera traps to study phenology across a broad range of taxa, suggesting that a global network of camera traps has great potential to simultaneously track wildlife populations and the phenology of interactions between animals and plants

Dealing with daily emotions—supportive activities for the elderly in a municipal care setting

There are diverse descriptions of supportive activities in nursing to be found in the literature. What they have in common is their association with good care outcomes, but they may differ depending on the context in which the care is given. In a Swedish municipal elderly care setting, registered nurses (RN) work in a consultative way and they describe a part of their tasks as comprising supportive activities without specifying what kind of supportive activities they mean. The aim of the study was to explore the main concern of the support given by RN to a group of patients in an elderly home care setting. The study was conducted using Grounded Theory. Data were collected using nonparticipant observations regarding the supportive activities of 12 RN at the home of 36 patients between the ages of 80 and 102. Most of the home visit lasted about 40 min but some lasted for 90 min. The central category was about dealing with daily emotions. This was done by encouraging the situation and reducing the patient's limitations, but situations also occurred in which there was a gap of support. Support was about capturing the emotions that the patient expressed for a particular moment, but there were also situations in which RN chose not to give support. To develop a holistic eldercare, more knowledge is needed about the factors causing the RN to choose not to provide support on some occasions

Development process and initial validation of the ethical conflict in nursing questionnaire-critical care version

Background: Ethical conflicts are arising as a result of the growing complexity of clinical care, coupled with technological advances. Most studies that have developed instruments for measuring ethical conflict base their measures on the variables"frequency" and"degree of conflict". In our view, however, these variables are insufficient for explaining the root of ethical conflicts. Consequently, the present study formulates a conceptual model that also includes the variable"exposure to conflict", as well as considering six"types of ethical conflict". An instrument was then designed to measure the ethical conflicts experienced by nurses who work with critical care patients. The paper describes the development process and validation of this instrument, the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire Critical Care Version (ECNQ-CCV). Methods: The sample comprised 205 nursing professionals from the critical care units of two hospitals in Barcelona (Spain). The ECNQ-CCV presents 19 nursing scenarios with the potential to produce ethical conflict in the critical care setting. Exposure to ethical conflict was assessed by means of the Index of Exposure to Ethical Conflict (IEEC), a specific index developed to provide a reference value for each respondent by combining the intensity and frequency of occurrence of each scenario featured in the ECNQ-CCV. Following content validity, construct validity was assessed by means of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), while Cronbach"s alpha was used to evaluate the instrument"s reliability. All analyses were performed using the statistical software PASW v19. Results: Cronbach"s alpha for the ECNQ-CCV as a whole was 0.882, which is higher than the values reported for certain other related instruments. The EFA suggested a unidimensional structure, with one component accounting for 33.41% of the explained variance. Conclusions: The ECNQ-CCV is shown to a valid and reliable instrument for use in critical care units. Its structure is such that the four variables on which our model of ethical conflict is based may be studied separately or in combination. The critical care nurses in this sample present moderate levels of exposure to ethical conflict. This study represents the first evaluation of the ECNQ-CCV

Effects on Hemodynamic Enhancement and Discomfort of a New Textile Electrode setup during Calf Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation

Abstract Background: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) may improve venous hemodynamics to decrease the risk of venous thromboembolism. However, whether calf-NMES using textile electrodes integrated in socks can improve venous hemodynamics without discomfort is unknown. Aim: The primary aim of this study was to examine whether calf-NMES, using one new textile electrode- compared to an established gel electrode-setup, could induce significant dose-dependent increases in the peak venous velocity (PVV) and non-inferior comfort.Methods: On ten healthy participants, intensity (mA) of calf-NMES (frequency 36 Hz, phase duration 200µs) was increased until a visible plantar flexion (threshold 1), plus an additional six NMES-levels (threshold II), utilizing two different electrode setups. A new transverse textile electrode (TTE) setup consisted of two textile electrodes (2 x 2.5 cm) sewn into the back of a sock placed 2 cm apart at the largest circumference of the calf. The established gel electrodes (3x3cm) were placed on the participants best motor points and designated the motor point electrode (MPE) setup. PVV was measured in v. poplitea and v. femoralis at baseline and at threshold I and II using a Doppler ultrasound machine. Comfort was assessed with a numerical rating scale (NRS, 0-10). Values were expressed as medians and significance was set to p&lt;0.05.Results: In v. poplitea both TTE and MPE induced significant dose-dependent increases in PVV from baseline to threshold I with 123% and 63% and to threshold II with 319% and 208%, respectively (all p&lt;0.001). TTE, however, resulted in significantly higher increase of PVV in v. poplitea than MPE. In v. femoralis both TTE and MPE induced significant dose-dependent increases in PVV from baseline to threshold I with 47% and 55% and to threshold II with 102% and 107%, respectively (all p&lt;0.001). In v. femoralis, however, there were no significant differences in PPV between TTE and MPE (p=0.700). MPE compared to TTE resulted in lower NRS, 1 versus 2, at threshold I (p&lt;0.001), however at threshold II there was no difference in NRS (p=0.836).Conclusion: A new reusable TTE produces non-inferior dose-dependent venous hemodynamics compared to a standard MPE. Further development, however, is needed concerning textile electrode discomfort to improve patient compliance.Trial registration: Retrospectively registered with ISRCTN registry. Trial ID: ISRCTN49260430. Date: 11/01/2022.</jats:p

Effects on Hemodynamic Enhancement and Discomfort of a New Textile Electrode setup during Calf Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation

Background: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) may improve venous hemodynamics to decrease the risk of venous thromboembolism. However, whether calf-NMES using textile electrodes integrated in socks can improve venous hemodynamics without discomfort is unknown. Aim: The primary aim of this study was to examine whether calf-NMES, using one new textile electrode- compared to an established gel electrode-setup, could induce significant dose-dependent increases in the peak venous velocity (PVV) and non-inferior comfort.Methods: On ten healthy participants, intensity (mA) of calf-NMES (frequency 36 Hz, phase duration 200µs) was increased until a visible plantar flexion (threshold 1), plus an additional six NMES-levels (threshold II), utilizing two different electrode setups. A new transverse textile electrode (TTE) setup consisted of two textile electrodes (2 x 2.5 cm) sewn into the back of a sock placed 2 cm apart at the largest circumference of the calf. The established gel electrodes (3x3cm) were placed on the participants best motor points and designated the motor point electrode (MPE) setup. PVV was measured in v. poplitea and v. femoralis at baseline and at threshold I and II using a Doppler ultrasound machine. Comfort was assessed with a numerical rating scale (NRS, 0-10). Values were expressed as medians and significance was set to p&lt;0.05.Results:  In v. poplitea both TTE and MPE induced significant dose-dependent increases in PVV from baseline to threshold I with 123% and 63% and to threshold II with 319% and 208%, respectively (all p&lt;0.001). TTE, however, resulted in significantly higher increase of PVV in v. poplitea than MPE. In v. femoralis both TTE and MPE induced significant dose-dependent increases in PVV from baseline to threshold I with 47% and 55% and to threshold II with 102% and 107%, respectively (all p&lt;0.001). In v. femoralis, however, there were no significant differences in PPV between TTE and MPE (p=0.700). MPE compared to TTE resulted in lower NRS, 1 versus 2, at threshold I (p&lt;0.001), however at threshold II there was no difference in NRS (p=0.836).Conclusion: A new reusable TTE produces non-inferior dose-dependent venous hemodynamics compared to a standard MPE. Further development, however, is needed concerning textile electrode discomfort to improve patient compliance.Trial registration: Retrospectively registered with ISRCTN registry. Trial ID: ISRCTN49260430. Date: 11/01/2022.</p

Effects on hemodynamic enhancement and discomfort of a new textile electrode integrated in a sock during calf neuromuscular electrical stimulation

Purpose: To compare fixed transverse textile electrodes (TTE) knitted into a sock versus motor point placed standard gel electrodes (MPE) on peak venous velocity (PVV) and discomfort, during calf neuromuscular electrical stimulation (calf-NMES). Methods: Ten healthy participants received calf-NMES with increasing intensity until plantar flexion (measurement level I = ML I), and an additional mean 4 mA intensity (ML II), utilizing TTE and MPE. PVV was measured with Doppler ultrasound in the popliteal and femoral veins at baseline, ML I and II. Discomfort was assessed with a numerical rating scale (NRS, 0–10). Significance was set to p &lt; 0.05. Results: TTE and MPE both induced significant increases in PVV from baseline to ML I and significantly higher increases to ML II, in both the popliteal and femoral veins (all p &lt; 0.001). The popliteal increases of PVV from baseline to both ML I and II were significantly higher with TTE versus MPE (p &lt; 0.05). The femoral increases of PVV from baseline to both ML I and II were not significantly different between TTE and MPE. TTE versus MPE resulted at ML I in higher mA and NRS (p &lt; 0.001), and at ML II in higher mA (p = 0.005) while NRS was not significantly different. Conclusion: TTE integrated in a sock produces intensity-dependent increases of popliteal and femoral hemodynamics comparable to MPE, but results in more discomfort at plantar flexion due to higher current required. TTE exhibits in the popliteal vein higher increases of PVV compared to MPE. Trial registration: Trial_ID: ISRCTN49260430. Date: 11/01/2022. Retrospectively registered

Exploring the prevalence and variance of cognitive impairment, pain, neuropsychiatric symptoms and ADL dependency among persons living in nursing homes; A cross-sectional study

Background: Earlier studies in nursing homes show a high prevalence of cognitive impairment, dependency in activities of daily living (ADL), pain, and neuropsychiatric symptoms among residents. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of the above among residents in a nationally representative sample of Swedish nursing homes, and to investigate whether pain and neuropsychiatric symptoms differ in relation to gender, cognitive function, ADL-capacity, type of nursing-home unit and length of stay. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 188 randomly selected nursing homes were collected. A total of 4831 residents were assessed for cognitive and ADL function, pain and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test. Results: The results show the following: the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 67 %, 56 % of residents were ADL-dependent, 48 % exhibited pain and 92 % exhibited neuropsychiatric symptoms. The prevalence of pain did not differ significantly between male and female residents, but pain was more prevalent among cognitively impaired and ADL-dependent residents. Pain prevalence was not significantly different between residents in special care units for people with dementia (SCU) and general units, or between shorter-and longer-stay residents. Furthermore, the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms did not differ significantly between male and female residents, between ADL capacities or in relation to length of stay. However, residents with cognitive impairment and residents in SCUs had a significantly higher prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms than residents without cognitive impairment and residents in general units. Conclusions: The prevalence rates ascertained in this study could contribute to a greater understanding of the needs of nursing-home residents, and may provide nursing home staff and managers with trustworthy assessment scales and benchmark values for further quality assessment purposes, clinical development work and initiating future nursing assessments