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Purpose: Dengue fever has re-emerged as an increasingly significant global health threat amid diminishing resources pledged for its control in developing nations. Efforts to limit breeding of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti are often hampered by lack of community awareness of the disease. Methods: Sixty-eight households in St Catherine Parish, Jamaica completed a pilot knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire as part of a routine container survey for presence of A. aegypti larvae. Results: Infestation levels were high according to traditional Stegomyia indices (Breteau index = 325); however, general knowledge of dengue symptoms, A. aegypti breeding sites, and preventive practices was low. After examining the links between demographic characteristics, dengue knowledge, and the number of breeding sites per house, higher educational achievement was associated with higher dengue knowledge, but also with more unprotected containers. Overall dengue knowledge was not associated with household container counts. Spatial statistics identified weak clustering of larvae-positive containers, and larvae were concentrated in three key container types. Conclusion: Residents may only understand the role of certain container types, and significant gaps in general knowledge of the disease may inhibit vector control. This pilot demonstrates the feasibility of conducting inexpensive, rapid assessment of community knowledge and breeding levels for local governments lacking the resources for a more methodologically robust vector assessment strategy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of undocumented immigrants to the United States enter through the southern border and most are from Mexico. Researchers in the US have been able to create estimates of how many unauthorised immigrants come from each country, but there has been little research on the geographical origins of immigrants from within Mexico. In this research we make use of a unique unduplicated file of people detained at or near the border by the US Border Patrol during the years 1999 to 2006. By focusing especially on the population aged 20-34, we are able to create a migration propensity index, which is the ratio of detainees from each state in Mexico to the population aged 20-34 in that state. The analysis of this index confirms the few other sources of information suggesting that migration from Mexico to the US is increasingly occurring from the more southern, indigenous states. A multiple regression analysis of the migration propensity index and state-level variables finds that the death rate from accidents and violence among men aged 20-34 is the single most important predictor of a state's migration propensity index. This is related to a variety of factors indicating that migrants come from states with the poorest economic infrastructure. We discuss the implications of these shifts for both receiving and sending communities. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of the use-effectiveness of fertility awareness methods of family planning among clients in a San Diego, California, clinic reveals a 12-month failure rate (life-table method) of 13·2 failures per 100 women. This is comparable to results from previous studies of the use of fertility awareness methods (as defined by the sympto-thermal method) in developed nations. Also consistent with previous studies is the finding that fertility awareness method users tend to be young and well-educated. Motivational factors are identified as being most closely associated with successful use of this method of family planning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current theories suggest that migration tends to exacerbate isolation of older people, although such isolation should be mitigated by length of residence. Propositions derived from these theories were tested using data collected in San Diego, California, from 1139 older people representing ten different ethnic groups (Black, Hispanic, Pilipino, Guamanian, Samoan, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, American Indian, and nonminority). The findings suggest that recent older immigrants are, in fact, more isolated than elders in other migration/residence statuses. However, immigration seems to exert an overall low level of influence on isolation, whereas ethnicity independently appears to exert a greater influence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rapid population and economic growth quickly degrade and deplete forest resources in many developing countries, even within protected areas. Monitoring forest cover change is critical for assessing ecosystem changes and targeting conservation efforts. Yet the most biodiverse forests on the planet are also the most difficult to monitor remotely due to their frequent cloud cover. To begin to reconcile this problem, we develop and implement an effective and efficient approach to mapping forest loss in the extremely cloud-prevalent southern Ghana region using dense time series Landsat 7 and 8 images from 1999 to 2018, based on median value temporal compositing of a novel vegetation index called the spectral variability vegetation index (SVVI). Resultant land-cover and land-use maps yielded 90 to 94% mapping accuracies. Our results indicate 625 km2 of forest loss within the 9800-km2 total mapping area, including within forest reserves and their environs between circa 2003 and 2018. Within the reserves, reduced forest cover is found near the reserve boundaries compared with their interiors, suggesting a more degraded environment near the edge of the protected areas. A fully protected reserve, Kakum National Park, showed little forest cover change compared with many other less protected reserves (such as a production reserve—Subri River). Anthropogenic activities, such as mining, agriculture, and built area expansion, were the main land-use transitions from forest. The reserves and census districts that are located near large-scale open pit mining indicated the most drastic forest loss. No significant correlation was found between the magnitudes of forest cover change and population density change for reserves and within a 1.5-km buffer surrounding the reserves. While other anthropogenic factors should be explored in relation to deforestation, our qualitative analysis revealed that reserve protection status (management policies) appears to be an important factor. The mapping approach described in this study provided a highly accurate and effective means to monitor land-use changes in forested and cloud-prone regions with great promise for application to improved monitoring of moist tropical and other forests characterized by high cloud cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]