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• Urban nature similarly benefitted ethnically diverse green space visitors in the UK. • Visitors with distinct recreation preferences drew similar benefits from nature. • Relaxation was the primary benefit that visitors derived from urban nature. • The contrast to typical urban spaces added to relaxation in green spaces. • Publicizing the shared value of nature could foster intercultural understanding. Green spaces are vital to the wellbeing of urban communities, largely due to the many Cultural Ecosystem Benefits (CEB) that nature contributes to outdoor recreation experiences (e.g., relaxation, inspiration, spiritual enrichment). To ensure equity in the distribution of CEB, however, we require a better understanding of how they relate to ethnicity. Through 100 in-situ semi-structured interviews with green space users in the Lee Valley Regional Park, London, UK, this research explored variation in outdoor recreational CEB based on i) ethnicity and ii) green space activity and attribute preferences. We compared green space preferences and CEB of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and white users of two distinct types of urban green space: parks and more biodiverse Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Both white and BAME visitors to parks prioritized games/sports and built features whereas visitors to SSSIs more often undertook wildlife viewing and prioritized natural features. However, we found that white and BAME users of both types of urban green space derived similar CEB. Peace and relaxation were primary among these benefits, a result of both nature interaction and its contrast to the urban environment. These results demonstrate that nature does not have to be the focal point of outdoor recreation to contribute to wellbeing; rather, even as a backdrop to sports and cultural activities, nature provides similar benefits to green space users. To promote use of green space and foster intercultural understanding, we recommend integrating these shared benefits obtained from nature within marketing and engagement strategies. Future research is needed to explore CEB variation within and among distinct ethnic communities to fully capture the diversity of lived experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is claimed that contact with nature and the countryside can benefit young people''s health and wellbeing. There are concerns, however, that not only do young people encounter significant barriers to accessing these resources as part of their leisure experiences, but also they generally have less direct experience of nature. Research into youth leisure activities and their associated cultural dimensions suggests performance and enactment are an integral feature of related youth lifestyles. This paper argues that young people''s engagement with nature and the countryside still remains only partly understood because past studies have not examined these interactions as part of a wider process of developing lifestyles and identities linked to youth leisure activities. Presenting the findings of primary qualitative research involving a group of young people who live in urban and rural areas and who make regular use of countryside space for mountain biking, this paper shows the ways in which young people express their relations to nature and the countryside. By providing a specific focus on young people''s countryside leisure experience within the framework of identity and lifestyle the paper offers a more holistic understanding of how young people interact with the countryside exploring both the distinctive elements of the spaces offered by the countryside to develop symbolic ownership over space and the way in which, through embodied experiences and knowledges, the nature associated with these spaces is given meaning by young people. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), all water bodies must be of ‘good ecological status’ by 2015. One of the major beneficiaries of this will be those who use water for sport and recreation activities. It is certainly the case that some waters do contain – at some times – concentrations of pollutants sufficient to be a potential threat to public health but there is little robust evidence that water quality is a major constraint to many water-based activities. This paper addresses the current evidence deficit through a survey of recreational user representatives, exploring the cultural and political influences on decisions about when the quality of water is sufficient for their activity to take place. Using a reading of Bourdieu''s ‘feel for the game’, the paper argues that there is a spectrum of involvement, contact and participation that conditions use and, thus, helps to establish an appropriate context for understanding the potential impacts on water-based recreation of the implementation of the WFD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Informed by a growing international literature on the motivations of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners towards particular management goals, this paper reports the findings of a study into the responses of private and public/non-profit woodland owners to financial incentive schemes related to recreational access in South East England a highly urbanised region with considerable demand for outdoor recreation. The findings indicate that finance is the most important incentive for achieving uptake in these schemes to promote access. However, the propensity of owners to take up any incentive is not driven primarily by financial goals. Rather, it is a function of their predisposition towards the goals of the recreational access incentive scheme and the extent to which these goals are congruent with their self-identity as (largely) custodians of their woodland. In the case of promoting public access to private woodlands the study shows for the first time in the English context that, while few private woodland owners are predisposed towards granting additional access, the ability to deploy access incentives to longer-term stewardship goals may be sufficient to bring them into the scheme. The paper makes the argument that, to be successful, access incentive schemes must find ways of making the access component a central feature of grant aid while also incentivising longer-term management operations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Soluble adhesion molecules are overexpressed in neuroinflammatory disorders. Their synthesis parallels that of their membrane-bound counterparts, which modulate lymphocyte transmigration through the blood–brain barrier. Blood–brain barrier cellular migration may be essential in the evolution of postinfectious inflammatory central nervous system disease. The serum levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, soluble vascular adhesion molecule-1, and soluble E-selectin were measured in 12 children with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and in two control groups (35 healthy and 35 affected by noninflammatory neurologic diseases) of similar age. In patients with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, soluble E-selectin serum levels were significantly higher (median 113 ng/mL, range 54-144) than in both control groups (median 44, range 31-63, and median 58, range 43-89, respectively; one-way analysis of variance, P < 0.0001); a statistical trend for higher levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule−1 was observed in acute disseminated encephalomyelitis subjects, whereas soluble vascular adhesion molecule−1 titers did not differ between the three groups. The specific role played by each of these molecules in lymphocyte extravasation and the differential cytokine modulation of their expression might explain the result. Further larger studies are required including serial measurements and cerebrospinal fluid analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]