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Rationale: High costs of controller therapies may be a barrier to guideline-recommended asthma treatment. Objectives: We determined whether eliminating out-of-pocket (OOP) payments among low-income patients with asthma impacted controller medication use. Methods: We applied a controlled interrupted time series design to administrative claims data in British Columbia, Canada from 2017 to 2020. Cases were individuals with an annual household income <$13,750 in whom copays were eliminated in January 2019; there was no change in public coverage for the control group with annual income >$45,000. We evaluated trends in asthma medication costs, use, the ratio of inhaled corticosteroid-containing medications to all asthma medications, excessive use of short-acting β-agonists (more than one canister per month), and the proportion of days covered by controller therapies. Results: There were 12,940 cases (62% female; mean age, 30.3 yr; standard deviation [SD], 14.9) and 71,331 controls (55% female; mean age, 31.3 yr; SD, 16.3). Removal of OOP payments increased monthly mean medication costs by $3.32 (95% confidence interval [CI], $0.08 to $6.56, 2020 Canadian dollars), days' supply of controller medications by 1.50 days (95% CI, 0.61 to 2.40 d), and the ratio of inhaled corticosteroid-containing medications to total medications by 4.20% (95% CI, 0.73% to 7.66%) compared with the control group. The policy had no effect on the proportion of days covered by controller therapies (0.01; 95% CI, −0.01 to 0.04), but nonsignificantly decreased the percentage of patients with excessive short-acting β-agonist use (−6.37%; 95% CI, −12.90% to 0.16%). Conclusions: Removal of OOP payments increased the dispensation of controller therapies, suggesting cost-related nonadherence could impair optimal asthma management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented changes to cancer care in many countries, impacting cancer patients' lives in numerous ways. This study examines the impact of changes in cancer care on patient's health-related quality of life (HRQL), which is a key outcome in cancer care. The study aims to estimate patients' self-reported HRQL before and during the pandemic and identify predictive factors for their physical and mental wellbeing. Method: The study employed the large-scale Outpatient Cancer Care (OCC) Patient Experience Survey, including the Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey, to evaluate cancer patients' experiences and HRQL before (January to May 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (May to July 2021). Paired t-tests were conducted to compare differences in Physical Component Scores (PCS) and Mental Component Scores (MCS) before and during the pandemic. Multivariable linear regressions were employed to investigate the factors (sociodemographic, clinical, and patient-reported experience) influencing PCS and MCS during the pandemic. Results: PCS decreased significantly during the pandemic, while MCS remained stable. Lower PCS contributors included older age, more telehealth visits, self-reported hospitalization, and a longer time since the last cancer diagnosis. Higher PCS was associated with urban residence, higher MCS during the pandemic, and perceived active Healthcare Provider (HCP) involvement. For MCS, lower scores related to female gender and more telehealth visits, while higher scores were associated with being white, higher education, high MCS before the pandemic, and perceived active HCP involvement. Conclusion: The OCC Patient Experience Survey provides a unique patient level data set measuring HRQL pre- and post- the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study highlights challenges faced by cancer patients during the pandemic, with a significant reduction in PCS. However, the stability in MCS suggests effective coping mechanisms. Sociodemographic, clinical, and telehealth-related variables play a complex role in shaping both PCS and MCS. Perceived HCP involvement emerges as a crucial factor correlating with higher PCS and MCS. Navigating the post-pandemic era necessitates interventions fortifying patient-provider relationships, optimizing healthcare support systems, such as telehealth services, and prioritizing mental-well-being given its impact on both PCS and MCS. Plain English summary: This study delves into the impact of changes in cancer care and COVID-19 measures on the well-being of cancer patients. As cancer care shifted during the pandemic, we aimed to understand how it affected patients' quality of life. The study discovered that physical well-being significantly decreased, especially for older patients with more telehealth visits, while mental well-being remained stable, indicating effective coping strategies. Factors like the number of telehealth visits, healthcare provider engagement, and pre-pandemic mental health status played pivotal roles in shaping the mental and physical well-being of cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study emphasizes the challenges faced by cancer patients during the pandemic and highlights the importance of supportive interventions for patient-provider relationships and prioritizing mental-wellbeing in the post-pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global urban population is expected to increase by 2.5 billion people over the next 30 years. Yet the doubling of urban landscapes in the last decades have already led to habitat loss and concomitant impacts to biodiversity. Nonetheless urban landscapes remain important for wildlife, and multi-city analyses have revealed that wealthy urban areas house more biodiversity (species richness), a 'luxury effect'. We researched some of the mechanisms for the luxury effect for urban black-tailed deer, a species of increasing concern in urban landscapes across the northwestern Nearctic. We hypothesized that deer were capitalizing on anthropogenic resource subsidies occurring in affluent housing and supported by urban green spaces such as parks and golf courses. In 2018-19 we satellite-collared twenty deer in an affluent urban landscape in British Columbia, Canada, with 13-hr fix rates. We used generalized models in an information-theoretic framework to weigh evidence for competing hypotheses about the role of tree cover, productivity, public green spaces, and wealth in explaining deer selection. Wealth, manifesting as housing lot size, emerged as the dominant predictor of deer space-use, which is highly concentrated into very small home-ranges. Other landscape elements stemming from affluence, including golf courses and parklands, were also strongly selected by deer. We show post-colonization landscape conversion from dry semi-arid savannah to well-watered high-productivity landscapes is supporting deer, with ramifications for the rest of the biotic community. With urban landscapes becoming an increasingly important for biodiversity conservation, understanding these mechanisms and incorporating them into urban planning can help to promote wildlife-human coexistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflict between humans and black bears (Ursus americanus) occurs throughout North America with increasing public demand to replace lethal management with non-lethal methods, such as aversive conditioning (AC). AC aims to teach animals to associate negative stimuli with humans or their infrastructure. We sought to test the efficacy of AC using radio-collared black bears in Whistler, British Columbia, by monitoring individuals and assigning those in conflict with people to control or treatment groups. We measured wariness using overt reaction distance, displacement distance, and reaction to researchers before, during and after executing 3–5-day AC programs that consisted of launching projectiles at bears in the treatment group. We also assessed predictors of successful AC events (i.e., leaving at a run), changes in bear use of human-dominated habitat during the day and at night, and the effects of including a sound stimulus to signal the beginning and end of AC events. Among treated bears, overt reaction distance increased by 46.5% and displacement distance increased by 69.0% following AC programs, whereas both overt reaction distance and displacement distance decreased over time among control group bears. Each additional AC event during the previous 30 days increased likelihood of bear departure in response to researcher presence by 4.5%. The success of AC events varied among individuals, declined with distance to cover, and increased with exposure to previous AC events. Projectiles launched from guns were slightly more effective at causing bears to displace compared to those launched from slingshots, and sound stimuli decreased the likelihood of a successful AC event. AC did not alter diurnal use by bears of human-dominated habitat. Our results suggest that AC effectively increases short-term wariness in black bears but does not alter bear use of human-dominated spaces, highlighting the importance of proactive attractant management and prevention of food conditioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) is an endangered species that occurs throughout most of North America. The recovery strategy for little brown bats in Canada identifies a need to understand habitat use and protect important bat habitat across the species' Canadian range; however, bat roosting habitat requirements have not been well studied in mountainous environments within the northern part of the species' range. Our objective was to understand the use of building and natural roosts by female little brown bats in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Over two summers, we captured little brown bats in Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks, in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, and tracked 49 females to their day roosts. Buildings were the only roost type used by radio‐tagged bats of all reproductive stages, the dominant roost type used throughout the reproductive period, and the only structures in which we located maternity colonies. Buildings also appeared to shape the distribution of foraging female and reproductive female bats such that few were captured at long distances from towns and building clusters. Compared with bats in more southern and in non‐mountainous areas, bats in our study area had delayed juvenile weaning and volancy, began hibernation early, and had low reproductive rates. We suggest that buildings are a key habitat for female little brown bats to persist at their current levels in our study area, by providing thermal conditions that promote overwinter survival; additional reproductive delays caused by torpor use in cool natural roosts would likely reduce juvenile and adult female overwinter survival below the levels required to sustain populations. Nevertheless, building colonies were unusually small, and bats had relatively low fidelity to particular building roosts, suggesting that building roosts may not consistently meet bats' needs. Some nonreproductive and pregnant females also frequently used natural roosts, particularly after colder nights; these roosts may be important in facilitating torpor and energy conservation for these bats. Because bats are long‐lived with low reproductive output and low juvenile survival, addressing the needs of both reproductive and nonreproductive individuals is important for population persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management objectives of many protected areas must meet the dual mandates of protecting biodiversity while providing recreational opportunities. It is difficult to balance these mandates because it takes considerable effort to monitor both the status of biodiversity and impacts of recreation. Using detections from 45 camera traps deployed between July 2019 and September 2021, we assessed the potential impacts of recreation on spatial and temporal activity for 8 medium‐ and large‐bodied terrestrial mammals in an isolated alpine protected area: Cathedral Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada. We hypothesised that some wildlife perceive a level of threat from people, such that they avoid 'risky times' or 'risky places' associated with human activity. Other species may benefit from associating with people, be it through access to anthropogenic resource subsidies or filtering of competitors/predators that are more human‐averse (i.e., human shield hypothesis). Specifically, we predicted that large carnivores would show the greatest segregation from people while mesocarnivores and ungulates would associate spatially with people. We found spatial co‐occurrence between ungulates and recreation, consistent with the human shield hypothesis, but did not see the predicted negative relationship between larger carnivores and humans, except for coyotes (Canis latrans). Temporally, all species other than cougars (Puma concolor) had diel activity patterns significantly different from that of recreationists, suggesting potential displacement in the temporal niche. Wolves (Canis lupus) and mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) showed shifts in temporal activity away from people on recreation trails relative to off‐trail areas, providing further evidence of potential displacement. Our results highlight the importance of monitoring spatial and temporal interactions between recreation activities and wildlife communities, in order to ensure the effectiveness of protected areas in an era of increasing human impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-six years ago, in response to regionally devastating fisheries collapses in Canada, Hutchings et al. asked "Is scientific inquiry incompatible with government information control?" Now, a quarter-century later, we review how government science advice continues to be influenced by non-science interests, particularly those with a financial stake in the outcome of the advice. We use the example of salmon aquaculture in British Columbia, Canada, to demonstrate how science advice from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) can fail to be impartial, evidence-based, transparent, and independently reviewed—four widely implemented standards of robust science advice. Consequently, DFO's policies are not always supported by the best available science. These observations are particularly important in the context of DFO having struggled to sustainably manage Canada's marine resources, creating socio-economic uncertainty and putting the country's international reputation at risk as it lags behind its peers. We conclude by reiterating Hutchings et al.'s unheeded recommendation for a truly independent fisheries-science advisory body in Canada to be enshrined in the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information related to several abstracts of papers presented at the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research which was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 1980. Members of the Program Committee were Walton T. Roth who was the chairman, Michael G. H. Coles, Michael E. Dawson, Connie C. Duncan-Johnson, Judith M. Ford, and Theodore P. Zahn. As in recent years, the majority of the research reports were given and discussed informally.

Acoustic identification of vocalizing individuals opens up new and deeper insights into animal communications, such as individual-/group-specific dialects, turn-taking events, and dialogs. However, establishing an association between an individual animal and its emitted signal is usually non-trivial, especially for animals underwater. Consequently, a collection of marine species-, array-, and position-specific ground truth localization data is extremely challenging, which strongly limits possibilities to evaluate localization methods beforehand or at all. This study presents ORCA-SPY, a fully-automated sound source simulation, classification and localization framework for passive killer whale (Orcinus orca) acoustic monitoring that is embedded into PAMGuard, a widely used bioacoustic software toolkit. ORCA-SPY enables array- and position-specific multichannel audio stream generation to simulate real-world ground truth killer whale localization data and provides a hybrid sound source identification approach integrating ANIMAL-SPOT, a state-of-the-art deep learning-based orca detection network, followed by downstream Time-Difference-Of-Arrival localization. ORCA-SPY was evaluated on simulated multichannel underwater audio streams including various killer whale vocalization events within a large-scale experimental setup benefiting from previous real-world fieldwork experience. Across all 58,320 embedded vocalizing killer whale events, subject to various hydrophone array geometries, call types, distances, and noise conditions responsible for a signal-to-noise ratio varying from - 14.2 dB to 3 dB, a detection rate of 94.0 % was achieved with an average localization error of 7.01 ∘ . ORCA-SPY was field-tested on Lake Stechlin in Brandenburg Germany under laboratory conditions with a focus on localization. During the field test, 3889 localization events were observed with an average error of 29.19 ∘ and a median error of 17.54 ∘ . ORCA-SPY was deployed successfully during the DeepAL fieldwork 2022 expedition (DLFW22) in Northern British Columbia, with a mean average error of 20.01 ∘ and a median error of 11.01 ∘ across 503 localization events. ORCA-SPY is an open-source and publicly available software framework, which can be adapted to various recording conditions as well as animal species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salmon hatcheries are management tools intended to stabilize declining abundance in salmon populations and sustain salmon fisheries. One key area of uncertainty is how hatchery release practices influence juvenile-to-adult survival. Data quality and quantity vary considerably among hatcheries making it difficult to assess the role of release practices. Using a Bayesian hierarchical approach, we analyzed releases and recoveries of Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; 21 hatcheries) and coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch; 16 hatcheries) salmon in British Columbia from 1972 to 2017. Higher survival rates were associated with increasing weights-at-release, earlier releases of Chinook salmon, and later releases of coho salmon. The addition of environmental (sea surface temperature, Pacific Decadal Oscillation), and predator (harbour seals, killer whales) covariates did not improve model performance relative to models that used year effects to account for declines in survival and interannual variability in ocean conditions. Optimizing release practices could increase returns by 6%–245% for Chinook salmon and 5%–160% for coho salmon based on median posterior estimates for each hatchery. With these results, a large-scale adaptive management approach could be implemented to test our understanding of release practice–survival relationships and evaluate cost–benefit trade-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluctuations in prey abundance, composition, and distribution can impact predators, and when predators and fisheries target the same species, predators become essential to ecosystem‐based management. Because of the difficulty in collecting concomitant predator–prey data at appropriate scales in patchy environments, few studies have identified strong linkages between cetaceans and prey, especially across large geographic areas. During summer 2018, a line‐transect survey for cetaceans and coastal pelagic species was conducted over the continental shelf and slope of British Columbia, Canada, and the US West Coast, allowing for a large‐scale investigation of predator–prey spatial relationships. We report on a case study of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and their primary prey—Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), and krill—using generalized additive models to explore the relationships between whale abundance on 10‐km transect segments and prey metrics. Prey metrics included direct measures of biomass densities on segments and an original hotspot metric. For each prey species, segments in the upper fifth percentile for biomass density (across all segments) were designated hotspots, and whale counts on a segment were evaluated for their relationship to number of hotspot segments (species‐specific and multispecies) within 25, 50, or 100 km. Whale abundance was not strongly related to direct measures of biomass densities, whereas models using hotspot metrics were more effective at describing variation in whale abundance, underscoring that evaluating prey at relevant and measurable scales is critical in patchy, dynamic marine environments. Our analysis highlighted differences in the distribution and prey availability for three humpback whale distinct population segments (DPSs) as defined under the US Endangered Species Act, including threatened and endangered DPSs that forage within the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. These linkages provide insights into which prey species whales may be targeting in different regions and across multiple scales and, consequently, how climatic variability and anthropogenic risks may differentially impact these distinct predator–prey assemblages. By identifying scale‐appropriate prey hotspots that co‐occur with humpback whale aggregations, and with targeted, consistent prey sampling and estimations of potential consumption rates by whales, these findings can help inform the conservation and management of humpback whales within an ecosystem‐based management framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal study explored changes in women's health after separation from an abusive partner by characterizing the trajectories of their mental health (depression and post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) and physical health (chronic pain) over a 4-year period. We examined how the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) affected these trajectories, controlling for selected baseline factors using 5 waves of data collected from a community sample of 309 English-speaking, Canadian women. IPV severity was measured using the Index of Spouse Abuse where women were asked to consider the entire period of their partner relationship up to present at wave 1 and to rate their IPV experiences in the previous 12 months at waves 2-5. Mental health was measured using established self-report measures of depression (CESD) and PTSD (Davidson Trauma Scale), while chronic pain was measured using the Chronic Pain Grade Scale. Trajectories were estimated using MLM techniques with severity of IPV and selected co-variates (time since separation, age, financial strain) included. Our results show that women's health improved significantly over time, although significant levels of depression, PTSD symptoms and disabling chronic pain remained at the end of wave 5. Regardless of time since separation, more severe IPV was associated with higher levels of depression, PTSD, and disabling chronic pain, with IPV having a stronger effect on these health outcomes over time, suggesting cumulative effects of IPV on health. The results of this study contribute to quantifying the continuing mental and physical health burdens experienced by women after separation from an abusive partner. Increased attention to the long-term effects of violence on women's health beyond the crisis of leaving is critically needed to strengthen health and social services and better support women's recovery and healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cetaceans spend most of their time below the surface of the sea, highlighting the importance of passive acoustic monitoring as a tool to facilitate understanding and mapping their year-round spatial and temporal distributions. To increase our limited knowledge of cetacean acoustic detection patterns for the east and west coasts of Gwaii Haanas, a remote protected area on Haida Gwaii, BC, Canada, acoustic datasets recorded off SG̱ang Gwaay (Sep 2009–May 2011), Gowgaia Slope (Jul 2017–Jul 2019), and Ramsay Island (Aug 2018–Aug 2019) were analyzed. Comparing overlapping periods of visual surveys and acoustic monitoring confirmed presence of 12 cetacean species/species groups within the study region. Seasonal patterns were identified for blue, fin, humpback, grey and sperm whale acoustic signals. Killer whale and delphinid acoustic signals occurred year-round on both coasts of Haida Gwaii and showed strong diel variation. Cuvier's, Baird's, beaked whale and porpoise clicks, were identified in high-frequency recordings on the west coast. Correlations between environmental factors, chlorophyll-a and sea surface temperature, and cetacean acoustic occurrence off Gwaii Haanas were also examined. This study is the first to acoustically monitor Gwaii Haanas waters for an extended continuous period and therefore serves as a baseline from which to monitor future changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The rate of infectious syphilis continues to increase among females in British Columbia (BC) and Canada, raising concerns of increased incidence of congenital syphilis. We characterized syphilis cases among females in BC to identify opportunities to prevent syphilis and optimize its care.Methods: All cases of infectious syphilis diagnosed in BC between March 13, 2018 and December 31, 2020 and reported as female gender were reviewed. Demographics, risk factors and concurrent conditions were collected from a provincial surveillance system. Subgroup analyses comparing cases with and without housing instability, substance use, mental illness and a recent sexually transmitted infection (STI) were conducted to understand differences between these subgroups. Statistical associations were calculated using chi-square or t-tests.Results: There were 226 reported cases of female infectious syphilis in BC during this period: 38 (16.8%) in 2018; 74 (32.7%) in 2019; and 114 (50.4%) in 2020. Mean age was 32 years (range 15-75 years). Of those who reported concurrent conditions, most cases had experiences with housing instability (71.1%), substance use (68.2%) and mental illness (83.9%), while 42.9% had a recent STI. Cases who reported housing instability or substance use were significantly more likely to have experiences with a recent STI, street involvement, transactional sex, mental illness and income assistance (all p<0.01).Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of fostering an enabling environment for syphilis care. Concurrent services to support individuals with syphilis as well as housing instability, substance use and mental illness, may help prevent syphilis and improve wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Availability of preferred salmonid prey and a sufficiently quiet acoustic environment in which to forage are critical to the survival of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the northeastern Pacific. Although piscivorous killer whales rely on echolocation to locate and track prey, the relationship between echolocation, movement, and prey capture during foraging by wild individuals is poorly understood. We used acoustic biologging tags to relate echolocation behavior to prey pursuit and capture during successful feeding dives by fish‐eating killer whales in coastal British Columbia, Canada. The significantly higher incidence and rate of echolocation prior to fish captures compared to afterward confirms its importance in prey detection and tracking. Extremely rapid click sequences (buzzes) were produced before or concurrent with captures of salmon at depths typically exceeding 50 m, and were likely used by killer whales for close‐range prey targeting, as in other odontocetes. Distinctive crunching and tearing sounds indicative of prey‐handling behavior occurred at relatively shallow depths following fish captures, matching concurrent observations that whales surfaced with fish prior to consumption and often shared prey. Buzzes and prey‐handling sounds are potentially useful acoustic signals for estimating foraging efficiency and determining if resident killer whales are meeting their energetic requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored Canadian employers' perspectives around the hiring of students who come from international pathways (SFIP) using Q Methodology. The research question was: "What are employer perceptions and practices regarding the hiring of students who come to Canadian (B.C.) post-secondary institutions via international educational pathways?" Four distinct worldviews emerged regarding employers' perspectives around the hiring SFIP: 1) Candidates' qualifications are key and diversity is a real asset, 2) International pathway students are difficult and just not a good workplace fit, 3) Candidates are hired based on who is deemed most likely to succeed in our organization, and 4) While philosophically committed to diversity, our hiring commitment remains with Canadians. All employers noted that English language and cultural competencies were critical requirements influencing their hiring decisions. This raises important implications for practitioners and institutions where SFIPs study and suggests that additional English language and intercultural supports are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students, faculty, and staff in postsecondary institutions around the world are engaging in conversations about decolonization and Indigenization. These conversations are also emerging in the context of work-integrated learning and experiential learning programs. This article presents the key findings of a research project investigating the impacts of an Indigenous international work-integrated learning (WIL) exchange between the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada) and three partner institutions in Australia. It introduces key concepts and insights from the literature about decolonizing and Indigenizing postsecondary education and links them to WIL. It describes the specific context at the University of Victoria out of which this programming emerges and the values that guided its creation. It presents the key findings of the research to date related both to Indigenous perspectives and the application of a Cultural Intelligence (Earley & Ang, 2003) framework. Finally, it offers some reflections on the implications of the findings for decolonizing WIL moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The depth to the lithosphere‐asthenopshere boundary (LAB) provides a strong control on the temperature and strength of the lithosphere and its susceptibility to tectonic deformation. We probe the nature of the LAB by deriving the depth and source of mantle‐xenolith bearing alkaline lavas aged 28 Ma to 8 ka in the Canadian Cordillera (CC). We document a striking coincidence of the average depth of equilibration of these lavas (65 ± 5 km) with the seismically observed LAB both in the CC and in western USA, and the change in H2O storage capacity at the spinel‐garnet transition of fertile peridotite under the geothermal gradient of hot thin back arc regions. The convergence of these factors show the LAB of hot back arcs is hygrometrically controlled at this phase boundary, limiting the H2O to <150 ppm in the mantle lithosphere. Intraplate regions with a shallower LAB require more H2O and/or less fertile lithosphere. Plain Language Summary: The surface of the earth is made of tectonic plates that vary in thickness and temperature, and governs how they deform under the forces of plate tectonics. The base of the plate is marked by a change in the speeds of seismic waves in the mantle indicates small amounts of melt below certain depths. We show a narrow depth range at which magmas stall en route to the surface beneath British Columbia and Yukon that correlates with the base of the plate in this region. In this and other continental margins, the depth to the base of the plate is controlled by the combined effects of a change in mineralogy and H2O storage capacity of mantle peridotite that determines whether or not melts are stable under a certain temperature. Key Points: Alkaline lavas in the Canadian Cordillera equilibrated at or below a lithosphere‐asthenosphere boundary (LAB) of 65 ± 5 km depthThe spinel‐garnet peridotite transition changes H2O storage capacity in fertile lithosphere to control the LAB depth in hot back arcsEquilibration depths of alkaline lavas constrain a maximum of ∼150 ppm H2O in mantle lithosphere at the LAB of most intraplate regions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species that migrate long distances or between distinct habitats— for example, anadromous or catadromous fish—experience the consequences of climate change in each habitat and are therefore particularly at risk in a changing world. Studies of anadromous species often focus on freshwater despite the ocean's disproportionate influence on survival and growth. To understand a prominent anadromous species' response to ocean climate, we use a new spatio‐temporal model jointly estimating the ocean distribution of all major fall‐run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, Salmonidae) stocks from California to British Columbia over 40 years. We model hundreds of millions of tagged individuals, finding that different stocks have fundamentally different ocean distributions, distinct associations with sea surface temperature (SST), and contrasting distributional responses to historical ocean SST variation. We show species‐level estimates of ocean distribution that ignore among‐stock variation will lead to errant predictions of spatial distribution. Using future (2030–2090) SST projections to model focal stocks of fisheries importance we predict substantial ocean redistribution in response to SST change. Predicted aggregate distributional changes do not follow a simple, poleward shift. Instead, we predict net movement into some ocean regions (British Columbia, central California) but net movement out of others (northern California, Washington). Distribution shifts have implications for both major fisheries and marine mammal predators of Chinook salmon. We focus on the consequences of spatial changes in ocean distribution, but our approach provides a general structure to link marine and freshwater components of anadromous species under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peripheral populations are often characterized by small population size and low genetic diversity, with many at risk of extirpation. These characteristics may be even more pronounced in human-modified landscapes that further reduce the resiliency of populations to environmental change. Situated at the northwestern edge of the species' range, the western American badger (Taxidea taxus jeffersonii) is an endangered mammal in Canada, where it inhabits the interior grassland and open forest ecosystems of British Columbia (BC) and continues to be threatened by severe vehicle-induced mortality rates and other anthropogenic factors. Here, we collected mitochondrial DNA haplotypic and microsatellite genotypic data to investigate the extent and distribution of American badger genetic variation within and among sites in British Columbia, and relative to adjacent populations in the USA, including in Washington state. From these data, we reconstructed population structure and connectivity, and examined current designatable unit status. Patterns of genetic variation for American badgers in British Columbia were as expected for peripheral populations, including reduced genetic diversity, increased population differentiation, and evidence of demographic contraction. Furthermore, we found limited connectivity between regional populations in our study area and identified significant substructure isolating the most northwestern sampling unit (Cariboo), findings that starkly contrast with the high levels of gene flow observed between populations across the species' range core. These results have important implications for current designatable unit status for western American badgers in British Columbia and emphasize the need for further population monitoring and mitigation of potential barriers to gene flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In salmonid parentage‐based tagging (PBT) applications, entire hatchery broodstocks are genotyped, and subsequently, progeny can be nonlethally sampled and assigned back to their parents using parentage analysis, thus identifying their hatchery of origin and brood year (i.e., age). Inter‐ and intrapopulation variability in migration patterns, life history traits, and fishery contributions can be determined from PBT analysis of samples derived from both fisheries and escapements (portion of a salmon population that does not get caught in fisheries and returns to its natal river to spawn). In the current study of southern British Columbia coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) populations, PBT analysis provided novel information on intrapopulation heterogeneity among males in the total number of progeny identified in fisheries and escapements, the proportion of progeny sampled from fisheries versus escapement, the proportion of two‐year‐old progeny (jacks) produced, and the within‐season return time of progeny. Fishery recoveries of coho salmon revealed heterogeneity in migration patterns among and within populations, with recoveries from north and central coast fisheries distinguishing "northern migrating" from "resident" populations. In northern migrating populations, the mean distance between fishery captures of sibs (brothers and sisters) was significantly less than the mean distance between nonsibs, indicating the possible presence of intrapopulation genetic heterogeneity for migration pattern. Variation among populations in productivity and within populations in fish catchability indicated that population selection and broodstock management can be implemented to optimize harvest benefits from hatcheries. Application of PBT provided valuable information for assessment and management of hatchery‐origin coho salmon in British Columbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to concerns that novel infectious agents were introduced through the movement of eggs as Atlantic salmon aquaculture developed in British Columbia (BC), Canada, we estimated the prevalence of infectious agents in archived return‐migrating Sockeye salmon, from before and during aquaculture expansion in BC (1985–94). Of 45 infectious agents assessed through molecular assays in 652 samples, 23 (7 bacterial, 2 viral and 14 parasitic) were detected in liver tissue from six regions in BC. Prevalence ranged from 0.005 to 0.83 and varied significantly by region and year. Agent diversity ranged from 0 to 12 per fish (median 4), with the lowest diversity observed in fish from the Trans‐Boundary and Central Coast regions. Agents known to be endemic in Sockeye salmon in BC, including Flavobacterium psychrophilum, Infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus, Ceratonova shasta and Parvicapsula minibicornis, were commonly observed. Others, such as Kudoa thyrsites and Piscirikettsia salmonis, were also detected. Surprisingly, infectious agents described only recently in BC salmon, Ca. Branchiomonas cysticola, Parvicapsula pseudobranchicola and Paranucleospora theridion, were also detected, indicating their potential presence prior to the expansion of the aquaculture industry. In general, our data suggest that agent distributions may not have substantially changed because of the salmon aquaculture industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measured health-related quality of life (HRQOL) using the SF-12 among women living with HIV (WLWH) in Canada between August 2013 and May 2015. We investigated differences by perceived receipt of women-centered HIV care (WCHC), assessed using an evidence-based definition with a 5-point Likert item: “Overall, I think that the care I have received from my HIV clinic in the last year has been women-centered” (dichotomized into agree vs. disagree/neutral). Of 1308 participants, 26.3 percent were from British Columbia, 48.2 percent from Ontario, and 25.5 percent from Québec. The median age was 43 years (interquartile range = 36-51). Most (42.2 percent) were White, 29.4 percent African/Caribbean/Black, and 21.0 percent Indigenous. Overall, 53.4 percent perceived having received WCHC. Mean physical and mental HRQOL scores were 43.8 (standard deviation [SD] = 14.4) and 41.7 (SD = 14.2), respectively. Women perceiving having received WCHC had higher mean physical (44.7; SD = 14.0) and mental (43.7; SD = 14.1) HRQOL scores than those not perceiving having received WCHC (42.9; SD = 14.8 and 39.5; SD = 14.0, respectively; p < .001). In multivariable linear regression, perceived WCHC was associated with higher mental (β = 3.48; 95 percent confidence interval: 1.90, 5.06) but not physical HRQOL. Improving HRQOL among Canadian WLWH, which was lower than general population estimates, is needed, including examining the potential of WCHC as an effective model of clinical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rationale: A diagnosis of asthma is considered an independent risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, little is known about health service use patterns in patients with COPD who have a history of asthma in comparison with those without such a history, especially regarding comorbid conditions.Objectives: To estimate the excess costs of COPD in patients with a history of asthma (COPD+asthma) versus those with COPD without such a history (COPD-only); to estimate excess costs attributable to inpatient care, outpatient care, medications, and community care; and to estimate excess costs attributable to comorbid conditions.Methods: We used vital statistics, inpatient and outpatient encounters, filled prescription records, and community care data of patients in British Columbia, Canada, from 1997 to 2012 to create propensity score-matched COPD+asthma and COPD-only cohorts. We calculated and compared the excess medical costs (in 2012 Canadian dollars [$]) between the two groups on the basis of billing information. Comorbidities were ascertained from the inpatient and outpatient records and were classified on the basis of major categories of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision.Measurements and Main Results: The final sample consisted of 22,565 individuals within each group (mean age at baseline, 67.9 yr; 57.0% female; average follow-up, 4.07 yr). Excess costs of COPD+asthma were $540.7 per patient-year (PY) (95% confidence interval [CI], $301.7-$779.8; P < 0.001). Costs of medications ($657.9/PY; P < 0.001) and outpatient services ($127.6/PY; P < 0.001) were higher in COPD+asthma, but costs of hospitalizations were lower (-$271.0/PY; P = 0.002). Community care costs in the two groups were similar (P = 0.257). The excess cost of respiratory-related conditions was $856.2/PY (P < 0.001), with $552.6/PY being due to respiratory-related medications (P < 0.001); costs of all other conditions combined were lower in COPD+asthma, mainly due to lower costs of cardiovascular diseases (-$201.8/PY; P < 0.001).Conclusions: Patients with COPD with a previous history of asthma consume more health care resources than those with COPD alone, but there are important differences in cost components and costs attributable to comorbid conditions. Further research is required to examine whether the lower costs of cardiovascular disease in these patients is due to lower levels of related risk factors or to intrinsic differences in COPD phenotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using baseline data from a survey of 309 Canadian women recently separated from an abusive partner, we investigated patterns of access to health, social, legal, and violence-specific services and whether abuse history and social and health variables predict service use. We compared rates of service use to population rates, and used logistic regression to identify determinants of use. Service use rates were substantially higher than population estimates in every category, particularly in general and mental health sectors. Although women were confident in their ability to access services, they reported substantial unmet need, difficulty accessing services, and multiple barriers. The strongest unique predictors of use varied across service type. Health variables (high disability chronic pain, symptoms of depression and PTSD), low income, and mothering were the most consistent predictors. Service providers and policy makers must account for social location, abuse history, and health status of Intimate Violence (IPV) survivors. Strategies to enhance access to primary health care services, and to create a system of more integrated, accessible services, are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this sequential, two-phase mixed-methods study was to examine the health of male and female nurses who provided care to older relatives (i.e., double duty caregivers). We explored the experiences of 32 double duty caregivers, which led to the development of an emergent grounded theory, Negotiating Professional–Familial Care Boundaries with two broad dialectical processes: professionalizing familial care and striving for balance. This article examines striving for balance, which is the process that responds to familial care expectations in the midst of available resources and reflects the health experiences of double duty caregivers. Two subprocesses of striving for balance, reaping the benefits and taking a toll, are presented in three composite vignettes, each representing specific double duty caregiving (DDC) prototypes (making it work, working to manage, living on the edge). This emergent theory extends current thinking of family caregiving that will inform the development and refinement of practices and policies relevant to DDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Okanagan Centre section is the stratotype for marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 4 sediments (Okanagan Centre Drift) in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Previous work suggested that these sediments record two glacial and two interglacial cycles. This study reports on detailed sedimentological and geochronological investigations of lithostratigraphic units comprising the Okanagan Centre sequence, revealing successive deposition of subaqueous and subaerial outwash, a subglacial till and glaciolacustrine sediments during MIS 4. A limiting optical age of 113 ± 8 ka defines the base of this sequence. Sedimentological, paleopedological, optical dating and tephrochronological data from sediments near the middle of the sequence reveal soil development (MIS 3) in eolian sediments deposited on a river terrace overlying a deglaciated surface. Within these sediments, identification of Mt. St. Helens set C tephra suggest sedimentation between 50 and 35k 14C a BP. Optical dating corroborates the tephrochronology and suggests that this surface formed after ∼52 ± 7 ka. The record of MIS 2 glaciation is restricted to deglaciation, and overlies MIS 3 sediments above an unconformity possibly related to regional subglacial meltwater erosion. Eolian sediments containing Mt Mazama set O tephra (∼7.62k cal a BP) cap the sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Killer whales in British Columbia are at risk, and little is known about their winter distribution. Passive acoustic monitoring of their year-round habitat is a valuable supplemental method to traditional visual and photographic surveys. However, long-term acoustic studies of odontocetes have some limitations, including the generation of large amounts of data that require highly time-consuming processing. There is a need to develop tools and protocols to maximize the efficiency of such studies. Here, two types of analysis, real-time and long term spectral averages, were compared to assess their performance at detecting killer whale calls in long-term acoustic recordings. In addition, two different duty cycles, 1/3 and 2/3, were tested. Both the use of long term spectral averages and a lower duty cycle resulted in a decrease in call detection and positive pod identification, leading to underestimations of the amount of time the whales were present. The impact of these limitations should be considered in future killer whale acoustic surveys. A compromise between a lower resolution data processing method and a higher duty cycle is suggested for maximum methodological efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation management of wild fish may include fish health management in sympatric populations of domesticated fish in aquaculture. We developed a mathematical model for the population dynamics of parasitic sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) on domesticated populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the Broughton Archipelago region of British Columbia. The model was fit to a seven-year dataset of monthly sea louse counts on farms in the area to estimate population growth rates in relation to abiotic factors (temperature and salinity), local host density (measured as cohort surface area), and the use of a parasiticide, emamectin benzoate, on farms. We then used the model to evaluate management scenarios in relation to policy guidelines that seek to keep motile louse abundance below an average three per farmed salmon during the March–June juvenile wild Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) migration. Abiotic factors mediated the duration of effectiveness of parasiticide treatments, and results suggest treatment of farmed salmon conducted in January or early February minimized average louse abundance per farmed salmon during the juvenile wild salmon migration. Adapting the management of parasites on farmed salmon according to migrations of wild salmon may therefore provide a precautionary approach to conserving wild salmon populations in salmon farming regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological risks of salmon aquaculture have motivated changes to management and policy designed to protect wild salmon populations and habitats in several countries. In Canada, much attention has focused on outbreaks of parasitic copepods, sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis), on farmed and wild salmon in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia. Several recent studies have reached contradictory conclusions on whether the spread of lice from salmon farms affects the productivity of sympatric wild salmon populations. We analyzed recently available sea lice data on farms and spawner-recruit data for pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) salmon populations in the Broughton Archipelago and nearby regions where farms are not present. Our results show that sea lice abundance on farms is negatively associated with productivity of both pink and coho salmon in the Broughton Archipelago. These results reconcile the contradictory findings of previous studies and suggest that management and policy measures designed to protect wild salmon from sea lice should yield conservation and fishery benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Developing and maintaining clinician expertise in specialized rehabilitation practice areas can be challenging, and requires effective education and learning strategies. To widen the scope of this series, this article looks at education and learning models, how to develop and assess them, and their value in practice. This article provides an example relevant to any specialized learning. Content: The authors use the example of paediatric feeding and swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) to describe the evaluation and exploration of the education and learning models at two paediatric agencies in British Columbia, Canada. These models are designed to support occupational therapists and speech language pathologists in developing expertise for performing videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS), a component of a comprehensive paediatric dysphagia evaluation. Clinicians involved in providing specialized paediatric dysphagia services, including VFSS, were engaged in this study through a participatory action research approach. Data on current education and learning models and clinicians' experiences were collected through questionnaires and a focus group. Results identified three interconnected themes: 'dynamic and interactive learning is necessary to reflect the complex and changing practice environment'; 'supports and resources provide infrastructure to enhance learning'; and 'personal characteristics influence learning.' Conclusions: Findings from this preliminary participatory action research study suggest that education and learning models to facilitate the development of clinician expertise in paediatric VFSS should consider employing a multi-faceted approach in which the necessary supports, resources and interactive learning environments are available for both new and experienced clinicians. INSET: KEY POINTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the research study on the occurrence of sea lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis to wild salmon in the fish farms in British Columbia. It says that the only product available to treat sea lice is SLICE®, an oral formulation of emamectin benzoate, by Intervet Schering-Plough Animal Health. However, it notes that there are reports on its reduced efficacy when used in fish farms, which is an evidence that there is a genetic difference between Atlantic and Pacific L. salmonis.

In this article, we respond to concerns raised by Brooks and Jones (2008) about recent advances in sea lice and salmon population dynamics in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia. We show that the assessment by Brooks and Jones (2008) is thoroughly mistaken and that their conclusions are based on a combination of obfuscation, misrepresentation, and fundamental misunderstandings. The extinction hypothesis is not actually a hypothesis at all, but rather an inevitable consequence of sustained population decline. Local extinction of Broughton Archipelago pink salmon can be prevented if population declines are turned around, and the data and models suggest this can be achieved if the infestations are stopped. We have organized our responses in an itemized manner according to the headings and subheadings in Brooks and Jones (2008). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a Ricker (1975) model and escapement data for a subset of Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia watersheds, Krkosek et al. (2007a) predicted that sea lice infections originating on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farms will cause the extinction of pink salmon(Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in the archipelago by 2010. The purpose of this article is to examine this issue in the context of all of the escapement data available for the archipelago and to review additional scientific reports and information not discussed by Krkosek et al. (2007a). Additional research during the last five years is not consistent with the Krkosek et al. (2007a) conclusion that sea lice routinely cause in excess of 80% mortality of fry. Rather, the literature reviewed herein indicates that pink salmon fry mount an effective immune response at sizes as small as 0.7 g, resulting in the rapid shedding of lice within two weeks. Pink salmon returns are shown to be highly variable throughout the Northeast Pacific in areas without salmon farms. Following periods of high abundance, pink salmon populations typically fall to low levels, and they may remain depressed for several generations. However, in most cases, the populations then gradually increase to begin the cycle anew. An examination of returns to all of the documented Broughton Archipelago watersheds indicates that following exceptionally high returns in 2000 and 2001, the populations declined to very low numbers in 2002 and 2003. Contrary to the conclusions reached by Krkosek et al. (2007a), Broughton pink salmon returns have steadily increased since then, with no indication that they are threatened with extinction. Other unsubstantiated assumptions used in Krkosek et al. (2007a) are also discussed in light of additional scientific reports and theoretical considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Whale displacement by acoustic “pollution” has been difficult to document, even in cases where it is strongly suspected, because noise effects can rarely be separated from other stimuli. Two independent studies on the natural history of killer whales (Orcinus orca) monitored frequency of whale occurrence from January 1985 through December 2000 in two adjacent areas: Johnstone Strait and the Broughton Archipelago. Four high-amplitude, acoustic harassment devices (AHDs) were installed throughout 1993 on already existing salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago, in attempts to deter predation on fish pens by harbour seals (Phoca vitulina Linnaeus). While whale occurrence was relatively stable in both areas until 1993, it then increased slightly in the Johnstone Strait area and declined significantly in the Broughton Archipelago while AHDs were in use. Both mammal-eating and fish-eating killer whales were similarly impacted. Acoustic harassment ended in the Broughton Archipelago in May 1999 and whale occurrence re-established to baseline levels. This study concludes that whale displacement resulted from the deliberate introduction of noise into their environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article presents abstracts of papers to be presented at the 36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research to be held October 16-20, 1996 in Vancouver, British Columbia. A paper presented recently at a meeting of the American Lung Association reported that women who quit smoking and remained "smoke free" regained significant breathing capacity, supporting the clinical observations that some tobacco-related damage to lung tissue is reversible. There is growing body of literature identifying racism as a stressor eliciting acute changes in cardiovascular functioning in the laboratory.