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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (7 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
Parks Stewardship Forum, Volume 37, Issue 2 (2021)

Evidence suggests that exposure to nature and natural stimuli benefits individual and community-level mental health, leading to new efforts to incorporate mental health benefits into land conservation design, policy, and programming. This article summarizes the existing evidence about nature exposure and mental health and presents findings from a six-month knowledge-generation exercise conducted through the Yale School of the Environment to identify best practices and potential programmatic activities for the parks and land management sector to support youth mental health through nature-based, outdoor programming. Key recommendations include details on: (1) starting conversations about mental health and nature within the community, (2) recognizing organizational limitations and pursuing partnerships, (3) engaging communities in program development, (4) providing welcoming spaces to build participant comfort, and (5) creating programming that is flexible and adaptable, and becomes more challenging over time. Potential nature-based pilot activities include: (1) low-input ideas for short-term programming, one-off events, or reconfiguration of messaging materials, staff training, and the composition of the organization’s board of directors; (2) medium-input ideas for partnering with outside organizations to connect existing user groups to preserved lands and expand activity offerings; and (3) high-input ideas for generating new programs, typically with organizational partners. The land conservation and parks stewardship sector has a unique opportunity to provide mental health benefits to the communities in which it operates, potentially raising the profile of conserved lands as important and beneficial for society.

    Cover page: Nature as a mental health intervention: State of the science and programmatic possibilities for the conservation communityCreative Commons 'BY-NC' version 4.0 license
    • Thesis
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC San Francisco Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2024)

    Glycoproteomics is a rapidly developing field, and data analysis has been stimulated by several technological innovations. As a result, there are many software tools from which to choose; and each comes with unique features that can be difficult to compare. This work presents a head-to-head comparison of five modern analytical software: Byonic, Protein Prospector, MSFraggerGlyco, pGlyco3, and GlycoDecipher. To enable a meaningful comparison, parameter variables were minimized. One potential confounding variable is the glycan database that informs glycoproteomic searches. We performed glycomic profiling of the samples and used the output to construct matched glycan databases for each software. Up to 19,000 glycopeptide spectra were identified across three replicates of wild-type SH-SY5Y cells. There was substantial overlap among most software for glycoproteins identified, locations of glycosites, and glycans, although Byonic reported a suspiciously large number of glycoproteins and glycosites of questionable reliability. We show that Protein Prospector identified the most glycopeptide spectrum matches with high agreement to known glycosites in UniProt. Overall, our results indicate that glycoproteomic searches should involve more than one software to generate confidence. It may be useful to consider software with peptide-first approaches and with glycan-first approaches.

    • 1 supplemental ZIP
    Cover page: Comparative Analysis of Glycoproteomic Software Using a Tailored Glycan Database
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2020)
    While there is evidence that parks support pediatric health, there have been no national studies looking at both physical and mental health. We assessed whether the presence of a neighborhood park is associated with pediatric physical or mental health across the U.S. using a nationally representative cross-sectional random sample of American children ages 0-17. Caregivers reported on the park presence in their child's neighborhood and the child's physical activity, screen-time, sleep, weight, and diagnosis of anxiety, depression, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Covariates included child and family sociodemographics and, for 29 states, neighborhood urbanicity. Caregivers reported on 49,146 children (mean age 9.4 years; 49% female). There were 11,791 (24%) children living in neighborhoods lacking a park; children in non-urban locations (aOR 2.19, 95% CI 1.40-1.67) or below the federal poverty level (aOR = 1.48, 95%CI 1.38-1.58) had higher odds of lacking a park. Irrespective of sociodemographics, children lacking parks were more likely to be physically inactive (aOR1.36, 95% CI 1.24, 1.48), have excessive screen-time (aOR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.14, 1.25), or obtain inadequate sleep (aOR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.18, 1.29). Children without parks were more likely obese (aOR = 1.32, 95% CI 1.21, 1.43), overweight (aOR 1.25, 95%CI 1.17, 1.33), or diagnosed with ADHD (aOR 1.20, 95% CI 1.12, 1.29), but not more anxious or depressed (aOR = 1.04, 95%CI 0.97, 1.11). Associations between parks and pediatric physical and mental health suggests that the provision of neighborhood parks could represent a low-cost childhood health intervention.
      Cover page: Association of neighborhood parks with child health in the United States
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2019)
      Air pollution is a worldwide environmental health issue. Increasingly, reports suggest that poor air quality may be associated with mental health problems, but these studies often use global measures and rarely focus on early development when psychopathology commonly emerges. To address this, we combined high-resolution air pollution exposure estimates and prospectively-collected phenotypic data to explore concurrent and longitudinal associations between air pollutants of major concern in urban areas and mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Exploratory analyses were conducted on 284 London-based children from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study. Exposure to annualized PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations was estimated at address-level when children were aged 12. Symptoms of anxiety, depression, conduct disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were assessed at ages 12 and 18. Psychiatric diagnoses were ascertained from interviews with the participants at age 18. We found no associations between age-12 pollution exposure and concurrent mental health problems. However, age-12 pollution estimates were significantly associated with increased odds of major depressive disorder at age 18, even after controlling for common risk factors. This study demonstrates the potential utility of incorporating high-resolution pollution estimates into large epidemiological cohorts to robustly investigate associations between air pollution and youth mental health.
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2022)

        Background

        To date, health-effects research on environmental stressors has rarely focused on behavioral and mental health outcomes. That lack of research is beginning to change. Science and policy experts in the environmental and behavioral health sciences are coming together to explore converging evidence on the relationship-harmful or beneficial-between environmental factors and mental health.

        Objectives

        To organize evidence and catalyze new findings, the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) hosted a workshop 2-3 February 2021 on the interplay of environmental exposures and mental health outcomes.

        Methods

        This commentary provides a nonsystematic, expert-guided conceptual review and interdisciplinary perspective on the convergence of environmental and mental health, drawing from hypotheses, findings, and research gaps presented and discussed at the workshop. Featured is an overview of what is known about the intersection of the environment and mental health, focusing on the effects of neurotoxic pollutants, threats related to climate change, and the importance of health promoting environments, such as urban green spaces.

        Discussion

        We describe what can be gained by bridging environmental and psychological research disciplines and present a synthesis of what is needed to advance interdisciplinary investigations. We also consider the implications of the current evidence for a) foundational knowledge of the etiology of mental health and illness, b) toxicant policy and regulation, c) definitions of climate adaptation and community resilience, d) interventions targeting marginalized communities, and e) the future of research training and funding. We include a call to action for environmental and mental health researchers, focusing on the environmental contributions to mental health to unlock primary prevention strategies at the population level and open equitable paths for preventing mental disorders and achieving optimal mental health for all. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP9889.
          Cover page: The Interplay of Environmental Exposures and Mental Health: Setting an Agenda
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Davis Previously Published Works (2024)
          While many studies have found positive correlations between greenness and human health, rural Central Appalachia is an exception. The region has high greenness levels but poor health. The purpose of this commentary is to provide a possible explanation for this paradox: three sets of factors overwhelming or attenuating the health benefits of greenness. These include environmental (e.g., steep typography and limited access to green space used for outdoor recreation), social (e.g., chronic poverty, declining coal industry, and limited access to healthcare), and psychological and behavioral factors (e.g., perceptions about health behaviors, healthcare, and greenness). The influence of these factors on the expected health benefits of greenness should be considered as working hypotheses for future research. Policymakers and public health officials need to ensure that greenness-based interventions account for contextual factors and other determinants of health to ensure these interventions have the expected health benefits.
            Cover page: The paradox of high greenness and poor health in rural Central Appalachia.
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)

            Background and hypothesis

            Children exposed to socioenvironmental adversities (eg, urbanicity, pollution, neighborhood deprivation, crime, and family disadvantage) are more likely to subsequently develop subclinical psychotic experiences during adolescence (eg, hearing voices, paranoia). However, the pathways through which this occurs have not been previously investigated. We hypothesized that cognitive ability and inflammation would partly explain this association.

            Study design

            Data were utilized from the Environmental-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a cohort of 2232 children born in 1994-1995 in England and Wales and followed to age 18. Socioenvironmental adversities were measured from birth to age 10 and classified into physical risk (defined by high urbanicity and air pollution) and socioeconomic risk (defined by high neighborhood deprivation, neighborhood disorder, and family disadvantage). Cognitive abilities (overall, crystallized, fluid, and working memory) were assessed at age 12; and inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor) were measured at age 18 from blood samples. Participants were interviewed at age 18 regarding psychotic experiences.

            Study results

            Higher physical risk and socioeconomic risk were associated with increased odds of psychotic experiences in adolescence. The largest mediation pathways were from socioeconomic risk via overall cognitive ability and crystallized ability, which accounted for ~11% and ~19% of the association with psychotic experiences, respectively. No statistically significant pathways were found via inflammatory markers in exploratory (partially cross-sectional) analyses.

            Conclusions

            Cognitive ability, especially crystallized ability, may partly explain the association between childhood socioenvironmental adversity and adolescent psychotic experiences. Interventions to support cognitive development among children living in disadvantaged settings could buffer them against developing subclinical psychotic phenomena.
              Cover page: Socioenvironmental Adversity and Adolescent Psychotic Experiences: Exploring Potential Mechanisms in a UK Longitudinal Cohort
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