The overlap of renewable wind energy with the range of lesser prairie‐chickens Tympanuchus pallidicinctus raises concern of population declines and habitat loss. Lesser prairie‐chickens are adversely affected by landscape change; however, it is unclear how this species may respond to wind energy development. Therefore, managers and wind energy developers are currently tasked with making management or siting recommendations of future wind energy facilities based on lesser prairie‐chicken behavioral responses to other forms of anthropogenic development or responses of other grouse species to wind energy development. The current strategy of siting wind turbines in cultivated cropland within lesser prairie‐chicken range has not been evaluated for its effectiveness at minimizing potential adverse impacts. We captured 60 female and 66 male lesser prairie‐chickens from leks located along a gradient from wind turbines in southern Kansas, USA from 2017–2021. Over the study period, we collected lesser prairie‐chicken location data and demographic information to evaluate resource selection, movement, and demography relative to environmental predictors and metrics associated with the wind energy facility. Lesser prairie‐chickens used habitats in close proximity to wind turbines, provided that turbine density was low; however, avoidance associated with cultivated cropland appeared to be more predictive than the presence of wind turbines. We observed movement between turbines suggesting that wind turbines did not act as a barrier to local movements. We did not detect an influence of wind turbines on nest success or individual survival during breeding or non‐breeding periods, a relationship that is consistent among multiple grouse species using habitats near wind energy infrastructure. Additional research is necessary to evaluate impacts associated with wind energy development in intact lesser prairie‐chicken habitats, but placing wind turbines in cultivated croplands or other fragmented landscapes appears to be an important siting measure when considering wind energy facility siting across the lesser prairie‐chicken range.
data from Ontario, Canada. Patients who were discharged home from an ED in Ontario with a primary diagnosis of chest pain from April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2010 were included. High-risk patients were defined as the presence of diabetes or pre-existing cardiovascular disease, while low-risk patients were defined as the absence of these conditions. ED volume was categorized as low, medium, or high, based on tertiles of annual chest pain patient volume. The primary outcome of this study was all-cause mortality one year after the index ED visit. Mantel-Haenszel Chi-Square was used to compare crude outcome rates. Results: There were 56,767 high-risk patients. The average age was 66 years and 53% were male. All-cause mortality rates were 6.8%, 6.3%, and 6.0% (p = 0.028), and rates of hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome were 5.8%, 4.6%, and 4.0% (p < 0.001) among low, medium, and high volume EDs respectively. There were 216,527 low-risk patients. The average age was 64 years and 42% were male. All-cause mortality rates were 2.0%, 1.9%, and 1.6% (p < 0.001), and rates of hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome were 1.5%, 1.4%, and 1.0% (p < 0.001) among low, medium, and high volume EDs respectively. Conclusion: Higher volume EDs were associated with decreased rates of all-cause mortality and admission for acute coronary syndrome among chest pain patients who were discharged home. Future research should study the reasons for this finding and attempt to improve outcomes in lower volume EDs.
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