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DuBose, J. R., & Hadi, K. (2016). Improving inpatient environments to support patient sleep. Int J Qual Health Care, 28(5), 540–553.
Abstract: PURPOSE: Although sleep is important for healing, sleep deprivation is a major concern for patients in hospitals. The purpose of this review is to consolidate the observational and interventional studies that have been done to understand exogenous, non-pharmacological strategies for improving sleep in hospitals. DATA SOURCES: We searched Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO and the Web of Science databases for peer-reviewed articles published between 1970 and 2015 in English. STUDY SELECTION: A title review of 13,113 articles from four databases resulted in 783 articles that were further culled to 277 based on a review of the abstracts. The net result after reading the articles and a hand search was 42 articles. DATA EXTRACTION: From each article we recorded the independent variables, methods used for measuring sleep and specific sleep outcomes reported. RESULTS OF DATA SYNTHESIS: Noise is a modifiable cause of some sleep disruptions in hospitals, and when reduced can lead to more sleep. Earplugs and eye masks may help, but changing the sound and light environment is more effective. Calming music in the evening has been shown to be effective as well as daytime bright light exposure. Nursing care activities cause sleep disruption, but efforts at limiting interventions have not been demonstrated to improve sleep conditions. CONCLUSION: The research is hard to consolidate due to the multitude of independent variables and outcome metrics, but overall points to the potential for making meaningful improvements in the quality of patient sleep.
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Sharma, R. C., Tateishi, R., Hara, K., Gharechelou, S., & Iizuka, K. (2016). Global mapping of urban built-up areas of year 2014 by combining MODIS multispectral data with VIIRS nighttime light data. International Journal of Digital Earth, , 1–17.
Abstract: An improved methodology for the extraction and mapping of urban built-up areas at a global scale is presented in this study. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based multispectral data were combined with the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)-based nighttime light (NTL) data for robust extraction and mapping of urban built-up areas. The MODIS-based newly proposed Urban Built-up Index (UBI) was combined with NTL data, and the resulting Enhanced UBI (EUBI) was used as a single master image for global extraction of urban built-up areas. Due to higher variation of the EUBI with respect to geographical regions, a region-specific threshold approach was used to extract urban built-up areas. This research provided 500-m-resolution global urban built-up map of year 2014. The resulted map was compared with three existing moderate-resolution global maps and one high-resolution map in the United States. The comparative analysis demonstrated finer details of the urban built-up cover estimated by the resultant map.
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Rybnikova, N. A., Haim, A., & Portnov, B. A. (2016). Does artificial light-at-night exposure contribute to the worldwide obesity pandemic? Int J Obes (Lond), 40(5), 815–824.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Worldwide overweight and obesity rates are on the rise, with about 1 900 billion adults being defined as overweight and about 600 million adults being defined as obese by the World Health Organization (WHO). Increasing exposure to artificial light-at-night (ALAN) may influence body mass, by suppression of melatonin production and disruption of daily rhythms, resulting in physiological or behavioral changes in the human body, and may thus become a driving force behind worldwide overweight and obesity pandemic. METHODS: We analyzed most recent satellite images of night time illumination, available from the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), combining them with country-level data on female and male overweight and obesity prevalence rates, reported by the WHO. The study aims to identify and measure the strength of association between ALAN and country-wide overweight and obesity rates, controlling for per capita GDP, level of urbanization, birth rate, food consumption and regional differences. RESULTS: ALAN emerged as a statistically significant and positive predictor of overweight and obesity (t>1.97; P<0.05), helping to explain, together with other factors, about 70% of the observed variation of overweight and obesity prevalence rates among females and males in more than 80 countries worldwide. Regional differences in the strength of association between ALAN and excessive body mass are also noted. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first population-level study that confirms the results of laboratory research and cohort studies in which ALAN was found to be a contributing factor to excessive body mass in humans.International Journal of Obesity advance online publication, 23 February 2016; doi:10.1038/ijo.2015.255.
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Rybnikova, N. A., & Portnov, B. A. (2016). Outdoor light and breast cancer incidence: a comparative analysis of DMSP and VIIRS-DNB satellite data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 38(21), 5952–5961.
Abstract: Several population-level studies explored the association between breast cancer (BC) incidence and artificial light-at-night (ALAN), and found higher BC rates in more lit areas. Most of these studies used ALAN satellite data, available from the United States Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (US-DMSP), while, in recent years, higher-resolution ALAN data sources, such as Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day-Night Band (VIIRS-DNB), have become available. The present study aims to determine whether the use of different ALAN data sources may affect the BC–ALAN association. As the test case, we use data on BC incidence rates in women residing in the Greater Haifa Metropolitan Area (GHMA; Israel), matching them with US-DMSP and VIIRS-DNB data on ALAN intensities, and controlling for several potential confounders, including age, fertility, and socio-economic status (SES). Both ordinary least squares (OLS) and spatial dependency models were used in the analysis. ALAN emerged as a stronger predictor of BC rates in models based on better-resolution VIIRS-DNB estimates (t > 6.035; p < 0.01) than in models based on coarser US-DMSP data (t < 4.196; p < 0.01).
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Barentine, J. C. (2016). Going for the Gold : Quantifying and Ranking Visual Night Sky Quality in International Dark Sky Places. IJSL, 18, 9–15.
Abstract: Since the invention of electric lighting in the nineteenth century, the steadily increasing use of artificial light at night in outdoor spaces has grown to threaten the integrity of dark night skies and nocturnal terrestrial spaces. The conservation community has gradually come to accept the need to protect natural nighttime darkness, which finds expression in dark sky parks and similar protected areas. As these places begin to reap tangible economic benefits in the form of sustainable ‘astrotourism,’ the movement to actively protect them gains strength. The International Dark-Sky Association designates Dark Sky Parks and Reserves under a comparative ranking scheme that assigns night sky quality tiers according to a combination of objective and subjective characteristics, but shortcomings in the consistency of these ratings exist that undermine the consistency and reputation of the designation program. Here we consider potential changes to the qualification regime to make the ratings system more robust for the benefit of future designations.
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