Pennsylvania coordinated specialty care programs for first-episode psychosis: 6- and 12-month outcomes.

Aim: Pennsylvania (PA) first-episode psychosis (FEP) program evaluation is a statewide initiative, supported by the PA Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (PA-OMHSAS) and administered by PA Early Intervention Center/Heads Up, which evaluates fidelity and outcomes of PA Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) programs. Programs participate in standard computerized measures of CSC outcomes using centralized informatics. The aims of the current report are to describe implementation of this core battery for program evaluation in PA and to present 6- and 12-month outcomes.

Effects of agricultural intensification on nestling condition and number of young fledged of barn swallows (Hirundo rustica).

Farmland bird populations have declined with increasing agricultural intensification possibly due to putative reductions in prey insects and effects of pesticide exposure. Presence of agriculture may be especially relevant for aerial insectivorous songbirds whose primary diet is flying insects. Here, we investigated the effects of agricultural land use on nestling body condition, an important determinant of post-fledging survival, for barn swallows (Hirundo rustica), an aerial insectivore breeding within an agro-ecosystem in southern Ontario, Canada.

A Continent-Wide Migratory Divide in North American Breeding Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica).

Populations of most North American aerial insectivores have undergone steep population declines over the past 40 years but the relative importance of factors operating on breeding, wintering, or stopover sites remains unknown. We used archival light-level geolocators to track the phenology, movements and winter locations of barn swallows (Hirdundo rustica; n = 27) from populations across North America to determine their migratory connectivity. We identified an east-west continental migratory divide for barn swallows with birds from western regions (Washington State, USA (n = 8) and Saskatchewan, Canada (n = 5)) traveling shorter distances to wintering areas ranging from Oregon to northern Colombia than eastern populations (Ontario (n = 3) and New Brunswick (n = 10), Canada) which wintered in South America south of the Amazon basin.