SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISTRIBUTION OF DRACUNCULUS MEDINENSIS (GUINEA WORM DISEASE) AND SUGGESTED METHODS FOR CONTROL, IBARAPA, NIGERIA, 1982 (AFRICA)

A population-based cross-sectional survey of socio-environmental factors associated with the prevalence of Dracunculus medinensis (guinea worm disease) was conducted in Idere, a rural agricultural community in Ibarapa, Oyo state, Nigeria, during 1982.^ The epidemiologic data were collected by household interview of all 501 households. The environmental data were collected by analysis of water samples collected from all domestic water sources and rainfall records.^ The specific objectives of this research were to: (a) Describe the prevalence of guinea worm disease in Idere during 1982 by age, sex, area of residence, drinking water source, religion and weekly amount of money spent by the household to collect potable drinking water. (b) Compare the characteristics of cases with non-cases of guinea worm in order to identify factors associated with high risk of infection. (c) Investigate domestic water sources for the distribution of Cyclops. (d) Determine the extent of potable water shortage with a view to identifying factors responsible for such shortage in the community. (e) Describe the effects of guinea worm on school attendance during 1980/1982 school years by class and location of school from piped water supply.^ The findings of this research indicate that during 1982, 31.8 percent of Idere's 6,527 residents experienced guinea worm infection, with higher prevalence of infection recorded in males in their most productive years and females in their teenage years. The role of sex and age to risk of higher infection rate was explained in the context of water related exposure and water intake due to dehydration from physical occupational actitives of subgroups.^ Potable water available to residents was considerably below the minimum recommended by WHO for tropical climates, with sixty-eight percent of water needs of the residents coming from unprotected surface water which harbour Cyclops, the obligatory intermediate host of Dracunculus medinensis. An association was found between periods of relative high density of Cyclops in domestic water and rainfall.^ Impact of guinea worm infection on educational activities was considerable and its implications were discussed, including the implications of the research findings in relation to control of guinea worm disease in Ibarapa. ^

Understanding Impediments and Enablers to Physical Activity among African American Adults: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

Objective: To systematically assess and summarize impediments and facilitating factors impacting physical activity participation among African American Adults. ^ Method: A systematic search of the literature was conducted, which included electronic databases, as well as reference list of relevant papers. Only qualitative studies which measured race and ethnicity and had African American as adult participants were included. The main themes and categories from the qualitative studies pertaining to impediments and facilitators to physical activity were identified and summarized, through descriptive meta-synthesis. ^ Result: Twenty nine qualitative studies were included. Twenty-one of the studies only focused on adult African American women, and the barriers and facilitators to physical activity as perceived by them. The biggest individual enabler towards physical activity was the positive health benefits associated with regular physical activity. Social support and easy access to parks and facilities were also identified as enablers. Barriers toward physical activity were lack of time, lack of motivation, long work hours, and physical disabilities. ^ Conclusions: The findings of this review study should be useful to those planning an intervention in African American communities. There is also a need for qualitative studies conducted only among African American men, to better understand their perspective on the facilitators and barriers to physical activity.^

Spatial distribution of orofacial cleft birth defects and uranium-radium concentrations in tap water in Atascosa, Bee, Brooks, Calhoun, Duval, Goliad, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kleberg, Live Oak, McMullen, Nueces, San Patricio, Refugio, Starr, Victoria, Webb, and Zavala Counties, Texas

Background Past and recent evidence shows that radionuclides in drinking water may be a public health concern. Developmental thresholds for birth defects with respect to chronic low level domestic radiation exposures, such as through drinking water, have not been definitely recognized, and there is a strong need to address this deficiency in information. In this study we examined the geographic distribution of orofacial cleft birth defects in and around uranium mining district Counties in South Texas (Atascosa, Bee, Brooks, Calhoun, Duval, Goliad, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kleberg, Live Oak, McMullen, Nueces, San Patricio, Refugio, Starr, Victoria, Webb, and Zavala), from 1999 to 2007. The probable association of cleft birth defect rates by ZIP codes classified according to uranium and radium concentrations in drinking water supplies was evaluated. Similar associations between orofacial cleft birth defects and radium/radon in drinking water were reported earlier by Cech and co-investigators in another of the Gulf Coast region (Harris County, Texas).50, 55 Since substantial uranium mining activity existed and still exists in South Texas, contamination of drinking water sources with radiation and its relation to birth defects is a ground for concern. ^ Methods Residential addresses of orofacial cleft birth defect cases, as well as live births within the twenty Counties during 1999-2007 were geocoded and mapped. Prevalence rates were calculated by ZIP codes and were mapped accordingly. Locations of drinking water supplies were also geocoded and mapped. ZIP codes were stratified as having high combined uranium (≥30μg/L) vs. low combined uranium (<30μg/L). Likewise, ZIP codes having the uranium isotope, Ra-226 in drinking water, were also stratified as having elevated radium (≥3 pCi/L) vs. low radium (<3 pCi/L). A linear regression was performed using STATA® generalized linear model (GLM) program to evaluate the probable association between cleft birth defect rates by ZIP codes and concentration of uranium and radium via domestic water supply. These rates were further adjusted for potentially confounding variables such as maternal age, education, occupation, and ethnicity. ^ Results This study showed higher rates of cleft births in ZIP codes classified as having high combined uranium versus ZIP codes having low combined uranium. The model was further improved by adding radium stratified as explained above. Adjustment for maternal age and ethnicity did not substantially affect the statistical significance of uranium or radium concentrations in household water supplies. ^ Conclusion Although this study lacks individual exposure levels, the findings suggest a significant association between elevated uranium and radium concentrations in tap water and high orofacial birth defect rates by ZIP codes. Future case-control studies that can measure individual exposure levels and adjust for contending risk factors could result in a better understanding of the exposure-disease association.^

Association of processed red meat and prostate cancer stage in Mexican-Americans: A population based case-control study

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the association between processed and unprocessed red meat consumption and prostate cancer (PCa) stage in a homogenous Mexican-American population. Methods: This population-based case-control study had a total of 582 participants (287 cases with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the prostate gland and 295 age and ethnicity-matched controls) that were all residing in the Southeast region of Texas from 1998 to 2006. All questionnaire information was collected using a validated data collection instrument. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive analyses included Student's t-test and Pearson's Chi-square tests. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to quantify the association between nutritional factors and PCa stage. A multivariable model was used for unconditional logistic regression. Results: After adjusting for relevant covariates, those who consume high amounts of processed red meat have a non-significant increased odds of being diagnosed with localized PCa (OR = 1.60 95% CI: 0.85 - 3.03) and total PCa (OR = 1.43 95% CI: 0.81 - 2.52) but not for advanced PCa (OR = 0.91 95% CI: 1.37 - 2.23). Interestingly, high consumption of carbohydrates shows a significant reduction in the odds of being diagnosed with total PCa and advanced PCa (OR = 0.43 95% CI: 0.24 - 0.77; OR = 0.27 95% CI: 0.10 - 0.71, respectively). However, consuming high amounts of energy from protein and fat was shown to increase the odds of being diagnosed with advanced PCa (OR = 4.62 95% CI: 1.69 - 12.59; OR = 2.61 95% CI: 1.04 - 6.58, respectively). Conclusion: Mexican-Americans who consume high amounts of energy from protein and fat had increased odds of being diagnosed with advanced PCa, while high amounts of carbohydrates reduced the odds of being diagnosed with total and advanced PCa.^

Bullied status and physical activity in Texas youths

Data from the 2009–2011 School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) project were analyzed to examine the association between bullied status at school during the past six months and engaging in five or more days of physical activity during the past seven days in a population of 8th and 11th grade Texas youths after stratifying by gender. As a secondary aim, this study also examined the association between weight status and the prevalence of bullied status at school. The final sample size for this study, after excluding missing data, consisted of 6,246 8th and 11th grade youths (girls, n= 3,237; boys, n=3,009) representing a total of 518,838 youths from 8th and 11th grade. Results from the multiple logistic regression adjusting for weight status, grade, and ethnicity, indicate that girls with a bullied status of at least two or three times per month had significantly lower odds of engaging in five or more days of physical activity during the past seven days than girls who were never bullied at school (ORadj=0.62; 95% CI, 0.40, 0.96). Conversely, girls who reported a bullied status of at least once per week were significantly more likely to engage in five or more days of physical activity during the past seven days compared to girls who were never bullied at school (ORadj=3.44; 95% CI, 1.56, 7.63). No significant associations between bullied status and engaging in five or more days of physical activity during the past seven days were found for boys. Bullied status differed significantly across weight status for 8th grade girls (χ2(6)=63.7, p<.05) and 11th grade boys (χ2(6) =94.93, p<.05), with overweight and obese youths reporting a higher prevalence of being bullied once or twice, at least two or three times per month, and at least once per week than their normal weight peers. Our finding that girls with bullied status of at least once per week were more likely to engage in five or more days of physical activity than girls who were never bullied warrants future qualitative research to identify potential explanations for such results. Future research on relational and weight-based bullying is also needed and may help explain the inconsistent findings between bullied status and engaging in physical activity in girls.^

Mistreatment and self-neglect in community dwelling older adults: Studies of construct validity, measurement invariance and latent classes

Mistreatment and self-neglect significantly increase the risk of dying in older adults. It is estimated that 1 to 2 million older adults experience elder mistreatment and self-neglect every year in the United States. Currently, there are no elder mistreatment and self-neglect assessment tools with construct validity and measurement invariance testing and no studies have sought to identify underlying latent classes of elder self-neglect that may have differential mortality rates. Using data from 11,280 adults with Texas APS substantiated elder mistreatment and self-neglect 3 studies were conducted to: (1) test the construct validity and (2) the measurement invariance across gender and ethnicity of the Texas Adult Protective Services (APS) Client Assessment and Risk Evaluation (CARE) tool and (3) identify latent classes associated with elder self-neglect. Study 1 confirmed the construct validity of the CARE tool following adjustments to the initial hypothesized CARE tool. This resulted in the deletion of 14 assessment items and a final assessment with 5 original factors and 43 items. Cross-validation for this model was achieved. Study 2 provided empirical evidence for factor loading and item-threshold invariance of the CARE tool across gender and between African-Americans and Caucasians. The financial status domain of the CARE tool did not function properly for Hispanics and thus, had to be deleted. Subsequent analyses showed factor loading and item-threshold invariance across all 3 ethnic groups with the exception of some residual errors. Study 3 identified 4-latent classes associated with elder self-neglect behaviors which included individuals with evidence of problems in the areas of (1) their environment, (2) physical and medical status, (3) multiple domains and (4) finances. Overall, these studies provide evidence supporting the use of APS CARE tool for providing unbiased and valid investigations of mistreatment and neglect in older adults with different demographic characteristics. Furthermore, the findings support the underlying notion that elder self-neglect may not only occur along a continuum, but that differential types may exist. All of which, have very important potential implications for social and health services distributed to vulnerable mistreated and neglected older adults.^

Climate and soil characteristics and soil arthropod abundance on Anchorage, Signy and Falkland Islands

Over a 2-year study, we investigated the effect of environmental change on the diversity and abundance of soil arthropod communities (Acari and Collembola) in the Maritime Antarctic and the Falkland Islands. Open Top Chambers (OTCs), as used extensively in the framework of the northern boreal International Tundra Experiment (ITEX), were used to increase the temperature in contrasting communities on three islands along a latitudinal temperature gradient, ranging from the Falkland Islands (51°S, mean annual temperature 7.5 °C) to Signy Island (60°S, -2.3°C) and Anchorage Island (67°S, -3.8°C). At each island an open and a closed plant community were studied: lichen vs. moss at the Antarctic sites, and grass vs. dwarf shrub at the Falkland Islands. The OTCs raised the soil surface temperature during most months of the year. During the summer the level of warming achieved was 1.7 °C at the Falkland Islands, 0.7 °C at Signy Island, and 1.1 °C at Anchorage Island. The native arthropod community diversity decreased with increasing latitude. In contrast with this pattern, Collembola abundance in the closed vegetation (dwarf shrub or moss) communities increased by at least an order of magnitude from the Falkland Islands (9.0 +/- 2 x 10**3 ind./m**2) to Signy (3.3 +/- 8.0 x 10**4 ind./m**2) and Anchorage Island (3.1 +/- 0.82 x 10**5 ind./m**2). The abundance of Acari did not show a latitudinal trend. Abundance and diversity of Acari and Collembola were unaffected by the warming treatment on the Falkland Islands and Anchorage Island. However, after two seasons of experimental warming, the total abundance of Collembola decreased (p < 0.05) in the lichen community on Signy Island as a result of the population decline of the isotomid Cryptopygus antarcticus. In the same lichen community there was also a decline (p < 0.05) of the mesostigmatid predatory mite Gamasellus racovitzai, and a significant increase in the total number of Prostigmata. Overall, our data suggest that the consequences of an experimental temperature increase of 1-2°C, comparable to the magnitude currently seen through recent climate change in the Antarctic Peninsula region, on soil arthropod communities in this region may not be similar for each location but is most likely to be small and initially slow to develop.

Influence of sediment acidification and water flow on sediment acceptance and dispersal of juvenile soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria L.)

Although ocean acidification is expected to reduce carbonate saturation and yield negative impacts on open-ocean calcifying organisms in the near future, acidification in coastal ecosystems may already be affecting these organisms. Few studies have addressed the effects of sedimentary saturation state on benthic invertebrates. Here, we investigate whether sedimentary aragonite saturation (Omega aragonite) and proton concentration ([H+]) affect burrowing and dispersal rates of juvenile soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria) in a laboratory flume experiment. Two size classes of juvenile clams (0.5-1.5 mm and 1.51-2.5 mm) were subjected to a range of sediment Omega aragonite and [H+] conditions within the range of typical estuarine sediments (Omega aragonite 0.21-1.87; pH 6.8-7.8; [H+] 1.58 × 10**-8-1.51 × 10**- 7) by the addition of varying amounts of CO2, while overlying water pH was kept constant ~ 7.8 (Omega aragonite ~ 1.97). There was a significant positive relationship between the percent of juvenile clams burrowed in still water and Omega aragonite and a significant negative relationship between burrowing and [H+]. Clams were subsequently exposed to one of two different flow conditions (flume; 11 cm/s and 23 cm/s) and there was a significant negative relationship between Omega aragonite and dispersal, regardless of clam size class and flow speed. No apparent relationship was evident between dispersal and [H+]. The results of this study suggest that sediment acidification may play an important role in soft-shell clam recruitment and dispersal. When assessing the impacts of open-ocean and coastal acidification on infaunal organisms, future studies should address the effects of sediment acidification to adequately understand how calcifying organisms may be affected by shifting pH conditions.

From school to work : Muslim youths' education and employment strategies in a community in Uttar Pradesh, India

India's Muslim community, which accounts for 14.4 percent of India’s vast population and is thus the largest of all religious minorities, has been the subject of considerable development discourse as Muslims have the lowest level of educational attainment and standard of living among socio-religious groups in the country. This study addresses the meaning of education and career opportunities for Muslim youths in relation to their educational credentials and social position in the hierarchy of Muslim class and caste groups, with particular reference to a community in Uttar Pradesh. The author contends that the career opportunities, possibilities, and strategies of Muslim youths in Indian society depend on multiple factors: social hierarchy, opportunities to utilize economic resources, social networks, cultural capital, and the wider structural disparities within which the Muslims are situated and wherein they question the value of higher education in gaining them admission to socially recognized and established employment sectors.

Knowledge Management and Leadership in the Higher Education: A First Approach

Today, it is more and more important to develop competences in the learning process of the university students (that is to say, to acquire knowledge but also skills, abilities, attitudes and values). This is because professional practice requires that the future graduates design and market products, defend the interests of their clients, be introduced in the Administration or, even, in the Politics. Universities must form professionals that become social and opinion leaders, consultants, advisory, entrepreneurs and, in short, people with capacity to solve problems. This paper offers a tool to evaluate the application for the professor of different styles of management in the process of the student’s learning. Its main contribution consists on advancing toward the setting in practice of a model that overcomes the limitations of the traditional practices based on the masterful class, and that it has been applied in Portugal and Spain.

DAEDALUS at ImageCLEF Medical Retrieval 2011: Textual, Visual and Multimodal Experiments

This paper describes the participation of DAEDALUS at ImageCLEF 2011 Medical Retrieval task. We have focused on multimodal (or mixed) experiments that combine textual and visual retrieval. The main objective of our research has been to evaluate the effect on the medical retrieval process of the existence of an extended corpus that is annotated with the image type, associated to both the image itself and also to its textual description. For this purpose, an image classifier has been developed to tag each document with its class (1st level of the hierarchy: Radiology, Microscopy, Photograph, Graphic, Other) and subclass (2nd level: AN, CT, MR, etc.). For the textual-based experiments, several runs using different semantic expansion techniques have been performed. For the visual-based retrieval, different runs are defined by the corpus used in the retrieval process and the strategy for obtaining the class and/or subclass. The best results are achieved in runs that make use of the image subclass based on the classification of the sample images. Although different multimodal strategies have been submitted, none of them has shown to be able to provide results that are at least comparable to the ones achieved by the textual retrieval alone. We believe that we have been unable to find a metric for the assessment of the relevance of the results provided by the visual and textual processes

Effect of hen age, egg weight and storage system on physical properties of egg from white-egg laying hens

A total of 72 eggs from a group of 100 white laying hens housed in standard cages were analyzed. Thirty-six eggs were retired when the hens had 44 week of age and the other 36 eggs were retired eight weeks afterwards. Each group of 36 eggs was radomly divided in three groups of 12 eggs. First group was analyzed at once (storage system C); second one was kept during one week in the refrigerator (5ºC) (storage system R), and third group were kept also one week but on ambient temperature (25ºC) (storage system ET). The hen age, egg weight and storage system had not significant (P>0.05) effect on shell thickness. The specific gravity (SG) has a positive relation with shell quality. The egg class and storage system significantly (P<0,05) affected to SG, while no influence of bird age on this variable was observed. The yolk color increased with hen age but storage system had not effect on this variable. The increase of the hen age and the R and AT storage systems significantly (P<0.05) reduced albumen height (H) and the interaction hen age x storage system was significant (P<0.025) for this variable. The reduction of the H due to R and ET storage systems was higher in the eggs from hens with 52 weeks of age than in those from hens with 44 weeks of age. The Haugh units (HU) was significantly (P<0.05) affected by hen age, egg class and storage system. The hen age increase reduced HU and the R and ET eggs had lower HU than C eggs. It is concluded that the bird age and storage system with high temperatures reduced the egg quality.

A functional homolog of a yeast tRNA splicing enzyme is conserved in higher eukaryotes and in Escherichia coli

tRNA splicing in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires an endonuclease to excise the intron, tRNA ligase to join the tRNA half-molecules, and 2′-phosphotransferase to transfer the splice junction 2′-phosphate from ligated tRNA to NAD, producing ADP ribose 1′′–2′′ cyclic phosphate (Appr>p). We show here that functional 2′-phosphotransferases are found throughout eukaryotes, occurring in two widely divergent yeasts (Candida albicans and Schizosaccharomyces pombe), a plant (Arabidopsis thaliana), and mammals (Mus musculus); this finding is consistent with a role for the enzyme, acting in concert with ligase, to splice tRNA or other RNA molecules. Surprisingly, functional 2′-phosphotransferase is found also in the bacterium Escherichia coli, which does not have any known introns of this class, and does not appear to have a ligase that generates junctions with a 2′-phosphate. Analysis of the database shows that likely members of the 2′-phosphotransferase family are found also in one other bacterium (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and two archaeal species (Archaeoglobus fulgidus and Pyrococcus horikoshii). Phylogenetic analysis reveals no evidence for recent horizontal transfer of the 2′-phosphotransferase into Eubacteria, suggesting that the 2′-phosphotransferase has been present there since close to the time that the three kingdoms diverged. Although 2′-phosphotransferase is not present in all Eubacteria, and a gene disruption experiment demonstrates that the protein is not essential in E. coli, the continued presence of 2′-phosphotransferase in Eubacteria over large evolutionary times argues for an important role for the protein.

Induced intensification: Agricultural change in Bangladesh with implications for Malthus and Boserup

Bangladesh is dominated by a small-holder agrarian economy under extreme stress. Production shortfalls, increasing economic polarization, and chronic malnutrition are persistent, but major famine has been diverted in part by significant growth in agriculture. This recent history is open to both Malthusian and Boserupian interpretations—a history we explore here through a test of the induced intensification thesis of agricultural change. This thesis, framed by variations in the behavior of small-holders, has grown from a simple demand-production relationship to a consideration of the mediating influences on that relationship. The induced intensification thesis is reviewed and tested for 265 households in 6 villages in Bangladesh from 1950–1986. A time-series analysis of an induced intensification model provides relatively high levels of explained variance in cropping intensity (frequency and land productivity) and also indicates the relative impacts of household class, environment, and cropping strategies. On average, the small-holders in question kept pace with the demands on production, although important class and village variations were evident and the proportion of landless households increased. These results, coupled with evidence that agricultural growth involved intensification thresholds, provide clues about Malthusian and Boserupian interpretations of Bangladesh, and suggest that small-holder agriculture there is likely to continue on a “muted” path of growth.

Induction of primordial germ cells from murine epiblasts by synergistic action of BMP4 and BMP8B signaling pathways

Extraembryonic ectoderm-derived factors instruct the pluripotent epiblast cells to develop toward a restricted primordial germ cell (PGC) fate during murine gastrulation. Genes encoding Bmp4 of the Dpp class and Bmp8b of the 60A class are expressed in the extraembryonic ectoderm and targeted mutation of either results in severe defects in PGC formation. It has been shown that heterodimers of DPP and 60A classes of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are more potent than each homodimers in bone and mesoderm induction in vitro, suggesting that BMP4 and BMP8B may form heterodimers to induce PGCs. To investigate how BMP4 and BMP8B interact and signal for PGC induction, we cocultured epiblasts of embryonic day 6.0–6.25 embryos with BMP4 and BMP8B proteins produced by COS cells. Our data show that BMP4 or BMP8B homodimers alone cannot induce PGCs whereas they can in combination, providing evidence that two BMP pathways are simultaneously required for the generation of a given cell type in mammals and also providing a prototype method for PGC induction in vitro. Furthermore, the PGC defects of Bmp8b mutants can be rescued by BMP8B homodimers whereas BMP4 homodimers cannot mitigate the PGC defects of Bmp4 null mutants, suggesting that BMP4 proteins are also required for epiblast cells to gain germ-line competency before the synergistic action of BMP4 and BMP8B.