My baby body : a qualitative insight into women\u27s body-related experiences and mood during pregnancy and the postpartum

An inductive qualitative approach was employed to explore women\u27s experiences of their body and mood during pregnancy and the postpartum. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 perinatal women (n at late pregnancy=10; n in the early postpartum period=10). While most of the sample reported adapting positively to body changes experienced during pregnancy, the postpartum period was often associated with body dissatisfaction. Women reported several events unique to pregnancy which helped them cope positively with bodily changes (e.g. increased perceived body functionality, new sense of meaning in life thus placing well-being of developing foetus above body aesthetics, perceptual experiences such as feeling baby kick, increased sense of social connectedness due to pregnancy body shape, and positive social commentary); however, these events no longer protected against body dissatisfaction post-birth. While women reported mood lability throughout the perinatal period, the postpartum was also a time of increased positive affect for most women, and overall most women did not associate body changes with their mood. Clinical implications of these findings included the need for education about normal postpartum body changes and their timing, and the development of more accurate measures of perinatal body image.<br /

Expanding the Entamoeba Universe: New Hosts Yield Novel Ribosomal Lineages.

Removing the requirement for cell culture has led to a substantial increase in the number of lineages of Entamoeba recognized as distinct. Surveying the range of potential host species for this parasite genus has barely been started and it is clear that additional sampling of the same host in different locations often identifies additional diversity. In this study, using small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequencing, we identify four new lineages of Entamoeba, including the first report of Entamoeba from an elephant, and extend the host range of some previously described lineages. In addition, examination of microbiome data from a number of host animals suggests that substantial Entamoeba diversity remains to be uncovered

Estimating Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Ohio: A Bayesian Multilevel Poststratification Approach with Multiple Diagnostic Tests

Globally the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has infected more than 59 million people and killed more than 1.39 million. Designing and monitoring interventions to slow and stop the spread of the virus require knowledge of how many people have been and are currently infected, where they live, and how they interact. The first step is an accurate assessment of the population prevalence of past infections. There are very few population-representative prevalence studies of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and only two American states -- Indiana and Connecticut -- have reported probability-based sample surveys that characterize state-wide prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. One of the difficulties is the fact that the tests to detect and characterize SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus antibodies are new, not well characterized, and generally function poorly. During July, 2020, a survey representing all adults in the State of Ohio in the United States collected biomarkers and information on protective behavior related to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Several features of the survey make it difficult to estimate past prevalence: 1) a low response rate, 2) very low number of positive cases, and 3) the fact that multiple, poor quality serological tests were used to detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. We describe a new Bayesian approach for analyzing the biomarker data that simultaneously addresses these challenges and characterizes the potential effect of selective response. The model does not require survey sample weights, accounts for multiple, imperfect antibody test results, and characterizes uncertainty related to the sample survey and the multiple, imperfect, potentially correlated tests

Common aquarium antiseptics do not cause long-term shifts in coral microbiota but may impact coral growth rates

IntroductionThough bacterial pathogens and parasites can compromise coral health, coral microbiome research increasingly suggests a beneficial role for bacterial species living in coral tissue and mucus. Recent studies suggest the application of targeted antibiotic treatments, while inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria, may have unintended and persistent impacts on coral health. Land-based coral nurseries use antiseptic treatments such as Lugol’s solution and KoralMD™ dip to reduce infectious agents as part of restoration best practices. These antiseptic treatments often halt tissue loss, but the short- or long-term effects of these treatments on the coral microbiome is unknown.MethodsWe conducted a controlled tank experiment to assess the effects of these broad-spectrum treatments on coral growth rates and microbial communities when used as a prophylactic measure on healthy corals. Sixty individuals from each of two genotypes of the coral species Acropora palmata and Orbicella faveolata were treated with either Lugol’s solution or KoralMD™. Coral tissue, mucus, and skeleton were sampled pre-treatment, during treatment, and 1 and 2 months after treatment to assess microbiome shifts and recovery. The impact of the two treatments on coral growth was assessed using surface area measurements from 3D imagery.ResultsAlthough we found that A. palmata treated with Lugol’s solution had significantly reduced growth rates compared with untreated controls, impacts of antiseptic treatment were otherwise limited and microbiomes were not significantly different by treatment either immediately after application or 2 months thereafter. DiscussionStudy of the effects of these widely-used interventions may have significant repercussions on management and propagation strategies for corals reared in land-based nurseries. Furthermore, our findings indicate that antiseptic treatments can be applied to mitigate coral health issues without long-term harmful effects or significant microbiome shifts

Evaluation of the i3 Scale-Up of Reading Recovery | Year Two Report, 2012-13

Reading Recovery is a short-term early intervention designed to help the lowest-achieving readers in first grade reach average levels of classroom performance in literacy. Students identified to receive Reading Recovery meet individually with a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher every school day for 30-minute lessons over a period of 12 to 20 weeks. The purpose of these lessons is to support rapid acceleration of each child’s literacy learning. In 2010, The Ohio State University received a Scaling Up What Works grant from the U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund to expand the use of Reading Recovery across the country. The award was intended to fund the training of 3,675 new Reading Recovery teachers in U.S. schools, thereby expanding service to an additional 88,200 students. The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) was contracted to conduct an independent evaluation of the i3 scale-up of Reading Recovery over the course of five years. The evaluation includes parallel rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental designs for estimating program impacts, coupled with a large-scale mixed-methods study of program implementation. This report presents the findings of the second year of the evaluation. The primary goals of this evaluation are: a) to provide experimental evidence of the impacts of Reading Recovery on student learning under this scale-up effort ; b) to assess the success of the scale-up in meeting the i3 grant’s expansion goals; and c) to document the implementation of the scale-up and fidelity to program standards. This document is the second in a series of three reports based on our external evaluation of the Reading Recovery i3 Scale-Up. This report presents results from the impact and implementation studies conducted over the 2012-2013 school year—the third year of the scale-up effort and the second full year of the evaluation. In order to estimate the impacts of the program, a sample of first graders who had been selected to receive Reading Recovery were randomly assigned to a treatment group that received Reading Recovery immediately, or to a control group that did not receive Reading Recovery until the treatment group had exited the intervention. The reading achievement of students in this sample was assessed using a standardized assessment of reading achievement—the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). The data for the implementation study include extensive interviews and surveys with Reading Recovery teachers, teacher leaders, site coordinators, University Training Center directors, members of the i3 project leadership team at The Ohio State University, and principals and first-grade teachers in schools involved in the scale-up. Case studies were also conducted in nine i3 scale-up schools to observe how Reading Recovery operates in different contexts

Reply to van Hoorn: Converging lines of evidence

We agree with the comments by van Hoorn (1) on our critique (2): testing causal hypotheses about human behavior is a challenge (1, 3). Making progress requires specifying alternative hypotheses and then testing these hypotheses using diverse and converging lines of evidence. We have defended the hypothesis that social norms, which culturally coevolved with the institutions of large-scale societies including markets, influence economic decision-making. This hypothesis emerged from a larger set that we developed both at the outset of our project and as we went along. Our interdisciplinary team’s initial list of hypotheses included the idea that experimental games might spark an innate reciprocity module that would yield little variation across populations

A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of \u3cem\u3eN\u3c/em\u3e-Acetylcysteine for Cannabis Use Disorder in Adults

Background—Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is a prevalent and impairing condition, and established psychosocial treatments convey limited efficacy. In light of recent findings supporting the efficacy of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) for CUD in adolescents, the objective of this trial was to evaluate its efficacy in adults. Methods—In a 12-week double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial, treatment-seeking adults ages 18–50 with CUD (N=302), enrolled across six National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network-affiliated clinical sites, were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to a 12-week course of NAC 1200 mg (n=153) or placebo (n=149) twice daily. All participants received contingency management (CM) and medical management. The primary efficacy measure was the odds of negative urine cannabinoid tests during treatment, compared between NAC and placebo participants. Results—There was not statistically significant evidence that the NAC and placebo groups differed in cannabis abstinence (odds ratio = 1.00, 95% confidence interval 0.63 – 1.59; p=0.984). Overall, 22.3% of urine cannabinoid tests in the NAC group were negative, compared with 22.4% in the placebo group. Many participants were medication non-adherent; exploratory analysis within medication-adherent subgroups revealed no significant differential abstinence outcomes by treatment group. Conclusions—In contrast with prior findings in adolescents, there is no evidence that NAC 1200 mg twice daily plus CM is differentially efficacious for CUD in adults when compared to placebo plus CM. This discrepant finding between adolescents and adults with CUD may have been influenced by differences in development, cannabis use profiles, responses to embedded behavioral treatment, medication adherence, and other factors

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software

Processing of Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Surface Protein MSP1 activates a Spectrin-binding function enabling parasite egress from RBCs

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum replicates within erythrocytes, producing progeny merozoites that are released from infected cells via a poorly understood process called egress. The most abundant merozoite surface protein, MSP1, is synthesized as a large precursor that undergoes proteolytic maturation by the parasite protease SUB1 just prior to egress. The function of MSP1 and its processing are unknown. Here we show that SUB1-mediated processing of MSP1 is important for parasite viability. Processing modifies the secondary structure of MSP1 and activates its capacity to bind spectrin, a molecular scaffold protein that is the major component of the host erythrocyte cytoskeleton. Parasites expressing an inefficiently processed MSP1 mutant show delayed egress, and merozoites lacking surface-bound MSP1 display a severe egress defect. Our results indicate that interactions between SUB1-processed merozoite surface MSP1 and the spectrin network of the erythrocyte cytoskeleton facilitate host erythrocyte rupture to enable parasite egress

Co-resident Parents and Young People Aged 15–34: Who Does What Housework?

Young adults are now more likely to co-reside with their parents than previous generations, but domestic work patterns among this family type are largely unexplored. This study addresses this issue using Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Surveys (1992, 1997, 2006) and Poisson–Gamma regression analyses. It examines patterns in and correlates of domestic labor in two-generation households in which young people aged 15–34 co-reside with their parents (n = 1,946 households comprised of 2,806 young people and 5,129 parents). It differentiates between routine indoor tasks (cooking, cleaning, laundry), non-routine tasks (outdoor work, household management and maintenance, car care) and grocery shopping. Predictors of more time in some domestic activities by young people include being in neither employment nor education/training (NEET), being older, having a single parent and being in a non-English speaking household (young women). Young people being NEET, or female, are associated with less cooking time for mothers, but in the main when young people do perform domestic activities, they do not relieve their parents of those same activities, suggesting more time is spent by the household in total