Practical Implications of Current Intimate Partner Violence Research for Victim Advocates and Service Providers

This guide uses a question-and-answer format to inform victim advocates and service providers of the findings of published research on intimate partner violence (IPV) and their relevance for practice. The first of 13 sections of the guide poses and answers 11 questions pertinent to the issue, “What is intimate partner violence?” The issues addressed include the various behaviors and circumstances that constitute IPV, whether men and women are equally likely to be victims or perpetrators of IPV, and whether women’s use of IPV is different from men’s.The second major section poses and answers 12 questions related to IPV victimization rates, addressing issues of populations at increased risk for IPV, with special attention to women who are separated or divorced, pregnant, disabled, elderly, LGBT, live in rural areas. The guide’s third section poses and answers 19 questions related to the impact of IPV on victims. The fourth section poses and answers 20 questions related to the characteristics of persons who perpetrate IPV. Other sections of the guide pose and answer questions related to victim characteristics that predict IPV victimization; whether IPV victims seek assistance and services; protective factors and coping skills that mitigate the adverse impact of IPV; the services that are typically available to IPV victims; whether victim services work; health-care providers’ role in responding to IPV; what victim advocates and service providers need to know about the legal system; the features of IPV victim advocacy; and the performance measures advocates should adopt in evaluating the criminal justice response to IPV. The implications drawn from the research are offered as guidance, not rules of practice. 884 references are provided

Circulating emm types of Streptococcus pyogenes in Scotland: 2011-2015

No abstract available

The International Whaling Commission—Beyond Whaling

Since its establishment in 1946 as the international body intended to manage whaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has expanded its areas of interest to ensure the wider conservation of whales. Several key conservation topics have been taken forward under its auspices including climate change, chemical and noise pollution, marine debris and whale watching. Work on each of these topics at the IWC has grown substantially since the 1990s and remains ongoing. Important developments were the establishment of the Standing Working Group on Environmental Concerns in 1996 and the IWC’s Conservation Committee in 2003. Trying to address this diverse set of issues is obviously a challenge, but will be necessary if the long term conservation of cetaceans is to be achieved. Through research, workshops, resolutions and collaboration with other organizations, the IWC has advanced both the understanding of the various issues and the means to manage them with increasing effectiveness. The IWC is likely to remain on the forefront of continuing efforts to address these, and other, conservation concerns and ensure the continued viability of cetacean populations around the globe

Scenes from the Past Multidetector CT of Egyptian Mummies of the Redpath Museum

As a nondestructive method of historical and anthropologic inquiry, imaging has played an important role in mummy studies over the past several decades. Recent technologic advances have made multidetector computed tomography (CT) an especially useful means for deepening the present understanding of ancient cultures by examining preserved human remains. In April 2011, three ancient Egyptian human mummies from the Redpath Museum of McGill University were examined with 320-section multidetector CT as part of the IMPACT Radiological Mummy Database project headquartered at the University of Western Ontario. Whole-body scanning was performed with a section thickness of 0.5 mm and a peak voltage of 120 kVp, and the raw CT datasets were postprocessed by using smooth body and high-resolution bone convolution filters. Two of the mummies were scanned at different energy levels (80 and 135 keV). The high-resolution CT scans revealed the details of mummification and allowed observations about the socioeconomic and health status of the human subjects based on both the mummification technique used and the appearance of the remains, particularly the bones and teeth. The paleopathologic information obtained from the scans confirmed some findings in studies performed in the same mummies in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The CT scans also demonstrated a high degree of variability in Egyptian mortuary practice, variability that is not generally recognized in the literature. Unusual features that were observed included a relatively uncommon retained heart in mummy RM2718, retained lungs in a mummy from which the heart had been extracted (RM2720), and a cartonnage plaque placed over the left abdomen of a mummy that had been eviscerated transperineally (RM2717)

Morphology of Anion-Conducting Ionenes Investigated by X-ray Scattering and Simulation

We have studied the morphology of a novel series of benzimidazole-based ionenes, methylated poly(hexamethyl-p-terphenylbenzimidazolium) (HMT-PMBI), in halide form. Materials with anion-exchange capacities ranging from 0 to 2.5 mequiv/g were studied. X-ray scattering reveals three length scales in the materials: ion–polymer spacing (4 Å), polymer–polymer interchain spacing (6 Å), and an intrachain repeat distance (20 Å). No long-range structure is apparent above the monomer length, which is rare in ion-conducting polymer membranes. In preliminary molecular dynamics simulations, water molecules were observed forming chains between ions, even at a modest level of hydration, providing an interpenetrating network where conductivity can occur

Structural motif screening reveals a novel, conserved carbohydrate-binding surface in the pathogenesis-related protein PR-5d

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Aromatic amino acids play a critical role in protein-glycan interactions. Clusters of surface aromatic residues and their features may therefore be useful in distinguishing glycan-binding sites as well as predicting novel glycan-binding proteins. In this work, a structural bioinformatics approach was used to screen the Protein Data Bank (PDB) for coplanar aromatic motifs similar to those found in known glycan-binding proteins.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The proteins identified in the screen were significantly associated with carbohydrate-related functions according to gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, and predicted motifs were found frequently within novel folds and glycan-binding sites not included in the training set. In addition to numerous binding sites predicted in structural genomics proteins of unknown function, one novel prediction was a surface motif (W34/W36/W192) in the tobacco pathogenesis-related protein, PR-5d. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the surface motif is exclusive to a subfamily of PR-5 proteins from the Solanaceae family of plants, and is absent completely in more distant homologs. To confirm PR-5d's insoluble-polysaccharide binding activity, a cellulose-pulldown assay of tobacco proteins was performed and PR-5d was identified in the cellulose-binding fraction by mass spectrometry.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the combined results, we propose that the putative binding site in PR-5d may be an evolutionary adaptation of Solanaceae plants including potato, tomato, and tobacco, towards defense against cellulose-containing pathogens such as species of the deadly oomycete genus, <it>Phytophthora</it>. More generally, the results demonstrate that coplanar aromatic clusters on protein surfaces are a structural signature of glycan-binding proteins, and can be used to computationally predict novel glycan-binding proteins from 3 D structure.</p

Obesity and the food environment: income and ethnicity differences among people with diabetes: the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).

ObjectiveIt is unknown whether any association between neighborhood food environment and obesity varies according to individual income and/or race/ethnicity. The objectives of this study were to test whether there was an association between food environments and obesity among adults with diabetes and whether this relationship differed according to individual income or race/ethnicity.Research design and methodsSubjects (n = 16,057) were participants in the Diabetes Study of Northern California survey. Kernel density estimation was used to create a food environment score for each individual's residence address that reflected the mix of healthful and unhealthful food vendors nearby. Logistic regression models estimated the association between the modeled food environment and obesity, controlling for confounders, and testing for interactions between food environment and race/ethnicity and income.ResultsThe authors found that more healthful food environments were associated with lower obesity in the highest income groups (incomes 301-600% and &gt;600% of U.S. poverty line) among whites, Latinos, and Asians. The association was negative, but smaller and not statistically significant, among high-income blacks. On the contrary, a more healthful food environment was associated with higher obesity among participants in the lowest-income group (&lt;100% poverty threshold), which was statistically significant for black participants in this income category.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that the availability of healthful food environments may have different health implications when financial resources are severely constrained

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance parameters associated with early transplant-free survival in children with small left hearts following conversion from a univentricular to biventricular circulation

Background: We sought to identify cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) parameters associated with successful univentricular to biventricular conversion in patients with small left hearts. Methods: Patients with small left heart structures and a univentricular circulation who underwent CMR prior to biventricular conversion were retrospectively identified and divided into 2 anatomic groups: 1) borderline hypoplastic left heart structures (BHLHS), and 2) right-dominant atrioventricular canal (RDAVC). The primary outcome variable was transplant-free survival with a biventricular circulation. Results: In the BHLHS group (n = 22), 16 patients (73%) survived with a biventricular circulation over a median follow-up of 40 months (4–84). Survival was associated with a larger CMR left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic volume (EDV) (p = 0.001), higher LV-to-right ventricle (RV) stroke volume ratio (p < 0.001), and higher mitral-to-tricuspid inflow ratio (p = 0.04). For predicting biventricular survival, the addition of CMR threshold values to echocardiographic LV EDV improved sensitivity from 75% to 93% while maintaining specificity at 100%. In the RDAVC group (n = 10), 9 patients (90%) survived with a biventricular circulation over a median follow-up of 29 months (3–51). The minimum CMR values were a LV EDV of 22 ml/m2 and a LV-to-RV stroke volume ratio of 0.19. Conclusions: In BHLHS patients, a larger LV EDV, LV-to-RV stroke volume ratio, and mitral-to-tricuspid inflow ratio were associated with successful biventricular conversion. The addition of CMR parameters to echocardiographic measurements improved the sensitivity for predicting successful conversion. In RDAVC patients, the high success rate precluded discriminant analysis, but a range of CMR parameters permitting biventricular conversion were identified

Lineage and fate of each blastomere of the eight-cell sea urchin embryo

A fluoresceinated lineage tracer was injected into individual blastomeres of eight-cell sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) embryos, and the location of the progeny of each blastomere was determined in the fully developed pluteus. Each blastomere gives rise to a unique portion of the advanced embryo. We confirm many of the classical assignments of cell fate along the animal-vegetal axis of the cleavage-stage embryo, and demonstrate that one blastomere of the animal quartet at the eight-cell stage lies nearest the future oral pole and the opposite one nearest the future aboral pole of the embryo. Clones of cells deriving from ectodermal founder cells always remain contiguous, while clones of cells descendant from the vegetal plate (i.e., gut, secondary mesenchyme) do not. The locations of ectodermal clones contributed by specific blastomeres require that the larval plane of bilateral symmetry lie approximately equidistant (i.e., at a 45 degree angle) from each of the first two cleavage planes. These results underscore the conclusion that many of the early spatial patterns of differential gene expression observed at the molecular level are specified in a clonal manner early in embryonic sea urchin development, and are each confined to cell lineages established during cleavage

The GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey. VIII. Final Data Release -- The Effect of Group Environment on the Gas Content of Massive Galaxies

We present the final data release from the GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS), a large Arecibo program that measured the HI properties for an unbiased sample of ~800 galaxies with stellar masses greater than 10^10 Msun and redshifts 0.025<z<0.05. This release includes new Arecibo observations for 250 galaxies. We use the full GASS sample to investigate environmental effects on the cold gas content of massive galaxies at fixed stellar mass. The environment is characterized in terms of dark matter halo mass, obtained by cross-matching our sample with the SDSS group catalog of Yang et al. Our analysis provides, for the first time, clear statistical evidence that massive galaxies located in halos with masses of 10^13-10^14 Msun have at least 0.4 dex less HI than objects in lower density environments. The process responsible for the suppression of gas in group galaxies most likely drives the observed quenching of the star formation in these systems. Our findings strongly support the importance of the group environment for galaxy evolution, and have profound implications for semi-analytic models of galaxy formation, which currently do not allow for stripping of the cold interstellar medium in galaxy groups.Comment: 36 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Version with supplementary material available at http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/GASS/pubs.php . GASS released data can be found at http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/GASS/data.ph