New Media in Missions

Throughout modern history, missionaries have communicated with people at home and with nationals through print and electronic media, including television and radio. Today, the emergence of digital communication technologies is changing the way missionaries communicate internationally, allowing them to exchange personalized information immediately. This project explores how several of today’s missionaries utilize print, electronic, and digital media in the practice of their calling. This study bases its findings on the content of interviews with ten missionaries. Though their specific practices differ slightly, all use some or all of these digital media types for missional purposes on a daily basis. As a whole they saw similar advantages in the digital media, such as a broader audience and a voluntary receiver, and similar disadvantages, such as a need for censorship and a loss of the personal touch

Phylogenetic and DNA methylation analysis reveal novel regions of variable methylation in the mouse IAP class of transposons

Abstract Background Select retrotransposons in the long terminal repeat (LTR) class exhibit interindividual variation in DNA methylation that is altered by developmental environmental exposures. Yet, neither the full extent of variability at these “metastable epialleles,” nor the phylogenetic relationship underlying variable elements is well understood. The murine metastable epialleles, Avy and CabpIAP, result from independent insertions of an intracisternal A particle (IAP) mobile element, and exhibit remarkably similar sequence identity (98.5%). Results Utilizing the C57BL/6 genome we identified 10802 IAP LTRs overall and a subset of 1388 in a family that includes Avy and CabpIAP. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two duplication and divergence events subdividing this family into three clades. To characterize interindividual variation across clades, liver DNA from 17 isogenic mice was subjected to combined bisulfite and restriction analysis (CoBRA) for 21 separate LTR transposons (7 per clade). The lowest and highest mean methylation values were 59% and 88% respectively, while methylation levels at individual LTRs varied widely, ranging from 9% to 34%. The clade with the most conserved elements had significantly higher mean methylation across LTRs than either of the two diverged clades (p = 0.040 and p = 0.017). Within each mouse, average methylation across all LTRs was not significantly different (71%-74%, p > 0.99). Conclusions Combined phylogenetic and DNA methylation analysis allows for the identification of novel regions of variable methylation. This approach increases the number of known metastable epialleles in the mouse, which can serve as biomarkers for environmental modifications to the epigenome.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112312/1/12864_2012_Article_4665.pd

Attention Factors Compared to Other Predictors of Simulated Driving Performance Across Age Groups

Groups of young, middle-aged, and older adults performed a battery of computer-based attention tasks, the UFOV® and neuropsychological tests, and simulated low-speed driving in a suburban scenario. Results from the attention tasks were submitted to Maximum Likelihood factor analysis and 6 factors were extracted that explained more than 57% of the task variance. The factors were labeled speed, switching, visual search, executive, sustained, and divided attention in descending order of amount of task variance explained. The factor scores were used to predict simulated driving performance. Step-wise regressions were computed with driving performance as the criterion, and age, sex and the factor scores, the UFOV® scores, or the neuropsychological test scores as predictors. Results showed that the perceptual-motor speed and divided attention measures from the UFOV® and attention battery were more likely to explain driving performance variance than the neuropsychological tests

Parental age effects and the evolution of senescence in Lemna minor

Senescence is characterized by age-related deterioration within individual organisms and a resultant decline in rates of survival or reproduction. Such declines seem inherently maladaptive, but occur nonetheless in a wide range of species. My thesis contributes to the questions of (i) why senescence is common in nature, and (ii) why patterns of senescence sometimes vary markedly both within and among species. With respect to why senescence is common, most evolutionary theory on senescence makes the simplifying assumption that all offspring are of equal quality. I show that this assumption does not hold in the aquatic plant Lemna minor, and develop a theoretical model to investigate how age-related declines in offspring quality influence the ‘force’ of natural selection. With respect to variation in patterns of senescence, I describe a common garden experiment demonstrating a high degree of among-population consistency in life expectancy and rates of senescence in L. minor

Face Processing in the Chimpanzee Brain

SummaryHuman face recognition involves highly specialized cognitive and neural processes that enable the recognition of specific individuals [1–5]. Although comparative studies suggest that similar cognitive processes underlie face recognition in chimpanzees and humans ([6–8] and Supplemental Data), it remains unknown whether chimpanzees also show face-selective activity in ventral temporal cortex. This study is the first to examine regional cerebral glucose metabolism with 18F-flurodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in chimpanzees after they performed computerized tasks matching conspecifics' faces and nonface objects (Supplemental Data). A whole-brain analysis comparing these two tasks in five chimpanzees revealed significant face-selective activity in regions known to comprise the distributed cortical face-processing network in humans, including superior temporal sulcus and orbitofrontal cortex [9–11]. In order to identify regions that were exclusively active during one task, but not the other, we subtracted a resting-state condition from each task and identified the activity exclusive to each. This revealed numerous distinct patches of face-selective activity in the fusiform gyrus that were interspersed within a large expanse of object-selective cortex. This pattern suggests similar object form topography in the ventral temporal cortex of chimpanzees and humans, in which faces may represent a special class of visual stimulus

A multigenerational effect of parental age on offspring size but not fitness in common duckweed (Lemna minor)

Sherpa Romeo yellow journal (pre-print only; accepted for publication)Classic theories on the evolution of senescence make the simplifying assumption that all offspring are of equal quality, so that demographic senescence only manifests through declining rates of survival or fecundity. However, there is now evidence that, in addition to declining rates of survival and fecundity, many organisms are subject to age-related declines in the quality of offspring produced (i.e. parental age effects). Recent modelling approaches allow for the incorporation of parental age effects into classic demographic analyses, assuming that such effects are limited to a single generation. Does this ‘single generation’ assumption hold? To find out, we conducted a laboratory study with the aquatic plant Lemna minor, a species for which parental age effects have been demonstrated previously. We compared the size and fitness of 423 lab-cultured plants (asexually-derived ramets) representing various birth orders, and ancestral ‘birth-order genealogies’. We found that offspring size and fitness both declined with increasing ‘immediate’ birth order (i.e. birth order with respect to the immediate parent), but only offspring size was affected by ancestral birth order. Thus, the assumption that parental age effects on offspring fitness are limited to a single generation does in fact hold for L. minor. This result will guide theorists aiming to refine and generalise modelling approaches that incorporate parental age effects into evolutionary theory on senescence

Senescence in duckweed: age-related declines in survival, reproduction, and offspring quality

Sherpa Romeo yellow journal (pre-print only, accepted for publication)As they grow old, most organisms experience progressive physiological deterioration resulting in declining rates of survival and reproduction – a seemingly maladaptive phenomenon known as senescence. Although senescence is usually defined with respect only to survival and reproduction, a third component of fitness, offspring quality, may also decline with age. Few studies, however, have assessed age-related changes in offspring quality using measures that truly reflect fitness. In a controlled environment, we tested for age-related declines in three demographic components of fitness (survival, reproduction, and offspring quality) in Lemna minor, a small aquatic plant in the subfamily Lemnoideae (the duckweeds) with a short lifespan and rapid rate of asexual reproduction. Our primary measure of offspring quality, the intrinsic rate of increase, more closely approximates fitness than measures used in previous studies such as size, lifespan, and total reproductive output. We observed strong age-related declines in all three components of fitness: old plants had lower rates of survival and reproduction, and produced lower-quality offspring than younger plants. Theoretical and empirical research on the evolutionary biology of senescence should devote more attention to offspring quality. This often unrecognized component of fitness may change with age – as we have shown in L. minor – and may be shaped by, and feed back into, the same evolutionary forces that give rise to senescence

Sleep‐disordered breathing is common among term and near term infants in the NICU

ObjectiveAmong older infants and children, sleep‐disordered breathing (SDB) has negative neurocognitive consequences. We evaluated the frequency and potential impact of SDB among newborns who require intensive care.Study DesignTerm and near‐term newborns at risk for seizures underwent 12‐h attended polysomnography in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Bayley Scales of Infant Development, third edition (Bayley‐III) were administered at 18‐22 months.ResultThe 48 newborns (EGA 39.3 ± 1.6) had a median pediatric apnea‐hypopnea index (AHI) of 10.1 (3.3‐18.5) and most events were central (vs obstructive). Maternal and prenatal factors were not associated with AHI. Moreover, neonatal PSG results were not associated with Bayley‐III scores (P > 0.05).ConclusionSDB is common among term and near‐term newborns at risk for seizures. Follow‐up at ages when more nuanced testing can be performed may be necessary to establish whether neonatal SDB is associated with long‐term neurodevelopmental disability.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149248/1/ppul24266.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149248/2/ppul24266_am.pd