New Faculty Members

There are nineteen new members on the Home Economics faculty this fall

Must Do @ VCU

Must Do @ VCU is a set of annual collegial activities that can be performed throughout the year, by faculty, staff and students. These VCU-centered activities are considered to be the things that give VCU its identity. The goal of Must Do @ VCU is to generate a sense of community and of belonging to the University. VCU is a relatively new University and its traditions are therefore not well-established. Must Do @ VCU aims to build on shared experiences as a method to establish VCU culture

The Iowa Homemaker vol.12, no.8

Cook With Iowa Lard… By Ella Gertrude McMullen If You Would Have Shining Locks… By Virginia Rowe A Few Apples a Day… By Dorothy Bloedel If It’s Good It Will Sell… By Hazel Bec

NADPH-induced chemiluminescence and lipid peroxidation in kidney microsomes

NADPH-induced chemiluminescence and lipid peroxidation in kidney microsomes. Lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species have been shown to affect diverse biological processes potentially important in renal disease. We therefore examined NADPH-induced chemiluminescence (CL) and lipid peroxidation (LP) by renal cortical and, in some experiments, medullary microsomes. We further examined the role of reactive oxygen species in these processes by the use of enzymatic and chemical scavengers. Cortical microsomes gave a marked NADPH-induced CL accompanied by LP. The time course of LP closely paralleled the CL response. Cortical microsomal CL and LP increased with increasing concentrations of protein (0.3 to 1.8 mg) and NADPH (0.1 to 3.0mM); NADH could not substitute for NADPH. Using similar amounts of protein and NADPH concentrations, cortical CL was significantly higher than medullary CL at all time points examined (peak cortical CL: 490 ± 25 × 103 cpm/mg protein, N = 4; peak medullary CL: 226 ± 61 × 103 cpm/mg protein, N = 4). Cortical LP was similarly higher at all time points, values corresponding to peak CL being 44.7 ± 3 nmoles/mg protein for cortex and 29.9 ± 0.8 nmoles/mg protein for medulla. Para-chloromercuribenzoate (PCMB), an inhibitor of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase, caused a marked inhibition of the microsomal CL and LP whereas SKF 525A, an inhibitor of cytochrome P450, had a relatively minor effect. Marked inhibition of NADPH induced CL and LP was observed with chelators EDTA and 1,10-phenanthroline. The addition of NADPH to microsomes prepared with sucrose-EDTA and washed in a Chelex-treated buffer gave a negligible CL and LP response; the responses were restored by the addition of iron. Scavengers of superoxide anion (superoxide dismutase), hydrogen peroxide (catalase), and the hydroxyl radical (sodium benzoate, tryptophan) had a relatively minor effect on CL and LP. Singlet oxygen quenchers sodium azide and 1,4-diazabicyclo (2.2.2) octane (DABCO) caused an incomplete inhibition of CL and LP responses and then only after the first 30min. Taken together, these data suggest that other free radical mechanisms are likely to be important in the CL and LP responses. These results which demonstrate the production of excited states and LP by renal microsomes suggest that their role in renal disease deserves further study.Chemiluminescence induite par le NADPH et peroxydation des lipides dans les microsomes de rein. Il a été montré que la peroxydation des lipides et le type d'oxygène réactif modifient diversement les processus biologiques potentiellement importants dans les maladies rénales. C'est pourquoi nous avons examiné la chemiluminescence (CL) induite par le NADPH, et la peroxydation (LP) des lipides par des microsomes corticaux et dans quelques expériences, médullaires rénaux. Nous avons ensuite examiné le rôle du type d'oxygène réactif dans ces processus en utilisant des agents métabolisants enzymatiques et chimiques. Les microsomes corticaux donnaient une CL marquée induite par le NADPH accompagnée par une LP. Dans le temps, la LP était étroitement parallèle à la réponse CL. La CL et la LP microsomiales corticales s'élevaient avec l'accroissement des concentrations de protéines (0, 1 à 1,8 mg) et de NADPH (0,1 à 3,0mM); le NADH ne pouvait so substituer au NADPH. En utilisant des quantités identiques de protéines et de NADPH, la CL corticale était significativement plus élevée que la CL médullaire à tous les temps examinés (pic de CL corticale: 490 ± 25 × 103 cpm/mg protéine, N = 4, pic de CL médullaire: 226 ± 61 × 103 cpm/mg protéine, N = 4). De même la LP corticale était plus élevée à tous les temps, les valeurs correspondant au pic de CL étant de 44,7 ± 3 nmoles/mg protéine pour le cortex et de 29,9 ± 0,8 nmoles/mg protéine pour la médullaire. Le parachloromercuribenzoate (PCMB), un inhibiteur de la réductase NADPH-cytochrome P450a entraîné une inhibition marquée de la CL et de la LP microsomiales tandis que le SKF 525 A, un inhibiteur du cytochrome P450, avait un effet relativement minime. Une inhibition marquée de la CL induite par le NADPH et de la LP a été observée avec des chélateurs tels l'EDTA et le 1,10-phénanthroline. L'addition de NADPH à des microsomes préparés dans du sucrose-EDTA et lavés dans un tampon traité au Chelex entraînait une réponse CL et LP négligeable; les réponses étaient restaurées par l'addition de fer. Les agents métabolisants l'anion superoxide (dismutase superoxide), le peroxide d'hydrogène (catalase), et le radical hydroxylé (benzoate de sodium, tryptophane) avaient un effet relativement minime sur CL et LP. Les capteurs d'oxygène singulet comme l'azide de sodium et le 1,4-diazabicyclo (2.2.2) octane (DABCO) entraînaient une inhibition incomplète des réponses CL et LP et cela seulement après les 30 premières min. Prises dans leur ensemble, ces données suggèrent que d'autres mécanismes par radicaux libres sont probablement importants dans les réponses CL et LP. Ces résultats, qui démontrent la production d'états excités et de LP par des microsomes rénaux, suggèrent que leur rôle dans les maladies rénales nécessite d'autres études

Cervical visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and oncogenic human papillomavirus screening in rural indigenous guatemalan women: Time to rethink VIA

Single-visit “screen-and-treat” strategies using visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and cryotherapy (liquid nitrous oxide ablation) in low-resource settings are commonly used to de-tect and treat precancerous lesions for cervical cancer prevention. This study compared VIA sensi-tivity and specificity in rural indigenous Guatemalan communities, to that of oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) testing for detection of precancerous changes, using cytology as the reference standard. Between 3–8 September 2017, trained nurses examined 222 women aged 23–58 years with VIA. Specimens for liquid-based cytology and HPV testing were obtained prior to VIA with a cyto-brush and transported in PreservCyt to a US clinical laboratory. VIA and HPV test sensitivities were assessed as proportions of women with abnormal cytology that had abnormal VIA or HPV results, respectively, and specificities, as proportions with normal cytology with normal VIA or negative HPV tests. Of 222 women, 18 (8.1%) had abnormal cytology (1 carcinoma in a participant who received VIA-based cryotherapy in 2015, 4 high-and 5 low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, and 8 atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS)). Excluding ASCUS, sensitivities of VIA and HPV were 20.0% and 100%, respectively. VIA-based screening may not be accepta-ble for detecting precancerous lesions, and field cryotherapy for preventing malignancy. The World Health Organization recommended in 2021 “…using HPV DNA detection as the primary screening test rather than VIA or cytology.”

Anxiety and depression following cumulative low-level exposure to organophosphate pesticides

Previous research suggests that individuals with a prior history of pesticide poisoning are at increased risk of psychiatric disorder (Freire and Koifman, 2013), but findings regarding the impact of cumulative low-level exposure are inconsistent. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether sheep farmers with a history of low-level exposure to organophosphate pesticides (1) report a higher level of psychological distress on subjective symptom questionnaires, compared to unexposed controls (2) also meet internationally agreed diagnostic criteria for a psychiatric disorder more often than unexposed controls. 127 sheep farmers were evaluated and compared to 78 unexposed controls, matched in terms of gender, education, level of intelligence, working status and area of residence. Both self-report measures and structured clinical interviews were used to assess mental health. The exposed cohort reported significantly higher rates of anxiety and depression when self-report questionnaires were used to evaluate mood, even when stressful life events, demographic and physical health factors were taken into account. However, when diagnostic interviews were used to assess mood, this pattern only held true for anxiety

Infestation of small seabirds by Ornithodoros maritimus ticks : Effects on chick body condition, reproduction and associated infectious agents

Funding This Project was partially funded by the Govern Balear (Acciones Especiales, AAEE031/2017) and the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Universities (RESET, ref: CGL2017-85210-P). ASA was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Universities Innovation and Universities, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación and the European Social Found (RYC-2017- 22796). Data accessibility Data will be available via the Spanish National Research Council data repository. Sanz-Aguilar, A., Payo-Payo, A., Igual, J. M., Rotger, A., Viñas Torres, M., Picorelli, V., 2019. Storm petrel data sets. https://doi.org/10.20350/digitalCSIC/. Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Acknowledgements We thank Esteban Cardona, Oliver Martínez, Raül Luna, Toni Avila, Esther López Marín, Miquel Mas, Enric Real y Santiago de la Vega for their help and support on the colony monitoring. Balearic Islands Government, Sant Josep City Hall, COFIB and Fundación Balearia for their logistic support. Ethical statement This study was authorized by the Reserves des Vedrà es Vedranell i els illots de Ponent, Balearic Government. All aspects of the study were performed according to guidelines established for the ethical treatment of animals and complied with current Spanish regulations. The collection of ticks was authorized by the Balearic Government (Reference: CAP 21/2018).Peer reviewedPostprin

When who and how matter: explaining the success of referendums in Europe

This article aims to identify the institutional factors that make a referendum successful. This comparative analysis seeks to explain the success of top-down referendums organized in Europe between 2001 and 2013. It argues and tests for the main effect of three institutional factors (popularity of the initiator, size of parliamentary majority, and political cues during referendum campaigns) and controls for the type of referendum and voter turnout. The analysis uses data collected from referendums and electoral databases, public opinion surveys, and newspaper articles. Results show that referendums proposed by a large parliamentary majority or with clear messages from political parties during campaign are likely to be successful

Independent Validation of the SWMM Green Roof Module

Green roofs are a popular Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) technology. They provide multiple benefits, amongst which the retention of rainfall and detention of runoff are of particular interest to stormwater engineers. The hydrological performance of green roofs has been represented in various models, including the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). The latest version of SWMM includes a new LID green roof module, which makes it possible to model the hydrological performance of a green roof by directly defining the physical parameters of a green roof’s three layers. However, to date, no study has validated the capability of this module for representing the hydrological performance of an extensive green roof in response to actual rainfall events. In this study, data from a previously-monitored extensive green roof test bed has been utilised to validate the SWMM green roof module for both long-term (173 events over a year) and short-term (per-event) simulations. With only 0.357% difference between measured and modelled annual retention, the uncalibrated model provided good estimates of total annual retention, but the modelled runoff depths deviated significantly from the measured data at certain times (particularly during summer) in the year. Retention results improved (with the difference between modelled and measured annual retention decreasing to 0.169% and the Nash-Sutcliffe Model Efficiency (NSME) coefficient for per-event rainfall depth reaching 0.948) when reductions in actual evapotranspiration due to reduced substrate moisture availability during prolonged dry conditions were used to provide revised estimates of monthly ET. However, this aspect of the model’s performance is ultimately limited by the failure to account for the influence of substrate moisture on actual ET rates. With significant differences existing between measured and simulated runoff and NSME coefficients of below 0.5, the uncalibrated model failed to provide reasonable predictions of the green roof’s detention performance, although this was significantly improved through calibration. To precisely model the hydrological behaviour of an extensive green roof with a plastic board drainage layer, some of the modelling structures in SWMM green roof module require further refinement

Portfolio Vol. I N 3

Sweitzer, Harry J. Portfolio Goes to Press . Prose. 1. Browne, Phil. William Howard Doane Library . Picture. 2. Overhuls, James. Out of Himself . Prose. 3. MacNeill, Annie Marie. To President and Mrs. Shaw . Poem. 6. Baker, George. Saint in a Silo . Prose 7. Beckham, Adela. In Moods . Poem. 8. Vincent, Charles. Incident of August 7, 1930. Prose. 9. Flory, Doris. Opinions . Poem. 10. Flory, Doris. Thoughts in Spring . Poem. 10. Flory, Doris. Breakfast Scene . Poem. 10. Shaw, Robert B. A Date for the Dances . Prose. 11. Cronberger, Barbara. And the Years Go On . Prose. 13. Hanna, Stanley. Reola, Reola . Poem. 14. Hanna, Stanley. The Dance of the Kobolds . Poem. 14. Nadel, Norman. I died Last Night . Prose. 15. Bethune, Don S. Adolescence . Poem 16. Vodev, Eugene. The Black Day of Bulgaria . Prose. 17. Dick, Pewilla. To a White Violet . Poem. 18. Dick, Pewilla. As With Your Shadow . Poem. 18. Dwelly, Thorndike. Of Mice and Men . Prose. 19. Clements, Helen. Our Town . Prose. 19. Schlle, Alice. Marion is an Old Costume . Picture. 20. Chadeayne, Robert. Factory . Picture. 20. Nadel, Norman. Dmitri Shostakovitch . Prose. 21. Stewart, John. Duke Ellington\u27s Records . Prose. 21. Beck, Virginia. The Dance as an Art . Prose. 22. Dick, Pewilla. Death . Poem. 23. Flory, Doris. On Reforms . Poem. 24. Beckham, Adela. The Lie . Poem. 24. Bethune, Don. Futility . Poem. 24