All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Playing Soccer): A Feminist Parable of Legal Academia

My friend\u27s nine-year-old daughter Mgabh came home from school the other day and said to her: You know, Mummy, when it comes to picking the teams for football in the breaks, the boys are always picked first and then the girls. There\u27s one girl who\u27s really good and she gets picked before some boys. But then they pick the rest of the boys, and then me and the other girls, even though we\u27re better than some of the boys who get picked before us. And the boys who tease us the worst about girls not being good at football are always the boys who are the worst players themselves

Substance use disorders in the farming population: Scoping review

Purpose The purpose of this scoping review is to summarize the current knowledge base in order to make recommendations for prevention and treatment of substance use disorders among the farming populations. Methods We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed articles published between January 1989 and September 2019. The search yielded 3,426 citations and the final review was conducted on 42 articles. The full review was conducted by 4 authors to extract information about the target population, data collection methods, and main results. Findings There were 21 articles on farmers and 21 articles on farmworkers. The majority of the articles were about alcohol. Overall, farmers had higher prevalence of risky alcohol consumption patterns than nonfarmers. The prevalence of risky alcohol consumption was also high among farmworkers compared to the general population. Risk factors for risky alcohol consumption included male gender, lower socioeconomic status, and psychological problems (eg, depression). Recommendations for prevention and intervention of alcohol disorders included policy development and implementation to curb alcohol access by taxation, screening of alcohol-related problems, and alternative means of recreation instead of alcohol consumption. Conclusions This review confirmed that alcohol-related problems are prevalent among farmers and farmworkers. More population-based research is called for to understand the additional risk factors of alcohol disorders and the prevalence of other substance-related disorders. Also, interventions should be tailored to the unique culture of farmers and farmworkers

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways mediate embryonic responses to culture medium osmolarity by regulating Aquaporin 3 and 9 expression and localization, as well as embryonic apoptosis.

BACKGROUND: In order to advance the development of culture conditions and increase the potential for supporting normal preimplantation embryo development in vitro, it is critical to define the mechanisms that early embryos utilize to survive in culture. We investigated the mechanisms that embryos employ in response to culture medium osmolarity. We hypothesized that mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways mediate responses to hyperosmotic stress by regulating Aquaporin (AQP) 3 and 9 expression as well as embryonic apoptosis. METHODS: Real-time reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction and whole-mount immunofluorescence were used to determine the relative mRNA levels and protein localization patterns of AQP 3 and 9 after hyperosmotic medium treatment. RESULTS: At 6 and 24 h, a significant increase in Aqp 3 and 9 mRNA was observed in the sucrose hyperosmotic treatment compared with standard medium and glycerol controls. Blockade of MAPK14/11 negated the increase in Aqp 3 and 9 mRNA levels, whereas culture in a MAPK8 blocker did not. Hyperosmotic sucrose treatment significantly increased embryonic apoptosis which was negated in the presence of MAPK8 blocker, but not MAPK14/11 blocker. CONCLUSIONS: MAPK14/11 activation is a component of the rapid adaptive stress response mechanism that includes the effects of AQP mRNA expression and protein localization, whereas the MAPK8 pathway is a regulator of apoptosis

Prevalence and geographical distribution of Papio hamadryas papillomavirus 1 (PhPV1) in Kenyan baboons

Papio hamadryas papillomavirus (PhPV) 1, 2, and 3, are Alphapapillomaviruses that have been detected in Kenyan Olive baboons but the distribution is unknown. Therefore, cervical screening for PhPV1 was performed in baboons from various areas in Kenya using a nested polymerase chain reaction. The prevalence rate was 33%.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135993/1/jmp12247.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135993/2/jmp12247_am.pd

Alcohol-Naïve USVs Distinguish Male HAD-1 from LAD-1 Rat Strains

Ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are mediated through specific dopaminergic and cholinergic neural pathways and serve as real-time measures of positive and negative emotional status in rodents. Although most USV studies focus primarily on USV counts, each USV possesses a number of characteristics shown to reflect activity in the associated neurotransmitter system. In the present study, we recorded spontaneously emitted USVs from alcohol-naïve high alcohol drinking (HAD-1) and low alcohol drinking (LAD-1) rats. Using our recently developed WAAVES algorithm we quantified four acoustic characteristics (mean frequency, duration, power and bandwidth) from each 22 – 28 kHz and 50 – 55 kHz frequency modulated (FM) USV. This rich USV representation allowed us to apply advanced statistical techniques to identify the USV acoustic characteristics that distinguished HAD-1 from LAD-1 rats. Linear mixed models (LMM) examined the predictability of each USV characteristic in isolation and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and binomial logistic regression examined the predictability of linear combinations of the USV characteristics as a group. Results revealed significant differences in acoustic characteristics between HAD-1 and LAD-1 rats in both 22 – 28 kHz and 50 – 55 kHz FM USVs. In other words, these rats selectively bred for high- and low-alcohol consumption can be identified as HAD-1 or LAD-1 rats with high classification accuracy (approx. 92-100%) exclusively on the basis of their emitted 22-28 kHz and 50-55 kHz FM USV acoustic characteristics. In addition, acoustic characteristics of 22 – 28 kHz and 50 – 55 kHz FM USVs emitted by alcohol-naïve HAD-1 and LAD-1 rats significantly correlate with their future alcohol consumption. Our current findings provide novel evidence that USV acoustic characteristics can be used to discriminate between alcohol-naïve HAD-1 and LAD-1 rats, and may serve as biomarkers in rodents with a predisposition for, or against, excessive alcohol intake

Alcohol-preferring P rats emit spontaneous 22-28 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations that are altered by acute and chronic alcohol experience

BACKGROUND: Emotional states are often thought to drive excessive alcohol intake and influence the development of alcohol use disorders. To gain insight into affective properties associated with excessive alcohol intake, we utilized ultrasonic vocalization (USV) detection and analyses to characterize the emotional phenotype of selectively bred alcohol-preferring (P) rats; an established animal model of excessive alcohol intake. USVs emitted by rodents have been convincingly associated with positive (50-55 kHz frequency-modulated [FM]) and negative (22-28 kHz) affective states. Therefore, we hypothesized that 50-55 and 22-28 kHz USV emission patterns in P rats would reveal a unique emotional phenotype sensitive to alcohol experience. METHODS: 50-55 kHz FM and 22-28 kHz USVs elicited from male P rats were assessed during access to water, 15 and 30% EtOH (v/v). Ethanol (EtOH; n = 12) or water only (Control; n = 4) across 8 weeks of daily drinking-in-the-dark (DID) sessions. RESULTS: Spontaneous 22-28 kHz USVs are emitted by alcohol-naïve P rats and are enhanced by alcohol experience. During DID sessions when alcohol was not available (e.g., "EtOH OFF" intervals), significantly more 22-28 kHz than 50-55 kHz USVs were elicited, while significantly more 50-55 kHz FM than 22-28 kHz USVs were emitted when alcohol was available (e.g., "EtOH ON" intervals). In addition, USV acoustic property analyses revealed chronic effects of alcohol experience on 22-28 kHz USV mean frequency, indicative of lasting alcohol-mediated alterations to neural substrates underlying emotional response. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that acute and chronic effects of alcohol exposure are reflected in changes in 22-28 and 50-55 kHz FM USV counts and acoustic patterns. These data support the notion that initiation and maintenance of alcohol intake in P rats may be due to a unique, alcohol-responsive emotional phenotype and further suggest that spontaneous 22-28 kHz USVs serve as behavioral markers for excessive drinking vulnerability

Alcohol enhances unprovoked 22-28 kHz USVs and suppresses USV mean frequency in High Alcohol Drinking (HAD-1) male rats

Heightened emotional states increase impulsive behaviors such as excessive ethanol consumption in humans. Though positive and negative affective states in rodents can be monitored in real-time through ultrasonic vocalization (USV) emissions, few animal studies have focused on the role of emotional status as a stimulus for initial ethanol drinking. Our laboratory has recently developed reliable, high-speed analysis techniques to compile USV data during multiple-hour drinking sessions. Since High Alcohol Drinking (HAD-1) rats are selectively bred to voluntarily consume intoxicating levels of alcohol, we hypothesized that USVs emitted by HAD-1 rats would reveal unique emotional phenotypes predictive of alcohol intake and sensitive to alcohol experience. In this study, male HAD-1 rats had access to water, 15% and 30% EtOH or water only (i.e., Controls) during 8 weeks of daily 7-h drinking-in-the-dark (DID) sessions. USVs, associated with both positive (i.e., 50-55 kHz frequency-modulated or FM) and negative (i.e., 22-28 kHz) emotional states, emitted during these daily DID sessions were examined. Findings showed basal 22-28 kHz USVs were emitted by both EtOH-Naïve (Control) and EtOH-experienced rats, alcohol experience enhanced 22-28 kHz USV emissions, and USV acoustic parameters (i.e., mean frequency in kHz) of both positive and negative USVs were significantly suppressed by chronic alcohol experience. These data suggest that negative affective status initiates and maintains excessive alcohol intake in selectively bred HAD-1 rats and support the notion that unprovoked emissions of negative affect-associated USVs (i.e., 22-28 kHz) predict vulnerability to excessive alcohol intake in distinct rodent models

Gravitational Mesoscopic Constraints in Cosmological Dark Matter Halos

We present an analysis of the behaviour of the `coarse-grained' (`mesoscopic') rank partitioning of the mean energy of collections of particles composing virialized dark matter halos in a Lambda-CDM cosmological simulation. We find evidence that rank preservation depends on halo mass, in the sense that more massive halos show more rank preservation than less massive ones. We find that the most massive halos obey Arnold's theorem (on the ordering of the characteristic frequencies of the system) more frequently than less massive halos. This method may be useful to evaluate the coarse-graining level (minimum number of particles per energy cell) necessary to reasonably measure signatures of `mesoscopic' rank orderings in a gravitational system.Comment: LaTeX, 15 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy Journa

The Formation of Massive Cluster Galaxies

We present composite 3.6 and 4.5 micron luminosity functions for cluster galaxies measured from the Spitzer Deep, Wide-Field Survey (SDWFS) for 0.3<z<2. We compare the evolution of m* for these luminosity functions to models for passively evolving stellar populations to constrain the primary epoch of star formation in massive cluster galaxies. At low redshifts (z < 1.3) our results agree well with models with no mass assembly and passively evolving stellar populations with a luminosity-weighted mean formation redshift zf=2.4 assuming a Kroupa initial mass function (IMF). We conduct a thorough investigation of systematic biases that might influence our results, and estimate systematic uncertainites of Delta zf=(+0.16-0.18) (model normalization), Delta zf=(+0.40-0.05) (alpha), and Delta zf=(+0.30-0.45) (choice of stellar population model). For a Salpeter type IMF, the typical formation epoch is thus strongly constrained to be z ~2-3. Higher formation redshifts can only be made consistent with the data if one permits an evolving IMF that is bottom-light at high redshift, as suggested by van Dokkum et al 2008. At high redshift (z > 1.3) we also witness a statistically significant (>5sigma) disagreement between the measured luminosity function and the continuation of the passive evolution model from lower redshifts. After considering potential systematic biases that might influence our highest redshift data points, we interpret the observed deviation as potential evidence for ongoing mass assembly at this epoch.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Population-Based Pragmatic Trial of Advance Care Planning in Primary Care in the University of California Health System.

Introduction: Varying intensity of advance care planning (ACP) interventions at the population level has not been compared among seriously ill patients in primary care. This project will implement, test, and disseminate real-world scalable ACP interventions among primary care clinics across three University of California Health systems. The three ACP interventions are (1) distribution of an advance directive (AD) with targeted ACP messaging, (2) the AD, messaging, plus prompting patients to engage with the Prepare For Your Care website (PREPARE), and (3) the AD, messaging, PREPARE, plus Care Coordinator engagement with patients and clinicians. Methods: We will identify a population cohort of seriously ill primary care patients and implement the ACP interventions using electronic health record (EHR) patient portals and postal mailings. Forty-five clinics across the three health systems will be cluster randomized to one of the three ACP interventions. The primary outcome for the population cohort is AD or Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment documentation in the EHR. A subset of the population cohort will be surveyed to assess patient-centered outcomes, including care consistent with goals at baseline, 12 months, and 24 months. Caregivers will be interviewed if patients are unable to be surveyed or die. ACP documentation, goal concordant care, and among decedents, health care utilization will be compared among intervention arms. Study Implementation: Challenges and Contributions: The project is guided by a Study Advisory Group and Community Advisory Groups at each site to ensure rigorous patient-centered methods and consistency of implementation. Intervention fidelity will be evaluated using the Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. Challenges to implementation of this three-site health system trial and to intervention fidelity stem from site/clinic/system cultures, increasing attention to end-of-life care from payers and regulators, and growing pressures by health systems to implement ACP interventions. Stakeholder engagement is required to ensure consistent interventions across sites