Close to Home: State Strategies to Strengthen and Support Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care

Discusses states' policy options for supporting non-regulated, home-based child care, such as setting standards for providers to receive public funds, coordinating with pre-K initiatives, and helping care for children with disabilities or special needs

Studies on greenhouse gas emissions in organic and conventional dairy farms

In Germany agriculture is responsible for 14 % of the whole greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sions. A considerable portion (30 %) of the emissions is caused by dairy farming. Recent discussions about this issue show that there is a lack of solid data. The project "Climate effects and sustainability of organic and conventional farming systems - examination in a network of pilot farms" aims to attain more precise information. A total of 40 conventional and 40 organic farms in Germany are compared in this project. Half of the farm pairs are dairy systems; they are located as organic/conventional pairs in regions with equal soil and climatic conditions. The collected data includes length of life, first calving, milk yield, fodder regime, state of health of the different dairy herds and data on manure management and fodder production as well as soil and soil management data. Options to increase sustainability in the farming systems are discussed with a special view to GHG emissions. Modelling of GHG emissions and weak point analyses in production shall be undertaken with the models GAS-EM and REPRO. General differences between organic and conventional dairy farming affecting the GHG balance can be expected by different milk production per cow, different feed components and obligatory grazing in organic farms and different GHG balances in the production of fodder crops. An increase in milk yields by a general intensification of feeding might be connected with unwanted effects on the GHG balance. Also, overall effects of the use of CH4-reducing feed components are unclear. The important role of herd management on the GHG balances in dairy farming is highlighted. The accumulated project data shall serve as a basis for the development of GHG reduction potentials and for an improvement of other sustainability aspects in organic dairy farming

Zusammensetzung von Wirtschaftsdüngern ökologischer und konventioneller Milchviehbetriebe im Rahmen des Projekts Klimawirkungen und Nachhaltigkeit von Landbausystemen

In Deutschland ist die Milchviehhaltung für 30 % der gesamten Treibhausgasemissionen der Landwirtschaft verantwortlich. Zu den größten Verursacherbereichen der landwirtschaftlichen Emissionen in Deutschland gehören die landwirtschaftlichen Böden, die mineralische Düngung, die Emissionen aus der Fermentation aus der Verdauung der Tiere und die Lagerung und Anwendung von Wirtschaftsdüngern. Auf der anderen Seite steigert ein gezielter Einsatz von Wirtschaftsdüngern die Erträge und mindert die Notwendigkeit von Mineraldüngern, was zu einer Senkung der Treibhausgasbelastungen führen kann. Trotz der Bedeutung zu Klimawirkungen der Landwirtschaft, gibt es in der Literatur kaum aussagekräftige Datensätze von Wirtschaftsdüngern in Bezug auf Menge und Qualität und vor allem für den Ökolandbau liegen keine Tabellenwerte dieser vor. In eigenen Studien zu „Klimawirkungen und Nachhaltigkeit von Landbausystemen – Untersuchung in einem Netzwerk von Pilotbetrieben“ wurden in 20 ökologischen und konventionellen Milchviehbetrieben der Düngeranfall, die Lagerungsart, sowie die Anwendung und Qualität von Wirtschaftsdüngern erfasst. Die Ergebnisse der Nährstoffgehalte der ersten Probenahmeperiode sind in diesem Beitrag dargestellt. Die große Spannbreite der N-, P- und K-Gehalte, welche auch in anderen Studien gefunden wurde, konnte durch die eigenen Studien bestätigt werden. Systematische Effekte der Bewirtschaftungsform auf die Qualität der Wirtschaftsdünger konnten nicht gefunden werden, was auf einen unermesslichen Effekt des spezifischen Düngermanagements auf die Zusammensetzung des Düngers hindeutet. Aus diesem Grund werden Qualität, Management, Einsatz und Verwertung der Wirtschaftsdünger genauer betrachtet, um die Treibhausgasbilanzen von Milchviehbetrieben zu optimieren

Analyse von Grundfutterqualitäten ökologischer und konventioneller Milchviehbetriebe im Rahmen des Projekts Klimawirkungen und Nachhaltigkeit von Landbausystemen

Im ersten Jahr eines paarweisen Vergleichs von 20 ökologischen sowie 20 konventionellen Milchviehbetrieben wurden Unterschiede in den Mittelwerten der Proteingehalte der Kleegras- und/oder Grassilagen deutlich. Dahingegen unterschied sich die Qualität der Maissilagen der Betriebe mit den verschiedenen Bewirtschaftungsformen nicht. In eigenen Studien wird der Einfluss der Qualität von Futtermitteln in Abhängigkeit des Managements auf die Treibhausgasbilanzen von Milchviehbetrieben untersucht

Patterns in Medicaid Coverage and Service Utilization Among People with Serious Mental Illnesses

Disruptions in Medicaid adversely affect service use and outcomes among individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMI). A retrospective longitudinal study examined Medicaid coverage and service utilization patterns among individuals with SMI (N = 8358) from 2007 to 2010. Only 36% of participants were continuously enrolled in Medicaid and 20% experienced multiple enrollment disruptions. Mental health diagnosis did not predict continuous coverage; however, individuals with schizophrenia were 19% more likely to have multiple coverage disruptions than those with depression (b = − 0.21; p < 0.01). Single and multiple coverage disruptions were associated with decreased rates of outpatient service days utilized (IRR = 0.77 and 0.65, respectively, p < 0.001) and decreased odds of not using acute care services (OR 0.26 and 0.19, respectively, p < 0.001). Future research should explore mechanisms underlying Medicaid stability and develop interventions that facilitate insurance stability and service utilization

Examining Criminogenic Risk Levels Among People with Mental Illness Incarcerated in US Jails and Prisons

This study examines criminogenic risk levels of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) involved in the justice system compared to justice-involved individuals without mental illness. The sample (N = 436) consisted of ninety-three individuals with SMI incarcerated in a county jail in a mid-size Midwest city, 217 individuals with SMI incarcerated in a state prison in the US Northeast, and 126 individuals without mental illness incarcerated in a state prison in the US Southwest. Results indicated that people with SMI incarcerated in jail and prison had higher overall criminal risk levels than prison inmates without mental illness. Results further demonstrated that, on average, higher percentages of persons with SMI had high/very high criminogenic risk scores. Finally, we noted that persons with SMI scored higher on most of the eight criminogenic risk domains measured by the Level of Service Inventory. These findings are possibly the most compelling to date in the growing body of literature demonstrating that justice-involved people with SMI have elevated criminogenic risk comparable to or greater than their non-mentally ill peers involved in the justice system. Consequently, treatment programs and interventions for justice-involved individuals with SMI need to explicitly target criminogenic needs into treatment efforts

A novel assessment tool for quantitative evaluation of science literature search performance: Application to first-year and senior undergraduate biology majors

Expertise in searching and evaluating scientific literature is a requisite skill of trained scientists and science students, yet information literacy instruction varies greatly among institutions and programs. To ensure that science students acquire information literacy skills, robust methods of assessment are needed. Here, we describe a novel tool for longitudinal, crossover assessment of literature-searching skills in science students and apply it to a cross-sectional assessment of literature-searching performance in 145 first-year and 43 senior biology majors. Subjects were given an open-ended prompt requiring them to find multiple sources of information addressing a particular scientific topic. A blinded scorer used a rubric to score the resources identified by the subjects and generate numerical scores for source quality, source relevance, and citation quality. Two versions of the assessment prompt were given to facilitate eventual longitudinal study of individual students in a crossover design. Seniors were significantly more likely to find relevant, peer-reviewed journal articles, provide appropriate citations, and provide correct answers to other questions about scientific literature. This assessment tool accommodates large numbers of students and can be modified easily for use in other disciplines or at other levels of education

Macrophages Are Required for Dendritic Cell Uptake of Respiratory Syncytial Virus from an Infected Epithelium

We have previously shown that the respiratory syncytial virus [RSV] can productively infect monocyte derived dendritic cells [MoDC] and remain dormant within the same cells for prolonged periods. It is therefore possible that infected dendritic cells act as a reservoir within the airways of individuals between annual epidemics. In the present study we explored the possibility that sub-epithelial DCs can be infected with RSV from differentiated bronchial epithelium and that in turn RSV from DCs can infect the epithelium. A dual co-culture model was established in which a differentiated primary airway epithelium on an Air Liquid Interface (ALI) was cultured on a transwell insert and MoDCs were subsequently added to the basolateral membrane of the insert. Further experiments were undertaken using a triple co-culture model in which in which macrophages were added to the apical surface of the differentiated epithelium. A modified RSV [rr-RSV] expressing a red fluorescent protein marker of replication was used to infect either the MoDCs or the differentiated epithelium and infection of the reciprocal cell type was assessed using confocal microscopy. Our data shows that primary epithelium became infected when rr-RSV infected MoDCs were introduced onto the basal surface of the transwell insert. MoDCs located beneath the epithelium did not become infected with virus from infected epithelial cells in the dual co-culture model. However when macrophages were present on the apical surface of the primary epithelium infection of the basal MoDCs occurred. Our data suggests that RSV infected dendritic cells readily transmit infection to epithelial cells even when they are located beneath the basal layer. However macrophages appear to be necessary for the transmission of infection from epithelial cells to basal dendritic cells

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy