Effects of experience and body size on refuge choice in the crayfish Orconectes immunis

We investigated whether refuge size or experience with a refuge affected the refuge use of male Orconectes immunis crayfish. Individuals were given choices among seven refuges for 10 consecutive days. Refuges were formed from equal length but different diameter PVC pipe and placed in an array in a random sequence. Three treatments were used. In the Novel Refuge treatment, individuals were placed in a new test arena with a new arrangement of cleaned refuges every day. In the Nonremoval treatment, individuals were left in the same arena with the same set of refuges each day. In the Removal treatment, individuals were removed from the refuges each day but placed back in the same arena with the same set of refuges after the refuges had been cleaned. We found that refuge occupation was correlated with an individual\u27s size; smaller crayfish tended to use smaller refuges than larger crayfish, even though all crayfish could fit in all of the different sized refuges. When first tested, individuals initially chose larger refuges than they would subsequently settle in, suggesting that under duress, they were not as particular about refuge characteristics. Individuals in the Nonremoval and Removal treatments were significantly more consistent in their refuge use than those in the Novel Refuge treatment, suggesting that experience with a particular refuge increased use of that refuge. Individuals from the Novel Refuge treatment that were housed for a month with a single refuge did not increase their use of that sized refuge more than those that were housed without a refuge, indicating that simply occupying a refuge of a given size did not affect refuge preference

CAG Repeat Variants in the POLG1 Gene Encoding mtDNA Polymerase-Gamma and Risk of Breast Cancer in African-American Women

The DNA polymerase-gamma (POLG) gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of enzyme responsible for directing mitochondrial DNA replication in humans, contains a polyglutamine tract encoded by CAG repeats of varying length. The length of the CAG repeat has been associated with the risk of testicular cancer, and other genomic variants that impact mitochondrial function have been linked to breast cancer risk in African-American (AA) women. We evaluated the potential role of germline POLG-CAG repeat variants in breast cancer risk in a sample of AA women (100 cases and 100 age-matched controls) who participated in the Women's Circle of Health Study, an ongoing multi-institutional, case-control study of breast cancer. Genotyping was done by fragment analysis in a blinded manner. Results from this small study suggest the possibility of an increased risk of breast cancer in women with minor CAG repeat variants of POLG, but no statistically significant differences in CAG repeat length were observed between cases and controls (multivariate-adjusted odds ratio 1.74; 95% CI, 0.49–6.21). Our study suggests that POLG-CAG repeat length is a potential risk factor for breast cancer that needs to be explored in larger population-based studies

Privatization and bidding in the health-care sector

Public provision of health care, as under Medicare and Medicaid, traditionally “privatized” major production decisions. Providers of care, largely private physicians and hospitals (but also public hospitals), made significant decisions about public beneficiaries' access to care, the quality and quantity of individual services, and the prices to be paid. The result was high access and quality|quantity, but also high program spending, which has prompted a reassertion of public budgetary control. Newly activist program administration is using various mechanisms to promote economizing. Unable and unwilling to specify standards of public access or quality|quantity too overtly, administration instead seeks to squeeze prices-mainly through administrative price setting but also through competitive bidding and voucherlike arrangements. Under such new incentives, major choices that in many non-American systems would be public are here “reprivatized” to be resolved out of the limelight by beneficiaries, traditional providers, or new intermediaries like Competitive Medical Plans.