Traumatic events, perceived stress, and health in women with fibromyalgia and healthy controls

This study examined the relationship between trauma, stress and health in 41 women with fibromyalgia (FM) and 44 women who were healthy controls (HC). The participants were assessed for traumatic events, perceived stress and mental and physical health. Perceived stress was related to worse mental and physical health in both groups. Traumatic events were related to worse mental and physical health in the FM group but were unrelated to health in the HC group. Perceived stress partially mediated the effect of traumatic events on mental and physical health in the FM group. Finally, adult abuse partially mediated the effects of child abuse on adult stress and health. Trauma may have lasting effects on stress and health in women with FM. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The Role of Resilience and Purpose in Life in Habituation to Heat and Cold Pain

This study examined the role of resilience in habituation to heat and cold pain in healthy women (n = 47). Heat and cold pain thresholds were each assessed across 5 equally spaced trials. Re- silience, purpose in life, optimism, social support, and neuroticism were assessed using self-report measures. The hypothesis was that the resilience and the associated resilience factors would be pos- itively related to habituation to heat and cold pain while controlling for neuroticism. Multilevel mod- eling was used to test the hypothesis. When considering each characteristic separately, resilience and purpose in life predicted greater habituation to heat pain while resilience, purpose in life, optimism, and social support predicted greater habituation to cold pain. When controlling for the other charac- teristics, both resilience and purpose in life predicted greater habituation to heat and cold pain. Re- silience and associated characteristics such as a sense of purpose in life may be related to enhanced habituation to painful stimuli. Future research should further examine the relationship between re- silience, purpose in life, and habituation to pain and determine whether psychosocial interventions that target resilience and purpose in life improve habituation and reduce vulnerability to chronic pain

Book Review: Advice That Sticks

Book Review for Advice that Sticks: How to give financial advice that people will follow written by Dr. Moira Somer

Hidden in Plain Sight: Homeless Students In America's Public Schools

Student homelessness is on the rise, with more than 1.3 million homeless students identified during the 2013-14 school year. This is a 7 percent increase from the previous year and more than double the number of homeless students in 2006-07. As high as these numbers seem, they are almost certainly undercounts.Despite increasing numbers, these students - as well as the school liaisons and state coordinators who support them - report that student homelessness remains an invisible and extremely disruptive problem.Students experiencing homelessness struggle to stay in school, to perform well, and to form meaningful connections with peers and adults. Ultimately, they are much more likely to fall off track and eventually drop out of school more often than their non-homeless peers.This study:provides an overview of existing research on homeless students,sheds light on the challenges homeless students face and the supports they say they need to succeed,reports on the challenges adults - local liaisons and state coordinators - face in trying to help homeless students, andrecommends changes in policy and practice at the school, community, state and national level to help homeless students get on a path to adult success.This is a critical and timely topic. The recent reauthorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides many new and stronger provisions for homeless students (effective Oct. 1, 2016); requires states, district and schools for the first time to report graduation rates for homeless students (effective beginning with the 2016-17 school year); and affirms the urgency and importance of dealing with homelessness so that all children can succeed

Credit Enhancement Strategies for Higher Efficiency Vehicles in Maine

Credit enhancements are a necessary, but not sufficient policy tool to expand access to clean, reliable vehicles. They are necessary because lower-income and historically disadvantaged groups have less access to low-cost financing. They are not sufficient in that credit enhancements alone, while helpful, are not likely to substantially increase the purchase of clean, reliable vehicles with a higher initial purchase price, but comparable or lower long-term cost of ownership. We review two credit enhancement mechanisms: loan loss reserves and interest rate buy-downs

Management of Insecticide-Resistant Soybean Aphids in the Upper Midwest of the United States

Since the first observation of soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), in North America in 2000, it has become the most economically damaging insect of soybean in the Upper Midwest of the United States. For the last 17 yr, soybean aphid management has relied almost entirely on the use of foliar-applied broad-spectrum insecticides. However, in 2015 in Minnesota, failures of foliar-applied pyrethroid insecticides were reported and pyrethroid resistance was confirmed with laboratory bioassays using lambda-cyhalothrin and bifenthrin. In 2016 and 2017, further reports of failures of pyrethroid insecticides and/or laboratory confirmation of resistance occurred in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Manitoba. In response to the challenge posed by insecticide-resistant soybean aphids, we recommend several management strategies for minimizing further development of resistance and subsequent pest-induced crop losses: 1) scout and use the economic threshold to determine when to apply insecticides, 2) apply the insecticides properly, 3) assess efficacy 3–5 d after application, and 4) alternate to a different insecticide group if another application is required. In the long term, soybean aphid management must move beyond insecticide-based management to true integrated pest management by incorporating multiple tactics

Business schools: ethics, assurance of learning, and the future

This paper reviews the teaching of business ethics at 70 of the top ranked business schools in the United States and internationally as determined by Business Week magazine. Interviews were conducted with deans, associate and assistant deans, directors and faculty with a survey instrument focusing upon ethics in the curriculum, modifications to the ethics curriculum, and assessment of learning

The Drosophila Caspase DRONC Cleaves following Glutamate or Aspartate and Is Regulated by DIAP1, HID, and GRIM

The caspase family of cysteine proteases plays important roles in bringing about apoptotic cell death. All caspases studied to date cleave substrates COOH-terminal to an aspartate. Here we show that the Drosophila caspase DRONC cleaves COOH-terminal to glutamate as well as aspartate. DRONC autoprocesses itself following a glutamate residue, but processes a second caspase, drICE, following an aspartate. DRONC prefers tetrapeptide substrates in which aliphatic amino acids are present at the P2 position, and the P1 residue can be either aspartate or glutamate. Expression of a dominant negative form of DRONC blocks cell death induced by the Drosophila cell death activators reaper, hid, and grim, and DRONC overexpression in flies promotes cell death. Furthermore, the Drosophila cell death inhibitor DIAP1 inhibits DRONC activity in yeast, and DIAP1's ability to inhibit DRONC-dependent yeast cell death is suppressed by HID and GRIM. These observations suggest that DRONC acts to promote cell death. However, DRONC activity is not suppressed by the caspase inhibitor and cell death suppressor baculovirus p35. We discuss possible models for DRONC function as a cell death inhibitor