The utility of home-practice in mindfulness-based group interventions: a systematic review

A growing body of research supports the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). MBIs consider home-practice as essential to increasing the therapeutic effects of the treatment. To date however, the synthesis of the research conducted on the role of home-practice in controlled MBI studies has been a neglected area. This review aimed to conduct a narrative synthesis of published controlled studies, evaluating mindfulness-based group interventions, which have specifically measured home-practice. Empirical research literature published until June 2016 was searched using five databases. The search strategy focused on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and home-practice. Included studies met the following criteria: controlled trials, participants 18 years and above, evaluations of MBSR or MBCT, utilised standardised quantitative outcome measures and monitored home-practice using a self-reported measure. Fourteen studies met the criteria and were included in the review. Across all studies, there was heterogeneity in the guidance and resources provided to participants and the approaches used for monitoring home-practice. In addition, the guidance on the length of home-practice was variable across studies, which indicates that research studies and teachers are not adhering to the published protocols. Finally, only seven studies examined the relationship between home-practice and clinical outcomes, of which four found that home-practice predicted improvements on clinical outcome measures. Future research should adopt a standardised approach for monitoring home-practice across MBIs. Additionally, studies should assess whether the amount of home-practice recommended to participants is in line with MBSR/MBCT manualised protocols. Finally, research should utilise experimental methodologies to explicitly explore the relationship between home-practice and clinical outcomes

Political strategies of external support for democratization

Political strategies of external support to democratization are contrasted and critically examined in respect of the United States and European Union. The analysis begins by defining its terms of reference and addresses the question of what it means to have a strategy. The account briefly notes the goals lying behind democratization support and their relationship with the wider foreign policy process, before considering what a successful strategy would look like and how that relates to the selection of candidates. The literature's attempts to identify strategy and its recommendations for better strategies are compared and assessed. Overall, the article argues that the question of political strategies of external support for democratization raises several distinct but related issues including the who?, what?, why?, and how? On one level, strategic choices can be expected to echo the comparative advantage of the "supporter." On a different level, the strategies cannot be divorced from the larger foreign policy framework. While it is correct to say that any sound strategy for support should be grounded in a theoretical understanding of democratization, the literature on strategies reveals something even more fundamental: divergent views about the nature of politics itself. The recommendations there certainly pinpoint weaknesses in the actual strategies of the United States and Europe but they have their own limitations too. In particular, in a world of increasing multi-level governance strategies for supporting democratization should go beyond preoccupation with just an "outside-in" approach

TFIIB aptamers inhibit transcription by perturbing PIC formation at distinct stages

Transcription in eukaryotes is a multistep process involving the assembly and disassembly of numerous inter- and intramolecular interactions between transcription factors and nucleic acids. The roles of each of these interactions and the regions responsible for them have been identified and studied primarily by the use of mutants, which destroy the inherent properties of the interacting surface. A less intrusive but potentially effective way to study the interactions as well as the surfaces responsible for them is the use of RNA aptamers that bind to the interacting factors. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of high-affinity RNA aptamers that bind to the yeast general transcription factor TFIIB. These aptamers fall into two classes that interfere with TFIIB's interactions with either TBP or RNA polymerase II, both of which are crucial for transcription in yeast. We demonstrate the high affinity and specificity of these reagents, their effect on transcription and preinitiation complex formation and discuss their potential use to address mechanistic questions in vitro as well as in vivo

Exile Vol. XIX No. 2

POETRY speckled day by Richard Carothers 3 Looking-Glass by Doug Cox 3 February fog scooves in by H. 8 Surface Tension by Glenn Bard 9 Closing by Doug Cox 10 southwest bazaar by Val Evans 16 Haiku sequence By Suzanne B. Dean 17 summertime by Richard Carothers 18 The Desirability of Being a Line by Laurie Wharton 18 The Blatant Morning by Phil Mercurio 23 sweet nothings by Linda Anderson 23 Alone In Bed by Val Evans 24 Walls and the Fallen Woman by H. 26-27 A Victim of Need by Suzanne B. Dean 28 PHOTOGRAPHY by Tamera Iverson 1, 18 by John Bildahl 9, 15 by Anne G. English 25 by Richard E. Bergen 27 by Bruce Andre 28 ARTWORK The Road to Calvary by Sheila Rollit 4 Norwegian Sadness by Tamera Iverson 11 by Ann Merrill 16 by Jude Hasel 17 by Pat Victory 22 by Wilson R. Baldridge 26 FICTION To My Grandmother by Robb Knuepfer 5-8 First Monday in July by Joe L. Bolster III 12-14 Glad About A Lot Today by John Fergus 19-22 A city stands by Suzanne B. Dean 24-2

Measures of Autozygosity in Decline: Globalization, Urbanization, and Its Implications for Medical Genetics

This research investigates the influence of demographic factors on human genetic sub-structure. In our discovery cohort, we show significant demographic trends for decreasing autozygosity associated with population variation in chronological age. Autozygosity, the genomic signature of consanguinity, is identifiable on a genome-wide level as extended tracts of homozygosity. We identified an average of 28.6 tracts of extended homozygosity greater than 1 Mb in length in a representative population of 809 unrelated North Americans of European descent ranging in chronological age from 19–99 years old. These homozygous tracts made up a population average of 42 Mb of the genome corresponding to 1.6% of the entire genome, with each homozygous tract an average of 1.5 Mb in length. Runs of homozygosity are steadily decreasing in size and frequency as time progresses (linear regression, p<0.05). We also calculated inbreeding coefficients and showed a significant trend for population-wide increasing heterozygosity outside of linkage disequilibrium. We successfully replicated these associations in a demographically similar cohort comprised of a subgroup of 477 Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants. We also constructed statistical models showing predicted declining rates of autozygosity spanning the 20th century. These predictive models suggest a 14.0% decrease in the frequency of these runs of homozygosity and a 24.3% decrease in the percent of the genome in runs of homozygosity, as well as a 30.5% decrease in excess homozygosity based on the linkage pruned inbreeding coefficients. The trend for decreasing autozygosity due to panmixia and larger effective population sizes will likely affect the frequency of rare recessive genetic diseases in the future. Autozygosity has declined, and it seems it will continue doing so

Influence of a dam on fine-sediment storage in a canyon river

Glen Canyon Dam has caused a fundamental change in the distribution of fine sediment storage in the 99-km reach of the Colorado River in Marble Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. The two major storage sites for fine sediment (i.e., sand and finer material) in this canyon river are lateral recirculation eddies and the main-channel bed. We use a combination of methods, including direct measurement of sediment storage change, measurements of sediment flux, and comparison of the grain size of sediment found in different storage sites relative to the supply and that in transport, in order to evaluate the change in both the volume and location of sediment storage. The analysis shows that the bed of the main channel was an important storage environment for fine sediment in the predam era. In years of large seasonal accumulation, approximately 50% of the fine sediment supplied to the reach from upstream sources was stored on the main-channel bed. In contrast, sediment budgets constructed for two short-duration, high experimental releases from Glen Canyon Dam indicate that approximately 90% of the sediment discharge from the reach during each release was derived from eddy storage, rather than from sandy deposits on the main-channel bed. These results indicate that the majority of the fine sediment in Marble Canyon is now stored in eddies, even though they occupy a small percentage ( similar to 17%) of the total river area. Because of a 95% reduction in the supply of fine sediment to Marble Canyon, future high releases without significant input of tributary sediment will potentially erode sediment from long-term eddy storage, resulting in continued degradation in Marble Canyon