Forging Community in the Ouachita Foothills of Southwest Arkansas: Duckett Township, Homesteading, Distilling and Race

Community was key to successful subsistence agriculture in Arkansas, especially in the Ouachita foothills in southwest Arkansas (including Polk, Howard, Montgomery, Pike, Garland Counties) and Oklahoma (McCurtain, Pittsburgh, LeFlore Counties) until the 1940s. Nearly a quarter of Arkansas’s land remained in the federal government’s name twenty years after statehood, and even more of the land in the western Ouachita foothills. Much remains unknown about how farming communities were formed in this area from the end of the Civil War until approximately World War II. As seen in the Duckett community in northern Howard County, while family connections were important to supporting farming communities, these communities also needed people who were not related to each other, in part, so that marriages and family growth could occur. Studying white women homesteaders in north Howard and south Polk Counties shows that Ouachita women homesteaded in community because subsistence farming was family-labor based. Some women used homesteading as an alternative to family building. In the late nineteenth century, distillers were a part of every rural Ouachita community, providing access to cash and to local alcohol. An 1894 campaign by the Democratic administration to “exterminate” distillers focused on so-called Populist strongholds in an effort to increase federal revenue from distilling while cutting tariffs. Once a dozen distillers were sent to prison in New York, the revenuers began cutting deals with other distillers. By 1896, the Kansas City Southern Railroad’s arrival opened other ways to access cash and alcohol. The apparent disappearance of Black people in parts of the Ouachitas (like Polk County) was a pragmatic response by Black people to their communities’ lack of size. Black people, like white people, moved to places where they could marry, send their kids to school, and go to church. When Black people could choose where to live, most chose to live in communities where they could grow their families and farm together. When they disappeared from an area, white people might use their disappearance as evidence of modernity. The relatively successful response of the Black community to horrifying white violence in Buckville on the edge of Montgomery and Garland Counties in 1919 shows the advantages of living in community. After two white men were convicted, a nearby Black community in Caddo Gap grew in number and percentage in 1920 versus 1910. That said, many Buckville residents continued moving (already begun before 1919) to other nearby Black farming communities in Yell County, Peno (Le Flore County), Oklahoma, and elsewhere. Finally, I return to Duckett community, where connections formed in Duckett persist for decades. Current residents of the Duckett area have to make decisions about whether the advantages of staying are outweighed by the disadvantages, just as was true a hundred years ago. Decoration, burials, and family reunions continue even though many families no longer live in the Ouachitas. Through all of these chapters, we see a common thread of community, of mutual assistance, and reliance on each other

Forging Community in the Ouachita Foothills of Southwest Arkansas: Duckett Township, Homesteading, Distilling and Race

Community was key to successful subsistence agriculture in Arkansas, especially in the Ouachita foothills in southwest Arkansas (including Polk, Howard, Montgomery, Pike, Garland Counties) and Oklahoma (McCurtain, Pittsburgh, LeFlore Counties) until the 1940s. Nearly a quarter of Arkansas’s land remained in the federal government’s name twenty years after statehood, and even more of the land in the western Ouachita foothills. Much remains unknown about how farming communities were formed in this area from the end of the Civil War until approximately World War II. As seen in the Duckett community in northern Howard County, while family connections were important to supporting farming communities, these communities also needed people who were not related to each other, in part, so that marriages and family growth could occur. Studying white women homesteaders in north Howard and south Polk Counties shows that Ouachita women homesteaded in community because subsistence farming was family-labor based. Some women used homesteading as an alternative to family building. In the late nineteenth century, distillers were a part of every rural Ouachita community, providing access to cash and to local alcohol. An 1894 campaign by the Democratic administration to “exterminate” distillers focused on so-called Populist strongholds in an effort to increase federal revenue from distilling while cutting tariffs. Once a dozen distillers were sent to prison in New York, the revenuers began cutting deals with other distillers. By 1896, the Kansas City Southern Railroad’s arrival opened other ways to access cash and alcohol. The apparent disappearance of Black people in parts of the Ouachitas (like Polk County) was a pragmatic response by Black people to their communities’ lack of size. Black people, like white people, moved to places where they could marry, send their kids to school, and go to church. When Black people could choose where to live, most chose to live in communities where they could grow their families and farm together. When they disappeared from an area, white people might use their disappearance as evidence of modernity. The relatively successful response of the Black community to horrifying white violence in Buckville on the edge of Montgomery and Garland Counties in 1919 shows the advantages of living in community. After two white men were convicted, a nearby Black community in Caddo Gap grew in number and percentage in 1920 versus 1910. That said, many Buckville residents continued moving (already begun before 1919) to other nearby Black farming communities in Yell County, Peno (Le Flore County), Oklahoma, and elsewhere. Finally, I return to Duckett community, where connections formed in Duckett persist for decades. Current residents of the Duckett area have to make decisions about whether the advantages of staying are outweighed by the disadvantages, just as was true a hundred years ago. Decoration, burials, and family reunions continue even though many families no longer live in the Ouachitas. Through all of these chapters, we see a common thread of community, of mutual assistance, and reliance on each other

The TATA Binding Protein in the Sea Urchin Embryo Is Maternally Derived

AbstractThe cDNA encoding the TATA binding protein was isolated from 8- to 16-cell and morula-stage embryonic libraries of two distantly related species of sea urchin,Strongylocentrotus purpuratusandLytechinus variegatus,respectively. The two proteins are 96% identical over both the N- and C-terminal domains, suggesting a conservation of transcriptional processes between the two species. The prevalence of SpTBP transcripts at several developmental time points was determined using the tracer excess titration method, and the corresponding number of TBP protein molecules was determined by quantitative Western blot analysis. Our results indicate that the amount of TBP mRNA and protein per embryo remains relatively constant throughout development. An initial large pool of TBP protein (>109) molecules in the egg becomes diluted as a consequence of cell division and decreases to about 2 × 106molecules per cell by the gastrula stage. We found byin situRNA hybridization that the oocyte contains a large amount of TBP mRNA which is depleted late in oogenesis so that the eggs and early embryos have extremely low levels of TBP mRNA. We conclude that the oocyte manufactures nearly all of the TBP protein necessary for embryogenesis

Quantification of Walking Ability in Participants with Neurogenic Claudication from Lumbar Spinal Stenosis – A Comparative Study

Background context Walking limitations caused by neurogenic claudication (NC) are typically assessed with self-reported measures, although objective evaluation of walking using motorized treadmill test (MTT) or self-paced walking test (SPWT) has periodically appeared in the lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) literature. Purpose This study compared the validity and responsiveness of MTT and SPWT for assessing walking ability before and after common treatments for NC. Study design Prospective observational cohort study. Patient sample Fifty adults were recruited from an urban spine center if they had LSS and substantial walking limitations from NC and were scheduled to undergo surgery (20%) or conservative treatment (80%). Outcome measures Walking times, distances, and speeds along with the characteristics of NC symptoms were recorded for MTT and SPWT. Self-reported measures included back and leg pain intensity assessed with 0 to 10 numeric pain scales, disability assessed with Oswestry Disability Index, walking ability assessed with estimated walking times and distances, and NC symptoms assessed with the subscales from the Spinal Stenosis Questionnaires. Methods Motorized treadmill test used a level track, and SPWT was conducted in a rectangular hallway. Walking speeds were self-selected, and test end points were NC, fatigue, or completion of the 30-minute test protocol. Results from MTT and SPWT were compared with each other and self-reported measures. Internal responsiveness was assessed by comparing changes in the initial results with the posttreatment results and external responsiveness by comparing walking test results that improved with those that did not improve by self-reported criteria. Results Mean age of the participants was 68 years, and 58% were male. Neurogenic claudication included leg pain (88%) and buttock(s) pain (12%). Five participants could not safely perform MTT. Walking speeds were faster and distances were greater with SPWT, although the results from both tests correlated with each other and self-reported measures. Of the participants, 72% reported improvement after treatment, which was confirmed by significant mean differences in self-reported measures. Motorized treadmill test results did not demonstrate internal responsiveness to change in clinical status after treatment but SPWT results did, with increased mean walking times (6 minutes) and distances (387 m). When responsiveness was assessed against external criterion, both SPWT and MTT demonstrated substantial divergence with self-reported changes in clinical status and alternative outcome measures. Conclusions Both MTT and SPWT can quantify walking abilities in NC. As outcome tools, SPWT demonstrated better internal responsiveness than MTT, but neither test demonstrated adequate external responsiveness. Neither test should be considered as a meaningful substitution for disease-specific measures of functio

Attitudes of North Carolina law enforcement officers toward syringe decriminalization

North Carolina, like much of the U.S. South, is disproportionately affected by HIV and hepatitis. This persistently high disease burden may be driven in part by laws that criminalize the possession and distribution of syringes for illicit drug use. Legal change to decriminalize syringes may reduce infection rates in the state, but is unlikely absent support from law enforcement actors

Climatic and environmental patterns associated with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Four Corners region, United States.

To investigate climatic, spatial, temporal, and environmental patterns associated with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) cases in the Four Corners region, we collected exposure site data for HPS cases that occurred in 1993 to 1995. Cases clustered seasonally and temporally by biome type and geographic location, and exposure sites were most often found in pinyon-juniper woodlands, grasslands, and Great Basin desert scrub lands, at elevations of 1,800 m to 2,500 m. Environmental factors (e.g., the dramatic increase in precipitation associated with the 1992 to 1993 El Niño) may indirectly increase the risk for Sin Nombre virus exposure and therefore may be of value in designing disease prevention campaigns

Einstein on the beach

Programa d'Einstein on the beach de P. Glass i R. Wilson, que es va representar al Gran Teatre del Liceu durant els mesos de setembre i octubre de 1992. La companyia estava formada per M. Beckenstein, L. Bielawa, S. Blakensop, J. Charleston, L. Childs, M. L. Dávila, M. Eaton, K. Geissinger, M. Gezairlian Grib, E. Higby, M. Ing, J. Johnson, B. Jones, J. Kaufman, J. Kensmoe, J. Koch, E. W. Lamp, C. Lipowicz, J. McGruder, J. Montemarano, G. Nimmer, K. Norderval, M. Pogliani, G. Purnhagen, G. Reigenborn, P. Stewart i S. L. Suton. També hi van participar la Lucinda Childs Dance Company i el Philip Glass Ensemble. La direcció musical va anar a càrrec de M. Riesman i la d'escena de R. WilsonThe Philip Glass Ensemble dirigit per M. Riesma

Blood Meal Analysis to Identify Reservoir Hosts for Amblyomma americanum Ticks

Blood meal analysis identified white-tailed deer as hosts for ticks that carry zoonotic pathogens

Choosing a genome browser for a Model Organism Database: surveying the Maize community

As the B73 maize genome sequencing project neared completion, MaizeGDB began to integrate a graphical genome browser with its existing web interface and database. To ensure that maize researchers would optimally benefit from the potential addition of a genome browser to the existing MaizeGDB resource, personnel at MaizeGDB surveyed researchers’ needs. Collected data indicate that existing genome browsers for maize were inadequate and suggest implementation of a browser with quick interface and intuitive tools would meet most researchers’ needs. Here, we document the survey’s outcomes, review functionalities of available genome browser software platforms and offer our rationale for choosing the GBrowse software suite for MaizeGDB. Because the genome as represented within the MaizeGDB Genome Browser is tied to detailed phenotypic data, molecular marker information, available stocks, etc., the MaizeGDB Genome Browser represents a novel mechanism by which the researchers can leverage maize sequence information toward crop improvement directly

Emotion regulation in children (ERiC): A protocol for a randomised clinical trial to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of mentalization based treatment (MBT) vs treatment as usual for school-age children with mixed emotional and behavioural difficulties

Background: The majority of children referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the UK will present with mixed emotional and behavioural difficulties, but most mental health treatments are developed for single disorders. There is a need for research on treatments that are helpful for these mixed difficulties, especially for school-age children. Emotion Regulation (ER) difficulties present across a wide range of mental health disorders and mentalizing may help with regulation. The ability to mentalize one’s own experiences and those of others plays a key role in coping with stress, regulation of emotions, and the formation of stable relationships. Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) is a well-evidenced therapy that aims to promote mentalization, which in turn increases ER capacities, leading to decreased emotional and behavioural difficulties. The aim of this study is to test the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of MBT compared to treatment as usual for school age children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. If effective, we hope this approach can become available to the growing number of children presenting to mental health services with a mix of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Materials and methods: Children referred to CAMHS aged 6–12 with mixed mental health problems (emotional and behavioural) as primary problem can take part with their parent/carers. Children will be randomly allocated to receive either MBT or treatment as usual (TAU) within the CAMHS clinic they have been referred to. MBT will be 6–8 sessions offered fortnightly and can flexibly include different family members. TAU is likely to include CBT, parenting groups, and/or children’s social skills groups. Parent/carers and children will be asked to complete outcome assessments (questionnaires and tasks) online at the start of treatment, mid treatment (8 weeks), end of treatment (16 weeks) and at follow up (40 weeks)