Employment and Job Satisfaction Of Agricultural Communications Graduates

Few studies have focused upon the occupational structure of agricultural communications or the job satisfaction of agricultural communications professionals. This void in the literature prompts questions about the types of positions falling under the broad umbrella of agricultural communications. For teaching faculty, in agricultural communications, a more specific question is frequently posed: What types of positions do majors in agricultural communications pursue after graduation, and how satisfied are the graduates with their positions? The primary purpose of this study was to determine the types of positions held by Ohio State University agricultural communications graduates. A second purpose was to assess their salaries and level of job satisfaction. A mailed questionnaire was sent to 131 agricultural communications alumni. The response rate was 57.1 %. The graduates held a variety of positions in agricultural communications and most were satisfied with their positions. Their annual salaries depended upon the type of position held, age, and gender. The best indicators of job satisfaction were ACT membership and annual salaries which the graduates earned

Agricultural Communications Curriculum: Perceptions Of Ohio State Graduates

This study was designed to determine the perceptions of Ohio State University graduates regarding the agricultural communications curriculum. Specific objectives were to determine the graduates\u27 demographic characteristics, satisfaction regarding the curriculum, and perceptions of academic experiences needed for future agricultural communicators. A mailed questionnaire went to 131 agricultural communications alumni. The response rate was 57. 1%. Ohio State agricultural communications graduates tend to be white females, who earned under $25,000. Graduates are satisfied with courses in agriculture and journalism/communications, and less satisfied with basic education requirements. For future agricultural communicators, graduates place more importance on journalism/communications classes than agriculture classes

The Gibbs-Thomson formula at small island sizes - corrections for high vapour densities

In this paper we report simulation studies of equilibrium features, namely circular islands on model surfaces, using Monte-Carlo methods. In particular, we are interested in studying the relationship between the density of vapour around a curved island and its curvature-the Gibbs-Thomson formula. Numerical simulations of a lattice gas model, performed for various sizes of islands, don't fit very well to the Gibbs-Thomson formula. We show how corrections to this form arise at high vapour densities, wherein a knowledge of the exact equation of state (as opposed to the ideal gas approximation) is necessary to predict this relationship. Exploiting a mapping of the lattice gas to the Ising model one can compute the corrections to the Gibbs-Thomson formula using high field series expansions. We also investigate finite size effects on the stability of the islands both theoretically and through simulations. Finally the simulations are used to study the microscopic origins of the Gibbs-Thomson formula. A heuristic argument is suggested in which it is partially attributed to geometric constraints on the island edge.Comment: 27 pages including 7 figures, tarred, gzipped and uuencoded. Prepared using revtex and espf.sty. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Educational differentials in key domains of physical activity by ethnicity, age, and sex: a cross-sectional study of over 40,000 participants in The UK Household Longitudinal Study (2013-2015)

Objectives To assess whether educational differentials in three key physical activity (PA) domains vary by age, sex and ethnicity. Design National cross-sectional survey. Setting UK. Participants Altogether 40 270 participants, aged 20 years and over, from the UK Household Longitudinal Study with information on education, PA and demographics collected in 2013–2015. Outcome measures Participation in active travel (AT), occupational activity (OA) and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) at the time of assessment. Results Lower educational attainment was associated with higher AT and OA, but lower weekly LTPA activity; these associations were modified by sex, ethnicity and age. Education-related differences in AT were larger for women—the difference in predicted probability of activity between the highest and the lowest education groups was −10% in women (95%CI: −11.9% to 7.9%) and −3% in men (−4.8% to –0.4%). Education-related differences in OA were larger among men −35% (-36.9% to –32.4%) than women −17% (-19.4% to –15.0%). Finally, education-related differences in moderate-to-vigorous LTPA varied by ethnicity; for example, differences were 17% (16.2% to 18.7%) for white individuals compared with 6% (0.6% to 11.6%) for black individuals. Conclusions Educational differences in PA vary by domain and are modified by age, sex and ethnicity. A better understanding of physically inactive subgroups may aid development of interventions to both increase activity levels and reduce health inequalities

Dissecting the regulatory activity and sequence content of loci with exceptional numbers of transcription factor associations

DNA-associated proteins (DAPs) classically regulate gene expression by binding to regulatory loci such as enhancers or promoters. As expanding catalogs of genome-wide DAP binding maps reveal thousands of loci that, unlike the majority of conventional enhancers and promoters, associate with dozens of different DAPs with apparently little regard for motif preference, an understanding of DAP association and coordination at such regulatory loci is essential to deciphering how these regions contribute to normal development and disease. In this study, we aggregated publicly available ChIP-seq data from 469 human DAPs assayed in three cell lines and integrated these data with an orthogonal data set of 352 nonredundant, in vitro–derived motifs mapped to the genome within DNase I hypersensitivity footprints to characterize regions with high numbers of DAP associations. We establish a generalizable definition for high occupancy target (HOT) loci and identify putative driver DAP motifs in HepG2 cells, including HNF4A, SP1, SP5, and ETV4, that are highly prevalent and show sequence conservation at HOT loci. The number of different DAPs associated with an element is positively associated with evidence of regulatory activity, and by systematically mutating 245 HOT loci with a massively parallel mutagenesis assay, we localized regulatory activity to a central core region that depends on the motif sequences of our previously nominated driver DAPs. In sum, this work leverages the increasingly large number of DAP motif and ChIP-seq data publicly available to explore how DAP associations contribute to genome-wide transcriptional regulation

Trends in the Population Prevalence of People Who Inject Drugs in US Metropolitan Areas 1992–2007

Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) have increased risk of morbidity and mortality. We update and present estimates and trends of the prevalence of current PWID and PWID subpopulations in 96 US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for 1992–2007. Current estimates of PWID and PWID subpopulations will help target services and help to understand long-term health trends among PWID populations. Methodology: We calculated the number of PWID in the US annually from 1992–2007 and apportioned estimates to MSAs using multiplier methods. We used four types of data indicating drug injection to allocate national annual totals to MSAs, creating four distinct series of component estimates of PWID in each MSA and year. The four component estimates are averaged to create the best estimate of PWID for each MSA and year. We estimated PWID prevalence rates for three subpopulations defined by gender, age, and race/ethnicity. We evaluated trends using multi-level polynomial models. Results: PWID per 10,000 persons aged 15–64 years varied across MSAs from 31 to 345 in 1992 (median 104.4) to 34 to 324 in 2007 (median 91.5). Trend analysis indicates that this rate declined during the early period and then was relatively stable in 2002–2007. Overall prevalence rates for non-Hispanic black PWID increased in 2005 as compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Hispanic prevalence, in contrast, declined across time. Importantly, results show a worrisome trend in young PWID prevalence since HAART was initiated – the mean prevalence was 90 to 100 per 10,000 youth in 1992–1996, but increased to >120 PWID per 10,000 youth in 2006–2007. Conclusions: Overall, PWID rates remained constant since 2002, but increased for two subpopulations: non-Hispanic black PWID and young PWID. Estimates of PWID are important for planning and evaluating public health programs to reduce harm among PWID and for understanding related trends in social and health outcomes

Associations between genetic obesity susceptibility and early postnatal fat and lean mass: an individual participant meta-analysis

IMPORTANCE: Patterns of body size and body composition associated with genetic obesity susceptibility inform the mechanisms that increase obesity risk. OBJECTIVE: To test associations between genetic obesity susceptibility, represented by a combined obesity risk-allele score, and body size or body composition at birth to age 5 years. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3031 children from 4 birth cohort studies in England, France, and Spain were included in a meta-analysis. EXPOSURES: A combined obesity risk-allele score was calculated from genotypes at 16 variants identified by genome-wide association studies of adult body mass index (BMI). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Outcomes were age- and sex-adjusted SD scores (SDS) for weight, length/height, BMI, fat mass, lean mass, and percentage of body fat at birth as well as at ages 1, 2 to 3, and 4 to 5 years. RESULTS: The obesity risk-allele score was not associated with infant size at birth; at age 1 year it was positively associated with weight (β [SE], 0.020 [0.008] SDS per allele; P = .009) and length (β [SE], 0.020 [0.008] SDS per allele; P = .01), but not with BMI (β [SE], 0.013 [0.008] SDS per allele; P = .11). At age 2 to 3 years these associations were stronger (weight: β [SE], 0.033 [0.008] SDS per allele; P  .15 at all ages). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Genetic obesity susceptibility appears to promote a normally partitioned increase in early postnatal, but not prenatal, growth. These findings suggest that symmetrical rapid growth may identify infants with high life-long susceptibility for obesity

Variant rs10911021 that associates with coronary heart disease in type 2 diabetes, is associated with lower concentrations of circulating HDL cholesterol and large HDL particles but not with amino acids.

AIMS: An intergenic locus on chromosome 1 (lead SNP rs10911021) was previously associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) in type 2 diabetes (T2D). Using data from the UCLEB consortium we investigated the relationship between rs10911021 and CHD in T2D, whether rs10911021 was associated with levels of amino acids involved in the γ-glutamyl cycle or any conventional risk factors (CRFs) for CHD in the T2D participants. METHODS: Four UCLEB studies (n = 6531) had rs10911021 imputation, CHD in T2D, CRF and metabolomics data determined using a nuclear magnetic resonance based platform. RESULTS: The expected direction of effect between rs10911021 and CHD in T2D was observed (1377 no CHD/160 CHD; minor allele OR 0.80, 95 % CI 0.60-1.06) although this was not statistically significant (p = 0.13). No association between rs10911021 and CHD was seen in non-T2D participants (11218 no CHD/1274 CHD; minor allele OR 1.00 95 % CIs 0.92-1.10). In T2D participants, while no associations were observed between rs10911021 and the nine amino acids measured, rs10911021 was associated with HDL-cholesterol (p = 0.0005) but the minor "protective" allele was associated with lower levels (-0.034 mmol/l per allele). Focusing more closely on the HDL-cholesterol subclasses measured, we observed that rs10911021 was associated with six large HDL particle measures in T2D (all p < 0.001). No significant associations were seen in non-T2D subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are consistent with a true association between rs10911021 and CHD in T2D. The protective minor allele was associated with lower HDL-cholesterol and reductions in HDL particle traits. Our results indicate a complex relationship between rs10911021 and CHD in T2D

Prediction of cardiovascular outcomes with machine learning techniques: application to the Cardiovascular Outcomes in Renal Atherosclerotic Lesions (CORAL) study.

Background: Data derived from the Cardiovascular Outcomes in Renal Atherosclerotic Lesions (CORAL) study were analyzed in an effort to employ machine learning methods to predict the composite endpoint described in the original study. Methods: We identified 573 CORAL subjects with complete baseline data and the presence or absence of a composite endpoint for the study. These data were subjected to several models including a generalized linear (logistic-linear) model, support vector machine, decision tree, feed-forward neural network, and random forest, in an effort to attempt to predict the composite endpoint. The subjects were arbitrarily divided into training and testing subsets according to an 80%:20% distribution with various seeds. Prediction models were optimized within the CARET package of R. Results: The best performance of the different machine learning techniques was that of the random forest method which yielded a receiver operator curve (ROC) area of 68.1%±4.2% (mean ± SD) on the testing subset with ten different seed values used to separate training and testing subsets. The four most important variables in the random forest method were SBP, serum creatinine, glycosylated hemoglobin, and DBP. Each of these variables was also important in at least some of the other methods. The treatment assignment group was not consistently an important determinant in any of the models. Conclusion: Prediction of a composite cardiovascular outcome was difficult in the CORAL population, even when employing machine learning methods. Assignment to either the stenting or best medical therapy group did not serve as an important predictor of composite outcome. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00081731