A Language Arts Project Involving the Construction of a Solar Greenhouse by Navajo Children

This paper, in three parts, explains why and how fifth and sixth grade students at a Navajo bilingual elementary school in New Mexico built a solar greenhouse as a language arts project. The first part catalogues the English speaking, reading, and writing needs of the children. It details the rationale behind building a greenhouse to address these needs. The second part is the greenhouse project itself. It contains English lessons which the students used as guidelines for planning and building the greenhouse structure. The third part, found in the Appendix, contains one of the students\u27 workbooks. I hope this serves someone in good stead. The project could never be literally duplicated, because it was closely tied up with the particular requirements of the students, the school, the place, and the available resources. But it may facilitate other teachers in developing their own answers. That\u27s what I\u27m hoping for

A naturalistic study of medication reduction in a residential treatment setting

The primary aim of this pilot study was to ascertain if psychiatric medications could be reduced in a convenience sample of seriously emotionally disturbed children and adolescents over the course of residential treatment. We also sought to understand factors correlated with reduction in the number of medications during treatment. A review of the treatment of 141 patients (n = 112 admitted on medication and n = 29 admitted on no medication) admitted to, and discharged from, a residential treatment setting between 1992 and 2001 was undertaken. Significantly more children were discharged from treatment on no medications than were admitted to residential treatment on no medications. In children receiving more than 1 medication at admission, the number of combined medications was significantly reduced over the course of residential treatment. However, the majority of children admitted on medications continued on some psychiatric medications, indicating that psychopharmacology continued to play an important role in their treatment. In 112 patients admitted on psychoactive medications, our pilot data suggests that improvement in externalizing, internalizing, psychotic, and autistic psychopathology while in residential treatment, the presence of an intact family (adoptive or biological), the absence of a history of either sexual or physical abuse, and the type of medication used appear to be factors that correlate with a reduced use of medications in this population

Echinocotyle capensis n.sp. (Cestoda: Hymenolepididae) from South African waterfowl

Echinocotyle capensis n.sp. is described from Cape shovelers (Anas smithii (Hartert)) and Cape teal (Anas capensis Gmelin) collected at Barberspan, Transvaal Province, Republic of South Africa. Echinocotyle capensis is a small cestode up to 1.62 mm long with 10 rostellar hooks 50–55 μm long. It most closely resembles Echinocotyle singhi Srivastava and Pandey, 1980 but has slightly longer rostellar hooks and a shorter cirrus sac, and lacks the vaginal sphincter present in E. singhi

Retinometra albeolae n.sp. (Cestoda: Hymenolepididae) from the bufflehead duck, Bucephala albeola L.

Retinometra albeolae n.sp. is described from bufflehead ducks (Bucephala albeola L.) from Manitoba, Canada. It is armed with eight skrjabinoid rostellar hooks 69–75 μm long, and has a cirrus sac 240–480 μm long that extends to approximately the midline of mature proglottids, a trilobed ovary, and a lobed vitelline gland. Staphylepis indica and Staphylepis meggitti, currently included in the genus Retinometra, are returned to Staphylepis on the basis of proglottid morphology and the apparent lack of a cirrus stylet in both species

Susceptibility of blue-winged teal, gadwall, and lesser scaup ducklings to experimental infection with Streptocara crassicauda

Blue-winged teal, gadwall, and lesser scaup ducklings were exposed experimentally to identical doses of Streptocara crassicauda larvae. The heaviest infections developed in the teal. Gadwall were also highly susceptible and infection levels were generally similar to those in teal. Lesser scaup developed comparatively light infections. Lesions were restricted to the gizzard and occurred in the softer areas of the lining under the tendinous surfaces. Nematodes were generally confined to the lesions in scaup, but not in teal or gadwall. In these two species, they were also found elsewhere under the softer portions of the lining and, to a lesser extent, under the grinding plates. Teal and gadwall developed more and larger lesions because of the greater number of nematodes that established. When corrected for worm number, no difference in lesion size was found among the three species

The viability of Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus (Digenea) eggs following cold water storage as a possible overwintering strategy

Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus is a digenean parasite believed to be involved in a yearly fall die-off of ducks in Québec, Canada. Hatching characteristics of eggs stored at 7°C for 0–28 weeks in the lab and following maintenance overwinter in a lake are described. The hatching success of eggs stored for 4–28 weeks remained constant (71–81 %) but slightly less than that observed in fresh eggs (90%). The hatching success of eggs kept overwinter under natural conditions did not differ from that of eggs stored an equivalent length of time in the lab at 7°C (74·7 and 75·8%, respectively). With the exception of fresh eggs (17·7 days), the mean hatch time of eggs steadily decreased with increased storage time (18·9 days following 4 weeks storage to 11·4 days at 28 weeks storage) due to a slow embryonation of the eggs at 7°C. Hatching characteristics of a subsample of eggs incubated at 10, 15 and 20°C were compared and the embryonation rate was found to increase with incubation temperature. The majority of eggs stored at 10°C embryonated but failed to hatch. When their incubation temperature was raised to 15°C, a further 46% hatched within the following week. The survivorship functions of miracidia hatching from eggs stored for 8, 12, 16 and 20 weeks differed but the mean expected life-span of the miracidia did not decline with increasing storage time as expected. The results of these experiments are discussed in relation to the potential importance of overwintered eggs in the development of the infective pool of metacercariae

Transmission of Cyclocoelum mutabile (Digenea) to snails: the influence of temperature on the egg and miracidium

This study examined the survival and hatching dynamics of eggs of the digenean Cyclocoelum mutabile and the survivorship and infectivity of the miracidia under different temperature regimes. Hatching did not occur at or below 12 °C. Hatching success was similar at 14, 16, and 20 °C (69–73%). Two peaks in hatching were seen. Most eggs hatched within 12 h following immersion in water; a smaller hatching peak occurred about 24 h later. Storing eggs at 12 °C for up to 4 weeks prior to raising the incubation temperature to 14 °C had no effect on hatching success. However, hatching success was dependent on the source of the eggs. Between 62 and 71% of the eggs from faeces and 90–98% of the eggs dissected from flukes hatched under the same protocol. Miracidia hatching from eggs stored for 0–7 weeks at 7 °C prior to hatching at 14 °C did not differ in their infectivity to snails (75–86%). The survivorship of miracidia was higher at lower temperatures and when they were obtained from eggs dissected from the fluke. The longer survival and prolonged infectivity of miracidia at lower temperatures produced the highest transmission efficiency at 14 °C. These results are discussed in relation to the seasonal transmission and ecology of the fluke

Source placement error for permanent implant of the prostate

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134896/1/mp8058.pd

Postmortomics:The potential of untargeted metabolomics to highlight markers for time since death

The success of forensic investigations involving fatalities very often depends on the establishment of the correct timeline of events. Currently used methods for estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) are mostly dependent on the professional and tacit experience of the investigator, and often with poor reliability in the absence of robust biological markers. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of metabolomic approaches to highlight molecular markers for PMI. Rat and human muscle tissues, collected at various times postmortem, were analyzed using an untargeted metabolomics approach. Levels of certain metabolites (skatole, xanthine, n-acetylneuraminate, 1-methylnicotinamide, choline phosphate, and uracil) as well as most proteinogenic amino acids increased steadily postmortem. Threonine, tyrosine, and lysine show the most predictable evolution over the postmortem period, and may thus have potential for possible PMI markers in the future. This study demonstrates how a biomarker discovery approach can be extended to forensic investigations using untargeted metabolomics

In vivo and in vitro studies on the viability and the infectivity to coots, Fulica americana, of Cyclocoelum mutabile metacercariae from three species of snails

The host response to and the viability and infectivity of metacercariae of Cyclocoelum mutabile were examined in three species of pulmonate snails, Stagnicola elodes, Gyraulus parvus, and Promenetus exacuous. Host response was generally similar among snail species at 8 weeks post infection. Host responses increased with age of infection in S. elodes. There was no difference in the excystment success of metacercariae from each species at 8 weeks post infection. The mean excystment time in vitro was greater for metacercariae from S. elodes than for those from either G. parvus or P. exacuous at 8 weeks post infection. There were no differences in either excystment success or mean excystment time of metacercariae from 5-, 8-, and 30-week-old infections from S. elodes. The mean infection success of metacercariae from S. elodes was lower than that of metacercariae from G. parvus and P. exacuous in juvenile coots. Adult coots were less susceptible to infection than juveniles. There was no difference in the infection levels established in naive and previously infected adult coots