Hyperk\"ahler Arnold Conjecture and its Generalizations

We generalize and refine the hyperk\"ahler Arnold conjecture, which was originally established, in the non-degenerate case, for three-dimensional time by Hohloch, Noetzel and Salamon by means of hyperk\"ahler Floer theory. In particular, we prove the conjecture in the case where the time manifold is a multidimensional torus and also establish the degenerate version of the conjecture. Our method relies on Morse theory for generating functions and a finite-dimensional reduction along the lines of the Conley-Zehnder proof of the Arnold conjecture for the torus.Comment: 13 page

Investigation of the Effects of Nutrition Education on the Lifestyles of Third-Grade Children and their Parents

The current study assessed improvement in healthy lifestyles of third-grade children from Iowa schools who participated in nutrition education lessons provided by the Iowa Department of Public Health’s Building and Strengthening Iowa Community Support for Nutrition and Physical Activity (BASICS) program in 2009. The program encourages children to eat more fruits and vegetables as snacks and to be active every day. Autoregressive models and logistic regression analysis results showed that the BASICS program improved awareness of the “Pick a better snack™ & Act” campaign among children and their parents. The program also led to children’s increased preferences toward fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk products, and to parents’ increased willingness to offer healthy foods to their children. The program stimulated children’s desires to be physically active and parents’ attentiveness toward children’s physical activity. These results indicated that the children influenced their parents’ recognition of campaign materials and how often their parents provided them with fruits and vegetables. Increasing parent age negatively influenced the probability of children receiving free and reduced-price lunch, reflecting the better economic situation of families with older parents

Gaps in Safe Food Handling Practices of Older Adults

We identified gaps in safe food handling practices that may be placing older adults at increased risk of food-borne illness. A convenience sample of 1,019 older adults completed the Food Safety Behavior Questionnaire. Majority groups among participants were those who were female, those who were White, and those who were widowed. Participants had lower adherences to safe practices related to temperature control, attention to sell-by/use-by dates on food packages, and cross-contamination. Adherences were significantly (p \u3c .05) influenced by gender, race/ethnicity, age, marital status, and education. Our findings suggest the need for older adult–focused safe food handling education related to temperature control, product selection practices, and cross-contamination

The Iowa Homemaker vol.33, no.7

It’s an Old Custom, Betty Holder, page 5 She Emphasizes Good Fun, Doris Jirsa, page 6 Celebrate, Plan a Buffet, Dorothy Will, page 7 Candle-Making, Jane Hammerly, page 8 Blue Ribbon Designs, Gwen Olson, page 10 Here’s An Idea, page 12 Laugh at Yourself, Len Green, page 14 Recipe for Perfume, Mary Jean Stoddard, page 15 Small Talk, Ruth Anderson, page 16 Translate That Menu, Joanne Ryals, page 17 Trends, Jane Montgomery, page 1

Parent-of-origin-specific allelic associations among 106 genomic loci for age at menarche.

Age at menarche is a marker of timing of puberty in females. It varies widely between individuals, is a heritable trait and is associated with risks for obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and all-cause mortality. Studies of rare human disorders of puberty and animal models point to a complex hypothalamic-pituitary-hormonal regulation, but the mechanisms that determine pubertal timing and underlie its links to disease risk remain unclear. Here, using genome-wide and custom-genotyping arrays in up to 182,416 women of European descent from 57 studies, we found robust evidence (P < 5 × 10(-8)) for 123 signals at 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche. Many loci were associated with other pubertal traits in both sexes, and there was substantial overlap with genes implicated in body mass index and various diseases, including rare disorders of puberty. Menarche signals were enriched in imprinted regions, with three loci (DLK1-WDR25, MKRN3-MAGEL2 and KCNK9) demonstrating parent-of-origin-specific associations concordant with known parental expression patterns. Pathway analyses implicated nuclear hormone receptors, particularly retinoic acid and γ-aminobutyric acid-B2 receptor signalling, among novel mechanisms that regulate pubertal timing in humans. Our findings suggest a genetic architecture involving at least hundreds of common variants in the coordinated timing of the pubertal transition

Taking ELF off the shelf: Developing HE students' speaking skills through a focus on English as a lingua franca

This paper explores how principles derived from English as a lingua franca (ELF) research (e.g. accommodation, strategic competence) can provide insights into the speaking demands of group work in Anglophone EMI settings which includes native speakers as well as non-native speakers. The paper maps data gathered through interviews with first year undergraduate students against Mercer et al.’s (2017) oracy framework. It shows that students draw on a combination of linguistic, cognitive, physical and social & emotional skills, many of which align with ELF principles. However, current frameworks of support for speaking demands in HE (EAP and academic skills) lack focus on dialogic speaking, pay little heed to ELF findings and cater for native speakers and non-native speakers separately despite their needs being similar. The paper argues that a focus on ELF can contribute to the development of speaking support which sits at the centre of students’ academic journey and encourages better interactions between native and non-native speakers

Genomic analyses identify hundreds of variants associated with age at menarche and support a role for puberty timing in cancer risk

The timing of puberty is a highly polygenic childhood trait that is epidemiologically associated with various adult diseases. Using 1000 Genomes Project-imputed genotype data in up to similar to 370,000 women, we identify 389 independent signals (P <5 x 10(-8)) for age at menarche, a milestone in female pubertal development. In Icelandic data, these signals explain similar to 7.4% of the population variance in age at menarche, corresponding to similar to 25% of the estimated heritability. We implicate similar to 250 genes via coding variation or associated expression, demonstrating significant enrichment in neural tissues. Rare variants near the imprinted genes MKRN3 and DLK1 were identified, exhibiting large effects when paternally inherited. Mendelian randomization analyses suggest causal inverse associations, independent of body mass index (BMI), between puberty timing and risks for breast and endometrial cancers in women and prostate cancer in men. In aggregate, our findings highlight the complexity of the genetic regulation of puberty timing and support causal links with cancer susceptibility