“Exploring the Basement of Social Justice Issues”: A Graduate Upon Graduation

Photograph of rides building up, taken J. Stevens' Fair, 20 June 1961 whole general view, looking West. See Leeson's notebook 9, pages 92-95 for notes

Greatwall kinase: a nuclear protein required for proper chromosome condensation and mitotic progression in Drosophila

Mutations in the Drosophila gene greatwall cause improper chromosome condensation and delay cell cycle progression in larval neuroblasts. Chromosomes are highly undercondensed, particularly in the euchromatin, but nevertheless contain phosphorylated histone H3, condensin, and topoisomerase II. Cells take much longer to transit the period of chromosome condensation from late G2 through nuclear envelope breakdown. Mutant cells are also subsequently delayed at metaphase, due to spindle checkpoint activity. These mutant phenotypes are not caused by spindle aberrations, by global defects in chromosome replication, or by activation of a caffeine-sensitive checkpoint. The Greatwall proteins in insects and vertebrates are located in the nucleus and belong to the AGC family of serine/threonine protein kinases; the kinase domain of Greatwall is interrupted by a long stretch of unrelated amino acids

Religious vs. Secular Communities: Sources of Social Support for Emerging Adult Black Gay and Bisexual Men

This research investigates factors that contribute to emerging adult black gay and bisexual men’s sources of social support. Participants were 20 Black, gay/bisexual men between 18-25 years old (Mage = 22.8, SD = 1.7). Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews and utilized grounded theory to determine intersectionality between participants’ religious upbringing as well as their racial, spiritual, sexual, and HIV identities. Participants who self-identified as bisexual continued to seek social support within churches despite having endured repeated exposure to negative religious rhetoric pertaining to same-sex behavior in religious settings. Participants who self-identified as queer did not seek social support within churches. While a majority of participants who self-identified as gay did not seek social support from churches, gay participants who did seek social support from churches were also HIV positive. A majority of participants indicated having to seek social support from communities that did not encompass all of their identities (racial, sexual, religious/spiritual, HIV) and expressed feelings of not belonging or being fully accepted by those communities as a result. Data from this research indicates a need for further research examining Black men’s sexual and religious identity self-labeling tendencies as well as HIV status as predictors of likelihood to seek social support in religious communities, specifically, black churches. A greater understanding of the factors that contribute to emerging adult, Black, gay/bisexual men’s selection of communities for social support may benefit community organizers in the development of groups that could act as sources of resiliency, especially for individuals who are living with HIV

Obscured by administrative data? Racial disparities in occupational injury

Objectives: Underreporting of occupational injuries is well documented, but underreporting patterns may vary by worker characteristics, obscuring disparities. We tested for racial and ethnic differences in injury reporting patterns by comparing injuries reported via research survey and administrative injury database in the same group of healthcare workers in the US. Methods: We used data from a cohort of 1568 hospital patient-care workers who were asked via survey whether they had been injured at work during the year prior (self-reported injury; N=244). Using the hospital’s injury database, we determined whether the same workers had reported injuries to the hospital’s occupational health service during that year (administratively reported injury; N=126). We compared data sources to test for racial and ethnic differences in injury reporting practices. Results: In logistic regression models adjusted for demographic and occupational characteristics, black workers’ odds of injury as measured by self-report data were 1.91 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.04–3.49] compared with white workers. The same black workers’ odds of injury as measured by administrative data were 1.22 (95% CI 0.54–2.77) compared with white workers. Conclusions: The undercount of occupational injuries in administrative versus self-report data may be greater among black compared to white workers, leading to underestimates of racial disparities in workplace injury

An Initial Membership Profile of the Financial Therapy Association

The Financial Therapy Association (FTA) was established in 2010 to bring practitioners and researchers together to develop tools and techniques to address emotional, behavioral, relational, cognitive, and economic aspects of financial health. Ultimately, those interested in the new field of financial therapy are most interested in answering the following key questions: Why do people do what they do with money and how can practitioners better help their clients deal with the complexities of the volatile economy that places tremendous stress on individuals and families? Financial therapy is emerging as a unique field that links scholars, practitioners, and mental health professionals in ways that consider these and other important questions. FTA is especially unique because of its diverse and accomplished membership, which includes mental health and financial professionals, educators, and researchers. The purpose of this “Profile” is to highlight how experienced and established professionals from both the mental health and finance domains have joined together to build a new profession, and to provide benchmark information regarding how the practice of financial therapy is occurring in the United States and other countries

The soil and plant biogeochemistry sampling design for The National Ecological Observatory Network

Human impacts on biogeochemical cycles are evident around the world, from changes to forest structure and function due to atmospheric deposition, to eutrophication of surface waters from agricultural effluent, and increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will contribute to understanding human effects on biogeochemical cycles from local to continental scales. The broad NEON biogeochemistry measurement design focuses on measuring atmospheric deposition of reactive mineral compounds and CO2 fluxes, ecosystem carbon (C) and nutrient stocks, and surface water chemistry across 20 eco‐climatic domains within the United States for 30 yr. Herein, we present the rationale and plan for the ground‐based measurements of C and nutrients in soils and plants based on overarching or “high‐level” requirements agreed upon by the National Science Foundation and NEON. The resulting design incorporates early recommendations by expert review teams, as well as recent input from the larger natural sciences community that went into the formation and interpretation of the requirements, respectively. NEON\u27s efforts will focus on a suite of data streams that will enable end‐users to study and predict changes to biogeochemical cycling and transfers within and across air, land, and water systems at regional to continental scales. At each NEON site, there will be an initial, one‐time effort to survey soil properties to 1 m (including soil texture, bulk density, pH, baseline chemistry) and vegetation community structure and diversity. A sampling program will follow, focused on capturing long‐term trends in soil C, nitrogen (N), and sulfur stocks, isotopic composition (of C and N), soil N transformation rates, phosphorus pools, and plant tissue chemistry and isotopic composition (of C and N). To this end, NEON will conduct extensive measurements of soils and plants within stratified random plots distributed across each site. The resulting data will be a new resource for members of the scientific community interested in addressing questions about long‐term changes in continental‐scale biogeochemical cycles, and is predicted to inspire further process‐based research

What is Financial Therapy? Discovering Mechanisms and Aspects of an Emerging Field

Very little research currently exists specifically on the topic of financial therapy. In this emerging field, it is important to lay the groundwork for future practice and study. The purpose of this study was to answer the question, “What are the mechanisms and aspects of financial therapy?” Using qualitative methods, eighteen members of the Financial Therapy Association were interviewed by members of the research team. The participants included six financial professionals, six mental health professions, and six researchers/educators all engaged in financial therapy. Six categories emerged from the analysis of data, including: (a) integration, (b) complexity, (c) help seeker issues, (d) helper issues, (e) process, and (f) research. The analysis resulted in a conceptual framework and ten theoretical assumptions of financial therapy

Ambient particulate pollution and the world-wide prevalence of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in children: Phase One of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC)

Objectives: To investigate the effect of ambient particulate matter on variation in childhood prevalence of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema. Methods: Prevalences of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema obtained in Phase One of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) were matched with city-level estimates of residential PM10 obtained from a World Bank model. Associations were investigated using binomial regression adjusting for GNP per capita and for clustering within country. For countries with more than one centre, a two stage meta-analysis was carried out. The results were compared with a meta-analysis of published multi-centre studies. Results: Annual concentrations of PM₁₀ at city level were obtained for 105 ISAAC centres in 51 countries. After controlling for GNP per capita, there was a weak negative association between PM₁₀ and various outcomes. For severe wheeze in 13-14-year-olds, the OR for a 10 μg/m³ increase in PM₁₀ was 0.92 (95 CI 0.84 to 1.00). In 24 countries with more than one centre, most summary estimates for within-country associations were weakly positive. For severe wheeze in 13-14-year-olds, the summary OR for a 10 μg/m³ increase in PM₁₀ was 1.01 (0.92 to 1.10). This result was close to a summary OR of 0.99 (0.91 to 1.06) obtained from published multi-centre studies. Conclusions: Modelled estimates of particulate matter at city level are imprecise and incomplete estimates of personal exposure to ambient air pollutants. Nevertheless, our results together with those of previous multi-centre studies, suggest that urban background PM₁₀ has little or no association with the prevalence of childhood asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis or eczema either within or between countries