Fifty years of atrazine in Iowa: Benefits, impacts, and current status

Atrazine was first registered for use in the U.S. in 1958. It quickly became the preferred herbicide of corn growers, controlling both grasses and broadleaf weeds and being used either as a postemergence or preemergence application, unlike the primary alternative herbicide of the time, 2,4-D (Muller 2008). Over 50 years later, atrazine is still an important weed management tool for corn growers, and was the most widely used herbicide until recently when only glyphosate was used on more acres

Review of Atrazine Water Monitoring Data in Iowa Relative to Label and Management Changes

Trends in atrazine detections and concentrations in Iowa surface and groundwater were reviewed relative to adoption of Best Management Practices and atrazine label changes designed to protect water resources. Analysis of a large statewide water monitoring database from 1982 to 1995 revealed statistically significant declines in both atrazine detection rates and concentrations in both groundwater and surface water. USGS monitoring of streams from 1989 to 1995 showed a decline in atrazine median concentration of almost 50%. Rural wells in Floyd and Mitchell Counties were sampled in 1986 and 198 7 and resampled in 1994, four years after the area was designated as an atrazine management area. Mean atrazine concentrations declined by 87%, and no wells exceeded the atrazine Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) drinking water standard (6% of wells exceeded the MCL in 1986). Other studies also documented declines in atrazine detections and concentrations, which have been attributed to improved management of the herbicide. Exposure of Iowans to atrazine through drinking water is low. For the period 1994-2002, eleven Community Water Systems (CWS) utilizing the most vulnerable surface water sources were intensively monitored for atrazine. Only one CWS in one year exceeded the 3 ppb annual average drinking water standard. In an analysis of all Safe Drinking Water compliance monitoring in Iowa for the period 1993 through 2000, no CWS utilizing groundwater had an atrazine detection of 3 ppb or greater. No atrazine was detected in 90.2% of groundwater

Esterase Activity in Developing Pods of Soyheans

Four stages of soybean pod development of four varieties of Glycine max were surveyed for esterase enzymes by starch-gel electrophoresis. Differences in esterase banding patterns occur among the four varieties investigated. Enzyme changes accompanying pod development were observed. Pod collection procedure affected the number of esterase bands visible, with collection in dry ice giving more visible bands than did collection in regular ice

Reviews of theoretical frameworks: challenges and judging the quality of theory application.

Background Rigorous reviews of available information, from a range of resources, is required to support medical and health educators in their decision making related to their educational practice. Aim The aim of the paper is to highlight the importance of a review of theoretical frameworks specifically to supplement reviews that focus on a synthesis of the empirical evidence alone. Establishing a shared understanding of theory as a concept is highlighted as a challenge to these types of review and some practical strategies to achieving this are presented. The paper also introduces the concept of theoretical quality to the methodology of literature reviews, arguing that a critique of how theory is applied should complement the methodological appraisal of the literature in a review. Method We illustrate the challenge of establishing a shared meaning of theory through reference to experiences of an on-going review of this kind conducted in the field of interprofessional education (IPE) and use a high scoring paper selected in this review to illustrate how theoretical quality can be assessed. We focus on theories that apply to IPE curriculum design but the findings are transferable to all reviews of theoretical frameworks. Findings In reaching a shared understanding of theory as a concept, practical strategies that promote experiential and practical ways of knowing (e.g. small group work and piloting of all phases of the review protocol) are required in addition to more propositional ways of sharing knowledge. Concepts of parsimony, testability, operational adequacy and empirical adequacy are explored as concepts that establish theoretical quality. Conclusions Reviews of theoretical frameworks used in medical education are required to inform educational practice. Review teams should make time and effort to reach a shared understanding of the term theory. Theory reviews, and reviews more widely, should add an assessment of theory application to the protocol of their review method.

Mental Toughness in South African Youth: Relationships With Forgivingness and Attitudes Towards Risk

Young people are particularly vulnerable to health risk behaviors and interpersonal violence, stimulating scholars’ attention towards identifying factors that may reduce the likelihood that these actions will occur. Associated with positive outcomes in a variety of domains, mental toughness in young people might protect them from engaging in potentially deleterious interpersonal or health-risk behaviors, while potentially promoting positive psychological behaviors. Within this framework, the present study investigated the relationships between mental toughness, attitudes towards physical and psychological risk-taking, and trait forgiveness in a sample of 123 (males = 54, females = 69) South African youth (M age = 23.97 years, SD = 4.46). Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated higher levels of mental toughness were associated with being more forgiving, (η2pηp2 = .036), perceiving physical risk-taking more positively (η2pηp2 = .062), but having more negative attitudes towards psychological risk-taking (η2pηp2 = .036). These findings give credence to mental toughness as a psychological characteristic involved in youth risk-taking perceptions and interpersonal functioning. Future research might explore the integration of mental toughness into the development of future youth risk behavior interventions

Growing Greener: Creating a New Values-based Environmental Engagement Toolkit for SME Intermediaries

This paper explores a radically different way of facilitating energy and environmental initiatives in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In terms of energy policy, smaller firms in Europe are exempted from most of the major fiscal and regulatory mechanisms that are applied to larger organisations. Policies to reduce energy demand and associated carbon emissions in SMEs are largely based on providing incentives, such as face-to-face support and grants for energy efficiency in buildings. Energy advisors are therefore key intermediaries, providing advice and encouraging the uptake of low carbon technologies and practices by SMEs. Previous studies have found that advisors often find it difficult to engage effectively with SME owners and managers, and that traditional ‘win-win’ messaging can have limited impact, resulting in implementation problems such as under-investment in energy-saving technologies, reluctance to adopt new environmental practices, and a tendency to revert to previous ways of operating once the incentive is removed. Recent research also suggests that SME owners’ and managers’ personal values play an important mediating role in their response to environmental issues, acting in combination with more established factors such as educational background, access to resources and the views of customers and suppliers. The implication is that policy interventions in this area could be delivered in more cost-effective ways if accompanied by a more nuanced, values-based approach to engagement. This paper reports findings from ‘Growing Greener’ a UK multi-disciplinary project that aims to equip advisors and other types of intermediary with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need in order to incorporate a values-based approach into their existing interactions with SMEs. It opens with an overview of the policy context and a brief overview of the relevant research literature. The main section explains how the research team co-produced a values-based engagement toolkit in conjunction with a group of energy advisors and external specialists. The design process included a series of facilitated ‘narrative workshops’, where advisors shared their experiences and experimented with early versions of the engagement tools. This is followed by an outline of the completed engagement ‘toolkit’, which includes free-to-access online course, a communication guide and an interactive engagement tool. These three inter-related components are designed to help advisors to engage SMEs beyond a narrow, cost-benefit framework, and in turn help SME owners and managers to connect low carbon choices with the personal and business values that are important to them as individuals. Our findings indicate the potential for more effective, longer-lasting interventions beyond the low hanging fruit of building efficiency measures

Protrudin functions from the endoplasmic reticulum to support axon regeneration in the adult CNS

Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/100000865Funder: Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/100001305Funder: International Foundation for Research in Paraplegia (Internationale Stiftung für Forschung in Paraplegie); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001708Funder: Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Inc.); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/100000009Funder: Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation)Abstract: Adult mammalian central nervous system axons have intrinsically poor regenerative capacity, so axonal injury has permanent consequences. One approach to enhancing regeneration is to increase the axonal supply of growth molecules and organelles. We achieved this by expressing the adaptor molecule Protrudin which is normally found at low levels in non-regenerative neurons. Elevated Protrudin expression enabled robust central nervous system regeneration both in vitro in primary cortical neurons and in vivo in the injured adult optic nerve. Protrudin overexpression facilitated the accumulation of endoplasmic reticulum, integrins and Rab11 endosomes in the distal axon, whilst removing Protrudin’s endoplasmic reticulum localization, kinesin-binding or phosphoinositide-binding properties abrogated the regenerative effects. These results demonstrate that Protrudin promotes regeneration by functioning as a scaffold to link axonal organelles, motors and membranes, establishing important roles for these cellular components in mediating regeneration in the adult central nervous system

Do agri-environment schemes result in improved water quality?

Welsh Government. Grant Number: 183/2007/0

Recommendations of the task force on public policy

This is the published version, reproduced here with permission from the publisher. This article is also available electronically from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2741851/.The Task Force on Public Policy was established by the Association for Behavior Analysis to examine ways to encourage members to contribute to policymaking relevant to the public interest. Members discussed issues pertinent to this activity and summarized their discussion in a formal report.' Recommendations of the Task Force for conducting and disseminating policy research and for training, technical assistance, and other services supportive of behavior-analytic research in the public policy arena are presented here

Generation Times in Wild Chimpanzees and Gorillas Suggest Earlier Divergence Times in Great Ape and Human Evolution

Fossils and molecular data are two independent sources of information that should in principle provide consistent inferences of when evolutionary lineages diverged. Here we use an alternative approach to genetic inference of species split times in recent human and ape evolution that is independent of the fossil record. We first use genetic parentage information on a large number of wild chimpanzees and mountain gorillas to directly infer their average generation times. We then compare these generation time estimates with those of humans and apply recent estimates of the human mutation rate per generation to derive estimates of split times of great apes and humans that are independent of fossil calibration. We date the human–chimpanzee split to at least 7–8 million years and the population split between Neanderthals and modern humans to 400,000–800,000 y ago. This suggests that molecular divergence dates may not be in conflict with the attribution of 6- to 7-million-y-old fossils to the human lineage and 400,000-y-old fossils to the Neanderthal lineage.Human Evolutionary Biolog