Decolonizing VAWA 2021: A Step in the Right Direction for Protecting Native American Women

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) (1994) was a hallmark legislation aimed at combating violence against women. While violence against women is a national issue that affects women of all race/ethnicities, it affects Native American women the most, as Native women experience the highest rates of violence. Violence against Native women is rooted in colonization because it decreases the power of tribal government, diminishes tribal sovereignty, and devalues Native Americans, which in turn leaves Native women more vulnerable to victimization. As such, amendments to VAWA must take particular action on violence against Native women, including actions that support decolonization. The 2013 VAWA reauthorization acknowledged colonization and was the federal government’s first step in the decolonization process. It restored tribal jurisdiction over some VAWA crimes, but there are still gaps regarding protecting Native women. This policy analysis examines the proposed VAWA (2021) reauthorization HR 1620 and provides three specific recommendations in order to better protect Native women: 1) allow tribes to write their own rape laws, 2) expand tribal jurisdiction to all VAWA crimes and stranger and acquaintance violence, and 3) enhance tribes’ abilities to secure VAWA funds and resources. These recommendations are discussed in terms of existing literature and implications for Native people and Native communities

Moving from Binders to Bytes: Processing, Digitizing, and Publishing a Paper-Based Archive to an Institutional Repository

At San Jose State University, a paper-based archive centering on library and information science history is being processed, organized, and uploaded onto ScholarWorks, the campus institutional repository. Prior to its digitization, the presenters grappled with many questions. What platform should be used to house the archive? What entry points would researchers expect in order to access the collection? What research purposes would this collection satisfy? The presenters will discuss their rationale for their decision-making in transferring 300 binders to an open access, digital format. Among the individuals who are involved in making this detail-rich collection openly accessible online and searchable are a scholarly communications librarian, a cataloging and metadata specialist who is serving as the interim institutional repository coordinator, and a library and information science graduate student focusing on archival records and management. These individuals will discuss their varying perspectives and how each of their emphases contributes to the enterprise of making this paper-based archive discoverable, searchable, and digitally accessible in an ever-evolving institutional repository and scholarly communications environment

Pilot Testing Behavior Therapy for Chronic Tic Disorders in Neurology and Developmental Pediatrics Clinics

Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) is an efficacious treatment with limited regional availability. As neurology and pediatric clinics are often the first point of therapeutic contact for individuals with tics, the present study assessed preliminary treatment response, acceptability, and feasibility of an abbreviated version, modified for child neurology and developmental pediatrics clinics. Fourteen youth (9-17) with Tourette disorder across 2 child neurology clinics and one developmental pediatrics clinic participated in a small case series. Clinician-rated tic severity (Yale Global Tic Severity Scale) decreased from pre- to posttreatment, z = –2.0, P \u3c .05, r = –.48, as did tic-related impairment, z = –2.4, P \u3c .05, r = –.57. Five of the 9 completers (56%) were classified as treatment responders. Satisfaction ratings were high, and therapeutic alliance ratings were moderately high. Results provide guidance for refinement of this modified CBIT protocol

Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs Lack Jupiter Analogs

Cold Jovian planets play an important role in sculpting the dynamical environment in which inner terrestrial planets form. The core accretion model predicts that giant planets cannot form around low-mass M dwarfs, although this idea has been challenged by recent planet discoveries. Here, we investigate the occurrence rate of giant planets around low-mass (0.1-0.3M$_\odot$) M dwarfs. We monitor a volume-complete, inactive sample of 200 such stars located within 15 parsecs, collecting four high-resolution spectra of each M dwarf over six years and performing intensive follow-up monitoring of two candidate radial-velocity variables. We use TRES on the 1.5 m telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory and CHIRON on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 1.5 m telescope for our primary campaign, and MAROON-X on Gemini North for high-precision follow-up. We place a 95%-confidence upper limit of 1.5% (68%-confidence limit of 0.57%) on the occurrence of $M_{\rm P}$sin$i >$1M$_{\rm J}$ giant planets out to the water snow line and provide additional constraints on the giant planet population as a function of $M_{\rm P}$sin$i$ and period. Beyond the snow line ($100$ K $< T_{\rm eq} < 150$ K), we place 95%-confidence upper limits of 1.5%, 1.7%, and 4.4% (68%-confidence limits of 0.58%, 0.66%, and 1.7%) for 3M$_{\rm J} < M_{\rm P}$sin$i < 10$M$_{\rm J}$, 0.8M$_{\rm J} < M_{\rm P}$sin$i < 3$M$_{\rm J}$, and 0.3M$_{\rm J} < M_{\rm P}$sin$i < 0.8$M$_{\rm J}$ giant planets; i.e., Jupiter analogs are rare around low-mass M dwarfs. In contrast, surveys of Sun-like stars have found that their giant planets are most common at these Jupiter-like instellations.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ; 19 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

College Binge Drinking Associated with Decreased Frontal Activation to Negative Emotional Distractors during Inhibitory Control

The transition to college is associated with an increase in heavy episodic alcohol use, or binge drinking, during a time when the prefrontal cortex and prefrontal-limbic circuitry continue to mature. Traits associated with this immaturity, including impulsivity in emotional contexts, may contribute to risky and heavy episodic alcohol consumption. The current study used blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) multiband functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess brain activation during a task that required participants to ignore background images with positive, negative, or neutral emotional valence while performing an inhibitory control task (Go-NoGo). Subjects were 23 college freshmen (seven male, 18–20 years) who engaged in a range of drinking behavior (past 3 months’ binge episodes range = 0–19, mean = 4.6, total drinks consumed range = 0–104, mean = 32.0). Brain activation on inhibitory trials (NoGo) was contrasted between negative and neutral conditions and between positive and neutral conditions using non-parametric testing (5000 permutations) and cluster-based thresholding (z = 2.3), p ≤ 0.05 corrected. Results showed that a higher recent incidence of binge drinking was significantly associated with decreased activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), brain regions strongly implicated in executive functioning, during negative relative to neutral inhibitory trials. No significant associations between binge drinking and brain activation were observed for positive relative to neutral images. While task performance was not significantly associated with binge drinking in this sample, subjects with heavier recent binge drinking showed decreased recruitment of executive control regions under negative versus neutral distractor conditions. These findings suggest that in young adults with heavier recent binge drinking, processing of negative emotional images interferes more with inhibitory control neurocircuitry than in young adults who do not binge drink often. This pattern of altered frontal lobe activation associated with binge drinking may serve as an early marker of risk for future self-regulation deficits that could lead to problematic alcohol use. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the impact of emotion on cognitive control and associated brain functioning in binge drinking behaviors among young adults

Updated Planetary Mass Constraints of the Young V1298 Tau System Using MAROON-X

The early K-type T-Tauri star, V1298 Tau ($V=10\,{\rm mag}$, ${\rm age}\approx20-30\,{\rm Myr}$) hosts four transiting planets with radii ranging from $4.9-9.6\,R_\oplus$. The three inner planets have orbital periods of $\approx8-24\,{\rm d}$ while the outer planet's period is poorly constrained by single transits observed with \emph{K2} and \emph{TESS}. Planets b, c, and d are proto-sub-Neptunes that may be undergoing significant mass loss. Depending on the stellar activity and planet masses, they are expected to evolve into super-Earths/sub-Neptunes that bound the radius valley. Here we present results of a joint transit and radial velocity (RV) modelling analysis, which includes recently obtained \emph{TESS} photometry and MAROON-X RV measurements. Assuming circular orbits, we obtain a low-significance ($\approx2\sigma$) RV detection of planet c implying a mass of $19.8_{-8.9}^{+9.3}\,M_\oplus$ and a conservative $2\sigma$ upper limit of $<39\,M_\oplus$. For planets b and d, we derive $2\sigma$ upper limits of $M_{\rm b}<159\,M_\oplus$ and $M_{\rm d}<41\,M_\oplus$. For planet e, plausible discrete periods of $P_{\rm e}>55.4\,{\rm d}$ are ruled out at a $3\sigma$ level while seven solutions with $43.3<P_{\rm e}/{\rm d}<55.4$ are consistent with the most probable $46.768131\pm000076\,{\rm d}$ solution within $3\sigma$. Adopting the most probable solution yields a $2.6\sigma$ RV detection with mass a of $0.66\pm0.26\,M_{\rm Jup}$. Comparing the updated mass and radius constraints with planetary evolution and interior structure models shows that planets b, d, and e are consistent with predictions for young gas-rich planets and that planet c is consistent with having a water-rich core with a substantial ($\sim5\%$ by mass) H$_2$ envelope.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in A

College Binge Drinking Associated with Decreased Frontal Activation to Negative Emotional Distractors during Inhibitory Control

The transition to college is associated with an increase in heavy episodic alcohol use, or binge drinking, during a time when the prefrontal cortex and prefrontal-limbic circuitry continue to mature. Traits associated with this immaturity, including impulsivity in emotional contexts, may contribute to risky and heavy episodic alcohol consumption. The current study used blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) multiband functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess brain activation during a task that required participants to ignore background images with positive, negative, or neutral emotional valence while performing an inhibitory control task (Go-NoGo). Subjects were 23 college freshmen (seven male, 18–20 years) who engaged in a range of drinking behavior (past 3 months’ binge episodes range = 0–19, mean = 4.6, total drinks consumed range = 0–104, mean = 32.0). Brain activation on inhibitory trials (NoGo) was contrasted between negative and neutral conditions and between positive and neutral conditions using non-parametric testing (5000 permutations) and cluster-based thresholding (z = 2.3), p ≤ 0.05 corrected. Results showed that a higher recent incidence of binge drinking was significantly associated with decreased activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), brain regions strongly implicated in executive functioning, during negative relative to neutral inhibitory trials. No significant associations between binge drinking and brain activation were observed for positive relative to neutral images. While task performance was not significantly associated with binge drinking in this sample, subjects with heavier recent binge drinking showed decreased recruitment of executive control regions under negative versus neutral distractor conditions. These findings suggest that in young adults with heavier recent binge drinking, processing of negative emotional images interferes more with inhibitory control neurocircuitry than in young adults who do not binge drink often. This pattern of altered frontal lobe activation associated with binge drinking may serve as an early marker of risk for future self-regulation deficits that could lead to problematic alcohol use. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the impact of emotion on cognitive control and associated brain functioning in binge drinking behaviors among young adults

Conservation genomics of the endangered Seychelles Magpie‐Robin (Copsychus sechellarum):a unique insight into the history of a precious endemic bird

The Seychelles Magpie-Robin Copsychus sechellarum is an IUCN Red-List Endangered species endemic to the Seychelles, whose population was reduced to eight individuals on a single island in the 1960s. Translocations from the remaining population to four additional islands have been an integral factor in their recovery, but the potential genetic consequences of their translocation history have not previously been explored. We resequenced the genomes of 141 individuals sampled across the five current island populations and analysed the data to characterize their population structure, as well as to explore suspected inbreeding. Overall, very low levels of heterozygosity were observed, all coupled with long homozygous segments that suggest recent inbreeding, probably the consequence of a population bottleneck in the 1960s. Three of the four translocated populations displayed less genetic diversity than the founder population from which they were taken, a familiar pattern observed as a result of the evolutionary force of genetic drift following founder events. Furthermore, and perhaps surprising given the recent time since the new populations were established, population structure was observed within these same three populations. New awareness of inbreeding in the Seychelles Magpie-Robin populations, and continued genetic monitoring, will allow for genetically informed management decisions. This is particularly prudent in maximizing the success of the future conservation translocation planned for this species

Deficiency in origin licensing proteins impairs cilia formation: implications for the aetiology of meier-gorlin syndrome

Mutations in ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6, which encode proteins required for DNA replication origin licensing, cause Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS), a disorder conferring microcephaly, primordial dwarfism, underdeveloped ears, and skeletal abnormalities. Mutations in ATR, which also functions during replication, can cause Seckel syndrome, a clinically related disorder. These findings suggest that impaired DNA replication could underlie the developmental defects characteristic of these disorders. Here, we show that although origin licensing capacity is impaired in all patient cells with mutations in origin licensing component proteins, this does not correlate with the rate of progression through S phase. Thus, the replicative capacity in MGS patient cells does not correlate with clinical manifestation. However, ORC1-deficient cells from MGS patients and siRNA-mediated depletion of origin licensing proteins also have impaired centrosome and centriole copy number. As a novel and unexpected finding, we show that they also display a striking defect in the rate of formation of primary cilia. We demonstrate that this impacts sonic hedgehog signalling in ORC1-deficient primary fibroblasts. Additionally, reduced growth factor-dependent signaling via primary cilia affects the kinetics of cell cycle progression following cell cycle exit and re-entry, highlighting an unexpected mechanism whereby origin licensing components can influence cell cycle progression. Finally, using a cell-based model, we show that defects in cilia function impair chondroinduction. Our findings raise the possibility that a reduced efficiency in forming cilia could contribute to the clinical features of MGS, particularly the bone development abnormalities, and could provide a new dimension for considering developmental impacts of licensing deficiency