The Transition to Agriculture: Climate Reversals, Population Density, and Technical Change

Until about 13,000 years ago all humans obtained their food through hunting and gathering, but thereafter people in some parts of the world began a transition to agriculture. Recent data strongly implicate climate change as the driving force behind the agricultural transition in southwest Asia. We propose a model of this process in which population and technology respond endogenously to climate. The key idea is that after a lengthy period of favorable environmental conditions during which regional population grew significantly, an abrupt climate reversal forced people to take refuge at a few ecologically favored sites. The resulting spike in local population density reduced the marginal product of labor in foraging and made agriculture attractive. Once agriculture was initiated, rapid technological progress through artificial selection on plant characteristics led to domesticated varieties. Farming became a permanent part of the regional economy when this productivity growth was combined with climate recoveryorigins of agriculture, foraging, hunting and gathering, climate change, population density, technical change, domestication, archaeology, anthropology, economic prehistory

Rapid adaptive evolution of colour vision in the threespine stickleback radiation.

Vision is a sensory modality of fundamental importance for many animals, aiding in foraging, detection of predators and mate choice. Adaptation to local ambient light conditions is thought to be commonplace, and a match between spectral sensitivity and light spectrum is predicted. We use opsin gene expression to test for local adaptation and matching of spectral sensitivity in multiple independent lake populations of threespine stickleback populations derived since the last ice age from an ancestral marine form. We show that sensitivity across the visual spectrum is shifted repeatedly towards longer wavelengths in freshwater compared with the ancestral marine form. Laboratory rearing suggests that this shift is largely genetically based. Using a new metric, we found that the magnitude of shift in spectral sensitivity in each population corresponds strongly to the transition in the availability of different wavelengths of light between the marine and lake environments. We also found evidence of local adaptation by sympatric benthic and limnetic ecotypes to different light environments within lakes. Our findings indicate rapid parallel evolution of the visual system to altered light conditions. The changes have not, however, yielded a close matching of spectrum-wide sensitivity to wavelength availability, for reasons we discuss

Hunger in America 2014: National Report

Feeding America, the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief organization, has conducted the most comprehensive study of hunger in America every four years since 1993. Like the prior studies, Hunger in America 2014 (HIA 2014), the latest iteration, documents the critical role that the charitable food assistance network plays in supporting struggling families in the United States. Study results are based on surveys of food programs in the charitable food assistance network supported by Feeding America, and clients that access services through that network in 2012-2013. In addition to this report on the Feeding America national network, this study has resulted in 42 state reports and 196 food bank reports detailing network activities on local levels.The current assessment occurs in a period with historically high demand for food assistance. Unemployment and poverty rates have remained high since the Great Recession of 2008, and the number of households receiving nutrition assistance from the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has increased by approximately 50 percent between 2009 and 2013.Demand for charitable food assistance has also expanded. HIA 2014 finds an increased number of individuals relying on charitable assistance to access nutritious foods for themselves and their families

Discounting and Pathological Gambling

Pathological gambling is a disorder characterized by excessive gambling. It often occurs in conjunction with substance use disorders, and research is beginning to examine the association between these disorders, especially with regard to impulsivity and discounting. In this chapter, we initially review the diagnosis and prevalence rates of pathological gambling, including its comorbidity with substance use disorders. We then describe relations between personality measures of impulsivity and pathological gambling. Gamblers\u27 patterns of choices on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and measures of delay and probability discounting are covered in depth, and we discuss the degree to which these choices are uniquely associated with a gambling disorder rather than a comorbid substance use disorder. Recent theories regarding the role of discounting in the etiology of pathological gambling are described, as are suggestions for future research

Fast, easy and efficient: site-specific insertion of transgenes into Enterobacterial chromosomes using Tn7 without need for selection of the insertion event

BACKGROUND: Inserting transgenes into bacterial chromosomes is generally quite involved, requiring a selection for cells carrying the insertion, usually for drug-resistance, or multiple cumbersome manipulations, or both. Several approaches use phage λ red recombination, which allows for the possibility of mutagenesis of the transgene during a PCR step. RESULTS: We present a simple, rapid and highly efficient method for transgene insertion into the chromosome of Escherichia coli, Salmonella or Shigella at a benign chromosomal site using the site-specific recombination machinery of the transposon Tn7. This method requires very few manipulations. The transgene is cloned into a temperature-sensitive delivery plasmid and transformed into bacterial cells. Growth at the permissive temperature with induction of the recombination machinery leads to transgene insertion, and subsequent growth at the nonpermissive temperature cures the delivery plasmid. Transgene insertion is highly site-specific, generating insertions solely at the Tn7 attachment site and so efficient that it is not necessary to select for the insertion. CONCLUSION: This method is more efficient and straightforward than other techniques for transgene insertion available for E. coli and related bacteria, making moving transgenes from plasmids to a chromosomal location a simple matter. The non-requirement for selection is particularly well suited for use in development of unmarked strains for environmental release, such as live-vector vaccine strains, and also for promoter-fusion studies, and experiments in which every bacterial cell must express a transgene construct

Exposing Students to the Importance of Pharmacy Advocacy

SWOSU students (P1-P4) are recruited each year to be involved in the annual Pharmacy Legislative Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol. ■ Pharmacy Legislative Day events include a briefing meeting, health fair and reception. ■ By participating in these events, students are: • Exposed to the importance of their role in promoting their profession. • Made aware of important pharmacy-related legislative issues. • Introduced to the legislative process

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF BIOLOGICAL ASSAYS OF MIXTURES

The simultaneous activity of multiple stimuli can be difficult to analyze, particularly on biological systems. However, these analyses are becoming increasingly important in drug or pesticide formulation for efficacy. This article will review techniques for the design and analysis of bioassays of mixtures. The two major techniques that will be reviewed are based upon the concepts of response and potency. Particular emphasis will be placed upon measuring levels of synergy, i.e., when the activity is greater than the sum of its parts, and antagonism, i.e., when the activity is less than would be expected. Theoretical examples will be given to demonstrate the application of each technique. The method based on potency was used in the design and analysis of Dr. Gregory Armel’s study of the differential response of atrazine mixtures with bleaching herbicides that target different sites in carotenoid biosynthesis. Examples from this mixture study are presented

Preservation of glaciochemical time-series in snow and ice from the Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island

A detailed investigation of major ion concentrations of snow and ice in the summit region of Penny Ice Cap (PIC) was performed to determine the effects of summer melt on the glaciochemical time-series. While ion migration due to meltwater percolation makes it difficult to confidently count annual layers in the glaciochemical profiles, time-series of these parameters do show good structure and a strong one year spectral component, suggesting that annual to biannual signals are preserved in PIC glaciochemical records

Changing the Shape of Sickle Cell Disease Treatment: A Hermeneutic Study of a Case that Changed a Family and a Medical Practice

This hermeneutic study analyzes a case of one family who chose to undergo two hematopoietic stem cell transplants for two of their four children affected with sickle cell disease (SCD) with full knowledge of the risks involved with curative therapy. This case had a life-changing impact on the family and on the medical practice of the physician who worked with them. As a result of this family, international treatment of early transplant for SCD has adopted different protocols. In this study, interviewing the mother in the family, the physician, and the transplant nurse, and analyzing the data hermeneutically brings us to a deeper understanding of how change occurs and its profound effect on lives and medical treatment.