Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economic Success

Is the United States "the land of equal opportunity" or is the playing field tilted in favor of those whose parents are wealthy, well educated, and white? If family background is important in getting ahead, why? And if the processes that transmit economic status from parent to child are unfair, could public policy address the problem? Unequal Chances provides new answers to these questions by leading economists, sociologists, biologists, behavioral geneticists, and philosophers. New estimates show that intergenerational inequality in the United States is far greater than was previously thought. Moreover, while the inheritance of wealth and the better schooling typically enjoyed by the children of the well-to-do contribute to this process, these two standard explanations fail to explain the extent of intergenerational status transmission. The genetic inheritance of IQ is even less important. Instead, parent-offspring similarities in personality and behavior may play an important role. Race contributes to the process, and the intergenerational mobility patterns of African Americans and European Americans differ substantially. Following the editors' introduction are chapters by Greg Duncan, Ariel Kalil, Susan E. Mayer, Robin Tepper, and Monique R. Payne; Bhashkar Mazumder; David J. Harding, Christopher Jencks, Leonard M. Lopoo, and Susan E. Mayer; Anders Björklund, Markus Jäntti, and Gary Solon; Tom Hertz; John C. Loehlin; Melissa Osborne Groves; Marcus W. Feldman, Shuzhuo Li, Nan Li, Shripad Tuljapurkar, and Xiaoyi Jin; and Adam Swift.family background, economic success, education, status, public policy, inequality, genetic inheritance, intergenerational mobility

From Sink to Resurgence: The Buffering Capacity of a Cave System in the Tongass National Forest, USA

The Tongass National Forest of Southeast Alaska, USA, provides a unique environment for monitoring the impact of the cave system on water quality and biological productivity. The accretionary terrane setting of the area has developed into a complex and heterogeneous geologic landscape which includes numerous blocks of limestone with intense karstification. During the Wisconsian glaciation, there were areas of compacted glacial sediments and silts deposited over the bedrock. Muskeg peatlands developed over these poorly drained areas. The dominant plants of the muskeg ecosystem are Sphagnum mosses, whose decomposition leads to highly acidic waters with pH as low as 2.4. These waters drain off the muskegs into the cave systems, eventually running to the ocean. In accordance with the Tongass Land Management Plan, one of the research priorities of the National Forest is to determine the contributions of karst groundwater systems to productivity of aquatic communities. On Northern Prince of Wales Island, the Conk Canyon Cave insurgence and the Mop Spring resurgence were continuously monitored to understand the buffering capacity of the cave system. Over the length of the system, the pH increases from an average 3.89 to 7.22. The insurgence water temperature, during the summer months, ranged from between 10oC to 17oC. After residence in the cave system, the resurgence water had been buffered to 6oC to 9oC. Over the continuum from insurgence to resurgence, the specific conductance had increased by an order of magnitude with the resurgence waters having a higher ionic strength. The cave environment acts as a buffer on the incoming acidic muskeg water to yield resurgence water chemistry of a buffered karst system. These buffered waters contribute to the productivity in aquatic environments downstream. The waters from this system drain into Whale Pass, an important location for the salmon industry. The cool, even temperatures, as well as buffered flow rates delivered by the karst systems are associated with higher productivity of juvenile coho salmon

Re-emergence of Tobacco streak virus Infecting Soybean in the United States and Canada

Tobacco streak virus (TSV), an Ilarvirus, was first confirmed as a viral pathogen of tobacco in 1936 (Johnson 1936) and first reported in North American soybean in 1969 (Fagbenle and Ford 1970). TSV has a wide host range with strains able to infect at least 140 different plant genera, including crop, ornamental, and wild species (Fulton 1948). Due to its extensive host range and strain adaptations, TSV is found in commercial crops worldwide. Since 1969, however, TSV has not been a problem on soybean or commonly reported until the 2013 season, when it was found in fields throughout Iowa. A similar situation is found throughout the Midwest, with TSV being reported in recent years in Illinois, Kansas, and Wisconsin, as well as Ontario, Canada

The Origin of a New Sex Chromosome by Introgression between Two Stickleback Fishes.

Introgression is increasingly recognized as a source of genetic diversity that fuels adaptation. Its role in the evolution of sex chromosomes, however, is not well known. Here, we confirm the hypothesis that the Y chromosome in the ninespine stickleback, Pungitius pungitius, was established by introgression from the Amur stickleback, P. sinensis. Using whole genome resequencing, we identified a large region of Chr 12 in P. pungitius that is diverged between males and females. Within but not outside of this region, several lines of evidence show that the Y chromosome of P. pungitius shares a most recent common ancestor not with the X chromosome, but with the homologous chromosome in P. sinensis. Accumulation of repetitive elements and gene expression changes on the new Y are consistent with a young sex chromosome in early stages of degeneration, but other hallmarks of Y chromosomes have not yet appeared. Our findings indicate that porous species boundaries can trigger rapid sex chromosome evolution

Neutropenia in Barth syndrome:characteristics, risks, and management

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Barth syndrome (BTHS) is an X-linked disease characterized by defective remodeling of phospholipid side chains in mitochondrial membranes. Major features include neutropenia, dilated cardiomyopathy, motor delay and proximal myopathy, feeding problems, and constitutional growth delay. We conducted this review of neutropenia in BTHS to aid in the diagnosis of this disease, and to improve understanding of both the consequences of neutropenia and the benefits of treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF). RECENT FINDINGS: In 88 patients with BTHS, neutropenia, that is, at least one count below 1.5 × 10/l, was detected in 74 (84%) and 44% had severe chronic neutropenia, with multiple counts below 0.5 × 10/l. The pattern of neutropenia varied between intermittent and unpredictable, chronic and severe, or cyclical with mathematically regular oscillations. Monocytosis, that is, monocytes more than 1.0 × 10/l, was observed at least once in 64 of 85 (75%) patients. G-CSF was administered to 39 of 88 patients (44%). Weekly average G-CSF doses ranged from 0.12 to 10.92 μg/kg/day (mean 1.16 μg/kg/day, median 1.16 μg/kg/day). Antibiotic prophylaxis was additionally employed in 21 of 26 neutropenic patients. Pretreatment bone marrow evaluations predominantly showed reduced myeloid maturation which normalized on G-CSF therapy in seven of 13 examined. Consistent clinical improvement, with reduced signs and symptoms of infections, was observed in response to prophylactic G-CSF ± prophylactic antibiotics. However, despite G-CSF and antibiotics, one adult patient died with multiple infections related to indwelling medical devices and gastrostomy site infection after 15.5 years on G-CSF and a pediatric patient required gastrostomy removal for recurrent abdominal wall cellulitis. SUMMARY: BTHS should be considered in any men with neutropenia accompanied by any of the characteristic features of this syndrome. Prophylaxis with G-CSF ± antibiotics prevents serious bacterial infections in the more severe neutropenic patients although infections remain a threat even in patients who are very compliant with therapy, especially in those with indwelling devices