Breaking Seed Dormancy in Three Poaceae Species

Seed dormancy is a major impediment to germination testing in seed testing laboratories. Dormant seeds are alive but do not germinate under conditions favorable for germination of non-dormant seeds of the same species. Dormancy in many pant species can be broken using a single ·treatment or a combination of treatments. Treatments commonly used are light or dark, various temperature regimes, prolonged exposure to cold treatments (pre-chilling), and the use of growth hormones or other chemicals. Three Poaceae species, winter wheat (Triticum aestiivum), prairie drop seed V (Sporobolus heterolepis), and prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), were the subject of this research. Winter wheat seed dormancy can be a problem because of the short turn around from harvest to planting in the upper Midwest. New crop wheat seeds need to be planted and exposed to cold temperatures (5°C) for five days to often break dormancy. The other two species, prairie dropseed and prairie cordgrass, do not have any standardized or published testing methods. To break dormancy in winter wheat, different exposure times (3-day and 5-day) to cold temperatures and growth hormones or chemicals were evaluated for seed crops produced during 2000 and 2001. Chemical treatments used were 1000 ppm and 5000 ppm gibberellic acid, potassium nitrate (first year only), and ethephbn (first year only), and de-ionized water as a control. The 3-day pre-chill (95.8% mean germination) worked as well as the 5-day pre-chill (95.8% mean germination). Gibberellic acid at 5000 ppm had the highest mean percent germination (94.2%) of the chemical treatments. With prairie cordgrass, light and dark, use of growth hormones or chemicals, and various temperature regimes were evaluated to start developing optimum methods for germination testing or reducing dormancy. Results indicated that there appears to be no difference between light and dark treatments. The most promising temperature is an alternating 20-30°C. The chemical of choice would be 0.2% potassium nitrate. Gibberellic acid at 5000 ppm caused abnormalities resulting in stunted root growth. Prairie dropseed was exposed to a pre-chill treatment, varying germination temperature regimes, and growth hormones or chemicals to break dormancy. The seeds were exposed to a pre-chill {5°C) for two weeks and then planted at various temperature regimes with different growth hormones ·or chemicals. A set of each sample for each treatment and temperature was placed straight into the germinators to examine the effect of the pre-chill. The chemicals used were potassium nitrate, 500 ppm, 1000 ppm, and 5000 ppm gibberellic acid, 1.0 mM ethephon, and de-ionized water control. The temperature that appears to break dormancy and maintain viability is either 20-30°C or 25°C. The chemical treatment that yielded the lowest dormancy and maintained viability was potassium nitrate or de-ionized water

Vaccine mandates, public trust, and vaccine confidence: understanding perceptions is important.

The experience in Australia with penalizing parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated demonstrates the need to study and understand resistance to vaccination as a global phenomenon with particular local manifestations

Vaccines and the Social Amplification of Risk

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) named “Vaccine Hesitancy” one of the top 10 threats to global health. Shortly afterward, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged as the world\u27s predominant health concern. COVID-19 vaccines of several types have been developed, tested, and partially deployed with remarkable speed; vaccines are now the primary control measure and hope for a return to normalcy. However, hesitancy concerning these vaccines, along with resistance to masking and other control measures, remains a substantial obstacle. The previous waves of vaccine hesitancy that led to the WHO threat designation, together with recent COVID-19 experience, provide a window for viewing new forms of social amplification of risk (SAR). Not surprisingly, vaccines provide fertile ground for questions, anxieties, concerns, and rumors. These appear in new globalized hyperconnected communications landscapes and in the context of complex human (social, economic, and political) systems that exhibit evolving concerns about vaccines and authorities. We look at drivers, impacts, and implications for vaccine initiatives in several recent historical examples and in the current efforts with COVID-19 vaccination. Findings and insights were drawn from the Vaccine Confidence Project\u27s decade long monitoring of media and social media and its related research efforts. The trends in vaccine confidence and resistance have implications for updating the social amplification of risk framework (SARF); in turn, SARF has practical implications for guiding efforts to alleviate vaccine hesitancy and to mitigate harms from intentional and unintentional vaccine scares

The globalization of risk and risk perception: why we need a new model of risk communication for vaccines.

Risk communication and vaccines is complex and the nature of risk perception is changing, with perceptions converging, evolving and having impacts well beyond specific geographic localities and points in time, especially when amplified through the Internet and other modes of global communication. This article examines the globalization of risk perceptions and their impacts, including the example of measles and the globalization of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine risk perceptions, and calls for a new, more holistic model of risk assessment, risk communication and risk mitigation, embedded in an ongoing process of risk management for vaccines and immunization programmes. It envisions risk communication as an ongoing process that includes trust-building strategies hand-in-hand with operational and policy strategies needed to mitigate and manage vaccine-related risks, as well as perceptions of risk

Reasons for non-vaccination: Parental vaccine hesitancy and the childhood influenza vaccination school pilot programme in England.

INTRODUCTION: In 2013, the annual influenza immunisation programme in England was extended to children to reduce the burden of influenza, but uptake was sub-optimal at 53.2%. AIM: To explore the reasons some parents decided not to vaccinate their child against influenza as part of the pilot programme offered in schools. METHODS: Cross-sectional qualitative study conducted between February and July 2015. 913 parents whose children were not vaccinated against influenza in the school pilots in West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, England, were asked to comment on their reasons for non-vaccination and invited to take part in a semi-structured interview. 138 parents returned response forms, of which 38 were eligible and interested in participating and 25 were interviewed. Interview transcripts were coded by theme in NVivo. RESULTS: A third of parents who returned response forms had either vaccinated their child elsewhere, intended to have them vaccinated, or had not vaccinated them due to medical reasons (valid or perceived). Most interviewees were not convinced of the need to vaccinate their child against influenza. Parents expressed concerns about influenza vaccine effectiveness and vaccine side effects. Several parents interviewed declined the vaccine for faith reasons due to the presence of porcine gelatine in the vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: To significantly decrease the burden of influenza in England, influenza vaccination coverage in children needs to be >60%. Hence, it is important to understand the reasons why parents are not vaccinating their children, and to tailor the communication and immunisation programme accordingly. Our finding that a third of parents, who did not consent to their child being vaccinated as part of the school programme, had actually vaccinated their child elsewhere, intended to have their child vaccinated, or had not vaccinated them due to medical reasons, illustrates the importance of including additional questions or data sources when investigating under-vaccination

Freshman Connection Mentorship Program

This workshop will present the Freshman Connection mentorship program and its impact on freshman students at Eastern Illinois University. The program focuses on building inclusivity at EIU and supporting students from all backgrounds, like commuters and first generation students. The data will also highlight leadership opportunities and benefits of the program

Protocol for a systematic review: understanding the motivations and barriers to uptake and use of female-initiated, primary biomedical HIV prevention technologies in sub-Saharan Africa.

BACKGROUND: Women in sub-Saharan Africa are disproportionately affected by high rates of HIV, yet relatively few products exist for female-initiated HIV prevention. New antiretroviral (ARV)-based prevention options could present opportunities for women to expand their HIV prevention choices; however, acceptability and adherence play a key role in the effectiveness of these products and implementation is still in early stages. To better understand which HIV prevention options might best serve women in sub-Saharan Africa, how and why, this review will explore qualitative evidence from clinical trials and implementation studies alike using a meta-ethnographic approach to synthesise data and interpret results. METHODS/DESIGN: This systematic review will use a meta-ethnographic approach to analyse qualitative data extracted from multiple studies featuring actual use of female-initiated technologies for HIV prevention. The search strategy will be applied in seven databases and papers will be selected using strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. The review will closely follow the guidance set forth by preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and Centre for Reviews Dissemination (CRD) where the guidance applies to qualitative data. Two reviewers will review all papers during the paper selection phase, with consultation from a third reviewer to confirm consensus. All papers included in the review will be read and analysed by two reviewers. The final analysis will be conducted by three primary reviewers with additional input from all other authors. DISCUSSION: With new HIV prevention technologies currently in early implementation phases and still more on the horizon, there is much to learn about how best these products may be delivered. A review such as this could help to inform the real-world implementation of the next wave of new HIV prevention technologies such as ARV-based oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)

HPV Vaccination in Japan: The Continuing Debate and Global Impacts

In June 2013, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) suspended its active recommendation of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination after a small number of highly publicized alleged adverse events stoked public fears about the vaccine’s safety.2 While the MHLW continues to provide the HPV vaccination for those who request it through the National Immunization Programme (NIP), as of mid-April, the suspension of the HPV vaccination recommendation continues. Since the release of our CSIS report The HPV Vaccination in Japan: Issues and Options3 in May 2014, anti-vaccine groups have strengthened their control of the narrative surrounding the HPV vaccine, intensified their activities, and continued to capture media and public attention. The medical community has split as prominent personalities have come forward to support claims of adverse effects linked to the HPV vaccine even in the absence of any evidence of association. Countermeasures by the MHLW, medical professional groups, and others have been comparatively weak and, it appears, ineffectual. It remains unclear how and when this increasingly complicated and difficult situation will be resolved. In this paper, we outline major events with regards to the HPV vaccine controversy in Japan since May 2014, highlighting long-term implications of the rapid drop in vaccination coverage and recommending how to best move forward. There are also two addendums that explore global perspectives on the current situation in Japan and examine examples of how other countries have dealt with concerns and opposition to the HPV vaccine