Missing Women and Bare Branches: Gender Balance and Conflict

The emerging subfield of “security demographics” examines the linkages between population dynamics and the security trajectories of nation-states. For the last 5 to 10 years, researchers have examined the security aspects of such topics as the demographic transition, the sub-replacement birth rates of developed economies, the proportion of young men as compared to older men in the population, the effects of legal and illegal immigration, and the effects of pandemics such as AIDS and drug-resistant tuberculosis. This paper aims to add the variable of gender balance to the discussion: are societies with an abnormal ratio between men and women less secure

The Biology of Seabirds Utilising Fishery Waste in Shetland

The aim of this study was to examine the role of fishery waste in the ecology of scavenging seabirds in Shetland. Changes in the populations of these scavenging seabirds were discussed. Fulmars, Gannets and possibly Great Black-backed Gulls are still increasing but Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls and probably Great Skuas are decreasing. The breeding performances of Herring Gulls, Great Skuas and Fulmars were studied on the Isle of Noss in 1983 and 1984. Great Skuas fledged fewer chicks than elsewhere but the breeding success of Herring Gulls and Fulmars was comparable to other areas. Chick condition of the three species did not differ significantly between years or from chicks of the same species measured elsewhere. Seabird diet was examined on Noss from 1983 to 1985. Whitefish occurred most commonly in Herring Gull chick regurgitates while intertidal invertebrates were most important in adult food remains. Most Great Skua chick regurgitates contained whitefish. Whitefish and seabird were the commonest food types recorded in the diet of breeding and non-breeding Great Skuas and Sandeel was recorded more often early in the season. Whitefish (including offal) occurred more frequently than Sandeel in the regurgitates of Fulmar adults and chicks. Haddock, Whiting, Norway Pout and Sandeel were the commonest fish species to occur in pellets regurgitated by gulls and Great Skuas. Otolith lengths of Whiting and Haddock regurgitated by Great Skuas were smaller than the lengths regurgitated by Great Black-backed Gulls which, in turn, were smaller than those regurgitated by Herring Gulls. Behind whitefish trawlers in Shetland, Fulmars occurred in highest numbers and Great Black-backed Gulls were next in importance. Fewer Great Skuas, Gannets, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were present. More birds attended trawlers far out to sea than close inshore. About 27% of whitefish catches was discarded and about 90% of offal and 75% of discarded fish were consumed by seabirds. Trawler waste around Shetland could support approximately 200,000 seabirds. Haddock and Whiting were the two commonest discard species. Fulmars consumed most of the offal. Great Black-backed Gulls took most of the discards, but Gannets and Great Skuas also consumed many. Herring Gulls obtained little fishery waste at sea. Flatfish and gurnards were swallowed less often and gadoids more often than expected. Gannets and Great Black-backed Gulls swallowed most fish that they handled but the other bird species had a lower success rate. Fewer Haddock and Whiting than other fish species were dropped. Great Black-backed Gulls and Great Skuas stole more fish than other bird species. Great Black-backed Gulls and Gannets stole more fish than they lost to kleptoparasites but the other bird species had more fish stolen. Haddock and whiting swallowed by Great Skuas, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were smaller than the mean discard length. The proportion of fish dropped by seabirds increased with fish length. The lengths of dropped and stolen fish were longer than the mean lengths swallowed by each bird species. Larger birds swallowed larger fish. Handling times of fish increased with increasing fish length. Great Black-backed Gulls and Gannets swallowed fish more quickly than other birds

Factors Affecting Student Persistence into Athletic Training Programs

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that contribute to student persistence and gauge prospective athletic training students\u27 perceptions of experiences that contributed to their persistence. Method: The Athletic Training Student Persistence-Revised Survey was developed to gather data about program attributes, social, academic, clinical integration, and program commitment. Institutional demographics, program demographics, and program attributes were collected during interviews. Surveys were administered online through SurveyMonkey. Survey data were returned anonymously by designated contact persons (Athletic Training Program Directors or Clinical Education Coordinators) for all freshmen prospective athletic training students enrolled in the athletic training introductory course/s. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric differences and correlations were calculated. The inductive process was used in coding open-ended data. Results: The Mann Whitney U test and Spearman Rho analysis demonstrated significant results. Program attributes along with clinical integration had the weakest correlations (r = -0.36 and r = -0.32, respectively), while academic integration and program commitment had the strongest (r = -0.58 and r = -0.76, respectively). No predictive variables were found. Qualitatively, persisters and non-persisters managed the pre-application period differently. Additionally, the rapport between athletes and athletic trainers serving as preceptors, the relationships between prospective athletic training students and extant athletic training students, and the mentorship displayed by athletic training students were all contributors to persistence. Conclusions: Communication between the athletic training program director and prospective athletic training students is vital, but the core of the study revealed that what transpires during clinical observation hours, within the introductory course/s, between athletic trainers and athletes, and between athletic training students/preceptors and prospective athletic training students are of even greater importance. The findings demonstrated that decisions to persist are the result of all parties and components associated with the athletic training program, not just one

Graduate Student Veterans Panel - "War in the 21st Century: The Graduate Experience"

The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.John Guilmartin, Professor of Military History at The Ohio State University and retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Air Force, will lead a panel of three graduate students who are veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent webpag

Improvement in clinical markers in CF patients using a reduced glutathione regimen: An uncontrolled, observational study

AbstractCFTR mutation, which causes cystic fibrosis (CF), has also recently been identified as causing glutathione system dysfunction and systemic deficiency of reduced glutathione (GSH). Such dysfunction and deficiency regarding GSH may contribute to the pathophysiology of CF. We followed 13 patients (age range 1–27 years) with cystic fibrosis who were using a regimen of reduced glutathione (GSH), including oral glutathione and inhaled buffered glutathione in an uncontrolled, observational study. Dosage ranged from 66–148 mg/kg/day in divided doses, and the term examined was the initial 5.5 months of GSH use (45 days of incrementally adjusted dose, plus 4 months of use at full dosage). Baseline and post-measurements of FEV1 percent predicted, BMI percentile, and weight percentile were noted, in addition to bacterial status and pulmonary exacerbations. Significant improvement in the following clinical parameters was observed: average improvement in FEV1 percent predicted (N=10) was 5.8 percentage points (p<0.0001), average weight percentile (N=13) increased 8.6 points (p<0.001), BMI percentile (N=11) improved on average 1.22 points (p<0.001). All patients improved in FEV1 and BMI, if measured in their case; 12 of 13 patients improved in weight percentile. Positive sputum cultures of bacteria in 11 patients declined from 13 to 5 (p<0.03) with sputum cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa becoming negative in 4 of 5 patients previously culturing PA, including two of three patients chronically infected with PA as determined by antibody status. Use of a daily GSH regimen appears to be associated in CF patients with significant improvement in lung function and weight, and a significant decline in bacteria cultured in this uncontrolled study. These findings bear further clinical investigation in larger, randomized, controlled studies

A Qualitative Analysis of Women's Satisfaction with Primary Care from a Panel of Focus Groups in the National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health

Health issues unique to women and differences in healthcare experiences have recently gained attention as health plans and systems seek to extend and improve health promotion and disease prevention in the population. Successful efforts focused on enhancing quality of care will require information from the patient's perspective on how to improve such services to best support women's attempts to lead healthy and productive lives. The National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health program (CoE), sponsored by the Office on Women's Health within the Department of Health and Human Services, is based on an integrated model uniting research, training, healthcare, and community education and outreach. To examine women's concept and definitions of healthcare quality, 18 focus groups comprising 137 women were conducted nationwide on experiences and attributes of healthcare that women value in primary care. Following the focus groups, a woman-focused healthcare satisfaction instrument was developed for the purpose of assessing and improving healthcare delivery. We describe the qualitative results of the focus group study.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63264/1/15246090152563515.pd

Transformando las rutinas organizacionales en los programas de doctorado: Una intervención para inculcar la justicia social en el curriculum de los programas de bienestar social

This paper describes one effort to infuse a social justice framework into a social work doctoral education programme in a prominent research university of the United States. The “Social Justice in Doctoral Education” (SJDE) Project identified Social Justice Learning Objectives (SJLOs) in the categories of scholarship, teaching, and service. Doctoral students were surveyed in 2010 to determine the extent to which the SJLOs were being systematically facilitated by their doctoral programme. The forms that guide and shape the milestones of doctoral education at that institution were revised in 2011 in an attempt to create new opportunities for social justice learning. A second survey of doctoral students in 2013 resulted in two findings. First, doctoral students reported using the SJLOs to guide their education. Second, a pre/post comparison of student perceptions indicated an increase in opportunities for social justice learning through doctoral education. This case study provides preliminary support for the modification of organisational routines to expand social justice education in social work.En este artículo se describe el esfuerzo para infundir un marco de justicia social en un programa doctoral de trabajo social dentro de una universidad prominente de investigación de los Estados Unidos. El proyecto de investigación “Justicia Social en la Educación Doctoral” (SJDE) identificó los Objetivos de Aprendizaje de la Justicia Social (SJLOs) en una serie de categorías de la investigación científica, como la enseñanza y el servicio. Los estudiantes de doctorado respondieron a una encuesta en 2010 para determinar el grado en el que los SJLOs se facilitaban sistemáticamente en el programa de doctorado. En 2011 se revisaron los formularios que guían y dan forma a los hitos de la educación doctoral en esa institución, en un intento de crear nuevas oportunidades para la justicia social de aprendizaje. En 2013, una encuesta seguimiento a los estudiantes de doctorado dio lugar a dos conclusiones. La primera es que los estudiantes de doctorado informaron del uso de las SJLOs como guía de su educación. La segunda es que una comparación pre / post de las percepciones de los estudiantes indicó el aumento de oportunidades para el aprendizaje de la justicia social por medio de sus estudios de doctorado. En conclusión, este caso de estudio nos proporciona evidencia preliminar para la modificación de las rutinas organizativas, como un medio para ampliar la educación de la justicia social en el trabajo social

Neurofibromin is a novel regulator of Ras-induced reactive oxygen species production in mice and humans

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) predisposes individuals to early and debilitating cardiovascular disease. Loss of function mutations in the NF1 tumor suppressor gene, which encodes the protein neurofibromin, leads to accelerated p21(Ras) activity and phosphorylation of multiple downstream kinases, including Erk and Akt. Nf1 heterozygous (Nf1(+/-)) mice develop a robust neointima that mimics human disease. Monocytes/macrophages play a central role in NF1 arterial stenosis as Nf1 mutations in myeloid cells alone are sufficient to reproduce the enhanced neointima observed in Nf1(+/-) mice. Though the molecular mechanisms underlying NF1 arterial stenosis remain elusive, macrophages are important producers of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Ras activity directly regulates ROS production. Here, we use compound mutant and lineage-restricted mice to demonstrate that Nf1(+/-) macrophages produce excessive ROS, which enhance Nf1(+/-) smooth muscle cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Further, use of a specific NADPH oxidase-2 inhibitor to limit ROS production prevents neointima formation in Nf1(+/-) mice. Finally, mononuclear cells from asymptomatic NF1 patients have increased oxidative DNA damage, an indicator of chronic exposure to oxidative stress. These data provide genetic and pharmacologic evidence that excessive exposure to oxidant species underlie NF1 arterial stenosis and provide a platform for designing novels therapies and interventions