I Wanna Have My Own Damn Dairy Farm!”: Women Farmers, Legibility, and Femininities in Rural Wisconsin, U.S.

The number of women farming in the United States continues to climb, even as the number of farms has been relatively stable in recent years. Nevertheless, women often face an uphill battle in asserting themselves as farmers, particularly if they are living and working in communities in which masculinities and femininities have been shaped over time by the gendered symbolic categories of farmer and farm wife. In light of the discursive power of the title of farmer this article examines women’s pathways into farming to ask: 1) To what extent do women encounter difficulties in being legible as farmers, and how do they manage these difficulties?; and 2) How do women farmers reshape rural femininity in being recognized as farmers? Drawing on interviews and ethnographic data from 12 Wisconsin women farmers, this article shows that many women farming sustainably and conventionally faced considerable obstacles at the institutional, interactional, and symbolic levels of the gender system as they attempted to be recognized as farmers; managing these difficulties through persistence. Some women contested the gender regime of farming by constructing an alternative rural femininity through insisting on the title of farmer, drawing on the symbolism of hegemonic rural femininity and masculinity in the process

Cultivating Healthy Communities: Refugee Urban Farmers in Providence, RI: Report No. 2 of Land Conservation and Inequality Series

Urban farming programs for refugees have become more common across the U.S. (Jean, 2015). Access to agricultural space, whether community gardens or market farms, can lead to improved health for those who have faced forced displacement, violence, and difficulties associated with resettlement. Community gardens in particular offer a range of benefits to refugees, including improvements to physical and mental health, food security, and social support (e.g., Malberg Dyg, 2020). Community gardens also provide refugees with opportunities for economic development (e.g., Banulescu-Bogdan, 2020). However, access to agricultural space in a dense urban area is challenging, particularly for groups from marginalized backgrounds, such as refugees. To better meet the needs of refugee farmers in urban areas, it is critical to identify the barriers that impede access to agricultural space. This report explains the challenges and needs related to farmland access among a group of refugees in Providence, Rhode Island. This report comes from a larger study investigating inequality and environmental justice in the context of farm and open space conservation. Distributional Impacts of Farm and Open Space Conservation is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (NIFA Award No. 2018-67024-27695). Principal investigator is Corey Lang in the Department of Environmental & Natural Resource Economics at the University of Rhode Island, with co-investigator Amy Ando in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, and co-investigator Julie C. Keller in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Rhode Island

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at New England Land Trusts: Report No. 1 of Land Conservation and Inequality Series

With over 1,200 organizations registered with the Land Trust Alliance (LTA 2021), land trusts are often viewed as successful models of market-based solutions to environmental and social problems. Yet, the role of these organizations in making open space and farmland accessible to groups from marginalized backgrounds remains unclear. This report (No. 1) discusses findings from interviews conducted in 2021 with key experts at 15 land trusts in New England. The goal of the research was to understand organizational engagement with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) values, with a special emphasis on how land trusts facilitate access to land for underrepresented groups. Interviewees and organizations are referred to using pseudonyms throughout the report. This report comes from a larger study investigating inequality and environmental justice in the context of farm and open space conservation. Distributional Impacts of Farm and Open Space Conservation is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (NIFA Award No. 2018-67024-27695). Principal investigator is Corey Lang in the Department of Environmental & Natural Resource Economics at the University of Rhode Island, with coinvestigator Amy Ando in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, and co-investigator Julie C. Keller in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Rhode Island

Postcoital Bioavailability and Antiviral Activity of 0.5% PRO 2000 Gel: Implications for Future Microbicide Clinical Trials

The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of vaginal microbicides are typically assessed among sexually abstinent women. However, the physical act of sex may modulate gel distribution, and preclinical studies demonstrate seminal plasma interferes with the antiviral activity of several microbicides. This study compared the biological activity and concentration of PRO 2000 in cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) collected in the absence or following coitus.CVL samples were collected from ten heterosexual couples at baseline, after sex, after a single dose of 0.5% PRO 2000 gel and sex, and after gel application without sex. The impact of CVL on HIV-1 infection of TZM-bl cells and HSV-2 infection of CaSki cells was monitored by luciferase and plaque assay, respectively. PRO 2000 concentrations were measured by fluorescence.CVL collected after PRO 2000 application significantly inhibited HIV-1 and HSV-2 (p = 0.01). However, the antiviral activity was reduced following sex and no significant protective effect was observed in postcoital CVL obtained in the presence compared to the absence of PRO 2000 for HIV (p = 0.45) or HSV-2 (p = 0.56). Less PRO 2000 was recovered in postcoital CVL, which, in conjunction with interference by seminal plasma, may have contributed to lower antiviral activity.Postcoital responses to PRO 2000 differ from precoital measures and the results obtained may provide insights into the clinical trial findings in which there was no significant protection against HIV-1 or HSV-2. Postcoital studies should be incorporated into clinical studies before embarking on large-scale efficacy trials

Rationale and design of the Novel Uses of adaptive Designs to Guide provider Engagement in Electronic Health Records (NUDGE-EHR) pragmatic adaptive randomized trial: a trial protocol

Background: The prescribing of high-risk medications to older adults remains extremely common and results in potentially avoidable health consequences. Efforts to reduce prescribing have had limited success, in part because they have been sub-optimally timed, poorly designed, or not provided actionable information. Electronic health record (EHR)-based tools are commonly used but have had limited application in facilitating deprescribing in older adults. The objective is to determine whether designing EHR tools using behavioral science principles reduces inappropriate prescribing and clinical outcomes in older adults. Methods: The Novel Uses of Designs to Guide provider Engagement in Electronic Health Records (NUDGE-EHR) project uses a two-stage, 16-arm adaptive randomized pragmatic trial with a “pick-the-winner” design to identify the most effective of many potential EHR tools among primary care providers and their patients ≥ 65 years chronically using benzodiazepines, sedative hypnotic (“Z-drugs”), or anticholinergics in a large integrated delivery system. In stage 1, we randomized providers and their patients to usual care (n = 81 providers) or one of 15 EHR tools (n = 8 providers per arm) designed using behavioral principles including salience, choice architecture, or defaulting. After 6 months of follow-up, we will rank order the arms based upon their impact on the trial’s primary outcome (for both stages): reduction in inappropriate prescribing (via discontinuation or tapering). In stage 2, we will randomize (a) stage 1 usual care providers in a 1:1 ratio to one of the up to 5 most promising stage 1 interventions or continue usual care and (b) stage 1 providers in the unselected arms in a 1:1 ratio to one of the 5 most promising interventions or usual care. Secondary and tertiary outcomes include quantities of medication prescribed and utilized and clinically significant adverse outcomes. Discussion: Stage 1 launched in October 2020. We plan to complete stage 2 follow-up in December 2021. These results will advance understanding about how behavioral science can optimize EHR decision support to improve prescribing and health outcomes. Adaptive trials have rarely been used in implementation science, so these findings also provide insight into how trials in this field could be more efficiently conducted. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04284553, registered: February 26, 2020

Ability to Taste 6‐ n ‐Propylthiouracil and BMI in Low‐income Preschool‐aged Children

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93763/1/oby.2008.227.pd

Laser microdissection and mass spectrometry–based proteomics aids the diagnosis and typing of renal amyloidosis

Accurate diagnosis and typing of renal amyloidosis is critical for prognosis, genetic counseling, and treatment. Laser microdissection and mass spectrometry are emerging techniques for the analysis and diagnosis of many renal diseases. Here we present the results of laser microdissection and mass spectrometry performed on 127 cases of renal amyloidosis during 2008–2010. We found the following proteins in the amyloid deposits: immunoglobulin light and heavy chains, secondary reactive serum amyloid A protein, leukocyte cell–derived chemotaxin-2, fibrinogen-α chain, transthyretin, apolipoprotein A-I and A-IV, gelsolin, and β-2 microglobulin. Thus, laser microdissection of affected areas within the kidney followed by mass spectrometry provides a direct test of the composition of the deposit and forms a useful ancillary technique for the accurate diagnosis and typing of renal amyloidosis in a single procedure

PUF60 variants cause a syndrome of ID, short stature, microcephaly, coloboma, craniofacial, cardiac, renal and spinal features.

PUF60 encodes a nucleic acid-binding protein, a component of multimeric complexes regulating RNA splicing and transcription. In 2013, patients with microdeletions of chromosome 8q24.3 including PUF60 were found to have developmental delay, microcephaly, craniofacial, renal and cardiac defects. Very similar phenotypes have been described in six patients with variants in PUF60, suggesting that it underlies the syndrome. We report 12 additional patients with PUF60 variants who were ascertained using exome sequencing: six through the Deciphering Developmental Disorders Study and six through similar projects. Detailed phenotypic analysis of all patients was undertaken. All 12 patients had de novo heterozygous PUF60 variants on exome analysis, each confirmed by Sanger sequencing: four frameshift variants resulting in premature stop codons, three missense variants that clustered within the RNA recognition motif of PUF60 and five essential splice-site (ESS) variant. Analysis of cDNA from a fibroblast cell line derived from one of the patients with an ESS variants revealed aberrant splicing. The consistent feature was developmental delay and most patients had short stature. The phenotypic variability was striking; however, we observed similarities including spinal segmentation anomalies, congenital heart disease, ocular colobomata, hand anomalies and (in two patients) unilateral renal agenesis/horseshoe kidney. Characteristic facial features included micrognathia, a thin upper lip and long philtrum, narrow almond-shaped palpebral fissures, synophrys, flared eyebrows and facial hypertrichosis. Heterozygote loss-of-function variants in PUF60 cause a phenotype comprising growth/developmental delay and craniofacial, cardiac, renal, ocular and spinal anomalies, adding to disorders of human development resulting from aberrant RNA processing/spliceosomal function

External validation and adaptation of a dynamic prediction model for patients with high‐grade extremity soft tissue sarcoma

Background and Objectives: A dynamic prediction model for patients with soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities was previously developed to predict updated overall survival probabilities throughout patient follow‐up. This study updates and externally validates the dynamic model. Methods: Data from 3826 patients with high‐grade extremity soft tissue sarcoma, treated surgically with curative intent were used to update the dynamic PERsonalised SARcoma Care (PERSARC) model. Patients were added to the model development cohort and grade was included in the model. External validation was performed with data from 1111 patients treated at a single tertiary center. Results: Calibration plots show good model calibration. Dynamic C‐indices suggest that the model can discriminate between high‐ and low‐risk patients. The dynamic C‐indices at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years after surgery were equal to 0.697, 0.790, 0.822, 0.818, 0.812, and 0.827, respectively. Conclusion: Results from the external validation show that the dynamic PERSARC model is reliable in predicting the probability of surviving an additional 5 years from a specific prediction time point during follow‐up. The model combines patient‐, treatment‐specific and time‐dependent variables such as local recurrence and distant metastasis to provide accurate survival predictions throughout follow‐up and is available through the PERSARC app.Peer reviewe

Expert Panel Curation of 113 Primary Mitochondrial Disease Genes for the Leigh Syndrome Spectrum

OBJECTIVE: Primary mitochondrial diseases (PMDs) are heterogeneous disorders caused by inherited mitochondrial dysfunction. Classically defined neuropathologically as subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy, Leigh syndrome spectrum (LSS) is the most frequent manifestation of PMD in children, but may also present in adults. A major challenge for accurate diagnosis of LSS in the genomic medicine era is establishing gene-disease relationships (GDRs) for this syndrome with >100 monogenic causes across both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. METHODS: The Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) Mitochondrial Disease Gene Curation Expert Panel (GCEP), comprising 40 international PMD experts, met monthly for 4 years to review GDRs for LSS. The GCEP standardized gene curation for LSS by refining the phenotypic definition, modifying the ClinGen Gene-Disease Clinical Validity Curation Framework to improve interpretation for LSS, and establishing a scoring rubric for LSS. RESULTS: The GDR with LSS across the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes was classified as definitive for 31/114 gene-disease relationships curated (27%); moderate for 38 (33%); limited for 43 (38%); and 2 as disputed (2%). Ninety genes were associated with autosomal recessive inheritance, 16 were maternally inherited, 5 autosomal dominant, and 3 X-linked. INTERPRETATION: GDRs for LSS were established for genes across both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. Establishing these GDRs will allow accurate variant interpretation, expedite genetic diagnosis of LSS, and facilitate precision medicine, multi-system organ surveillance, recurrence risk counselling, reproductive choice, natural history studies and eligibility for interventional clinical trials. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved