A Community Engaged Approach for Defining Child and Youth Thriving in Pittsburgh Communities

Optimizing child and adolescent development in diverse communities is a primary goal of health care providers and public health professionals. Developing strength-based interventions requires pediatric measures of thriving that span developmental stages and settings and resonate with families and communities. Despite recognition of the importance of positive assets and well-being on child health, we lack a clear definition of child/youth thriving that accounts for diverse community perspectives and environments

Long-term follow-up and treatment of congenital alveolar proteinosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clinical presentation, diagnosis, management and outcome of molecularly defined congenital pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) due to mutations in the GM-CSF receptor are not well known.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 2 1/2 years old girl was diagnosed as having alveolar proteinosis. Whole lung lavages were performed with a new catheter balloon technique, feasible in small sized airways. Because of some interstitial inflammation in the lung biopsy and to further improve the condition, empirical therapy with systemic steroids and azathioprin, and inhaled and subcutaneous GMCSF, were used. Based on clinical measures, total protein and lipid recovered by whole lung lavages, all these treatments were without benefit. Conversely, severe respiratory viral infections and an invasive aspergillosis with aspergilloma formation occurred. Recently the novel homozygous stop mutation p.Ser25X of the GMCSF receptor alpha chain was identified in the patient. This mutation leads to a lack of functional GMCSF receptor and a reduced response to GMCSF stimulation of CD11b expression of mononuclear cells of the patient. Subsequently a very intense treatment with monthly lavages was initiated, resulting for the first time in complete resolution of partial respiratory insufficiency and a significant improvement of the overall somato-psychosocial condition of the child.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The long term management from early childhood into young adolescence of severe alveolar proteinosis due to GMCSF receptor deficiency requires a dedicated specialized team to perform technically demanding whole lung lavages and cope with complications.</p

Improved precision on the experimental E0 decay branching ratio of the Hoyle state

Stellar carbon synthesis occurs exclusively via the $3\alpha$ process, in which three $\alpha$ particles fuse to form $^{12}$C in the excited Hoyle state, followed by electromagnetic decay to the ground state. The Hoyle state is above the $\alpha$ threshold, and the rate of stellar carbon production depends on the radiative width of this state. The radiative width cannot be measured directly, and must instead be deduced by combining three separately measured quantities. One of these quantities is the $E0$ decay branching ratio of the Hoyle state, and the current $10$\% uncertainty on the radiative width stems mainly from the uncertainty on this ratio. The $E0$ branching ratio was deduced from a series of pair conversion measurements of the $E0$ and $E2$ transitions depopulating the $0^+_2$ Hoyle state and $2^+_1$ state in $^{12}$C, respectively. The excited states were populated by the $^{12}$C$(p,p^\prime)$ reaction at 10.5 MeV beam energy, and the pairs were detected with the electron-positron pair spectrometer, Super-e, at the Australian National University. The deduced branching ratio required knowledge of the proton population of the two states, as well as the alignment of the $2^+_1$ state in the reaction. For this purpose, proton scattering and $\gamma$-ray angular distribution experiments were also performed. An $E0$ branching ratio of $\Gamma^{E0}_{\pi}/\Gamma=8.2(5)\times10^{-6}$ was deduced in the current work, and an adopted value of $\Gamma^{E0}_{\pi}/\Gamma=7.6(4)\times10^{-6}$ is recommended based on a weighted average of previous literature values and the new result. The new recommended value for the $E0$ branching ratio is about 14% larger than the previous adopted value of $\Gamma^{E0}_{\pi}/\Gamma=6.7(6)\times10^{-6}$, while the uncertainty has been reduced from 9% to 5%.Comment: Accepted for publication as a Regular Article in Phys. Rev. C on July 29 202

The transformation of Saperda calcarata (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) into a cellulose digester through the inclusion of fungal enzymes in its diet

The larvae of the aspen borer, Saperda calcarata , which feed on the inner bark and sapwood of living aspen stems, are unable to digest cellulose. However, they can be transformed into cellulose digesters by adding the active cellulase complex of the fungus, Penicillium funiculosum to their diet. S. calcarata larvae are preadapted to exploit the digestive potential of ingested microbial enzymes. We argue that ingested fungal enzymes may be responsible for cellulose digestion in many, perhaps most or even all, cellulose digesting cerambycid beetles.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47768/1/442_2004_Article_BF00377333.pd

Sensing free sulfur dioxide in wine

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is important in the winemaking process as it aids in preventing microbial growth and the oxidation of wine. These processes and others consume the SO2 over time, resulting in wines with little SO2 protection. Furthermore, SO2 and sulfiting agents are known to be allergens to many individuals and for that reason their levels need to be monitored and regulated in final wine products. Many of the current techniques for monitoring SO2 in wine require the SO2 to be separated from the wine prior to analysis. This investigation demonstrates a technique capable of measuring free sulfite concentrations in low volume liquid samples in white wine. This approach adapts a known colorimetric reaction to a suspended core optical fiber sensing platform, and exploits the interaction between guided light located within the fiber voids and a mixture of the wine sample and a colorimetric analyte. We have shown that this technique enables measurements to be made without dilution of the wine samples, thus paving the way towards real time in situ wine monitoring.Tanya M. Monro, Rachel L. Moore, Mai-Chi Nguyen, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem, George K. Skouroumounis, Gordon M. Elsey and Dennis K. Taylo

The valuing of creativity in the workplace roles of engineering research graduates

This paper reports on a study that explored the beliefs of twenty-two industry-based employers of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering Higher Degree Research (EHDR) graduates about the value of these graduates to the engineering workplace. Once the commonly known generic employability attributes were set aside, the findings revealed that creativity was an essential factor in employers’ decisions to accommodate these graduates. The employers’ comments suggested that they valued knowledge and creative problem-solving skills gained in HDR candidature but feared that EHDR graduates would display attributes popularly associated with creative genius, and this concern reduced their willingness to accommodate these graduates. This highlights the value of creative skills and attributes, the hallmarks of HDR activity, to the overall employability of EHDR graduates in innovative enterprises, but reveals a barrier to industry engagement that is based on myth.Karen Adams, Margie Ripper, Anthony Zander and Gerry Mullin

Sperm donors' accounts of lesbian recipients: heterosexualisation as a tool for warranting claims to children's 'best interests'

Whilst there exists a considerable body of research documenting heterosexual couples’ use of donor sperm, relatively little is known about the experiences of lesbian recipients of donor sperm and the men who donate to them. Moreover, in all aspects of donor conception there is an ongoing debate over what constitutes children’s ‘best interests’, with this being most problematic in the unregulated private sector (of which lesbian use of donor sperm from gay men constitutes the largest portion). This article presents narratives of a sample of 16 gay men and one heterosexual man who had donated or who were in the process of donating sperm to lesbian recipients. Specifically, the article focuses on the ways in which the majority of the men elaborated a narrative in which their relationship to the birth mother was ‘heterosexualised’, a narrative that functioned to attribute to them a considerable role in determining the ‘best interests’ of donor-conceived children. The article concludes by providing suggestions for legislation and policy stemming from the findings, and recommends that greater attention be paid to the voices of donor-conceived children.Brett Scholz & Damien W. Rigg