By design : negotiating flexible learning in the built environment discipline

The term ‘flexible education’ is now firmly entrenched within Australian higher education discourse, yet the term is a contested one imbued with a multiplicity of meanings. This paper describes a process designed to elucidate how the idea of flexible education can be translated into teaching models that are informed by the specific demands of disciplinary contexts. The process uses a flexible learning ‘matching’ tool to articulate the understandings and preferences of students and academics of the Built Environment to bridge the gap between student expectations of flexibility and their teacher’s willingness and ability to provide that flexibility within the limits of the pedagogical context and teaching resources. The findings suggest an informed starting point for educators in the Built Environment and other creative disciplines from which to traverse the complexities inherent in negotiating flexibility in an increasingly digital world

Nurse-Midwives’ Knowledge and Promotion of Lactational Amenorrhea and Other Natural Family-Planning Methods for Child Spacing

The purpose of this study was to describe and assess certified nurse-midwives’ (CNMs) knowledge and promotion of two modalities for child spacing, natural family-planning (NFP) and the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM). One thousand two hundred CNMs were randomly selected from a national membership list and mailed a 24-item questionnaire on NFP and LAM. Of the 514 respondents (42.8% return rate), 450 (87.5%) were currently practicing as CNMs. Respondents had an average age of 46 years, with an average of 10 years of practice. CNMs ranked NFP as the ninth most used and the eighth most effective family-planning method in their practice, with an average perceived method-effectiveness of 88% and use-effectiveness of 70%. Although most respondents felt somewhat prepared during their education program to provide NFP, only 22% would offer NFP as a family-planning option for child spacing

Amino acid sequence of the ligand-binding domain of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor 1 predicts sensitivity of wild birds to effects of dioxin-like compounds

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Toxicological Sciences 131 (2013): 139-152, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfs259.The sensitivity of avian species to the toxic effects of dioxin-like compounds (DLCs) varies up to 1000-fold among species and this variability has been associated with inter-species differences in aryl hydrocarbon receptor 1 ligand binding domain (AHR1 LBD) sequence. We previously showed that LD50 values, based on in ovo exposures to DLCs, were significantly correlated with in vitro EC50 values obtained with a luciferase reporter gene (LRG) assay that measures AHR1-mediated induction of cytochrome P4501A in COS-7 cells transfected with avian AHR1 constructs. Those findings suggest that the AHR1 LBD sequence and the LRG assay can be used to predict avian species sensitivity to DLCs. In the present study, the AHR1 LBD sequences of 86 avian species were studied and differences at amino acid sites 256, 257, 297, 324, 337 and 380 were identified. Site-directed mutagenesis, the LRG assay and homology modeling highlighted the importance of each amino acid site in AHR1 sensitivity to 2,3,8,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and other DLCs. The results of the study revealed that: (1) only amino acids at sites 324 and 380 affect the sensitivity of AHR1 expression constructs of 86 avian species to DLCs and (2) in vitro luciferase activity in AHR1 constructs containing only the LBD of the species of interest is significantly correlated (r2 = 0.93, p<0.0001) with in ovo toxicity data for those species. These results indicate promise for the use of AHR1 LBD amino acid sequences independently, or combined with the LRG assay, to predict avian species sensitivity to DLCs.This research was supported by unrestricted grants from the Dow Chemical Company and Georgia-Pacific LLC to the University of Ottawa, Environment Canada’s STAGE program and, in part, by a Discovery Grant from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Project # 326415-07). The authors wish to acknowledge the support of an instrumentation grant from the Canada Foundation for Infrastructure. Professor Giesy was supported by the Canada Research Chair program and an at large Chair Professorship at the Department of Biology and Chemistry and State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, the Einstein Professor Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Visiting Professor Program of King Saud University. M. Hahn and S. Karchner were supported by NOAA Sea Grant (grant number NA06OAR4170021 (R/B-179)), and by the Walter A. and Hope Noyes Smith endowed chair.2013-08-2

Pregnancy and Mental Health of Young Homeless Women

Pregnancy rates among women in the U.S. who are homeless are much higher than rates among women who are housed (Greene & Ringwalt, 1998). Yet little research has addressed mental health, risk and resilience among young mothers who are homeless. This study utilizes a sample of women from the Midwest Longitudinal Study of Homeless Adolescents (MLSHA) to investigate pregnancy and motherhood over three years among unaccompanied homeless young mothers. Our data are supplemented by in-depth interviews with a subset of these women. Results show that almost half of sexually active young women (n = 222, μ age = 17.2) had been pregnant at baseline (46.4%), and among the longitudinal subsample of 171 women (μ age = 17.2), almost 70.0% had been pregnant by the end of the study. Among young mothers who are homeless, only half reported that they helped to care for their children consistently over time, and one-fifth of the women reported never seeing their children. Of the young women with children in their care at the last interview of the study (Wave 13), almost one-third met criteria for lifetime major depressive episode (MDE), lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and lifetime drug abuse, and onehalf met criteria for lifetime antisocial personality disorder (APD). Twelve-month diagnoses are also reported. The impacts of homelessness on maternal and child outcomes are discussed, including the implications for practice, policy, and research

Water Mist Fire Suppression Systems Feasibility Study

The Federal Railroad Administration tasked a team from the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to research the technical background and use of water mist fire suppression systems in handling on-board fires in locomotives and passenger cars. The team researched the feasibility and safety benefits of installing new and retrofitted water mist suppression systems in locomotives and passenger railcars to gain an understanding of the feasibility and applicability of water mist systems to the U.S. rail environment and how they can be best used in a variety of passenger railcars and their associated locomotives

Influence of Dietary Oil Content and Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) on Lipid Metabolism Enzyme Activities and Gene Expression in Tissues of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.)

The overall objective is to test the hypothesis that conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has beneficial effects in Atlantic salmon through affecting lipid and fatty acid metabolism. The specific aims of the present study were to determine the effects of CLA on some key pathways of fatty acid metabolism including fatty acid oxidation and highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) synthesis. Salmon smolts were fed diets containing two levels of fish oil (low, ~18% and high, ~34%) containing three levels of CLA (a 1:1 mixture of 9-cis,trans-11 and trans-10,cis-12 at 0, 1 and 2% of diet) for 3 months. The effects of dietary CLA on HUFA synthesis and β-oxidation were measured and the expression of key genes in the fatty acid oxidation and HUFA synthesis pathways, and potentially important transcription factors, peroxisome proliferators activated receptors (PPARs), determined in selected tissues. Liver HUFA synthesis and desaturase gene expression was increased by dietary CLA and decreased by high dietary oil content. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I (CPT-I) activity and gene expression were generally increased by CLA in muscle tissues although dietary oil content had relatively little effect. In general CPT-I activity or gene expression was not correlated with β-oxidation. Dietary CLA tended to increase PPARα and β gene expression in both liver and muscle tissues, and PPARγ in liver. In summary, gene expression and activity of the fatty acid pathways were altered in response to dietary CLA and/or oil content, with data suggesting that PPARs are also regulated in response to CLA. Correlations were observed between dietary CLA, liver HUFA synthesis and desaturase gene expression, and liver PPARα expression, and also between dietary CLA, CPT-I expression and activity, and PPARα expression in muscle tissues. In conclusion, this study suggests that dietary CLA has effects on fatty acid metabolism in Atlantic salmon and on PPAR transcription factors. However, further work is required to assess the potential of CLA as a dietary supplement, and the role of PPARs in the regulation of lipid metabolism in fish

America's Rural Hospitals: A Selective Review of 1980s Research

We review 1980s research on American rural hospitals within the context of a decade of increasing restrictiveness in the reimbursement and operating environments. Areas addressed include rural hospital definitions, organizational and financial performance, and strategic management activities. The latter category consists of hospital closure, diversification and vertical integration, swing-bed conversion, sole community provider designation, horizontal integration and multihospital system affiliation, marketing, and patient retention. The review suggests several research needs, including: developing more meaningful definitions of rural hospitals, engaging in methodologically sound work on the effects of innovative programs and strategic management activities—including conversion of the facility itself—on rural hospital performance, and completing studies of the effects of rural hospital closure or conversion on the health of the communities served.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74857/1/j.1748-0361.1990.tb00682.x.pd

Associations between healthy eating patterns and indicators of metabolic risk in postmenopausal women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Since human diets contain many components that may work synergistically to prevent or promote disease, assessing diet quality may be informative. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between quality diet, by using Healthy Eating Index (HEI), and metabolic risk indicators in postmenopausal women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross-sectional study included a total of 173 Brazilian women, aged 45-75 years, seeking healthcare at a public outpatient center. Food consumption assessed by 24 h-recall food inquiry was used to calculate HEI scores: >80 implied diet good, 80-51 diet "needed improvement", and <51 diet poor. Anthropometric data included: body mass index (BMI = weight/height²), waist-circumference (WC), body fat (%BF) and lean mass (%LM). Data on total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC), and triglycerides (TG) were also collected. Fisher's Exact test, and logistic regression method (to determine odds ratio, OR) were used in the statistical analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overweight and obesity were observed in 75.7% of the participants. Excessive %BF (> 35%) was observed in 56.1%, while %LM was reduced (< 70%) in 78.1%. WC was elevated (≥88 cm) in 72.3%. Based on HEI values, diet quality was good in 3% (5/173), needed improvement in 48.5% (84/173), and was poor in 48.5% (84/173) of the cases. In this group, 75% of women had high intakes of lipids (> 35%), predominantly saturated and monounsaturated fat. On average, plasma TC, LDLC, and TG levels were higher than recommended in 57.2%, 79.2% and 45.1% of the women, respectively, while HDLC was low in 50.8%. There was association between HEI scores and the %BF that it was higher among women with HEI score < 80 (p = 0.021). There were not observed significant risk associations between HEI and lipid profile.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Among the Brazilian postmenopausal women attending a public outpatient clinic, diet was considered to need improvement or to be of poor quality, attributed to high saturated fat ingestion, which probably caused a negative impact on metabolic risk indicators, namely body composition.</p