Building and Sustaining Small Acreage Programs

Living on the Land (LOL), a Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education curriculum for small acreage landowners, has been successfully used in Southwest Idaho for 8 years. During that time, Extension organizers have built and sustained a small acreage learning community using systems thinking, team teaching, alumni participation, and community partners. These concepts could be applied to other small acreage and natural resource Extension programs to keep the programs relevant, useful, and functioning for an extended period of time

Building and Sustaining Small Acreage Programs

Living on the Land (LOL), a Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education curriculum for small acreage landowners, has been successfully used in Southwest Idaho for 8 years. During that time, Extension organizers have built and sustained a small acreage learning community using systems thinking, team teaching, alumni participation, and community partners. These concepts could be applied to other small acreage and natural resource Extension programs to keep the programs relevant, useful, and functioning for an extended period of time

Management of the Post-Shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Water Circuits

The EMU incorporates two separate water circuits for the rejection of metabolic heat from the astronaut and the cooling of electrical components. The first (the Transport Water Loop) circulates in a semi-closed-loop manner and absorbs heat into a Liquid Coolant and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) warn by the astronaut. The second (the Feed Water Loop) provides water to a cooling device (Sublimator) with a porous plate, and that water subsequently sublimates to space vacuum. The cooling effect from the sublimation of this water translates to a cooling of the LCVG water that circulates through the Sublimator. Efforts are underway to streamline the use of a water processing kit (ALCLR) that is being used to periodically clean and disinfect the Transport Loop Water. Those efforts include a fine tuning of the duty cycle based on a review of prior performance data as well as an assessment of a fixed installation of this kit into the EMU backpack or within on-orbit EMU interface hardware. Furthermore, testing is being conducted to ensure compatibility between the International Space Station (ISS) Water Processor Assembly (WPA) effluent and the EMU Sublimator as a prelude to using the WPA effluent as influent to the EMU Feed Water loop. This work is undertaken to reduce the crew-time and logistics burdens for the EMU, while ensuring the long-term health of the EMU water circuits for a post-Shuttle 6-year service life

Global Reach of an Internet Smoking Cessation Intervention among Spanish- and English-Speaking Smokers from 157 Countries

This investigation is a secondary analysis of demographic, smoking, and depression information in a global sample of Spanish- and English-speaking smokers who participated in a series of randomized controlled smoking cessation trials conducted via the Internet. The final sample consisted of 17,579 smokers from 157 countries. Smoking profiles were similar across languages and world regions and consistent with characteristics of participants in traditional smoking cessation studies. Participants were predominantly Spanish-speakers, evenly divided between men and women and relatively few indicated using traditional smoking cessation methods (e.g., groups or medication). This study demonstrates that substantial numbers of smokers from numerous countries seek Web-based smoking cessation resources and adds to the growing support for Web-assisted tobacco interventions as an additional tool to address the need for global smoking cessation efforts

The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organization

Background: The shift from solitary to social behavior is one of the major evolutionary transitions. Primitively eusocial bumblebees are uniquely placed to illuminate the evolution of highly eusocial insect societies. Bumblebees are also invaluable natural and agricultural pollinators, and there is widespread concern over recent population declines in some species. High-quality genomic data will inform key aspects of bumblebee biology, including susceptibility to implicated population viability threats. Results: We report the high quality draft genome sequences of Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens, two ecologically dominant bumblebees and widely utilized study species. Comparing these new genomes to those of the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera and other Hymenoptera, we identify deeply conserved similarities, as well as novelties key to the biology of these organisms. Some honeybee genome features thought to underpin advanced eusociality are also present in bumblebees, indicating an earlier evolution in the bee lineage. Xenobiotic detoxification and immune genes are similarly depauperate in bumblebees and honeybees, and multiple categories of genes linked to social organization, including development and behavior, show high conservation. Key differences identified include a bias in bumblebee chemoreception towards gustation from olfaction, and striking differences in microRNAs, potentially responsible for gene regulation underlying social and other traits. Conclusions: These two bumblebee genomes provide a foundation for post-genomic research on these key pollinators and insect societies. Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation

Transmission of X-linked Ovarian Cancer: Characterization and Implications

We recently reported evidence that a strong, BRCA-independent locus on the X-chromosome may contribute to ovarian cancer predisposition in families ascertained from the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry (Buffalo, NY, USA). While it has been estimated that approximately 20% of all ovarian cancer cases are hereditary, it is possible that a significant proportion of cases previously believed to be sporadic may, in fact, be X-linked. Such X-linked disease has a distinct pattern; it implies that a father will necessarily pass a risk allele to each of his daughters, increasing the prevalence of cancers clustered within a family. X-chromosome inactivation further influences the expression of X-linked alleles and may represent a novel target for screening and therapy. Herein, we review the current literature regarding X-linked ovarian cancer and interpret allele transmission-based models to characterize X-linked ovarian cancer and develop a framework for clinical and epidemiological familial ascertainment to inform the design of future studies

A Comparative Study of the Ionic Cocrystals NaX(α-d-Glucose)2_2 (X = Cl, Br, I)

The mechanochemical formation of the ionic cocrystals of glucose (Glc) and sodium salts Glc2NaCl·H2O (1) and Glc2NaX (X = Br (2), I (3)) is presented. Products are formed by co-milling Glc with three sodium salts (NaCl, NaBr, NaI). The ionic cocrystals were obtained under both neat grinding and liquid-assisted grinding conditions, the later found to accelerate the reaction kinetics. The crystal structures of the ionic cocrystals (2) and (3) were solved from powder X-ray diffraction data. The structure solution contrasts with the structure of Glc2NaCl·H2O (1) where the electron density at three halide crystallographic sites is modeled as of being the intermediate between water molecule and a chloride ion. The reaction pathways of the three ionic cocrystals were investigated in real time using our tandem approach comprising a combination of in situ synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The results indicate the rapid formation of each cocrystal directly from their respective starting materials without any intermediate moiety formation. The products were further characterized by DTA-TG and elemental analysis