Aspects of soil acidity and their effect on plant growth

The effects of low pH, AI, organic and phenolic acids on the growth of naturally occurring plant species were determined. The amelioration of Al toxicity by Si and organic acids was also investigated. Plants were grown from seeds in nutrient solutions simulating the ionic composition of soil solutions from five soil types ranging from acidic peat to calcareous soil. Soil solutions were extracted and analysed using centrifugation, with and without an immiscible displacent (1,1, I-trichloroethane), at both low (4000 rpm) and high speed (12000 rpm). Races of Holcus lanatus L. and Betula pendula Roth. from acidic soils (FM and SMM) grew better in low pH solutions (pH< 4.0). In acid-sensitive races Ca absorption was inhibited at low pH. Races of B.pendula from strongly to moderately acidic soils (FM, SMM, KP) were AI-tolerant and effectively excluded Al from shoots. Root elongation and leaf expansion were inhibited by all Al concentrations in races from calcareous soils (KR). Low concentrations of Al stimulated growth in some races of B.pendula (2 and 5 mg Al lˉ¹) and Anthoxanthum odoratum L. (1.3 and 2.7 mg Al lˉ¹). Al (25 and 35 mg lˉ¹) inhibited root and shoot growth in H.lanatus. Si (1500 and 2500 µM Si(OH)₄) addition to nutrient solutions alleviated AI-damage and restored nutrient uptake to values similar to those in plants grown with neither Al or Si. The ameliorative effects of Si were possibly achieved through AI/Si co-deposition in the root cell walls and maintenance of Golgi activity. Si at 1500 µM was beneficial but inhibited growth at 2500 µM. Al and hydroxyaluminosilicates at pH 5.6 were not toxic. Formic and tartaric acid ameliorated Al toxicity by reducing its availability. These organic acids on their own stimulated growth in H.lanatus and Deschampsia flexuosa (L.) Trin. Phenolic acids stimulated growth of H.lanatus in acidic solutions (pH 4.0) but not near-neutral solutions, particularly in races from soils high in phenolics. Addition of plant residue to acidic peats increased the growth of races from calcareous and acidic mineral soils

Assessing Physical Activity Determinants in Urban Settings: Comparison of Perceptions and Environmental Audit Findings

Sedentary lifestyles are a contributor to obesity and urban adolescents are less physically active than rural adolescents. Supportive physical activity environments, understood as the geography, observations, and perceptions of features such as recreational facilities, sidewalks, bike lanes, traffic patterns, etc., have been positively associated with adolescent physical activity behaviors within urban settings. As part of a Socio-Ecological intervention to improve physical activity behavior, the Physical Activity Resource Assessment (PARA), the Active Neighborhood Checklist (ANC), and focus groups were used to assess the physical activity influences within an urban middle school and surrounding community. The assessments suggested that lack of parks, lack of walkability in the streets, perceptions of crime, lack of school programs, parental and peer influences were barriers to physical activity opportunities. The ANC, PARA, and focus groups each added valuable information for program planning to improve adolescent physical activity behavior

Introduction to the Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Law and Emotion

The role of emotion in law has long been shrouded in mystery. The legal system is built on assumptions about human behavior, including assumptions about emotion. Thus, unavoidably, understanding emotion is an essential part of building a fairer, more effective system. Yet the emergence and growth of Law and Emotion as a field of study has been slowed by the belief that merely by acknowledging emotion, scholars and jurists would undermine the rule of law. It has been further hampered by the suspicion that emotions are too ephemeral or subjective to be understood in any systematic way. For too long, the result has been a strange, unproductive stasis: a legal system buffeted by emotional influences it refuses to investigate—or even to name

Ignite-Sparking Youth to Create Healthy Communities: A Protocol for a Community-Centered Effort for the Prevention of Adolescent Obesity

Objective: To observe outcomes of a community-centered approach to identifying behavioral and environmental factors that influence overweight and obesity in 6th-8th grade youth in selected lowincome, racial/ethnic communities. Design: Five-year, tri-state, quasi-experimental design with environmental assessments and a questionnaire measuring nutrition and physical activity knowledge and behavior conducted in all communities at pre and post. Setting: Low-income, minority communities targeting 6th-8th grade youth. Participants: One experimental and one control communities will be selected via each state’s Cooperative Extension network through an application and review process with the random selection of participating communities. Intervention(s): Academic institutions will work with community leaders to establish and help support community committees tasked to plan, implement and evaluate one nutrition and one physical activity intervention. Main Outcome Measure(s): Assess environmental changes associated with increased intake and variety of fruits and vegetables; decreased intake of foods high in solid fats and added sugars; and an increase in physical activity among 6th-8th grade youth. Analysis: Baseline and post environmental data and pre and post questionnaire data will be analyzed using t-tests, chi-square, and ANOVA with a p < 0.05 to establish statistical significance

GPs understanding of how depression affects gay and HIV positive men

In contrast to the broad literature on depression in the general population, little is known about the management of depression affecting gay men and HIV-positive men attending general practice clinics. GPs identified a range of features in their experience of managing depression in gay men and in HIV-positive men. Some were common to the care of other groups with depression, but this paper reports on features unique to this patient group. These include capitalizing on the high frequency of contact with this patient group, taking advantage of the specialist multidisciplinary teams who provide support, building upon the unusual willingness of this patient group to take medication, appreciating the central importance to many gay men of sexual functioning, and recreational drug use, responding to social isolation in this patient group and coping with increasing challenges for the HIV general practice workforce

An Examination of Factors Associated With Self-Efficacy for Food Choice and Healthy Eating among Low-Income Adolescents in Three U.S. States

Citation: Muturi NW, Kidd T, Khan T, Kattelmann K, Zies S, Lindshield E and Adhikari K (2016) An Examination of Factors Associated With Self-Efficacy for Food Choice and Healthy Eating among Low-Income Adolescents in Three U.S. States. Front. Commun. 1:6. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2016.00006Background: Self-efficacy is a crucial component in effective health communication and health promotion interventions and serves as a moderator for behavior change. Although awareness and risk perception are important in the behavior change process, self-efficacy gives people the necessary confidence in their ability to engage in advocated health behaviors. In addressing childhood obesity, self-efficacy plays a crucial role in dietary decisions. Informed by the social cognitive theory, this study examines the personal and environmental factors that determine self-efficacy for healthy food choices and healthy eating among adolescents in low-income communities

Ethnicity and the Writing of Medieval Scottish history

Historians have long tended to define medieval Scottish society in terms of interactions between ethnic groups. This approach was developed over the course of the long nineteenth century, a formative period for the study of medieval Scotland. At that time, many scholars based their analysis upon scientific principles, long since debunked, which held that medieval 'peoples' could only be understood in terms of 'full ethnic packages'. This approach was combined with a positivist historical narrative that defined Germanic Anglo-Saxons and Normans as the harbingers of advances of Civilisation. While the prejudices of that era have largely faded away, the modern discipline still relies all too often on a dualistic ethnic framework. This is particularly evident in a structure of periodisation that draws a clear line between the 'Celtic' eleventh century and the 'Norman' twelfth. Furthermore, dualistic oppositions based on ethnicity continue, particularly in discussions of the law, kingship, lordship and religion