Substance Use as a Longitudinal Predictor of the Perpetration of Teen Dating Violence

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9877-1.The prevention of teen dating violence is a major public health priority. However, the dearth of longitudinal studies makes it difficult to develop programs that effectively target salient risk factors. Using a school-based sample of ethnically diverse adolescents, this longitudinal study examined whether substance use (alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs) and exposure to parental violence predicted the perpetration of physical dating violence over time. 1,042 9th and 10th grade high schools students were recruited and assessed in the spring of 2010, and 93% of the original sample completed the 1-year follow-up in the spring of 2011. Participants who had begun dating at the initial assessment and who self-identified as African American (n = 263; 32%), Caucasian (n = 272; 33%), or Hispanic (n = 293; 35%) were included in the current analyses (n = 828; 55% female). Slightly more than half of the adolescents who perpetrated dating violence at baseline reported past year dating violence at follow-up, relative to only 11% of adolescents who did not report perpetrating dating violence at baseline. Structural equation modeling revealed that the use of alcohol and hard drugs at baseline predicted the future perpetration of physical dating violence, even after accounting for the effects of baseline dating violence and exposure to interparental violence. Despite differences in the prevalence of key variables between males and females, the longitudinal associations did not vary by gender. With respect to race, exposure to mother-to-father violence predicted the perpetration of dating violence among Caucasian adolescents. Findings from the current study indicate that targeting substance use, and potentially youth from violent households, may be viable approaches to preventing the perpetration of teen dating violence

Putative role of arthropod vectors in African swine fever virus transmission in relation to their bio-ecological properties

African swine fever (ASF) is one of the most important diseases in Suidae due to its significant health and socioeconomic consequences and represents a major threat to the European pig industry, especially in the absence of any available treatment or vaccine. In fact, with its high mortality rate and the subsequent trade restrictions imposed on affected countries, ASF can dramatically disrupt the pig industry in afflicted countries. In September 2018, ASF was unexpectedly identified in wild boars from southern Belgium in the province of Luxembourg, not far from the Franco-Belgian border. The French authorities rapidly commissioned an expert opinion on the risk of ASF introduction and dissemination into metropolitan France. In Europe, the main transmission routes of the virus comprise direct contact between infected and susceptible animals and indirect transmission through contaminated material or feed. However, the seasonality of the disease in some pig farms in Baltic countries, including outbreaks in farms with high biosecurity levels, have led to questions on the possible involvement of arthropods in the transmission of the virus. This review explores the current body of knowledge on the most common arthropod families present in metropolitan France. We examine their potential role in spreading ASF—by active biological or mechanical transmission or by passive transport or ingestion—in relation to their bio-ecological properties. It also highlights the existence of significant gaps in our knowledge on vector ecology in domestic and wild boar environments and in vector competence for ASFV transmission. Filling these gaps is essential to further understanding ASF transmission in order to thus implement appropriate management measures

Markets for Nutrition: What Role for Business?

Policymakers are increasingly seeking to use food systems to help reduce rates of chronic undernutrition and to use markets to deliver nutrient?rich foods to vulnerable populations. This article examines how this might be achieved, drawing lessons from three intervention types: ready?to?use therapeutic foods (RUTFs), mandatory fortification and voluntarily fortified products. We find that a common set of constraints tends to inhibit markets from delivering nutrition and makes it difficult to reach populations at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Overcoming these constraints requires a shift from working at the level of individual businesses to that of market and food systems. It also suggests a need for renewed focus on the effectiveness of products in reaching key groups, on the informal markets that serve the poor and on the inherent complexity of market systems. These findings suggest that food and nutrition policies and partnerships should be based on principles of experimentation and adaptive learning

The effects of a kappa-distribution in the heliosheath on the global heliosphere and ENA flux at 1 AU

We investigate heliosheath energetic neutral atom (ENA) fluxes at keV energies, by assuming that the heliosheath proton distribution can be approximated by a kappa-distribution. The choice of the kappa parameter derives from observational data of the solar wind (SW). This has direct applications to the upcoming IBEX mission. We will look at all-sky ENA maps within the IBEX energy range (10 eV to 6 keV), as well as ENA energy spectra in several directions. We find that the use of kappa, as opposed to a Maxwellian, gives rise to greatly increased ENA fluxes above 1 keV, while medium energy fluxes are somewhat reduced. We show how IBEX data can be used to estimate the spectral slope in the heliosheath, and that the use of kappa reduces the differences between ENA maps at different energies. We also investigate the effect introducing a kappa-distribution has on the global interaction between the SW and the local interstellar medium (LISM), and find that there is generally an increase in energy transport from the heliosphere into the LISM, due to the modified profile of ENA's energies. This results in a termination shock that moves out by 4 AU, a heliopause that moves in by 9 AU and a bow shock 25 AU farther out, in the nose direction

Stability subtypes of callous–unemotional traits and conduct disorder symptoms and their correlates

Callous unemotional traits and conduct disorder symptoms tend to co-occur across development, with existing evidence pointing to individual differences in the co-development of these problems. The current study identified groups of at risk adolescents showing stable (i.e., high on both conduct disorder and callous-unemotional symptoms, high only on either callous-unemotional or conduct disorder symptoms) or increasing conduct disorder and callous-unemotional symptoms. Data were collected from a sample of 2038 community adolescents between 15 and 18 years (1070 females, Mage = 16) of age. A longitudinal design was followed in that adolescent reports were collected at two time points, one year apart. Increases in conduct disorder symptoms and callous-unemotional traits were accompanied by increases in anxiety, depressive symptoms, narcissism, proactive and reactive aggression and decreases in self-esteem. Furthermore, adolescents with high and stable conduct disorder symptoms and callous-unemotional traits were consistently at high risk for individual, behavioral and contextual problems. In contrast, youth high on callous-unemotional traits without conduct disorder symptoms remained at low-risk for anxiety, depressive symptoms, narcissism, and aggression, pointing to a potential protective function of pure callous-unemotional traits against the development of psychopathological problems

Gaze sensitivity: function and mechanisms from sensory and cognitive perspectives

Sensitivity to the gaze of other individuals has long been a primary focus in sociocognitive research on humans and other animals. Information about where others are looking may often be of adaptive value in social interactions and predator avoidance, but studies across a range of taxa indicate there are substantial differences in the extent to which animals obtain and use information about other individuals' gaze direction. As the literature expands, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make comparisons across taxa as experiments adopt and adjust different methodologies to account for differences between species in their socioecology, sensory systems and possibly also their underlying cognitive mechanisms. Furthermore, as more species are found to exhibit gaze sensitivity, more terminology arises to describe the behaviours. To clarify the field, we propose a restricted nomenclature that defines gaze sensitivity in terms of observable behaviour, independent of the underlying mechanisms. This is particularly useful in nonhuman animal studies where cognitive interpretations are ambiguous. We then describe how socioecological factors may influence whether species will attend to gaze cues, and suggest links between ultimate factors and proximate mechanisms such as cognition and perception. In particular, we argue that variation in sensory systems, such as retinal specializations and the position of the eyes, will determine whether gaze cues (e.g. head movement) are perceivable during visual fixation. We end by making methodological recommendations on how to apply these variations in socioecology and visual systems to advance the field of gaze research

Magnetic Resonance Thermometry at 7T for Real-Time Monitoring and Correction of Ultrasound Induced Mild Hyperthermia

While Magnetic Resonance Thermometry (MRT) has been extensively utilized for non-invasive temperature measurement, there is limited data on the use of high field (≥7T) scanners for this purpose. MR-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) is a promising non-invasive method for localized hyperthermia and drug delivery. MRT based on the temperature sensitivity of the proton resonance frequency (PRF) has been implemented in both a tissue phantom and in vivo in a mouse Met-1 tumor model, using partial parallel imaging (PPI) to speed acquisition. An MRgFUS system capable of delivering a controlled 3D acoustic dose during real time MRT with proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) feedback control was developed and validated. Real-time MRT was validated in a tofu phantom with fluoroptic temperature measurements, and acoustic heating simulations were in good agreement with MR temperature maps. In an in vivo Met-1 mouse tumor, the real-time PID feedback control is capable of maintaining the desired temperature with high accuracy. We found that real time MR control of hyperthermia is feasible at high field, and k-space based PPI techniques may be implemented for increasing temporal resolution while maintaining temperature accuracy on the order of 1°C

Solar parameters for modeling interplanetary background

The goal of the Fully Online Datacenter of Ultraviolet Emissions (FONDUE) Working Team of the International Space Science Institute in Bern, Switzerland, was to establish a common calibration of various UV and EUV heliospheric observations, both spectroscopic and photometric. Realization of this goal required an up-to-date model of spatial distribution of neutral interstellar hydrogen in the heliosphere, and to that end, a credible model of the radiation pressure and ionization processes was needed. This chapter describes the solar factors shaping the distribution of neutral interstellar H in the heliosphere. Presented are the solar Lyman-alpha flux and the solar Lyman-alpha resonant radiation pressure force acting on neutral H atoms in the heliosphere, solar EUV radiation and the photoionization of heliospheric hydrogen, and their evolution in time and the still hypothetical variation with heliolatitude. Further, solar wind and its evolution with solar activity is presented in the context of the charge exchange ionization of heliospheric hydrogen, and in the context of dynamic pressure variations. Also the electron ionization and its variation with time, heliolatitude, and solar distance is presented. After a review of all of those topics, we present an interim model of solar wind and the other solar factors based on up-to-date in situ and remote sensing observations of solar wind. Results of this effort will further be utilised to improve on the model of solar wind evolution, which will be an invaluable asset in all heliospheric measurements, including, among others, the observations of Energetic Neutral Atoms by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX).Comment: Chapter 2 in the planned "Cross-Calibration of Past and Present Far UV Spectra of Solar System Objects and the Heliosphere", ISSI Scientific Report No 12, ed. R.M. Bonnet, E. Quemerais, M. Snow, Springe

MRI for Noninvasive Thermometry

MRI was recognized for its potential use as a noninvasive in vivo thermometer 30 years ago. Today, the most popular application of MR thermometry is the guidance of thermal therapies for the treatment of cancer and other pathologies. These minimally invasive operations are routinely performed on patients who are not eligible for surgery in approximately 40 medical centers globally. The aim is to deliver or abduct thermal energy in order to cause local tissue necrosis or to sensitize a lesion to chemotherapy or radiotherapy without causing harm to the surrounding healthy tissue. Here we explain the principles of operation of MR thermometry and provide a critical review of the proposed methods, highlighting remaining fundamental and technical issues as well as recent progress. Emphasis is placed on hardware advances (RF receivers) for improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) which would lead to better accuracy, spatiotemporal resolution, and precise calibration. We conclude with a general outlook for the field