Low breastfeeding rates in African American women in southwest Atlanta

Title: Low breastfeeding rates in African American women: An exploration of intent to breastfeed among African American mothers. Background/objective: Breastfeeding is a public health requirement based on the documented short-term and long-term medical benefits for babies. Breastfeeding has medical, psychological, and financial benefits for mothers. Despite documented benefits and only a few contraindications to breastfeeding, disparity persists in the African American population. African Americans (AA) are considered an at-risk group for many of the acute and chronic conditions that are believed to be preventable or decrease by breastfeeding. Objective: To assess breastfeeding intent in African America women enrolled in group prenatal care/centering and traditional prenatal care. PICO: In AA women between the ages of 18 and 45 years receiving prenatal care in the city of Atlanta, how does group prenatal care compare to traditional one-to-one prenatal care, on rates of breastfeeding, post breastfeeding intervention? Methods: Study participants in centering and the routine care groups were given a self-developed pre-survey followed by breastfeeding education/intervention class. The centering group received breastfeeding intervention in a group setting. The routine care group received breastfeeding intervention one to one. Both groups were given a post-survey after the breastfeeding intervention. The post-survey is limited to the same questions from the pre-survey. Results: A total of 26 participants completed the breastfeeding intervention and post-survey. Eleven participants were from the centering group, and 15 participants form the routine care group. Participants in both groups showed increased learning; however, the participants in the centering group showed higher learning. An independent sample t-test was conducted to compare the mean scores for patients in centering and routine care. There was no significance difference in the mean scores for centering (M = 95.45, SD = 8.02) and routine care (M = 90, SD = 10; t(24) = -.332, p = .743, two-tailed). Discussion: Based on the findings group prenatal is a promising tool to increase breastfeeding the AA women. Next step is implementing strategies to improve social support for breastfeeding for mothers not enrolled in centering or group prenatal care

Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies

Manufacturers are increasingly being required to adhere to product take-back regulations that require them to manage their products at the end of life. Such regulations seek to internalize products' entire life cycle costs into market prices, with the ultimate objective of reducing their environmental burden. This article provides a framework to evaluate the potential for take-back regulations to actually lead to reduced environmental impacts and to stimulate product design changes. It describes trade-offs associated with several major policy decisions, including whether to hold firms physically or financially responsible for the recovery of their products, when to impose recycling fees, whether to include disposal and hazardous substance bans, and whether to mandate product design features to foster reuse and recycling of components and materials. The framework also addresses policy elements that can significantly affect the cost efficiency and occupational safety hazards of end-of-life product recovery operations. The evaluation framework is illustrated with examples drawn from take-back regulations promulgated in Europe, Japan, and the United States governing waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

Oral history interview transcript with Antoinette Dustin

Oral history interview transcript with Antoinette Dustin. Her topic concerns the development of Eastern Washington University. Interviewer: Lee Swedber

SNP discovery and characterisation in White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum) with application to parentage assignment

Abstract The white rhino is one of the great success stories of modern wildlife conservation, growing from as few as 50-100 animals in the 1880s, to approximately 20,000 white rhinoceros remaining today. However, illegal trade in conservational rhinoceros horns is adding constant pressure on remaining populations. Captive management of ex situ populations of endangered species using molecular methods can contribute to improving the management of the species. Here we compare for the first time the utility of 33 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and nine microsatellites (MS) in isolation and in combination for assigning parentage in captive White Rhinoceros. We found that a combined dataset of SNPs and microsatellites was most informative with the highest confidence level. This study thus provided us with a useful set of SNP and MS markers for parentage and relatedness testing. Further assessment of the utility of these markers over multiple (> three) generations and the incorporation of a larger variety of relationships among individuals (e.g. half-siblings or cousins) is strongly suggested

A role for dual viral hits in causation of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disease associated with persistent infection of the central nervous system (CNS) by measles virus (MV), biased hypermutations of the viral genome affecting primarily the matrix (M) gene with the conversion of U to C and A to G bases, high titers of antibodies to MV, and infiltration of B cells and T cells into the CNS. Neither the precipitating event nor biology underlying the MV infection is understood, nor is their any satisfactory treatment. We report the creation of a transgenic mouse model that mimics the cardinal features of SSPE. This was achieved by initially infecting mice expressing the MV receptor with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus Cl 13, a virus that transiently suppressed their immune system. Infection by MV 10 days later resulted in persistent MV infection of neurons. Analysis of brains from infected mice showed the biased U to C hypermutations in the MV M gene and T and B lymphocyte infiltration. These sera contained high titers of antibodies to MV. Thus, a small animal model is now available to both molecularly probe the pathogenesis of SSPE and to test a variety of therapies to treat the disease

Complete mitochondrial genomes of the African clawless (Aonyx capensis) and spotted necked (Hydrictis maculicollis) otter: structure, annotation, and interspecies variation

Otters are flagship species for pristine habitats and their southernmost distribution in Africa includes two species; Aonyx capensis and Hydrictis maculicollis. Here, we present novel full mitochondrial genomes of these otter species. The comparable mitogenomes consist of 36 genes including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, and 22 tRNAs including a hypervariable region. Only 19 out of the 36 genes showed some level of variation between species with the smallest being trnV (68 bp difference) and the biggest being nad5 (1830 bp difference). Such variations may provide guidance in selecting gene regions during marker development for phylogenetic assessments