The birds and the bees can have canes and wheels : the sexual identity formation of women with visible physical disabilities

The study descriptively examines the views women with visible physical disabilities have on their sexual identity formation. For the purposes of this study, the term sexual identity is defined as an awareness of one\u27s self as a sexual being. 158 self-identified women with visible physical disabilities answered survey questions about their experiences during their adolescent years. Overall, this study found that women with disabilities face the same difficulties as their abled-bodied peers, but face additional struggles having to do with their disability when forming their sexual identity

Respiration cycle duration and seawater flux through open blowholes of humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and North Atlantic right (Eubalaena glacialis) whales

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Martins, M. C. I., Miller, C., Hamilton, P., Robbins, J., Zitterbart, D. P., & Moore, M. Respiration cycle duration and seawater flux through open blowholes of humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and North Atlantic right (Eubalaena glacialis) whales. Marine Mammal Science, (2020): 1-20, doi:10.1111/mms.12703.Little is known about the dynamics of baleen whale respiratory cycles, especially the mechanics and activity of the blowholes and their interaction with seawater. In this study, the duration of complete respiration cycles (expiration/inhalation events) were quantified for the first time in two species: North Atlantic right whale (NARW) and humpback whale (HW) using high resolution, detailed imagery from an unoccupied aerial system (UAS). The mean duration of complete respiration cycles (expiration/inhalation event) in the NARW and HW were 3.07 s (SD = 0.503, n = 15) and 2.85 s (SD = 0.581, n = 21), respectively. Furthermore, we saw no significant differences in respiration cycle duration between age and sex classes in the NARW, but significant differences were observed between age classes in the HW. The observation of seawater covering an open blowhole was also quantified, with NARW having 20% of all breaths with seawater presence versus 90% in HW. Seawater incursion has not been described previously and challenges the general consensus that water does not enter the respiratory tract in baleen whales. Prevalent seawater has implications for the analysis and interpretation of exhaled respiratory vapor/mucosa samples, as well as for the potential inhalation of oil in spills.Samples were collected under NMFS NOAA Permits 17355, 17355‐01, and 21371, and with approval from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Funding by Ocean Life Institute of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NOAA NA14OAR4320158 and University College London Master of Research in Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation program

A framework for improving early detection of breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa: A qualitative study of help-seeking behaviors among Malawian women

Many women in Africa are diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. We explored Malawian breast cancer patients’ perspectives about their diagnosis and ability to access care to identify help-seeking behaviors and to describe factors influencing delay

Availability, aff ordability, and consumption of fruits and vegetables in 18 countries across income levels: fi ndings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study

Background Several international guidelines recommend the consumption of two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables per day, but their intake is thought to be low worldwide. We aimed to determine the extent to which such low intake is related to availability and aff ordability. Methods We assessed fruit and vegetable consumption using data from country-specifi c, validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, which enrolled participants from communities in 18 countries between Jan 1, 2003, and Dec 31, 2013. We documented household income data from participants in these communities; we also recorded the diversity and non-sale prices of fruits and vegetables from grocery stores and market places between Jan 1, 2009, and Dec 31, 2013. We determined the cost of fruits and vegetables relative to income per household member. Linear random eff ects models, adjusting for the clustering of households within communities, were used to assess mean fruit and vegetable intake by their relative cost. Findings Of 143 305 participants who reported plausible energy intake in the food frequency questionnaire, mean fruit and vegetable intake was 3·76 servings (95% CI 3·66–3·86) per day. Mean daily consumption was 2·14 servings (1·93–2·36) in low-income countries (LICs), 3·17 servings (2·99–3·35) in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), 4·31 servings (4·09–4·53) in upper-middle-income countries (UMICs), and 5·42 servings (5·13–5·71) in highincome countries (HICs). In 130 402 participants who had household income data available, the cost of two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables per day per individual accounted for 51·97% (95% CI 46·06–57·88) of household income in LICs, 18·10% (14·53–21·68) in LMICs, 15·87% (11·51–20·23) in UMICs, and 1·85% (–3·90 to 7·59) in HICs (ptrend=0·0001). In all regions, a higher percentage of income to meet the guidelines was required in rural areas than in urban areas (p<0·0001 for each pairwise comparison). Fruit and vegetable consumption among individuals decreased as the relative cost increased (ptrend=0·00040). Interpretation The consumption of fruit and vegetables is low worldwide, particularly in LICs, and this is associated with low aff ordability. Policies worldwide should enhance the availability and aff ordability of fruits and vegetables

Pacific thermocline bridge revisited

The coupling on decadal time scales of the mid‐latitude and tropical Pacific via an oceanic ‘bridge’ in the thermocline is investigated using ocean general circulation model hindcasts and a coupled ocean atmosphere model. Results indicate that in the tropics decadal anomalies of isopycnal depth are forced by Ekman pumping and are largely independent of the arrival of subducted anomalies in the thermocline that originate in the mid‐latitudes of either hemisphere. In the coupled model, temperature anomalies on isopycnals show little coupling from the tropics to the northern hemisphere, but are lag correlated between southern hemisphere mid‐ and low‐latitudes. However, anomaly magnitudes on the equator are small. These results suggest that the oceanic ‘bridge’ to the northern hemisphere explains only a small part of the observed decadal variance in the equatorial Pacific. Coupling to the southern mid‐latitudes via temperature anomalies on isopycnals remains an intriguing possibility

Domestic horses (Equus caballus) prefer to approach humans displaying a submissive body posture rather than a dominant body posture

Signals of dominance and submissiveness are central to conspecific communication in many species. For domestic animals, sensitivities to these signals in humans may also be beneficial. We presented domestic horses with a free choice between two unfamiliar humans, one adopting a submissive and the other a dominant body posture, with vocal and facial cues absent. Horses had previously been given food rewards by both human demonstrators, adopting neutral postures, to encourage approach behaviour. Across four counterbalanced test trials, horses showed a significant preference for approaching the submissive posture in both the first trial and across subsequent trials, and no individual subject showed an overall preference for dominant postures. There was no significant difference in latency to approach the two postures. This study provides novel evidence that domestic horses may spontaneously discriminate between, and attribute communicative significance to, human body postures of dominance; and further, that familiarity with the signaller is not a requirement for this response. These findings raise interesting questions about the plasticity of social signal perception across the species barrier

Rates of agonism among female primates: a cross-taxon perspective

Agonism is common in group-living animals, shaping dominance relationships and ultimately impacting individual tness. Rates of agonism vary considerably among taxa, however, and explaining this variation has been central in ecological models of female social relationships in primates. Early iterations of these models posited a link to diet, with more frequent agonism predicted in frugivorous species due to the presumed greater contestability of fruits relative to other food types. Although some more recent studies have suggested that dietary categories may be poor predictors of contest competition among primates, to date there have been no broad, cross-taxa comparisons of rates of female–female agonism in relation to diet. This study tests whether dietary variables do indeed pre- dict rates of female agonism and further investigates the role of group size (i.e., number of competitors) and substrate use (i.e., degree of arboreality) on the frequency of agonism. Data from 44 wild, unprovisioned groups, including 3 strepsirhine species, 3 platyrrhines, 5 colobines, 10 cercopithecines, and 2 hominoids were analyzed using phylogenetically controlled and uncontrolled methods. Results indicate that diet does not predict agonistic rates, with trends actually being in the opposite direction than predicted for all taxa except cercopithecines. In contrast, agonistic rates are positively associated with group size and possibly degree of terrestriality. Competitor density and perhaps the risk of ghting, thus, appear more important than general diet in predicting agonism among female primates. We discuss the implications of these results for socio-ecological hypotheses

First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data

Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto- noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of 11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal. Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried out so far