A History in Limbo: A Human Rights Perspective on Conflict-Ridden Nepal

Nepal is at a historical junction, the recent victory of the second People’s Movement garnering a plethora of democratic reforms. Since the end of April, King Gyanendra has reinstated the House of Representatives, which then declared its supremacy and dramatically curtailed the king’s powers. Nepal has been declared a secular state; the Royal Nepal Army has been transformed the Nepali Army; a ceasefire has been created between the army and the Maoists - who are also participating in peace talks; and the seven-party alliance and the Maoists held a summit at which they agreed to frame an interim statute, form an interim government and declare a date for elections to a constituent assembly. The situation in Nepal is improving, but this paper (which serves as a survey of the widespread human rights violations in Nepal) chooses to largely focus on the pre-April situation: before the People’s Movement succeeded, before there was so much room for optimism. So for the next thirty pages there is no ceasefire, the RNA is still the RNA, and the soldiers are still Gyanendra’s. While learning from this recent history, one should hope for the day when discussions of such violence are history themselves

The Indian Said No! But I Got the Blanket

Buying Chameo blankets from the Navajo Indians is like pulling teeth from a horse, unless you know how to go about it

Genetic Differences in Chicken Splenic Immune Gene Expression in Response to Dietary Immune Modulation

Chickens from broiler, Leghorn, and Fayoumi lines were fed diets with ingredients to affect immune function: β-glucans, ascorbic acid, or corticosterone. Spleens were tested for expression of genes involved in immune response: interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6, IL-18, and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (MIP-1β). Birds from the broiler line did not show any change in splenic gene expression associated with the dietary immunomodulators, perhaps due to the stringent selection of these birds for growth. The corticosterone diet was associated with increased expression of IL-4, indicative of an immune response relying primarily on humoral defenses. The Leghorn and Fayoumi lines showed opposing changes in expression of IL-4, IL-6, and IL-18 in response to the ascorbic acid and β-glucans enhanced diets, suggesting that processing of these immunomodulators and/or immune signaling in these lines are different. Our findings emphasize the need to further evaluate the effects of dietary immunomodulators before applying them in commercial settings

Yoga for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Pilot Study

Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) include diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Down syndrome (DS), and fragile X syndrome (FXS). Generally, individuals with IDD have an increased risk of experiencing poor functional fitness compared to adults without IDD, which can lead to an increased rate of health deterioration and reduced ability to complete activities of daily living. Functional fitness might be positively impacted by yoga, which is an ancient mind-body practice that that synchronously uses controlled breath practices, mindfulness, and physical postures. Yoga has generally been demonstrated to be effective for improving functional fitness for adults, both with and without disability. Little research, however, has been done regarding yoga for individuals with IDD. This single-arm pilot study measured pre and post test functional fitness after a yoga intervention delivered for 60-minutes twice a week for six weeks in a special population recreation center for people with IDD. Eligible individuals completed a battery of functional fitness physical performance measures. A team of yoga teachers and a yoga therapist developed a standardized intervention protocol to promote improving muscular strength and balance. Each yoga session included a standardized progression of postures, breath work, and guided meditation, and affirmations called “mantras” (e.g. I am strong, I am loved). Multiple modifications were offered for engaging in postures including participating from a chair. Each session ended with a four-minute relaxation pose. Pre- and posttest scores were compared using a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and were further examined with a percent change calculation (Time 1-Time 2/Time 1 * 100). Nine participants assented and completed pre and post-testing. There was a significant improvement in three of the six functional fitness measures. This intervention study indicates positive outcomes to promote functional fitness among individuals with IDD. The preliminary significant results indicate that a yoga intervention may have the potential to enhance functional fitness in people with IDD

Environmental associations of cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) seasonal presence along the U.S. Atlantic Coast

Identifying the mechanistic drivers of migration can be crucial in shaping conservation and management policies. The cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) is a relatively poorly understood elasmobranch species that occurs along the U.S. Atlantic coast and undergoes large-scale seasonal migrations. To better understand the drivers and timing of cownose ray seasonal migration in order to inform potential management measures, we analyzed telemetry detections of 51 mature cownose rays (38 female, 13 male) tagged with acoustic transmitters in the Maryland and Virginia portions of Chesapeake Bay. Detections within their summer habitat in Chesapeake Bay and winter habitat in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral, Florida, were matched with publicly available sea surface temperature (SST) data recorded by data buoys near the areas of tag detections and with local photoperiod and day of year. These variables were used in boosted regression tree models of ray presence (all rays combined, females only, and males only) in each seasonal habitat. Models were developed for presence during the entire summer and winter season, and for the time periods of arrival and departure from both summer and winter habitats. Seasonal presence in both summer and winter habitats was associated with distinct temperature, photoperiod, and date ranges, with temperature as the most influential variable in seasonal models. In models of arrival and departure periods, southward migration (departure from Chesapeake Bay and arrival off Cape Canaveral) was strongly associated with SST for all rays and arrival in the Chesapeake Bay region after northward migration was most strongly associated with day of year. The most influential variable during the period of northward departure from Cape Canaveral differed between males (day of year) and females (SST). This suggests that mature female northward migration may be driven by temperature while male northward migration may be driven by endogenous cues. These findings provide detailed information on the timing of cownose ray arrival at, presence in, and departure from seasonal habitats and provide potential justification for including the species in cross-taxa comparative studies on migratory behavior

Non-Malignant Etiologies for Cystectomy: Trends from 2013-2020

Introduction: Simple cystectomy (SC) may be performed for a variety of non-malignant bladder conditions. However, SC can involve many complications. We seek to characterize the indications for SC including neurogenic bladder, interstitial cystitis, radiation cystitis, and fistulae. We aim to provide an updated analysis of the temporal and demographic trends from 2013-2020. Methods The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database was reviewed for patients undergoing SC. The non-malignant etiologies for SC were separated into 9 subgroups: anatomical, autoimmune, benign neoplasm, bladder outlet obstruction/ lower urinary tract symptoms / reflux, fistula, infectious, neurogenic, vascular, and other. ANOVA analysis was performed to assess for significant changes in indication frequency. A two-sided Z-test comparing frequencies of SC in 2013 vs 2020 for each subgroup. Statistical significance was accepted at alpha of 0.05. Results A total of 1,516 patients met inclusion criteria. Neurogenic bladder, fistula, and vascular were the most common indications with 376 (25%), 259 (17%), and 227 (15%) of patients, respectively (Table 1). The average length of stay (LOS) for neurogenic etiologies was 11.05 days. The trends of neurogenic (p\u3c0.01), other (p=0.003), autoimmune (p=0.011), and fistula (p=0.025) etiologies had a statistically significant decrease from 2013 to 2020 (Table 1). Discussion From 2013-2020, the most common indication for SC was neurogenic bladder though there has been a statistically significant decrease in SC from 2013 to 2020. We observed that while cystectomy continues to have long LOS and with high rates of complication, there has been a decrease in frequency with which SC is performed as more conservative management is pursued. While performing cystectomy for non-malignant conditions remains relatively rare, it is important to retrospectively look at the diagnoses that warrant this procedure. This information is of interest to urologists as they consider surgical versus non-surgical management of these benign diseases. The trends identified in this study will help define the prevalence of SC in treating non-malignant disease and the need for future research in this area

The Iowa Homemaker vol.15, no.7

Iowa State is Wearing, page 2 Dinner at Eight, page 3 Short Cuts to Clothes Care, page 4 But I got the Blanket, page 4 “Something Warm, Please!”, page 5 Does Your Hair Look Like You?, page 6 When Seniors Have Day-dreams, page 7 Food Fashions, page 8 Jobs Filled by Recent Grads, page 10 Have a New Year’s Resolution, page 11 Four Tons of Popcorn, page 12 In Rhodesia It’s Monkey-nuts, page 13 Action in the Three “R’s”, page 15 No More Noise, page 1

Characterization of porcine endogenous retrovirus expression in neonatal and adult pig pancreatic islets

BACKGROUND: Pig islets represent an alternative to the current modes of treatment for patients with diabetes. However, the concerns over pathogen transmission including that of PERV limit their immediate, widespread usage in humans. It has been previously demonstrated that PERV copy number and particularly expression levels can vary considerably between individuals and within different tissues of a single animal. In general, expression levels have been found to be particularly low in the pancreas compared to other porcine tissues suggesting a reduced risk associated with the use of this tissue. Data regarding this crucial aspect, however, remain limited and little is known about PERV status of islets themselves, which represent the final product to be transplanted. In addition, comparative analysis of the PERV status of neonatal piglets with adults is important as they are increasingly considered as potential islet donors for xenotransplantation. METHODS: Tissue samples from 51 neonatal piglets (age between 14 and 21 days) and 29 adult pigs were collected from Belgian landrace pigs used for pancreas procurement and islet isolation. Tissue biopsies were used to extract DNA for PERV copy number quantification by qPCR and RNA for PERV expression by qRT-PCR. RESULTS: As expected, PERV expression demonstrated great variation and was significantly lower in pancreas compared to other tissues. More importantly, PERV RNA expression was found to be specifically enriched in pancreatic islets reaching values similar to those found in other tissues such as liver and kidney. Interestingly, this expression was not coupled with the detection of reverse transcriptase in islet cultures or indeed detection of PERV virus. Lung, spleen, and lymph node consistently showed the highest levels of PERV expression. Comparison of PERV in neonatal and adult pigs showed that copy number did not vary significantly from birth to adulthood. PERV expression on the other hand was significantly lower in neonatal pig islets compared to adult islets and did not increase over the period of culture. CONCLUSION: Our study confirms the low level of PERV expression in whole pancreas in a large population of both neonatal and adult pigs (n=80). The level of PERV expression was however higher in the endocrine tissue than in the exocrine cells. There was no correlation between PERV status in donor PBMCs and islet cells, and no evidence of active replication in in vitro regardless of PERV expression in islet cells. Moreover, neonatal pig islets were found to have significantly lower PERV expression compared to adult islets. Neonatal islets have been suggested as the best choice for xenotransplantation in terms of economic and procurement considerations; the PERV status reported here would also potentially support their use

Three-year survey of abundance, prevalence and genetic diversity of chlorovirus populations in a small urban lake

Inland water environments cover about 2.5 percent of our planet and harbor huge numbers of known and still unknown microorganisms. In this report, we examined water samples for the abundance, prevalence, and genetic diversity of a group of infectious viruses (chloroviruses) that infect symbiotic chlorella-like green algae. Samples were collected on a weekly basis for a period of 24 to 36 months from a recreational freshwater lake in Lincoln, Nebraska, and assayed for infectious viruses by plaque assay. The numbers of infectious virus particles were both host- and site-dependent. The consistent fluctuations in numbers of viruses suggest their impact as key factors in shaping microbial community structures in the water surface. Even in low-viral-abundance months, infectious chlorovirus populations were maintained, suggesting either that the viruses are very stable or that there is ongoing viral production in natural hosts. Includes supplementary figure