Revenue Ruling 84-132: Sidelined, But Not Forgotten

Virtually all colleges and universities have scholarship programs designed to support their athletic teams. The programs are generally in the form of membership clubs which are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and therefore eligible to receive donations which provide tax deductions to their patrons. The fact that an organization is an eligible receiver, however, does not ensure that all payments to it are deductible. For example, the cost of football tickets is not deductible since the purchaser is receiving value for his payment

Capital Expenditures: A Result in Search of a Rationale

A business may reduce its gross income by its expenses to arrive at taxable income; however, not all money paid out by a business during its tax year is deductible in that year. The distinction between business expenses which are deductible under section 1622 and capital expenditures which are not currently deductible under section 2633 is probably the most difficult one to discern in the entire area of business deductions, principally because so many disparate elements are encompassed within the capital expenditure doctrine

Witnessing Microaggressions on Campus: Effective and Ineffective Ally Behaviors

Microaggressions are common, intentional or unintentional everyday insults towards a minority group (Sue et al., 2007). Despite the everyday occurrences of microaggressions and links with low well-being and academic performance (Keels et al., 2017), there is limited research on effective behaviors to combat microaggressions. This study examined ways students respond to microaggressions based on gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. Building on previous research (Toomey & McGeorge, 2018), we hypothesized that women, ethnic minorities, and sexual minorities will show more effective allyship behaviors than those who do not identify as a minority.We recruited 218 first year college students (74% women, 24% men, 2% trans/non-binary; Mage = 18) to take a three part online study about campus climate. Participants were asked questions about their campus experiences, knowledge about microaggression, and ally behaviors. Questions regarding ally behaviors asked participants their typical reaction to a microaggression, using a scale from 1 (does not describe my typical response) to 5 (describes my typical response extremely well). Questions in this section ranged from ineffective (“laugh”), neutral (“wait to hear/see what the victim does”), to effective (“ask the victim if they are okay”) behaviors. Inconsistent with our hypotheses, we found no effect of gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity on effective or ineffective ally behaviors (B range .06 to .43, p \u3e .05). As for neutral ally behaviors, a statistically significant effect was found for the variable of gender on the use of neutral strategies ( B = 0.39, p \u3c 0.05). Hence, cis-gendered women reported to be more likely to use neutral strategies than cis-gendered men. No significant effect was found for sexuality (B range = -0.0080 to 0.29, p \u3e 0.05). Although our hypotheses were not supported, interesting insights can be drawn from this study. Participants may have felt pressure to answer in socially desirable ways by reporting more allyship behaviors. Furthermore, there were little participants who identified as part of a majority group compared to participants who identified as minorities, which suggests a lack of willingness from more privileged individuals to participate in a study studying micro-aggressions

Capital Expenditures: A Result in Search of a Rationale

A business may reduce its gross income by its expenses to arrive at taxable income; however, not all money paid out by a business during its tax year is deductible in that year. The distinction between business expenses which are deductible under section 1622 and capital expenditures which are not currently deductible under section 2633 is probably the most difficult one to discern in the entire area of business deductions, principally because so many disparate elements are encompassed within the capital expenditure doctrine

Expression and evolutionary divergence of the non-conventional olfactory receptor in four species of fig wasp associated with one species of fig

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The interactions of fig wasps and their host figs provide a model for investigating co-evolution. Fig wasps have specialized morphological characters and lifestyles thought to be adaptations to living in the fig's syconium. Although these aspects of natural history are well documented, the genetic mechanism(s) underlying these changes remain(s) unknown. Fig wasp olfaction is the key to host-specificity. The <it>Or83b</it> gene class, an unusual member of olfactory receptor family, plays a critical role in enabling the function of conventional olfactory receptors. Four <it>Or83b</it> orthologous genes from one pollinator (PFW) (<it>Ceratosolen solmsi</it>) and three non-pollinator fig wasps (NPFWs) (<it>Apocrypta bakeri, Philotrypesis pilosa </it>and <it>Philotrypesis </it>sp.) associated with one species of fig (<it>Ficus hispida</it>) can be used to better understand the molecular mechanism underlying the fig wasp's adaptation to its host. We made a comparison of spatial tissue-specific expression patterns and substitution rates of one orthologous gene in these fig wasps and sought evidence for selection pressures.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A newly identified <it>Or83b </it>orthologous gene was named <it>Or2</it>. Expressions of <it>Or2 </it>were restricted to the heads of all wingless male fig wasps, which usually live in the dark cavity of a fig throughout their life cycle. However, expressions were widely detected in the antennae, legs and abdomens of all female fig wasps that fly from one fig to another for oviposition, and secondarily pollination. Weak expression was also observed in the thorax of PFWs. Compared with NPFWs, the <it>Or2 </it>gene in <it>C. solmsi </it>had an elevated rate of substitutions and lower codon usage. Analyses using Tajima's <it>D</it>, Fu and Li's <it>D* </it>and <it>F* </it>tests indicated a non-neutral pattern of nucleotide variation in all fig wasps. Unlike in NPFWs, this non-neutral pattern was also observed for synonymous sites of <it>Or2 </it>within PFWs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The sex- and species-specific expression patterns of <it>Or2 </it>genes detected beyond the known primary olfactory tissues indicates the location of cryptic olfactory inputs. The specialized ecological niche of these wasps explains the unique habits and adaptive evolution of <it>Or2 </it>genes. The <it>Or2 </it>gene in <it>C. solmsi </it>is evolving very rapidly. Negative deviation from the neutral model of evolution reflects possible selection pressures acting on <it>Or2 </it>sequences of fig wasp, particularly on PFWs who are more host-specific to figs.</p

Persistent Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening: a Tell-Tale Sign For Implementing New Guidelines in Younger adults

BACKGROUND: In May 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force began recommending initiating colorectal cancer screening at age 45 (vs. 50) years. METHODS: We estimated prevalence of colorectal cancer screening (by colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, CT colonography, or stool-based tests) in adults ages 50 to 75 years using data from the National Health Interview Survey in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, and 2018. For each survey year, we estimated prevalence by age, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, family income, and health insurance. We also compared increases in prevalence of screening from 2000 to 2018 in 5-year age groups (50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, and 70-75 years). RESULTS: Overall, prevalence of colorectal cancer screening increased from 36.7% in 2000 to 66.1% in 2018. Screening prevalence in 2018 was lowest for age 50 to 54 years (47.6%), Hispanics (56.5%), Asians (57.1%), and participants with less than a high school degree (53.6%), from low-income families (56.6%), or without insurance (39.7%). Increases in prevalence over time differed by five-year age group. For example, prevalence increased from 28.2% in 2000 to 47.6% in 2018 (+19.4%; 95% CI, 13.1-25.6) for age 50 to 54 years but from 46.4% to 78.0% (+31.6%; 95% CI, 25.4%-37.7%) for age 70 to 75 years. This pattern was consistent across race/ethnicity, educational attainment, family income, and health insurance. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of colorectal cancer screening remains low in adults ages 50 to 54 years. IMPACT: As new guidelines are implemented, care must be taken to ensure screening benefits are realized equally by all population groups, particularly newly eligible adults ages 45 to 49 years. See related commentary by Brawley, p. 1671

What do people think of intuitive eating? a qualitative exploration with rural Australians

Evidence supports that intuitive eating is associated with many indicators of positive physical and mental health, with more recent longitudinal studies establishing causality. Most research, however, comprises either survey data or clinical trials. This study attempts to fill this evidentiary gap by using a qualitative methodology to explore people's understandings and reactions to intuitive eating, including perceived barriers and enablers to implementation. Three focus group discussions were conducted in a non-metropolitan region of Victoria, Australia, with a total of 23 participants. Focus group transcripts were thematically analysed using an inductive descriptive approach within a constructionist perspective. Findings indicate that the concept of intuitive eating was either unknown or misunderstood. Once intuitive eating was explained, most responses to implementing intuitive eating were negative. Participants felt that having complete choice around what they ate was unlikely to equate to a healthy or balanced diet, at least in the short term. They also argued that because everyday life was not intuitive in its structures, it would be difficult to eat intuitively. Despite these difficulties, participants appreciated that if they were able to overcome the various barriers and achieve a state of intuitive eating, they anticipated a range of long-term benefits to health and weight management. For intuitive eating to become a viable public health approach, this research suggests that intuitive eating needs to be much more widely publicised and better explained, and perhaps renamed. More significantly, people would need assistance with how to eat intuitively given the barriers identified

Sudden death: Neurogenic causes, prediction and prevention

Sudden death is a major health problem all over the world. The most common causes of sudden death are cardiac but there are also other causes such as neurological conditions (stroke, epileptic attacks and brain trauma), drugs, catecholamine toxicity, etc. A common feature of all these diverse pathologies underlying sudden death is the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system control of the cardiovascular system. This paper reviews different pathologies underlying sudden death with emphasis on the autonomic nervous system contribution, possibilities of early diagnosis and prognosis of sudden death using various clinical markers including autonomic markers (heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity), present possibilities of management and promising prevention by electrical neuromodulation

Independent selection of eye and hand targets suggests effector-specific attentional mechanisms

Both eye and hand movements bind visual attention to their target locations during movement preparation. However, it remains contentious whether eye and hand targets are selected jointly by a single selection system, or individually by independent systems. To unravel the controversy, we investigated the deployment of visual attention - a proxy of motor target selection - in coordinated eye-hand movements. Results show that attention builds up in parallel both at the eye and the hand target. Importantly, the allocation of attention to one effector's motor target was not affected by the concurrent preparation of the other effector's movement at any time during movement preparation. This demonstrates that eye and hand targets are represented in separate, effector-specific maps of action-relevant locations. The eye-hand synchronisation that is frequently observed on the behavioral level must emerge from mutual influences of the two effector systems at later, post-attentional processing stages