Accessing Healthcare in Ontario: Influences on Utilization Among Asian Immigrant Women

Previous research on immigrant integration has tended to focus on economic and social integration. As such, the factors shaping health integration are less understood. At the same time, health researchers suggest that immigrants in Canada may underutilize certain health services. For instance, studies have documented the low participation rates of cervical cancer screening among Asian immigrant women in Canada (Xiong, Murphy, Matthews, Gadag, & Wang, 2010; McDonald & Kennedy, 2007; Woltman & Newbold, 2007). This study sheds light on immigrant integration by exploring the experiences of Asian immigrant women with cervical cancer screening and Canadian healthcare services more broadly. Through in-depth interviews, Asian immigrant women share their experiences in the healthcare system. They report many difficulties including language, relationships with healthcare providers, cultural perspectives toward health, adjustment to a new healthcare system, and access to information. These findings help to shed light on health disparities and inform policies and practices that foster immigrant women’s health

Assessing Needs and Outcomes of Children and Youth Receiving Intensive Services

This study investigated whether children/youth in Ontario triaged to residential services showed a higher intensity of need than those referred to outpatient services, and whether residential treatment gains were sufficient for transition to community services. Participants included 2053 children/youth assessed at 23 diverse mental health agencies across Ontario using the interRAI™ Child and Youth Mental Health (ChYMH) instrument. Various presenting problems were examined utilizing scales including: Disruptive/Aggressive Behavior, Hyperactive/Distraction, Social Disengagement, Anxiety, and Sleep Difficulties. Analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls. Notable differences were found in the initial assessment, with residential boys scoring higher on all scales than outpatient boys, and residential girls scoring higher on the externalizing scales (Disruptive/Aggressive Behavior, Hyperactive/Distraction) than outpatient girls. Treatment gains at residential discharge included improvements in Anxiety, Social Disengagement, Hyperactive/Distraction and Sleep Difficulties for boys and girls to levels at or below the initial scores of outpatient peers. Disruptive/Aggressive Behavior is still a high need following residential services. The results highlight differences in severity of mental health presentation between children/youth receiving residential and outpatient services, and how multiple agencies in Ontario are providing services that successfully reduce the severity of mental health needs

Does Sex-Selective Predation Stabilize or Destabilize Predator-Prey Dynamics?

Background: Little is known about the impact of prey sexual dimorphism on predator-prey dynamics and the impact of sexselective harvesting and trophy hunting on long-term stability of exploited populations. Methodology and Principal Findings: We review the quantitative evidence for sex-selective predation and study its longterm consequences using several simple predator-prey models. These models can be also interpreted in terms of feedback between harvesting effort and population size of the harvested species under open-access exploitation. Among the 81 predator-prey pairs found in the literature, male bias in predation is 2.3 times as common as female bias. We show that long-term effects of sex-selective predation depend on the interplay of predation bias and prey mating system. Predation on the ‘less limiting’ prey sex can yield a stable predator-prey equilibrium, while predation on the other sex usually destabilizes the dynamics and promotes population collapses. For prey mating systems that we consider, males are less limiting except for polyandry and polyandrogyny, and male-biased predation alone on such prey can stabilize otherwise unstable dynamics. On the contrary, our results suggest that female-biased predation on polygynous, polygynandrous or monogamous prey requires other stabilizing mechanisms to persist. Conclusions and Significance: Our modelling results suggest that the observed skew towards male-biased predation might reflect, in addition to sexual selection, the evolutionary history of predator-prey interactions. More focus on these phenomena can yield additional and interesting insights as to which mechanisms maintain the persistence of predator-prey pairs over ecological and evolutionary timescales. Our results can also have implications for long-term sustainability of harvesting and trophy hunting of sexually dimorphic species

Optimal foraging and community structure: implications for a guild of generalist grassland herbivores

A particular linear programming model is constructed to predict the diets of each of 14 species of generalist herbivores at the National Bison Range, Montana. The herbivores have body masses ranging over seven orders of magnitude and belonging to two major taxa: insects and mammals. The linear programming model has three feeding constraints: digestive capacity, feeding time and energy requirements. A foraging strategy that maximizes daily energy intake agrees very well with the observed diets. Body size appears to be an underlying determinant of the foraging parameters leading to diet selection. Species that possess digestive capacity and feeding time constraints which approach each other in magnitude have the most generalized diets. The degree that the linear programming models change their diet predictions with a given percent change in parameter values (sensitivity) may reflect the observed ability of the species to vary their diets. In particular, the species which show the most diet variability are those whose diets tend to be balanced between monocots and dicots. The community-ecological parameters of herbivore body-size ranges and species number can possibly be related to foraging behavior.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47765/1/442_2004_Article_BF00377109.pd

Are solitary and gregarious Mormon crickets (<em>Anabrus simplex</em>, Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) genetically distinct?

Phase polyphenisms are usually thought to reflect plastic responses of species, independent of genetic differences; however, phase differences could correlate with genetic differentiation for various reasons. Mormon crickets appear to occur in two phases that differ in morphology and behaviour. Solitary individuals are cryptic and sedentary whereas gregarious individuals form bands, migrate, and are aposematically coloured. These traits have been thought to be phenotypically plastic and induced by environmental conditions. However, there has been no previous investigation of the extent of genetic differences between solitary and gregarious populations of this widespread North American species. We sequenced two mitochondrial genes, COII and COIII, in samples of Mormon crickets from gregarious populations west of the continental divide and solitary mountain populations primarily east of the divide. Sequencing revealed two genetically distinct clades that broadly correspond with the solitary eastern populations and the mainly gregarious western populations. We used coalescent modelling to test the hypothesis that the species consists of two deep genetic clades, as opposed to a series of equally distinct populations. Results allowed us to reject the null hypothesis that a radiation independent of phase produced these clades, and molecular clock estimates indicate the time of divergence to be approximately 2 million years ago. This work establishes that the solitary populations found in the mountains on the eastern slope are part of a clade that is genetically distinct from the western populations, which are primarily gregarious, and the implications of this apparent correlation between phase and genetic differentiation are discussed.</p

LCAT deficiency in mice is associated with a diminished adrenal glucocorticoid function

<p>containing lipoproteins can provide cholesterol for synthesis of glucocorticoids. Here we assessed adrenal glucocorticoid function in LCAT knockout (KO) mice to determine the specific contribution of HDL-cholesteryl esters to adrenal glucocorticoid output in vivo. LCAT KO mice exhibit an 8-fold higher plasma free cholesterol-to-cholesteryl ester ratio (P <0.001) and complete HDL-cholesteryl ester deficiency. ApoB-containing lipoprotein and associated triglyceride levels are increased in LCAT KO mice as compared with C57BL/6 control mice (44%; P <0.05). Glucocorticoid-producing adrenocortical cells within the zona fasciculata in LCAT KO mice are devoid of neutral lipids. However, adrenal weights and basal corticosterone levels are not significantly changed in LCAT KO mice. In contrast, adrenals of LCAT KO mice show compensatory up-regulation of genes involved in cholesterol synthesis (HMG-CoA reductase; 516%; P <0.001) and acquisition (LDL receptor; 385%; P <0.001) and a marked 40-50% lower glucocorticoid response to adrenocorticotropic hormone exposure, endotoxemia, or fasting (P <0.001 for all).(jlr) In conclusion, our studies show that HDL-cholesteryl ester deficiency in LCAT KO mice is associated with a 40-50% lower adrenal glucocorticoid output. These findings further highlight the important novel role for HDL as cholesterol donor for the synthesis of glucocorticoids by the adrenals.-Hoekstra, M., S. J. A. Korporaal, R. J. van der Sluis, V. Hirsch-Reinshagen, A. E. Bochem, C. L. Wellington, T. J. C. Van Berkel, J. A. Kuivenhoven, and M. Van Eck. LCAT deficiency in mice is associated with a diminished adrenal glucocorticoid function. J. Lipid Res. 2013. 54: 358-364.</p>

Pheromone evolution and sexual behavior in Drosophila are shaped by male sensory exploitation of other males

10.1073/pnas.1313615111Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America11183056-3061PNAS