Theory in highly cited studies of sexual minority parent families: variations and implications

This paper includes a systematic review and citation analysis of the literature regarding sexual minority parent families, particularly attending to what theories have been used, and how. We consider the importance of theoretical frameworks for future research and implications for policy, practice, and law related to sexual minority parent families. Our review targets 30 highly cited studies located through Google Scholar (as an interdisciplinary search engine) and published within a specific time frame (2005-2010). We highlight the dominant theoretical models employed across disciplines studying sexual minority parent families. While the majority of studies reviewed referred to theoretical models or perspectives, explicit theoretical grounding was frequently lacking. Instead, the empirical work reviewed appeared to have a predominantly applied focus in addressing public debates on sexual minority parent families. We provide recommendations for how theory might be more fully integrated into the social science literature on sexual minority parents and their children

Rectal Transmission of Transmitted/Founder HIV-1 Is Efficiently Prevented by Topical 1% Tenofovir in BLT Humanized Mice

Rectal microbicides are being developed to prevent new HIV infections in both men and women. We focused our in vivo preclinical efficacy study on rectally-applied tenofovir. BLT humanized mice (n = 43) were rectally inoculated with either the primary isolate HIV-1(JRCSF) or the MSM-derived transmitted/founder (T/F) virus HIV-1(THRO) within 30 minutes following treatment with topical 1% tenofovir or vehicle. Under our experimental conditions, in the absence of drug treatment we observed 50% and 60% rectal transmission by HIV-1(JRCSF) and HIV-1(THRO), respectively. Topical tenofovir reduced rectal transmission to 8% (1/12; log rank p = 0.03) for HIV-1(JRCSF) and 0% (0/6; log rank p = 0.02) for HIV-1(THRO). This is the first demonstration that any human T/F HIV-1 rectally infects humanized mice and that transmission of the T/F virus can be efficiently blocked by rectally applied 1% tenofovir. These results obtained in BLT mice, along with recent ex vivo, Phase 1 trial and non-human primate reports, provide a critically important step forward in the development of tenofovir-based rectal microbicides

Institutional Transplant as Political Opportunity: The Practice and Politics of Indian Electricity Regulation

India has a decade-long experience with independent regulatory agencies in public services as an institutional transplant from the industrialized world. Introduced at the behest of international donor agencies, regulators in India are intended, somewhat naively, to provide an apolitical space for decision making to assuage investor concerns over arbitrary administrative actions, and thereby stimulate private investment. In practice, regulators have had to negotiate a terrain over which the state has continued to exercise considerable control. Regulators have also been been shaped in their functioning by national and sub-national political traditions and by administrative and political practices. The result is a hybrid institutional form that combines politics as usual with intriguing new, and unanticipated, opportunities for political intervention. This paper will explore the origins of electricity regulation as a form of institutional isomorphism. It will then compare the regulatory experience in India\u27s electricity sector across two Indian states to understand the implications of transplanting regulatory agencies in the global south. An examination of the process through which regulatory decisions are reached illustrates how existing bureaucratic and technocratic networks, transplanted procedures, and administrative cultures combine to conservatively manage long-standing political tensions around electricity. In seeking to manage those tensions, regulators often take decisions - on tariff setting, for example - based on a political reading that belies the technocratic narrative on which institutional credibility rests. At the same time, civil society groups ranging from residential associations to professional associations to individuals are using newly created regulatory spaces to structure a more deliberative decision process

Decadal changes in fire frequencies shift tree communities and functional traits

Global change has resulted in chronic shifts in fire regimes. Variability in the sensitivity of tree communities to multi-decadal changes in fire regimes is critical to anticipating shifts in ecosystem structure and function, yet remains poorly understood. Here, we address the overall effects of fire on tree communities and the factors controlling their sensitivity in 29 sites that experienced multi-decadal alterations in fire frequencies in savanna and forest ecosystems across tropical and temperate regions. Fire had a strong overall effect on tree communities, with an average fire frequency (one fire every three years) reducing stem density by 48% and basal area by 53% after 50 years, relative to unburned plots. The largest changes occurred in savanna ecosystems and in sites with strong wet seasons or strong dry seasons, pointing to fire characteristics and species composition as important. Analyses of functional traits highlighted the impact of fire-driven changes in soil nutrients because frequent burning favoured trees with low biomass nitrogen and phosphorus content, and with more efficient nitrogen acquisition through ectomycorrhizal symbioses. Taken together, the response of trees to altered fire frequencies depends both on climatic and vegetation determinants of fire behaviour and tree growth, and the coupling between fire-driven nutrient losses and plant traits

Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Conceptual Design Report Volume 2: The Physics Program for DUNE at LBNF

The Physics Program for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the Fermilab Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) is described

A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws

A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust, bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero' relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies, whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling. For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to Springer: 07-June-201

Home mechanical ventilation and specialised health care in the community: Between a rock and a hard place

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Home mechanical ventilation probably represents the most advanced and complicated type of medical treatment provisioned outside a hospital setting. The aim of this study was both to explore the challenges experienced by health care professionals in community health care services when caring for patients dependent on home mechanical ventilation, continual care and highly advanced technology, and their proposed solutions to these challenges.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using qualitative research methods, a grounded theory influenced approach was used to explore the respondents' experiences and proposed solutions. A total of 34 multidisciplinary respondents from five different communities in Norway were recruited for five focus groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The core category in our findings was what health care professionals in community health care services experience as "between a rock and a hard place," when working with hospitals, family members, and patients. We further identified four subcategories, "to be a guest in the patient's home," "to be accepted or not," "who decides," and "how much can we take." The main background for these challenges seems to stem from patients living and receiving care in their private homes, which often leads to conflicts with family members. These challenges can have a negative effect on both the community health caregivers' work environment and the community health service's provision of professional care.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study has identified that care of individuals with complex needs and dependent on home mechanical ventilation presents a wide range of immense challenges for community health care services. The results of this study point towards a need to define the roles of family caregivers and health care professionals and also to find solutions to improve their collaboration. The need to improve the work environment for caregivers directly involved in home-care also exists. The study also shows the need for more dialogue concerning eligibility requirements, rights, and limitations of patients in the provision and use of ventilatory support in private homes.</p

Ancient DNA Suggests Dwarf and ‘Giant’ Emu Are Conspecific

) is unclear. King Island Emu were mainly distinguished by their much smaller size and a reported darker colour compared to modern Emu. oxidase subunit I (COI) region (1,544 bp), as well as a region of the melanocortin 1 receptor gene (57 bp) were sequenced using a multiplex PCR approach. The results show that haplotypes for King Island Emu fall within the diversity of modern Emu.These data show the close relationship of these emu when compared to other congeneric bird species and indicate that the King Island and modern Emu share a recent common ancestor. King Island emu possibly underwent insular dwarfism as a result of phenotypic plasticity. The close relationship between the King Island and the modern Emu suggests it is most appropriate that the former should be considered a subspecies of the latter. Although both taxa show a close genetic relationship they differ drastically in size. This study also suggests that rates of morphological and neutral molecular evolution are decoupled

Pathogenic mycobacteria achieve cellular persistence by inhibiting the Niemann-Pick Type C disease cellular pathway

Background. Tuberculosis remains a major global health concern. The ability to prevent phagosome-lysosome fusion is a key mechanism by which intracellular mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, achieve long-term persistence within host cells. The mechanisms underpinning this key intracellular pro-survival strategy remain incompletely understood. Host macrophages infected with intracellular mycobacteria share phenotypic similarities with cells taken from patients suffering from Niemann-Pick Disease Type C (NPC), a rare lysosomal storage disease in which endocytic trafficking defects and lipid accumulation within the lysosome lead to cell dysfunction and cell death. We investigated whether these shared phenotypes reflected an underlying mechanistic connection between mycobacterial intracellular persistence and the host cell pathway dysfunctional in NPC.  Methods. The induction of NPC phenotypes in macrophages from wild-type mice or obtained from healthy human donors was assessed via infection with mycobacteria and subsequent measurement of lipid levels and intracellular calcium homeostasis. The effect of NPC therapeutics on intracellular mycobacterial load was also assessed.  Results. Macrophages infected with intracellular mycobacteria phenocopied NPC cells, exhibiting accumulation of multiple lipid types, reduced lysosomal Ca 2+ levels, and defects in intracellular trafficking. These NPC phenotypes could also be induced using only lipids/glycomycolates from the mycobacterial cell wall. These data suggest that intracellular mycobacteria inhibit the NPC pathway, likely via inhibition of the NPC1 protein, and subsequently induce altered acidic store Ca 2+ homeostasis. Reduced lysosomal calcium levels may provide a mechanistic explanation for the reduced levels of phagosome-lysosome fusion in mycobacterial infection. Treatments capable of correcting defects in NPC mutant cells via modulation of host cell calcium were of benefit in promoting clearance of mycobacteria from infected host cells.  Conclusion. These findings provide a novel mechanistic explanation for mycobacterial intracellular persistence, and suggest that targeting interactions between the mycobacteria and host cell pathways may provide a novel avenue for development of anti-TB therapies