Effects of Buckthorn (Rhamnus Cathartica and Rhamnus Frangula) on Native Flora Functional Traits

Invasive plant species are currently a threat to native species and communities, and two major challenges facing scientists today are trying to figure out how to deal with the invasive plants and trying to pinpoint their effects on the native communities. While some methods of removal have been effective, it is still unclear how the invasive plants affect the natives. Two species of the shrub buckthorn are invasive in the United States and both are causing problems in the state of Maine. I studied the native plants in areas with and without buckthorn to determine the effects of buckthorn on native plants. The sites without buckthorn served as models of what the natural environment should look like and were compared to the sites influenced by buckthorn to determine if buckthorn affected the structure of the community. To establish the structure of the communities I measured the functional traits of the native plants. The distributions of plant height, chlorophyll, and SLA values all shifted in response to buckthorn, resulting in plants that were taller and had thinner leaves with less chlorophyll. I also assessed changed in species richness and evenness. This study showed that the presence of buckthorn resulted in a change in the community. Invasive plant species are changing the way natural communities look by altering the size and shape of the available trait space, which could lead to exclusion of non-adaptive species or lead to growth constraints

The Problem of Moral Statements in Historical Writing

Bernard Williams (1985) begins his skeptical look at the history of ethical theory with a reminder of where it began, with Socrates’ question, how should one live? (pg. 1). This question is relevant to historians, who ask a similar question, “how did people live?” in their own work, To wonder “how one should live” or to make statements about the ways in which people have lived is to rely on the work of historians. The question of what historians can know about the past, however, is a very philosophical question, and it is dependent on our views about such things as what problem, if any, temporal distance poses to our ability to arriving at such knowledge. In discussing whether temporal distance can be overcome in order to understand the actions and events of the past from the perspective of those who lived in it, philosophers have offered a wide range of arguments and have come to various conclusions. Skeptics, such as Williams (1985), have claimed that distance establishes a relativism, which, in a way, prevents us from looking to the distant past and asking whether that is “how one should live”, or whether a particular historical practice constituted living well. In contrast, R.G. Collingwood takes a much less skeptical stance, arguing that he believes it is not only possible, but also necessary, to hold the beliefs of distant agents in order to do genuine history. Collingwood goes so far as to claim that in order to avoid “scissors and paste” history, or history that makes use of inductive generalization, historians must re-enact thoughts in their own minds that are identical to the historical agent or agents that they are studying. Questions about whether it is possible for historians to really know the past and the ways in which people lived, or whether it is possible for two agents under very different contexts to hold identical beliefs, leaves historians in a very precarious place when deciding how to present material to students of history through textbooks or in classroom debates. It seems intuitive to make these statements because, after all, if we aim to address the question of “how one should live” then the work of historians may just be our greatest source of what Mill (1869, pg. 52) called “experiments in living” or narratives about different ways that humans have lived. It’s likely, however, that most people do not take up either the skeptical end of the spectrum held by Williams or the reenactivist end of it held by Collingwood. An epistemological pluralism, which supposes that there are many \u27knowledges\u27 (systems of knowledge or ways of knowing) (Eldridge, 2007, p. 1) might be the most useful for these historians because it emphasizes that for different types of ethical statements and different uses of history, different systems of knowledge or ways of knowing and beliefs about the possibility of belief might be valid and useful. Historians ought to acknowledge that the types of ethical claims they are making are varied and may place different levels of burden on the historian to address the sort of skepticism raised by Williams. This acknowledgement would allow for the examination of various types and levels of ethical claims without a strict commitment to either skepticism or re-enactment. In this dissertation, I explore this problem and also survey history textbooks that were published over the past seven decades to determine what types of moral statements are being made in them. I find that there are six types of claims that are commonly being made, and that they fit rather easily in to two categories. I explain these categories and types of claims, and also discuss the relevance of views toward knowledge to them. Because there is not much, if any, distinction made in the texts between the various types of claims that are made, I also suggest ways that historians might highlight these differences, paying attention, when appropriate, to Williams-style skepticism, in their writing and in their classrooms

Characterisation of propionibacterium acnes

Propionibacterium acnes forms part of the normal flora of the skin, oral cavity, large intestine and the external ear. Historically, P. acnes is considered to be of low virulence; however, in recent years it has been found as the aetiological agent in various pathologies including acne vulgaris, endophthalmitis, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, sarcoidosis, prosthetic hip infections and sciatica. It currently remains unclear why this normally harmless commensal can cause infection and contribute to a number of clinically significant conditions. This thesis has sought to investigate the phenotypic, genetic and antigenic properties of P.acnes strains isolated from sciatica patients undergoing microdiscectomy, normal skin, blood cultures, prosthetic hips and acne lesions. Isolates' phenotype was examined by determining their biotype by analytical profile index, antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence factor expression and serotype. A molecular typing method for P.acnes was developed using random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Patient serum was used to screen P.acnes strains for antigens expressed in vivo and the chemical composition determined. The serodiagnostic potential and inflammatory properties of identified antigens were assessed. The optimised and reproducible RAPD protocol classified strains into three major clusters and was found to distinguish between the serotypes I and II for a large number of clinical isolates. Molecular typing by RAPD also enabled the identification of a genotype that did not react with the type I or II monoclonal antibodies and these strains may therefore constitute a previously undiscovered subspecies of P.acnes with a genetic background different from the type I and II serotypes. A major cell associated antigen produced by all strains was identified and characterised. A serological assay based on the antigen was used to measure IgG and IgM levels in serum from patients with acne, sciatica and controls. No difference in levels of antibodies was detected. Inflammatory properties of the antigen were measured by exposing murine macrophage-like cells and measuring the release of nitric oxide and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Only TNF-α was elicited in response to the antigen. The phenotypic, genotypic and antigenic properties of this organism may provide a basis for future studies on P.acnes virulence and provide an insight into its mechanisms of pathogenesis

Let\u27s Talk About It: A Proposal STI Prevention Program Designed for Jefferson County, Oregon

Let’s Talk About It: A Proposal STI Prevention Program Designed for Jefferson County, Oregon Janeene Perry HE 471 Health Promotion Program Planning, Winter 2019 The Let’s Talk About STI prevention program is designed to meet the unique needs of 15-24-year-old Native Americans residing in a rural Oregon community in Jefferson County. This proposed program aims to reduce the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections, as well as increase knowledge of sexual health and wellbeing. The key components of the proposed program include a community wide kick-off event, education sessions, self-testing kits, community forums, and STI surveillance within the three-county region. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are communicable diseases that are some of the most reported infectious diseases, with elevated rates in rural communities. Almost half of the 20 million reported cases in the United States are among individuals in the 15-24-year age group. Jefferson county has the highest STI rates in the state of Oregon, for example, Chlamydia occurring 723.6 per 100,000 population, higher than the state average of 432.5 per 100,000 population. Research suggests that rates of infection increase in populations that live in rural areas and reservations where travel is required for medical treatment which influences the higher rates of infection among Native Americans. The overarching goal for the proposed program to build community capacity in Jefferson County by focusing on 3 specific objectives. (1) Engage community partners in informative community meetings throughout the program to gather information on barriers and facilitators to STI prevention and treatment; (2) Recruit 10 community partners to actively engage in STI prevention efforts; (3) develop local STI surveillance in the region by standardizing patient intake forms, and data collection methods

Gendered impact of COVID-19 in Colorado: health and economic risks

Includes bibliographical references

Can surveying practitioners about their practices help identify priority clinical practice guideline topics?

BACKGROUND: Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed statements designed to assist in patient and physician clinical decision making for specific clinical circumstances. In order to establish which guideline topics are priorities, practitioners were surveyed regarding their current practice. METHODS: One hundred ninety-seven practitioners in Ontario, Canada were mailed a survey exploring their current practice or opinion regarding the prophylactic use of anticonvulsant drugs in patients with malignant glioma who had never had a seizure. The survey consisted of seven questions regarding the relevance of a guideline on the subject to the practitioner's practice, the proportion of clinical cases involving anticonvulsant use, knowledge of existing guidelines on this topic, interest in reviewing a completed practice guideline and three clinical scenarios. RESULTS: There were 122 respondents who returned the survey (62% rate of return). Eighty percent of the practitioners who responded indicated that less than 25% of their clinical cases involved the use of anticonvulsants; however, only 16% of respondents indicated that a practice guideline would be irrelevant to their practice. Eighty percent of respondents volunteered to review a draft version of a practice guideline on the use of anticonvulsants. The survey presented the practitioners with three scenarios where anticonvulsants in patients with brain tumours may be appropriate: peri-operatively in patients without seizures, postoperatively in patients currently using anticonvulsants, and thirdly in patients not currently using anticonvulsants or undergoing surgery. In contrast to the third situation, the first two situations yielded considerable variation in practitioner response. CONCLUSION: The survey established that there is some variation present in the current practice of anticonvulsant use in the patients with brain tumours. Whether there is an optimal treatment practice has yet to be determined. Practitioners do seem to feel that a guideline on anticonvulsant use in warranted, and most practitioners would be interested in being part of the guideline development process

Motivación y compromiso organizacional del personal administrativo de la empresa agraria azucarera Andahuasi S.A.A., 2020

Objetivo: Establecer de qué manera la motivación influye en el compromiso organizacional del personal administrativo de la empresa Agraria Azucarera Andahuasi S.A.A., 2020. Métodos: La presente investigación es de tipo básica, nivel es explicativo, diseño no experimental, enfoque mixto. La población fue 23 trabajadores administrativos. La confiabilidad del instrumento se realizó mediante el coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach (0,956). Resultados: Respecto a la motivación, el 26,1% mencionaron que están en desacuerdo que exista motivación en la empresa, el 60,9% mencionaron que están de acuerdo y el 13% mencionaron estar totalmente de acuerdo. Así mismo, respecto al compromiso organizacional, el 17,4% mencionaron que se sienten comprometidos con la empresa, el 56,5% mencionaron que están de acuerdo y el 26,1% mencionaron que están totalmente de acuerdo. Conclusión: existe una correlación positiva moderada y significativa (p =0,003 < 0,05; r = 0.589**), por lo que se concluye que la motivación influye significativamente en el compromiso organizacional del personal administrativo de la empresa Agraria Azucarera Andahuasi S.A.A., 2020

Development of a multivariable risk model integrating urinary cell DNA methylation and cell-free RNA data for the detection of significant prostate cancer

Background: Prostate cancer exhibits severe clinical heterogeneity and there is a critical need for clinically implementable tools able to precisely and noninvasively identify patients that can either be safely removed from treatment pathways or those requiring further follow up. Our objectives were to develop a multivariable risk prediction model through the integration of clinical, urine-derived cell-free messenger RNA (cf-RNA) and urine cell DNA methylation data capable of noninvasively detecting significant prostate cancer in biopsy naïve patients. Methods: Post-digital rectal examination urine samples previously analyzed separately for both cellular methylation and cf-RNA expression within the Movember GAP1 urine biomarker cohort were selected for a fully integrated analysis (n = 207). A robust feature selection framework, based on bootstrap resampling and permutation, was utilized to find the optimal combination of clinical and urinary markers in a random forest model, deemed ExoMeth. Out-of-bag predictions from ExoMeth were used for diagnostic evaluation in men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer (PSA ≥ 4 ng/mL, adverse digital rectal examination, age, or lower urinary tract symptoms). Results: As ExoMeth risk score (range, 0-1) increased, the likelihood of high-grade disease being detected on biopsy was significantly greater (odds ratio = 2.04 per 0.1 ExoMeth increase, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.78-2.35). On an initial TRUS biopsy, ExoMeth accurately predicted the presence of Gleason score ≥3 + 4, area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.89 (95% CI: 0.84-0.93) and was additionally capable of detecting any cancer on biopsy, AUC = 0.91 (95% CI: 0.87-0.95). Application of ExoMeth provided a net benefit over current standards of care and has the potential to reduce unnecessary biopsies by 66% when a risk threshold of 0.25 is accepted. Conclusion: Integration of urinary biomarkers across multiple assay methods has greater diagnostic ability than either method in isolation, providing superior predictive ability of biopsy outcomes. ExoMeth represents a more holistic view of urinary biomarkers and has the potential to result in substantial changes to how patients suspected of harboring prostate cancer are diagnosed

Immunisation status of children receiving care and support in Wales: a national data linkage study

Background: In the UK, a robust childhood immunisation programme ensures children are offered protection against serious infections; identifying inequalities in vaccination coverage is essential. This is one of the first data linkage studies to examine coverage of primary, as well as pre-school booster and second dose of MMR vaccines, in children receiving support from social care services across Wales. Methods: By accessing records held within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank, vaccination status of children receiving social care and support between April 2016 and March 2021 (n = 24,540) was ascertained. This was achieved through linkage of the Children Receiving Care and Support (CRCS) Census and National Community Child Health Database which holds vaccination records for all children in Wales registered for NHS care. This sample was split into three groups – those children who had never been recorded on the Child Protection Register (CPR) or as ‘Looked After’ but in CRCS (n = 12,480), children ever on the CPR (n = 6,225) and those ever recorded as ‘Looked After’ but who were never on the CPR (n = 5,840). The comparison group of children and young people (CYP) never receiving welfare support consisted of 624,905 children. Results: Children receiving care or support were more likely to be up-to-date with all six vaccines (no recorded vaccines: 0.6–6.3%) compared to children in the comparison group (no recorded vaccines: 3–10.3%). However, of those who were vaccinated, they were less likely to be vaccinated in a timely manner; both early (5.2% vs. 22.2%; margin of error [ME] = 0.52, 95% CI [confidence interval] = −0.18 – −0.17, p < 0.001) and delayed vaccinations were more common (62.7% vs. 71.3%; ME = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.08–0.09, p < 0.001). Validation of the CRCS immunisation flag showed moderate levels of accuracy. Around 70% of immunisation flags were correct across all three groups. Discussion: Findings suggest a positive association between receiving services under a care and support plan and being up-to-date with immunisations; children receiving support under a care and support plan were more likely to have experienced early or late vaccinations, demonstrating that there is still more inter-disciplinary co-ordination and planning needed to improve these outcomes. Thus, identifying inequalities in vaccination coverage is essential to target interventions and to prioritise geographic areas for catch-up

A regional approach for the calculation of characteristic toxicity factorsusing the USEtox model

The lack of the spatial coverage as one of the main limitations of the Life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) models leads to disagreement between their results. The USEtox model is only model that provides 8 continental and 17 subcontinental zones but does not consider the wind and water transfers affected areas around the source of pollution. Current investigation proposes the way to reduce this limitation by using the results of chemical analysis (instrumental neutron activation analysis “INAA”) of pork meat as a regional indicator of anthropogenic influence. The concentration coefficient of Cr by replacing the Bioaccumulation factor (BAF) is extrapolated into the calculation of Exposure factor (XF) to modify Characterization factor (CF). Impacted and clean areas of Tomsk district (Russia) placed around Northern industrial hub (Seversk city) are studied. Neither area is located directly in the industrial hub, but the impacted area is under an anthropogenic influence due to air and water transfer of pollution. Results of our investigation present the difference between results of own investigation and default values of USEtox. Probably the model can minimize the impact because of lack of experiment data in the database. The database can be extended more with other analytical results for wide range of metals and geographical locations