State Abortion Rates: The Impact of Policies, Providers, Politics, Demographics, and Economic Environment

This paper uses data on abortion rates from 1974-88, to estimate two-stage least squares models with fixed state and year effects. The results indicate that implementing restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion results in lower aggregate abortion rates in-state and higher abortion rates among nearby states, suggesting one of the main effects of these policies is to induce cross-state migration for abortion services. The effect of these restrictions on actual abortions among state residents is much smaller; a maximal estimate suggests that 22 percent of the abortions among low-income women that are publicly funded do not take place after funding is eliminated. We also have substantial evidence that a larger number of abortion providers in a state increases the abortion rate within the state, primarily through inducing cross-state migration, with nonhospital providers being particularly important. Political affiliation variables have mixed effects and are difficult to interpret. Controlling for state fixed effects, the effect of changes in demographic and economic variables over time is typically small, although a rise in unemployment has consistently positive effects on abortion rates.

Black Girl Glare: Uplifting and edifying your sister

The purpose of this proposal is to use original spoken word poetry to illustrate the challenges black women face with social support. The poetry will highlight the unspoken black girl glare that many women project onto each other largely due to internalized oppression and racism. The psychosocial manifestation of this internalization is low self-esteem, lack of awareness, and general insecurities. The presenters will use elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to assist participants with developing cognitive awareness, increasing their knowledge and skills to edify themselves and their sisters

The Westward Expansion of Domestic Queensware: The Red Rose Transit Site, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Archaeological excavations undertaken by URS/AECOM at the Red Rose Transit Site from 2008 through 2010 revealed late 18th and early 19th century A horizon/yard deposits, a stone-lined well, a redware kiln and evidence of brass manufacturing in the south half of Lot 104. These deposits and features located beneath 19th century train shed tracks at the corner of Chestnut and Queen Streets produced a small quantity of domestic queensware. Lancaster was the gateway to the west in the 18th and early 19th century for the shipment of goods. The existence of domestic queensware at the Red Rose Transit site indicates the ware was available and in use by consumers in Lancaster. This inland city likely played an important role in the ware’s distribution further west

Analysis of wheat SAGE tags reveals evidence for widespread antisense transcription

BACKGROUND: Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE) is a powerful tool for genome-wide transcription studies. Unlike microarrays, it has the ability to detect novel forms of RNA such as alternatively spliced and antisense transcripts, without the need for prior knowledge of their existence. One limitation of using SAGE on an organism with a complex genome and lacking detailed sequence information, such as the hexaploid bread wheat Triticum aestivum, is accurate annotation of the tags generated. Without accurate annotation it is impossible to fully understand the dynamic processes involved in such complex polyploid organisms. Hence we have developed and utilised novel procedures to characterise, in detail, SAGE tags generated from the whole grain transcriptome of hexaploid wheat. RESULTS: Examination of 71,930 Long SAGE tags generated from six libraries derived from two wheat genotypes grown under two different conditions suggested that SAGE is a reliable and reproducible technique for use in studying the hexaploid wheat transcriptome. However, our results also showed that in poorly annotated and/or poorly sequenced genomes, such as hexaploid wheat, considerably more information can be extracted from SAGE data by carrying out a systematic analysis of both perfect and "fuzzy" (partially matched) tags. This detailed analysis of the SAGE data shows first that while there is evidence of alternative polyadenylation this appears to occur exclusively within the 3' untranslated regions. Secondly, we found no strong evidence for widespread alternative splicing in the developing wheat grain transcriptome. However, analysis of our SAGE data shows that antisense transcripts are probably widespread within the transcriptome and appear to be derived from numerous locations within the genome. Examination of antisense transcripts showing sequence similarity to the Puroindoline a and Puroindoline b genes suggests that such antisense transcripts might have a role in the regulation of gene expression. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the detailed analysis of transcriptome data, such as SAGE tags, is essential to understand fully the factors that regulate gene expression and that such analysis of the wheat grain transcriptome reveals that antisense transcripts maybe widespread and hence probably play a significant role in the regulation of gene expression during grain development

Neural Correlates of Suspiciousness and Interactions with Anxiety During Emotional and Neutral Word Processing

Suspiciousness is usually classified as a symptom of psychosis, but it also occurs in depression and anxiety disorders. Though how suspiciousness overlaps with depression is not obvious, suspiciousness does seem to overlap with anxious apprehension and anxious arousal (e.g., verbal iterative processes and vigilance about environmental threat). However, suspiciousness also has unique characteristics (e.g., concern about harm from others and vigilance about social threat). Given that both anxiety and suspiciousness have been associated with abnormalities in emotion processing, it is unclear whether it is the unique characteristics of suspiciousness or the overlap with anxiety that drive abnormalities in emotion processing. Event-related brain potentials were obtained during an emotion-word Stroop task. Results indicated that suspiciousness interacts with anxious apprehension to modulate initial stimulus perception processes. Suspiciousness is associated with attention to all stimuli regardless of emotion content. In contrast, anxious arousal is associated with a later response to emotion stimuli only. These results suggest that suspiciousness and anxious apprehension share overlapping processes, but suspiciousness alone is associated with a hyperactive early vigilance response. Depression did not interact with suspiciousness to predict response to emotion stimuli. These findings suggest that it may be informative to assess suspiciousness in conjunction with anxiety in order to better understand how these symptoms interact and contribute to dysfunctional emotion processing

Pollen from multiple sunflower cultivars and species reduces a common bumblebee gut pathogen

Pathogens are one of the factors driving pollinator declines. Diet can play an important role in mediating pollinator health and resistance to pathogens. Sunflower pollen (Helianthus annuus) dramatically reduced a gut pathogen (Crithidia bombi) of Bombus impatiens previously, but the breadth of this effect was unknown. We tested whether pollen from nine H. annuus cultivars, four wild H. annuus populations, H. petiolarus, H. argophyllus and two Solidago spp., reduced Crithidia in B. impatiens compared to mixed wildflower pollen and buckwheat pollen (Fagopyrum esculentum) as controls. We also compared hand- and honeybee-collected pollen (which contains nectar) to assess whether diet effects on pathogens were due to pollen or nectar. All Helianthus and Solidago pollen reduced Crithidia by 20–40-fold compared to buckwheat pollen, and all but three taxa reduced Crithidia compared to wildflower pollen. We found no consistent differences between hand- and bee-collected pollen, suggesting that pollen alone can reduce Crithidia infection. Our results indicate an important role of pollen diet for bee health and potentially broad options within the Asteraceae for pollinator plantings to manage bee disease

“A Bright Pattern of Domestic Virtue and Economy”: Philadelphia Queensware at the Smith-Maskell Site (28CA124), Camden, New Jersey

Excavations at the Smith-Maskell Site (28CA124) in the Spring of 2011 by URS Corporation revealed a number of early 19th-century features behind what was once 318 Cooper Street in Camden, New Jersey. These features produced significant quantities of Federal period tea and tablewares, including a number of Philadelphia Queensware vessels. During this period Camden was beginning its transition from a scattering of sparsely populated villages to a city of summer residences and country retreats for Philadelphia’s well-to-do middle class. The likely owners of the Philadelphia Queensware found at the Smith-Maskell Site were among this prosperous middle class, and thus the presence of this ware in their household assemblages insinuates that consumer choice, particularly related to patriotism and the desire to support domestic industries, played an important factor in the ware’s apparent popularity and widespread distribution. While trade embargos in place before and after the War of 1812 certainly affected the availability of English ceramics, the Philadelphia Queensware found at the Smith-Maskell site speaks to other forces at work as well