An Analysis of the Bison Dentition, Hudson-Meng Site, Sioux County, Nebraska

A study of many jaws and teeth representing over eighty animals has revealed ages ranging from .5 years through adult. Characteristics of the fourth pre-molars and third molars have been studied in an attempt to determine whether these animals are members of extinct Pleistocene species or varieties of more recent Bison. Introduction The Hudson-Meng Site (25-SX-115), located twenty-five miles northwest of Crawford, Nebraska, is the butchering area of a bison kill. For the past two seasons Dr. Larry Agenbroad and crews of students and volunteers have excavated the site. Approximately one-third of the original area has been uncovered. A relative date of 9,000 BP has been tentatively assigned to the kill. A study of the collection of jaws and teeth from the site has revealed a herd of at least ninety-two animals, ranging in age from .5 years to 10.5 years and older. This herd has not been identified as any particular species, but much evidence implies that these animals may represent a transition group between Pleistocene and Recent Bison species

Psychosocial Concerns and Individual Anxieties for Fathers with Testicular Cancer

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the major areas of psychosocial concerns, individual anxieties and coping responses for fathers with testicular cancer. While numerous studies have been carried out with mothers with cancer, research from the perspective of fathers with cancer is sparse. This study attempts to identify and explore their specific concerns and priorities. The study was approved by the Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH) Committee for Clinical Research (CCR) and the Local Research Ethics Committee (LREC). Men were recruited from the RMH Testicular Clinic. All of the men had two or three school age children and were from a range of ethnic backgrounds, professions and education levels. The Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) of interviewing was used and the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method was employed to analyze the data. Psychodynamic concepts were utilized as the theoretical framework to develop interpretations for each participant. Theories of masculinity were also incorporated. A set of themes emerged which was supported by the current literature. The psychosocial concerns included: lack of adequate medical information, concerns for children and wife and work concerns. The individual anxieties included: concerns around self concepts and masculinity, physical changes and self-image, challenges to faith and finding meaning, fear of recurrence, fear of death and annihilation. The participants employed specific coping responses including: intellectualization, minimizing, maintaining stoic façade and idealization which helped them to cope with the impact of their disease AND allowed them to maintain their sense of masculinity. This phenomenon was labeled “The Masculine Way of Handling Illness”. Additionally, the men split their cancer into the “good one to get”. The findings suggest that men need more reliable information, preferably on a reputable UK site, about talking to their children, the physical effects of treatment and the options of having a prosthesi

Breeding Wheat for Resilience to Increasing Nighttime Temperatures

Increases in global mean temperature since 1960 are largely attributed to the rise in minimum nighttime temperatures thereby decreasing diurnal temperature variation. Increased night temperatures are known to affect crop development. A multi-year study investigating the effects of increased night temperatures on soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties was conducted during the 2015-2016 growing seasons at the University of Kentucky Spindletop Research Farm in Lexington, KY. Thirty-six cultivars and breeding lines were chosen based on their genotypes at photoperiod and vernalization loci. This material was planted in a randomized complete block experiment with two replications and two environments, control and passively warmed. To create a passively warmed environment, thermal covers were mounted to frames in plots and connected to a datalogger programmed to cover plants from dusk to dawn based on coordinate location. Night temperature increases ranged from 0.27–0.75 °C above ambient temperature. Grain yield, averaged across genotypes, was significantly reduced in the passively warmed environment by 224 kg ha−1 (p ≤ 0.05) or 6.44%; however, yield response to environment varied among genotypes with several genotypes displaying an increased yield in the warmed environment. Yield reductions may reflect reduced nitrogen utilization (9.4%; p ≤ 0.001) under increased night temperatures

Psychosocial concerns and individual anxieties for fathers with testicular cancer

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the major areas of psychosocial concerns, individual anxieties and coping responses for fathers with testicular cancer. While numerous studies have been carried out with mothers with cancer, research from the perspective of fathers with cancer is sparse. This study attempts to identify and explore their specific concerns and priorities. The study was approved by the Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH) Committee for Clinical Research (CCR) and the Local Research Ethics Committee (LREC). Men were recruited from the RMH Testicular Clinic. All of the men had two or three school age children and were from a range of ethnic backgrounds, professions and education levels. The Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) of interviewing was used and the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method was employed to analyze the data. Psychodynamic concepts were utilized as the theoretical framework to develop interpretations for each participant. Theories of masculinity were also incorporated. A set of themes emerged which was supported by the current literature. The psychosocial concerns included: lack of adequate medical information, concerns for children and wife and work concerns. The individual anxieties included: concerns around self concepts and masculinity, physical changes and self-image, challenges to faith and finding meaning, fear of recurrence, fear of death and annihilation. The participants employed specific coping responses including: intellectualization, minimizing, maintaining stoic façade and idealization which helped them to cope with the impact of their disease AND allowed them to maintain their sense of masculinity. This phenomenon was labeled “The Masculine Way of Handling Illness”. Additionally, the men split their cancer into the “good one to get”. The findings suggest that men need more reliable information, preferably on a reputable UK site, about talking to their children, the physical effects of treatment and the options of having a prosthesis

THE PERFORMANCE OF INTER-STORY ISOLATED STRUCTURES SUBJECT TO WIND AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS

The implementation of inter-story isolation has gained popularity over the past decade. The focus of this thesis is to study the performance of an inter-story isolated building under earthquake ground motion as well as high wind forces through the time-history analysis of a multi-degree-of-freedom building model. The performance of the structure is compared to a conventional building with the same number of floors. Potential improvements to the inter-story isolation system are analyzed including the effects of varying the stiffness of the isolation layer, as well as adding viscous and rate-independent linear damping. Finally, practical methods of implementing rate-independent linear damping are discussed

Fear of Breast Cancer Recurrence in African-American and Caucasian Breast Cancer Survivors

poster abstractProblem. Fear of breast cancer recurrence is a concern for 55-90% of long-term breast cancer survivors. Background. Fear of recurrence is recognized as a prevalent and long-term psychosocial consequence of surviving cancer. Breast cancer survivors often identify more than one worry about what a recurrence might threaten in their health, work, and family function (Vickberg, 2001, 2003; Ziner, 2008). Although more research has been conducted with Caucasian breast cancer survivors, less is known about the nature of fear of recurrence worries in African American breast cancer survivors. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare fear of recurrence and worries related to thoughts of recurrence between African-American (AA-BCS) and Caucasian breast cancer survivors ( C-BCS). Theory. Emotion theorist, such as Lazarus (1991) suggest that fear is an emotional response to an identifiable object, thought or event that is perceived as harmful. Methods. This is a secondary analysis of a larger study comparing quality of life of AA-BCS and C-BCS using a cross-section survey design. Sample. Female breast cancer survivors ( AA-BCS N = 62, C-BCS N = 72) who were 2-10 years post treatment. Measures. Concerns about Recurrence Sale (CARS) Vickberg (2003) is a scale with 30 Likerttype items and 5 sub-scales: Fear of recurrence Index (overall fear frequency, intensity and consistency). Four (4) subscales of what BCS worry about: Health worries, Role worries, Womanhood worries, and Death worries. Validity. Content analysis of focus group data (N=21) AA-BCS showed that no changes were recommended in the CARS. (Russell, Personal communication) Reliability. The CARS and subscales were found to have Good to adequate Cronbach’s alpha’ for AA-BCS and C-BCS. Specifically, FRI = .92 AA-BCS, .90 C-BCS, Health worries = .93 AA-BCS, .92 C-BCS, Role worries = .75 AA-BCS, .87 C-BCS, Womanhood worries .89, AABCS, .90, C-BCS, Death worries .81 AA-BCS, .92 C-BCS. Analysis. ANCOVA was used for analysis controlling for age, time since diagnosis, income, marital status, years of education and body mass index. Results. Fear of recurrence Indexes between AA-BCS (mean 9.8) and C-BCS (mean 11.5) were not statistically different (p = .199). Health worries (AA- BCS mean 1.1, C-BCS mean 1.6, p= .018), Role worries (AA-BCS mean .8, C- BCS mean 1.2, p = .05), and Death worries (AA- BCS mean 1.3,C- BCS mean 2.2, p = .01) were significantly different between AA-BCS and C-BCS. Womanhood worries were not significantly different. Conclusions. AA-BCS and C-BCS were equally afraid of a recurrence. Except of womanhood worries, AA-BCS had lower mean health, role and death worries than C-BCS. Implications. Understanding the underlying worries related to overall fear of recurrence can lead to more focused and perhaps effective nursing intervention for AA-BCS and C-BCS

Post-operative atrial fibrillation is influenced by beta-blocker therapy but not by pre-operative atrial cellular electrophysiology

We investigated whether post-cardiac surgery (CS) new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) is predicted by pre-CS atrial cellular electrophysiology, and whether the antiarrhythmic effect of beta-blocker therapy may involve pre-CS pharmacological remodeling. Atrial myocytes were obtained from consenting patients in sinus rhythm, just prior to CS. Action potentials and ion currents were recorded using whole-cell patch-clamp technique. Post-CS AF occurred in 53 of 212 patients (25%). Those with post-CS AF were older than those without (67 ± 2 vs 62 ± 1 years, P = 0.005). In cells from patients with post-CS AF, the action potential duration at 50% and 90% repolarization, maximum upstroke velocity, and effective refractory period (ERP) were 13 ± 4 ms, 217 ± 16 ms, 185 ± 10 V/s, and 216 ± 14 ms, respectively (n = 30 cells, 11 patients). Peak L-type Ca2+ current, transient outward and inward rectifier K+ currents, and the sustained outward current were −5.0 ± 0.5, 12.9 ± 2.4, −4.1 ± 0.4, and 9.7 ± 1.0 pA/pF, respectively (13-62 cells, 7-19 patients). None of these values were significantly different in cells from patients without post-CS AF (P > 0.05 for each, 60-279 cells, 29-86 patients), confirmed by multiple and logistic regression. In patients treated >7 days with a beta-blocker pre-CS, the incidence of post-CS AF was lower than in non-beta-blocked patients (13% vs 27%, P = 0.038). Pre-CS beta-blockade was associated with a prolonged pre-CS atrial cellular ERP (P = 0.001), by a similar degree (∼20%) in those with and without post-CS AF. Conclusion: Pre-CS human atrial cellular electrophysiology does not predict post-CS AF. Chronic beta-blocker therapy is associated with a reduced incidence of post-CS AF, unrelated to a pre-CS ERP-prolonging effect of this treatment

Seeking help for depression from family and friends: A qualitative analysis of perceived advantages and disadvantages

BACKGROUND People with depression often seek help from family and friends and public health campaigns frequently encourage such help seeking behaviours. However, there has been little systematically collected empirical data concerning the effects of such informal help seeking. The current study sought to investigate the views of consumers about the advantages and disadvantages of seeking support from family and friends for depression. METHODS Participants were the subset of 417 respondents to a survey, sent to 7000 randomly selected members of an Australian electoral community, who indicated that they had sought help for depression from family or friends. One item on the survey asked participants to indicate the advantages or disadvantages of seeking help from family or friends. A coding system was developed based on a content analysis of the responses to the item. Each of the responses was then coded by two raters. RESULTS Respondents identified both advantages and disadvantages of seeking support from friends. The most commonly cited advantage was social support (n = 282) including emotional support (n = 154), informational support (n = 93), companionship support (n = 36) and instrumental support (n = 23). Other advantages related to family's or friend's background knowledge of the person and their circumstances (n = 72), the opportunity to offload the burden associated with depression (n = 62), the personal attributes of family and friends (n = 49), their accessibility (n = 36), and the opportunity to educate family and friends and increase their awareness about the respondent's depression (n = 30). The most commonly cited disadvantages were stigma (n = 53), inappropriate support (n = 45), the family member's lack of knowledge, training and expertise (n = 32) and the adverse impact of the help seeking on the family/friend (n = 20) and the relationship (n = 18). CONCLUSIONS Family and friends are well placed to provide support which consumers perceive to be positive and which can assist them in obtaining formal mental health treatment. However, the input of some family members may be unhelpful or toxic. There may be benefits in undertaking community education and destigmatisation programs which target carers.Kathleen Griffiths is supported by NHMRC Fellowship 525413. Lisa Barney is supported by NHMRC Capacity Building Grant No. 41802

Impact of Climate Change on Wheat Production in Kentucky

Summary: From 2002 to 2012, Kentucky winter wheat ranged in value from $52 million to$209 million. Climate change and variability have the potential to significantly impact this important economic enterprise within our state. This report summarizes the current state of knowledge of the potential of climate change to impact wheat production in Kentucky and surrounding states

Using a Smartphone App to Teach Students Practical Epidemiological Skills

Background: Despite the evidence that shows the pedagogical benefits of experiential education, epidemiology instructors rarely utlize experiential activities to teach epidemiological concepts and skills. Poster presented at 8th annual 2016 Thomas Jefferson University Faculty Days