It\u27s About the Way You Fold Your Underwear : Dutch Interracial Relationships in the Colonial Context

Interracial relationships cannot be defined purely through the lens of racial difference. Drawing upon loosely structured interviews with three couples, this case study presents lived experiences as a way to better understand interracial relationships in the Netherlands. An intersectional analysis of these interviews uncovers three distinctive themes among couples: 1) their relationship is frequently treated as common property to be commented on by family, friends, and strangers alike, 2) the use of avoidance discursive strategies when discussing negative reactions, and 3) the enactment of color-blind ideology when talking about race. The personal narratives of individuals in each couples are presented in order to take into account the diverse local realities enacted when embodying these relationships. This research concludes that there is no common value system that indicates the success or failure of a relationship, and that relationships are built at a crossroads of race, ethnicity, class, nationality, gender, religion, and age

Ecology of Culvert-nesting Oklahoma Barn Swallows (Hirundo Rustica)

Zoolog

The dynamics of a family’s gut microbiota reveal variations on a theme

Abstract Background It is clear that the structure and function of the human microbiota has significant impact on maintenance of health and yet the factors that give rise to an adult microbiota are poorly understood. A combination of genetics, diet, environment, and life history are all thought to impact the development of the gut microbiome. Here we study a chronosequence of the gut microbiota found in eight individuals from a family consisting of two parents and six children ranging in age from two months to ten years old. Results Using 16S rRNA gene and metagenomic shotgun sequence data, it was possible to distinguish the family from a cohort of normal individuals living in the same geographic region and to differentiate each family member. Interestingly, there was a significant core membership to the family members’ microbiota where the abundance of this core accounted for the differences between individuals. It was clear that the introduction of solids represents a significant transition in the development of a mature microbiota. This transition was associated with increased diversity, decreased stability, and the colonization of significant abundances of Bacteroidetes and Clostridiales. Although the children and mother shared essentially the identical diet and environment, the children’s microbiotas were not significantly more similar to their mother than they were to their father. Conclusions This analysis underscores the complex interactions that give rise to a personalized microbiota and suggests the value of studying families as a surrogate for longitudinal studies.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109502/1/40168_2014_Article_54.pd

Highly active and selective endopeptidases with programmed substrate specificities

A family of engineered endopeptidases has been created that is capable of cleaving a diverse array of peptide sequences with high selectivity and catalytic efficiency (kcat/KM > 104 M?1 s?1). By screening libraries with a selection-counterselection substrate method, protease variants were programmed to recognize amino acids having altered charge, size and hydrophobicity properties adjacent to the scissile bond of the substrate, including Glu?Arg, a specificity that to our knowledge has not been observed among natural proteases. Members of this artificial protease family resulted from a relatively small number of amino acid substitutions that (at least in one case) proved to be epistatic

Retelling racialized violence, remaking white innocence: the politics of interlocking oppressions in transgender day of remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance has become a significant political event among those resisting violence against gender-variant persons. Commemorated in more than 250 locations worldwide, this day honors individuals who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. However, by focusing on transphobia as the definitive cause of violence, this ritual potentially obscures the ways in which hierarchies of race, class, and sexuality constitute such acts. Taking the Transgender Day of Remembrance/Remembering Our Dead project as a case study for considering the politics of memorialization, as well as tracing the narrative history of the Fred F. C. Martinez murder case in Colorado, the author argues that deracialized accounts of violence produce seemingly innocent White witnesses who can consume these spectacles of domination without confronting their own complicity in such acts. The author suggests that remembrance practices require critical rethinking if we are to confront violence in more effective ways. Description from publisher's site: http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/srsp.2008.5.1.2

The DEEP Groth Strip Survey VI. Spectroscopic, Variability, and X-ray Detection of AGN

We identify active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the Groth-Westphal Survey Strip (GSS) using the independent and complementary selection techniques of optical spectroscopy and photometric variability. We discuss the X-ray properties of these AGN using Chandra/XMM data for this region. From a sample of 576 galaxies with high quality spectra we identify 31 galaxies with AGN signatures. Seven of these have broad emission lines (Type 1 AGNs). We also identify 26 galaxies displaying nuclear variability in HST WFPC2 images of the GSS separated by ~7 years. The primary overlap of the two selected AGN samples is the set of broad-line AGNs, of which 80% appear as variable. Only a few narrow-line AGNs approach the variability threshold. The broad-line AGNs have an average redshift of z~1.1 while the other spectroscopic AGNs have redshifts closer to the mean of the general galaxy population (z~0.7). Eighty percent of the identified broad-line AGNs are detected in X-rays and these are among the most luminous X-ray sources in the GSS. Only one narrow-line AGN is X-ray detected. Of the variable nuclei galaxies within the X-ray survey, 27% are X-ray detected. We find that 1.9+/-0.6% of GSS galaxies to V=24 are broad-line AGNs, 1.4+/-0.5% are narrow-line AGNs, and 4.5+/-1.4% contain variable nuclei. The fraction of spectroscopically identified BLAGNs and NLAGNs at z~1 reveals a marginally significant increase of 1.3+/-0.9% when compared to the local population.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Families\u27 healthcare experiences for children with inherited metabolic diseases: Protocol for a mixed methods cohort study

Introduction Children with inherited metabolic diseases (IMDs) often have complex and intensive healthcare needs and their families face challenges in receiving high-quality, family centred health services. Improvement in care requires complex interventions involving multiple components and stakeholders, customised to specific care contexts. This study aims to comprehensively understand the healthcare experiences of children with IMDs and their families across Canada. Methods and analysis A two-stage explanatory sequential mixed methods design will be used. Stage 1: quantitative data on healthcare networks and encounter experiences will be collected from 100 parent/guardians through a care map, 2 baseline questionnaires and 17 weekly diaries over 5-7 months. Care networks will be analysed using social network analysis. Relationships between demographic or clinical variables and ratings of healthcare experiences across a range of family centred care dimensions will be analysed using generalised linear regression. Other quantitative data related to family experiences and healthcare experiences will be summarised descriptively. Ongoing analysis of quantitative data and purposive, maximum variation sampling will inform sample selection for stage 2: a subset of stage 1 participants will participate in one-on-one videoconference interviews to elaborate on the quantitative data regarding care networks and healthcare experiences. Interview data will be analysed thematically. Qualitative and quantitative data will be merged during analysis to arrive at an enhanced understanding of care experiences. Quantitative and qualitative data will be combined and presented narratively using a weaving approach (jointly on a theme-by-theme basis) and visually in a side-by-side joint display. Ethics and dissemination The study protocol and procedures were approved by the Children\u27s Hospital of Eastern Ontario\u27s Research Ethics Board, the University of Ottawa Research Ethics Board and the research ethics boards of each participating study centre. Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific conferences

Cortical activation to action perception is associated with action production abilities in young infants

The extent to which perception and action share common neural processes is much debated in cognitive neuroscience. Taking a developmental approach to this issue allows us to assess whether perceptual processing develops in close association with the emergence of related action skills within the same individual. The current study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the perception of human action in 4- to 6-month-old human infants. In addition, the infants' manual dexterity was assessed using the fine motor component of The Mullen Scales of Early Learning and an in-house developed Manual Dexterity task. Results show that the degree of cortical activation, within the posterior superior temporal sulcus—temporoparietal junction (pSTS-TPJ) region, to the perception of manual actions in individual infants correlates with their own level of fine motor skills. This association was not fully explained by either measures of global attention (i.e., looking time) or general developmental stage. This striking concordance between the emergence of motor skills and related perceptual processing within individuals is consistent with experience-related cortical specialization in the developing brain

Outcomes in pediatric studies of medium-chain acyl-coA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency and phenylketonuria (PKU): a review.

BACKGROUND: Inherited metabolic diseases (IMDs) are a group of individually rare single-gene diseases. For many IMDs, there is a paucity of high-quality evidence that evaluates the effectiveness of clinical interventions. Clinical effectiveness trials of IMD interventions could be supported through the development of core outcome sets (COSs), a recommended minimum set of standardized, high-quality outcomes and associated outcome measurement instruments to be incorporated by all trials in an area of study. We began the process of establishing pediatric COSs for two IMDs, medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency and phenylketonuria (PKU), by reviewing published literature to describe outcomes reported by authors, identify heterogeneity in outcomes across studies, and assemble a candidate list of outcomes. METHODS: We used a comprehensive search strategy to identify primary studies and guidelines relevant to children with MCAD deficiency and PKU, extracting study characteristics and outcome information from eligible studies including outcome measurement instruments for select outcomes. Informed by an established framework and a previously published pediatric COS, outcomes were grouped into five, mutually-exclusive, a priori core areas: growth and development, life impact, pathophysiological manifestations, resource use, and death. RESULTS: For MCAD deficiency, we identified 83 outcomes from 52 articles. The most frequently represented core area was pathophysiological manifestations, with 33 outcomes reported in 29/52 articles (56%). Death was the most frequently reported outcome. One-third of outcomes were reported by a single study. The most diversely measured outcome was cognition and intelligence/IQ for which eight unique measurement instruments were reported among 14 articles. For PKU, we identified 97 outcomes from 343 articles. The most frequently represented core area was pathophysiological manifestations with 31 outcomes reported in 281/343 articles (82%). Phenylalanine concentration was the most frequently reported outcome. Sixteen percent of outcomes were reported by a single study. Similar to MCAD deficiency, the most diversely measured PKU outcome was cognition and intelligence/IQ with 39 different instruments reported among 82 articles. CONCLUSIONS: Heterogeneity of reported outcomes and outcome measurement instruments across published studies for both MCAD deficiency and PKU highlights the need for COSs for these diseases, to promote the use of meaningful outcomes and facilitate comparisons across studies

Airborne Bacteria in Earth's Lower Stratosphere Resemble Taxa Detected in the Troposphere: Results From a New NASA Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC)

Airborne microorganisms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere remain elusive due to a lack of reliable sample collection systems. To address this problem, we designed, installed, and flight-validated a novel Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC) for NASA's C-20A that can make collections for microbiological research investigations up to altitudes of 13.7 km. Herein we report results from the first set of science flights—four consecutive missions flown over the United States (US) from 30 October to 2 November, 2017. To ascertain how the concentration of airborne bacteria changed across the tropopause, we collected air during aircraft Ascent/Descent (0.3 to 11 km), as well as sustained Cruise altitudes in the lower stratosphere (~12 km). Bioaerosols were captured on DNA-treated gelatinous filters inside a cascade air sampler, then analyzed with molecular and culture-based characterization. Several viable bacterial isolates were recovered from flight altitudes, including Bacillus sp., Micrococcus sp., Arthrobacter sp., and Staphylococcus sp. from Cruise samples and Brachybacterium sp. from Ascent/Descent samples. Using 16S V4 sequencing methods for a culture-independent analysis of bacteria, the average number of total OTUs was 305 for Cruise samples and 276 for Ascent/Descent samples. Some taxa were more abundant in the flight samples than the ground samples, including OTUs from families Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae and Erysipelotrichaceae as well as the following genera: Clostridium, Mogibacterium, Corynebacterium, Bacteroides, Prevotella, Pseudomonas, and Parabacteroides. Surprisingly, our results revealed a homogeneous distribution of bacteria in the atmosphere up to 12 km. The observation could be due to atmospheric conditions producing similar background aerosols across the western US, as suggested by modeled back trajectories and satellite measurements. However, the influence of aircraft-associated bacterial contaminants could not be fully eliminated and that background signal was reported throughout our dataset. Considering the tremendous engineering challenge of collecting biomass at extreme altitudes where contamination from flight hardware remains an ever-present issue, we note the utility of using the stratosphere as a proving ground for planned life detection missions across the solar system