Drug Testing in the Federal Government

When the President\u27s Commission on Organized Crime issued its March 1986 report recommending that federal employees and contractors be subject to drug testing, there was little indication that drug testing would become one of the hottest political and media issues of 1986

Elaboration of a method for vegetative propagation of Catharanthus roseus (L.)

Introducción: catharanthus roseus (L.) , es una planta apreciada por ser una fuente de alcaloides utilizados como quimioterápicos. Objetivo: estudiar diferentes factores que inciden en el enraizamiento, para optimizar su multiplicación vegetativa por estacas. Métodos: se probaron dos tipos de estacas (terminal y subterminal) a partir de plantas jóvenes y adultas, tres sustratos (tierra de monte, sustrato comercial y arena) y un promotor de enraizamiento (ácido naftalén acético). El diseño experimental fue bloques al azar con tres repeticiones, en un arreglo factorial 2x2x3. Las variables evaluadas fueron: porcentaje de enraizamiento, número, longitud de raíces y porcentaje de brotación; valoradas a los 60 días. Se analizó el perfil nutricional de las láminas foliares. Resultados: en estacas de plantas jóvenes el mejor sustrato para las variables relacionadas con el desarrollo radical fue la arena. El factor estaca arrojó diferencias significativas en el nivel subterminal en cuanto al enraizamiento y número de raíces, mientras que la aplicación del promotor no mostró diferencias significativas. En estacas de plantas adultas el porcentaje de enraizamiento y en la longitud de raíces fueron significativos mayores en el sustrato comercial. El factor estaca no presentó diferencias significativas, mientras que el factor promotor mostró una mejor respuesta sin su agregado en la brotación. El número de raíces, su longitud, y la brotación fue significativa; mayor en estacas de plantas jóvenes, en comparación con las de plantas adultas. Se obtuvieron diferencias significativas en el contenido de N, Zn y Mn, el cual fue mayor en plantas adultas; mientras que el K fue mayor en plantas jóvenes. Conclusiones: la propagación vegetativa mediante estacas de C. roseus fue posible, y permitió obtener en forma rápida y simple, plantas de porte homogéneo. La multiplicación fue favorecida al utilizar estacas provenientes de plantas jóvenes, subterminales, en arena, sin Ácido 1-naftalén-acético.Introduction: catharanthus roseus var. roseus (L.), is a prized plant because it has several antitumor alkaloids. Objective: to evaluate the effect of indoleacetic acid, cutting types, plant age and substrates on Catharanthus roseus (L.) rooting. Methods: the experiment was arranged in a complete randomized design with a 2 x 2 x 3 factorial with three replications, with two ANA concentrations (0 and 1000 ppm), two positions in the stem (terminal and subterminal) and three types of substrate (commercial substrate, local low fertility soil and sand) in plants aged less and more than a year. After 60 days, percentage of rooted cuttings, root number and length, and percentage of sprouting were evaluated. A nutritional analysis of leaf blades was performed. Results: the best scores in terms of rooting rates were obtained for the sand, the subterminal portion of the branch and without the rooting promoting substance, in younger plants. Older cuttings best development was found in commercial substrate. No statistical differences were found between cutting types or with or without the rooting promoting substance. Root length and number, as well as sprouting were significantly better using younger cuttings. Nitrogen, Zinc and Manganese content were significantly superior in older plants, but Potassium was higher in the younger ones. Conclusion: the results obtained demonstrate that the potential of C. roseus to be propagated by cuttings is possible, and that is even better if subterminal young cuttings, in sand, without rooting promoters are used.Fil: Dirchwolf, Pamela Maia. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Schroeder, María Andrea. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentin

Early Prevention of Severe Neurodevelopmental Behavior Disorders: An Integration

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities on 1/1/2012, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/19315864.2011.593697.There is a very substantial literature over the past 50 years on the advantages of early detection and intervention on the cognitive, communicative, and social-emotional development of infants and toddlers at risk for developmental delay due to premature birth or social disadvantage. Most of these studies excluded children with severe delays or other predisposing conditions, such as genetic or brain disorders. Many studies of children with biological or socio-developmental risk suggest that behavior disorders appear as early as three years and persist into adulthood if not effectively treated. By contrast, little is known about the infants and toddlers with established risk for severe delays, who make up a significant proportion of the population with dual diagnoses later in life. In the past decade, there has been a growing interest in early detection and intervention with children aged birth to three years, e.g. the P.L.99-457, Part C Birth-Three population, who may have disabilities and severe behavior problems, e.g. aggression, self-injury, and repetitive stereotyped behaviors. The available research is scattered in the behavior analytic literature, in the child development literature, as well as in the child mental health and psychiatry literature, the developmental disability literature, the animal modeling literature, and the genetics literature. The goal of this introductory overview is to integrate these literatures, by cross-referencing members of these various groups who have worked in this field, in order to provide the reader with an integrated picture of what is known and of future directions that need more research

The use of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase for the taxonomic assignment of Picorna-like viruses (order Picornavirales) infecting Apis mellifera L. populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Single-stranded RNA viruses, infectious to the European honeybee, <it>Apis mellifera </it>L. are known to reside at low levels in colonies, with typically no apparent signs of infection observed in the honeybees. Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) of regions of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is often used to diagnose their presence in apiaries and also to classify the type of virus detected.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Analysis of RdRp conserved domains was undertaken on members of the newly defined order, the Picornavirales; focusing in particular on the amino acid residues and motifs known to be conserved. Consensus sequences were compiled using partial and complete honeybee virus sequences published to date. Certain members within the iflaviruses, deformed wing virus (DWV), Kakugo virus (KV) and <it>Varroa destructor </it>virus (VDV); and the dicistroviruses, acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), Israeli paralysis virus (IAPV) and Kashmir bee virus (KBV), shared greater than 98% and 92% homology across the RdRp conserved domains, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>RdRp was validated as a suitable taxonomic marker for the assignment of members of the order Picornavirales, with the potential for use independent of other genetic or phenotypic markers. Despite the current use of the RdRp as a genetic marker for the detection of specific honeybee viruses, we provide overwhelming evidence that care should be taken with the primer set design. We demonstrated that DWV, VDV and KV, or ABPV, IAPV and KBV, respectively are all recent descendents or variants of each other, meaning caution should be applied when assigning presence or absence to any of these viruses when using current RdRp primer sets. Moreover, it is more likely that some primer sets (regardless of what gene is used) are too specific and thus are underestimating the diversity of honeybee viruses.</p

Negotiating cross-cultural, interfaith, and cross-linguistic identities of teacher education in professional and personal spaces

Three partnering researchers investigates the differences and similarities of how they have developed complex identities as teacher educators representing different backgrounds how they learned to navigate their public and private spaces defined by cross-cultural, interfaith, and cross-linguistic experiences, and how they negotiated the intersectionalities of their multi-dimensional public and private selves. Building on Jones and McEwen’s (2000) conceptual model of multiple dimensions of identity and utilizing a collaborative approach to self-study methodology, they found that boundaries are blurred between personal/professional spaces of identity. As teacher educators we both model and instill compassion and commitment to diversity in future teacher educators

Exploring Agency for Equity in Teacher and Leadership Education Programs: A Self-study Approach

In a social-justice-centered graduate education program, three faculty researchers studied and synthesized their personal ideas of social justice and their impact on students. Utilizing ideas from Rios\u27(2018) conscious engagement framework for teacher agency, data was collected on notions of identity as teachers of social justice as well as student perceptions on the development of their individual and collective agency as a result of being in their classrooms. Preliminary results indicate that personal cross-cultural, interfaith, and cross-linguistic experiences of the faculty had great impact on the evolutionary progress of both individual student agency and collective classroom movement

Ascaroside Signaling Is Widely Conserved among Nematodes

Background: Nematodes are among the most successful animals on earth and include important human pathogens, yet little is known about nematode pheromone systems. A group of small molecules called ascarosides has been found to mediate mate finding, aggregation, and developmental diapause in Caenorhabditis elegans, but it is unknown whether ascaroside signaling exists outside of the genus Caenorhabditis. Results: To determine whether ascarosides are used as signaling molecules by other nematode species, we performed a mass spectrometry-based screen for ascarosides in secretions from a variety of both free-living and parasitic (plant, insect, and animal) nematodes. We found that most of the species analyzed, including nematodes from several different clades, produce species-specific ascaroside mixtures. In some cases, ascaroside biosynthesis patterns appear to correlate with phylogeny, whereas in other cases, biosynthesis seems to correlate with lifestyle and ecological niche. We further show that ascarosides mediate distinct nematode behaviors, such as retention, avoidance, and long-range attraction, and that different nematode species respond to distinct, but overlapping, sets of ascarosides. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that nematodes utilize a conserved family of signaling molecules despite having evolved to occupy diverse ecologies. Their structural features and level of conservation are evocative of bacterial quorum sensing, where acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) are both produced and sensed by many species of gram-negative bacteria. The identification of species-specific ascaroside profiles may enable pheromone-based approaches to interfere with reproduction and survival of parasitic nematodes, which are responsible for significant agricultural losses and many human diseases worldwide

Relationship of sedentary behaviour and physical activity patterns to certain aspects of the family food environment with the risk for overweight in 3- to 5- year old children in a rural environment / by Andrea Dawn Schroeder.

The primary objective of this study was to assess for a relationship between sedentary and physical activity patterns to certain aspects of the family food environment with child body mass index (BMI) in children ages 3 to 5. A secondary aim was to assess for relationships between parental obesity and family socioeconomic status to parental perceptions of childhood weight with child BMI. A nonprobability, exploratory, and descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. A total of 85 children ages 3 to 5 (44 boys, 41 girls) and their primary caregivers participated in the study. At risk for becoming overweight was determined using the BMI-for-age and sex-specific 85th to 94th percentile from CDC Growth Charts. Overweight was determined using the BMI-for-age and sex-specific 95th percentile and greater from CDC Growth Charts. The primary caregivers completed a self-administered survey assessing sociodemographic information, parental height and weight, frequency of organized sports, physical activity patterns, sedentary activities, and certain aspects of the family food environment. Height and weight measurement data revealed that 18.8% (16/85) of the child participants had a BMI in the “at risk for becoming overweight” range, while 9.4% (8/85) o f the child participants had a BMI in the overweight range. In summary, television viewing on usual weekdays in early childhood is significantly related to child BMI. The results from this study also suggested that failure to recognize that a child may be overweight is an issue that needs to be investigated further to understand how a parent’s description of childhood overweight differs from perception of excess weight in his/her own child. More qualitative research in regard to parental perception of childhood weights and sedentary behaviour is recommended. Study area : Hinton, Alberta