Funny Bones: Ecomorphology of the Bovid Distal Humerus and its Paleontological Implications

When seeking to understand early human evolution, it is fundamental to understand the ecology of the environment in which those early humans lived. This is an important overlap between the fields of anthropology and palaeontology, and here I take an ecomorphological approach involving the study of variation in bone morphology as a proxy for ecology in bovids. The family Bovidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) dominated ecosystems at the time of early human (Homo sapiens) evolution, and continue to in many areas today, as well as frequently having been domesticated throughout human history. For these reasons, bovids provide an excellent study group for this research. The main aim of this project is to develop the bovid distal humerus as an ecological proxy using 3D geometric morphometrics on 116 scans of extant bovid species, representing 11 of the approximately 16 extant bovid tribes, and 40% of known extant species. The humerus is particularly informative due to its extensive roles in weight-bearing and forelimb use. This study focuses on the distal humerus (the elbow articulation) as this section of bone is dense and frequently preserved in the bovid fossil record, and additionally a great many attachment and origin sites for muscles involved in lower forelimb movement are concentrated at the distal humerus. I find evidence that aspects of distal humerus morphology have evolved convergently across bovids, relating to body mass and habitat preference, and that distal humerus morphology can be a proxy to infer such information in bovids. This information can be utilized to understand the ecology of extinct bovids, and in the final part of this project I apply this to the case of the unusual Pleistocene bovid Rusingoryx atopocranion, which is known to have been hunted by early humans. The results indicate that the unusual distal humerus morphology observed in Rusingoryx is directly related to the animal being highly adapted for cursoriality on the hard, flat terrain of the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria in the Pleistocene

Can addresses be types? A case study: objects with delegation

We adapt the aliasing constraints approach for designing a flexible typing of evolving objects. Types are singleton types (addresses of objects, as a matter of fact) whose relevance is mainly due to the sort of safety property they guarantee. In particular we provide a type system for an imperative object based calculus with delegation and which supports method and delegate overriding, addition, and removing. ©2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. Accepted versio

Resources to Promote Senior Independence

Resources to Promote Senior Independence Introduction Our group of five students from Seattle Pacific University\u27s Lydia Green nursing program assessed the community of an independent senior apartment complex that provides affordable housing for adults aged 65+ in the Seattle area run under Sustainable Housing for Ageless Generations (SHAG). This assignment is for our leadership project and occurred over an 8-week period. During this time, we applied the nursing process to assess, diagnose, plan, and implement an intervention specific to a population\u27s needs. The community faced issues of resource access, exacerbated by the population\u27s low income and age. Our focus was to provide greater accessibility and visibility of resources regarding transportation, food access, technology, financial assistance, health and wellness, and safety. We produced a resource booklet directed by the site\u27s needs with the goal of improving quality of life and health related outcomes. Background Located in the Highland Park neighborhood of West Seattle, WA, this community functions as low-income housing. The site administrator reported that the average age is 73 and average income is $2,185 a month. Among the seniors living in the apartments, there are many living with mental and physical health requirements, as well as physical disabilities that limit their daily activities. There is a general disparity in the health care and maintenance of the elderly population, leading to poor health outcomes, delayed healthcare, and unmet needs (Yamada et al., 2015). Within this community they are at further risk due to low socioeconomic status (SES) (McMaughen, 2020). Associated with this age group and low SES there is a prevalence of depression among individuals over the age of 65 ranging from 7.2% to as high as 49%, which is influenced by access to care, resources, and availability of daily needs (Andrew et al., 2019).The combination of age-related disparities with limited income leads to a need for 3 outside resources. These are needed to help afford and attain their daily needs including transportation, food security, social services, and mental health. Not only do social services benefit older adults, but there is a high demand and utilization of these services in this population (Yang et al., 2021). Activities and Methods Our process began by establishing in-person connections with the site, meeting the Program Manager and Resident Volunteer onsite. We received a brief overview and learned what recent changes the community is going through. We learned they had recently lost a partnership with a resident site coordinator (RSC) who was able to provide on-site services to help residents access much-needed resources that are not easily accessible. After the loss of the RSC, residents struggled to find and access resources to adequately meet their needs. We concurred that the main risk for this population is a resource deficit leading to a risk for impaired health and care. As the primary need became evident, we composed a survey to assess the more specific resources needed. This survey found the perceived needs are transportation, food security, health insurance, technological support, and mental health services. This demand led to our goal to provide a simple, accurate, and directed resource binder to address this community\u27s self-reported needs by the end of our eight weeks. The following weeks were spent compiling resources available in the greater Seattle area and ones locally accessible. We found help interviewing and obtaining tips from the past RSC and weekly feedback from the site manager. We also worked to make our resources accessible to the residents. We learned through our conversations as well as research that the prevalence of limited health literacy is high among older adults (up to 50%) and is associated with poor access to health care and decreased use of the internet (Scheerens et al., 2021). Studies that analyzed older adults use of technology for resources found that the number one barrier was access (Haase 4 et al., 2021). This prompted us to explore technology programs available that supply free or affordable phones and internet. To ease access, we also created an online version of our resource booklet. Outcomes Our project resulted in a resource binder that comes with phone numbers, websites, and in-depth instructions. This printed version will be available to the tenants in every housing unit, as well as the central office, with the addition of an online simplified version with hyperlinks directly to the resource (an application, an appointment, a number, etc.). Our goal was to make the resources accessible, simple, and easy to use. We used both evidence-based research and feedback from the residents and RSC to directly develop the tools around their needs. We believe our goal has been achieved. Conclusion Throughout the eight weeks of working with this site we were able to assess the population, find their specific needs, and work with them to formulate the resources needed. Through our binder and online version, we hope to provide this community with opportunities to increase and support their mental and physical needs and satisfaction at this site. One limitation we have recognized is the limited time for evaluation we have to see the effectiveness of our tools, as the binder is implemented in the final week of our project. We also acknowledge that our resources were limited by the number of survey responses we received and by those who have reached out for resources in the past. The use of our survey leads to report bias, which can result in missed resources by those who did not participate. In the end, our project is a tool for them to use to support their own health, bring awareness, and provide access to available resources. We hope future groups and management continue to contribute and update our resource binder and that it can be truly impactful and supportive to all those at this site. References Andreq, J. A., Brown, L. JE., Hawley, M. S., & Astell, A. J. (2019). Older Adult\u27s Perspectives on Using Digital Technology to Maintain Good Mental Health: Interactive Group Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(2), https://doi.org/10.2196/11694 Haase, K., Cosco, T., Kervin, L., Riadi, I., & O\u27Connell M. E. (2021). Older Adults Experiences With Using Technology for Socialization During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Crosssectional Survey Study. JMIR AGING, 4(2), https://doi.org/10.2196/28010 McMaughan, D. J., Oloruntoba, O., & Smith, M. L. (2020). Socioeconomic Status and Access to Healthcare: Interrelated Drivers for Healthy Aging. Frontiers in public health, 8(231), https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00231 Scheerens, C., Gilissen, J., Volow, AM., et al. (2021). Developing eHealth tools for diverse older adults: Lessons learned from the PREPARE for Your Care Program. J Am Geriatric Soc. 69(10):2939±2949. https://doi.org/10. 1111/jgs.17284 Yamada, T., Chen, C.-C., Murata, C., Hirai, H., Ojima, T., Kondo, K., Harris, J.R. (2015). Access Disparity and Health Inequality of the Elderly: Unmet Needs and Delayed Healthcare. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(2), 1745-1772. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120201745. Yang, L., Wang, L., Di, X., & Dai, X. (2021). Utilization of Community Care Services and self-rated health among elderly population in China: A survey-based analysis with propensity score matching method. BMC Public Health, 21(1936), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11989-

Life as a Parkland Pathways Student

This podcast is the result of an ethnography assignment for Anthropology 103 at Parkland College in Champaign, IL. Students interviewed other students involved with Parkland Pathways, a competitive program that guarantees admission to the University of Illinois through Parkland College transfer credits. Four students were interviewed to discover their likes and dislikes of the program

Riverine skin temperature response to subsurface processes in low wind speeds

Both surface and subsurface processes modulate the surface thermal skin and as such the skin temperature may serve as an indicator for coastal, estuarine, and alluvial processes. Infrared (IR) imagery offers the unique tool to survey such systems, allowing not only to assess temperature variability of the thermal boundary layer, but also to derive surface flow fields through digital particle image velocimetry, optical flow techniques, or spectral methods. In this study, IR time-series imagery taken from a boat moored in the Hudson River estuary is used to determine surface flow, turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, and characteristic temperature and velocity length scales. These are linked to subsurface measurements provided by in situ instruments. Under the low wind conditions and weak stratification, surface currents and dissipation rate are found to reflect subsurface mean flow (r^2 = 0.89) and turbulence (r^2 = 0.75). For relatively low dissipation rates, better correlations are obtained by computing dissipation rates directly from wavenumber spectra rather than when having to assume the validity of the Taylor hypothesis. Furthermore, the subsurface dissipation rate scales with the surface length scales (L) and mean flow (U) using ε ∝ U^3/L (r^2 = 0.9). The surface length scale derived from the thermal fields is found to have a strong linear relationship (r^2 = 0.88) to water depth (D) with (D/L) ∼ 13. Such a relation may prove useful for remote bathymetric surveys when no waves are present

Financial Well-being of Frontline Healthcare Workers: The Importance of Employer Benefits

Frontline healthcare workers – especially direct care workers (DCWs), such as home health aides, struggle due to low pay, lack of benefits, and difficult working conditions. The need for these workers is growing. Unless frontline healthcare jobs improve, positions may be difficult to fill, and care for vulnerable members of society may be compromised. In this study, we surveyed 2,321 frontline healthcare workers and conducted in-depth interviews with 30 of these workers concerning pay, benefits, work conditions, and financial well-being. Key survey findings included: Only 39% of workers were eligible for at least four out of five major benefits (e.g., health, retirement). Compared to all U.S. workers, workers had less access to health, retirement, paid leave, dental, and tuition benefits. On average, the proportion of workers who said various benefits were important to them was 41 percentage points higher than the proportion of workers who had access to these benefits. Probabilities that workers had access to most major benefits were: 138% higher among workers with college degrees compared to workers without degrees 206% higher among workers in facility-based settings such as hospitals compared to workers in home health or private duty settings and 24% lower among Black compared to white workers. Black workers, workers without college degrees, and workers in home health or private duty settings had significantly higher rates of 9 out of 10 financial difficulties such as problems paying bills. The greater the number of major benefits to which workers had access, the lower their probabilities for experiencing all 10 financial difficulties – after controlling for income and other factors. For example, the probability of experiencing food insufficiency drops by 28% from having three benefits compared to one. 59% of workers changed jobs at least once in the past year. 34% of workers are somewhat or very likely to leave their current job in the next year. Workers with a greater number of major benefits to which they had access and those with higher levels of job satisfaction were less likely to consider leaving. In-depth interviewers revealed that workers struggle with challenging work conditions, such as severe staffing shortages. Work is physically and emotionally demanding, and burnout is high. Despite this, they want to remain in healthcare. Pay is the primary factor when considering a job change, yet workers yearned for more tuition assistance to support career development, more help with childcare, and less expensive health insurance. Many workers rely on public benefits and find it stressful to navigate benefits cliffs - the possibility of losing public benefits when income rises above income limits. Based on these key findings, we outline a set of recommendations for employers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to improve pay, benefits, and work conditions for frontline health workers, especially DCWs, such as: Offering a core package of major benefits: health insurance, paid leave, retirement, dental, and childcare assistance and ensuring workers can afford health insurance premiums. Increasing spending on home and community-based services (HCBS) via Medicaid to raise pay for frontline healthcare workers. Increasing federal funding for childcare subsidies and fixing benefits cliffs

Genetic identification of C fibres that detect massage-like stroking of hairy skin in vivo

Stroking of the skin produces pleasant sensations that can occur during social interactions with conspecifics, such as grooming. Despite numerous physiological studies (reviewed in ref. 2), molecularly defined sensory neurons that detect pleasant stroking of hairy skin in vivo have not been reported. Previously, we identified a rare population of unmyelinated sensory neurons in mice that express the G-protein-coupled receptor MRGPRB4. These neurons exclusively innervate hairy skin with large terminal arborizations that resemble the receptive fields of C-tactile (CT) afferents in humans. Unlike other molecularly defined mechanosensory C-fibre subtypes, MRGPRB4^+ neurons could not be detectably activated by sensory stimulation of the skin ex vivo. Therefore, we developed a preparation for calcium imaging in the spinal projections of these neurons during stimulation of the periphery in intact mice. Here we show that MRGPRB4^+ neurons are activated by massage-like stroking of hairy skin, but not by noxious punctate mechanical stimulation. By contrast, a different population of C fibres expressing MRGPRD was activated by pinching but not by stroking, consistent with previous physiological and behavioural data. Pharmacogenetic activation of Mrgprb4-expressing neurons in freely behaving mice promoted conditioned place preference, indicating that such activation is positively reinforcing and/or anxiolytic. These data open the way to understanding the function of MRGPRB4 neurons during natural behaviours, and provide a general approach to the functional characterization of genetically identified subsets of somatosensory neurons in vivo

Temperature and residence time controls on an estuarine harmful algal bloom : modeling hydrodynamics and Alexandrium fundyense in Nauset estuary

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Estuaries and Coasts 38 (2015): 2240-2258, doi:10.1007/s12237-015-9949-z.A highly resolved, 3-d model of hydrodynamics and Alexandrium fundyense in an estuarine embayment has been developed to investigate the physical and biological controls on a recurrent harmful algal bloom. Nauset estuary on Cape Cod (MA, USA) consists of three salt ponds connected to the ocean through a shallow marsh and network of tidal channels. The model is evaluated using quantitative skill metrics against observations of physical and biological conditions during three spring blooms. The A. fundyense model is based on prior model applications for the nearby Gulf of Maine, but notable modifications were made to be consistent with the Nauset observations. The dominant factors controlling the A. fundyense bloom in Nauset were the water temperature, which regulates organism growth rates, and the efficient retention of cells due to bathymetric constraints, stratification, and cell behavior (diel vertical migration). Spring-neap variability in exchange altered residence times, but for cell retention to be substantially longer than the cell doubling time required both active vertical migration and stratification that inhibits mixing of cells into the surface layer by wind and tidal currents. Unlike in the Gulf of Maine, the model results were relatively insensitive to cyst distributions or germination rates. Instead, in Nauset, high apparent rates of vegetative cell division by retained populations dictated bloom development. Cyst germination occurred earlier in the year than in the Gulf of Maine, suggesting that Nauset cysts have different controls on germination timing. The model results were relatively insensitive to nutrient concentrations, due to eutrophic conditions in the highly impacted estuary or due to limitations in the spatial and temporal resolution of nutrient sampling. Cell loss rates were inferred to be extremely low during the growth phase of the bloom, but increased rapidly during the final phase due to processes that remain uncertain. The validated model allows a quantitative assessment of the factors that contribute to the development of a recurrent harmful algal bloom and provides a framework for assessing similarly impacted coastal systems.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (OCE-0430724, OCE-0911031, and OCE-1314642) and National Institutes of Health (NIEHS-1P50-ES021923-01) through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, and by National Park Service (NPS) Cooperative Agreement H238015504.2016-03-1

Anti-Müllerian hormone for the diagnosis and prediction of menopause:a systematic review

Background: The early onset of menopause is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. As a woman’s circulating anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentration reflects the number of follicles remaining in the ovary and declines towards the menopause, serum AMH may be of value in the early diagnosis and prediction of age at menopause. Objective and Rationale: This systematic review was undertaken to determine whether there is evidence to support the use of AMH alone, or in conjunction with other markers, to diagnose menopause, to predict menopause, or to predict and/or diagnose premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). Search Methods: A systematic literature search for publications reporting on AMH in relation to menopause or POI was conducted in PubMed®, Embase®, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials up to 31 May 2022. Data were extracted and synthesized using the Synthesis Without Meta-analysis for diagnosis of menopause, prediction of menopause, prediction of menopause with a single/repeat measurement of AMH, validation of prediction models, short-term prediction in perimenopausal women, and diagnosis and prediction of POI. Risk-of-bias was evaluated using the Tool to Assess Risk of Bias in Cohort Studies protocol and studies at high risk of bias were excluded. Outcomes: A total of 3207 studies were identified, and 41, including 28 858 women, were deemed relevant and included. Of the three studies that assessed AMH for the diagnosis of menopause, one showed that undetectable AMH had equivalent diagnostic accuracy to elevated FSH (>22.3 mIU/ml). No study assessed whether AMH could be used to shorten the 12 months of amenorrhoea required for a formal diagnosis of menopause. Studies assessing AMH with the onset of menopause (27 publications [n = 23 835 women]) generally indicated that lower age-specific AMH concentrations are associated with an earlier age at menopause. However, AMH alone could not be used to predict age at menopause with precision (with estimates and CIs ranging from 2 to 12 years for women aged <40 years). The predictive value of AMH increased with age, as the interval of prediction (time to menopause) shortened. There was evidence that undetectable, or extremely low AMH, may aid early diagnosis of POI in young women with a family history of POI, and women presenting with primary or secondary amenorrhoea (11 studies [n = 4537]). Wider Implications: The findings of this systematic review support the use of serum AMH to study the age of menopause in population studies. The increased sensitivity of current AMH assays provides improved accuracy for the prediction of imminent menopause, but diagnostic use for individual patients has not been rigorously examined. Prediction of age at menopause remains imprecise when it is not imminent, although the finding of very low AMH values in young women is both of clinical value in indicating an increased risk of developing POI and may facilitate timely diagnosis