Qualitative Indicators of Social Resilience in Small-Scale Fishing Communities: An Emphasis on Perceptions and Practice

This paper reports on ethnographic research aimed at understanding what resilience means to those living within fishery-dependent communities. We draw on semi-structured and oral history interviews, focus groups, and household and business interviews in four Maine fishing communities to examine the reflections of fishermen and other community members on the past, present, and future of their communities, including the threats they face and how they are able to respond to them. Based on our analysis, we identify broad qualitative indicators of resilience: survival, social identity, diversification, getting by, and optimism. The indicators of resilience that we identify are difficult to fully understand using secondary data and, therefore, we argue that understanding them also requires an ethnographic research approach that focuses on the practices of fishermen and the context in which those fishermen live

The dynamics of HIV transmission in out of school young heterosexual men in South Africa: a systematic scoping review protocol

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Type I interferon signaling is required for activation of the inflammasome during Francisella infection

Francisella tularensis is a pathogenic bacterium whose virulence is linked to its ability to replicate within the host cell cytosol. Entry into the macrophage cytosol activates a host-protective multimolecular complex called the inflammasome to release the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and -18 and trigger caspase-1–dependent cell death. In this study, we show that cytosolic F. tularensis subspecies novicida (F. novicida) induces a type I interferon (IFN) response that is essential for caspase-1 activation, inflammasome-mediated cell death, and release of IL-1β and -18. Extensive type I IFN–dependent cell death resulting in macrophage depletion occurs in vivo during F. novicida infection. Type I IFN is also necessary for inflammasome activation in response to cytosolic Listeria monocytogenes but not vacuole-localized Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium or extracellular adenosine triphosphate. These results show the specific connection between type I IFN signaling and inflammasome activation, which are two sequential events triggered by the recognition of cytosolic bacteria. To our knowledge, this is the first example of the positive regulation of inflammasome activation. This connection underscores the importance of the cytosolic recognition of pathogens and highlights how multiple innate immunity pathways interact before commitment to critical host responses

The Effect of a Community-Based, Primary Health Care Exercise Program on Inflammatory Biomarkers and Hormone Levels

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of a community-based exercise program in primary care on inflammatory biomarkers and hormone levels. The 1-year quasiexperimental study involved 13 women (mean age = 56.8 ± 11.4 years) and it was developed in two basic health care units in Rio Claro City, Brazil. The physical exercise intervention was comprised of two, 60-minute sessions/week. The inflammatory biomarkers were measured at baseline, 6 months, and 1 year. Repeated measures ANOVA analyses indicated that the intervention was effective in reducing CRP and TNFα after 1 year compared to baseline and 6 months . There were no changes in IL10, IL6, and insulin after 1 year. However, leptin significantly increased at 1 year . The major finding of this study is that a community-based exercise program can result in a decrease or maintenance of inflammatory biomarkers after 1 year, and thus has the potential to be a viable public health approach for chronic disease prevention

Drought-induced biomass burning as a source of black carbon to the central Himalaya since 1781 CE as reconstructed from the Dasuopu ice core

Himalayan glaciers are melting due to atmospheric warming, with the potential to limit access to water for more than 25 % of the global population that resides in these glacier meltwater catchments. Black carbon has been implicated as a factor that is contributing to Himalayan glacier melt, but its sources and mechanisms of delivery to the Himalayas remain controversial. Here, we provide a 211-year ice core record spanning 1781–1992 CE for refractory black carbon (rBC) deposition from the Dasuopu glacier ice core that has to date provided the highest-elevation ice core record (7200 m). We report an average rBC concentration of 1.5 µg L−1 (SD=5.0, n=1628) over the 211-year period. An increase in the frequency and magnitude of rBC deposition occurs after 1877 CE, accompanied by decreased snow accumulation associated with a shift in the North Atlantic Oscillation Index to a positive phase. Typically, rBC is deposited onto Dasuopu glacier during the non-monsoon season, and short-lived increases in rBC concentration are associated with periods of drought within neighboring regions in northwestern India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Using a combination of spectral and back-trajectory analyses, as well as a comparison with a concurrent analysis of trace metals at equivalent depths in the same ice core, we show that biomass burning resulting from dry conditions is a source of rBC to the central Himalaya and is responsible for deposition that is up to 60 times higher than the average rBC concentration over the time period analyzed. We suggest that biomass burning is a significant source of rBC to the central Himalaya and that the rBC record can be used to identify periods of drought in nearby regions that are upwind of Dasuopu glacier

Performance of PCA3 and TMPRSS2:ERG urinary biomarkers in prediction of biopsy outcome in the Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS).

BackgroundFor men on active surveillance for prostate cancer, biomarkers may improve prediction of reclassification to higher grade or volume cancer. This study examined the association of urinary PCA3 and TMPRSS2:ERG (T2:ERG) with biopsy-based reclassification.MethodsUrine was collected at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months in the multi-institutional Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS), and PCA3 and T2:ERG levels were quantitated. Reclassification was an increase in Gleason score or ratio of biopsy cores with cancer to ≥34%. The association of biomarker scores, adjusted for common clinical variables, with short- and long-term reclassification was evaluated. Discriminatory capacity of models with clinical variables alone or with biomarkers was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and decision curve analysis (DCA).ResultsSeven hundred and eighty-two men contributed 2069 urine specimens. After adjusting for PSA, prostate size, and ratio of biopsy cores with cancer, PCA3 but not T2:ERG was associated with short-term reclassification at the first surveillance biopsy (OR = 1.3; 95% CI 1.0-1.7, p = 0.02). The addition of PCA3 to a model with clinical variables improved area under the curve from 0.743 to 0.753 and increased net benefit minimally. After adjusting for clinical variables, neither marker nor marker kinetics was associated with time to reclassification in subsequent biopsies.ConclusionsPCA3 but not T2:ERG was associated with cancer reclassification in the first surveillance biopsy but has negligible improvement over clinical variables alone in ROC or DCA analyses. Neither marker was associated with reclassification in subsequent biopsies

Testing the Tripartite Influence Model Among Heterosexual, Bisexual, and Lesbian Women

This cross-sectional study explored similarities and differences between heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women in levels of, and relationships between, the following constructs using a Tripartite Influence Model framework: family, peer, and media appearance pressures, thin- and muscular-ideal internalization, and eating disorder (ED) pathology. Self-identified heterosexual (n = 1,528), bisexual (n = 89), and lesbian (n = 278) undergraduate women completed the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 and the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire. Sexual orientation differences in appearance pressures, appearance-ideal internalization, and ED pathology were examined via analysis of variance tests. Relationships between these variables were examined with multi-group path analyses, controlling for age, race/ethnicity, and body mass index. Compared with lesbian women, heterosexual and bisexual women reported higher levels of peer appearance pressures. Paths from peer appearance pressures and thin-ideal internalization to shape/weight overvaluation and body dissatisfaction were strongest for bisexual women. Overall, results indicate notable similarities between heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women. However, preliminary evidence for potential differences highlights the importance of examining variation in ED risk between sexual minority subgroups

Building Bridges Between Community Based Organizations and Technology: Exploring Tools for Community Participation and Economic Development for the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative

Technology plays a vital role in public and private businesses, governments, and organizations, and can be especially useful to organizations that may know the least about it. Unfortunately, many Community Based Organizations (CBOs) have traditionally been unable to embrace contemporary tools due to lack of capacity, time or money. This paper begins to identify issues related to the technology gap faced by CBOs in a case study that examines community economic empowerment for the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative® (DSNI). The problem was approached through a community-university partnership between the Cornell University CRP 607 GIS Workshop Class (Sibley Consulting) and DSNI. One of the main technological tools used in bridging this gap was the use of geographic information systems (GIS). With an increase in GIS capability, DSNI can collect, manage, analyze and visualize neighborhood data, thus providing simple but powerful knowledge to the community. A geodatabase should be created where new and existing data can be stored, updated, and utilized repetitively. The geodatabase will allow DSNI to manipulate the data for a wide range of uses such as evaluating neighborhood trends for economic development. This classroom experiment provided students with an opportunity to provide professional technology services as a ‘mock’ consulting team. However, all of the data, maps and geospatial and other web-based technology evaluations will be utilized by DSNI and will have an immediate impact on the future of the Dudley neighborhood. This report is an educational tool for DSNI in order to evaluate the future database design and community GIS application. This report can also be seen as a model by which other community-university teams can measure their successful implementation to create a resident led community database information management system. A series of base maps which depict existing conditions along with secondary data resources have been used to evaluate the Dudley Neighborhood in Roxbury and North Dorchester, Massachusetts

Dietary energy density and adiposity: employing bias adjustments in a meta-analysis of prospective studies.

BACKGROUND: Dietary studies differ in design and quality making it difficult to compare results. This study quantifies the prospective association between dietary energy density (DED) and adiposity in children using a meta-analysis method that adjusts for differences in design and quality through eliciting and incorporating expert opinion on the biases and their uncertainty. METHOD: Six prospective studies identified by a previous systematic literature search were included. Differences in study quality and design were considered respectively as internal and external biases and captured in bias checklists. Study results were converted to correlation coefficients; biases were considered either additive or proportional on this scale. The extent and uncertainty of the internal and external biases in each study were elicited in a formal process by five quantitatively-trained assessors and five subject-matter specialists. Biases for each study were combined across assessors using median pooling and results combined across studies by random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: The unadjusted combined correlation between DED and adiposity change was 0.06 (95%CI 0.01, 0.11; p = 0.013), but with considerable heterogeneity (I² = 52%). After bias-adjustment the pooled correlation was 0.17 (95%CI - 0.11, 0.45; p = 0.24), and the studies were apparently compatible (I² = 0%). CONCLUSIONS: This method allowed quantitative synthesis of the prospective association between DED and adiposity change in children, which is important for the development of evidence-informed policy. Bias adjustment increased the magnitude of the positive association but the widening confidence interval reflects the uncertainty of the assessed biases and implies that higher quality studies are required.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are