Changing cultural pathways through gender role and sexual development: A theoretical framework

Greenfield's theory linking sociodemographic change to dynamic cultural values for family interdependence versus individual independence is applied to sexual and gender role socialization and development. The theory explains how cultural pathways for sexual and gender-role development transform in concert with sociodemographic changes: urbanization, formal schooling, capitalism, and communication technologies. As environments become more urban, commercial, and technological, with more opportunities for formal education, sexual development moves away from the ideals of procreation and family responsibility and toward the ideals of personal pleasure and personal responsibility. At the same time, gender-role development moves away from the ideals of complementary and ascribed gender roles and toward chosen and equal gender roles. We present psychological, anthropological, and sociological evidence for these trends in a variety of communities undergoing social and ecological change. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association

Pulsed-Field Gradient NMR Self Diffusion and Ionic Conductivity Measurements for Liquid Electrolytes Containing LiBF₄ and Propylene Carbonate

Liquid electrolytes have been prepared using lithium tetrafluoroborate (LiBF₄) and propylene carbonate (PC). Pulsed-field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR) measurements were taken for the cation, anion and solvent molecules using lithium (⁷Li), fluorine (¹⁹F) and hydrogen (¹H) nuclei, respectively. It was found that lithium diffusion was slow compared to the much larger fluorinated BF₄ anion likely resulting from a large solvation shell of the lithium. Ionic conductivity and viscosity have also been measured for a range of salt concentrations and temperatures. By comparing the measured conductivity with a ideal predicted conductivity derived from the Nernst-Einstein equation and self diffusion coefficients the degree of ionic association of the anion and cation was determined and was observed to increase with salt concentration and temperature. Using the measured viscosity and self diffusion coefficients the effective radius of each of the species was determined for various salt concentrations

Pharmacovigilance in India, Uganda and South Africa with reference to WHO's minimum requirements.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacovigilance (PV) data are crucial for ensuring safety and effectiveness of medicines after drugs have been granted marketing approval. This paper describes the PV systems of India, Uganda and South Africa based on literature and Key Informant (KI) interviews and compares them with the World Health Organization's (WHO's) minimum PV requirements for a Functional National PV System. METHODS: A documentary analysis of academic literature and policy reports was undertaken to assess the medicines regulatory systems and policies in the three countries. A gap analysis from the document review indicated a need for further research in PV. KI interviews covered topics on PV: structure and practices of the system; current regulatory policy; capacity limitations, staffing, funding and training; availability and reporting of data; and awareness and usage of the systems. Twenty interviews were conducted in India, 8 in Uganda and 11 in South Africa with government officials from the ministries of health, national regulatory authorities, pharmaceutical producers, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), members of professional associations and academia. The findings from the literature and KI interviews were compared with WHO's minimum requirements. RESULTS: All three countries were confronted with similar barriers: lack of sufficient funding, limited number of trained staff, inadequate training programs, unclear roles and poor coordination of activities. Although KI interviews represented viewpoints of the respondents, the findings confirmed the documentary analysis of the literature. Although South Africa has a legal requirement for PV, we found that the three countries uniformly lacked adequate capacity to monitor medicines and evaluate risks according to the minimum standards of the WHO. CONCLUSION: A strong PV system is an important part of the overall medicine regulatory system and reflects on the stringency and competence of the regulatory bodies in regulating the market ensuring the safety and effectiveness of medications. National PV systems in the study countries needed strengthening. Greater attention to funding is needed to coordinate and sustain PV activities. Our study highlights a need for developing more systematic approaches to regularly monitoring and evaluating PV policy and practices

Posterior Spiracles of Fourth Instar Larvae of Four Species of Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) under Scanning Electron Microscopy

In the present study, posterior spiracles of laboratory-reared fourth instar larvae of Lutzomyia longipalpis, L. migonei, L. lenti, and L. whitmani (Diptera: Psychodidae) of the State of Ceará, Brazil, were examined under scanning electron microscopy. The number of papillae of spiracles examined varied according to the species examined, but no intraspecific differences were found. The importance of this structure to sand fly larva identification and phylogeny is commented

Inter-sectoral and multilevel coordination alone do not reduce deforestation and advance environmental justice:Why bold contestation works when collaboration fails

Policy makers, academics, and conservationists often posit that poor coordination between different land use sectors, and between levels of governance, as an underlying challenge for reducing deforestation and forest degradation. This paper analyzes this argument using data from interviews with over 500 respondents from government, nongovernmental organizations, private companies, local and indigenous communities, activists, and individuals involved in 35 diverse land use initiatives in three countries: Peru, Indonesia, and Mexico. We find that while there is strong evidence of widespread coordination failures between sectors and levels, more fundamental political issues preclude effective coordination. We argue that political coalitions act to oppose environmental objectives and to impede their opponents from participating in land use governance. Moreover, we find that where coordination between actors does occur, it does not necessarily produce environmentally sustainable and socially just land use outcomes. Where we do find successful initiatives to reduce deforestation and benefit local people, effective coordination between well-informed actors is often present, but it does not occur spontaneously, and is instead driven by political organizing over time by activists, local people, nongovernmental organizations, and international donors. We suggest that the global environmental community must recognize explicitly these political dimensions of land use governance in order to successfully collaborate with local people to reduce deforestation

Functional Analysis of a Unique Troponin C Mutation, GLY159ASP, that Causes Familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy, Studied in Explanted Heart Muscle

Background-Familial dilated cardiomyopathy can be caused by mutations in the proteins of the muscle thin filament. In vitro, these mutations decrease Ca2+ sensitivity and cross-bridge turnover rate, but the mutations have not been investigated in human tissue. We studied the Ca2+-regulatory properties of myocytes and troponin extracted from the explanted heart of a patient with inherited dilated cardiomyopathy due to the cTnC G159D mutation.Methods and Results-Mass spectroscopy showed that the mutant cTnC was expressed approximately equimolar with wild-type cTnC. Contraction was compared in skinned ventricular myocytes from the cTnC G159D patient and nonfailing donor heart. Maximal Ca2+-activated force was similar in cTnC G159D and donor myocytes, but the Ca2+ sensitivity of cTnC G159D myocytes was higher (EC50 G159D/donor=0.60). Thin filaments reconstituted with skeletal muscle actin and human cardiac tropomyosin and troponin were studied by in vitro motility assay. Thin filaments containing the mutation had a higher Ca2+ sensitivity (EC(50)G159D/donor=0.55 +/- 0.13), whereas the maximally activated sliding speed was unaltered. In addition, the cTnC G159D mutation blunted the change in Ca2+ sensitivity when TnI was dephosphorylated. With wild-type troponin, Ca2+ sensitivity was increased (EC50 P/unP=4.7 +/- 1.9) but not with cTnC G159D troponin (EC50 P/unP=1.2 +/- 0.1).Conclusions-We propose that uncoupling of the relationship between phosphorylation and Ca2+ sensitivity could be the cause of the dilated cardiomyopathy phenotype. The differences between these data and previous in vitro results show that native phosphorylation of troponin I and troponin T and other posttranslational modifications of sarcomeric proteins strongly influence the functional effects of a mutation. (Circ Heart Fail. 2009;2:456-464.

Exercise intolerance at high altitude (5050 m): critical power and W'

The relationship between work rate (WR) and its tolerable duration (t(LIM)) has not been investigated at high altitude (HA). At HA (5050 m) and at sea level (SL), six subjects therefore performed symptom-limited cycle-ergometry: an incremental test (IET) and three constant-WR tests (% of IET WR(max), HA and SL respectively: WR(1) 70±8%, 74±7%; WR(2) 86±14%, 88±10%; WR(3) 105±13%, 104±9%). The power asymptote (CP) and curvature constant (W') of the hyperbolic WR-t(LIM) relationship were reduced at HA compared to SL (CP: 81±21 vs. 123±38 W; W': 7.2±2.9 vs. 13.1±4.3 kJ). HA breathing reserve (estimated maximum voluntary ventilation minus end-exercise ventilation) was also compromised (WR(1): 25±25 vs. 50±18 l min(-1); WR(2): 4±23 vs. 38±23 l min(-1); WR(3): -3±18 vs. 32±24 l min(-1)) with near-maximal dyspnea levels (Borg) (WR(1): 7.2±1.2 vs. 4.8±1.3; WR(2): 8.8±0.8 vs. 5.3±1.2; WR(3): 9.3±1.0 vs. 5.3±1.5). The CP reduction is consistent with a reduced O(2) availability; that of W' with reduced muscle-venous O(2) storage, exacerbated by ventilatory limitation and dyspnea. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Capturing and testing perceptual-cognitive expertise: A comparison of stationary and movement response methods

Numerous methods have been used to study expertise and performance. In the present article, we compare the cognitive thought processes of skilled soccer players when responding to film-based simulations of defensive situations involving two different experimental conditions. Participants either remained stationary in a seated position (n = 10) or were allowed to move (n = 10) in response to life-size film sequences of 11 versus 11 open-play soccer situations viewed from a player’s perspective. Response accuracy and retrospective verbal reports of thinking were collected across the two task conditions. In the movement-based response group, participants generated a greater number of verbal report statements, including a higher proportion of evaluation, prediction, and action planning statements, than did participants in the stationary group. Findings suggest that the processing strategies employed during performance differ depending on the nature of the response required of participants. Implications for behavioral methods and experimental design are discussed

Behavioural syndrome in a solitary predator is independent of body size and growth rate.

Models explaining behavioural syndromes often focus on state-dependency, linking behavioural variation to individual differences in other phenotypic features. Empirical studies are, however, rare. Here, we tested for a size and growth-dependent stable behavioural syndrome in the juvenile-stages of a solitary apex predator (pike, Esox lucius), shown as repeatable foraging behaviour across risk. Pike swimming activity, latency to prey attack, number of successful and unsuccessful prey attacks was measured during the presence/absence of visual contact with a competitor or predator. Foraging behaviour across risks was considered an appropriate indicator of boldness in this solitary predator where a trade-off between foraging behaviour and threat avoidance has been reported. Support was found for a behavioural syndrome, where the rank order differences in the foraging behaviour between individuals were maintained across time and risk situation. However, individual behaviour was independent of body size and growth in conditions of high food availability, showing no evidence to support the state-dependent personality hypothesis. The importance of a combination of spatial and temporal environmental variation for generating growth differences is highlighted