The Conceptual Project in Child Variance

This report covers highlights from a survey of the literature on emotional disturbance. The survey was begun in 1970 by the Conceptual Project in Child Variance at the University of Michigan. The Project has developed the survey to serve both as a model for graduate student training and as a source of materials for graduate level programs across the United States. Results are being published in a four-volume work , A Study of Child Variance, which examines theories, intervention practices, and service delivery systems, and presents an overview with a look toward the future. The activities of the graduate students and of professional workshop groups are described, and a summary of Project materials is also reported .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44582/1/10802_2004_Article_BF00919358.pd

HIV/AIDS among Inmates of and Releasees from US Correctional Facilities, 2006: Declining Share of Epidemic but Persistent Public Health Opportunity

Because certain groups at high risk for HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) come together in correctional facilities, seroprevalence was high early in the epidemic. The share of the HIV/AIDS epidemic borne by inmates of and persons released from jails and prisons in the United States (US) in 1997 was estimated in a previous paper. While the number of inmates and releasees has risen, their HIV seroprevalence rates have fallen. We sought to determine if the share of HIV/AIDS borne by inmates and releasees in the US decreased between 1997 and 2006. We created a new model of population flow in and out of correctional facilities to estimate the number of persons released in 1997 and 2006. In 1997, approximately one in five of all HIV-infected Americans was among the 7.3 million who left a correctional facility that year. Nine years later, only one in seven (14%) of infected Americans was among the 9.1 million leaving, a 29.3% decline in the share. For black and Hispanic males, two demographic groups with heightened incarceration rates, recently released inmates comprise roughly one in five of those groups' total HIV-infected persons, a figure similar to the proportion borne by the correctional population as a whole in 1997. Decreasing HIV seroprevalence among those admitted to jails and prisons, prolonged survival and aging of the US population with HIV/AIDS beyond the crime-prone years, and success with discharge planning programs targeting HIV-infected prisoners could explain the declining concentration of the epidemic among correctional populations. Meanwhile, the number of persons with HIV/AIDS leaving correctional facilities remains virtually identical. Jails and prisons continue to be potent targets for public health interventions. The fluid nature of incarcerated populations ensures that effective interventions will be felt not only in correctional facilities but also in communities to which releasees return

Fine Structure in the Circumstellar Environment of a Young, Solar-like Star: the Unique Eclipses of KH 15D

Results of an international campaign to photometrically monitor the unique pre-main sequence eclipsing object KH 15D are reported. An updated ephemeris for the eclipse is derived that incorporates a slightly revised period of 48.36 d. There is some evidence that the orbital period is actually twice that value, with two eclipses occurring per cycle. The extraordinary depth (~3.5 mag) and duration (~18 days) of the eclipse indicate that it is caused by circumstellar matter, presumably the inner portion of a disk. The eclipse has continued to lengthen with time and the central brightness reversals are not as extreme as they once were. V-R and V-I colors indicate that the system is slightly bluer near minimum light. Ingress and egress are remarkably well modeled by the passage of a knife-edge across a limb-darkened star. Possible models for the system are briefly discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

The Multiproblem Neighborhood project

This is a brief report on a Multiproblem Neighborhood project in a moderate size metropolitan community. It presents the conceptual frame of reference of the project and some of the tangible organizational outgrowths of the research penetration into the complex community structures enclosing the neighborhood .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44314/1/10597_2005_Article_BF01434446.pd

The USNO-B Catalog

USNO-B is an all-sky catalog that presents positions, proper motions, magnitudes in various optical passbands, and star/galaxy estimators for 1,042,618,261 objects derived from 3,643,201,733 separate observations. The data were obtained from scans of 7,435 Schmidt plates taken for the various sky surveys during the last 50 years. USNO-B1.0 is believed to provide all-sky coverage, completeness down to V = 21, 0.2 arcsecond astrometric accuracy at J2000, 0.3 magnitude photometric accuracy in up to five colors, and 85% accuracy for distinguishing stars from non-stellar objects. A brief discussion of various issues is given here, but the actual data are available from http://www.nofs.navy.mil and other sites.Comment: Accepted by Astronomical Journa

Transfer RNA-derived small RNAs in the cancer transcriptome

The cellular lifetime includes stages such as differentiation, proliferation, division, senescence and apoptosis.These stages are driven by a strictly ordered process of transcription dynamics. Molecular disruption to RNA polymerase assembly, chromatin remodelling and transcription factor binding through to RNA editing, splicing, post-transcriptional regulation and ribosome scanning can result in significant costs arising from genome instability. Cancer development is one example of when such disruption takes place. RNA silencing is a term used to describe the effects of post-transcriptional gene silencing mediated by a diverse set of small RNA molecules. Small RNAs are crucial for regulating gene expression and microguarding genome integrity.RNA silencing studies predominantly focus on small RNAs such as microRNAs, short-interfering RNAs and piwi-interacting RNAs. We describe an emerging renewal of inter-est in a‘larger’small RNA, the transfer RNA (tRNA).Precisely generated tRNA-derived small RNAs, named tRNA halves (tiRNAs) and tRNA fragments (tRFs), have been reported to be abundant with dysregulation associated with cancer. Transfection of tiRNAs inhibits protein translation by displacing eukaryotic initiation factors from messenger RNA (mRNA) and inaugurating stress granule formation.Knockdown of an overexpressed tRF inhibits cancer cell proliferation. Recovery of lacking tRFs prevents cancer metastasis. The dual oncogenic and tumour-suppressive role is typical of functional small RNAs. We review recent reports on tiRNA and tRF discovery and biogenesis, identification and analysis from next-generation sequencing data and a mechanistic animal study to demonstrate their physiological role in cancer biology. We propose tRNA-derived small RNA-mediated RNA silencing is an innate defence mechanism to prevent oncogenic translation. We expect that cancer cells are percipient to their ablated control of transcription and attempt to prevent loss of genome control through RNA silencing

Comparative study of healthy older and younger adults shows they have the same skin concentration of vitamin D3 precursor, 7-dehydrocholesterol, and similar response to UVR

Vitamin D3 synthesis in human skin is initiated by solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure of precursor 7-dehydrocholesterol (7DHC), but influence of age on the early stage of vitamin D3 metabolism is uncertain. We performed a prospective standardised study in healthy ambulant adults aged ≥65 and ≤40 years examining (1) if baseline skin 7DHC concentration differs between younger and older adults and (2) the impact of older age on serum vitamin D3 response to solar simulated UVR. Eleven younger (18–40 years) and 10 older (65–89 years) adults, phototype I–III, received low-dose UVR (95% UVA, 5% UVB, 1.3 SED) to ~35% of the body surface area. Biopsies were taken for 7DHC assay from unexposed skin, skin immediately and 24 h post-UVR, and blood sampled at baseline, 24 h and 7 d post-UVR for vitamin D3 assay. Samples were analysed by HPLC-MS/MS. Baseline skin 7DHC (mean ± SD) was 0.22 ± 0.07 and 0.25 ± 0.08 µg/mg in younger versus older adults (no significant difference). Baseline serum vitamin D3 concentration was 1.5 ± 1.5 and 1.5 ± 1.7 nmol/L in younger versus older adults, respectively, and showed a significant increase in both groups post-UVR (no significant differences between age groups). Thus, skin 7DHC concentration was not a limiting factor for vitamin D3 production in older relative to younger adults. This information assists public health guidance on sun exposure/vitamin D nutrition, with particular relevance to the growing populations of healthy ambulant adults ≥65 years

Influence of vitamin D supplementation by sunlight or oral D3 on exercise performance

Purpose: To determine the relationship between vitamin D status and exercise performance in a large, prospective cohort study of young men and women across seasons (Study-1). Then, in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, to investigate the effects on exercise performance of achieving vitamin D sufficiency (serum 25(OH)D ≥ 50 nmol·L-1) by a unique comparison of safe, simulated-sunlight and oral vitamin D3 supplementation in wintertime (Study-2).  Methods: In Study-1, we determined 25(OH)D relationship with exercise performance in 967 military recruits. In Study-2, 137 men received either placebo, simulated-sunlight (1.3x standard erythemal dose in T-shirt and shorts, three-times-per-week for 4-weeks and then once-per-week for 8-weeks) or oral vitamin D3 (1,000 IU[BULLET OPERATOR]day-1 for 4-weeks and then 400 IU[BULLET OPERATOR]day-1 for 8-weeks). We measured serum 25(OH)D by LC-MS/MS and endurance, strength and power by 1.5-mile run, maximum-dynamic-lift and vertical jump, respectively.  Results: In Study-1, only 9% of men and 36% of women were vitamin D sufficient during wintertime. After controlling for body composition, smoking and season, 25(OH)D was positively associated with endurance performance (P ≤ 0.01, [INCREMENT]R2 = 0.03–0.06, small f2 effect sizes): 1.5-mile run time was ~half-a-second faster for every 1 nmol·L-1 increase in 25(OH)D. No significant effects on strength or power emerged (P > 0.05). In Study-2, safe simulated-sunlight and oral vitamin D3 supplementation were similarly effective in achieving vitamin D sufficiency in almost all (97%); however, this did not improve exercise performance (P > 0.05).  Conclusion: Vitamin D status was associated with endurance performance but not strength or power in a prospective cohort study. Achieving vitamin D sufficiency via safe, simulated summer sunlight or oral vitamin D3 supplementation did not improve exercise performance in a randomized-controlled trial