Youth Development Approaches in Adolescent Family Life Demonstration Projects

Youth development (YD) strategies in conjunction with appropriate age-graded sexuality and family life education programs/curricula may have an important role to play in formulating convincing answers to these questions. Youth development approaches help youth enhance their assets rather than concentrating on their difficulties. They focus on where youth are going, helping them develop a belief in a viable future and in their ability to take actions that will bring that future about. The commitment to a future that would be disrupted by a pregnancy during adolescence is about the only thing that Zabin and her colleagues (1986) found to differentiate among Baltimore adolescents using teen clinics who did and did not get pregnant. Teens without a strong reason to avoid pregnancy got pregnant at the same rate as those who wanted to get pregnant; the only teens who were successful at avoiding pregnancy were those who had a future goal that a pregnancy would disrupt. Thus, incorporating youth development principles along with some specific techniques into the work of the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs' (OAPP) abstinence-oriented programs would seem to be an important program enhancement with potentially valuable impacts

Zinc isotopes in Late Pleistocene fossil teeth from a Southeast Asian cave setting preserve paleodietary information

International audienceStable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of collagen from bone and dentin have frequently been used for dietary reconstruction, but this method is limited by protein preservation. Isotopes of the trace element zinc (Zn) in bioapatite constitute a promising proxy to infer dietary information from extant and extinct vertebrates. The 66Zn/64Zn ratio (expressed as δ66Zn value) shows an enrichment of the heavy isotope in mammals along each trophic step. However, preservation of diet-related δ66Zn values in fossil teeth has not been assessed yet. Here, we analyzed enamel of fossil teeth from the Late Pleistocene (38.4–13.5 ka) mammalian assemblage of the Tam Hay Marklot (THM) cave in northeastern Laos, to reconstruct the food web and assess the preservation of original δ66Zn values. Distinct enamel δ66Zn values of the fossil taxa (δ66Zncarnivore < δ66Znomnivore < δ66Znherbivore) according to their expected feeding habits were observed, with a trophic carnivore-herbivore spacing of +0.60‰ and omnivores having intermediate values. Zn and trace element concentration profiles similar to those of modern teeth also indicate minimal impact of diagenesis on the enamel. While further work is needed to explore preservation for settings with different taphonomic conditions, the diet-related δ66Zn values in fossil enamel from THM cave suggest an excellent long-term preservation potential, even under tropical conditions that are well known to be adverse for collagen preservation. Zinc isotopes could thus provide a new tool to assess the diet of fossil hominins and associated fauna, as well as trophic relationships in past food webs

Gentle Touch Therapy, Pain Relief and Neuroplasticity at Baseline in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Randomized, Multicenter Trial with Six-Month Follow-Up

Background: Fibromyalgia (FM) is considered a stress-related disorder characterized mainly by chronic widespread pain. Its pathogenesis is unknown, but cumulative evidence points at dysfunctional transmitter systems and inflammatory biomarkers that may underlie the major symptoms of the condition. This study aimed to evaluate pain scores (primary outcome), quality of life, inflammatory biomarkers and neurotransmitter systems in women with FM (secondary outcomes) subjected to gentle touch therapy (GTT) or placebo. Methods: A total of 64 female patients with FM were randomly assigned to two groups, namely GTT (n = 32) or Placebo (n = 32). Clinical assessments were conducted at baseline and post-intervention with six-month follow-up. We measured serum catecholamines (dopamine), indolamines and intermediary metabolites (serotonin or 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (5-HIAA)), as well as tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), which is a cofactor for the synthesis of neurotransmitters and inflammatory biomarkers in women with FM. A group of healthy individuals with no intervention (control group) was used to compare biochemical measurements. Intervention effects were analyzed using repeated measures (RM) two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test and mixed ANCOVA model with intention to treat. Results: Compared to placebo, the GTT group presented lower pain scores and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels without altering the quality of life of women with FM. Changes in BDNF had a mediating role in pain. Higher baseline serum BDNF and 5-HIAA or those with a history of anxiety disorder showed a higher reduction in pain scores across time. However, women with higher serum dopamine levels at baseline showed a lower effect of the intervention across the observation period revealed by an ANCOVA mixed model. Conclusions: In conclusion, lower pain scores were observed in the GTT group compared to the placebo group without altering the quality of life in women with FM. Reductions in BDNF levels could be a mechanism of FM pain status improvement. In this sense, the present study encourages the use of these GTT techniques as an integrative and complementary treatment of FM

Palaeoenvironments and hominin evolutionary dynamics in southeast Asia

International audienceAbstract Secure environmental contexts are crucial for hominin interpretation and comparison. The discovery of a Denisovan individual and associated fauna at Tam Ngu Hao 2 (Cobra) Cave, Laos, dating back to 164–131 ka, allows for environmental comparisons between this (sub)tropical site and the Palearctic Denisovan sites of Denisova Cave (Russia) and Baishiya Karst Cave (China). Denisovans from northern latitudes foraged in a mix of forested and open landscapes, including tundra and steppe. Using stable isotope values from the Cobra Cave assemblage, we demonstrate that, despite the presence of nearby canopy forests, the Denisovan individual from Cobra Cave primarily consumed plants and/or animals from open forests and savannah. Using faunal evidence and proxy indicators of climates, results herein highlight a local expansion of rainforest at ~ 130 ka, raising questions about how Denisovans responded to this local climate change. Comparing the diet and habitat of the archaic hominin from Cobra Cave with those of early Homo sapiens from Tam Pà Ling Cave (46–43 ka), Laos, it appears that only our species was able to exploit rainforest resources

DUNE Offline Computing Conceptual Design Report

This document describes Offline Software and Computing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) experiment, in particular, the conceptual design of the offline computing needed to accomplish its physics goals. Our emphasis in this document is the development of the computing infrastructure needed to acquire, catalog, reconstruct, simulate and analyze the data from the DUNE experiment and its prototypes. In this effort, we concentrate on developing the tools and systems that facilitate the development and deployment of advanced algorithms. Rather than prescribing particular algorithms, our goal is to provide resources that are flexible and accessible enough to support creative software solutions as HEP computing evolves and to provide computing that achieves the physics goals of the DUNE experiment.This document describes the conceptual design for the Offline Software and Computing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). The goals of the experiment include 1) studying neutrino oscillations using a beam of neutrinos sent from Fermilab in Illinois to the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, 2) studying astrophysical neutrino sources and rare processes and 3) understanding the physics of neutrino interactions in matter. We describe the development of the computing infrastructure needed to achieve the physics goals of the experiment by storing, cataloging, reconstructing, simulating, and analyzing $\sim$ 30 PB of data/year from DUNE and its prototypes. Rather than prescribing particular algorithms, our goal is to provide resources that are flexible and accessible enough to support creative software solutions and advanced algorithms as HEP computing evolves. We describe the physics objectives, organization, use cases, and proposed technical solutions

DUNE Offline Computing Conceptual Design Report

This document describes Offline Software and Computing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) experiment, in particular, the conceptual design of the offline computing needed to accomplish its physics goals. Our emphasis in this document is the development of the computing infrastructure needed to acquire, catalog, reconstruct, simulate and analyze the data from the DUNE experiment and its prototypes. In this effort, we concentrate on developing the tools and systems thatfacilitate the development and deployment of advanced algorithms. Rather than prescribing particular algorithms, our goal is to provide resources that are flexible and accessible enough to support creative software solutions as HEP computing evolves and to provide computing that achieves the physics goals of the DUNE experiment

Reconstruction of interactions in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector with Pandora

International audienceThe Pandora Software Development Kit and algorithm libraries provide pattern-recognition logic essential to the reconstruction of particle interactions in liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. Pandora is the primary event reconstruction software used at ProtoDUNE-SP, a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector. ProtoDUNE-SP, located at CERN, is exposed to a charged-particle test beam. This paper gives an overview of the Pandora reconstruction algorithms and how they have been tailored for use at ProtoDUNE-SP. In complex events with numerous cosmic-ray and beam background particles, the simulated reconstruction and identification efficiency for triggered test-beam particles is above 80% for the majority of particle type and beam momentum combinations. Specifically, simulated 1 GeV/$c$ charged pions and protons are correctly reconstructed and identified with efficiencies of 86.1$\pm0.6$% and 84.1$\pm0.6$%, respectively. The efficiencies measured for test-beam data are shown to be within 5% of those predicted by the simulation