The Dakota Indian Family, Community Studies on the Pine Ridge Reservation

The major goal of this bulletin is to describe the traditional kinship organization of the Dakota Indians and to compare it with contemporary patterns of family living on the Pine Ridge Reservation. This study of the family in selected reservation communities should reveal: (1) any remnants of the traditional kinship pattern operating at the present time, and (2) the nature of the changes which have taken place in the family organization during the process of transition

The Crow Creek Indian Family

This is the first in a series of publications concerned with the economic and social problems of the Indian people who live on South Dakota Indian Reservations. The study deals especially with the people on_ the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, while the second study will be concerned with the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In each study the primary concern will be that of providing data which may be used to evaluate alternative opportunities for increasing the social and economic level of the Indian people through more efficient use of the resources at their disposal

The Dakota Indian Religion, A Study of Conflict in Values

Religious beliefs have exerted substantial influence on the values of the Dakota Indians. In earlier days religious folklore infused every area of their daily lives. When the missionaries introduced Chnstianity to the tribes on the Great Plains, important changes began to take place. Values which conflicted with customary beliefs were interposed, but many of the traditional values were retained. In some cases, accommodation of conflicting values was attempted in marginal religious activities which combined elements of both the old and new religions. In other cases, the conflicts appeared insurmountable, and some individuals sought escape or succumbed to apathy. A study of the present day values of these people requires some understanding of their traditional religion. Thus, Part II of this bulletin is designed to provide a systematic analysis of the religious background of the Dakota Indians. Here are some of the myths and legends, and the beliefs, practices, and ritual which dominated Dakota thinking at the time of initial contact with the Christian missionaries. In Part III the subsequent changes in Dakota values are discussed and analysed in historical perspective and in terms of the value conflicts which have resulted from the contact of these two different culture patterns. Statistical evidence from a study of two communities on the Pine Ridge Reservation is presented to support the cultural conflict thesis. Implications of the study are suggested in Part IV

History and Acculturation of the Dakota Indians

In order to fully understand and appreciate those events which led to the final submission of the American Indian to the majority white culture, it is necessary to look to the historical antecedents predating white Indian contact. The original ways of living of the American Indian are not easily understood by the modern man who believes the material progress of his generation to be the highest advancement of civilization. In all societies there is a strong tendency for the majority group to assume that its values, attitudes, and behavior are superior in all regards to the habit patterns and customs that dominate the lives of minority groups. They are suspicious of strange practices which conflict with their ideas of the appropriate and correct ways of living. If they exhibit some curiosity about the customs of the minority, they are usually anxious to learn of them for the purpose of making an invidious comparison with their practices. It is the unusual person who is able to suppress his own prejudices and view clearly the ways of minorities through the value system of the minority group rather than through his own pattern of beliefs. Often one hears that such behavior as alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, unemployment, suicide, etc., when exhibited by Indians, is but a carry-over from the old culture which was typified by such characteristics. Nothing could be further from the truth. The traditional cultures of the American Indian possessed many of the same values and virtues upheld by the protestant ethic. Such deviant behavior must be seen as a result of an acculturation process which denied the American Indian the right to retain those institutions of family, religion, and economics which served to uphold his traditional values. Such behavioral patterns as reflected in high rates of alcoholism, suicide, and unemployment are fairly recent phenomena in the life of Indian people. Through a better understanding of the lasting traditional culture of one group of American Indians, the Dakota, it is hoped that such misconceptions of cause and effect may be alleviated

The Dakota Indian Community: An Analysis of the Non-Ranching Population of the Pine Ridge reservation

This analysis has been organized into three main subdivisions. The first section is a brief statistical analysis of the total reservation population based on data gathered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a 1956 reservation census. The population analysis includes age and education, occupational data, and income information. The differences among the communities included in this study are discussed in the second subdivision. Although all of the communities were regarded as non-ranching groups, one of the surprising findings was that there are some significant differences between one group and another

Revival of the magnetar PSR J1622-4950: observations with MeerKAT, Parkes, XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR

New radio (MeerKAT and Parkes) and X-ray (XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR) observations of PSR J1622-4950 indicate that the magnetar, in a quiescent state since at least early 2015, reactivated between 2017 March 19 and April 5. The radio flux density, while variable, is approximately 100x larger than during its dormant state. The X-ray flux one month after reactivation was at least 800x larger than during quiescence, and has been decaying exponentially on a 111+/-19 day timescale. This high-flux state, together with a radio-derived rotational ephemeris, enabled for the first time the detection of X-ray pulsations for this magnetar. At 5%, the 0.3-6 keV pulsed fraction is comparable to the smallest observed for magnetars. The overall pulsar geometry inferred from polarized radio emission appears to be broadly consistent with that determined 6-8 years earlier. However, rotating vector model fits suggest that we are now seeing radio emission from a different location in the magnetosphere than previously. This indicates a novel way in which radio emission from magnetars can differ from that of ordinary pulsars. The torque on the neutron star is varying rapidly and unsteadily, as is common for magnetars following outburst, having changed by a factor of 7 within six months of reactivation.Comment: Published in ApJ (2018 April 5); 13 pages, 4 figure

Effect of promoter architecture on the cell-to-cell variability in gene expression

According to recent experimental evidence, the architecture of a promoter, defined as the number, strength and regulatory role of the operators that control the promoter, plays a major role in determining the level of cell-to-cell variability in gene expression. These quantitative experiments call for a corresponding modeling effort that addresses the question of how changes in promoter architecture affect noise in gene expression in a systematic rather than case-by-case fashion. In this article, we make such a systematic investigation, based on a simple microscopic model of gene regulation that incorporates stochastic effects. In particular, we show how operator strength and operator multiplicity affect this variability. We examine different modes of transcription factor binding to complex promoters (cooperative, independent, simultaneous) and how each of these affects the level of variability in transcription product from cell-to-cell. We propose that direct comparison between in vivo single-cell experiments and theoretical predictions for the moments of the probability distribution of mRNA number per cell can discriminate between different kinetic models of gene regulation.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figures, Submitte

A novel microdeletion syndrome at 3q13.31 characterised by developmental delay, postnatal overgrowth, hypoplastic male genitals, and characteristic facial features

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: Congenital deletions affecting 3q11q23 have rarely been reported and only five cases have been molecularly characterised. Genotype-phenotype correlation has been hampered by the variable sizes and breakpoints of the deletions. In this study, 14 novel patients with deletions in 3q11q23 were investigated and compared with 13 previously reported patients. METHODS: Clinical data were collected from 14 novel patients that had been investigated by high resolution microarray techniques. Molecular investigation and updated clinical information of one cytogenetically previously reported patient were also included. RESULTS: The molecular investigation identified deletions in the region 3q12.3q21.3 with different boundaries and variable sizes. The smallest studied deletion was 580 kb, located in 3q13.31. Genotype-phenotype comparison in 24 patients sharing this shortest region of overlapping deletion revealed several common major characteristics including significant developmental delay, muscular hypotonia, a high arched palate, and recognisable facial features including a short philtrum and protruding lips. Abnormal genitalia were found in the majority of males, several having micropenis. Finally, a postnatal growth pattern above the mean was apparent. The 580 kb deleted region includes five RefSeq genes and two of them are strong candidate genes for the developmental delay: DRD3 and ZBTB20. CONCLUSION: A newly recognised 3q13.31 microdeletion syndrome is delineated which is of diagnostic and prognostic value. Furthermore, two genes are suggested to be responsible for the main phenotype.1 februari 201

Effects of anandamide in migraine: data from an animal model

Systemic nitroglycerin (NTG) produces spontaneous-like migraine attacks in migraine sufferers and induces a condition of hyperalgesia in the rat 4 h after its administration. Endocannabinoid system seems to be involved in the modulation of NTG-induced hyperalgesia, and probably, in the pathophysiological mechanisms of migraine. In this study, the analgesic effect of anandamide (AEA) was evaluated by means of the formalin test, performed in baseline conditions and following NTG-induced hyperalgesia in male Sprague–Dawley rats. AEA was administered 30 min before the formalin injection. In addition, the effect of AEA (administered 30 min before NTG injection) was investigated on NTG-induced Fos expression and evaluated 4 h following NTG injection. AEA induced a significant decrease in the nociceptive behavior during both phases of the formalin test in the animals treated with vehicle, while it abolished NTG-induced hyperalgesia during the phase II. Pre-treatment with AEA significantly reduced the NTG-induced neuronal activation in nucleus trigeminalis caudalis, confirming the results obtained in our previous study, and in area postrema, while the same treatment induced an increase of Fos expression in paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei of the hypothalamus, parabrachial nucleus, and periaqueductal grey. The study confirms that a dysfunction of the endocannabinoid system may contribute to the development of migraine attacks and that a pharmacological modulation of CB receptors can be useful for the treatment of migraine pain