A Comparison of Human Decomposition in an Indoor and an Outdoor Environment

In the medicolegal context, forensic anthropologists assist investigators by gathering information from skeletal remains. While humans decompose in both indoor and outdoor environments, little research has been performed on the differences in the decomposition rate and process between subjects in an indoor environment and subjects in an outdoor environment. Limited accessibility to appropriate facilities for a comparison study between indoor and outdoor decomposition rates has prevented such research from being attempted. Documented through daily notes and photographs, six human subjects were observed from the fresh to the end of the bloat stages of decomposition. Three subjects were placed in an indoor structure. The other three decomposed in an outdoor environment. All subjects were compared to determine if decomposition rates differed between the indoor and outdoor subjects. From September 2004 through July 2005, six unembalmed, unautopsied human bodies were observed at the Anthropology Research Facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. The indoor structure was heated in winter and air conditioned during the fall. The air conditioner was broken throughout the spring/summer months. Decomposition rates were compared across seven variables and three stages using accumulated degree days (ADD). ADD was calculated for each subject using weather data gathered from an indoor/outdoor thermometer installed in the indoor structure. In the spring, summer, and fall months, indoor subjects decomposed faster than outdoor subjects. During the winter months, the indoor subject decomposed faster. Further research is necessary to determine the exact source of the differences in decomposition rates

Immigration Law: The Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity

Immigration laws in the United States may affect prisoners, possibly resulting in deportation. Some convicted prisoners who are aliens may be subject to deportation dependent upon the government’s ability to prove by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence that they fall into a deportable category. Providing prisoners with sufficient knowledge and answers to potential deportation questions stemming from criminal convictions may delay and thwart these proceedings. By beginning with a categorization of the different types of immigrants in this country, a convicted prisoner will be better able to determine for themselves whether they are subject to deportation. If they are, this determination will assist in how the prisoner can go about postponing or potentially avoiding deportation altogether. Additionally, a detailed explanation of the deportation process, including the grounds for deportation, the various crimes that will warrant deportation and the types of deportation proceedings can serve to better inform a potential alien. Lastly, in evaluating the immigration consequences of criminal activity, it is essential to explore what legal remedies and relief a possible prisoner may seek utilizing the United States Code. Framing this guide on the legal issues of deportation in the form of a question and answer format gives prisoners a general and simplified overview on the immigration consequences of criminal activity

The Dialectics of Praxis

This paper takes up the theorization of the dialectical relationships between consciousness, praxis, and contradiction by drawing primarily on the work of critical feminist and anti-racist scholars Roxana Ng and Paula Allman. Beginning with the important Marxist theorizations of the lives of immigrant women, the state, and community services made by Roxana Ng, we move forward with asserting that Roxana’s commitment to making social relations of power and exploitation ‘knowable’ and ‘transformable’ is based on a complex and revolutionary articulation of the relationship between thinking and being. This dialectical conceptualization of praxis is necessary for any potentially coherent revolutionary feminist anti-racist project. The challenge posed by Roxana is two-fold: not only how best to ‘know’ the world, but how to teach this analysis and generate revolutionary practice

Promoting higher order thinking skills in biology: evaluation of a newly developed course using Bloom’s taxonomy.

We have recently designed and implemented a unique, large (1800 students/year) first year biological concepts of health course (BIOL*1080) aimed at promoting higher order thinking skills and attributes. Our course served as one of three courses that replaced two more traditional biology courses (BIOL*1030 and BIOL*1040) and incorporates seminar, lab and interdisciplinary assignments in an attempt to foster skills in areas such as oral and written communication, critical thinking, and independent learning. To determine if we were successful in designing a course centered on the teaching and assessment of higher order thinking skills, we ranked the course evaluative materials based on Bloom’s taxonomy (Zheng, A.Y., Science 319:414,2008). Bloom’s taxonomy is a hierarchical categorization of knowledge and thinking skills comprised of 6 levels (from lowest to highest): knowledge - 1, comprehension – 2, application – 3, analysis – 4, synthesis – 5, and evaluation – 6. Briefly, each exam question and assignment was scored by a team of 6 individuals with varying degrees of familiarity with the course. Scores per test/assignment were averaged and a weighted average was calculated for the entire course, with a higher weighted average representing assessment of a higher order of thinking. The average bloom level for our course was 3.28±0.15 which was significantly higher than one of the more traditional biology courses (BIOL*1030 – 1.93±0.08 ) but not the second course (BIOL*1040 – 2.95±0.17). The blooming exercise provided a useful metric to assess the level of higher order thinking required for newly developed courses and allowed for comparisons between courses to be objective

A Large, First-Year, Introductory, Multi-Sectional Biological Concepts of Health Course Designed to Develop Skills and Enhance Deeper Learning

Large first-year biology classes, with their heavy emphasis on factual content, contribute to low student engagement and misrepresent the dynamic, interdisciplinary nature of biological science. We sought to redesign a course to deliver fundamental biology curriculum through the study of health, promote skills development, and encourage a deeper level of learning for a large, multi-section first-year class. We describe the Biological Concepts of Health course designed to encourage higher-order learning and teach oral communication and independent learning skills to large numbers of first-year students. We used the Blooming Biology Tool to determine the cognitive skills level assessed in the newly developed course and the courses it replaced. This evidence-based approach demonstrated that our new course design achieved the goal of encouraging a deeper level of cognition, and further, successfully introduced both oral communication and independent learning skills in large first-year classes.  En mettant l’emphase sur un contenu factuel, les grandes classes de biologie de première année contribuent au faible engagement des élèves et donnent une représentation imprécise de la nature dynamique et interdisciplinaire des sciences de la biologie. Afin d’offrir un programme fondamental en biologie par l’étude de la santé, de promouvoir le perfectionnement des compétences et d’encourager un niveau d’apprentissage marqué, nous avons repensé un cours pour une grande classe de première année contenant plusieurs sous-groupes. Nous décrivons le cours « Biological Concepts of Health » conçu pour encourager l’apprentissage supérieur, ainsi que pour enseigner la communication orale et les habiletés d’apprentissage individualisé à un grand nombre d’étudiants de première année. Pour déterminer le niveau d’habiletés cognitives évalué dans ce cours nouvellement conçu et les cours qu’il remplace, nous avons utilisé le « Blooming Biology Tool ». Cette approche éprouvée démontre que ce nouveau cours a atteint son but d’encourager l’approfondissement des connaissances et, par ailleurs, a réussi à introduire la communication orale, de même que les habiletés d’apprentissage individualisé aux grandes classes de première année

Factors Influencing Engagement, Perceived Usefulness and Behavioral Mechanisms Associated with a Text Message Support Program

Introduction Many studies have now demonstrated the efficacy of text messaging in positively changing behaviours. We aimed to identify features and factors that explain the effectiveness of a successful text messaging program in terms of user engagement, perceived usefulness, behavior change and program delivery preferences. Methods Mixed methods qualitative design combining four data sources; (i) analytic data extracted directly from the software system, (ii) participant survey, (iii) focus groups to identify barriers and enablers to implementation and mechanisms of effect and (iv) recruitment screening logs and text message responses to examine engagement. This evaluation was conducted within the TEXT ME trial—a parallel design, single-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) of 710 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Qualitative data were interpreted using inductive thematic analysis. Results 307/352 (87% response rate) of recruited patients with CHD completed the program evaluation survey at six months and 25 participated in a focus group. Factors increasing engagement included (i) ability to save and share messages, (ii) having the support of providers and family, (iii) a feeling of support through participation in the program, (iv) the program being initiated close to the time of a cardiovascular event, (v) personalization of the messages, (vi) opportunity for initial face-to-face contact with a provider and (vii) that program and content was perceived to be from a credible source. Clear themes relating to program delivery were that diet and physical activity messages were most valued, four messages per week was ideal and most participants felt program duration should be provided for at least for six months or longer. Conclusions This study provides context and insight into the factors influencing consumer engagement with a text message program aimed at improving health-related behavior. The study suggests program components that may enhance potential success but will require integration at the development stage to optimize up-scaling

Undervaccination and severe COVID-19 outcomes : meta-analysis of national cohort studies in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales

Background: Undervaccination (receiving fewer than the recommended number of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses) could be associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes—ie, COVID-19 hospitalisation or death—compared with full vaccination (receiving the recommended number of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses). We sought to determine the factors associated with undervaccination, and to investigate the risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes in people who were undervaccinated in each UK nation and across the UK. Methods: We used anonymised, harmonised electronic health record data with whole population coverage to carry out cohort studies in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Participants were required to be at least 5 years of age to be included in the cohorts. We estimated adjusted odds ratios for undervaccination as of June 1, 2022. We also estimated adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for severe COVID-19 outcomes during the period June 1 to Sept 30, 2022, with undervaccination as a time-dependent exposure. We combined results from nation-specific analyses in a UK-wide fixed-effect meta-analysis. We estimated the reduction in severe COVID-19 outcomes associated with a counterfactual scenario in which everyone in the UK was fully vaccinated on June 1, 2022. Findings: The numbers of people undervaccinated on June 1, 2022 were 26 985 570 (45·8%) of 58 967 360 in England, 938 420 (49·8%) of 1 885 670 in Northern Ireland, 1 709 786 (34·2%) of 4 992 498 in Scotland, and 773 850 (32·8%) of 2 358 740 in Wales. People who were younger, from more deprived backgrounds, of non-White ethnicity, or had a lower number of comorbidities were less likely to be fully vaccinated. There was a total of 40 393 severe COVID-19 outcomes in the cohorts, with 14 156 of these in undervaccinated participants. We estimated the reduction in severe COVID-19 outcomes in the UK over 4 months of follow-up associated with a counterfactual scenario in which everyone was fully vaccinated on June 1, 2022 as 210 (95% CI 94–326) in the 5–15 years age group, 1544 (1399–1689) in those aged 16–74 years, and 5426 (5340–5512) in those aged 75 years or older. aHRs for severe COVID-19 outcomes in the meta-analysis for the age group of 75 years or older were 2·70 (2·61–2·78) for one dose fewer than recommended, 3·13 (2·93–3·34) for two fewer, 3·61 (3·13–4·17) for three fewer, and 3·08 (2·89–3·29) for four fewer. Interpretation: Rates of undervaccination against COVID-19 ranged from 32·8% to 49·8% across the four UK nations in summer, 2022. Undervaccination was associated with an elevated risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes. Funding: UK Research and Innovation National Core Studies: Data and Connectivity

Improved imputation of low-frequency and rare variants using the UK10K haplotype reference panel

Imputing genotypes from reference panels created by whole-genome sequencing (WGS) provides a cost-effective strategy for augmenting the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) content of genome-wide arrays. The UK10K Cohorts project has generated a data set of 3,781 whole genomes sequenced at low depth (average 7x), aiming to exhaustively characterize genetic variation down to 0.1% minor allele frequency in the British population. Here we demonstrate the value of this resource for improving imputation accuracy at rare and low-frequency variants in both a UK and an Italian population. We show that large increases in imputation accuracy can be achieved by re-phasing WGS reference panels after initial genotype calling. We also present a method for combining WGS panels to improve variant coverage and downstream imputation accuracy, which we illustrate by integrating 7,562 WGS haplotypes from the UK10K project with 2,184 haplotypes from the 1000 Genomes Project. Finally, we introduce a novel approximation that maintains speed without sacrificing imputation accuracy for rare variants