Health Equity The Path to Inclusive Prosperity in Buffalo

With billions in public and private investments in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and Governor Cuomo’s historic “Buffalo Billion” investment in economic development, the city of Buffalo is poised for resurgence. Yet persistent racial inequities in health, wealth, and economic opportunity inhibit the city’s growth. Without a change in course, these inequities will take a heavy toll on the city as immigrants and communities of color grow as a share of its population and workforce. Equity—just and fair inclusion—is the key to sustainable economic recovery and growth in the Queen City. To build a Buffalo economy that works for all, city and regional leaders must commit to putting all residents on the path to good health and economic security, through protections and policies that enable existing residents to stay in the city and connect to jobs and opportunities, and ensure that they benefit from new development

Advancing Equity in Year 2 of the Biden Administration

President Biden took on the monumental task of being the first administration to name equity as the responsibility of the federal government. The work of this second year must be focused on ensuring efforts to advance equity not only deepen but endure across future administrations. This brief outlines how the Biden Administration can hold itself accountable to its equity commitments and build on this foundation to ensure the federal government finally serves all people

Investigation Of The Mechanism Of Contraction Of The Isolated Guinea Pig Pulmonary Venule Induced By Hypoxia Or Anoxia

Since small pulmonary arteries are thought to be the major site of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV), the response of pulmonary veins to hypoxia has not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, the response of isolated guinea-pig pulmonary venules to hypoxia (bath Po{dollar}\sb2{dollar}: 25 torr) and anoxia (bath Po{dollar}\sb2{dollar}: 0 torr) was characterized. Pulmonary venules (effective lumen radius (ELR): 119 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 1 {dollar}\mu{dollar}m) responded to hypoxia and anoxia with a graded, sustained, and repeatable contraction (hypoxia: 3 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 1 mg/mm; anoxia: 27 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 3 mg/mm), while paired femoral venules (ELR: 184 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 7 {dollar}\mu{dollar}m) contracted to the initial anoxic challenge only (5 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 2 mg/mm). The pulmonary venular contractions were calcium-dependent, but independent of the parenchyma.;Endothelial injury was induced by perfusion of vessel segments with either a mixture (HX/XO) of hypoxanthine (5 mM) and xanthine oxidase (0.05 U/ml), or with collagenase (2 mg/ml). HX/XO significantly (p {dollar}\u3c{dollar} 0.05) augmented pulmonary venular contractions to hypoxia (HX/XO: 3.2 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 1.0 mg/mm; control: 1.0 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 0.5 mg/mm) and anoxia (HX/XO: 35.1 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 6.6 mg/mm; control: 20.3 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 4.0 mg/mm), while superoxide dismutase (40 {dollar}\mu{dollar}g/ml) and catalase (323 {dollar}\mu{dollar}g/ml) prevented this augmentation. Collagenase also significantly (p {dollar}\u3c{dollar} 0.05) enhanced the anoxic contractions (collagenase: 36.0 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 3.7 mg/mm; control: 20.9 {dollar}\pm{dollar} 6.8 mg/mm). Neither gossypol (5 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M) or methylene blue (10 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M), nor indomethacin (5 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M) or ibuprofen (10 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M) affected pulmonary venular contractions to reduced Po{dollar}\sb2{dollar}.;Hypoxia and anoxia modestly, but significantly (p {dollar}\u3c{dollar} 0.01), enhanced leukotriene (LT) C{dollar}\sb4{dollar}- and LTD{dollar}\sb4{dollar}-induced pulmonary venular contractions. FPL 57231 (3 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M), LY 163443 (1 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M), nordihydroguaiaretic acid (5 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M), and U-60257B (10 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M) has no effect on pulmonary venular contractions induced by decreased Po{dollar}\sb2{dollar}. Anoxia depressed spontaneous LT release from pulmonary venules. SKF-525A (500 {dollar}\mu{dollar}M) depressed contractions elicited by both decreased Po{dollar}\sb2{dollar} and pharmacological agents; metyrapone (1 mM) was without effect. Induction of the cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase system with {dollar}\beta{dollar}-naphthoflavone did not alter pulmonary venular contractions induced by decreased Po{dollar}\sb2{dollar}.;In summary, the isolated pulmonary venule exhibits several characteristics of HPV in vivo. This model was used to show that the endothelium opposes, rather than mediates, the pulmonary venular contractions induced by decreased Po{dollar}\sb2{dollar}. Neither the leukotrienes nor cyclooxygenase metabolites of arachidonic acid mediated these contractions, and there was no evidence of a mediating role for cytochrome P-450 metabolites of endogenous substrates

Land and Resource Management on Typic Quartzipsamments

Survival and growth of seven species/treatment combinations were tested on Tonkawa fine sand (thermic, coated Typic Quartzipsamment) in Nacogdoches County, Texas. In January 1983, seedlings were hand-planted on an intensively prepared clearcut site on the Tonkawa soil series in northern Nacogdoches County. Tonkawa sands serve as recharge zones for the Carrizo aquifer, a major source of clean groundwater for much of East Texas. Intensive management practices on this sensitive site created severe site conditions, providing incentive for the study. Species/ treatment combinations were: untreated loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) pine (LOB/CON); Terra-SorbTM -treated loblolly (LOB/Tm);olin clay slurry-treated loblolly (LOB/CLA); untreated slash (P. elliottii Engelm.) pine (SLA/CON); Terra-Sorb-treated slash (%A/ TBR); kaolin clay slurry-treated slash (SLA/ CLA); and containerized longleaf pine (P. alustris Mill.) (LL/CONT). Treatments were applied as a bareroot+up prior to planting, to increase soil moisture retention near the roots, and subsequently increase survival. Containerized longleaf yielded the highest survival (greater than 50 percent) throughout the study, followed by LOB/TER (38 percent), while all other treatments were unacceptable (below 30 percent by the end of the sixth year). Management recommendations include reforest the site in longleaf pine or allow the natural scrub vegetation to inhabit the site, while managing for nontimber resources, such as groundwater, wildlife, and recreation

The 2018 Operational Management Procedure for the South African Merluccius paradoxus and M. capensis resources.

Specifications and projection results for the 2018 OMP used for setting SA hake TACs are provided along with various background information, including details of the metarule process

Sense about science - making sense of crime

Booklet 'Making Sense of Crime' published by registered charity 'Sense About Science'There’s always heated debate about crime in the media and a lot of political argument about how we should respond to it. But these arguments rarely provide insight into what actually causes crime, what lies behind trends over time and in different places, and how best to go about reducing it. Values inform how a society decides to deal with crime. We may decide that rehabilitation is a better principle than punishment, and this will influence how we decide what is most effective. However, we also expect these choices to be disciplined by sound evidence, because if crime policy ignores what works and what doesn’t, there are likely to be bad social consequences. And with over £10bn spent annually on tackling crime through the police, prisons, probation and courts, unless we look at evidence we can’t see how effective any of it is. Crime policy usually has twin aims – to prevent crime, and to seek justice by punishing those who commit offences. Research shows there’s only a loose link, if any, between the way offenders are punished and the number of offences committed. There is no reliable evidence for example, that capital punishment reduces serious crimes as its supporters claim. Yet politicians and commentators regularly claim that more punishments are a way to cut crime. Academic, government and community organisations have all said crime policies need to be based more on evidence, but much of the evidence available at the moment is poor or unclear. Debates about crime rarely reflect how strong the evidence behind opposing policies is, and even when politicians honestly believe they’re following the evidence, they tend to select evidence that supports their political views. This guide looks at some of the key things we do know and why it has been so difficult to make sense of crime policy. An important point throughout is that policymakers sometimes have to make decisions when things are not clear-cut. They have a better chance of making effective policies if they admit to this uncertainty – and conduct robust research to find out more. In the following pages we have shared insights from experts in violent crime, policing, crime science, psychology and the media’s influence on the crime debate. They don’t have all the answers, but we hope they leave you better-placed to hold policymakers and commentators to account and promote a more useful discussion about crime

Community Resilience Research: UK Case Studies, Lessons and Recommendations report to the Cabinet Office and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

This report presents four case studies carried out for the Community Resilience project funded by DSTL and supported by the Civil Contingency Secretariat (CCS), Cabinet Office. The work for this project was carried out between September and December 2011. The aim of the Community Resilience project was to develop a better understanding of the role of community resilience in emergency response and recovery situations in order to inform Cabinet Office / Civil Contingencies Secretariat policy on community resilience and to inform the development of future work

Site/stand factors influencing Nantucket pine tip moth in loblolly pine plantations

Tip moth infestation and loblolly pine growth were examined on sandy, loamy and clayey sites in 2-3 year old plantations. Infestations were greatest on loamy sites. Following fertilizer and herbicide applications, tip moth infestations were lowest on fertilized plots following application of phosphorus

Evolution of the relaxin-like peptide family

BACKGROUND: The relaxin-like peptide family belongs in the insulin superfamily and consists of 7 peptides of high structural but low sequence similarity; relaxin-1, 2 and 3, and the insulin-like (INSL) peptides, INSL3, INSL4, INSL5 and INSL6. The functions of relaxin-3, INSL4, INSL5, INSL6 remain uncharacterised. The evolution of this family has been contentious; high sequence variability is seen between closely related species, while distantly related species show high similarity; an invertebrate relaxin sequence has been reported, while a relaxin gene has not been found in the avian and ruminant lineages. RESULTS: Sequence similarity searches of genomic and EST data identified homologs of relaxin-like peptides in mammals, and non-mammalian vertebrates such as fish. Phylogenetic analysis was used to resolve the evolution of the family. Searches were unable to identify an invertebrate relaxin-like peptide. The published relaxin cDNA sequence in the tunicate, Ciona intestinalis was not present in the completed C. intestinalis genome. The newly discovered relaxin-3 is likely to be the ancestral relaxin. Multiple relaxin-3-like sequences are present in fugu fish (Takifugu rubripes) and zebrafish (Danio rerio), but these appear to be specific to the fish lineage. Possible relaxin-1 and INSL5 homologs were also identified in fish and frog species, placing their emergence prior to mammalia, earlier than previously believed. Furthermore, estimates of synonymous and nonsynonymous substitution rates (d(N)/d(S)) suggest that the emergence of relaxin-1, INSL4 and INSL6 during mammalia was driven by positive Darwinian selection, hence these peptides are likely to have novel and in the case of relaxin-1, which is still under positive selection in humans and the great apes, possibly still evolving functions. In contrast, relaxin-3 is constrained by strong purifying selection, demonstrating it must have a highly conserved function, supporting its hypothesized important neuropeptide role. CONCLUSIONS: We present a phylogeny describing the evolutionary history of the relaxin-like peptide family and show that positive selection has driven the evolution of the most recent members of the family

Evolution of the relaxin-like peptide family

BACKGROUND: The relaxin-like peptide family belongs in the insulin superfamily and consists of 7 peptides of high structural but low sequence similarity; relaxin-1, 2 and 3, and the insulin-like (INSL) peptides, INSL3, INSL4, INSL5 and INSL6. The functions of relaxin-3, INSL4, INSL5, INSL6 remain uncharacterised. The evolution of this family has been contentious; high sequence variability is seen between closely related species, while distantly related species show high similarity; an invertebrate relaxin sequence has been reported, while a relaxin gene has not been found in the avian and ruminant lineages. RESULTS: Sequence similarity searches of genomic and EST data identified homologs of relaxin-like peptides in mammals, and non-mammalian vertebrates such as fish. Phylogenetic analysis was used to resolve the evolution of the family. Searches were unable to identify an invertebrate relaxin-like peptide. The published relaxin cDNA sequence in the tunicate, Ciona intestinalis was not present in the completed C. intestinalis genome. The newly discovered relaxin-3 is likely to be the ancestral relaxin. Multiple relaxin-3-like sequences are present in fugu fish (Takifugu rubripes) and zebrafish (Danio rerio), but these appear to be specific to the fish lineage. Possible relaxin-1 and INSL5 homologs were also identified in fish and frog species, placing their emergence prior to mammalia, earlier than previously believed. Furthermore, estimates of synonymous and nonsynonymous substitution rates (d(N)/d(S)) suggest that the emergence of relaxin-1, INSL4 and INSL6 during mammalia was driven by positive Darwinian selection, hence these peptides are likely to have novel and in the case of relaxin-1, which is still under positive selection in humans and the great apes, possibly still evolving functions. In contrast, relaxin-3 is constrained by strong purifying selection, demonstrating it must have a highly conserved function, supporting its hypothesized important neuropeptide role. CONCLUSIONS: We present a phylogeny describing the evolutionary history of the relaxin-like peptide family and show that positive selection has driven the evolution of the most recent members of the family