Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors and Disparities between the United States mainland compared to Puerto Rico, Guam, and United States Virgin Islands (i. e., United States territories)

Background: No studies have compared the lifestyle behaviors between Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U. S. Virgin Islands to that of the United States mainland. Documenting and addressing health disparities between these geographically and culturally distinct areas are important public health objectives. Differences in health status between and among the United States mainland and territories merit systematic and careful analyses. Methods: Four key healthy lifestyle characteristics include tobacco use, body mass index, physical activity, and fruit/vegetable consumption. Data from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (N=420,481) were used to examine United States mainland and territorial differences among the four key healthy lifestyle behaviors. Descriptive statistics were summarized with chi-square tests for independence and multiple adjusted logistic regression models were used to examine differences in health compliance rates while controlling for age, gender, income, and education. Frequencies determined whether Healthy People 2010 goals were met by each location. Results: Differences were found between the United States mainland and territories for smoking rates, body mass index, physical activity, and consumption of fruit/vegetables. None of the countries met all four Healthy People 2010 goals. Discussion: Even though, each location had unique challenges, Puerto Ricans’ health behaviors were significantly less favorable than residents in the other countries. We document prevalence rates and differences by country for each of the four healthy lifestyle characteristics. This study highlights the need for more research in these understudied areas as well as the importance of effective health promotion and disease prevention programs for all United States citizens including the mainland and all territories

[Review of] The People of the \u27Ksan. Gathering What the Great Nature Provided: Food Traditions of the Gitskan

Gathering What the Great Nature Provided is a book about the Gitskan Indian tribe in North Central British Columbia living on the banks of the Skenna River. The book resulted from a project by ninety members of the tribe whose purpose was to document their past for themselves and future generations. This collective authorship shows the commitment and dedication of the people to the goal. Elders were questioned and memories strained to remember the distant past. Their culture is conveyed in a rich oral tradition. The writing was difficult and tedious, accomplished by long hours of interviewing and transcription of taped conversations. Material was first written into the native language and then translated into English, with the final writing done by consensus

The Pedagogical Influences of a Value-Added Model Evaluation System from the Perspectives of Elementary School Teachers in North Georgia: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the pedagogical influences of the value-added model of evaluation as experienced by elementary school teachers in a North Georgia suburban school district. A transcendental phenomenological design was used to provide a voice to (N = 12) elementary school teachers evaluated with a value-added model evaluation system through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s (1976) social ecological model of the educational environment and Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive theory as it related to mastery experiences of the teacher. Data collection methods included interviews, a focus group, and evaluation documentation. The data were analyzed according to Moustakas’ (1994) approach using bracketing, horizonalization, and developing clusters of meaning to determine the essence of the shared phenomenon. Four major themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) understanding the process, (b) implementing the process, (c) documenting the process, and (d) internalizing the process. The results of this study indicated that additional professional development is needed to ensure teacher understanding of the evaluation process, assessment use, and assessment strategies to achieve optimum student learning. In addition, administrators should provide ongoing and constructive feedback, limit their subjectivity in evaluations, and provide an environment conducive to teacher and student learning. This study could guide future teacher evaluations, provide insight to direct administrators in evaluating teachers, and provide guidance and support for elementary teachers to achieve the maximum percentage of students obtaining the highest level of learning outcomes

Review of Five Russian Novels

Regardless of what subject the Russian writer is concerned with, there are two things which almost all Russian novels have in common. One is a great emphasis on Russian virtues and frailties which are common to all men. To read a Russian novel is to become Russian for a few hours and realize that Russians and Americans are not very different after all. The other common trait of Russian novels is an interest in the Russian social structure. This preoccupation crops up both before and after the revolution, but the greatest Russian novels are either actually produced before the Revolution or written about periods before or during the Revolution. The five novels reviewed in this paper have these two traits in common in varying degrees. The first, Smoke, by Ivan Turgenev, is concerned primarily with the aristocracy and its shallowness. The Brothers Karamazov by Fedor Dostoyevsky is concerned with man\u27s groping for beliefs and also with man\u27s potential goodness. Resurrection by Count Leo Tolstoy is a novel of both the inhumanity and the compassion of man. Dry Valley by Ivan Bunin is a novel of the past and its class distinctions. And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov is a study of the Cossack--his passions, virtues, and philosophy of life

Linkage Analysis of Reading Disability on Chromosome 6.

Reading disability (RD) is defined as difficulty learning to read and spell despite adequate intelligence and educational opportunity and without demonstratable physical, neurological, or emotional handicap. Investigators have suggested a genetic influence and postulated an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance. The strongest support for this hypothesis came from the observation of linkage between RD and a heteromorphism of the short arm/centromere of chromosome 15. Further analysis indicated the possibility of genetic heterogeneity with some families showing RD due to a gene not on chromosome 15. This research is a report of the results of a linkage analysis of RD verses four genetic markers on chromosome 6. Two are restriction fragment length polymorphisms (D6S8, D6S9) and two are classical red cell and serum markers, Glyoxylase (GLO) and Properdin clotting factor (BF). No linkage between D6S9 and the BF/GLO linkage group was found. Evidence now indicates that D6S9 may not lie on chromosome 6. The distance between BF and GLO was estimated at 10% in the position of D6S8 was determined to be BF-D6S8-GLO or BF-GLO-D6S8. The final analysis assumed order BF-D6S8-GLO. A maximum LOD score of 1.486 was obtained for RD at about 21% from GLO towards the centromere side. This LOD score rose to 2.645 when one family showing linkage with chromosome 15 was omitted. The results suggest that a second gene for RD may lie on chromosome 6

The effects of photoperiod and melatonin injections on the reproductive system of male mice, Mus musculus, ICR strain

The reproductive effects of long (24L:OD), natural (14L:lOD), and short (1L:23D) photoperiods were studied in the male mouse, Mus musculus, ICR strain. One third of the mice in each photoperiodic regimen were sacrificed after 45 days. Half of the remaining mice in each regimen received daily melatonin (5-methoxy-N-acetyl tryptamine) injections for 45 additional days. Body weights, testicular and accessory sex organ weights were measured and microscopic examinations of the testes were made. Plasma testosterone levels were determined using radioimmunoassay. Other organ (pituitary, kidney, adrenal, thymus, thyroid) weights were also obtained

Some Questions Relating to the Age Dynamics of Boreal Forests

This manuscript is a result of discussions prior to and during the workshops "Impacts of Change In Climate and Atmospheric Chemistry on Northern Forest Ecosystems and Their Boundaries" (August 1987) and "Global Vegetation Change" (April 1988) and is an initial step in the development of a synthesis between realistic (e.g. biological-detail-rich) computer oriented models of forest and more mathematically, tractable, but simpler forest models. The work is focused on the boreal forests of the world (an important carbon reservoir and an important reserve of softwood timber). The boreal forests are also potentially strong impact systems under current scenarios of CO2-induced climate warming. One purpose of building a model is to get an understanding of what may happen to the climate if, for example, all of the boreal belt were to disappear, or if its functional efficiency were to double. Could such a disappearance occur simultaneously with changes in the tropical forests? How would this change the exchange between atmosphere and the earth surface? The authors try to describe a forest (or vegetation as a whole) as a boundary layer between fast atmospheric processes and slow processes in soil and underground water systems, and consider the geometry of canopies and roots as a function of extremes corresponding to a stable equilibrium of soil and underground water systems. The authors hope to consider these and similar problems during their continuing cooperation