Human Perceptions of Animals and Animal Awareness: The Cultural Dimension

Culture is generally a powerful determinant of human perceptions of animals and the treatment animals receive in a given society. Fbr example, Plains Indians\u27 views of the status of animals-their capacities, their awareness, and their place in the world relative to mankind-differ radically from those characteristic ofWestern thought. Many of the contemporary Crow Indians, a group of native Americans among which I have recently carried out anthropological field research, continue to look upon their horses according to traditional tribal belief. Their particular attitude toward horses conflicts with that of the dominant white society with which the Indians and their horses must interact. Mutual hostility results from a lack of understanding between members of the two cultures who, though living in proximity, remain worlds apart in ethos. Two other examples from ethnographic literature involving the habitual treatment of mules in a community of farmers and of sled dogs by a group of Eskimos also highlight the importance of cultural attitudes in affecting interactions with animals in those societies. It is vital to strive to understand the many complex factors which determine views toward animals, including their capacities for awareness, in alien cultures whose value-systems may be foreign to our own. Since human actions toward animals are rooted in perceptual concepts concerning the intrinsic nature of those animals, it is only through empathy resulting from understanding such concepts that a beginning can be made in solving the many problems involved in human relationships with animals

Assessing the Sociology of Sport: On the Trajectory, Challenges, and Future of the Field

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Elizabeth C. J. Pike, Steven J. Jackson, and Lawrence A. Wenner, 'Assessing the sociology of sport: On the trajectory, challenges, and future of the field'. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 50 (4-5), May 2015, doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690215574127, published by SAGE Publishing, All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2015.On the fiftieth anniversary of the International Sociology of Sport Association and the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, the three guest editors for this special fiftieth anniversary issue of the IRSS, current ISSA president, Elizabeth CJ Pike, the immediate past president, Steven J Jackson, and current IRSS editor, Lawrence A Wenner, introduce the issue’s genesis and theme: ‘50@50: Assessing the trajectory and challenges of the sociology of sport’. In considering the trajectory of the sociology of sport, the ISSA and the IRSS, they reflect on the early development of the field and the founding of an international association and journal aimed at understanding sport in the social and cultural dynamic; they note early and ongoing challenges concerning the academic seating of the field, its legitimacy and impact, and its engagement with the public sphere and the ‘sociological imagination’. Speaking to the challenges of fashioning a special issue to represent the breadth of 50 years of the sociology of sport, the editors outline how a ‘50@50’ strategy was implemented to bring perspectives from 50 notable scholars and to ensure that a diversity of voices was heard, not only on a range of themes, theories and methods, but from diverse identities and locales. Addressing two overarching challenges – the global dominance of English as the lingua franca of scholarly discourse and the need to advance interdisciplinarity and engagement with scholars beyond the sociology of sport – will be key to broadening dialogue to help ensure the future sustainability and progress of the sociology of sport.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The Persistent Southern Disadvantage in Us Early Life Mortality, 1965‒2014

Background: Recent studies of US adult mortality demonstrate a growing disadvantage among southern states. Few studies have examined long-term trends and geographic patterns in US early life (ages 1 to 24) mortality, ages at which key risk factors and causes of death are quite different than among adults. Objective: This article examines trends and variations in early life mortality rates across US states and census divisions. We assess whether those variations have changed over a 50-year time period and which causes of death contribute to contemporary geographic disparities. Methods: We calculate all-cause and cause-specific death rates using death certificate data from the Multiple Cause of Death files, combining public-use files from 1965‒2004 and restricted data with state geographic identifiers from 2005‒2014. State population (denominator) data come from US decennial censuses or intercensal estimates. Results: Results demonstrate a persistent mortality disadvantage for young people (ages 1 to 24) living in southern states over the last 50 years, particularly those located in the East South Central and West South Central divisions. Motor vehicle accidents and homicide by firearm account for most of the contemporary southern disadvantage in US early life mortality. Contribution: Our results illustrate that US children and youth living in the southern United States have long suffered from higher levels of mortality than children and youth living in other parts of the country. Our findings also suggest the contemporary southern disadvantage in US early life mortality could potentially be reduced with state-level policies designed to prevent deaths involving motor vehicles and firearms

Interkingdom Gene Transfer of a Hybrid NPS/PKS from Bacteria to Filamentous Ascomycota

Nonribosomal peptides (NRPs) and polyketides (PKs) are ecologically important secondary metabolites produced by bacteria and fungi using multidomain enzymes called nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and polyketide synthases (PKSs), respectively. Previous phylogenetic analyses of fungal NRPSs and PKSs have suggested that a few of these genes were acquired by fungi via horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from bacteria, including a hybrid NPS/PKS found in Cochliobolus heterostrophus (Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota). Here, we identify this hybrid gene in fungi representing two additional classes of Ascomycota (Aspergillus spp., Microsporum canis, Arthroderma spp., and Trichophyton spp., Eurotiomycetes; Chaetomium spp. and Metarhizium spp., Sordariomycetes) and use phylogenetic analyses of the most highly conserved domains from NRPSs (adenylation (A) domain) and PKSs (ketoacyl synthase (KS) domain) to examine the hypothesis that the hybrid NPS7/PKS24 was acquired by fungi from bacteria via HGT relatively early in the evolution of the Pezizomycotina. Our results reveal a unique ancestry of the A domain and KS domain in the hybrid gene relative to known fungal NRPSs and PKSs, provide strong evidence for HGT of the hybrid gene from a putative bacterial donor in the Burkholderiales, and suggest the HGT event occurred early in the evolution of the filamentous Ascomycota

Applying the COM-B model to creation of an IT-enabled health coaching and resource linkage program for low-income Latina moms with recent gestational diabetes: the STAR MAMA program.

BACKGROUND:One of the fastest growing risk groups for early onset of diabetes is women with a recent pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes, and for this group, Latinas are the largest at-risk group in the USA. Although evidence-based interventions, such as the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), which focuses on low-cost changes in eating, physical activity and weight management can lower diabetes risk and delay onset, these programs have yet to be tailored to postpartum Latina women. This study aims to tailor a IT-enabled health communication program to promote DPP-concordant behavior change among postpartum Latina women with recent gestational diabetes. The COM-B model (incorporating Capability, Opportunity, and Motivational behavioral barriers and enablers) and the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) framework, convey a theoretically based approach for intervention development. We combined a health literacy-tailored health IT tool for reaching ethnic minority patients with diabetes with a BCW-based approach to develop a health coaching intervention targeted to postpartum Latina women with recent gestational diabetes. Current evidence, four focus groups (n = 22 participants), and input from a Regional Consortium of health care providers, diabetes experts, and health literacy practitioners informed the intervention development. Thematic analysis of focus group data used the COM-B model to determine content. Relevant cultural, theoretical, and technological components that underpin the design and development of the intervention were selected using the BCW framework. RESULTS:STAR MAMA delivers DPP content in Spanish and English using health communication strategies to: (1) validate the emotions and experiences postpartum women struggle with; (2) encourage integration of prevention strategies into family life through mothers becoming intergenerational custodians of health; and (3) increase social and material supports through referral to social networks, health coaches, and community resources. Feasibility, acceptability, and health-related outcomes (weight loss, physical activity, consumption of healthy foods, breastfeeding, and glucose screening) will be evaluated at 9 months postpartum using a randomized controlled trial design. CONCLUSIONS:STAR MAMA provides a DPP-based intervention that integrates theory-based design steps. Through systematic use of behavioral theory to inform intervention development, STAR MAMA may represent a strategy to develop health IT intervention tools to meet the needs of diverse populations. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02240420

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Early-Life Mortality in the United States

U.S. early life (ages 1–24) deaths are tragic, far too common, and largely preventable. Yet demographers have focused scant attention on U.S. early life mortality patterns, particularly as they vary across racial and ethnic groups. We employ the restricted-use 1999–2011 National Health Interview Survey-Linked Mortality Files and hazard models to examine racial/ethnic differences in early life mortality. Our results reveal that these disparities are large, strongly related to differences in parental socioeconomic status, and expressed through different causes of death. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks experience 60%, and Mexican Americans 32% higher risk of death over the follow-up period, with demographic controls. Our finding that Mexican Americans experience higher early life mortality risk than non-Hispanic whites differs from much of the literature on adult mortality. We also show that these racial/ethnic differences attenuate with controls for family structure and especially with measures of socioeconomic status. For example, higher mortality risk among Mexican-Americans relative to non-Hispanic whites is no longer significant once we control for mother’s education or family income. Our results strongly suggest that eliminating socioeconomic gaps across groups is the key to enhanced survival for children and adolescents in racial/ethnic minority groups