One Step Further: Women\u27s Access to and Control Over Farm and Forest Resources in the U.S. South

The ownership and management of forested land by women in the United States has been largely unexamined. It may be inappropriately discounted, especially in regions such as the South, where private land ownership is extensive and forest industry is an important component of the economy. Here several data sources on female forest and woodland owner/operators are examined, focusing on the southern U.S. states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. It is clear that female-operated farms and farmlands are increasing, and that female farm operators employ different land use strategies from their male/other counterparts. Ownership of forest land (including both farm woodlands and private forests) is higher in the South than in other parts of the United States, although recent data are not available for the region. Many integrated research questions are directed toward examination of frequently asserted hypotheses: that women view forested land differently from male/other counterparts; that they have differing goals; and that despite constraints, women can maintain economic and ecological health through their management decisions

Public Interests in Private Property: Conflicts Over Wood Chip Mills in North Carolina

The controversy over chip mills in North Carolina is part of a larger public discussion of forest policy throughout the southern Appalachians, Ozarks, and Ouachitas. Chip mills have become a symbol of forest resource exploitation in the southern Appalachians, and many studies and commissions have been established for analysis of the conflict. In this paper I describe the tensions that have arisen between new public views of appropriate property use and more traditional views of natural resource use. Based on the results of a social impact assessment conducted in the summer of 1999 as part of a broader study on the economic and ecological impacts of wood chip processing facilities in North Carolina, I first review the context of chip mills in the Southeast and North Carolina, focusing on the polarization of opinions that has developed since the early 1990s. I then present ten common perceptions of chip mills used in the arguments for and against them. These reflect the tendency to personify chip mills as agents. Following a discussion of the allocation of social costs to corporate entities rather than to forest landowners, I suggest that change in attitudes, policies, and regulations regarding chip mills will be influenced not only by increasing public interests in private property, but also by worldwide demand for wood products

Brief mindfulness training enhances cognitive control in socioemotional contexts: Behavioral and neural evidence.

In social contexts, the dynamic nature of others' emotions places unique demands on attention and emotion regulation. Mindfulness, characterized by heightened and receptive moment-to-moment attending, may be well-suited to meet these demands. In particular, mindfulness may support more effective cognitive control in social situations via efficient deployment of top-down attention. To test this, a randomized controlled study examined effects of mindfulness training (MT) on behavioral and neural (event-related potentials [ERPs]) responses during an emotional go/no-go task that tested cognitive control in the context of emotional facial expressions that tend to elicit approach or avoidance behavior. Participants (N = 66) were randomly assigned to four brief (20 min) MT sessions or to structurally equivalent book learning control sessions. Relative to the control group, MT led to improved discrimination of facial expressions, as indexed by d-prime, as well as more efficient cognitive control, as indexed by response time and accuracy, and particularly for those evidencing poorer discrimination and cognitive control at baseline. MT also produced better conflict monitoring of behavioral goal-prepotent response tendencies, as indexed by larger No-Go N200 ERP amplitudes, and particularly so for those with smaller No-Go amplitude at baseline. Overall, findings are consistent with MT's potential to enhance deployment of early top-down attention to better meet the unique cognitive and emotional demands of socioemotional contexts, particularly for those with greater opportunity for change. Findings also suggest that early top-down attention deployment could be a cognitive mechanism correspondent to the present-oriented attention commonly used to explain regulatory benefits of mindfulness more broadly

Seasonal variation in offspring sex ratio in the Snowy Plover

The Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus) is unique in being a determinate layer of an odd modal clutch size and in having a variable mating system in which female brood desertion occurs regularly. These traits make determining Snowy Plover offspring sex ratios important not only for long-term population stability, as the species is of conservation concern, but also for application to sex allocation theory. In this study, we determined Snowy Plover offspring sex ratios, examined differential costs of producing male and female offspring, and evaluated sex ratio variation in relation to maternal condition, habitat condition, and time during the nesting season on saline lakes of the Southern High Plains of Texas. Examination of 245 chicks from 118 clutches during 1999–2000 and 2008–2009 showed that male offspring were more costly to produce than female offspring; however, offspring sex ratio did not differ from parity, but was slightly male-biased in most years. The probability of producing a male offspring was greater both earlier and later in the breeding season than in the middle. As the availability of saline lake surface water and the subsequent availability of food vary unpredictably throughout the breeding season, depending on precipitation events, we suggest that sex ratio adjustment in unpredictable environments may not be straightforward and may follow nonlinear models and/or vary annually. The effects such changes in sex ratios may have on population growth and stability remain unknown

Recovery of Nesting Bald Eagles in Texas (Abstract)

One of the most successful conservation stories in United States\u27 history resulted in Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Bald Eagle) being removed recently from the federal endangered species list. Few studies, however, have documented regional long-term recovery trends for Bald Eagles. We quantified Bald Eagle nesting density, distribution, and productivity trends by using aerial surveys of nests located 69 counties in eastern Texas from 1971-2005. The total number of occupied nests, productive nests, and offspring produced increased exponentially during that time with the most dramatic increases occurring from 1995-2005. Since 1971, the total number of occupied nests increased 13% per year, from 5 in 1971 to 157 in 2005 and the total number of young produced also increased 13% per year, from 6 in 1971 to 195 in 2005. Apparent nest success estimates (50- 100%) and mean brood size ( 1-2 young/nest), however, remained relatively consistent from 1971 to 2005. By 1989, Bald Eagles in Texas exceeded recovery goals set by the Southeastern States Bald Eagle Recovery Team (i.e., \u3e0.9 young produced/occupied nest, \u3e 1 .5 young produced/successful nest, and \u3e50% of nests successful in raising at least 1 young). Continued regional increases in Bald Eagle nesting activity may warrant specific attention, particularly as related to anthropogenic pressures and interactions in increasingly fragmented and urbanized habitats

Transcriptomic responses of the heart and brain to anoxia in the Western Painted turtle

Painted turtles are the most anoxia-tolerant tetrapods known, capable of surviving without oxygen for more than four months at 3°C and 30 hours at 20°C. To investigate the transcriptomic basis of this ability, we used RNA-seq to quantify mRNA expression in the painted turtle ventricle and telencephalon after 24 hours of anoxia at 19°C. Reads were obtained from 22,174 different genes, 13,236 of which were compared statistically between treatments for each tissue. Total tissue RNA contents decreased by 16% in telencephalon and 53% in ventricle. The telencephalon and ventricle showed ≥ 2x expression (increased expression) in 19 and 23 genes, respectively, while only four genes in ventricle showed ≤ 0.5x changes (decreased expression). When treatment effects were compared between anoxic and normoxic conditions in the two tissue types, 31 genes were increased (≥ 2x change) and 2 were decreased (≤ 0.5x change). Most of the effected genes were immediate early genes and transcription factors that regulate cellular growth and development; changes that would seem to promote transcriptional, translational, and metabolic arrest. No genes related to ion channels, synaptic transmission, cardiac contractility or excitation-contraction coupling changed. The generalized expression pattern in telencephalon and across tissues, but not in ventricle, correlated with the predicted metabolic cost of transcription, with the shortest genes and those with the fewest exons showing the largest increases in expression

Impaired left atrial mechanical function after cardioversion: Relation to the duration of atrial fibrillation

AbstractObjectives. We hypothesized that the time course of the recovery of atrial systolic function may be related to the duration of atrial fibrillation before cardioversion and sought to study noninvesively the recovery of left atrial mechanical function utilizing serial transthoracic Doppler studies.Background. Recovery of atrial mechanical function may be delayed for several weeks after successful cardioversion of atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm.Methods. After successful cardioversion, 60 patients with atrial fibrillation of brief (≤2 week, 17 patients), moderate (>2 to 6 weeks, 22 patients) or prolonged (>6 weeks, 21 patients) duration were followed up with serial transmitral pulsed Doppler echocardiography immediately (60 patients) and at 24 h (45 patients), 1 week (41 patients), 1 month (31 patients) and >3 months (30 patients) after cardioversion.Results. Atrial mechanical function is greater immediately and at 24 h and 1 week after cardioversion in patients with “brief” compared with “prolonged” atrial fibrillation. In all groups, atrial mechanical function increases over time, ultimately achieving similar levels. Full recovery of atrial mechanical function, however, is achieved within 24 h in patients with brief atrial fibrillation, within 1 week in patients with moderate-duration atrial fibrillation and within 1 month in patients with prolonged atrial fibrillation.Conclusions. Recovery of left atrial mechanical function is related to the duration of atrial fibrillation before cardioversion. These findings have important implications for assessing the early hemodynamic benefit of successful cardioversion

"Ordinary, the same as anywhere else": notes on the management of spoiled identity in 'marginal' middle class neighbourhoods

Urban sociologists are becoming increasingly interested in neighbourhood as a source of middle-class identity. Particular emphasis is currently being given to two types of middle-class neighbourhood; gentrified urban neighbourhoods of ‘distinction’ and inconspicuous ‘suburban landscapes of privilege’. However, there has been a dearth of work on ‘marginal’ middle-class neighbourhoods that are similarly ‘inconspicuous’ rather than distinctive, but less exclusive, thus containing sources of ‘spoiled identity’. This article draws on data gathered from two ‘marginal’ middleclass neighbourhoods that contained a particular source of ‘spoiled identity’: social renters. Urban sociological analyses of neighbour responses to these situations highlight a process of dis-identification with the maligned object, which exacerbates neighbour differences. Our analysis of data from the ‘marginal’ middle-class neighbourhoods suggests something entirely different and Goffmanesque. This entailed the management of spoiled identity, which emphasized similarities rather than differences between neighbours.</p

Community nursing needs more silver surfers: a questionnaire survey of primary care nurses' use of information technology

BACKGROUND: In the UK the health service is investing more than ever before in information technology (IT) and primary care nurses will have to work with computers. Information about patients will be almost exclusively held in electronic patient records; and much of the information about best practice is most readily accessible via computer terminals. OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of age and nursing profession on the level of computer use. METHODS: A questionnaire was developed to examine: access, training received, confidence and use of IT. The survey was carried out in a Sussex Primary Care Trust, in the UK. RESULTS: The questionnaire was sent to 109 nurses with a 64% response rate. Most primary care nurses (89%) use their computer regularly at work: 100% of practice nurses daily, compared with 60% of district nurses and 59% of health visitors (p < 0.01). Access to IT was not significantly different between different age groups; but 91% of practice nurses had their own computer while many district nurses and health visitors had to share (p < 0.01). Nurses over 50 had received more training that their younger colleagues (p < 0.01); yet despite this, they lacked confidence and used computers less (p < 0.001). 96% of practice nurses were confident at in using computerised medical records, compared with 53% of district nurses and 44% of health visitors (p < 0.01.) One-to-one training and workshops were the preferred formats for training, with Internet based learning and printed manuals the least popular (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Using computers in the surgery has become the norm for primary care nurses. However, nurses over 50, working out in the community, lack the confidence and skill of their younger and practice based colleagues

Trib2 suppresses tumor initiation in Notch-driven T-ALL

Trib2 is highly expressed in human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and is a direct transcriptional target of the oncogenic drivers Notch and TAL1. In human TAL1-driven T-ALL cell lines, Trib2 is proposed to function as an important survival factor, but there is limited information about the role of Trib2 in primary T-ALL. In this study, we investigated the role of Trib2 in the initiation and maintenance of Notch-dependent T-ALL. Trib2 had no effect on the growth and survival of murine T-ALL cell lines in vitro when expression was blocked by shRNAs. To test the function of Trib2 on leukemogenesis in vivo, we generated Trib2 knockout mice. Mice were born at the expected Mendelian frequencies without gross developmental anomalies. Adult mice did not develop pathology or shortened survival, and hematopoiesis, including T cell development, was unperturbed. Using a retroviral model of Notch-induced T-ALL, deletion of Trib2 unexpectedly decreased the latency and increased the penetrance of T-ALL development in vivo. Immunoblotting of primary murine T-ALL cells showed that the absence of Trib2 increased C/EBPα expression, a known regulator of cell proliferation, and did not alter AKT or ERK phosphorylation. Although Trib2 was suggested to be highly expressed in T-ALL, transcriptomic analysis of two independent T-ALL cohorts showed that low Trib2 expression correlated with the TLX1-expressing cortical mature T-ALL subtype, whereas high Trib2 expression correlated with the LYL1-expressing early immature T-ALL subtype. These data indicate that Trib2 has a complex role in the pathogenesis of Notch-driven T-ALL, which may vary between different T-ALL subtypes