Digital Commons Network^™

Prevalence And Correlates Of Being Bullied Among In-School Adolescents In Malawi: Results From The 2009 Global School-Based Health Survey, H. W. Kubwalo, Adamson S. Muula, Seter Siziya, S. Pasupulati, Emmanuel Rudatsikira

Faculty Publications

Background

Physical and emotional violence against adolescents is a neglected, but growing problem globally. Violence against adolescents negatively affects the victim in terms of physical health, school attendance and performance and social adjustment. The literature on the prevalence and associated factors of bullying against adolescents is sparse in southern Africa outside South Africa. Such data are even sparser for Malawi. The current study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of self-reported bullying and its personal and social correlates.

Methods

A secondary analysis of the Malawi School-Based Student Health Survey (2009) was done. Descriptive analyses were done to describe the sample …

Blacks And Whites In The Cuba Have Equal Prevalence Of Hypertension: Confirmation From A New Population Survey, Pedro Ordúñez, Jay S. Kaufman, Mikhail Benet, Alain Morejon, Luis C. Silva, David A. Shoham, Richard S. Cooper

Faculty Publications

Background: The excess burden of hypertension among blacks has been a prominent feature of the heath disparities literature, and many scientists presume it to be a stable and inevitable phenomenon. The underlying causes of this disparity can only be disentangled in a setting in which the population does not experience racial stratification of socioeconomic opportunities. While such conditions of racial equality remain uncommon, they may be approximated in Cuba, a country with a persistent policy of social inclusion over the last 5 decades. Methods. We report on a 2010-2011 stratified probability sample of those aged 15-74 years from the urban …

An Extract Of Artemisia Dracunculus L. Inhibits Ubiquitin-Proteasome Activity And Preserves Skeletal Muscle Mass In A Murine Model Of Diabetes, Heather Kirk-Ballard, Zhong Q. Wang, Priyanka Acharya, Xian H. Zhang, Yongmei Yu, Gail Kilroy, David Ribnicky, William T. Cefalu, Z. Elizabeth Floyd

Faculty Publications

Impaired insulin signaling is a key feature of type 2 diabetes and is associated with increased ubiquitin-proteasome-dependent protein degradation in skeletal muscle. An extract of Artemisia dracunculus L. (termed PMI5011) improves insulin action by increasing insulin signaling in skeletal muscle. We sought to determine if the effect of PMI5011 on insulin signaling extends to regulation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system. C2C12 myotubes and the KK-Ay murine model of type 2 diabetes were used to evaluate the effect of PMI5011 on steady-state levels of ubiquitylation, proteasome activity and expression of Atrogin-1 and MuRF-1, muscle-specific ubiquitin ligases that are upregulated with impaired insulin …

Serum Γ-Glutamyltransferase And The Risk Of Heart Failure In Men And Women In Finland, Yujie Wang, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Pekka Jousilahti, Veikko Salomaa, Bin Li, Riitta Antikainen, Markku Mähönen, Peter T. Katzmarzyk, Gang Hu

Faculty Publications

Objectives: To evaluate the association of serum γ- glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels with heart failure (HF) risk in the Finnish population. Design: Prospective population-based cohort study. Setting: The present study, which is a part of FINRISK study, was carried out in Finland. Subject study cohorts included 18 353 Finnish men and 19 726 women who were 25-74 years of age and free of HF at baseline. Main outcome measures HF (636 men and 445 women) during a mean follow-up of 14.5 years. Results: Baseline measurement of different levels of serum GGT was used to predict incident HF. The multivariable-adjusted (age, sex, …

High-Throughput Two-Dimensional Root System Phenotyping Platform Facilitates Genetic Analysis Of Root Growth And Development, Randy T. Clark, Adam N. Famoso, Keyan Zhao, Jon E. Shaff, Eric J. Craft, Carlos D. Bustamante, Susan R. Mccouch, Daniel J. Aneshansley, Leon V. Kochian

Faculty Publications

High-throughput phenotyping of root systems requires a combination of specialized techniques and adaptable plant growth, root imaging and software tools. A custom phenotyping platform was designed to capture images of whole root systems, and novel software tools were developed to process and analyse these images. The platform and its components are adaptable to a wide range root phenotyping studies using diverse growth systems (hydroponics, paper pouches, gel and soil) involving several plant species, including, but not limited to, rice, maize, sorghum, tomato and Arabidopsis. The RootReader2D software tool is free and publicly available and was designed with both user-guided and …

The Intestinal Microbiota In Aged Mice Is Modulated By Dietary Resistant Starch And Correlated With Improvements In Host Responses, Sybille Tachon, June Zhou, Michael Keenan, Roy Martin, Maria L. Marco

Faculty Publications

Dietary interventions might prevent or reverse age-related declines in health through modification of the activity and composition of the intestinal microbiota. As a first step toward more comprehensive evaluations of single dietary components on healthy aging, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was applied to determine the structure of the bacterial communities in the ceca of 20-month-old healthy mice fed energy-controlled diets containing 0, 18, or 36% type 2 resistant starch (RS) from high-amylose maize (HAM-RS2). The cecal microbiota of mice fed a diet depleted in RS and containing the readily digestible carbohydrate amylopectin were dominated by bacteria in the Firmicutes …

Confronting Myths About Household Food Insecurity And Excess Weight, Edward A. Frongillo Jr.

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Myths, Presumptions, And Facts About Obesity, Krista Casazza, Kevin R. Fontaine, Arne Astrup, Leann L. Birch, Andrew W. Brown, Michelle M. Bohan Brown, Nefertiti Durant, Gareth Dutton, E. Michael Foster, Steven B. Heymsfield, Kerry Mciver, Tapan Mehta, Nir Menachemi, P.K. Newby, Russell R. Pate, Barbara J. Rolls, Bisakha Sen, Daniel L. Smith Jr, Diana M. Thomas, David B. Allison

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND Many beliefs about obesity persist in the absence of supporting scientific evidence (presumptions); some persist despite contradicting evidence (myths). The promulgation of unsupported beliefs may yield poorly informed policy decisions, inaccurate clinical and public health recommendations, and an unproductive allocation of research resources and may divert attention away from useful, evidence-based information.

METHODS Using Internet searches of popular media and scientific literature, we identified, reviewed, and classified obesity-related myths and presumptions. We also examined facts that are well supported by evidence, with an emphasis on those that have practical implications for public health, policy, or clinical recommendations.

RESULTS We …

Food Safety Attitudes In College Students: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis Of A Conceptual Model, Rachelle Booth, Magaly Hernandez, Erica L. Baker, Tevni Grajales, Peter Pribis

Faculty Publications

College students are one of the most at-risk population groups for food poisoning, due to risky food safety behaviors. Using the Likert Scale, undergraduate students were asked to participate in a Food Safety Survey which was completed by 499 students ages 18–25. Data was analyzed using SPSS and AMOS statistical software. Four conceptual definitions regarding food safety were defined as: general food safety, bacterial food safety, produce food safety, and politics associated with food safety. Knowledge seems to be an important factor in shaping students attitudes regarding general and bacterial safety. Ethnicity plays a role in how people view the …

Indicators Of Family Care For Development For Use In Multicountry Surveys, Patricia Kariger, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Patrice Engle, Pia M. Rebello Britto, Sara M. Sywulka, Purnima Menon

Faculty Publications

Indicators of family care for development are essential for ascertaining whether families are providing their children with an environment that leads to positive developmental outcomes. This project aimed to develop indicators from a set of items, measuring family care practices and resources important for caregiving, for use in epidemiologic surveys in developing countries. A mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) design was used for item selection and evaluation. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted to examine the validity of candidate items in several country samples. Qualitative methods included the use of global expert panels to identify and evaluate the performance of …

Counting The Economic Costs And Policy Implications Associated With Divorce: Texas As A Case Study, David G. Schramm, Steven M. Harris, Jason B. Whiting Phd, Alan J. Hawkins, Matt Brown, Rob Porter

Faculty Publications

Although many adults and children are resilient after divorce, it is common for marital breakups to precipitate the need for government assistance for families who had been self-sufficient. This study focuses on the economic costs of divorce associated with means-tested welfare programs in Texas, which fall into five central areas: medical assistance; cash assistance; food assistance; housing, energy, and utility assistance; and child care and development assistance. The study estimated that Texas spends at least $3.18 billion on divorce and its related consequences each year, accounting for approximately 12% of the total Texas budget in 2008. These results reinforce the …

Objectively Measured Sedentary Behavior In Preschool Children: Comparison Between Montessori And Traditional Preschools, Wonwoo Byun, Steven N. Blair, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

Background: This study aimed to compare the levels of objectively-measured sedentary behavior in children attending Montessori preschools with those attending traditional preschools.

Methods: The participants in this study were preschool children aged 4 years old who were enrolled in Montessori and traditional preschools. The preschool children wore ActiGraph accelerometers. Accelerometers were initialized using 15-second intervals and sedentary behavior was defined as/15-second. The accelerometry data were summarized into the average minutes per hour spent in sedentary behavior during the in-school, the afterschool, and the total-day period. Mixed linear regression models were used to determine differences in the average time spent in …

Hunger And Reduced Self-Control In The Laboratory And Across The World: Reducing Hunger As A Self-Control Panacea, Matthew T. Gailliot

Faculty Publications

Ten studies link hunger to reduced self-control. Higher levels of hunger-as assessed by self-report, time since last eating, or physiology-predicted reduced self-control, as indicated by increased racial prejudice, (hypothetical) sexual infidelity, passivity, accessibility of death thoughts and perceptions of task difficulty, as well as impaired Stroop performance and decreased self-monitoring. Increased rates of hunger across 200 countries predicted increased war killings, suggestive of reduced aggressive restraint. In a final experiment, self-reported hunger mediated the effect of hungry (v fed) participants performing worse on the Stroop task, suggesting a causal relationship of hunger reducing self-control.

Impact Of Older Adults’ Experience With Psychotherapy On Treatment Engagement, Erin L. Woodhead, I. I. Ivan, E. E. Emery

Faculty Publications

The goal of the study was to characterize older adults' experience with psychotherapy and examine its impact on engagement in psychotherapy. The study included 50 adults over age 60 who screened positive for depression and participated in the BRIGHTEN Program, an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health program. Qualitative analyses revealed five themes leading to treatment initiation: health concerns, family issues, the experience of depressive symptoms, beliefs about what participants could get from psychotherapy, and positive outcomes seen in others. Those without a history of mental health treatment were more likely to endorse health concerns as a treatment motivator and were more …

The Forgotten Farmworkers Of Apopka, Florida: Prospects For Collaborative Research And Activism To Assist African-American Former Farmworkers, Rachel Newcomb

Faculty Publications

Anthropology’s crisis of representation of the 1980s has given way to a millennial crisis of involvement. As neoliberal policies proliferate and intensify wealth and social inequalities, anthropologists have considered ways to conduct engaged research that can contribute to social justice. One possibility is the prospect of collaboration between anthropologists and activists. In this article we examine our own collaborative research with an anthropologist and activist organization. We highlight benefits of long-term community engagement projects for activist-oriented community partners and students.

Food Intake Patterns And Plate Waste Among Community Meal Center Guests Show Room For Improvement, Marjorie Freedman, Catherine Bartoli

Faculty Publications

Food insecure individuals often consume nutritionally inadequate diets. Using a weighted plate waste analysis, we examined whether adult guests of 2 independently operated meal centers were served and consumed Food and Drug Administration–recommended serving sizes (reference amount customarily consumed; RACC) of protein, starch, fruit, vegetables, and bread for the dinner meal. In both centers, guests were served and consumed more than 100% of RACC for protein. Regardless of amount served and independent of whether guests took seconds, consumption of fruit and vegetables was less than RACC. Larger servings of vegetables, but not of protein or starch, resulted in more plate …

What's Not To Love About "Amour"?, E Michael Brady Phd

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Genetic Diversity In Peruvian Amaranth (Amaranthus Caudatus And A. Hybridus) Germplasm Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Markers [Abstract], Felix Jimenez, Peter J. Maughan, Aquilino Alvarez, Kiel D. Kielinski, Scott M. Smith, Donald B. Pratt, David B. Elzinga, Eric N. Jellen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Stoltzfus, Pacifists In Chains: The Persecution Of Hutterites During The Great War, Carol A. Leibiger

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Gis-Based, Regional Extent Habitat Suitability Modeling To Identify Conservation Priority Areas: A Case Study Of The Louisiana Black Bear In East Texas, Christopher E. Comer, I-Kuai Hung, Gary Calkins, Dan J. Kaminski, Nathan Garner

Faculty Publications

State and federal recovery plans mandate that priority areas for future population expansion be identified within the historical range of the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus). Despite the presence of potentially suitable habitat in east Texas and expanding populations in adjacent states, quantitative estimates of regional habitat suitability do not exist. We developed a regional extent habitat suitability index (HSI) model in a geographic information system (GIS) to evaluate year-round habitat requirements for black bears in the 43,530-km2 south black bear recovery zone in southeastern Texas. We measured hard and soft mast production, understory vegetation density, and tree den …

The Teacher-Student Writing Conference Reimaged: Entangled Becoming-Writingconferencing, Donna Kalmbach Phillips, Mindy Legard Larson

Faculty Publications

This analysis is experimental: we attempt to read data with the work of Karen Barad and in doing so ‘see’ teacher-student writing conferences (a common pedagogy of US elementary school writing) as intra-activity. Data were gathered during teacher-student writing conferences in a grade five US classroom over a six week period. One conference between a researcher and a male Latino student, a Student of Labels, is diffracted. Reading and writing and thinking with Barad disrupts our habitual ways of privileging language as representational. Rather, we consider the material-discursive practices of schooling that produce what comes to matter, leading …

Nitrogen And Phosphorus Phytoplankton Growth Limitation In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, R. Eugene Turner, N N. Rabalais

Faculty Publications

We conducted 158 bioassays to determine phytoplankton growth limitation in the northern Gulf of Mexico and made the following observations. Light limitation occurred where salinity was < 20; at higher salinities, phytoplankton biomass yield became mostly limited by N or by a co-limitation of N plus P (NP). The number of N-limited bioassays was 5 times greater than the P-limited bioassays. NP synergism occurred where salinity was > 20, and represented 59% of all samples that were not light-limited. The interaction of N and P co-limitation was frequently synergistically additive, i.e. the combined effects of N and P limitation together created a greater response than the sum of either separately. The dissolved inorganic nitrogen: phosphate ratio (DIN:Pi) and various concentrations of DIN and Pi did not offer reliable chemical boundaries describing likely areas of exclusive N or P limitation in these bioassays. …

Unique Pattern Of Molt Leads To Low Intraindividual Variation In Feather Mercury Concentrations In Penguins, R.L. Brasso, B.E. Drummond, S.R. Borrett, A. Chiaradia, M.J. Polito, A.R. Rey

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Legislative Diplomacy, Ryan M. Scoville

Faculty Publications

A traditional view in legal scholarship holds that the Constitution assigns to the President an exclusive power to carry on official diplomatic communications with foreign governments. But in fact, Congress and its membership routinely engage in communications of their own. Congress, for example, receives heads of state and maintains official contacts with foreign legislatures. And members of the House and Senate frequently travel overseas on congressional delegations, or “CODELs,” to confer with foreign leaders, investigate problems that arise, promote the interests of the United States and constituents, and even represent the President. Moreover, many of these activities have occurred ever …

Do You Know What's On Your Plate?: The Importance Of Regulating The Processes Of Food Production, Martha Dragich

Faculty Publications

This article argues that the current regulatory approach-focusing on the supposed equivalence of new foods to traditional ones-is unduly narrow, particularly given the characteristics of the modem food system. To achieve the broad objectives of the FDCA in the context of the industrialized, highly processed, and global food supply of the twenty-first century requires adopting a broader understanding of consumer protection needs with respect to food. The FDCA itself is written in very broad terms and provides much of the authority needed today. The FDA's enforcement capacity, however, already is severely strained.52 Moreover, the scientific basis for some process- oriented …

Regulating In Uncertainty: Animating The Public Health Product Safety Net To Capture Consumer Products Regulated By The Fda That Use Innovative Technologies, Including Nanotechnologies, Genetic Modification, Cloning, And Lab Grown Meat, Katharine A. Van Tassel

Faculty Publications

The past several decades have seen the creation of transformative new technologies that are being used to design innovative consumer product ingredients never seen before in nature. Examples include the use of nanotechnology and genetic modification, and, right around the corner, cloning and lab grown meat. These innovative technologies are harbingers of more pioneering consumer product ingredients to come. The remarkable pace of the development of ground-breaking new technologies means that the population is being steadily exposed to novel ingredients with unknown health risks.

Optimally, the Food & Drug Administration ("FDA") should be regulating these innovative, novel ingredients in consumer …

Tnt1 Retrotransposon Mutagenesis: A Tool For Soybean Functional Genomics, Yaya Cui, Shyam Barampuram, Minviluz G. Stacey, C. Nathan Hancock, Seth Findley, Melanie Mathieu, Zhanyuan Zhang, Wayne A. Parrott, Gary Stacey

Faculty Publications

Insertional mutagenesis is a powerful tool for determining gene function in both model and crop plant species. Tnt1, the transposable element of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cell type 1, is a retrotransposon that replicates via an RNA copy that is reverse transcribed and integrated elsewhere in the plant genome. Based on studies in a variety of plants, Tnt1 appears to be inactive in normal plant tissue but can be reactivated by tissue culture. Our goal was to evaluate the utility of the Tnt1 retrotransposon as a mutagenesis strategy in soybean (Glycine max). Experiments showed that the …

Physiological Effects Of Tourism And Associated Food Provisioning In An Endangered Iguana, Charles R. Knapp, Kirsten N. Hines, Trevor T. Zachariah, Caro Perez-Heydrich, John B. Iverson, Sandra D. Buckner, Shelley C. Halach, Christine R. Lattin, L. Michael Romero

Faculty Publications

© The Author 2013. Deliberately feeding wildlife is an increasingly popular tourism-related activity despite a limited understanding of long-term impacts on the species being fed. As a result, tourist behaviours that may have adverse impacts on imperiled species have often been encouraged without the necessary evaluation or oversight. Here, we report the responses of Northern Bahamian Rock Iguanas (Cyclura cychlura) to human-visitation pressure and associated food provisioning. We compared a variety of blood chemistry parameters of iguanas subjected to supplemental feeding at popular tourist destinations with iguanas occurring on islands where supplemental feeding does not take place. We demonstrate that …

Integrative Annotation Of Variants From 1092 Humans: Application To Cancer Genomics, E. Khurana, Y. Fu, V. Colonna, X. J. Mu, H. M. Kang, T. Lappalainen, A. Sboner, L. Lochovsky, J. Chen, A. Harmanci, J. Das, A. Abyzov, S. Balasubramanian, K. Beal, D. Chakravarty, D. Challis, Y. Chen, D. Clarke, L. Clarke, F. Cunningham, U. S. Evani, P. Flicek, R. Fragoza, E. Garrison, R. Gibbs, Z. H. Gümüş, J. Herrero, N. Kitabayashi, Y. Kong, K. Lage, V. Liluashvili, S. M. Lipkin, D. G. Macarthur, G. Marth

Faculty Publications

Interpreting variants, especially noncoding ones, in the increasing number of personal genomes is challenging. We used patterns of polymorphisms in functionally annotated regions in 1092 humans to identify deleterious variants; then we experimentally validated candidates. We analyzed both coding and noncoding regions, with the former corroborating the latter. We found regions particularly sensitive to mutations ("ultrasensitive") and variants that are disruptive because of mechanistic effects on transcription-factor binding (that is, " motif-breakers"). We also found variants in regions with higher network centrality tend to be deleterious. Insertions and deletions followed a similar pattern to single-nucleotide variants, with some notable exceptions …

Ecological And Control Techniques For Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) Associated With Rodent Reservoirs Of Leishmaniasis, Thomas M. Mascari, Hanafi A. Hanafi, Ryan E. Jackson, Souâd Ouahabi, Btissam Ameur, Chafika Faraj, Peter J. Obenauer, Joseph W. Diclaro, Lane D. Foil

Faculty Publications

Background:Leishmaniasis remains a global health problem because of the substantial holes that remain in our understanding of sand fly ecology and the failure of traditional vector control methods. The specific larval food source is unknown for all but a few sand fly species, and this is particularly true for the vectors of Leishmania parasites. We provide methods and materials that could be used to understand, and ultimately break, the transmission cycle of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis.Methods and Findings:We demonstrated in laboratory studies that analysis of the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes found naturally in plant and animal tissues was highly effective …