Sexual harassment is degrading and illegal. Studies show it has a negative effect on the ability of women to engage in research at the same level as men. Sexual assault on college campuses is a ...critical concern for students, policy makers, college administrators, and parents of current and prospective students. Chapter 1 identifies the range and scope of policies and practices related to the investigation and adjudication of sexual assaults on college campuses in the U.S. While many workers in the United States experience workplace sexual harassment-resulting in substantial costs to them and their employers-the extent of sexual harassment and the magnitude of its effects are not fully understood as discussed in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 reviews federal science agency policies and procedures for addressing sexual harassment involving federally-funded STEM researchers and their trainees. The book will also explore lessons learned, enduring challenges, and future opportunities for preventing and mitigating the negative impact of sexual harassment in STEM studies and careers. Chapter 4 is the full transcript of the "Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act of 2019."Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Chapter 5 examines some of the major changes established by the Title IX regulations, highlighting many of the most significant new requirements and noting where those obligations depart from prior ED guidance and the NPRM.
Challenges from environmental stressors have a profound impact on many life-history traits of an organism, including reproductive strategy. Examples across multiple taxa have demonstrated that ...maternal reproductive investment resulting from stress can improve offspring survival; a form of matricidal provisioning when death appears imminent is known as terminal investment. Here we report a reproductive response in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans upon exposure to acute cold shock at 2 °C, whereby vitellogenic lipid movement from the soma to the germline appears to be massively upregulated at the expense of parental survival. This response is dependent on functional TAX-2; TAX-4 cGMP-gated channels that are part of canonical thermosensory mechanisms in worms and can be prevented in the presence of activated SKN-1/Nrf2, the master stress regulator. Increased maternal provisioning promotes improved embryonic cold shock survival, which is notably suppressed in animals with impaired vitellogenesis. These findings suggest that cold shock in C. elegans triggers terminal investment to promote progeny fitness at the expense of parental survival and may serve as a tractable model for future studies of stress-induced progeny plasticity.
The innate immune system's ability to sense an infection is critical so that it can rapidly respond if pathogenic microorganisms threaten the host, but otherwise maintain a quiescent baseline state ...to avoid causing damage to the host or to commensal microorganisms. One important mechanism for discriminating between pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria is the recognition of cellular damage caused by a pathogen during the course of infection. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the conserved G-protein coupled receptor FSHR-1 is an important constituent of the innate immune response. FSHR-1 activates the expression of antimicrobial infection response genes in infected worms and delays accumulation of the ingested pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. FSHR-1 is central not only to the worm's survival of infection by multiple pathogens, but also to the worm's survival of xenobiotic cadmium and oxidative stresses. Infected worms produce reactive oxygen species to fight off the pathogens; FSHR-1 is required at the site of infection for the expression of detoxifying genes that protect the host from collateral damage caused by this defense response. Finally, the FSHR-1 pathway is important for the ability of worms to discriminate pathogenic from benign bacteria and subsequently initiate an aversive learning program that promotes selective pathogen avoidance.
Biomass burning smoke is often a significant source of airborne fine particles in regional areas where air quality monitoring is scarce. Emerging sensor technology provides opportunities to monitor ...air quality on a much larger geographical scale with much finer spatial resolution. It can also engage communities in the conversation around local pollution sources. The SMoke Observation Gadget (SMOG), a unit with a Plantower dust sensor PMS3003, was designed as part of a school-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) project looking at smoke impacts in regional areas of Victoria, Australia. A smoke-specific calibration curve between the SMOG units and a standard regulatory instrument was developed using an hourly data set collected during a peat fire. The calibration curve was applied to the SMOG units during all field-based validation measurements at several locations and during different seasons. The results showed strong associations between individual SMOG units for PM2.5 concentrations (r2 = 0.93–0.99) and good accuracy (mean absolute error (MAE) < 2 μg m−3). Correlations of the SMOG units to reference instruments also demonstrated strong associations (r2 = 0.87–95) and good accuracy (MAE of 2.5–3.0 μg m−3). The PM2.5 concentrations tracked by the SMOG units had a similar response time as those measured by collocated reference instruments. Overall, the study has shown that the SMOG units provide relevant information about ambient PM2.5 concentrations in an airshed impacted predominantly by biomass burning, provided that an adequate adjustment factor is applied.
Aim
Idiopathic toe walking (ITW) is a diagnosis for children who toe walk without another diagnosis known to cause toe walking. Recent research has suggested that children with ITW may have mild ...motor planning challenges and sensory processing differences. The primary aim of this systematic review was to determine whether children diagnosed with ITW have differences in their sensory processing compared to typically developing children. Secondary aims included determining how sensory processing was assessed in this population and documenting the broad clinometric and psychometric properties of any assessment tools.
Methods
MEDLINE, CINAHL, AMED and Embase were searched for relevant literature in English. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they described children aged 3 and 18 with idiopathic toe walking and reported a sensory processing domain.
Results
Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria; however, only two papers included data permitting meta‐analysis. Meta‐analyses of vibration perception threshold using a random effect model were not significant (p = 0.31). Other data were synthesised by narrative and showed a high heterogeneity across multiple sensory processing domains.
Conclusion
This study highlights that despite children with ITW often conceptualised as possessing sensory processing challenges, there is little evidence supporting this theory. Further research on sensory processing in children with this gait pattern is necessary.
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•We apply a consistent framework to model impacts of PM2.5 from eight major sources.•50% ambient PM2.5 was from wood heaters, on-road sources and power stations.•Wood heaters were the ...most important source, responsible for 1,400 YLL annually.•Introduction of a 1.5 g/kg standard for wood heaters could produce 90,000 life-years.
We describe an assessment of the impact on mortality of eight major sources of PM2.5 in the Greater Metropolitan Region of Sydney, Australia (GMR). We modeled exposure to PM2.5 for the year July 2010 to June 2011 and estimated the burden of current mortality attributable to these sources. We also estimated the number of life-years that would be produced if emissions from wood heaters and power stations, the two largest emissions sources, were reduced.
Wood heaters (assuming a real-world emissions factor of 11.4 g of PM2.5 per kg of wood burned) were the most important source of PM2.5 exposure, responsible for around 24.0% of the total anthropogenic PM2.5 concentration. On-road sources and power stations were also important, responsible for 16.9% and 10.5% of anthropogenic PM2.5 exposure respectively.
Around 1.2% of mortality (5,900 YLL) was attributable to long-term exposure to all anthropogenic PM2.5, including 0.3% (1,400 YLL) attributable to wood heater–related PM2.5, 0.2% (990 YLL) to on-road sources and 0.1% (620 YLL) to power stations.
Compared to ongoing emissions at 2010/11 levels, we estimated that a sustained reduction in emissions from wood heaters due to the introduction of an emissions standard of 1.5 g of PM2.5 per kilogram of wood burned (real world emissions factor of 3.9 g of PM2.5 per kg of wood burned) and the associated reduction in PM2.5 population exposure would produce 90,000 life-years among the cohort of people alive in 2010/11. Complete removal of sulphur oxide emissions from power stations would produce 14,000 life-years and complete removal of nitrogen oxide emissions would produce 38,000 life-years. A range of sensitivity analyses indicate the true impact of PM2.5 from these sources is likely to be at least as large as these estimates.
This assessment shows that eight sources are responsible for more than 60% of exposure to anthropogenic PM2.5 in the Sydney GMR. Although the burden of mortality attributable to each source is relatively small, interventions that achieve sustained reductions in emissions could provide substantial health benefits, which are likely to far outweigh the costs.
Bushfires, prescribed burns, and residential wood burning are significant sources of fine particles (aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm; PM
2.5
) affecting the health and well-being of many communities. ...Despite the lack of evidence, a common public health recommendation is to remain indoors, assuming that the home provides a protective barrier against ambient PM
2.5
. The study aimed to assess to what extent houses provide protection against peak concentrations of outdoor PM
2.5
and whether remaining indoors is an effective way of reducing exposure to PM
2.5
. The effectiveness of this strategy was evaluated by conducting simultaneous week-long indoor and outdoor measurements of PM
2.5
at 21 residences in regional areas of Victoria, Australia. During smoke plume events, remaining indoors protected residents from peak outdoor PM
2.5
concentrations, but the level of protection was highly variable, ranging from 12% to 76%. Housing stock (e.g., age of the house) and ventilation (e.g., having windows/doors open or closed) played a significant role in the infiltration of outdoor PM
2.5
indoors. The results also showed that leaving windows and doors closed once the smoke plume abates trapped PM
2.5
indoors and increased indoor exposure to PM
2.5
. Furthermore, for approximately 50% of households, indoor sources such as cooking activities, smoking, and burning candles or incense contributed significantly to indoor PM
2.5
.
Implications: Smoke from biomass burning sources can significantly impact on communities. Remaining indoors with windows and doors closed is a common recommendation by health authorities to minimize exposures to peak concentrations of fine particles during smoke plume events. Findings from this study have shown that the protection from fine particles in biomass burning smoke is highly variable among houses, with information on housing age and ventilation status providing an approximate assessment on the protection of a house. Leaving windows closed once a smoke plume abates traps particles indoors and increases exposures.
Innate immunity is an ancient defense system used by both vertebrates and invertebrates. Previously characterized innate immune responses in plants and animals are triggered by detection of pathogens ...using specific receptors, which typically use a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain to bind molecular patterns associated with infection. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans uses defense pathways conserved with vertebrates; however, the mechanism by which C. elegans detects pathogens is unknown. We screened all LRR-containing transmembrane receptors in C. elegans and identified the G protein-coupled receptor FSHR-1 as an important component of the C. elegans immune response to Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial pathogens. FSHR-1 acts in the C. elegans intestine, the primary site of exposure to ingested pathogens. FSHR-1 signals in parallel to the known p38 MAPK pathway but converges to regulate the transcriptional induction of an overlapping but nonidentical set of antimicrobial effectors. FSHR-1 may act generally to boost the nematode immune response, or it may function as a pathogen receptor.
Cardiovascular disease risk calculators can inform and guide preventive strategies and treatment decisions by clinicians and patients. However, their uptake in primary care has been slow despite the ...recommendation in national cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines. Identifying the barriers to the implementation of cardiovascular disease risk calculators is essential for promoting their adoption.
The authors qualitatively analyzed structured physician educator notes written during an outreach education intervention with 44 small- and medium-sized primary care clinics that participated in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality‒funded EvidenceNOW Healthy Hearts Northwest trial. The authors coded barriers to the implementation of cardiovascular disease risk calculation and aligned them to the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.
The authors identified 13 barriers from the physician educators’ notes. The majority (n=8, 62%) mapped to the framework's Inner Setting domain. The 5 most commonly noted barriers were (1) time constraints to use a calculator (N=23 clinics), (2) limitations to accessing a calculator or the necessary information to use a calculator (N=22 clinics), (3) no or minimal buy-in from clinicians or staff to use a calculator (N=19 clinics), (4) reported patient fear of side effects from statin medications or patient dislike of taking medications per the guidelines (N=17 clinics), and (5) lack of documented clinic workflow for using a calculator (N=16 clinics).
To improve the uptake of cardiovascular disease risk calculation in primary care, future cardiovascular disease prevention and implementation research should consider tailoring interventions to the common barriers to implementing cardiovascular disease risk calculation.
This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT02839382.
Adolescent asthma is highly prevalent and frequently uncontrolled despite control being achievable with good self-management. Anxiety, depression, and stress are associated with worse asthma ...outcomes, and may impact self-management; no previous review has examined this relationship.
This scoping review assessed the nature of the current literature on mental health and asthma self-management among adolescents ages 11 to 24 and synthesized their relationships.
Guided by the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we systematically searched the literature using MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Scopus in September 2020 and updated it in June 2021. Included studies examined associations between anxiety, depression, and/or stress and asthma self-management in adolescents ages 11–24. We did not restrict study design, location, or date.
Out of 1559 records identified, 14 met inclusion criteria. Types of self-management included trigger control, healthcare adherence, and overall symptom prevention and management. Anxiety symptoms were associated with poorer asthma self-management in four studies, but better in three. Depressive symptoms were associated with poorer asthma self-management in five studies, but better in two. Stress was associated with poorer self-management in one study. Mental health symptoms were nearly universally associated with poorer trigger control, but associations with healthcare adherence and overall symptom prevention and management varied.
Mental health symptoms may facilitate or hinder asthma self-management depending on the types of mental health and self-management. Further research is needed to better understand this relationship and inform future interventions. Providers might assess mental health as a potential barrier to adolescent asthma self-management.
•Mental health and asthma self-management associations have yet to be synthesized.•Mental health symptoms appeared to impact asthma self-management among adolescents.•There was variability in methods used to assess mental health and self-management.•Providers should screen for mental health symptoms among adolescents with asthma.
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