Distilling Professional Opinion to Gauge Vulnerability of Guam Avifauna to Brown Treesnake Predation

The avifauna of Guam was devastated by the introduction of the Brown Treesnake, and the restoration of native birds would need to address the problem with eradication or suppression of BTS. With eradication of the snake unlikely in the near term, and suppression capabilities limited to specific finite areas, key information for reintroductions is how low BTS abundance will likely need to be for each bird species to be re-established based on their vulnerability to BTS predation. Here, we estimate vulnerability, which can no longer be measured directly, so biologists who are familiar with one or more of seven Guam birds were surveyed to obtain their knowledge and produce quantitative vulnerability estimates. As is typical of birds adapted to islands devoid of predators, respondents judged that our focal species exhibit few predator avoidance and tolerance traits, leaving body size as the prime determinant of vulnerability. Respondent opinion also holds that any behavior that reduces the likelihood of an encounter by BTS, e.g., roosting/nesting in palm crowns, cavity nesting, and in particular urban dwelling, substantially reduces vulnerability. Our results can help inform species-specific decisions about when it may be safe to consider the release of birds on Guam depending on the relative vulnerability of each species to predation by BTS.

Platforms

Chapter 3 is devoted to social media. The survey reveals the role of age over socioeconomic status and gender as the prime determinant of platform access and use. The interviews show that people attribute different meanings to different platforms and act accordingly. Participants view WhatsApp as akin to a coffee place, a communication space affording a distinct public intimacy; Facebook as a mall characterized by its massive and generalist environment—a convenient yet unappealing venue; Twitter as a newsstand, an information-centered context marked by an informal and humorous tone; Instagram as a promenade, or a venue for an idealized and aestheticized visual presentation of the self; and Snapchat as a carnival, an equally visual but more ludic alternative. The analysis shows a high level of attachment to platforms. The chapter concludes by continuing the discussion of a reconstitution of sociality in the experience of information abundance.

Utilization of antenatal care services in a rural area of Nalgonda district, Telangana state, India

Background: Majority of maternal deaths can be prevented through appropriate maternal health services during antenatal, natal and post natal period Reasons for non-utilization of Antenatal health services could be due to various social, cultural and economic factors. Therefore, keeping this in view, this study was conducted to assess the utilization pattern of antenatal services by mothers, the facilitators of utilization of services.Methods: It is a Community based cross sectional study conducted in Cherlapally and villages around, which constitute the rural field practice area of Department of SPM, Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, Narketpally telangana. This study was conducted from September 2012-October 2014. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionaire was used to collect the data. The data was compiled and analyzed using SPSS version 19.Results: Majority (91.5%) of the mothers had three or more than three antenatal visits. Antenatal visits less than 3 was seen in only 8.5% of mothers. Mothers who took minimum of 2 tetanus toxoid injections were 93.6%. But only 37.7% of the mothers consumed 100 IFA tablets. Majority (68.6%) of the mothers received antenatal care from doctor and 22.9% of mothers from both doctor and ANM.Conclusions: Majority of the mothers received antenatal care from private health facility followed by government health facilities. Better care and advice from health staff was the prime determinant for utilization.

Molecular basis for the distinct cellular functions of the Lsm1-7 and Lsm2-8 complexes

Eukaryotes possess eight highly conserved Lsm (like Sm) proteins that assemble into circular, heteroheptameric complexes, bind RNA, and direct a diverse range of biological processes. Among the many essential functions of Lsm proteins, the cytoplasmic Lsm1-7 complex initiates mRNA decay, while the nuclear Lsm2-8 complex acts as a chaperone for U6 spliceosomal RNA. It has been unclear how these complexes perform their distinct functions while differing by only one out of seven subunits. Here, we elucidate the molecular basis for Lsm-RNA recognition and present four high-resolution structures of Lsm complexes bound to RNAs. The structures of Lsm2-8 bound to RNA identify the unique 2′,3′ cyclic phosphate end of U6 as a prime determinant of specificity. In contrast, the Lsm1-7 complex strongly discriminates against cyclic phosphates and tightly binds to oligouridylate tracts with terminal purines. Lsm5 uniquely recognizes purine bases, explaining its divergent sequence relative to other Lsm subunits. Lsm1-7 loads onto RNA from the 3′ end and removal of the Lsm1 C-terminal region allows Lsm1-7 to scan along RNA, suggesting a gated mechanism for accessing internal binding sites. These data reveal the molecular basis for RNA binding by Lsm proteins, a fundamental step in the formation of molecular assemblies that are central to eukaryotic mRNA metabolism.

UNSECURED CREDIT, PRODUCT VARIETY, AND UNEMPLOYMENT DYNAMICS

Revolving credit is the prime determinant of short-run household liquidity and comoves positively with product variety and negatively with unemployment. I develop a theory of feedback between revolving credit and product development and examine its ability to explain labor market volatility. Extending the Mortensen–Pissarides model with an endogenous borrowing constraint and free entry of monopolistically competitive firms reproduces stylized facts in the data and amplifies both productivity and financial shocks through mutual causality. Higher debt limits encourage firm entry and raise product variety (the entry channel), and greater variety makes default more costly and thereby raises the equilibrium debt level (the consumption value channel). Though productivity shocks are sufficient to generate higher volatility, financial shocks are essential in approximating the time series patterns of unemployment, vacancies, and revolving credit in the data, and reproduce the rise in unemployment during the Great Recession.

A Clinical Activity Score That Discriminates Between Inflammatory and Noninflammatory Graves’ Ophthalmopathy

In this chapter the results of a retrospective analysis of pooled data from a randomized, double blind, clinical trial comparing oral prednisone to radiotherapy in patients with both inflammatory and noninflammatory Graves’ disease are described. The aim of the analysis was to determine whether a previously developed index (the Clinical Activity Score, CAS) could discriminate between inflammatory and noninflammatory Graves’ ophthalmopathy. The analysis showed that the CAS had a high predictive value for the outcome of immunosuppressive treatment in Graves’ ophthalmopathy. A high CAS helped to select patients who benefited from immunosuppressive treatment; a low CAS, however, did not exclude favorable therapeutic results. Disease activity (measured by the CAS), and not disease duration, is the prime determinant of therapeutic outcome in Graves’ ophthalmopathy.

7. Marxist theories of international relations

This chapter examines the contribution of Marxism to the study of international relations. It first considers whether globalization is a new phenomenon or a long-standing feature of capitalist development, and whether ‘crisis’ is an inevitable feature of capitalism, and if so, whether capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction. The chapter proceeds by discussing a number of core features common to Marxist approaches as well as the internationalization of Karl Marx's ideas by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently by writers in the world-system framework. It also explains how Frankfurt School critical theory, and Antonio Gramsci and his various followers, introduced an analysis of culture into Marxist analysis as well as the more recent ‘return to Marx’. Two case studies are presented, one relating to the Naxalite movement in India and the other focusing on the recent experience of Greece. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether the global economy is the prime determinant of the character of world politics.

Intervening Variables and Savings Mobilization of Staff Owned Cooperative Societies in Nasarawa State Public Institutions (A Case Study of Naspoly Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society Nasarawa State Nigeria)

This paper examined the intervening variables affecting the mobilization of savings of Staff owned Cooperative Societies in Nasarawa State Public Institutions and their effects on the savings mobilization. It was a survey research that focused on the Naspoly Staff Cooperative Society, Nasarawa State Polytechnic Lafia, Nasarawa State Nigeria. Questionnaire was administered to a randomly sampled 250 members from the 380 registered members as at December 2018, with the view to confirming that the following variables (family size, income level, number of children in school and market situation) affects savings mobilization of staff owned cooperative societies in public institutions in Nasarawa State. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and The Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Findings from results of the study showed that, the identified variables intervenes in savings activities of staff members, it actually hampered the society’s efforts in mobilizing savings. It conclude that, although these intervening variables are individualistic, they by extension affect the savings mobilization of the cooperative societies. In line with the findings of the study, it was recommended therefore, that With due consideration of the income factor which is a prime determinant of savings, government as a whole should consider improving staff take home and adopt measures that will ensure price control in the market. Government should ensure that the timing for review of staff salaries be reviewed two to three years looking at the rate of inflation in Nigeria.

Kinetics of Xist-induced gene silencing can be predicted from combinations of epigenetic and genomic features

To initiate X-chromosome inactivation (XCI), the long non-coding RNA Xist mediates chromosome-wide gene silencing of one X chromosome in female mammals to equalize gene dosage between the sexes. The efficiency of gene silencing, however is highly variable across genes, with some genes even escaping XCI in somatic cells. A genes susceptibility to Xist-mediated silencing appears to be determined by a complex interplay of epigenetic and genomic features; however, the underlying rules remain poorly understood. We have quantified chromosome-wide gene silencing kinetics at the level of the nascent transcriptome using allele-specific Precision nuclear Run-On sequencing (PRO-seq). We have developed a Random Forest machine learning model that can predict the measured silencing dynamics based on a large set of epigenetic and genomic features and tested its predictive power experimentally. While the genomic distance to the Xist locus is the prime determinant of the speed of gene silencing, we find that also pre-marking of gene promoters with polycomb complexes is associated with fast silencing. Moreover, a series of features associated with active transcription and the O-GlcNAc transferase Ogt are enriched at rapidly silenced genes. Our machine learning approach can thus uncover the complex combinatorial rules underlying gene silencing during X inactivation.