Dicer-2 mutations in cells lead to a diminished antiviral function against Rift Valley fever virus and Bunyamwera virus infection.

Mosquitoes are known to transmit different arthropod-borne viruses belonging to various virus families. The exogenous small interfering RNA pathway plays an important role in the mosquito defence against such virus infections, with Dicer-2 (Dcr2) as one of the key proteins that initiates the cleavage of viral dsRNAs into 21 nt long virus-derived small interfering RNAs. Previous data identified the importance of various motifs in Dcr2 for its small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated antiviral activity.

A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet.

The nearby radio galaxy M87 is a prime target for studying black hole accretion and jet formation. Event Horizon Telescope observations of M87 in 2017, at a wavelength of 1.3 mm, revealed a ring-like structure, which was interpreted as gravitationally lensed emission around a central black hole.

Culex Y Virus: A Native Virus of Culex Species Characterized In Vivo.

Mosquitoes are vectors of various pathogens that cause diseases in humans and animals. To prevent the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases, it is essential to control vector populations, as treatment or vaccination for mosquito-borne diseases are often unavailable. Insect-specific viruses (ISVs) have previously been described as being potentially helpful against arboviral disease outbreaks.

Rift Valley fever virus detection in susceptible hosts with special emphasis in insects.

Rift Valley fever phlebovirus (RVFV, Phenuiviridae) is an emerging arbovirus that can cause potentially fatal disease in many host species including ruminants and humans. Thus, tools to detect this pathogen within tissue samples from routine diagnostic investigations or for research purposes are of major interest. This study compares the immunohistological usefulness of several mono- and polyclonal antibodies against RVFV epitopes in tissue samples derived from natural hosts of epidemiologic importance (sheep), potentially virus transmitting insect species (Culex quinquefasciatus, Aedes aegypti) as well as scientific infection models (mouse, Drosophila melanogaster, C6/36 cell pellet).

Parenting styles, adolescents' attributions, and educational outcomes in nine heterogeneous high schools.

This article examined the contemporaneous and predictive relations between parenting styles, adolescents' attributions, and 4 educational outcomes. Data were collected from adolescents attending 6 high schools in California and 3 high schools in Wisconsin during the 1987-1988 and 1988-1989 school years. The results of path analyses partially confirmed the central hypotheses.

The social structure of schooling.

The term social structure refers to a relatively enduring pattern of social arrangements or interrelations within a particular society, organization, or group. This chapter reviews how the social structure of the larger society and the organizational structure of schools affect the educational process within American schools. The institutional context of schooling is first discussed.

Over-time changes in adjustment and competence among adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful families.

In a previous report, we demonstrated that adolescents' adjustment varies as a function of their parents' style (e.g., authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, neglectful).

Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed.

This article examines the impact of authoritative parenting, parental involvement in schooling, and parental encouragement to succeed on adolescent school achievement in an ethnically and socio-economically heterogeneous sample of approximately 6,400 American 14-18-year-olds. Adolescents reported in 1987 on their parents' general child-rearing practices and on their parents' achievement-specific socialization behaviors. In 1987, and again in 1988, data were collected on several aspects of the adolescents' school performance and school engagement.

Ethnic differences in adolescent achievement. An ecological perspective.

Using data collected from a large sample of high school students, the authors challenge three widely held explanations for the superior school performance of Asian-American adolescents, and the inferior performance of African- and Hispanic-American adolescents: group differences in (a) parenting practices, (b) familial values about education, and (c) youngsters' beliefs about the occupational rewards of academic success. They found that White youngsters benefit from the combination of authoritative parenting and peer support for achievement, whereas Hispanic youngsters suffer from a combination of parental authoritarianism and low peer support. Among Asian-American students, peer support for academic excellence offsets the negative consequences of authoritarian parenting.

Patterns of competence and adjustment among adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful families.

In order to test Maccoby and Martin's revision of Baumrind's conceptual framework, the families of approximately 4,100 14-18-year-olds were classified into 1 of 4 groups (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful) on the basis of the adolescents' ratings of their parents on 2 dimensions: acceptance/involvement and strictness/supervision. The youngsters were then contrasted along 4 sets of outcomes: psychosocial development, school achievement, internalized distress, and problem behavior. Results indicate that adolescents who characterize their parents as authoritative score highest on measures of psychosocial competence and lowest on measures of psychological and behavioral dysfunction; the reverse is true for adolescents who describe their parents as neglectful.

Caught between parents: adolescents' experience in divorced homes.

This study examined adolescents' feelings of being caught between parents to see whether this construct helps to explain (1) variability in their postdivorce adjustment and (2) associations between family/child characteristics and adolescent adjustment. Adolescents 10 to 18 years old (N = 522) were interviewed by telephone 4 1/2 years after their parents' separation. Feeling caught between parents was related to high parental conflict and hostility and low parental cooperation.

Standardized percentile curves of body-mass index for children and adolescents.

Weight-for-height indexes are often used in the clinical assessment of obesity in children and adolescents. The direct measurement of adiposity, using hydrostatic weighing and other techniques, is not feasible in studies involving young children or with large numbers of older subjects. Ratios of weight relative to height, such as the body-mass index (weight/height), may be used as indirect measures of obesity and correlate with more direct measures of adiposity.

The relation of parenting style to adolescent school performance.

This article develops and tests a reformation of Baumrind's typology of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parenting styles in the context of adolescent school performance. Using a large and diverse sample of San Francisco Bay Area high school students (N = 7,836), we found that both authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were negatively associated with grades, and authoritative parenting was positively associated with grades. Parenting styles generally showed the expected relation to grades across gender, age, parental education, ethnic, and family structure categories.

Growth and intellectual development.

Data from the National Health Examination Survey (cycles II and III) provided a representative sample of 13,887 US youths (6 to 17 years of age) with which to examine the relationship between height (normalized for age and sex) and measures of intellectual development (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) and academic achievement (Wide Range Achievement Test). Additionally, 2,177 subjects were studied first in cycle II and 2 to 5 years later in cycle III, forming a well-selected longitudinal study group in which to examine any association between linear growth and change in IQ scores. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and Wide Range Achievement Test scores were significantly correlated with height in both cycle II and cycle III.

The effects of pubertal timing on body image, school behavior, and deviance.

Variation in the timing of pubertal maturation may result in behavioral differences among early, mid-, and late maturers. Using data from the National Health Examination Survey, a national probability sample of children and youth aged 12-17, we investigated the relationships between maturational timing and body image, school behavior, and deviance. In terms of body image, the early maturing boys were the group most satisfied with height and weight.

Single parents, extended households, and the control of adolescents.

This paper uses a representative national sample of adolescents to study the interrelationships among family structure, patterns of family decision making, and deviant behavior among adolescents. Mother-only households are shown to be associated with particular patterns of family decision making and adolescent deviance, even when family income and parental education are controlled. In contrast to adolescents in households with 2 natural parents, youth in mother-only households are perceived as more likely to make decisions without direct parental input and more likely to exhibit deviant behavior.

Sexual maturation, social class, and the desire to be thin among adolescent females.

Veblen's 1899 hypothesis that associated a female desire for thinness with the higher social classes was tested with data from a representative national sample of adolescents, 12 to 17 years of age, in the National Health Examination Survey. Controlling for the actual level of fatness, adolescent females in higher social classes wanted to be thinner more often than those in lower classes. The greater female desire for thinness was not the product of health information nor of sex differences in the level of fatness.

Theory and observation in cultural transmission.

Cultural phenomena may show considerable stability over time and space. Transmission mechanisms responsible for their maintenance are worthy of theoretical and empirical inquiry; they are complex and each possible pathway has different effects on evolutionary stability of traits, as can be shown theoretically. A survey designed to evaluate the importance of some components of cultural transmission on a variety of traits showed that religion and politics are mostly determined in the family, a mode of transmission which guarantees high evolutionary stability and maintenance of high variation between and within groups.

Educational correlates of early and late sexual maturation in adolescence.

From the National Health Examination Survey data, 4,735 Caucasian males and females, 12 to 17 years, were classified by age and stage of sexual maturation (Tanner). Early and late maturers were each compared to all other youth of comparable age and sex, in eight education-related categories: youth and parental aspirations and expectations concerning the level of education which would be achieved by the student, teacher reports of intellectual ability and academic achievement, and test scores (WISC and WRAT). Except at age 12, late maturing boys received significantly lower ratings than mid maturers in all these areas, and early maturing males received higher ratings.

Sexual development, age, and dating: a comparison of biological and social influences upon one set of behaviors.

Data from the U.S. National Health Examination Survey of 12-17-year-old youths were used to determine whether the development of the social behavior of dating is more closely linked to the level of sexual maturation or to the progression through age grades without reference to sexual maturation.