Vulnerability to climate change of United States marine mammal stocks in the western North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean.

Climate change and climate variability are affecting marine mammal species and these impacts are projected to continue in the coming decades. Vulnerability assessments provide a framework for evaluating climate impacts over a broad range of species using currently available information. We conducted a trait-based climate vulnerability assessment using expert elicitation for 108 marine mammal stocks and stock groups in the western North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea.

Repatriation of a historical North Atlantic right whale habitat during an era of rapid climate change.

Climate change is affecting species distributions in space and time. In the Gulf of Maine, one of the fastest-warming marine regions on Earth, rapid warming has caused prey-related changes in the distribution of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Concurrently, right whales have returned to historically important areas such as southern New England shelf waters, an area known to have been a whaling ground.

Decadal-scale phenology and seasonal climate drivers of migratory baleen whales in a rapidly warming marine ecosystem.

Species' response to rapid climate change can be measured through shifts in timing of recurring biological events, known as phenology. The Gulf of Maine is one of the most rapidly warming regions of the ocean, and thus an ideal system to study phenological and biological responses to climate change. A better understanding of climate-induced changes in phenology is needed to effectively and adaptively manage human-wildlife conflicts.

NRF2-Dependent Placental Effects Vary by Sex and Dose following Gestational Exposure to Ultrafine Particles.

Exposure to ultrafine particles (UFPs, PM) during pregnancy triggers placental oxidative stress and inflammation, similar to fine PM (PM). The gene encodes a redox-sensitive transcription factor that is a major regulator of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory responses. Disruption of NRF2 is known to substantially enhance PM-driven oxidant and inflammatory responses; however, specific responses to UFP exposure, especially during critical windows of susceptibility such as pregnancy, are not fully characterized; To investigate the role of NRF2 in regulating maternal antioxidant defenses and placental responses to UFP exposure, wildtype (WT) and pregnant mice were exposed to either low dose (LD, 100 µg/m) or high dose (HD, 500 µg/m) UFP mixture or filtered air (FA, control) throughout gestation; HD-exposed female offspring exhibited significantly reduced fetal and placental weights.

NRF2 Protects against Altered Pulmonary T Cell Differentiation in Neonates Following In Utero Ultrafine Particulate Matter Exposure.

Early life exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution negatively impacts neonatal health. The underlying mechanisms following prenatal exposure, particularly to ultrafine particles (UFP, diameter ≤ 0.1 μm), are not fully understood; To evaluate the role of in response to in utero UFP exposure, we exposed time-mated -deficient () or wildtype (WT) mice to filtered air (FA) or 100 μg/m ultrafine PM daily throughout pregnancy.

Implementation Factors and Teacher Experience of the Integrated Nutrition Education Program: A Mixed Methods Program Evaluation.

Background: School-based programs are widely implemented to address childhood obesity. Despite the promise of these programs, evidence on their effectiveness is mixed. Adopting a dissemination and implementation (D&I) science focus utilizing mixed methods can provide a broader understanding and more robust details about these programs.

Outcomes of a Multi-Component School-Based Nutrition Program.

Background: This paper presents the effectiveness of a multi-component elementary school-based nutrition education program, the Integrated Nutrition Education Program (INEP), which has been in existence for over 25 years. INEP includes components to address multiple layers of influence: hands-on nutrition education lessons in the classroom (student-level), parent education, and outreach (home-level), and facilitation of a planning process to implement policy, system, and environmental (PSE) school changes (school-level).

Methods: Three evaluation tools assessed the effectiveness of the program: (1) classroom plate waste measurement in intervention (N = 149 students) and demographically-matched comparison schools (N = 131 students), (2) pre/post classroom surveys completed by students who participated in INEP (N = 204), and (3) PSE change data from participating schools (N = 47 schools).

Air pollution and children's health-a review of adverse effects associated with prenatal exposure from fine to ultrafine particulate matter.

Background: Particulate matter (PM), a major component of ambient air pollution, accounts for a substantial burden of diseases and fatality worldwide. Maternal exposure to PM during pregnancy is particularly harmful to children's health since this is a phase of rapid human growth and development.

Method: In this review, we synthesize the scientific evidence on adverse health outcomes in children following prenatal exposure to the smallest toxic components, fine (PM) and ultrafine (PM) PM.

Understanding the experience of the implementer: teachers' perspectives on implementing a classroom-based nutrition education program.

School-based programs are widely implemented to combat childhood obesity, but these programs have mixed results. Dissemination and implementation science approaches to evaluation using qualitative methods can provide more robust details about program functioning that may be able to help explain the variation in the impact of these programs. Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted with classroom teachers implementing a school-based program, the Integrated Nutrition Education Program (INEP), to explore their experience.

"Don't Shoot, I Want to Grow Up": Findings of a Multicity Youth-led Health Assessment.

Background: Youth of color are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S.

Population: Collaborative equitable approaches to research and action present potential avenues to engage youth of color meaningfully in health research and action initiatives.

Gestational exposure to particulate air pollution exacerbates the growth phenotypes induced by preconception paternal alcohol use: a multiplex model of exposure.

It is now clear that parental histories of drug use, toxicant exposure, and social stress all have a significant influence on the health and development of the next generation. However, the ability of epigenetic parental life memories to interact with subsequent gestational exposures and cumulatively modify the developmental trajectory of the offspring remains an unexplored perspective in toxicology. Studies from our laboratory have identified male-specific postnatal growth restriction in a mouse model of chronic, preconception paternal alcohol exposure.

It's about time: A synthesis of changing phenology in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem.

The timing of recurring biological and seasonal environmental events is changing on a global scale relative to temperature and other climate drivers. This study considers the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, a region of high social and ecological importance in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and synthesizes current knowledge of (a) key seasonal processes, patterns, and events; (b) direct evidence for shifts in timing; (c) implications of phenological responses for linked ecological-human systems; and (d) potential phenology-focused adaptation strategies and actions. Twenty studies demonstrated shifts in timing of regional marine organisms and seasonal environmental events.

Effects of the Timing of Acute Exercise and Movement Complexity on Young Adults' Psychomotor Learning.

The role of acute bouts of exercise on young adults' psychomotor learning was assessed in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 10 min of exercise performed immediately following pursuit-rotor training improved retention of tracking movements, but only when measured 7 days following encoding and only under exercise conditions that required complex decisions. In Experiment 2, 10 min of exercise performed immediately prior to encoding resulted in a retention pattern similar to that seen in Experiment 1; however, performance did not differ significantly between exercise and control groups.

Effects of Isometric Hand-Grip Muscle Contraction on Young Adults' Free Recall and Recognition Memory.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if physical arousal produced by isometric hand-dynamometer contraction performed during word-list learning affects young adults' free recall or recognition memory.

Method: Twenty-four young adults (12 female; M = 22 years) were presented with 4 20-item word lists. Moderate arousal was induced in 12 adults by an initial 30-s maximal hand-dynamometer squeeze with force productions of 50% maximum; low arousal was induced in 12 adults by an initial 1-s maximal dynamometer squeeze with force production of 10% maximum during learning.

Mental engagement during cognitive and psychomotor tasks: Effects of task type, processing demands, and practice.

Measures of heart rate variability (HRV) are hypothesized to provide indices of mental engagement (ME). HRV and perceived workload were measured to determine whether ME is moderated by task type, processing demands, and practice. Twenty four (22±3yrs.

The Effects of Acute Exercise on Memory and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF).

Acute exercise benefits cognition, and some evidence suggests that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a role in this effect. The purpose of this study was to explore the dose-response relationship between exercise intensity, memory, and BDNF. Young adults completed 3 exercise sessions at different intensities relative to ventilator threshold (Vt) (VO, Vt - 20%, Vt + 20%).

Reducing the time from initial call to first appointment: the impact of patient access redesign and a nurse navigation program.

Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) participated in the NCCN Opportunities for Improvement project with the purpose of optimizing the quality of care delivered at FCCC to patients with breast cancer based on the ASCO and NCCN Guidelines. Historically, FCCC's performance has demonstrated a high level of concordance, based on findings from the NCCN Oncology Outcomes Database project benchmarking data in breast cancer. Access to the NCCN Breast Cancer Timing in Continuation and Transition of Care (TiCToC) Measures data analysis (performed by NCCN) provided an opportunity to further identify specific opportunities related to care along the continuum.

Quantifying effects of abiotic and biotic drivers on community dynamics with multivariate autoregressive (MAR) models.

Long-term ecological data sets present opportunities for identifying drivers of community dynamics and quantifying their effects through time series analysis. Multivariate autoregressive (MAR) models are well known in many other disciplines, such as econometrics, but widespread adoption of MAR methods in ecology and natural resource management has been much slower despite some widely cited ecological examples. Here we review previous ecological applications of MAR models and highlight their ability to identify abiotic and biotic drivers of population dynamics, as well as community-level stability metrics, from long-term empirical observations.

Leadership for primary health care research.

Over the last decade, I have put together a new theory of leadership. This paper describes its four propositions, which are consistent with the research literature but which lead to conclusions that are not commonly held and seldom put into practice. The first proposition is a model describing the territory of leadership that is different from either the Leadership Qualities Framework, 2006 or the Medical Leadership Competency Framework, 2010, both of which have been devised specifically for the NHS (National Health Service).

The role of the dental school environment in promoting greater student diversity.

This chapter describes the strategies implemented by one dental school during the past decade to establish an environment that supports a culture of diversity. The school audited its initial diversity milieu, authored a strategic plan for diversity, fully participated in university-wide diversity initiatives, and created an administrative infrastructure for underrepresented minority (URM) student support. Mentoring and counseling programs were established for URM students, and a schoolwide diversity committee was formed to make cultural competence a high priority for all students, faculty, and staff.

Influence of image resolution and evaluation algorithm on estimates of the lacunarity of porous media.

In recent years, experience has demonstrated that the classical fractal dimensions are not sufficient to describe uniquely the interstitial geometry of porous media. At least one additional index or dimension is necessary. Lacunarity, a measure of the degree to which a data set is translationally invariant, is a possible candidate.

Enhancing ethical behavior: views of students, administrators, and faculty.

In an article published in the April 2004 issue of the Journal of Dental Education, Dr. Charles Bertolami proposed that our ethics curricula don't work due to the limitations of didactic education. He suggested that ethics should be taught as a "precurriculum" course prior to entering dental school and that the dental school ethics course should be elective and consist of small groups of students who are guided to introspection to understand their true self-interest.