Why Punish the Children? A Reappraisal of the Children of Incarcerated Mothers in America

The incarceration rate for female offenders has skyrocketed in recent years. This has spurred unwelcomed growth of the invisible class of infants, children, and teenagers who find themselves without a mother at home. While new legions of children are growing up separated from their mothers, government agencies appear more powerless than ever to attend to the needs of their children, their mothers, and their caregivers. Now more than ever, we must renew our concern and define our commitment to these children

Morphological evidence for enhanced kisspeptin and neurokinin B signaling in the infundibular nucleus of the aging man.

Peptidergic neurons synthesizing kisspeptin (KP) and neurokinin B (NKB) in the hypothalamic infundibular nucleus have been implicated in negative sex steroid feedback to GnRH neurons. In laboratory rodents, testosterone decreases KP and NKB expression in this region. In the present study, we addressed the hypothesis that the weakening of this inhibitory testosterone feedback in elderly men coincides with enhanced KP and NKB signaling in the infundibular nucleus. This central hypothesis was tested in a series of immunohistochemical studies on hypothalamic sections of male human individuals that were divided into arbitrary "young" (21-49 yr, n = 11) and "aged" (50-67 yr, n = 9) groups. Quantitative immunohistochemical experiments established that the regional densities of NKB-immunoreactive (IR) perikarya and fibers, and the incidence of afferent contacts they formed onto GnRH neurons, exceeded several times those of the KP-IR elements. Robust aging-dependent enhancements were identified in the regional densities of KP-IR perikarya and fibers and the incidence of afferent contacts they established onto GnRH neurons. The abundance of NKB-IR perikarya, fibers, and axonal appositions to GnRH neurons also increased with age, albeit to lower extents. In dual-immunofluorescent studies, the incidence of KP-IR NKB perikarya increased from 36% in young to 68% in aged men. Collectively, these immunohistochemical data suggest an aging-related robust enhancement in central KP signaling and a moderate enhancement in central NKB signaling. These changes are compatible with a reduced testosterone negative feedback to KP and NKB neurons. The heavier KP and NKB inputs to GnRH neurons in aged, compared with young, men may play a role in the enhanced central stimulation of the reproductive axis. It requires clarification to what extent the enhanced KP and NKB signaling upstream from GnRH neurons is an adaptive response to hypogonadism or, alternatively, a consequence of a decline in the androgen sensitivity of KP and NKB neurons

Principles and Recommendations for Gender-Responsive Approaches for Criminal Justice Reform

This report documents the need for a new vision for the criminal justice system, one that recognizes the behavioral and social differences between female and male offenders that have specific implications for gender-responsive policy and practice

Secondary emotional labor: Supervisor support vs. non-support of the emotional labor of hospice nurses

We present two dynamics among nurses and supervisors in Hospice Interdisciplinary Group Meetings: Supervisors encouraging nurses to process their emotional labor with patients and in contrast, supervisors suppressing these attempts and imposing what we describe as secondary emotional labor. We discuss implications of these dynamics for nurses, patients and organizations

Young adults seeking medical care: do race and ethnicity matter?

"Health care disparities among different racial and ethnic subgroups in the United States are of national concern. Health insurance is a key factor in the access to medical care services, and young adults in the United States aged 20-29 years are more likely than adults aged 30 years and over to lack health insurance coverage (1-4). A previous report has examined the differences in health insurance and access to health care by gender among young adults aged 20-29 years. This report focuses on the differences in health insurance and access to health care among Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black young adults aged 20-29 years." - p. 1Barbara Bloom and Robin A. Cohen.Also available via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (515 KB, 8 p.).Includes bibliographical references

A pilot evaluation of appetite-awareness training in the treatment of childhood overweight and obesity

Objective: The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of Children’s Appetite Awareness Training (CAAT), a treatment for childhood obesity which encourages overweight children to eat in response to internal appetite cues. Method: Overweight children (ages 6 – 12 years old) were randomized to either the CAAT treatment group (N=23), to receive one-hour treatment sessions over six weeks, or a wait-list group (N=24). Weight and height of children and parents in both groups were assessed at pre- and post-treatment (or equivalent time for wait-list control) and at a six-month follow-up for those in the CAAT group. Results: The intervention had a significant, short-term effect on the BMI of children who participated. Although at six-month follow-up, children’s BMI has not increased significantly, the difference between pre-treatment and follow-up BMI was no longer significant. Discussion: These results are encouraging for the use of CAAT with overweight children. Long-term effectiveness could be enhanced through increasing the duration of the program, adding booster sessions and increased involvement of parents

The Incarceration of Women in California

This articles addresses why the California prison system needs broad reform aimed toward providing female offenders the support structure necessary to maximize their opportunities for success

The SAMI Galaxy Survey : spatially resolving the main sequence of star formation

We present the ∼800 star formation rate maps for the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey based on H α emission maps, corrected for dust attenuation via the Balmer decrement, that are included in the SAMI Public Data Release 1. We mask out spaxels contaminated by non-stellar emission using the [O iii]/H β, [N ii]/H α, [S ii]/H α, and [O i]/H α line ratios. Using these maps, we examine the global and resolved star-forming main sequences of SAMI galaxies as a function of morphology, environmental density, and stellar mass. Galaxies further below the star-forming main sequence are more likely to have flatter star formation profiles. Early-type galaxies split into two populations with similar stellar masses and central stellar mass surface densities. The main-sequence population has centrally concentrated star formation similar to late-type galaxies, while galaxies >3σ below the main sequence show significantly reduced star formation most strikingly in the nuclear regions. The split populations support a two-step quenching mechanism, wherein halo mass first cuts off the gas supply and remaining gas continues to form stars until the local stellar mass surface density can stabilize the reduced remaining fuel against further star formation. Across all morphologies, galaxies in denser environments show a decreased specific star formation rate from the outside in, supporting an environmental cause for quenching, such as ram-pressure stripping or galaxy interactions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe