found expressed in distinct taxa remains unchanged reflecting that other mechanisms may regulate the dosage at which each molecule is present to properly control downstream targets. this study has identified 87 r. microplus mirnas being 51 of these known in other species including 36 in i. scapularis. overall we found 72 rmi - mirnas expressed in various cattle tick life stages and 67 rmi - mirnas expressed in the adult female tick gut, salivary glands and ovaries. novel tick - specific mirnas account for the majority of the life - stage and organ - specific expression profiles found in r. microplus mirnas and represent attractive targets for further functional studies. we provide insights into the evolutionary conservation of r. microplus mirnas revealing that the majority of anciently acquired mirnas remain perfectly conserved, while more recently acquired mirnas tend to accumulate more nucleotide substitutions in the middle and 3 ' portion of mature mirna and mirna * sequences. our findings correlates with the notion that long - lived mirnas are likely to play crucial roles in a wide range of animal species, probably closely related to the acquisition of new organ identities and higher complexity, and therefore be under a stronger selective pressure to remain unchanged as compared to more recently acquired mirnas. the ticks used in this study were obtained from the tick colony ( non - resistant field strain - - nrfs ) maintained at the animal research institute ( qld primary industries & fisheries ), yeerongpilly, queensland. semi - engorged 17 - day - old females for the dissections were collected in sterile 5 ml screw top containers ( nalgene, rochester, ny, u. s. a. ) and transferred to the laboratory. dissections were carried out within the hour after collection. prior to dissection, the ticks were rinsed with 0. 1 % depc - treated water. semi - engorged females were fixed on double - sided adhesive tape inside an 8 cm culture dish placed on ice and covered with a few drops of ice - cold sterile pbs. an incision was made with a sterile razor blade just above the right spiracle, starting at the right side of the capitulum and ending the cut at the left side of the capitulum. the dorsal cuticle was then lifted with a pair of dissection tweezers. the salivary gland, midgut and ovary were then removed and homogenized by freezing in liquid nitrogen and ground to powder using sterile


capitulum. the dorsal cuticle was then lifted with a pair of dissection tweezers. the salivary gland, midgut and ovary were then removed and homogenized by freezing in liquid nitrogen and ground to powder using sterile rnase zap - treated ( applied biosystems, ca, usa ) mortars and pestles. whole r. microplus females ( 17 days old, n = 10 ) and males ( 17 days old, n = 10 ) collected from the under - side of semi - engorged females were also processed for mirna extraction. after rinsing in depc - treated water, the adult ticks were frozen in liquid nitrogen and subsequently crushed and ground to powder using a sterile mortar and pestle. approximately 2 g of nrfs strain larvae incubated for 21 days in 1 g batches were obtained for mirna extractions. one batch of larvae were exposed to the host for 6 hours in a mesh bag attached to the host inside a collar without being able to establish feeding ( frustrated larvae ). eggs were also collected into sterile tubes up to 7 days after laying by fully - engorged females. both larval samples were homogenized by freezing in liquid nitrogen and ground to powder using sterile mortar and pestle. total rna and / or enriched small rna fraction was isolated from the whole adult ticks ( male and female 17 days old ), larvae, frustrated larvae, eggs and dissected female tick organs using the mirvana microrna isolation kit as described in the manufacturer ' s instructions ( ambion, applied biosystems ). total rna or enriched small rna fractions were prepared from eggs, larvae ( unfed and frustrated ), adult male and adult female as well as from adult female gut, salivary glands and ovaries. all these samples were ground in liquid nitrogen using a sterile mortar and pestle, and then the rna was isolated using the mirvana microrna isolation kit according to manufacture ' s instructions ( ambion, applied biosystems ). rna samples for each condition were collected in triplicate ( each as a pool of individuals ) and these were kept at - 80°c until deep sequencing or real time pcr analysis as described below. for small rna library construction and deep sequencing, rna samples were prepared as follows : for each life cycle stage or tick organ equal quantities ( 5 - 7 μg ) of enriched small rna fraction or total rna isolated from three independent pools as described above were pooled. approximately 10 μg of


, rna samples were prepared as follows : for each life cycle stage or tick organ equal quantities ( 5 - 7 μg ) of enriched small rna fraction or total rna isolated from three independent pools as described above were pooled. approximately 10 μg of enriched small rna fraction or 20 μg of total rna representing each life stage or a tick organ were submitted to illumina / solexa service provider ( geneworks, australia ) for sequencing. in brief, the sequencing was performed as follows : rna was purified by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ( page ), to enrich for molecules in the range of 18 - - 30 nt, and ligated with proprietary adapters to the 5 ' and 3 ' - end termini of the rna. the samples were used as templates for cdna synthesis. the cdna was amplified with 18 pcr cycles to produce sequencing libraries that were subjected to illumina / solexa ' s proprietary sequencing - by - synthesis method. tick mirnas identically conserved in d. melanogaster including let - 7, mir - 1, mir - 7, mir - 12 and mir - 124 were selected and taqman mirna assays against these mirnas were purchased from applied biosystems. a total of 10 ng of enriched small rna fraction for each individual eggs, larvae and female tick samples was used to amplify the mirnas for up to 50 cycles in a rotogene 3000 termal cycler. several short read aligners including maq, soap, rmap, novoalign http : / / www. novocraft. com, bowtie and bwa were selected to evaluate their mapping performance using simulated short reads. 36 - bp simulated short reads were generated using maq - simulate with mutation rates of 0. 1 % to up to 16. 0 %, and introducing read errors using the file simdata / simupar. dat file from the maq data installation. using default parameters of each tool simulated short reads were mapped onto the human and / or the arabidopsis genomes ( additional file 2 ). as the originating position of the simulated reads are known the fraction of true positive aligned reads was calculated as [ number of correctly aligned reads / total number of simulated reads ]. conversely we can also calculate the proportion of false positive aligned reads as [ number of incorrectly aligned reads / total number of simulated reads ]. based on our results ( additional file 3 ) we selected novoalign for aligning our sequenced cattle tick short reads


we can also calculate the proportion of false positive aligned reads as [ number of incorrectly aligned reads / total number of simulated reads ]. based on our results ( additional file 3 ) we selected novoalign for aligning our sequenced cattle tick short reads onto the d. melanogaster genome using its default parameters http : / / www. novocraft. com. the d. melanogaster ( dme _ r5. 32 ) genome was downloaded from flybase http : / / flybase. org. we removed short reads mapped with quality alignment scores of zero ( q0 ), which correspond to reads mapped to two or more locations on the reference genome with identical quality alignment scores. we then conducted a manual inspection of the short reads overlapping known drosophila mirna loci to confirm the accuracy and sequence conservation of tick mirnas aligned onto the drosophila genome. to identify novel mirnas we aligned cattle tick short reads from each sample onto the draft genome of ixodes scapularis ( iscaw1. 1 ; 369, 459 contigs ) and r. microplus draft genomic contigs that were recently sequenced and assembled by our group ( bellgard et al. submitted ; 175, 226 contigs encoding a total of 144, 709, 321 bp ). we then utilized mirdeep to identify known and novel mirna candidates as previously described. the identified mirnas were then compared against 37 known i. scapularis mirnas ( mirbase rel. 17. 0 ) ; matching hits were removed from the novel mirna candidate dataset. the remaining candidate mirnas were then subjected to clustering analysis with other known insect mirnas using mega5. candidate novel mirnas with significant similarity to other known mirnas were removed from the downstream analysis. to assess the conservation of novel mirnas in other genomes we downloaded from vectorbase http : / / www. vectorbase. org the genomes of anopheles gambiae ( agamp3 ), aedes aegypti ( aaegl1 ), pediculus humanus ( phumu1 ) and culex quinquefasciatus ( cpipj1 ). the nasonia vitripennis ( nvit _ 2. 0 ) genome was downloaded from the nasoria genome project http : / / www. hgsc. bcm. tmc. edu. we downloaded from ucsc genome bioinformatics resource http :


( nvit _ 2. 0 ) genome was downloaded from the nasoria genome project http : / / www. hgsc. bcm. tmc. edu. we downloaded from ucsc genome bioinformatics resource http : / / hgdownload. cse. ucsc. edu the following genomes : drosophila pseudoobscura ( dp4 ), d. ananassae ( droana3 ), d. erecta ( droere2 ), d. grimshawi ( drogri2 ), d. mojavensis ( dromoj3 ), d. virilis ( drovir3 ), d. willistoni ( drowil1 ), d. yakuba ( droyak2 ), tribolium castaneum ( tcas 2. 0 ) and apis mellifera ( amel _ 4. 0 ). novel r. microplus mirna mature and star sequences were then aligned onto all the above genomes using bowtie and blat. positive hits were further inspected for typical precursor mirna secondary structure using rnafold. statistically significant changes in mirna expression between samples was calculated using four statistical tests including pairwise audic & claverie test ( ac ), pairwise chi sq. test ( chi2 × 2 ) and multiple chi sq. test ( chi ) as previously described by romualdi et al.. bonferroni correction was applied to the data and significant thresholds of 9. 62e - 05 or 9. 62e - 06 were defined depending on the comparisons. we conducted an evolutionary analysis to determine if mirnas found in r. microplus were perfectly conserved or accumulated nucleotide changes since the last common ancestor based on available sequences for each mirna ( mirbase release 17 ). multiple sequence alignments for each mirna were generated using clustalw within the mega5 package. ancestral sequences were determined using a maximum likelihood method [ 49, 50 ] under the junkes - cantor model using a tree topology similar to that shown in figure 5a ( modified from ). we then compared each r. microplus mirna sequence against the respective inferred ancestral sequence ( additional file 13 ) and determined if each r. microplus mirna was perfectly conserved since the nephrozoan, protostomian, arthropoda or ixodidae ancestor or if it represented a unique nucleotide variant


( additional file 13 ) and determined if each r. microplus mirna was perfectly conserved since the nephrozoan, protostomian, arthropoda or ixodidae ancestor or if it represented a unique nucleotide variant in the r. microplus lineage ( figure 5a and 5b ). this resulted in a classification of each mirna into one of the following categories : 1 ) conserved since nephrozoan ancestor ( rmi - na ), 2 ) conserved since protostomian ancestor ( rmi - pa ), 3 ) conserved since arthropoda ancestor ( rmi - aa ), 4 ) conserved since ixodidae ancestor ( rmi - ia ), or 5 ) unique variant to r. microplus ( rmi - unique ). rb contributed with the conception, bioinformatics, experimental validations, evolutionary analysis, data analysis and interpretation, and writing of the manuscript. gkg and pm contributed with the bioinformatics data processing. bz contributed with the collection of samples for deep sequencing. ki, yt and tg provided critical feedback on the evolutionary analysis. alt, fdg and mb provided critical review of the manuscript and interpretation of data. all authors read and approved the final manuscript. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s1. doc ) additional file 2 single - end mapping performance of short read aligners. a ) the percentages of correctly mapped reads at the indicated mutation rates are shown for each tool. for each point 70, 000 short reads in triplicate were mapped. b ) the percentages of incorrectly aligned reads at the indicated mutation rates are shown for each tool. for each point 70, 000 short reads were mapped in triplicate. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s2. pdf ) additional file 3 evolutionary conserved and novel tick - specific r. microplus mirnas expressed during various life stages and selected organs. rhipicephalus microplus mirnas with known counterpart in d. melanogaster, i. scapularis or other relevant species are shown with reference mirbase ids. the number of short reads overlapping each mirna locus, the corresponding percentage fraction of the total number of reads overlapping all mirna loci for each sample and the normalized reads per million ( rpm ) counts for each mirna in each sample are shown. n. a. =


each mirna locus, the corresponding percentage fraction of the total number of reads overlapping all mirna loci for each sample and the normalized reads per million ( rpm ) counts for each mirna in each sample are shown. n. a. = not available in mirbase and / or not cloned previously. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s3. xls ) additional file 4 mapping of novel r. microplus mirnas on various genomes. novel r. microplus mirnas were aligned onto various genomes using bowtie allowing up to two mismatches. regions where mirnas aligned were extracted the typical pre - mirna hairpin structure evaluated using rnafold. additionally, identified pre - mirnas in r. microplus and i. scapularis genomic contigs were aligned on the selected genomes using blat. no mirna counterparts for the novel r. microplus mirnas were identified in the current available genome assemblies for the 16 tested species. genome assemblies for each species are indicated in parentheses. n. f. = not found. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s4. xls ) additional file 5 statistically significant differences in mirna expression among r. microplus life stage samples. statistically significant changes in mirna expression between libraries was calculated using pairwise audic & claverie ( ac ), pairwise chi sq. ( chi2 × 2 ) and multiple chi sq. test ( chi ) tests as previously described by romualdi et al. ( 2003 ). bonferroni correction was applied and significant thresholds of 9. 62e - 06 for ac and chi2 × 2, and 9. 62e - 05 for chi were defined. bold fonts denote values that are statistically significant. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s5. xls ) additional file 6 comparison of changes in tick mirna expression between egg and larval stages. statistically significant changes in mirna expression between libraries was calculated using six statistical tests including pairwise audic & claverie test ( ac ), pairwise chi sq. test ( chi2 × 2 ) and multiple chi sq. test ( chi ) as previously described by romualdi et al. ( 2003 ). bonferroni correction was applied and significant thresholds of 9. 61e - 06 for ac,


( chi2 × 2 ) and multiple chi sq. test ( chi ) as previously described by romualdi et al. ( 2003 ). bonferroni correction was applied and significant thresholds of 9. 61e - 06 for ac, chi2 × 2 and chi were defined. bold fonts denote values that are statistically significant. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s6. xls ) additional file 7 real time pcr quantification of selected r. microplus mirnas. cattle tick mirnas identically conserved in d. melanogaster were selected and specific drosophila mirna taqman probes ( applied biosystems ) were used to amplify these in eggs, larvae and female tick samples. additional file 8 comparison of changes in tick mirna expression between larvae and frustrated larvae samples. statistically significant changes in r. microplus mirna expression between libraries was calculated using three statistical tests including pairwise audic & claverie test ( ac ), pairwise chi sq. test ( chi2 × 2 ) and multiple chi sq. test ( chi ) as previously described by romualdi et al. ( 2003 ). bonferroni correction was applied and significant thresholds of 9. 62e - 05 for ac, chi2 × 2 and chi was defined. bold fonts denote values that are statistically significant. rpm = reads per million ; n. a. = not applicable. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s8. xls ) additional file 9 comparison of changes in tick mirna expression between female and male tick samples. statistically significant changes in mirna expression between libraries was calculated using four statistical tests including pairwise audic & claverie test ( ac ), pairwise chi sq. test ( chi2 × 2 ) and multiple chi sq. test ( chi ) as previously described by romualdi et al. ( 2003 ). bonferroni correction was applied and significant thresholds of 9. 62e - 05 for ac, chi2 × 2 and multiple chi was defined. bold fonts denote values that are statistically significant. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s9. xls ) additional file 10 global comparison r. microplus mirnas expressed in selected adult female tick organs. a ) the normalized fraction of small rna reads ( rpm × 1000 ) overlapping


- 2164 - 12 - 328 - s9. xls ) additional file 10 global comparison r. microplus mirnas expressed in selected adult female tick organs. a ) the normalized fraction of small rna reads ( rpm × 1000 ) overlapping all r. microplusmirnas with known counterparts in other species or all novel tick - specific mirnas are shown for each life stage. f = adult female ticks, gu = gut, sg = salivary glands and ov = ovaries. b ) unique and commonly expressed mirnas among adult female tick samples. values in parenthesis correspond to novel tick - specific mirnas. additional file 11 statistically significant differences in mirna expression among tick adult samples. whole individuals and selected organs derived from adult female ticks are compared. statistically significant changes in mirna expression between libraries was calculated using pairwise audic & claverie ( ac ), pairwise chi sq. ( chi2 × 2 ) and multiple chi sq. test ( chi ) tests as previously described by romualdi et al. ( 2003 ). bonferroni correction was applied and significant thresholds of 1. 60e - 05 for ac and chi2 × 2, and 1. 60e - 05 for chi were defined. bold fonts denote values that are statistically significant. mirnas with at least one pairwise comparison with a statistically significant difference are shown. n. a. = not applicable, no statistical significant differences. click here for additional data file ( 1471 - 2164 - 12 - 328 - s11. xls ) additional file 12 expression of tick mirnas overlapping drosophila mirnas organized as clusters. drosophila mirnas located within 2 kbp are grouped within the same cluster. red font = tick mirnas that show correlated co - expression patterns across all tick samples. black font = expressed tick mirnas that do not show a correlated co - expression pattern. grey font = denote mirnas not expressed in the sequenced tick samples in this study. additional file 13 evolutionary analysis of r. microplus mirnas. evidence supporting r. microplus mirnas conservation since the a ) nephrozoan, b ) protostomian, c ) arthropoda and d ) ixodidae ancestors are presented as well as e ) mirna nucleotide variants unique to r. microplus based on currently available datasets ( mirbase release 17 ). ancestral sequences were determined using a maximum likelihood method [ 49, 50


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. 62e - 06 ) for each mirna - mirna * pairwise comparison in each sample are shown in bold. abbreviations are as shown in figure 2b. changes in tick mirna expression between tick eggs and larvae. | mirna | | eggs ( e ) | | larvae ( l ) | | l / e ratio | selected mirnas showing statistically significant up - regulation are shown in bold ( p < 9. 61e - 06 ). the l / e expression ratio was calculated using normalized read per million counts for each mirna. complete list of mirnas and statistics are shown in additional file 6. exposure to host triggers changes in cattle tick mirna expression. | mirna | | larvae ( l ) | | frustrated larvae ( fl ) | | fl / l ratio | selected mirnas showing statistically significant up - regulation are shown in bold ( p < 9. 62e - 05 ). the fl / l expression ratio was calculated using normalized read per million counts for each mirna. complete list of mirnas and statistics are shown in additional file 8. changes in tick mirna expression between adult female and male ticks. | mirna | | female ( f ) | | male ( m ) | | f / m ratio | selected mirnas showing statistically significant up - regulation are shown in bold ( p < 9. 62e - 05 ). the f / m ratios were calculated using normalized reads per million counts for each mirna. complete list of mirnas and statistics are shown in additional file 9. previous document : glutamate acts as a neurotransmitter for gastrin releasing peptide - sensitive and insensitive itch - re... next document : granulocyte colony - stimulating factor increases the therapeutic efficacy of bone marrow mononuclear...


new biomarker test predicts arthritis before symptoms appear more than 27 million adults currently suffer from osteoarthritis, which is the most common form of arthritis. in the past, doctors have been unable to diagnose patients with arthritis until they begin to show symptoms, which include joint pain and stiffness. by the time these symptoms are present, it is often too late for preventive and minimally invasive treatment options to be effective. now, a research team from the university of missouri ' s comparative orthopaedic laboratory has found a way to detect and predict arthritis before patients begin suffering from symptoms. james cook, a researcher from the mu college of veterinary medicine and the william c. and kathryn e. allen distinguished professor in orthopaedic surgery, along with mu researchers bridget garner, aaron stoker, keiichi kuroki, cristi cook, and prakash jayabalan, have developed a test using specific biomarkers that can accurately determine if a patient is developing arthritis as well as predict the potential severity of the disease. the test can be run off of a single drop of fluid from a patient ' s joint, which is obtained with a small needle similar to drawing blood. " with this biomarker test, we can study the levels of specific proteins that we now know are associated with osteoarthritis, " cook said. " not only does the test have the potential to help predict future arthritis, but it also tells us about the early mechanisms of arthritis, which will lead to better treatments in the future. " in their study published in the journal of knee surgery, the mu researchers report that they developed the test by analyzing the joints of dogs that suffer from arthritis. veterinarians predict that 20 percent of middle - aged dogs and 90 percent of older dogs have osteoarthritis in one or more joints. since canine joints operate similarly to the joints of humans, cook says the test is being adapted to human patients. " this test has already shown early usefulness for allowing us to monitor how different treatments affect the arthritic joints in people, " cook said. " with further validation, this test will allow doctors to adjust and fine tune treatments to individual patients. also, being able to tell patients when they are at a high risk for developing arthritis will give doctors a strong motivational tool to convince patients to take preventive measures including appropriate exercise and diet change. " the biomarker test is currently available for licensing and is in the process of gaining fda


you frequently hear the phrase, “ it ’ s different in alaska, ” and wonder just how many activities are “ different. ” when it comes to subsistence harvesting, alaska is unique among states not only through the traditional practice of living off the land, but because of federal law. alaska is the only state where the subsistence use of fish and game is given the highest - priority for consumptive use. this happened when congress passed a priority subsistence law in 1980 for federal lands in alaska in the alaska national interest lands conservation act ( anilca ). subsistence is defined by federal law as “ the customary and traditional uses by rural alaska residents of wild, renewable resources for direct personal or family consumption as food, shelter, fuel, clothing, tools or transportation ; for the making and selling of handicraft articles out of nonedible by - products of fish and wildlife resources taken for personal or family consumption ; and for the customary trade, barter or sharing for personal or family consumption. ” in this largest state of our nation, with only 13 state roads connecting urban centers there are thousands of acres of uninhabited lands with no roads at all. driving to the supermarket to buy something for dinner is out of the question, so subsistence harvesting of food and materials becomes an activity of paramount importance. subsistence does not refer only to hunting and fishing. according to the state of alaska ’ s subsistence web site, food is one of the most important subsistence uses of wild resources, but there are many other uses. “ the current rural subsistence harvest is about 354 pounds of food per person per year. that is more than the u. s. average consumption of 255 pounds of domestic meat, fish, and poultry per year. ( the average american uses a total of 1, 371 pounds of all foods a year. ) however, there are other important uses of subsistence products, such as : - clothing : wild furs and hides are still the best materials for ruffs ( wind guards ), mitts, parkas, kuspuks, clothes lining, and mukluks ( winter boots ) in many regions. - fuel : wood is a major source of energy in rural homes, and is used for smoking and preserving fish and meat. - transportation : fish, seals, and other products are used to feed dog teams. - construction : spruce, birch, hemlock, willow, and cottonwood are used for house logs, sleds, fish racks, and innumerable other items. - home goods : hides are used as sleeping mats


u. s. department of the interior bureau of land management the bureau of land management ' s outdoor recreation mission is to sustain healthy land and water resources while providing quality visitor services. blm ' s overall vision for outdoor recreation is " visitors renewing their relationships with the land and respecting local cultures while enjoying quality recreation activities. " the blm provides resource - dependent recreational opportunities in a variety of settings that typify the vast western landscapes of the 11 public land states. these diverse settings range from the tundra in alaska to the deserts of the southwest ; and from the old growth forests of the northwest to the plateaus and plains of the rocky mountain states. as a national provider of recreation, blm focuses on its niche - - providing resource - based versus facilities - based recreation and tourism opportunities. blm emphasizes visitors ' freedom to pursue unstructured recreation opportunities as long as the visitor accepts the responsibility to use public lands wisely and to respect other visitors and local residents. visitors participate in a variety of activities on public lands. most individuals, groups, and families participate in more than one activity per visit. visitor use information described by major groupings of these activities is found in table 4 - 1. the blm stresses the use of education and interpretation to encourage visitors ' knowledge, appreciation, and safe enjoyment of public land resources. responsible use is encouraged by blm and its partners through land use ethics programs such as tread lightly! and leave no trace!. in addition, the blm is also working with other agencies and partner organizations to improve accessibility to public lands and recreation facilities for all visitors, including people with disabilities and public land visitors from diverse cultural backgrounds. recreation and leisure opportunities and the resources they are derived from play a critical role in the growing local community and national tourism economies. the blm provides recreation opportunities in areas having national, as well as regional and local, importance. areas of national importance, designated congressionally or administratively, include 34 national wild and scenic rivers ( 2, 022 miles ) ; 136 wilderness areas ( 5. 3 million acres ) and 622 wilderness study areas ( 17. 3 million acres ) ; 37 national recreation, historic, or scenic trails ( 4, 521 miles ) ; 1 national monument ( 1. 7 million acres ) ; 1 national recreation area ( 1 million acres ) ; 1 national scenic area ( 65, 280 acres ), and 69 national back country byways ( 3, 518 miles ). recreational opportunities of regional and local importance are provided in a variety of settings : non - fee


( 1 million acres ) ; 1 national scenic area ( 65, 280 acres ), and 69 national back country byways ( 3, 518 miles ). recreational opportunities of regional and local importance are provided in a variety of settings : non - fee sites ( see table 4 - 4 ), rivers ( 5, 763 miles ) not in the wild and scenic river system, and inventoried trails ( 7, 468 miles ) not in the national trail system. in addition, fish and wildlife species found on blm lands produce a variety of primary and secondary benefits. some visitors to public lands benefit directly by participating in consumptive activities ( i. e., hunting and fishing ; see table 4 - 2 ) and nonconsumptive wildlife - related activities ( e. g., birdwatching, camping, hiking, and photography ; see table 4 - 3 ). secondary benefits from wildlife - related activities on public lands accrue to community businesses that benefit from the sale of equipment, services, food, lodging, and transportation to public land visitors, and to state wildlife agencies that manage wildlife populations through both consumptive and non - consumptive activities. while the blm ' s focus is on providing resource - based recreation and tourism opportunities, blm does provide facilities where necessary to protect resources and to serve as staging areas for resource - based recreation use. for the most part, facilities are not the attraction in and of themselves. in some high - use areas, visitors are charged a recreation use fee or entrance fee to help cover the cost of facility maintenance and resource protection ( see table 4 - 5 for designated fee site information ). fees in this category are called recreation use permits. special recreation permits are also used as a mechanism to protect resources and reduce visitor conflicts. special recreation permits are issued to individuals or groups participating in commercial or competitive activities on blm - managed lands. special recreation permits may also be required for special management areas and group events to protect resources and public health and safety. table 4 - 6 identifies the type and number of permits blm issues and revenue generated from these permits during fiscal year 1997. the information in tables 4 - 1, 4 - 4, 4 - 5, and 4 - 6 was derived from the blm recreation management information system database as of november 1997. additional information from this database is available upon request from your local blm office or the blm headquarters office in washington, dc. | 4 - 1 | | estimated recreational use of public lands administered by blm by major activity


" when no boys are in the classroom girls take part more. they answer more questions, and they argue more. i guess you would say they debate more, but i remember the same situation happening when boys were in the class and a couple of them yelled out " cat fight! " the girls got angry, and they stopped debating. " boarding school guides : positive ways to help your daughter deal with teen emotions as the parent of a teenage girl, you ' ve probably already realized that bullying and peer pressure play a very real role in the lives of today ' s adolescents. what you may not have realized is the degree to which teenage girls are also resorting to violence as the answer to often simple peer group misunderstandings or disputes. often referred to as relational aggression, violence between teenage girls can range from seemingly innocuous acts like " accidentally " bumping or pushing another girl, to more serious – and in a few notable cases fatal – incidents. because girl - on - girl violence amongst teens is a relatively new phenomenon, there are still relatively few comprehensive studies or statistics available ( although a scan of recent news reports will confirm the rising numbers of reported incidents! ). there are, however, a number of things you can do to help your daughter learn to constructively deal with her feelings and emotions, especially if you suspect that she is either the target of relational aggression or an instigator of that aggression : - encourage your daughter ' s participation in extracurricular activities – one thing psychologists and researchers have been sure of for a long time is the fact that girls who are highly involved in sports, academics and / or specific extracurricular activities are less likely to engage in relational aggression – or to be the target of it. - support your daughter ' s friendships and social involvements through clubs and community organizations as well as through her school. friendships formed around common involvements ( like a recreational sports team or church group, for example ) can provide a healthy social outlet for your daughter by helping her develop self - esteem and self - confidence. - teach your daughter the definition of friendship – make sure that she understands the difference between true friendship and relationships in which one individual is permitted " power " or control over the other. sharing your own definition of friendship with her and discussing the characteristics of " balanced " relationships will help her begin to define the traits that she values in a friendship. - team up with your daughter ' s school. teachers, administrators and other faculty can provide a valuable support network for both you and your daughter. schools can also


balanced " relationships will help her begin to define the traits that she values in a friendship. - team up with your daughter ' s school. teachers, administrators and other faculty can provide a valuable support network for both you and your daughter. schools can also offer guidance counseling, programs and resources for addressing relational aggression on both an individual and community - wide level. - give your daughter a journal. if she ' s having difficulty expressing her emotions or dealing with social challenges at school, journals can provide an excellent " personal space. " encourage her to use the journal as a constructive means of working through her feelings. - consider counseling. if you notice that your daughter continues to have difficulty handling her emotions or you are concerned that she may indeed be an instigator of relational aggression, seeking professional counseling is essential. a trained counselor can become an objective listener and mentor for your daughter, and can teach her practical techniques and strategies for constructively addressing her emotions. what are the different types of girls boarding schools? learn about specialized boarding schools for girls, such as boarding schools that specialize in learning disabilities, asperger ' s syndrome, oppositional defiance, and substance abuse issues 866. 828. 7042call toll free today what do the studies show about girls - only boarding schools? statistics and other studies on how girls ' only schools impact girls ' learning, education, and academic performance > > quick links : girls boarding schools by state > > girls boarding schools by specialty > > site map > >


the tolerance campaign challenge for middle school students : your task in this challenge is to launch a campaign. the campaign is to promote religious tolerance. your target audience could be whomever you choose. you might choose to educate your schoolmates or peers about why promoting religious tolerance is so important in our communities. or you might want to galvanize people from a particular faith tradition — or no faith at all — to join your campaign. your goal? to create a buzz promoting religious tolerance and to mobilize others to join your campaign. you can use whatever media you prefer to wage your campaign. if you like to write, feel free to advocate religious tolerance via the printed word. if you prefer using newer media to express yourselves, then maybe make a video promoting religious tolerance. the only other ground rule is that you enter as part of a small group of 3 or 4 collaborators in 6th, 7th, or 8th grades. write a song to perform together. then record yourselves performing it and send it in to us as an audio file. paint a mural or construct a mosaic or other piece of visual artwork together. then send us a picture of your finished product and / or a time - lapse video of its being constructed. or write a cartoon or comic strip together. we ’ ll identify the best of the entries received as our top prize winners. the first - place group will win a $ 400 cash award ; the second will earn $ 250 ; $ 150 will go to the third - place group. we ’ ll probably designate some other worthy entrants for honorable mention recognition, too. in whatever media or form they exist, we ’ ll also post the best of these entries on our boniuk center website and facebook or youtube pages. the tolerance campaign is on! are you up to the challenge to embrace it?


charlotte bronte visited norton conyers a manor house in north yorkshire in 1839. she learned the story of a " mad women " who was kept in the attic there some 60 years earlier and the idea for " mrs. rochester " was born. according to an article in the guardian by martin wainwright the similarities between thornfield hall and norton conyers are unmistakable.... until this month, only thornfield had a hidden flight of stairs from near mr rochester ' s grand bedroom to his wife ' s miserable prison. " we decided to investigate the tradition " said sir james graham, 64, whose family bought norton conyers in 1624. he was brought up in the house, and remembered tales of the imprisoned ancestor, secret passages and sections of wooden panelling which rang hollow when knocked. one of these was on the landing outside the peacock room, the supposed model for mr rochester ' s quarters, and it was here that the musty flight of steps uncovered in the attic proved to lead. sir james and his wife, a former museum curator, crept down and found a chink of light and a disused door with an ingenious spring lock. " the stairs are only just wide enough for one person " said sir james. " they are hidden within the thickness of the panelled wall. there is no way you could tell from outside that there was anything there. repairs will be made.... rotten treads and subsidence cracks must be repaired and restoration carried out in the attics, particularly the " madwoman ' s room ". fascinating article, read the whole thing. " it is such a sad room, " said lady graham. " it has such a tragic feel about it. it is in a cul - de - sac in the attic, very awkward to reach. it is north - facing with a small gable window. it ' s infinitely depressing. most people don ' t want to stay there. it ' s creepy. however rational, they feel a weight on them. "


. marquis d ’ argenson, “ memoires, ” ed. rathery, january 27, 1757. “ the sieur de montmorin, captain of the game - preserves of fontainebleau, derives from his office enormous sums, and behaves himself like a bandit. the population of more than a hundred villages around no longer sow their land, the fruits and grain being eaten by deer ; stags and other game. they keep only a few vines, which they preserve six months of the year by mounting guard day and night with drums, making a general turmoil to frighten off the destructive animals. ” january 23, 1753. — " m. le prince de conti has established a captainry of eleven leagues around ile - adam and where everybody is vexed at it. ” september 23, 1753. — m. le duc d ’ orleans came to villers - cotterets, he has revived the captainry ; there are more than sixty places for sale on account of these princely annoyances.. the old peasants with whom i once have talked still had a clear memory of these annoyances and damages. — they recounted how, in the country around clermont, the gamekeepers of prince de conde in the springtime took litters of wolves and raised them in the dry moats of the chateau. they were freed in the beginning of the winter, and the wolf hunting team would then hunt them later. but they ate the sheep, and, here and there, a child.. the estates of the king encompassed in forest one million acres, not counting forests in the appanages set aside for his eldest son or for factories or salt works.. de montlosier, “ memoires, ” i. 175. i. england compared to france. an english example. — the privileged class renders no service in france. — the influence and rights which remain to them. — they use it only for themselves. useless in the canton, they might have been useful at the center of the state, and, without taking part in the local government, they might have served in the general government. thus does a lord, a baronet, a squire act in england, even when not a “ justice ” of his county or a committee - man in his parish. elected a member of the lower house, a hereditary member of the upper house, he holds the strings of the public purse and prevents the sovereign from spending too freely. such is the regime in countries where the feudal seigniors, instead of allowing


people with down syndrome — and their families — are overwhelmingly happy with their lives, as recent studies published in the american journal of medical genetics show. and yet, advocates for down syndrome ( including self - advocates ) have been working overtime to get the message out about what it actually means to live with the diagnosis, for good reason : they ’ ve found themselves in the unusual position of having to defend and explain why people with down syndrome deserve to live as much as anyone else. people with down syndrome have their own gifts, talents, hopes and dreams, just like the rest of us. they can and do make significant contributions to their families, their communities and to the world at large. they have value and worth ( and self - worth ). there is a chorus of voices, of parents and siblings of people with down syndrome, and of people with down syndrome themselves, expressing a loud and powerful message : a life with down syndrome is a life worth living. the emergence of new prenatal tests to detect down syndrome early in a pregnancy means that even more women will be sitting in a doctor ’ s office receiving a down syndrome diagnosis wondering how to process the news and how to proceed. the reality is that outdated images and negative stereotypes of down syndrome do exist in a large segment of society, in the media and even within the medical community. and though there is plenty of information readily available for parents with a prenatal diagnosis ( websites, pamphlets, blogs, advocacy groups, and support groups ready to provide information and guidance ), many expectant parents receiving a diagnosis of down syndrome are still not given balanced information or appropriate counsel regarding down syndrome or their options. on too many occasions, women are still guided or encouraged to terminate. while safer genetic screenings theoretically benefit both mother and child, the existence of these tests themselves ( 20 years and millions of dollars in the making ) suggests they are beneficial because down syndrome is a “ problem ” — an unintended and unwanted consequence best found while there is ample time to reconsider the pregnancy. often referred to as a “ seek and destroy mission, ” there is still upside to early diagnosis beyond facilitating termination : it can provide parents a longer window to seek information on down syndrome, to link up with support groups, and to process the diagnosis. parents are free to make either choice — to continue or end the pregnancy — though the prevailing mentality often supports the latter. we have mapped the human genome, and have uncovered exciting possibilities for improving the health and quality of life for people with all sorts of illnesses and


to make either choice — to continue or end the pregnancy — though the prevailing mentality often supports the latter. we have mapped the human genome, and have uncovered exciting possibilities for improving the health and quality of life for people with all sorts of illnesses and diagnoses. we have also begun to use the same science and related technologies to detect and eliminate humans with specific conditions. prenatal testing itself has existed for some time. but today, our federal government has passed legislation ( full document here ) that all pregnant women be offered ( at no cost to them ) a new, safer genetic screening which detects down syndrome in the first trimester of pregnancy. with a prenatal diagnosis of down syndrome, or any other condition, there is no way to predict a particular child ’ s potential or long - term prognosis, and the way a down syndrome diagnosis is delivered is quite often literally a matter of life or death. despite the increase and widespread nature of the testing, there isn ’ t an equal increase in the amount of information available to parents about the diagnosis, and there are no universal standards for the type of information parents receive, or for the way a diagnosis is presented. - even “ perfect ” scores in prenatal testing cannot guarantee a person ’ s ability, health, happiness, achievement later in life. in having children, there are no guarantees. - ability is a continuum. we all fall somewhere on the spectrum, and are more or less “ able ” in the various areas of lives. disability is part of the human condition. fear or discomfort with disability is natural, too, but is often overcome with information and experience. - most parents, even those whose children do not have a specific diagnosis, say that being a parent is one of the hardest jobs out there. yet, most parents would also say that the time, energy and money it takes to raise their children is entirely worth it. parents of children with down syndrome are no different. it doesn ’ t take a saint or a hero to love someone with down syndrome. the loving part comes as naturally as loving anyone else. - economic ( cost - benefit ) arguments which rationalize people with down syndrome ( and other “ genetic defects ” ) out of existence may make logical sense, but are morally bankrupt. we are not talking about things, we ’ re talking about people. - “ human ” cannot be taken out of the human condition. we are not robots, or genetically engineered creatures devoid of morality and at the same time guaranteed to achieve and to be free of


not talking about things, we ’ re talking about people. - “ human ” cannot be taken out of the human condition. we are not robots, or genetically engineered creatures devoid of morality and at the same time guaranteed to achieve and to be free of health issues or “ problems ” ourselves. being “ human ” means that there are complexities of condition and of mind that set us apart from animals and machines. unlike robots, we do not fully function without compassion, empathy, values, or morals. our conscience — and our awareness of our own imperfections - - is an essential part of what it means to be human. yet we ’ re seeing a common theme in today ’ s thrust for universal prenatal screenings : there are those among us who are too expensive, or too burdensome to live. today, we ' re talking about people with down syndrome — people with unique challenges who can, and do, live happy and vibrant lives. this line of thinking could apply to any one of us at some point in our lives. every single one of us needs extra help at times or will need extra help — possibly a significant amount of extra help — at some point in life. the debate over the newest forms of prenatal screening has elicited arguments from all of the angles we would expect, as each individual is coming at this from his or her own set of values and considerations. but at its core, this debate isn ’ t about politics or religion. it isn ’ t even about being “ pro - life ” or “ pro - choice ” — terms which have embedded political and religious connotations and labels that are not mutually exclusive. a person can hold a belief that the government shouldn ’ t be able to tell us what to do with our bodies and at the same time can still value all life. no one can know another person ’ s whole story, or the circumstances surrounding a pregnancy. this is about making sure expectant parents get all the support and information they need to make informed, educated, thoughtful choices. it ’ s about having our eyes wide open and understanding that we ’ re at a critical point in the history of civilized societies. we now have the capability to “ know ” all sorts of information about a person before birth. what we do with the technology we ’ ve developed and how we use that information is our choice to make. at the very least, an increase in solid, balanced information on what life can be like with a diagnosis of down syndrome ( or other detected conditions ) must accompany the increase in


’ ve developed and how we use that information is our choice to make. at the very least, an increase in solid, balanced information on what life can be like with a diagnosis of down syndrome ( or other detected conditions ) must accompany the increase in testing. this issue is too important for any of us to sit on the sidelines. get involved in helping others to understand what these tests do, and what they mean. take the time to educate yourself on all aspects of this debate, and to discuss with family and friends. here are some questions to encourage and inspire further discussion : · what makes life valuable? · in what ways are you more and less “ able ”? · which potential hardships trump the value of a life ( realizing that we ’ d be speculating about the impact of those potential hardships )? · chromosomal abnormalities ( not all of which are incompatible with life ) are the current focus. which condition is next? do you or a loved one have — or are you predisposed to — diabetes, breast cancer, alcoholism, mental illness, autism, learning disabilities, or any other condition or diagnosis others may feel is “ expensive ” or a burden to them? how would you feel if a prenatal test was developed to detect any of these conditions for selective termination? · the technology is here and will continue to advance. where do we draw the line? for example, what happens when prenatal testing is applied to particular preferences ( such as eye color or sex of the baby )? if we can engineer humans for intellect, beauty, athletic prowess or career success, should we? · should the doctors who recommend prenatal tests be required to provide accurate and balanced information about any condition detected through the testing? which questions do you think are most important for understanding the critical issues in moving forward? please join the conversation.


elephanta islandarticle free pass elephanta island, hindi gharapuri ( “ fortress city ” ), island located in mumbai ( bombay ) harbour of the arabian sea, about 6 miles ( 10 km ) east of mumbai and 2 miles ( 3 km ) west of the mainland coast of maharashtra state, western india. elephanta island has an area of 4 to 6 square miles ( 10 to 16 square km ), varying with the tide. in the early 16th century portuguese navigators named the island ilha elefante ( “ elephant island ” ) in reference to a large stone elephant that was found there ; the statue was later moved to victoria gardens ( now called jijamata udyan ), mumbai. the island ’ s hindi name, gharapuri, derives from a small village at its southern end. elephanta ’ s famous 8th - and 9th - century cave temples were designated unesco world heritage sites in 1987. atop a large hill, they occupy some 54, 800 square feet ( 5, 000 square metres ). the main temple is a long hall stretching 90 feet ( 27 metres ) ; carved into the rock on the walls and ceiling of the cave are rows of columns and crossbeams. the plan of the temple is such that important points are laid out in the form of a mandala. a series of sculptured panels lining the walls of the cave portray images from indian mythology, the most celebrated of which is the 20 - foot - ( 6 - metre - ) high trimurti, a three - headed bust of shiva in the roles of destroyer, preserver, and creator emerging from a mountain. other sculptures depict shiva crushing ravana with his toe, the marriage of shiva and parvati, shiva bringing the ganges ( ganga ) river to earth by letting it flow through his hair, and shiva as the embodiment of cosmic energy, dancing to drums. a linga ( hindu symbol of shiva ) is housed in a sanctuary at the western end of the temple. when the island was ceded to the portuguese by the kings of ahmadabad in the 16th century, it ceased to be a place of worship, and the caves and sculptures were damaged by portuguese soldiers. in the 1970s the temples were restored and preserved, and the island became a popular tourist site. what made you want to look up " elephanta island "? please share what surprised you most...


sarsaparillaarticle free pass sarsaparilla, aromatic flavouring agent made from the roots of several tropical vines belonging to the smilax genus of the lily family ( liliaceae ). once a popular tonic, sarsaparilla is now used to flavour and mask the taste of medicines. in combination with wintergreen and other flavours it is used in root beer and other carbonated beverages. the sarsaparilla plants ( spanish zarza, “ bramble, ” and parrilla, “ little vine ” ) are native to the southern and western coasts of mexico to peru. they are large, perennial, climbing or trailing vines with short, thick, underground stems producing many prickly, angular, aboveground stems. these are supported by tendrils springing from the bases of large, alternate, stalked leaves. the commercial species providing sarsaparilla are principally smilax aristolochiaefolia, s. regelii, and s. febrifuga, respectively known as mexican, honduran, and ecuadorian sarsaparillas. other commercial smilax species include ecuadorian ( guayaquil ) and central american ( jamaican or guatemalan ). after drying in the sun, the roots are gathered loosely into bundles or bound tightly into cylinders, depending on the place of origin, and then exported. several sterols and a crystalline glycoside, sarsaponin, which yields sarsapogenin on hydrolysis, have been isolated from the root. sarsapogenin is related to steroids such as progesterone and is used in their synthesis. in north america the strongly aromatic roots of the wild sarsaparilla ( aralia nudicaulis ) and false or bristly sarsaparilla ( aralia hispida ) are sometimes substituted for true sarsaparilla. what made you want to look up " sarsaparilla "? please share what surprised you most...


making the modern world photography, itself a product of a technical age, was seen as a medium ideally suited to record a period of material expansion and massive industrialisation. the nineteenth - century revolution in transport saw the creation of a worldwide network of roads, railways, canals and shipping and all were subject to intense scrutiny by the camera. an early and accomplished example of the use of photography to record the progress of construction projects is to be seen in philip delamotte ' s record of the construction of the crystal palace at sydenham from 1853 - 55 ; but it was in france in particular that photography was used most extensively by the civil engineer and collections of prints were made recording the achievements of the public works department in harbour construction, public architecture and communications. indeed, for a number of studios, such as that of hippolyte collard, this branch of work became a speciality. such photographs served not only as prosaic progress records, but expressed a potent visual declaration of national pride in material progress. philip henry delamotte, c. 1853 philip henry delamotte, the open colonnade of the crystal palace, sydenham, garden front, c. 1853 after the closure of the 1851 great exhibition, the crystal palace which had housed it was dismantled and transferred to sydenham in south london. philip henry delamotte ' s photographic record of its reconstruction on the new site is an early example of the use of photography to create a detailed record of the progress of a civil engineering project. this elegant architectural vista is one of a hundred photographs by delamotte recording the construction of the crystal palace and published as photographic views of the progress of the crystal palace, sydenham ( london, 1855 ). opened by queen victoria in 1854, the building survived until 1936, when it was destroyed by fire. justin kozlowski, c. 1860 justin kozlowski, dredgers at work in the suez canal, 1860s little is known of the career of justin kozlowski, apart from the fact that he had originally come to france as a polish refugee in the 1830s. this photograph, from an album of views recording construction work on the suez canal, appears to be his only known photographic work and documents the building of the canal from its early stages up to the opening ceremony on 18 november 1869. hippolyte auguste collard, c. 1864 maps 148. d. 15 ( 15 ) hippolyte auguste collard, perspective du passage des pietons sous la viaduc, pont -


to the opening ceremony on 18 november 1869. hippolyte auguste collard, c. 1864 maps 148. d. 15 ( 15 ) hippolyte auguste collard, perspective du passage des pietons sous la viaduc, pont - du - jour, paris, c. 1864 the physical transformation of paris in the middle years of the nineteenth century was a major stimulus for photographers, both in recording the old before it was destroyed and in documenting the progress of great new projects. a number of photographers at this period specialised in such work, among them hippolyte collard, who styled himself ' photographer of bridges and highways. ' collard was officially employed to photograph the progress of a number of major construction projects in paris between 1857 and 1870, among them this series of views showing the building of the road and rail bridge across the seine at point - du - jour ( now pont de garigliano ) between 1863 and 1866. unknown photographer, 1870 add. ms 59505 f. 75 unknown photographer, building the mont cenis tunnel, 1870 the eight - mile long mont cenis tunnel ( also known as the frejus tunnel ) connects the towns of mondane in france and bardonecchia in italy. completed in 1871, it was the first rock tunnel of its sort and pioneered several new engineering techniques. this view, showing one of the boring machines known as ' perforatrices ', was clearly taken outside the tunnel rather than at the rock face : it has been heavily retouched to obscure the background and to suggest that it was taken inside the tunnel. the photograph formed the basis for a number of reproductions in contemporary newspapers. unknown photographer, 1898 photo 1132 / 1 ( 7 ) unknown photographer, construction work on the central line of the london underground, 1898 gelatin silver print increasing congestion in central london in the mid - nineteenth century led to the creation of the world ' s first underground system. the metropolitan line, running from paddington to farringdon, was opened in 1863 and the following decades saw a swift development of the network. in 1891 the central london railway was formed to build a line connecting the city to the growing western suburbs of london. the line connecting shepherd ' s bush to bank was opened in 1900 and proved an immediate success. this is one of a rare series of views showing work in progress on the tunnel in 1898. d. s. george, c. 1900 photo 430 / 64 ( 9 ) d. s. george, construction of the aswan


image via wikipedia did you know that some frogs talk with ultra - sound? in ultrasound, the pitch or frequency of the sound is too high for the human ear to hear. fish and homing pigeons can see electromagnetic fields, ants can see polarised light, insects and rodents can smell pheromones, so why can ' t some frogs, somewhere on the planet, hear ultrasound? according to abc science news recently they can, if they are the concave - eared torrent frog that lives in the huangshan hot springs, west of shanghai, in china. there, a continuous torrent of water and sound fills the mountainous environment of the concave - eared torrent frog. let ’ s hope that the frogs are actually alive in the hot springs. after all, we ’ ve all heard the fable about frogs and boiling water. anyhoo it was recently discovered that these frogs can generate and hear sounds that are way up in the ultrasonic. they can generate and hear frequencies over 128 khz. that ' s more than six - times better than a human can hear. so next time you want to get your message across in the “ mountainous environment of the concave - eared torrent frog ” just pick one up and use him as a................................ froghorn. and, apparently, there is a frog magazine in dutch. on a recent edition, readers were commenting on the quality of the photographs therein. presumably frogs - porn? it ’ s the way i am them telling.


published february 14, 2013 the hazards of breathing outdoor air in some chinese cities have been well - documented. now a ub study confirms that breathing indoor air also carries significant cancer risks, especially for chinese women. the ub study, published online this month in the journal cancer causes & control, found that indoor air pollution that generates fine particulate matter is a key contributor to the high rates of lung cancer among chinese women, despite the fact that few of them smoke. the research found indoor particulate matter levels that are at least double the maximum level considered acceptable by world health organization guidelines. the study is the first to measure particulate matter ( pm ) levels inside the home and to link it with the incidence of lung cancer in chinese women. “ our results show that besides smoking, indoor air pollution contributes significantly to women ’ s lung cancer risk in china, ” says lina mu, assistant professor of social and preventive medicine in the school of public health and health professions and lead author on the paper. while around 60 percent of chinese men smoke, chinese women have extremely low smoking rates — approximately 4 percent. however, women ’ s rates of lung cancer in china are among the highest in the world, approximately 21 cases per 100, 000, while smoking accounts for less than 20 percent of lung cancer cases in chinese women, says mu. “ that ’ s why we wanted to find out how much indoor air pollution contributes to lung cancer risk among chinese women, ” says mu. “ it has been suspected but not measured. ” the paper notes that since women tend to be home for longer periods of time and to cook more frequently, housing - related exposure is more of a factor among women than men. the case - control study includes 429 chinese women : 197 who had lung cancer and 232 who were controls. of the 197 with lung cancer, 164 were nonsmokers, while there were 218 nonsmokers in the control group. the study was conducted in taiyuan city, one of the top - 10 air - polluted cities in the world, according to asian development bank ’ s 2012 annual report. a large industrial city in northern china, taiyuan is home to heavy industry, including steel, coal mining and processing and electronics plants. the study found that among the nonsmokers, lung cancer was strongly associated with multiple sources of indoor air pollution, which included exposure to tobacco smoke at work, frequent cooking and the use of solid fuel, primarily coal, for cooking and heating. a particle mass monitor was used to measure pm levels inside the homes


was strongly associated with multiple sources of indoor air pollution, which included exposure to tobacco smoke at work, frequent cooking and the use of solid fuel, primarily coal, for cooking and heating. a particle mass monitor was used to measure pm levels inside the homes — mostly apartments — of study participants. “ we found that the smallest type of particulate matter is the type associated with the higher risk of lung cancer among nonsmoking chinese women, ” mu says. “ for every additional 10 micrograms per square meter of fine particular matter, there is an associated 45 percent increased risk of lung cancer. ” the paper notes that increased lung cancer risk among women was strongly attributed to the fine particles produced by coal combustion for heating and cooking, and from passive smoking. mu says that kitchen ventilation systems, such as fans, are not common in china and that people are reluctant to open windows because they want to keep heat in and prevent outdoor pollution from coming inside. she adds that hot oil, a staple in traditional chinese stir - frying and deep - frying, produces carcinogens and is a key contributor. “ women are at high risk because they are exposed to solid fuel emissions from heating and cooking, as well as from passive smoking, ” she says, adding that smoking is a key social ingredient in china. “ men tend to gather and smoke together, often in small, enclosed spaces, especially in offices. ” mu notes that while in large cities, some restaurants have begun to segregate smokers, people smoke freely in most public places in china. she says that improvements will depend on significant changes, such as a switch to clean energy sources and the installation of better ventilation systems, as well as public education about the benefits of keeping windows open and curbing passive smoking. ub co - authors with mu are yanli li, graduate student ; william scheider, research assistant professor ; and mya swanson, data manager ; all in the ub department of social and preventive medicine. other co - authors are shen - chih chang and zuo - feng zhang of the fielding school of public health, university of california, los angeles ; jia su and shunzhang yu of fudan university ; li liu, baozing zhao and jianping shi of the taiyuan city center for disease control and prevention ; and rrungui niu of shanxi tumor hospital. the research was funded by the national nature science foundation of china, the national institutes of health and the alper research center for environmental genomics at ucla.


promoting education and achievement of adults learning english reading and adult english language learners : the role of the first language miriam burt and joy peyton national center for esl literacy education the ability to read is a critical skill for adults in the united states. educators grabe and stoller ( 2002 ) assert, " as we enter a new century, productive and educated citizens will require even stronger literacy abilities ( including both reading and writing ) in increasingly larger numbers of societal settings " ( p. 1 ). however, most research on reading development has focused on english - speaking children in preschool through grade 12. ( see, for example, the results of the national reading panel, 2000 ; snow, burns, & griffin, 1998. ) little research on reading involves adults learning english as a second ( or additional ) language. in a review of the research published from 1980 - 2000 on reading development among adult english language learners in the united states ( aged 16 years and older ), adams and burt ( 2002 ) found only 47 studies that addressed this category of learners. of those, only 24 were carried out in non - postsecondary education settings ( adult education programs, community - based programs, and workplace literacy programs ). the others were carried out in college - based intensive english programs ( iep ). although the relevant body of research is small and preliminary, it does give us valuable information about second language ( l2 ) learners in adult education programs and points to areas in which further research is needed. ( see adams & burt, 2002, and burt, peyton, & adams, 2003, for a description of these populations and of the types of studies included in the review. ) the adult english language learner population the adult english language learner population is large. in 2001, 42 % ( over 1 million ) of adults enrolled in state - administered, federally funded adult education programs were enrolled in english as a second language ( esl ) classes. this was a 4 % increase from 2000, when 38 % of the participants were enrolled in esl classes ( u. s. department of education, 2002 ). english language learners are also served in adult basic education ( abe ) and adult secondary education ( ase ) classes, private language schools, and in programs sponsored by community - based organizations and volunteer literacy organizations such as proliteracy. these adults come from diverse backgrounds and have widely differing experiences with literacy in their first languages. a number of factors influence the ways that adults ' english literacy develops and the progress that different learners will make in learning to


organizations such as proliteracy. these adults come from diverse backgrounds and have widely differing experiences with literacy in their first languages. a number of factors influence the ways that adults ' english literacy develops and the progress that different learners will make in learning to read english. they include level of literacy in the first language and in english, oral language proficiency in english, educational background, personal goals for learning english, and the structure and writing system of the first language. these factors must be taken into account in all areas of instructional program planning, learner placement in classes, and instructional approaches. this paper describes how one of these factors - literacy in the first language - can affect the acquisition of reading skills in english and the ways that instruction should be delivered. literacy in the first ( native ) language huntley ( 1992 ) describes four types of literacy in the first language ( l1 ) that affect english literacy development and should be considered in adult esl literacy instruction : preliterate, nonliterate, semiliterate, and non - roman alphabet literate. birch ( 2002 ) adds to these types nonalphabet literate. birch and others ( hilferty, 1996 ; strucker, 2002 ) add roman alphabet literate. these six types of l1 literacy and their impact on english language learners ' development of english language literacy are discussed here in the sections on limited literate learners and literate learners. limited literate learners preliterate learners come from cultures where literacy is uncommon in everyday life because the language is not written, has only recently been written, or is being developed. for example, most bantu people of somalia are preliterate in their native af - maay because it has been codified for just a short time ( van lehman & eno, 2002 ). preliterate english language learners often have had little or no exposure to written text and may not be aware of the purposes of literacy in everyday life. traditionally, literacy instruction for preliterate learners builds on their oral language knowledge and is supported by oral language activities ( carroll, 1999 ). preliterate learners generally progress slowly in literacy and other language instruction and require re - teaching of skills and concepts ( robson, 1982 ; strucker, 2002 ). some who never attended school as children may be unfamiliar with school culture and its attendant behaviors and expectations. nonliterate learners come from cultures where literacy is available, but they have not had access to literacy instruction, often because of their socioeconomic status. for example, some adult learners from central america may


with school culture and its attendant behaviors and expectations. nonliterate learners come from cultures where literacy is available, but they have not had access to literacy instruction, often because of their socioeconomic status. for example, some adult learners from central america may not know how to read or write in their native spanish because of disrupted schooling due to war and poverty. these learners have probably had some exposure to written language and may have a greater awareness of the value and uses of literacy than preliterate learners. these learners may be reluctant to disclose their limited literacy background in class, and instruction with them may proceed slowly. they may learn classroom content more slowly than other learners, because they cannot make full use of textbooks, other printed materials, and class notes for review. however, they are often highly motivated to learn. semiliterate learners usually have had access to literacy in their native culture, but because of their socioeconomic status or educational situation, they have not achieved a high level of literacy in their native language. like nonliterate learners, they may have left school at a young age for economic or political reasons, as was the case with many southeast asian refugees and central american immigrants in the 1970s and 1980s ( holt, 1995 ; ranard & pfleger, 1995 ). two studies suggest that either previous or simultaneous acquisition of l1 literacy can have a positive impact on english literacy development among these populations. robson ( 1982 ), in a study of hmong learners of english at a refugee camp in thailand, found that adults with minimal literacy in hmong acquired english reading skills more rapidly than those who had no hmong literacy. similarly, a study of adult haitians learning english in new york city ( burtoff, 1985 ) found that those who received native language literacy instruction while learning english developed stronger literacy skills in the l2 than did the english - only group, even though the total number of instructional hours for the two groups was equal. although strong conclusions cannot be drawn from these studies due to the small number of students involved and the nonexperimental nature of the study design, this research points to the need to examine the value of native language literacy instruction prior to or at the same time as l2 literacy instruction. researchers are now identifying students who have been educated primarily in the united states but have characteristics similar to those described above. referred to as " generation 1. 5 " learners, they have immigrated to the united states where they have attended schools and developed oral fluency in english. however, they are not literate in their native


but have characteristics similar to those described above. referred to as " generation 1. 5 " learners, they have immigrated to the united states where they have attended schools and developed oral fluency in english. however, they are not literate in their native language, and they struggle with reading and writing in english. they may remain in esl classes throughout their elementary and secondary school education and enter esl programs as adults or need special attention in college programs ( harklau, losey, & siegal, 1999 ). many preliterate, nonliterate, and semiliterate learners, including generation 1. 5 learners, may approach english literacy learning with trepidation. they need to be given opportunities to increase their self - confidence in educational situations and to develop positive images of themselves as readers ( goldberg, 1997 ). many have high oral skills in english and may have had positive experiences with learning through oral esl instruction. learners who are literate in some writing system have the advantage of experience with deciphering and assigning meaning to print and using print to enhance their learning. learners who are nonalphabet literate read a language that is written logographically, such as chinese and japanese. these learners may try to read in english by memorizing whole words. a study of 16 russian and 11 japanese learners in an intensive english program ( iep ) at a canadian university and 16 russian learners of english in a university in israel ( wade - woolley, 1999 ) found that the japanese learners, who use both a syllabary ( kana ) and a logographic ( kanji ) writing system relied more on english word recognition than did the russian learners, who use a phonologically based alphabet. wade - woolley concluded that because the japanese readers were not used to focusing on phoneme - to - sound mapping in reading, they were more likely than the russian learners to depend on sight recognition of letter sequences. learners who depend on whole word recognition to the exclusion of phonological decoding will not become proficient readers in alphabetic languages. like children ( as described in the national reading panel report, 2000 ), in order to become good readers in english, adult readers must develop an " alphabetical strategy " ( birch, 2002, p. 33 ) ; they must be able to process an alphabetic script in the way it was designed to be used ( adams, 1990 ). non - roman alphabet literate learners read in a language that uses a non - roman alphabet, such as cyrillic


33 ) ; they must be able to process an alphabetic script in the way it was designed to be used ( adams, 1990 ). non - roman alphabet literate learners read in a language that uses a non - roman alphabet, such as cyrillic or thai, but that is still phonetically based. these learners have the advantage of being accustomed to reading with an alphabet, but they may struggle to find words in the dictionary and may need time to process written materials presented in class because the orthography of their l1 is different from that of english. for example, nepali students, whose sanskrit - derived letters descend below the lines of text, may, at first, attempt to direct their visual attention below the lines of english text where only the " tails " of some english letters ( g, j, p, and y ) are written ( strucker, 2002 ). in addition to directionality issues ( their alphabet reads right to left ; the roman alphabet, left to right ), arabic students learning to read in english are likely to have problems with vowels, which are usually not written out in everyday arabic writings ( ryan & meara, 1991 ). strategies that these learners may have developed to read arabic ( e. g., proficient arabic and hebrew readers rely on context to determine which vowel sounds to assign to words ) may not work as well in english reading and spelling, where vowels must be attended to ( birch, 2002 ). both of these groups of learners have valuable reading skills in the first language that they may be able to transfer to second language reading, but they need direct, systematic, sequential instruction in the sound - to - symbol correspondences of written english, rather than merely addressing sound - symbol issues as they arise ( strucker, 2002 ). many adult esl students are literate in a roman alphabetic language ( e. g., spanish or serbo croatian ). like those literate in a non - roman script or in a logographic script, these learners have already developed reading skills and formed reading behaviors in their l1. they know that written language can represent speech. their educational background and literacy skills may be an important part of their self - image. they can study english texts, take notes in class to learn new vocabulary or structures, and read outside of class. the english alphabet will be more familiar to them than to others whose native language does not use the roman alphabet ; many of them may appear to have little difficulty reading english, especially those from languages such as spanish that have many cognates


of class. the english alphabet will be more familiar to them than to others whose native language does not use the roman alphabet ; many of them may appear to have little difficulty reading english, especially those from languages such as spanish that have many cognates with english. yet roman - alphabet - literate learners still need to learn english sound - symbol correspondences before they are able to read well ( hilferty, 1996 ; strucker, 2002 ). they need to know that english does not have the same level of correspondence between sound and written form that other orthographies or spelling systems do - that there is not necessarily a one - to - one correspondence between letter and sound. for example, some letters are pronounced more than one way depending on the letters / sounds that follow ( e. g., c in citation and car ), and some sounds are represented by more than one letter ( e. g., the hard / k / sound can be written as c, k, or ck, often depending on the letters / sounds that precede and follow it ). sometimes letters in english are silent as are the g and h in right. at the syllabic level, readers should learn, for example, that the combination ough can be pronounced as in tough and rough or as in bought and sought. readers also need to learn the many pronunciations of vowels, including their sounds in stressed and unstressed syllables. conclusion learning to read is not easy, and it is especially difficult for adults learning to read in an l2. research suggests that all english language learners, regardless of the type of l1 literacy in their background, need direct teaching in the english symbol system and in english sound - symbol correspondences. previously learned reading strategies, learners ' experiences and access to literacy, and the nature of their l1 written language contribute to the speed and ease with which learners will acquire l2 literacy. these factors, as well as english proficiency levels, should be considered in instruction of adults learning to read english. types of l1 literacy and effects on l2 literacy learning | l1 literacy | | explanation | | special considerations | | preliterate | | l1 has no written form ( e. g., many american indigenous, african, australian, and pacific languages ). | | learners need exposure to the purposes and uses of literacy. | | nonliterate | | learners have no access to literacy instruction. | | learners may feel stigmatized. | | semiliterate | | learners have limited access


languages ). | | learners need exposure to the purposes and uses of literacy. | | nonliterate | | learners have no access to literacy instruction. | | learners may feel stigmatized. | | semiliterate | | learners have limited access to literacy instruction. | | learners may have had past negative experiences with literacy learning. | | nonalphabet literate | | learners are fully literate in a language written in a nonalphabetic script ( e. g., chinese ). | | learners need instruction in reading an alphabetic script and in the sound - syllable correspondences in english. | | non - roman alphabet literate | | learners are literate in a language written in a non - roman alphabet ( e. g., arabic, greek, korean, russian, and thai ). | | learners need instruction in the roman alphabet in order to transfer their l1 literacy skills to english. some, such as readers of arabic, will need to learn to read from left to right. | | roman alphabet literate | | learners are fully literate in a language written in a roman alphabet script ( e. g., french, german, and spanish ). they read from left to right and recognize letter shapes and fonts. | | learners need instruction in the specific letter - to - sound and sound - syllable correspondences of english. | from reading and adult english language learners : a review of the research, by m. burt, j. k. peyton, and r. adams, 2003, washington, dc : national center for esl literacy education and center for applied linguistics. reprinted with permission. adams, m. ( 1990 ). beginning to read : thinking and learning about print. cambridge, ma : mit press. adams, r., & burt, m. ( 2002 ). research on reading development of adult english language learners : an annotated bibliography. washington, dc : national center for esl literacy education. retrieved january 15, 2003, from http : / / www. cal. org / caela / readingbib birch, b. m. ( 2002 ). english l2 reading : getting to the bottom. mahwah, nj : erlbaum. burt, m., peyton, j. k., & adams, r. ( 2003 ). reading and adult english language learners : a review of the research. washington, dc : center for applied linguistics. burtoff, m. ( 1985 ). the haitian creole literacy evaluation study (


k., & adams, r. ( 2003 ). reading and adult english language learners : a review of the research. washington, dc : center for applied linguistics. burtoff, m. ( 1985 ). the haitian creole literacy evaluation study ( final report ). new york : ford foundation. carroll, s. d. ( 1999, march ). storytelling for literacy. paper presented at the annual meeting of the michigan reading association, grand rapids, mi. ( edrs no. ed430234 ) goldberg, r. ( 1997 ). deconstructing the great wall of print. connections : a journal of adult literacy, 7, 8 - 13. grabe, w., & stoller, f. l. ( 2002 ). teaching and researching reading. harlow, england : pearson education. harklau, l., losey, k. m., & siegal, m. ( 1999 ). generation 1. 5 meets college composition : issues in the teaching of writing to u. s. - educated learners of esl. mahwah, nj : erlbaum. hilferty, a. g. ( 1996 ). coding decoding : predicting the reading comprehension of latino adults learning english. unpublished doctoral dissertation, harvard university, cambridge, ma. holt, g. m. ( 1995 ). teaching low - level adult esl learners. eric digest. washington, dc : national center for esl literacy education. retrieved january 10, 2003, from http : / / www. cal. org / caela / digests / holt. htm ( edrs no. ed379965 ) huntley, h. s. ( 1992 ). the new illiteracy : a study of the pedagogic principles of teaching english as a second language to nonliterate adults. unpublished manuscript. ( edrs no. ed356685 ) national reading panel. ( 2000, april ). teaching children to read : an evidence - based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction ( nih pub. no. 00 - 4769 ). washington, dc : national institute of child health and human development. retrieved january 23, 2003, from http : / / www. nichd. nih. gov / publications / nrp / smallbook. htm ranard, d. a., & pfleger, m. ( 1995 ). from the classroom to the community : a fifteen - year