The production of minor essential oils in the united states

The oils of dill, lemon-grass, tansy, wormseed and wormwood are distilled from cultivated plants; those of cedarleaf, cedarwood, erigeron, pennyroyal, sassafras, sweet birch, wintergreen and witch-hazel from wild plants; and together they all constitute a minor industry for which production figures are not readily available.     

Archeological dendrochronology in the southwestern united states

Dendrochronology, the science of tree‐ring dating, is the most accurate and precise nondocumentary dating method available to researchers studying the recent past. Tree‐ring dates are accurate and precise to the year and sometimes the season, and have no associated statistical uncertainty or standard error. Other prominent archeological dating techniques that use natural materials (for example, radiocarbon and archeomagnetism) have been calibrated using dendrochronological samples. 1 It is this precision and accuracy that has allowed archeologists working in the southwestern United States to construct the most detailed chronologies in the world, and to explore a plethora of environmental, social, and behavioral questions regarding past human adaptation to the region.     

Extended fishery jurisdiction in canada and the united states

Abstract

The 200‐mi fishery zone is a reality presenting opportunities for coastal states to create new institutions or pursue new management strategies. The strategies followed by the United States and by Canada in the initial stages of their extended‐jurisdiction management programs have similarly stated goals yet offer a number of striking contrasts in development and application. These domestic fishery management programs are discussed in their sociolegal and historical contexts. The domestic legal authority for the management programs is reviewed, planning procedures and available sanctions are outlined, and the control of domestic and foreign fishing is discussed. Finally, an argument is advanced for greater participation in the development of fishery management plans and a possible system for implementation is suggested. It is concluded that the American management system is open, decentralized, and highly structured. In contrast, the Canadian system is closed, relatively centralized, and very flexible. Both approaches are considered extreme yet there is no evidence of the development of new procedures for management decision making.     

Collection, use, and protection of population-based birth defects surveillance data in the united states

Birth defects surveillance systems collect population-based birth defects data from multiple sources to track trends in prevalence, identify risk factors, refer affected families to services, and evaluate prevention efforts. Strong state and federal public health and legal mandates are in place to govern the collection and use of these data. Despite the prima facie appeal of "opt-in" and similar strategies to those who view data collection as a threat to privacy, the use of these strategies in lieu of population-based surveillance can severely limit the ability of public health agencies to accurately access the health status of a group within a defined geographical area. With the need for population-based data central to their mission, birth defects programs around the country take their data stewardship role seriously, recognizing both moral and legal obligations to protect the data by employing numerous safeguards. Birth defects surveillance systems are shaped by the needs of the community they are designed to serve, with the goal of preventing birth defects or alleviating the burdens associated with them.     

An examination of factors influencing black fertility decline in the Mississippi Delta, 1880-1930

Although the fertility decline in the black population in the Mississippi Delta between the late 1870's and early 1930's closely paralleled that of the national black population, it rose much more dramatically in the 1940's and 1950's to almost 1880 levels. Given the especially rural and oppressed conditions of blacks there, the initial decline seems puzzling. Low fertility rates in the 1930's reflected a large proportion of childless females. Investigations of changing contraceptive usage and mate exposure suggest both were minor components at most. Several physiological impairments were investigated including dietary deficiences, malaria, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Evidence suggests STD played the major role, facilitated by nutritional and other health problems. Models relying heavily on those developed by McFalls and McFalls (1984) suggest 50-80 percent of the decline could have been due to the spread of STD. Age-specific birth rates for different periods and post-World-War-II fertility increases seem consistent with this finding.     

A decade of fertility below replacement level in Singapore

This paper discusses fertility trends in Singapore during the decade 1975-1984. Fertility 1st dropped below the replacement level in 1975 when the gross reproduction rate reached 1.006 and fell further to the low of 0.772 in 1984. During the same period all of the 3 main races, Chinese, Malays, and Indians, experienced fertility below replacement level. The shortfall in the number of births required to ensure replacement fertility increased during the decade until it approached 1/4 in 1984. This indicates that Singapore has more than achieved its national demographic goal of fertility to attain 0 growth and to stabilize the population in the future. This study shows that the newly introduced population policies designed to improve the quality of the population may well in practice lead to fewer births. A declining population in the 21st century is very likely.     

The New York Botanical Garden and the making of The Bahama Flora, 1920

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, The New York Botanical Garden, under the leadership of its Director-in-Chief, Nathaniel Lord Britton, launched an intensive program of exploration and publication on the plants of the Western Hemisphere, particularly in the northern Caribbean region. One major geographic focus during this period was the Bahama archipelago, resulting in the 1920 publication The Bahama Flora. Dr. Britton personally led four expeditions to the Bahamas between 1904 and 1907, but most of his effort on this project was devoted to coordinating and seeking funding for some two dozen expeditions from 1904 to 1911 undertaken by collaborators, most notably Charles Frederick Millspaugh of the Field Museum, co-author with N.L. Britton of The Bahama Flora. In total, the Flora reported 1,982 species. The present paper recounts the itineraries of the expeditions and provides examples of the principal botanical discoveries realized in the making of The Bahama Flora.     

The reception of Mendelism in the United States, 1900-1930

Scholars have differed on the question of why Mendel's work was neglected between 1865 and 1900, and the (by contrast) relatively rapid acceptance of Mendelism in many countries after 1900. This paper focuses on two factors that have not been well explored in the debate. The first is that Mendelism fit perfectly into the atomistic philosophy associated with mechanistic materialism in western science, and thus was strongly promoted by a younger group of biologists around 1900 to raise the prestige of biology to the rigorous level of the physical sciences. The second factor was that Mendelian theory, with its experimental and predictive qualities, fit well into the new demands for industrialization of agriculture both to feed a growing urban population and to provide an arena for capital expansion. This paper proposes that the early promotion of Mendelian research, by both private and public funds, owed as much to economic and social as to biological causes.     

Socioeconomic structure and fertility in China: a county level investigation

Analysis of the general fertility rate in the counties of China shows significant associations with infant mortality, illiteracy, and the percentage of the population employed in industry, but not with industrial or agricultural output. Urban counties differ from rural in the importance of the illiteracy rate. The associations in the rural counties vary according to the region of China in which they are located.     

Midlife obesity and dementia: Meta‐analysis and adjusted forecast of dementia prevalence in the united states and china

Objective:

Obesity is a risk factor of dementia. Current forecasts of dementia prevalence fail to take the rising obesity prevalence into account.

Design and Methods:

Embase and Medline were searched for observational studies on the association between overweight (BMI 25‐30 kg/m²) or obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m²) and dementia and pooled the effect sizes by meta‐analysis. The population attributable risk (PAR) was calculated for different time points and adjusted them for confounders. Based on current prevalence rates of dementia and demographic forecasts, patient numbers were calculated and adjusted by the growth rates of PAR.

Results:

Compared to normal weight, midlife obesity increases the risk of dementia later in life (BMI 25‐30: RR = 1.34 [95% CI 1.08, 1.66], BMI > 30: RR = 1.91 [1.4, 2.62]). If obesity is included into forecast models, the prevalence of dementia is estimated to be 7.1 million (6.9, 7.3) and 11.3 million (10.9, 11.7) for the United States in 2030 and 2050, respectively. In China, the estimate is 13.1 million (12.8, 13.3) in 2030 and 26.2 million (25.1, 27.4) in 2050. These figures are 9% and 19% higher for the United States and China, respectively, than forecasts that rely solely on the demographic change.

Conclusion:

The past and ongoing increase in midlife obesity prevalence will contribute significantly to the future prevalence of dementia and public health measures to reduce midlife obesity are simultaneously primary prevention measures to reduce the risk of dementia.     

Altitude, migration, and fertility in the Andes

In order to examine the relationship between hypoxia and reduced fertility of high Andean populations, a sample of 241 females living in the low-altitude Tambo Valley of Peru was studied. 63 of the subjects were born in the low-altitude valley, 121 were migrants from high altitudes, and 57 were migrants born in low altitudes. The rate of abortion was low among high-altitude subjects before they migrated, but became greater after migrating. It was found that the high-altitude populations had almost twice as long parity intervals than the low-altitude populations. Compared to migrants born at low altitudes, the high-altitude-born subjects who migrated to low altitudes had higher fertility rates. The results of the study are consistent with the hypothesis that high altitudes, through anoxia, have a lowering effect on fertility. Of the several possible explanations which might account for the increase in fertility of downward migrants on migration from high to low altitude (migration, socioeconomic factors, acculturation, seasonal male emigration from high altitude, and removal of hypoxia stress), altitude appears to be the most significant.