Search Results (743)

This study examines how mothers raising children with disabilities in American Samoa experience the processes of seeking diagnosis, navigating special education, and advocating for services within an insular rural context. American Samoa, an unincorporated U.S. territory located 2600 miles from Hawaiʻi with a population under 50,000, represents a case of what we term insular rurality—a condition in which the structural disadvantages of rurality are intensified by oceanic isolation, territorial governance, and colonial history. Data were collected through three focus groups with fifteen mothers whose children hold a range of disability diagnoses, with a card sort activity at the outset of each session serving as an idiographic anchor to protect individual voice within the group format. Analysis followed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis adapted for focus groups (IPA-FG), proceeding from line-by-line exploratory noting through Personal Experiential Themes and Group Experiential Themes within each focus group case to cross-case convergence and divergence analysis, interpreted through the Fonofale model of Pacific wellness. Findings reveal two overarching themes: systemic invalidation, in which mothers encountered deficit-based assumptions, stagnant educational goals, and institutional disengagement; and parent peer support as the primary infrastructure, in which mothers became de facto experts, built community-driven solutions, and envisioned more inclusive futures. Technology emerged as a contradictory force—valuable for parent learning but largely ineffective for children’s remote therapy. These findings suggest how workforce shortages and geographic isolation create conditions in which maternal advocacy becomes a systems-level necessity rather than a personal choice. Implications for rural education policy, IDEA implementation in U.S. territories, and culturally grounded family support are discussed. Full article

Sudden death syndrome (SDS) and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) are major yield-limiting diseases in North American soybean production, with limited effective management options. Long-term soybean monoculture has been reported to suppress SDS and SCN, but the mechanisms, onset, and persistence of such suppression remain poorly understood. To study these mechanisms, a six-year field study (2018–2023) was conducted at two Ontario sites with contrasting disease histories: Chatham (conducive) and Essex (suppressive). We evaluated suppression development and resilience across soybean monoculture (SSSSSS) and corn–soybean rotations (SCSCSC/CSCSCS), using eight cultivars differing in SDS and SCN resistance across two maturity groups. In Chatham, disease index (DX) progressively declined under monoculture; the most susceptible cultivar, HS11RY07, declined from a mean DX of 89 to 43 by year six, with corresponding yield increases, and rotational yield advantages diminished. In Essex, introducing corn rotation increased SDS symptoms during soybean phases; monoculture yields became comparable to rotation in later years. Importantly, suppression developed without corresponding reductions in Fusarium virguliforme and SCN populations, which remained variable across years, suggesting that monoculture may disrupt pathogen effectiveness rather than eliminating it. This decoupling of pathogen abundance and disease severity is consistent with soil-mediated biological suppression; the microbial drivers are addressed in subsequent work. Full article

Friar Hernando de Talavera can be considered the main strategist of evangelisation at the end of the 15th century in the recently conquered Kingdom of Granada. To this end, he used the publication Breve y muy provechosa doctrina de lo que debe saber todo cristiano together with eight other very useful treatises [Brief and Very Useful Doctrine of What Every Christian Should Know, with Eight Other Very Useful Treatises], which he accompanied with his Instrucción a los vecinos del Albaicín [Instruction to the Residents of the Albaicín]. Successive editions of the catechism and some books included under the generic title Breve y muy provechosa doctrina [A Brief and Very Useful Doctrine] throughout the 16th century demonstrated its doctrinal soundness and pastoral effectiveness. Furthermore, they were later used not only for catechesis but also for literacy in the Kingdom of Granada and in the early days of the American conquest. The study will systematically present the different editions and their intentions from the Granada incunabulum to the present day. The texts composed by the first archbishop of Granada were the words used to unite several kingdoms and conquered territories in the faith and in the Castilian language. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic overview of the various editions published throughout history and to analyse the influence that some of them exerted on the subsequent development of evangelisation in Granada, Castile, and possibly the Americas. Full article

Background: Despite a decline in lung cancer in the U.S., lung cancer among never-smoking Asian American (AsA) women is rising, and subgroup aggregation obscures heterogeneity. We compared primary lung cancer prevalence across disaggregated AsA subgroups and examined factors associated with prevalence such as personal- and family-cancer histories versus Non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs). Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed electronic health records of AsA women (≥18) in a large Northern California health system (2010–2022). Lung cancer cases were obtained from the hospital registry and categorized by smoking status and self-reported ethnicity. Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) were estimated using targeted maximum likelihood estimation, accounting for sociodemographic, smoking, and clinical covariates. Results: Among 1,843,119 women, 8651 had primary lung cancer; 2429 were never-smokers. In AsA never-smokers, aPRs and 95% confidence intervals versus age-matched NHW were: Chinese (3.36, [3.20–3.53]), Filipino (2.68, [2.55–2.82]), Vietnamese (2.07, [1.96–2.18]), Japanese (1.99, [1.89–2.10]), Korean (1.90, [1.80–2.00]), and Other Asian (0.35, [0.33–0.37]). Personal cancer-history reflected an increase in prevalence among Korean patients (2.91, [2.76–3.06]) while family cancer-history demonstrated increased prevalence among Chinese patients (1.51, [1.42–1.60]). Among women with uterine cancer, Chinese patients had higher lung-cancer prevalence than NHW (1.91, [1.58–2.31]). Conclusions: Never-smoking disaggregated AsA women show heterogeneous lung cancer prevalence, with higher prevalence in Korean women with personal cancer-history and in Chinese women with family cancer-history compared with NHW, supporting history-informed and ethnic-specific lung cancer screenings. Full article

Small, isolated, and fragmented populations often exhibit low levels of genetic diversity as a result of genetic drift, limited gene flow, and inbreeding. Huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus) is a medium-sized South American deer categorized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Huemul in its northernmost range was previously distributed in Central Chile between 36° S and 37° S, but its current distribution and conservation status in the region are poorly documented. We used non-invasive genetic approaches to assess the genetic diversity, population connectivity, and demographic history of the huemul’s northernmost population using nuclear microsatellite markers from fecal samples of wild individuals. Observed nuclear DNA genetic variation (Ho = 0.2958 ± 0.0318) was moderate, and allelic richness was low (Ar = 3.43–4.01), consistent with the theoretical expectation that isolated populations may retain heterozygosity while losing allelic richness more rapidly. However, the estimated nuclear DNA effective population size was low (Ne = 47; 95% CI: 19.2–∞). Demographic simulations project continued loss of genetic diversity under all scenarios modeled. Our results provide a foundation for further study of this population and provide the genetic data necessary to design detailed management plans to ensure the persistence of healthy populations of this rare and elusive deer. Full article

This study introduces a multi-source spatial methodology that moves beyond the traditional urban/rural dichotomy to classify the American landscape into detailed, temporally defined settlement types. By combining historical housing unit and population estimates (HHUUD10 and LTDB) standardized to 2010 census tract boundaries with high-resolution, grid-level data on the built environment (HISDAC-US), this research establishes a settlement typology based on the development history of detailed geographic units. This framework classifies areas (from Prewar Cores and 21st-Century Suburbs to exurban fringes, outlying towns and rural areas) based on their era of development and proximity to urban centers. Applying this typology reveals profound spatial and demographic decentralization spanning eighty years of metropolitan expansion. The findings demonstrate a stark geographic sorting: expanding greenfield edges and exurbs have become magnets for high-income, highly educated, and predominantly White populations. However, longitudinal tracking reveals a distinct morphological “life-course” within suburban rings. As older suburbs age and their housing stock depreciates, they open to wider demographic integration, transforming into destinations for Black and foreign-born residents. Furthermore, the data highlight a contemporary polarization of human capital, concentrated in both the newest suburban peripheries and the resurgent urban cores, contrasting with persistent economic decline in outlying towns and rural areas. Ultimately, this methodology provides a flexible, longitudinal framework for understanding the long-term morphological and demographic evolution of American settlement. Full article

The question of the presence and active participation of artists of African descent is an obscure one in the art history of Mexico. We know that Black hands were vital participants in the arts of the Americas, and their contributions to Spanish American art were innumerable, but the full extent of this contribution remains frustratingly unclear. Relatively little scholarly research has focused on the Black artists of the colonial world; the most famous are the rare exceptions, including Juan Correa of Mexico (1646–1716). Even in this instance, however, misinformation and confusion abound. A distinguished painter of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Correa was of a mixed-race family and was himself Afro-Mexican. The son of a physician from Cádiz, Spain and a free Black woman, Pascuala de Santoyo, Correa became one of the most prolific painters of his day with upwards of four hundred works identifiably of his oeuvre. He executed a number of works for the cathedral in Mexico City, while others were sent half a world away to Spain. The Correa family was one of the most active families of painters in colonial Mexico City, and his nephew Nicolás Correa was also a mixed-race artist of note. Yet, only recently has Correa’s Black heritage publicly marked his identity. While not overtly hidden from modern viewers, the assertion and emphasis of Correa’s status as Afro-Mexican is relatively new. This is the result of a long history of racial erasure(s), slippage, public disinterest, and modern narratives of Mexicanidad that began in the colonial period. Already a maestro pintor when the painters’ guild in Mexico City instituted new policies in the late seventeenth century designed to prevent artists of othered racial categories from achieving the highest levels of success, Correa stands out as an artist of Black heritage in Mexico who renders the African history of the Americas visible through his own personhood, but who participates in the invisibility of that African-ness in the visual canon. This article therefore proposes to begin from Juan Correa and cast a wide net to examine the invisibility of the Black artist in Mexico and the visibilities of race and rhetorical bodies in New Spain as the larger Viceregal territory. Full article

Objectives: To externally validate the Barcelona Predictive Models (BCN-PM 1 and 2) for detecting csPCa in an Ibero-American population. BCN-PM 1 was designed to reduce magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) use, whereas BCN-PM 2 aims to decrease unnecessary prostate biopsies. Methods: This prospective, multicenter study included 661 men with suspected PCa recruited in 2025 across three Ibero-American centers. All participants underwent MRI followed by targeted biopsies of lesions with the Prostate Imaging–Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) ≥ 3, along with systematic biopsy. When PI-RADS lesions were <3, only systematic biopsies were performed. CsPCa was defined as International Society of Urological Pathology Grade Group ≥ 2. BCN-PM 1 incorporates age (years), family history of PCa (no vs. yes), prior negative prostate biopsy (no vs. yes), digital rectal examination (DRE: normal vs. suspicious), and prostate volume-derived estimation by DRE (small, median, or large). BCN-PM 2 includes age, family history of PCa, prior negative prostate biopsy, prostate volume measured by MRI (mL), and PI-RADS score (1–5). Results: The rate of csPCa detection was 53.7%. Both models demonstrated good calibration with strong agreement between predicted probabilities and observed csPCa rates. BCN-PM 1 closely followed the reference line, with minor deviations at higher predicted probabilities, whereas BCN-PM 2 showed modest departures at the extremes of risk. The area under the curve was 0.740 (95% CI 0.702–0.777) for BCN-PM 1 and 0.803 (95% CI 0.769–0.836) for BCN-PM 2 (p < 0.001). Decision curve analysis demonstrated a net benefit for both models compared with strategies of biopsy in all or no men. BCN-PM 2 showed greater net benefit than BCN-PM 1. At 95% sensitivity, BCN-PM 1 reduced MRI requests by 10.6%, while BCN-PM 2 avoided 19.4% of unnecessary biopsies. The sequential use of BCN-PM 1 and 2 resulted in a 10.6% reduction in MRI exams and a 23.1% reduction in biopsies, at the cost of missing 8.4% of csPCa cases. The performance of the biopsy improved from 53.7% to 64.0% (p < 0.001). Conclusions: BCN-PM1 and BCN-PM 2 were successfully validated in an Ibero-American population. Full article

In this article, I explore Blackface Minstrels as a burlesque representation of African Americans. Black minstrelsy was an American nineteenth-century entertainment sensation that was subsequently exported to Europe and sustained there. While it would be impossible in this article to give an overview of the history of blackface minstrelsy, it is necessary to first tease out some of the characteristics of the genre, at particular historical moments, in order to reach an understanding of the genre’s popularity, how it sat in its social (and primarily race-sculpted) landscape, and examine some of the inherent contradictions therein. I scrutinise in particular blackface minstrelsy’s reception by Irish audiences, probing the politics of representation therein involved. To this end, I also investigate issues of social and cultural visibility in an Irish landscape that was remarkably homogeneous racially until at least the 1990s. As two core documents in this regard, I firstly examine the BBC’s ‘Black and White Minstrel Show’, created by George Inns in 1958, which ran from 1958 to 1978, in black and white, ironically, until 1967, and thereafter in colour. The second document that I examine is the very successful Irish Lyons Tea Company’s advertisement from the 1980s, which featured stick-figure black-and-white minstrels in stereotypical makeup and ‘standard minstrel Kentucky dress’ singing and dancing to a simple but memorable jingo. Full article

Background/Objective: Asherman syndrome is an acquired intrauterine adhesive disorder associated with menstrual abnormalities, infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, and adverse reproductive outcomes. Data from Latin American tertiary referral centers remain limited. To characterize clinical history, classification, hysteroscopic management strategies, and anatomical and reproductive outcomes in a single cohort of Mexican women with Asherman syndrome. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included women identified through institutional electronic records between July 2016 and December 2023 with a diagnosis of Asherman syndrome and analyzable hysteroscopic records. Women were followed for twelve months. Recurrence was defined as hysteroscopic evidence of intrauterine adhesions during follow-up. Among women with follow-up hysteroscopy, two-sided Fisher’s exact tests were used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Fifty-four women were analyzed. A prior uterine procedure was documented in 44 women (81.5%), with sharp curettage in 35 (64.8%). The most common reasons for consultation were secondary infertility (29.6%), abnormal uterine bleeding (27.8%), primary infertility (20.4%), and recurrent pregnancy loss (13.0%). Disease severity was classified as mild in 30 women (55.6%), moderate in 11 (20.4%), and severe in 7 (13.0%). Hysteroscopic intervention was predominantly performed with cold knife adhesiolysis (83.3%). Twelve-month follow-up hysteroscopy was performed in 38 women (70.4%); recurrence was identified in 30 (55.6%). Among the 34 women with reproductive intent, 12 achieved a live birth, corresponding to a live birth rate of 35.3%. Conclusions: Prior uterine instrumentation, particularly sharp curettage, was the most frequent antecedent. Recurrence remained common despite surgical management, highlighting the need for standardized postoperative surveillance and preventive strategies. Full article

In June 1942, imperial Japan captured the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska, marking the first and only time since the War of 1812 that United States territory in North America was occupied by a foreign power. The following year saw the imprisonment of Attu’s indigenous Saskinax̂ population, the United States’ effort to expel the invading forces, and the eventual recapture of the two islands. Over eight decades later, however, the story of Attu, and by extension the entire North Pacific theatre of World War II, remains an oft-forgotten chapter of history. In an effort to rectify this situation, the first systematic survey of Attu’s underwater cultural heritage was conducted using a combination of synthetic aperture sonar and underwater video. Among the most significant findings were the discovery of two wartime shipwreck sites, the Japanese army transport Kotohira Maru and the American cable-layer SS Dellwood. The documentation of these sunken vessels not only sheds light on their final moments, but it can also be used to bring renewed awareness of Alaska’s World War II history and inform cultural resource managers on Attu’s submerged heritage. Full article

In the history as well as historiography of Chinese Buddhism, the tradition has often been closely associated with death-related cultural practices and ideas, an association that has frequently carried negative connotations. Early twentieth-century reformers such as Taixu famously criticized Buddhism as a religion of ghosts and funerals and sought to redirect Mahāyāna Buddhism toward engagement with an urban, modernizing society. Contemporary Taiwanese Buddhists have realized many aspects of this socially engaged vision. Yet concern with death remains deeply embedded in Buddhist life. Far from standing in contradiction to social engagement, this concern has become one of its central expressions, most visibly in the emergence of modern Buddhist palliative care. Focusing on the writings of the scholar-monk Shi Huimin, this article examines the development of Buddhist palliative care in Taiwan in response to a secular, multireligious, and rapidly aging society, with primary attention to Huimin’s conceptual work. Rather than treating death in isolation, Huimin situates dying within a broader ethical horizon that links good death to good aging, good living, and community formation. Through his reinterpretation of the Five Śīlas and his notion of a Community Pure Land, he extends prevailing concerns with dying well toward a more comprehensive reflection on everyday moral cultivation, healthy lifestyles, and communal responsibility. In this sense, the study reads Buddhist palliative care as a site that “provincializes” dominant Euro-American frameworks of spiritual and palliative care, highlighting their particular historical and Christian-inflected origins while tracing how they are reconfigured and made productive in a multireligious, secular context. By foregrounding Huimin’s conceptual contributions, this study highlights how palliative and spiritual care are localized and reworked within Taiwanese Buddhism, connecting end-of-life care to broader questions of life, aging, and community well-being. Full article

Solitary living is an evolutionarily widespread yet comparatively under-theorized social system, despite its occurrence across diverse animal taxa. Shrikes (family Laniidae) are small predatory passerines that combine raptorial behavior, strong territoriality, and predominantly solitary space use, making them a powerful model for examining the ecology and evolution of solitary living. Here, I synthesize published work on shrike behavioral ecology and explicitly link these traits to the costs and benefits of a solitary lifestyle. I argue that shrikes exemplify how solitary species can offset the absence of social buffering through cognitive innovation, finetuned habitat selection, and flexible yet tightly bounded sociality. I then compare shrike ecology to solitary mammals and reptiles, highlighting convergent patterns in resource dispersion, spatial memory, risk management, and juvenile dispersal. I further examine how anthropogenic pressures, such as habitat fragmentation, climatic instability, and urbanization, interact with solitary life histories and review evidence from management interventions in both European farmland and North American systems that demographic recovery is achievable but remains contingent on addressing broader land-use conflicts and sources of adult mortality. Finally, I outline five interconnected research priorities—spanning cognitive ecology, trophic interactions, movement ecology, genomics, and formal comparative analyses—that would move shrike research from its current observational foundation toward a more experimental, mechanistic, and phylogenetically informed programme. By reframing shrikes as a model taxon for solitary living, this review aims to integrate avian behavioral ecology into broader comparative frameworks of social organization, cognition, and resilience under global change. Full article

This essay focuses on a series of radical, never-built “garden” designs from 1969 by the artist-turned-landscape-architect Patricia Johanson (1940–2024), which proposed sites in and around New York City that would confront the public with complex human–ecological interrelationships of the day, often posing thorny questions about them. In all, she composed 150 drawings and 7 related essays, sparked by a misguided commission from House & Garden magazine, which envisioned everything from skyscrapers retrofitted with plant trellises to filter water; to the conversion of a highway interchange into a clover field for honey production; fissures sliced into asphalt to allow the release and observation of subterranean steam; and a river dyed to highlight, rather than conceal, ongoing industrial pollution. I revisit this ambitious, multidisciplinary body of work not only in relation to its original context, when a modern ecology movement was gaining momentum, American cities were becoming ever more privatized, and a number of fellow artists began making large-scale outdoor artworks that would come to dominate art historical accounts of land and environmental art, but also, through the lens of its continued, and arguably heightened, relevance in our own moment of spiraling climate breakdown, corporate geo-engineering schemes, and further enclosures of various commons, as well as an ever-growing field of eco-art history, to which this special journal issue is a testament. Full article

The Neotropical cichlid genus Apistogramma represents one of the most taxonomically diverse and ecologically significant groups of South American freshwater fishes, yet its evolutionary history and species boundaries remain poorly understood due to a lack of comprehensive genomic resources. To address this gap, this study investigated the complete mitogenomic characteristics of six representative Apistogramma species (A. agassizii, A. allpahuayo, A. baenschi, A. nijsseni, A. resticulosa, and A. cacatuoides) to establish a robust molecular framework for species identification and phylogenetic reconstruction. The results showed that Apistogramma mitogenomes are highly conserved. All six Apistogramma species exhibited significant AT bias. Selection pressure analysis revealed that the Ka/Ks ratios for all 13 protein-coding genes were between 0 and 1, indicating that these genes were under purifying selection. Differential site analysis identified nad5, cox1, and nad4 as ideal molecular markers for rapid Apistogramma species identification owing to higher proportions of variable sites. Phylogenetic analysis recovered Apistogramma as a strongly supported monophyletic clade (BP = 100, PP = 1.00), within which A. nijsseni clustered with A. baenschi and A. cacatuoides with A. agassizii. These internal phylogenetic relationships are consistent with the calculated genetic distances and previous morphological groupings. These findings provide an important theoretical basis and data support for rapid species identification, genetic evolutionary research, and divergence time estimation within Apistogramma. Full article