Recent studies have suggested the involvement of a unique population of cells at the cervical squamo-columnar junction (SCJ) in the pathogenesis of early (squamous intraepithelial lesion or SIL) and advanced (squamous cell and adeno-carcinomas) cervical neoplasia. However, there is little evidence to date showing that SCJ cells harbour carcinogenic HPV or are instrumental in the initial phases of neoplasia. This study was designed to 1) determine if normal-appearing SCJ cells contained evidence of carcinogenic HPV infection and 2) trace their transition to early SIL. Sections of cervix from high-risk reproductive age women were selected and SCJ cells were analyzed by using several techniques which increasingly implicated HPV infection: HPV DNA (genotyping and in situ hybridization)/RNA (PCR), immunostaining for HPV16 E2 (an early marker of HPV infection), p16ink4, Ki67 and HPV L1 protein. In 22 cases with a history of SIL and no evidence of preneoplastic lesion in the excision specimen, HPV DNA was isolated from 8 of 10 with visible SCJ cells, 6 of which were HPV16/18 DNA positive. In 5 of these latter cases, the SCJ cells were positive for p16ink4 and/or HPV E2. Transcriptionally active HPV infection (E6/E7 mRNAs) was also detected in micro-dissected SCJ cells. Early squamous atypia associated with the SCJ cells demonstrated in addition diffuse p16ink4 immunoreactivity, elevated proliferative index and rare L1 antigen positivity. We present for the first time direct evidence that normal-appearing SCJ cells can be infected by carcinogenic HPV. They initially express HPV E2 and their progression to SIL is heralded by an expanding metaplastic progeny with increased proliferation and p16ink4 expression. Whether certain SCJs are more vulnerable than others to carcinogenic HPV genotypes and what variables determine transition to high grade SIL remain unresolved, but the common event appears to be a vulnerable cell at the SCJ.

To perform a systematic analysis of (-thalassemia genes among Chinese, we have determined the DNA haplotype in the 13-globin gene region of 37 Chinese -thalassemia chromosomes. Only four haplotypes were found. Blot hybridization analysis of erythroid RNA from patients homozygous for haplotypes 1, 2, and 3 demonstrated different patterns, suggesting that a different mutation was associated with each haplotype. The mutation associated with haplotype 1 was a C--T substitution at IVS-2, position 654. This mutation produces a new donor splice site and leads to formation of a 13-globin RNA with an insertion of 73 nucleotides. The mutation associated with haplotype 2 was a nucleotide insertion of A between codons 71 and 72, which results in a frameshift and

An examination of article authorship and editorial board membership for 7 behavior-analytic journals from 2014 to 2017 revealed that, compared to findings from prior years, women's participation has increased substantially. This finding is heartening and shows the value of persistent efforts to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed in, and be served by, behavior analysis.

The current Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association indicates that the sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and disability status of research participants should be reported. The present study found that most (90.6%) of the manuscripts describing clinical interventions and published from 2013-2015 in five journals sympathetic to behavior analysis reported the sex of participants. Fewer such articles described participants' disability status (69.1%), race/ethnicity (10.7%), or socioeconomic status (2.8%). Although there is general agreement that participant characteristics likely to influence responsiveness to the intervention being examined should be reported, there apparently is no agreement as to whether race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and disability status constitute such characteristics. The purpose of this article is to encourage authors, reviewers, editors, and readers of behavioranalytic research articles to consider which characteristics of participants merit reporting and the consequences of not consistently reporting those characteristics.

A web-based program was developed to conduct brief multiple-stimulus without replacement preference assessments for videos (e.g., movies, cartoons, music videos). The preference assessment program was used with two populations: young adults with developmental disabilities and school-age children with emotional and behavioral needs. Stimulus preference hierarchies were identified for all participants, indicating that a web-based preference assessment procedure is an efficient procedure for isolating highly preferred videos, which might be useful as reinforcers in a variety of settings.

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Exercise benefits adults with developmental disabilities. A prior study demonstrated that a treatment package comprising goal setting and fixed-ratio 1 reinforcement for goal attainment substantially increased walking. However, continuous reinforcement delivery may be untenable due to cost and time. In an effort to develop a more practical package intervention, we evaluated a procedure that involved setting goals for steps taken each 6-h school day and a lottery system for awarding prizes for goal completion. Three of the four participants took substantially more steps when the intervention was in effect, and all of them rated it as highly acceptable.

We examined publicly available faculty salaries for men and women faculty members at 16 university programs accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI). Overall, 52.4% of the 103 faculty members were women, although there were twice as many men as women at the full-professor level. Our data suggest that ABAI-accredited training programs pay women less than men at all academic levels. Both in absolute terms and relative to the wage gap reported in other areas of psychology, the difference in mean wages for women and men in our sample was substantial. The mean salaries of men were 13%, 6%, and 15% greater than those of women at the assistant-, associate-, and full-professor levels, respectively. At all levels, the highest salary reported was earned by a man, and the lowest salary was earned by a woman. This is an embarrassment for our discipline. It is time for a change, and we behavior analysts have the tools to make change happen. Let us put those tools to good use.