Northwest Louisiana Research Articles

High Rates of Inducible Clindamycin Resistance among Prenatal Group B Streptococcal Isolates in One Northwest Louisiana Academic Medical Center

CDC guidelines for prevention of perinatal group B Streptococcus (GBS) infections ([1][1]), which recommended universal screening and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) for pregnant women colonized with GBS or with risk factors that increased intrapartum transmission of GBS, decreased the rate

Bibliography on Woodland and Caddo Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis and Petrographic Analysis Studies in East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, eastern Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas

Characterizing the chemical and mineralogical composition of ceramic vessels and sherds from Woodland and Caddo sites by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and petrographic analysis provides a unique opportunity to gather and investigate empirical evidence from ceramic vessels (and perhaps their contents?) on their trade and exchange at varying scales conducted by ancestral Caddo people with their neighbors, both near and far (i.e., other ancestral Caddo groups as well as non-Caddo communities). This evidence in turn can be used to explore changes in the nature of social and economic relationships between particular Caddo groups and other prehistoric populations. Identified compositional and paste differences that have been identified between the different wares made by Caddo groups (i.e., plain wares, utility wares, and fine wares) have also been employed to explore functional and technological differences in vessel function and form.

Recent Investigations at the Mounds Plantation Site (16CD12), Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Dr. Montroville Wilson Dickeson, born in Philadelphia in 1810, was a medical doctor, taxidermist and avid collector of fossils. Between 1837 and 1844 he pursued another interest—excavating Indian burial mounds in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. He claimed to have “opened up” more than a thousand mounds and collected more than 40,000 objects. He also made drawings of the mounds and later provided these to an artist by the name of John J. Egan, who, about 1850, converted the drawings into a series of large paintings on huge canvases. Dickeson toured the country in 1852 allowing the public to view the canvasses and his artifact collections for a fee of 25 cents. The panorama, titled “Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley”, was nine feet high, 400 feet long, and consisted of 27 scenes. The canvasses later were curated at the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania until 1953 when purchased by the St. Louis Art Museum where they remain today. Dickeson’s lecture notes refer to Scene 21 as follows: “The following picture shows a group of connected mounds in Caddo Parish, in Northwestern Louisiana, with some of the aboriginal inhabitants of the region . . .” The scene depicts a cluster of nine mounds, some of which are connected by low earthen walls. In the background are mountains, and a group of Indians with elaborate headdresses are shown in front of tents. Similar mountains and the same Indian scene appear in other segments of the Mississippi Panorama and are understandable in light of the Romantic artistic style of the times, as well as the fact that the panorama was part of a show intended to evoke wonder and awe in its audience. Today we know of only one place in Caddo Parish where there is a cluster of at least nine mounds. Located on the western side of the Red River, north of the present city of Shreveport, is the Mounds Plantation Site (16CD12), the single largest Caddo ceremonial center in northwestern Louisiana. It seems fitting that the earliest reference that we have to a prehistoric site in northwest Louisiana likely pertains to Mounds Plantation, a place of primary importance to its ancient Caddo inhabitants, as well as to modern archaeological research.

Watershed Times for the Caddo Peoples of the Far Southeast

A.D. 1450 was a watershed year in the native history of the Caddo Indian peoples of the Far Southeast (southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas). For the first time, recognizable and relatively geographically coherent socio-political polities in several areas can be identified that arose out of the distinctive archaeological traditions of the Caddo area that first are recognizable about A.D. 900. These new Caddo polities that came into existence at ca. A.D. 1450 apparently lasted until at least A.D. 1680, if not later, but did not survive sustained European contact with the same socio-political organization intact that they started with in those watershed times. This dynamic development among Caddo peoples occurred in tandem with a more uniform intensification of maize agriculture in prime Far Southeast habitats after ca. A.D. 1300, extensive intra-areal movements of Caddo groups in combination with the abandonment of agriculturally marginal regions, possible new religious developments heralded by indirect archaeological evidence for the use of peyote and other psychotropic drugs among some East Texas Caddo peoples after ca. A.D. 1430, and widespread trade and exchange with indigenous Southern Plains and Southeastern cultures. The introduction of epidemic diseases by the early 1690s, along with slave raiding from tribes east of the Mississippi River (see Ethridge 2009), took a terrible toll on the Caddo peoples in the years to come, but the dissolution of several pre-contact Caddo sociopolitical polities, and the transformation of them into new Caddo cultural identities, did not occur until well into the 18th century, about 1730.

STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS AND DIET IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA

Over the last three decades, significant quantitative information on prehistoric diets has come to light from a variety of locations in the Caddoan archaeological area, a region encompassing eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, northeast Texas, and northwest Louisiana. Most of this research is based on macro-botanical and faunal remains analysis. As an additional line of evidence for the growing body of botanical and faunal data, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen were analyzed from 82 human and faunal samples from the Arkansas basin and Ozark Highlands in eastern Oklahoma. The research investigates the role of maize in diets through time and across sex and status dimensions. Spanning six phases, within the time range 300 B.C. to A.D. 1650, mean δ13C values increase from –19.2 to –12.7 parts per million ‰. Although present prior to A.D. 1000 substantial increases in the use of maize do not begin until the Harlan phase (A.D. 1050–1250). Even with increased use, maize never dominates the diet to the extent seen in Mississippian period sites farther east.

Natural History of Resident and Translocated Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) in Louisiana

Abstract Translocation is often considered a viable conservation strategy, despite the absence of species-specific post-translocation data. Macrochelys temminckii (Alligator Snapping Turtle) populations have declined across their range and they may be considered candidates for translocation, but few studies have examined the response of individuals to movement events. I monitored M. temminckii with radiotelemetry in northwest Louisiana to provide baseline data regarding the species' response to translocation. I calculated average distances moved per day, measured water depths, and recorded growth of translocated and resident turtles. There was no observed mortality during the study, and translocated turtles gained mass and increased shell dimensions, indicating they effectively located resources after translocation. Resident individual shell dimensions increased, but some residents lost mass, possibly due to early recapture and reweighing dates. Movement distances were within the ranges reported by previo...

Ozone Impacts of Natural Gas Development in the Haynesville Shale

The Haynesville Shale is a subsurface rock formation located beneath the Northeast Texas/Northwest Louisiana border near Shreveport. This formation is estimated to contain very large recoverable reserves of natural gas, and during the two years since the drilling of the first highly productive wells in 2008, has been the focus of intensive leasing and exploration activity. The development of natural gas resources within the Haynesville Shale is likely to be economically important but may also generate significant emissions of ozone precursors. Using well production data from state regulatory agencies and a review of the available literature, projections of future year Haynesville Shale natural gas production were derived for 2009-2020 for three scenarios corresponding to limited, moderate, and aggressive development. These production estimates were then used to develop an emission inventory for each of the three scenarios. Photochemical modeling of the year 2012 showed increases in 2012 8-h ozone design values of up to 5 ppb within Northeast Texas and Northwest Louisiana resulting from development in the Haynesville Shale. Ozone increases due to Haynesville Shale emissions can affect regions outside Northeast Texas and Northwest Louisiana due to ozone transport. This study evaluates only near-term ozone impacts, but the emission inventory projections indicate that Haynesville emissions may be expected to increase through 2020.

High Prevalence of Liddle Syndrome Phenotype Among Hypertensive US Veterans in Northwest Louisiana

Liddle syndrome (LS) is an autosomal dominant disorder due to a gain-of-function mutation in the epithelial Na(+) channel and is perceived to be a rare condition. A cross-sectional study of 149 hypertensive patients with hypokalemia (<4 mmol/dL) or elevated serum bicarbonate (>25 mmol/dL) was conducted at a Veterans' Administration Medical Center Hypertension Clinic in Shreveport, LA. Data on demographics, blood pressure, and select blood tests were collected and expressed as percentages for categoric variables and as mean ± standard deviation (SD) for continuous variables. Patients were diagnosed with likely LS when the plasma renin activity (PRA) was <0.35 μU/mL/h and the aldosterone was <15 ng/dL and likely primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA) with PRA <0.35 μU/mL/h and aldosterone level >15 ng/dL. The cohort included predominantly elderly (67.1±13.4 years), male (96%), and Caucasian (57%) patients. The average blood pressure was 143.8/79.8 mm Hg±27.11/15.20 with 3.03±1.63 antihypertensive drugs. Based on the above criteria, 9 patients (6%) satisfied the criteria for likely LS and 10 patients (6.7%) were diagnosed with likely PHA. In this hypothesis-generating study, the authors detected an unusually high prevalence of biochemical abnormalities compatible with likely LS syndrome from Northwestern Louisiana, approaching that of likely PHA.

Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns for Community Acquired Methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections in a Veterans Administration Medical Center in Northwest Louisiana, 2005-2007

Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns for Community Acquired Methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections in a Veterans Administration Medical Center in Northwest Louisiana, 2005-2007

Plain Folk, Planters, and the Complexities of Southern Society: Kinship Ties in Nineteenth-Century Northwest Louisiana and Northeast Texas

tota Wood Brown May H. b. MOSaVAb. !«12 8 children both 4. bit 4 Aug. M7« B LA Th» 1»* Ceotary Brawm, Shcrrad, Sprawl, Manning,« WUttaau Kxtnded Kiaship Graap MahaMBrownJota Brown EUzaboh Ann Roc Moore b. 17MkVA I b.1767 'Jota Pad Sprawl b. 17910.1MO-IIlOaAL m. MUaLA 4 1859 a LA4 1843 b LA Jana Newton Brown John W. Brown, Jr. b. 1833 B LAb. 1869 B LA (LMM in AL Raleigh T. William p TatMta O'Qmnn b. 1802 a NC' b. 1809 in SC WiDian Wahinglon L. Brown b. MMbLA William b. 1832 a QA Jota O William b. MM BfJA George William b. 1840 in OA Rddgh William, Jr. b. 1841 B QA 4 1*94 BTX William¦ b. 185OaLA b. 1845 m LA 4 19UaTX JeaneO! Tbama Moore Brown» Mary Wrinkle b. 1803 a VAb. 1807 m MS m 1825 a LA—12 children 4 1867 a LA Marthe Sprowi Daniel Brown Mary L a. 1820 a AL b. 1797b VA b. 1821 a LA 1135 a LA—t children 4186OaLA TaVD 4 children m.1 Elizabeth Ann Roe Brown b. 1833 in LAb. 1827 a LA m. 1853 à LA 4191IbLA4 1875 a LA ? WiIInBi W [accessed Dec. 1 1 , 2008] ; George W. Sherrod, private (September 9, 1 86 1 -February 5, 1862), Company C, 16th Louisiana Infantry, American Civil War, compiled military service record, [accessed Dec.11, 2008]; Donald C. SimmonsJr., Confederate Settlements in British Honduras (Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company, 2001), 6, 63-65, 70-81, 85, 102, 116-122, 154; Geo. W. Sherrod household, United States Eighth Census (i860), Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, Schedule 1 (Free Inhabitants) [Ancestry.com, accessed Dec. 11, 2008]. The census lists his occupation as "Preacher, M. E., So." " See National Archives compiled military service record for George W. Sherrod at Footnote.com [accessed Feb. 26, 2009], 7 (Feb. 5, 1862, letter authorizing Sherrod's transfer from die 16th Louisiana Infantry to die Confederate Navy). 20og Plain Folk, Planters, and tL· Complexities ofSouthern Society7 State until the trials and tribulations of Reconstruction Louisiana drove him westward again. Sherrod ultimately led a February 1874 family migration to Comanche County, Texas, which, along with the rest of the Lone Star State, experienced political "redemption" in late-1873 after Reconstruction ended there.18 During his years in Comanche County, G. W. Sherrod often spun yarns about his life and times—tall tales that his grandsons remembered for the rest of their lives. One of Sherrod's stories included the flamboyant assertion that "he could walk from St. Louis to New Orleans without ever leaving his property."19 This boast ofan aging grandparent may have alluded to the fact that his relatives peopled the banks of the Mississippi as it coursed its way down to the Crescent City.20 It might also be a tongue-in-cheek allusion not to the Missouri metropolis but rather to Fort St. Louis, established by the French as a military base and Indiantrading outpost only a few miles northwest ofpresent-day Texarkana.21 At face value, either proposition seems ridiculous; however, G. W. Sherrod's declaration revealed much about his kinship network. He was part of a tightly knit family including both planters and plain folk. Their presence was powerfully felt across a fifteen-mile stretch along either side of the Red River centered roughly in the area of Coushatta Chute. Sherrod's tie to the Browns, the most conspicuously successful family of the kinship group, came through his mother, Mary Brown. His father was William Sherrod, born about 1800 in Tennessee.22 William arrived in Alabama's Tennessee River Valley no later than 1817, when he married the equally youthful "Polly," as Mary Brown was commonly known.23 18 Jean Mansell gives die date of February 1872 for die migration in her article "Family Bible gives facts of the Sherrod Ancestry," Abilene News-Reporter, Jan. 21, 1991; however, several events throw diis date into serious question. One example is die September 1873 Louisiana birth location of Tabitha Elizabedi Sherrod's daughter, Carrie Elizabedi, in Natchitoches Parish, as do early 1874 Louisiana land sales by Rhoda Sherrod and James Brown Sherrod, members of die family migration...

Adjustable rate mortgages and the mortgage crisis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to closely examine adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) made in Northwest Louisiana in order to provide a greater understanding of the causes of the high rate of defaults and potential foreclosures currently being experienced in Louisiana.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines detailed information for all ARM recorded in a three‐month‐period.FindingsThe paper finds that at least half of the loans have highly unfavorable terms with about a third having initial rates that are at least 3 percent higher than prime mortgage rates; these initial rates are likely to increase dramatically during future adjustment periods. Many borrowers also face high interest penalties if they pay back their loans before the first adjustment period. Also notable is the fact that only 7 percent result in foreclosure. While many borrowers receive unfavorable loans, relatively few loans are held for more than six years; a probable explanation is that the borrowers realize they have agreed to less than desirable terms and subsequently decide to refinance or sell the property. The results suggest that stronger underwriting standards are an important part of developing a stable lending/housing market in the future.Originality/valueThe results may be applicable to other areas across the USA and internationally, perhaps resulting in more realistic lending standards and a decrease in future defaults, foreclosures, and turmoil in the financial markets.

Comments on Caddo Origins in Northwest Louisiana

This paper presents some of my thoughts on the issue of Caddo origins from the perspective of the Red River drainage in northwest Louisiana. These ideas were assembled prior to the Caddo discussion group meeting held in December 2008 and have been only slightly modified here. The paper was not given as a formal presentation, but I attempted to introduce the main points during the group discussion. Development of better chronological controls is crucial for addressing problems of Caddo origins, and I discuss this issue first. Although much has been settled since the early Krieger-Ford discussions, a finer-grained chronology is necessary to answer questions that are now of interest. We remain largely dependent on our understanding of changes in ceramic assemblages and how we can tie these to chronometric scales based primarily on radiocarbon dating. I next review the cultural taxonomic units that have been used to classify the pre-Caddo archaeological record in the Trans-Mississippi South. Rather than taking the view that one or more of these cultural entities transformed into Caddo culture, I suggest that Caddo origins might be better viewed as the development of social and economic behaviors that linked relatively small-scale social units previously only loosely and sporadically associated. I then discuss the possible importance of the development of ceremonial centers, the appearance of elite mortuary traits, and the circulation of finely engraved ceramic vessels for understanding changes in social and economic integration that took place in the Trans- Mississippi South between approximately A.D. 900 and A.D. 1050. Finally, I offer a list of some basic questions that I feel are important for furthering our understanding of Caddo origins.

Comments: Unconventional Interest

Editor's column High commodity prices and the need for new production are spurring great interest in unconventional oil and gas plays throughout North America. Majors, previously willing to cede mature areas to independents so they could focus on bigger prizes elsewhere, have taken renewed interest in their potential. Following the success of the Barnett Shale region in the US, attention has turned to the Haynesville Shale gas play in northwest Louisiana and east Texas, British Columbia, and the Bakken area in North Dakota. The Barnett Shale has been one of the great success stories in gas production in the past few years, thanks to advances in drilling and fracturing technology. That success, and the play's future potential, are discussed in-depth in an article in this issue that begins on page 48. Now other areas are attracting attention. An array of upstream acquisitions involving unconventional production have taken place in the past several months in North America involving both Canadian and US firms, and including independents and majors. In late July, BP became a participant in US shale gas with an acquisition of 90,000 net acres and 50 million ft3/D of gas production in the Oklahoma Woodford Shale gas area. That follows Shell's recent deal with EnCana for a joint exploration agreement to explore and develop the Haynesville Shale area. Chesapeake and its joint venture partner Plains Exploration &amp; Production believe Haynesville Shale will eventually become the largest gas field in the US and the fourth-largest in the world. Shell also made the year's biggest acquisition to date when it paid USD 5.9 billion for Canada's Duvernay Oil, which has extensive acreage in western Canada's tight gas area. Of particular interest is the Montney Basin in northeast British Columbia, which has emerged as one of North America's most interesting gas plays. Traditionally, majors have sold off mature areas to independents as they looked for bigger and higher-potential fields outside of North America. But with resource nationalism limiting access and high oil prices making unconventional projects more economic, international oil companies (IOCs) are taking a new look at some areas in the US and Canada, particularly in light of the technological progress that has been made in fields such as the Barnett Shale. Independents such as Devon, Chesapeake, XTO, and EOG Resources have been the dominant players in developing North America's unconventional reservoirs, but that apparently is changing. Other newly active firms in these emerging plays include EnCana, which has begun investing heavily in the Haynesville Shale and the Horn River basin Shale in British Columbia and Hess, which is investing in Bakken. Most of the world's oil shale is in the US, with the US Geologic Service estimating about 2 trillion bbl of in-place deposits, but shale is very costly to develop and produce. But as IOCs continue to look for new sources of oil and access constraints hamper where they can go to find it, these challenging frontier areas—including shale, tight gas, heavy oil, and coalbed methane—should attract increasing attention going forward.

Byram Ferry (16BO17): A Middle to Late Caddo Period Mound Site in the Red River Floodplain, Northwest Louisiana

One of the few remaining Caddo mounds in northwest Louisiana is located at the Byram Ferry site (16BO17) in northern Bossier Parish near the Arkansas state line. Until recently, a brief description by Clarence B. Moore (1912) and a few comments by Clarence H. Webb in his undated and unpublished field notes constituted the only information about the site available to archeological researchers. A collection of sherds and one intact vessel from Byram Ferry are present in the Ralph McKinney collection currently on loan to the History Center at the Bossier Parish Library in Bossier City, Louisiana. Examination of this collection in 2003 prompted us to re-locate the site and conduct limited subsurface tests to determine whether or not intact cultural deposits remain. In this article I summarize earlier fieldwork, describe the 2003 testing, and present a descriptive analysis of the collections. The testing demonstrated that undisturbed buried cultural deposits are present at Byram Ferry. Represented ceramic types relate to the Middle Caddo period (Bossier phase) and the Late Caddo period (Belcher phase). Two radiocarbon assays suggest occupation took place in the 15th century A.D.

Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors are differentially expressed by two populations of olfactory bulb granule cells

In the main olfactory bulb, several populations of granule cells (GCs) can be distinguished based on the soma location either superficially, interspersed with mitral cells within the mitral cell layer (MCL), or deeper, within the GC layer (GCL). Little is known about the physiological properties of superficial GCs (sGCs) vs. deep GCs (dGCs). Here, we used patch-clamp recording methods to explore the role of Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in regulating the activity of GCs in slices from wildtype and mGluR −/− mutant mice. In wildtype mice, bath application of the selective Group I mGluR agonist DHPG depolarized and increased the firing rate of both GC subtypes. In the presence of blockers of fast synaptic transmission (APV, CNQX, gabazine), DHPG directly depolarized both GC subtypes. The two GC subtypes responded differentially to DHPG in mGluR1−/− and mGluR5−/− mice, however. DHPG depolarized sGCs in slices from mGluR5−/− mice, but it had no effect on sGCs in slices from mGluR1−/− mice. By contrast, DHPG depolarized dGCs in slices from mGluR1−/− mice, but it had no effect on dGCs in slices from mGluR5−/− mice. Previous studies have shown that mitral cells express mGluR1, but not mGluR5. The results suggest that sGCs are more similar to mitral cells than dGCs in terms of mGluR expression. Support: Whitehall Foundation, Howard Univ. New Faculty Research Program, Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana, and U.S. PHS grants 2-S06-GM08016-36 (NIGMS/NIH) and DC03195.

Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots Music Along the Red River (review)

Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots Music Along Red River. By Tracey E. W. Laird. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. (American Musicspheres Series.) [x, 208 p. ISBN 0-19-516751-1. $29.95.] Maps, photos, bibliography, discography, filmography, index. With this book, Tracey E. W. Laird returns to her hometown of Shreveport to examine forces that shaped distinctive culture and music of northwest Louisiana and created one of most significant radio barn dance shows in American music history, Louisiana Hayride. Using Hayride and its host radio station KWKH as centerpiece, Laird questions how intersecting forces of geography, history, demography, and economics shaped character of region and set stage for this unique radio program of singular influence. Shreveport's history of musical dynamism between blacks and whites, with relatively equal numbers of each living in close proximity, results in inevitable musical exchange. This blurred racial boundary points to central issue of book: that neat and tidy black-and-white musical categories handed down through commercial and academic discourse are a distorted exaggeration of realities of musical life in early part of century. Laird's detailed focus on one influential locale offers strong support for a reassessment while at same time providing a detailed description of how one corner of American music impacted whole. The book proceeds in three major sections, each given two chapters. Section 1 presents a historical background of area focusing on founding of Shreveport as a commercial river in 1830s. The area is portrayed as a frontier region caught between two identities: the burgeoning commercial center and lawless hedonic port (p. 23). Musical life along waterway of Red River straddles these identities with a wide variety of contexts and styles including showboats, brass bands, tent shows, house parties, and entertainment venues amidst legalized prostitution of Fannin Street district. Laird uses genre-crossing repertoire and style of Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter), who lived and worked around Fannin Street, to illuminate her portrait. His career attests to a broad range of musical experiences, most of which predate era of commercial records and his songs fall under a variety of genre headings: ragtime, blues, country ballads, folk songs, children's songs, and Tin Pan Alley. Laird asks: how much did formulaic thinking and myopia of commercial profit shape recorded output of black and white rural musicians alike? How often by late 1920s and early 1930s were artists encouraged to fit their repertoire and performance styles to whichever audience record company wished to target (p. 36)? Although most often historicized as a blues artist, Leadbelly's songs and his performance style fit 1920s-1930s 'country' criteria more completely, pointing to a richer dynamic within southern roots music than artifacts of phonograph records (and many early histories) portray. This musical fluidity across racial and cultural borders emerges from day-to-day realities of life in Shreveport and lays foundation for unique qualities of Hayride. While this first section may be driest and least original part of Laird's book, it is, nonetheless, central to her argument and important for those readers not familiar with early foundations of blues and country music in United States. Though geography is stated to be central to her thesis, Laird concerns herself minimally with issues of space and migration-career moves to Grand Ole Opry notwithstanding. With exception of one large-scale, minimally detailed, map of Red River, there is little in book to give reader a sense of locale or human geography. A map of city of Shreveport (Fannin Street and Bossier City) would have helped in presentation of this early history. …

Implementation of Dietitian Recommendations for Enteral Nutrition Results in Improved Outcomes

A primary role of the registered dietitian (RD) is to assess nutritional needs of patients in states of physiological stress and illness and to recommend changes to diet and tube feedings when warranted. However, implementation of changes is dependent upon the physician accepting the recommendations of the RD. This study evaluated outcomes of two groups of enterally fed patients in a long-term acute-care facility in northwest Louisiana: (a) those for whom the physician accepted RD recommendations; and (b) those for whom the physician did not accept RD recommendations. Data showed that physician-prescribed enteral formulas provided 10.0% less kilocalories and 7.8% less protein than the RD-assessed needs. t tests showed that when RD recommendations were implemented, patients had a significantly shorter length of stay (28.5±1.8 vs 30.5±4.8 days, P<0.05), as well as significantly improved albumin (0.13±0.17 vs −0.44±0.21 g/dL [1.3±1.7 vs −4.4±2.1 g/L], P<0.05) and weight gains (0.51±0.1 vs −0.42±0.2%, P<0.05) when compared to those who continued with physician’s orders. These data suggest that if RDs had the authority to write nutrition orders and provide early nutrition intervention, patient care would improve.

Dancing into the Past: Colonial Legacies in Modern Caddo Indian Ceremony

THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE is an appropriate moment to consider the different the peoples of the Louisiana Territory have remembered their history. One group of indigenous inhabitants-the Caddo Indians who, at the beginning of the colonial period, occupied homeland extending across present southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, northeast Texas, and southwest Oklahoma-use particular ceremony, the Turkey Dance, to recall the past. To understand Caddo history within the context of their knowledge system, we might begin with story of Caddo origins: original home of the Caddo was on lower Red River in Louisiana. According to their own traditions . . . . they came up from under the ground through the mouth of cave in hill which they call Cha' kani'na, The place of crying, on lake close to the south bank of Red river, just at its junction with the Mississippi. In those days men and animals were all brothers and all lived together under the ground. But at last they discovered the entrance to the cave leading up to the surface of the earth, and so they decided to ascend and come out. First an old man climbed up, carrying in one hand fire and pipe and in the other drum. After him came his wife, with corn and pumpkin seeds. Then followed the rest of the and the animals. All intended to come out, but as soon as the wolf had climbed up he closed the hole, and shut up the rest of the and animals under the ground, where they still remain. Those who had come out sat down and cried long time for their friends below, hence the name of the place. Because the Caddo came out of the ground they call it ina, mother, and go back to it when they die. Because they have had the pipe and the drum and the corn and pumpkins since they have been people, they hold fast to these things and have never thrown them away.1 fact that Caddo Indians today hold to this account of their origins suggests that their concepts of history differ from those held by folk in societies descended from western European traditions. In the latter case, history is often regarded as linear, chronological narrative concerning flesh-and-blood personages, real events, and actual circumstances that help us understand the past and its connection with the present. For Caddos (and for most other American Indians), history likewise provides an account of how present circumstances developed. But the inclusion of their emergence and separation from underground worlds shared with animal kin as part of that history betoken an altogether different perception of reality. Belief in return to the earth following passage through life on the earth also suggests this, reflecting the Caddos' eternal as well as chronological time frames. At the same time, references to links between emblematic goods and Caddo existence as a people suggest second important function of history, identity formation.2 So it is that every society creates history according to its own understandings of the world and of time/space relationships. Different groups use history for distinctive purposes. means by which communities maintain their histories are varied too. Social structures, political and economic arrangements, ceremonial performances, storytelling, and recognition of special places and emblematic objects all may be used to maintain ties with the past. preservation of historical information in written accounts is important in western or European-derived societies, but such sources are less important or are absent altogether among other groups. Many American Indian communities, for example, embed historical knowledge into variety of texts, including those spoken, crafted, and danced.3 This suggests the need for alternatives to universal definitions of history, ones that understand history in terms of multiple systems of socially constructed ways of knowing.4 Caddo Turkey Dance is an excellent example of non-written historical text. …

Environmental effects on residential property values resulting from the contamination effects of a creosote plant site

This study examines the effects of site contamination on residential property values in Northwest Louisiana, a region well‐known for having numerous environmental problems. The old Lincoln Creosote site is the focus of this study. Home sales data are examined in detail in an attempt to measure any effects on property values that result from homes being located on or near this remediated site. A hedonic pricing model is used to help evaluate the influence of housing and neighborhood variables on home prices. The model includes a dummy variable, whether or not the home is in a neighborhood located in a contaminated area, to estimate the effects of the contaminated site on property values.

Prevalence of Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism in Northwest Louisiana newborn population

The Pediatric Genetics laboratory at LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport, LA, began offering prenatal service in NTD and chromosomal defect screening through triple screening program since 1995. The laboratory also began epidemiological research studies on the newborn population of Northwest Louisiana for several genetic disease mutations for the past 4 years as part of March of Dimes birth defects foundation and LSU foundation grants. We have recently reported the gene frequencies for MCAD deficiency, Factor V Leiden in our population and as part of thrombophilia markers we also started investigating the frequencies of MTHFR C677T and prothrombin G20210A polymorphism. Our local population composed of 76% African-Americans, 20% Caucasians, 2% Hispanics, and the rest other ethnic groups. Following English multi-center multivitamin studies on NTD in 1970 and '72 revealing possible risk reduction in recurrences of NTD with periconceptional supplementation of folic acid, folate-activating enzyme, MTHFR, has become the subject of intense study in various diseases. MTHFR was also linked to cardiovascular diseases through hyperhomocystinemia and recently to other complex genetic traits such as Orofacial clefts.In our polymorphism studies, the carrier and homozygous C677T frequencies were found to be 24% and 3.5%, respectively, in the total population. However, on stratification by ethnicity, we found that the hetrozygote and homozygote frequencies were 18%, 46%, 45%, and 0.9%, 21%, 11%, respectively, in African-Americans, Hispanics and Caucasians. Our data found higher C677T homozygotes in our Hispanic newborn population than other ethnic groups and may explain the higher frequency of NTDs and Orofacial Clefts found in this population.