Dimensions of health in young people in foster care.

UNLABELLED: To describe the dimensions of health and illness from the perspective of adolescents in foster care. METHODS: Descriptive analyses of dimensions of health were conducted on N = 105 adolescents in foster care. Differences among demographic (age, gender, race/ethnicity) and foster care placement (age at first placement, reason(s) for foster care placement, length of time in care, number, and types of placement) variables and the dimensions and subdimensions of health (Child Health and Illness Profile- Adolescent Edition) were determined using T-tests and ANOVA. RESULTS: Most were placed in long-term foster care (x = 6.46 years; SD = 4.86) during adolescence (38%), with multiple placements (x = 3.99; SD = 3.8). All domains of health were self-reported to be average to low average, with poorer findings in specific risk and resilience subdomains. There were no significant differences by age or race/ethnicity. Girls had lower satisfaction with health and self esteem and more physical and emotional discomfort. Pre-placement adverse experiences were associated with increased risks. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent self-report of the domains of health for those in foster care was better than expected, based on literature review and qualitative data for the larger study. Potential explanations for this inflation of status and functioning include the need for self-protection in foster care, the familiarity of testing regimes by children in foster care with some social desirability effect, and their paradoxical responses to pre-placement problems. Data including qualitative and significant other-reported data may be necessary to gain an accurate portrayal of the health status of adolescents in foster care.

Health risk behavior of youth in foster care.

PROBLEM: Many adolescent health problems are predominantly caused by risk behavior. Foster adolescents have disproportionately poor health; therefore, identification of risk behavior is critical. METHOD: Data from a larger study were analyzed to investigate the health risk behavior of 56 youth in foster care using the Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition. FINDINGS: Data indicated that youth in foster care had some increased risk behavior when compared with a normative adolescent population. Younger adolescents and those in relative placement had less risky behavior. Risk behavior was increased for youth in foster care when they were in group homes, had experienced a parental death, or had a history of physical or emotional abuse or attempted suicide. CONCLUSIONS: These results point to areas of strength and vulnerability for youth in foster care and suggest areas for clinicians and caregivers of these adolescents to focus interventions towards harm reduction and enhancement of resiliency.

Critical review of host specificity and its coevolutionary implications in the fig/fig-wasp mutualism.

Figs (Ficus spp., Moraceae) and their pollinating wasps (Agaonidae, Chalcidoidea) constitute perhaps the most tightly integrated pollination mutualism that is known. Figs are characterized by extraordinarily high global and local species diversity. It has been proposed that the diversification of this mutualism has occurred through strict-sense coadaptation and cospeciation between pairs of fig and wasp species that are associated in highly specific one-to-one relationships. However, existing studies cast doubt on the generality of this proposition. Here, we review our current knowledge of the evolutionary history of the fig/fig-wasp mutualism. We critically examine the idea that codivergence between figs and their pollinators has been dominated by strict-sense cospeciation. We present phylogenetic and population genetic data from neotropical fig and fig wasp species that suggest that a more accurate model for diversification in this mutualism is that of groups of genetically well defined wasp species coevolving with genetically less well defined (frequently hybridizing) groups of figs. Last, we use our results to assess previously proposed hypotheses on models of speciation in this mutualism.

Fungal endophytes limit pathogen damage in a tropical tree.

Every plant species examined to date harbors endophytic fungi within its asymptomatic aerial tissues, such that endophytes represent a ubiquitous, yet cryptic, component of terrestrial plant communities. Fungal endophytes associated with leaves of woody angiosperms are especially diverse; yet, fundamental aspects of their interactions with hosts are unknown. In contrast to the relatively species-poor endophytes that are vertically transmitted and act as defensive mutualists of some temperate grasses, the diverse, horizontally transmitted endophytes of woody angiosperms are thought to contribute little to host defense. Here, we document high diversity, spatial structure, and host affinity among foliar endophytes associated with a tropical tree (Theobroma cacao, Malvaceae) across lowland Panama. We then show that inoculation of endophyte-free leaves with endophytes isolated frequently from naturally infected, asymptomatic hosts significantly decreases both leaf necrosis and leaf mortality when T. cacao seedlings are challenged with a major pathogen (Phytophthora sp.). In contrast to reports of fungal inoculation inducing systemic defense, we found that protection was primarily localized to endophyte-infected tissues. Further, endophyte-mediated protection was greater in mature leaves, which bear less intrinsic defense against fungal pathogens than do young leaves. In vitro studies suggest that host affinity is mediated by leaf chemistry, and that protection may be mediated by direct interactions of endophytes with foliar pathogens. Together, these data demonstrate the capacity of diverse, horizontally transmitted endophytes of woody angiosperms to play an important but previously unappreciated role in host defense.