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In this article we examine every tweet congresspersons sent from the time the media broke the news of President Trump’s fateful July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky up to a week after House Speaker Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry. Our aim is to understand the type of rhetoric Members of Congress (MCs) engaged in with respect to what we call the Ukraine Whistleblower Scandal (UWS). It is evident from our analysis that Democrats were more likely to sound off on the UWS, which comports with the fact that it was a Republican President who got into trouble. Further, there are characteristics of MCs that make them more likely to frame and discuss the UWS in certain ways, like House Representatives holding law degrees or serving on one of the House committees investigating the UWS. Finally, in this age of hyper-polarized parties, party affiliation was consistently the most important factor shaping representatives’ Twitter statements on the UWS. In historical perspective, the overriding importance of party affiliation is lamentable since the charges against President Trump were solemn and serious.

Political communication is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field that has grown in stature and reach in recent decades, becoming more international in scope and orientation while gaining respect in po...

Allegations of sexual assault and violence engulfed the confirmation hearings surrounding President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee (and now Justice) Brett Kavanaugh. Our work examines congressmembers’ communication concerning sexual assault and #MeToo during this critical time of the Kavanaugh hearing and how this relates to perceptions of gender and partisanship today. While previous research demonstrated a strong role of gender in influencing which members discussed #MeToo, we show that partisanship played a much larger role in discussions of sexual assault during this hearing. The findings highlight the shifting narrative surrounding the #MeToo movement and how the multiple identities of members of Congress, namely partisanship and gender, can be activated and produce changes in how elites communicate about the issue, which may have broader policymaking implications.

This article considers whether candidates strategically use emotional rhetoric in social media messages similar to the way that fear appeals are used strategically in televised campaign advertisements. We use a dataset of tweets issued by the campaign accounts of candidates for the US House of Representatives during the last two months of the 2018 midterm elections to determine whether candidate vulnerability predicts the presence of certain emotions in social media messages. Contrary to theoretical expectations, we find that vulnerability does not appear to inspire candidates to use more anxious language in their tweets. However, we do find evidence of a surprising relationship between sad rhetoric and vulnerability and that campaign context influences the use of other forms of negative rhetoric in tweets.

This article examines the factors that influence whether members of Congress tweet about the #MeToo movement. Whereas social-identity theory suggests that congresswomen would be more likely to tweet about #MeToo, congressional research argues that increased polarization has resulted in congresswomen bucking gender stereotypes and embracing more partisan behavior than might otherwise be expected (Pearson and Dancey 2011). We examine how gender, partisanship, and ideology shape the Twitter activity of members of Congress surrounding the #MeToo movement using an original dataset of their tweets since October 2017 when the #MeToo movement gained prominence on Twitter. Our findings show that gender and ideology are the strongest predictors of whether Congress members tweet about the #MeToo movement. Liberals—particularly liberal women—are leading the charge in bringing prominence to the #MeToo movement on Twitter.

Previous literature on partisan campaign behavior shows that third-party candidates do not have the same presence online as major-party candidates, and these differences have been linked regularly to campaign finance. Twitter, however, has changed the online campaigning game. Because Twitter essentially is free, third-party candidates can even the playing field with major-party candidates who have more financial resources. The question asked in this article is whether this is actually the case. Evans, Cordova, and Sipole (2014) showed that in 2012, third-party candidates were less likely to have accounts on Twitter; however, those who had accounts tweeted more often than major party candidates. This article updates those findings to consider the behavior of third-party candidates during the 2014 and 2016 congressional races. Using a dataset of all candidates for both the US House and the US Senate, we show that the gap has begun to close between major- and minor-party candidates on Twitter. Third-party candidates, however, continue to have a different way of communicating with their followers on Twitter when compared to Democrats and Republicans.

Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus are an invasive, yet economically important species in the Chesapeake Bay. However, their impact on the trophic ecology of this system is not well understood. In order to provide in‐depth analysis of predation by Blue Catfish, we identified prey items using high‐throughput DNA sequencing (HTS) of entire gastrointestinal tracts from 134 samples using two genetic markers, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and the nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA gene. We compared our HTS results to a more traditional “hybrid” approach that coupled morphological identification with DNA barcoding. The hybrid study was conducted on additional Blue Catfish samples (n = 617 stomachs) collected from the same location and season in the previous year. Taxonomic representation with HTS vastly surpassed that achieved with the hybrid methodology in Blue Catfish. Significantly, our HTS study identified several instances of at‐risk and invasive species consumption not identified using the hybrid method, supporting the hypothesis that previous studies using morphological methods may greatly underestimate consumption of critical species. Finally, we report the novel finding that Blue Catfish diet diversity inversely correlates to daily flow rates, perhaps due to higher mobility and prey‐seeking behaviors exhibited during lower flow., We compared high‐throughput sequencing (HTS) to traditional morphological diet analysis methods in Blue Catfish and found that HTS vastly outperforms visual methods, even when coupled with barcoding of unidentified tissues. We identified levels of at‐risk species consumption, including Atlantic Sturgeon and alosines, by Blue Catfish higher than those previously reported. Additionally, our study details the novel finding that Blue Catfish diet diversity is inversely related to flow rates.

Blueback Herring Alosa aestivalis populations throughout the East Coast have declined precipitously since the late 1980s and were listed as a Species of Concern in 2006 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Natural resource agencies are attempting to restore this species to viable and sustainable levels with fry stockings cultured in hatcheries. To evaluate the long-term contribution of stockings to populations, agencies need an accurate method to track these stocking efforts. Genetic parentage-based tagging is recognized as a feasible means of assessing hatchery contribution of stocked fish to rivers of interest. However, Blueback Herring lack a reliable set of genetic markers to conduct parentage-based tagging. To this end, we analyzed previously described microsatellites as well as new microsatellite markers identified through NextGeneration sequencing to create a suite of 14 Blueback Herring markers useful for parentage-based tagging. The markers were successful in parentage analysis for Blueback Herring collected from the Chowan River, North Carolina. An additional challenge in the management of Blueback Herring is the ability to phenotypically distinguish Blueback Herring from the closely related Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus. Furthermore, recent studies provide evidence that these two species, collectively referred to as river herring, may be hybridizing with one another in some systems. Microsatellite marker AsaC334 can be utilized to discriminate between the two species, as well as to identify their F1 hybrids, thereby providing another genetic tool for hatchery management.

While there has been a growth in the number of published studies about how candidates for the U.S. House and Senate use Twitter, candidates for president have been largely ignored. In this article, we examine the way the two 2016 presidential candidates communicated on Twitter. Using a content analysis of all tweets sent from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s accounts from July 1 to Election Day, we explore whether the two candidates used this social network in the same ways, stressed similar policy issues, and were equally likely to “go negative” online.

Purpose Recent research has shown that female US House candidates were more likely to talk about so-called “female issues” on Twitter during the 2012 election (Evans and Clark, 2015). In this paper, the author extends this former work by investigating the Twitter activity of all US House representatives during their 2012 election and seven months later (June and July of 2013). The purpose of this paper is to show that women do talk more about “female issues” than men, but do not only focus on these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper content analyzes the tweets sent by female and male representatives in the 113th Congress during their 2012 elections, and seven months later. Findings Female representatives spend significantly more time devoted to “female issues” on Twitter than male representatives, but their time is not dominated entirely by “female issues.” Even though the difference is not statistically significant, women sent more tweets about “male issues” than men both during and after the 2012 election. Women tweet more than men about “women,” but they also care about business issues, as is evidenced by that issue being one of the most discussed on Twitter by female representatives during both the election and seven months later. Originality/value Unlike other studies on gender and issue discussion, this paper examines a new type of communication: Twitter. Tweets are split by issue type (female/male) and the author sees that while women do discuss “female issues” more than men, they do not exclude “male issues.” This paper also shows that women focus on “female issues” both during elections and after.

In a recent study regarding online lecture videos, Evans (2014) shows that lecture videos are not superior to still slides. Using two Introduction to American Government courses, taught in a 4-week summer session, she shows that students in a non-video course had higher satisfaction with the course and instructor and performed better on exams than those in a course with lecture videos. In this follow-up study, we examine whether the same findings hold over a longer, more traditional semester with more students. Like Evans (2014), we find that in a longer semester, students in a non-video course reported higher satisfaction, but, unlike Evans (2014), students in the video section did better on exams. The implications of these findings for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are explored.

We investigate the Twitter activity of all congressional candidates leading up to the 2012 U.S. House elections to assess whether there are significant differences in the tone and content of the tweets from male and female candidates. We argue that the electoral environment will have a significant effect over whether candidates engage in negative tweeting, address political issues, and discuss so-called “women’s issues” on Twitter. We find that gender has both a direct and contextual effect on candidates’ communication style on Twitter. Female candidates tweet significantly more “attack-style” messages than their male counterparts, discuss policy issues at a significantly higher rate, and women representatives focus more on “women’s issues.” We also find strong contextual effects in races with more female candidates: There is significantly more tweeting about political issues as well as significantly more negative attack-style tweets. However, with more female candidates, the number of tweets about “women’s issues” declines.

Lecture videos are often praised as a great medium of instruction in online education. There is a lack of research, however, that tests whether videos are superior to other teaching tools in online classes. This article examines whether videos are better than lecture notes and still slides in an online introductory political science course. The results show that lecture videos might not be the best tool of instruction for introductory students. Students in the non-video course gave higher evaluations of the instructor and the course and scored higher on exams.

This article examines how House candidates used Twitter during the 2012 campaign. Using a content analysis of every tweet from each candidate for the House in the final two months before the 2012 election, this study provides a snapshot of House candidates’ “Twitter style.” In particular, this article shows that incumbents, Democrats, women, and those in competitive races tweet differently than challengers, Republicans, minor party candidates, men, and those in safe districts.

Research on U.S. congressional elections has placed great emphasis on the role of competitiveness, which is associated with high levels of campaign spending, media coverage, and interest group and party involvement. Competitive campaigns have been found to increase citizens' participation, engagement and learning. However, little is known about whether the effects of competitive campaigns have enduring consequences for citizens' attitudes and behavior. Analyzing a survey of citizens conducted one year after the 2006 congressional elections that includes an oversample of respondents from competitive House races, we examine whether exposure to a competitive House campaign affects voters' political knowledge and political interest as well as their consumption of political news. We find that competitive elections have positive effects that endure for at least a year beyond the campaign season, reinforcing the idea that political competition plays a robust role in American representative democracy.

• In Brunell's recent work, he argues that competitive elections negatively affect congressional approval.

In this article, the author addresses both the costs and benefits of implementing clickers into an introductory political science course. Comparing student responses to a mid-semester survey in both a clicker and non-clicker course, the results show that students have higher satisfaction of the course and instructor, higher exam scores, and feel more comfortable participating in class when using clickers. The author finds that the benefits of using clickers in a large introductory course greatly outweigh the costs and encourages others to try the technology.

Publication in scholarly journals is a key to scholarly success. However, previous studies have shown that across many disciplines, including political science, women publish significantly less than men and prefer to use qualitative methodology. In this article, we explore the accuracy of these trends by examining a decade's worth (2000–09) of women's publications in four top political science journals (the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and PS: Political Science and Politics). Using a systematic content analysis, we determine the gender ratio of the authors, funding sources, methods, and the ratio of qualitative and quantitative studies. We find that while women publish less than men in each of these venues, their publication rates resemble their representation in the field.

Scholarly publication in peer-reviewed journals is widely regarded as the road to scholarly success. However, in a diversity of fields such as sociology, economics, and political science, it has been shown that the rate of publication is much lower for women than for men. The question of whether a systematic relationship exists between gender and research methods has also frequently been debated. In this paper, we explore patterns of authorship and scholarship in two influential interdisciplinary journals, Political Communication and the International Journal of Press/Politics, over the last decade. A systematic content analysis was conducted to determine the gender ratio of authors, the methods and theories employed, and the ratio of quantitative to qualitative research studies. In addition, we tracked the use of primary or secondary data sources and the prevalence of research funding by gender. Overall, we find that while women are publishing less than men, their rate of publication is somewhat higher than their representation in the field.

The underlying mechanism of the callipyge muscular hypertrophy phenotype in sheep (Ovis aries) is not presently understood. This phenotype, characterized by increased glycolytic type II muscle proportion and cell size accompanied by decreased adiposity, is not visibly detectable until approximately three to eight weeks after birth. The muscular hypertrophy results from a single nucleotide change located at the telomeric end of ovine Chromosome 18, in the region between the imprinted MATERNALLY EXPRESSED GENE 3 (MEG3) and DELTA, DROSOPHILA, HOMOLOG-LIKE 1 (DLK1) genes. The callipyge phenotype is evident only when the mutation is paternally inherited by a heterozygous individual. We have examined the pre- and postnatal expression of MEG3 and DLK1 in sheep of all four possible genotypes in affected and unaffected muscles as well as in liver. Here we show that the callipyge phenotype correlates with abnormally high DLK1 expression during the postnatal period in the affected sheep and that this elevation is specific to the hypertrophy-responsive fast-twitch muscles. These results are the first to show anomalous gene expression that coincides with both the temporal and spatial distribution of the callipyge phenotype. They suggest that the effect of the callipyge mutation is to interfere with the normal postnatal downregulation of DLK1 expression.

The mannose 6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor 2 receptor (M6P/IGF2R) encodes a multifunctional protein involved in lysosomal enzyme trafficking, fetal organogenesis, tumor suppression, and T cell- mediated immunity. M6P/IGF2R is an imprinted gene in mice with expression only from the maternal allele. Complete knockout of this gene causes neonatal lethality, thus preventing analysis of its multifunctional role postnatally. To help elucidate the biological functions of M6P/IGF2R in adulthood, we generated both complete and tissue-specific M6P/IGF2R knockout mice using the Cre/loxP system. We confirm that complete M6P/IGF2R knockout results in fetal overgrowth and neonatal lethality. In contrast, tissue-specific inactivation of this gene in either the liver or skeletal and cardiac muscle gives rise to viable animals with no obvious phenotype. The successful creation of viable tissue-specific M6P/IGF2R knockout mouse models will now allow for detailed analysis of receptor function in a number of cellular processes including brain development, carcinogenesis, lysosomal trafficking, and T cell-mediated immunity.

Following the work of Evans, Cordova, and Sipole, we examine the way that candidates for congressional seats in 2014 used Twitter during the last 2 months of their campaign. Using a content analysis of every tweet sent by all candidates for both the US House and Senate, we show that particular individual-level and campaign-specific characteristics are related to whether and how often candidates go negative on Twitter. In particular, we show that there are differences based on competitiveness, incumbency, gender, and partisanship.

A small fraction of the genome contains genes that are imprinted and thus expressed exclusively from one parental allele. We report here that the human neuronatin gene (NNAT) on chromosome 20q11.2 is imprinted and transcribed specifically from the paternal allele. The region containing NNAT has multiple CpG islands, and methylation analysis showed that a 1.8-kb CpG island in its promoter region exhibits differential methylation in all tissues examined. This finding is consistent with the island acting as a component of the NNAT imprint control domain. NNAT lies within the singular 8.5-kb intron of the gene encoding bladder cancer-associated protein (BLCAP), which, as we demonstrate, is not imprinted. This study provides the first example, to our knowledge, in humans of an imprinted gene contained within the genomic structure of a nonimprinted gene. Thus, NNAT is in an imprinted "microdomain," making this locus uniquely suited for the investigation of mechanisms of localized imprint regulation.

Imprinted genes are parent-of-origin dependent, monoallelically expressed genes present in marsupials and eutherian mammals. Altered expression of imprinted genes plays a significant role in the etiology of a variety of human disorders and diseases. Nevertheless, the regulatory mechanisms of imprinting remain poorly defined. The imprinted gene Neuronatin (Nnat) is an excellent candidate for studying imprinting because it resides within the 8.5-kb intron of the nonimprinted gene Bladder Cancer-Associated Protein (Blcap) and is the only imprinted gene within the region. A phylogenetic comparison of this micro-imprinted domain in human, mouse, and rat revealed several candidates for imprint control, including tandem repeats and putative binding sites for trans- acting factors known to be involved in chromatin remodeling. Genome-wide phylogenetic comparisons of species from the three major extant mammalian clades failed, however, to show any evidence of Nnat outside the eutherian lineage. Thus, Nnat is the first identified eutherian-specific imprinted gene, demonstrating that imprinted genes did not arise at a single point during evolution. This finding also suggests that the complexity of imprinting regulation observed at other loci may, in part, be directly related to the amount of time they have been imprinted.

The systemic delivery of [E1 − ] adenoviral (Ad) vectors encoding a transgene results in efficient viral uptake and abundant transgene expression in the liver. However, [E1 − ]Ad vector persistence is transient due to cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated loss of the Ad-infected cells. Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that additional modifications to the [E1 − ]Ad vector genome, by deletion of the Ad E2b genes, significantly decreased virus-genome-derived gene expression and simultaneously improved the long-term performance of the resultant [E1 − , E2b − ]Ad vector. In this study, we confirmed that [E1 − , E2b − ]Ad vector genomes could persist equally well in C57Bl/6 or Balb/c mouse hepatocytes. Despite vector genome persistence, we observed a strain-dependent variability in the duration of CMV enhancer/promoter-driven transgene expression in the liver. While Balb/c mice rapidly shut down [E1 − , E2b − ]Ad-derived transgene expression, C57Bl/6 mice allowed for prolonged transgene expression. This occurred even when both strains were crossed into a severe combined immune-deficient background, demonstrating that host adaptive immune responses are not responsible for the phenomenon. Furthermore, differential methylation of the CMV enhancer/promoter was also not demonstrated in either strain of mouse, eliminating this mechanism as causative. Thus, alternative mechanisms for this phenomenon are discussed.

Helper virus-independent, E1-deleted adenovirus ([E1−]Ad)-based gene transfer vectors exhibit many positive attributes, including a large transgene-encoding capacity, a relative ease of high-titer production to clinical grades, and the ability to infect a wide range of tissue types. Despite the fact that [E1−]Ad vectors are significantly blocked in their ability to replicate (relative to a wild-type Ad), low-level replication and/or gene expression derived from [E1−]Ad vectors can limit their usefulness (2, 18). To overcome this problem, we previously demonstrated that [E1−]Ad vectors incorporating additional deletions in the Ad E2b genes (polymerase and/or pTP) rendered [E1−,E2b−]Ad vectors truly replication incompetent (2, 10, 11). As a result, [E1−,E2b−]Ad vector-derived late gene expression was also significantly diminished, since Ad late gene expression is only initiated after Ad genome replication has occurred (19). Despite the problems associated with Ad replication, a potentially useful Ad vector might be one that can replicate its genome to very high levels after infection of a cell. This feature could be capitalized upon in efforts to either amplify transgene expression encoded by the vector and/or induce cytopathic effects as a consequence of high-level Ad replication and/or infectious virus production. For example, E1a-positive, E1b-deleted ([E1a+,E1b−])Ad vectors have been described; the E1b deletion restricts E1a-dependent vector replication (and generation of infectious vector) to cancer cells only, resulting in their death (3, 9). There is evidence, however, that [E1a+,E1b−]Ad vectors can also replicate in noncancerous cells, potentially limiting the risk/benefit ratio of [E1a+,E1b−]Ad-based cancer therapies (17). In a recent attempt to address the latter concerns, Ad vectors have been developed that are protease deleted (14). Protease-deleted [E1+]Ad viruses can also replicate but are blocked in their ability to produce infectious virus, due to inadequate maturation of viral capsid proteins during the late phase of the Ad life cycle. Importantly, however, both [E1b−] and protease-deleted Ad vectors are fully capable of producing wild-type levels of the Ad late genes once replication has occurred (14). The late genes are numerous and include the hexon, 100K, penton, and fiber proteins. Some of the toxicity normally associated with the expression of these proteins (particularly penton) may potentially limit the overall usefulness of both of these types of replicating Ad vector. It is with these considerations that we have targeted the 100K gene of the Ad for deletion. After Ad replication occurs, transcription is initiated from the major late promoter (MLP), and activation of the MLP results in the generation of the L4 transcript, which encodes the Ad 100K protein. The 100K gene fully encompasses 10% of the Ad genome, reflective of the vital role 100K plays in various aspects of the Ad life cycle. Functions of the 100K protein include the transport of newly synthesized hexon monomers (the major structural protein of the Ad capsid) from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and trimerization of hexon monomers (4). Without this activity, hexon monomers are degraded in the cytoplasm (15). 100K also acts as a “scaffolding platform” for the assembly of virus capsids, although the 100K protein has not been found to be physically incorporated into mature Ad capsids (13). 100K can also interact with a number of RNA transcripts, both vector and host cell derived, preferentially allowing for translation of Ad-derived late-gene transcripts (1, 12, 16). Considering these critical roles, we hypothesized that deletions within the 100K gene might allow for the production of Ad-based vectors with significantly altered characteristics. In this report we now demonstrate that [100K−] vectors can be produced to high titer and that the altered biology of vectors incorporating these deletions might be capitalized upon in several gene therapy applications.