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There are two hypotheses concerning how rapid growth affects women in rural communities: (1) women are more adversely affected than men, and (2) growth liberates women from their traditional sex roles. We used a specific subgroup of the female population-single, never- married females of marriageable age-to examine these two hypotheses. This paper focuses on how a male marriage-market squeeze caused by the influx of a large number of single, never-married males of marriageable age affects these females. The hypotheses, combined with proposals drawn from the demographic literature on marriage markets, are tested using data from counties in Montana and Utah impacted by energy development in the mid- and late 1970s. The measures used are changes in nuptiality rates and age patterns of first marriages. Our results do not allow us to fully accept or reject either hypothesis. Rather, changes in age patterns of marriage indicate that sorting out the local effects from the more pervasive social effects is problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that is widely employed as an animal model of multiple sclerosis. To establish the relative contributions of T cell reactivity, the loss of blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity, CNS inflammation, and lesion formation toward the pathogenesis of EAE we assessed the incidence of EAE and these parameters in mice lacking nuclear factor-kappa B, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interferon alpha beta receptors, interferon gamma receptors, and inducible nitric oxide synthase. Increased MOG-specific T cell reactivity was generally associated with a more rapid onset or increased disease severity. The loss of BBB integrity and cell accumulation in spinal cord tissues was invariably associated with the development of neurological disease signs. Histological and real time RT-PCR analyses revealed differences in the nature of immune/inflammatory cell accumulation in the spinal cord tissues of the different mouse strains. Disease severity during the acute phase of EAE directly correlated with the extent of BBB permeability. Thus, the loss of BBB integrity appears to be a requisite event in the development of EAE and can occur in the absence of important inflammatory mediators. This research was supported by a grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]