bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Acculturation and Health Status Among Hispanic American Elders
Authors: Buscemi Charles P. , Williams Christine , Tappen Ruth M. , Blais Kathleen
Published: April 2012

Purpose:

Hispanic Americans are at risk for health-related problems. Disparities in diseases such as diabetes and obesity, poor access to health services, and lack of health insurance have placed Hispanic Americans at a disadvantage. Sociocultural factors such as acculturation and its relationship to health require further investigation. The primary purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between acculturation and health in Hispanic American elders and examine the interrelationships of acculturation, health status, age, gender, education, years in the United States, and income.

Design:

This descriptive correlational study was a secondary analysis of data from a large study titled Culture Bias in Testing Expressive Ability in Dementia.

Methods:

A total sample of 132 community-dwelling Hispanic American elders was used. The Cross Cultural Measure of Acculturation was used to measure acculturation, and health status was measured using the SF-8® Health Survey. Correlation and multiple linear regressions were used to analyze the data.

Discussion/Conclusions:

Findings from the study revealed that participants who were more acculturated to mainstream American culture reported their mental health to be better but not their physical health. This is an important contribution to advancing knowledge about cultural and health issues among Hispanic American elders, with implications for the clinical setting and for providing more culturally competent care.
Attitudes Toward and Justification for Wife Abuse Among Syrian Medical and Nursing Students
Authors: Gharaibeh Muntaha K. , Abu-Baker Nesrin N. , Aji Sanaa
Published: April 2012

Purpose:

To explore the perceptions of and attitudes toward violence and beliefs of contextual justification of wife abuse among Syrian medical and nursing students.

Design and Method:

A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used. The Perceptions of and Attitudes toward Wife Abuse Questionnaire was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 621 medical and nursing students from three public universities in Syria.

Results:

Only 18.4% of the students had positive attitudes toward interpersonal violence reflecting low tolerance to wife beating and use of physical force for problem solving and child discipline, and 16.1% did not justify wife beating. Medical, older, female students, from urban areas, with more educated parents, and those who did not experience violence or witness violence between their parents had significantly more positive attitudes toward wife abuse and significantly less justification of wife beating ( p < .05).

Conclusion and Implications:

Education about violence against women of future medical and nursing students is the responsibility of medical and nursing educators and health policy makers, who have to acknowledge the influence of the sociocultural factors in shaping student’s attitudes toward wife abuse and develop strategies to enhance these attitudes at the early stages of professional preparation.
Challenges to Hospital Discharge Planning for Older Adults
Authors: Popejoy Lori L. , Galambos Colleen , Moylan Kyle , Madsen Richard
Published: April 2012

Hospital discharge planning for older adults is an essential component to successful transitional care and will become increasingly important as hospitals face financial penalties for avoidable readmissions. This study reports a cross-sectional descriptive web-based survey study about challenges to discharge planning experienced by hospitals in the Midwestern state of Missouri. Problems identified by respondents included difficulties finding placement for patients requiring ventilator care, hemodialysis, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, wound vacuums, or who have mental health care needs. In general, urban hospitals reported more problems with finding postacute discharge destinations for patients than did rural hospitals. It is essential that nursing homes, residential care facilities, and home health agencies be adequately reimbursed to manage complex patients. It may be equally important to identify ways to develop critical assessment and care management skills that are needed in postacute staff to increase the likelihood that patients will be accepted at the time of hospital discharge.
Anxiety, Depression, and Self-Management
Authors: Fredericks Suzanne , Lapum Jennifer , Lo Joyce
Published: April 2012

The purpose of this article was to address the clinically relevant question: In the presence of anxiety and/or depression, do patients who have had heart surgery engage in self-management behaviors following hospital discharge? A systematic review of 16 studies that examined the psychological condition of patients who had coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and/or valvular replacement surgery was conducted. Moderate to severe levels of anxiety and depression exist during the first month of home recovery and appear to have an effect on performance of self-management behaviors. As the influence of patients’ psychological condition is continued to be examined, it is imperative for health care providers to manage increased rates of anxiety and/or depression following heart surgery. Music and relaxation therapy are presented as evidenced based recommendations for managing anxiety and depression in patients following heart surgery.
“I have to Turn Myself Inside Out”
Authors: Englund Ann-Charlotte Dalheim , Rydström Ingela
Published: April 2012

In multicultural societies, health care professionals encounter immigrant families of children with asthma. They play an important role in supporting these families, but few studies have focused on this phenomenon. The aim of the present study is to gain a broader understanding of the challenges health care professionals face in their encounters with non-Western immigrant parents of children with asthma. Seventeen professional caregivers were interviewed, and their narratives were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that health care professionals’ main challenges when encountering immigrant parents can be described by the theme, “Turning oneself inside out.” This theme is characterized by five categories: gender and professional issues, impact on professional relationships, communication challenges, unfamiliar disease and treatment perceptions, and time issues. The results highlight the importance of providing health care professionals with support and organizational conditions that increase opportunities to understand the unique situation of these families.
Personal Narratives and Cosmopolitan Identities
Authors: Daskalaki Maria
Published: April 2012

The article addresses the debates on transnational communities and the construction of global identities by reflecting upon personal narratives of frequent work-related mobility. It explores the process of “cosmopolitanization” through narratives of self-transformation during perpetual assignments of expatriation and repatriation. The discussion is based on autobiographical evidence, namely, personal diary vignettes, the analysis of which reveals the importance of emplacement and translocality in the reconstitution of identity during transient inhabitation of places. The article informs the studies on global or mobile careers exploring some aspects of a translocal identity in the context of practiced cosmopolitanism.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Authors: Thobaben Marshelle
Published: April 2012

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic mental illness (psychiatric disorder) that is characterized by distressing intrusive obsessive thoughts and fears and/or repetitive compulsive actions (rituals) that are done to prevent or reduce anxiety or distress, not to provide pleasure or gratification. It is a lifelong mental illness and recovery from it is gradual and ongoing treatment is necessary to help prevent relapses.
Sugar
Authors: Alpert Patricia T.
Published: April 2012

Born with an inherent liking for sweets, it is easy to overindulge in sugary foods. Sugar holds a special place in foods featured during the holidays, birthdays, and other festivities. In recent years there has been an increased awareness of the pit falls of consuming a sugary diet. Presented here are the facts about sugar, including a look at the research data on sugar and health.
Falls Risk Assessment and Modification
Authors: Flores Emily K.
Published: April 2012

Home health clinicians are uniquely qualified to fully evaluate patient falls risk and carry out clinical interventions to reduce risk. The objectives of this article are to give home health providers an update on the risk factors for falling, review the current guideline recommendations for prevention of falls, and provide a stepwise approach to evaluate patients and apply the clinical literature to decrease falls in older patients living at home. Many falls may be prevented with patient screening, assessment of risk, and modification of risk factors. Since the risk of falling is an interaction between three groupings of patient-specific factors, namely, environmental factors, diseases/disorders, and medication use, a multifactorial fall risk assessment can help identify the factors to consider modifying in an individual patient.
Multi-core and many-core shared-memory parallel raycasting volume rendering optimization and tuning
Authors: Bethel E Wes , Howison Mark
Published: April 2012

Given the computing industry trend of increasing processing capacity by adding more cores to a chip, the focus of this work is tuning the performance of a staple visualization algorithm, raycasting volume rendering, for shared-memory parallelism on multi-core CPUs and many-core GPUs. Our approach is to vary tunable algorithmic settings, along with known algorithmic optimizations and two different memory layouts, and measure performance in terms of absolute runtime and L2 memory cache misses. Our results indicate there is a wide variation in runtime performance on all platforms, as much as 254% for the tunable parameters we test on multi-core CPUs and 265% on many-core GPUs, and the optimal configurations vary across platforms, often in a non-obvious way. For example, our results indicate the optimal configurations on the GPU occur at a crossover point between those that maintain good cache utilization and those that saturate computational throughput. This result is likely to be extremely difficult to predict with an empirical performance model for this particular algorithm because it has an unstructured memory access pattern that varies locally for individual rays and globally for the selected viewpoint. Our results also show that optimal parameters on modern architectures are markedly different from those in previous studies run on older architectures. In addition, given the dramatic performance variation across platforms for both optimal algorithm settings and performance results, there is a clear benefit for production visualization and analysis codes to adopt a strategy for performance optimization through auto-tuning. These benefits will likely become more pronounced in the future as the number of cores per chip and the cost of moving data through the memory hierarchy both increase.
Fatigue behaviour of self-piercing riveting of aluminium blanks and carbon fibre composite panels
Authors: Franco Giuseppe Di , Fratini Livan , Pasta Antonino
Published: April 2012

In this article, the fatigue behaviour of self-piercing riveted joints in 2024-T6 aluminium sheets and carbon fibre composite panels is studied through experimental tests and numerical simulations. This study, aimed to evaluate the best process conditions and the mechanical behaviour of the joint itself, can be divided into few phases: the first one in which the static mechanical behaviour was investigated in order to evaluate the best process conditions (such as the best value of oil pressure of the riveting system) and the second one which had the purpose to determine the fatigue behaviour of the joint. Finally, a finite element method analysis of the riveting process was developed in order to compare the obtained results with the experimental ones. The joining process was simulated using a finite element method code specific for plastic deformation processes, namely DEFORM™, to predict the deformed shape and mechanical fastening mechanism. Results showed how this procedure can be a powerful tool to carry out a proper computer-aided process engineering. The experimental tests showed that the hybrid joint (metal/composite) has good mechanical characteristics both under static and fatigue loads.
Toward Holistic Animacy: Digital Animated Phenomena echoing East Asian Thoughts
Authors: Chow Kenny KN
Published: April 2012

In a previous article published in 2009, the author showed how animation, when combined with computer technology, makes movements of different degrees of liveliness that are meaningful to humans. Following this thesis, this article draws on insights from perceptual and cognitive psychology to propose a new typology of liveliness for classifying digital animated phenomena. This classification emphasizes balance and spread of liveliness in today’s digitally mediated environments, echoing traditional East Asian holistic thoughts, including the core ideas of Dao and Shinto. Using analyses of exemplary animated artifacts from contemporary East Asia, including a montage sequence from the Japanese animated film Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995), an animated version of the Chinese painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival exhibited in Shanghai Expo 2010, and Electroplankton, a video game released on a Japanese portable game console, the author argues that today’s digital animated phenomena incorporate co-creation between animators, computers and even spectators/users, thus provoking thought on the human–machine relationship in pursuing the illusion of life.
Using health promotion competencies for curriculum development in higher education
Authors: Madsen Wendy , Bell Tanya
Published: April 2012

Health promotion core competencies are used for a variety of reasons. Recently there have been moves to gain international consensus regarding core competencies within health promotion. One of the main reasons put forward for having core competencies is to guide curriculum development within higher education institutions. This article outlines the endeavours of one institution to develop undergraduate and postgraduate curricula around the Australian core competencies for health promotion practitioners. It argues that until core competencies have been agreed upon internationally, basing curricula on these carries a risk associated with change. However, delaying curricula until such risks are ameliorated decreases opportunities to deliver dynamic and current health promotion education within higher institutions.
Experiencias de promoción de la salud y gobernanza en el ámbito local de México: retos y limitaciones
Authors: Arenas-Monreal Luz , Jasso-Victoria Rogelio , Bonilla-Fernández Pastor , Villanueva-Borbolla y Maria Angeles
Published: April 2012

Resumen

Dentro de la promoción de la salud, hablar de gobernanza y de los distintos actores sociales con quienes se establecen alianzas para mejorar la salud de la población, requiere un análisis de las características específicas del desarrollo socioeconómico y político en el que se encuentre la región o el país y fortalecer la participación ciudadana con la finalidad de generar mayores espacios de interacción entre los actores sociales comunitarios y conectar de manera más eficiente al Estado con las necesidades poblacionales propiciando una mejor toma de decisiones y desarrollando un mejor estilo de gobierno. En un país como México con altos índices de pobreza, desempleo, una creciente desigualdad y baja escolaridad ¿de qué manera impulsar la gobernanza?; ¿es posible impulsar procesos de gobernanza en situaciones de pobreza?; ¿es suficiente considerar las alianzas y las redes para fortalecer las salud y el desarrollo? El objetivo de este manuscrito es reflexionar sobre los retos y limitaciones que ofrece el contexto mexicano para impulsar la gobernanza, a partir de experiencias comunitarias en el espacio local y dentro del marco de la promoción de la salud. Desde nuestra experiencia, la gobernanza se ve limitada por el aumento de la pobreza en nuestro país y por la existencia de un sistema autoritario y con poder centralizado. Sin embargo, a través de la metodología de investigación-acción-participativa y educación popular, la propia población de estudio ha incrementado las acciones de abogacía y gestión de recursos para su propio desarrollo. Se reconoce la necesidad de abrir espacios de reflexión y discusión acerca de los alcances, logros, retos y limitaciones de la promoción de la salud y la gobernanza en los distintos contextos dentro de los países en vías de desarrollo.
Becoming a health promoting school: key components of planning
Authors: Senior Elizabeth
Published: April 2012

This article looks at the practicalities of implementing the health promoting school (HPS) framework, including conducting a whole school audit, to enable a primary school to successfully adopt the HPS principles. A partnership agreement was signed, between EACH Social and Community Health which is a local Community Health Centre and a primary school in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, in Australia. An audit was conducted of the school community with four follow up focus groups of students from grades 3 to 6. Qualitative data was gathered from 20 teachers at the school at a professional development day facilitated by the health promotion staff of the Community Health Centre. The results of the school audit identified that students in grades 3 to 6 and parents valued the outside environment of the school most highly. The staff valued staff attributes most highly. Suggestions from students to improve the school included improving the canteen and outside environment. Staff were most concerned about fitness of both the staff and the students. Parents also identified lack of healthy eating as a concern. The school community sees the value of adopting the HPS framework, however on-going structured support is required if the school is to successfully adopt the HPS approach. The school community needs to understand that the move toward cultural and environmental change is slow. Successful adoption of the HPS model requires time and collaboration. The emphasis needs to be on supporting teachers to change their school from within. Relationships are important.
La racialisation de la santé publique aux États-Unis : entre pouvoir sur la vie et droit de laisser mourir
Authors: Cloos Patrick
Published: April 2012

Résumé

Aux États-Unis, une intensification de l’usage de la race en santé publique a récemment été notée ; une idée qui est pourtant controversée dans les sciences. La race a été vue dans ce contexte comme un objet de discours entre pouvoirs et savoirs, un objet qui se réfère au corps devenu au cours des derniers siècles un site discursif pour représenter la différence. Cet article s’appuie sur une analyse de documents de la santé publique parus aux États-Unis et issus de bureaux fédéraux et d’une importante revue spécialisée dans le domaine sanitaire, qui ont été publiés entre 2001 et 2009. Cette étude a analysé la manière dont la race est représentée, produite comme objet de connaissance et régulée par les pratiques discursives dans ces documents. Les résultats décrivent deux processus enchevêtrés, la racialisation et la sanitarisation, qui concourent à reformuler l’idée de race. Le premier est un ensemble d’opérations qui visent à identifier, à situer et à opposer les sujets et les groupes à partir de labels standardisés. La sanitarisation assure la traduction des groupes racialisés en termes de maladies, de comportements, de vie ou de mort. Ces pratiques aboutissent à la caractérisation et à la formation d’objets racialisés et sanitarisés et à des stéréotypes ; un ensemble d’opérations qui a tendance à naturaliser la différence. La racialisation apparaît également tiraillée entre un pouvoir sur la vie et un droit de laisser mourir. Enfin, cette étude propose aux acteurs de la santé publique de sortir des frontières imposées par le discours racialisant.
Group-Specific Norms and Teacher-Rating Scales
Authors: Peters Scott J. , Gentry Marcia
Published: April 2012

For more than 30 years, underrepresentation of certain racial, cultural, and income groups in gifted and talented programs has been documented as a serious problem. Not only does this issue make gifted programs appear as if they are designed solely for upper class, dominant-culture individuals, but it also means that talented students from diverse backgrounds are not having their needs met. This study sought to determine the utility of applying group-specific norms to achievement tests in identifying more proportional numbers of gifted and talented students from low-income families. In addition, this study applied the use of a teacher-rating scale to locate even more underserved students with high potential. Results indicated that both practices helped identify more underserved students than did using traditional general norm-group comparisons. Implications for identification policy and practice are shared.
Carbonatites and associated nephelinites from São Vicente, Cape Verde Islands
Authors: de Ignacio C. , Muñoz M. , Sagredo J.
Published: April 2012

The island of São Vicente has the most abundant carbonatite outcrops in the Cape Verde Islands. A field survey of the main outcrops has shown that they consist of extrusive carbonatites, carbonatite dykes and small apophyses of intrusive carbonatite. These outcrops are spatially related to nephelinites. The compositions of the extrusive carbonatites and dykes plot close to, and within, the magnesiocarbonatite field. In contrast, the intrusive carbonatites are calciocarbonatites, with similar average strontium contents to those of extrusive carbonatites and dykes (around 4000 ppm), but remarkably low barium, niobium and total rare earth element concentrations. Whole-rock geochemistry indicates a strong affinity between the nephelinites and intrusive carbonatites, such that the latter could represent fractionation products of the same parental magma. This is in agreement with radiogenic isotope geochemistry, which shows a very restricted range of compositions in the Sr, Nd and Pb systems. Fractionation from a common parental magma occurred in two main steps: high-temperature nephelinite crystallization and high-temperature carbonatite immiscibility. The carbonatitic melts crystallized in two different environments, as follows: (1) a shallow intrusive environment, giving rise to the early calciocarbonatite cumulates; and (2) a vapour-dominated, extrusive environment, producing the later magnesiocarbonatites.
Tracing the chemical evolution of primary pyrochlore from plutonic to volcanic carbonatites: the role of fluorine
Authors: Bambi A. C. J. M. , Costanzo A. , Gonçalves A. O. , Melgarejo J. C.
Published: April 2012

Three Angolan carbonatites were selected to evaluate the change in composition of pyrochlores during magmatic evolution: the Tchivira carbonatites occur in a plutonic complex, the Bonga carbonatites represent hypabyssal carbonatites and the Catanda carbonatites are volcanic in origin. In Tchivira pyrochlore, zoning is poorly developed; fluorine is dominant at the Y site; chemical zoning may arise as a result of substitutions for Nb in the B site; and the rare earth element (REE), U, Th and large-ion lithophile element (LILE) contents are very low. Pyrochlores from Bonga show oscillatory zonation; the F and Na contents are lower than those in the pyrochlores from Tchivira; and as substitution of Na at the A site increases, the Th, U, REE contents and inferred vacancies also increase. Pyrochlores from Catanda display complex textures. They generally have a rounded corroded core, which is mantled by two or three later generations. The core composition is similar to the Bonga pyrochlores. The rims are enriched in Zr, Ta, Th, Ce and U, but depleted in F and Na. In pyrochlores from the Angolan carbonatites, the F and Na contents decrease from plutonic to volcanic settings and there is enrichment of Th, U and REE in the A site and Ta and Zr in the B site. Zoning may be explained by changes in the activity of F, due to the crystallization of fluorite or apatite in the plutonic and hypabyssal carbonatites, or to volatile exsolution in the volcanic carbonatites.
Niobium and rare earth minerals from the Virulundo carbonatite, Namibe, Angola
Authors: Torró L. , Villanova C. , Castillo M. , Campeny M. , Gonçalves A. O. , Melgarejo J. C.
Published: April 2012

The Virulundo carbonatite in Angola is one of the largest in the world and contains pyrochlore as an accessory mineral in all of the carbonatite units (calciocarbonatites, ferrocarbonatites, carbonatite breccias and trachytoids). The primary magmatic pyrochlore is fluorine dominant and typically contains about equal molar quantities of Ca and Na at the A site. High-temperature hydrothermal processes have resulted in the pseudomorphic replacement of the primary pyrochlore by a second generation of pyrochlore with less F and Na. Low-temperature hydrothermal replacement of the first and second generation pyrochlore, associated with quartz-carbonate-fluorite vein formation in the carbonatite, has produced a third generation of pyrochlore, with a high Sr content. The Sr appears to have been released by low-temperature hydrothermal replacement of the primary magmatic carbonates. Finally, supergene alteration processes have produced late-stage carbonates, goethite, hollandite and rare earth element (REE) minerals (mainly synchysite-(Ce), britholite-(Ce), britholite-(La), cerite-(Ce)). Cerium separated from the other REE s in oxidizing conditions and Ce4+ was incorporated into a late generation of supergene pyrochlore, which is strongly enriched in Ba and strongly depleted in Ca and Na.
Silicate–carbonate liquid immiscibility and crystallization of carbonate and K-rich basaltic magma: insights from melt and fluid inclusions
Authors: Solovova I. P. , Girnis A. V.
Published: April 2012

This paper reports an investigation of the crystallization products of K-rich silicate and carbonate melts trapped as melt inclusions in clinopyroxene phenocrysts from the Dunkeldyk alkaline igneous complex in the Tajik Republic. Heating experiments on the melt inclusions suggest that the carbonate melt was formed by liquid immiscibility at 1180°C and ∼0.5 GPa. The carbonate-rich inclusions are dominated by Sr-bearing calcite, and rich in incompatible elements. Most of the silicate minerals are SiO2-poor and rich in K, Ba and Ti. Leucite, kalsilite and aegirine are the earliest magmatic minerals. High Ba and Ti contents in the melt resulted in the crystallization of Ba-rich K-feldspar, titanite, perovskite and Ti-bearing garnet, and the rare Ba-Ti silicates fresnoite and delindeite. The last minerals to crystallize from volatile-rich melts and fluids were aegirine, götzenite, K-Ba- and Ca-Sr-bearing zeolites, fluorite and strontium-rich baryte. Interaction of the early minerals with residual melts and fluids produced Ba-rich phlogopite and Sr-rich apatite.
C/EBPα and DEK coordinately regulate myeloid differentiation
Authors: Koleva Rositsa I. , Ficarro Scott B. , Radomska Hanna S. , Carrasco-Alfonso Marlene J. , Alberta John A. , Webber James T. , Luckey C. John , Marcucci Guido , Tenen Daniel G. , Marto Jarrod A.
Published: April 2012

The transcription factor C/EBPα is a critical mediator of myeloid differentiation and is often functionally impaired in acute myeloid leukemia. Recent studies have suggested that oncogenic FLT3 activity disrupts wild-type C/EBPα function via phosphorylation on serine 21 (S21). Despite the apparent role of pS21 as a negative regulator of C/EBPα transcription activity, the mechanism by which phosphorylation tips the balance between transcriptionally competent and inhibited forms remains unresolved. In the present study, we used immuno-affinity purification combined with quantitative mass spectrometry to delineate the proteins associated with C/EBPα on chromatin. We identified DEK, a protein with genetic links to leukemia, as a member of the C/EBPα complexes, and demonstrate that this association is disrupted by S21 phosphorylation. We confirmed that DEK is recruited specifically to chromatin with C/EBPα to enhance GCSFR3 promoter activation. In addition, we demonstrated that genetic depletion of DEK reduces the ability of C/EBPα to drive the expression of granulocytic target genes in vitro and disrupts G-CSF–mediated granulocytic differentiation of fresh human BM-derived CD34+ cells. Our data suggest that C/EBPα and DEK coordinately activate myeloid gene expression and that S21 phosphorylation on wild-type C/EBPα mediates protein interactions that regulate the differentiation capacity of hematopoietic progenitors.
Prevalence of collagen VII-specific autoantibodies in patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
Authors: Licarete Emilia , Ganz Susanne , Recknagel Martin J , Di Zenzo Giovanni , Hashimoto Takashi , Hertl Michael , Zambruno Giovanna , Hundorfean Gheorghe , Mudter Jonas , Neurath Markus F , Bruckner-Tuderman Leena , Sitaru Cassian
Published: April 2012

Background

Autoimmunity to collagen VII is typically associated with the skin blistering disease epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA), but also occurs occasionally in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus or inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of our present study was to develop an accurate immunoassay for assessing the presence of autoantibodies against collagen VII in large cohorts of patients and healthy donors.

Methods

Based on in silico antigenic analysis and previous wetlab epitope mapping data, we designed a chimeric collagen VII construct containing all collagen VII epitopes with higher antigenicity. ELISA was performed with sera from patients with EBA (n = 50), Crohn's disease (CD, n = 50), ulcerative colitis (UC, n = 50), bullous pemphigoid (BP, n = 76), and pemphigus vulgaris (PV, n = 42) and healthy donors (n = 245).

Results

By ELISA, the receiver operating characteristics analysis yielded an area under the curve of 0.98 (95% CI: 0.9638-1.005), allowing to set the cut-off at 0.32 OD at a calculated specificity of 98% and a sensitivity of 94%. Running the optimized test showed that serum IgG autoantibodies from 47 EBA (94%; 95% CI: 87.41%-100%), 2 CD (4%; 95% CI: 0%-9.43%), 8 UC (16%; 95% CI: 5.8%-26%), 2 BP (2.63%; 95% CI: 0%-6.23%), and 4 PV (9.52%; 95% CI: 0%-18.4%) patients as well as from 4 (1.63%; 95% CI: 0%-3.21%) healthy donors reacted with the chimeric protein. Further analysis revealed that in 34%, 37%, 16% and 100% of sera autoantibodies of IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 isotype, respectively, recognized the recombinant autoantigen.

Conclusions

Using a chimeric protein, we developed a new sensitive and specific ELISA to detect collagen specific antibodies. Our results show a low prevalence of collagen VII-specific autoantibodies in inflammatory bowel disease, pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid. Furthermore, we show that the autoimmune response against collagen VII is dominated by IgG4 autoantibodies. The new immunoassay should prove a useful tool for clinical and translational research and should improve the routine diagnosis and disease monitoring in diseases associated with collagen VII-specific autoimmunity.
Rationale and design of the RESOLVE trial: lanreotide as a volume reducing treatment for polycystic livers in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease
Authors: Gevers Tom JG , Chrispijn Melissa , Wetzels Jack FM , Drenth Joost PH
Published: April 2012

Background

A large proportion of patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) suffers from polycystic liver disease. Symptoms arise when liver volume increases. The somatostatin analogue lanreotide has proven to reduce liver volume in patients with polycystic liver disease. However, this study also included patients with isolated polycystic liver disease (PCLD). The RESOLVE trial aims to assess the efficacy of lanreotide treatment in ADPKD patients with symptomatic polycystic livers. In this study we present the design of the RESOLVE trial.

Methods/design

This open-label clinical trial evaluates the effect of 6 months of lanreotide in ADPKD patients with symptomatic polycystic livers. Primary outcome is change in liver volume determined by computerised tomography-volumetry. Secondary outcomes are changes in total kidney volume, kidney intermediate volume and renal function. Furthermore, urinary (NGAL, α1-microglobulin, KIM-1, H-FABP, MCP-1) and serum (fibroblast growth factor 23) biomarkers associated with ADPKD disease severity are assessed to investigate whether these biomarkers predict treatment responses to lanreotide. Moreover, safety and tolerability of the drug in ADPKD patients will be assessed.

Discussion

We anticipate that lanreotide is an effective therapeutic option for ADPKD patients with symptomatic polycystic livers and that this trial aids in the identification of patient related factors that predict treatment response.

Trial registration number

Clinical trials.gov NCT01354405
Relevance of activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) in tumor tissue and sera of cervical cancer patients
Authors: Ihnen Maike , Kress Kerstin , Kersten Jan Felix , Kilic Ergin , Choschzick Matthias , Zander Hilke , Müller Volkmar , Mahner Sven , Jänicke Fritz , Woelber Linn , Milde-Langosch Karin
Published: April 2012

Background

An altered expression of the activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) is associated with cancer progression in various cancer types. In some cancers ALCAM has a prognostic value or is predictive for the benefit of therapeutic interventions. To date there are no data on the role of ALCAM in cervical cancer available.

Methods

In this study, ALCAM expression was analysed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in tissue samples of 233 patients with cervical cancer, among them 178 with complete follow-up information. In addition, soluble (s-)ALCAM was measured in sera of a subset of the included patients (n = 55) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results

ALCAM overexpression was detected (immunoreactive score (IRS) 2-12) in 58.4% of the cervical cancer samples. The normal ectocervical or endocervical epithelium showed no ALCAM reactivity. In untreated patients, ALCAM overexpression in tumor tissue tended to be associated with shorter cancer-specific survival (CSS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Patients, whose tumor samples showed ALCAM overexpression receiving a cytotoxic therapy like radiotherapy or chemoradiation, however, had a favourable prognosis compared to those patients, whose cancers showed no or minimal ALCAM staining. This effect was particularly apparent in patients receiving chemoradiation where the CSS was significantly longer in patients with ALCAM-positive tumors (p = 0.038; cumulative incidence rates at 96 months 8%, 95% CI 0%-23%, and 26%, CI 3%-43% in ALCAM-positive and ALCAM-negative cases, respectively).

Median preoperative s-ALCAM concentration in sera from tumor patients was 27.6 ng/ml (range 17.5-55.1 ng/ml, mean 28.9 ng/ml), serum levels did not correlate with intratumoral ALCAM expression.

Conclusions

The data of our retrospective study suggest that the prognostic value of ALCAM expression in cervical carcinoma might be therapy-dependent, and that ALCAM might function as a predictive marker for the response to chemoradiation. This should be confirmed in further, prospective studies.
Correlation of renin angiotensin and aldosterone system activity with subcutaneous and visceral adiposity: the framingham heart study
Authors: O'Seaghdha Conall M , Hwang Shih-Jen , Vasan Ramachandran S , Larson Martin G , Hoffmann Udo , Wang Thomas J , Fox Caroline S
Published: April 2012

Background

Animal studies suggest that local adipocyte-mediated activity of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) contributes to circulating levels, and may promote the development of obesity-related hypertension in rodents.

Methods

We examined relations of systemic RAAS activity, as assessed by circulating plasma renin activity (PRA), serum aldosterone level, and aldosterone:renin ratio (ARR), with specific regional adiposity measures in a large, community-based sample. Third Generation Framingham Heart Study participants underwent multidetector computed tomography assessment of SAT and VAT volumes during Exam 1 (2002 and 2005). PRA and serum aldosterone were measured after approximately 10 minutes of supine rest; results were log-transformed for analysis. Correlation coefficients between log-transformed RAAS measures and adiposity measurements were calculated, adjusted for age and sex. Partial correlations between log-transformed RAAS measures and adiposity measurements were also calculated, adjusted for standard CVD risk factors.

Results

Overall, 992 women and 897 men were analyzed (mean age 40 years; 7% hypertension; 3% diabetes). No associations were observed with SAT (renin r = 0.04, p = 0.1; aldosterone r = -0.01, p = 0.6) or VAT (renin r = 0.03, p = 0.2; aldosterone r = -0.03, p = 0.2). Similar results were observed for ARR, in sex-stratified analyses, and for BMI and waist circumference. Non-significant partial correlations were also observed in models adjusted for standard cardiovascular risk factors.

Conclusions

Regional adiposity measures were not associated with circulating measures of RAAS activity in this large population-based study. Further studies are required to determine whether adipocyte-derived RAAS components contribute to systemic RAAS activity in humans.
Improvement of neuropathology and transcriptional deficits in CAG 140 knock-in mice supports a beneficial effect of dietary curcumin in Huntington's disease
Authors: Hickey Miriam A , Zhu Chunni , Medvedeva Vera , Lerner Renata P , Patassini Stefano , Franich Nicholas R , Maiti Panchanan , Frautschy Sally A , Zeitlin Scott , Levine Michael S , Chesselet Marie-Françoise
Published: April 2012

Backgound

No disease modifying treatment currently exists for Huntington's disease (HD), a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the formation of amyloid-like aggregates of the mutated huntingtin protein. Curcumin is a naturally occurring polyphenolic compound with Congo red-like amyloid binding properties and the ability to cross the blood brain barrier. CAG140 mice, a knock-in (KI) mouse model of HD, display abnormal aggregates of mutant huntingtin and striatal transcriptional deficits, as well as early motor, cognitive and affective abnormalities, many months prior to exhibiting spontaneous gait deficits, decreased striatal volume, and neuronal loss. We have examined the ability of life-long dietary curcumin to improve the early pathological phenotype of CAG140 mice.

Results

KI mice fed a curcumin-containing diet since conception showed decreased huntingtin aggregates and increased striatal DARPP-32 and D1 receptor mRNAs, as well as an amelioration of rearing deficits. However, similar to other antioxidants, curcumin impaired rotarod behavior in both WT and KI mice and climbing in WT mice. These behavioral effects were also noted in WT C57Bl/6 J mice exposed to the same curcumin regime as adults. However, neither locomotor function, behavioral despair, muscle strength or food utilization were affected by curcumin in this latter study. The clinical significance of curcumin's impairment of motor performance in mice remains unclear because curcumin has an excellent blood chemistry and adverse event safety profile, even in the elderly and in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Conclusion

Together with this clinical experience, the improvement in several transgene-dependent parameters by curcumin in our study supports a net beneficial effect of dietary curcumin in HD.
Queer(y)ing Freedom
Authors: Livermon Xavier
Published: April 2012

This essay argues that liberation is as much a sociocultural construct as it is a political or economic one. Extending the South African queer scholar Mikki van Zyl's analysis of the distinction between citizenship and belonging, I examine the concept of freedom in postapartheid South Africa through the lens of black queer bodies. Through an analysis of Cheaters, a popular radio program broadcast in Soweto; the late kwaito star Lebo Mathosa; and ethnographic observation in the form of “quotidian conversations,” I illuminate the contested terrain of queer sexuality in contemporary South Africa, particularly its intersection with class and race. Ultimately, I am interested in exploring how black queer bodies test the limits of freedom and liberation, exposing both the possibilities and the contradictions of the postapartheid state.
What the Sands Remember
Authors: Agard-Jones Vanessa
Published: April 2012

Saint-Pierre and Sainte-Anne sit on opposite shores—both territorially and symbolically—of Martinique, a French territory in the Caribbean Sea. During the nineteenth century, Saint-Pierre was known as the “Sodom” of the Antilles, as a cosmopolitan city where decadence and liberal sexual mores were at the heart of bourgeois and elite culture. In 1902 Mount Pelée, the volcano that sits just above the city, erupted—killing Saint-Pierre's population of over thirty thousand within five seconds. Today, the black, volcanic sand beaches that line the coast remind visitors to Saint-Pierre of the city that once was. Sainte-Anne is a town with a far different reputation. During the 1950s it was known as a refuge for rebels, for people who contested the continued dominance of white and mixed-race elites in the lives of ordinary (mostly black) Martinicans, and was the center of the island's small cultural nationalist movement. Nearly fifty years later, the town retains that reputation—but Sainte-Anne is known for another reason, too, for it is home to one of Martinique's few meeting spaces for men who have sex with men, a secluded section at the end of the commune's most popular beach, Les Salines. This essay seeks to cross temporal, scalar, and disciplinary boundaries while revisiting tropes of queer invisibility that mark representations of same-sex desire in the Caribbean. Cycling from the world described in the 1901 erotic novel Une nuit d'orgie à Saint-Pierre, Martinique to field notes taken in 2010 among men who frequent Les Salines, this essay unites, in a provisional way, a scattered archive of same-sex desire on the island, while relating these desires critically to place. These archives ask us to reconsider a narrative that insists on movement—away from Martinique, away from the Caribbean, away from the global South—as the grounding force for a radical queer (of color) politics. Instead of privileging diasporic subjectivities, these markers of local presence and emplacement offer an alternative framing of what it means to stay put. They give us access to modes of queer relationality that resist documentation, but are indicative of the kinds of lives that certain subjects live: shot through with ambiguity and grounded in a refusal of fixed identity politics. Sand emerges as a compelling metaphor for this kind of theoretical and ethnographic intervention, as its ability to be diffuse yet still irreducibly material provides a model for one way to understand the memory of same-sex desire and gender transgression. Making use of fragments, then, this essay thinks simultaneously through the sexual politics of memory and landscape, linking queer presence to the sands of both Saint-Pierre and Sainte-Anne.
Control of Photoisomerization in Water-soluble Stilbene Dendrimers by Conformation of Dendrons: How Water-soluble Dendrimer Molecules Are Dissolved in Water
Authors: Takizawa Tsutomu , Arai Tatsuo
Published: April 2012

Photoisomerization behaviors of carboxylate anion-terminated water-soluble stilbene dendrimers were controlled by difference in conformation of dendrons brought about by difference in number of surface functional groups. This is the first report to discuss in detail how solvent molecules surround dendrimer molecules to dissolve them and to reveal the crucial role that conformation of dendrons plays in determining photochemical properties of water-soluble dendrimers through optical spectroscopy.
Dye-sensitized H2 Evolution over TiO2 and SnO2 Nanoparticles Depending on Electron Donors
Authors: Zhan Conghong , Maitani Masato M , Mochizuki Dai , Suzuki Eiichi , Wada Yuji
Published: April 2012

Combination of porphyrin dyes as a sensitizer with a SnO2 semiconductor electrode enables alcohols to be used as an electron donor, producing H2.
A Soluble α-Dithienotetrathiafulvalene Derivative for Organic Field-effect Transistors
Authors: Doi Iori , Goshome Kiyotaka , Miyazaki Eigo , Takimiya Kazuo
Published: April 2012

Bis(octylthio) derivative of α-dithienotetrathiafulvalene (α-DT-TTF) was synthesized, characterized, and examined as a semiconductor for organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). In contrast to no field-effect responses of devices based on evaporated thin-film of the parent α-DT-TTF, the octylthio derivative afforded solution-processed OFETs showing apparent normally-on behaviors with field-effect mobility of up to 0.6 cm2 V−1 s−1. Characterization of the thin-film revealed that the octylthio groups had significant impact on self-assembly, affording high quality thin films with well-oriented molecular array.
Numerical Investigation of the Bilinear Softening Law in the Cohesive Crack Model for Normal-Strength and High-Strength Concrete
Authors: Guo X. , Su R.K.L. , Young B.
Published: April 2012

A powerful methodology in concrete fracture research is the cohesive crack model with a bilinear softening law, where both the energy and the stress ratios play important roles. Here a direct numerical approach based on the intrinsic cohesive crack model was employed in fracture analysis of normal-strength and high-strength concrete specimens. The best-fit energy ratio is found to be consistent with that reported by Bazant and Becq-Giraudon while varying over a narrower range. The best-fit stress ratio is found to be larger than all of the results from the inverse analysis. It is recommended that the softening law for high-strength concrete had a larger stress ratio.
Effects of Strain Rate on Reinforced Concrete Structure under Seismic Loading
Authors: Li Min , Li Hongnan
Published: April 2012

The effects of strain rate on the reinforced concrete structure under seismic loading are studied in this paper. Firstly, the strain-rate effects of reinforcing steel with the grades HPB235, HRB335 and HRB400 were investigated using the MTS electro-hydraulic servo-controlled testing system at the strain rate (2.5 × 10−4/s∼0.1/s) that might be experienced during earthquakes. Based on the test results, dynamic increasing factors (DIF) which are functions of strain rate and quasi-static yielding strength of reinforcing steel are gotten. Then, two kinds of expressions on the effects of strain rate on concrete are chosen for these analyses. Finally, considering the strain-rate effects of concrete and steel, the three-dimensional finite element model of reinforced concrete frame structure subjected to three-component earthquake inputs is established based on a practical project, in which three peak levels of ground accelerations are taken into account. Using the nonlinear time history analytical method, the distribution of strain rate and the effects of strain rate on the base shear force, bending moment and top displacement of structure are studied. These results may provide a reference for reinforced concrete frame structure in seismic design.