532 research outputs found
Ethnic and gender differences in perceptions of mortality risk in a Canadian urban centre
Gilat L Grunau1, Pamela A Ratner1,2, Shahadut Hossain11NEXUS; 2School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CanadaBackground: Women reportedly do not perceive heart disease (HD) as a major threat to their health; however, men’s perceptions are rarely studied.Purpose: We explored gender and ethnic differences in risk perception of HD mortality.Methods: The survey was completed by 976 people 40+ years of age, in metropolitan Vancouver, Canada.Results: Men, compared with women, were more likely not to know the answer to a question about whether HD is the most common cause of death for women; however, women were more likely not to know the answer to a question about whether HD is the most common cause of death for men. Chinese-Canadian and South Asian-Canadian participants were more likely than participants of other ethnic groups not to know the answer to either question, and the Chinese-Canadian participants were more likely to disagree that HD is the most common cause of death for women.Conclusion: There is a need to educate the Chinese-Canadian and South Asian-Canadian communities about HD as a first step in promoting health behavior change. Men and women must be educated about the other gender’s risk of HD because all adults play integral roles in making decisions about the prevention of and early intervention for HD.Keywords: risk assessment, heart disease, mortality, gender, ethnic group
Domain Growth, Wetting and Scaling in Porous Media
The lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is used to study the kinetics of domain
growth of a binary fluid in a number of geometries modeling porous media.
Unlike the traditional methods which solve the Cahn-Hilliard equation, the LB
method correctly simulates fluid properties, phase segregation, interface
dynamics and wetting. Our results, based on lattice sizes of up to , do not show evidence to indicate the breakdown of late stage dynamical
scaling, and suggest that confinement of the fluid is the key to the slow
kinetics observed. Randomness of the pore structure appears unnecessary.Comment: 13 pages, latex, submitted to PR
Toll-like receptor-4 differentially mediates intestinal and extra-intestinal immune responses upon multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa association of IL10−/− mice with chronic colitis
Background Infections with multi-drug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria
including Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) have become a serious threat
particularly in hospitalized patients with immunopathological co-morbidities.
The well-balanced interplay between immune cells, pattern recognition
receptors such as Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 sensing lipopolysaccharide from
Gram-negative bacteria including PA, and evolving pathways is crucial to
prevent the host from invading (opportunistic) pathogens. Information
regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying the interactions between
intestinal carriage of MDR PA and host immunity during chronic large
intestinal inflammation is scarce, however. Methods and results We therefore
perorally challenged conventionally colonized TLR4-deficient IL10−/− mice and
IL10−/− counterparts displaying comparably severe chronic colitis with a
clinical MDR PA strain. PA could more sufficiently establish in the intestinal
tract of TLR4-deficient IL10−/− mice until day 14 postinfection (p.i.),
whereas within 48 h the majority of IL10−/− mice had already expelled the
opportunistic pathogen from their guts. Intestinal colonization properties of
PA in TLR4-deficient IL10−/− mice were associated with distinct genotype-
dependent differences in gut microbiota compositions before challenge given
that TLR4-deficient IL10−/− mice harbored more fecal enterobacteria and
enterococci, but lower Clostridium/Eubacterium burdens. At day 14 p.i., PA-
induced increases in colonic immune cells such as macrophages, monocytes and
T-lymphocytes could be observed in TLR4-deficient IL10−/− mice, but not
IL10−/− counterparts, that were accompanied by a more distinct secretion of
IFN-γ in the colon and TNF in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) of the former
as compared to the latter. Conversely, splenic TNF levels were lower in
TLR4-deficient IL10−/− mice as compared to IL10−/− controls at day 14 p.i.
Interestingly, more pronounced apoptotic responses could be assessed in
colonic epithelia of PA-challenged IL10−/− mice only. This was paralleled by
enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion not only in the intestines, but
also in extra-intestinal compartments of IL10−/− mice as indicated by
increased concentrations of nitric oxide in the colon, IFN-γ in the MLN and
IL-12p70 in the spleen at day 14 p.i. Conclusions Under chronic intestinal
inflammatory conditions including IL10−/− colitis MDR PA-association results
in well-orchestrated TLR4-dependent immune responses both in intestinal and
extra-intestinal compartments. Further studies should unravel the underlying
molecular mechanisms in more detail
Epigenetic and phenotypic variability in populaitons of Schistosoma mansoni - a possible kick-off for adaptative host/parasite evolution
International audienceEpigenetics, the science of heritable but modifiable information, is now a well-accepted component of many research fields. Nevertheless, epigenetics has not yet found broad appreciation in one of the most exciting fields of biology: the comprehension of evolution. This is surprising, since the reason for the existence of this alternative information-transmitting system lies certainly in the evolutionary advantage it provides. Theoretical considerations support a model in which epigenetic mechanisms allow for increasing phenotypic variability and permit populations to explore the adaptive landscape without modifications of the genotype. The data presented here support the view that modulating the epigenotype of the human bloodfluke Schistosoma mansoni by treatment of larvae with histone deacetylase inhibitor leads indeed to an increase of phenotypic variability. It is therefore conceivable that environmentally induced changes in the epigenotype release new phenotypes on which selection can act and that this process is the first step in adaptive evolution
Geodesics of electrically and magnetically charged test particles in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om space-time: analytical solutions
We present the full set of analytical solutions of the geodesic equations of
charged test particles in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om space-time in terms of the
Weierstra{\ss} , and elliptic functions. Based on the
study of the polynomials in the and equations we characterize
the motion of test particles and discuss their properties. The motion of
charged test particles in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om space-time is compared with
the motion of neutral test particles in the field of a gravitomagnetic
monopole. Electrically or magnetically charged particles in the
Reissner-Nordstr\"om space-time with magnetic or electric charges,
respectively, move on cones similar to neutral test particles in the Taub-NUT
space-times
Supercritical biharmonic equations with power-type nonlinearity
The biharmonic supercritical equation , where and
, is studied in the whole space as well as in a
modified form with as right-hand-side with an additional
eigenvalue parameter in the unit ball, in the latter case together
with Dirichlet boundary conditions. As for entire regular radial solutions we
prove oscillatory behaviour around the explicitly known radial {\it singular}
solution, provided , where
is a further critical exponent, which was introduced in a recent work by
Gazzola and the second author. The third author proved already that these
oscillations do not occur in the complementing case, where .
Concerning the Dirichlet problem we prove existence of at least one singular
solution with corresponding eigenvalue parameter. Moreover, for the extremal
solution in the bifurcation diagram for this nonlinear biharmonic eigenvalue
problem, we prove smoothness as long as
Educational outcomes in extremely preterm children : neuropsychological correlates and predictors of attainment
This study assessed the impact of extremely preterm birth on academic attainment at 11 years of
age, investigated neuropsychological antecedents of attainment in reading and mathematics, and
examined early predictors of educational outcomes. Children born extremely preterm had significantly
poorer academic attainment and a higher prevalence of learning difficulties than their term
peers. General cognitive ability and specific deficits in visuospatial skills or phoneme deletion at 6
years were predictive of mathematics and reading attainment at 11 years in both extremely preterm
and term children. Phonological processing, attention, and executive functions at 6 years were also
associated with academic attainment in children born extremely preterm. Furthermore, social factors,
neonatal factors (necrotizing enterocolitis, breech delivery, abnormal cerebral ultrasound, early
breast milk provision), and developmental factors at 30 months (head circumference, cognitive development),
were independent predictors of educational outcomes at 11 years. Neonatal complications
combined with assessments of early cognitive function provide moderate prediction for educational
outcomes in children born extremely preterm
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