Explaining disparities in colorectal cancer screening among five Asian ethnic groups: A population-based study in California

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) indicate that levels and temporal trends in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening prevalence vary among Asian American groups; however, the reasons for these differences have not been fully investigated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using CHIS 2001, 2003 and 2005 data, we conducted hierarchical regression analyses progressively controlling for demographic characteristics, English proficiency and access to care in an attempt to identify factors explaining differences in screening prevalence and trends among Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese Americans (N = 4,188).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After controlling for differences in gender and age, all Asian subgroups had significantly lower odds of having ever received screening in 2001 than the reference group of Japanese Americans. In addition, Korean Americans were the only subgroup that had a statistically significant decline in screening prevalence from 2001 to 2005 compared to the trend among Japanese Americans. After controlling for differences in education, marital status, employment status and federal poverty level, Korean Americans were the only group that had significantly lower screening prevalence than Japanese Americans in 2001, and their trend to 2005 remained significantly depressed. After controlling for differences in English proficiency and access to care, screening prevalences in 2001 were no longer significantly different among the Asian subgroups, but the trend among Korean Americans from 2001 to 2005 remained significantly depressed. Korean and Vietnamese Americans were less likely than other groups to report a recent doctor recommendation for screening and more likely to cite a lack of health problems as a reason for not obtaining screening.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Differences in CRC screening trends among Asian ethnic groups are not entirely explained by differences in demographic characteristics, English proficiency and access to care. A better understanding of mutable factors such as rates of doctor recommendation and health beliefs will be crucial for designing culturally appropriate interventions to promote CRC screening.</p

Size Doesn't Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology

notes: As the primary author, O’Malley drafted the paper, and gathered and analysed data (scientific papers and talks). Conceptual analysis was conducted by both authors.publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePhilosophers of biology, along with everyone else, generally perceive life to fall into two broad categories, the microbes and macrobes, and then pay most of their attention to the latter. ‘Macrobe’ is the word we propose for larger life forms, and we use it as part of an argument for microbial equality. We suggest that taking more notice of microbes – the dominant life form on the planet, both now and throughout evolutionary history – will transform some of the philosophy of biology’s standard ideas on ontology, evolution, taxonomy and biodiversity. We set out a number of recent developments in microbiology – including biofilm formation, chemotaxis, quorum sensing and gene transfer – that highlight microbial capacities for cooperation and communication and break down conventional thinking that microbes are solely or primarily single-celled organisms. These insights also bring new perspectives to the levels of selection debate, as well as to discussions of the evolution and nature of multicellularity, and to neo-Darwinian understandings of evolutionary mechanisms. We show how these revisions lead to further complications for microbial classification and the philosophies of systematics and biodiversity. Incorporating microbial insights into the philosophy of biology will challenge many of its assumptions, but also give greater scope and depth to its investigations

Evidence of octupole-phonons at high spin in 207Pb

A lifetime measurement of the 19/2 state in Pb has been performed using the Recoil Distance Doppler-Shift (RDDS) method. The nuclei of interest were produced in multi-nucleon transfer reactions induced by a Pb beam impinging on a Mo enriched target. The beam-like nuclei were detected and identified in terms of their atomic mass number in the VAMOS++ spectrometer while the prompt γ rays were detected by the AGATA tracking array. The measured large reduced transition probability B(E3,19/2→13/2)=40(8) W.u. is the first indication of the octupole phonon at high spin in Pb. An analysis in terms of a particle-octupole-vibration coupling model indicates that the measured B(E3) value in Pb is compatible with the contributions from single-phonon and single particle E3 as well as E3 strength arising from the double-octupole-phonon 6 state, all adding coherently. A crucial aspect of the coupling model, namely the strong mixing between single-hole and the phonon-hole states, is confirmed in a realistic shell-model calculation.Peer Reviewe

Abelhas Euglossini (Apidae) de áreas de Mata Atlântica: abundância, riqueza e aspectos biológicos Euglossine bees (Apidae) from Atlantic Forest sites: abundance, richness, and biological aspects

<abstract language="eng">Collection data of Euglossinae males from Parque Estadual do Rio Doce (PERD) and Viçosa, both areas with remnants of Atlantic Rain Forest (Mata Atlântica) in Minas Gerais state, Brazil are presented. Comparisons made among three fragments with different sizes and states of disturbance from Viçosa showed differences in abundance of most common species and apparently, Eulaema nigrita Lepeletir, 1841 can be an useful indicator of disturbed sites. Some populations of euglossine bees seems to be restrict to a forest fragment, there being few or no flow of individuals or species of one fragment to another, even when they are only 1 km apart. 15 species of euglossines were sampled in PERD, and the most abundant was Eulaema cingulata (Fabricius, 1804). At Viçosa, 10 species were sampled, E. nigrita was the predominant one. Methyl salicylate attracted no males at both sites, in spite of large numbers of species and individuals sampled using this bait in other regions. The majority of species and individuals were collected in the rainy season. Only 0,58% of sampled males carried orchid pollinia (Catasetum Richard, Cycnoches Lindley and Coryanthes Hook) on their bodies. Emergence data of four species of Euglossa Latreille, 1802 reared from trap nests suggest that sex ratio in Euglossini is not a constant within the tribe. A list of 57 euglossine species now known to occur in Mata Atlântica are offered