Cytotoxic effects of asbestos fibres on P388D1 cells and macrophages in vitro

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D50465/84 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Organizational readiness for wellness promotion - a survey of 100 African American church leaders in South Los Angeles.

BackgroundChurches are an important asset and a trusted resource in the African American community. We needed a better understanding of their readiness to engage in health promotion before launching a large-scale health promotion effort in partnership with South Los Angeles churches.MethodsIn 2017, we conducted surveys with leaders of 100 churches. Surveys were conducted face-to-face (32%) or by telephone (68%) with senior pastors (one per church) and lasted on average 48 min. We compared small (less than 50 active members), medium (50-99 active members) and large churches (at least 100 active members), and assessed which church characteristics were associated with the implementation of wellness activities.ResultsMedium and large churches conducted significantly more wellness activities than small churches and were more likely to have wellness champions and health policies. Regardless of church size, insufficient budget was the most commonly cited barrier to implement wellness activities (85%). A substantial proportion of churches was not sure how to implement wellness activities (61%) and lacked volunteers (58%). Forty-five percent of the variation in the number of wellness activities in the last 12 months was explained by church characteristics, such as size of congregation, number of paid staff, leadership engagement, having a wellness ministry and barriers.ConclusionsMany churches in South Los Angeles are actively engaged in health promotion activities, despite a general lack of resources. We recommend a comprehensive assessment of church characteristics in intervention studies to enable the use of strategies (e.g., stratification by size) that reduce imbalances that could mask or magnify study outcomes. Our data provide empirical support for the inner settings construct of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research in the context of health promotion in African American churches

Global assessment of exposure to faecal contamination through drinking water based on a systematic review

Objectives: To estimate exposure to faecal contamination through drinking water as indicated by levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli) or thermotolerant coliform (TTC) in water sources. Methods: We estimated coverage of different types of drinking water source based on household surveys and censuses using multilevel modelling. Coverage data were combined with water quality studies that assessed E. coli or TTC including those identified by a systematic review (n = 345). Predictive models for the presence and level of contamination of drinking water sources were developed using random effects logistic regression and selected covariates. We assessed sensitivity of estimated exposure to study quality, indicator bacteria and separately considered nationally randomised surveys. Results: We estimate that 1.8 billion people globally use a source of drinking water which suffers from faecal contamination, of these 1.1 billion drink water that is of at least 'moderate' risk (>10 E. coli or TTC per 100 ml). Data from nationally randomised studies suggest that 10% of improved sources may be 'high' risk, containing at least 100 E. coli or TTC per 100 ml. Drinking water is found to be more often contaminated in rural areas (41%, CI: 31%-51%) than in urban areas (12%, CI: 8-18%), and contamination is most prevalent in Africa (53%, CI: 42%-63%) and South-East Asia (35%, CI: 24%-45%). Estimates were not sensitive to the exclusion of low quality studies or restriction to studies reporting E. coli. Conclusions: Microbial contamination is widespread and affects all water source types, including piped supplies. Global burden of disease estimates may have substantially understated the disease burden associated with inadequate water services

Pet dogs improve family functioning and reduce anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder

Jessica Hardiman*†, Richard Mills‡ , PAWS Project Team† and Daniel Mills* * University of Lincoln, School of Life Sciences, Joseph Banks Laboratories, UK † Dogs for the Disables, Frances Hay Centre, Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK ‡ Research Autism, Adam House, London, UK ABSTRACT There is increasing evidence to suggest that dogs are beneficial for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in therapy sessions, and anecdotal reports suggest that dogs may have wider benefits, in a family setting. This study investigated the effect of dog ownership on family functioning and child anxiety. Using a validated scale of family strengths and weaknesses (Brief Version of the Family Assessment Measure-III [General Scale]), we compared parents of children with ASD who had recently acquired a pet dog (n = 42, Intervention group) with a similar group of parents not acquiring a dog (n = 28, Control group) at matched time points. A sub-population (n =14 acquiring a dog, n = 26 controls) completed a parental-report measure of child anxiety (Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale). The primary carer completed the scales via telephone at Baseline (up to 17 weeks before acquiring a dog), Postintervention (3–10 weeks after acquisition), and Follow-up (25–40 weeks after acquisition). Over time, scores for family functioning showed significant improvements (reduced family weaknesses, increased strengths) in the dog-owning compared with the non-dog owning group. In comparison with the non-dog owning group, anxiety scores in the dog-owning group reduced by a greater percentage, most notably in the domains of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (26% greater decrease), Panic Attack and Agoraphobia (24%), Social Phobia (22%), and Separation Anxiety (22%). The results illustrate the potential of pet dogs to improve whole family functioning and child anxiety

Albatross: Rolling on a Sea of Data

Big deals and journal package incentives are an increasing reality for academic libraries, yet the solutions for evaluating these package scenarios in a timely, cost-effective manner are few. The proliferation of these offers requires the examination of numerous and complex questions. There is a need to know the utilization and strength of a package, the inflation costs for various titles and packages, and the ability to identify cost trends. A team of librarians at Virginia Tech created a solution for addressing these concerns and for managing their journal data by designing and developing an in-house database. Albatross, named in reference to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, is a database created to gather journal usage data and cost data in a central environment where the data can then be queried to use in return-on-investment analysis and journal package assessments

Counting niches: Abundance- by- trait patterns reveal niche partitioning in a Neotropical forest

Tropical forests challenge us to understand biodiversity, as numerous seemingly similar species persist on only a handful of shared resources. Recent ecological theory posits that biodiversity is sustained by a combination of species differences reducing interspecific competition and species similarities increasing time to competitive exclusion. Together, these mechanisms counterintuitively predict that competing species should cluster by traits, in contrast with traditional expectations of trait overdispersion. Here, we show for the first time that trees in a tropical forest exhibit a clustering pattern. In a 50- ha plot on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, species abundances exhibit clusters in two traits connected to light capture strategy, suggesting that competition for light structures community composition. Notably, we find four clusters by maximum height, quantitatively supporting the classical grouping of Neotropical woody plants into shrubs, understory, midstory, and canopy layers.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155460/1/ecy3019.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155460/2/ecy3019-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155460/3/ecy3019_am.pd

Any health care reform must allow continuation of robust Medicaid Buy-In programs for working people with disabilities

National health care reform must meet the unique health care needs of people with disabilities. However, obtaining health care coverage for a person with disabilities can be challenging in an employer-based health insurance environment. The final healthcare reform act must ensure that working people with disabilities retain the options they currently have to participate; any legislation should embed Medicaid Buy-in cocerage and provide states the flexibility they need to support individuals with disabilities in employmen

Cytotoxic effect of asbestos on macrophages in different activation states

The in vitro effects due to phagocytosis of asbestos by mouse peritoneal macrophages in various stages of activation have been compared. The amphiboles proved relatively inert; chrysotile, however, expressed a greater degree of cytotoxicity toward those populations of macrophages induced in vivo with asbestos, than toward any of the other populations of cells. These results are compared with data concerning the enzyme release from the different populations of macrophages following phagocytosis of asbestos. The results indicate that those macrophages that have been exposed to a prior stimulation of either amphibole or serpentine asbestos in vivo are particularly sensitive to exposure to a second dose of a toxic fiber