Sorghum: An Underutilized Cereal Whole Grain with the Potential to Assist in the Prevention of Chronic Disease

Sorghum is an important cereal grain food, grown globally, that is rich in nutrients, dietary fiber, and bioactive components yet is considered of low value to humans and often used as an animal feed. This review provides an overview of key sorghum grain components, including starches, dietary fiber, protein, lipids, and phytochemicals, with functional properties that have potential to impact on health. Though acknowledging the impact of the whole food will reflect the synergy between the components, studies of these components implicate effects on energy balance, glycemic control, lipids, gut microbiota, and cell-mediated immune responses, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. For these to be confirmed as contributory effects from sorghum consumption, evidence from quality randomized controlled trials is required. If proven effective, there may be a role for sorghum grain–based diets to assist in the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Future research addressing effects of sorghum consumption may help drive a paradigm shift from sorghum as a low value food to a potentially health-promoting, highly valued human grain food

Development and Delivery of a Quality Improvement Program to Reduce Antipsychotic Polytherapy

BACKGROUND: Although antipsychotic polytherapy is considered appropriate in limited circumstances (e.g., during a brief “cross-titration” period when switching medications), its increasing prevalence indicates use beyond this limited scope. Despite absence of support in the medical literature and higher costs, antipsychotic polytherapy is common in the treatment of schizophrenia and related disorders. The highest utilization of antipsychotic polytherapy occurs on psychiatric inpatient units, and in 2008, the Joint Commission released the first set of 7 hospital-based inpatient psychiatric services (HBIPS) core measures, 2 of which assess antipsychotic polytherapy at time of discharge. OBJECTIVE: To describe the effect on antipsychotic polytherapy at time of discharge of a 2-part quality improvement program composed of educational seminars and prescriber-specific feedback provided to 11 psychiatrists in 4 acute inpatient psychiatric units in 2 hospitals. METHODS: In a regional academic health care system, we determined the prevalence of antipsychotic monotherapy and polytherapy at time of discharge for all patients discharged on standing antipsychotic medications during 3 periods: (a) a 3-month baseline period (August 2006 through October 2006); (b) in July 2007, after delivery of 4 educational luncheon seminars to 11 psychiatrists from November 2006 through June 2007; and (c) in June 2008, following the provision of monthly prescriber-specific audit feedback from August 2007 through June 2008. To prepare nurses for the change and address possible safety concerns, an educational module was delivered to the psychiatric nursing staff at “best practice” day lectures held in the first quarter of 2007. General themes in the educational presentations included literature-based reviews of (a) safety and efficacy of antipsychotic polytherapy, (b) medical risks of antipsychotic medications, (c) specific versus nonspecific effects of these medications, and (d) effectiveness of first- versus second-generation antipsychotic medications. The prescriber-specific audit feedback was provided in paper form and masked the identity of the other prescribers. The chief of service reviewed audit feedback individually with each psychiatrist on a quarterly basis. The primary outcome measure was the percentage of patients prescribed 2 or more antipsychotics at discharge. A secondary outcome measure was the percentage of patients prescribed 3 or more antipsychotics at discharge. Differences in the primary outcome measure, comparing (a) July 2007 with the baseline period and (b) June 2008 with July 2007, were analyzed using Fisher’s Exact tests. The Cochran-Armitage test for trend was used to assess the relationship between the primary outcome measure and the extent of the intervention, measured as the 3 time periods. For the secondary outcome measure, the Goodman-Kruskal gamma test for ordered categorical data was calculated to examine the association between the proportion of patients receiving 1, 2, or 3 or more antipsychotics at discharge and the 3 time periods. RESULTS: The percentage of patients prescribed 2 or more antipsychotics at discharge declined from 33.9% at baseline (132 of 389 patients), to 21.8% after delivery of the educational modules (44 of 202 patients, P = 0.002), and to 12.2% after audit feedback (18 of 147 patients, P = 0.023; Cochran-Armitage test for trend P \u3c 0.001). When antipsychotic use was classified as 1, 2, or 3 or more antipsychotic medications, more extensive intervention was associated with decreased combination use (Goodman-Kruskal gamma = 0.39, P \u3c 0.001). In the baseline period, 5.9% of patients were prescribed 3 or more antipsychotics at discharge. Following completion of the educational and audit components, respectively, the proportion of patients prescribed 3 or more antipsychotics declined to 2.5% and then to 0.0%. CONCLUSION: Educational modules presented to psychiatrists and nurses in group settings were associated with a decrease in the rate of prescribing 2 or more antipsychotics at discharge from acute psychiatric inpatient units. Addition of monthly audit feedback provided to psychiatrists was associated with further decreases

Examining the Seyfert - Starburst Connection with Arcsecond Resolution Radio Continuum Observations

We compare the arcsecond-scale circumnuclear radio continuum properties between five Seyfert and five starburst galaxies, concentrating on the search for any structures that could imply a spatial or causal connection between the nuclear activity and a circumnuclear starburst ring. No evidence is found in the radio emission for a link between the triggering or feeding of nuclear activity and the properties of circumnuclear star formation. Conversely, there is no clear evidence of nuclear outflows or jets triggering activity in the circumnuclear rings of star formation. Interestingly, the difference in the angle between the apparent orientation of the most elongated radio emission and the orientation of the major axis of the galaxy is on average larger in Seyferts than in starburst galaxies, and Seyferts appear to have a larger physical size scale of the circumnuclear radio continuum emission. The concentration, asymmetry, and clumpiness parameters of radio continuum emission in Seyferts and starbursts are comparable, as are the radial profiles of radio continuum and near-infrared line emission. The circumnuclear star formation and supernova rates do not depend on the level of nuclear activity. The radio emission usually traces the near-infrared Br-gamma and H2 1-0 S(1) line emission on large spatial scales, but locally their distributions are different, most likely because of the effects of varying local magnetic fields and dust absorption and scattering.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Magnetic dipole moment of the Δ+\Delta^+(1232) from the γp→γπ0p\gamma p \to \gamma \pi^0 p reaction

The $\gamma p \to \gamma \pi^0 p$ reaction in the $\Delta(1232)$-resonance region is investigated as a method to access the $\Delta^+(1232)$ magnetic dipole moment. The calculations are performed within the context of an effective Lagrangian model containing both the $\Delta$-resonant mechanism and a background of non-resonant contributions to the $\gamma p \to \gamma \pi^0 p$ reaction. Results are shown both for existing and forthcoming $\gamma p \to \gamma \pi^0 p$ experiments. In particular, the sensitivity of unpolarized cross sections and photon asymmetries to the $\Delta^+$ magnetic dipole moment is displayed for those forthcoming data.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figure

Pluralitas Agama dalam Keluarga Jawa

Dalam masyarakat Jawa terdapat pemahaman dan pemaknaan sendiri terhadap agama yaitu â€agami ageming ajiâ€. Artinya apa pun agama yang dipeluk sama saja karena semua agama mengajarkan keselamatan. Oleh sebab itu menjadi sebuah fenomena menarik di kalangan masyarakat Jawa karena mereka cenderung lebih toleran dalam menyikapi perbedaaan dan keragaman beragama. Salah satu contoh masyarakat yang menghargai pluralitas agama adalah masyarakat Desa Getas Kaloran Temanggung. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menjelaskan tentang sejumlah keluarga yang dapat menerima pluralitas agama dan toleransi terhadap pluralitas agama dalam keluarga Jawa. Tulisan ini merupakan hasil penelitian yang menggunakan pendekatan deskriptif kualitatif. Subyek penelitian adalah masyarakat Desa Getas yang memiliki keragaman agama dalam keluarganya. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa masyarakat Desa Getas dapat menerima pluralitas agama karena menurut mereka agama adalah urusan pribadi seseorang jadi tidak ada pihak yang dapat memaksakan suatu keyakinan kepada individu lain. Pluralitas agama tersebut tidak menimbulkan masalah berarti karena masyarakat memiliki derajat toleransi yang tinggi antar anggota keluarga, yang ditunjukkan melalui saling menghargai dan mengormati dan tidak mencampuri urusan keagamaan orang lain, serta saling membantu antar anggota keluarga untuk memperlancar kegiatan ibadah masing – masing. In Javanese community there is a specific principle on the meaning of religion, namely â€agami ageming ajiâ€. This pilosophy means whatever religion people believe, it doesn’t matter because they all teach salvation. This is an interesting phenomenon among the Javanese community because they tend to be tolerant in dealing with differences and diversity of religion that happen in one household. The objective of this article is to discuss the practices of religious tolerance found in a rural community of Getas, Kaloran, Temanggung Central Java. Techniques of data collection is done by interviews and observation. The study subjects were villagers of Getas, which has a diversity of religion in families. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that the villagers embrace a tradition of religious pluralism because they think religion is one’s personal affairs so that no party can impose a conviction for another individual. The plurality of religion does not cause significant problems because the public has a high degree of tolerance among family members, which is demonstrated through mutual respect and attitude not to interfere in religious affairs of others, and mutual help among family members to facilitate the worship activities of their relatives

Uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) contributes to the basal proton conductance of brown adipose tissue mitochondria

Proton leak pathways uncouple substrate oxidation from ATP synthesis in mitochondria. These pathways are classified as basal (not regulated) or inducible (activated and inhibited). Previously it was found that over half of the basal proton conductance of muscle mitochondria was catalyzed by the adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT), an abundant mitochondrial anion carrier protein. To determine whether ANT is the unique protein catalyst, or one of many proteins that catalyze basal proton conductance, we measured proton leak kinetics in mitochondria isolated from brown adipose tissue (BAT). BAT can express another mitochondrial anion carrier, UCP1, at concentrations similar to ANT. Basal proton conductance was measured under conditions where UCP1 and ANT were catalytically inactive and was found to be lower in mitochondria from UCP1 knockout mice compared to wild-type. Ablation of another abundant inner membrane protein, nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase, had no effect on proton leak kinetics in mitochondria from liver, kidney or muscle, showing that basal proton conductance is not catalyzed by all membrane proteins. We identify UCP1 as a second protein propagating basal proton leak, lending support to the hypothesis that basal leak pathways are perpetrated by members of the mitochondrial anion carrier family but not by other mitochondrial inner membrane proteins

Microarray evidence of glutaminyl cyclase gene expression in melanoma: implications for tumor antigen specific immunotherapy

BACKGROUND: In recent years encouraging progress has been made in developing vaccine treatments for cancer, particularly with melanoma. However, the overall rate of clinically significant results has remained low. The present research used microarray datasets from previous investigations to examine gene expression patterns in cancer cell lines with the goal of better understanding the tumor microenvironment. METHODS: Principal Components Analyses with Promax rotational transformations were carried out with 90 cancer cell lines from 3 microarray datasets, which had been made available on the internet as supplementary information from prior publications. RESULTS: In each of the analyses a well defined melanoma component was identified that contained a gene coding for the enzyme, glutaminyl cyclase, which was as highly expressed as genes from a variety of well established biomarkers for melanoma, such as MAGE-3 and MART-1, which have frequently been used in clinical trials of melanoma vaccines. CONCLUSION: Since glutaminyl cyclase converts glutamine and glutamic acid into a pyroglutamic form, it may interfere with the tumor destructive process of vaccines using peptides having glutamine or glutamic acid at their N-terminals. Finding ways of inhibiting the activity of glutaminyl cyclase in the tumor microenvironment may help to increase the effectiveness of some melanoma vaccines

Coping Processes of Couples Experiencing Infertility

This study explored the coping processes of couples experiencing infertility. Participants included 420 couples referred for advanced reproductive treatments. Couples were divided into groups based on the frequency of their use of eight coping strategies. Findings suggest that coping processes, which are beneficial to individuals, may be problematic for one\u27s partner. Couples where men used high amounts of distancing, while their partner used low amounts of distancing, reported higher levels of distress when compared to couples in the other groups. Conversely, couples with women who used high amounts of self-controlling coping, when paired with men who used low amounts of self-controlling coping, reported higher levels of distress. Implications of study findings are discussed, and ideas for future research are proposed