Role Strains and Mood in Husbands of Women with Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Test of the Stress Process Model

Spouses of patients experience role strains as a result of informal caregiving, which has been associated with mood in numerous research studies. However, most research is on female caregivers, and little is known about the experience of male spouses, or of the caregiving provided to fibromyalgia patients. The Stress Process Model was used to examine mediators and moderators of the relation between role strain and mood among 135 husbands of women with fibromyalgia. Results indicated that the more activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living performed by the husband, the greater the role strain. Role strain was associated with worse mood. A test of the Stress Process Model supported a partial mediation model, where social support and emotion-focused coping partially mediated the relation between role strain and mood. No evidence was found for a moderation model or for problem-focused coping as a mediator. Our research suggests significant impairment and caregiving needs among this patient population, which in turn relates to the mood of the husband who is also an informal caregiver. Our findings also support the Stress Process Model in explaining the complexity of caregiving effects. The results of the study suggest avenues for intervention for individuals strained by their partners’ illness

Effect of Acute Antioxidant Consumption on Cardiac Baroreflex Sensitivity in Young Healthy Adults

There is an emerging body of evidence in animals indicating that elevated oxidative stress impairs baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) function, however studies in healthy humans have yielded equivocal results. One potential reason for this discrepancy is that previous studies have used individual antioxidant treatments (e.g., Vitamin C only) to investigate the effect of oxidative stress on BRS. Recent studies in healthy humans have demonstrated significant reductions in reactive oxygen species using an antioxidant cocktail (AOC; Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Co-enzyme Q10) suggesting the effectiveness of this treatment. Whether this AOC induced reduction in oxidative species affects BRS in young, healthy adults remains unknown. PURPOSE: We tested the hypothesis that AOC will improve cardiac BRS in young healthy adults. METHODS: Five young men were studied on two separate days: placebo (sugar pills) and AOC (2000 mg Vitamin C, 150 IU Vitamin E and 100 mg Co-enzyme Q10) performed in random order. Resting heart rate (ECG) and arterial blood pressure (automated sphygmomanometer and finger photoplethysmography) were measured 90 minutes after AOC or placebo (a time period this AOC has been shown to have peak effects on oxidative stress). Spontaneous cardiac BRS was determined for all sequences combined (overall BRS), and also separately for up (increase systolic blood pressure: increase R-R interval) and down (decrease systolic blood pressure: decrease R-R interval) sequences. RESULTS: Systolic blood pressure on AOC day tended to be lower relative to the placebo day (127 ± 4 vs. 131 ± 5; p=0.098). However, no differences in overall cardiac BRS were found between placebo and AOC (18.0 ± 2.7 vs.17.3 ± 2.6 ms/mmHg; p=0.59). Likewise, up sequences (17.02 ± 2.9 vs 14.04 ± 4.0 ms/mmHg; p=0.51) and down sequences (18.0 ± 2.7 placebo vs. 18.0 ± 2.6 ms/mmHg AOC; p=0.98) were not different between conditions. Equal number of sequences were found between the placebo and AOC days. CONCLUSION: These preliminary data suggest that antioxidant treatment does not affect resting cardiac BRS in young, healthy men

EVOLUTION—Taking Charge and Growing Stronger: The Design, Acceptability, and Feasibility of a Secondary Prevention Empowerment Intervention for Young Women Living with HIV

In the United States, youth of 13?24 years account for nearly a quarter of all new HIV infections, with almost 1000 young men and women being infected per month. Young women account for 20% of those new infections. This article describes the design, feasibility, and acceptability of a secondary prevention empowerment intervention for young women living with HIV entitled EVOLUTION: Young Women Taking Charge and Growing Stronger. The nine session intervention aimed to reduce secondary transmission by enhancing social and behavioral skills and knowledge pertaining to young women's physical, social, emotional, and sexual well-being, while addressing the moderating factors such as sexual inequality and power imbalances. Process evaluation data suggest that EVOLUTION is a highly acceptable and feasible intervention for young women living with HIV. Participants reported enjoying both the structure and comprehensive nature of the intervention. Both participants and interventionists reported that the intervention was highly relevant to the lives of young women living with HIV since it not only provided opportunities for them to broaden their knowledge and risk reduction skills in HIV, but it also addressed important areas that impact their daily lives such as stressors, relationships, and their emotional and social well-being. Thus, this study demonstrates that providing a gender-specific, comprehensive group-based empowerment intervention for young women living with HIV appears to be both feasible and acceptable.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140143/1/apc.2013.0085.pd

Patient Awareness and Approval for an Opt-Out Genomic Biorepository

Aim: In this study, we sought to assess patient awareness and perceptions of an opt-out biorepository. Materials & methods: We conducted exit interviews with adult patients and parents of pediatric patients having their blood drawn as part of their clinical care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (TN, USA). Results: 32.9% of all patients and parents of pediatric patients report having heard of the opt-out biorepository, while 92.4% approve of this research effort based on a brief description. Awareness that leftover blood could be used for research increased among adult patients during the study period, from 34.3 to 50.0%. Conclusion: These findings will inform ongoing assessments of the suitability of opt-out and opt-in methods as alternatives to written informed consent for inclusion in a biorepository

Protecting Endangered Species in the USA Requires Both Public and Private Land Conservation

Crucial to the successful conservation of endangered species is the overlap of their ranges with protected areas. We analyzed protected areas in the continental USA to assess the extent to which they covered the ranges of endangered tetrapods. We show that in 80% of ecoregions, protected areas offer equal (25%) or worse (55%) protection for species than if their locations were chosen at random. Additionally, we demonstrate that it is possible to achieve sufficient protection for 100% of the USA’s endangered tetrapods through targeted protection of undeveloped public and private lands. Our results highlight that the USA is likely to fall short of its commitments to halting biodiversity loss unless more considerable investments in both public and private land conservation are made

CRT-100.12 Risk of Bleeding Among Cangrelor-Treated Patients Administered Upstream P2Y12 Inhibitor Therapy

Introduction: Little is known about the use of cangrelor in patients with MI who are treated with an oral P2Y12 inhibitor upstream prior to cardiac catheterization. Methods: CAMEO (Cangrelor in Acute MI: Effectiveness and Outcomes) is a 12-hospital observational registry studying platelet inhibition for MI patients undergoing cardiac cath. Upstream oral P2Y12 inhibition was defined as receipt of an oral P2Y12 inhibitor within 24 hours prior to hospitalization or in-hospital prior to cath. Among cangrelor-treated patients, we compared bleeding after cangrelor use through 7 days post-discharge between patients with and w/o upstream oral P2Y12 inhibitor exposure using logistic regression. We examined rates of bleeding among patients with a shorter (\u3c1 hour) vs. longer (1-3 hours or \u3e3 hours) duration between the last oral dose and cangrelor start. Results: Among 1,775 cangrelor-treated MI patients, 433 (24.4%) had upstream oral P2Y12 inhibitor treatment prior to cath. Of these, 165 patients (38%) started cangrelor within 1 hour, 109 (25%) between 1-3 hours, and 134 (31%) \u3e 3 hours after the in-hospital oral P2Y12 inhibitor dose. Cangrelor-treated patients who received upstream treatment were more likely to have a history of prior PCI, MI, PAD, and diabetes and to be clopidogrel-treated (all p\u3c0.01) compared w/o upstream treatment. There was no significant difference in risk of bleeding among cangrelor-treated patients with and w/o upstream oral P2Y12 inhibitor exposure (Table). While bleeding events were higher in patients with longer delays to cangrelor initiation, bleeding risk was not significant after adjustment (Table). Conclusions: Bleeding risk was not observed to be higher in cangrelor-treated patients after upstream oral P2Y12 inhibitor exposure compared with patients treated with cangrelor w/o upstream oral P2Y12 inhibitor exposure

Optical Propagation and Communication

Contains an introduction and reports on three research projects.Maryland Procurement Office Contract MDA 903-94-C6071Maryland Procurement Office Contract MDA 904-93-C4169U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-93-1-0604U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-96-1-0028U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAH04-95-1-0494U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-95-1-0505U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-96-1-0126U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAH04-93-G-0399U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAH04-93-G-018

Loss of CIC promotes mitotic dysregulation and chromosome segregation defects

Background: CIC is a transcriptional repressor inactivated by loss-of-function mutations in several cancer types, including gliomas, lung cancers, and gastric adenocarcinomas. CIC alterations and/or loss of CIC activity have been associated with poorer outcomes and more aggressive phenotypes across cancer types, which is consistent with the notion that CIC functions as a tumour suppressor across a wide range of contexts. Results: Using mammalian cells lacking functional CIC, we found that CIC deficiency was associated with chromosome segregation (CS) defects, resulting in chromosomal instability and aneuploidy. These CS defects were associated with transcriptional dysregulation of spindle assembly checkpoint and cell cycle regulators. We also identified novel CIC interacting proteins, including core members of the SWI/SNF complex, and showed that they cooperatively regulated the expression of genes involved in cell cycle regulation. Finally, we showed that loss of CIC and ARID1A cooperatively increased CS defects and reduced cell viability. Conclusions: Our study ascribes a novel role to CIC as an important regulator of the cell cycle and demonstrates that loss of CIC can lead to chromosomal instability and aneuploidy in human and murine cells through defects in CS, providing insight into the underlying mechanisms of CIC's increasingly apparent role as a "pan-cancer" tumour suppressor