A Survey of Ramp and Stair Use among Older Adults

Forty-three community-dwelling adults aged 57 to 95 participated in survey exploring characteristics of ramp use by older ambulant people. Twenty-three respondents said they ascended ramps instead of stairs most of the time, and 14 said they ascended ramps some of the time. Similar numbers were reported for descent. Overall, respondents felt less fatigued, less likely to trip, and more comfortable when using ramps rather than stairs for ascending one level. When descending one level, balance, tripping, and comfort were the strongest determinants of ramp use. Respondents indicated that descent was more problematic, particularly in regard to balance and tripping. The presence of handrails often determined the choice of route. Results from this survey provided the basis for an experiment evaluating the abilities of older people to traverse ramps of various slopes. The ADA Accessibility Guidelines implicitly assume that a ramp accommodates everyone. This study indicates that entrances should have both ramps and stairs.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Protease-Activated Receptor 1 Contributes to Angiotensin II-Induced Cardiovascular Remodeling and Inflammation

Angiotensin II (Ang II) plays an important role in cardiovascular disease. It also leads to the activation of coagulation. The coagulation protease thrombin induces cellular responses by activating protease activated receptor 1 (PAR-1). We investigated if PAR-1 contributes to Ang II-induced cardiovascular remodeling and inflammation

Different dimensionality trends in the Landau damping of magnons in iron, cobalt and nickel: time dependent density functional study

We study the Landau damping of ferromagnetic magnons in Fe, Co, and Ni as the dimensionality of the system is reduced from three to two. We resort to the \textit{ab initio} linear response time dependent density functional theory in the adiabatic local spin density approximation. The numerical scheme is based on the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green's function method. The key points of the theoretical approach and the implementation are discussed. We investigate the transition metals in three different forms: bulk phases, free-standing thin films and thin films supported on a nonmagnetic substrate. We demonstrate that the dimensionality trends in Fe and Ni are opposite: in Fe the transition from bulk bcc crystal to Fe/Cu(100) film reduces the damping whereas in Ni/Cu(100) film the attenuation increases compared to bulk fcc Ni. In Co, the strength of the damping depends relatively weakly on the sample dimensionality. We explain the difference in the trends on the basis of the underlying electronic structure. The influence of the substrate on the spin-wave damping is analyzed by employing Landau maps representing wave-vector resolved spectral density of the Stoner excitations.Comment: 32 pages, 21 figures, to be submitted to PR

Cytoplasmic PML promotes TGF-β-associated epithelial–mesenchymal transition and invasion in prostate cancer

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key event that is involved in the invasion and dissemination of cancer cells. Although typically considered as having tumour-suppressive properties, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signalling is altered during cancer and has been associated with the invasion of cancer cells and metastasis. In this study, we report a previously unknown role for the cytoplasmic promyelocytic leukaemia (cPML) tumour suppressor in TGF-β signalling-induced regulation of prostate cancer-associated EMT and invasion. We demonstrate that cPML promotes a mesenchymal phenotype and increases the invasiveness of prostate cancer cells. This event is associated with activation of TGF-β canonical signalling pathway through the induction of Sma and Mad related family 2 and 3 (SMAD2 and SMAD3) phosphorylation. Furthermore, the cytoplasmic localization of promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) is mediated by its nuclear export in a chromosomal maintenance 1 (CRM1)-dependent manner. This was clinically tested in prostate cancer tissue and shown that cytoplasmic PML and CRM1 co-expression correlates with reduced disease-specific survival. In summary, we provide evidence of dysfunctional TGF-β signalling occurring at an early stage in prostate cancer. We show that this disease pathway is mediated by cPML and CRM1 and results in a more aggressive cancer cell phenotype. We propose that the targeting of this pathway could be therapeutically exploited for clinical benefit

MTSS1 and SCAMP1 cooperate to prevent invasion in breast cancer

Cell–cell adhesions constitute the structural “glue” that retains cells together and contributes to tissue organisation and physiological function. The integrity of these structures is regulated by extracellular and intracellular signals and pathways that act on the functional units of cell adhesion such as the cell adhesion molecules/adhesion receptors, the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and the cytoplasmic plaque/peripheral membrane proteins. In advanced cancer, these regulatory pathways are dysregulated and lead to cell–cell adhesion disassembly, increased invasion and metastasis. The Metastasis suppressor protein 1 (MTSS1) plays a key role in the maintenance of cell–cell adhesions and its loss correlates with tumour progression in a variety of cancers. However, the mechanisms that regulate its function are not well-known. Using a system biology approach, we unravelled potential interacting partners of MTSS1. We found that the secretory carrier-associated membrane protein 1 (SCAMP1), a molecule involved in post-Golgi recycling pathways and in endosome cell membrane recycling, enhances Mtss1 anti-invasive function in HER2+/ER−/PR− breast cancer, by promoting its protein trafficking leading to elevated levels of RAC1-GTP and increased cell–cell adhesions. This was clinically tested in HER2 breast cancer tissue and shown that loss of MTSS1 and SCAMP1 correlates with reduced disease-specific survival. In summary, we provide evidence of the cooperative roles of MTSS1 and SCAMP1 in preventing HER2+/ER−/PR− breast cancer invasion and we show that the loss of Mtss1 and Scamp1 results in a more aggressive cancer cell phenotype

Human Resource Functioning in an Information Society: Practical Suggestions and Future Implications

This paper explores the state human resources management in an information society. As technology rapidly changes organizations and human resources professionals need to be mindful of the impact that can have on the every day operations in human resources departments. As human resource management is involved in the process of recruitment, selection, and retention of new and current employees, they can play a significant role in maintaining a competitive advantage in the knowledge-based market. Thus, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the practical and strategic steps that those in the human resources field can take to facilitate success in this changing economy, as well as to warn against the implications and consequences of failing to meet these important challenges.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Spin dynamics from time-dependent density functional perturbation theory

We present a new method to model spin-wave excitations in magnetic solids, based on the Liouville-Lanczos approach to time-dependent density functional perturbation theory. This method avoids computationally expensive sums over empty states and naturally deals with the coupling between spin and charge fluctuations, without ever explicitly computing charge-density susceptibilities. Spin-wave excitations are obtained with one Lanczos chain per magnon wave-number and polarization, avoiding the solution of the linear-response problem for every individual value of frequency, as other state-of-the-art approaches do. Our method is validated by computing magnon dispersions in bulk Fe and Ni, resulting in agreement with previous theoretical studies in both cases, and with experiment in the case of Fe. The disagreement in the case of Ni is also comparable with that of previous computations

Stress-Induced Reinstatement of Drug Seeking: 20 Years of Progress

In human addicts, drug relapse and craving are often provoked by stress. Since 1995, this clinical scenario has been studied using a rat model of stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. Here, we first discuss the generality of stress-induced reinstatement to different drugs of abuse, different stressors, and different behavioral procedures. We also discuss neuropharmacological mechanisms, and brain areas and circuits controlling stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. We conclude by discussing results from translational human laboratory studies and clinical trials that were inspired by results from rat studies on stress-induced reinstatement. Our main conclusions are (1) The phenomenon of stress-induced reinstatement, first shown with an intermittent footshock stressor in rats trained to self-administer heroin, generalizes to other abused drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine, and alcohol, and is also observed in the conditioned place preference model in rats and mice. This phenomenon, however, is stressor specific and not all stressors induce reinstatement of drug seeking. (2) Neuropharmacological studies indicate the involvement of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), noradrenaline, dopamine, glutamate, kappa/dynorphin, and several other peptide and neurotransmitter systems in stress-induced reinstatement. Neuropharmacology and circuitry studies indicate the involvement of CRF and noradrenaline transmission in bed nucleus of stria terminalis and central amygdala, and dopamine, CRF, kappa/dynorphin, and glutamate transmission in other components of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system (ventral tegmental area, medial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens). (3) Translational human laboratory studies and a recent clinical trial study show the efficacy of alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists in decreasing stress-induced drug craving and stress-induced initial heroin lapse