At the Epicenter of a Community-wide Effort to Improve Public Health

This paper describes the All Into Health Project implemented between 2010 and 2012 as part of the Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative to address smoking in Orange County, Florida. The All Into Health Project exemplifies what can be accomplished through a combination of leadership and community organization. This demonstration project may inspire initiatives elsewhere that can lead to Florida becoming a comprehensive tobacco- free state

What is the best medical therapy for new-onset type 2 diabetes?

Sulfonylureas, metformin, thiazolidinediones, and non-sulfonylurea secretagogues differ little in their ability to decrease glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels when used as initial monotherapy for diabetes mellitus type 2 (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, based on systematic reviews); α-glucosidase inhibitors may also be as effective (SOR: B, based on systematic reviews with inconsistent results). Metformin is generally indicated in obese patients because it improves all-cause mortality and diabetes related outcomes (SOR: B, based on a single high-quality randomized controlled trial [RCT]). Insulin is generally not recommended as an initial agent (SOR: C, expert opinion)

Attitudes Toward Computers: The Impact on Performance

The proliferation of personal computers throughout business environments will continue to place demands on workers at all levels to develop proficient computer skills. A variety of training mechanisms exist that allow workers to introduce, develop, and hone any needed computer skills. Identical training mechanisms, however, are nonetheless likely to result in individuals with different computer abilities (Hicks, Hicks, and Senn, 1991). Existing researchhas examined differences in demographic factors (Dambrot, Silling, and Zook; 1988) as well as differences in attitudes (Torkzadeh and Koufteros, 1993). Much of the research that has examined this area has focused on the changes in attitudes (e.g. computeranxiety) that occur due to a training intervention. Research to date, however, has not extended this effect of training on attitudes as well as to performance. The theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) suggests that attitudes will influence behavior, including performance. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) ( Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw, 1989) also suggests that attitudes towards use directly influence intentions to use the computer and ultimately actual computer use. Davis et al. demonstrate that an individual\u27s initial attitudes regarding a computer\u27s ease of use and a computer\u27s usefulness influence attitudes toward use. In addition to the attitudes of computer ease of use and computer usefulness, a number of other attitudes related to computer use have been identified in the research literature. Items measuring attitudes examined in this study have been previously defined and used in other studies. The attitudes and measures used in this study were perceived usefulness , perceived ease of use (Davis et al. 1989), computer anxiety (Loyd and Gressard, 1984), anticipation of computer use (Heinssen, Glass, and Knight, 1987), fear of computer use (Heinssen et al.,1987), and attitude toward previous academic achievement. Computer anxiety has been an attitude of primary focus that corresponds closely to the concept of math anxiety (Torkzadeh and Angulo, 1992). Although computer anxiety has definitions ranging from psychological, physical or sociological discomfort to fear. The definition of anxiety in this research referred to the psychological discomfort that might come from using a computer. This discomfort might come from using something unknown, concern over making mistakes or destroying pertinent information. In addition to measuring computer anxiety, we also wanted to measure computer fear. Although extreme anxiety might become fear, there is a distinction between the two constructs. Fear was defined as a trepidation that computers would change something about the individual, such as making the person too dependent on computers. Anticipation was defined as comfort with the idea of learning and using computer skills (Harrison and Ranier, 1992). Academic achievement provided a perceived measure of a subject\u27s past performance in both math and other academic endeavors. The perceived ease of use and usefulness constructs have been well established in the work by Davis et al. (Davis, 1989; Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw, 1992). Perceived usefulness was defined as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance . Perceived ease of use was defined as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort (Davis, 1989, pg. 320)

Exploring Mindfulness as an Illness Pathway Between Eating Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

Eating disorders (EDs) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have high rates of comorbidity. One shared protective factor for PTSD and ED symptoms is mindfulness. However, research on how mindfulness relates to ED-PTSD comorbidity is limited. Thus, the current study used network analysis to explore aspects of mindfulness as illness pathways bridging (i.e., connecting) symptoms among comorbid ED and PTSD symptoms. We hypothesized that mindfulness would negatively relate to ED and PTSD symptoms. Participants (N=709 undergraduate students) completed self-report ED, PTSD, and mindfulness measures. Network analysis was conducted using R. Five symptoms were identified as being the most central. These were, in order of strength, being able to describe one’s feelings, not criticizing oneself for emotions, difficulty concentrating, feeling very upset after being reminded of a stressful experience, and desire to lose weight. Bridge expected influence (EI) was stable. We identified three bridge symptoms: noticing bodily sensations while walking, not criticizing oneself for emotions, and rarely running on automatic. Noticing bodily sensations while walking was positively connected to ED and PTSD symptoms, while not criticizing oneself for emotions and rarely running on automatic were negatively connected to ED and PTSD symptoms. Awareness of bodily sensations may heighten the co-occurrence of ED and PTSD symptoms, while not criticizing one’s emotions and rarely running on automatic may weaken the co-occurrence of these symptoms. Promoting certain aspects of mindfulness may be effective in weakening relations among co-occurring PTSD and ED symptoms and may enhance better treatment outcomes. Further investigation could focus on the impacts of these relationships longitudinally

Body Trust Moderates the Relationship between Physical & Emotional Awareness & Eating Disorders in Adolescents

Eating disorders (EDs) have a complex relationship with interoceptive awareness (i.e., awareness of inner bodily sensations; IA). Research suggests that physical hyper-awareness and tendency to distract from bodily sensations are positively associated with ED symptoms, and body trust (i.e., experiencing one’s body as safe and trustworthy) is negatively associated with ED symptoms (Lattimore et al, 2017; Merwin et al, 2010; Duffy et al, 2020). While physical awareness (PA) and emotional awareness (EA) have been shown in nonclinical samples to be beneficial for affect regulation, similar facets of IA are associated with higher symptomatology in ED samples (Price & Hooven 2018). As such, PA/EA may not be associated with ED symptoms independently, but rather may interact with the need to distract or lack of trust in one’s body to increase ED symptoms. The current study aims to elucidate whether body trust and tendencies towards distraction moderate the relationships between physical/emotional awareness and ED symptoms. Adolescent girls (N=357) completed self-reported ED and IA measures. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that PA, distraction, and body trust were all uniquely and positively associated with ED symptoms (psp=.125). Body trust moderated the relationship between both PA/EA and ED symptoms (ps=.001, -.049), such that lower body trust was associated with a stronger association between PA/EA and ED symptoms. However, distraction did not moderate the relationship between PA or EA and ED symptoms (ps\u3e.288). These findings suggest that while both distraction and body trust are significantly correlated with ED symptoms, only body trust moderates the relationship between emotional/physical awareness and ED symptoms. Understanding these relationships may aid in the creation of treatment interventions for adolescents with EDs

Transient PP2A inhibition alleviates normal tissue stem cell susceptibility to cell death during radiotherapy

Abstract Unintended outcomes of cancer therapy include ionizing radiation (IR)-induced stem cell depletion, diminished regenerative capacity, and accelerated aging. Stem cells exhibit attenuated DNA damage response (DDR) and are hypersensitive to IR, as compared to differentiated non-stem cells. We performed genomic discovery research to compare stem cells to differentiated cells, which revealed Phosphoprotein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) as a potential contributor to susceptibility in stem cells. PP2A dephosphorylates pATM, γH2AX, pAkt etc. and is believed to play dual role in regulating DDR and apoptosis. Although studied widely in cancer cells, the role of PP2A in normal stem cell radiosensitivity is unknown. Here we demonstrate that constitutively high expression and radiation induction of PP2A in stem cells plays a role in promoting susceptibility to irradiation. Transient inhibition of PP2A markedly restores DNA repair, inhibits apoptosis, and enhances survival of stem cells, without affecting differentiated non-stem and cancer cells. PP2Ai-mediated stem cell radioprotection was demonstrated in murine embryonic, adult neural, intestinal, and hematopoietic stem cells

Availability of coal resources for mining in Illinois : Newton and Princeville quadrangles, Jasper, Peoria, and Stark Counties

U.S. Geological Survey under assistance award No. 1434-94-A-1266Ope

Are All These Rules Necessary? Extension Pesticide Programming with a Regulatory Purpose

Indiana\u27s private applicator recertification program includes state-required, pesticide regulatory topics. This article explores the relationship between Indiana private applicators\u27 dual attitudes towards pesticide handling practices and the pesticide regulations that mandate those practices. Newly recertified private applicators in northwest Indiana were surveyed by a mailed questionnaire. Respondents valued responsible pesticide management practices, but were collectively undecided about regulatory oversight of their pesticide handling activities. These results suggest that Extension pesticide safety educators involved in compliance education may improve their training curriculum by including material on the underlying benefits, personal and social, of pesticide regulation

Histone H3 lysine 9 acetylation obstructs ATM activation and promotes ionizing radiation sensitivity in normal stem cells

Dynamic spatiotemporal modification of chromatin around DNA damage is vital for efficient DNA repair. Normal stem cells exhibit an attenuated DNA damage response (DDR), inefficient DNA repair, and high radiosensitivity. The impact of unique chromatin characteristics of stem cells in DDR regulation is not yet recognized. We demonstrate that murine embryonic stem cells (ES) display constitutively elevated acetylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9ac) and low H3K9 tri-methylation (H3K9me3). DNA damage-induced local deacetylation of H3K9 was abrogated in ES along with the subsequent H3K9me3. Depletion of H3K9ac in ES by suppression of monocytic leukemia zinc finger protein (MOZ) acetyltransferase improved ATM activation, DNA repair, diminished irradiation-induced apoptosis, and enhanced clonogenic survival. Simultaneous suppression of the H3K9 methyltransferase Suv39h1 abrogated the radioprotective effect of MOZ inhibition, suggesting that high H3K9ac promoted by MOZ in ES cells obstructs local upregulation of H3K9me3 and contributes to muted DDR and increased radiosensitivity

Increased Gene Expression of RUNX2 and SOX9 in Mesenchymal Circulating Progenitors Is Associated with Autophagy during Physical Activity

Lack of physical exercise is considered an important risk factor for chronic diseases. On the contrary, physical exercise reduces the morbidity rates of obesity, diabetes, bone disease, and hypertension. In order to gain novel molecular and cellular clues, we analyzed the effects of physical exercise on differentiation of mesenchymal circulating progenitor cells (M-CPCs) obtained from runners. We also investigated autophagy and telomerase-related gene expression to evaluate the involvement of specific cellular functions in the differentiation process. We performed cellular and molecular analyses in M-CPCs, obtained by a depletion method, of 22 subjects before (PRE RUN) and after (POST RUN) a half marathon performance. In order to prove our findings, we performed also in vitro analyses by testing the effects of runners' sera on a human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem (hBM-MSC) cell line. PCR array analyses of PRE RUN versus POST RUN M-CPC total RNAs put in evidence several genes which appeared to be modulated by physical activity. Our results showed that physical exercise promotes differentiation. Osteogenesis-related genes as RUNX2, MSX1, and SPP1 appeared to be upregulated after the run; data showed also increased levels of BMP2 and BMP6 expressions. SOX9, COL2A1, and COMP gene enhanced expression suggested the induction of chondrocytic differentiation as well. The expression of telomerase-associated genes and of two autophagy-related genes, ATG3 and ULK1, was also affected and correlated positively with MSC differentiation. These data highlight an attractive cellular scenario, outlining the role of autophagic response to physical exercise and suggesting new insights into the benefits of physical exercise in counteracting chronic degenerative conditions