Satisfaction and Race Influence on Positive Health Choices among Patients at an Urban Community Health Center

Background. Promoting positive health choices is one way to lessen health care disparities in indigent populations. This pilot study investigated satisfaction with the health information received at an urban heath care center for the indigent and its effect on health behaviors. Such information will inform providers on their role in advancing the health center’s quality improvement goals (i.e., goals used to measure the clinic’s performance in providing preventive service information to patients). Methods. A survey was used to determine respondent satisfaction with health care information and whether respondents would make positive health choices based on this information. Results. Respondents (n = 185) were satisfied with the health information received; this was the most consistent predictor of making a lifestyle change. Minority respondents were more likely to get a vaccination, to not start smoking, and to start exercising than non-minority respondents. Conclusion. The results suggested that, for the positive health choices examined, satisfaction with education is very important. For certain positive health choices, race also may play a role. Additional studies should be undertaken linking chronic health problems to patient responses

The DRIFT Dark Matter Experiments

The current status of the DRIFT (Directional Recoil Identification From Tracks) experiment at Boulby Mine is presented, including the latest limits on the WIMP spin-dependent cross-section from 1.5 kg days of running with a mixture of CS2 and CF4. Planned upgrades to DRIFT IId are detailed, along with ongoing work towards DRIFT III, which aims to be the world's first 10 m3-scale directional Dark Matter detector.Comment: Proceedings of the 3rd International conference on Directional Detection of Dark Matter (CYGNUS 2011), Aussois, France, 8-10 June 201

Designing citizen science tools for learning: lessons learnt from the iterative development of nQuire

This paper reports on a 4-year research and development case study about the design of citizen science tools for inquiry learning. It details the process of iterative pedagogy-led design and evaluation of the nQuire toolkit, a set of web-based and mobile tools scaffolding the creation of online citizen science investigations. The design involved an expert review of inquiry learning and citizen science, combined with user experience studies involving more than 200 users. These have informed a concept that we have termed ‘citizen inquiry’, which engages members of the public alongside scientists in setting up, running, managing or contributing to citizen science projects with a main aim of learning about the scientific method through doing science by interaction with others. A design-based research (DBR) methodology was adopted for the iterative design and evaluation of citizen science tools. DBR was focused on the refinement of a central concept, ‘citizen inquiry’, by exploring how it can be instantiated in educational technologies and interventions. The empirical evaluation and iteration of technologies involved three design experiments with end users, user interviews, and insights from pedagogy and user experience experts. Evidence from the iterative development of nQuire led to the production of a set of interaction design principles that aim to guide the development of online, learning-centred, citizen science projects. Eight design guidelines are proposed: users as producers of knowledge, topics before tools, mobile affordances, scaffolds to the process of scientific inquiry, learning by doing as key message, being part of a community as key message, every visit brings a reward, and value users and their time

A randomized, open-label study of the efficacy and safety of AZD4547 monotherapy versus paclitaxel for the treatment of advanced gastric adenocarcinoma with FGFR2 polysomy or gene amplification

Background:Approximately 5%-10% of gastric cancers have a fibroblast growth factor receptor-2 (FGFR2) gene amplification. AZD4547 is a selective FGFR-1, 2, 3 tyrosine kinase inhibitor with potent preclinical activity in FGFR2 amplified gastric adenocarcinoma SNU16 and SGC083 xenograft models. The randomized phase II SHINE study (NCT01457846) investigated whether AZD4547 improves clinical outcome versus paclitaxel as second-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma displaying FGFR2 polysomy or gene amplification detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Patients and methods:Patients were randomized 3:2 (FGFR2 gene amplification) or 1:1 (FGFR2 polysomy) to AZD4547 or paclitaxel. Patients received AZD4547 80 mg twice daily, orally, on a 2 weeks on/1 week off schedule of a 21-day cycle or intravenous paclitaxel 80 mg/m2 administered weekly on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day cycle. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Safety outcomes were assessed and an exploratory biomarker analysis was undertaken. Results:Of 71 patients randomized (AZD4547 n = 41, paclitaxel n = 30), 67 received study treatment (AZD4547 n = 40, paclitaxel n = 27). Among all randomized patients, median PFS was 1.8 months with AZD4547 and 3.5 months with paclitaxel (one-sided P = 0.9581); median follow-up duration for PFS was 1.77 and 2.12 months, respectively. The incidence of adverse events was similar in both treatment arms. Exploratory biomarker analyses revealed marked intratumor heterogeneity of FGFR2 amplification and poor concordance between amplification/polysomy and FGFR2 mRNA expression. Conclusions:AZD4547 did not significantly improve PFS versus paclitaxel in gastric cancer FGFR2 amplification/polysomy patients. Considerable intratumor heterogeneity for FGFR2 gene amplification and poor concordance between FGFR2 amplification/polysomy and FGFR2 expression indicates the need for alternative predictive biomarker testing. AZD4547 was generally well tolerated

Developmental Instability and Psychological Fitness: Can Morphological Asymmetry Predict Psychopathology?

Developmental instability (DI) refers to an organism's failure to realize its ideal phenotype in a given environment. The most popular metric of DI is fluctuating asymmetry (FA), i.e., the degree to which bilateral morphological traits deviate from perfect symmetry when those traits are bilaterally symmetric per the ideal species phenotype. Numerous studies have shown that FA is inversely related to physical and reproductive fitness in myriad species of plants and animals. More recently, researchers have begun to assess correlations between FA and psychological variables in humans. Research has revealed negative relationships between FA and intelligence, neurological functioning, and typical brain structure. Positive relationships have also been found between FA and severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia. However, few studies have addressed the relationship between FA and symptomology of more prevalent forms of psychopathology, such as depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse. The aim of this study is to address this void. Accordingly, FA was assessed in 204 college students across 12 morphological and dermatoglyphic traits. Current Axis I symptomology related to 13 diagnostic categories was assessed via the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire (PDSQ). Depressive symptom severity was also assessed via the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in an attempt to replicate the previous finding of a positive relationship between FA and BDI in men (Martin et al., 1999). Finally, the SCID Axis II Screening Questionnaire (SCID-II-SQ) was administered to provide exploratory data regarding FA and personality disorders. Study analyses indicated two significant effects. In men, positive associations were identified between self-reported alcohol abuse and asymmetry in both dermatoglyphic constructs. However, Martin et al.'s (1999) observed positive association between FA and BDI score was not replicated. The multiple null findings are defended as valid, and consistent with evolutionary-based theories of psychopathology as stemming, in part, from adaptive ancestral mechanisms being expressed in novel, modern environments (e.g., Tooby & Cosmides, 2000). Criticisms of the existing FA literature are also presented

Bond-rearrangement and ionization mechanisms in the photo-double-ionization of simple hydrocarbons (C2H4, C2H3F, and 1,1-C2H2F2) near and above threshold

Citation: Gaire, B., Gatton, A., Wiegandt, F., Neff, J., Janke, C., Zeller, S., . . . Weber, T. (2016). Bond-rearrangement and ionization mechanisms in the photo-double-ionization of simple hydrocarbons (C2H4, C2H3F, and 1,1-C2H2F2) near and above threshold. Physical Review A, 94(3), 8. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.94.033412We investigate bond-rearrangement driven by photo-double-ionization (PDI) near and above the double-ionization threshold in a sequence of carbon-carbon double-bonded hydrocarbon molecules: ethylene, fluoroethylene, and 1,1-difluoroethylene. We employ the kinematically complete cold target recoil ion momentum spectroscopy method to resolve all photo-double-ionization events leading to two-ion fragments. We observe changes in the branching ratios of different dissociative ionization channels depending on the presence of no, one, or two fluorine atoms. The role of the fluorine atom in the bond-rearrangement channels is intriguing, as evident by the reordering of the threshold energies of the PDI in the fluorinated molecules. These effects offer a compelling argument that the electronegativity of the fluorine (or the polarity of the molecule) strongly influences the potential energy surfaces of the molecules and drives bond rearrangement during the dissociation process. The energy sharing and the relative angle between the three-dimensional momentum vectors of the two electrons enable us to distinguish between knockout and other ionization mechanisms of the PDI processes

Developing Adaptive Performance: The Power of Experiences and a Strategic Network of Support

In today’s dynamic work environment, the ability to adapt is becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity. In order to contribute to the growing body of research surrounding adaptive performance, this study will seek to examine the power of a leader’s breadth and depth of experience on his or her adaptive performance. It is predicted that the more breadth and depth of experience that a leader has, the higher the leader’s adaptive performance will be. Additionally, in assessing the power of a leader’s breadth and depth of experience on adaptive performance, it is also predicted that the larger breadth and depth of experience that a leader has, the more growth in adaptive performance that leader will show through a leadership development program. Furthermore, it is predicted that the strength of a leader’s strategic network will moderate this relationship such that a leader who has a strong network of social support will be more adaptive compared to a leader with low social support, when combined with his or her breadth and depth of experiences and will strengthen the effect of a leader’s growth through a development program. The data used was archival data collected from leaders who have participated in a whole leader development program. To analyze the data, a series of multiple regressions were run. Findings indicated that the breadth and depth of a leader’s experiences does significantly predict his or her adaptive performance. Furthermore, a strong strategic network of support did not significantly moderate this relationship. Finally, significant evidence was not found indicating that past experiences were predictive of increased growth in his or her adaptive performance from time one to time two, regardless of the moderator of a strong strategic network of support