Building Global Citizenship through Network Leadership

This article is based upon a paper delivered by Anne Beales about the Interrelate group to the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership, IIMHL, Conference in Killarney, Ireland, May 2010, and developed by the Interrelate group: Daniel Fisher, US, Shaun McNeil, Scotland, Jenny Speed, Australia, Paddy MacGowan, Ireland, Gary Platz, New Zealand, and Joan Edwards-Karmazyn, Canada

Fluctuations of the Casimir-like force between two membrane inclusions

Although Casimir forces are inseparable from their fluctuations, little is known about these fluctuations in soft matter systems. We use the membrane stress tensor to study the fluctuations of the membrane-mediated Casimir-like force. This method enables us to recover the Casimir force between two inclusions and to calculate its variance. We show that the Casimir force is dominated by its fluctuations. Furthermore, when the distance d between the inclusions is decreased from infinity, the variance of the Casimir force decreases as -1/d^2. This distance dependence shares a common physical origin with the Casimir force itself.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Implementation and outcomes of group medical appointments in an outpatient specialty care clinic

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75169/1/j.1745-7599.2007.00300.x.pd

Cardiovascular disease risk among the Mexican American population in the Texas-Mexico border region, by age and length of residence in United States

Introduction: Although the relationship between health behaviors and outcomes such as smoking and obesity with longer residence in the United States among Mexican American immigrants is established, the relationship between length of residency in the United States and risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not fully understood. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between immigrant status, length of residence in the United States, age, and CVD markers in a sample of Mexican American adults living in Brownsville, Texas. Methods: We categorized participants in the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort study as immigrants in the United States for 10 years or less, immigrants in the United States for more than 10 years, or born in the United States. We conducted logistic and ordinary least squares regression for self-reported chronic conditions and CVD biomarkers. Results: We found bivariate differences in the prevalence of self-reported conditions and 1 CVD biomarker (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) by length of residence in the middle (41-64 y) and younger (18-40 y) age groups. After adjusting for covariates, the following varied significantly by immigrant status: stroke and high cholesterol (self-reported conditions) and diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (CVD biomarkers). Conclusion: The association between immigrant status, length of residence in the United States, and CVD markers varied. The effect of length of residence in the United States or immigrant status may depend on age and may be most influential in middle or older age

The Definition of Insulin Resistance Using HOMA-IR for Americans of Mexican Descent Using Machine Learning

Objective The lack of standardized reference range for the homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index has limited its clinical application. This study defines the reference range of HOMA-IR index in an adult Hispanic population based with machine learning methods. Methods This study investigated a Hispanic population of 1854 adults, randomly selected on the basis of 2000 Census tract data in the city of Brownsville, Cameron County. Machine learning methods, support vector machine (SVM) and Bayesian Logistic Regression (BLR), were used to automatically identify measurable variables using standardized values that correlate with HOMA-IR; K-means clustering was then used to classify the individuals by insulin resistance. Results Our study showed that the best cutoff of HOMA-IR for identifying those with insulin resistance is 3.80. There are 39.1% individuals in this Hispanic population with HOMA-IR\u3e3.80. Conclusions Our results are dramatically different using the popular clinical cutoff of 2.60. The high sensitivity and specificity of HOMA-IR\u3e3.80 for insulin resistance provide a critical fundamental for our further efforts to improve the public health of this Hispanic population

Cognitive Impairments in Schizophrenia as Assessed Through Activation and Connectivity Measures of Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Data

The cognitive dysfunction present in patients with schizophrenia is thought to be driven in part by disorganized connections between higher-order cortical fields. Although studies utilizing electroencephalography (EEG), PET and fMRI have contributed significantly to our understanding of these mechanisms, magnetoencephalography (MEG) possesses great potential to answer long-standing questions linking brain interactions to cognitive operations in the disorder. Many experimental paradigms employed in EEG and fMRI are readily extendible to MEG and have expanded our understanding of the neurophysiological architecture present in schizophrenia. Source reconstruction techniques, such as adaptive spatial filtering, take advantage of the spatial localization abilities of MEG, allowing us to evaluate which specific structures contribute to atypical cognition in schizophrenia. Finally, both bivariate and multivariate functional connectivity metrics of MEG data are useful for understanding how these interactions in the brain are impaired in schizophrenia, and how cognitive and clinical outcomes are affected as a result. We also present here data from our own laboratory that illustrates how some of these novel functional connectivity measures, specifically imaginary coherence (IC), are quite powerful in relating disconnectivity in the brain to characteristic behavioral findings in the disorder

The Missing Men: High Risk and low use of health care in Men of Mexican Origin

Objective We sought to determine gender- and age-specific prevalence of chronic diseases in an urban Mexican American border community. Methods The Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC n=2000) was selected using a multi-staged cluster design. Sociodemographic, anthropometric measures and blood samples were collected on each participant. Results More women were obese (55.1%) than men (44.8%). Men had significantly higher rates of diabetes (20.4% for men vs 15.8% for women: p\u3c.05) and undiagnosed diabetes (6.2% for men vs 2.4% for women: p\u3c.01), the prevalence of diabetes rose steeply between the ages of 40 and 49 years. Men were significantly more likely to have serum cholesterol levels of ≥200 mg/dL and elevated LDL (22.6% versus 26.1%, p\u3c.01). Conclusions Mexican American males in the US/Mexico border region have a high prevalence of obesity in younger men and higher overall rates of diabetes, including undiagnosed diabetes, and significantly higher serum cholesterol levels.than women

Host susceptibility to tuberculosis: insights from a longitudinal study of gene expression in diabetes

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global disease, and diabetes which is documented to increase susceptibility to TB threefold, is also becoming pandemic. This susceptibility has been attracting extensive research interest. The increased risk of TB in diabetes may serve as a unique model to understand host susceptibility to specific pathogens in humans. To examine this rationale, we investigated expression of reported TB candidate genes in a longitudinal diabetes study. Two genes HK2 and CD28 emerged as potential culprits in diabetes-increased TB susceptibility

High prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis by carotid ultrasound among Mexican Americans: discordance with 10-year risk assessment using the Framingham risk score

ackground: Framingham risk scores (FRS) were validated in a mostly Caucasian population. Evaluation of subclinical atherosclerosis by carotid ultrasound may improve ascertainment of risk in nonwhite populations. This study aimed to evaluate carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and carotid plaquing among Mexican Americans, and to correlate these markers with coronary risk factors and the FRS. Methods/results: Participants (n = 141) were drawn from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort. Carotid artery ultrasound was performed and cIMT measured. Carotid plaque was defined as areas of thickening \u3e50% of the thickness of the surrounding walls. Mean age was 53.1 ± 11.7 years (73.8% female). Most were overweight or obese (88.7%) and more than half (53.2%) had the metabolic syndrome. One third (34.8%) had abnormal carotid ultrasound findings (either cIMT ≥75th percentile for gender and age or presence of plaque). Among those with abnormal carotid ultrasound, the majority were classified as being at low 10-year risk for cardiovascular events. Carotid ultrasound reclassified nearly a third of the cohort as being at high risk. This discordance between 10-year FRS and carotid ultrasound was noted whether risk was assessed for hard coronary events or global risk. Concordance between FRS and carotid ultrasound findings was best when long-term (30-year) risk was assessed and no subject with an abnormal carotid ultrasound was categorized as low risk by the 30-year FRS algorithm. Conclusions: Integration of carotid ultrasound findings to coronary risk assessments and use of longer term prediction models may provide better risk assessment in this minority population, with earlier initiation of appropriate therapies

Decreased expression of ATP6V1H in type 2 diabetes: a pilot report on the diabetes risk study in Mexican Americans

Objective: Previous studies in mice and humans observed down-regulation of the gene expression of ATP6V1H associated with type 2 diabetes. This study identified prospectively changes in ATP6V1H expression before and after overt diabetes. Methods: Expression of ATP6V1H in peripheral blood was compared pre and post development of diabetes in nine individuals. Results: Considerable variation of ATP6V1H mRNA levels was observed between different individuals. However, within each individual the decrease in expression of ATP6V1H with the development of diabetes was highly statistically significant. Conclusions: ATP6V1H may represent a critical molecular mechanism involved in the development of type 2 diabetes and its compilations through its important regulatory effect on vacuolar-ATPase activity