Organization transformation theorists and practitioners : profiles and themes.

EducationDoctor of Education (Ed.D.

Profile of Women Incarcerated For Murder in Oklahoma

The present study addresses the need to increase our understanding of women incarcerated for violent crimes, especially murder, by developing a profile of women incarcerated for murder in Oklahoma. Compared to the United States as a whole, Oklahoma has one of the highest per capita rates of female incarceration. While women represent only five percent of the total prison population in the United States, they comprise twelve percent of Oklahoma\u27s prison population (Oklahoma Department of Corrections, 1989). Survey data of female inmates in Oklahoma are utilized to study the demographic 45 - characteristics as well as the current and past personal and family background factors of women incarcerated for murder. In addition, recommendations are offered to address the specific needs of women incarcerated for Murder

“You Come Back to the Same Ole Shit:” A Qualitative Study of Smoking Cessation Barriers among Women Living with HIV: Implications for Intervention Development

Although tobacco use among women living with HIV (WLWH) is decreasing, the prevalence is more than double that of women in the general population and remains an important health behavior to target among WLWH. Few smoking cessation interventions specifically focus on the unique social and medical needs of women living with HIV (WLWH). Thus, the investigative team engaged WLWH (N=18) in qualitative focus groups to: 1) understand barriers and facilitators to smoking cessation; and 2) inform intervention structure and content priorities. Participants identified salient reasons for smoking and barriers to smoking cessation, which included coping mechanisms for life stressors, HIV-related stress, HIV-related stigma, and social isolation. Further, WLWH highlighted the importance of long-term smoking cessation support, peer support, mental health content, religion/spirituality, and targeted risk messaging in smoking cessation intervention development. Study findings provide concrete, operational strategies for future use in a theory-based smoking cessation intervention, and underscore the importance of formative research to inform smoking cessation interventions for WLWH

Disruption of the A 3 Adenosine Receptor Gene in Mice and Its Effect on Stimulated Inflammatory Cells

The A(3) adenosine receptor (A3AR) is one of four receptor subtypes for adenosine and is expressed in a broad spectrum of tissues. In order to study the function of A3AR, a mouse line carrying a mutant A(3) allele was generated. Mice homozygous for targeted disruption of the A3AR gene, A3AR(-/-), are fertile and visually and histologically indistinguishable from wild type mice. The lack of a functional receptor in the A3AR(-/-) mice was confirmed by molecular and pharmacological analyses. The absence of A3AR protein expression in the A3AR(-/-) mice was demonstrated by lack of N(6)-(4-amino-3-[(125)I]iodobenzyl)adenosine binding to bone marrow-derived mast cell membranes that were found to express high levels of A3AR in wild type mice. In A3AR(-/-) mice, the density of A(1) and A(2A) adenosine receptor subtypes was the same as in A3AR(+/+) mice as determined by radioligand binding to brain membranes. Additionally, A(2B) receptor transcript expression was not affected by ablation of the A3AR gene. A3AR(-/-) mice have basal heart rates and arterial blood pressures indistinguishable from A3AR(+/+) mice. Functionally, in contrast to wild type mice, adenosine and the A3AR-specific agonist, 2-chloro-N(6)-(3-iodobenzyl)-adenosine-5'-N-methyl-carboxamide (2-Cl-IB-MECA), elicit no potentiation of antigen-dependent degranulation of bone marrow-derived mast cells from A3AR(-/-) mice as measured by hexosaminidase release. Also, the ability of 2Cl-IB-MECA to inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha production in vivo was decreased in A3AR(-/-) mice in comparison to A3AR(+/+) mice. The A(2A) adenosine receptor agonist, 2-p-(2-carboxyethyl)phenylamino)-5'-N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine, produced inhibition of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated tumor necrosis factor-alpha production in both A3AR(-/-) and A3AR(+/+) mice. These results show that the inhibition in vivo can be mediated by multiple subtypes, specifically the A(3) and A(2A) adenosine receptors, and A3AR activation plays an important role in both pro- and anti-inflammatory responses

Funny walking : the rise, fall and rise of the Anglo-American comic eccentric dancer

This article will attempt to reposition comic eccentric dance as a metamorphic form that still, surprisingly, exists, and is to be found with reasonable ubiquity, in renewed incarna-tions within twenty first century media. Tracing the origins of comic eccentric dance through examples of earlier comedy performance, and drawing from Bergson’s comic theory of body misalliance, this article will dis-cuss this particularly ludic fusion of music and comedy. Further changes to the form affected by modernist preoccupations during the new Jazz Age at the turn of the twentieth century will be suggested. Finally, ways in which the formulation lives on in twenty-first century in-carnations in the comedy work of, for instance, Jimmy Fallon and Ricky Gervase, and in popular television shows such as Strictly Come Dancing (BBC 2004 - ) and Britain’s Got Talent (ITV 2006 - ) will be posited

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Structural Basis for Apoptosis Inhibition by Epstein-Barr Virus BHRF1

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with human malignancies, especially those affecting the B cell compartment such as Burkitt lymphoma. The virally encoded homolog of the mammalian pro-survival protein Bcl-2, BHRF1 contributes to viral infectivity and lymphomagenesis. In addition to the pro-apoptotic BH3-only protein Bim, its key target in lymphoid cells, BHRF1 also binds a selective sub-set of pro-apoptotic proteins (Bid, Puma, Bak) expressed by host cells. A consequence of BHRF1 expression is marked resistance to a range of cytotoxic agents and in particular, we show that its expression renders a mouse model of Burkitt lymphoma untreatable. As current small organic antagonists of Bcl-2 do not target BHRF1, the structures of it in complex with Bim or Bak shown here will be useful to guide efforts to target BHRF1 in EBV-associated malignancies, which are usually associated with poor clinical outcomes

The landscape of somatic copy-number alteration across human cancers

available in PMC 2010 August 18.A powerful way to discover key genes with causal roles in oncogenesis is to identify genomic regions that undergo frequent alteration in human cancers. Here we present high-resolution analyses of somatic copy-number alterations (SCNAs) from 3,131 cancer specimens, belonging largely to 26 histological types. We identify 158 regions of focal SCNA that are altered at significant frequency across several cancer types, of which 122 cannot be explained by the presence of a known cancer target gene located within these regions. Several gene families are enriched among these regions of focal SCNA, including the BCL2 family of apoptosis regulators and the NF-κΒ pathway. We show that cancer cells containing amplifications surrounding the MCL1 and BCL2L1 anti-apoptotic genes depend on the expression of these genes for survival. Finally, we demonstrate that a large majority of SCNAs identified in individual cancer types are present in several cancer types.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPOREs, P50CA90578)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPOREs, R01CA109038))National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPOREs, R01CA109467)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPOREs, P01CA085859)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPOREs, P01CA 098101)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPOREs, K08CA122833

Image rights: Exploitation and legal control in English and Hungarian law

In the past decades due to changed technical advances, features of the personality have become economically exploitable to an extent not previously known. Pop stars, TV celebrities as well as famous athletes have sought protection against the commercial use of their images, names and likenesses without their consent.1 Despite the economic value of personality and image rights, there is currently no international standard or agreed legal concept for recognising an image right. While many jurisdictions, for example, the US, Germany, France and Hungary offer express statutory protection against the unauthorised commercial use of an individual’s image by a third party in the context of publicity or personality rights, English law provides no cause of action for the infringement of image rights as such. Although a celebrity may currently obtain protection through various statutory and common law rights, such as the developing law of privacy, trade mark law breach of confidence and, in particular, the tort of passing off, none of these rights were designed to protect image or personality rights.2 In this context, this article explores the potentially enforceable rights, their benefits and practical strategies to protect name and image rights in the UK3 and Hungary