Cultural tensions in immigrant households: The relationships among parent-child acculturative conflict, parental criticism, and depressive symptoms in Korean adolescents

Among immigrant adolescents, the emergence of depressive symptoms may be influenced by their experiences as immigrants (Cleary et al., 2018). Parent-adolescent acculturative conflicts have been linked to depressive symptoms (Juang et al., 2018). Other findings link parental criticism to depressive symptoms (Castro & Rice, 2003). Our study examined the relationships among parent-adolescent acculturative conflict, parental criticism, and depressive symptoms among Korean immigrant adolescents. Mediation analyses indicated maternal criticism mediated the relationship between mother-adolescent acculturative conflict and depressive symptoms (β = 3.60, 95% CI [.62, 6.00]). Results suggest that parent-adolescent acculturative conflict may influence maternal criticism, which then impacts depressive symptoms

Dysfunctional individuation mediates the relationship between perceived parenting and coping among emerging adults.

By looking at the relationship between perceived parental support and coping self-efficacy in young adults, with dysfunctional individuation as a mediator, this study aimed to cover the literature gap in the field of parenting and child psychology. Using self-report and retrospective data from 120 undergraduate students, our findings suggested that, in emerging adulthood, the ability to individuate and a sense of confidence in one’s coping ability may be influenced by perceptions of caregiver support and parent-child relationships. These results indicated that emerging adults’ retrospective views of caregiver’s support or control of their autonomy may have a significant impact beyond childhood

Cancer Screening Practices Among Chinese and Vietnamese in the Greater Houston Area

National data on Asian Americans indicate that compared to other groups in the US, cancer incidence and prevalence is relatively lower (Miller, Kolonel et al. 1996; American Cancer Society 2006). However, when the data is examined further based on specific Asian subgroups and for specific cancers, Asian Americans bear a disproportionate burden for cancers of infectious origin, such as cervical, liver, and stomach cancer (Chen 2005). Furthermore, Asian Americans are also experiencing increasing rates of cancers associated with “Westernization,” such as breast and prostate cancer (Kolonel, Yoshizawa et al. 1988; Whittemore, Kolonel et al. 1995; Ziegler, Hoover et al. 1996). Early detection and screening are among the frontline strategies in cancer control, yet Asian American and Pacific Islanders have the lowest cancer screening rates of all ethnic groups in the US (American Cancer Society 2006). The Asian American Health Needs Assessment (AsANA) project was designed to collect data on the rapidly growing Asian American community in the Greater Houston area. The AsANA project included a telephone survey to over 800 randomly selected households in the Chinese and Vietnamese communities, two of the largest Asian American subgroups in Texas. Included in the telephone interview were questions regarding cancer screening practices. This article describes the reported screening practices among the surveyed populations and discusses the implications for developing targeted programs that can address cancer screening disparities in this community

Establishing Relevant ADC-based Texture Analysis Metrics for Quantifying Early Treatment-Induced Changes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify which texture analysis metrics calculated from apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps from patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) provide quantifiable measures of tumor physiology changes. We discerned which imaging metrics were relevant using baseline agreement and variations during early treatment. Methods: For selective patients with stages II-IV HNSCC, ADC maps were generated from two baselines, taken 1 week apart, and one early treatment scan, obtained during the 2nd week of curative-intent chemoradiation therapy. Regions of interest (ROI), consisting of primary and nodal disease were drawn onto resampled ADC maps. Four 3D texture matrices describing local and regional relationships between voxel intensities in the ROIs were generated. From these, 38 texture metrics and 7 histogram features were calculated for each patient, including the mean and median ADC. Agreement between the two baseline measures was estimated with the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). For each metric with an ICC≥0.80, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to test if the difference between the mean of the baselines and the early treatment was non-zero. Results: Texture analysis was implemented on nine patients that had both baselines and early treatment images. Due to baseline agreement, only 9 of the 45 metrics had an ICC ≥0.80, including ADC mean and median. Six of these 9 metrics had a p-value \u3c 0.05. Only 1 of the 9 metrics remained of interest, after applying the Holm correction to the alpha levels: the run length non-uniformity metric (p = 0.004) in the Gray Level Run Length Matrix. Conclusion: The feasibility of texture analysis is dependent on the baseline agreement of each metric, which disqualifies many texture characteristics. However, metrics with high ICC have potential to provide additional quantitative information for the assessment of early treatment changes for HNSCC

Clonal spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae among patients at admission and discharge at a Vietnamese neonatal intensive care unit

Background The increasing prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is a growing problem globally, particularly in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs). Previous studies have shown high rates of CRE colonisation among patients at hospitals in LMICs, with increased risk of hospital-acquired infections. Methods We isolated carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) from faecal samples collected in 2017 from patients at admission and discharge at a Vietnamese neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). 126 CRKP were whole-genome sequenced. The phylogenetic relationship between the isolates and between clinical CRKP isolates collected in 2012-2018 at the same hospital were investigated. Results NDM-type carbapenemase-(61%) and KPC-2-encoding genes (41%) were the most common carbapenem resistance genes observed among the admission and discharge isolates. Most isolates (56%) belonged to three distinct clonal clusters of ST15, carrying bla(KPC-2), bla(NDM-1) and bla(NDM-4), respectively. Each cluster also comprised clinical isolates from blood collected at the study hospital. The most dominant ST15 clone was shown to be related to isolates collected from the same hospital as far back as in 2012. Conclusions Highly resistant CRKP were found colonising admission and discharge patients at a Vietnamese NICU, emphasising the importance of continued monitoring. Whole-genome sequencing revealed a population of CRKP consisting mostly of ST15 isolates in three clonally related clusters, each related to blood isolates collected from the same hospital. Furthermore, clinical isolates collected from previous years (dating back to 2012) were shown to likely be clonally descended from ST15 isolates in the largest cluster, suggesting a successful hospital strain which can colonise inpatients

Structure-Based Screen Identifies a Potent Small Molecule Inhibitor of Stat5a/b with Therapeutic Potential for Prostate Cancer and Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.

Bypassing tyrosine kinases responsible for Stat5a/b phosphorylation would be advantageous for therapy development for Stat5a/b-regulated cancers. Here, we sought to identify small molecule inhibitors of Stat5a/b for lead optimization and therapy development for prostate cancer and Bcr-Abl-driven leukemias. In silico screening of chemical structure databases combined with medicinal chemistry was used for identification of a panel of small molecule inhibitors to block SH2 domain-mediated docking of Stat5a/b to the receptor-kinase complex and subsequent phosphorylation and dimerization. We tested the efficacy of the lead compound IST5-002 in experimental models and patient samples of two known Stat5a/b-driven cancers, prostate cancer and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The lead compound inhibitor of Stat5-002 (IST5-002) prevented both Jak2 and Bcr-Abl-mediated phosphorylation and dimerization of Stat5a/b, and selectively inhibited transcriptional activity of Stat5a (IC50 = 1.5μmol/L) and Stat5b (IC50 = 3.5 μmol/L). IST5-002 suppressed nuclear translocation of Stat5a/b, binding to DNA and Stat5a/b target gene expression. IST5-002 induced extensive apoptosis of prostate cancer cells, impaired growth of prostate cancer xenograft tumors, and induced cell death in patient-derived prostate cancers when tested ex vivo in explant organ cultures. Importantly, IST5-002 induced robust apoptotic death not only of imatinib-sensitive but also of imatinib-resistant CML cell lines and primary CML cells from patients. IST5-002 provides a lead structure for further chemical modifications for clinical development for Stat5a/b-driven solid tumors and hematologic malignancies