Chinese Americans’ Views and Use of Family Health History: A Qualitative Study

Objective Family health history (FHH) plays a significant role in early disease detection and preven- tion. Although Asian Americans are the fastest growing U.S. immigrant group, no data exists regarding Chinese Americans’ (the largest Asian subgroup) views and use of FHH. This study examines this important issue. Methods Forty-nine adults from southern U.S. Chinese American communities participated in this qualitative, semi-structured, in-depth interview study. Interviews were audio recorded, tran- scribed, and analyzed with a content analysis approach. Results Although the majority of participants perceived the importance of collecting FHH, most lacked FHH knowledge and failed to collect FHH information. Barriers affecting FHH collec- tion and discussion among family members included long-distance separation from family members, self-defined “healthy family,� and Chinese cultural beliefs. Lack of doctors’ inqui- ries, never/rarely visiting physicians, self-defined “healthy family,� perceived insignificance of discussing FHH with doctors, and Chinese cultural beliefs were the obstacles in commu- nicating FHH with physicians. Conclusions Chinese Americans had limited usage of their FHH and faced cultural, distance, knowl- edge-, and healthcare system-related barriers that influenced their FHH use. Developing FHH education programs for Chinese Americans is highly recommended

Suppression of thermal conductivity in graphene nanoribbons with rough edges

We analyze numerically the thermal conductivity of carbon nanoribbons with ideal and rough edges. We demonstrate that edge disorder can lead to a suppression of thermal conductivity by several orders of magnitude. This effect is associated with the edge-induced Anderson localization and suppression of the phonon transport, and it becomes more pronounced for longer nanoribbons and low temperatures.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure

X-Ray Photoabsorption in KLL Resonances of O VI And Abundance Analysis

It is shown that photoabsorption via autoionizing resonances may be appreciable and used for abundance analysis. Analogous to spectral lines, the `resonance oscillator strength' f_r may be defined and evaluated in terms of the differential oscillator strength df/d(epsilon) that relates bound and continuum absorption. X-ray photoabsorption in KLL (1s2s2p) resonances of O VI is investigated using highly resolved relativistic photoionization cross sections with fine structure. It is found that f_r is comparable to that for UV dipole transition in O VI (2s - 2p) and the X-ray (1s^2 ^1S_0 - 1s2p ^1P^o_1) transition in O VII. The dominant O VI(KLL) components lie at 22.05 and 21.87 Angstroms. These predicted absorption features should be detectable by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) and the X-Ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM). The combined UV/X-ray spectra of O VI/O VII should yield valuable information on the ionization structure and abundances in sources such as the `warm absorber' region of active galactic nuclei and the hot intergalactic medium. Some general implications of resonant photoabsorption are addressed.Comment: Astrophys. J. Letters (in press), 9 pages, 3 figure