Patients' Perceptions and Treatment Effectiveness

An extensive literature relating patients’ expectations to treatment outcomes has not addressed the determinants of these expectations. We argue that treatment history is part of a reference point that influences patients’ expectations of how effective further treatment might be, thus influencing whether to proceed with additional treatment or not. We hypothesize that those patients with unsuccessful prior treatments have diminished expected improvement from subsequent treatments. Prospect theory provides a theoretical foundation for reference frame effects, and the model is tested with data on patients diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Our results support the reference frame hypothesis.Prospect Theory, Treatment Outcomes, Treatment History, Misclassification, Monotone Rank Estimator

Graduate Sessions 6: Televisuality

The Televisuality symposium was organized by Jon Yoder and the students of Architectural Theory + Design Research, a core component to the graduate curriculum in the School of Architecture

Advances in diapriid (Hymenoptera: diapriidae) systematics, with contributions to cybertaxonomy and the analysis of rRNA sequence data

Diapriids (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae) are small parasitic wasps. Though found throughout the world they are relatively unknown. A framework for advancing diapriid systematics is developed by introducing a new web-based application/database capable of storing a broad range of systematic data, and the first molecular phylogeny specifically focused at examining intrafamilial relationships. In addition to these efforts, a description of a new taxon is provided. Several advantages of digital description, including linking descriptions to an ontology of morphological terms, are highlighted. The functionality of the database is further illustrated in the production of a catalog of diapriid host associations. The hosts database currently holds over 450 association records, for over 500 named taxa (parasitoids and hosts), and over 180 references. Diapriids are found to be primarily endoparasitoids of Diptera emerging from the host pupa. Phylogenetic inference for a molecular dataset of 28S and 18S rRNA sequence data, derived from a diverse selection of diapriids, is accomplished with a new suite of tools developed for handling complex rRNA datasets. Several parsimony-based methodologies, including an alignment-free method of analyzing multiple sequences, are reviewed and applied using the new software tools. Diapriid phylogenetic relationships are shown to be broadly congruent with existing morphology-based classifications. Methods for analyzing typically excluded sequence data are shown to recover phylogenetic signal that would otherwise be lost and the alignment-free method performed remarkably well in this regard. Empirically, phylogenetic approaches that incorporate structural data were not notably different than those that did not

Gender-dependent differences in plasma matrix metalloproteinase-8 elevated in pulmonary tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health pandemic and greater understanding of underlying pathogenesis is required to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostic approaches. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are emerging as key effectors of tissue destruction in TB but have not been comprehensively studied in plasma, nor have gender differences been investigated. We measured the plasma concentrations of MMPs in a carefully characterised, prospectively recruited clinical cohort of 380 individuals. The collagenases, MMP-1 and MMP-8, were elevated in plasma of patients with pulmonary TB relative to healthy controls, and MMP-7 (matrilysin) and MMP-9 (gelatinase B) were also increased. MMP-8 was TB-specific (p<0.001), not being elevated in symptomatic controls (symptoms suspicious of TB but active disease excluded). Plasma MMP-8 concentrations inversely correlated with body mass index. Plasma MMP-8 concentration was 1.51-fold higher in males than females with TB (p<0.05) and this difference was not due to greater disease severity in men. Gender-specific analysis of MMPs demonstrated consistent increase in MMP-1 and -8 in TB, but MMP-8 was a better discriminator for TB in men. Plasma collagenases are elevated in pulmonary TB and differ between men and women. Gender must be considered in investigation of TB immunopathology and development of novel diagnostic markers

The Grizzly, September 4, 2003

A Space to Call Your Own • Pay for Print Solution • Bumpy Ride • Spotlight on Politics: The California Recall • Feeling Disconnected: Internet and Virus Woes • A Plan for Every Future: Career Services Fall 2003 • Opinions: Campus Rooms: Is Space Running Out?; Network Gripes Getting you Down? Elections in California: Business as Usual or Free for All? • Activities, Activities, Activities • Calling all Thespians! • Ursinus in 1893: What was it Like? • New Arts Center • Local Heritage Day Celebration • Bears Versatility Makes the Season Look Promising • UC Field Hockey Team: Ready to Rumble • Promising Season Abound for the Men and Women\u27s Soccer Teams • Ursinus Cross Country Kicks-off • Ursinus Volleyball Team Off to Rough Start • X-Country Team Scoreshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1539/thumbnail.jp

Hierarchical organization and early hematopoietic specification of the developing HSC lineage in the AGM region

A CD45-negative population of pre-HSCs develops into definitive HSCs in the AGM region of the embryo

NCSR: Community-Based Natural Resource Activities for Biology

For educators looking to connect their classrooms to the community this manual will provide lessons, tools and resources to reach this goal. It will put &quot;community&quot; back into community-based education with lessons engaging students in exploring their community. In addition, detailed processes and supporting resources for conducting community projects are provided