Exploring Gender Differences in Online Cancer Support Groups

Gender differences in depression and other psychiatric conditions have been widely documented in the general population (Nolen‐Hoeksema, 2006). Therefore, several studies have analyzed the differential gender‐based adaptation of a cancer diagnosis. However, there seem to be contradictory results. While some studies have found there to be no gender differences in terms of cancer‐related distress (Beresford et al., 2006; Deimling et al., 2006; Zabora et al., 2001; & Carlson et al., 2004; Matthews, 2003), other studies have found that females tend to display more anxiety and depressive symptoms (Mystakidou et al., 2005; Deimling et al., 2006). Interestingly, limited studies have reported men with higher levels of psychological distress when compared to women (Kaiser, Hartoonian, & Owen, 2009). In considering the effects of gender on cancer‐related distress, there are other factors that should be considered; for instance, is the cancer gender‐specific? (E.g. breast, ovarian, cervical, prostate, testicular), or is the cancer gender‐common? (E.g. lung, pancreatic, colon, etc.). While looking at distress rates within cancer types, it is important to consider the prognosis/ survival rate of different types of cancer. For example, perhaps women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a serious form of cancer, will report higher levels of distress in relation to men diagnosed with highly treatable prostate cancer. This observation may be attributed to survival rate as opposed to gender. Yet another factor to consider while examining gender differences in cancer‐related distress rates are cultural determinants (Mehnert, Shim, Koyama, Cho, Inoi, Paik, & Koch, 2006). Some cultures may find it less socially acceptable for men to admit to distress, which may in turn explain why females have been found to report higher levels of distress. For example, Wilson (1967) found that males are more willing to express certain types of emotions more than others. Women are more likely to express feelings of fear than men, and more likely to report fears that others may view as “silly” because it is not socially acceptable for men to do so (Wilson, 1967). Findings concerning gender differences in cancer‐related distress have largely varied based upon location and types of symptoms as well. For example, males have reported higher distress in the physical dimension of symptoms, but for females in the psychological dimension. However, females have reported higher distress in general (Herschbach, Book, Brandi, Keller, Lindena, Newohner, & Marten‐Mittag, 2008). Moreover, females treated in University clinics and rehabilitation clinics reported significantly higher distress than their male counterparts in the same setting, yet distress rates varied in different settings (Herschbach, Book, Brandi, Keller, Lindena, Newohner, & Marten‐Mittag, 2008). However, such results may be due to the complex confounding effects and stage of disease in these settings. Furthermore, across different cancer types, females have been found to be more distressed than males in each category. Highest distress rates were found in individuals with respiratory tract cancers for both males and females (Hershbach et al., 2008). Finally, when gender differences are found to exist in terms of cancer‐related distress, it is important to recognize that a cancer diagnosis may affect men and women uniquely and may trigger different coping methods. Therefore, intervention efforts may need to cater differently to men versus women. For example, research has demonstrated that females tend to experience more cancer‐related pain than men, speculated to be accounted for by females being undertreated for such pain (Im, Chee, Guevara, et al., 2007). Further, females have tended to display more emotion‐focused and social support seeking efforts compared to their male counterparts (Clarke, McCXarthy, Downie, Ashley, & Anderson, 2009)

Indirect interactions between invasive and native plants via pollinators

In generalised pollination systems, the presence of alien plant species may change the foraging behaviour of pollinators on native plant species, which could result in reduced reproductive success of native plant species. We tested this idea of indirect interactions on a small spatial and temporal scale in a field study in Mauritius, where the invasive strawberry guava, Psidium cattleianum, provides additional floral resources for insect pollinators. We predicted that the presence of flowering guava would indirectly and negatively affect the reproductive success of the endemic plant Bertiera zaluzania, which has similar flowers, by diverting shared pollinators. We removed P. cattleianum flowers within a 5-m radius from around half the B. zaluzania target plants (treatment) and left P. cattleianum flowers intact around the other half (control). By far, the most abundant and shared pollinator was the introduced honey bee, Apis mellifera, but its visitation rates to treatment and control plants were similar. Likewise, fruit and seed set and fruit size and weight of B. zaluzania were not influenced by the presence of P. cattleianum flowers. Although other studies have shown small-scale effects of alien plant species on neighbouring natives, we found no evidence for such negative indirect interactions in our system. The dominance of introduced, established A. mellifera indicates their replacement of native insect flower visitors and their function as pollinators of native plant species. However, the pollination effectiveness of A. mellifera in comparison to native pollinators is unknow

A portable, low-cost approach for photographing fluid preserved snake specimens- Recommendations with comments on optimizing specimen photography in Natural History collections

Access to preserved specimens in museum collections is one of the key needs of those engaged in systematics research (e.g., Bi et al. 2013; Rocha et al. 2014; McLean et al. 2016). Yet, sometimes the constraints of research budgets and time prevent the optimal use of this critical resource, resulting in project delays, incomplete information, or flawed scientific conclusions. With many natural history museums now digitizing information related to specimens in their collections, imaging of specimens is a logical next step, and one of critical importance to make holdings available electronically to a broader audience (Baird 2010; Lister et al. 2011; Knight-Davis et al. 2015; Page et al. 2015). A complete 2D image library of all specimens in a collection may appear utopian at the moment, given the millions of specimens and lack of financial support for collections (e.g., Paknia et al. 2015). However, outside of visiting each collection to study individual specimens, or requesting loans of unique and valuable specimens, the lack of suitable specimen images means that some data may simply remain unavailable to researchers who cannot afford to obtain them. We wish to emphasize that the approach we advocate herein in no way negates the need to maintain and make accessible physical specimens in a collection. Although in rare cases where the lack of specimens is unavoidable (e.g., Marshall and Evenhuis 2015; Pape et al. 2016), there is no replacement for examining a well-preserved specimen. Our method should be regarded as an ancillary technique, useful when it is necessary to obtain preliminary data or when it is not possible to examine the specimen in person, and for archival purposes

Dyspnea and Wheezing after Adenosine Injection in a Patient with Eosinophilic Bronchitis

A 58-year-old nonsmoker female was referred for evaluation of chronic cough of 13 months duration. After an initial work-up, the patient was diagnosed to have chronic cough due to eosinophilic bronchitis. The diagnostic work-up for eosinophilic bronchitis and bronchial biopsy is discussed. Eosinophilic bronchitis is differentiated from asthma. In addition, the patient developed dyspnea, flushing, and wheezing after the administration of adenosine during a cardiac stress test in spite of a negative methacholine challenge. This indirect stimulus of airway hyperresponsiveness suggests the possible involvement of mast cells in eosinophilic bronchitis

Anticipatory Smiling: Linking Early Affective Communication and Social Outcome

In anticipatory smiles, infants appear to communicate pre-existing positive affect by smiling at an object and then turning the smile toward an adult. We report two studies in which the precursors, development, and consequences of anticipatory smiling were investigated. Study 1 revealed a positive correlation between infant smiling at 6 months and the level of anticipatory smiling at 8 and 10 months during joint attention episodes, as well as a positive correlation between anticipatory smiling and parent-rated social expressivity scores at 30 months. Study 2 confirmed a developmental increase in the number of infants using anticipatory smiles between 9 and 12 months that had been initially documented in the Study 1 sample [Venezia, M., Messinger, D. S., Thorp, D., & Mundy, P. (2004). The development of anticipatory smiling. Infancy, 6(3), 397–406]. Additionally, anticipatory smiling at 9 months positively predicted parent-rated social competence scores at 30 months. Findings are discussed with regard to the importance of anticipatory smiling in early socioemotional development

Exotic pest insects: another perspective on coffee and conservation

Research on crop systems and biodiversity conservation in the tropics has mainly been concerned with how low to mid intensity agricultural systems can benefit from adjacent natural habitats by receiving ecosystem services from natural biodiversity. One intensively studied crop in this framework is coffee. Positive effects are relatively easy to quantify by comparing coffee yield and by recording native species diversity. However, a largely overlooked issue is how agricultural areas affect native organisms in adjacent natural habitats, for example through movement of pest species that could impose a risk of degrading these habitats. We give an example from Mauritius, where an introduced coffee pest severely reduces the reproductive success of a threatened endemic plant species. We argue that such effects may be more common than suggested by the literature, especially when crop and native plants are congeneric. In the long term, such negative effects may degrade natural habitats, thereby causing ecosystem services derived from these habitats to declin

Effects of Distress on Health Care Utilization in Cancer Survivors (NHIS 2004)

Distress rates have been found to be around 43%, as indicated by a study of five comprehensive cancer centers and as measured by the Distress Thermometer (Jacobsen, et ah, 2005). Furthermore, few studies have examined the current health care utilization among cancer patients as predicted by distress. Thus, population-based data from the NHIS (2004) was analyzed using SUDAAN software 1) to ascertain the current levels of distress as measured by the Kessler 6 scale experienced by cancer survivors based upon demographic characteristics, family structure, physical comorbitities, and cancer-related variables, and 2) to determine whether distress rates reported among cancer survivors predict current health care utilization, both mental and physical. Results indicated that cancer patients were significantly more distressed when compared to individuals with other chronic diseases and healthy individuals, F (2,339) = 586.39, p \u3c .0001. Furthermore, gynecological cancers reported the highest levels of distress. Age (8= -.01), education F (2,339) = 9.74, p = .0001, and physical comorbidities were found to be salient predictors of distress in covariate-adjusted analyses. After controlling for demographic, physical comorbidity, and cancer-related variables, distress among cancer patients significantly increased the likelihood of seeing a mental health professional (OR = 2.80, 95%CI = 2.13-3.67), as well as number of ER visits over the past 12 months (OR = 1.47, 95%CI = 1.21-1.78). However, when compared to healthy and other chronic disease groups, healthy individuals were the most likely to see a mental health professional as predicted by distress levels (OR = 3.58, 95%CI =3.02-4.24). Yet, number of ER visits for cancer patients increased the most as distress increased when compared to healthy and other chronic disease patients (B=.35, p \u3c .05). Findings from the proposed study will be used to develop interventions in alleviating distress among cancer survivors living with clinically meaningful distress and will provide useful information to health care providers based upon the need and current use of health care services. Future directions in research include evaluating possible moderators of distress and health care utilization, such as cost and insurance-related factors

Corpus del castellano hablado por monolingües en Getxo, Pais Vasco

El presente volumen ofrece un corpus del castellano hablado que consiste en 20 entrevistas realizadas en el municipio de Getxo, País Vasco. En la breve introducción se resume el marco de la investigación en la que se recogieron los datos, se describen los criterios de selección de los informantes y se explican los aspectos más importantes de la convención de transcripción aplicada.Bei dem vorliegenden Buch handelt es sich um ein Korpus des gesprochenen Spanisch. Es besteht aus 20 Interviews, die in der Gemeinde Getxo, Baskenland, erhoben wurden. In der kurzen Einleitung werden der Rahmen, in dem die Daten erhoben wurden, beschrieben, die der Informantenauswahl zugrunde gelegten Kriterien erklärt und die wichtigsten Aspekte der angewandten Transkriptionskonvention skizziert.In this volume we offer a corpus of spoken Spanish consisting of 20 interviews collected in the municipality of Getxo, Basque Country. The short introduction describes the framework within which these data were collected, explains the criteria for the selection of the interviewees and outlines the most important aspects of the transcription conventions used

The Information Technology Workforce: A Comparision Of Critical Skills Of Clients And Service Providers

In this article the authors explore similarities and differences in skill needs of IT service providers and the firms that providers service (clients). The results show that providers and clients are more similar than different with regard to desired skills. Client firms emphasize technical skills for new hires more than providers do despite saying that these are the skills they would outsource to providers. The results have implications for organizations’ recruiting and retention, for individuals’ career development, and for educational programs