If a Change Is Needed Should You Drop Out a Year?

Shall I stay out of school next quarter? Perhaps you have asked yourself this question. Perhaps you are wondering right now just what you should do

Remodeling Tips

Remember the game I\u27m going to New York, and with me I\u27m going to take- ? Now that you\u27re in college you say, \u27\u27I\u27m going home for Christmas, and I\u27m going to do-. You have probably already thought of at least a dozen things and repeat them faithfully every night before you go to sleep

Report from Athens

Last Month, Mrs. Bernice Brown of the Statistics Laboratory visited this Greek family and found them glowing in clothing sent from Ames. Alexis, the father, attended a London conference in an army uniform sent by Alvin Coons of the Department of Economics and Sociology

Sight-seeing In Peiping, China

A fifteen course diner for fifteen dinner guests is the custom in Peiping, China. Elaborately served, these courses consist of many delicacies. Prof. Karlyne Anspach, of the Department of Textiles and Clothing, had the experience of being such an honored guest last summer when she visited the ancient Chinese city

The Impact of Body Mass Index on Functional Rehabilitation Outcomes of Working-age Inpatients with Stroke

BACKGROUND: Stroke is the most relevant cause of acquired persistent disability in adulthood. The relationship between patient’s weight during rehabilitation and stroke functional outcome is controversial, previous research reported positive, negative and no effects, with scarce studies specifically addressing working-age patients.AIM: To evaluate the association between Body Mass Index (BMI) and the functional progress of adult (\u3c65 \u3eyears) patients with stroke admitted to a rehabilitation hospital.DESIGN: Retrospective observational cohort study.SETTING: Inpatient rehabilitation center.POPULATION: 178 stroke patients (ischemic or hemorrhagic).METHODS: Point-biserial and Spearman’s correlations, multivariate linear regressions and analysis of covariance were used to describe differences in functional outcomes after adjusting for age, sex, severity, dysphagia, depression and BMI category. Functional Independence Measure (FIM), FIM gain, efficiency and effectiveness were assessed.RESULTS: Participants were separated in 3 BMI categories: normal weight (47%), overweight (33%) and obese (20%). There were no significant differences between BMI categories in any functional outcome (total FIM (TFIM), cognitive (CFIM), motor (MFIM)) at discharge, admission, gain, efficiency or effectiveness. In regression models BMI (as continuous variable) was not significant predictor of TFIM at discharge after adjusting for age, sex, severity, dysphagia, depression and ataxia (R2=0.4813), significant predictors were TFIM at admission (β = 0.528) and NIHSS (β=-0.208). MFIM efficiency did not significantly differ by BMI subgroups, neither did CFIM efficiency. Length of stay (LOS) and TFIM effectiveness were associated for normal (r=0.33) and overweight (r=0.43), but not for obese. LOS and TFIM efficiency were strongly negatively associated only for obese (r=-0.50).CONCLUSIONS: FIM outcomes were not associated to BMI, nevertheless each BMI category when individually considered (normal weight, overweight or obese) was characterized by different associations involving FIM outcomes and clinical factors. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: In sub-acute post-stroke working-age patients undergoing rehabilitation, BMI was not associated to FIM outcomes (no obesity paradox was reported in this sample). Distinctive significant associations emerged within each BMI category, (supporting their characterization) such as length of stay and TFIM effectiveness were associated for normal weight and overweight, but not for obese. Length of stay and TFIM efficiency were strongly negatively associated only for obese

The Iowa Homemaker vol.28, no.8

Grapplers Provide Mat Thrill, John Marousek, page 3 Can Science and Religion Mix?, Barb Allen, Janet Sutherland, page 4 Teach Home Economics, Pat Close, page 7 It’s Merrill-Palmer, Peggy Krenek, page 8 Vicky Steps Out In Cotton, Jo Ann Breckenridge, page 11 What’s New In Home Economics, Peggy Krenek, page 12 Sight-seeing In Peiping, China, Joan Kelleher, page 14 Backstage At the Theatre Workshop, Frances Bosnak, page 18 Beware - Headaches, Margaret Wallace, page 21 Keeping Up With Today, Mary West, page 2

The Iowa Homemaker vol.26, no.2

Alma Mater, J. C. Harris, page 2 Travel With Poise, Mary Ann Hakes, page 3 Report From Athens, Joan Kelleher, page 4 Blanche Pederson Interviews an Aussie Bride, Blanche Pederson, page 5 Coeds are Veterans, Too, Mary Margaret Ryan, page 6 Future Home Economics Classroom, Helen Hochriem, page 7 Vicky Grins at the Sun, Breta Soldat, page 9 What’s New in Home Economics, Marjorie Clampitt, page 10 Wardrobe Worries? Here’s What We Wear, Textiles and Clothing Club, page 12 “I Have a Dozen Bosses”, Genevieve Callahan, page 14 Albino Rats Get in on the Ground Floor, Margaret Waterland, page 17 Alums Prove Chemistry can Pay, June Welch, page 18 Education Begins Egyptian Modernizing, Lois Bronson, page 19 Across Alumnae Desks, Mary Neff, page 21 Keeping Up With Today, Joyce Edgar, page 22 How Does Your Garden Grow?, Irene Meyer, page 23 Alums in the News, Goldie Rouse, page 2

Geographic and Racial Variation in Premature Mortality in the U.S.: Analyzing the Disparities

Life expectancy at birth, estimated from United States period life tables, has been shown to vary systematically and widely by region and race. We use the same tables to estimate the probability of survival from birth to age 70 (S70), a measure of mortality more sensitive to disparities and more reliably calculated for small populations, to describe the variation and identify its sources in greater detail to assess the patterns of this variation. Examination of the unadjusted probability of S70 for each US county with a sufficient population of whites and blacks reveals large geographic differences for each race-sex group. For example, white males born in the ten percent healthiest counties have a 77 percent probability of survival to age 70, but only a 61 percent chance if born in the ten percent least healthy counties. Similar geographical disparities face white women and blacks of each sex. Moreover, within each county, large differences in S70 prevail between blacks and whites, on average 17 percentage points for men and 12 percentage points for women. In linear regressions for each race-sex group, nearly all of the geographic variation is accounted for by a common set of 22 socio-economic and environmental variables, selected for previously suspected impact on mortality; R2 ranges from 0.86 for white males to 0.72 for black females. Analysis of black-white survival chances within each county reveals that the same variables account for most of the race gap in S70 as well. When actual white male values for each explanatory variable are substituted for black in the black male prediction equation to assess the role explanatory variables play in the black-white survival difference, residual black-white differences at the county level shrink markedly to a mean of −2.4% (+/−2.4); for women the mean difference is −3.7% (+/−2.3)

Sequential Broadening of CTL Responses in Early HIV-1 Infection Is Associated with Viral Escape

BACKGROUND: Antigen-specific CTL responses are thought to play a central role in containment of HIV-1 infection, but no consistent correlation has been found between the magnitude and/or breadth of response and viral load changes during disease progression. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We undertook a detailed investigation of longitudinal CTL responses and HIV-1 evolution beginning with primary infection in 11 untreated HLA-A2 positive individuals. A subset of patients developed broad responses, which selected for consensus B epitope variants in Gag, Pol, and Nef, suggesting CTL-induced adaptation of HIV-1 at the population level. The patients who developed viral escape mutations and broad autologous CTL responses over time had a significantly higher increase in viral load during the first year of infection compared to those who did not develop viral escape mutations. CONCLUSIONS: A continuous dynamic development of CTL responses was associated with viral escape from temporarily effective immune responses. Our results suggest that broad CTL responses often represent footprints left by viral CTL escape rather than effective immune control, and help explain earlier findings that fail to show an association between breadth of CTL responses and viral load. Our results also demonstrate that CTL pressures help to maintain certain elements of consensus viral sequence, which likely represent viral escape from common HLA-restricted CTL responses. The ability of HIV to evolve to escape CTL responses restricted by a common HLA type highlights the challenges posed to development of an effective CTL-based vaccine