Using the theory of planned behavior to assess participation in congregate meal programs

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Hospitality Management and DieteticsRebecca A. GouldCongregate meal programs under Older Americans Act Title IIIC provide hot meals for individuals 65 and older in a community setting during lunch time. The program focuses on preventing the problems associated with malnutrition and social isolation. From 1980 to 2002, the number of congregate meals served decreased by 18% while home-delivered meals increased almost 290%. To further understand reasons for declining program participation factors that impact participation were examined. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used in this study to explain participation intention of community-dwelling elderly who lived in the Kansas North Central-Flint Hill region. A two-phased elicitation study including: 1) focus groups and 2) salient beliefs study was administered to uncover participation beliefs and identify and clarify salient belief items. Based on the results of an elicitation study and a literature review, a valid questionnaire was developed. Data were collected at a senior fair, senior centers, senior living facilities, senior exercise classes, and a monthly meeting of retired seniors yielding a total of 238 samples. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to summarize the respondent’s demographic characteristics. A two-step modeling approach including confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was performed to assess measurement model fit and checked causal relationships between factors. Five advantages that respondents believe influence participation include: convenience, social interaction, low-price, nutritious and balanced meals, and less waste. Family members, friends, neighbors, cooks at the meal site, and heath professionals were important referents who affected seniors’ program participation intention. The salient facilitators of program participation were activities at senior centers, the availability of transportation, the inclusive culture of senior centers, the lack of motivation and ability to cook, and poor weather. Results show the data fits the TPB moderately well: all predictor variables (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control (PBC), and past behavior) had a significant positive effect on participation intention. Among the four factors, PBC had the greatest predictive power on intention. Attitude had the least impact on participation intention. Seniors provide thoughtful and insightful opinions about meal program. Results suggest program provider should focus on remove participation barriers and implement effective strategies to increase congregate meal program participation. The ultimate goal is to encourage the elderly to participate, improving their nutritional intake and thus, their quality of life

Clinical and molecular characterization of a transmitted reciprocal translocation t(1;12)(p32.1;q21.3) in a family co-segregating with mental retardation, language delay, and microcephaly

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chromosome translocation associated with neurodevelopmental disorders provides an opportunity to identify new disease-associated genes and gain new insight into their function. During chromosome analysis, we identified a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 1p and 12q, t(1; 12)(p32.1; q21.3), co-segregating with microcephaly, language delay, and severe psychomotor retardation in a mother and her two affected boys.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), long-range PCR, and direct sequencing were used to map the breakpoints on chromosomes 1p and 12q. A reporter gene assay was conducted in human neuroblastoma (SKNSH) and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines to assess the functional implication of the fusion sequences between chromosomes 12 and 1.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We determined both breakpoints at the nucleotide level. Neither breakpoint disrupted any known gene directly. The breakpoint on chromosome 1p was located amid a gene-poor region of ~ 1.1 Mb, while the breakpoint on chromosome 12q was located ~ 3.4 kb downstream of the ALX1 gene, a homeobox gene. In the reporter gene assay, we discovered that the fusion sequences construct between chromosomes 12 and 1 had a ~ 1.5 to 2-fold increased reporter gene activity compared with the corresponding normal chromosome 12 sequences construct.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings imply that the translocation may enhance the expression of the ALX1 gene via the position effect and result in the clinical symptoms of this family. Our findings may also expand the clinical phenotype spectrum of ALX1-related human diseases as loss of the ALX1 function was recently reported to result in abnormal craniofacial development.</p

Combinatorial Computational Approaches to Identify Tetracycline Derivatives as Flavivirus Inhibitors

Limited structural information of drug targets, cellular toxicity possessed by lead compounds, and large amounts of potential leads are the major issues facing the design-oriented approach of discovering new leads. In an attempt to tackle these issues, we have developed a process of virtual screening based on the observation that conformational rearrangements of the dengue virus envelope protein are essential for the mediation of viral entry into host cells via membrane fusion. Screening was based solely on the structural information of the Dengue virus envelope protein and was focused on a target site that is presumably important for the conformational rearrangements necessary for viral entry. To circumvent the issue of lead compound toxicity, we performed screening based on molecular docking using structural databases of medical compounds. To enhance the identification of hits, we further categorized and selected candidates according to their novel structural characteristics. Finally, the selected candidates were subjected to a biological validation assay to assess inhibition of Dengue virus propagation in mammalian host cells using a plaque formation assay. Among the 10 compounds examined, rolitetracycline and doxycycline significantly inhibited plaque formation, demonstrating their inhibitory effect on dengue virus propagation. Both compounds were tetracycline derivatives with IC(50)s estimated to be 67.1 µM and 55.6 µM, respectively. Their docked conformations displayed common hydrophobic interactions with critical residues that affected membrane fusion during viral entry. These interactions will therefore position the tetracyclic ring moieties of both inhibitors to bind firmly to the target and, subsequently, disrupt conformational rearrangement and block viral entry. This process can be applied to other drug targets in which conformational rearrangement is critical to function

Localization and Functional Characterization of the Rat Oatp4c1 Transporter in an In Vitro Cell System and Rat Tissues

The organic anion transporting polypeptide 4c1 (Oatp4c1) was previously identified as a novel uptake transporter predominantly expressed at the basolateral membrane in the rat kidney proximal tubules. Its functional role was suggested to be a vectorial transport partner of an apically-expressed efflux transporter for the efficient translocation of physiological substrates into urine, some of which were suggested to be uremic toxins. However, our in vitro studies with MDCKII cells showed that upon transfection rat Oatp4c1 polarizes to the apical membrane. In this report, we validated the trafficking and function of Oatp4c1 in polarized cell systems as well as its subcellular localization in rat kidney. Using several complementary biochemical, molecular and proteomic methods as well as antibodies amenable to immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and immunobloting we investigated the expression pattern of Oatp4c1 in polarized cell systems and in the rat kidney. Collectively, these data demonstrate that rat Oatp4c1 traffics to the apical cell surface of polarized epithelium and localizes primarily in the proximal straight tubules, the S3 fraction of the nephron. Drug uptake studies in Oatp4c1-overexpressing cells demonstrated that Oatp4c1-mediated estrone-3-sulfate (E3S) uptake was pH-dependent and ATP-independent. These data definitively demonstrate the subcellular localization and histological location of Oatp4c1 and provide additional functional evidence that reconciles expression-function reports found in the literature

Isolation and Characterization of Novel Murine Epiphysis Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

BACKGROUND: While bone marrow (BM) is a rich source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), previous studies have shown that MSCs derived from mouse BM (BMMSCs) were difficult to manipulate as compared to MSCs derived from other species. The objective of this study was to find an alternative murine MSCs source that could provide sufficient MSCs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we described a novel type of MSCs that migrates directly from the mouse epiphysis in culture. Epiphysis-derived MSCs (EMSCs) could be extensively expanded in plastic adherent culture, and they had a greater ability for clonogenic formation and cell proliferation than BMMSCs. Under specific induction conditions, EMSCs demonstrated multipotency through their ability to differentiate into adipocytes, osteocytes and chondrocytes. Immunophenotypic analysis demonstrated that EMSCs were positive for CD29, CD44, CD73, CD105, CD166, Sca-1 and SSEA-4, while negative for CD11b, CD31, CD34 and CD45. Notably, EMSCs did not express major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) or MHC II under our culture system. EMSCs also successfully suppressed the proliferation of splenocytes triggered by concanavalin A (Con A) or allogeneic splenocytes, and decreased the expression of IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α in Con A-stimulated splenocytes suggesting their anti-inflammatory properties. Moreover, EMSCs enhanced fracture repair, ameliorated necrosis in ischemic skin flap, and improved blood perfusion in hindlimb ischemia in the in vivo experiments. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCES: These results indicate that EMSCs, a new type of MSCs established by our simple isolation method, are a preferable alternative for mice MSCs due to their better growth and differentiation potentialities

Search for anisotropic gravitational-wave backgrounds using data from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's first three observing runs

We report results from searches for anisotropic stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds using data from the first three observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. For the first time, we include Virgo data in our analysis and run our search with a new efficient pipeline called {\tt PyStoch} on data folded over one sidereal day. We use gravitational-wave radiometry (broadband and narrow band) to produce sky maps of stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds and to search for gravitational waves from point sources. A spherical harmonic decomposition method is employed to look for gravitational-wave emission from spatially-extended sources. Neither technique found evidence of gravitational-wave signals. Hence we derive 95\% confidence-level upper limit sky maps on the gravitational-wave energy flux from broadband point sources, ranging from $F_{\alpha, \Theta} < {\rm (0.013 - 7.6)} \times 10^{-8} {\rm erg \, cm^{-2} \, s^{-1} \, Hz^{-1}},$ and on the (normalized) gravitational-wave energy density spectrum from extended sources, ranging from $\Omega_{\alpha, \Theta} < {\rm (0.57 - 9.3)} \times 10^{-9} \, {\rm sr^{-1}}$, depending on direction ($\Theta$) and spectral index ($\alpha$). These limits improve upon previous limits by factors of $2.9 - 3.5$. We also set 95\% confidence level upper limits on the frequency-dependent strain amplitudes of quasimonochromatic gravitational waves coming from three interesting targets, Scorpius X-1, SN 1987A and the Galactic Center, with best upper limits range from $h_0 < {\rm (1.7-2.1)} \times 10^{-25},$ a factor of $\geq 2.0$ improvement compared to previous stochastic radiometer searches.Comment: 23 Pages, 9 Figure