The social context of smoking: A qualitative study comparing smokers of high versus low socioeconomic position

Background: The reductions in smoking prevalence in a number of industrialised countries are accompanied by a strong social gap and associated health inequality. Groups such as the World Health Organisation emphasise the importance of exploring potential causal factors for smoking such as socio-economic context & position. There has been little effort to compare the social context of smoking for smokers of high versus lower socio-economic position (SEP) to consider how tobacco control efforts might reduce smoking-related health inequality. Method: Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants for eight focus groups. The groups were segregated by age, gender and SEP. Samples were selected from suburbs within the Sydney metropolitan area defined as either high or low SEP based on the Socio Economic Index for Areas. Emergent themes were analysed according to Poland's six dimensions of the social context of smoking. Differences according to SEP, age group and gender were explored. Results: While there was commonality in social experiences for smokers across groups, some important aspects of the social context of smoking varied. Smokers of high SEP appeared to be aware of particular social pressures not to smoke on five of the six social context dimensions (power, body, identity, consumption and place). Not only were some of those pressures absent for low SEP participants, there were additional influences within the social context which were pro-smoking. Conclusions: In order to narrow the health inequality gap associated with smoking, it is important to take account of the more pro-smoking social context experienced by low SEP smokers. Suggestions are made regarding social marketing campaigns, support for quit assistance and approaches to the regulation of smoking which may assist inminimising smoking-related health inequality

FHL2 inhibits the activated osteoclast in a TRAF6-dependent manner

TNF receptor–associated factor 6 (TRAF6) associates with the cytoplasmic domain of receptor activator of NF-κB (RANK). This event is central to normal osteoclastogenesis. We discovered that TRAF6 also interacts with FHL2 (four and a half LIM domain 2), a LIM domain–only protein that functions as a transcriptional coactivator or corepressor in a cell-type–specific manner. FHL2 mRNA and protein are undetectable in marrow macrophages and increase pari passu with osteoclast differentiation in vitro. FHL2 inhibits TRAF6-induced NF-κB activity in wild-type osteoclast precursors and, in keeping with its role as a suppressor of TRAF6-mediated RANK signaling, TRAF6/RANK association is enhanced in FHL2(–/–) osteoclasts. FHL2 overexpression delays RANK ligand–induced (RANKL-induced) osteoclast formation and cytoskeletal organization. Interestingly, osteoclast-residing FHL2 is not detectable in naive wild-type mice, in vivo, but is abundant in those treated with RANKL and following induction of inflammatory arthritis. Reflecting increased RANKL sensitivity, osteoclasts generated from FHL2(–/–) mice reach maturation and optimally organize their cytoskeleton earlier than their wild-type counterparts. As a consequence, FHL2(–/–) osteoclasts are hyperresorptive, and mice lacking the protein undergo enhanced RANKL and inflammatory arthritis–stimulated bone loss. FHL2 is, therefore, an antiosteoclastogenic molecule exerting its effect by attenuating TRAF6-mediated RANK signaling

Prevention Research Centers: Contributions to Updating the Public Health Workforce Through Training

Because public health is a continually evolving field, it is essential to provide ample training opportunities for public health professionals. As a natural outgrowth of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u27s Prevention Research Centers Program, training courses of many types have been developed for public health practitioners working in the field. This article describes three of the Prevention Research Center training program offerings: Evidence-Based Public Health, Physical Activity and Public Health for Practitioners, and Social Marketing. These courses illustrate the commitment of the Prevention Research Centers Program to helping create a better trained public health workforce, thereby enhancing the likelihood of improving public health

Single-Leg Squat Performance is Impaired 1 to 2 Years After Hip Arthroscopy

Objective: To evaluate single-leg squat performance 1-2 years after arthroscopy for intra-articular hip pathology compared with control subjects and the nonsurgical limb, and to investigate whether single-leg squat performance on the operated limb was associated with hip muscle strength

Parents dealing with anorexia : actions and meanings

This paper examines parents&rsquo; actions in response to anorexia nervosa, and how these are shaped by the ways they construct or understand the eating disorder. The findings indicate that parents try to influence their daughters by searching for help, providing practical support, avoiding confrontation, complying with special requirements, persuading, explaining, and pressuring, using ploys and force, providing emotional support, and mediating interactions. Parents&rsquo; actions are influenced by how they construct anorexia, such as whether they see it as an eating issue, an illness, a psychological problem, a choice, or a mystery. Understanding parents&rsquo; actions and constructions can help clinicians develop collaborative partnerships with parents.<br /

Eukaryotic HMGB proteins as replacements for HU in E. coli repression loop formation

DNA looping is important for gene repression and activation in Escherichia coli and is necessary for some kinds of gene regulation and recombination in eukaryotes. We are interested in sequence-nonspecific architectural DNA-binding proteins that alter the apparent flexibility of DNA by producing transient bends or kinks in DNA. The bacterial heat unstable (HU) and eukaryotic high-mobility group B (HMGB) proteins fall into this category. We have exploited a sensitive genetic assay of DNA looping in living E. coli cells to explore the extent to which HMGB proteins and derivatives can complement a DNA looping defect in E. coli lacking HU protein. Here, we show that derivatives of the yeast HMGB protein Nhp6A rescue DNA looping in E. coli lacking HU, in some cases facilitating looping to a greater extent than is observed in E. coli expressing normal levels of HU protein. Nhp6A-induced changes in the DNA length-dependence of repression efficiency suggest that Nhp6A alters DNA twist in vivo. In contrast, human HMGB2-box A derivatives did not rescue looping

Relationship between spatial ability, visuospatial working memory and self-assessed spatial orientation ability: a study in older adults

This paper describes some novel spatial tasks and questionnaires designed to assess spatial and orientation abilities. The new tasks and questionnaires were administered to a sample of 90 older adults (41 males, age range 57–90), along with some other tests of spatial ability (Minnesota Paper Form Board, Mental Rotations Test, and Embedded Figures Test) and tests of visuospatial working memory (Corsi’s Block Test and Visual Pattern Test). The internal reliability of the new tasks and questionnaires was analyzed, as well as their relationship with the spatial and working memory tests. The results showed that the new spatial tasks are reliable, correlate with working memory and spatial ability tests and, compared with the latters, show stronger correlations with the self-report questionnaires referring to orientation abilities. A model was also tested (with reference to Allen et al. in Intelligence 22:327–355, 1996) in which the new tasks were assumed to relate to spatial ability and predict orientation abilities as assessed by the self-report measures

Bricoleurs Extraordinaire: Sports Coaches in Inter War Britain

In Inter War Britain, individuals exploited their athletic skills by pursuing professional careers, or adopting amateur roles, as instructors, trainers and coaches, invariably drawing from, and elaborating on, existing practices. The coach was the master of a body of specialist craft knowledge, the tacit nature of which was transmitted through ‘stealing with the eyes’ as the apprentice watched the master in action (Gamble, 2001). Professional coaches saw themselves as practical men whose experiential knowledge concerning diet, physiological and psychological preparation, stimulants, massaging, medical treatments, talent identification, and so on provided critical components in their coaching ‘toolbox’ (Nelson, 1924, 25-26). Craft knowledge was never static. Coaching expertise is a fluid, cyclical process with practitioners continuously redeveloping their competencies (Turner, Nelson and Potrac, 2012, 323), and part of traditional craft expertise was the ability to react positively to shifting circumstances. Coaches were constantly stimulated to experiment by competitors, commercialisation, and emerging technologies (Clegg, 1977, 244), and they exemplified the notion of the ‘Bricoleur’ in constantly trialling emerging knowledge, intuitively accepting or rejecting appropriate material. This paper explores the ways in which practitioners developed their coaching ‘toolbox’ in Inter War Britain by drawing on examples from newspaper reports, personal and public archives, and instructional texts (eg. Tilden, 1920; Gent, 1922; Nelson, 1924; Mussabini, 1926; Lowe and Porritt, 1929; Abrahams and Abrahams, 1936). The author highlights the range of knowledge that coaches had at their command, well before the emergence of sports science and coaching certification programmes, and questions assumptions that coaches can no longer rely solely on ‘learning the trade’ through experience (Evans and Light, 2007). As Winchester et al. (2013) have emphasised, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and insights are developed from daily experiences in sport, work and at home, as well as through exposure to the coaching environment, and contemporary coaches still employ a largely implicit form of knowledge, closely connected to past experiences, which shares similarities with Inter War craft knowledge (Smith and Cushion, 2006, 363; Jones, Armour and Potrac, 2003), while identifying experimentation and experience as key reference points (Irwin, Hanton and Kerwin, 2004, 436, 439; Potrac, Jones and Cushion, 2007)

Analysis of In-Vivo LacR-Mediated Gene Repression Based on the Mechanics of DNA Looping

Interactions of E. coli lac repressor (LacR) with a pair of operator sites on the same DNA molecule can lead to the formation of looped nucleoprotein complexes both in vitro and in vivo. As a major paradigm for loop-mediated gene regulation, parameters such as operator affinity and spacing, repressor concentration, and DNA bending induced by specific or non-specific DNA-binding proteins (e.g., HU), have been examined extensively. However, a complete and rigorous model that integrates all of these aspects in a systematic and quantitative treatment of experimental data has not been available. Applying our recent statistical-mechanical theory for DNA looping, we calculated repression as a function of operator spacing (58–156 bp) from first principles and obtained excellent agreement with independent sets of in-vivo data. The results suggest that a linear extended, as opposed to a closed v-shaped, LacR conformation is the dominant form of the tetramer in vivo. Moreover, loop-mediated repression in wild-type E. coli strains is facilitated by decreased DNA rigidity and high levels of flexibility in the LacR tetramer. In contrast, repression data for strains lacking HU gave a near-normal value of the DNA persistence length. These findings underscore the importance of both protein conformation and elasticity in the formation of small DNA loops widely observed in vivo, and demonstrate the utility of quantitatively analyzing gene regulation based on the mechanics of nucleoprotein complexes