Predicting Risky Drinking Outcomes Longitudinally: What Kind of Advance Notice Can We Get?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65954/1/j.1530-0277.2006.00033.x.pd

Secular evolution versus hierarchical merging: galaxy evolution along the Hubble sequence, in the field and rich environments

In the current galaxy formation scenarios, two physical phenomena are invoked to build disk galaxies: hierarchical mergers and more quiescent external gas accretion, coming from intergalactic filaments. Although both are thought to play a role, their relative importance is not known precisely. Here we consider the constraints on these scenarios brought by the observation-deduced star formation history on the one hand, and observed dynamics of galaxies on the other hand: the high frequency of bars and spirals, the high frequency of perturbations such as lopsidedness, warps, or polar rings. All these observations are not easily reproduced in simulations without important gas accretion. N-body simulations taking into account the mass exchange between stars and gas through star formation and feedback, can reproduce the data, only if galaxies double their mass in about 10 Gyr through gas accretion. Warped and polar ring systems are good tracers of this accretion, which occurs from cold gas which has not been virialised in the system's potential. The relative importance of these phenomena are compared between the field and rich clusters. The respective role of mergers and gas accretion vary considerably with environment.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, review paper to "Penetrating Bars through Masks of Cosmic Dust: the Hubble Tuning Fork Strikes a New Note", Pilanesberg, ed. D. Block et al., Kluwe

Cold gas accretion in galaxies

Evidence for the accretion of cold gas in galaxies has been rapidly accumulating in the past years. HI observations of galaxies and their environment have brought to light new facts and phenomena which are evidence of ongoing or recent accretion: 1) A large number of galaxies are accompanied by gas-rich dwarfs or are surrounded by HI cloud complexes, tails and filaments. It may be regarded as direct evidence of cold gas accretion in the local universe. It is probably the same kind of phenomenon of material infall as the stellar streams observed in the halos of our galaxy and M31. 2) Considerable amounts of extra-planar HI have been found in nearby spiral galaxies. While a large fraction of this gas is produced by galactic fountains, it is likely that a part of it is of extragalactic origin. 3) Spirals are known to have extended and warped outer layers of HI. It is not clear how these have formed, and how and for how long the warps can be sustained. Gas infall has been proposed as the origin. 4) The majority of galactic disks are lopsided in their morphology as well as in their kinematics. Also here recent accretion has been advocated as a possible cause. In our view, accretion takes place both through the arrival and merging of gas-rich satellites and through gas infall from the intergalactic medium (IGM). The infall may have observable effects on the disk such as bursts of star formation and lopsidedness. We infer a mean ``visible'' accretion rate of cold gas in galaxies of at least 0.2 Msol/yr. In order to reach the accretion rates needed to sustain the observed star formation (~1 Msol/yr), additional infall of large amounts of gas from the IGM seems to be required.Comment: To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics Reviews. 34 pages. Full-resolution version available at http://www.astron.nl/~oosterlo/accretionRevie

Wine and other alcohol consumption and risk of ovarian cancer in the California Teachers Study cohort

OBJECTIVE: Whether alcohol consumption influences ovarian cancer risk is unclear. Therefore, we investigated the association between alcohol intake at various ages and risk of ovarian cancer. METHODS: Among 90,371 eligible members of the California Teachers Study cohort who completed a baseline alcohol assessment in 1995–1996, 253 women were diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer by the end of 2003. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to estimate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Consumption of total alcohol, beer, or liquor in the year prior to baseline, at ages 30–35 years, or at ages 18–22 years was not associated with risk of ovarian cancer. Consumption of at least one glass per day of wine, compared to no wine, in the year before baseline was associated with increased risk of developing ovarian cancer: RR = 1.57 (95% CI 1.11–2.22), P(trend) = 0.01. The association with wine intake at baseline was particularly strong among peri-/post-menopausal women who used estrogen-only hormone therapy and women of high socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol intake does not appear to affect ovarian cancer risk. Constituents of wine other than alcohol or, more likely, unmeasured determinants of wine drinking were associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer

Microglial activation and chronic neurodegeneration

Microglia, the resident innate immune cells in the brain, have long been implicated in the pathology of neurode-generative diseases. Accumulating evidence points to activated microglia as a chronic source of multiple neurotoxic factors, including tumor necrosis factor-α, nitric oxide, interleukin-1β, and reactive oxygen species (ROS), driving progressive neuron damage. Microglia can become chronically activated by either a single stimulus (e.g., lipopolysaccharide or neuron damage) or multiple stimuli exposures to result in cumulative neuronal loss with time. Although the mechanisms driving these phenomena are just beginning to be understood, reactive microgliosis (the microglial response to neuron damage) and ROS have been implicated as key mechanisms of chronic and neurotoxic microglial activation, particularly in the case of Parkinson’s disease. We review the mechanisms of neurotoxicity associated with chronic microglial activation and discuss the role of neuronal death and microglial ROS driving the chronic and toxic microglial phenotype

Microglial Morphology and Dynamic Behavior Is Regulated by Ionotropic Glutamatergic and GABAergic Neurotransmission

PURPOSE: Microglia represent the primary resident immune cells in the CNS, and have been implicated in the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases. Under basal or "resting" conditions, microglia possess ramified morphologies and exhibit dynamic surveying movements in their processes. Despite the prominence of this phenomenon, the function and regulation of microglial morphology and dynamic behavior are incompletely understood. We investigate here whether and how neurotransmission regulates "resting" microglial morphology and behavior. METHODS: We employed an ex vivo mouse retinal explant system in which endogenous neurotransmission and dynamic microglial behavior are present. We utilized live-cell time-lapse confocal imaging to study the morphology and behavior of GFP-labeled retinal microglia in response to neurotransmitter agonists and antagonists. Patch clamp electrophysiology and immunohistochemical localization of glutamate receptors were also used to investigate direct-versus-indirect effects of neurotransmission by microglia. RESULTS: Retinal microglial morphology and dynamic behavior were not cell-autonomously regulated but are instead modulated by endogenous neurotransmission. Morphological parameters and process motility were differentially regulated by different modes of neurotransmission and were increased by ionotropic glutamatergic neurotransmission and decreased by ionotropic GABAergic neurotransmission. These neurotransmitter influences on retinal microglia were however unlikely to be directly mediated; local applications of neurotransmitters were unable to elicit electrical responses on microglia patch-clamp recordings and ionotropic glutamatergic receptors were not located on microglial cell bodies or processes by immunofluorescent labeling. Instead, these influences were mediated indirectly via extracellular ATP, released in response to glutamatergic neurotransmission through probenecid-sensitive pannexin hemichannels. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that neurotransmission plays an endogenous role in regulating the morphology and behavior of "resting" microglia in the retina. These findings illustrate a mode of constitutive signaling between the neural and immune compartments of the CNS through which immune cells may be regulated in concert with levels of neural activity

Vitamin C in plasma is inversely related to blood pressure and change in blood pressure during the previous year in young Black and White women

BackgroundThe prevalence of hypertension and its contribution to cardiovascular disease risk makes it imperative to identify factors that may help prevent this disorder. Extensive biological and biochemical data suggest that plasma ascorbic acid may be such a factor. In this study we examined the association between plasma ascorbic acid concentration and blood pressure (BP) in young-adult women.MethodsParticipants were 242 Black and White women aged 18-21 yr from the Richmond, CA, cohort of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. We examined the associations of plasma ascorbic acid with BP at follow-up year 10, and with change in BP during the previous year.ResultsIn cross-sectional analysis, plasma ascorbic acid at year 10 was inversely associated with systolic BP and diastolic BP after adjusting for race, body mass index, education, and dietary intake of fat and sodium. Persons in the highest one-fourth of the plasma ascorbic acid distribution had 4.66 mmHg lower systolic BP (95% CI 1.10 to 8.22 mmHg, p = 0.005) and 6.04 mmHg lower diastolic BP (95% CI 2.70 to 9.38 mmHg, p = 0.0002) than those in the lowest one-fourth of the distribution. In analysis of the change in BP, plasma ascorbic acid was also inversely associated with change in systolic BP and diastolic BP during the previous year. While diastolic blood pressure among persons in the lowest quartile of plasma ascorbic acid increased by 5.97 mmHg (95% CI 3.82 to 8.13 mmHg) from year 9 to year 10, those in the highest quartile of plasma vitamin C increased by only 0.23 mmHg (95% CI -1.90 to +2.36 mmHg) (test for linear trend: p < 0.0001). A similar effect was seen for change in systolic BP, p = 0.005.ConclusionPlasma ascorbic acid was found to be inversely associated with BP and change in BP during the prior year. The findings suggest the possibility that vitamin C may influence BP in healthy young adults. Since lower BP in young adulthood may lead to lower BP and decreased incidence of age-associated vascular events in older adults, further investigation of treatment effects of vitamin C on BP regulation in young adults is warranted

Physicians' attitudes about obesity and their associations with competency and specialty: A cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Physicians frequently report negative attitudes about obesity which is thought to affect patient care. However, little is known about how attitudes toward treating obese patients are formed. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of physicians in order to better characterize their attitudes and explore the relationships among attitudes, perceived competency in obesity care, including report of weight loss in patients, and other key physician, training, and practice characteristics.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We surveyed all 399 physicians from internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry specialties at one institution regarding obesity care attitudes, competency, including physician report of percent of their patients who lose weight. We performed a factor analysis on the attitude items and used hierarchical regression analysis to explore the degree to which competency, reported weight loss, physician, training and practice characteristics explained the variance in each attitude factor.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall response rate was 63%. More than 40% of physicians had a negative reaction towards obese patients, 56% felt qualified to treat obesity, and 46% felt successful in this realm. The factor analysis revealed 4 factors–<it>Physician Discomfort/Bias, Physician Success/Self Efficacy, Positive Outcome Expectancy</it>, and <it>Negative Outcome Expectancy</it>. Competency and reported percent of patients who lose weight were most strongly associated with the <it>Physician Success/Self Efficacy </it>attitude factor. Greater skill in patient assessment was associated with less <it>Physician Discomfort/Bias</it>. Training characteristics were associated with outcome expectancies with newer physicians reporting more positive treatment expectancies. Pediatric faculty was more positive and psychiatry faculty less negative in their treatment expectancies than internal medicine faculty.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Physician attitudes towards obesity are associated with competency, specialty, and years since postgraduate training. Further study is necessary to determine the direction of influence and to explore the impact of these attitudes on patient care.</p

Usage patterns, health, and nutritional status of long-term multiple dietary supplement users: a cross-sectional study

© 2007 Block et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

The significance of the sense of coherence for various coping resources in stress situations used by police officers in on-the-beat service

Background: Police officers meet many stressors as part of their occupation. The psychological resource "sense of coherence" (SOC) protects against ill-health, but its impact on coping resources for stress situations has not been studied in the population of police officers. Different approaches to investigate the significance of SOC for different outcomes have been identified in literature, leading to some difficulties in the interpretation and generalization of results. The aim was therefore to explore SOC and the coping resources, and to examine the significance of SOC for various coping resources for stress using different models in a sample of Swedish police officers providing on-the-beat service. Materials and Methods: One hundred and one police officers (age: mean = 33 years, SD = 8; 29 females) were included, and the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29) and the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) were used. The dependent variable in each regression analysis was one of the coping resources: cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual/philosophical, physical, and a global resource. Global SOC-29 and/or its components (comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness) were investigated as independent variables. Results: All CRI and SOC-29 scores except for that of spiritual/philosophical resources were higher than those of reference groups. Manageability was the most important component of SOC for various coping resources in stress situations used by police officers. Conclusion: A deeper study of manageability will give useful information, because this component of SOC is particularly significant in the variation in resources used by police officers to cope with stress. Salutogenesis, the origin of well-being, should be more in focus of future research on workplaces with a high level of occupational stress