Religious transformations: lessons from American adolescents

This dissertation explores religious change among American adolescents with a focus on multiple aspects of religious identity and social contexts. In the three articles I examine change in adolescents' attitudes about the importance of religious identity, compare change in religious identification with change in other dimensions of religiosity, and assess potential consequences of these dramatic changes in religiosity in terms of youth outcomes (substance use initiation). Throughout the papers I explore how youth change over time as they transition from adolescence into young adulthood to gain a better understanding of the various patterns of religious development. Analyses using three waves of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) show that adolescents are largely stable when it comes to attitudes about religion and measures of religiosity but that there are patterns among the minority of youth who experience religious change. The results show that a majority of youth in the U.S. have attitudes that are favorable to religious diversity and that over time, change in these attitudes tend to favor this diversity. While religiosity is commonly measured as being one-dimensional, comparing changes in a variety of religiosity measures suggests that there are meaningful differences from one to another. The results also suggest that there are different processes that influence these changes. When assessing the associations between these types of religious change and substance use initiation, the results further suggest that there are meaningful differences in changes from one measure of religiosity to another that are associated with youth outcomes. Together these findings suggest that the religious lives of youth are best characterized by stability but among the minority who experience change, there are different processes involved across different types of religious change and that peer influence is associated with all of them. Untangling the variety of religious experiences and development patterns adolescents undergo as they age into adulthood could provide a more accurate and nuanced understanding of religiosity, particularly in its effects on youth outcomes

Induction of IL-10-producing CD4(+)CD25(+ )T cells in animal model of collagen-induced arthritis by oral administration of type II collagen

Induction of oral tolerance has long been considered a promising approach to the treatment of chronic autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Oral administration of type II collagen (CII) has been proven to improve signs and symptoms in RA patients without troublesome toxicity. To investigate the mechanism of immune suppression mediated by orally administered antigen, we examined changes in serum IgG subtypes and T-cell proliferative responses to CII, and generation of IL-10-producing CD4(+)CD25(+ )T-cell subsets in an animal model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). We found that joint inflammation in CIA mice peaked at 5 weeks after primary immunization with CII, which was significantly less in mice tolerized by repeated oral feeding of CII before CIA induction. Mice that had been fed with CII also exhibited increased serum IgG(1 )and decreased serum IgG(2a )as compared with nontolerized CIA animals. The T-cell proliferative response to CII was suppressed in lymph nodes of tolerized mice also. Production of IL-10 and of transforming growth factor-β from mononuclear lymphocytes was increased in the tolerized animals, and CD4(+ )T cells isolated from tolerized mice did not respond with induction of IFN-γ when stimulated in vitro with CII. We also observed greater induction of IL-10-producing CD4(+)CD25(+ )subsets among CII-stimulated splenic T cells from tolerized mice. These data suggest that when these IL-10-producing CD4(+)CD25(+ )T cells encounter CII antigen in affected joints they become activated to exert an anti-inflammatory effect

Maximizing the Impact of Digital Media Campaigns to Promote Smoking Cessation: A Case Study of the California Tobacco Control Program and the California Smokers’ Helpline

Background and Purpose: Digital media (e.g., banner ads, video ads) is often used to encourage smoking cessation by increasing quitline call volume through direct promotion to smokers or indirect promotion through smoker proxies. This process evaluation study highlights the use of digital media in a proxy-targeted campaign to promote the California Smokers’ Helpline to health care professionals. Methods: Data were collected from October 2009 to September 2012. We describe the iterative development of the campaign’s digital media activities and report campaign summaries of web metrics (website visits, webinar registrations, downloads of online materials, online orders for promotional materials) and media buy (gross impressions) tracking data. Results: The campaign generated more than 2.7 million gross impressions from digital media sources over three campaign waves. Online orders for promotional materials increased almost 40% over the course of the campaign. Conclusion: A clearly defined campaign strategy ensured that there was a systematic approach in developing and implementing campaign activities. It also ensured that lessons learned from previous waves were incorporated; one lesson included the frequent rotation of new ad content to keep the target audience engaged

A mutual activation loop between breast cancer cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells facilitates spontaneous metastasis through IL-6 trans-signaling in a murine model

Introduction : Tumor cell interactions with the microenvironment, especially those of bone-marrow-derived myeloid cells, are important in various aspects of tumor metastasis. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) have been suggested to constitute tumor-favoring microenvironments. In this study, we elucidated a novel mechanism by which the MDSCs can mediate spontaneous distant metastasis of breast cancer cells. Methods : Murine breast cancer cells, 4T1 and EMT6, were orthotopically grafted into the mammary fat pads of syngeneic BALB/c mice. CD11b+Gr-1+ MDSCs in the spleen, liver, lung and primary tumor mass were analyzed. To evaluate the role of MDSCs in the distant metastasis, MDSCs were depleted or reconstituted in tumor-bearing mice. To evaluate whether MDSCs in the metastasizing tumor microenvironment affect breast cancer cell behavior, MDSCs and cancer cells were co-cultivated. To investigate the role of MDSCs in in vivo metastasis, we blocked the interactions between MDSCs and cancer cells. Results : Using a murine breast cancer cell model, we showed that murine breast cancer cells with high IL-6 expression recruited more MDSCs and that the metastasizing capacity of cancer cells paralleled MDSC recruitment in tumor-bearing mice. Metastasizing, but not non-metastasizing, tumor-derived factors induced MDSCs to increase IL-6 production and full activation of recruited MDSCs occurred in the primary tumor site and metastatic organ in the vicinity of metastasizing cancer cells, but not in lymphoid organs. In addition, tumor-expanded MDSCs expressed Adam-family proteases, which facilitated shedding of IL-6 receptor, thereby contributing to breast cancer cell invasiveness and distant metastasis through IL-6 trans-signaling. The critical role of IL-6 trans-signaling was confirmed in both the afferent and efferent pathways of metastasis. Conclusion : In this study, we showed that metastasizing cancer cells induced higher MDSCs infiltration and prompted them to secret exaggerated IL-6 as well as soluble IL-6Rα, which, in turn, triggered a persistent increase of pSTAT3 in tumor cells. This potential tumor-MDSC axis involving IL-6 trans-signaling directly affected breast cancer cell aggressiveness, leading to spontaneous metastasis.This work was supported by grants from the National R&D Program for Cancer Control, Ministry of Health & Welfare (12202001), Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012008122), and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (2012014152).Peer Reviewe

Tuberculous Pericarditis Presenting as Multiple Free Floating Masses in Pericardial Effusion

Pericarditis is a rare manifestation of tuberculosis (Tb) in children. A 14-yr-old Korean boy presented with cardiac tamponade during treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. He developed worsening anemia and persistent fever in spite of anti-tuberculosis medications. Echocardiography found free floating multiple discoid masses in the pericardial effusion. The masses and exudates were removed by pericardiostomy. The masses were composed of pink, amorphous meshwork of threads admixed with degenerated red blood cells and leukocytes with numerous acid-fast bacilli, which were confirmed as Mycobacterium species by polymerase chain reaction. The persistent fever and anemia were controlled after pericardiostomy. This is the report of a unique manifestation of Tb pericarditis as free floating masses in the effusion with impending tamponade