Healthy Skin Naturally

This case focuses on a start-up business trying to find a profitable niche’ in the skin care market in southern California. Entering a highly competitive industry, Healthy Skin Naturally is trying to determine the proper sales, distribution and promotional strategies to attain their sales goal of $500,000 in the next three years. Over the time that the products have been produced, the owners report that the “feedback from users tell us that they are all very effective”; it’s the opinion of the owners of Healthy Skin Naturally that price is a secondary factor to buyers as long as the products are effective in helping solve skin problems. Covering a geographic area from Santa Barbara to San Diego, the owners are targeting white collar professional women aged 35 to 70, as well as teenage acne sufferers and men of all ages. This case would be appropriate for sophomore-junior level students. The case can be taught in 2 to 3 hours and expected to require 3-5 hours of outside preparation by students. Research into skincare issues might be helpful before attempting this case

Socioeconomic status, obesity and lifestyle in men : the Geelong Osteoporosis Study

Background : Although the association between lower socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity in women in developed countries is well-documented, current evidence regarding the relationship between obesity in men and area-based SES (equivalised for advantage and disadvantage) is inconsistent. Therefore, we aimed to examine obesity, lifestyle behaviours, physical activity in different domains and demographics in men using area-based SES.Methods : We performed a descriptive cross-sectional study of 1467 randomly selected white men (mean age 56 year (inter-quartile range (IQR) = 39&ndash;73 year)) recruited from the Barwon Statistical Division, South Western Victoria, Australia between 2001&ndash;06.Results : Age-adjusted BMI, waist circumference, % fat and lean mass and blood pressure were inversely associated with SES, with differences between low and upper SES (P for difference &lt;0.05), independent of country of birth. Age-adjusted lifestyle behaviours associated with obesity and/or adverse health (especially cardiovascular disease), were also associated with lower SES.Conclusions : Subjects from lower SES had greater measures of obesity despite being more physically active at work, but were less likely to be physically active in the domains of sports and/or leisure. These findings suggest the possible influence of lifestyle behaviours and occupation upon obesity in men and should be investigated further.<br /

Sulfur chemistry in a borosilicate melt Part 3. Iron-sulfur interactions and the amber chromophore

The mutual interactions of iron and sulfur in a borosilicate melt were defined as a function of the iron content, sulfur concentration, melt temperature, and oxygen fugacity. Over the range of conditions for which ions of SO4 2- - Fe3+ - Fe2+ or S2- - Fe2+ - Fe0 existed in the melt, sulfur and iron behaved as two independent redox systems. Mutual interaction occurred only for the conditions when S2- ions were in equilibrium with Fe3+ ions in the melt (for example, an oxygen fugacity of 10^-9 to 10^-11 bar at 1150 °C). The Fe3+ ion oxidized the S2- ion to the supersulfide ion, S2 -, which was identified as the amber chromophore. When the iron content of the melt was 1 wt% or less, the supersulfide ion was produced only in low concentrations; and consequently, the redox reaction producing it did not measurably affect sulfur solubility in the melt. In melts containing 10 wt% total iron, the mutual interaction of Fe3+ and S2- ions was sufficient to enhance the sulfur solubility through the formation of polysulfide species in the melt

Rheumatoid arthritis and incident fracture in women: a case-control study

Background: To examine fracture incidence in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for an entire geographical&nbsp;region of south-eastern Australia.Methods: Women aged 35 years and older, resident in the Barwon Statistical Division (BSD) and clinically&nbsp;diagnosed with RA 1994&ndash;2001 were eligible for inclusion as cases (n =1,008). The control population (n = 172,422)&nbsp;comprised the entire female BSD population aged 35 years and older, excluding those individuals identified as&nbsp;cases. Incident fractures were extracted from the prospective Geelong Osteoporosis Study Fracture Grid. We&nbsp;calculated rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to compare the age- adjusted rate of fracture between&nbsp;the RA and non-RA populations, and used a chi-square test to compare proportions of fractures between women&nbsp;with and without RA, and a two-sided Mann&ndash;Whitney U-test to examine age-differences.Results: Among 1,008 women with RA, 19 (1.9%) sustained a fracture, compared to 1,981 fractures sustained by the&nbsp;172,422 women without RA (1.2%). Fracture rates showed a trend for being greater among women diagnosed with&nbsp;RA (age-adjusted RR 1.43, 95%CI 0.98-2.09, p= 0.08). Women with RA sustained vertebral fractures at twice the&nbsp;expected frequency, whereas hip fractures were underrepresented in the RA population (p&lt; 0.001). RA status was&nbsp;not associated with the likelihood of sustaining a fracture at sites adjacent to joints most commonly affected by RA&nbsp;(p= 0.22).Conclusion: Given that women with RA have a greater risk of fracture compared to women without RA, these&nbsp;patients may be a suitable target population for anti-resorptive agents; however, larger studies are warranted

Bordetella petrii Clinical Isolate

We describe the first clinical isolate of Bordetella petrii from a patient with mandibular osteomyelitis. The only previously documented isolation of B. petrii occurred after the initial culture of a single strain from an environmental source

Light with a self-torque: extreme-ultraviolet beams with time-varying orbital angular momentum

Twisted light fields carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) provide powerful capabilities for applications in optical communications, microscopy, quantum optics and microparticle rotation. Here we introduce and experimentally validate a new class of light beams, whose unique property is associated with a temporal OAM variation along a pulse: the self-torque of light. Self-torque is a phenomenon that can arise from matter-field interactions in electrodynamics and general relativity, but to date, there has been no optical analog. In particular, the self-torque of light is an inherent property, which is distinguished from the mechanical torque exerted by OAM beams when interacting with physical systems. We demonstrate that self-torqued beams in the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) naturally arise as a necessary consequence of angular momentum conservation in non-perturbative high-order harmonic generation when driven by time-delayed pulses with different OAM. In addition, the time-dependent OAM naturally induces an azimuthal frequency chirp, which provides a signature for monitoring the self-torque of high-harmonic EUV beams. Such self-torqued EUV beams can serve as unique tools for imaging magnetic and topological excitations, for launching selective excitation of quantum matter, and for manipulating molecules and nanostructures on unprecedented time and length scales.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure

Tobacco smoking as a risk factor for major depressive disorder : a population-based study

Background : Smoking is disproportionately prevalent among people with psychiatric illness. Aims : To investigate smoking as a risk factor for major depressive disorder. Method : A population-based sample of women was studied using case&ndash;control and retrospective cohort study designs. Exposure to smoking was self-reported, and major depressive disorder diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM&ndash;IV&ndash;TR (SCID&ndash;I/NP). Results : Among 165 people with major depressive disorder and 806 controls, smoking was associated with increased odds for major depressive disorder (age-adjusted odds ratio (OR)=1.46, 95% CI 1.03&ndash;2.07). Compared with non-smokers, odds for major depressive disorder more than doubled for heavy smokers (&gt;20 cigarettes/day). Among 671 women with no history of major depressive disorder at baseline, 13 of 87 smokers and 38 of 584 non-smokers developed de novo major depressive disorder during a decade of follow-up. Smoking increased major depressive disorder risk by 93% (hazard ratio (HR)=1.93, 95% CI 1.02&ndash;3.69); this was not explained by physical activity or alcohol consumption. Conclusions : Evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal data suggests that smoking increases the risk of major depressive disorder in women