Breast Ultrasound Past, Present, and Future

This chapter will review the utilization of breast ultrasound for screening and diagnostic purposes. Currently, ultrasound is primarily used to investigate palpable lesions in women less than 30 years old, to provide further characterization of abnormal mammographic findings, and to guide invasive breast interventions. Innovations in ultrasound technology have improved the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Computer-aided detection (CAD), elastography, quantitative breast ultrasound technology, and ultrasound contrast agents (microbubbles) were developed to improve diagnostic accuracy. These advancements have the potential to impact overall survival by detecting cancers that are smaller and less aggressive

…and the Light was Blue

My background in fashion relied on the use of sewing machines as tools to create garments made of new materials. My current artmaking has evolved away from the body and functionality to become relief sculptures in cloth. This work is the embodiment of moments in time and space that have stopped me mid-stride, compelling me to closely examine the details. As a fine artist, I translate these observations of nature into my art by using a needle and thread to hand stitch on reclaimed cloth. I invite the viewers to pause, wonder, and think about their place in the world

Secrets in Psychotherapy: A Longitudinal Study of Client Concealment and Disclosure

This study investigated how secrets unfold over the course of therapy in a naturalistic setting, including identifying longitudinal patterns and investigating relationships with other session-level variables. Participants were 39 client and graduate student therapist dyads in open-ended therapy at a community psychotherapy clinic. Data on concealment, disclosure, working alliance, real relationship, and session evaluation were collected after each session. Data were analyzed using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Results demonstrated that disclosure and concealment of secrets are relatively infrequent occurrences, with disclosure occurring more often than concealment. Over time, clients became less likely to disclose a secret and less likely to conceal a significant secret. Clients rated the working alliance as lower for sessions where secrets were disclosed, but this relationship was less pronounced when the disclosed secret was viewed as significant. Clients rated session quality as higher for sessions in which they both concealed and disclosed secrets, as well as for sessions in which a preoccupying secret was shared. Clients tended to feel neutral or positive about their disclosures and believe that the disclosure had no change on how they were viewed by their therapist. Implications for practice and research are discussed

Multigenerational Modeling of Money Management

This study is about implicit financial socialization within families. It specifically examines how parental modeling facilitates the intergenerational transmission of healthy financial behaviors. This qualitative, multi-generational, multi-site study begins to answer the following research question: What financial behaviors are parents modeling for their children? The sample for this study (N=115) included 90 undergraduate students (ages 18-30) enrolled in family finance classes at three U.S. universities, 18 of their parents, and 7 of their grandparents. Using a team-based approach to qualitative data collection, analysis, and coding, four consensus themes related to parental financial modeling were distilled: (1) Working for a living (2) Managing money wisely (3) The importance of generosity and (4) Sacrificing for children. These ideas can be used by parents, family life educators, financial therapists, and others to help improve the quality of financial socialization within families

Target MRNA Abundance Dilutes MicroRNA and SiRNA Activity

Post-transcriptional regulation by microRNAs and siRNAs depends not only on characteristics of individual binding sites in target mRNA molecules, but also on system-level properties such as overall molecular concentrations. We hypothesize that an intracellular pool of microRNAs/siRNAs faced with a larger number of available predicted target transcripts will downregulate each individual target gene to a lesser extent. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed mRNA expression change from 178 microRNA and siRNA transfection experiments in two cell lines. We find that downregulation of particular genes mediated by microRNAs and siRNAs indeed varies with the total concentration of available target transcripts. We conclude that to interpret and design experiments involving gene regulation by small RNAs, global properties, such as target mRNA abundance, need to be considered in addition to local determinants. We propose that analysis of microRNA/siRNA targeting would benefit from a more quantitative definition, rather than simple categorization of genes as ‘target’ or ‘not a target.’ Our results are important for understanding microRNA regulation and may also have implications for siRNA design and small RNA therapeutics

Endoscopic and Angiographic Diagnosis and Management of a Gastric Arteriovenous Malformation

AbstractIntroductionGastric arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is an uncommon cause of upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.Methods and resultsWe describe a case of gastric AVM which was diagnosed endoscopically and successfully managed by endoclip application and percutaneous transarterial coil embolization.ConclusionsWe propose that these two minimally invasive technologies can be used to manage AVM in the gut: endoscopic therapy to control luminal bleeding and interventional radiology to define the full extent of the malformation and to decrease arterial pressure and flow to the point that hemostasis can occur, without creating symptomatic ischemia

Using short dietary questions to develop indicators of dietary behaviour for use in surveys exploring attitudinal and/or behavioural aspects of dietary choices

For countries where nutrition surveys are infrequent, there is a need to have some measure of healthful eating to plan and evaluate interventions. This study shows how it is possible to develop healthful eating indicators based on dietary guidelines from a cross sectional population survey. Adults 18 to 64 years answered questions about the type and amount of foods eaten the previous day, including fruit, vegetables, cereals, dairy, fish or meat and fluids. Scores were based on serves and types of food according to an established method. Factor analysis indicated two factors, confirmed by structural equation modeling: a recommended food healthful eating indicator (RF_HEI) and a discretionary food healthful eating indicator (DF_HEI). Both yield mean scores similar to an established dietary index validated against nutrient intake. Significant associations for the RF_HEI were education, income, ability to save, and attitude toward diet; and for the DF_HEI, gender, not living alone, living in a socially disadvantaged area, and attitude toward diet. The results confirm that short dietary questions can be used to develop healthful eating indicators against dietary recommendations. This will enable the exploration of dietary behaviours for “at risk” groups, such as those with excess weight, leading to more relevant interventions for populations

Social network analysis of stakeholder networks from two community-based obesity prevention interventions

IntroductionStudies of community-based obesity prevention interventions have hypothesized that stakeholder networks are a critical element of effective implementation. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the interpersonal network structures within a sub-sample of stakeholders from two past successful childhood obesity prevention interventions.MethodsParticipants were recruited from the stakeholder groups (steering committees) of two completed community-based intervention studies, Romp &amp; Chomp (R&amp;C), Australia (2004-2008) and Shape Up Somerville (SUS), USA (2003-2005). Both studies demonstrated significant reductions of overweight and obesity among children. Members of the steering committees were asked to complete a retrospective social network questionnaire using a roster of other committee members and free recall. Each participant was asked to recall the people with whom they discussed issues related to childhood obesity throughout the intervention period, along with providing the closeness and level of influence of each relationship.ResultsNetworks were reported by 13 participants from the SUS steering committee and 8 participants from the R&amp;C steering committee. On average, participants nominated 16 contacts with whom they discussed issues related to childhood obesity through the intervention, with approximately half of the relationships described as &lsquo;close&rsquo; and 30% as &lsquo;influential&rsquo;. The &lsquo;discussion&rsquo; and &lsquo;close&rsquo; networks had high clustering and reciprocity, with ties directed to other steering committee members, and to individuals external to the committee. In contrast, influential ties were more prominently directed internal to the steering committee, with higher network centralization, lower reciprocity and lower clustering.Discussion and conclusionSocial network analysis provides a method to evaluate the ties within steering committees of community-based obesity prevention interventions. In this study, the network characteristics between a sub-set of stakeholders appeared to be supportive of diffused communication. Future work should prospectively examine stakeholder network structures in a heterogeneous sample of community-based interventions to identify elements most strongly associated with intervention effectiveness.<br /

HIV-1 Tat causes cognitive deficits and selective loss of parvalbumin, somatostatin, and neuronal nitric oxide synthase expressing hippocampal CA1 interneuron subpopulations

Memory deficits are characteristic of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) and co-occur with hippocampal pathology. The HIV-1 transactivator of transcription (Tat), a regulatory protein, plays a significant role in these events, but the cellular mechanisms involved are poorly understood. Within the hippocampus, diverse populations of interneurons form complex networks; even subtle disruptions can drastically alter synaptic output, resulting in behavioral dysfunction. We hypothesized that HIV-1 Tat would impair cognitive behavior and injure specific hippocampal interneuron subtypes. Male transgenic mice that inducibly expressed HIV-1 Tat (or non-expressing controls) were assessed for cognitive behavior or had hippocampal CA1 subregions evaluated via interneuron subpopulation markers. Tat exposure decreased spatial memory in a Barnes maze and mnemonic performance in a novel object recognition test. Tat reduced the percentage of neurons expressing neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) without neuropeptide Y immunoreactivity in the stratum pyramidale and the stratum radiatum, parvalbumin in the stratum pyramidale, and somatostatin in the stratum oriens, which are consistent with reductions in interneuron-specific interneuron type 3 (IS3), bistratified, and oriens-lacunosum-moleculare interneurons, respectively. The findings reveal that an interconnected ensemble of CA1 nNOS-expressing interneurons, the IS3 cells, as well as subpopulations of parvalbumin- and somatostatin-expressing interneurons are preferentially vulnerable to HIV-1 Tat. Importantly, the susceptible interneurons form a microcircuit thought to be involved in feedback inhibition of CA1 pyramidal cells and gating of CA1 pyramidal cell inputs. The identification of vulnerable CA1 hippocampal interneurons may provide novel insight into the basic mechanisms underlying key functional and neurobehavioral deficits associated with HAND

The ability of magnetic field sensors to monitor feeding in three domestic herbivores

The rate at which animals ingest food is a fundamental part of animal ecology although it is rarely quantified, with recently-developed animal-attached tags providing a potentially viable approach. However, to date, these methods lack clarity in differentiating various eating behaviours, such as ‘chewing’ from ‘biting’. The aims of this study were to examine the use of inter-mandibular angle sensors (IMASENs), to quantify grazing behaviour in herbivores including cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries) and pygmy goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) eating different foodstuffs. Specifically, we aimed to: (1) quantify jaw movements of each species and determine differences between biting and chewing; (2) assess whether different food types can be discerned from jaw movements; and (3) determine whether species-specific differences in jaw movements can be detected. Subjects were filmed while consuming concentrate, hay, grass and browse to allow comparison of observed and IMASEN-recorded jaw movements. This study shows that IMASENs can accurately detect jaw movements of feeding herbivores, and, based on the rate of jaw movements, can classify biting (taking new material into the mouth) from chewing (masticating material already in the mouth). The biting behaviours associated with concentrate pellets could be identified easily as these occurred at the fastest rate for all species. However, the rates of chewing different food items were more difficult to discern from one another. Comparison of chew:bite ratios of the various food types eaten by each species showed no differences. Species differences could be identified using bite and chew rates. Cattle consistently displayed slower bite and chew rates to sheep and pygmy goats when feeding, while sheep and pygmy goats showed similar bite and chew rates when feeding on concentrate pellets. Species-specific differences in chew:bite ratios were not identified. Magnetometry has the potential to record quantitative aspects of foraging such as the feeding duration, food handling time and food type. This is of major importance for researchers interested in both captive (e.g., agricultural productivity) and wild animal foraging dynamics as it can provide quantitative data with minimal observer interference