Masculinity, racism, social support, and colorectal cancer screening uptake among African American men: A systematic review

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is highly preventable when CRC screening is utilized, yet CRC screening completion among African American men is relatively low and their mortality rates remain 50% higher juxtaposed to their White counterparts. Since a growing body of literature indicates masculinity, racism, and social support each have strong influences on CRC screening uptake, this systematic review examined the connections between these three sociocultural factors and CRC screening uptake among African American men. Potential studies were retrieved from MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. Cited reference searching for the final sample was employed to identify and assess additional studies for inclusion using Scopus. The methodological quality of the reviewed evidence was also evaluated. Nineteen studies met inclusion/exclusion criteria. Thirteen studies employed nonexperimental research designs; a quasi-experimental design was present in four, and two utilized experimental designs. Studies were published between 2000 and 2014; the majority between 2009 and 2013. Social support was most frequently addressed (84%) while masculinity and racism were equally studied with paucity (11%) for their influence on CRC screening. After evaluating conceptual and methodological characteristics of the studies, 42% fell below average in quality and rigor. The need for increased attention to the sociocultural correlates of CRC screening for African American men are highlighted in this systematic review, and important recommendations for research and practice are provided. Alongside a call for more rigorous research, further research examining the influence of masculinity and racism on CRC screening completion among African American men is warrante

Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour of Childhood: A Report of Four Cases Demonstrating Wider Clinical Features and Variable Outcome

Purpose. Four further cases of desmoplastic small round cell tumour with multi phenotypic differentiation are described

Potentiality in Biology

We take the potentialities that are studied in the biological sciences (e.g., totipotency) to be an important subtype of biological dispositions. The goal of this paper is twofold: first, we want to provide a detailed understanding of what biological dispositions are. We claim that two features are essential for dispositions in biology: the importance of the manifestation process and the diversity of conditions that need to be satisfied for the disposition to be manifest. Second, we demonstrate that the concept of a disposition (or potentiality) is a very useful tool for the analysis of the explanatory practice in the biological sciences. On the one hand it allows an in-depth analysis of the nature and diversity of the conditions under which biological systems display specific behaviors. On the other hand the concept of a disposition may serve a unificatory role in the philosophy of the natural sciences since it captures not only the explanatory practice of biology, but of all natural sciences. Towards the end we will briefly come back to the notion of a potentiality in biology

Masculinity, racism, social support, and colorectal cancer screening uptake among African American men: A systematic review

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is highly preventable when CRC screening is utilized, yet CRC screening completion among African American men is relatively low and their mortality rates remain 50% higher juxtaposed to their White counterparts. Since a growing body of literature indicates masculinity, racism, and social support each have strong influences on CRC screening uptake, this systematic review examined the connections between these three sociocultural factors and CRC screening uptake among African American men. Potential studies were retrieved from MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. Cited reference searching for the final sample was employed to identify and assess additional studies for inclusion using Scopus. The methodological quality of the reviewed evidence was also evaluated. Nineteen studies met inclusion/exclusion criteria. Thirteen studies employed nonexperimental research designs; a quasi-experimental design was present in four, and two utilized experimental designs. Studies were published between 2000 and 2014; the majority between 2009 and 2013. Social support was most frequently addressed (84%) while masculinity and racism were equally studied with paucity (11%) for their influence on CRC screening. After evaluating conceptual and methodological characteristics of the studies, 42% fell below average in quality and rigor. The need for increased attention to the sociocultural correlates of CRC screening for African American men are highlighted in this systematic review, and important recommendations for research and practice are provided. Alongside a call for more rigorous research, further research examining the influence of masculinity and racism on CRC screening completion among African American men is warrante

MI-GWAS: a SAS platform for the analysis of inherited and maternal genetic effects in genome-wide association studies using log-linear models

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several platforms for the analysis of genome-wide association data are available. However, these platforms focus on the evaluation of the genotype inherited by affected (i.e. case) individuals, whereas for some conditions (e.g. birth defects) the genotype of the mothers of affected individuals may also contribute to risk. For such conditions, it is critical to evaluate associations with both the maternal and the inherited (i.e. case) genotype. When genotype data are available for case-parent triads, a likelihood-based approach using log-linear modeling can be used to assess both the maternal and inherited genotypes. However, available software packages for log-linear analyses are not well suited to the analysis of typical genome-wide association data (e.g. including missing data).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An integrated platform, Maternal and Inherited Analyses for Genome-wide Association Studies <b>(</b>MI-GWAS) for log-linear analyses of maternal and inherited genetic effects in large, genome-wide datasets, is described. MI-GWAS uses SAS and LEM software in combination to appropriately format data, perform the log-linear analyses and summarize the results. This platform was evaluated using existing genome-wide data and was shown to perform accurately and relatively efficiently.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The MI-GWAS platform provides a valuable tool for the analysis of association of a phenotype or condition with maternal and inherited genotypes using genome-wide data from case-parent triads. The source code for this platform is freely available at <url>http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/sbrr/mi-gwas.htm</url>.</p

Reliability and Validity of the Ethiopian Version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in HIV Infected Patients

The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) is a widely used instrument for evaluating psychological distress from anxiety and depression. HADS has not yet been validated in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Amharic (Ethiopian language) version of HADs among HIV infected patients.The translated scale was administered to 302 HIV/AIDS patients on follow up for and taking anti-retroviral treatment. Consistency assessment was conducted using Cronbach's alpha, test-retest reliability using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). Construct validity was examined using principal components analysis (PCA). Parallel analysis, Kaiser's criterion and the scree test were used for factor extraction.The internal consistency was 0.78 for the anxiety, 0.76 for depression subscales and 0.87 for the full scale of HADS. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was 80%, 86%, and 84% for the anxiety and depression subscales, and total score respectively. PCA revealed a one dimensional scale.This preliminary validation study of the Ethiopian version of the HADs indicates that it has promising acceptability, reliability and validity. The adopted scale has a single underlying dimension as indicated by Razavi's model. The HADS can be used to examine psychological distress in HIV infected patients. Findings are discussed and recommendations made

Fundamental Strings, Holography, and Nonlinear Superconformal Algebras

We discuss aspects of holography in the AdS_3 \times S^p near string geometry of a collection of straight fundamental heterotic strings. We use anomalies and symmetries to determine general features of the dual CFT. The symmetries suggest the appearance of nonlinear superconformal algebras, and we show how these arise in the framework of holographic renormalization methods. The nonlinear algebras imply intricate formulas for the central charge, and we show that in the bulk these correspond to an infinite series of quantum gravity corrections. We also makes some comments on the worldsheet sigma-model for strings on AdS_3\times S^2, which is the holographic dual geometry of parallel heterotic strings in five dimensions.Comment: 25 page

Surfactant protein D modulates HIV infection of both T-cells and dendritic cells

Surfactant Protein D (SP-D) is an oligomerized C-type lectin molecule with immunomodulatory properties and involvement in lung surfactant homeostasis in the respiratory tract. SP-D binds to the enveloped viruses, influenza A virus and respiratory syncytial virus and inhibits their replication in vitro and in vivo. SP-D has been shown to bind to HIV via the HIV envelope protein gp120 and inhibit infectivity in vitro. Here we show that SP-D binds to different strains of HIV (BaL and IIIB) and the binding occurs at both pH 7.4 and 5.0 resembling physiological relevant pH values found in the body and the female urogenital tract, respectively. The binding of SP-D to HIV particles and gp120 was inhibited by the presence of several hexoses with mannose found to be the strongest inhibitor. Competition studies showed that soluble CD4 and CVN did not interfere with the interaction between SP-D and gp120. However, soluble recombinant DC-SIGN was shown to inhibit the binding between SP-D and gp120. SP-D agglutinated HIV and gp120 in a calcium dependent manner. SP-D inhibited the infectivity of HIV strains at both pH values of 7.4 and 5.0 in a concentration dependent manner. The inhibition of the infectivity was abolished by the presence of mannose. SP-D enhanced the binding of HIV to immature monocyte derived dendritic cells (iMDDCs) and was also found to enhance HIV capture and transfer to the T-cell like line PM1. These results suggest that SP-D can bind to and inhibit direct infection of T-cells by HIV but also enhance the transfer of infectious HIV particles from DCs to T-cells in vivo

The Genotype Specific Competitive Ability Does Not Correlate with Infection in Natural Daphnia magna Populations

Different evolutionary hypotheses predict a correlation between the fitness of a genotype in the absence of infection and the likelihood to become infected. The cost of resistance hypothesis predicts that resistant genotypes pay a cost of being resistant and are less fit in the absence of parasites. The inbreeding-infection hypothesis predicts that the susceptible individuals are less fit due to inbreeding depression.Here we tested if a host's natural infection status was associated with its fitness. First, we experimentally confirmed that cured but formerly infected Daphnia magna are genetically more susceptible to reinfections with Octosporea bayeri than naturally uninfected D. magna. We then collected from each of 22 populations both uninfected and infected D. magna genotypes. All were treated against parasites and kept in their asexual phase. We estimated their relative fitness in an experiment against a tester genotype and in another experiment in direct competition. Consistently, we found no difference in competitive abilities between uninfected and cured but formerly infected genotypes. This was the case both in the presence as well as in the absence of sympatric parasites during the competition trials.Our data do not support the inbreeding-infection hypothesis. They also do not support a cost of resistance, however ignoring other parasite strains or parasite species. We suggest as a possible explanation for our results that resistance genes might segregate largely independently of other fitness associated genes in this system

Effects of acute treatment with a tryptophan-rich protein hydrolysate on plasma amino acids, mood and emotional functioning in older women

RATIONALE: Effective functioning of the neurotransmitter serotonin is important for optimal cognitive and emotional function. Dietary supplements able to increase availability to the brain of the precursor amino acid, tryptophan (TRP), and thereby enhance serotonin synthesis, can have measurable impact on these psychological processes. OBJECTIVES: This study involves a randomised controlled trial of a TRP-rich egg-white protein hydrolysate (DSM Nutritional Products Ltd., Switzerland) on plasma amino acids, cognition, mood and emotional processing in older women. METHODS: Following a baseline test day without treatment, 60 healthy women aged 45–65 years received drinks containing either 2 or 4 g of TRP-rich protein hydrolysate product or 3.11 g casein hydrolysate as a control. One hour later, they undertook a 2-h battery of cognitive and emotional tests. RESULTS: The TRP-rich protein hydrolysate produced the expected dose-dependent increase in the ratio of plasma TRP to competing large neutral amino acids. TRP-rich protein hydrolysate (2 g only) prevented both the decline in wellbeing and increase in fatigue seen over the test session in the control group. This treatment dose resulted in a significant shift in emotional processing towards positive words and reduced negative bias in assessing negative facial expressions. Effects on cognition were small and not statistically reliable and are not reported here. However, there was no evidence for any adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of a low dose of TRP-rich protein hydrolysate may have beneficial effects on emotional function that could promote feelings of wellbeing, possibly conferring resistance to deterioration in mood in healthy subjects or depressive episodes