The Role of Adolescent Behaviors in the Female–Male Disparity in Obesity Incidence in US Black and White Young Adults

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93675/1/oby.2009.362.pd

Theoretical backgrounds of durability analysis by normalized equivalent stress functionals

Generalized durability diagrams and their properties are considered for a material under a multiaxial loading given by an arbitrary function of time. Material strength and durability under such loading are described in terms of durability, safety factor and normalized equivalent stress. Relations between these functionals are analysed. We discuss some material properties including time and load stability, self-degradation (ageing), and monotonic damaging. Phenomenological strength conditions are presented in terms of the normalized equivalent stress. It is shown that the damage based durability analysis is reduced to a particular case of such strength conditions. Examples of the reduction are presented for some known durability models. The approach is applicable to the strength and durability description at creep and impact loading and their combination

History-sensitive accumulation rules for life-time prediction under variable loading

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below - Copyright @ 2011 SpringerA general form of temporal strength conditions under variable creep loading is employed to formulate several new phenomenological accumulation rules based on the constant-loading durability diagram. Unlike the well-known Robinson rule of linear accumulation of partial life-times, the new rules allow to describe the life-time sensibility to the load sequence, observed in experiments. Comparison of the new rules with experimental data shows that they fit the data much more accurately than the Robinson rule

Where people shop is not associated with the nutrient quality of packaged foods for any racial-ethnic group in the United States

Background: In the literature, it has been suggested that there are race-ethnic disparities in what Americans eat. In addition, some studies have shown that residents of African American and low-income neighborhoods have less access to grocery stores and supermarkets, which tend to stock healthier foods. However, it is unclear whether differences in food shopping patterns contribute to the poorer nutrient profile of food purchases made by racial-ethnic minorities

The effects of maintenance schedules following pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) provides benefit for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in terms of quality of life (QoL) and exercise capacity; however, the effects diminish over time. Our aim was to evaluate a maintenance programme for patients who had completed PR. SETTING: Primary and secondary care PR programmes in Norfolk. PARTICIPANTS: 148 patients with COPD who had completed at least 60% of a standard PR programme were randomised and data are available for 110 patients. Patients had greater than 20 pack year smoking history and less than 80% predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s but no other significant disease or recent respiratory tract infection. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomised to receive a maintenance programme or standard care. The maintenance programme consisted of 2 h (1 h individually tailored exercise training and 1 h education programme) every 3 months for 1 year. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ) (primary outcome), endurance shuttle walk test (ESWT), EuroQol (EQ5D), hospital anxiety and depression score (HADS), body mass index (BMI), body fat, activity levels (overall score and activity diary) and exacerbations were assessed before and after 12 months. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups for the change in CRQ dyspnoea score (primary end point) at 12 months which amounted to 0.19 (-0.26 to 0.64) units or other domains of the CRQ. There was no difference in the ESWT duration (-10.06 (-191.16 to 171.03) seconds), BMI, body fat, EQ5D, MET-minutes, activity rating, HADS, exacerbations or admissions. CONCLUSIONS: A maintenance programme of three monthly 2 h sessions does not improve outcomes in patients with COPD after 12 months. We do not recommend that our maintenance programme is adopted. Other methods of sustaining the benefits of PR are required. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT00925171.This paper presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-0408-16225). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/3/e005921.full?g=w_thorax_open_tab

Association of Changes in Neighborhood-Level Racial Residential Segregation With Changes in Blood Pressure Among Black Adults: The CARDIA Study

Importance: Despite cross-sectional evidence linking racial residential segregation to hypertension prevalence among non-Hispanic blacks, it remains unclear how changes in exposure to neighborhood segregation may be associated with changes in blood pressure. Objective: To examine the association of changes in neighborhood-level racial residential segregation with changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure over a 25-year period. Design, Setting, and Participants: This observational study examined longitudinal data of 2280 black participants of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a prospective investigation of adults aged 18 to 30 years who underwent baseline examinations in field centers in 4 US locations from March 25, 1985, to June 7, 1986, and then were re-examined for the next 25 years. Racial residential segregation was assessed using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic, a measure of SD between the neighborhood\u27s racial composition (ie, percentage of black residents) and the surrounding area\u27s racial composition. Segregation was categorized as high (Gi* \u3e 1.96), medium (Gi* 0-1.96), and low (Gi* \u3c 0). Fixed-effects linear regression modeling was used to estimate the associations of within-person change in exposure to segregation and within-person change in blood pressure while tightly controlling for time-invariant confounders. Data analyses were performed between August 4, 2016, and February 9, 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures: Within-person changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure across 6 examinations over 25 years. Results: Of the 2280 participants at baseline, 974 (42.7%) were men and 1306 (57.3%) were women. Of these, 1861 (81.6%) were living in a high-segregation neighborhood; 278 (12.2%), a medium-segregation neighborhood; and 141 (6.2%), a low-segregation neighborhood. Systolic blood pressure increased by a mean of 0.16 (95% CI, 0.06-0.26) mm Hg with each 1-SD increase in segregation score after adjusting for interactions of time with age, sex, and field center. Of the 1861 participants (81.6%) who lived in high-segregation neighborhoods at baseline, reductions in exposure to segregation were associated with reductions in systolic blood pressure. Mean differences in systolic blood pressure were -1.33 (95% CI, -2.26 to -0.40) mm Hg when comparing high-segregation with medium-segregation neighborhoods and -1.19 (95% CI, -2.08 to -0.31) mm Hg when comparing high-segregation with low-segregation neighborhoods after adjustment for time and interactions of time with baseline age, sex, and field center. Changes in segregation were not associated with changes in diastolic blood pressure. Conclusions and Relevance: Decreases in exposure to racial residential segregation are associated with reductions in systolic blood pressure. This study adds to the small but growing body of evidence that policies that reduce segregation may have meaningful health benefits

Intercomparison of long-term ground-based measurements of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone at Lauder, New Zealand (45S)

Long-term ground-based ozone measurements are crucial to study the recovery of stratospheric ozone as well as the trends of tropospheric ozone. This study is performed in the context of the LOTUS (Long-term Ozone Trends and Uncertainties in the Stratosphere) and TOAR-II (Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report, phase II) initiatives. We perform an intercomparison study of total column ozone and multiple partial ozone columns between the ground-based measurements available at the Lauder station from 2000 to 2022, which are the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, Dobson Umkehr, ozonesonde, lidar, and the microwave radiometer. We compare partial columns, defined to provide independent information: one tropospheric and three stratospheric columns. The intercomparison is analyzed using the median of relative differences (the bias) of FTIR with each of the other measurements, the scaled Median Absolute deviation (MADs), and a trend of these differences (measurement drift). The total column shows a bias and strong scatter well within the combined systematic and random uncertainties respectively. There is however a drift of 0.6±0.5 %/decade if we consider the full time series. In the troposphere we find a low bias of -1.9 % with the ozonesondes. No drift is found between the three instruments in the troposphere, which is good for trend studies within TOAR-II. In both the lower and upper stratosphere, we get a negative bias for all instruments with respect to FTIR (between -1.2 % and -6.8 %), but all are within the range of the systematic uncertainties. In the middle stratosphere we seem to find a negative bias of around -5.2 to -6.6 %, pointing towards too high values for FTIR in this partial column. We find no significant drift in the stratosphere between ozonesonde and FTIR for all partial columns. We do observe drift between the FTIR and Umkehr partial columns in the lower and upper stratospheres (2.6±1.1 %/decade and -3.2±0.9 %/decade), with lidar in the midle and upper stratosphere (2.1±0.8 %/decade and -3.7±1.2 %/decade), and with MWR in the midle stratosphere (3.1±1.7 %/decade). These drifts point to the fact that the different observed trends in LOTUS are not due to different sampling, vertical sensitivity or time periods and gaps. However, the difference in trends in LOTUS is reduced by applying a new FTIR retrieval strategy, which changes inputs such as the choice of microwindows, spectroscopy from HITRAN2008 to HITRAN2020, and the regularization method

Structure and Recognition of a Novel HIV-1 gp120-gp41 Interface Antibody that Caused MPER Exposure through Viral Escape

A comprehensive understanding of the regions on HIV-1 envelope trimers targeted by broadly neutralizing antibodies may contribute to rational design of an HIV-1 vaccine. We previously identified a participant in the CAPRISA cohort, CAP248, who developed trimer-specific antibodies capable of neutralizing 60% of heterologous viruses at three years post-infection. Here, we report the isolation by B cell culture of monoclonal antibody CAP248-2B, which targets a novel membrane proximal epitope including elements of gp120 and gp41. Despite low maximum inhibition plateaus, often below 50% inhibitory concentrations, the breadth of CAP248-2B significantly correlated with donor plasma. Site-directed mutagenesis, X-ray crystallography, and negative-stain electron microscopy 3D reconstructions revealed how CAP248-2B recognizes a cleavage-dependent epitope that includes the gp120 C terminus. While this epitope is distinct, it overlapped in parts of gp41 with the epitopes of broadly neutralizing antibodies PGT151, VRC34, 35O22, 3BC315, and 10E8. CAP248-2B has a conformationally variable paratope with an unusually long 19 amino acid light chain third complementarity determining region. Two phenylalanines at the loop apex were predicted by docking and mutagenesis data to interact with the viral membrane. Neutralization by CAP248-2B is not dependent on any single glycan proximal to its epitope, and low neutralization plateaus could not be completely explained by N- or O-linked glycosylation pathway inhibitors, furin co-transfection, or pre-incubation with soluble CD4. Viral escape from CAP248-2B involved a cluster of rare mutations in the gp120-gp41 cleavage sites. Simultaneous introduction of these mutations into heterologous viruses abrogated neutralization by CAP248-2B, but enhanced neutralization sensitivity to 35O22, 4E10, and 10E8 by 10-100-fold. Altogether, this study expands the region of the HIV-1 gp120-gp41 quaternary interface that is a target for broadly neutralizing antibodies and identifies a set of mutations in the gp120 C terminus that exposes the membrane-proximal external region of gp41, with potential utility in HIV vaccine design