Prostate Cancer Ambassadors

Prostate cancer is a sizeable threat to the health and well-being of men living in the United States, and African American men suffer at a disproportionately higher rate compared with their Caucasian counterparts (American Cancer Society, 2014). Prostate cancer occurs most frequently in older men, but it occurs at an earlier age in African Americans; the differences in tumor type and disease aggressiveness or progression between Caucasian and African American men may drive the disparity (Powell, Bock, Ruterbusch, & Sakr, 2010; Roberts, 2014). Education is important in bringing people into the cancer care continuum, which begins with prevention and screening. Participatory approaches to educating individuals and communities about prostate cancer and informed decision making (IDM) about screening may be an important step in addressing cancer disparities

What is the role of culture, diversity, and community engagement in transdisciplinary translational science?

Concepts of culture and diversity are necessary considerations in the scientific application of theory generation and developmental processes of preventive interventions; yet, culture and/or diversity are often overlooked until later stages (e.g., adaptation [T3] and dissemination [T4]) of the translational science process. Here, we present a conceptual framework focused on the seamless incorporation of culture and diversity throughout the various stages of the translational science process (T1-T5). Informed by a community-engaged research approach, this framework guides integration of cultural and diversity considerations at each phase with emphasis on the importance and value of "citizen scientists" being research partners to promote ecological validity. The integrated partnership covers the first phase of intervention development through final phases that ultimately facilitate more global, universal translation of changes in attitudes, norms, and systems. Our comprehensive model for incorporating culture and diversity into translational research provides a basis for further discussion and translational science development

Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging of Low Galactic Latitude Fields: Technical Summary and Data Release

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) mosaic camera and telescope have obtained five-band optical-wavelength imaging near the Galactic plane outside of the nominal survey boundaries. These additional data were obtained during commissioning and subsequent testing of the SDSS observing system, and they provide unique wide-area imaging data in regions of high obscuration and star formation, including numerous young stellar objects, Herbig-Haro objects and young star clusters. Because these data are outside the Survey regions in the Galactic caps, they are not part of the standard SDSS data releases. This paper presents imaging data for 832 square degrees of sky (including repeats), in the star-forming regions of Orion, Taurus, and Cygnus. About 470 square degrees are now released to the public, with the remainder to follow at the time of SDSS Data Release 4. The public data in Orion include the star-forming region NGC 2068/NGC 2071/HH24 and a large part of Barnard's loop.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures (3 missing to save space), accepted by AJ, in press, see http://photo.astro.princeton.edu/oriondatarelease for data and paper with all figure

The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Fifth Data Release (DR5) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). DR5 includes all survey quality data taken through June 2005 and represents the completion of the SDSS-I project (whose successor, SDSS-II will continue through mid-2008). It includes five-band photometric data for 217 million objects selected over 8000 square degrees, and 1,048,960 spectra of galaxies, quasars, and stars selected from 5713 square degrees of that imaging data. These numbers represent a roughly 20% increment over those of the Fourth Data Release; all the data from previous data releases are included in the present release. In addition to "standard" SDSS observations, DR5 includes repeat scans of the southern equatorial stripe, imaging scans across M31 and the core of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, and the first spectroscopic data from SEGUE, a survey to explore the kinematics and chemical evolution of the Galaxy. The catalog database incorporates several new features, including photometric redshifts of galaxies, tables of matched objects in overlap regions of the imaging survey, and tools that allow precise computations of survey geometry for statistical investigations.Comment: ApJ Supp, in press, October 2007. This paper describes DR5. The SDSS Sixth Data Release (DR6) is now public, available from http://www.sdss.or

The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), marking the completion of the original goals of the SDSS and the end of the phase known as SDSS-II. It includes 11663 deg^2 of imaging data, with most of the roughly 2000 deg^2 increment over the previous data release lying in regions of low Galactic latitude. The catalog contains five-band photometry for 357 million distinct objects. The survey also includes repeat photometry over 250 deg^2 along the Celestial Equator in the Southern Galactic Cap. A coaddition of these data goes roughly two magnitudes fainter than the main survey. The spectroscopy is now complete over a contiguous area of 7500 deg^2 in the Northern Galactic Cap, closing the gap that was present in previous data releases. There are over 1.6 million spectra in total, including 930,000 galaxies, 120,000 quasars, and 460,000 stars. The data release includes improved stellar photometry at low Galactic latitude. The astrometry has all been recalibrated with the second version of the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC-2), reducing the rms statistical errors at the bright end to 45 milli-arcseconds per coordinate. A systematic error in bright galaxy photometr is less severe than previously reported for the majority of galaxies. Finally, we describe a series of improvements to the spectroscopic reductions, including better flat-fielding and improved wavelength calibration at the blue end, better processing of objects with extremely strong narrow emission lines, and an improved determination of stellar metallicities. (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 10 embedded figures. Accepted to ApJS after minor correction

A Review of Interventions to Reduce Mechanical Restraint and Seclusion among Adult Psychiatric Inpatients

Objective: This review examines nature and effectiveness of interventions to reduce the use of mechanical restraint and seclusion among adult psychiatric inpatients. Method: Electronic searches were conducted to locate post-1960 empirical studies of restraint and seclusion reduction in English. A total of 36 studies were identified, mostly from the USA. Analysis was conducted using a structured data extraction tool. Results: The majority of studies reported reduced levels or mechanical restraint and/or seclusion, but the standard of evidence was poor. There were no randomised trials. Most were retrospective studies of official records before and after the intervention was introduced, with varying follow-up periods. The interventions were diverse, but tended to include one or more of the following: new restraint and/or seclusion policies, staffing changes, staff training, review procedures and crisis management initiatives. The research was unable to address which of these elements was most effective. There was also evidence that some improved outcomes were achieved by substituting restraint or seclusion for each other or for alternatives forms of containment (medication in particular). Nurses’ attitudes, skills and approach to patient care were absent from the literature. Conclusions: Interventions probably can reduce the use of restraint and seclusion, but better designed research is required to demonstrate their effectiveness conclusively. More attention should also be paid to understanding how interventions work, particularly from the perspective of nursing staff. This is essential to the successful implementation of restraint and seclusion interventions across different psychiatric settings and treatment populations

The Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This release, containing data taken up through June 2003, includes imaging data in five bands over 5282 deg^2, photometric and astrometric catalogs of the 141 million objects detected in these imaging data, and spectra of 528,640 objects selected over 4188 deg^2. The pipelines analyzing both images and spectroscopy are unchanged from those used in our Second Data Release.Comment: 14 pages, including 2 postscript figures. Submitted to AJ. Data available at http://www.sdss.org/dr

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) will provide the data to support detailed investigations of the distribution of luminous and non- luminous matter in the Universe: a photometrically and astrometrically calibrated digital imaging survey of pi steradians above about Galactic latitude 30 degrees in five broad optical bands to a depth of g' about 23 magnitudes, and a spectroscopic survey of the approximately one million brightest galaxies and 10^5 brightest quasars found in the photometric object catalog produced by the imaging survey. This paper summarizes the observational parameters and data products of the SDSS, and serves as an introduction to extensive technical on-line documentation.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, AAS Latex. To appear in AJ, Sept 200

The Second Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has validated and made publicly available its Second Data Release. This data release consists of 3324 deg2 of five-band (ugriz) imaging data with photometry for over 88 million unique objects, 367,360 spectra of galaxies, quasars, stars, and calibrating blank sky patches selected over 2627 deg2 of this area, and tables of measured parameters from these data. The imaging data reach a depth of r ≈ 22.2 (95% completeness limit for point sources) and are photometrically and astrometrically calibrated to 2% rms and 100 mas rms per coordinate, respectively. The imaging data have all been processed through a new version of the SDSS imaging pipeline, in which the most important improvement since the last data release is fixing an error in the model fits to each object. The result is that model magnitudes are now a good proxy for point-spread function magnitudes for point sources, and Petrosian magnitudes for extended sources. The spectroscopy extends from 3800 to 9200 Å at a resolution of 2000. The spectroscopic software now repairs a systematic error in the radial velocities of certain types of stars and has substantially improved spectrophotometry. All data included in the SDSS Early Data Release and First Data Release are reprocessed with the improved pipelines and included in the Second Data Release. Further characteristics of the data are described, as are the data products themselves and the tools for accessing them