19,758 research outputs found
Primary Care Assessment and Interventions to Improve Physical Activity Among Insufficiently Active Adults Ages 18 Through 64 Years Old
A number of chronic and debilitating conditions such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, anxiety, depression, pain, osteoporosis, and falls are known to be delayed, improved, or prevented by increasing physical activity (PA) levels. The numbers of those affected form a substantial portion of the US population. As of 2011, for example, 26 million adults in the U.S. were diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (DM) alone. Another 79 million people had elevated blood glucose measurements putting them at risk for DM. Despite knowledge of the connection with chronic disease, PA levels are not consistently and quantitatively assessed during primary care office visits. Healthcare providers often believe lifestyle change intervention with sedentary adults is futile and encounter barriers to regular PA for many low-income, inner-city clients.
Barriers are potentially reduced through partnership with the YMCA (Y), which cooperates with local churches and community organizations to open sites that offer nutrition and exercise classes at no cost to participants. Healthcare providers at the Grand Valley State University Family Health Center (FHC) did not previously refer sedentary clients to the Y. Referral to the Y became an innovative part of an evidencebased intervention set.
Quality enhancements were put in place at the FHC, guided by a logic model to improve PA assessment and intervention. A policy was written that specifies the process to be used to evaluate and document clients\u27 PA levels and application of interventions for those clients who were assessed and found to have suboptimal habitual PA levels. Assessment uses the International Physical Activity Questionnaire self-report, short-form because it yields numeric and categorical results that allow tracking of progress and determination of the need for PA intervention. A low to moderate PA level result now triggers implementation of an evidence-based intervention set consisting of counseling, printed educational materials, and an offer of referral to Y community outreach programs. The electronic health record-embedded educational material was written to facilitate teaching and client self-review
Detection of Rotational Spectral Variation on the M-type asteroid (16) Psyche
The asteroid (16) Psyche is of scientific interest because it contains ~ 1%
of the total mass of the asteroid belt and is thought to be the remnant
metallic core of a protoplanet. Radar observations have indicated the
significant presence of metal on the surface with a small percentage of
silicates. Prior ground-based observations showed rotational variations in the
near-infrared (NIR) spectra and radar albedo of this asteroid. However, no
comprehensive study that combines multi-wavelength data has been conducted so
far. Here we present rotationally resolved NIR spectra (0.7-2.5 microns) of
(16) Psyche obtained with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. These data have
been combined with shape models of the asteroid for each rotation phase.
Spectral band parameters extracted from the NIR spectra show that the pyroxene
band center varies from ~ 0.92 to 0.94 microns. Band center values were used to
calculate the pyroxene chemistry of the asteroid, whose average value was found
to be Fs30En65Wo5. Variations in the band depth were also observed, with values
ranging from 1.0 to 1.5%. Using a new laboratory spectral calibration we
estimated an average orthopyroxene content of 6+/-1%. The mass-deficit region
of Psyche, which exhibits the highest radar albedo, also shows the highest
value for spectral slope and the minimum band depth. The spectral
characteristics of Psyche suggest that its parent body did not have the typical
structure expected for a differentiated body or that the sequence of events
that led to its current state was more complex than previously thought.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, published in The Astronomical Journa
Assessment of culture and environment in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study: Rationale, description of measures, and early data.
Neurodevelopmental maturation takes place in a social environment in addition to a neurobiological one. Characterization of social environmental factors that influence this process is therefore an essential component in developing an accurate model of adolescent brain and neurocognitive development, as well as susceptibility to change with the use of marijuana and other drugs. The creation of the Culture and Environment (CE) measurement component of the ABCD protocol was guided by this understanding. Three areas were identified by the CE Work Group as central to this process: influences relating to CE Group membership, influences created by the proximal social environment, influences stemming from social interactions. Eleven measures assess these influences, and by time of publication, will have been administered to well over 7,000 9-10 year-old children and one of their parents. Our report presents baseline data on psychometric characteristics (mean, standard deviation, range, skewness, coefficient alpha) of all measures within the battery. Effectiveness of the battery in differentiating 9-10 year olds who were classified as at higher and lower risk for marijuana use in adolescence was also evaluated. Psychometric characteristics on all measures were good to excellent; higher vs. lower risk contrasts were significant in areas where risk differentiation would be anticipated
A new method for deriving composition of S-type asteroids from noisy and incomplete near-infrared spectra
The surface composition of S-type asteroids can be determined using band
parameters extracted from their near-infrared (NIR) spectra (0.7-2.50 m)
along with spectral calibrations derived from laboratory samples. In the past,
these empirical equations have been obtained by combining NIR spectra of
meteorite samples with information about their composition and mineral
abundance. For these equations to give accurate results, the characteristics of
the laboratory spectra they are derived from should be similar to those of
asteroid spectral data (i.e., similar signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and
wavelength range). Here we present new spectral calibrations that can be used
to determine the mineral composition of ordinary chondrite-like S-type
asteroids. Contrary to previous work, the S/N of the ordinary chondrite spectra
used in this study has been decreased to recreate the S/N typically observed
among asteroid spectra, allowing us to obtain more realistic results. In
addition, the new equations have been derived for five wavelength ranges
encompassed between 0.7 and 2.50 m, making it possible to determine the
composition of asteroids with incomplete data. The new spectral calibrations
were tested using band parameters measured from the NIR spectrum of asteroid
(25143) Itokawa, and comparing the results with laboratory measurements of the
returned samples. We found that the spectrally derived olivine and pyroxene
chemistry, which are given by the molar contents of fayalite (Fa) and
ferrosilite (Fs), are in excellent agreement with the mean values measured from
the samples (Fa and Fs), with a maximum
difference of 0.6 mol\% for Fa and 1.4 mol\% for Fs.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journa
Chromosomal instability and copy number alterations in Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma
Purpose: Chromosomal instability, as assessed by many techniques, including DNA
content aneuploidy, LOH, and comparative genomic hybridization, has consistently been
reported to be common in cancer and rare in normal tissues. Recently, a panel of
chromosome instability biomarkers, including LOH and DNA content, has been reported
to identify patients at high and low risk of progression from Barrett’s esophagus (BE) to
esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA), but required multiple platforms for implementation.
Although chromosomal instability involving amplifications and deletions of chromosome
regions have been observed in nearly all cancers, copy number alterations (CNAs) in premalignant tissues have not been well characterized or evaluated in cohort studies as
biomarkers of cancer risk. Experimental Design: We examined CNAs in 98 patients
having either BE or EA using BAC array CGH to characterize CNAs at different stages
of progression ranging from early BE to advanced EA. Results: CNAs were rare in early
stages (<HGD) but were progressively more frequent and larger in later stages (HGD and
EA), including high level amplifications. The number of CNAs correlated highly with
DNA content aneuploidy. Patients whose biopsies contained CNAs involving more than
70 Mbp were at increased risk of progression to DNA content abnormalities or EA
(HR=4.9, 95% CI 1.6-14.8, p=0.0047), and the risk increased as more of the genome was
affected. Conclusions: Genome wide analysis of CNAs provides a common platform for
evaluation of chromosome instability for cancer risk assessment as well as identification
of common regions of alteration that can be further studied for biomarker discovery
Well-defined hyperstar copolymers based on a thiol–yne hyperbranched core and a poly(2-oxazoline) shell for biomedical applications
Well defined ‘hyperstar’ copolymers were synthesized by combining hyperbranched polymers produced by thiol–yne chemistry with poly(oxazoline)s. The hyperbranched core was prepared using an AB2 monomer and a trifunctional alkene, applying a monomer feeding approach. The degree of branching was high (0.9) while maintaining low dispersities (1.3). Poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEtOx) functionalized with a thiol end group was coupled to the surface of the hyperbranched structure accessing terminal alkyne units. PEtOx-SH was produced by the termination of the living polymerization with ethyl xanthate and subsequent conversion to thiol under alkaline conditions. The degree of polymerization was varied producing PEtOx with 23 or 42 repeating units, respectively with a dispersity of around 1.1. After conjugation of the polymer arms, hyperstar copolymers were characterized by SEC, NMR spectroscopy, light scattering, and AFM. The polymers were able to encapsulate the hydrophobic dye Nile red within the core of the structure with loading efficiencies between 0.3 and 0.9 wt%. Cytotoxicity of the hyperstars was assessed using A2780 human ovarian carcinoma cells resulting in IC50 values of around 0.7 mg ml−1. Successful internalization and colocalization with lysosomal compartments was observed by confocal microscopy studies
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): a deeper view of the mass, metallicity and SFR relationships
A full appreciation of the role played by gas metallicity (Z), star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass (M*) is fundamental to understanding how galaxies form and evolve. The connections between these three parameters at different redshifts significantly affect galaxy evolution, and thus provide important constraints for galaxy evolution models. Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey–Data Release 7 (SDSS–DR7) and the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) surveys, we study the relationships and dependences between SFR, Z and M*, as well as the Fundamental Plane for star-forming galaxies. We combine both surveys using volume-limited samples up to a redshift of z ≈ 0.36. The GAMA and SDSS surveys complement each other when analysing the relationships between SFR, M* and Z. We present evidence for SFR and metallicity evolution to z ∼ 0.2. We study the dependences between SFR, M*, Z and specific SFR (SSFR) on the M*–Z, M*–SFR, M*–SSFR, Z–SFR and Z–SSFR relations, finding strong correlations between all. Based on those dependences, we propose a simple model that allows us to explain the different behaviour observed between low- and high-mass galaxies. Finally, our analysis allows us to confirm the existence of a Fundamental Plane, for which M* = f(Z, SFR) in star-forming galaxies
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