Examination of Health Adherence Behaviors and Cognitive Distortions in Patients with Chronic Illness

The relationship between health adherence behaviors and cognitive distortions among patients with chronic illness were investigated. One-hundred eleven participants from two outpatient medical clinics were administered the Health Adherence Behavior Inventory (HABIT) and the Inventory for Cognitive Distortions (lCD), and the Health Adherence Behavior Survey was utilized to obtain demographic information. Results indicated participants who had a thinking style characterized by the use of cognitive distortions tended to engage in fewer health promoting behaviors. This finding was consistent with the predicted hypothesis. In fact, a significant correlation at the .05 level of -.173 was found between the ICD and the HABIT. These findings suggest that cognitive theory may have utility in understanding and improving health adherence. These findings have implications for primary care, as health care providers will be better able to manage and understand factors related to nonadherence, opening the door for collaboration among medical and mental health care providers

Magnetotransport properties of oxidized iron thin films

6 pages, 7 figures, 1 table.-- PACS number(s): 75.70.Ak, 73.50.Jt, 73.61.AtWe report results of electrical resistivity, Hall effect, and anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) measurements performed on thin films (~80 nm) of naturally oxidized iron in the 5 to 300 K temperature range, and in magnetic fields up to 5 T. The films were grown at low temperatures. We find that the resistivity, coercive field, as well as the magnetoresistance of the films are affected by growth conditions, particularly by the substrate temperature which controls the size and shape of crystalline grains. We used AMR as a probe for magnetization reversal studies in our films. We find that the coercive fields vary as as in systems of weakly interacting ensembles of magnetic nanoparticles even though dipole-dipole interactions may well play a significant role.We acknowledge support from Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain through Grants No. MAT02/166 and MAT2003/01880.Peer reviewe

Magnetotransport properties of oxidized iron thin films

6 pages, 7 figures, 1 table.-- PACS number(s): 75.70.Ak, 73.50.Jt, 73.61.AtWe report results of electrical resistivity, Hall effect, and anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) measurements performed on thin films (~80 nm) of naturally oxidized iron in the 5 to 300 K temperature range, and in magnetic fields up to 5 T. The films were grown at low temperatures. We find that the resistivity, coercive field, as well as the magnetoresistance of the films are affected by growth conditions, particularly by the substrate temperature which controls the size and shape of crystalline grains. We used AMR as a probe for magnetization reversal studies in our films. We find that the coercive fields vary as as in systems of weakly interacting ensembles of magnetic nanoparticles even though dipole-dipole interactions may well play a significant role.We acknowledge support from Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain through Grants No. MAT02/166 and MAT2003/01880.Peer reviewe

Pressure effects on charge, spin, and metal-insulator transitions in narrow bandwidth manganite Pr1−x_{1-x}Cax_{x}MnO3_{3}

Pressure effects on the charge and spin states and the relation between the ferromagnetic and metallic states were explored on the small bandwidth manganite Pr$_{1-x}$Ca$_{x}$MnO$_{3}$ (x = 0.25, 0.3, 0.35). Under pressure, the charge ordering state is suppressed and a ferromagnetic metallic state is induced in all three samples. The metal-insulator transition temperature (T$_{MI}$) increases with pressure below a critical point P*, above which T$_{MI}$ decreases and the material becomes insulating as at the ambient pressure. The e$_{g}$ electron bandwidth and/or band-filling mediate the pressure effects on the metal-insulator transition and the magnetic transition. In the small bandwidth and low doping concentration compound (x = 0.25), the T$_{MI}$ and Curie temperature (T$_{C}$) change with pressure in a reverse way and do not couple under pressure. In the x = 0.3 compound, the relation of T$_{MI}$ and T$_{C}$ shows a critical behavior: They are coupled in the range of $\sim$0.8-5 GPa and decoupled outside of this range. In the x = 0.35 compound, T$_{MI}$ and T$_{C}$ are coupled in the measured pressure range where a ferromagnetic state is present

Invasive Obstetric Procedures and Cesarean Sections in Women With Known Herpes Simplex Virus Status During Pregnancy.

BackgroundNeonatal herpes is a potentially devastating infection that results from acquisition of herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 or 2 from the maternal genital tract at the time of vaginal delivery. Current guidelines recommend (1) cesarean delivery if maternal genital HSV lesions are present at the time of labor and (2) antiviral suppressive therapy for women with known genital herpes to decrease HSV shedding from the genital tract at the time of vaginal delivery. However, most neonatal infections occur in infants born to women without a history of genital HSV, making current prevention efforts ineffective for this group. Although routine serologic HSV testing of women during pregnancy could identify women at higher risk of intrapartum viral shedding, it is uncertain how this knowledge might impact intrapartum management, and a potential concern is a higher rate of cesarean sections among women known to be HSV-2 seropositive.MethodsTo assess the effects of prenatal HSV-2 antibody testing, history of genital herpes, and use of suppressive antiviral medication on the intrapartum management of women, we investigated the frequency of invasive obstetric procedures and cesarean deliveries. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of pregnant women delivering at the University of Washington Medical center in Seattle, Washington. We defined the exposure of interest as HSV-2 antibody positivity or known history of genital herpes noted in prenatal records. The primary outcome was intrapartum procedures including fetal scalp electrode, artificial rupture of membranes, intrauterine pressure catheter, or operative vaginal delivery (vacuum or forceps). The secondary outcome was incidence of cesarean birth. Univariate and multivariable logistic regressions were performed.ResultsFrom a total of 449 women included in the analysis, 97 (21.6%) were HSV-2 seropositive or had a history of genital herpes (HSV-2/GH). Herpes simplex virus-2/GH women not using suppressive antiviral therapy were less likely to undergo intrapartum procedures than women without HSV-2/GH (odds ratio [OR], 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25-0.95; P = .036), but this relationship was attenuated after adjustment for potential confounders (adjusted OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.34-1.41; P = .31). There was no difference in intrapartum procedures for women on suppressive therapy versus women without HSV-2/GH (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 0.66-2.07; P = .60). Similar proportions of cesarean sections were performed within each group of women: 25% without history of HSV-2/GH, 30% on suppressive treatment, and 28.1% without suppressive treatment (global, P = .73).ConclusionsIn this single-site study, provider awareness of genital herpes infection either by HSV serotesting or history was associated with fewer invasive obstetric procedures shown to be associated with neonatal herpes, but it was not associated with an increased rate of cesarean birth

Geochemical Characterization of Maceral Concentrates from Herrin No. 6 Coal (Illinois Basin) and Lower Toarcian Shale Kerogen (Paris Basin)

Density gradient centrifugation (DGC) is a physical method for the separation of sedimentary organic matter into its constituents. Using DGC, it is possible to prepare maceral concentrates from a single sample, which are amenable to microanalysis. DGC fractions from a coal sample from the Illinois Basin (Herrin No. 6, Upper Carboniferous) and from the kerogen of a marine shale sample from the Paris Basin (Lower Toarcian) were analyzed by flash pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, after extraction by CH2Cl2. Chemical differences between the coal DGC fractions are the easiest to recognize, indicating very distinctive biological precursors. For example, the liptinite fraction ( = 1.12 g ml-1) is dominated by long-chain aliphatic compounds (n-alkanes and n-alkenes) along with alkylbenzenes and alkylphenols. Vitrinite (1.29 g ml-1) shows a predominance of alkylbenzenes and phenolic compounds. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (especially naphthalene, phenanthrene, anthracene and their pseudohomologues) are major compounds in the pyrolyzate of fusinite (1.45 g ml-1). In contrast, there is less variety of organic compounds in the Toarcian sample. Petrographically, this kerogen is primarily amorphous. However, a main DGC peak ( = 1.18 g ml-1) with two shoulders (1.15 and 1.23 g ml-1) is resolved using multi-step centrifugation. The chemical differences between these fractions are subtle but significant. Concentrations of alkylbenzenes, alkylthiophenes, alkylpyrroles and phenolic compounds increase with density, relative to the aliphatics. This indicates that this kerogen, probably of algal and bacterial origin, is partially separable by DGC

Heat exchanger/reactors (HEX reactors): Concepts, technologies: State-of-the-art

Process intensification is a chemical engineering field which has truly emerged in the past few years and is currently rapidly growing. It consists in looking for safer operating conditions, lower waste in terms of costs and energy and higher productivity; and away to reach such objectives is to develop multifunctional devices such as heat exchanger/reactors for instance. This review is focused on the latter and makes a point on heat exchanger/reactors. After a brief presentation of requirements due to transposition from batch to continuous apparatuses, heat exchangers/reactors at industrial or pilot scales and their applications are described

An algorithm for preoperative differential diagnostics of parotid tumours on the basis of their dynamic and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images: a retrospective analysis of 158 cases

Background: To verify the usefulness of a new algorithm for preoperative differential diagnostics of parotid tumours on the basis of their dynamic and diffusion- -weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and methods: The retrospective analysis included 158 consecutive surgical patients with parotid tumours. Aside from ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy, the protocol of preoperative evaluation included dynamic and diffusion-weighted MRI. According to the new diagnostic algorithm, the result of fine needle biopsy was considered only in the case of lesions with time to peak enhancement (Tpeak) > 60 s and washout rate (WR) ≤ 30% on dynamic MRI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) ≤ 1.7 × 103 mm/s2 on diffusion-weighted MRI, or those presenting with concomitant lymphadenopathy. The accuracy of this algorithm was verified against final histopathological diagnoses. Results: The new algorithm gave 10 true positive and 2 false positive results, as well as 132 and 14 true and false negative results, respectively. Its sensitivity and specificity (41.7% and 98.5%, respectively) were the same as in the case of fine needle biopsy alone. None of the 59 tumours that were qualified as benign solely on the basis of preoperative MRI turned out to be malignant on postoperative histopathological examination. Conclusions: Interpreted together, dynamic and diffusion-weighted MRIs provide the same accuracy in preoperative differential diagnostics of parotid tumours as fine needle biopsy. This substantiates the use of diagnostic algorithms in which biopsy would serve mostly as a secondary test to verify selected ambiguous radiological diagnoses. (Folia Morphol 2018; 77, 1: 29–35)

Synchrotron radiation photoionization mass spectrometry of laser ablated species

The present paper describes an experimental apparatus suitable to create and study free clusters by combining laser ablation and synchrotron radiation. First tests on sulfur samples, S, showed the production, through laser ablation, of neutral Sn clusters (n = 1–8). These clusters were ionized using synchrotron radiation at photon energies from 160 eV to 175 eV, across the S 2p core edge. The feasibility of such combined ablation–synchrotron radiation experiments is demonstrated, opening new possibilities on the investigation of free clusters and radical

Electronic structure of the c(4 x 2) reconstructed Ge(001) surface

We investigate the electronic structure of the c(4 x 2) reconstructed Ge(001) surface using band structure calculations based on density functional theory and the generalized gradient approximation. In particular, we take into account the details of surface reconstruction by means of well relaxed crystal structures. The surface electronic states are identified and the local density of states is compared to recent data from scanning tunneling spectroscopy. We obtain almost perfect agreement between theory and experiment for both the occupied and unoccupied states, which allows us to clarify the interpretation of the experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted by Chem. Phys. Let