Developing a scale : adolescents' health choices related rights, duties and responsibilities

Background: Adolescents´ health choices have been widely researched, but the ethical basis of these choices, namely their rights, duties and responsibilities, have been disregarded and scale is required to measure these. Objective: To describe the development of a scale that measures adolescents´ rights, duties and responsibilities in relation to health choices and document the preliminary scale testing. Research design: A multi-phase development method was used to construct the Health Rights Duties and Responsibilities (HealthRDR) scale. The concepts and content were defined through document analysis, a systematic literature review and focus groups. The content validity and clarity of the items were evaluated by expert panel of 23 adolescents, school nurses and researchers. We then calculated the content validity index and the content validity ratio at on item and scale levels. Preliminary testing was conducted with 200 adolescents aged 15-16 years. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach´s alpha correlation and statistics for the item-analysis were calculated. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval and permission were obtained according to national legislation and responsible research practice was followed. Informed consent was obtained from the participants and the parents were informed about the study. Findings: The HealthRDR scale comprises of four sub-scales with 148 items: 15 on health choices, 36 on rights, 47 on duties and 50 on responsibilities. The items had a 0.93 content validity index and a 0.85 content validity ratio. The Cronbach alpha correlation coefficient was 0.99 for the total scale and the individual sub-scales scores were: health choices (0.93), rights (0.97), responsibilities (0.99) and duties (0.98). Discussion: The findings are discussed in light of the ethical concepts and validity and reliability of the developed scale. Conclusion: The HealthRDR scale defines and understands adolescents´ rights, duties and responsibilities in relation to health choices and has good content validity. Further testing and refinement of the concepts are needed

Vortex splitting and phase separating instabilities of coreless vortices in F=1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

The low lying excitations of coreless vortex states in F = 1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are theoretically investigated using the Gross-Pitaevskii and Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. The spectra of the elementary excitations are calculated for different spin-spin interaction parameters and ratios of the number of particles in each sublevel. There exist dynamical instabilities of the vortex state which are suppressed by ferromagnetic interactions, and conversely, enhanced by antiferromagnetic interactions. In both of the spin-spin interaction regimes, we find vortex splitting instabilities in analogy with scalar BECs. In addition, a phase separating instability is found in the antiferromagnetic regime.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Time-course of left ventricle function during mild therapeutic hypothermia in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients

Peer reviewe

Comparison of peak serum C-reactive protein and hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase levels in patients with acute myocardial infarction treated with alteplase and streptokinase

Peak serum C-reactive protein concentrations were measured in 146 patients randomized to receive streptokinase, alteplase, or a combination of streptokinase and alteplase in the GUSTO-I trial. Those receiving alteplase treatment had lower values than those receiving streptokinase or the combination treatment. Irrespective of treatment, complete reperfusion of the infarct-related artery (TIMI grade 3 flow) was associated with low peak serum C-reactive protein values

Dynamic Microtubules Promote Synaptic NMDA Receptor-Dependent Spine Enlargement

Most excitatory synaptic terminals in the brain impinge on dendritic spines. We and others have recently shown that dynamic microtubules (MTs) enter spines from the dendritic shaft. However, a direct role for MTs in long-lasting spine plasticity has yet to be demonstrated and it remains unclear whether MT-spine invasions are directly influenced by synaptic activity. Lasting changes in spine morphology and synaptic strength can be triggered by activation of synaptic NMDA receptors (NMDARs) and are associated with learning and memory processes. To determine whether MTs are involved in NMDAR-dependent spine plasticity, we imaged MT dynamics and spine morphology in live mouse hippocampal pyramidal neurons before and after acute activation of synaptic NMDARs. Synaptic NMDAR activation promoted MT-spine invasions and lasting increases in spine size, with invaded spines exhibiting significantly faster and more growth than non-invaded spines. Even individual MT invasions triggered rapid increases in spine size that persisted longer following NMDAR activation. Inhibition of either NMDARs or dynamic MTs blocked NMDAR-dependent spine growth. Together these results demonstrate for the first time that MT-spine invasions are positively regulated by signaling through synaptic NMDARs, and contribute to long-lasting structural changes in targeted spines

Towards in cellulo virus crystallography

Viruses are a significant threat to both human health and the economy, and there is an urgent need for novel anti-viral drugs and vaccines. High-resolution viral structures inform our understanding of the virosphere, and inspire novel therapies. Here we present a method of obtaining such structural information that avoids potentially disruptive handling, by collecting diffraction data from intact infected cells. We identify a suitable combination of cell type and virus to accumulate particles in the cells, establish a suitable time point where most cells contain virus condensates and use electron microscopy to demonstrate that these are ordered crystalline arrays of empty capsids. We then use an X-ray free electron laser to provide extremely bright illumination of sub-micron intracellular condensates of bacteriophage phiX174 inside living Escherichia coli at room temperature. We have been able to collect low resolution diffraction data. Despite the limited resolution and completeness of these initial data, due to a far from optimal experimental setup, we have used novel methodology to determine a putative space group, unit cell dimensions, particle packing and likely maturation state of the particles.Peer reviewe

Spermidine Promotes Human Hair Growth and Is a Novel Modulator of Human Epithelial Stem Cell Functions

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Freeze-thaw treatment effects on the dynamic mechanical properties of articular cartilage

BACKGROUND: As a relatively non-regenerative tissue, articular cartilage has been targeted for cryopreservation as a method of mitigating a lack of donor tissue availability for transplant surgeries. In addition, subzero storage of articular cartilage has long been used in biomedical studies using various storage temperatures. The current investigation studies the potential for freeze-thaw to affect the mechanical properties of articular cartilage through direct comparison of various subzero storage temperatures. METHODS: Both subzero storage temperature as well as freezing rate were compared using control samples (4°C) and samples stored at either -20°C or -80°C as well as samples first snap frozen in liquid nitrogen (-196°C) prior to storage at -80°C. All samples were thawed at 37.5°C to testing temperature (22°C). Complex stiffness and hysteresis characterized load resistance and damping properties using a non-destructive, low force magnitude, dynamic indentation protocol spanning a broad loading rate range to identify the dynamic viscoelastic properties of cartilage. RESULTS: Stiffness levels remained unchanged with exposure to the various subzero temperatures. Hysteresis increased in samples snap frozen at -196°C and stored at -80°C, though remained unchanged with exposure to the other storage temperatures. CONCLUSIONS: Mechanical changes shown are likely due to ice lens creation, where frost heave effects may have caused collagen damage. That storage to -20°C and -80°C did not alter the mechanical properties of articular cartilage shows that when combined with a rapid thawing protocol to 37.5°C, the tissue may successfully be stored at subzero temperatures

Signatures of Right-Handed Majorana neutrinos and gauge bosons in eγe \gamma Collisions

The process $e^- \gamma \to e^+ W_R^- W_R^-$ is studied in the framework of the Left-Right symmetric model. It is shown that this reaction and $e^- \gamma \to l^+ W_R^- W_R^-$ for the arbitrary final lepton are likely to be discovered for CLIC collider option. For relatively light doubly charged Higgs boson its mass does not have much influence on the discovery potential, while for heavier values the probability of the reaction increases.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, LaTe