The Ethical Review of Health Care Quality Improvement Initiatives: Findings From the Field

Based on surveys, examines the review mechanisms of quality improvement initiatives, including frequency; type, such as use of independent review boards; and consideration for ethical issues such as minimal risk and patient privacy and confidentiality

High and Mighty: Implicit Associations between Space and Social Status

Figurative language and our perceptuo-motor experiences frequently associate social status with physical space. In three experiments we examine the source and extent of these associations by testing whether people implicitly associate abstract social status indicators with concrete representations of spatial topography (level versus mountainous land) and relatively abstract representations of cardinal direction (south and north). Experiment 1 demonstrates speeded performance during an implicit association test (Greenwald et al., 1998) when average social status is paired with level topography and high status with mountainous topography. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrate a similar effect but with relatively abstract representations of cardinal direction (south and north), with speeded performance when average and powerful social status are paired with south and north coordinate space, respectively. Abstract concepts of social status are perceived and understood in an inherently spatial world, resulting in powerful associations between abstract social concepts and concrete and abstract notions of physical axes. These associations may prove influential in guiding daily judgments and actions

Gender and autistic personality traits predict perspective-taking ability in typical adults

Adopting another’s visual perspective is exceedingly common and may underlie successful social interaction and empathizing with others. The individual differences responsible for success in perspective-taking, however, remain relatively undiscovered. We assessed whether gender and autistic personality traits in normal college student adults predict the ability to adopt another’s visual perspective. In a task differentially recruiting VPT-1 which involves following another’s line of sight, and VPT-2 which involves determining how another may perceive an object differently given their unique perspective (VPT-2), we found effects of both gender and autistic personality traits. Specifically, we demonstrate slowed VPT-2 but not VPT-1 performance in males and females with relatively high ASD-characteristic personality traits; this effect, however was markedly stronger in males than females. Results contribute to knowledge regarding ASD-related personality traits in the general population and the individual differences modulating perspective-taking abilities

Spectroscopy of Nine Cataclysmic Variable Stars

We present optical spectroscopy of nine cataclysmic binary stars, mostly dwarf novae, obtained primarily to determine orbital periods Porb. The stars and their periods are LX And, 0.1509743(5) d; CZ Aql, 0.2005(6) d; LU Cam, 0.1499686(4) d; GZ Cnc, 0.0881(4) d; V632 Cyg, 0.06377(8) d; V1006 Cyg, 0.09903(9) d; BF Eri, 0.2708804(4) d; BI Ori, 0.1915(5) d; and FO Per, for which Porb is either 0.1467(4) or 0.1719(5) d. Several of the stars proved to be especially interesting. In BF Eri, we detect the absorption spectrum of a secondary star of spectral type K3 +- 1 subclass, which leads to a distance estimate of approximately 1 kpc. However, BF Eri has a large proper motion (100 mas/yr), and we have a preliminary parallax measurement that confirms the large proper motion and yields only an upper limit for the parallax. BF Eri's space velocity is evidently large, and it appears to belong to the halo population. In CZ Aql, the emission lines have strong wings that move with large velocity amplitude, suggesting a magnetically-channeled accretion flow. The orbital period of V1006 Cyg places it squarely within the 2- to 3-hour "gap" in the distribution of cataclysmic binary orbital periods.Comment: 31 pages, 5 postscript and one PNG figure. Accepted for PAS

Family Interactions Among African American Prostate Cancer Survivors

Prostate cancer affects African Americans at a higher rate than any other ethnic group in the United States. Prostate cancer does not only affect the man with the disease but also affects those individuals who are closest to him, such as his family and friends. Open communication is valuable in coping with stressors that are affiliated with chronic illnesses. This article focuses on family and friend social support of men with prostate cancer. Data analysis revealed that support from family members and friends plays an important role in how men cope with their treatment and recovery from prostate cancer. Originally published Family and Community Health, Vol. 31, No. 3, July-Sep 200

KRAP tethers IP3 receptors to actin and licenses them to evoke cytosolic Ca2+ signals

Regulation of IP3 receptors (IP3Rs) by IP3 and Ca2+ allows regenerative Ca2+ signals, the smallest being Ca2+ puffs, which arise from coordinated openings of a few clustered IP3Rs. Cells express thousands of mostly mobile IP3Rs, yet Ca2+ puffs occur at a few immobile IP3R clusters. By imaging cells with endogenous IP3Rs tagged with EGFP, we show that KRas-induced actin-interacting protein (KRAP) tethers IP3Rs to actin beneath the plasma membrane. Loss of KRAP abolishes Ca2+ puffs and the global increases in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration evoked by more intense stimulation. Over-expressing KRAP immobilizes additional IP3R clusters and results in more Ca2+ puffs and larger global Ca2+ signals. Endogenous KRAP determines which IP3Rs will respond: it tethers IP3R clusters to actin alongside sites where store-operated Ca2+ entry occurs, licenses IP3Rs to evoke Ca2+ puffs and global cytosolic Ca2+ signals, implicates the actin cytoskeleton in IP3R regulation and may allow local activation of Ca2+ entry. 2021, The Author(s).The authors thank Martyn Reynolds and Stephen Tovey (Cairn, UK) for help with super-resolution confocal microscopy. Supported by a Wellcome Senior Investigator Award (grant no. 101844), and by a grant (grant no. BB/T012986/1) and studentship (to H.A.S) from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK. P.A.-A. is a research fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.Scopu

Climate change alterations to ecosystem dominance: how might sponge-dominated reefs function?

Anthropogenic stressors are impacting ecological systems across the world. Of particular concern are the recent rapid changes occurring in coral reef systems. With ongoing degradation from both local and global stressors, future reefs are likely to function differently to current coral-dominated ecosystems. Determining key attributes of future reef states is critical to reliably predict outcomes for ecosystem service provision. Here we explore the impacts of changing sponge dominance on coral reefs. Qualitative modelling of reef futures suggests that changing sponge dominance due to increased sponge abundance will have different outcomes for other trophic levels compared with increased sponge dominance as a result of declining coral abundance. By exploring uncertainty in the model outcomes we identify the need to: i) quantify changes in carbon flow through sponges, ii) determine the importance of food limitation for sponges, iii) assess the ubiquity of the recently described 'sponge loop', iv) determine the competitive relationships between sponges and other benthic taxa, particularly algae, and v) understand how changing dominance of other organisms alters trophic pathways and energy flows through ecosystems. Addressing these knowledge gaps will facilitate development of more complex models that assess functional attributes of sponge-dominated reef ecosystems. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Quality of life, characteristics and survival of patients with HIV and lymphoma

We sought to compare the quality of life (QOL), characteristics, and survival of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Using the population-based cancer registry for Orange and San Diego Counties, We recruited 50 patients with HIV and systemic NHL (cases) and 50 age, sex and race-matched NHL patients without HIV (controls) diagnosed with NHL during 2002–2006. Patients completed a medical history survey and QOL instrument, the Functional Assessment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection (FAHI) for cases and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT G) for controls. HIV-infected patients had worse overall QOL and survival than uninfected patients. QOL differences were more marked in the areas of functional, physical and social well-being than in the area of emotional well-being. HIV-infected patients had lower income and were less likely to have private insurance and more likely to have diffuse large B cell histology than uninfected patients. HIV-infected NHL patients had worse QOL and survival than uninfected patients, due to a combination of co-morbidity, aggressive histology and lack of social support. However, their emotional well-being was comparable to that of uninfected NHL patients and better than historical norms for the HIV-infected