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Completing the design spectra for graphs with six vertices and eight edges
Apart from two possible exceptions, the design spectrum has been determined for every graph with six vertices and at most eight edges. The purpose of this note is to establish the existence of the two missing designs, both of order 32
The Effects of a Gentle Yoga Program on Sleep, Mood, and Blood Pressure in Older Women with Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS): A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial
Objective. To examine the effects of yoga versus an educational film program on sleep, mood, perceived stress, and sympathetic activation in older women with RLS. Methods. Participants were drawn from a larger trial regarding the effects of yoga on cardiovascular disease risk profiles in overweight, sedentary postmenopausal women. Seventy-five women were randomized to receive either an 8-week yoga (n = 38) or educational film (n = 37) program. All 75 participants completed an RLS screening questionnaire. The 20 women who met all four diagnostic criteria for RLS (n = 10 yoga, 10 film group) comprised the population for this nested study. Main outcomes assessed pre- and post-treatment included: sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), stress (Perceived Stress Scale), mood (Profile of Mood States, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), blood pressure, and heart rate. Results. The yoga group demonstrated significantly greater improvements than controls in multiple domains of sleep quality and mood, and significantly greater reductions in insomnia prevalence, anxiety, perceived stress, and blood pressure (all P's≤0.05). Adjusted intergroup effect sizes for psychosocial variables were large, ranging from 1.9 for state anxiety to 2.6 for sleep quality. Conclusions. These preliminary findings suggest yoga may offer an effective intervention for improving sleep, mood, perceived stress, and blood pressure in older women with RLS
Healthcare Marketing Communication: Media Usage and Psychographic Profiles for Baby Boomer, Gen X, and Millennial Consumers
Abstract
Purpose Preventive health care information (PHCI), which functions as a cost-effective or cost-saving means of reducing mortality and improving life quality, also fuels consumer demand for otherwise underutilized preventive medical services, thereby improving profitability for service providers. This study provides healthcare marketing professionals with media usage insights and psychographic profiles useful for developing effective PHCI communication strategies.
Design This research is based on questionnaire responses (n = 813). Analysis of the variance (ANOVA) was used to assess and compare the importance consumers assigned to online PHCI sources. Factor analysis was used to determine whether attitude patterns tended to covary. ANOVA was used to compare generations according to five composite factored variables.
Findings Institutional websites and internet search engines were among the most important PHCI sources. Millennials assigned significantly greater importance to 20 of the 27 sources. YouTube was the only mainstream social media and networking (SM&N) site to which consumers assigned importance. Five composite factors were identified. Millennials were significantly more likely to report attitudes and behaviors of the “Techy” healthcare consumer (p = 0.000) and “Other-Oriented” healthcare consumer” (p = 0.000). Baby Boomers were significantly more likely to report attitudes and behaviors of the “Responsible” healthcare consumer (p = 0.003) and the “Clinician-Connected” healthcare consumer (p = 0.000).
Originality This research offers new insights concerning Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial healthcare consumer use of digital resources to access preventive health care information (PHCI), along with psychographic profiles useful for developing message strategy.
Research Implications This study contributes to the body of research concerning health information-seeking behavior (HISB) (Lambert and Loiselle, 2007; Mills and Todorova, 2016). It expands knowledge of online consumer behavior when accessing PHCI and provides psychographic profiles for Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial healthcare consumers.
Practical Implications Deeper understanding of consumer attitudes, behaviors, and internet use as related to PHCI has the potential to improve healthcare communications meant to fuel demand for otherwise underutilized preventive health services with the potential to improve provider profitability, positively impact and lengthen consumer lives, bridge gaps in health care access, and reduce reliance on an overtaxed health care system
Folding and Aggregation of Designed Proteins
Studies of how protein fold have shown that the way protein clumps form in
the test tube is similar to how proteins form the so-called ``amyloid''
deposits that are the pathological signal of a variety of diseases, among them
the memory disorder Alzheimer's. Protein aggregation have traditionally been
connected to either unfolded or native states. Inclusion body formation
(disordered aggregation) has been assumed to arise from hydrophobic aggregation
of the unfolded or denaturated states, while the amyloid fibrils (ordered
aggregation) have been assumed to arise from native-like conformations in a
process analogous to the polymerization of hemoglobin S. Making use of
lattice-model simulations we find that both ordered and disordered aggregation
arise from elementary structures which eventually build the folding nucleus of
the heteropolymers, and takes place when some of the most strongly interacting
amino acids establish their contacts leading to the formation of a specific
subset of the native structure. These elementary structures can be viewed as
the partially folded intermediates suggested to be involved in the aggregation
of a number of proteins. These results have evolutionary implications, as the
elementary structures forming the folding core of designed proteins contain the
residues which are conserved among the members of homologous sequences.Comment: 10 pages, 2 colour ps figures and 1 b/w ps figur
Effectiveness of Yoga for Hypertension: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Objectives. To systematically review and meta-analyze the effectiveness of yoga for reducing blood pressure in adults with hypertension and to assess the modifying influences of type and length of yoga intervention and type of comparison group. Methods. Academic Search Premier, AltHealthWatch, BIOSIS/Biological Abstracts, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Natural Standard, and Web of Science databases were screened for controlled studies from 1966 to March 2013. Two authors independently assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Results. All 17 studies included in the review had unclear or high risk of bias. Yoga had a modest but significant effect on systolic blood pressure (SBP) (4.17 [6.35, 1.99], ) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (3.62 [4.92, 1.60], ). Subgroup analyses demonstrated significant reductions in blood pressure for (1) interventions incorporating 3 basic elements of yoga practice (postures, meditation, and breathing) (SBP: 8.17 mmHg [12.45, 3.89]; DBP: 6.14 mmHg [9.39, 2.89]) but not for more limited yoga interventions; (2) yoga compared to no treatment (SBP: 7.96 mmHg [10.65, 5.27]) but not for exercise. Conclusion. Yoga can be preliminarily recommended as an effective intervention for reducing blood pressure. Additional rigorous controlled trials are warranted to further investigate the potential benefits of yoga
Vulnerability of Vietnam to typhoons: A spatial assessment based on hazards, exposure and adaptive capacity
© 2019 Typhoons have devastating impacts across many Asian countries. Vietnam is presently one of the most disaster-prone nations. Typhoons regularly disrupt human lives and livelihoods in various ways and cause significant damage. Making efficient policy decisions to minimize the vulnerability of affected communities is crucial. This requires a deep understanding of the factors that make a society vulnerable to extreme events and natural disasters. An appropriate approach is integrating the three dimensions of hazard, exposure and sensitivity, and community adaptive capacity. However, the vulnerability and adaptive capacity response to typhoons within Vietnam is poorly investigated. Here, we develop a conceptual framework that incorporates 21 indicators to identify vulnerability and adaptive capacity (VAC) using geospatial techniques at regional scales, applied over Vietnam. We find large spatial differences in VAC and are able to identify the top-priority regions that need to enhance their adaptation to typhoons. The Southern Coastal area, South East and Red River Delta demonstrate high and very high vulnerability because of their physical features and the intensity of typhoons that frequently cross these parts of Vietnam. The lower Mekong Delta and Northern Coastal areas are vulnerable to typhoon-driven flood threats, in particular where compounded by sea-level rise. Our framework successfully identified the spatial distribution and different levels of VAC within acceptable limits of uncertainty. It can therefore serve as a template to tackle national issues in disaster risk reduction in Vietnam and assist in the development of suitable mitigation strategies to achieve sustainable outcomes
Biochemical characterization of the initial steps of the Kennedy pathway in Trypanosoma brucei:the ethanolamine and choline kinases
Note related output below contains correction of this paper.Ethanolamine and choline are major components of the trypanosome membrane phospholipids, in the form of GPEtn (glycero-phosphoethanolamine) and GPCho (glycerophosphocholine). Ethanolamine is also found as an integral component of the GPI (glycosylpliosphatidylinositol) anchor that is required for membrane attachment of cell-surface proteins, most notably the variant-surface glycoproteins. The de novo synthesis of GPEtn and GPCho starts with the generation of phosphoethanolamine and phosphocholine by ethanolamine and choline kinases via the Kennedy pathway. Database mining revealed two putative C/EKs (choline/ethanolamine kinases) in the Trypanosoma brucei genome, which were cloned, overexpressed, purified and characterized. TbEK 1 (T brucei ethanolamine kinase 1) was shown to be catalytically active as an ethanolamine-specific kinase, i.e. it had no choline kinase activity. The K values for ethanolamine and ATP were found to be 18.4 +/- 0.9 and 219 29 mu M respectively. TbC/EK2 (T brucei choline/ethanolamine kinase 2), on the other hand, was found to be able to phosphorylate both ethanolamine and choline, even though choline was the preferred substrate, with a K-m 80 times lower than that of ethanolamine. The K. values for choline, ethanolamine and ATP were 31.4 +/- 2.6 mu M, 2.56 +/- 0.31 mu M and 20.6 +/- 1.96 mu M respectively. Further substrate specificity analysis revealed that both TbEK1 and TbC/EK2 were able to tolerate various modifications at the amino group, with the exception of a quaternary amine for TbEK1 (choline) and a primary amine for TbC/EK2 (ethanolamine). Both enzymes recognized analogues with substituents oil C-2, but substitutions oil C-1 and elongations of the carbon chain were not well tolerated.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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