Effect of Dietary Self-Monitoring in Caucasian and African-American Women

Purpose: The purpose of the study is 1) to assess the effect of dietary self-monitoring on weight loss in a population of Caucasian and African-American women and men; and 2) to determine if there is a difference in African Americans’ and Caucasians’ use of self-monitoring in weight loss. Review of the Literature: Previous studies demonstrated increased weight loss with dietary self-monitoring; however, these studies’ samples are 70-80% Caucasian women and cannot be generalized to African-Americans or men. Studies confirming the effectiveness of dietary intake self-monitoring in non-Caucasian women and men are needed. Methodology: Using a cohort design with prospective and retrospective components, collected data included demographics, dietary self-monitoring use, body mass index (BMI) fat mass lost, overall weight loss, and percentage weight lost. Results: The results of the study support the previously conducted studies’ findings of the effectiveness of self-monitoring of diet in promoting weight loss attempts in females and extends the results to African-American females. The results also showed no significant difference in effect or degree of self-monitoring in African-American and Caucasian women participants who chose self-monitoring in addition to the basic clinic approach. An insufficient number of males participated to allow a comparison on the effects of self-monitoring on weight loss in men. Implications for NPs: Dietary self-monitoring is an effective strategy in African-American and Caucasian women for increased weight loss as a part of a medically managed weight loss program. Nurse Practitioners (NPs) should employ this strategy with more confidence in the evidence for a wider population

The Formazanate Ligand as an Electron Reservoir: Bis(Formazanate) Zinc Complexes Isolated in Three Redox States

The synthesis of bis(formazanate) zinc complexes is described. These complexes have well-behaved redox-chemistry, with the ligands functioning as a reversible electron reservoir. This allows the synthesis of bis(formazanate) zinc compounds in three redox states in which the formazanate ligands are reduced to "metallaverdazyl" radicals. The stability of these ligand-based radicals is a result of the delocalization of the unpaired electron over four nitrogen atoms in the ligand backbone. The neutral, anionic, and dianionic compounds (L2Zn0/-1/-2) were fully characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography, spectroscopic methods, and DFT calculations. In these complexes, the structural features of the formazanate ligands are very similar to well-known β-diketiminates, but the nitrogen-rich (NNCNN) backbone of formazanates opens the door to redox-chemistry that is otherwise not easily accessible. N is better than C: Bis(formazanate) zinc complexes (see picture; Zn yellow, N blue, O red, Na green) show sequential and reversible redox chemistry in which the formazanate ligands are reduced to metallaverdazyl radicals. These ligands are very similar to β- diketiminates, but the nitrogen-rich NNCNN backbone of formazanates opens the door to redox chemistry that is otherwise difficult to access

Piezoelectric vibration damping using resonant shunt circuits: an exact solution

peer reviewe

Teachers as Writers: A Case Study of a Teacher Writing Group

Writing instruction has been neglected, both in teacher preparation courses and in professional development in literacy. Yet, the adoption of new standards and teacher evaluation systems by many states demands increased writing instruction and teacher “effectiveness” in providing it. Teachers, then, have faced higher expectations for writing instruction with little support for what those expectations mean or how to enact them in their own contexts. To meet these demands, it has been suggested that teachers must see themselves as writers in order to work most productively with children as writers. Therefore, if teachers must identify as writers to be “effective,” then teachers who do not identify as writers are also denied an identity as “good teachers.” These static, binary identity categories serve as “cover stories” to obscure a much more complicated reality. Informed by critical writing pedagogy and a literacy-and-identity studies framework, this study explored how teacher-writers in one school-based writing group perform, understand, and narrate their identities as writers and teachers of writing. Utilizing a narrative inquiry methodology for group meetings and interviews, I analyzed the complex, fluid, and sometimes contradictory identities of teacher-writers, and the construction, reconstruction, and mobilization of stories within and about the group. The static, binary identities group members claimed served as cover stories, the static categorical writer-selves that we construct in relation to our conceptions of an idealized writer. My study concluded that the relative autonomy of the writing group provided a shelter from the school culture of accountability where emotion and profanation were possible. This work proposed that, in acknowledging the complex nature of writing identities and the “unofficial” emotional lives of teachers, we can push beyond a static writer/non-writer binary and disrupt a hierarchical, outcome-based notion of staff development. As a result, space for staff development, in which a diverse school community joins together to engage in experiences, learning, and identity work that make space for emotion, may be created

Collaborative Inquiry to Support Critically Reading Children’s Literature

This article provides an overview of a qualitative study investigating how K-5 classroom teachers describe their beliefs, concerns, and planning process for enacting read alouds featuring characters with disabilities. The study explored educators\u27 close reading of picture books to elicit the unpacking of beliefs about individuals with disabilities conveyed by children’s literature. Through dialogue about social issues in picture books with colleagues, teachers sharpened their own critical literacy skills to bring into the classroom. Based on our findings, we offer a collaborative inquiry cycle that teacher groups can replicate to critically read children’s literature for different social justice issues

Iron- and cobalt-catalyzed synthesis of carbene phosphinidenes

In the presence of stoichiometric or catalytic amounts of [M{N(SiMe3)2}2] (M=Fe, Co), N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) react with primary phosphines to give a series of carbene phosphinidenes of the type (NHC)·PAr. The formation of (IMe4)·PMes (Mes=mesityl) is also catalysed by the phosphinidene-bridged complex [(IMe4)2Fe-(m-PMes)]2, which provides evidence for metal-catalysed phosphinidene transfer

Développement à visée clinique d'une prothèse vasculaire décellularisée de faible diamètre produite par génie tissulaire

Il existe un besoin clinique pour les prothèses vasculaires de faible diamètre (< 6 mm), notamment pour effectuer des pontages vasculaires. Les prothèses synthétiques de faible diamètre, n’ayant pas d’endothélium, sont sujettes à la thrombose. Ainsi les chirurgiens préfèrent utiliser les vaisseaux autologues des patients. Pour cela, la veine saphène est de loin la plus utilisée. Cependant, de nombreux patients n’ont pas de vaisseaux adéquats, soit parce qu’ils ont déjà été utilisés, soit parce qu’ils sont malades. Pour pallier ce manque, le LOEX a développé un substitut vasculaire reconstruit en laboratoire par la méthode d’auto-assemblage du génie tissulaire. Ces substituts, faits à partir de cellules humaines, ont une longue période de production et ne peuvent être faits à l’avance ni préservés. L’objectif principal de cette thèse est le développement d’une prothèse vasculaire de faible diamètre facilitant le transfert du laboratoire vers la clinique. S’inspirant de travaux antérieurs, les travaux focalisent sur des prothèses obtenues à partir de fibroblastes dermiques humains puis décellularisés. Comme la réponse immunitaire se fait principalement contre les cellules et non pas contre la matrice extracellulaire, la décellularisation permet de gagner une compatibilité immunitaire inter-individu, voire inter-espèce. Ainsi, des prothèses ont été implantées dans six rats pendant six mois sans immunosuppression avec un taux de succès de 83%. Les explants présentaient une infiltration cellulaire suggérant la formation d’une nouvelle media recouverte d’un endothélium. Par ailleurs, nous avons démontré qu’il était également possible de produire des prothèses de grandeur et diamètre adéquats pour une utilisation clinique. Ces prothèses ont été préservées durant trois mois sans altérer leurs propriétés mécaniques. Nous avons également endothélialisé des vaisseaux qui ont ensuite été conditionnés en bioréacteur durant une semaine. Le processus entraînait une compaction de la matrice extracellulaire et un gain dans la résistance à la traction du matériau. En conclusion, les prothèses vasculaires décellularisées offrent deux avantages majeurs facilitant ainsi les essais précliniques et accélérant leur transfert du laboratoire vers les patients.There is a clinical need for small-diameter vascular prostheses (< 6 mm), particularly for coronary and femoro-popliteal bypasses. Small-diameter synthetic vascular prostheses, comprising no endothelium, present an unacceptable risk of thrombotic occlusion. For this reason, it is preferable to use autologous vessels from the patients. The saphenous vein is the gold standard for most bypasses. However, many patients have diseased vessels or vessels that have already been used. For these reasons, the LOEX has developed a tissue-engineered blood vessel using the method of self-assembly. Such vessels have a long period of production and cannot be made in advance and stored. Moreover, obstacles slow down the realization of preclinical studies; indeed, given the use of human cells, either new autologous animal models must be developed or experimental animals must be immunosuppressed. The main objective of this thesis is to optimize a small-diameter tissue-engineered blood vessel in order to accelerate the translation from the laboratory to a clinical setting. Inspired by previous work, the studies presented in this thesis have focused on vessels produced from human dermal fibroblasts which were then decellularized. Since the immune response is mostly directed against cells and not against the extracellular matrix, the decellularization allows inter-individual and inter-species immunological compatibility. We have successfully implanted five out of six non-immunosuppressed rats for a period of 6 months. Explants presented cellular infiltrations suggesting the formation of a new media covered by a confluent endothelium. We have thereby shown that vessels of an appropriate length and diameter could be produced for clinical applications. These vessels were preserved for up to three months without showing any sign of mechanical degradation. We have also endothelialized such vessels that were conditioned for one week in a bioreactor. The process led to a compaction of the extracellular matrix and an increase in the ultimate tensile strength. In conclusion, the possibility of making the decellularized vessels in advance and to use them in various preclinical animal models could greatly accelerate the clinical translation from the laboratory to patients