A Phenomenological Study of Two-Year College Students\u27 Transition Experiences at a Four-Year Institution

Two-year college students experience challenges as they transfer to a four-year institution. To investigate these documented challenges, the present study used Weidman\u27s Model of Undergraduate Socialization (1989) and Deil-Amen\u27s (2011) notion of socio-academic integrative moments to examine these transitions. Specifically, a qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to explore the experiences of twelve two-year college students during their transition to a four-year university in the fall 2013. The results include four themes, which were developed through an iterative data analysis process. These emergent themes were: (a) A student\u27s age impacted their transition and social integration, (b) the academic transition was challenging, (c) making connections to the new campus was critical for a successful transition and (d) communication targeted to new transfer students was valuable and important for a successful transitio

Another Short and Elementary Proof of Strong Subadditivity of Quantum Entropy

A short and elementary proof of the joint convexity of relative entropy is presented, using nothing beyond linear algebra. The key ingredients are an easily verified integral representation and the strategy used to prove the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality in elementary courses. Several consequences are proved in a way which allow an elementary proof of strong subadditivity in a few more lines. Some expository material on Schwarz inequalities for operators and the Holevo bound for partial measurements is also included.Comment: The proof given here is short and more elementary that in either quant-ph/0404126 or quant-ph/0408130. The style is intended to be suitable to classroom presentation. For a Much More Complicated approach, see Section 6 of quant-ph/050619

Heart rate variability and biomarkers of systemic inflammation in patients with stable coronary heart disease: findings from the Heart and Soul Study

Background: Chronic low-grade systemic inflammation is a key component in atherogenesis. Decreased heart rate variability (HRV), a strong predictor of cardiovascular events, has been associated with elevations in circulating levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6, and fibrinogen in apparently healthy individuals. We investigated whether decreased HRV is associated with inflammatory markers in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: We studied the relationship between HRV and CRP, IL-6, and fibrinogen in 862 outpatients with CHD. All participants provided fasting blood samples and underwent 24-h ambulatory monitoring to assess time-domain measures of HRV (MeanNN, SDNN, SDANN, and RMSSD). Regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index, smoking, diabetes, beta blocker use, and cardiopulmonary history. Results: MeanNN, SDNN, and SDANN were significantly and inversely associated with CRP and IL-6 levels in age-adjusted models and after adjustment for all covariates (p≤0.02). MeanNN, SDNN, and SDANN were also inversely associated with fibrinogen levels in age-adjusted models (p<0.03), but not significantly so in multivariable-adjusted models. Reduced vagal modulation of heart rate (RMSSD) was not significantly associated with any inflammatory measures. Conclusions: Reduced cardiac autonomic control is associated with increased systemic inflammation in patients with stable CHD. This relationship was largely independent of important covariate

The Caregiver’s Role Across the Bone Marrow Transplantation Trajectory

Background: Approximately 50 000 people undergo bone marrow transplants (BMTs) each year worldwide. With the move to more outpatient and home care, family caregivers are playing an ever-increasing role. However, there is little information regarding the needs and well-being of caregivers of individuals undergoing BMT. Objective: The study purpose was to gain a better understanding of the BMT experience across the trajectory from the perspective of the family caregiver. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 family caregivers during and 4 months after BMT. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a content analysis approach. Results: Uncertainty and need for more information were 2 major underlying themes noted across the early BMT trajectory. Caregivers reported feeling overwhelmed and juggling multiple roles, including (a) ‘‘interpreter,’’ which included obtaining and translating medical information to their partner, family, and social network; (b) ‘‘organizer,’’ which included arranging and coordinating medical appointments (pre- and post-BMT) for the patient, but also juggling the needs of immediate and extended family members; and (c) ‘‘clinician,’’ which included assessing and identifying changes in their significant other, with many reporting that they had to be ‘‘vigilant’’ about or ‘‘on top of’’ any changes. Caregivers also reported the most challenging aspects of their role were to ‘‘be strong for everyone’’ and ‘‘finding balance.’’ Conclusions: Our results underscore the unique needs of family caregivers as a consequence of BMT. Implications for Practice: A greater understanding of the adaptation of caregivers will lead to the development of effective interventions for families going through BMT

Heterogeneity of disease-causing variants in the Swedish galactosemia population: Identification of 16 novel GALT variants

The aim was to determine disease-causing variants in the GALT gene which codes for the enzyme galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase. Loss of activity of this enzyme causes classical galactosemia-a life threatening, treatable disorder, included in the Swedish newborn screening program since 1967. A total of 66 patients with the disease are known in Sweden and 56 index patients were investigated. An additional two patients with Duarte galactosemia were included. The disease-causing variants were identified in all patients. As reported from other countries only a few variants frequently recur in severe disease. The two variants p.(Gln188Arg) (c.563A\u3eG) and p.(Met142Lys) (c.425T\u3eA) are present in several index patients whereas the remaining are found in one to three patients each. The most common variant, p.(Gln188Arg), has an allele frequency of 51% in the cohort. A total of 16 novel variants were found among the 33 different variants in the cohort. Two of these are synonymous variants affecting splicing, demonstrating the importance of the evaluation of synonymous variants at the cDNA level. Concise sentence: Galactosemia is a rare disease in Sweden and the disease-causing variants are heterogenous including two synonymous variants

New risks and opportunities for food security: scenario analyses for 2015 and 2050

"Given the number of undernourished people in the developing world and the increasingly complex risks to food security, policymakers are faced with an enormous agenda. Freeing people from hunger will require more and better-targeted investments, innovations, and policy actions, driven by a keen understanding of the dynamic risks and forces that shape the factors affecting people's access to food and the links with nutrition. The International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI's) International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) provides insight into the management of these risks through appropriate policy actions. By projecting future global food scenarios to 2050, IMPACT explores the potential implications of policy action and inaction in several main risk areas as well as the effects on child malnutrition in the developing world, commodity prices, demand, cereal yields, production, and net trade. In the progressive policy actions scenario, which assumes increased investment in rural development, health, education, and agricultural research and development, developing country governments and the international community are able to dramatically reduce the number of food-insecure people, leading to a worldwide decline in hunger. Under these conditions, Latin America and China are able to virtually eliminate child malnutrition by 2050. Bolstered by the development and dissemination of improved technologies and better infrastructure, crop production and yields increase in developing countries. Notably, the bulk of the growth in production is driven by yield increases rather than by expanding land area. Spurred by growth in the agricultural sector, average incomes in developing countries increase. Rising incomes bolster demand for high-value agricultural products, such as meat, dairy, and fruits and vegetables; global livestock production more than doubles, for example. Average per capita calorie supplies for developing countries exceed 3,400 per day, well in excess of minimum requirements. The policy failure scenario assumes greater political discord and more extensive agricultural protectionism, together with the failure of policies to deal with food emergencies related to conflict. Slow growth and trade restrictions lead to stagnation in average per capita calorie availability, which remains only slightly above minimum requirements until after 2030, when availability increases. In addition, crucial investments in agriculture, rural development, and poverty reduction are forgone or displaced. Because of limited investment in agricultural research and technology, this scenario has a high level of crop area expansion as a result of relatively rapid population growth and slim yield improvements in developing countries. This scenario also results in flat maize prices, declining per capita cereal demand, falling beef prices, and relatively flat meat demand. As a result of the policies in this scenario, the number of malnourished children in developing countries rises between 1997 and 2015, after which there are only modest declines. In the technology and natural resource management failure scenario, yield growth falls even more than under the preceding scenario, forcing farmers to move into marginal producing areas, which causes a more rapid expansion of cereal area into less productive land that does not compensate for the yield shortfalls (and causes environmental degradation). As a result, cereal prices rise substantially through 2030 and then fall off only gradually. Beef and other meat prices, which are affected by the price of feed, follow a similar pattern. Developing-country per capita calorie availability is essentially unchanged over 1997–2050 and remains at a barely adequate average level. Given unequal access to the food that is available, millions of people actually consume less than the minimum. The occurrence of child undernourishment is even higher than under the policy failure scenario in all developing-country regions. Overall, the technology and natural resource management failure scenario results in the worst impact on food security and child malnourishment in the developing world. The progressive policy scenario outlines several of the most crucial positive steps. National governments and the international community must assume a new focus on agricultural growth and rural development, along with increasing their investments in education, social services, and health. Policies to encourage synergistic growth in the nonfarm sectors are also needed to spur broad-based economic growth. Underpinning these strategies and research agendas must be a firm commitment to reducing hunger and improving the welfare of the world's undernourished people." From Authors' Executive SummaryImpact model, Caloric intake, Safety nets,

M1/M2 Macrophage Polarity in Normal and Complicated Pregnancy

Tissue macrophages play an important role in all stages of pregnancy, including uterine stromal remodeling (decidualization) before embryo implantation, parturition, and postpartum uterine involution. The activation state and function of utero-placental macrophages are largely dependent on the local tissue microenvironment. Thus, macrophages are involved in a variety of activities such as regulation of immune cell activities, placental cell invasion, angiogenesis, and tissue remodeling. Disruption of the uterine microenvironment, particularly during the early stages of pregnancy (decidualization, implantation, and placentation) can have profound effects on macrophage activity and subsequently impact pregnancy outcome. In this review, we will provide an overview of the temporal and spatial regulation of utero-placental macrophage activation during normal pregnancy in humans and rodents with a focus on more recent findings. We will also discuss the role of M1/M2 dysregulation within the intrauterine environment during adverse pregnancy outcomes

What makes up a reportable event in a language? Motion events as an important test domain in linguistic typology

Numerous crosslinguistic studies on motion events have been carried out in investigating the scope of the two-fold typology “path versus manner” (Talmy 1985, 2000) and its possible implications. This typological contrast is too narrow as it stands, however, to account for the diversity found both within and across types. The present study is based on what can be termed a process-oriented perspective. It includes the analyses of all relevant conceptual domains notably the domain of temporality, in addition to space, and thus goes beyond previous studies. The languages studied differ typologically as follows: path is typically expressed in the verb in French and Tunisian Arabic in contrast to manner of motion in English and German, while in the temporal domain aspect is expressed grammatically in English and Tunisian Arabic but not in German and French. The study compares the representations which speakers construct when forming a reportable event as a response to video clips showing a series of naturalistic scenes in which an entity moves through space. The analysis includes the following conceptual categories: (1) the privileged event layer (manner vs. path) which drives the selection of breakpoints in the formation of event units when processing the visual input; (2) the privileged category in spatial framing (figure-based/groundbased) and (3) viewpoint aspect (phasal decomposition or not). We assume that each of these three cognitive categories is shaped specifically by language structure (both system and repertoire) and language use (frequency of constructions). The findings reveal systematic differences both across, as well as within, typologically related languages with respect to (1) the basic event type encoded, (2) the changes in quality expressed, (3) the total number of path segments encoded per situation, and (4) the number of path segments packaged into one utterance. The findings reveal what can be termed language-specific default settings along each of the conceptual dimensions and their interrelations which function as language specific attentional templates

Urinary proteomics for prediction of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria

Background: The urinary proteomic classifier CKD273 has shown promise for prediction of progressive diabetic nephropathy (DN). Whether it is also a determinant of mortality and cardiovascular disease in patients with microalbuminuria (MA) is unknown. Methods: Urine samples were obtained from 155 patients with type 2 diabetes and confirmed microalbuminuria. Proteomic analysis was undertaken using capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry to determine the CKD273 classifier score. A previously defined CKD273 threshold of 0.343 for identification of DN was used to categorise the cohort in Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression models with all-cause mortality as the primary endpoint. Outcomes were traced through national health registers after 6 years. Results: CKD273 correlated with urine albumin excretion rate (UAER) (r = 0.481, p = &lt;0.001), age (r = 0.238, p = 0.003), coronary artery calcium (CAC) score (r = 0.236, p = 0.003), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (r = 0.190, p = 0.018) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (r = 0.265, p = 0.001). On multivariate analysis only UAER (β = 0.402, p &lt; 0.001) and eGFR (β = − 0.184, p = 0.039) were statistically significant determinants of CKD273. Twenty participants died during follow-up. CKD273 was a determinant of mortality (log rank [Mantel-Cox] p = 0.004), and retained significance (p = 0.048) after adjustment for age, sex, blood pressure, NT-proBNP and CAC score in a Cox regression model. Conclusion: A multidimensional biomarker can provide information on outcomes associated with its primary diagnostic purpose. Here we demonstrate that the urinary proteomic classifier CKD273 is associated with mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes and MA even when adjusted for other established cardiovascular and renal biomarkers