Mid-morning Break and Poster Sessions: Family Gambling and its Connection to Intergenerational Family Relationship Building

Introduction Most research has viewed gambling as an individual activity and very little research has been devoted to the impacts of family gambling. Bengtson and Roberts (1991) viewed intergenerational family solidarity as a comprehensive construct consisting of six components of solidarity. Affectual, Associational, and Functional solidarities, can be adapted to a gambling context. The three family solidarity dimensions of affection, association, and function are the core components to family solidarity (Hogerbrugge & Komter, 2012)

Association of Factor V Secretion with Protein Kinase B Signaling in Platelets from Horses with Atypical Equine Thrombasthenia.

BackgroundTwo congenital bleeding diatheses have been identified in Thoroughbred horses: Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT) and a second, novel diathesis associated with abnormal platelet function in response to collagen and thrombin stimulation.Hypothesis/objectivesPlatelet dysfunction in horses with this second thrombasthenia results from a secretory defect.AnimalsTwo affected and 6 clinically normal horses.MethodsEx vivo study. Washed platelets were examined for (1) expression of the αIIb-β3 integrin; (2) fibrinogen binding capacity in response to ADP and thrombin; (3) secretion of dense and α-granules; (4) activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway; and (5) cellular distribution of phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate-3-kinase, class 2B (PIK3C2B) and SH2 containing inositol-5'-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1).ResultsPlatelets from affected horses expressed normal amounts of αIIb-β3 integrin and bound fibrinogen normally in response to ADP, but bound 80% less fibrinogen in response to thrombin. α-granules only released 50% as much Factor V as control platelets, but dense granules released their contents normally. Protein kinase B (AKT) phosphorylation was reduced after thrombin activation, but mTOR Complex 2 (mTORC2) and phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1 (PDK1) signaling were normal. SH2-containing inositol-5'-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1) did not localize to the cytoskeleton of affected platelets and was decreased overall consistent with reduced AKT phosphorylation.Conclusions and clinical significanceDefects in fibrinogen binding, granule secretion, and signal transduction are unique to this thrombasthenia, which we designate as atypical equine thrombasthenia

Impedance of a sphere oscillating in an elastic medium with and without slip

The dynamic impedance of a sphere oscillating in an elastic medium is considered. Oestreicher's formula for the impedance of a sphere bonded to the surrounding medium can be expressed simply in terms of three lumped impedances associated with the displaced mass and the longitudinal and transverse waves. If the surface of the sphere slips while the normal velocity remains continuous, the impedance formula is modified by adjusting the definition of the transverse impedance to include the interfacial impedance.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Compact Radio Cores in Seyfert Galaxies

We have observed a sample of 157 Seyfert galaxies with a 275 km baseline radio interferometer to search for compact, high brightness temperature radio emission from the active nucleus. We obtain the surprising result that compact radio cores are much more common in Seyfert 2 than in Seyfert 1 galaxies, which at first seems to be inconsistent with orientation unification schemes. We propose a model, involving optical depth effects in the narrow-line region, which can reconcile our result with the standard unified scheme. (Accepted for publication in ApJ 1994 Sep 10)Comment: 21 pages and 7 figures, uuencoded tar-compressed postscript files, ATP18

Health professionals' perceptions of cultural influences on stroke experiences and rehabilitation in Kuwait

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 Informa UK Ltd.Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of health professionals who treat stroke patients in Kuwait regarding cultural influences on the experience of stroke and rehabilitation in Kuwait. Health professionals interviewed were from a variety of cultural backgrounds thus providing an opportunity to investigate how they perceived the influence of culture on stroke recovery and rehabilitation in Kuwait. Method: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 12 health professionals with current/recent stroke rehabilitation experience in Kuwait, followed by thematic analysis of the verbatim transcripts. Results: The health professionals identified several features of the Kuwaiti culture that they believed affected the experiences of stroke patients. These were religious beliefs, family involvement, limited education and public information about stroke, prevailing negative attitudes toward stroke, access to finances for private treatment, social stigma and the public invisibility of disabled people, difficulties identifying meaningful goals for rehabilitation, and an acceptance of dependency linked with the widespread presence of maids and other paid assistants in most Kuwaiti homes. Conclusion: To offer culturally sensitive care, these issues should be taken into account during the rehabilitation of Kuwaiti stroke patients in their home country and elsewhere

Quantum Operation Time Reversal

The dynamics of an open quantum system can be described by a quantum operation, a linear, complete positive map of operators. Here, I exhibit a compact expression for the time reversal of a quantum operation, which is closely analogous to the time reversal of a classical Markov transition matrix. Since open quantum dynamics are stochastic, and not, in general, deterministic, the time reversal is not, in general, an inversion of the dynamics. Rather, the system relaxes towards equilibrium in both the forward and reverse time directions. The probability of a quantum trajectory and the conjugate, time reversed trajectory are related by the heat exchanged with the environment.Comment: 4 page

Duration of antibody response following vaccination against feline immunodeficiency virus

Objectives: Recently, two point-of-care (PoC) feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antibody test kits (Witness and Anigen Rapid) were reported as being able to differentiate FIV-vaccinated from FIV-infected cats at a single time point, irrespective of the gap between testing and last vaccination (0–7 years). The aim of the current study was to investigate systematically anti-FIV antibody production over time in response to the recommended primary FIV vaccination series. Methods: First, residual plasma from the original study was tested using a laboratory-based ELISA to determine whether negative results with PoC testing were due to reduced as opposed to absent antibodies to gp40. Second, a prospective study was performed using immunologically naive client-owned kittens and cats given a primary FIV vaccination series using a commercially available inactivated whole cell/inactivated whole virus vaccine (Fel-O-Vax FIV, three subcutaneous injections at 4 week intervals) and tested systematically (up to 11 times) over 6 months, using four commercially available PoC FIV antibody kits (SNAP FIV/FeLV Combo [detects antibodies to p15/p24], Witness FeLV/FIV [gp40], Anigen Rapid FIV/FeLV [p24/gp40] and VetScan FeLV/FIV Rapid [p24]). Results: The laboratory-based ELISA showed cats from the original study vaccinated within the previous 0–15 months had detectable levels of antibodies to gp40, despite testing negative with two kits that use gp40 as a capture antigen (Witness and Anigen Rapid kits). The prospective study showed that antibody testing with SNAP Combo and VetScan Rapid was positive in all cats 2 weeks after the second primary FIV vaccination, and remained positive for the duration of the study (12/12 and 10/12 cats positive, respectively). Antibody testing with Witness and Anigen Rapid was also positive in a high proportion of cats 2 weeks after the second primary FIV vaccination (8/12 and 7/12, respectively), but antibody levels declined below the level of detection in most cats (10/12) by 1 month after the third (final) primary FIV vaccination. All cats tested negative using Witness and Anigen Rapid 6 months after the third primary FIV vaccination. Conclusions and relevance: This study has shown that a primary course of FIV vaccination does not interfere with FIV antibody testing in cats using Witness and Anigen Rapid, provided primary vaccination has not occurred within the previous 6 months. Consequently, Witness and Anigen Rapid antibody test kits can be used reliably to determine FIV infection status at the time of annual booster FIV vaccination to help detect ‘vaccine breakthroughs’ and in cats that have not received a primary course of FIV vaccination within the preceding 6 months. The duration of antibody response following annual booster FIV vaccination and the resulting effect on antibody testing using PoC kits needs to be determined by further research. The mechanism(s) for the variation in FIV antibody test kit performance remains unclear