Influence of Parent Values and Friend Norms on Adolescent Risky Decision Making

Extensive work has been done in the field of adolescent risky decision making, as a component of adolescent development. Developmentalists have debated the influence of peer and family norms and values on adolescent development and decision making practices for some time. In my work, I examined the relations between both parent values and friend norms and adolescent decision making. Additionally, I investigated the interactions between fuzzy-trace constructs of gist and verbatim thinking and parent values and friend norms. The results support the notion that family and peers both have salient influences on decision making in adolescents. Peers and parents also appear to influence the level of gist-based thinking that adolescents engage in, an indication that certain interactions with friends and parents can influence decision making maturity. Finally, the interaction between fuzzy-trace constructs and values reflects variance in several past behaviors and future intentions. The implications for this research are that interventions to promote reduced risky decision making in adolescents can be aimed at influencing their perception of family and peer norms, as well as increasing their capacity for more protective gist-based thinking

Associated and polymerically stabilized dispersions

Our objective is to elucidate the relationships among interparticle forces, microstructure, and rheological properties for concentrated colloidal dispersions and associative polymer solutions. Here we address stable dispersions of spheres bearing grafted polymer chains and solutions of polymer with water soluble backbones modified by the addition of terminal hydrophobes. Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, combined with treatments of micelles and brushes from the polymer physics literature, offers a means for confirming in detail the mechanisms suggested by recent experiments. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87899/2/23_1.pd

Purely infinite crossed products by endomorphisms

We study the crossed product C⁎C⁎-algebra associated to injective endomorphisms, which turns out to be equivalent to study the crossed product by the dilated automorphism. We prove that the dilation of the Bernoulli p -shift endomorphism is topologically free. As a consequence, we have a way to twist any endomorphism of a DD-absorbing C⁎C⁎-algebra into one whose dilated automorphism is essentially free and have the same K -theory map than the original one. This allows us to construct purely infinite crossed products C⁎C⁎-algebras with diverse ideal structures

Using batch reactor results to calculate optimal flow rates for the scale-up of UV photochemical reactions

The perceived difficulty of the scale-up of photochemistry is one of the main obstacles preventing its widespread use. Herein, we take three different challenging reactions and show that they can be reliably scaled, from immersion well batch reactors to higher power FEP flow reactors. Key to the success has been the development of a powerful calculation methodology which enables the accurate calculation of reactor flow rates from these and previously optimised batch reactions. Despite the challenging nature of these systems, in all cases tens of grams of material was obtained

Oral contraceptive use in Premiership and Championship women's rugby union: perceived symptomology, management strategies, and performance and wellness effects

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of oral contraceptive use in domestic rugby union, to compare symptomology by contraceptive use, and to determine symptom management strategies. Additionally, to characterise the perceived influence of oral contraceptive use and non-use on wellness and performance. A total of 238 Premiership and Championship women's rugby union players completed an online questionnaire. The survey was comprised of questions relating to player characteristics, hormonal or non-hormonal contraceptive characteristics, perceived symptomology, symptom management strategies, and performance and wellness characteristics. The prevalence of oral contraceptive users was 26%. Non-hormonal contraceptive users reported greater perceived negative symptomology (i.e., back pain, nausea, sore breasts) and performance and wellness effects (i.e., fatigue, stress, mood, concentration, power, match-play) than oral contraceptive users. The most common symptom management strategies were medication (33%), nutritional interventions (20%), and training modulation (20%). Twelve percent of players had previously spoken to staff about their menstrual cycle (i.e., regular and irregular) or contraceptive use. The most common barriers to speaking to staff were 'male staff' (29%) and 'club culture' (24%). The importance of assisting non-hormonal contraceptive users in managing symptoms is evident. Emphasis on overcoming barriers to staff-player dialogue regarding menstrual/contraceptive cycle is required

Tourism policy making: the policymakers' perspectives

This research explores tourism policy making, from the perspectives of policy makers using grounded theory. It focuses on Leeds, a city in the North of England, which is characterized by its turbulent environment. The paper identifies themes around policy making, including low status, lack of clarity, uncertainty, lack of consensus and congruence and complexity. Its findings indicate policy making is essentially a social process, involving communication and negotiation between people in the context of wider change. It suggests a social conceptualization, and further research to investigate the communications involved in producing policy rather than the current research focus on the tangible outputs of the process such as a plan or a physical development

A comparison of the pharmacokinetics of Aspen Ceftriaxone and Rocephin in community-acquired meningitis

BACKGROUND. Community-acquired bacterial meningitis (CABM) is a life-threatening condition that is common among immunocompromised individuals. Intravenous ceftriaxone, of which Rocephin (ROC) is the originator brand, is recommended as first-line therapy in South Africa. Despite concerns regarding therapeutic equivalence with generic agents, this is the first study that has been conducted comparing clinical pharmacokinetics (PK) of a generic ceftriaxone formulation with the originator. OBJECTIVE. To compare the PK and safety of Aspen Ceftriaxone (AC) and ROC in the treatment of adult CABM. METHODS. A total of 63 eligible patients were randomised 1:1 to receive 2 g of either medication twice daily for a duration based on the identity of the causative organism and their physician’s clinical judgment. The primary endpoint of this study was the comparison of clinical PK, specifically the concentrations of each drug in the cerebrospinal fluid with corresponding paired plasma samples. While this study was underpowered to assess efficacy, safety could be evaluated on the basis of reported adverse events. RESULTS. The two patient groups were epidemiologically similar. There were no statistically significant differences in PK between either agent, nor any difference with regard to safety. CONCLUSION. AC can be considered as equivalent to ROC with regard to PK and safety in patients with CABM.Aspen Pharmacare Ltd, SA.http://www.samj.org.zaam2014ay201

Concise Review: The Evolution of human pluripotent stem cell culture: From feeder cells to synthetic coatings

Current practices to maintain human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), which include induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cells, in an undifferentiated state typically depend on the support of feeder cells such as mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) or an extracellular matrix such as Matrigel. Culture conditions that depend on these undefined support systems limit our ability to interpret mechanistic studies aimed at resolving how hPSCs interact with their extracellular environment to remain in a unique undifferentiated state and to make fate‐changing lineage decisions. Likewise, the xenogeneic components of MEFs and Matrigel ultimately hinder our ability to use pluripotent stem cells to treat debilitating human diseases. Many of these obstacles have been overcome by the development of synthetic coatings and bioreactors that support hPSC expansion and self‐renewal within defined culture conditions that are free from xenogeneic contamination. The establishment of defined culture conditions and synthetic matrices will facilitate studies to more precisely probe the molecular basis of pluripotent stem cell self‐renewal and differentiation. When combined with three‐dimensional cultures in bioreactors, these systems will also enable large‐scale expansion for future clinical applications. S TEM C ells 2013;31:1–7Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94687/1/1260_ftp.pd

A comparison of the pharmacokinetics of Aspen Ceftriaxone and Rocephin in community-acquired meningitis

Background. Community-acquired bacterial meningitis (CABM) is a life-threatening condition that is common among immunocompromised individuals. Intravenous ceftriaxone, of which Rocephin (ROC) is the originator brand, is recommended as first-line therapy in South Africa. Despite concerns regarding therapeutic equivalence with generic agents, this is the first study that has been conducted comparing clinical pharmacokinetics (PK) of a generic ceftriaxone formulation with the originator. Objective. To compare the PK and safety of Aspen Ceftriaxone (AC) and ROC in the treatment of adult CABM.Methods. A total of 63 eligible patients were randomised 1:1 to receive 2 g of either medication twice daily for a duration based on the identity of the causative organism and their physician’s clinical judgment. The primary endpoint of this study was the comparison of clinical PK, specifically the concentrations of each drug in the cerebrospinal fluid with corresponding paired plasma samples. While this study was underpowered to assess efficacy, safety could be evaluated on the basis of reported adverse events.Results. The two patient groups were epidemiologically similar. There were no statistically significant differences in PK between either agent, nor any difference with regard to safety.Conclusion. AC can be considered as equivalent to ROC with regard to PK and safety in patients with CABM.