Promoting Breast Cancer Screening through Storytelling by Chamorro Cancer Survivors

The largest Chamorro population outside of Guam and the Mariana Islands reside in California. Cancer health disparities disproportionally affect Pacific Islander communities, including the Chamorro, and breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women. To address health concerns such as cancer, Pacific Islander women frequently utilize storytelling to initiate conversations about health and to address sensitive topics such as breast health and cancer. One form of storytelling used in San Diego is a play that conveys the message of breast cancer screening to the community in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way. This play, Nan Nena’s Mammogram, tells the story of an older woman in the community who learns about breast cancer screening from her young niece. The story builds upon the underpinnings of Chamorro culture - family, community, support, and humor - to portray discussing breast health, getting support for breast screening, and visiting the doctor. The story of Nan Nena’s Mammogram reflects the willingness of a few pioneering Chamorro women to use their personal experiences of cancer survivorship to promote screening for others. Through the support of a Chamorro community-based organization, these Chamorro breast cancer survivors have used the success of Nan Nena’s Mammogram to expand their education activities and to form a new cancer survivor organization for Chamorro women in San Diego

The effects of ram-pressure stripping on the internal kinematics of simulated spiral galaxies

We investigate the influence of ram-pressure stripping on the internal gas kinematics of simulated spiral galaxies. Additional emphasis is put on the question of how the resulting distortions of the gaseous disc are visible in the rotation curve and/or the full 2D velocity field of galaxies at different redshifts. A Milky-Way type disc galaxy is modelled in combined N-body/hydrodynamic simulations with prescriptions for cooling, star formation, stellar feedback, and galactic winds. This model galaxy moves through a constant density and temperature gas, which has parameters similar to the intra-cluster medium (ICM). Rotation curves (RCs) and 2D velocity fields of the gas are extracted from these simulations in a way that follows the procedure applied to observations of distant, small, and faint galaxies as closely as possible. We find that the appearance of distortions of the gaseous disc due to ram-pressure stripping depends on the direction of the acting ram pressure. In the case of face-on ram pressure, the distortions mainly appear in the outer parts of the galaxy in a very symmetric way. In contrast, in the case of edge-on ram pressure we find stronger distortions. The 2D velocity field also shows signatures of the interaction in the inner part of the disc. At angles smaller than 45 degrees between the ICM wind direction and the disc, the velocity field asymmetry increases significantly compared to larger angles. Compared to distortions caused by tidal interactions, the effects of ram-pressure stripping on the velocity field are relatively low in all cases and difficult to observe at intermediate redshift in seeing-limited observations. (abridged)Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Características de la dinámica familiar interna en la invasion “las palmas” de la ciudadela 450 años de valledupar-cesar

ANEXO A: Formato de Observación directa; ANEXO B: Encuesta para las familias de la Invasión Las Palmas de Valledupar; ANEXO C: Programa psicoeducativoEsta experiencia investigativa fue realizada por estudiantes de psicología, con deseos de aportar nuestro granito de arena, para determinar las características de la dinámica familiar interna de los invasores de la ciudadela 450 años de Valledupar-Cesar y diseñar un programa psicoeducativo con el fin de optimizar la vida familiar, teniendo en cuenta que dicha problemática surge de la preocupación por describir y analizar las características de la dinámica familiar interna de las familias invasoras de la ciudadela 450 años de Valledupar-Cesar. Los autores Salazar, Micolta, Guerrero, Palacio, Bott y otros fundamentan la presente investigación, partiendo del concepto de familia, funciones de la familia, concepto de dinámica familiar y los factores que comprende la dinámica familiar interna. Teniendo en cuenta las características de la investigación se optó por un enfoque de investigación descriptiva, no experimental, donde participaron: treinta (15) familias pertenecientes a la Invasión en la ciudadela 450 años de la ciudad de Valledupar. Para la recolección de la información se utilizaron la entrevista estructurada, se elaboraron los respectivos instrumentos y se aplicó las entrevistas. Al analizar los resultados se encontró que en la estructura y organización familiar presenta una tipología extensa con cinco a nueve integrantes por familia. La jefatura del hogar es del padre, el establecimiento y cumplimiento de las normas es de la madre. Que los procesos familiares son de tipo autoritario, las familias transmiten a la mayoría de sus hijos los valores de la responsabilidad, la obediencia, la tolerancia y el amor, la forma más común de ejercer la autoridad sobre los hijos e hijas son las prohibiciones; y con menor representatividad se encuentran los regaños, el dialogo, el castigo físico. Las relaciones familiares se basan en la comunicación tipo funcional. Existe una jerarquía que otorga la función de proteger, guiar y controlar, y los hijos en el papel de cumplir y acatar las normas establecidas. Los conflictos entre padres e hijos, entre hermanos, son por diversas causas entre la que se encuentran las tensiones familiares, por causas diferenciadas como: uso y abuso de pertenencias, preferencia de los padres, irrespeto. Los logros alcanzados indican que hay aspectos positivos y negativos en cuanto a la dinámica familiar interna y por ello la necesidad de diseñar un programa psicoeducativo con el fin de optimizar la vida familiar. Las recomendaciones están orientadas a enfatizar a las familias la importancia de las funciones de cada miembro para que todas y cada una de ellas puedan cumplir con la responsabilidad que le corresponde, mejorando con ello los procesos familiares de socialización y de comunicación encaminadas a que se optimicen las relaciones familiares. Será de mucha satisfacción si este trabajo lograra incentivar la investigación de otros grupos sociales, para comprobar o rechazar lo aquí expuesto.He present work is constituted in the final product of the course(year) of deepening in human development and family that gathers the learning and constructions advanced in development of the course(year), in in him(it) there are contemplated the tropics been employed at the diferent modules of the course(year) and the feedbacks of de tutors, showing the paper(role) of the Psychology in the desing of the Project, spacially from the familiar(family) internal dynamics. Key words. Familiar(familiy) dynamics, structure and organization, familiar(family) processes: socialization, communication and familiar(family) relations

Iron abundance in HII regions

Optical CCD spectra are used to determine the Fe abundances at several positions inside seven bright Galactic HII regions. The observed [FeIII] line ratios are compared with the predictions of different sets of collision strengths and transition probabilities for this ion to select the atomic data providing the best fit to the observations. The values found for the Fe++ and Fe+ abundances, along with ionization correction factors for the contribution of Fe3+, obtained from available grids of photoionized models, imply that the Fe/O ratio in the ionized gas is between 2% and 30% of solar. The Fe abundances derived for each area are correlated both with the degree of ionization and the colour excess. A possible explanation is suggested, namely the presence of a population of small grains, probably originating from the fragmentation of larger grains. These small grains would release Fe atoms into the gas after the absorption of energetic photons; the small grains surviving this destruction process would be swept out of the ionized region by the action of radiation pressure or stellar winds. An indication of a further and more efficient destruction agent is given by the high Fe abundance derived for a position sampling the optical jet H399 in M20, where dust destruction due to shock waves has presumably taken place.Comment: A&A, accepted for publication, 12 page

Guidance for Evidence-Informed Policies about Health Systems: Linking Guidance Development to Policy Development

In the second paper in a three-part series on health systems guidance, John Lavis and colleagues explore the challenge of linking guidance development and policy development at global and national levels

Single-cell genomics and regulatory networks for 388 human brains.

Single-cell genomics is a powerful tool for studying heterogeneous tissues such as the brain. Yet little is understood about how genetic variants influence cell-level gene expression. Addressing this, we uniformly processed single-nuclei, multiomics datasets into a resource comprising >2.8 million nuclei from the prefrontal cortex across 388 individuals. For 28 cell types, we assessed population-level variation in expression and chromatin across gene families and drug targets. We identified >550,000 cell type-specific regulatory elements and >1.4 million single-cell expression quantitative trait loci, which we used to build cell-type regulatory and cell-to-cell communication networks. These networks manifest cellular changes in aging and neuropsychiatric disorders. We further constructed an integrative model accurately imputing single-cell expression and simulating perturbations; the model prioritized ~250 disease-risk genes and drug targets with associated cell types

Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs are present in ~4% of uninfected individuals over 70 years old and account for ~20% of COVID-19 deaths

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.Circulating autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing high concentrations (10 ng/ml; in plasma diluted 1:10) of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega are found in about 10% of patients with critical COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pneumonia but not in individuals with asymptomatic infections. We detect auto-Abs neutralizing 100-fold lower, more physiological, concentrations of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega (100 pg/ml; in 1:10 dilutions of plasma) in 13.6% of 3595 patients with critical COVID-19, including 21% of 374 patients >80 years, and 6.5% of 522 patients with severe COVID-19. These antibodies are also detected in 18% of the 1124 deceased patients (aged 20 days to 99 years; mean: 70 years). Moreover, another 1.3% of patients with critical COVID-19 and 0.9% of the deceased patients have auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations of IFN-beta. We also show, in a sample of 34,159 uninfected individuals from the general population, that auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega are present in 0.18% of individuals between 18 and 69 years, 1.1% between 70 and 79 years, and 3.4% >80 years. Moreover, the proportion of individuals carrying auto-Abs neutralizing lower concentrations is greater in a subsample of 10,778 uninfected individuals: 1% of individuals 80 years. By contrast, auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-beta do not become more frequent with age. Auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs predate SARS-CoV-2 infection and sharply increase in prevalence after the age of 70 years. They account for about 20% of both critical COVID-19 cases in the over 80s and total fatal COVID-19 cases.Peer reviewe

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Studies of jet mass in dijet and W/Z plus jet events

This is the pre-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below.Invariant mass spectra for jets reconstructed using the anti-kT and Cambridge-Aachen algorithms are studied for different jet “grooming” techniques in data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 fb-1, recorded with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 7TeV. Leading-order QCD predictions for inclusive dijet and W/Z+jet production combined with parton-shower Monte Carlo models are found to agree overall with the data, and the agreement improves with the implementation of jet grooming methods used to distinguish merged jets of large transverse momentum from softer QCD gluon radiation

The small pelagic fishery of the Pemba Channel, Tanzania: what we know and what we need to know for management under climate change

Small pelagic fish, including anchovies, sardines and sardinellas, mackerels, capelin, hilsa, sprats and herrings, are distributed widely, from the tropics to the far north Atlantic Ocean and to the southern oceans off Chile and South Africa. They are most abundant in the highly productive major eastern boundary upwelling systems and are characterised by significant natural variations in biomass. Overall, small pelagic fisheries represent about one third of global fish landings although a large proportion of the catch is processed into animal feeds. Nonetheless, in some developing countries in addition to their economic value, small pelagic fisheries also make an important contribution to human diets and the food security of many low-income households. Such is the case for many communities in the Zanzibar Archipelago and on mainland Tanzania in the Western Indian Ocean. Of great concern in this region, as elsewhere, is the potential impact of climate change on marine and coastal ecosystems in general, and on small pelagic fisheries in particular. This paper describes data and information available on Tanzania's small pelagic fisheries, including catch and effort, management protocols and socio-economic significance