From arrest to trial : the experience of being a family member of an accused felony offender

This qualitative body of work was designed as an exploratory, instrumental, collective case study, using multiple cases to provide insight into an infrequently researched area of inquiry concerning the issue of what happens with the family members of accused felony offenders during the time period from arrest to trial. The participants interviewed were 11 individuals from 8 families, and their demographics included a representative sample of a cross-section of races, ages, gender, socio-economic status, felony charges, and family roles of offenders and interviewees. Particular variables in each of the families\u27 cases were different, but their similar experiences unified them as a representative sample of families of accused felony offenders. Analyses of the families\u27 interviews demonstrated that they had similar concerns and issues they were confronted with after the arrest event, regardless of the diversity of their demographics and criminal cases. From these similarities it became apparent that certain themes were emerging. Cross-case analyses resulted in four patterns of themes emerging from the narrative data, and the comparisons of interviews revealed the family members\u27 salient perspectives and descriptions of their experiences. The four themes were (a) immediate and future concerns, (b) systems, (c) relationships, and (d) wanting and needing help. The analyses of the data from this study supported the assumptions of McCubbin\u27s and Patterson\u27s (1983) Double ABC-X model of family crisis. Furthermore, these families of accused felony offenders also demonstrated characteristics associated with catastrophic stressors (Figley & McCubbin, 1983). These families experienced an additional factor that is embedded within the family crisis model but not attended by the catastrophe model. The family members who had not been part of the event of the arrest of the accused felon believed that their family had been stigmatized by society for being related to an accused criminal. This study challenged the concept of the family crisis theory and the characteristics of catastrophic stressors as capturing the full experience of this population of individuals

MIS Success: Why Does it Vary among Users?

Organizations have been developing and implementing computer-based management information systems (MIS) at an increasing rate for the last 35 years. However, evidence indicates that many computer-based MIS are not as successful as they should be and many may be considered failures. There has been much research to investigate organizational factors, individual differences, user involvement and their relationship to MIS success, and in particular, one indicator of MIS success, user information satisfaction (UIS). Little attention, however, has been paid to whether UIS for any particular MIS varies for users from different organization functions and different management levels within an organization. This paper reports the results of a field study of MIS in different organizations in Australia which investigates the relationship between type of user, user involvement and user information satisfaction. The results show that MIS success (UIS) varies between users of the same MIS based on their organizational function and that user involvement in the systems development life cycle (SDLC) has a significant positive effect on UIS. The significance of the effect of user involvement varies for users based on their organizational function. Technical users are less satisfied with MIS than administrative users. The relationship between user involvement and user control of the systems development process and UIS is significantly different for administrative and technical users

A Search For a Cure: One Step Closer to Eliminating Breast Cancer

In 2009, there were more than 194,000 new cases of breast cancer, and more than 40,000 deaths caused by this most common form of cancer among women in the United States. Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) positive breast cancer is one of the more aggressive forms of breast cancer and is prevalent in about one of every three cases of breast cancer. This protein is made in low levels by normal breast cells, but is produced in excessively high levels in HER2-positive breast cancer. In addition, HER2- positive tumors grow faster, recur more often than other breast tumors and are less responsive to hormone treatments. Wayne State University in conjunction with the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is on the cusp of a new discovery that may someday save many lives. Wei-Zen Wei, professor of immunology and microbiology in the School of Medicine and at Karmanos, is leading a research team that has developed a cancer vaccine that recognizes HER-2 positive cancer cells, and helps to prevent their spread and destroy them

Roles of transcriptional and translational control mechanisms in regulation of ribosomal protein synthesis in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACTBacterial ribosome biogenesis is tightly regulated to match nutritional conditions and to prevent formation of defective ribosomal particles. InEscherichia coli, most ribosomal protein (r-protein) synthesis is coordinated with rRNA synthesis by a translational feedback mechanism: when r-proteins exceed rRNAs, specific r-proteins bind to their own mRNAs and inhibit expression of the operon. It was recently discovered that the second messenger nucleotide guanosine tetra and pentaphosphate (ppGpp), which directly regulates rRNA promoters, is also capable of regulating many r-protein promoters. To examine the relative contributions of the translational and transcriptional control mechanisms to the regulation of r-protein synthesis, we devised a reporter system that enabled us to genetically separate thecis-acting sequences responsible for the two mechanisms and to quantify their relative contributions to regulation under the same conditions. We show that the synthesis of r-proteins from the S20 and S10 operons is regulated by ppGpp following shifts in nutritional conditions, but most of the effect of ppGpp required the 5′ region of the r-protein mRNA containing the target site for translational feedback regulation and not the promoter. These results suggest that most regulation of the S20 and S10 operons by ppGpp following nutritional shifts is indirect and occurs in response to changes in rRNA synthesis. In contrast, we found that the promoters for the S20 operon were regulated during outgrowth, likely in response to increasing nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) levels. Thus, r-protein synthesis is dynamic, with different mechanisms acting at different times.IMPORTANCEBacterial cells have evolved complex and seemingly redundant strategies to regulate many high-energy-consuming processes. InE. coli, synthesis of ribosomal components is tightly regulated with respect to nutritional conditions by mechanisms that act at both the transcription and translation steps. In this work, we conclude that NTP and ppGpp concentrations can regulate synthesis of ribosomal proteins, but most of the effect of ppGpp is indirect as a consequence of translational feedback in response to changes in rRNA levels. Our results illustrate how effects of seemingly redundant regulatory mechanisms can be separated in time and that even when multiple mechanisms act concurrently their contributions are not necessarily equivalent.</jats:p

Conduct Disorder and cognitive functioning: Testing three causal hypotheses

Studied the relation between cognitive functioning, as evidenced by IQ and achievement test performance, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) categories of conduct disturbance, using data from Black adolescents who were members of collaborative perinatal project from birth to age 7 yrs. At age 17 yrs, Ss and their parents were administered a battery of instruments that included standardized psychiatric diagnostic interviews as part of a call-back study. Analyses were compatible with the hypothesis that deficiencies in cognitive functioning are causally related to adolescent conduct disorder as defined by DSM—III. Results suggest that the relation of cognitive functioning to psychiatric status was specific to conduct disorders. Results were incompatible with the hypothesis that conduct problems lead to deficits in cognitive functioning. The 3 most important factors in accounting for age-17 conduct disorder were cognitive functioning, parent psychopathology, and early aggression

Ten-year consistency in neurological test performance of children without focal neurological deficit

To assess \u27soft-sign\u27 persistence and its correlates outside a referred sample, 159 members of a local birth cohort of the United National Collaborative Perinatal Project were traced and their performance on six neurological test scales was measured at age 17 by examiners blind to their status at age seven. A comparison group was also formed, who had been \u27sign-free\u27 at age seven. On four of the six tests (dysdiadochokinesis, mirror movements, dysgraphesthesia and motor slowness) index boys did significantly worse than the comparison boys; by contrast, index girls scored significantly worse than comparisons only on motor slowness

Prediction of Intellectual Deficits in Children with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia

Possible predictors of reported lower cognitive functioning in irradiated children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were investigated. Thirty-four subjects, 5-14 years old, with ALL in continuous complete remission and without evidence of current or past central nervous system disease, were examined 9-110 months after diagnosis, using standard measures of intelligence and academic achievement. Subjects with a history of post-irradiation somnolence syndrome were significantly older at diagnosis than nonsomnolent subjects. Intelligence (IQ) was found to be unrelated to history of somnolence syndrome. IQ and achievement were unrelated to age at irradiation, irradiation-examination interval, and radiation dosages. The strongest predictor of IQ by far is parental social class. The importance of controlling for social class differences when searching for treatment effects on IQ and achievement is stressed