Comparisons of organizational constraints and their relations to strains in China and the United States.

Organizational constraints is an important source of job stress. To study the relations between organizational constraints and four indices of job strains in cross-cultural work settings, both self-report and coworker-report data were collected from university employees in two culturally dissimilar countries: China and the United States. As predicted, U.S. university employees reported more interpersonal constraints than did their Chinese counterparts. No country difference was found for job context constraints. Both self-report and coworker-report data revealed significant correlations between organizational constraints and job strains in both countries. Country moderated the relations between interpersonal constraints and negative emotions/job satisfaction/voluntary lateness, with stronger correlations in the United States than in China. Country also moderated the relations between job context constraints and all four indicators of job strains, indicating that U.S. university employees were more sensitive to workplace constraints than were their Chinese counterparts. Suggestions are provided for future research and practice applications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of oral yeasts from Finland and the United States

A total of 4-22 isolates of oral yeasts per subjects from 48 yeast-positive Finnish and American subjects (25 females and 23 males) were phenotyped and genotyped to determine the frequency of simultaneous oral carriage of multiple yeast taxa. An oral sample from either periodontal pockets, oral mucosa or saliva was obtained. All subjects yielded Candida albicans and 3 subjects an additional yeast species (Candida krusei, Candida glabrata or Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The API 20C Aux kit distinguished 9 different carbohydrate assimilation profiles among the C. albicans isolates. Thirty-eight of 46 C. albicans biotype I isolates were categorized in a single numerical profile. PCR analysis, using a random primer OPA-03 and a repetitive primer (GACA)4, detected 2 major genotypic groups among the C. albicans isolates; 44 subjects showing isolates with a "typical" PCR-profile and 4 subjects isolates with an "atypical" PCR-profile. The "atypical" PCR-profile was similar to that of Candida dubliniensis. All C. albicans isolates assimilated xylose, except 5, including the 4 with an "atypical" PCR-profile. No difference was found in distribution of oral yeast species, and of C. albicans phenotypes and genotypes between Finnish and American subjects. The present PCR method may offer a rapid and easy means of distinguishing oral Candida species.     

Identification and characterization of an HIV-2 antibody-positive blood donor in the United States

We measured bone mineral density (BMD) in 128 men and 143 women, aged 22-90, by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and quantitative ultrasound (QUS). We found reduced bone mineral density in relation to age as measured both by DEXA and QUS. There was a correlation between 0.28 and 0.52 in men and between 0.53 and 0.77 in women when comparing DEXA and QUS measurements. When including only persons with low bone mass, the correlation was less.     

Leishmaniasis in the United States military

Leishmaniasis is a recurrent health problem for the U.S. and other militaries. Health care workers may be unfamiliar with the risk factors, transmission, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of this disease. A team of highly trained specialists is required to properly manage service members with leishmaniasis. Such care is available only in a few medical centers. Although there are no prophylactic drugs to prevent this disease, control of insect populations and use of personal protection measures can minimize arthropod-related casualties. The impact of leishmaniasis on military operations and research initiatives to better prevent, diagnose, and treat infection are discussed.     

Panic and panic disorder in the United States

OBJECTIVES: Shift work and rapid travel across several time zones leads to desynchronization of internal circadian rhythms from the external environment and from each other with consequent problems of behaviour, physiology and performance. Field studies of travellers and shift workers are expensive and difficult to control. This investigation concerns the simulation of such rhythm disturbance in a laboratory environment. The main objectives are to assess the ability of controlled exposure to moderately bright light and darkness/sleep to delay circadian rhythms in volunteers without environmental isolation and, secondly, to evaluate the use of different indices of melatonin (MT) secretion together with self-rated alertness as marker rhythms. PATIENTS: Six normal volunteers aged 22-26 years (mean +/- SD 24.3 +/- 1.4). DESIGN: Subjects were exposed to the following periods of moderately bright light (1200 lux) on three consecutive days in early December 1991: Day (D)1: 2000-0200 h, D2: 2200-0400 h and D3: 2400-0600 h. Each period was followed by 8 hours of darkness (< 1 lux). Hourly blood, sequential 4-hourly urine (8-hourly when asleep) and hourly saliva (except when asleep) samples were taken throughout a 24-hour period on D0 (baseline), D4 (1 day post-light treatment) and D7 (4 days post-light treatment). During waking hours, subjective alertness was rated every 2 hours on a visual analogue scale. MEASUREMENTS: MT was measured in plasma and saliva, and its metabolite, 6-sulphatoxymelatonin (aMT6s), was measured in urine. MT, aMT6s and alertness scores were analysed by ANOVA and a cosinor analysis program. RESULTS: A delay shift was present in the aMT6s, plasma MT and salivary MT rhythms (degree of shift: 2.67 +/- 0.3 h (P < 0.001, n = 5); 2.35 +/- 0.29 h (P < 0.001, n = 6); and 1.97 +/- 0.32 h (P < 0.01, n = 6), mean +/- SEM, respectively) 1 day post-light treatment compared to baseline. Adaptation to the initial phase position was apparent by the 4th post-treatment day. Significant correlations were obtained between plasma MT onset (degree of shift: 3.12 +/- 0.74 h (P < 0.001, n = 6, mean +/- SEM)) and the acrophases (calculated peak times) of plasma MT (P < 0.001), salivary MT (P < 0.05) and urinary aMT6s (P < 0.01). A significant phase delay in the alertness rhythm was also evident 1 day post-treatment (3.08 +/- 0.67 h (P < 0.01, n = 6, mean +/- SEM)) with adaptation by the 2nd post-treatment day. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that these methods of determining MT secretion are comparable and give reliable assessments of the MT circadian phase position even after a phase-shift. Significant phase-shifts of similar magnitude can be induced in both MT and alertness rhythms using moderate intensity bright light at night.     

Health education manpower in the United States

Problems in collection of uniform data on health education manpower on a continuing basis are discussed. Sources of data on current health education manpower projections for future needs are reviewed. Possible directions for improving manpower planning in this field are cited.     

Child care in the United States today

This article describes the consumers and providers of child care in the United States. It uses data from nationally representative surveys and research studies conducted from the late 1960s through 1995 to examine the child care arrangements parents select for their young children, comparing today's arrangements with those made by parents decades ago. It then discusses the availability of child care, examining both the number of child care spaces available and whether quality programs are available to suit the needs and resources of parents. The article concludes with speculation about how proposed new policies and continuing trends may lead to future changes in child care.     

Psychological organizations in the United States.

The organizations to which psychologists belonged at the turn of the 20th century were identified. The attributes of the meetings and the membership of those organizations were compared and discussed. In addition to the American Psychological Association, psychologists belonged to the American Philosophical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science as well as to local and regional organizations. In addition, some psychologists belonged to the Society of Experimental Psychology, but membership in that organization was by invitation only. The topics presented at the meetings of the psychological and philosophical associations often were identical or very similar, and the clear disciplinary separation that is typical in 2000 was rare in 1900. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emerging quinolone-resistant Salmonella in the United States

We conducted a national survey of antimicrobial resistance in human clinical isolates of Salmonella between July 1, 1994, and June 30, 1995. Every tenth nontyphoidal Salmonella isolate received at state public health laboratories in the United States during this period was tested for resistance to 12 antimicrobial agents, including two quinolones, nalidixic acid, and ciprofloxacin. Emerging quinolone resistance was detected; of 4,008 isolates tested, 21 (0.5%) were resistant to nalidixic acid, and one (0.02%) was resistant to ciprofloxacin. Continued surveillance for quinolone-resistant Salmonella is necessary, particularly after the recent approval of a fluoroquinolone for use in animals intended for food in the United States.     

Periodontal diseases in the United States population

Peroxidase-catalysed reactions are being analysed at an increasingly advanced level of structural and mechanistic sophistication. A significant development in this respect has been the long-anticipated solution of crystal structures for several plant peroxidases and a fungal peroxidase complexed to benzhydroxamic acid. New insights into peroxide binding and catalysis have been obtained through site-directed mutagenesis, a technique also crucial to recent progress in understanding the diversity of substrate interaction sites associated with peroxidases from different sources.