Clinical trials and tribulations: lessons learned from recruiting pregnant ex-smokers for relapse prevention.

The development of smoking cessation and relapse prevention interventions for pregnant and postpartum women is a public health priority. However, researchers have consistently reported substantial difficulty in recruiting this population into clinical trials. The problem is particularly acute for relapse prevention studies, which must recruit women who have already quit smoking because of their pregnancy. Although these individuals are an important target for tobacco control efforts, they represent an extremely small subgroup of the general population. This paper describes multiple recruitment strategies used for a clinical trial of a self-help relapse prevention program for pregnant women. The effectiveness of the strategies and the direct expense per participant recruited are provided. A proactive recruitment strategy (telephoning women whose phone numbers were purchased from a marketing firm) was ultimately much more successful than a variety of reactive strategies (advertisements, press releases, direct mail, Web placement, health care provider outreach). We found few differences between proactively and reactively recruited participants on baseline variables. The primary difference was that the former had smoked fewer cigarettes per day and reported lower nicotine dependence prior to quitting. Strengths and limitations of the recruitment strategies are discussed.     

America's urban challenge: fiscal crisis or entrepreneurial opportunity

This paper briefly discusses the new urban ‘entrepreneurial’ dynamics occurring in city arenas across the USA. These new urban dynamics are already changing the way US cities are addressing their urban demands. In this process they are having far reaching consequences on the future shape and condition of urban America.     

Noninvasive hemodynamic assessment of the internal mammary artery in myocardial revascularization

Using transthoracic B-mode imaging and Doppler spectrum analysis it was found that the luminal diameter of the internal mammary artery and its hemodynamics were not significantly different among 15 preoperative patients (64 +/- 10 years) who underwent myocardial revascularization using the left internal mammary artery and young and older control groups (25 +/- 3 years and 61 +/- 9 years, respectively). These data indicate that older age does not significantly adversely influence the degree of intimal thickening and compliance in the internal mammary artery. Doppler spectrum analysis of the internal mammary artery in the patients who were operated on revealed conversion from a triphasic systolic waveform preoperatively to a unidirectional combined systolic/diastolic waveform at 1 week and 2 and 6 months postoperatively, characterized by a significant increase in the diastolic blood flow velocity and a significant decrease in the systolic blood flow velocity and the pulsatility and resistance indices. This study indicates that transthoracic B-mode imaging and Doppler spectrum analysis are promising noninvasive techniques in the preoperative assessment of internal mammary artery morphology and physiology. In addition, Doppler spectrum analysis can also be used in the long-term serial assessment of the internal mammary artery conduit after myocardial revascularization.     

A comparison of two major scientific information exchange processes in psychology: 1962 and 1976.

From 1962 to 1976 the amount of scientific information produced by psychologists and presented at American Psychological Association conventions or published in "core" psychology journals doubled. A series of studies compared the scientific communication activities of these 2 media at the beginning and end of this doubling period. Results indicate that relatively few significant changes have taken place in these media, despite the enormous increases in the numbers of psychologists and in the amount of psychological information disseminated. Those changes observed suggest (a) an increasing emphasis on applied work and (b) an increased reliance on informal communication processes. It is hypothesized that the overall stability of these media relates to their maintaining quality control over information exchanged among scientists and to discouraging rapid changes in the general nature of the discipline. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrical switching in the three terminal double heterostructure opto-electronic switching device—Active layer contact

Electrical switching times in the three terminal double heterostructure opto-electronic switch are measured and analyzed. For a discrete device with a large parasitic input-output capacitance a switch-on time of 4 ns and a switch-off time of 26 ns were obtained. It is shown that the speed was limited by the time constant determined by the relatively large device capacitance of the discrete device and the 50 Ω measurement impedance of a matched system. Both of these parameters would be considerably reduced by device integration.     

Female choice and manipulations of forceps size and symmetry in the earwig Forficula auricularia L

Nutrition influences the reproductive axis via alteration of gonadotrophin secretion. However, a link between nutrition and the secretion of GnRH, which drives the axis, has yet to be established. The aim of the present study was to measure the change in the concentrations of metabolic substances in the cerebrospinal fluid of adult male sheep offered a diet designed to maintain constant gonadotrophin secretion (Group M; n = 6), or a diet known to increase gonadotrophin secretion (Group M + L; n = 6). On days 1, 3 and 10 of the dietary treatments, cerebrospinal fluid and jugular blood were sampled and analysed for metabolic fuels (glucose, amino acids and free fatty acids) and metabolic hormones (insulin, insulin-like growth factor I, GH, prolactin, cortisol and the thyroid hormones). On day 11 of the dietary treatment, LH pulse frequency and mean FSH concentrations in Group M + L had increased relative to Group M and to day 0. Plasma concentrations of prolactin and insulin on days 3 and 10, and glucose and insulin-like growth factor I on day 10, were higher in Group M + L than in Group M, but only cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of insulin, glucose and certain amino acids were affected by the dietary treatments on days 3 and 10. Cerebrospinal fluid, but not plasma, concentrations of aspartate, tyrosine, cystine, phenylalanine and arginine on day 3, and glutamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, threonine, alanine on days 3 and 10, were higher in Group M + L relative to Group M. On day 10, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of arginine, phenylalaine, proline, tyrosine, methionine and phosphoserine, but only the plasma concentrations of linoleic acid, aspartate and serine, were higher in Group M + L than in Group M. Concentrations of triiodothyronine, thyroxine, and cortisol in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid were not affected. These results show that the nutritional stimulation of gonadotrophin secretion is accompanied primarily by fluctuations in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of insulin and certain amino acids, which suggests that, when nutritional status is improved, insulin, amino acids and possibly glucose interact to modulate GnRH secretion.     

CD164, a novel sialomucin on CD34(+) and erythroid subsets, is located on human chromosome 6q21

CD164 is a novel 80- to 90-kD mucin-like molecule expressed by human CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitor cells. Our previous results suggest that this receptor may play a key role in hematopoiesis by facilitating the adhesion of CD34(+) cells to bone marrow stroma and by negatively regulating CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitor cell growth. These functional effects are mediated by at least two spatially distinct epitopes, defined by the monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs), 103B2/9E10 and 105A5. In this report, we show that these MoAbs, together with two other CD164 MoAbs, N6B6 and 67D2, show distinct patterns of reactivity when analyzed on hematopoietic cells from normal human bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and peripheral blood. Flow cytometric analyses revealed that, on average, 63% to 82% of human bone marrow and 55% to 93% of cord blood CD34(+) cells are CD164(+), with expression of the 105A5 epitope being more variable than that of the other identified epitopes. Extensive multiparameter flow cytometric analyses were performed on cells expressing the 103B2/9E10 functional epitope. These analyses showed that the majority (>90%) of CD34(+) human bone marrow and cord blood cells that were CD38(lo/-) or that coexpressed AC133, CD90(Thy-1), CD117(c-kit), or CD135(FLT-3) were CD164(103B2/9E10)+. This CD164 epitope was generally detected on a significant proportion of CD34(+)CD71(lo/-) or CD34(+)CD33(lo/-) cells. In accord with our previous in vitro progenitor assay data, these phenotypes suggest that the CD164(103B2/9E10) epitope is expressed by a very primitive hematopoietic progenitor cell subset. It is of particular interest to note that the CD34(+)CD164(103B2/9E10)lo/- cells in bone marrow are mainly CD19(+) B-cell precursors, with the CD164(103B2/9E10) epitope subsequently appearing on CD34(lo/-)CD19(+) and CD34(lo/-)CD20(+) B cells in bone marrow, but being virtually absent from B cells in the peripheral blood. Further analyses of the CD34(lo/-)CD164(103B2/9E10)+ subsets indicated that one of the most prominent populations consists of maturing erythroid cells. The expression of the CD164(103B2/9E10) epitope precedes the appearance of the glycophorin C, glycophorin A, and band III erythroid lineage markers but is lost on terminal differentiation of the erythroid cells. Expression of this CD164(103B2/9E10) epitope is also found on developing myelomonocytic cells in bone marrow, being downregulated on mature neutrophils but maintained on monocytes in the peripheral blood. We have extended these studies further by identifying Pl artificial chromosome (PAC) clones containing the CD164 gene and have used these to localize the CD164 gene specifically to human chromosome 6q21.