Barriers to engagement in sleep restriction and stimulus control in chronic insomnia.

Sleep restriction (SRT) and stimulus control (SC) have been found to be effective interventions for chronic insomnia (Morgenthaler et al., 2006), and yet adherence to SRT and SC varies widely. The objective of this study was to investigate correlates to adherence to SC/SRT among 40 outpatients with primary or comorbid insomnia using a correlational design. Participants completed a self-report measure of sleepiness prior to completion of a 6-week cognitive behavioral treatment group for insomnia. At the posttreatment period, they rated their ability to engage in SC/SRT using a survey. Results from standard multiple regression analyses showed that perceiving fewer barriers (i.e., less boredom, annoyance) to engaging in SC/SRT and experiencing less pretreatment sleepiness were each associated with better adherence to SC/SRT. Adherence to SC/SRT was associated with outcome. Implications of these findings are that more work is needed to make SC/SRT less uncomfortable, possibly by augmenting energy levels prior to introducing these approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Skewed autonomy–relatedness in preadolescents' conceptions of their relationships with mother, father, and best friend.

Healthy adaptation within all close relationships—whether with parents, friends. or romantic partners—involves striking a balance between connectedness to and independence from the relationship partner. For some individuals, adaptation within one or more relationships is skewed, or characterized by either an excessive concern for closeness that impedes autonomy (preoccupied stance) or an excessive concern for autonomy that inhibits closeness (avoidant stance). In this study with boys and girls aged 9–14 years, children who reported a preoccupied or avoidant stance toward their mother displayed increased social impairment in the peer group over time. There were predictable associations among children's stances toward mother, father, and best friend. Children resembled their best friend in relationship stance. The study illustrates the advantages of applying common relationship constructs (e.g., autonomy-relatedness) to the study of diverse close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of surface potential on aggregation and transport of titania nanoparticles

To investigate the effect of pH on nanoparticle aggregation and transport in porous media, we quantified nanoparticle transport in two-dimensional structures. Titania was used as a model compound to explore the effects of surface potential on particle mobility in the subsurface. Results show that pH, and therefore, surface potential and aggregate size, dominate nanoparticle interactions with each other and surfaces. In each solution, nanoparticle aggregate size distributions were bimodal or trimodal, and aggregate sizes increased as the pH approached the pH of the point of zero charge (pHzpc). Over 80% of suspended particles and aggregates were mobile over the pH range of 1-12, except close to the pHzpc of the surfaces, where the particles are highly aggregated. The effect of pH on transport is not symmetric around the pHzpc of the particles due to charging of the channel surfaces. However, transport speed of nanoparticle aggregates did not vary with pH. The surface element integration technique, which takes into account the effect of curvature of particles on interaction energy, was used to evaluate the ability of theory to predict nanoparticle transport.     

The combined effect of public profiling and quality improvement efforts on heart failure management

BACKGROUND: A before-and-after study was conducted to examine the combined effect of public profiling and quality improvement activities on management of heart failure (HF) in the hospital setting. METHODS: Thirty-one hospitals in southeastern Michigan participated in this profiling and quality improvement study. One hospital closed after the baseline measurement. Two quality indicators were developed to evaluate the key processes of HF care, and one profiling indicator was designed for public profiling. The baseline results of the profiling indicator were publicly released. The individual hospitals were identified in the profiling report by name as "having statistically higher (or lower) rates than average." Remeasurement results were compared to the baseline results by using t-tests for the individual hospitals and all 30 hospitals as an aggregate. RESULTS: Two-thirds of the hospitals improved ejection fraction documentation; the aggregate result improved 5.4 percentage points (p < 0.05). No change was observed in the aggregate measure of prescribing angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) to eligible HF patients at discharge. Hospitals with low baseline rates made improvement in ACEI use at discharge, but those with good baseline performance tended to decline in performance. There was a 2.2 percentage point increase (p < 0.05) in the profiling indicator. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: There seemed to be differential impacts of interventions across indicators and hospitals. Public profiling may have the most positive impact on hospitals with low performance at baseline. Maintaining the baseline good practice was a struggle for hospitals with relatively high baseline rates.     

The evolution of the Women's Health Initiative: perspectives from the NIH

The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) addresses some of the major health concerns of postmenopausal women. It is designed to test whether long-term preventive measures will decrease the incidence of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and fractures, and it seeks to find better predictors of future health and disease in older women. This report traces the evolution of the clinical trial and observational study (CT/OS) components of WHI from early planning in the 1980s to the current status of the WHI CT/OS as an integrated, ongoing clinical study. Particular attention is directed to the antecedent planning meetings and feasibility studies that formed the underpinnings of the WHI. The issues of hormone replacement therapy and of the optimal diet for postmenopausal women were investigated for almost a decade prior to WHI. However, no studies of sufficient size and duration to confidently test the value and risks of these approaches were initiated because of the cost and insufficient political commitment. The initiation of WHI in 1991 represents the confluence of scientific need and capability with the social priorities to improve the health and welfare of women.     

Exploring value networks: theorising the creation and capture of value with open source software

The emergence of open source software (OSS) as a form of peer production and innovation challenges theories of organisation and strategy due to its non-reliance on traditional governance mechanisms to organise production. OSS requires firms to rethink the processes that facilitate value creation and capture. The objective of this paper is to theorise how firms create and capture value from OSS. We derive a model from extant research and refine it through the study of three inter-organisational networks. The findings reveal how a firm's ability to access a value network of complementors is crucial for effective value creation and capture. Two types of networks are evident: a high-density network of familiar partners and a low-density network of multiple, often unfamiliar, partners. Leveraging these networks depends on the level of commitment, volume of knowledge exchange and the alignment of objectives among participant firms. Effective governance is revealed as critical for creating and capturing value within both types of network; and depends on both formal and informal mechanisms.     

Oxygen Processing of Hg and Tl Based Cuprate Superconductors

The effect that oxygen stoichiometry has on the physical properties of high critical temperature superconductors is well documented. For a general understanding of the conditions necessary for processing high critical temperature superconducting materials, phase equilibrium diagrams have been quite useful; however, such diagrams provide no information concerning the time required to oxygenate superconducting structures. In this paper, we present experimental results that clearly demonstrate the relationships among phase equilibrium diagrams, oxygen diffusion coefficients and grain sizes with the time required to adequately oxygenate high critical temperature superconducting materials and device structures. While oxygen processing of the high critical temperature superconductor, YBa₂Cu₃O_7–, is emphasized throughout this paper, the concepts and relationships discussed herein, in general, can be applied to the oxygen processing of other high critical temperature superconductors including the Hg and TI based systems.where the investigations were conducted has been transferred to the U.S. Army Research LaboratoryD.M. Pierce: Work performed while a National Research Council Associate     

Incorporation of a Successful Community-Based Mammography Intervention: Dissemination Beyond a Community Trial.

Although a variety of interventions to increase breast cancer screening have been found to be effective in community-based trials, their ultimate contribution depends on the extent to which they are incorporated (i.e., adopted and adapted) by community organizations. From 1990 to 1995, the authors conducted a National Cancer Institute-funded community-based trial that increased screening mammography among women ages 40 and older living in Minneapolis public housing. This study describes the processes by which this intervention, called Friend to Friend, was successfully adopted by the American Cancer Society, Midwest Division, and adapted for use by women throughout the state. The authors offer insights from experience with this translational effort and make recommendations to facilitate collaboration between research and community organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transposition of the Drosophila element mariner into the chicken germ line

A previously healthy 37-year-old man had evaluation of abdominal pain, which had persisted after abrupt onset with fever and hematuria. Although the fever and hematuria had spontaneously resolved after 1 week, the abdominal pain had worsened over a 4-month period. Predicated upon computed tomography and with a presumed diagnosis of renal cell adenocarcinoma, left radical nephrectomy was done. Histopathologic analysis was negative for malignancy but compatible with inflammatory pseudotumor of the urogenital tract--a pathologic entity that is common in the urinary bladder and prostate gland but is rarely diagnosed in the kidney.     

Primary mediastinal choriocarcinoma in a Black youth

A primary mediastinal choriocarcinoma in a Black youth is described. The tumour was resistant to treatment and the patient deteriorated rapidly. No testicular tumour was present. The clinical, biochemical and autopsy findings are described.