Residential segregation and disparities in health-related quality of life among Black and White cancer survivors.

Objective: Studies of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Black and White cancer survivors have been based on small convenience samples and yielded inconsistent results. We examined Black–White disparities in survivors' HRQOL with a population-based sample, and tested the hypothesis that area-level segregation accounts for those disparities. Design: A sample of survivors of 10 types of cancer was drawn from 11 U.S. state cancer registries and surveyed 12–15 months after diagnosis. The current sample consisted of 5195 survivors (415 Black, 4780 White) who resided in 584 counties. Main Outcome Measures: SF-36 General Health subscale scores were used as the measure of HRQOL. Results: Bivariate results revealed that Black survivors had significantly poorer HRQOL than did White survivors. Multilevel regression including individual-level (gender, age, marital status, education, cancer type, stage at diagnosis, cancer progression, comorbidities, race/ethnicity) and area-level (county segregation and poverty) variables found that HRQOL was poorer among survivors who resided in high-Black-segregated counties, whereas race/ethnicity was no longer significant. Conclusion: These findings indicate that Black–White disparities in HRQOL among cancer survivors might be a function, not of race/ethnicity, but of area-level variables associated with race/ethnicity. The strong role of segregation highlights the need for interventions to target Black-segregated areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

SPME/GC-MS Characterization of the Volatile Fraction of an Italian PDO Sheep Cheese to Prevalent Lypolitic Ripening: the Case of Fiore Sardo

A specifically aimed SPME/GC-MS method has been assessed in order to describe the volatile fraction of intense flavoring cheeses like Fiore Sardo PDO, a prevalent lipolytic ripening sheep cheese from Sardinia, Italy. A DVB/CAR/PDMS 50/30 μm fiber and a 3-min exposure time showed to be the best compromise between the possibility to extract compounds with a wide range of polarity and molecular mass and the need to avoid competition and displacement effects among analytes. The volatile compound profile of Fiore Sardo PDO sheep cheese was largely characterized by carboxylic acids (about 68% of the total area of recognized peaks), whereas esters (14%), ketones (9%), and alcohols (8%) represented other abundant classes of low molecular weight species. A number of low-smelling threshold trace compounds were also identified as likely contributors of aroma of the Fiore Sardo PDO cheese.     

Genetic and Environmental Factors Behind Foliar Chemistry of the Mature Mountain Birch

Previous studies of mountain birch (Betula pubescens spp. czerepanovii) repeatedly have found differences between individual trees in herbivory-related traits, but rarely have yielded estimates of the additive genetic variation of these traits or of their relationship to habitat. We used thirty-year-old birch half-sibs in a northern common garden to estimate the effect of genetics and local microhabitat on resistance-related traits. Genetic estimates of foliar chemistry have been studied only rarely with trees as old as these. Moth performance (Epirrita autumnata), rust (Melampsoridium betulinum) incidence levels, and the general level of natural herbivory damage to individual trees were used as direct measures of birch resistance. Chemical resistance-related traits in plant chemistry included 15 individual phenolics, 16 amino acids, and phenoloxidase activities in the foliage. We also followed birch phenology and growth. Our results show that the genotype of the birch was the most important determinant of phenolic composition and phenoloxidase activity, but that amino acid levels were best explained by the microhabitat of the birch. We also found that the phenology of the birch had a high heritability, although its variation was low. Our results reveal rich genetic variation in birch chemistry.     

Creative Industries,Inequality and Social Development: Developments,Impacts and Challenges in Cape Town

Creative industries are often regarded as avenues for urban regeneration, economic development and job creation. The growth of creative industries is linked to post-Fordist economic restructuring in cities. As a result, the economic base of cities has moved away from manufacturing to knowledge-intensive and service-based industries. While countries in the Global South generally contribute marginally to the global economy, some countries are seeking to enhance their competitiveness in the global environment and gain from opportunities presented by the creative economy. Policymakers in the Global South have therefore adopted creative industry policies, and often link these to social development outcomes. However, this presents various challenges. The literature indicates that creative industries can exacerbate existing inequalities and marginalise working class residents. Furthermore, the benefits of creative urban renewal do not necessarily reach poor communities. This paper contributes to debates regarding the role of creative industries in the urban economies of cities in the Global South. This reflects on the impacts of creative urban renewal, and the implications for social development and policy. It also considers recent development and challenges around creative industry promotion in Cape Town, with specific reference to the city-fringe neighbourhood of Woodstock.     

Chemical composition of alpaca (Vicugna pacos) charqui

The chemical composition of alpaca Andean charqui was studied. Two types of charqui were sampled from producers: charqui made from lean meat slices (30 samples) and charqui made from flaps of whole bone-in carcass pieces (22 samples), each representing the two principal Andean techniques of making charqui. The a_w value of charqui was under 0.75 (mean value 0.64). The non-protein nitrogen and free fatty acid contents were near 6% of total nitrogen and 6% of fat, respectively. The hydration ratio of charqui was 2.0, and the hydration resulted in a considerable loss of sodium, phosphorous and potassium. The volatile fraction of hydrated cooked charqui was rich in lipid-derived compounds, with hydrocarbons being the most abundant. A large number of branched-chain hydrocarbons were detected. Among the chemical characteristics studied several differences between both types of charqui were observed, which demonstrates the existence of variation in the product associated with the making process.     

Individual GaN nanowires exhibit strong piezoelectricity in 3D

Semiconductor GaN NWs are promising components in next generation nano- and optoelectronic systems. In addition to their direct band gap, they exhibit piezoelectricity, which renders them particularly attractive in energy harvesting applications for self-powered devices. Nanowires are often considered as one-dimensional nanostructures; however, the electromechanical coupling leads to a third rank tensor that for wurtzite crystals (GaN NWs) possesses three independent coefficients, d(33), d(13), and d(15). Therefore, the full piezoelectric characterization of individual GaN NWs requires application of electric fields in different directions and measurements of associated displacements on the order of several picometers. In this Letter, we present an experimental approach based on scanning probe microscopy to directly quantify the three-dimensional piezoelectric response of individual GaN NWs. Experimental results reveal that GaN NWs exhibit strong piezoelectricity in three dimensions, with up to six times the effect in bulk. Based on finite element modeling, this finding has major implication on the design of energy harvesting systems exhibiting unprecedented levels of power density production. The presented method is applicable to other piezoelectric NW materials as well as wires manufactured along different crystallographic orientations.     

Localization of sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV) in synergic infection with potyviruses in sweet potato.

Among diseases reported worldwidely for sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam) crop, one of the most frequent is the Sweet potato virus disease (SPVD), caused by sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV) and sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) co-infection. In Argentina, there exists the sweet potato chlorotic dwarf (SPCD), a sweet potato disease caused by triple co-infection with SPCSV, SPFMV and sweet potato mild speckling virus (SPMSV). Both diseases cause a synergism between the potyviruses (SPFMV and SPMSV) and the crinivirus (SPCSV). Up to date, studies carried out on the interaction among these three viruses have not described their localization in the infected tissues. In single infections, virions of the crinivirus genus are limited to the phloem while potyviral virions are found in most tissues of the infected plant. The purpose of this work was to localize the heat shock protein 70 homolog (HSP70h), a movement protein for genus crinivirus, of an Argentinean SPCSV isolate in its single infection and in its double and triple co-infection with SPFMV and SPMSV. The localization was made by in situ hybridization (ISH) for electron microscopy (EM) on ultrathin sections of sweet potato cv. Morada INTA infected tissues. The results demonstrated that viral RNA coding HSP70h is restricted to phloem cells during crinivirus single infection, while it was detected outside the phloem in infections combined with the potyviruses involved in chlorotic dwarf disease.