Glucose-dependent uptake of chromium in human and rat insulin-sensitive tissues

Su Vida, Su Salud/Your Life, Your Health is a community program to increase participation in breast and cervical cancer screening. This program illustrates the diffusion of an innovative outreach strategy from a research environment to two local health departments. The program uses A Su Salud, the communication model in which positive role models are featured in the media, and community volunteers who give positive social reinforcement. Local health departments in Galveston and Corpus Christi, TX, were selected to implement the model because of excessive mortality rates in the region and the departments' adequate level of resources and commitment. Over an 18-month period, 54 stories of role models appeared in the media in Corpus Christi, and 60 appeared in Galveston. There were 490 volunteers active in Corpus Christi and 279 in Galveston. Of 365 inquiries to the Corpus Christi program, 35 percent were from the Mexican American target group of women ages 40-70. Of 1,457 women who contacted the Galveston program, 9 percent were from the African American target group ages 40-70. Local health departments are well-suited to participation in cancer control research applications because they have direct access to high-risk populations and have the authority to institutionalize effective interventions.     

Serum lipids and incidence of coronary heart disease. Findings from the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP)

BACKGROUND: The association of serum lipids with coronary heart disease has been studied extensively in middle-aged men and, to a lesser extent, in similar women. Less well defined are lipid variables predictive of CHD in individuals of age > or = 60 years. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program recruited 4736 persons (mean age, 72 years; 14% were black; and 43% were men). Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were 170 and 77 mm Hg, respectively. Baseline mean total cholesterol was 6.11 mmol/L (236 mg/dL); HDL cholesterol, 1.39 mmol/L (54 mg/dL); and non-HDL cholesterol, 4.72 mmol/L (182 mg/dL). Triglyceride levels were 1.62 mmol/L (144 mg/dL) for fasting participants and 1.78 mmol/L for the total group. LDL cholesterol, estimated in fasting samples with triglycerides of < 4.52 mmol/L, averaged 3.98 mmol/L (154 mg/dL). Mean follow-up was 4.5 years. In multivariate Cox regression analyses, baseline total, non-HDL, and LDL cholesterol levels and the ratios of total, non-HDL, and LDL to HDL cholesterol were significantly related to CHD incidence. HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were not significant in these analyses. In fasting participants with triglyceride levels of < 4.52 mmol/L, a 1.03 mmol/L (40 mg/dL) higher baseline total, non-HDL, or LDL cholesterol was associated with a 30% to 35% higher CHD event rate. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study support the concept that serum lipids are CHD risk factors in older Americans.     

Does expert psychological testimony inform or influence juror decision making? A social cognitive analysis.

The authors examined whether expert testimony serves an educational or a persuasive function. Participants watched a simulated sexual abuse trial in which the child witness had been prepared for her testimony (i.e., she was calm, composed, and confident) or unprepared (i.e., emotional, confused, and uncertain). The trial contained different levels of expert testimony: none, standard (i.e., a summary of the research), repetitive (i.e., standard testimony plus a 2nd summary of the research), or concrete (i.e., standard testimony plus a hypothetical scenario linking the research to the case facts) testimony. Repetitive testimony bolstered the child's testimony, whereas concrete and standard testimony did not. Concrete testimony sensitized jurors to behavioral correlates of sexual victimization; standard and repetitive testimony desensitized jurors to these correlates. Implications for the use of procedural innovations in sexual abuse trials are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A novel mutation of presenilin 1 in familial Alzheimer's disease in Israel detected by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis

Germline mutations in the presenilin 1 (PS1) gene apparently account for the majority of early-onset, familial Alzheimer's disease (AD). Using a mutation-screening strategy (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis; DGGE), we analyzed a large family with early onset AD and seizures. The patients in this family showed a novel missense mutation in exon 5 of the PS1 gene (A to T change in codon 120, altering glutamine to aspartic acid). This novel mutation is located within the second hydrophilic domain of the molecule, a region not particularly involved in previously described germline mutations, and is of unknown biological significance. These results also demonstrate that DGGE can be used effectively to screen for mutations within this gene.     

Evaluation of the anisotropic Green's function in three dimensional elasticity

A perturbation expansion technique for approximating the three dimensional anisotropic elastic Green's function is presented. The method employs the usual series for the matrix (I–A)^-1 to obtain an expansion in which the zeroth order term is an isotropic fundamental solution. The higher order contributions are expressed as contour integrals of matrix products, and can be directly evaluated with a symbolic manipulation program. A convergence condition is established for cubic crystals, and it is shown that convergence is enhanced by employing Voigt averaged isotropic constants to define the expansion point. Example calculations demonstrate that, for moderately anisotropic materials, employing the first few terms in the series provides an accurate solution and a fast computational algorithm. However, for strongly anisotropic solids, this approach will most likely not be competitive with the Wilson-Cruse interpolation algorithm.This research was sponsored by the Exploratory Studies Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Division of Materials Science, U. S. Department of Energy, under contract DE-AC05-84OR21400 with Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc.     

A common genetic variation in the 3'-untranslated region of the prothrombin gene is associated with elevated plasma prothrombin levels and an increase in venous thrombosis

We have examined the prothrombin gene as a candidate gene for venous thrombosis in selected patients with a documented familial history of venous thrombophilia. All the exons and the 5'- and 3'-UT region of the prothrombin gene were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing in 28 probands. Except for known polymorphic sites, no deviations were found in the coding regions and the 5'-UT region. Only one nucleotide change (a G to A transition) at position 20210 was identified in the sequence of the 3'-UT region. Eighteen percent of the patients had the 20210 AG genotype, as compared with 1% of a group of healthy controls (100 subjects). In a population-based case-control study, the 20210 A allele was identified as a common allele (allele frequency, 1.2%; 95% confidence interval, 0.5% to 1.8%), which increased the risk of venous thrombosis almost threefold {odds ratio, 2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.4 to 5.6}. The risk of thrombosis increased for all ages and both sexes. An association was found between the presence of the 20210 A allele and elevated prothrombin levels. Most individuals (87%) with the 20210 A allele are in the highest quartile of plasma prothrombin levels (> 1.15 U/mL). Elevated prothrombin itself also was found to be a risk factor for venous thrombosis.