Coffee and cancer risk,epidemiological evidence,and molecular mechanisms

Although early studies suggested that coffee consumption might increase risk of some cancers, more comprehensive epidemiological and experimental data now generally indicate either neutral or beneficial effects. In this review, we summarize the current evidence for associations between breast, prostate, colorectal, and liver cancers and the consumption of coffee, and discuss the experimental evidence for potential chemopreventive mechanisms of coffee and coffee constituents. The epidemiological evidence consistently indicates that coffee protects against liver cancer, and also point toward protective effects for risk of colorectal cancers (with relative risks of 0.50 (95% CI: 0.42–0.59) and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.75–0.92), respectively, in the most recent meta‐analyses). There seems to be no association between the overall risk of breast and prostate cancer and coffee intake. However, for subgroups such as postmenopausal breast cancers, advanced prostate cancers, and breast and prostate cancer survivors, an inverse association with coffee intake is indicated. Potential mechanisms for chemopreventive effects of coffee phytochemicals includes inhibition of oxidative stress and oxidative damage, regulation of DNA repair, phase II enzymatic activity, apoptosis, inflammation, as well as having antiproliferative, antiangiogenetic effects and antimetastatic effects. The experimental evidence for effects of coffee and coffee constituents on each of these processes is discussed.     

Spectral Doppler estimation utilizing 2-D spatial information and adaptive signal processing

The trade-off between temporal and spectral resolution in conventional pulsed wave (PW) Doppler may limit duplex/triplex quality and the depiction of rapid flow events. It is therefore desirable to reduce the required observation window (OW) of the Doppler signal while preserving the frequency resolution. This work investigates how the required observation time can be reduced by adaptive spectral estimation utilizing 2-D spatial information obtained by parallel receive beamforming. Four adaptive estimation techniques were investigated, the power spectral Capon (PSC) method, the amplitude and phase estimation (APES) technique, multiple signal classification (MUSIC), and a projection-based version of the Capon technique. By averaging radially and laterally, the required covariance matrix could successfully be estimated without temporal averaging. Useful PW spectra of high resolution and contrast could be generated from ensembles corresponding to those used in color flow imaging (CFI; OW = 10). For a given OW, the frequency resolution could be increased compared with the Welch approach, in cases in which the transit time was higher or comparable to the observation time. In such cases, using short or long pulses with unfocused or focused transmit, an increase in temporal resolution of up to 4 to 6 times could be obtained in in vivo examples. It was further shown that by using adaptive signal processing, velocity spectra may be generated without high-pass filtering the Doppler signal. With the proposed approach, spectra retrospectively calculated from CFI may become useful for unfocused as well as focused imaging. This application may provide new clinical information by inspection of velocity spectra simultaneously from several spatial locations.     

Becoming a Good Homecare Practitioner: Integrating Many Kinds of Work

The paper reports from a homecare fieldwork and discusses the various types of work carried out by homecare workers. We describe formal guidelines for quality in homecare services as a background for looking deeper into the homecare practices and using them as a basis for discussing what high quality homecare is. We have identified seven types of homecare work needed in homecare: illness work, everyday life work, life-changing work, relation work, discretion work, information work and articulation work and we discuss quality in each of these as well as in the homecare as a whole. We exemplify how the quality criteria can be achieved in practice.     

Genetic Dominant Variants in STUB1, Segregating in Families with SCA48, Display In Vitro Functional Impairments Indistinctive from Recessive Variants Associated with SCAR16

Variants in STUB1 cause both autosomal recessive (SCAR16) and dominant (SCA48) spinocerebellar ataxia. Reports from 18 STUB1 variants causing SCA48 show that the clinical picture includes later-onset ataxia with a cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome and varying clinical overlap with SCAR16. However, little is known about the molecular properties of dominant STUB1 variants. Here, we describe three SCA48 families with novel, dominantly inherited STUB1 variants (p.Arg51_Ile53delinsProAla, p.Lys143_Trp147del, and p.Gly249Val). All the patients developed symptoms from 30 years of age or later, all had cerebellar atrophy, and 4 had cognitive/psychiatric phenotypes. Investigation of the structural and functional consequences of the recombinant C-terminus of HSC70-interacting protein (CHIP) variants was performed in vitro using ubiquitin ligase activity assay, circular dichroism assay and native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These studies revealed that dominantly and recessively inherited STUB1 variants showed similar biochemical defects, including impaired ubiquitin ligase activity and altered oligomerization properties of the CHIP. Our findings expand the molecular understanding of SCA48 but also mean that assumptions concerning unaffected carriers of recessive STUB1 variants in SCAR16 families must be re-evaluated. More investigations are needed to verify the disease status of SCAR16 heterozygotes and elucidate the molecular relationship between SCA48 and SCAR16 diseases.     

Adaptation and readaptation to different shift work schedules measured with sleep diary and actigraphy.

In this study we examine sleep during adaptation and readaptation to different shift work schedules in the offshore oil industry. The sleep of 19 offshore workers was assessed daily for 1 week before, during the work period, and for 1 week after 3 different work schedules: (1) day (14 consecutive days of work), (2) night (14 consecutive nights of work), and (3) swing shift work (first 7 nights with night work then 7 days of day work). The workers' sleep was assessed for 84 days. Actigraphy and sleep diary estimates of sleep was applied assessing: (1) adaptation to offshore shift work, (2) sleep across the 2 offshore work weeks, and (3) readaptation after the work period. Regarding adaptation, sleep efficiency was higher when working day than night and swing shift the first week of work. Sleep quality was better during swing than regular day/night shifts the first week of work. Total sleep time was longer during day and night shift than swing shift across the 2 work weeks. Sleep efficiency, based on sleep diaries, was higher during day than night and swing shift during the 2 work weeks. There were no significant differences between the shifts in readaptation in terms of sleep. To conclude, adaptation to swing shift was more difficult than adaptation to regular day and night shifts in terms of sleep. Readaptation to day work after 1 week of night work affected sleep negatively. There were no differences between the shift schedules the week after the work period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bioavailability of EPA and DHA delivered by gelled emulsions and soft gel capsules

This study presents data comparing the bioavailability of DHA and EPA delivered by two different formulations: One group received TAG fish oil in traditional soft gel capsules, whereas the other group received the TAG oil as droplets trapped inside a gelatin matrix (gelled emulsions). The incremental area under the curve (AUC_{0–26 h}) of EPA and EPA + DHA in blood plasma from the gelled emulsions was significantly increased by 44.9 and 43.3%, respectively, compared to soft gel capsules. The maximum incremental concentration of EPA and EPA + DHA was significantly increased by 100.4 and 105.6%, respectively, compared to soft gel capsules. These results suggest that improved bioavailability of EPA and DHA may be achieved by incorporating emulsified TAG fish oil in a gel matrix prior to oral ingestion. Practical applications: This study presents a new type of vehicle for the delivery of PUFAs. The vehicles are soft and chewable with the possibility of adding flavours, sweeteners and colour, and this makes the vehicles ideal for delivery of PUFAs to consumers having problems swallowing large capsules or cod liver oil. The vehicles are already applied in products in several countries, including Norway.     

Dispositional resistance to change: Measurement equivalence and the link to personal values across 17 nations.

The concept of dispositional resistance to change has been introduced in a series of exploratory and confirmatory analyses through which the validity of the Resistance to Change (RTC) Scale has been established (S. Oreg, 2003). However, the vast majority of participants with whom the scale was validated were from the United States. The purpose of the present work was to examine the meaningfulness of the construct and the validity of the scale across nations. Measurement equivalence analyses of data from 17 countries, representing 13 languages and 4 continents, confirmed the cross-national validity of the scale. Equivalent patterns of relationships between personal values and RTC across samples extend the nomological net of the construct and provide further evidence that dispositional resistance to change holds equivalent meanings across nations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crosstalk between p38 MAPK and GR Signaling

The p38 MAPK is a signaling pathway important for cells to respond to environmental and intracellular stress. Upon activation, the p38 kinase phosphorylates downstream effectors, which control the inflammatory response and coordinate fundamental cellular processes such as proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Dysregulation of this signaling pathway has been linked to inflammatory diseases and cancer. Secretion of glucocorticoids (GCs) is a classical endocrine response to stress. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is the primary effector of GCs and plays an important role in the regulation of cell metabolism and immune response by influencing gene expression in response to hormone-dependent activation. Its ligands, the GCs or steroids, in natural or synthetic variation, are used as standard therapy for anti-inflammatory treatment, severe asthma, autoimmune diseases, and several types of cancer. Several years ago, the GR was identified as one of the downstream targets of p38, and, at the same time, it was shown that glucocorticoids could influence p38 signaling. In this review, we discuss the role of the crosstalk between the p38 and GR in the regulation of gene expression in response to steroids and comprehend the importance and potential of this interplay in future clinical applications.