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Selected AbstractsPromoting breast health: older women's perceptions of an innovative intervention to enhance screeningINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OLDER PEOPLE NURSING, Issue 2 2006Robin Y. Wood EdD Aims and objectives., This study is a continuation of prior funded research in which we tested the use of age and ethnically sensitive video breast health kits to increase knowledge about breast cancer and enhance the screening practices of breast self-examination and mammography among older Caucasian and African-American women. Background., Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women worldwide and accounts for 23% of all cancers. Mammography is currently the best procedure available for mass screening of breast cancer. However, underutilization of mammography is a problem among older women in the United States. Elders are at the greatest risk for developing and dying from breast cancer but they are the least likely group to be screened routinely with mammograms or to practice breast self-examination, particularly if they are African-American. Design., Participatory qualitative evaluation focus groups were used to assess the overall impact of the video kit intervention programme and to elucidate the quantitative findings of the original study. Methods., Four focus groups were conducted in two diverse settings with a purposive sample of 23 participants (N = 23). The overall sample was predominantly African-American (87%) with mean age of 71 ± 7.9 years and mean education completed of 12 ± 3.4 years. Results., Five major themes emerged from group discussions: usability and appeal of the intervention, fear and empowerment, personal relevance and intergenerational sharing, impact on screening behaviours, and story telling. Conclusions., Analyses suggest that customized media materials constructed especially for older African-American women empowered participants in this sample to action regarding their own breast health. Relevance to clinical practice., These findings may translate to global populations where risk is increasing but screening programmes are not widely available. Given that older women are historically difficult to access and impact, further design and evaluation of innovative and sensitive educational programmes such as the one described here are recommended. [source] The establishment of an urban bird populationJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Christian Rutz Summary 1Despite the accelerating global spread of urbanized habitats and its associated implications for wildlife and humans, surprisingly little is known about the biology of urban ecosystems. 2Using data from a 60-year study period, this paper provides a detailed description of how the northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis L. , generally considered a shy forest species , colonized the city of Hamburg, Germany. Six non-mutually exclusive hypotheses are investigated regarding the environmental factors that may have triggered this invasion. 3The spatio-temporal analysis of 2556 goshawk chance observations (extracted from a total data set of 1 174 493 bird observations; 1946,2003) showed that hawks regularly visited the city centre decades before the first successful breeding attempts were recorded. Many observations were made in parts of the city where territories were established in later years, demonstrating that these early visitors had encountered, but not used, potential nest sites. 4Pioneer settlement coincided with: (i) an increase in (legal) hunting pressure on goshawks in nearby rural areas; (ii) an increase in avian prey abundance in the city; and (iii) a succession of severe winters in the Greater Hamburg area. On the other hand, there was no evidence to suggest that the early stages of the invasion were due to: (i) decreasing food availability in rural areas; (ii) major habitat changes in the city; or (iii) rural intraguild dynamics forcing hawks into urban refugia. While breeding numbers of a potential rural source population were at a long-term low when the city was colonized, prior to first settlement there was a sharp increase of goshawk chance observations in the city and its rural periphery. 5The urban population expanded rapidly, and pair numbers began to stabilize after about 10 years. Ringing data (219 ringed nestlings from 70 urban broods; 1996,2000) demonstrated that most urban recruits had fledged in the city, but also confirmed considerable gene flow between urban and rural habitats. Analysis of chance observations (as raw data or as detrended time series) suggested a tight coupling of population dynamics inside and outside the city. 6City-colonizations such as the one described here provide a valuable opportunity to study some fundamental aspects of population ecology on a scale at which detailed monitoring is logistically feasible. Furthermore, a good understanding of urban ecology has become essential for efficient wildlife conservation in modern, human-altered environments. [source] Cellular organization and appearance of differentiated structures in developing stages of the parasitic platyhelminth Echinococcus granulosusJOURNAL OF CELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY, Issue 2 2005Claudio Martínez Abstract Echinococcus granulosus is the causative agent of hydatidosis, a major zoonoses that affects humans and herbivorous domestic animals. The disease is caused by the pressure exerted on viscera by hydatid cysts that are formed upon ingestion of E. granulosus eggs excreted by canine. Protoscoleces, larval forms infective to canine, develop asynchronously and clonally from the germinal layer (GL) of hydatid cysts. In this report, we describe the cellular organization and the appearance of differentiated structures both in nascent buds and developed protoscoleces attached to the GL. Early protoscolex morphogenesis is a highly complex and dynamic process starting from the constitution of a foramen in the early bud, around which nuclei are distributed mainly at the lateral and apical regions. Similarly, distribution of nuclei in mature protoscoleces is not homogenous but underlies three cellular territories: the suckers, the rostellar pad, and the body, that surrounds the foramen. Several nuclei are associated to calcareous corpuscles (Cc), differentiated structures that are absent in the earlier bud stages. The number of nuclei is similar from the grown, elongated bud stage to the mature protoscolex attached to the GL, strongly suggesting that there is no significant cellular proliferation during final protoscolex development. The amount of DNA per nucleus is in the same range to the one described for most other platyhelminthes. Our results point to a sequential series of events involving cell proliferation, spatial cell organization, and differentiation, starting in early buds at the GL of fertile hydatid cysts leading to mature protoscoleces infective to canine. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Turbid flow through a tropical reservoir (Lake Dalrymple, Queensland, Australia): Responses to a summer storm eventLAKES & RESERVOIRS: RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2000John W. Faithful Abstract The first flood event following a prolonged dry period is described for an impoundment, Lake Dalrymple, in tropical north-eastern Australia. The event, in January 1996, generated substantial flow in the two main inflow sources: the Burdekin River from the north and the Suttor River from the south. Flow through the Burdekin River peaked early and then subsided to a lower level, but flow through the Suttor River persisted at a moderate level for over 15 days after the initial inflow. An extensive water quality survey was conducted on 16 January 1996 (seven days after the initial dam overflow) to determine the nature of the inflows originating from the two major subcatchments feeding the reservoir as they entered and passed through the impoundment. The inflow comprising waters of high turbidity and low conductivity occupied the mid-column region along the two major inflow channels through the impoundment to the dam wall. The suspended particulate material in the form of silt and clay sized particles remained in suspension as the flow passed through the reservoir, due in part to the low ionic strength of the inflow and the relative densities of the inflowing and receiving waters. For both river sources, more than 50% of the total nitrogen and almost all of the total phosphorus were bound to the suspended particulate matter. Much of this was exported in the flow over the spillway. The highly turbid nature of the inflow resulted in strong attenuation of down-welling photosynthetically active radiation (up to maximum attenuation values of 12.24 m,1 in the reservoir where the euphotic depth was only 0.38 m). The irradiance reflectance and the scattering coefficient were considerably higher than any reported for other Australian inland waters. Concentrations of viable chlorophyll a in the surface waters were very low (maximum value 3.4 ,g L,1) because of the highly turbid conditions and extensive dilution by the inflow. The results of this study provide an example of the significant impact a large inflow of turbid, low conductance water can have on a large reservoir in the arid tropics following a prolonged dry period. During inflow events such as the one described in this paper, the reservoir becomes riverine in nature, and large amounts of suspended particulate matter and associated nutrients are transported through the reservoir. [source] Using a partnership between academic faculty and a physical therapist liaison to develop a framework for an evidence-based journal club: a discussionPHYSIOTHERAPY RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL, Issue 4 2009Tricia M. Austin Abstract Evidence-based practice (EBP) in rehabilitation is increasingly recognized as important. Despite the importance of EBP, physical therapists' knowledge of EBP varies. Journal clubs have been used to educate clinicians about EBP. This discussion paper describes the partnership between academic faculty members and a physical therapist at a community hospital, and the process used to develop a framework to implement an evidence-based journal club. The partnership blended the expertise of academic faculty members and a physical therapist with knowledge of EBP who served as the liaison between members of the partnership team and the clinicians at the community hospital. The three-step framework developed enabled the clinicians to learn about critical appraisal, participate in guided practice of critical appraisal with the liaison, and lead critical appraisal of a paper with the assistance of the liaison as needed. This process could be easily replicated by other partnerships between academic faculty members and clinicians. Developing partnerships like the one described enables academicians to provide service to the profession, may enhance physical therapists' knowledge of the principles of EBP and may encourage EBP. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A novel locus for alopecia with mental retardation syndrome (APMR2) maps to chromosome 3q26.2-q26.31CLINICAL GENETICS, Issue 3 2006A Wali Congenital alopecia may occur either alone or in association with ectodermal and other abnormalities. On the bases of such associations, several different syndromes featuring congenital alopecia can be distinguished. Alopecia with mental retardation syndrome (APMR) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, clinically characterized by total or partial hair loss and mental retardation. In the present study, a five-generation Pakistani family with multiple affected individuals with APMR was ascertained. Patients in this family exhibited typical features of APMR syndrome. The disease locus was mapped to chromosome 3q26.2-q26.31 by carrying out a genome scan followed by fine mapping. A maximum two-point logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 2.93 at ,= 0.0 was obtained at markers D3S3053 and D3S2309. Multipoint linkage analysis resulted in a maximum LOD score of 4.57 with several markers, which supports the linkage. The disease locus was flanked by markers D3S1564 and D3S2427, which corresponds to 9.6-cM region according to the Rutgers combined linkage-physical map of the human genome (build 35) and contains 5.6 Mb. The linkage interval of the APMR locus identified here does not overlap with the one described previously; therefore, this locus has been designated as APMR2. [source] | |||||||||||||