共找到 20 条结果
OBJECTIVE: To compare performance of the newest vital sign (NVS) with existing literacy measures. METHODS: We administered the NVS and REALM to 129 patients, and NVS and S-TOFHLA to 119 patients all in public clinics. RESULTS: The NVS demonstrated high sensitivity for detecting limited literacy and moderate specificity (area under the receiver operating characteristic [AUROC] curve 0.71-0.73). The NVS was less effective than the S-TOFHLA for predicting health outcomes. CONCLUSION: The NVS is able to identify patients with limited literacy skills, but may misclassify those with adequate literacy according to the REALM and S-TOFHLA. NVS scores were not associated with health outcomes.
Bioactive glasses (BGs) are especially useful materials in soft and bone tissue engineering and even in dentistry. They can be the solution to many medical problems, and they have a huge role in the healing processes of bone fractures. Interestingly, they can also promote skin regeneration and wound healing. Bioactive glasses are able to attach to the bone tissues and form an apatite layer which further initiates the biomineralization process. The formed intermediate apatite layer makes a connection between the hard tissue and the bioactive glass material which results in faster healing without any complications or side effects. This review paper summarizes the most recent advancement in the preparation of diverse types of BGs, such as silicate-, borate- and phosphate-based bioactive glasses. We discuss their physical, chemical, and mechanical properties detailing how they affect their biological performances. In order to get a deeper insight into the state-of-the-art in this area, we also consider their medical applications, such as bone regeneration, wound care, and dental/bone implant coatings.
The newest liberal institutionalism asserts that, although it accepts a major realist proposition that international anarchy impedes cooperation among states, it can nevertheless affirm the central tenets of the liberal institutionalist tradition that states can achieve cooperation and that international institutions can help them work together. However, this essay's principal argument is that neoliberal institutionalism misconstrues the realist analysis of international anarchy and therefore it misunderstands realism's analysis of the inhibiting effects of anarchy on the willingness of states to cooperate. This essay highlights the profound divergences between realism and the newest liberal institutionalism. It also argues that the former is likely to be proven analytically superior to the latter.
PURPOSE: Current health literacy screening instruments for health care settings are either too long for routine use or available only in English. Our objective was to develop a quick and accurate screening test for limited literacy available in English and Spanish. METHODS: We administered candidate items for the new instrument and also the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) to English-speaking and Spanish-speaking primary care patients. We measured internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha and assessed criterion validity by measuring correlations with TOFHLA scores. Using TOFLHA scores <75 to define limited literacy, we plotted receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves and calculated likelihood ratios for cutoff scores on the new instrument. RESULTS: The final instrument, the Newest Vital Sign (NVS), is a nutrition label that is accompanied by 6 questions and requires 3 minutes for administration. It is reliable (Cronbach alpha >0.76 in English and 0.69 in Spanish) and correlates with the TOFHLA. Area under the ROC curve is 0.88 for English and 0.72 for Spanish versions. Patients with more than 4 correct responses are unlikely to have low literacy, whereas fewer than 4 correct answers indicate the possibility of limited literacy. CONCLUSION: NVS is suitable for use as a quick screening test for limited literacy in primary health care settings.
In The World's Newest Profession, Christopher McKenna offers a history of management consulting in the twentieth century. Although management consulting may not yet be a recognized profession, the leading consulting firms have been advising and reshaping the largest organizations in the world since the 1920s. This groundbreaking study details how the elite consulting firms, including McKinsey & Company and Booz Allen & Hamilton, expanded after US regulatory changes during the 1930s, how they changed giant corporations, nonprofits, and the state during the 1950s, and why consultants became so influential in the global economy after 1960. As they grew in number, consultants would introduce organizations to 'corporate culture' and 'decentralization' but they faced vilification for their role in the Enron crisis and for legitimating corporate blunders. Through detailed case studies based on unprecedented access to internal files and personal interviews, The World's Newest Profession explores how management consultants came to be so influential within our culture and explains exactly what consultants really do in the global economy....
In The World's Newest Profession Christopher McKenna offers a history of management consulting in the twentieth century. Although management consulting may not yet be a recognized profession, the leading consulting firms have been advising and reshaping the largest organizations in the world since the 1920s. This groundbreaking study details how the elite consulting firms, including McKinsey & Company and Booz Allen & Hamilton, expanded after US regulatory changes during the 1930s, how they changed giant corporations, nonprofits, and the state during the 1950s, and why consultants became so influential in the global economy after 1960. As they grew in number, consultants would introduce organizations to 'corporate culture' and 'decentralization' but they faced vilification for their role in the Enron crisis and for legitimating corporate blunders. Through detailed case studies based on unprecedented access to internal files and personal interviews, The World's Newest Profession explores how management consultants came to be so influential within our culture and explains exactly what consultants really do in the global economy.
We reevaluate the hadronic vacuum polarisation contributions to the muon magnetic anomaly and to the running of the electromagnetic coupling constant at the Z-boson mass. We include newest $$e^+e^- \rightarrow \mathrm{hadrons}$$ cross-section data (among others) from the BABAR and VEPP-2000 experiments. For the muon $$(g-2)/2$$ we find for the lowest-order hadronic contribution $$(693.1 \pm 3.4)\times 10^{-10}$$ , improving the precision of our previous evaluation by 21%. The full Standard Model prediction differs by $$3.5\,\sigma $$ from the experimental value. The five-quark hadronic contribution to $$\alpha (m_Z^2)$$ is evaluated to be $$(276.0\pm 0.9)\times 10^{-4}$$ .
ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVReviewNEXTUV, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, and Small: Newest Developments on Eu2+-Doped NanophosphorsHuayna Terraschke and Claudia Wickleder*View Author Information Inorganic Chemistry, Science and Technology Faculty, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 2, 57068 Siegen, Germany*E-mail: [email protected]Cite this: Chem. Rev. 2015, 115, 20, 11352–11378Publication Date (Web):September 23, 2015Publication History Received14 April 2015Published online23 September 2015Published inissue 28 October 2015https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00223https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00223review-articleACS PublicationsCopyright © 2015 American Chemical SocietyRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views7379Altmetric-Citations262LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose SUBJECTS:Europium,Ions,Nanomaterials,Nanoparticles,Phosphors Get e-Alerts
OBJECTIVES: To provide an overview of the three major deadly coronaviruses and identify areas for improvement of future preparedness plans, as well as provide a critical assessment of the risk factors and actionable items for stopping their spread, utilizing lessons learned from the first two deadly coronavirus outbreaks, as well as initial reports from the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic in Wuhan, China. METHODS: Utilizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, USA) website, and a comprehensive review of PubMed literature, we obtained information regarding clinical signs and symptoms, treatment and diagnosis, transmission methods, protection methods and risk factors for Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and COVID-19. Comparisons between the viruses were made. RESULTS: Inadequate risk assessment regarding the urgency of the situation, and limited reporting on the virus within China has, in part, led to the rapid spread of COVID-19 throughout mainland China and into proximal and distant countries. Compared with SARS and MERS, COVID-19 has spread more rapidly, due in part to increased globalization and the focus of the epidemic. Wuhan, China is a large hub connecting the North, South, East and West of China via railways and a major international airport. The availability of connecting flights, the timing of the outbreak during the Chinese (Lunar) New Year, and the massive rail transit hub located in Wuhan has enabled the virus to perforate throughout China, and eventually, globally. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that we did not learn from the two prior epidemics of coronavirus and were ill-prepared to deal with the challenges the COVID-19 epidemic has posed. Future research should attempt to address the uses and implications of internet of things (IoT) technologies for mapping the spread of infection.
OBJECTIVE: To review the mechanism of action, antifungal spectrum of activity, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical efficacy, and safety of the echinocandins. DATA SOURCES: A MEDLINE search (1982-May 2009) was conducted for articles published in the English language using the key words caspofungin, micafungin, anidulafungin, and echinocandins. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: Medicinal chemistry, in vitro, and animal studies, as well as human trials were reviewed for information on the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and safety of each echinocandin. Clinical trials were reviewed and included to compare and contrast the available echinocandins. DATA SYNTHESIS: Three echinocandin antifungal agents are currently approved for use in the US: caspofungin, micafungin, and anidulafungin. The echinocandins have a unique mechanism of action, inhibiting beta-(1,3)-D-glucan synthase, an enzyme that is necessary for the synthesis of an essential component of the cell wall of several fungi. The echinocandins display fungistatic activity against Aspergillus spp. and fungicidal activity against most Candida spp., including strains that are fluconazole-resistant. The echinocandins have been shown to be efficacious for the treatment of esophageal candidiasis, candidemia, and invasive candidiasis. In addition, caspofungin has demonstrated efficacy as empiric treatment of febrile neutropenia and salvage therapy for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis, and it is the only echinocandin approved for use in pediatric patients. Micafungin is the only echinocandin approved for use as prophylaxis against Candida infections in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Overall, resistance to echinocandins is still rare, and all agents are well tolerated, with similar adverse effect profiles and few drug-drug interactions. CONCLUSIONS: Echinocandins, the newest addition to the arsenal of antifungals, offer potential advantages over other classes of agents. Clinicians should assess their distinguishing characteristics, including route of metabolism, drug interaction profile, and approved indications for use, when determining which agent to include on a formulary.
The effect of ecological change on evolution has long been a focus of scientific research. The reverse--how evolutionary dynamics affect ecological traits--has only recently captured our attention, however, with the realization that evolution can occur over ecological time scales. This newly highlighted causal direction and the implied feedback loop--eco-evolutionary dynamics--is invigorating both ecologists and evolutionists and blurring the distinction between them. Despite some recent relevant studies, the importance of the evolution-to-ecology pathway across systems is still unknown. Only an extensive research effort involving multiple experimental approaches-particularly long-term field experiments--over a variety of ecological communities will provide the answer.
BACKGROUND: Health literacy has been defined as the ability to obtain, process, and understand the basic information needed to make appropriate health decisions. Half of adults lack the health literacy skills needed for our complex health care environment. In 2005, Weiss et al introduced the Newest Vital Sign (NVS), an instrument that can be used to quickly assess health literacy. The purpose of this study was to determine the acceptability and timeliness of using the NVS to measure the level of health literacy in various suburban, urban, and rural primary care settings. A secondary purpose was to determine the influence of taking a health class on one's level of health literacy. METHODS: In this cross-sectional design, adults were recruited from 4 primary care settings and student athletes were recruited during preparticipation sports physicals. The NVS was administered and health literacy rates were compared with known trends. A subset of 50 patients was timed during test administration, and refusals were logged throughout. The adults and the athletes were analyzed separately. RESULTS: One thousand fourteen patients (including athletes) agreed to participate (response rate, 97.5%). Average time needed to complete the NVS was 2.63 minutes. Of the adults tested, 48.1% demonstrated adequate health literacy. In logistic regression analysis, younger age, more formal education, health class participation, and body mass index were positive predictors of adequate health literacy among adults. An interaction term was used for gender/race, with white women used as the comparator. The gender/race odds ratio negatively affected literacy, with white men at 0.497 (95% CI, 0.328-0.753), non-white women at 0.177 (95% CI, 0.111-0.282), and non-white men at 0.210 (95% CI, 0.110-0.398). Among the participating middle- and high-school athletes, 59.7% had adequate health literacy. In logistic regression of this population, body mass index was a positive predictor whereas gender/race was a negative predictor. CONCLUSION: The NVS revealed health literacy status in less than 3 minutes, was widely accepted, and provided results comparable to more extensive literacy tests. Particularly, taking a health education class was associated with higher levels of health literacy among adults.
BACKGROUND: Health literacy (HL) is an important public health issue. Current measures have drawbacks in length and/or acceptability. The US-developed Newest Vital Sign (NVS) health literacy instrument measures both reading comprehension and numeracy skills using a nutrition label, takes 3 minutes to administer, and has proven to be acceptable to research subjects. This study aimed to amend and validate it for the UK population. METHODS: We used a three-stage process; (1) a Delphi study with academic and clinical experts to amend the NVS label to reflect UK nutrition labeling (2) community-based cognitive testing to assess and improve ease of understanding and acceptability of the test (3) validation of the NVS-UK against an accepted standard test of health literacy, the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) (Pearson's r and the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve) and participant educational level. A sample size calculation indicated that 250 participants would be required. Inclusion criteria were age 18-75 years and ability to converse in English. We excluded people working in the health field and those with impaired vision or inability to undertake the interview due to cognitive impairment or inability to converse in English. RESULTS: In the Delphi study, 28 experts reached consensus (3 cycles). Cognitive testing (80 participants) yielded an instrument that needed no further refinement. Validation testing (337 participants) showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.74). Validation against the TOFHLA demonstrated a Pearson's r of 0.49 and an area under the ROC curve of 0.81. CONCLUSIONS: The NVS-UK is a valid measure of HL. Its acceptability and ease of application makes it an ideal tool for use in the UK. It has potential uses in public health research including epidemiological surveys and randomized controlled trials, and in enabling practitioners to tailor care to patient need.
We review the newest advances related to seeking the pathogenic mechanism(s) of sporadic inclusion-body myositis (s-IBM) and present the pathologic diagnostic criteria of s-IBM. We discuss the possible pathogenic role of several themes, such as 1) increased amyloid-beta precursor protein (AbetaPP) and of its fragment Abeta; 2) phosphorylation of tau protein; 3) oxidative stress; 4) abnormal a) signal-transduction, b) transcription, and c) RNA accumulation; 5) "junctionalization" and myogenous" denervation; and 6) lymphocytic inflammation. Evidence is provided supporting our hypothesis that overexpression of AbetaPP within the aging muscle fibers is an early upstream event causing the subsequent pathogenic cascade. The remarkable pathologic similarities between s-IBM muscle and Alzheimer disease (AD) brain are discussed, and the possible cause and significance are addressed.
A substantial amount of structural variation in the human genome remains uninvestigated due to the limitations of existing technologies, the presence of repetitive sequences, and the complexity of a diploid genome. New technologies have been developed, increasing resolution and appreciation of structural variation and how it affects human diversity and disease. The genetic etiology of most patients with complex disorders such as neurodegenerative brain diseases is not yet elucidated, complicating disease diagnosis, genetic counseling, and understanding of underlying pathological mechanisms needed to develop therapeutic interventions. Here, we focus on innovative progress and opportunities provided by the newest methods such as linked read sequencing, strand-specific sequencing, and long-read sequencing. Finally, we describe a strategy for generating a comprehensive catalog of structural variations across populations.
Cytoglobin (CYGB) is a recently discovered vertebrate globin distantly related to myoglobin with unknown function. CYGB is assigned to chromosomal region 17q25, which is frequently lost in multiple malignancies. Previous studies failed to detect evidence for mutations in the CYGB gene. Recent studies provided preliminary evidence for increased methylation of the gene in lung cancer. Our study was aimed at investigating the role of CYGB as a tumor suppressor gene. By nested methylation-specific DNA sequencing analysis of lung and breast cancer cell lines and bronchial and mammary epithelial cell lines, we identified that methylation of a 110-bp CpG-rich segment of the CYGB promoter was correlated with gene silencing. We specifically targeted this sequence and developed a quantitative methylation-specific PCR assay, suitable for high-throughput analysis. We showed that the tumor specificity of CYGB methylation in discriminating patients with and without lung cancer, using biopsies and sputum samples. We further showed the tumor specificity of this assay with multiple other epithelial and hematologic malignancies. To show tumor suppressor activity of CYGB, we performed the following: (a) RNA interference-mediated knockdown of CYGB gene on colony formation in a CYGB expression-positive lung cancer cell line, resulting in increased colony formation; (b) enforced gene expression in CYGB expression-negative lung and breast cancer cell lines, reducing colony formation; and (c) identification of potential proximate targets down-stream of the CYGB genes. Our data constitute the first direct functional evidence for CYGB, the newest member of the globin family, as a tumor suppressor gene.
Abstract Migrant networks and organisations have emerged as development agents. They interact with state institutions in flows of financial remittances, knowledge, and political ideas. In the discursive dimension, the new enthusiasm on the part of OECD states and international organisations, such as the World Bank, for migrant remittances, migrant associations and their role in development, is a sign of two trends which have coincided. Firstly, community as a principle of development has come to supplement principles of social order such as the market and the state. Secondly, in the current round of the migration–development nexus, migrants in general and transnational collective actors in particular have been constituted by states and international organisations as a significant agent. In the institutional dimension, agents such as hometown associations, networks of businesspersons, epistemic networks and political diasporas have emerged as collective actors. These formations are not unitary actors, and they are frequently in conflict with states and communities of origin. The analysis concludes with reflections of how national states structure the transnational spaces in which non‐state actors are engaged in cross‐border flows, leading towards a tight linkage between migration control, immigrant incorporation and development cooperation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Membrane cofactor protein (MCP; CD46) is a widely distributed C3b/C4b-binding cell surface glycoprotein which serves as an inhibitor of complement activation on host cells. The protein has been purified, multiple cDNAs cloned and sequenced, and the genomic organization determined. MCP belongs to a family known as the regulators of complement activation (RCA) gene cluster. The RCA members are related structurally [possess approximately 60 amino acid repeating motifs termed short consensus repeats (SCR)], functionally (bind C3b/C4b), and genetically (genes are tightly clustered on chromosome 1 at q3.2). Beginning at its amino-terminus, MCP is composed of four SCRs, a ser/thr/pro-enriched region, an area of undefined function, a transmembrane hydrophobic domain, a cytoplasmic anchor and cytoplasmic tail. On SDS-PAGE, MCP migrates as two broad forms with Mrs of 59,000-68,000 and 51,000-58,000. The quantity of each form expressed is inherited in an autosomal codominant fashion. This structural heterogeneity is partly explained by the expression of multiple cDNA/protein isoforms that arise by alternative splicing of ser/thr/pro-rich exons (sites of heavy O-glycosylation) and of cytoplasmic tails. This protein is of interest to immunologists and clinicians because of its role in regulation of the complement pathways and, therefore, inflammation in immune complex-mediated syndromes; to reproductive immunologists on account of its expression on sperm and at the maternal-fetal interface; and to tumor immunologists because of its high expression on malignant cells. The availability of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies and molecular probes will be helpful in addressing questions about the biology of MCP in these and other areas.
The article reviews the book “Corporate Irresponsibility: America's Newest Export,” by Lawrence E. Mitchell.
暂无摘要（点击查看原文获取完整内容）