WorldWideScience

Sample records for american statistical association

  1. Past and future American Psychological Association guidelines for statistical practice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Finch, S; Thomason, N; Cumming, G

    2002-01-01

    We review the publication guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA) since 1929 and document their advice for authors about statistical practice. Although the advice has been extended with each revision of the guidelines, it has largely focused on null hypothesis significance testing

  2. Cancer statistics for African Americans, 2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeSantis, Carol; Naishadham, Deepa; Jemal, Ahmedin

    2013-05-01

    In this article, the American Cancer Society estimates the number of new cancer cases and deaths for African Americans and compiles the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, and screening prevalence based upon incidence data from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics. It is estimated that 176,620 new cases of cancer and 64,880 deaths will occur among African Americans in 2013. From 2000 to 2009, the overall cancer death rate among males declined faster among African Americans than whites (2.4% vs 1.7% per year), but among females, the rate of decline was similar (1.5% vs 1.4% per year, respectively). The decrease in cancer death rates among African American males was the largest of any racial or ethnic group. The reduction in overall cancer death rates since 1990 in men and 1991 in women translates to the avoidance of nearly 200,000 deaths from cancer among African Americans. Five-year relative survival is lower for African Americans than whites for most cancers at each stage of diagnosis. The extent to which these disparities reflect unequal access to health care versus other factors remains an active area of research. Overall, progress in reducing cancer death rates has been made, although more can and should be done to accelerate this progress through ensuring equitable access to cancer prevention, early detection, and state-of-the-art treatments. Copyright © 2013 American Cancer Society, Inc.

  3. Statistical testing of association between menstruation and migraine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barra, Mathias; Dahl, Fredrik A; Vetvik, Kjersti G

    2015-02-01

    To repair and refine a previously proposed method for statistical analysis of association between migraine and menstruation. Menstrually related migraine (MRM) affects about 20% of female migraineurs in the general population. The exact pathophysiological link from menstruation to migraine is hypothesized to be through fluctuations in female reproductive hormones, but the exact mechanisms remain unknown. Therefore, the main diagnostic criterion today is concurrency of migraine attacks with menstruation. Methods aiming to exclude spurious associations are wanted, so that further research into these mechanisms can be performed on a population with a true association. The statistical method is based on a simple two-parameter null model of MRM (which allows for simulation modeling), and Fisher's exact test (with mid-p correction) applied to standard 2 × 2 contingency tables derived from the patients' headache diaries. Our method is a corrected version of a previously published flawed framework. To our best knowledge, no other published methods for establishing a menstruation-migraine association by statistical means exist today. The probabilistic methodology shows good performance when subjected to receiver operator characteristic curve analysis. Quick reference cutoff values for the clinical setting were tabulated for assessing association given a patient's headache history. In this paper, we correct a proposed method for establishing association between menstruation and migraine by statistical methods. We conclude that the proposed standard of 3-cycle observations prior to setting an MRM diagnosis should be extended with at least one perimenstrual window to obtain sufficient information for statistical processing. © 2014 American Headache Society.

  4. American Thyroid Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... More October 20, 2017 0 American Thyroid Association: Charles H. Emerson, MD, Will Lead New Board of Directors By ATA | 2017 ... Featured , News Releases | No Comments American Thyroid Association: Charles H. Emerson, MD, Will Lead New Board of Directors October 19,… Read ...

  5. An examination of the association between demographic and educational factors and African American achievement in science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cottledge, Michael Christopher

    Objective of the Study: The objective of this research study was to investigate whether an association exists between teacher demographic factors (years of teaching experience and gender), 2 educational factors (certification type and certification pathway) and the percent passing rate of tenth grade African American male students on the 2010 science TAKS. Answers to the following questions were sought: 1. Is there an association between teacher demographic factors and the percent passing rate of their tenth grade African American male students on the 2010 science TAKS? 2. Is there an association between teacher educational factors and the percent passing rate of their tenth grade African American male students on the 2010 science TAKS? 3. Is there an association between teacher demographic factors, educational factors and the percent passing rate of their tenth grade African American male students on the 2010 science TAKS? Status of the Question: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), science and engineering jobs in the U.S. have increased steadily over recent years and by the year 2016 the number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) jobs will have grown by more than 21 percent. This increase in science and engineering jobs will double the growth rate of all other workforce sectors combined. The BLS also reports that qualified minority applicants needed to fill these positions will be few and far between. African Americans, Latinos, and other minorities constitute 24 percent of the U.S. population but only 13 percent of college graduates and just 10 percent of people with college degrees who work in science and engineering (Education Trust, 2009). Drawing on the above information, I proposed the following hypotheses to the research questions: H01: There will be no significant statistical association between the demographic factors teacher gender and years of teaching experience and the percent passing rate of their tenth grade African

  6. Periodontitis associated with chronic kidney disease among Mexican Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ioannidou, Effie; Hall, Yoshio; Swede, Helen; Himmelfarb, Jonathan

    2013-01-01

    In comparison to non-Hispanic whites, a number of health-care disparities, including poor oral health, have been identified among Hispanics in general and Mexican Americans in particular. We hypothesized that Mexican Americans with chronic kidney disease (CKD) would have higher prevalence of chronic periodontitis compared with Mexican Americans with normal kidney function, and that the level of kidney function would be inversely related to the prevalence of periodontal disease. We examined this hypothesis using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994 (NHANES III) data set. We followed the American Academy of Periodontology/Center for Disease Control and Prevention case definition for periodontitis. Glomerular filtration rate was estimated using the CKD-Epidemiology equation for Hispanic populations. The classification to CKD stages was based on the National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative. Periodontitis prevalence increased across the kidney function groups showing a statistically significant dose-response association (Pperiodontitis compared with Mexican Americans with normal kidney function after adjusting for potential confounders such as smoking, diabetes, and socioeconomic status. Multivariate adjusted odds ratio for periodontitis significantly increased with 1, 5, and 10 mL/minute estimated glomerular filtration rate reduction from the mean. This is the first report, to the best our knowledge, that showed an increase of periodontitis prevalence with decreased kidney function in this population. © 2012 American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

  7. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Media for Heart.org Heart and Stroke Association Statistics Each year, the American Heart Association, in conjunction ... health and disease in the population. Heart & Stroke Statistics FAQs What is Prevalence? Prevalence is an estimate ...

  8. Youth Sports Safety Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... 6):794-799. 31 American Heart Association. CPR statistics. www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/WhatisCPR/CPRFactsandStats/CPRpercent20Statistics_ ... Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. (January 10, 2013). The DAWN Report: ...

  9. HPV-Associated Cancers Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... What CDC Is Doing Related Links Stay Informed Statistics for Other Kinds of Cancer Breast Cervical Colorectal ( ... Vaginal and Vulvar Cancer Home HPV-Associated Cancer Statistics Language: English (US) Español (Spanish) Recommend on Facebook ...

  10. American Nephrology Nurses' Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Join/Renew Jobs Contact Corporate Shop American Nephrology Nurses Association About ANNA Association About ANNA Strategic Plan ... CExpress Events National Events Chapter / Local Events Nephrology Nurses Week ANNA Education Modules CKD Modules Education Services ...

  11. Comparison between the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the American College of Sports Medicine/American Heart Association criteria to classify the physical activity profile in adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Moraes, Suzana Alves; Suzuki, Cláudio Shigueki; de Freitas, Isabel Cristina Martins

    2013-01-01

    the study aims to evaluate the reproducibility between the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the American College of Sports Medicine/American Heart Association criteria to classify the physical activity profile in an adult population living in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. population-based cross-sectional study, including 930 adults of both genders. The reliability was evaluated by Kappa statistics, estimated according to socio-demographic strata. the kappa estimates showed good agreement between the two criteria in all strata. However, higher prevalence of "actives" was found by using the American College of Sports Medicine/American Heart Association. although the estimates have indicated good agreement, the findings suggest caution in choosing the criteria to classify physical activity profile mainly when "walking" is the main modality of physical activity.

  12. American Association of Physics Teachers - AAPT.org

    Science.gov (United States)

    AAPT.org - American Association of Physics Teachers Skip to content Skip to navigation Skip to local navigation AAPT - American Association of Physics Teachers Go Sign In / Online Services Join ; Competitions Collaborative Projects U.S. Physics Team New Faculty Programs Publications American Journal of

  13. Assessment of the performance of the American Urological Association symptom score in 2 distinct patient populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Timothy V; Schoenberg, Evan D; Abbasi, Ammara; Ehrlich, Samantha S; Kleris, Renee; Owen-Smith, Ashli; Gunderson, Kristin; Master, Viraj A

    2009-01-01

    Recent research suggests that low education and illiteracy may drive misunderstanding of the American Urological Association Symptom Score, a key tool in the American Urological Association benign prostatic hyperplasia guidelines. It is unclear whether misunderstanding is confined to patients of low socioeconomic status. Therefore, we reevaluated the prevalence and impact of this misunderstanding in a county vs university hospital population. This prospective study involved 407 patients from a county hospital and a university hospital who completed the American Urological Association Symptom Score as self-administered and then as interviewer administered. Responses were compared by calculating correlation coefficients and weighted kappa statistics to assess patient understanding of the American Urological Association Symptom Score. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between patient characteristics and poor understanding of the American Urological Association Symptom Score. Of the patients 72% understood all 7 American Urological Association Symptom Score questions. Of the measured demographic variables only education level significantly affected this understanding. Compared to patients with more than 12 years of education county hospital patients with less than 9 years of education were 57.06 times more likely to misunderstand the American Urological Association Symptom Score (95% CI 14.32-329.34) while university hospital patients with less than 9 years of education were 38.27 times more likely to misunderstand the American Urological Association Symptom Score (95% CI 1.69-867.83). Of county hospital patients 31% and of university hospital patients 21% significantly misrepresented their symptom severity according to current guidelines. Patients with low education regardless of location are more likely to misunderstand the American Urological Association Symptom Score, misrepresent their symptoms and, therefore, receive

  14. Statistics for X-chromosome associations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Özbek, Umut; Lin, Hui-Min; Lin, Yan; Weeks, Daniel E; Chen, Wei; Shaffer, John R; Purcell, Shaun M; Feingold, Eleanor

    2018-06-13

    In a genome-wide association study (GWAS), association between genotype and phenotype at autosomal loci is generally tested by regression models. However, X-chromosome data are often excluded from published analyses of autosomes because of the difference between males and females in number of X chromosomes. Failure to analyze X-chromosome data at all is obviously less than ideal, and can lead to missed discoveries. Even when X-chromosome data are included, they are often analyzed with suboptimal statistics. Several mathematically sensible statistics for X-chromosome association have been proposed. The optimality of these statistics, however, is based on very specific simple genetic models. In addition, while previous simulation studies of these statistics have been informative, they have focused on single-marker tests and have not considered the types of error that occur even under the null hypothesis when the entire X chromosome is scanned. In this study, we comprehensively tested several X-chromosome association statistics using simulation studies that include the entire chromosome. We also considered a wide range of trait models for sex differences and phenotypic effects of X inactivation. We found that models that do not incorporate a sex effect can have large type I error in some cases. We also found that many of the best statistics perform well even when there are modest deviations, such as trait variance differences between the sexes or small sex differences in allele frequencies, from assumptions. © 2018 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

  15. A comparison of risk factors associated with suicide ideation/attempts in American Indian and White youth in Montana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manzo, Karen; Tiesman, Hope; Stewart, Jera; Hobbs, Gerald R; Knox, Sarah S

    2015-01-01

    We examined racial/ethnic and gender-specific associations between suicide ideation/attempts and risky behaviors, sadness/hopelessness, and victimization in Montana American Indian and White youth using 1999-2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals in stratified racial/ethnic-gender groups. The primary results of this study show that although the American Indian youth had more statistically significant suicidal thoughts and attempts than the White youth, they had fewer statistically significant predictors compared to the White youth. Sadness/hopelessness was the strongest, and the only statistically significant, predictor of suicide ideation/attempts common across all four groups. The unhealthy weight control cluster was a significant predictor for the White youth and the American Indian/Alaska Native girls; the alcohol/tobacco/marijuana cluster was a significant predictor for the American Indian boys only. Results show important differences across the groups and indicate directions for future research targeting prevention and intervention.

  16. Reading and analysis on management guidelines for hyperthyroidism published in 2011 by American Thyroid Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meng Zhaowei; Tan Jian

    2011-01-01

    Recently, the American Thyroid Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists published 'Hyperthyroidism and other causes of thyrotoxicosis: management guidelines of the American Thyroid Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists', and created 100 evidence-based recommendations. The guideline systematically introduced the diagnoses and therapies of hyperthyroidism, emphasizing the indications, contraindications, preparations, methodologies and follow-up strategies. The guideline also provided detailed management principles for hyperthyroidism in children and pregnancy, Graves' ophthalmopathy and some unusual causes of hyperthyroidism. (authors)

  17. American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... My Account Find Members Benefits American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy 112 South Alfred Street Alexandria, ... Fax: (703) 838-9805 © 2002 - American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | ...

  18. Heather Switzer named American Association of University Women American Dissertation Fellow

    OpenAIRE

    Chadwick, Heather Riley

    2008-01-01

    Heather Switzer, planning, governance, and globalization doctoral student in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, has been named an American Association of University Women American Dissertation Fellow.

  19. Tobacco industry influence on the definition of tobacco related disorders by the American Psychiatric Association

    OpenAIRE

    Neuman, M; Bitton, A; Glantz, S

    2005-01-01

    Objective: The Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, third edition (DSM-III), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1980, included the first official definitions by the APA of tobacco dependence and tobacco withdrawal. Tobacco industry efforts to influence the DSM-III were investigated.

  20. The health of the American slave examined by means of Union Army medical statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freemon, F R

    1985-01-01

    The health status of the American slave in the 19th century remains unclear despite extensive historical research. Better knowledge of slave health would provide a clearer picture of the life of the slave, a better understanding of the 19th-century medicine, and possibly even clues to the health problems of modern blacks. This article hopes to contribute to the literature by examining another source of data. Slaves entering the Union Army joined an organization with standardized medical care that generated extensive statistical information. Review of these statistics answers questions about the health of young male blacks at the time American slavery ended.

  1. Effects of an Interteaching Probe on Learning and Generalization of American Psychological Association (APA) Style

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slezak, Jonathan M.; Faas, Caitlin

    2017-01-01

    This study implemented the components of interteaching as a probe to teach American Psychological Association (APA) Style to undergraduate university students in a psychology research methods and statistics course. The interteaching method was compared to the traditional lecture-based approach between two sections of the course with the same…

  2. American Lung Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... see if you should get screened. Learn more EDUCATION ADVOCACY RESEARCH Our vision is a world free of lung disease The American Lung Association is ... by lung disease. Help us continue to deliver education, advocacy and research to those who need it. $250 $100 $50 Your best gift Donate now Learn More ... nonprofit software

  3. Recommended Dietary Pattern to Achieve Adherence to the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC) Guidelines: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Horn, Linda; Carson, Jo Ann S; Appel, Lawrence J; Burke, Lora E; Economos, Christina; Karmally, Wahida; Lancaster, Kristie; Lichtenstein, Alice H; Johnson, Rachel K; Thomas, Randal J; Vos, Miriam; Wylie-Rosett, Judith; Kris-Etherton, Penny

    2016-11-29

    In 2013, the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology published the "Guideline on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk," which was based on a systematic review originally initiated by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The guideline supports the American Heart Association's 2020 Strategic Impact Goals for cardiovascular health promotion and disease reduction by providing more specific details for adopting evidence-based diet and lifestyle behaviors to achieve those goals. In addition, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans issued updated evidence relevant to reducing cardiovascular risk and provided additional recommendations for adopting healthy diet and lifestyle approaches. This scientific statement, intended for healthcare providers, summarizes relevant scientific and translational evidence and offers practical tips, tools, and dietary approaches to help patients/clients adapt these guidelines according to their sociocultural, economic, and taste preferences. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

  4. Associations between food insecurity and the severity of psychological distress among African-Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Nickolas L; Becerra, Benjamin J; Becerra, Monideepa B

    2018-07-01

    Little research exists on the association between food insecurity and mild to moderate psychological distress (MPD) among Black/African-Americans. In this study, we assess the relationship between food insecurity with and without hunger to that of both MPD and serious psychological distress (SPD) among this population. 2009 and 2011/2012 adult public-use data from African-American respondents of the California Health Interview Survey were utilized for this study (n = 4003). Descriptive statistics were utilized to identify prevalence of psychological distress among sociodemographic and mental-health associated variables. Bivariate analyses were conducted between these variables and psychological distress using survey-weighted chi-square analyses. To evaluate the association between psychological distress, our primary exposure variable of food security, and other variables, we utilized survey-weighted multinomial logistic regression. Prevalence of mild to MPD was higher among those reporting food insecurity while SPD was highest for those with food insecurity and hunger. Results of multinomial logistic regression analysis demonstrate that while MPD was significantly associated with food insecurity, Black/African-Americans with food insecurity and hunger displayed over sixfold odds of higher serious psychological distress, as compared to those living at or above 200% federal poverty level. Our findings add to this growing segment of the literature on psychological distress and food insecurity. Further focus should be placed on improving the efficacy and reach of both formal and informal food support networks to improve the collective health and well-being of poor Black/African-American communities.

  5. Statistical Methods in Psychology Journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willkinson, Leland

    1999-01-01

    Proposes guidelines for revising the American Psychological Association (APA) publication manual or other APA materials to clarify the application of statistics in research reports. The guidelines are intended to induce authors and editors to recognize the thoughtless application of statistical methods. Contains 54 references. (SLD)

  6. American Music Therapy Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Music Therapy Association Home Contact News Help/FAQ Members Only Login Quick Links Facts About Music Therapy Qualifications ... with AMTA Sponsor AMTA Events Social Networking Support Music Therapy When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon will ...

  7. American Pediatric Surgical Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Pediatric Surgical Association Search for: Login Resources + For Members For Professionals For Training Program Directors For Media For ... Surgical Outcomes Surveys & Results Publications Continuing Education + ExPERT Pediatric Surgery NaT Annual Meeting CME MOC Requirements Residents / ...

  8. Epigenome-wide association study of metabolic syndrome in African-American adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akinyemiju, Tomi; Do, Anh N; Patki, Amit; Aslibekyan, Stella; Zhi, Degui; Hidalgo, Bertha; Tiwari, Hemant K; Absher, Devin; Geng, Xin; Arnett, Donna K; Irvin, Marguerite R

    2018-01-01

    The high prevalence of obesity among US adults has resulted in significant increases in associated metabolic disorders such as diabetes, dyslipidemia, and high blood pressure. Together, these disorders constitute metabolic syndrome, a clinically defined condition highly prevalent among African-Americans. Identifying epigenetic alterations associated with metabolic syndrome may provide additional information regarding etiology beyond current evidence from genome-wide association studies. Data on metabolic syndrome and DNA methylation was assessed on 614 African-Americans from the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) study. Metabolic syndrome was defined using the joint harmonized criteria, and DNA methylation was assessed using the Illumina HumanMethylation450K Bead Chip assay on DNA extracted from buffy coat. Linear mixed effects regression models were used to examine the association between CpG methylation at > 450,000 CpG sites and metabolic syndrome adjusted for study covariates. Replication using DNA from a separate sample of 69 African-Americans, as well as meta-analysis combining both cohorts, was conducted. Two differentially methylated CpG sites in the IGF2BP1 gene on chromosome 17 (cg06638433; p value = 3.10 × 10 - 7 ) and the ABCG1 gene on chromosome 21 (cg06500161; p value = 2.60 × 10 - 8 ) were identified. Results for the ABCG1 gene remained statistically significant in the replication dataset and meta-analysis. Metabolic syndrome was consistently associated with increased methylation in the ABCG1 gene in the discovery and replication datasets, a gene that encodes a protein in the ATP-binding cassette transporter family and is involved in intra- and extra-cellular signaling and lipid transport.

  9. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition disorders among older African Americans: findings from the National Survey of American Life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, Briggett C; Bullard, Kai McKeever; Taylor, Robert Joseph; Toler, Amanda K; Neighbors, Harold W; Jackson, James S

    2007-08-01

    The purpose of this study was to estimate lifetime and 12-month prevalence of 13 psychiatric disorders for older African Americans. Data are from the older African American subsample of the National Survey of American Life. Selected measures of lifetime and 12-month Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) psychiatric disorders were examined (i.e., panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, dysthymia, bipolar I and II disorders, alcohol abuse/dependence, and drug abuse/dependence). Twenty-three percent of older African Americans reported at least one lifetime disorder and 8.54% reported at least one 12-month disorder. Alcohol abuse, PTSD, and major depression were the most prevalent lifetime disorders. The most prevalent 12-month disorders were PTSD, major depression, and social phobia. Age, sex, education, and region were significantly associated with the odds of having a lifetime disorder. This is the first study of prevalence rates of serious mental disorders for older African Americans based on a national sample. Demographic correlates of the prevalence of disorders are discussed with an emphasis on age and regional differences.

  10. Defining Optimal Brain Health in Adults: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorelick, Philip B; Furie, Karen L; Iadecola, Costantino; Smith, Eric E; Waddy, Salina P; Lloyd-Jones, Donald M; Bae, Hee-Joon; Bauman, Mary Ann; Dichgans, Martin; Duncan, Pamela W; Girgus, Meighan; Howard, Virginia J; Lazar, Ronald M; Seshadri, Sudha; Testai, Fernando D; van Gaal, Stephen; Yaffe, Kristine; Wasiak, Hank; Zerna, Charlotte

    2017-10-01

    Cognitive function is an important component of aging and predicts quality of life, functional independence, and risk of institutionalization. Advances in our understanding of the role of cardiovascular risks have shown them to be closely associated with cognitive impairment and dementia. Because many cardiovascular risks are modifiable, it may be possible to maintain brain health and to prevent dementia in later life. The purpose of this American Heart Association (AHA)/American Stroke Association presidential advisory is to provide an initial definition of optimal brain health in adults and guidance on how to maintain brain health. We identify metrics to define optimal brain health in adults based on inclusion of factors that could be measured, monitored, and modified. From these practical considerations, we identified 7 metrics to define optimal brain health in adults that originated from AHA's Life's Simple 7: 4 ideal health behaviors (nonsmoking, physical activity at goal levels, healthy diet consistent with current guideline levels, and body mass index brain health but recognize that the truly ideal circumstance may be uncommon because there is a continuum of brain health as demonstrated by AHA's Life's Simple 7. Therefore, there is opportunity to improve brain health through primordial prevention and other interventions. Furthermore, although cardiovascular risks align well with brain health, we acknowledge that other factors differing from those related to cardiovascular health may drive cognitive health. Defining optimal brain health in adults and its maintenance is consistent with the AHA's Strategic Impact Goal to improve cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% and to reduce deaths resulting from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20% by the year 2020. This work in defining optimal brain health in adults serves to provide the AHA/American Stroke Association with a foundation for a new strategic direction going forward in cardiovascular health

  11. Association of church-sponsored activity participation and prevalence of overweight and obesity in African American Protestants, National Survey of American Life, 2001-2003.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Jerome; Belay, Brook; Park, Sohyun; Onufrak, Stephen; Dietz, William

    2013-01-01

    This study examines the relationships between participation in the African American church and overweight/obesity (body mass index (BMI) > or = 25 kg/m2). This cross-sectional analysis was based on the National Survey of American Life 2001-2003 and included 2,689 African American Protestant (AAP) adults. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for overweight/obesity. Two practices were examined--frequency of participation in church activities (excluding services) and frequency of church service attendance. Each practice was analyzed in separate models. Each model included the following covariates: age, marital status, education, poverty, smoking, and region of country. We also adjusted models for sex. After adjustment, African American Protestant men (AAPM) who participated in church activities at least weekly were more likely to be overweight/obese (aOR=2.17; 95% CI = 1.25, 3.77) compared to AAPM who did not participate in church activities. There was no statistically significant association between overweight/obesity and participation in church activities for AAPW. There was no association between overweight/obesity and attendance of church services for AAP men and women combined. For AAPM, participation in church activities was significantly associated with overweight/obesity. Further studies are required to determine why this association occurs in AAPM but not AAPW. Studies looking at the wider application of the several successful health initiatives targeting the AAP community should also be considered.

  12. Cancer statistics for African Americans, 2016: Progress and opportunities in reducing racial disparities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeSantis, Carol E; Siegel, Rebecca L; Sauer, Ann Goding; Miller, Kimberly D; Fedewa, Stacey A; Alcaraz, Kassandra I; Jemal, Ahmedin

    2016-07-01

    In this article, the American Cancer Society provides the estimated number of new cancer cases and deaths for blacks in the United States and the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, screening, and risk factors for cancer. Incidence data are from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and mortality data are from the National Center for Health Statistics. Approximately 189,910 new cases of cancer and 69,410 cancer deaths will occur among blacks in 2016. Although blacks continue to have higher cancer death rates than whites, the disparity has narrowed for all cancers combined in men and women and for lung and prostate cancers in men. In contrast, the racial gap in death rates has widened for breast cancer in women and remained level for colorectal cancer in men. The reduction in overall cancer death rates since the early 1990s translates to the avoidance of more than 300,000 deaths among blacks. In men, incidence rates from 2003 to 2012 decreased for all cancers combined (by 2.0% per year) as well as for the top 3 cancer sites (prostate, lung, and colorectal). In women, overall rates during the corresponding time period remained unchanged, reflecting increasing trends in breast cancer combined with decreasing trends in lung and colorectal cancer rates. Five-year relative survival is lower for blacks than whites for most cancers at each stage of diagnosis. The extent to which these disparities reflect unequal access to health care versus other factors remains an active area of research. Progress in reducing cancer death rates could be accelerated by ensuring equitable access to prevention, early detection, and high-quality treatment. CA Cancer J Clin 2016;66:290-308. © 2016 American Cancer Society. © 2016 American Cancer Society, Inc.

  13. American Association of Occupational Health Nurses

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Workplace Health & Safety Journal Awards & Recognition Occupational Health Nurses Week Member Discounts Monthly Newsletter Foundation About the ... 1, 2018. The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Inc. is the primary association for the largest ...

  14. Introduction To The Special Section: The American Psychiatric Association's Research Agenda For The DSM-V

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Widiger, Thomas A; Simonsen, Erik

    2005-01-01

    of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This article provides the historical background for and a brief description of the first conference, which was concerned with the research that would help move the field toward a dimensional classification...... of personality disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved) (from the journal abstract)...

  15. Adverse Clinical Outcome Associated With Mutations That Typify African American Colorectal Cancers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Zhenghe; Li, Li; Guda, Kishore; Chen, Zhengyi; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill; Park, Young Soo; Markowitz, Sanford D; Willis, Joseph

    2016-12-01

    African Americans have the highest incidence and mortality from colorectal cancer (CRC) of any US racial group. We recently described a panel of 15 genes that are statistically significantly more likely to be mutated in CRCs from African Americans than in Caucasians (AA-CRC genes). The current study investigated the outcomes associated with these mutations in African American CRCs (AA-CRCs). In a cohort of 66 patients with stage I-III CRCs, eight of 27 CRCs with AA-CRC gene mutations (Mut+) developed metastatic disease vs only four of 39 mutation-negative (Mut-) cases (P = .03, Cox regression model with two-sided Wald test). Moreover, among stage III cases (n = 33), Mut+ cancers were nearly three times more likely to relapse as Mut- cases (7 of 15 Mut+ vs 3 of 18 Mut-; P = .03, Cox regression model with two-sided Wald test). AA-CRC mutations may thus define a high-risk subset of CRCs that contributes to the overall disparity in CRC outcomes observed in African Americans. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  16. American Association Of State Climatologists

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Records documenting the business, membership, and meetings of the American Association of State Climatologists, from 1976-92. Material donated in 2008 by the estate...

  17. Gene-level association analysis of systemic sclerosis: A comparison of African-Americans and White populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorlova, Olga Y; Li, Yafang; Gorlov, Ivan; Ying, Jun; Chen, Wei V; Assassi, Shervin; Reveille, John D; Arnett, Frank C; Zhou, Xiaodong; Bossini-Castillo, Lara; Lopez-Isac, Elena; Acosta-Herrera, Marialbert; Gregersen, Peter K; Lee, Annette T; Steen, Virginia D; Fessler, Barri J; Khanna, Dinesh; Schiopu, Elena; Silver, Richard M; Molitor, Jerry A; Furst, Daniel E; Kafaja, Suzanne; Simms, Robert W; Lafyatis, Robert A; Carreira, Patricia; Simeon, Carmen Pilar; Castellvi, Ivan; Beltran, Emma; Ortego, Norberto; Amos, Christopher I; Martin, Javier; Mayes, Maureen D

    2018-01-01

    Gene-level analysis of ImmunoChip or genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data has not been previously reported for systemic sclerosis (SSc, scleroderma). The objective of this study was to analyze genetic susceptibility loci in SSc at the gene level and to determine if the detected associations were shared in African-American and White populations, using data from ImmunoChip and GWAS genotyping studies. The White sample included 1833 cases and 3466 controls (956 cases and 2741 controls from the US and 877 cases and 725 controls from Spain) and the African American sample, 291 cases and 260 controls. In both Whites and African Americans, we performed a gene-level analysis that integrates association statistics in a gene possibly harboring multiple SNPs with weak effect on disease risk, using Versatile Gene-based Association Study (VEGAS) software. The SNP-level analysis was performed using PLINK v.1.07. We identified 4 novel candidate genes (STAT1, FCGR2C, NIPSNAP3B, and SCT) significantly associated and 4 genes (SERBP1, PINX1, TMEM175 and EXOC2) suggestively associated with SSc in the gene level analysis in White patients. As an exploratory analysis we compared the results on Whites with those from African Americans. Of previously established susceptibility genes identified in Whites, only TNFAIP3 was significant at the nominal level (p = 6.13x10-3) in African Americans in the gene-level analysis of the ImmunoChip data. Among the top suggestive novel genes identified in Whites based on the ImmunoChip data, FCGR2C and PINX1 were only nominally significant in African Americans (p = 0.016 and p = 0.028, respectively), while among the top novel genes identified in the gene-level analysis in African Americans, UNC5C (p = 5.57x10-4) and CLEC16A (p = 0.0463) were also nominally significant in Whites. We also present the gene-level analysis of SSc clinical and autoantibody phenotypes among Whites. Our findings need to be validated by independent studies, particularly

  18. Evaluating and Reporting Statistical Power in Counseling Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balkin, Richard S.; Sheperis, Carl J.

    2011-01-01

    Despite recommendations from the "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" (6th ed.) to include information on statistical power when publishing quantitative results, authors seldom include analysis or discussion of statistical power. The rationale for discussing statistical power is addressed, approaches to using "G*Power" to…

  19. 688,112 statistical results : Content mining psychology articles for statistical test results

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartgerink, C.H.J.

    2016-01-01

    In this data deposit, I describe a dataset that is the result of content mining 167,318 published articles for statistical test results reported according to the standards prescribed by the American Psychological Association (APA). Articles published by the APA, Springer, Sage, and Taylor & Francis

  20. Degree of European Genetic Ancestry is Associated with Serum Vitamin D Levelsin African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haddad, Stephen A; Ruiz-Narváez, Edward A; Cozier, Yvette C; Gerlovin, Hanna; Rosenberg, Lynn; Palmer, Julie R

    2018-01-30

    Circulating levels of vitamin D are generally lower in African Americans compared to U.S. whites, and one prior analysis in a small number of African Americans suggested that, within this population, vitamin D levels may be related to the degree of genetic admixture. We assessed the association of percent European ancestry with serum vitamin D levels in 2183 African American women from the Black Women's Health Study in 2013-2015, whose DNA had been genotyped for ancestry informative markers. ADMIXMAP software was used to estimate percent European versus African ancestry in each individual. In linear regression analyses with adjustment for genotype batch, age, body mass index, supplemental vitamin D use, UVB flux in state of residence, and season of blood draw, each 10% increase in European ancestry was associated with a 0.672 ng/mL increase in serum vitamin D concentration (95% confidence interval 0.173, 1.170). The association was statistically significant only among women who were not taking vitamin D supplements (beta coefficient for 10% increase in European ancestry 0.855, 95% confidence interval 0.139, 1.571). Among African Americans, use of vitamin D supplementation may help to reduce vitamin D deficiency due to genetic ancestry. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. The Role of Statistics in Business and Industry

    CERN Document Server

    Hahn, Gerald J

    2011-01-01

    An insightful guide to the use of statistics for solving key problems in modern-day business and industry This book has been awarded the Technometrics Ziegel Prize for the best book reviewed by the journal in 2010. Technometrics is a journal of statistics for the physical, chemical and engineering sciences, published jointly by the American Society for Quality and the American Statistical Association. Criteria for the award include that the book brings together in one volume a body of material previously only available in scattered research articles and having the potential to significantly im

  2. Factors associated with smoking in Asian American adults: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jing; Wang, Zhongmiao

    2008-05-01

    This review systematically examined the factors associated with smoking in Asian American adults (aged > or =17 years). A total of 21 quantitative studies published in peer-reviewed journals from 1997 to 2006 were reviewed and abstracted using the matrix method. Statistically significant factors reported by the studies were summarized. Methodological quality of the studies also was assessed (maximum possible score = 10). Acculturation and education were the most frequently reported factors (n = 10, 47.6%). Acculturation was negatively associated with men's smoking but was positively associated with women's smoking. Education was uniformly found to be negatively related to smoking. Age was reported to have either a positive or a negative relationship with smoking (n = 9, 42.9%). Men were more likely to smoke than women (n = 7, 33.3%). The mean methodological score of the reviewed studies was 4.14 (on a scale of 1-10 points; SD = 1.62; range = 2-8). Health promotion professionals need to consider the summarized factors associated with Asian American adults' smoking behavior when planning smoking prevention programs and when recruiting participants for smoking cessation programs. When addressing acculturation, program planners should design different health education materials and use different strategies for men and women. To identify, understand, and incorporate essential factors into effective interventions, future studies should aim at higher methodological quality by using longitudinal design and increasing the use of theory, the test of data validity and reliability, and the report of effect sizes.

  3. The IPA and the American Psychoanalytic Association: a perspective on the regional association agreement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallerstein, R S

    1998-06-01

    Ever since 1938 the American Psychoanalytic Association has had a special autonomous relationship within the IPA accorded to no other component organisation. This Regional Association status has had two main features: (1) total internal control over training standards and membership criteria, with no accountability to the IPA; and (2) an 'exclusive franchise', so that the IPA was barred from recognising any other component within the United States. This unique Regional Association status reflected the resolution at the time (1938) of the long-standing controversy between the IPA and the American over the issue of 'lay analysis', and remained unaltered for half a century until, with the resolution of the 3 1/2-year long law-suit against the American (and secondarily against the IPA) in 1988, the Regional Association agreement was modified (but not totally abrogated) by the American's giving up the 'exclusive franchise' aspect (thus permitting IPA recognition of psychoanalytic groups in the US organised outside the American), but still retaining its internal full control over training and membership. The meanings and consequences for psychoanalysis of this special status of the American are explored.

  4. Hyperthyroidism and other causes of thyrotoxicosis: management guidelines of the American Thyroid Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahn, Rebecca S; Burch, Henry B; Cooper, David S; Garber, Jeffrey R; Greenlee, M Carol; Klein, Irwin; Laurberg, Peter; McDougall, I Ross; Montori, Victor M; Rivkees, Scott A; Ross, Douglas S; Sosa, Julie Ann; Stan, Marius N

    2011-01-01

    Thyrotoxicosis has multiple etiologies, manifestations, and potential therapies. Appropriate treatment requires an accurate diagnosis and is influenced by coexisting medical conditions and patient preference. This article describes evidence-based clinical guidelines for the management of thyrotoxicosis that would be useful to generalist and subspeciality physicians and others providing care for patients with this condition. The development of these guidelines was commissioned by the American Thyroid Association in association with the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. The American Thyroid Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists assembled a task force of expert clinicians who authored this report. The task force examined relevant literature using a systematic PubMed search supplemented with additional published materials. An evidence-based medicine approach that incorporated the knowledge and experience of the panel was used to develop the text and a series of specific recommendations. The strength of the recommendations and the quality of evidence supporting each was rated according to the approach recommended by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation Group. Clinical topics addressed include the initial evaluation and management of thyrotoxicosis; management of Graves' hyperthyroidism using radioactive iodine, antithyroid drugs, or surgery; management of toxic multinodular goiter or toxic adenoma using radioactive iodine or surgery; Graves' disease in children, adolescents, or pregnant patients; subclinical hyperthyroidism; hyperthyroidism in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy; and management of other miscellaneous causes of thyrotoxicosis. One hundred evidence-based recommendations were developed to aid in the care of patients with thyrotoxicosis and to share what the task force believes is current, rational, and optimal medical practice.

  5. Are Nutrition Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs Associated with Obesity among Low-Income Hispanic and African American Women Caretakers?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene Acheampong

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The purposes of this descriptive study were to (1 describe nutrition knowledge, attitudes, beliefs (KAB, and self-efficacy among low-income African American and Hispanic women; (2 identify the associations these variables have on diet quality and weight status; (3 identify barriers to healthy eating. Data from three separate studies were combined and analyzed. The total sample included African Americans ( and Hispanics (. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were used to identify associations between KAB and body mass index (BMI and diet quality. The majority of African Americans had good knowledge in nutrition while Hispanics had fair knowledge. Attitudes toward eating a healthy diet were significantly associated with high fiber intake among African Americans and low fat consumption among Hispanics. A computed KAB score showed no significant relation to individuals' weight status or diet quality. However, attitudes and beliefs about healthy foods strongly correlated with participants' weight or diet consumption among Hispanics. The most common barrier to consuming a healthy diet reported by both groups was the cost of healthy foods. It is therefore recommended to address these variables when addressing obesity and poor dietary intake among low-income minority groups.

  6. Statistics in the 21st century

    CERN Document Server

    Wells, Martin T; Wells, Martin T

    2001-01-01

    Exactly what is the state of the art in statistics as we move forward into the 21st century? What promises, what trends does its future hold? Through the reflections of 70 of the world's leading statistical methodologists, researchers, theorists, and practitioners, Statistics in the 21st Century answers those questions. Originally published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, this collection of vignettes examines our statistical past, comments on our present, and speculates on our future. Although the coverage is broad and the topics diverse, it reveals the essential intell

  7. Decomposing associations between acculturation and drinking in Mexican Americans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mills, Britain A.; Caetano, Raul

    2011-01-01

    Background Acculturation to life in the United States is a known predictor of Hispanic drinking behavior. We compare the ability of 2 theoretical models of this effect – sociocultural theory and general stress theory – to account for associations between acculturation and drinking in a sample of Mexican Americans. Limitations of previous evaluations of these theoretical models are addressed by using a broader range of hypothesized cognitive mediators and a more direct measure of acculturative stress. In addition, we explore nonlinearities as possible underpinnings of attenuated acculturation effects among males. Methods Respondents (N = 2,595, current drinker N = 1,351) were interviewed as part of 2 recent multistage probability samples in a study of drinking behavior among Mexican Americans in the United States. The ability of norms, drinking motives, alcohol expectancies, and acculturation stress to account for relations between acculturation and drinking outcomes (volume and heavy drinking days) were assessed with a hierarchical linear regression strategy. Nonlinear trends were assessed by modeling quadratic effects of acculturation and acculturation stress on cognitive mediators and drinking outcomes. Results Consistent with previous findings, acculturation effects on drinking outcomes were stronger for females than males. Among females, only drinking motives explained acculturation associations with volume or heavy drinking days. Among males, acculturation was linked to increases in norms, and norms were positive predictors of drinking outcomes. However, adjusted effects of acculturation were non-existent or trending in a negative direction, which counter-acted this indirect normative influence. Acculturation stress did not explain positive associations between acculturation and drinking. Conclusions Stress and alcohol outcome expectancies play little role in the positive linear association between acculturation and drinking outcomes, but drinking motives

  8. Decomposing associations between acculturation and drinking in Mexican Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mills, Britain A; Caetano, Raul

    2012-07-01

    Acculturation to life in the United States is a known predictor of Hispanic drinking behavior. We compare the ability of 2 theoretical models of this effect-sociocultural theory and general stress theory-to account for associations between acculturation and drinking in a sample of Mexican Americans. Limitations of previous evaluations of these theoretical models are addressed using a broader range of hypothesized cognitive mediators and a more direct measure of acculturative stress. In addition, we explore nonlinearities as possible underpinnings of attenuated acculturation effects among men. Respondents (N = 2,595, current drinker N = 1,351) were interviewed as part of 2 recent multistage probability samples in a study of drinking behavior among Mexican Americans in the United States. The ability of norms, drinking motives, alcohol expectancies, and acculturation stress to account for relations between acculturation and drinking outcomes (volume and heavy drinking days) were assessed with a hierarchical linear regression strategy. Nonlinear trends were assessed by modeling quadratic effects of acculturation and acculturation stress on cognitive mediators and drinking outcomes. Consistent with previous findings, acculturation effects on drinking outcomes were stronger for women than men. Among women, only drinking motives explained acculturation associations with volume or heavy drinking days. Among men, acculturation was linked to increases in norms, and norms were positive predictors of drinking outcomes. However, adjusted effects of acculturation were nonexistent or trending in a negative direction, which counteracted this indirect normative influence. Acculturation stress did not explain the positive associations between acculturation and drinking. Stress and alcohol outcome expectancies play little role in the positive linear association between acculturation and drinking outcomes, but drinking motives appear to at least partially account for this effect

  9. Association between recognizing dementia as a mental illness and dementia knowledge among elderly Chinese Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Xin; Woo, Benjamin K P

    2016-06-22

    To investigate whether older Chinese Americans perceive dementia as a mental illness and the relationship between such perception and their general understanding of dementia remains unclear. Our study aims to understand this relationship and its future implication on improving dementia literacy among ethnic minorities. Elderly Chinese American participants from the Greater Los Angeles were asked to complete an 11-item dementia questionnaire, following a community health seminar. Cross-sectional survey data was analyzed using standard statistical methods. The questionnaire received an 88.3% response rate. Among 316 responders, only 28.8% (n = 91) of elderly Chinese Americans identified dementia as a mental illness, and 71.2% (n = 225) did not recognize its mental disease origin. Furthermore, in comparison between these two groups, the first group demonstrated significantly higher level of baseline knowledge of the disease. This study reveals that only approximately 1 out of 4 older Chinese Americans recognized dementia as a mental illness, consistent with previous studies on Asian Americans. Our study however showed that when dementia was being perceived as a mental illness, such perception was associated with a higher level of baseline dementia understanding. The current study suggested the potential of improving older Chinese Americans dementia literacy by increasing awareness of its mental illness origin.

  10. Ageism and Body Esteem: Associations With Psychological Well-Being Among Late Middle-Aged African American and European American Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    Objectives. Social expectancy theory posits that cultural values shape how individuals perceive and evaluate others, and this influences how others evaluate themselves. Based on this theory, ageism may shape older individuals’ self-evaluations. Given the cultural focus on beauty and youth, perceptions of age discrimination may be associated with lower body esteem, and this may be associated with poor psychological well-being. Because discrimination has been associated with poor health, and perceptions of health can affect body perceptions, subjective health status may also contribute to lower body esteem. Method. These associations are assessed in a structural equation model for 244 African American and European American women in their early 60s. Results. Perceptions of age discrimination and body esteem were associated with lower psychological well-being for both ethnic groups. Body esteem partially mediated the association between age discrimination and psychological well-being among European American women but not among African American women. Discussion. Age-related discrimination is one source of psychological distress for older adults, though ageism’s associations with body esteem, health, and psychological well-being vary significantly for European American and African American women. Examining body perceptions and health in the contexts of ageism and ethnicity is necessary when considering the psychological well-being of older women. PMID:24013801

  11. The Prevalence of English Monolingualism and Its Association with Generational Status among Hmong Americans, 2005-2009

    OpenAIRE

    Yang Sao Xiong; Nao Xiong

    2011-01-01

    Using the American Community Survey's multi-year (2005-2009) Public Use Microdata Sample, we estimate the prevalence of English monolingualism and statistically analyze the association between English monolingualism and generational status within the U.S. Hmong population. Our findings show that the odds of speaking only English among the second generation is almost three times more compared to the first generation. Data from the 2009 ACS PUMS further indicate that there is a linear an...

  12. Cardiovascular Health in African Americans: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnethon, Mercedes R; Pu, Jia; Howard, George; Albert, Michelle A; Anderson, Cheryl A M; Bertoni, Alain G; Mujahid, Mahasin S; Palaniappan, Latha; Taylor, Herman A; Willis, Monte; Yancy, Clyde W

    2017-11-21

    Population-wide reductions in cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality have not been shared equally by African Americans. The burden of cardiovascular disease in the African American community remains high and is a primary cause of disparities in life expectancy between African Americans and whites. The objectives of the present scientific statement are to describe cardiovascular health in African Americans and to highlight unique considerations for disease prevention and management. The primary sources of information were identified with PubMed/Medline and online sources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The higher prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors (eg, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk) underlies the relatively earlier age of onset of cardiovascular diseases among African Americans. Hypertension in particular is highly prevalent among African Americans and contributes directly to the notable disparities in stroke, heart failure, and peripheral artery disease among African Americans. Despite the availability of effective pharmacotherapies and indications for some tailored pharmacotherapies for African Americans (eg, heart failure medications), disease management is less effective among African Americans, yielding higher mortality. Explanations for these persistent disparities in cardiovascular disease are multifactorial and span from the individual level to the social environment. The strategies needed to promote equity in the cardiovascular health of African Americans require input from a broad set of stakeholders, including clinicians and researchers from across multiple disciplines. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  13. [Cardiovascular disease prevention in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus according to the recent statement from the American Heart Association/American Diabetes Association].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avogaro, Angelo

    2016-03-01

    There is a clear epidemiologic association between glycemic control and cardiovascular disease. There is strong evidence of a microvascular benefit by lowering glycated hemoglobin diabetic patients, to control all major cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. These risk factors, easily measurable, account for 90% of acute myocardial infarction. In this review, the update on prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus from the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association is discussed and commented.

  14. Understanding the Sampling Distribution and Its Use in Testing Statistical Significance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breunig, Nancy A.

    Despite the increasing criticism of statistical significance testing by researchers, particularly in the publication of the 1994 American Psychological Association's style manual, statistical significance test results are still popular in journal articles. For this reason, it remains important to understand the logic of inferential statistics. A…

  15. Non-replication study of a genome-wide association study for hypertension and blood pressure in African Americans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kidambi Srividya

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A recent genome wide association study in 1017 African Americans identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms that reached genome-wide significance for systolic blood pressure. We attempted to replicate these findings in an independent sample of 2474 unrelated African Americans in the Milwaukee metropolitan area; 53% were women and 47% were hypertensives. Methods We evaluated sixteen top associated SNPs from the above genome wide association study for hypertension as a binary trait or blood pressure as a continuous trait. In addition, we evaluated eight single nucleotide polymorphisms located in two genes (STK-39 and CDH-13 found to be associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressures by other genome wide association studies in European and Amish populations. TaqMan MGB-based chemistry with fluorescent probes was used for genotyping. We had an adequate sample size (80% power to detect an effect size of 1.2-2.0 for all the single nucleotide polymorphisms for hypertension as a binary trait, and 1% variance in blood pressure as a continuous trait. Quantitative trait analyses were performed both by excluding and also by including subjects on anti-hypertensive therapy (after adjustments were made for anti-hypertensive medications. Results For all 24 SNPs, no statistically significant differences were noted in the minor allele frequencies between cases and controls. One SNP (rs2146204 showed borderline association (p = 0.006 with hypertension status using recessive model and systolic blood pressure (p = 0.02, but was not significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons. In quantitative trait analyses, among normotensives only, rs12748299 was associated with SBP (p = 0.002. In addition, several nominally significant associations were noted with SBP and DBP among normotensives but none were statistically significant. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of replication to confirm the validity of genome wide

  16. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY POSITION STATEMENT ON THE ASSOCIATION OF SGLT-2 INHIBITORS AND DIABETIC KETOACIDOSIS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Handelsman, Yehuda; Henry, Robert R; Bloomgarden, Zachary T; Dagogo-Jack, Sam; DeFronzo, Ralph A; Einhorn, Daniel; Ferrannini, Ele; Fonseca, Vivian A; Garber, Alan J; Grunberger, George; LeRoith, Derek; Umpierrez, Guillermo E; Weir, Matthew R

    2016-06-01

    AACE = American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists ACE = American College of Endocrinology DKA = diabetic ketoacidosis EMA = European Medicines Agency FDA = U.S. Food and Drug Administration SGLT-2 = sodium glucosecotransporter 2 T1D = type 1 diabetes T2D = type 2 diabetes.

  17. Post electrical or lightning injury syndrome: a proposal for an American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual formulation with implications for treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, Christopher J; Reisner, Andrew D; Cooper, Mary Ann

    2017-09-01

    In the past, victims of electrical and lightning injuries have been assessed in a manner lacking a systematic formulation, and against ad hoc criteria, particularly in the area of neuropsychological disability. In this manner patients have, for example, only been partially treated, been poorly or incorrectly diagnosed, and have been denied the full benefit of compensation for their injuries. This paper contains a proposal for diagnostic criteria particularly for the neuropsychological aspects of the post injury syndrome. It pays attention to widely published consistent descriptions of the syndrome, and a new cluster analysis of post electrical injury patients. It formulates a proposal which could be incorporated into future editions of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). The major neuropsychological consequences include neurocognitive dysfunction, and memory subgroup dysfunction, with ongoing consequences, and sometimes including progressive or delayed psychiatric, cognitive, and/or neurological symptoms. The proposed diagnostic criteria insist on a demonstrated context for the injury, both specifying the shock circumstance, and also physical consequences. It allows for a certain delay in onset of symptoms. It recognizes exclusory conditions. The outcome is a proposal for a DSM classification for the post electrical or lightning injury syndrome. This proposal is considered important for grounding patient treatment, and for further treatment trials. Options for treatment in electrical or lightning injury are summarised, and future trials are foreshadowed.

  18. Self-objectification and depressive symptoms: does their association vary among Asian American and White American men and women?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grabe, Shelly; Jackson, Benita

    2009-03-01

    Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) posits that viewing one's body as an object - i.e., self-objectification - increases depressive symptomatology. Though a handful of studies to date have found self-objectification and depressive symptoms correlated among White American women, few studies have examined whether this finding generalizes to other social groups. We examine whether self-objectification and depressive symptoms are associated among Asian Americans and White Americans in a college sample of women and men (N=169). Self-objectification and depressive symptoms were positively associated among White American women but not among White American men or Asian American men or women. These data suggest the parameters of Objectification Theory are circumscribed by both race/ethnicity and gender and self-objectification may put White women, in particular, at risk for depressive symptoms.

  19. Statistical analysis and data management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1981-01-01

    This report provides an overview of the history of the WIPP Biology Program. The recommendations of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) for the WIPP biology program are summarized. The data sets available for statistical analyses and problems associated with these data sets are also summarized. Biological studies base maps are presented. A statistical model is presented to evaluate any correlation between climatological data and small mammal captures. No statistically significant relationship between variance in small mammal captures on Dr. Gennaro's 90m x 90m grid and precipitation records from the Duval Potash Mine were found

  20. Statistics in the pharmacy literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Charlene M; Soin, Herpreet K; Einarson, Thomas R

    2004-09-01

    Research in statistical methods is essential for maintenance of high quality of the published literature. To update previous reports of the types and frequencies of statistical terms and procedures in research studies of selected professional pharmacy journals. We obtained all research articles published in 2001 in 6 journals: American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, Formulary, Hospital Pharmacy, and Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association. Two independent reviewers identified and recorded descriptive and inferential statistical terms/procedures found in the methods, results, and discussion sections of each article. Results were determined by tallying the total number of times, as well as the percentage, that each statistical term or procedure appeared in the articles. One hundred forty-four articles were included. Ninety-eight percent employed descriptive statistics; of these, 28% used only descriptive statistics. The most common descriptive statistical terms were percentage (90%), mean (74%), standard deviation (58%), and range (46%). Sixty-nine percent of the articles used inferential statistics, the most frequent being chi(2) (33%), Student's t-test (26%), Pearson's correlation coefficient r (18%), ANOVA (14%), and logistic regression (11%). Statistical terms and procedures were found in nearly all of the research articles published in pharmacy journals. Thus, pharmacy education should aim to provide current and future pharmacists with an understanding of the common statistical terms and procedures identified to facilitate the appropriate appraisal and consequential utilization of the information available in research articles.

  1. Ageism and body esteem: associations with psychological well-being among late middle-aged African American and European American women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabik, Natalie J

    2015-03-01

    Social expectancy theory posits that cultural values shape how individuals perceive and evaluate others, and this influences how others evaluate themselves. Based on this theory, ageism may shape older individuals' self-evaluations. Given the cultural focus on beauty and youth, perceptions of age discrimination may be associated with lower body esteem, and this may be associated with poor psychological well-being. Because discrimination has been associated with poor health, and perceptions of health can affect body perceptions, subjective health status may also contribute to lower body esteem. These associations are assessed in a structural equation model for 244 African American and European American women in their early 60s. Perceptions of age discrimination and body esteem were associated with lower psychological well-being for both ethnic groups. Body esteem partially mediated the association between age discrimination and psychological well-being among European American women but not among African American women. Age-related discrimination is one source of psychological distress for older adults, though ageism's associations with body esteem, health, and psychological well-being vary significantly for European American and African American women. Examining body perceptions and health in the contexts of ageism and ethnicity is necessary when considering the psychological well-being of older women. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  2. Breastfeeding associated with higher lung function in African American youths with asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Sam S; Du, Randal; Zeiger, Andrew M; McGarry, Meghan E; Hu, Donglei; Thakur, Neeta; Pino-Yanes, Maria; Galanter, Joshua M; Eng, Celeste; Nishimura, Katherine Keiko; Huntsman, Scott; Farber, Harold J; Meade, Kelley; Avila, Pedro; Serebrisky, Denise; Bibbins-Domingo, Kirsten; Lenoir, Michael A; Ford, Jean G; Brigino-Buenaventura, Emerita; Rodriguez-Cintron, William; Thyne, Shannon M; Sen, Saunak; Rodriguez-Santana, Jose R; Williams, Keoki; Kumar, Rajesh; Burchard, Esteban G

    2017-10-01

    In the United States, Puerto Ricans and African Americans have lower prevalence of breastfeeding and worse clinical outcomes for asthma compared with other racial/ethnic groups. We hypothesize that the history of breastfeeding is associated with increased forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ) % predicted and reduced asthma exacerbations in Latino and African American youths with asthma. As part of the Genes-environments & Admixture in Latino Americans (GALA II) Study and the Study of African Americans, asthma, Genes & Environments (SAGE II), we conducted case-only analyses in children and adolescents aged 8-21 years with asthma from four different racial/ethnic groups: African Americans (n = 426), Mexican Americans (n = 424), mixed/other Latinos (n = 255), and Puerto Ricans (n = 629). We investigated the association between any breastfeeding in infancy and FEV 1 % predicted using multivariable linear regression; Poisson regression was used to determine the association between breastfeeding and asthma exacerbations. Prevalence of breastfeeding was lower in African Americans (59.4%) and Puerto Ricans (54.9%) compared to Mexican Americans (76.2%) and mixed/other Latinos (66.9%; p asthma exacerbations (p = 0.03) in African Americans only. Breastfeeding was associated with higher FEV 1 % predicted in asthma and reduced number of asthma exacerbations in African American youths, calling attention to continued support for breastfeeding.

  3. Association between haptoglobin gene and insulin resistance in Arab-Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burghardt, Kyle J; Masri, Dana El; Dass, Sabrina E; Shikwana, Sara S; Jaber, Linda A

    2017-11-01

    To analyze associations between variation in the HP gene and lipid and glucose-related measures in Arab-Americans. Secondary analyses were performed based on sex. Genomic DNA was extracted from samples obtained from a previous epidemiological study of diabetes in Arab-Americans. The HP 1 and 2 alleles were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction and gel electrophoresis. Associations were analyzed by linear regression. Associations were identified between the heterozygous haptoglobin 2-1 genotype and insulin resistance, fasting insulin and fasting c-peptide. The effect of sex did not remain significant after adjustment for relevant variables. HP genetic variation may have utility as a biomarker of insulin resistance and diabetes risk in Arab-Americans, however, future prospective studies are needed.

  4. Data on genetic associations of carotid atherosclerosis markers in Mexican American and European American rheumatoid arthritis subjects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rector Arya

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Carotid Intima-media thickness (CIMT and plaque are well established markers of subclinical atherosclerosis and are widely used for identifying subclinical atherosclerotic disease. We performed association analyses using Metabochip array to identify genetic variants that influence variation in CIMT and plaque, measured using B-mode ultrasonography, in rheumatoid arthritis (RA patients. Data on genetic associations of common variants associated with both CIMT and plaque in RA subjects involving Mexican Americans (MA and European Americans (EA populations are presented in this article. Strong associations were observed after adjusting for covariate effects including baseline clinical characteristics and statin use. Susceptibility loci and genes and/or nearest genes associated with CIMT in MAs and EAs with RA are presented. In addition, common susceptibility loci influencing CIMT and plaque in both MAs and EAs have been presented. Polygenic Risk Score (PRS plots showing complementary evidence for the observed CIMT and plaque association signals are also shown in this article. For further interpretation and details, please see the research article titled “A Genetic Association Study of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (CIMT and Plaque in Mexican Americans and European Americans with Rheumatoid Arthritis” which is being published in Atherosclerosis (Arya et al., 2018 [1].(Arya et al., in press Thus, common variants in several genes exhibited significant associations with CIMT and plaque in both MAs and EAs as presented in this article. These findings may help understand the genetic architecture of subclinical atherosclerosis in RA populations.

  5. American Evaluation Association Guiding Principles for Evaluators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2009-01-18

    Five principles developed by American Evaluation Associ intended to guide professional practice of evaluators & to inform evaluation clients and the general public about principles they can expect to be upheld by professional evaluators.

  6. Statistically-Estimated Tree Composition for the Northeastern United States at Euro-American Settlement.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher J Paciorek

    Full Text Available We present a gridded 8 km-resolution data product of the estimated composition of tree taxa at the time of Euro-American settlement of the northeastern United States and the statistical methodology used to produce the product from trees recorded by land surveyors. Composition is defined as the proportion of stems larger than approximately 20 cm diameter at breast height for 22 tree taxa, generally at the genus level. The data come from settlement-era public survey records that are transcribed and then aggregated spatially, giving count data. The domain is divided into two regions, eastern (Maine to Ohio and midwestern (Indiana to Minnesota. Public Land Survey point data in the midwestern region (ca. 0.8-km resolution are aggregated to a regular 8 km grid, while data in the eastern region, from Town Proprietor Surveys, are aggregated at the township level in irregularly-shaped local administrative units. The product is based on a Bayesian statistical model fit to the count data that estimates composition on the 8 km grid across the entire domain. The statistical model is designed to handle data from both the regular grid and the irregularly-shaped townships and allows us to estimate composition at locations with no data and to smooth over noise caused by limited counts in locations with data. Critically, the model also allows us to quantify uncertainty in our composition estimates, making the product suitable for applications employing data assimilation. We expect this data product to be useful for understanding the state of vegetation in the northeastern United States prior to large-scale Euro-American settlement. In addition to specific regional questions, the data product can also serve as a baseline against which to investigate how forests and ecosystems change after intensive settlement. The data product is being made available at the NIS data portal as version 1.0.

  7. American Psychological Association: Annual Report, 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Psychologist, 2009

    2009-01-01

    This article presents the 2008 annual reports from the various directorates and offices of the American Psychological Association (APA). In 2008, APA continued to work on initiatives, programs, and products that lend value to the member's psychology career, support the future of their discipline, and serve the public. APA's goal is to strengthen…

  8. Cultural Dysthymia: An Unrecognized Disorder among African Americans?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vontress, Clemmont E.; Woodland, Calvin E.; Epp, Lawrence

    2007-01-01

    Many African Americans experience low-grade depression, referred to as dysthymia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). After more than 250 years of enslavement, prejudice, and discrimination, dysthymia is reflected in chronic low-grade sadness, anger, hostility,…

  9. 2005 Annual Report of the American Psychological Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Psychologist, 2006

    2006-01-01

    This annual report of the American Psychological Association (APA) describes the association's activities and accomplishments in 2005. The examples provided in this report are a small sampling of all that APA is doing to advance the discipline of psychology in an ever-changing world.

  10. How to construct the statistic network? An association network of herbaceous

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    WenJun Zhang

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available In present study I defined a new type of network, the statistic network. The statistic network is a weighted and non-deterministic network. In the statistic network, a connection value, i.e., connection weight, represents connection strength and connection likelihood between two nodes and its absolute value falls in the interval (0,1]. The connection value is expressed as a statistical measure such as correlation coefficient, association coefficient, or Jaccard coefficient, etc. In addition, all connections of the statistic network can be statistically tested for their validity. A connection is true if the connection value is statistically significant. If all connection values of a node are not statistically significant, it is an isolated node. An isolated node has not any connection to other nodes in the statistic network. Positive and negative connection values denote distinct connectiontypes (positive or negative association or interaction. In the statistic network, two nodes with the greater connection value will show more similar trend in the change of their states. At any time we can obtain a sample network of the statistic network. A sample network is a non-weighted and deterministic network. Thestatistic network, in particular the plant association network that constructed from field sampling, is mostly an information network. Most of the interspecific relationships in plant community are competition and cooperation. Therefore in comparison to animal networks, the methodology of statistic network is moresuitable to construct plant association networks. Some conclusions were drawn from this study: (1 in the plant association network, most connections are weak and positive interactions. The association network constructed from Spearman rank correlation has most connections and isolated taxa are fewer. From net linear correlation,linear correlation, to Spearman rank correlation, the practical number of connections and connectance in the

  11. Obesity-Associated Hypertension: the Upcoming Phenotype in African-American Women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samson, Rohan; Qi, Andrea; Jaiswal, Abhishek; Le Jemtel, Thierry H; Oparil, Suzanne

    2017-05-01

    The present obesity epidemic particularly affects African-American women. Whether the obesity epidemic will alter the hypertension phenotype in African-American women is entertained. The prevalence of morbid obesity is steadily increasing in African-American women, who are prone to developing hypertension (HTN) even in the absence of obesity. The obesity-associated hypertension phenotype is characterized by marked sympathetic nervous system activation and resistance/refractoriness to antihypertensive therapy. Weight loss achieved through lifestyle interventions and pharmacotherapy has a modest and rarely sustained antihypertensive effect. In contrast, bariatric surgery has a sustained antihypertensive effect, as evidenced by normalization of hypertension or lessening of antihypertensive therapy. The prevalence of HTN and its obesity-associated phenotype is likely to increase in African-American women over the next decades. Obese African-American women may be increasingly referred for bariatric surgery when hypertension remains uncontrolled despite lifestyle interventions and pharmacological therapy for weight loss and blood pressure (BP) control.

  12. A robust statistical method for association-based eQTL analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ning Jiang

    Full Text Available It has been well established that theoretical kernel for recently surging genome-wide association study (GWAS is statistical inference of linkage disequilibrium (LD between a tested genetic marker and a putative locus affecting a disease trait. However, LD analysis is vulnerable to several confounding factors of which population stratification is the most prominent. Whilst many methods have been proposed to correct for the influence either through predicting the structure parameters or correcting inflation in the test statistic due to the stratification, these may not be feasible or may impose further statistical problems in practical implementation.We propose here a novel statistical method to control spurious LD in GWAS from population structure by incorporating a control marker into testing for significance of genetic association of a polymorphic marker with phenotypic variation of a complex trait. The method avoids the need of structure prediction which may be infeasible or inadequate in practice and accounts properly for a varying effect of population stratification on different regions of the genome under study. Utility and statistical properties of the new method were tested through an intensive computer simulation study and an association-based genome-wide mapping of expression quantitative trait loci in genetically divergent human populations.The analyses show that the new method confers an improved statistical power for detecting genuine genetic association in subpopulations and an effective control of spurious associations stemmed from population structure when compared with other two popularly implemented methods in the literature of GWAS.

  13. 2010 Annual Report of the American Psychological Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Psychologist, 2011

    2011-01-01

    This report presents the 2010 annual report of the American Psychological Association (APA). It provides the highlights of the association's and individual directorate's activities to APA members. APA continued its efforts to advance psychological practice and ensure the public's access to high-quality psychological services, apply psychological…

  14. Evaluating the American Nurses Association's arguments against nurse participation in assisted suicide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogelstein, Eric

    2017-01-01

    This discussion paper critically assesses the American Nurses Association's stated arguments against nurse participation in assisted suicide, as found in its current (2013) position statement. Seven distinct arguments can be gleaned from the American Nurses Association's statement, based on (1) the American Nurses Association's Code of Ethics with Interpretive Statements and its injunction against nurses acting with the sole intent to end life, (2) the risks of abuse and misuse of assisted suicide, (3) nursing's social contract or covenant with society, (4) the contention that nurses must not harm their patients, (5) the sanctity of life, (6) the traditions of nursing, and (7) the fundamental goals of nursing. Each of these arguments is evaluated, and none are found to be convincing. This is crucial because the American Nurses Association's official stance on nurse participation in assisted suicide can have significant consequences for the well-being of nurses who care for patients in jurisdictions in which assisted suicide is legally available. The American Nurses Association should therefore have a strong and convincing justification for opposing the practice, if it is to take such a position. That it fails to evince such a justification in its official statement on the matter places a burden on the American Nurses Association to more strongly justify its position, or else abandon its stance against nurse participation in assisted suicide.

  15. American Heart Association's Call to Action for Payment and Delivery System Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bufalino, Vincent J; Berkowitz, Scott A; Gardner, Timothy J; Piña, Ileana L; Konig, Madeleine

    2017-08-15

    The healthcare system is undergoing a transition from paying for volume to paying for value. Clinicians, as well as public and private payers, are beginning to implement alternative delivery and payment models, such as the patient-centered medical home, accountable care organizations, and bundled payment arrangements. Implementation of these new models will necessitate delivery system transformation and will actively involve all fields of medical care, in particular medicine and surgery. This call to action, on behalf of the American Heart Association's Expert Panel on Payment and Delivery System Reform, serves to offer support and direction for further involvement by the American Heart Association. In doing so, it (1) provides baseline review and definition of the present models and some of the early results of these delivery models, including outcomes; (2) initiates a conversation within the American Heart Association on the impact of payment and delivery system reform, as well as how the American Heart Association should engage in the interest of patients; (3) issues a call to action to our organization and to cardiovascular and stroke health professionals across the country to become educated about these models so to as to understand their impact on patient care; and (4) asks the government and other funding agencies, including the American Heart Association, to begin supporting and prioritizing meaningful research endeavors to further evaluate these models. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  16. Association of American Indian cultural identity with physical activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, Glen E; McDougall, Casey L; Dansie, Elizabeth; Garroutte, Eva; Buchwald, Dedra; Henderson, Jeffrey A

    2014-01-01

    Cultural factors are associated with health behaviors among American Indians. Accordingly, the objective of our study was to investigate whether cultural identity, defined as the primary language spoken at home, is associated with: 1) higher total physical activity levels, and 2) levels of leisure-time physical activity recommended for health benefits in a diverse sample of American Indians. Cross-sectional analysis of 5,207 American Indian adults 18 to 82 years. Participants resided on the Oglala Sioux (n=2,025) and Cheyenne River Sioux (n=1,528) reservations in South Dakota, and the Gila River Indian Community (n=1,654) in Arizona. Bicultural participants in South Dakota, but not Arizona, reported significantly higher total physical activity compared to the English-only group (Pcultures with which they identify are recommended.

  17. Vitamin D intake is associated with insulin sensitivity in African American, but not European American, women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oster Robert A

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is higher among African Americans (AA vs European Americans (EA, independent of obesity and other known confounders. Although the reason for this disparity is not known, it is possible that relatively low levels of vitamin D among AA may contribute, as vitamin D has been positively associated with insulin sensitivity in some studies. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that dietary vitamin D would be associated with a robust measure of insulin sensitivity in AA and EA women. Methods Subjects were 115 African American (AA and 137 European American (EA healthy, premenopausal women. Dietary intake was determined with 4-day food records; the insulin sensitivity index (SI with a frequently-sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test and minimal modeling; the Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR with fasting insulin and glucose; and body composition with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results Vitamin D intake was positively associated with SI (standardized β = 0.18, P = 0.05 and inversely associated with HOMA-IR (standardized β = -0.26, P = 0.007 in AA, and the relationships were independent of age, total body fat, energy intake, and % kcal from fat. Vitamin D intake was not significantly associated with indices of insulin sensitivity/resistance in EA (standardized β = 0.03, P = 0.74 and standardized β = 0.02, P = 0.85 for SI and HOMA-IR, respectively. Similar to vitamin D, dietary calcium was associated with SI and HOMA-IR among AA but not EA. Conclusions This study provides novel findings that dietary vitamin D and calcium were independently associated with insulin sensitivity in AA, but not EA. Promotion of these nutrients in the diet may reduce health disparities in type 2 diabetes risk among AA, although longitudinal and intervention studies are required.

  18. American Psychological Association annual report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Presents the 2009 American Psychological Association annual report. It highlights a very important year for APA and psychology by summarizing activities within each directorate. It describes strides made toward the goal of infusing psychology into the health care marketplace and of bringing psychology-and the unique skills of psychologists-to the attention of the public. This report aims to give insight into the contributions psychologists make to our communities and our country. 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

  19. Lagged Associations of Metropolitan Statistical Area- and State-Level Income Inequality with Cognitive Function: The Health and Retirement Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Daniel; Griffin, Beth Ann; Kabeto, Mohammed; Escarce, José; Langa, Kenneth M; Shih, Regina A

    2016-01-01

    Much variation in individual-level cognitive function in late life remains unexplained, with little exploration of area-level/contextual factors to date. Income inequality is a contextual factor that may plausibly influence cognitive function. In a nationally-representative cohort of older Americans from the Health and Retirement Study, we examined state- and metropolitan statistical area (MSA)-level income inequality as predictors of individual-level cognitive function measured by the 27-point Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) scale. We modeled latency periods of 8-20 years, and controlled for state-/metropolitan statistical area (MSA)-level and individual-level factors. Higher MSA-level income inequality predicted lower cognitive function 16-18 years later. Using a 16-year lag, living in a MSA in the highest income inequality quartile predicted a 0.9-point lower TICS-m score (β = -0.86; 95% CI = -1.41, -0.31), roughly equivalent to the magnitude associated with five years of aging. We observed no associations for state-level income inequality. The findings were robust to sensitivity analyses using propensity score methods. Among older Americans, MSA-level income inequality appears to influence cognitive function nearly two decades later. Policies reducing income inequality levels within cities may help address the growing burden of declining cognitive function among older populations within the United States.

  20. Genetic variation in the raptor gene is associated with overweight but not hypertension in American men of Japanese ancestry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Brian J; Carnes, Bruce A; Chen, Randi; Donlon, Timothy A; He, Qimei; Grove, John S; Masaki, Kamal H; Elliott, Ayako; Willcox, Donald C; Allsopp, Richard; Willcox, Bradley J

    2015-04-01

    The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is pivotal for cell growth. Regulatory associated protein of mTOR complex I (Raptor) is a unique component of this pro-growth complex. The present study tested whether variation across the raptor gene (RPTOR) is associated with overweight and hypertension. We tested 61 common (allele frequency ≥ 0.1) tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that captured most of the genetic variation across RPTOR in 374 subjects of normal lifespan and 439 subjects with a lifespan exceeding 95 years for association with overweight/obesity, essential hypertension, and isolated systolic hypertension. Subjects were drawn from the Honolulu Heart Program, a homogeneous population of American men of Japanese ancestry, well characterized for phenotypes relevant to conditions of aging. Hypertension status was ascertained when subjects were 45-68 years old. Statistical evaluation involved contingency table analysis, logistic regression, and the powerful method of recursive partitioning. After analysis of RPTOR genotypes by each statistical approach, we found no significant association between genetic variation in RPTOR and either essential hypertension or isolated systolic hypertension. Models generated by recursive partitioning analysis showed that RPTOR SNPs significantly enhanced the ability of the model to accurately assign individuals to either the overweight/obese or the non-overweight/obese groups (P = 0.008 by 1-tailed Z test). Common genetic variation in RPTOR is associated with overweight/obesity but does not discernibly contribute to either essential hypertension or isolated systolic hypertension in the population studied. © American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd 2014. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. 2009 Annual Report of the American Psychological Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Psychologist, 2010

    2010-01-01

    This annual report of the American Psychological Association (APA) describes the association's activities and accomplishments in 2009. It describes strides made toward the goal of infusing psychology into the health care marketplace and of bringing psychology--and the unique skills of psychologists--to the attention of the public. This report aims…

  2. Clinical practice guidelines for hypothyroidism in adults: cosponsored by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American Thyroid Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garber, Jeffrey R; Cobin, Rhoda H; Gharib, Hossein; Hennessey, James V; Klein, Irwin; Mechanick, Jeffrey I; Pessah-Pollack, Rachel; Singer, Peter A; Woeber, Kenneth A

    2012-12-01

    Hypothyroidism has multiple etiologies and manifestations. Appropriate treatment requires an accurate diagnosis and is influenced by coexisting medical conditions. This paper describes evidence-based clinical guidelines for the clinical management of hypothyroidism in ambulatory patients. The development of these guidelines was commissioned by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) in association with American Thyroid Association (ATA). AACE and the ATA assembled a task force of expert clinicians who authored this article. The authors examined relevant literature and took an evidence-based medicine approach that incorporated their knowledge and experience to develop a series of specific recommendations and the rationale for these recommendations. The strength of the recommendations and the quality of evidence supporting each was rated according to the approach outlined in the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Protocol for Standardized Production of Clinical Guidelines-2010 update. Topics addressed include the etiology, epidemiology, clinical and laboratory evaluation, management, and consequences of hypothyroidism. Screening, treatment of subclinical hypothyroidism, pregnancy, and areas for future research are also covered. Fifty-two evidence-based recommendations and subrecommendations were developed to aid in the care of patients with hypothyroidism and to share what the authors believe is current, rational, and optimal medical practice for the diagnosis and care of hypothyroidism. A serum thyrotropin is the single best screening test for primary thyroid dysfunction for the vast majority of outpatient clinical situations. The standard treatment is replacement with L-thyroxine. The decision to treat subclinical hypothyroidism when the serum thyrotropin is less than 10 mIU/L should be tailored to the individual patient.

  3. The American Organization of Nurse Executives and American Hospital Association Initiatives Work to Combat Violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wray, Karen

    2018-04-01

    Violence affecting healthcare workers and healthcare organizations continues to be a serious safety issue. In this Leadership Perspectives column, Karen Wray, an American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) member who has experienced a mass causality incident 1st hand, outlines AONE's continuing work to promote safety and combat violence. She discusses recent work on violence issues by the American Hospital Association, AONE's parent organization.

  4. Using Financial Investment Measures to Proactively Engage Students in the Introductory Business Statistics Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berenson, Mark L.; Koppel, Nicole B.; Lord, Richard A.; Chapdelaine, Laura L.

    2018-01-01

    Typically, the core-required undergraduate business statistics course covers a broad spectrum of topics with applications pertaining to all functional areas of business. The recently updated American Statistical Association's GAISE (Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education) College Report once again stresses the…

  5. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY POSITION STATEMENT ON THE ASSOCIATION OF TESTOSTERONE AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodman, Neil; Guay, Andre; Dandona, Paresh; Dhindsa, Sandeep; Faiman, Charles; Cunningham, Glenn R

    2015-09-01

    This document represents the official position of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American College of Endocrinology. Where there were no randomized controlled trials or specific U.S. FDA labeling for issues in clinical practice, the participating clinical experts utilized their judgment and experience. Every effort was made to achieve consensus among the committee members. Position statements are meant to provide guidance, but they are not to be considered prescriptive for any individual patient and cannot replace the judgment of a clinician.

  6. Difference in Association of Obesity With Prostate Cancer Risk Between US African American and Non-Hispanic White Men in the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrington, Wendy E; Schenk, Jeannette M; Etzioni, Ruth; Arnold, Kathryn B; Neuhouser, Marian L; Thompson, Ian M; Lucia, M Scott; Kristal, Alan R

    2015-06-01

    African American men have the highest rates of prostate cancer incidence and mortality in the United States. Understanding underlying reasons for this disparity could identify preventive interventions important to African American men. To determine whether the association of obesity with prostate cancer risk differs between African American and non-Hispanic white men and whether obesity modifies the excess risk associated with African American race. Prospective study of 3398 African American and 22,673 non-Hispanic white men who participated in the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (2001-2011) with present analyses completed in 2014. Total, low-grade (Gleason score American men and a corresponding 1453, 898, and 441 cases in non-Hispanic white men, respectively. Although not associated with risk among non-Hispanic white men, BMI was positively associated with an increase in risk among African American men (BMI, American race increased from 28% (HR, 1.28 [95% CI, 0.91-1.80]) among men with BMI less than 25 to 103% (HR, 2.03 [95% CI, 1.38-2.98]) among African American men with BMI at least 35 (P for trend = .03). Body mass index was inversely associated with low-grade prostate cancer risk within non-Hispanic white men (BMI, American men (BMI, American men, although the increase may be larger within African American men, albeit the racial interaction was not statistically significant (BMI, Obesity is more strongly associated with increased prostate cancer risk among African American than non-Hispanic white men and reducing obesity among African American men could reduce the racial disparity in cancer incidence. Additional research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the differential effects of obesity in African American and non-Hispanic white men.

  7. Associations between depression, distress tolerance, delay discounting, and alcohol-related problems in European American and African American college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennhardt, Ashley A; Murphy, James G

    2011-12-01

    Although levels of heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems are high in college students, there is significant variability in the number and type of problems experienced, even among students who drink heavily. African American students drink less and experience fewer alcohol-related problems than European American students, but are still at risk, and little research has investigated the potentially unique patterns and predictors of problems among these students. Depression, distress tolerance, and delay discounting have been implicated in adult substance abuse and may be important predictors of alcohol problem severity among college students. We examined the relationship between these variables and alcohol-related problems among African American and European American students (N = 206; 53% female; 68% European American; 28% African American) who reported recent heavy drinking. In regression models that controlled for drinking level, depression, distress tolerance, and delay discounting were associated with alcohol problems among African American students, but only depression was associated with alcohol problems among European American students. These results suggest that negative affect is a key risk factor for alcohol problems among college student drinkers. For African American students, the inability to tolerate negative emotions and to organize their behavior around future outcomes may also be especially relevant risk factors.

  8. Multiple loci associated with renal function in African Americans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Shriner

    Full Text Available The incidence of chronic kidney disease varies by ethnic group in the USA, with African Americans displaying a two-fold higher rate than European Americans. One of the two defining variables underlying staging of chronic kidney disease is the glomerular filtration rate. Meta-analysis in individuals of European ancestry has identified 23 genetic loci associated with the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR. We conducted a follow-up study of these 23 genetic loci using a population-based sample of 1,018 unrelated admixed African Americans. We included in our follow-up study two variants in APOL1 associated with end-stage kidney disease discovered by admixture mapping in admixed African Americans. To address confounding due to admixture, we estimated local ancestry at each marker and global ancestry. We performed regression analysis stratified by local ancestry and combined the resulting regression estimates across ancestry strata using an inverse variance-weighted fixed effects model. We found that 11 of the 24 loci were significantly associated with eGFR in our sample. The effect size estimates were not significantly different between the subgroups of individuals with two copies of African ancestry vs. two copies of European ancestry for any of the 11 loci. In contrast, allele frequencies were significantly different at 10 of the 11 loci. Collectively, the 11 loci, including four secondary signals revealed by conditional analyses, explained 14.2% of the phenotypic variance in eGFR, in contrast to the 1.4% explained by the 24 loci in individuals of European ancestry. Our findings provide insight into the genetic basis of variation in renal function among admixed African Americans.

  9. Associations between trajectories of perceived racial discrimination and psychological symptoms among African American adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith-Bynum, Mia A; Lambert, Sharon F; English, Devin; Ialongo, Nicholas S

    2014-11-01

    Many African American adolescents experience racial discrimination, with adverse consequences; however, stability and change in these experiences over time have not been examined. We examined longitudinal patterns of perceived racial discrimination assessed in Grades 7-10 and how these discrimination trajectories related to patterns of change in depressive and anxious symptoms and aggressive behaviors assessed over the same 4-year period. Growth mixture modeling performed on a community epidemiologically defined sample of urban African American adolescents (n = 504) revealed three trajectories of discrimination: increasing, decreasing, and stable low. As predicted, African American boys were more frequent targets for racial discrimination as they aged, and they were more likely to be in the increasing group. The results of parallel process growth mixture modeling revealed that youth in the increasing racial discrimination group were four times more likely to be in an increasing depression trajectory than were youth in the low stable discrimination trajectory. Though youth in the increasing racial discrimination group were nearly twice as likely to be in the high aggression trajectory, results were not statistically significant. These results indicate an association between variation in the growth of perceived racial discrimination and youth behavior and psychological well-being over the adolescent years.

  10. Are we meeting the American Diabetes Association goals for HIV-infected patients with diabetes mellitus?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adeyemi, Oluwatoyin; Vibhakar, Sonia; Max, Blake

    2009-09-01

    We determined rates of achieving the American Diabetes Association goals among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected diabetic patients. American Diabetes Association goals (for hemoglobin A1c, blood pressure, and lipid levels) were defined by 2008 American Diabetes Association guidelines. HIV-infected diabetic patients achieved American Diabetes Association goals at rates similar to those in general medicine clinic patients. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to improve diabetes management in HIV clinics.

  11. 688,112 statistical results: Content mining psychology articles for statistical test results

    OpenAIRE

    Hartgerink, C.H.J.

    2016-01-01

    In this data deposit, I describe a dataset that is the result of content mining 167,318 published articles for statistical test results reported according to the standards prescribed by the American Psychological Association (APA). Articles published by the APA, Springer, Sage, and Taylor & Francis were included (mining from Wiley and Elsevier was actively blocked). As a result of this content mining, 688,112 results from 50,845 articles were extracted. In order to provide a comprehensive set...

  12. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Is Associated With Irritable Bowel Syndrome in African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iorio, Natalya; Makipour, Kian; Palit, Amiya; Friedenberg, Frank K

    2014-10-30

    Psychosocial stressors likely play an important role in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The association between IBS and post-trau-matic stress disorder (PTSD) in non-minorities has been described. Our aim was to investigate the potential association between IBS and PTSD in an urban African American population. Our institution maintains a longitudinal population-based survey of African Americans (AA). The survey utilizes a complex, stratified sampling design. The study group consisted of adult AA meeting Rome III criteria for IBS of any subtype. The 4-item Primary Care PTSD screener was administered; score of≥ 3 (range, 0-4) was considered positive for PTSD. Depression (Public Health Questionnaire-9 depression) and anxiety (generalized anxiety disorder-7) levels were measured using standardized scales. To assess quality of life, norm-based physical and mental component summary scores from the short-form 36 health survey ver-sion 2 were obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated using Complex Sample Module of SPSS after weight-ing of the study sample. Four hundred nineteen subjects included corresponded to a weighted 21,264 (95% CI, 19,777-22,751) individuals. The preva-lence of IBS in our sample of urban AA was 8.2%. In multivariate regression analysis, female gender, age > 40, higher educa-tional attainment and divorce were independently associated with IBS. Those with IBS were considerably more likely to suffer from PTSD (OR, 4.54; 95% CI, 4.07-5.06). PTSD was independently associated with depression, anxiety, harmful drinking and substance abuse. In AA, PTSD is independently associated with IBS. PTSD has a significantly negative impact on physical and mental self-assess-ment of quality of life. Evaluation of minorities presenting with functional gastrointestinal disorders should include screening for PTSD.(J Neurogastroenterol Motil 2014;20:523-530).

  13. American Evaluation Association: Guiding Principles for Evaluators

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Journal of Evaluation, 2009

    2009-01-01

    The American Evaluation Association (AEA) strives to promote ethical practice in the evaluation of programs, products, personnel, and policy. This article presents the list of principles which AEA developed to guide evaluators in their professional practice. These principles are: (1) Systematic Inquiry; (2) Competence; (3) Integrity/Honesty; (4)…

  14. 77 FR 44255 - Medicare Program; Application by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-27

    ...] Medicare Program; Application by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) for Continued... Register (77 FR 11130) entitled, ``Application by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) for... Notice. SUMMARY: This final notice announces the approval of an application from the American Association...

  15. Association between anxiety and severe quality-of-life impairment in postmenopausal women: analysis of a multicenter Latin American cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Núñez-Pizarro, Jorge L; González-Luna, Alejandro; Mezones-Holguín, Edward; Blümel, Juan E; Barón, Germán; Bencosme, Ascanio; Benítez, Zully; Bravo, Luz M; Calle, Andrés; Flores, Daniel; Espinoza, María T; Gómez, Gustavo; Hernández-Bueno, José A; Martino, Mabel; Lima, Selva; Monterrosa, Alvaro; Mostajo, Desiree; Ojeda, Eliana; Onatra, William; Sánchez, Hugo; Tserotas, Konstantinos; Vallejo, María S; Witis, Silvina; Zúñiga, María C; Chedraui, Peter

    2017-06-01

    To evaluate associations between anxiety and severe impairment of quality of life (QoL) in Latin American postmenopausal women. This was a secondary analysis of a multicenter cross-sectional study among postmenopausal women aged 40 to 59 from 11 Latin American countries. We evaluated anxiety (The Goldberg Depression and Anxiety Scale), and QoL (Menopause Rating Scale [MRS]), and included sociodemographic, clinical, lifestyle, and anthropometric variables in the analysis. Poisson family generalized linear models with robust standard errors were used to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% CIs. There were two adjusted models: a statistical model that included variables associated with the outcomes in bivariate analyses, and an epidemiologic model that included potentially confounding variables from literature review. Data from 3,503 women were included; 61.9% had anxiety (Goldberg). Severe QoL impairment (total MRS score ≥17) was present in 13.7% of women, as well as severe symptoms (MRS subscales): urogenital (25.5%), psychological (18.5%), and somatic (4.5%). Anxiety was independently associated with severe QoL impairment and severe symptoms in the epidemiological (MRS total score: PR 3.6, 95% CI, 2.6-5.0; somatic: 5.1, 95% CI, 2.6-10.1; psychological: 2.8, 95% CI, 2.2-3.6; and urogenital: 1.4, 95% CI, 1.2-1.6) and the statistical model (MRS total score: PR 3.5, 95% CI, 2.6-4.9; somatic: 5.0, 95% CI, 2.5-9.9; psychological: 2.9, 95% CI, 2.2-3.7; and urogenital: 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.6). In this postmenopausal Latin American sample, anxiety was independently associated with severe QoL impairment. Hence, screening for anxiety in this population is important.

  16. Recommended dietary pattern to achieve adherence to the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC) Guidelines

    Science.gov (United States)

    In 2013, the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology published the "Guideline on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk," which was based on a systematic review originally initiated by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The guideline supports the America...

  17. Position of the American Dietetic Association and American Society for Nutrition: obesity, reproduction, and pregnancy outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siega-Riz, Anna Maria; King, Janet C

    2009-05-01

    Given the detrimental influence of maternal overweight and obesity on reproductive and pregnancy outcomes for the mother and child, it is the position of the American Dietetic Association and the American Society for Nutrition that all overweight and obese women of reproductive age should receive counseling on the roles of diet and physical activity in reproductive health prior to pregnancy,during pregnancy, and in the inter conceptional period, in order to ameliorate these adverse outcomes. The effect of maternal nutritional status prior to pregnancy on reproduction and pregnancy outcomes is of great public health importance. Obesity in the United States and worldwide has grown to epidemic proportions, with an estimated 33% of US women classified as obese. This position paper has two objectives: (a) to help nutrition professionals become aware of the risks and possible complications of overweight and obesity for fertility,the course of pregnancy, birth outcomes, and short- and long-term maternal and child health outcomes;and (b) related to the commitment to research by the American Dietetic Association and the American Society for Nutrition, to identify the gaps in research to improve our knowledge of the risks and complications associated with being overweight and obese before and during pregnancy.Only with an increased knowledge of these risks and complications can health care professionals develop effective strategies that can be implemented before and during pregnancy as well as during the inter conceptional period to ameliorate adverse outcomes.

  18. An Entropy-Based Statistic for Genomewide Association Studies

    OpenAIRE

    Zhao, Jinying; Boerwinkle, Eric; Xiong, Momiao

    2005-01-01

    Efficient genotyping methods and the availability of a large collection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms provide valuable tools for genetic studies of human disease. The standard χ2 statistic for case-control studies, which uses a linear function of allele frequencies, has limited power when the number of marker loci is large. We introduce a novel test statistic for genetic association studies that uses Shannon entropy and a nonlinear function of allele frequencies to amplify the difference...

  19. Position of the American Dietetic Association: weight management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seagle, Helen M; Strain, Gladys Witt; Makris, Angela; Reeves, Rebecca S

    2009-02-01

    It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that successful weight management to improve overall health for adults requires a lifelong commitment to healthful lifestyle behaviors emphasizing sustainable and enjoyable eating practices and daily physical activity. Given the increasing incidence of overweight and obesity along with the escalating health care costs associated with weight-related illnesses, health care providers must discover how to effectively treat this complex condition. Food and nutrition professionals should stay current and skilled in weight management to assist clients in preventing weight gain, optimizing individual weight loss interventions, and achieving long-term weight loss maintenance. Using the American Dietetic Association's Evidence Analysis Process and Evidence Analysis Library, this position paper presents the current data and recommendations for weight management. The evidence supporting the value of portion control, eating frequency, meal replacements, and very-low-energy diets are discussed as well as physical activity, behavior therapy, pharmacotherapy, and surgery. Public policy changes to create environments that can assist all populations to achieve and sustain healthful lifestyle behaviors are also reviewed.

  20. APA's Learning Objectives for Research Methods and Statistics in Practice: A Multimethod Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomcho, Thomas J.; Rice, Diana; Foels, Rob; Folmsbee, Leah; Vladescu, Jason; Lissman, Rachel; Matulewicz, Ryan; Bopp, Kara

    2009-01-01

    Research methods and statistics courses constitute a core undergraduate psychology requirement. We analyzed course syllabi and faculty self-reported coverage of both research methods and statistics course learning objectives to assess the concordance with APA's learning objectives (American Psychological Association, 2007). We obtained a sample of…

  1. Lack of Association between SLC30A8 Variants and Type 2 Diabetes in Mexican American Families

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hemant Kulkarni

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available SLC30A8 encodes zinc transporter 8 which is involved in packaging and release of insulin. Evidence for the association of SLC30A8 variants with type 2 diabetes (T2D is inconclusive. We interrogated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs around SLC30A8 for association with T2D in high-risk, pedigreed individuals from extended Mexican American families. This study of 118 SNPs within 50 kb of the SLC30A8 locus tested the association with eight T2D-related traits at four levels: (i each SNP using measured genotype approach (MGA; (ii interaction of SNPs with age and sex; (iii combinations of SNPs using Bayesian Quantitative Trait Nucleotide (BQTN analyses; and (iv entire gene locus using the gene burden test. Only one SNP (rs7817754 was significantly associated with incident T2D but a summary statistic based on all T2D-related traits identified 11 novel SNPs. Three SNPs and one SNP were weakly but interactively associated with age and sex, respectively. BQTN analyses could not demonstrate any informative combination of SNPs over MGA. Lastly, gene burden test results showed that at best the SLC30A8 locus could account for only 1-2% of the variability in T2D-related traits. Our results indicate a lack of association of the SLC30A8 SNPs with T2D in Mexican American families.

  2. Associations Between Cigarette Print Advertising and Smoking Initiation Among African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trinidad, Dennis R; Blanco, Lyzette; Emery, Sherry L; Fagan, Pebbles; White, Martha M; Reed, Mark B

    2017-06-01

    The objective of this study was to examine changes in the annual number of cigarette advertisements in magazines with a predominantly African-American audience following the broadcast ban on tobacco, and whether fluctuations in cigarette print advertising targeting African Americans during the late-1970s until the mid-1980s were associated with declines in smoking initiation. We tabulated the annual number of cigarette advertisements from magazines with large African-American readerships (Ebony, Essence, and Jet) from 1960 to 1990. Advertisements were coded depending on whether they featured African-American models. We calculated the incidence rate of regular smoking initiation from 1975 to 1990 for African-American 14-25 years old using data from the 1992-1993, 1995-1996, 1998-1999, and 2001-2002 Tobacco Use Supplements of the Current Population Survey. We examined whether trends in smoking initiation coincided with trends in cigarette advertising practices among African Americans. The annual aggregated number of printed cigarette advertisements in Ebony, Essence, and Jet magazines increased at least five-fold starting in 1971, following the broadcast ban on cigarette advertising. A decrease in the percentage of ads by Brown & Williamson that showed African-American models was positively correlated (r = 0.30) with declines in the incidence rate of smoking initiation among African Americans from the late-1970s to the mid-1980s. The tobacco industry adapted quickly following the broadcast ban on cigarettes by increasing print advertising in African-American magazines. However, changes in print advertising practices by were associated with declines in smoking initiation among African Americans from the late-1970s to mid-1980s.

  3. The AAHA Computer Program. American Animal Hospital Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albers, J W

    1986-07-01

    The American Animal Hospital Association Computer Program should benefit all small animal practitioners. Through the availability of well-researched and well-developed certified software, veterinarians will have increased confidence in their purchase decisions. With the expansion of computer applications to improve practice management efficiency, veterinary computer systems will further justify their initial expense. The development of the Association's veterinary computer network will provide a variety of important services to the profession.

  4. Physical Performance Is Associated with Executive Functioning in Older African American Women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brooke C. Schneider

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available An older adult's ability to perform physical tasks is predictive of disability onset and is associated with declines in cognition. Risk factors for physical performance declines among African Americans, a group with the highest rates of disability, remain understudied. This study sought to identify demographic, health, and cognitive factors associated with lower-extremity physical performance in a sample of 106 African American women ages 56 to 91. After controlling for global cognitive functioning (Mini Mental State Exam, physical performance was associated with executive functioning (Stroop Color/Word, but not visuospatial construction (WASI Block Design or processing speed (Trail Making Test, Part A. Executive functioning remained associated with physical performance after entry of demographic variables, exercise, depression, disease burden, and body mass index (BMI. Age, and BMI were also significant in this model. Executive functioning, age and BMI are associated with lower-extremity physical performance among older African American women.

  5. The association between insulin resistance, metabolic variables, and depressive symptoms in Mexican-American elderly: A population-based study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diniz, Breno S; Fisher-Hoch, Susan; McCormick, Joseph

    2018-02-01

    Depressive symptoms are common among older adults with obesity and diabetes. Nonetheless, the mechanisms for this association are not clear but may involve changes in the insulin cascade signaling. We aimed to investigate the association, and potential mediators, between obesity, insulin resistance, and depressive symptoms among older adults from a homogenous cohort of Mexican-Americans. We included a total of 500 Mexican-American older adults assessed in the Cameron County Health Study. We evaluated depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiologic Survey Depression Scale (CES-D). Central obesity was defined by waist circumference. Insulin resistance was evaluated by the HOMA-IR index. We estimated the association between obesity, insulin resistance, and depressive symptoms by carrying out univariate and multivariate regression analyses. In unadjusted regression analysis, HOMA-IR (unstandardized β = 0.31 ± 0.12, P = 0.007), waist circumference (unstandardized β = 0.066 ± 0.0.028, P = 0.017), and Hb1Ac levels (unstandardized β = 0.52 ± 0.24, P = 0.03) were significantly associated with CES-D scores. The association of HOMA-IR and CES-D remained statistically significant after controlling for socio-demographic and clinical variables in multivariate analysis (unstandardized β = 0.28 ± 0.11, P = 0.01). Our results suggest that depressive symptoms are associated with insulin resistance in older Mexican-American adults. In addition, poorer glucose control and obesity are important mediators of this relationship. Additional studies are needed to evaluate whether interventions that increase insulin sensitivity can also reduce depressive symptoms in this population. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. von Neumann entropy associated with the haldane exclusion statistics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rajagopal, A.K.

    1995-01-01

    We obtain the von Neumann entropy per state of the Haldane exclusion statistics with parameter g in terms of the mean occupation number bar n{wlnw-(1+w)ln(1+w)}, where w=(1-bar n). This reduces correctly to the well known expressions in the limiting cases of Bose (g=0) and Fermi (g=1) statistics. We have derived the second and third order fluctuations in the occupation numbers for arbitrary g. An elegant general duality relationship between the w factor associated with the particle and that associated with the hole at the reciprocal g is deduced along with the attendant relationship between the two respective entropies

  7. statistical fluid theory for associating fluids containing alternating ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Statistical associating fluid theory of homonuclear dimerized chain fluids and homonuclear ... The proposed models account for the appropriate .... where gHNM(1,1) is the expression for the contact value of the correlation func- tion of two ...

  8. Factors influencing the decline in stroke mortality: a statement from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lackland, Daniel T; Roccella, Edward J; Deutsch, Anne F; Fornage, Myriam; George, Mary G; Howard, George; Kissela, Brett M; Kittner, Steven J; Lichtman, Judith H; Lisabeth, Lynda D; Schwamm, Lee H; Smith, Eric E; Towfighi, Amytis

    2014-01-01

    Stroke mortality has been declining since the early 20th century. The reasons for this are not completely understood, although the decline is welcome. As a result of recent striking and more accelerated decreases in stroke mortality, stroke has fallen from the third to the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. This has prompted a detailed assessment of the factors associated with the change in stroke risk and mortality. This statement considers the evidence for factors that have contributed to the decline and how they can be used in the design of future interventions for this major public health burden. Writing group members were nominated by the committee chair and co-chair on the basis of their previous work in relevant topic areas and were approved by the American Heart Association Stroke Council's Scientific Statements Oversight Committee and the American Heart Association Manuscript Oversight Committee. The writers used systematic literature reviews, references to published clinical and epidemiological studies, morbidity and mortality reports, clinical and public health guidelines, authoritative statements, personal files, and expert opinion to summarize evidence and to indicate gaps in current knowledge. All members of the writing group had the opportunity to comment on this document and approved the final version. The document underwent extensive American Heart Association internal peer review, Stroke Council leadership review, and Scientific Statements Oversight Committee review before consideration and approval by the American Heart Association Science Advisory and Coordinating Committee. The decline in stroke mortality over the past decades represents a major improvement in population health and is observed for both sexes and for all racial/ethnic and age groups. In addition to the overall impact on fewer lives lost to stroke, the major decline in stroke mortality seen among people factor control interventions. Although it is difficult to

  9. Statistics: The stethoscope of a thinking urologist

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arun S Sivanandam

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Understanding statistical terminology and the ability to appraise clinical research findings and statistical tests are critical to the practice of evidence-based medicine. Urologists require statistics in their toolbox of skills in order to successfully sift through increasingly complex studies and realize the drawbacks of statistical tests. Currently, the level of evidence in urology literature is low and the majority of research abstracts published for the American Urological Association (AUA meetings lag behind for full-text publication because of a lack of statistical reporting. Underlying these issues is a distinct deficiency in solid comprehension of statistics in the literature and a discomfort with the application of statistics for clinical decision-making. This review examines the plight of statistics in urology and investigates the reason behind the white-coat aversion to biostatistics. Resources such as evidence-based medicine websites, primers in statistics, and guidelines for statistical reporting exist for quick reference by urologists. Ultimately, educators should take charge of monitoring statistical knowledge among trainees by bolstering competency requirements and creating sustained opportunities for statistics and methodology exposure.

  10. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS, AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY, AND ASSOCIAZIONE MEDICI ENDOCRINOLOGI MEDICAL GUIDELINES FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF THYROID NODULES - 2016 UPDATE

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gharib, Hossein; Papini, Enrico; Garber, Jeffrey R

    2016-01-01

    by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), American College of Endocrinology (ACE) and Associazione Medici Endocrinologi (AME). ABBREVIATIONS: AACE = American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists ACE = American College of Endocrinology AME = Associazione Medici Endocrinologi BEL = best...

  11. 77 FR 11130 - Medicare Program; Application by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-24

    ...] Medicare Program; Application by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) for Continued... American Association of Diabetes Educators' (AADE) request for the Secretary's approval of its... Association of Diabetes Educators for continued recognition as a national accreditation program for...

  12. Guidelines for the early management of patients with acute ischemic stroke: a guideline for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jauch, Edward C; Saver, Jeffrey L; Adams, Harold P; Bruno, Askiel; Connors, J J Buddy; Demaerschalk, Bart M; Khatri, Pooja; McMullan, Paul W; Qureshi, Adnan I; Rosenfield, Kenneth; Scott, Phillip A; Summers, Debbie R; Wang, David Z; Wintermark, Max; Yonas, Howard

    2013-03-01

    The authors present an overview of the current evidence and management recommendations for evaluation and treatment of adults with acute ischemic stroke. The intended audiences are prehospital care providers, physicians, allied health professionals, and hospital administrators responsible for the care of acute ischemic stroke patients within the first 48 hours from stroke onset. These guidelines supersede the prior 2007 guidelines and 2009 updates. Members of the writing committee were appointed by the American Stroke Association Stroke Council's Scientific Statement Oversight Committee, representing various areas of medical expertise. Strict adherence to the American Heart Association conflict of interest policy was maintained throughout the consensus process. Panel members were assigned topics relevant to their areas of expertise, reviewed the stroke literature with emphasis on publications since the prior guidelines, and drafted recommendations in accordance with the American Heart Association Stroke Council's Level of Evidence grading algorithm. The goal of these guidelines is to limit the morbidity and mortality associated with stroke. The guidelines support the overarching concept of stroke systems of care and detail aspects of stroke care from patient recognition; emergency medical services activation, transport, and triage; through the initial hours in the emergency department and stroke unit. The guideline discusses early stroke evaluation and general medical care, as well as ischemic stroke, specific interventions such as reperfusion strategies, and general physiological optimization for cerebral resuscitation. Because many of the recommendations are based on limited data, additional research on treatment of acute ischemic stroke remains urgently needed.

  13. "I am Not a Statistic": Identities of African American Males in Advanced Science Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Diane Wynn

    The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010) expects new industries to generate approximately 2.7 million jobs in science and technology by the year 2018, and there is concern as to whether there will be enough trained individuals to fill these positions. A tremendous resource remains untapped, African American students, especially African American males (National Science Foundation, 2009). Historically, African American males have been omitted from the so called science pipeline. Fewer African American males pursue a science discipline due, in part; to limiting factors they experience in school and at home (Ogbu, 2004). This is a case study of African American males who are enrolled in advanced science courses at a predominantly African American (84%) urban high school. Guided by expectancy-value theory (EVT) of achievement related results (Eccles, 2009; Eccles et al., 1983), twelve African American male students in two advanced science courses were observed in their science classrooms weekly, participated in an in-depth interview, developed a presentation to share with students enrolled in a tenth grade science course, responded to an open-ended identity questionnaire, and were surveyed about their perceptions of school. Additionally, the students' teachers were interviewed, and seven of the students' parents. The interview data analyses highlighted the important role of supportive parents (key socializers) who had high expectations for their sons and who pushed them academically. The students clearly attributed their enrollment in advanced science courses to their high regard for their science teachers, which included positive relationships, hands-on learning in class, and an inviting and encouraging learning environment. Additionally, other family members and coaches played important roles in these young men's lives. Students' PowerPoint(c) presentations to younger high school students on why they should take advanced science courses highlighted these

  14. Factors associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen research among Chinese Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Wanzhen; Ma, Grace X; Tan, Yin; Fang, Carolyn; Weaver, JoEllen; Jin, Ming; Lai, Philip

    2014-04-01

    A paucity of information exists on the recruitment of Asian Americans for biospecimen research. Although studies show that Chinese Americans are at high risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, little is known about their willingness to participate in HBV-related biospecimen research and how knowledge, attitudes, and cultural factors impact their willingness to participate. The study was guided by Community-Based Participatory Research principles. Data were derived from an assessment study on HBV-related biospecimen research participation among Chinese Americans in the Philadelphia region. The assessment was conducted with 415 Chinese Americans recruited from eight Chinese community-based organizations. Cultural beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes toward biospecimen research were examined for associations with their willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Overall, 192 (46.3%) of 415 participants who completed the assessment indicated they were willing to participate if they were invited to donate blood to be frozen and stored for future HBV biospecimen studies. Cultural variables significant in bivariate analysis included collectivism, knowledge about biospecimen research, and Yin-Yang beliefs. Fatalism and individualism were not associated with participation willingness. In multivariate analysis, age, health care attitudes, and trust were significantly associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Asian American communities have little knowledge of biospecimen banking and will benefit from educational campaigns that emphasize collective benefits and attitudes towards and trust in the health care system. Understanding cultural factors is important for improving Chinese Americans' knowledge, awareness, and intentions of participation in biospecimen research. Similar efforts need to be undertaken to develop culturally appropriate educational intervention programs to increase participation in biospecimen research

  15. Factors Associated with Willingness to Participate in Biospecimen Research Among Chinese Americans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Wanzhen; Tan, Yin; Fang, Carolyn; Weaver, JoEllen; Jin, Ming; Lai, Philip

    2014-01-01

    A paucity of information exists on the recruitment of Asian Americans for biospecimen research. Although studies show that Chinese Americans are at high risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, little is known about their willingness to participate in HBV-related biospecimen research and how knowledge, attitudes, and cultural factors impact their willingness to participate. The study was guided by Community-Based Participatory Research principles. Data were derived from an assessment study on HBV-related biospecimen research participation among Chinese Americans in the Philadelphia region. The assessment was conducted with 415 Chinese Americans recruited from eight Chinese community-based organizations. Cultural beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes toward biospecimen research were examined for associations with their willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Overall, 192 (46.3%) of 415 participants who completed the assessment indicated they were willing to participate if they were invited to donate blood to be frozen and stored for future HBV biospecimen studies. Cultural variables significant in bivariate analysis included collectivism, knowledge about biospecimen research, and Yin-Yang beliefs. Fatalism and individualism were not associated with participation willingness. In multivariate analysis, age, health care attitudes, and trust were significantly associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Asian American communities have little knowledge of biospecimen banking and will benefit from educational campaigns that emphasize collective benefits and attitudes towards and trust in the health care system. Understanding cultural factors is important for improving Chinese Americans' knowledge, awareness, and intentions of participation in biospecimen research. Similar efforts need to be undertaken to develop culturally appropriate educational intervention programs to increase participation in biospecimen research

  16. Statistical Measure Of Association Between Smoking And Lung ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Statistical Measure Of Association Between Smoking And Lung Cancer In Abakaliki, Ebonyi State Nigeria. ... East African Journal of Public Health ... To investigate the havoc caused by all these on people, questionnaire was distributed among smokers and non smokers in various areas of specialization and habitations.

  17. Meta-analysis reveals association between most common class II haplotype in full-heritage Native Americans and rheumatoid arthritis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, R C; Jacobsson, L T; Knowler, W C; del Puente, A; Kostyu, D; McAuley, J E; Bennett, P H; Pettitt, D J

    1995-01-01

    The association of RA with the alleles at the HLA system was tested among Pima and Tohono O'odham Indians (Pimans) of the Gila River Indian Community of Arizona. Serologic class I (HLA-A, -B, and -C) alleles were typed in 51 individuals with RA and in 302 without RA. Serologic class II (HLA-DR, DQ; DR52 DR53) alleles were typed in a subset of 47 with RA and 147 without RA. Molecular subtypes of DR3X6, DRB1*1402, and *1406 were determined in 29 individuals, 16 with RA and 13 without RA. Among the cases with RA, 46 of 47 had the serologic antigen HLA-DR3X6, as did 140 of 147 of those without the disease. However, this association was not statistically significant because of the high prevalence of the antigen in the controls. Data from Pimans were analyzed with similar results from the Tlingit and Yakima Indians. A meta-analysis employing the Mantel-Haenszel procedure, stratified by tribe, revealed a statistically significant association between the most common haplotype, DRB1*1402 DQA1*0501 DQB1*0301 DRB3*0101, and RA (summary odds ratio = 2.63, 95% confidence interval = 1.08, 6.46). There was also a statistically significant difference in the genotype distributions of one class I locus, HLA-C, between those with and without RA (chi 2 = 12.4, 5 df; p = 0.03). It is concluded that the association with the most common class II haplotype in full-heritage Native Americans might help explain their high prevalence of RA.

  18. American Studies Association — Crossroads of Cultures, Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 11-14, 2004

    OpenAIRE

    Pothier, Jacques

    2006-01-01

    Dans le cadre de son congrès annuel et à l’initiative de sa présidente en exercice, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, l’American Studies Association avait lancé une International Initiative : inviter les représentants de toutes les associations d’études américaines du monde. Parallèlement, American Quarterly, la revue de l’Association, invitait les directeurs des rédactions des revues américanistes.Je représentais donc l’AFEA, la RFEA et Transatlantica.Qu’est-ce que l’American Studies Association ?Le C...

  19. Teaching Statistics in APA-Accredited Doctoral Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology: A Syllabi Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ord, Anna S.; Ripley, Jennifer S.; Hook, Joshua; Erspamer, Tiffany

    2016-01-01

    Although statistical methods and research design are crucial areas of competency for psychologists, few studies explore how statistics are taught across doctoral programs in psychology in the United States. The present study examined 153 American Psychological Association-accredited doctoral programs in clinical and counseling psychology and aimed…

  20. Quality of statistical reporting in developmental disability journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Namasivayam, Aravind K; Yan, Tina; Wong, Wing Yiu Stephanie; van Lieshout, Pascal

    2015-12-01

    Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) dominates quantitative data analysis, but its use is controversial and has been heavily criticized. The American Psychological Association has advocated the reporting of effect sizes (ES), confidence intervals (CIs), and statistical power analysis to complement NHST results to provide a more comprehensive understanding of research findings. The aim of this paper is to carry out a sample survey of statistical reporting practices in two journals with the highest h5-index scores in the areas of developmental disability and rehabilitation. Using a checklist that includes critical recommendations by American Psychological Association, we examined 100 randomly selected articles out of 456 articles reporting inferential statistics in the year 2013 in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (JADD) and Research in Developmental Disabilities (RDD). The results showed that for both journals, ES were reported only half the time (JADD 59.3%; RDD 55.87%). These findings are similar to psychology journals, but are in stark contrast to ES reporting in educational journals (73%). Furthermore, a priori power and sample size determination (JADD 10%; RDD 6%), along with reporting and interpreting precision measures (CI: JADD 13.33%; RDD 16.67%), were the least reported metrics in these journals, but not dissimilar to journals in other disciplines. To advance the science in developmental disability and rehabilitation and to bridge the research-to-practice divide, reforms in statistical reporting, such as providing supplemental measures to NHST, are clearly needed.

  1. 2017 American Heart Association Focused Update on Adult Basic Life Support and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Quality: An Update to the American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kleinman, Monica E; Goldberger, Zachary D; Rea, Thomas; Swor, Robert A; Bobrow, Bentley J; Brennan, Erin E; Terry, Mark; Hemphill, Robin; Gazmuri, Raúl J; Hazinski, Mary Fran; Travers, Andrew H

    2018-01-02

    Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a lifesaving technique for victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Despite advances in resuscitation science, basic life support remains a critical factor in determining outcomes. The American Heart Association recommendations for adult basic life support incorporate the most recently published evidence and serve as the basis for education and training for laypeople and healthcare providers who perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  2. Factors associated with positive attitudes toward organ donation in Arab Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padela, Aasim I; Rasheed, Shoaib; Warren, Gareth J W; Choi, Hwajung; Mathur, Amit K

    2011-01-01

    The demand for transplantable organ continues to exceed supply, particularly in minority patient populations. We explored the factors influencing organ donation attitude within the Arab American community. Secondary data analysis from a face-to-face survey administered in late 2003 to 1016 adults from a representative population-based sample on Greater Detroit Arab Americans. Christian Arab Americans were more likely than Muslim Arab Americans, and women more than men, to believe organ donation after death was justifiable. Higher educational attainment and income, as well as greater acculturation into American society, were associated with greater odds of believing organ donation to be justified. Self-reported health status and level of psychological distress and health insurance status were not associated with beliefs about organ donation. A multifaceted approach toward increasing organ donation rates in this growing population requires targeted community-health care system collaborations involving religious and civic leaders using Arabic language and culturally sensitive media. Arab Americans represent a growing population about which little is known in regard to organ donation and transplantation. This population is not specifically captured within national and local transplantation databases, and little empiric work has assessed attitudes and barriers toward organ donation and transplantation within this community. Our work represents the first to use a representative population-based sample to explore the modifiable and non-modifiable characteristics of those who believe cadaveric organ donation to be justified. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  3. Factors Associated with Exercise Motivation among African-American Men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammed, Alana; Harrell, Jules P; Makambi, Kepher H; Campbell, Alfonso L; Sloan, Lloyd Ren; Carter-Nolan, Pamela L; Taylor, Teletia R

    2016-09-01

    The primary aims of this study were to: (1) characterize exercise stages of change among a sample of African-American men, (2) determine if exercise motivation was associated with self-reported exercise behavior, and (3) examine if groups of personal (i.e., age, BMI, income, educational attainment, and perceived health), psycho-social (i.e., exercise self-efficacy, personality type, social influence), and environmental factors (i.e., neighborhood safety) predicted stages of change for physical exercise among African-American men. One hundred seventy African-American male participants were recruited for this study (age: 47.63(10.23) years). Participants completed a self-report questionnaire assessing study variables. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine the association of exercise stages of change with an array of personal, psychosocial, and environmental factors. BMI, exercise self-efficacy, and nighttime neighborhood safety were entered as independent variables in the full model. BMI and exercise self-efficacy continued to be significant predictors of exercise stages of change in the full model. Obese men had a 9.24 greater odds of being in the action stage of change than in the maintenance stage. Also, men reporting greater exercise self-efficacy had lower odds of being in the lower stages of change categories (pre-preparation, preparation, and action) than in the maintenance stage. Our results confirmed that using an ecological framework explained more of the variance in exercise stages of change than any of the individual components alone. Information gleaned from this study could inform interventionists of the best ways to create tailored exercise programs for African-American men.

  4. Genetic variants associated with warfarin dose in African-American individuals: a genome-wide association study

    OpenAIRE

    Perera, Minoli A; Cavallari, Larisa H; Limdi, Nita A; Gamazon, Eric R; Konkashbaev, Anuar; Daneshjou, Roxana; Pluzhnikov, Anna; Crawford, Dana C; Wang, Jelai; Liu, Nianjun; Tatonetti, Nicholas; Bourgeois, Stephane; Takahashi, Harumi; Bradford, Yukiko; Burkley, Benjamin M

    2013-01-01

    Summary BackgroundVKORC1 and CYP2C9 are important contributors to warfarin dose variability, but explain less variability for individuals of African descent than for those of European or Asian descent. We aimed to identify additional variants contributing to warfarin dose requirements in African Americans. MethodsWe did a genome-wide association study of discovery and replication cohorts. Samples from African-American adults (aged ≥18 years) who were taking a stable maintenance dose of warfar...

  5. 2012 Annual report of the American Psychological Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Provides the 2012 Annual Report of the American Psychological Association. In 2012, APA celebrated its 120th anniversary. It has grown from its original 31 members to the largest association of psychologists in the United States and a worldwide leader within the discipline. This edition of the report introduces each directorate and office within APA and talks about their goals and objectives. the president of APA, Dr. Norman Anderson, also gives a brief report which updates you on the activities of the association during its 120th anniversary as the professional home for psychologists and an advocate for the discipline. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  6. American Historical Association Faculty Development Program: Planning and Implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmann, Charles

    The planning and implementation processes of the Long Island Faculty Development Program are described. Originally sponsored by the American Historical Association's Faculty Development Program to improve history instruction, this project includes faculty representatives from four Long Island universities, colleges, and junior colleges. The…

  7. A genome-wide association search for type 2 diabetes genes in African Americans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Palmer, Nicholette D; McDonough, Caitrin W; Hicks, Pamela J

    2012-01-01

    African Americans are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2DM) yet few studies have examined T2DM using genome-wide association approaches in this ethnicity. The aim of this study was to identify genes associated with T2DM in the African American population. We performed a Genome Wide...... Association Study (GWAS) using the Affymetrix 6.0 array in 965 African-American cases with T2DM and end-stage renal disease (T2DM-ESRD) and 1029 population-based controls. The most significant SNPs (n¿=¿550 independent loci) were genotyped in a replication cohort and 122 SNPs (n¿=¿98 independent loci) were...... further tested through genotyping three additional validation cohorts followed by meta-analysis in all five cohorts totaling 3,132 cases and 3,317 controls. Twelve SNPs had evidence of association in the GWAS (P...

  8. American Association of Dental Schools Curricular Guidelines for Orthodontics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Journal of Dental Education, 1980

    1980-01-01

    Guidelines reviewed and approved by the American Association of Dental Schools and sent to the Council on Dental Education in June 1979 are outlined. Educational goals and objectives and sequence of instruction (including growth and development, preclinical orthodontics, and clinical experience) are discussed. (MLW)

  9. Using GAISE and NCTM Standards as Frameworks for Teaching Probability and Statistics to Pre-Service Elementary and Middle School Mathematics Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metz, Mary Louise

    2010-01-01

    Statistics education has become an increasingly important component of the mathematics education of today's citizens. In part to address the call for a more statistically literate citizenship, The "Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE)" were developed in 2005 by the American Statistical Association. These…

  10. Peer Review Practices for Evaluating Biomedical Research Grants: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liaw, Lucy; Freedman, Jane E; Becker, Lance B; Mehta, Nehal N; Liscum, Laura

    2017-08-04

    The biomedical research enterprise depends on the fair and objective peer review of research grants, leading to the distribution of resources through efficient and robust competitive methods. In the United States, federal funding agencies and foundations collectively distribute billions of dollars annually to support biomedical research. For the American Heart Association, a Peer Review Subcommittee is charged with establishing the highest standards for peer review. This scientific statement reviews the current literature on peer review practices, describes the current American Heart Association peer review process and those of other agencies, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of American Heart Association peer review practices, and recommends best practices for the future. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  11. Attitudes and beliefs associated with leisure-time physical activity among African American adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Affuso, Olivia; Cox, Tiffany L; Durant, Nefertiti H; Allison, David B

    2011-01-01

    More than 60% of African American adults do not meet recommendations for moderate physical activity. We sought to discover the extent to which health attitudes and beliefs are associated with leisure-time physical activity in this population. Cross-sectional study. African American adults were asked about their health attitudes and beliefs during a national survey. Participants were 807 African American men and women aged 18 years and older. Random-digit dialing was employed, sampling telephone numbers by geographical region, area code, and population size. Participants were asked six health belief questions on the importance of exercise and body weight in health. Logistic regression was used to determine which of these factors were associated with physical activity participation. The percent of respondents participating in some form of physical activity during the past month was 87.1% in men and 82.9% in women. Factors associated with previous month physical activity in men were perceived personal importance of exercise (P importance of exercise (P important to exercise or be physically active for health predicts physical activity participation in both African American men and women. Creating a sense of importance of physical activity to relieve stress and foster good health may stimulate physical activity participation in African American adults.

  12. Teaching statistics to nursing students: an expert panel consensus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayat, Matthew J; Eckardt, Patricia; Higgins, Melinda; Kim, MyoungJin; Schmiege, Sarah J

    2013-06-01

    Statistics education is a necessary element of nursing education, and its inclusion is recommended in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing guidelines for nurse training at all levels. This article presents a cohesive summary of an expert panel discussion, "Teaching Statistics to Nursing Students," held at the 2012 Joint Statistical Meetings. All panelists were statistics experts, had extensive teaching and consulting experience, and held faculty appointments in a U.S.-based nursing college or school. The panel discussed degree-specific curriculum requirements, course content, how to ensure nursing students understand the relevance of statistics, approaches to integrating statistics consulting knowledge, experience with classroom instruction, use of knowledge from the statistics education research field to make improvements in statistics education for nursing students, and classroom pedagogy and instruction on the use of statistical software. Panelists also discussed the need for evidence to make data-informed decisions about statistics education and training for nurses. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

  13. 76 FR 66929 - Medicare and Medicaid Programs; The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-28

    ...] Medicare and Medicaid Programs; The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities... receipt of a deeming application from the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery... of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF's) request for deeming authority for RHCs. This notice also...

  14. Sex-related differences in habitat associations of wintering American Kestrels in California's Central Valley

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandolfino, E.R.; Herzog, M.P.; Smith, Z.

    2011-01-01

    We used roadside survey data collected from 19 routes over three consecutive winters from 200708 to 200910 to compare habitat associations of male and female American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) in the Central Valley of California to determine if segregation by sex was evident across this region. As a species, American Kestrels showed positive associations with alfalfa and other forage crops like hay and winter wheat, as well as grassland, irrigated pasture, and rice. Habitat associations of females were similar, with female densities in all these habitats except rice significantly higher than average. Male American Kestrels showed a positive association only with grassland and were present at densities well below those of females in alfalfa, other forage crops, and grassland. Males were present in higher densities than females in most habitats with negative associations for the species, such as orchards, urbanized areas, and oak savannah. The ratio of females to males for each route was positively correlated with the overall density of American Kestrels on that route. Our findings that females seem to occupy higher quality habitats in winter are consistent with observations from elsewhere in North America. ?? 2011 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.

  15. Development of the Statistical Reasoning in Biology Concept Inventory (SRBCI).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deane, Thomas; Nomme, Kathy; Jeffery, Erica; Pollock, Carol; Birol, Gülnur

    2016-01-01

    We followed established best practices in concept inventory design and developed a 12-item inventory to assess student ability in statistical reasoning in biology (Statistical Reasoning in Biology Concept Inventory [SRBCI]). It is important to assess student thinking in this conceptual area, because it is a fundamental requirement of being statistically literate and associated skills are needed in almost all walks of life. Despite this, previous work shows that non-expert-like thinking in statistical reasoning is common, even after instruction. As science educators, our goal should be to move students along a novice-to-expert spectrum, which could be achieved with growing experience in statistical reasoning. We used item response theory analyses (the one-parameter Rasch model and associated analyses) to assess responses gathered from biology students in two populations at a large research university in Canada in order to test SRBCI's robustness and sensitivity in capturing useful data relating to the students' conceptual ability in statistical reasoning. Our analyses indicated that SRBCI is a unidimensional construct, with items that vary widely in difficulty and provide useful information about such student ability. SRBCI should be useful as a diagnostic tool in a variety of biology settings and as a means of measuring the success of teaching interventions designed to improve statistical reasoning skills. © 2016 T. Deane et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

  16. Evaluation and application of summary statistic imputation to discover new height-associated loci.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rüeger, Sina; McDaid, Aaron; Kutalik, Zoltán

    2018-05-01

    As most of the heritability of complex traits is attributed to common and low frequency genetic variants, imputing them by combining genotyping chips and large sequenced reference panels is the most cost-effective approach to discover the genetic basis of these traits. Association summary statistics from genome-wide meta-analyses are available for hundreds of traits. Updating these to ever-increasing reference panels is very cumbersome as it requires reimputation of the genetic data, rerunning the association scan, and meta-analysing the results. A much more efficient method is to directly impute the summary statistics, termed as summary statistics imputation, which we improved to accommodate variable sample size across SNVs. Its performance relative to genotype imputation and practical utility has not yet been fully investigated. To this end, we compared the two approaches on real (genotyped and imputed) data from 120K samples from the UK Biobank and show that, genotype imputation boasts a 3- to 5-fold lower root-mean-square error, and better distinguishes true associations from null ones: We observed the largest differences in power for variants with low minor allele frequency and low imputation quality. For fixed false positive rates of 0.001, 0.01, 0.05, using summary statistics imputation yielded a decrease in statistical power by 9, 43 and 35%, respectively. To test its capacity to discover novel associations, we applied summary statistics imputation to the GIANT height meta-analysis summary statistics covering HapMap variants, and identified 34 novel loci, 19 of which replicated using data in the UK Biobank. Additionally, we successfully replicated 55 out of the 111 variants published in an exome chip study. Our study demonstrates that summary statistics imputation is a very efficient and cost-effective way to identify and fine-map trait-associated loci. Moreover, the ability to impute summary statistics is important for follow-up analyses, such as Mendelian

  17. Officers, Boards, Committees, and Representatives of the American Psychological Association, 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Psychologist, 2007

    2007-01-01

    The Council of Representatives is composed of the Board of Directors, the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) representative, division representatives, and state, provincial, and territorial association representatives. Then representatives for the current year, with terms of office, are listed in this article.

  18. IGESS: a statistical approach to integrating individual-level genotype data and summary statistics in genome-wide association studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Mingwei; Ming, Jingsi; Cai, Mingxuan; Liu, Jin; Yang, Can; Wan, Xiang; Xu, Zongben

    2017-09-15

    Results from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) suggest that a complex phenotype is often affected by many variants with small effects, known as 'polygenicity'. Tens of thousands of samples are often required to ensure statistical power of identifying these variants with small effects. However, it is often the case that a research group can only get approval for the access to individual-level genotype data with a limited sample size (e.g. a few hundreds or thousands). Meanwhile, summary statistics generated using single-variant-based analysis are becoming publicly available. The sample sizes associated with the summary statistics datasets are usually quite large. How to make the most efficient use of existing abundant data resources largely remains an open question. In this study, we propose a statistical approach, IGESS, to increasing statistical power of identifying risk variants and improving accuracy of risk prediction by i ntegrating individual level ge notype data and s ummary s tatistics. An efficient algorithm based on variational inference is developed to handle the genome-wide analysis. Through comprehensive simulation studies, we demonstrated the advantages of IGESS over the methods which take either individual-level data or summary statistics data as input. We applied IGESS to perform integrative analysis of Crohns Disease from WTCCC and summary statistics from other studies. IGESS was able to significantly increase the statistical power of identifying risk variants and improve the risk prediction accuracy from 63.2% ( ±0.4% ) to 69.4% ( ±0.1% ) using about 240 000 variants. The IGESS software is available at https://github.com/daviddaigithub/IGESS . zbxu@xjtu.edu.cn or xwan@comp.hkbu.edu.hk or eeyang@hkbu.edu.hk. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  19. Associations Between Religion-Related Factors and Breast Cancer Screening Among American Muslims

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padela, Aasim I.; Murrar, Sohad; Adviento, Brigid; Liao, Chuanhong; Hosseinian, Zahra; Peek, Monica; Curlin, Farr

    2015-01-01

    American Muslims have low rates of mammography utilization, and research suggests that religious values influence their health-seeking behaviors. We assessed associations between religion-related factors and breast cancer screening in this population. A diverse group of Muslim women were recruited from mosques and Muslim organization sites in Greater Chicago to self-administer a survey incorporating measures of fatalism, religiosity, discrimination, and Islamic modesty. 254 surveys were collected of which 240 met age inclusion criteria (40 years of age or older). Of the 240, 72 respondents were Arab, 71 South Asian, 59 African American, and 38 identified with another ethnicity. 77 % of respondents had at least one mammogram in their lifetime, yet 37 % had not obtained mammography within the past 2 years. In multivariate models, positive religious coping, and perceived religious discrimination in healthcare were negatively associated with having a mammogram in the past 2 years, while having a PCP was positively associated. Ever having a mammogram was positively associated with increasing age and years of US residency, and knowing someone with breast cancer. Promoting biennial mammography among American Muslims may require addressing ideas about religious coping and combating perceived religious discrimination through tailored interventions. PMID:24700026

  20. Associations between religion-related factors and breast cancer screening among American Muslims.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padela, Aasim I; Murrar, Sohad; Adviento, Brigid; Liao, Chuanhong; Hosseinian, Zahra; Peek, Monica; Curlin, Farr

    2015-06-01

    American Muslims have low rates of mammography utilization, and research suggests that religious values influence their health-seeking behaviors. We assessed associations between religion-related factors and breast cancer screening in this population. A diverse group of Muslim women were recruited from mosques and Muslim organization sites in Greater Chicago to self-administer a survey incorporating measures of fatalism, religiosity, discrimination, and Islamic modesty. 254 surveys were collected of which 240 met age inclusion criteria (40 years of age or older). Of the 240, 72 respondents were Arab, 71 South Asian, 59 African American, and 38 identified with another ethnicity. 77% of respondents had at least one mammogram in their lifetime, yet 37% had not obtained mammography within the past 2 years. In multivariate models, positive religious coping, and perceived religious discrimination in healthcare were negatively associated with having a mammogram in the past 2 years, while having a PCP was positively associated. Ever having a mammogram was positively associated with increasing age and years of US residency, and knowing someone with breast cancer. Promoting biennial mammography among American Muslims may require addressing ideas about religious coping and combating perceived religious discrimination through tailored interventions.

  1. Discrimination and psychiatric disorders among older African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mouzon, Dawne M; Taylor, Robert Joseph; Keith, Verna M; Nicklett, Emily J; Chatters, Linda M

    2017-02-01

    This study examined the impact of everyday discrimination (both racial and non-racial) on the mental health of older African Americans. This analysis is based on the older African American subsample of the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) (n = 773). We examined the associations between everyday discrimination and both general distress and psychiatric disorders as measured by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Six dependent variables were examined: lifetime mood disorders, lifetime anxiety disorders, any lifetime disorder, number of lifetime disorders, depressive symptoms as measured by the 12-item Center for Epidemiological Scale of Depression (CES-D), and serious psychological distress as measured by the Kessler 6 (K6). Overall, racial and non-racial everyday discrimination were consistently associated with worse mental health for older African Americans. Older African Americans who experienced higher levels of overall everyday discrimination had higher odds of any psychiatric disorder, any lifetime mood disorder, any lifetime anxiety disorder, and more lifetime DSM-IV disorders, in addition to elevated levels of depressive symptoms and serious psychological distress. These findings were similar for both racial discrimination and non-racial discrimination. This study documents the harmful association of not only racial discrimination, but also non-racial (and overall) discrimination with the mental health of older African Americans. Specifically, discrimination is negatively associated with mood and anxiety disorders as well as depressive symptoms and psychological distress. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  2. A genome-wide association search for type 2 diabetes genes in African Americans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholette D Palmer

    Full Text Available African Americans are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2DM yet few studies have examined T2DM using genome-wide association approaches in this ethnicity. The aim of this study was to identify genes associated with T2DM in the African American population. We performed a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS using the Affymetrix 6.0 array in 965 African-American cases with T2DM and end-stage renal disease (T2DM-ESRD and 1029 population-based controls. The most significant SNPs (n = 550 independent loci were genotyped in a replication cohort and 122 SNPs (n = 98 independent loci were further tested through genotyping three additional validation cohorts followed by meta-analysis in all five cohorts totaling 3,132 cases and 3,317 controls. Twelve SNPs had evidence of association in the GWAS (P<0.0071, were directionally consistent in the Replication cohort and were associated with T2DM in subjects without nephropathy (P<0.05. Meta-analysis in all cases and controls revealed a single SNP reaching genome-wide significance (P<2.5×10(-8. SNP rs7560163 (P = 7.0×10(-9, OR (95% CI = 0.75 (0.67-0.84 is located intergenically between RND3 and RBM43. Four additional loci (rs7542900, rs4659485, rs2722769 and rs7107217 were associated with T2DM (P<0.05 and reached more nominal levels of significance (P<2.5×10(-5 in the overall analysis and may represent novel loci that contribute to T2DM. We have identified novel T2DM-susceptibility variants in the African-American population. Notably, T2DM risk was associated with the major allele and implies an interesting genetic architecture in this population. These results suggest that multiple loci underlie T2DM susceptibility in the African-American population and that these loci are distinct from those identified in other ethnic populations.

  3. Different Approaches to Teaching the Mechanics of American Psychological Association Style

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franz, Timothy M.; Spitzer, Tam M.

    2006-01-01

    Students have to learn two distinctly different tasks when writing research papers: a) creating and organizing prose, and b) formatting a manuscript according to the nuances and mechanics of a pre-determined format, such as Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. Two studies examined different…

  4. A large insertion in intron 2 of the TYRP1 gene associated with American Palomino phenotype in American mink

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cirera Salicio, Susanna; Markakis, Marios Nektarios; Kristiansen, Thea

    2016-01-01

    A number of American mink phenotypes display a range of brownish colours. One of these phenotypes, namely American Palomino (b (P) b (P) ) (AP) has been found to be associated with the tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TYRP1) gene by genotyping microsatellite markers in one sire family. Trials for am...... and the same size insertion appears to be present. By this we suggest that certain modifiers of TYRP1 would induce different brown colour degradation, which results in at least two different phases of brown.......A number of American mink phenotypes display a range of brownish colours. One of these phenotypes, namely American Palomino (b (P) b (P) ) (AP) has been found to be associated with the tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TYRP1) gene by genotyping microsatellite markers in one sire family. Trials...

  5. A weighted U-statistic for genetic association analyses of sequencing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Changshuai; Li, Ming; He, Zihuai; Vsevolozhskaya, Olga; Schaid, Daniel J; Lu, Qing

    2014-12-01

    With advancements in next-generation sequencing technology, a massive amount of sequencing data is generated, which offers a great opportunity to comprehensively investigate the role of rare variants in the genetic etiology of complex diseases. Nevertheless, the high-dimensional sequencing data poses a great challenge for statistical analysis. The association analyses based on traditional statistical methods suffer substantial power loss because of the low frequency of genetic variants and the extremely high dimensionality of the data. We developed a Weighted U Sequencing test, referred to as WU-SEQ, for the high-dimensional association analysis of sequencing data. Based on a nonparametric U-statistic, WU-SEQ makes no assumption of the underlying disease model and phenotype distribution, and can be applied to a variety of phenotypes. Through simulation studies and an empirical study, we showed that WU-SEQ outperformed a commonly used sequence kernel association test (SKAT) method when the underlying assumptions were violated (e.g., the phenotype followed a heavy-tailed distribution). Even when the assumptions were satisfied, WU-SEQ still attained comparable performance to SKAT. Finally, we applied WU-SEQ to sequencing data from the Dallas Heart Study (DHS), and detected an association between ANGPTL 4 and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol. © 2014 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

  6. Interpreting Statistical Significance Test Results: A Proposed New "What If" Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kieffer, Kevin M.; Thompson, Bruce

    As the 1994 publication manual of the American Psychological Association emphasized, "p" values are affected by sample size. As a result, it can be helpful to interpret the results of statistical significant tests in a sample size context by conducting so-called "what if" analyses. However, these methods can be inaccurate…

  7. American Women and American Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chmaj, Betty E.

    The American Studies Association (ASA) is an interprofessional group, representing a cross-section of persons from American literature, American history, the social sciences, philosophy, archeology, Black Studies, Urban Studies, American Studies, and others. This document by the ASA Commission on the Status of Women includes: (1) a report of the…

  8. A Review of Child Psychiatric Epidemiology With Special Reference to American Indian and Alaska Native Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Ben Ezra; And Others

    1981-01-01

    Places the limited knowledge of the psychological problems of American Indian and Alaska Native children in context of general child psychiatric epidemiology, using the taxonomy of the American Psychiatric Association's third "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual." Available from: White Cloud Center, Gaines Hall UOHSC, 840 Southwest Gaines…

  9. An Introduction to Confidence Intervals for Both Statistical Estimates and Effect Sizes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capraro, Mary Margaret

    This paper summarizes methods of estimating confidence intervals, including classical intervals and intervals for effect sizes. The recent American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Statistical Inference report suggested that confidence intervals should always be reported, and the fifth edition of the APA "Publication Manual"…

  10. Fifth joint meeting of the American Urological Association and the Japanese Urological Association International Affiliate Society Meeting at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Robert P; Seki, Narihito; Gotoh, Momokazu; Chai, Toby C; Kaplan, Steven A; Inoue, Keiji; Trachtenberg, John; Kikuchi, Eiji; Nishiyama, Hiroyuki; Chang, Sam S; Lee, Cheryl; Muto, Satoru; Ito, Kazuto; Andriole, Gerald L; Eto, Masatoshi; Sumitomo, Makoto; Kamba, Tomomi; Wood, Chrsitopher G; Margulis, Vitaly; Naito, Seiji; Egawa, Shin

    2010-08-01

    We are heartily grateful for the warm support of all of the people concerned, including the moderators and panelists of both societies for giving us the opportunity to hold the 5(th) American Urological Association/Japanese Urological Association (AUA/JUA) International Affiliate Society Meeting, held once again at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (29 May-3 June 2010, San Francisco, California, USA). The year of 2010 is a memorable one, being the start of reciprocal collaborations between the AUA and the JUA. The JUA, in collaboration with the AUA, is promoting an academic exchange program whereby outstanding and promising Japanese and American junior faculty members will be given the opportunity to work in the USA and Japan for 1 month. The program not only allows the sharing of knowledge and experience, but also is designed to foster a closer alliance between the AUA and JUA, and assists in identifying future leaders within both organizations. The AUA and JUA will have an exhibit booth at each other's annual meeting, promoting our new joint activities. Both the JUA and AUA will organize educational courses in Hawaii in 2011. With all of these activities, the JUA hopes it will provide greater opportunities for young Japanese urologists to participate in educational projects in the USA. We would like to thank Professor Anton J. Bueschen, President of AUA, Professor Robert C Flanigan, Secretary General of AUA and the staff of the AUA and JUA for supporting our program. At the same time, we need the support of all the members and their valuable suggestions. We look forward to further participation of AUA members to this meeting. Seiji Naito md, President of JUA Shin Egawa md, Chairman of the International Committee of JUA.

  11. A history of binge drinking during adolescence is associated with poorer sleep quality in young adult Mexican Americans and American Indians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehlers, Cindy L; Wills, Derek; Gilder, David A

    2018-06-01

    Binge drinking during adolescence is common, and adolescents and young adults with alcohol problems may also have sleep difficulties. However, few studies have documented the effects of a history of adolescent binge drinking on sleep in young adulthood in high-risk minority populations. To quantify sleep disturbance, as indexed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), in a sample of young adult Mexican American and American Indian men and women (18-30 years, n = 800) with and without a history of alcohol binge drinking during adolescence, controlling for age, gender, and race. Gender was found to affect PSQI responses with females reporting waking up at night, having more bad dreams, and later habitual bedtimes than males, and males reporting more problems with breathing and snoring. Increasing age was associated with snoring or coughing, less hours spent in bed, and later evening bedtimes. Race also influenced the PSQI with American Indians reporting longer sleep latencies and sleep durations, more hours spent in bed, and more trouble with coughing and snoring than Mexican Americans, and Mexican Americans reporting later bedtimes. A history of adolescent regular binge drinking was associated with longer sleep latencies, more problems with breathing, bad dreams, and an overall higher PSQI total score, when controlling for age, race, and gender. This report suggests, like what has been found in young adults in general population samples, that binge drinking during adolescence is associated with deleterious consequences on sleep quality in young adulthood in these high-risk and understudied ethnic groups.

  12. American Association of Dental Schools Curricular Guidelines for Oral Radiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Journal of Dental Education, 1980

    1980-01-01

    Oral radiology curricular guidelines developed by the American Association of Dental Schools are provided. The guidelines describe minimal conditions under which a satisfactory educational experience can be offered. Principles of x-radiation, radiobiological concepts, radiological health, radiographic technique, radiographic quality, and darkroom…

  13. Ethical Standards of the American Association for Counseling and Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Journal of Counseling and Development, 1988

    1988-01-01

    Presents principles that define the ethical behavior of American Association for Counseling and Development members. In addition to 11 general principles, includes principles on the counseling relationship, measurement and evaluation, research and publication, consulting, private practice, personnel administration, and preparation standards. (ABL)

  14. Factors associated with obesity in Chinese-American children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jyu-Lin; Kennedy, Christine

    2005-01-01

    A cross-sectional study design was utilized to examine factors associated with obesity in Chinese-American children. Chinese-American children (8 to 10 years old) and their mothers (N = 68) in California participated in the study. Mothers completed demographic information, the Family Assessment Device, Attitudes Toward Child Rearing Scale, and Suinn-Lew Asian Self-identity Acculturation Scale. Children's body mass index was measured, and children completed a self-administered physical activity checklist, Food Frequency Questionnaire, and the Schoolagers' Coping Strategies Inventory. Results indicated three variables that predicted children's body mass index: older age, a more democratic parenting style, and poor communication (R2=.263, F=8.727, p = .0001). Children whose mothers had a low level of acculturation were also more likely to be overweight than were children whose mothers were highly acculturated. This study revealed that children's ages, a democratic parenting style, and poor family communication contribute to increased body mass index in Chinese-American children. Other factors related to children's BMI and dietary intake include acculturation level of the mother and family affective responses. Future studies should examine the change in BMI over time and in different age groups and why parenting and family communication impact children's body weight.

  15. American Nurses Association. position statement on assisted suicide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-01-01

    Nurses, individually and collectively, have an obligation to provide comprehensive and compassionate end-of-life care which includes the promotion of comfort and the relief of pain and, at times, forgoing life-sustaining treatments. The American Nurses Association (ANA) believes that the nurse should not participate in assisted suicide. Such an act is in violation of the Code for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (Code for Nurses) and the ethical traditions of the profession.

  16. A novel variational Bayes multiple locus Z-statistic for genome-wide association studies with Bayesian model averaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Logsdon, Benjamin A.; Carty, Cara L.; Reiner, Alexander P.; Dai, James Y.; Kooperberg, Charles

    2012-01-01

    Motivation: For many complex traits, including height, the majority of variants identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have small effects, leaving a significant proportion of the heritable variation unexplained. Although many penalized multiple regression methodologies have been proposed to increase the power to detect associations for complex genetic architectures, they generally lack mechanisms for false-positive control and diagnostics for model over-fitting. Our methodology is the first penalized multiple regression approach that explicitly controls Type I error rates and provide model over-fitting diagnostics through a novel normally distributed statistic defined for every marker within the GWAS, based on results from a variational Bayes spike regression algorithm. Results: We compare the performance of our method to the lasso and single marker analysis on simulated data and demonstrate that our approach has superior performance in terms of power and Type I error control. In addition, using the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) SNP Health Association Resource (SHARe) GWAS of African-Americans, we show that our method has power to detect additional novel associations with body height. These findings replicate by reaching a stringent cutoff of marginal association in a larger cohort. Availability: An R-package, including an implementation of our variational Bayes spike regression (vBsr) algorithm, is available at http://kooperberg.fhcrc.org/soft.html. Contact: blogsdon@fhcrc.org Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:22563072

  17. 76 FR 37876 - Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers; Renewal of American Pyrotechnics Association (APA) Exemption...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-28

    ...-28043] Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers; Renewal of American Pyrotechnics Association (APA) Exemption... announces the renewal of the exemption of specified members of the American Pyrotechnics Association (APA... of this exemption in effect, designated APA-member motor carriers will maintain a level of safety...

  18. 76 FR 30232 - Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers; Application of American Pyrotechnics Association (APA) for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-24

    ...-28043] Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers; Application of American Pyrotechnics Association (APA) for... American Pyrotechnics Association (APA) has applied for a limited exemption from FMCSA's regulation that... exemption would apply solely to the operation of CMVs by 9 designated APA-member motor carriers in...

  19. Recent Literature on Whether Statistical Significance Tests Should or Should Not Be Banned.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deegear, James

    This paper summarizes the literature regarding statistical significant testing with an emphasis on recent literature in various discipline and literature exploring why researchers have demonstrably failed to be influenced by the American Psychological Association publication manual's encouragement to report effect sizes. Also considered are…

  20. Performance evaluation of three computed radiography systems using methods recommended in American Association of Physicists in Medicine Report 93

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muhogora, Wilbroad; Padovani, Renato; Bonutti, Faustino; Msaki, Peter; Kazema, R.

    2011-01-01

    The performances of three clinical computed radiography (CR) systems (Agfa CR 75 (with CRMD 4. 0 image plates), Kodak CR 850 (with Kodak GP plates) and Kodak CR 850A (with Kodak GP plates) were evaluated using six tests recommended in American Association of Physicists in Medicine Report 93. The results indicated variable performances with majority being within acceptable limits. The variations were mainly attributed to differences in detector formulations, plate readers' characteristics, and aging effects. The differences of the mean low contrast scores between the imaging systems for three observers were statistically significant for Agfa and Kodak CR 850A (P=0.009) and for Kodak CR systems (P=0.006) probably because of the differences in ages. However, the differences were not statistically significant between Agfa and Kodak CR 850 (P=0.284) suggesting similar perceived image quality. The study demonstrates the need to implement quality control program regularly. (author)

  1. Performance evaluation of three computed radiography systems using methods recommended in American Association of Physicists in Medicine Report 93

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilbroad Muhogora

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The performances of three clinical computed radiography (CR systems, (Agfa CR 75 (with CRMD 4.0 image plates, Kodak CR 850 (with Kodak GP plates and Kodak CR 850A (with Kodak GP plates were evaluated using six tests recommended in American Association of Physicists in Medicine Report 93. The results indicated variable performances with majority being within acceptable limits. The variations were mainly attributed to differences in detector formulations, plate readers′ characteristics, and aging effects. The differences of the mean low contrast scores between the imaging systems for three observers were statistically significant for Agfa and Kodak CR 850A (P=0.009 and for Kodak CR systems (P=0.006 probably because of the differences in ages. However, the differences were not statistically significant between Agfa and Kodak CR 850 (P=0.284 suggesting similar perceived image quality. The study demonstrates the need to implement quality control program regularly.

  2. A review of American psychiatry through its diagnoses: the history and development of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Bernard A

    2012-12-01

    The history of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) reflects the larger history of American psychiatry. As the field anticipates DSM-5, it is useful to take stock of this history and consider not only how diagnosis impacts our understanding of mental illness but also how contemporary thought influences diagnosis. Before the DSM, the field was disjointed. The publication of the first American diagnostic manual, the precursor of the DSM, mirrored society's interest in organized record keeping and prevention rather than treatment of mental illness. The first and second editions of DSM brought a common language to diagnosis and were largely the work of outpatient and academic psychiatrists rather than those based in large state hospitals. The third edition of the DSM saw the shift in American psychiatry's leadership from the eminent clinician to the researcher, whereas the fourth edition reflected the rise of "evidence-based medicine." DSM-5 will likewise represent the current status of the field-not only with regard to science but also reflecting the place of American psychiatry in medicine today.

  3. Intronic variants in the dopa decarboxylase (DDC) gene are associated with smoking behavior in European-Americans and African-Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Yi; Panhuysen, Carolien; Kranzler, Henry R; Hesselbrock, Victor; Rounsaville, Bruce; Weiss, Roger; Brady, Kathleen; Farrer, Lindsay A; Gelernter, Joel

    2006-07-15

    We report here a study considering association of alleles and haplotypes at the DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) locus with the DSM-IV diagnosis of nicotine dependence (ND) or a quantitative measure for ND using the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). We genotyped 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning a region of approximately 210 kb that includes DDC and the genes immediately flanking DDC in 1,590 individuals from 621 families of African-American (AA) or European-American (EA) ancestry. Evidence of association (family-based tests) was observed with several SNPs for both traits (0.0002DDC lacking exons 10-15. Haplotype analysis did not reveal any SNP combination with stronger evidence for association than rs12718541 alone. Although sequence analysis suggests that rs12718541 may be an intronic splicing enhancer, further studies are needed to determine whether a direct link exists between an alternatively spliced form of DDC and predisposition to ND. These findings confirm a previous report of association of DDC with ND, localize the causative variants to the 3' end of the coding region and extend the association to multiple population groups.

  4. A powerful score-based test statistic for detecting gene-gene co-association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jing; Yuan, Zhongshang; Ji, Jiadong; Zhang, Xiaoshuai; Li, Hongkai; Wu, Xuesen; Xue, Fuzhong; Liu, Yanxun

    2016-01-29

    The genetic variants identified by Genome-wide association study (GWAS) can only account for a small proportion of the total heritability for complex disease. The existence of gene-gene joint effects which contains the main effects and their co-association is one of the possible explanations for the "missing heritability" problems. Gene-gene co-association refers to the extent to which the joint effects of two genes differ from the main effects, not only due to the traditional interaction under nearly independent condition but the correlation between genes. Generally, genes tend to work collaboratively within specific pathway or network contributing to the disease and the specific disease-associated locus will often be highly correlated (e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in linkage disequilibrium). Therefore, we proposed a novel score-based statistic (SBS) as a gene-based method for detecting gene-gene co-association. Various simulations illustrate that, under different sample sizes, marginal effects of causal SNPs and co-association levels, the proposed SBS has the better performance than other existed methods including single SNP-based and principle component analysis (PCA)-based logistic regression model, the statistics based on canonical correlations (CCU), kernel canonical correlation analysis (KCCU), partial least squares path modeling (PLSPM) and delta-square (δ (2)) statistic. The real data analysis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) further confirmed its advantages in practice. SBS is a powerful and efficient gene-based method for detecting gene-gene co-association.

  5. 76 FR 37880 - Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers; Granting of Exemption; American Pyrotechnics Association (APA)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-28

    ...-28043] Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers; Granting of Exemption; American Pyrotechnics Association (APA... exemption from the American Pyrotechnics Association (APA) on behalf of 9 member motor carriers seeking... such exemption'' (49 U.S.C. 31315(b)(1)). The initial APA application for waiver or exemption relief...

  6. American Housing Survey (AHS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Employment and Payroll Survey of Business Owners Work from Home Our statistics highlight trends in household statistics from multiple surveys. Data Tools & Apps Main American FactFinder Census Business Builder My Classification Codes (i.e., NAICS) Economic Census Economic Indicators Economic Studies Industry Statistics

  7. Anxiety, Alexithymia, and Depression as Mediators of the Association between Childhood Abuse and Eating Disordered Behavior in African American and European American Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazzeo, Suzanne E.; Mitchell, Karen S.; Williams, Larry J.

    2008-01-01

    This study evaluated structural equation models of the associations among family functioning, childhood abuse, depression, anxiety, alexithymia, and eating disorder symptomatology in a sample of 412 European American and 192 African American female undergraduates. Additionally, the specific roles of anxiety, depression, and alexithymia as…

  8. American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) `95

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-12-31

    The Fourteenth annual meeting of the American Association for Aerosol Research was held October 9-13, 1995 at Westin William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, PA. This volume contains the abstracts of the papers and poster sessions presented at this meeting, grouped by the session in which they were presented as follows: Radiation Effects; Aerosol Deposition; Collision Simulations and Microphysical Behavior; Filtration Theory and Measurements; Materials Synthesis; Radioactive and Nuclear Aerosols; Aerosol Formation, Thermodynamic Properties, and Behavior; Particle Contamination Issues in the Computer Industry; Pharmaceutical Aerosol Technology; Modeling Global/Regional Aerosols; Visibility; Respiratory Deposition; Biomass and Biogenic Aerosols; Aerosol Dynamics; Atmospheric Aerosols.

  9. Statistical Analysis of a Method to Predict Drug-Polymer Miscibility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knopp, Matthias Manne; Olesen, Niels Erik; Huang, Yanbin

    2016-01-01

    In this study, a method proposed to predict drug-polymer miscibility from differential scanning calorimetry measurements was subjected to statistical analysis. The method is relatively fast and inexpensive and has gained popularity as a result of the increasing interest in the formulation of drug...... as provided in this study. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci....

  10. Guidelines for Adult Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery: A Guideline for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winstein, Carolee J; Stein, Joel; Arena, Ross; Bates, Barbara; Cherney, Leora R; Cramer, Steven C; Deruyter, Frank; Eng, Janice J; Fisher, Beth; Harvey, Richard L; Lang, Catherine E; MacKay-Lyons, Marilyn; Ottenbacher, Kenneth J; Pugh, Sue; Reeves, Mathew J; Richards, Lorie G; Stiers, William; Zorowitz, Richard D

    2016-06-01

    The aim of this guideline is to provide a synopsis of best clinical practices in the rehabilitative care of adults recovering from stroke. Writing group members were nominated by the committee chair on the basis of their previous work in relevant topic areas and were approved by the American Heart Association (AHA) Stroke Council's Scientific Statement Oversight Committee and the AHA's Manuscript Oversight Committee. The panel reviewed relevant articles on adults using computerized searches of the medical literature through 2014. The evidence is organized within the context of the AHA framework and is classified according to the joint AHA/American College of Cardiology and supplementary AHA methods of classifying the level of certainty and the class and level of evidence. The document underwent extensive AHA internal and external peer review, Stroke Council Leadership review, and Scientific Statements Oversight Committee review before consideration and approval by the AHA Science Advisory and Coordinating Committee. Stroke rehabilitation requires a sustained and coordinated effort from a large team, including the patient and his or her goals, family and friends, other caregivers (eg, personal care attendants), physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, recreation therapists, psychologists, nutritionists, social workers, and others. Communication and coordination among these team members are paramount in maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of rehabilitation and underlie this entire guideline. Without communication and coordination, isolated efforts to rehabilitate the stroke survivor are unlikely to achieve their full potential. As systems of care evolve in response to healthcare reform efforts, postacute care and rehabilitation are often considered a costly area of care to be trimmed but without recognition of their clinical impact and ability to reduce the risk of downstream medical morbidity resulting from

  11. Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies Identifies Genetic Risk Factors for Stroke in African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carty, Cara L; Keene, Keith L; Cheng, Yu-Ching; Meschia, James F; Chen, Wei-Min; Nalls, Mike; Bis, Joshua C; Kittner, Steven J; Rich, Stephen S; Tajuddin, Salman; Zonderman, Alan B; Evans, Michele K; Langefeld, Carl D; Gottesman, Rebecca; Mosley, Thomas H; Shahar, Eyal; Woo, Daniel; Yaffe, Kristine; Liu, Yongmei; Sale, Michèle M; Dichgans, Martin; Malik, Rainer; Longstreth, W T; Mitchell, Braxton D; Psaty, Bruce M; Kooperberg, Charles; Reiner, Alexander; Worrall, Bradford B; Fornage, Myriam

    2015-08-01

    The majority of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of stroke have focused on European-ancestry populations; however, none has been conducted in African Americans, despite the disproportionately high burden of stroke in this population. The Consortium of Minority Population Genome-Wide Association Studies of Stroke (COMPASS) was established to identify stroke susceptibility loci in minority populations. Using METAL, we conducted meta-analyses of GWAS in 14 746 African Americans (1365 ischemic and 1592 total stroke cases) from COMPASS, and tested genetic variants with Pstroke genetic studies in European-ancestry populations. We also evaluated stroke loci previously identified in European-ancestry populations. The 15q21.3 locus linked with lipid levels and hypertension was associated with total stroke (rs4471613; P=3.9×10(-8)) in African Americans. Nominal associations (Pstroke were observed for 18 variants in or near genes implicated in cell cycle/mRNA presplicing (PTPRG, CDC5L), platelet function (HPS4), blood-brain barrier permeability (CLDN17), immune response (ELTD1, WDFY4, and IL1F10-IL1RN), and histone modification (HDAC9). Two of these loci achieved nominal significance in METASTROKE: 5q35.2 (P=0.03), and 1p31.1 (P=0.018). Four of 7 previously reported ischemic stroke loci (PITX2, HDAC9, CDKN2A/CDKN2B, and ZFHX3) were nominally associated (Pstroke in COMPASS. We identified a novel genetic variant associated with total stroke in African Americans and found that ischemic stroke loci identified in European-ancestry populations may also be relevant for African Americans. Our findings support investigation of diverse populations to identify and characterize genetic risk factors, and the importance of shared genetic risk across populations. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

  12. ASA conference on radiation and health: Health effects of electric and magnetic fields: Statistical support for research strategies. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1990-05-01

    This report is a collection of papers documenting presentations made at the VIII ASA (American Statistical Association) Conference on Radiation and Health entitled Health Effects of Electric and Magnetic Fields: Statistical Support for Research Strategies. Individual papers are abstracted and indexed for the database.

  13. American Nurses Association Position Statement on guidelines for commercial support of continuing nursing education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    The attached guidelines on "Commercial Support of Continuing Nursing Education" have been developed by the American Nurses Association (ANA) to assist/guide nursing continuing educators who wish to utilize the resources of corporations to provide continuing education programs. These guidelines enable the provider to maintain a balance between the need for industry-supported dissemination of scientific information and promotional activities which meet the requirements of law, as well as professional standards of the American Nurses Association.

  14. American woodcock (Scolopax minor) mortality associated with a reovirus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Docherty, D.E.; Converse, K.A.; Hansen, W.R.; Norman, G.W.

    1994-01-01

    A virus isolate associated with a 1989-90 die-off in American woodcock (Scolopax minor) was identified as a reovirus. Emaciation was a consistent necropsy finding in the woodcock involved in this die-off. This reovirus infection appeared to be systemic, had the potential for fecal-oral virus transmission, and was associated with deterioration of body condition. To our knowledge this is the first report of a virus isolate from wild American woodcock. A survey conducted in 1990-92 indicated that this virus was not present at detectable levels in the woodcock breeding and wintering population. /// Un virus asociado con la mortalidad de becadas o perdices americanas (Scolopax minor) en 1989-1990-fue identificado como reovirus. La emaciaci??n fue un resultado com??n a la necropsia de las aves que murieron. Esta infecci??n por reovirus pareci?? ser sist??mica, ten?-a el potencial de transmisi??n fecal-oral y estuvo asociada con el deterioro del ave. Creemos que este sea el primer reporte de aislamiento viral a partir de becadas americanas. Una encuesta hecha entre 1990 y 1992 indic?? que este virus no estaba presente en los niveles detectables en los reproductores y en las aves invernales.

  15. 2nd Conference of the International Society for Nonparametric Statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Manteiga, Wenceslao; Romo, Juan

    2016-01-01

    This volume collects selected, peer-reviewed contributions from the 2nd Conference of the International Society for Nonparametric Statistics (ISNPS), held in Cádiz (Spain) between June 11–16 2014, and sponsored by the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability, the Journal of Nonparametric Statistics and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. The 15 articles are a representative sample of the 336 contributed papers presented at the conference. They cover topics such as high-dimensional data modelling, inference for stochastic processes and for dependent data, nonparametric and goodness-of-fit testing, nonparametric curve estimation, object-oriented data analysis, and semiparametric inference. The aim of the ISNPS 2014 conference was to bring together recent advances and trends in several areas of nonparametric statistics in order to facilitate the exchange of research ideas, promote collaboration among researchers...

  16. Genetic variants associated with warfarin dose in African-American individuals: a genome-wide association study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perera, Minoli A; Cavallari, Larisa H; Limdi, Nita A; Gamazon, Eric R; Konkashbaev, Anuar; Daneshjou, Roxana; Pluzhnikov, Anna; Crawford, Dana C; Wang, Jelai; Liu, Nianjun; Tatonetti, Nicholas; Bourgeois, Stephane; Takahashi, Harumi; Bradford, Yukiko; Burkley, Benjamin M; Desnick, Robert J; Halperin, Jonathan L; Khalifa, Sherief I; Langaee, Taimour Y; Lubitz, Steven A; Nutescu, Edith A; Oetjens, Matthew; Shahin, Mohamed H; Patel, Shitalben R; Sagreiya, Hersh; Tector, Matthew; Weck, Karen E; Rieder, Mark J; Scott, Stuart A; Wu, Alan HB; Burmester, James K; Wadelius, Mia; Deloukas, Panos; Wagner, Michael J; Mushiroda, Taisei; Kubo, Michiaki; Roden, Dan M; Cox, Nancy J; Altman, Russ B; Klein, Teri E; Nakamura, Yusuke; Johnson, Julie A

    2013-01-01

    Summary Background VKORC1 and CYP2C9 are important contributors to warfarin dose variability, but explain less variability for individuals of African descent than for those of European or Asian descent. We aimed to identify additional variants contributing to warfarin dose requirements in African Americans. Methods We did a genome-wide association study of discovery and replication cohorts. Samples from African-American adults (aged ≥18 years) who were taking a stable maintenance dose of warfarin were obtained at International Warfarin Pharmacogenetics Consortium (IWPC) sites and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL, USA). Patients enrolled at IWPC sites but who were not used for discovery made up the independent replication cohort. All participants were genotyped. We did a stepwise conditional analysis, conditioning first for VKORC1 −1639G→A, followed by the composite genotype of CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3. We prespecified a genome-wide significance threshold of p<5×10−8 in the discovery cohort and p<0·0038 in the replication cohort. Findings The discovery cohort contained 533 participants and the replication cohort 432 participants. After the prespecified conditioning in the discovery cohort, we identified an association between a novel single nucleotide polymorphism in the CYP2C cluster on chromosome 10 (rs12777823) and warfarin dose requirement that reached genome-wide significance (p=1·51×10−8). This association was confirmed in the replication cohort (p=5·04×10−5); analysis of the two cohorts together produced a p value of 4·5×10−12. Individuals heterozygous for the rs12777823 A allele need a dose reduction of 6·92 mg/week and those homozygous 9·34 mg/week. Regression analysis showed that the inclusion of rs12777823 significantly improves warfarin dose variability explained by the IWPC dosing algorithm (21% relative improvement). Interpretation A novel CYP2C single nucleotide polymorphism exerts a clinically relevant

  17. Creation of an American Holistic Nurses Association research consultation program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robertson, Sue; Clingerman, Evelyn; Zahourek, Rothlyn P; Mariano, Carla; Lange, Bernadette

    2012-12-01

    A goal of the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) Research Committee is to prepare holistic nurses to conduct holistic nursing research. This article describes the creation of a Research Consultation Program and how the knowledge gained from the program will contribute to the development of a formal research mentor program.

  18. Position of the American Dietetic Association, School Nutrition Association, and Society for Nutrition Education: Comprehensive School Nutrition Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briggs, Marilyn; Mueller, Constance G.; Fleischhacker, Sheila

    2010-01-01

    It is the position of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), School Nutrition Association (SNA), and Society for Nutrition Education (SNE) that comprehensive, integrated nutrition services in schools, kindergarten through grade 12, are an essential component of coordinated school health programs and will improve the nutritional status, health,…

  19. The Fifth Edition of the APA "Publication Manual": Why Its Statistics Recommendations Are So Controversial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fidler, Fiona

    2002-01-01

    Identifies deficiencies in the new edition of the American Psychological Association's "Publication Manual," drawing on interviews with some critics and other parties. These include lack of follow-through with explanations and examples of how to report the statistics now recommended. (SLD)

  20. Implicit Measures of Association in Psychopathology Research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Roefs, Anne; Huijding, Jorg; Smulders, Fren T. Y.; MacLeod, Colin M.; de Jong, Peter J.; Wiers, Reinout W.; Jansen, Anita T. M.

    Studies obtaining implicit measures of associations in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., Text Revision; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) Axis 1 psychopathology are organized into three categories: (a) studies comparing groups having a disorder with controls, (b)

  1. Implicit measures of association in psychopathology research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Roefs, A.; Huijding, J.; Smulders, F.T.Y.; MacLeod, C.M.; de Jong, P.J.; Wiers, R.W.; Jansen, A.T.M.

    2011-01-01

    Studies obtaining implicit measures of associations in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., Text Revision; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) Axis I psychopathology are organized into three categories: (a) studies comparing groups having a disorder with controls, (b)

  2. From the American Psychological Association to the American Psychology Association--An Organization for Psychologists or for the Discipline? 2007 Annual Report of the APA Policy and Planning Board

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Psychologist, 2008

    2008-01-01

    Each year, the American Psychological Association's Policy and Planning Board takes the pulse of the Association and the discipline as a whole and writes a report that represents the Board's best appraisal of a fundamental policy. Our main objective, however, is not simply to assess the current situation but to look forward on behalf of the…

  3. Accuracy of genome-wide imputation of untyped markers and impacts on statistical power for association studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    McElwee Joshua

    2009-06-01

    -eQTL discoveries detected by various methods can be interpreted as their relative statistical power in the GWAS. In this study, we find that imputation offer modest additional power (by 4% on top of either Ilmn317K or Ilmn650Y, much less than the power gain from Ilmn317K to Ilmn650Y (13%. Conclusion Current algorithms can accurately impute genotypes for untyped markers, which enables researchers to pool data between studies conducted using different SNP sets. While genotyping itself results in a small error rate (e.g. 0.5%, imputing genotypes is surprisingly accurate. We found that dense marker sets (e.g. Ilmn650Y outperform sparser ones (e.g. Ilmn317K in terms of imputation yield and accuracy. We also noticed it was harder to impute genotypes for African American samples, partially due to population admixture, although using a pooled reference boosts performance. Interestingly, GWAS carried out using imputed genotypes only slightly increased power on top of assayed SNPs. The reason is likely due to adding more markers via imputation only results in modest gain in genetic coverage, but worsens the multiple testing penalties. Furthermore, cis-eQTL mapping using dense SNP set derived from imputation achieves great resolution, and locate associate peak closer to causal variants than conventional approach.

  4. Rates and factors associated with falls in older European Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, African-Americans, and Hispanics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vieira ER

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Edgar Ramos Vieira,1,2 Ruth Tappen,3 Gabriella Engstrom,3 Bruno R da Costa11Department of Physical Therapy, 2Department of Neuroscience, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA; 3Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USAPurpose: To evaluate rates and factors associated with older adult falls in different ethnic groups.Participants and methods: Information on demographics, medical and falls history, and pain and physical activity levels was collected from 550 community-dwelling older adults (75±9 years old, 222 European Americans, 109 Afro-Caribbeans, 106 African-Americans, and 113 Hispanics.Results: Taking medications for anxiety (risk ratio [RR] =1.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.1–2.0, having incontinence (RR =1.4, 95% CI =1.1–1.8, P=0.013, back pain (RR =1.4, 95% CI =1.0–1.8, feet swelling (RR =1.3, 95% CI =1.1–1.7, and age ≥75 years (RR =1.3, 95% CI =1.0–1.6 were associated with falls. The associations were stronger for Afro-Caribbeans, but they presented approximately 40% lower prevalence of falls than the other groups.Conclusion: Taking anxiety medication, incontinence, back pain, feet swelling, and age ≥75 years were associated with falls, and Afro-Caribbeans presented lower prevalence of falls. These findings need to be taken into consideration in clinical interventions in aging.Keywords: ethnicity, falls, risks, community dwelling, older adults

  5. Association of American Universities Policy Recommendations for President-Elect Obama

    Science.gov (United States)

    Association of American Universities, 2008

    2008-01-01

    In this document, the Association of American Universities offers a series of research and technology policy recommendations that would help our nation to continue its global pre-eminence in science and high technology, improve the quality of life and national security of our citizens, and speed our nation's economic recovery. After policy…

  6. The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries' collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges, Medical Library Association, and other organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Carol G; Bader, Shelley A

    2003-04-01

    The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries has made collaboration with other organizations a fundamental success strategy throughout its twenty-five year history. From the beginning its relationships with Association of American Medical Colleges and with the Medical Library Association have shaped its mission and influenced its success at promoting academic health sciences libraries' roles in their institutions. This article describes and evaluates those relationships. It also describes evolving relationships with other organizations including the National Library of Medicine and the Association of Research Libraries.

  7. Racial-ethnic disparities in stroke care: the American experience: a statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cruz-Flores, Salvador; Rabinstein, Alejandro; Biller, Jose; Elkind, Mitchell S V; Griffith, Patrick; Gorelick, Philip B; Howard, George; Leira, Enrique C; Morgenstern, Lewis B; Ovbiagele, Bruce; Peterson, Eric; Rosamond, Wayne; Trimble, Brian; Valderrama, Amy L

    2011-07-01

    Our goal is to describe the effect of race and ethnicity on stroke epidemiology, personal beliefs, access to care, response to treatment, and participation in clinical research. In addition, we seek to determine the state of knowledge on the main factors that may explain disparities in stroke care, with the goal of identifying gaps in knowledge to guide future research. The intended audience includes physicians, nurses, other healthcare professionals, and policy makers. Members of the writing group were appointed by the American Heart Association Stroke Council Scientific Statement Oversight Committee and represent different areas of expertise in relation to racial-ethnic disparities in stroke care. The writing group reviewed the relevant literature, with an emphasis on reports published since 1972. The statement was approved by the writing group; the statement underwent peer review, then was approved by the American Heart Association Science Advisory and Coordinating Committee. There are limitations in the definitions of racial and ethnic categories currently in use. For the purpose of this statement, we used the racial categories defined by the US federal government: white, black or African American, Asian, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander. There are 2 ethnic categories: people of Hispanic/Latino origin or not of Hispanic/Latino origin. There are differences in the distribution of the burden of risk factors, stroke incidence and prevalence, and stroke mortality among different racial and ethnic groups. In addition, there are disparities in stroke care between minority groups compared with whites. These disparities include lack of awareness of stroke symptoms and signs and lack of knowledge about the need for urgent treatment and the causal role of risk factors. There are also differences in attitudes, beliefs, and compliance among minorities compared with whites. Differences in socioeconomic status and insurance coverage

  8. The association between discrimination and PTSD in African Americans: exploring the role of gender.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks Holliday, Stephanie; Dubowitz, Tamara; Haas, Ann; Ghosh-Dastidar, Bonnie; DeSantis, Amy; Troxel, Wendy M

    2018-02-28

    Research has demonstrated the adverse impact that discrimination has on physical and mental health. However, few studies have examined the association between discrimination and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is evidence that African Americans experience higher rates of PTSD and are more likely to develop PTSD following trauma exposure than Whites, and discrimination may be one reason for this disparity. To examine the association between discrimination and PTSD among a cross-sectional sample largely comprising African American women, controlling for other psychosocial stressors (psychological distress, neighborhood safety, crime). A sample of 806 participants was recruited from two low-income predominantly African American neighborhoods. Participants completed self-report measures of PTSD symptoms, perceived discrimination, perceived safety, and psychological distress. Information on neighborhood crime was obtained through data requested from the city. Multivariate linear regression models were estimated to assess adjusted relationships between PTSD symptoms and discrimination. Discrimination was significantly associated with PTSD symptoms with a small effect size, controlling for relevant sociodemographic variables. This association remained consistent after controlling for psychological distress, perceived safety, and total neighborhood crime. There was no evidence of a gender by discrimination interaction. Participants who experienced any discrimination were significantly more likely to screen positive for PTSD. Discrimination may contribute to the disparate rates of PTSD experienced by African Americans. PTSD is associated with a range of negative consequences, including poorer physical health, mental health, and quality of life. These results suggest the importance of finding ways to promote resilience in this at-risk population.

  9. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY POSITION STATEMENT ON TESTING FOR AUTONOMIC AND SOMATIC NERVE DYSFUNCTION.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinik, Aaron I; Camacho, Pauline M; Davidson, Jaime A; Handelsman, Yehuda; Lando, Howard M; Leddy, Anne L; Reddy, Sethu K; Cook, Richard; Spallone, Vicenza; Tesfaye, Solomon; Ziegler, Dan

    2017-12-01

    This document represents the official position of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American College of Endocrinology. Where there were no randomized controlled trials or specific U.S. FDA labeling for issues in clinical practice, the participating clinical experts utilized their judgment and experience. Every effort was made to achieve consensus among the committee members. Position statements are meant to provide guidance, but they are not to be considered prescriptive for any individual patient and cannot replace the judgment of a clinician.

  10. Insulin Promoter Factor 1 variation is associated with type 2 diabetes in African Americans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Xiaoqin

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Defective insulin secretion is a key defect in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2DM. The β-cell specific transcription factor, insulin promoter factor 1 gene (IPF1, is essential to pancreatic development and the maintenance of β-cell mass. We hypothesized that regulatory or coding variants in IPF1 contribute to defective insulin secretion and thus T2DM. Methods We screened 71 Caucasian and 69 African American individuals for genetic variants in the promoter region, three highly conserved upstream regulatory sequences (PH1, PH2 and PH3, the human β-cell specific enhancer, and the two exons with adjacent introns. We tested for an association of each variant with T2DM Caucasians (192 cases and 192 controls and African Americans (341 cases and 186 controls. Results We identified 8 variants in the two populations, including a 3 bp insertion in exon 2 (InsCCG243 in African Americans that resulted in an in-frame proline insertion in the transactivation domain. No variant was associated with T2DM in Caucasians, but polymorphisms at -3766 in the human β-cell enhancer, at -2877 bp in the PH1 domain, and at -108 bp in the promoter region were associated with T2DM in African American subjects (p Conculsion The common alleles of regulatory variants in the 5' enhancer and promoter regions of the IPF1 gene increase susceptibility to type 2 diabetes among African American individuals, likely as a result of gene-gene or gene-environment interactions. In contrast, IPF1 is not a cause of type 2 diabetes in Caucasians. A previously described InsCCG243 variant may contribute to diabetes susceptibility in African American individuals, but is of low penetrance.

  11. Implicit Measures of Association in Psychopathology Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roefs, Anne; Huijding, Jorg; Smulders, Fren T. Y.; MacLeod, Colin M.; de Jong, Peter J.; Wiers, Reinout W.; Jansen, Anita T. M.

    2011-01-01

    Validity;Measures (Individuals);Studies obtaining implicit measures of associations in "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (4th ed., Text Revision; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) Axis I psychopathology are organized into three categories: (a) studies comparing groups having a disorder with controls, (b) experimental…

  12. Fusing Data Mining, Machine Learning and Traditional Statistics to Detect Biomarkers Associated with Depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dipnall, Joanna F; Pasco, Julie A; Berk, Michael; Williams, Lana J; Dodd, Seetal; Jacka, Felice N; Meyer, Denny

    2016-01-01

    Atheoretical large-scale data mining techniques using machine learning algorithms have promise in the analysis of large epidemiological datasets. This study illustrates the use of a hybrid methodology for variable selection that took account of missing data and complex survey design to identify key biomarkers associated with depression from a large epidemiological study. The study used a three-step methodology amalgamating multiple imputation, a machine learning boosted regression algorithm and logistic regression, to identify key biomarkers associated with depression in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (2009-2010). Depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and 67 biomarkers were analysed. Covariates in this study included gender, age, race, smoking, food security, Poverty Income Ratio, Body Mass Index, physical activity, alcohol use, medical conditions and medications. The final imputed weighted multiple logistic regression model included possible confounders and moderators. After the creation of 20 imputation data sets from multiple chained regression sequences, machine learning boosted regression initially identified 21 biomarkers associated with depression. Using traditional logistic regression methods, including controlling for possible confounders and moderators, a final set of three biomarkers were selected. The final three biomarkers from the novel hybrid variable selection methodology were red cell distribution width (OR 1.15; 95% CI 1.01, 1.30), serum glucose (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00, 1.01) and total bilirubin (OR 0.12; 95% CI 0.05, 0.28). Significant interactions were found between total bilirubin with Mexican American/Hispanic group (p = 0.016), and current smokers (pmachine learning algorithm with traditional statistical modelling, accounted for missing data and complex survey sampling methodology and was demonstrated to be a useful tool for detecting three biomarkers associated with depression for future

  13. Statistical power of model selection strategies for genome-wide association studies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheyang Wu

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS aim to identify genetic variants related to diseases by examining the associations between phenotypes and hundreds of thousands of genotyped markers. Because many genes are potentially involved in common diseases and a large number of markers are analyzed, it is crucial to devise an effective strategy to identify truly associated variants that have individual and/or interactive effects, while controlling false positives at the desired level. Although a number of model selection methods have been proposed in the literature, including marginal search, exhaustive search, and forward search, their relative performance has only been evaluated through limited simulations due to the lack of an analytical approach to calculating the power of these methods. This article develops a novel statistical approach for power calculation, derives accurate formulas for the power of different model selection strategies, and then uses the formulas to evaluate and compare these strategies in genetic model spaces. In contrast to previous studies, our theoretical framework allows for random genotypes, correlations among test statistics, and a false-positive control based on GWAS practice. After the accuracy of our analytical results is validated through simulations, they are utilized to systematically evaluate and compare the performance of these strategies in a wide class of genetic models. For a specific genetic model, our results clearly reveal how different factors, such as effect size, allele frequency, and interaction, jointly affect the statistical power of each strategy. An example is provided for the application of our approach to empirical research. The statistical approach used in our derivations is general and can be employed to address the model selection problems in other random predictor settings. We have developed an R package markerSearchPower to implement our formulas, which can be downloaded from the

  14. CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITORING: A CONSENSUS CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fonseca, Vivian A; Grunberger, George; Anhalt, Henry; Bailey, Timothy S; Blevins, Thomas; Garg, Satish K; Handelsman, Yehuda; Hirsch, Irl B; Orzeck, Eric A; Roberts, Victor Lawrence; Tamborlane, William

    2016-08-01

    Barriers to continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) use continue to hamper adoption of this valuable technology for the management of diabetes. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American College of Endocrinology convened a public consensus conference February 20, 2016, to review available CGM data and propose strategies for expanding CGM access. Conference participants agreed that evidence supports the benefits of CGM in type 1 diabetes and that these benefits are likely to apply whenever intensive insulin therapy is used, regardless of diabetes type. CGM is likely to reduce healthcare resource utilization for acute and chronic complications, although real-world analyses are needed to confirm potential cost savings and quality of life improvements. Ongoing technological advances have improved CGM accuracy and usability, but more innovations in human factors, data delivery, reporting, and interpretation are needed to foster expanded use. The development of a standardized data report using similar metrics across all devices would facilitate clinician and patient understanding and utilization of CGM. Expanded CGM coverage by government and private payers is an urgent need. CGM improves glycemic control, reduces hypoglycemia, and may reduce overall costs of diabetes management. Expanding CGM coverage and utilization is likely to improve the health outcomes of people with diabetes. A1C = glycated hemoglobin AACE = American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists ACE = American College of Endocrinology ASPIRE = Automation to Simulate Pancreatic Insulin Response CGM = continuous glucose monitoring HRQOL = health-related quality of life ICER = incremental cost-effectiveness ratio JDRF = Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation MARD = mean absolute relative difference MDI = multiple daily injections QALY = quality-adjusted life years RCT = randomized, controlled trial SAP = sensor-augmented pump SMBG = self-monitoring of blood glucose STAR = Sensor

  15. Facts about American Indian Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Indian College Fund, 2010

    2010-01-01

    As a result of living in remote rural areas, American Indians living on reservations have limited access to higher education. One-third of American Indians live on reservations, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the most recent U.S. government statistics, the overall poverty rate for American Indians/Alaska Natives, including…

  16. Statistical applications for chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) in the pharmaceutical industry

    CERN Document Server

    Burdick, Richard K; Pfahler, Lori B; Quiroz, Jorge; Sidor, Leslie; Vukovinsky, Kimberly; Zhang, Lanju

    2017-01-01

    This book examines statistical techniques that are critically important to Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control (CMC) activities. Statistical methods are presented with a focus on applications unique to the CMC in the pharmaceutical industry. The target audience consists of statisticians and other scientists who are responsible for performing statistical analyses within a CMC environment. Basic statistical concepts are addressed in Chapter 2 followed by applications to specific topics related to development and manufacturing. The mathematical level assumes an elementary understanding of statistical methods. The ability to use Excel or statistical packages such as Minitab, JMP, SAS, or R will provide more value to the reader. The motivation for this book came from an American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) short course on statistical methods applied to CMC applications presented by four of the authors. One of the course participants asked us for a good reference book, and the only book recomm...

  17. The 2016 American Orthopaedic Association-Japanese Orthopaedic Association Traveling Fellowship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nandi, Sumon; Cho, Samuel K; Freedman, Brett A; Firoozabadi, Reza

    2017-06-07

    The American Orthopaedic Association-Japanese Orthopaedic Association (AOA-JOA) Traveling Fellowship, which began in 1992 as a collaborative effort between the 2 orthopaedic communities, is aimed at fostering leadership among early-career surgeons through clinical, academic, and cultural exchange. Over 3 weeks, we experienced an extraordinary journey that led us across nearly 800 miles of the picturesque Japanese countryside, with stops at 6 distinguished academic centers. The opportunity to become personally acquainted with orthopaedic leaders in Japan, learn from their experiences, and immerse ourselves in the ancient and storied culture of a beautiful country was one that we will not soon forget. Along the way, we accumulated a wealth of information while enjoying the legendary hospitality of the Japanese people. There is a ubiquitous challenge in delivering cost-effective, accessible health care while maintaining a commitment to education and research. The U.S. orthopaedic community may take solace in the fact that our Japanese colleagues stand with us as partners in this pursuit, and our relationship with them continues to grow stronger through endeavors such as the AOA-JOA Traveling Fellowship. We look forward to honoring our Japanese colleagues in 2017 when we host them in the United States.

  18. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Infants and Children With Cardiac Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marino, Bradley S; Tabbutt, Sarah; MacLaren, Graeme; Hazinski, Mary Fran; Adatia, Ian; Atkins, Dianne L; Checchia, Paul A; DeCaen, Allan; Fink, Ericka L; Hoffman, George M; Jefferies, John L; Kleinman, Monica; Krawczeski, Catherine D; Licht, Daniel J; Macrae, Duncan; Ravishankar, Chitra; Samson, Ricardo A; Thiagarajan, Ravi R; Toms, Rune; Tweddell, James; Laussen, Peter C

    2018-04-23

    Cardiac arrest occurs at a higher rate in children with heart disease than in healthy children. Pediatric basic life support and advanced life support guidelines focus on delivering high-quality resuscitation in children with normal hearts. The complexity and variability in pediatric heart disease pose unique challenges during resuscitation. A writing group appointed by the American Heart Association reviewed the literature addressing resuscitation in children with heart disease. MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases were searched from 1966 to 2015, cross-referencing pediatric heart disease with pertinent resuscitation search terms. The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association classification of recommendations and levels of evidence for practice guidelines were used. The recommendations in this statement concur with the critical components of the 2015 American Heart Association pediatric basic life support and pediatric advanced life support guidelines and are meant to serve as a resuscitation supplement. This statement is meant for caregivers of children with heart disease in the prehospital and in-hospital settings. Understanding the anatomy and physiology of the high-risk pediatric cardiac population will promote early recognition and treatment of decompensation to prevent cardiac arrest, increase survival from cardiac arrest by providing high-quality resuscitations, and improve outcomes with postresuscitation care. © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.

  19. 1981 transactions of the American Association of Cost Engineers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1981-01-01

    The 1981 proceedings of the American Association of Cost Engineers includes papers on economic evaluation of energy projects, coal-oil mixture FPL's Sanford COM demonstration project, conception and evaluation of a large industrial project by using linear programming, geothermal power generation, conceptual estimating of power plants, management of nuclear retrofit, the future of shale oil, cost engineering in the Arabian Gulf, and the application of probabilistic cost estimating to an advanced energy system, among other topics

  20. Associations Between Parenting Factors, Motivation, and Physical Activity in Overweight African American Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huffman, Lauren E; Wilson, Dawn K; Van Horn, M Lee; Pate, Russell R

    2018-02-05

    Positive parenting practices and environmental supports have been linked to physical activity (PA) levels in youth, yet factors associated with positive parenting styles have been understudied in African American adolescents. This study expands on previous literature by examining associations between motivation, parenting factors associated with Self-Determination Theory's psychological needs (competence, autonomy, and relatedness) including authoritative parenting, autonomy support and emotional and tangible support, and adolescent moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and light PA (LPA). Participants were African American adolescents (N = 148; Mage = 13.6 years; MBMI% = 96.6) and their care-givers (Mage = 43.4 years; MBMI = 37.4) enrolled in the Families Improving Together for Weight Loss trial. Parenting factors were measured using self-report surveys, and PA minutes were measured using 7-day accelerometry estimates. Regression analyses indicated that overall models for MVPA (F(11,134) = 4.35; R2 = 0.26) and LPA (F(11,134) = 5.84, R2 = 0.32) were significant. Adolescent motivation for PA (B = 0.58, SE = 0.16) was positively associated with MVPA minutes. Authoritative parenting (B = 15.71, SE = 4.38) and tangible support (B = 8.53, SE = 4.02) were positively associated with adolescent LPA minutes. Unexpectedly, emotional support was negatively associated with both MVPA (B = -0.47, SE = 0.17) and LPA (B = -11.22, SE = 4.79), with follow-up analyses showing this relationship stronger in males. Findings highlight the importance of adolescent motivation for PA onMVPA and positive parenting styles and tangible supports on adolescent LPA in overweight African American youth. Recommendations for integrating these factors within the context of intervention studies are discussed.

  1. Everyday discrimination is associated with nicotine dependence among African American, Latino, and White smokers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kendzor, Darla E; Businelle, Michael S; Reitzel, Lorraine R; Rios, Debra M; Scheuermann, Taneisha S; Pulvers, Kim; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S

    2014-06-01

    Discrimination is a commonly perceived stressor among African Americans and Latinos, and previous research has linked stress with substance dependence. Although studies have shown a link between discrimination and smoking, little is known about the relationship between discrimination and nicotine dependence. A total of 2,376 African American (33.4%; n = 794), Latino (33.1%; n = 786), and White (33.5%; n = 796) smokers completed an online survey. Everyday discrimination experiences were described in total and by race/ethnicity. Covariate-adjusted linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the associations between everyday discrimination and indicators of nicotine dependence. Most participants (79.1%), regardless of race/ethnicity, reported experiencing everyday discrimination. However, total scores on the discrimination measure were higher among Latinos and African Americans than among Whites (p Whites. Regression analyses indicated that everyday discrimination was positively associated with indicators of nicotine dependence, including the Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI; p < .001) and the Brief Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (WISDM) scales (all ps < .001). There was a significant interaction between race/ethnicity and discrimination, such that discrimination was associated with the HSI only among Latinos. Similarly, discrimination was most strongly associated with the WISDM scales among Latinos. Analyses indicated that discrimination is a common stressor associated with nicotine dependence. Findings suggest that greater nicotine dependence is a potential pathway through which discrimination may influence health.

  2. Cholesterol Facts and Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Managing High Cholesterol Cholesterol-lowering Medicine High Cholesterol Statistics and Maps High Cholesterol Facts High Cholesterol Maps ... Deo R, et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics—2017 update: a report from the American Heart ...

  3. Overview of American Heart Association / American College of Cardiology guidelines 2017 for management of patients with valvular heart disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.Т. Vatutin

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available n June 2017, Circulation journal published updated recommendations of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology (AHA / ACC on the management of patients with valvular heart disease. The main provisions of this manual are set out in this message. It should be emphasized that the recommendations written by leading US experts in this field are set out clearly, using a variety of tables and figures, which will undoubtedly make them a desktop guide to action for most practitioners in the following years. As usual, when creating such guidelines, the authors were guided by evidence-based methodology using the classes of recommendations and levels of evidence.

  4. Synopsis and Review of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association 2013 ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Guideline.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Helen F

    2014-01-01

    The "2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines" is a major revision of the 2004 guideline. This article provides a synopsis and review of the guideline focusing on changes in patient care and implementing processes to ensure quality care. The implementation of this guideline provides nursing with a unique opportunity to affect patients and families primarily by recognition of the event and education about lifestyle modification and disease management. Regionalization of emergency systems provides a novel situation for nursing to develop interdepartmental and system protocols.

  5. Differential Serum Cytokine Levels and Risk of Lung Cancer between African and European Americans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pine, Sharon R.; Mechanic, Leah E.; Enewold, Lindsey; Bowman, Elise D.; Ryan, Bríd M.; Cote, Michele L.; Wenzlaff, Angela S.; Loffredo, Christopher A.; Olivo-Marston, Susan; Chaturvedi, Anil; Caporaso, Neil E.; Schwartz, Ann G.; Harris, Curtis C.

    2015-01-01

    Background African Americans have a higher risk of developing lung cancer than European Americans. Previous studies suggested that certain circulating cytokines were associated with lung cancer. We hypothesized that variations in serum cytokine levels exist between African Americans and European Americans, and increased circulating cytokine levels contribute to lung cancer differently in the two races. Methods Differences in ten serum cytokine levels, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GMCSF), interferon (IFN)-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α between 170 African-American and 296 European-American controls from the National Cancer Institute-Maryland (NCI-MD) case-control study were assessed. Associations of the serum cytokine levels with lung cancer were analyzed. Statistically significant results were replicated in the prospective Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial and the Wayne State University (WSU) Karmanos Cancer Institute case-control study. Results Six cytokines: IL-4, IL-5, IL-8, IL-10, IFNγ, and TNFα, were significantly higher among European-American as compared to African-American controls. Elevated IL-6 and IL-8 levels were associated with lung cancer among both races in all three studies. Elevated IL-1β, IL-10 and TNFα levels were associated with lung cancer only among African Americans. The association between elevated TNFα levels and lung cancer among European Americans was significant after adjustment for additional factors. Conclusions Serum cytokine levels vary by race and might contribute to lung cancer differently between African Americans and European Americans. Impact Future work examining risk prediction models of lung cancer can measure circulating cytokines to accurately characterize risk within racial groups. PMID:26711330

  6. Statistical testing and power analysis for brain-wide association study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Weikang; Wan, Lin; Lu, Wenlian; Ma, Liang; Cheng, Fan; Cheng, Wei; Grünewald, Stefan; Feng, Jianfeng

    2018-04-05

    The identification of connexel-wise associations, which involves examining functional connectivities between pairwise voxels across the whole brain, is both statistically and computationally challenging. Although such a connexel-wise methodology has recently been adopted by brain-wide association studies (BWAS) to identify connectivity changes in several mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, autism and depression, the multiple correction and power analysis methods designed specifically for connexel-wise analysis are still lacking. Therefore, we herein report the development of a rigorous statistical framework for connexel-wise significance testing based on the Gaussian random field theory. It includes controlling the family-wise error rate (FWER) of multiple hypothesis testings using topological inference methods, and calculating power and sample size for a connexel-wise study. Our theoretical framework can control the false-positive rate accurately, as validated empirically using two resting-state fMRI datasets. Compared with Bonferroni correction and false discovery rate (FDR), it can reduce false-positive rate and increase statistical power by appropriately utilizing the spatial information of fMRI data. Importantly, our method bypasses the need of non-parametric permutation to correct for multiple comparison, thus, it can efficiently tackle large datasets with high resolution fMRI images. The utility of our method is shown in a case-control study. Our approach can identify altered functional connectivities in a major depression disorder dataset, whereas existing methods fail. A software package is available at https://github.com/weikanggong/BWAS. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Salish Kootenai College Project for Recruitment and Retention of Native Americans in Associate Degree Nursing. Final Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dolberry, Jacque

    The purpose of the Salish Koontenai College (SKC) Project for Recruitment and Retention of Native Americans in Associate Degree Nursing was to increase the numbers of Native American registered nurses providing health care to the Native American population of Montana and the northwest mountain states. Recruitment and retention efforts targeted…

  8. Recommendations for the management of cerebral and cerebellar infarction with swelling: a statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wijdicks, Eelco F M; Sheth, Kevin N; Carter, Bob S; Greer, David M; Kasner, Scott E; Kimberly, W Taylor; Schwab, Stefan; Smith, Eric E; Tamargo, Rafael J; Wintermark, Max

    2014-04-01

    There are uncertainties surrounding the optimal management of patients with brain swelling after an ischemic stroke. Guidelines are needed on how to manage this major complication, how to provide the best comprehensive neurological and medical care, and how to best inform families facing complex decisions on surgical intervention in deteriorating patients. This scientific statement addresses the early approach to the patient with a swollen ischemic stroke in a cerebral or cerebellar hemisphere. The writing group used systematic literature reviews, references to published clinical and epidemiology studies, morbidity and mortality reports, clinical and public health guidelines, authoritative statements, personal files, and expert opinion to summarize existing evidence and to indicate gaps in current knowledge. The panel reviewed the most relevant articles on adults through computerized searches of the medical literature using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science through March 2013. The evidence is organized within the context of the American Heart Association framework and is classified according to the joint American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation and supplementary American Heart Association Stroke Council methods of classifying the level of certainty and the class and level of evidence. The document underwent extensive American Heart Association internal peer review. Clinical criteria are available for hemispheric (involving the entire middle cerebral artery territory or more) and cerebellar (involving the posterior inferior cerebellar artery or superior cerebellar artery) swelling caused by ischemic infarction. Clinical signs that signify deterioration in swollen supratentorial hemispheric ischemic stroke include new or further impairment of consciousness, cerebral ptosis, and changes in pupillary size. In swollen cerebellar infarction, a decrease in level of consciousness occurs as a result of brainstem compression and therefore may

  9. Patterns of Care for Craniopharyngioma: Survey of members of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hankinson, Todd C.; Palmeri, Nicholas O.; Williams, Sarah A.; Torok, Michelle R.; Serrano, Cesar A.; Foreman, Nicholas K.; Handler, Michael H.; Liu, Arthur K.

    2014-01-01

    Background/Significance Initial therapy for craniopharyngioma remains controversial. Population-based datasets indicate that traditional algorithms (GTR versus STR +/− XRT) are often not employed. We investigated neurosurgical practice patterns. Methods A ten-question survey was electronically distributed to members of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Responses were analyzed using standard statistical techniques. Results One hundred-two responses were collected, with a median 25 craniopharyngiomas managed per respondent. 36% estimated their practice included ≥75% pediatrics and 61% had an academic practice. 36% would recommend observation or radiation therapy for a suspected craniopharyngioma in the absence of a tissue diagnosis, with 46% of these indicating this recommendation in ≥10% of cases. Following STR, 35% always recommend XRT and 59% recommend it in over half of cases. However, following STR or biopsy alone, 18% and 11% never recommend XRT. There was no association between type of practice (i.e. academic or ≥75% pediatrics) and practice patterns. Conclusions This survey verifies that deviation from established algorithms is common, underscoring the clinical complexity of these patients and recent secondary data analyses This should influence clinical researchers to investigate outcomes for patients treated using alternative methods. This will lend insight into appropriate treatment options and contribute to quality of life outcomes studies for craniopharyngioma. PMID:24577430

  10. Don E. Detmer and the American Medical Informatics Association: An Appreciation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shortliffe, Edward H.; Bates, David W.; Bloomrosen, Meryl; Greenwood, Karen; Safran, Charles; Steen, Elaine B.; Tang, Paul C.; Williamson, Jeffrey J.

    2009-01-01

    Don E. Detmer has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) for the past five years, helping to set a course for the organization and demonstrating remarkable leadership as AMIA has evolved into a vibrant and influential professional association. On the occasion of Dr. Detmer's retirement, we fondly reflect on his professional life and his many contributions to biomedical informatics and, more generally, to health care in the U.S. and globally. PMID:19574463

  11. American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) Perspective of Alternative Poultry Production Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) is a nonprofit educational and networking organization dedicated to encouraging the production, processing, and marketing of poultry raised on pasture, and is the largest industry group focused on pastured poultry. APPPA passionately embr...

  12. The Asian American Psychological Association: Parallels and Intersections with Counseling Psychology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez, Alvin N.; Singh, Anneliese A.; Wu, Jenny

    2012-01-01

    This article provides an overview of the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA). A brief history is provided, followed by current status and resources, connections to counseling psychology, and implications for the Society of Counseling Psychology and for the future of the AAPA. AAPA was created in 1972 in response to psychology's neglect…

  13. Lead poisoning among Arab American and African American children in the Detroit metropolitan area, Michigan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nriagu, Jerome; Senthamarai-Kannan, Raghavendra; Jamil, Hikmet; Fakhori, Monty; Korponic, Summer

    2011-09-01

    This study explored the hypothesis that acculturation is a risk factor for childhood lead poisoning in the Detroit area of Michigan. Blood lead levels (BLLs) were determined in 429 Arab American and African American children, aged 6 months to 15 years, who were receiving well-child examination in three Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) clinics in the city. Mean BLL was 3.8 ± 2.3 μg/dL (range: 1-18 μg/dL) and 3.3% of the children tested had blood lead values above the 10 μg/dL level of concern. Neither the age of the dwelling units nor ethnicity of the child was significantly associated with the BLL. Multivariable analyses instead identified a number of acculturation-related factors that are associated with elevation in blood lead including paternal education, language spoken at home (English only, English and Arabic, or Arabic only), home ownership, smoking in the home, and exposure of child to home health remedies. The difference in blood lead between Arab American children from families where Arabic only versus Arabic and English is spoken at home was found to be statistically significant. This study provides information showing that immigrant children are at heightened risk of being poisoned by lead which can be useful in identifying groups at risk of atypical exposures.

  14. Role of physical activity in reducing cognitive decline in older Mexican-American adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ottenbacher, Allison J; Snih, Soham Al; Bindawas, Saad M; Markides, Kyriakos S; Graham, James E; Samper-Ternent, Rafael; Raji, Mukaila; Ottenbacher, Kenneth J

    2014-09-01

    The effect of physical activity on cognitive function in older adults from minority and disadvantaged populations is not well understood. This study examined the longitudinal association between physical activity and cognition in older Mexican Americans. The study methodology included a prospective cohort with longitudinal analysis of data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly. General linear mixed models were used to assess the associations and interactions between physical activity and cognitive function over 14 years. Community-based assessments were performed in participants' homes. Physical activity was recorded for 1,669 older Mexican Americans using the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly. Cognition was measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and separated into memory and nonmemory components. A statistically significant positive association was observed between levels of physical activity and cognitive function after adjusting for age, sex, marital status, education, and comorbid health conditions. There was a statistically significant difference in MMSE scores over time between participants in the third (β = 0.11, standard error (SE) = 0.05) and fourth (β = 0.10, SE = 0.2) quartiles of physical activity and those in the first. The protective effect of physical activity on cognitive decline was evident for the memory component of the MMSE but not the nonmemory component after adjusting for covariates. Greater physical activity at baseline was associated with less cognitive decline over 14 years in older Mexican Americans. The reduction in cognitive decline appeared to be related to the memory components of cognitive function. © 2014, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2014, The American Geriatrics Society.

  15. 2015 Annual Report of the American Psychological Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Presents the 2015 Annual Report of the American Psychological Association. In his introduction, President Barry Anton describes how 2015 was among APA's most challenging. Although 2015 ushered in an era of greater transparency within the association and enhanced communications to members and the public, it also required painful self-reflection stemming from the revelations of an independent review by an outside law firm. The review examined the question of whether APA played any role related to the Bush administration's use of abusive interrogation techniques during the war on terror. Anton's introduction also discusses (1) the APA convention, (2) representing APA at a White House meeting with health care providers and insurance companies, (3) APA's effort to increase the number of APA-accredited internships, (4) international activities, and (5) the global summit on psychology and integrated care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  16. A PLSPM-Based Test Statistic for Detecting Gene-Gene Co-Association in Genome-Wide Association Study with Case-Control Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaoshuai; Yang, Xiaowei; Yuan, Zhongshang; Liu, Yanxun; Li, Fangyu; Peng, Bin; Zhu, Dianwen; Zhao, Jinghua; Xue, Fuzhong

    2013-01-01

    For genome-wide association data analysis, two genes in any pathway, two SNPs in the two linked gene regions respectively or in the two linked exons respectively within one gene are often correlated with each other. We therefore proposed the concept of gene-gene co-association, which refers to the effects not only due to the traditional interaction under nearly independent condition but the correlation between two genes. Furthermore, we constructed a novel statistic for detecting gene-gene co-association based on Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLSPM). Through simulation, the relationship between traditional interaction and co-association was highlighted under three different types of co-association. Both simulation and real data analysis demonstrated that the proposed PLSPM-based statistic has better performance than single SNP-based logistic model, PCA-based logistic model, and other gene-based methods. PMID:23620809

  17. Subtypes of Native American ancestry and leading causes of death: Mapuche ancestry-specific associations with gallbladder cancer risk in Chile.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justo Lorenzo Bermejo

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Latin Americans are highly heterogeneous regarding the type of Native American ancestry. Consideration of specific associations with common diseases may lead to substantial advances in unraveling of disease etiology and disease prevention. Here we investigate possible associations between the type of Native American ancestry and leading causes of death. After an aggregate-data study based on genome-wide genotype data from 1805 admixed Chileans and 639,789 deaths, we validate an identified association with gallbladder cancer relying on individual data from 64 gallbladder cancer patients, with and without a family history, and 170 healthy controls. Native American proportions were markedly underestimated when the two main types of Native American ancestry in Chile, originated from the Mapuche and Aymara indigenous peoples, were combined together. Consideration of the type of Native American ancestry was crucial to identify disease associations. Native American ancestry showed no association with gallbladder cancer mortality (P = 0.26. By contrast, each 1% increase in the Mapuche proportion represented a 3.7% increased mortality risk by gallbladder cancer (95%CI 3.1-4.3%, P = 6×10-27. Individual-data results and extensive sensitivity analyses confirmed the association between Mapuche ancestry and gallbladder cancer. Increasing Mapuche proportions were also associated with an increased mortality due to asthma and, interestingly, with a decreased mortality by diabetes. The mortality due to skin, bladder, larynx, bronchus and lung cancers increased with increasing Aymara proportions. Described methods should be considered in future studies on human population genetics and human health. Complementary individual-based studies are needed to apportion the genetic and non-genetic components of associations identified relying on aggregate-data.

  18. Subtypes of Native American ancestry and leading causes of death: Mapuche ancestry-specific associations with gallbladder cancer risk in Chile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorenzo Bermejo, Justo; Boekstegers, Felix; González Silos, Rosa; Marcelain, Katherine; Baez Benavides, Pablo; Barahona Ponce, Carol; Müller, Bettina; Ferreccio, Catterina; Koshiol, Jill; Fischer, Christine; Peil, Barbara; Sinsheimer, Janet; Fuentes Guajardo, Macarena; Barajas, Olga; Gonzalez-Jose, Rolando; Bedoya, Gabriel; Cátira Bortolini, Maria; Canizales-Quinteros, Samuel; Gallo, Carla; Ruiz Linares, Andres; Rothhammer, Francisco

    2017-05-01

    Latin Americans are highly heterogeneous regarding the type of Native American ancestry. Consideration of specific associations with common diseases may lead to substantial advances in unraveling of disease etiology and disease prevention. Here we investigate possible associations between the type of Native American ancestry and leading causes of death. After an aggregate-data study based on genome-wide genotype data from 1805 admixed Chileans and 639,789 deaths, we validate an identified association with gallbladder cancer relying on individual data from 64 gallbladder cancer patients, with and without a family history, and 170 healthy controls. Native American proportions were markedly underestimated when the two main types of Native American ancestry in Chile, originated from the Mapuche and Aymara indigenous peoples, were combined together. Consideration of the type of Native American ancestry was crucial to identify disease associations. Native American ancestry showed no association with gallbladder cancer mortality (P = 0.26). By contrast, each 1% increase in the Mapuche proportion represented a 3.7% increased mortality risk by gallbladder cancer (95%CI 3.1-4.3%, P = 6×10-27). Individual-data results and extensive sensitivity analyses confirmed the association between Mapuche ancestry and gallbladder cancer. Increasing Mapuche proportions were also associated with an increased mortality due to asthma and, interestingly, with a decreased mortality by diabetes. The mortality due to skin, bladder, larynx, bronchus and lung cancers increased with increasing Aymara proportions. Described methods should be considered in future studies on human population genetics and human health. Complementary individual-based studies are needed to apportion the genetic and non-genetic components of associations identified relying on aggregate-data.

  19. American Spinal Injury Association A (sensory and motor complete) is not different from American Spinal Injury Association B (sensory incomplete, motor complete) in gunshot-related spinal cord injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCoy, Eric; Eftekhary, Nima; Nwosu, Kenneth; Fukunaga, Dudley; Liu, Charles; Rolfe, Kevin

    2017-12-01

    We receive a large number of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) due to penetrating gunshot wounds (GSW) at our national rehabilitation center. Although many patients are labeled American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) B sensory incomplete because of sensory sparing, especially deep anal pressure, with purported prognostic value, we have not observed a clinical difference from patients labeled ASIA A complete. We hypothesized that sensory sparing, if meaningful, should reduce the occurrence of pressure ulcers. To determine if ASIA classifications A and B are important distinctions for patients with SCIs secondary to civilian gunshot wounds. A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients with civilian gunshot-induced SCI transferred to Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center between 1999 and 2014. Outcome measures were occurrence of pressure ulcers and surgical intervention for pressure ulcers. We included a total of 487 patients who sustained civilian gunshot wounds to the spine and were provided care at Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center from 2001 to 2014. Occurrence of pressure ulcers and surgical intervention for pressure ulcers among patients who suffered civilian-induced gunshot wounds to the spine. Retrospective chart review identified 487 SCIs due to gunshot wounds that were treated at Rancho Los Amigos from 2001 to 2014. Injury characteristics including ASIA classification, pressure ulcers, and pressure ulcer surgeries were recorded. Comprehensive surgical data were obtained for all patients. Chart reviews and telephone interviews were performed to determine the occurrence of any pressure ulcers and pressure ulcer surgeries. Statistical analysis was performed to compare data by spinal region and ASIA grade. There were no conflicts of interest from any of the authors, and there was no funding obtained for this study. There was no statistical difference for cervical ASIA A versus ASIA B for the occurrence of pressure ulcers or the

  20. Statistics associated with an elemental analysis system of particles induced by X-ray emission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Romo K, C.M.

    1987-01-01

    In the quantitative elemental analysis by X-ray techniques one has to use data spectra which present fluctuations of statistical nature both from the energy and from the number of counts accumulated. While processing the results for the obtainment of a quantitative result, a detailed knowledge of the associated statistics distributions is needed. In this work, l) the statistics associated with the system photon's counting as well as 2) the distribution of the results as a function of the energy are analyzed. The first one is important for the definition of the expected values and uncertainties and for the spectra simulation (Mukoyama, 1975). The second one is fundamental for the determination of the contribution for each spectral line. (M.R.) [es

  1. A functional U-statistic method for association analysis of sequencing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jadhav, Sneha; Tong, Xiaoran; Lu, Qing

    2017-11-01

    Although sequencing studies hold great promise for uncovering novel variants predisposing to human diseases, the high dimensionality of the sequencing data brings tremendous challenges to data analysis. Moreover, for many complex diseases (e.g., psychiatric disorders) multiple related phenotypes are collected. These phenotypes can be different measurements of an underlying disease, or measurements characterizing multiple related diseases for studying common genetic mechanism. Although jointly analyzing these phenotypes could potentially increase the power of identifying disease-associated genes, the different types of phenotypes pose challenges for association analysis. To address these challenges, we propose a nonparametric method, functional U-statistic method (FU), for multivariate analysis of sequencing data. It first constructs smooth functions from individuals' sequencing data, and then tests the association of these functions with multiple phenotypes by using a U-statistic. The method provides a general framework for analyzing various types of phenotypes (e.g., binary and continuous phenotypes) with unknown distributions. Fitting the genetic variants within a gene using a smoothing function also allows us to capture complexities of gene structure (e.g., linkage disequilibrium, LD), which could potentially increase the power of association analysis. Through simulations, we compared our method to the multivariate outcome score test (MOST), and found that our test attained better performance than MOST. In a real data application, we apply our method to the sequencing data from Minnesota Twin Study (MTS) and found potential associations of several nicotine receptor subunit (CHRN) genes, including CHRNB3, associated with nicotine dependence and/or alcohol dependence. © 2017 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

  2. A novel genome-information content-based statistic for genome-wide association analysis designed for next-generation sequencing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Li; Zhu, Yun; Xiong, Momiao

    2012-06-01

    The genome-wide association studies (GWAS) designed for next-generation sequencing data involve testing association of genomic variants, including common, low frequency, and rare variants. The current strategies for association studies are well developed for identifying association of common variants with the common diseases, but may be ill-suited when large amounts of allelic heterogeneity are present in sequence data. Recently, group tests that analyze their collective frequency differences between cases and controls shift the current variant-by-variant analysis paradigm for GWAS of common variants to the collective test of multiple variants in the association analysis of rare variants. However, group tests ignore differences in genetic effects among SNPs at different genomic locations. As an alternative to group tests, we developed a novel genome-information content-based statistics for testing association of the entire allele frequency spectrum of genomic variation with the diseases. To evaluate the performance of the proposed statistics, we use large-scale simulations based on whole genome low coverage pilot data in the 1000 Genomes Project to calculate the type 1 error rates and power of seven alternative statistics: a genome-information content-based statistic, the generalized T(2), collapsing method, multivariate and collapsing (CMC) method, individual χ(2) test, weighted-sum statistic, and variable threshold statistic. Finally, we apply the seven statistics to published resequencing dataset from ANGPTL3, ANGPTL4, ANGPTL5, and ANGPTL6 genes in the Dallas Heart Study. We report that the genome-information content-based statistic has significantly improved type 1 error rates and higher power than the other six statistics in both simulated and empirical datasets.

  3. The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Annual Statistics: a thematic history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shedlock, James; Byrd, Gary D

    2003-04-01

    The Annual Statistics of Medical School Libraries in the United States and Canada (Annual Statistics) is the most recognizable achievement of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries in its history to date. This article gives a thematic history of the Annual Statistics, emphasizing the leadership role of editors and Editorial Boards, the need for cooperation and membership support to produce comparable data useful for everyday management of academic medical center libraries and the use of technology as a tool for data gathering and publication. The Annual Statistics' origin is recalled, and survey features and content are related to the overall themes. The success of the Annual Statistics is evident in the leadership skills of the first editor, Richard Lyders, executive director of the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library. The history shows the development of a survey instrument that strives to produce reliable and valid data for a diverse group of libraries while reflecting the many complex changes in the library environment. The future of the Annual Statistics is assured by the anticipated changes facing academic health sciences libraries, namely the need to reflect the transition from a physical environment to an electronic operation.

  4. Celebrating the 125th anniversary of the American Psychological Association: A quarter century of neuropsychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Gregory G; Anderson, Vicki; Bigler, Erin D; Chan, Agnes S; Fama, Rosemary; Grabowski, Thomas J; Zakzanis, Konstantine K

    2017-11-01

    The American Psychological Association (APA) celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017. As part of this celebration, the APA journal Neuropsychology has published in its November 2017 issue 11 papers describing some of the advances in the field of neuropsychology over the past 25 years. The papers address three broad topics: assessment and intervention, brain imaging, and theory and methods. The papers describe the rise of new assessment and intervention technologies, the impact of evidence for neuroplasticity on neurorehabilitation. Examples of the use of mathematical models of cognition to investigate latent neurobehavioral processes, the development of the field of neuropsychology in select international countries, the increasing sophistication of brain imaging methods, the recent evidence for localizationist and connectionist accounts of neurobehavioral functioning, the advances in neurobehavioral genomics, and descriptions of newly developed statistical models of longitudinal change. Together the papers convey evidence of the vibrant growth in the field of neuropsychology over the quarter century since APA's 100th anniversary in 1992. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. American Lung Association's radon public information program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCurdy, L.E.

    1992-01-01

    The American Lung Association (ALA), the nation's oldest voluntary health organization, is dedicated to the conquest of lung disease and the promotion of lung health. The objective of the ALA Radon Public Information Program is to reduce public exposure to elevated indoor radon levels through implementing grassroots-based radon public awareness campaigns by 22 local ALA groups. The program, which is funded by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was initiated in December 1989; the first phase will continue until May, 1991. Activities of local Lung Associations include distribution of free or reduced-cost radon kits; presenting programs in elementary and secondary schools; presenting information on TV news series and talk shows, and on radio Public Service Announcements and talk shows; presenting articles and feature stories in the print media; holding conferences, workshops, and displays at fairs and other exhibitions; distributing radon fact sheets through libraries and utility company mailings; and distributing videos through video chains and libraries. The local Lung Associations also serve as promoters for the EPA/Advertising Council Radon Public Service Announcement Campaign. We will highlight the activities of the groups in communicating radon health risks to the public; we will describe the results obtained and will attempt to evaluate the merits of the various approaches on the basis of the initial results

  6. The Association of Race/Ethnicity and Patch Test Results: North American Contact Dermatitis Group, 1998-2006.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deleo, Vincent Anthony; Alexis, Andrew; Warshaw, Erin M; Sasseville, Denis; Maibach, Howard I; DeKoven, Joel; Zug, Kathryn A; Belsito, Donald V; Fowler, Joseph F; Marks, James G; Mathias, C G Toby; Pratt, Melanie D; Rietschel, Robert L; Storrs, Frances J; Taylor, James S; Zirwas, Matthew

    2016-01-01

    The North American Contact Dermatitis Group patch tests patients with suspected allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) to a broad series of screening allergens and publishes periodic reports. We have previously reported on the association of race and ethnicity with the rates of positive responses to standard patch test allergens. This report extends those observations. The aim of the study was to report the North American Contact Dermatitis Group patch testing results from January 1, 1998, to December 31, 2006, comparing the frequency of positive reactions between white and black subjects. Standardized patch testing with 45 allergens was used at 13 centers in North America. χ analysis of results in black subjects as compared with whites was examined. A total of 19,457 patients were tested; 92.9% (17,803) were white and 7.1% (1,360) were black. The final diagnoses of ACD (whites, 45.9%; blacks, 43.6%) and irritant contact dermatitis (13.0%/13.3%) were similar in the 2 groups. The diagnosis of atopic dermatitis was less common in the white patients (8.9%) as compared with the black patients (13.3%). Positive patch test reactions rates were similar for most allergens. However, statistically, blacks reacted more frequently to p-phenylenediamine (7.0% vs 4.4%, P < 0.001), bacitracin (11.6% vs 8.3%, P = 0.0004), as well as specific rubber accelerators mercaptobenzothiazole (2.7% vs 1.8%), thiuram (6.2% vs 4.3%), and mercapto mix (1.9% vs 0.8%, P < 0.001). Whites had an increase in positive reactions to fragrances (12.12% vs 6.77%, P < 0.0001), formaldehyde (9.25% vs 5.45%, P < 0.0001), and some formaldehyde releaser preservatives used in personal care products and textile resins (9.80% vs 6.18%, P < 0.0001). There were statistically different rates of positive patch test reactions to specific allergens between black and white patients suspected of having ACD. The etiology of these differences is unclear but probably relates to culturally determined exposure patterns rather

  7. 2013 AHA/ACC guideline on lifestyle management to reduce cardiovascular risk: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force on practice guidelines

    Science.gov (United States)

    The goals of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) are to prevent cardiovascular (CV) diseases, improve the management of people who have these diseases through professional education and research, and develop guidelines, standards and policies that promot...

  8. The Human Ecology of the American Educational Research Association. Report No. 261.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, James M., Jr.

    The concepts and methods of human ecology are applied to the geographic distribution of members of the American Educational Research Association. State characteristics are measured by five factors: (1) large-scale agriculture; (2) population size; (3) affluence-urbanization; (4) white predominance; (5) emphasis on specialized agriculture. City…

  9. Climate change estimates of South American riverflow through statistical downscaling

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Landman, W

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available projections are assimilated into a linear statistical model in order to produce an ensemble of downscaled riverflows in the La Plata Basin and in southern-central Chile. The statistical model uses atmospheric circulation fields (geopotential heights at the 200...

  10. Electronic nicotine delivery systems: a policy statement from the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandon, Thomas H; Goniewicz, Maciej L; Hanna, Nasser H; Hatsukami, Dorothy K; Herbst, Roy S; Hobin, Jennifer A; Ostroff, Jamie S; Shields, Peter G; Toll, Benjamin A; Tyne, Courtney A; Viswanath, Kasisomayajula; Warren, Graham W

    2015-02-01

    Combustible tobacco use remains the number one preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), which include e-cigarettes, are devices capable of delivering nicotine in an aerosolized form. ENDS use by both adults and youth has increased rapidly, and some have advocated these products could serve as harm-reduction devices and smoking cessation aids. ENDS may be beneficial if they reduce smoking rates or prevent or reduce the known adverse health effects of smoking. However, ENDS may also be harmful, particularly to youth, if they increase the likelihood that nonsmokers or formers smokers will use combustible tobacco products or if they discourage smokers from quitting. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recognize the potential ENDS have to alter patterns of tobacco use and affect the public's health; however, definitive data are lacking. AACR and ASCO recommend additional research on these devices, including assessing the health impacts of ENDS, understanding patterns of ENDS use, and determining what role ENDS have in cessation. Key policy recommendations include supporting federal, state, and local regulation of ENDS; requiring manufacturers to register with the FDA and report all product ingredients, requiring childproof caps on ENDS liquids, and including warning labels on products and their advertisements; prohibiting youth-oriented marketing and sales; prohibiting child-friendly ENDS flavors; and prohibiting ENDS use in places where cigarette smoking is prohibited. ©2015 American Association for Cancer Research and American Society of Clinical Oncology.

  11. Tobacco industry influence on the definition of tobacco related disorders by the American Psychiatric Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neuman, M D; Bitton, A; Glantz, S A

    2005-10-01

    The Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, third edition (DSM-III), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1980, included the first official definitions by the APA of tobacco dependence and tobacco withdrawal. Tobacco industry efforts to influence the DSM-III were investigated. Searches of previously secret tobacco industry documents, primarily the University of California San Francisco Legacy Tobacco Documents Library and British American Tobacco collections. Additional information was collected through discussions with editors of DSM-III, and library and general internet searches. The tobacco companies regarded the inclusion of tobacco dependence as a diagnosis in DSM-III as an adverse event. It worked to influence the content of the DSM-III and its impact following publication. These efforts included public statements and private lobbying of DSM-III editors and high ranking APA officers by prominent US psychiatrists with undisclosed ties to the tobacco industry. Following publication of DSM-III, tobacco companies contracted with two US professors of psychiatry to organise a conference and publish a monograph detailing controversies surrounding DSM-III. The tobacco industry and its allies lobbied to narrow the definition of tobacco dependence in serial revisions of DSM-III. Following publication of DSM-III, the industry took steps to try to mitigate its impact. These actions mirror industry tactics to influence medical research and policy in various contexts worldwide. Such tactics slow the spread of a professional and public understanding of smoking and health that otherwise would reduce smoking, smoking induced disease, and tobacco company profits.

  12. Longitudinal Gender Disparity in Female Urology Resident Primary Authorship at an American Urological Association Sectional Meeting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Tony R; Kocher, Neil J; Klausner, Adam P; Raman, Jay D

    2017-12-01

    To further evaluate the academic representation of female urology residents in the United States, we reviewed abstracts from the Mid-Atlantic American Urological Association (MA-AUA) sectional meetings to determine if the recent increase in the number of female urology residents mirrored an increase in this group's abstract authorship. Full text abstracts from the MA-AUA meetings were analyzed from 2008 to 2014 excluding 1 joint section meeting. First-author gender was determined by querying publicly available institutional websites, social media platforms, and the U.S. News & World Report. First-author gender was indeterminable in 10 abstracts based on search criteria and these were excluded. Individual abstracts were broadly categorized based on keywords into 1 of several topics. Chi-square statistical tests examined the relationship between first-authorship gender, publication year, and abstract category. The number of female urology residents in the MA-AUA increased over the study period. A total of 484 abstracts were analyzed. Three hundred ninety-three abstracts (81%) included a male first-author, whereas 81 abstracts (17%) included a female first-author. Female first-authorship ranged from 13% to 25% annually. Comparison of male-to-female first-authorship was statistically significant in all years evaluated (P <.001). There was a statistically significant difference between male and female first-authorship in all topic categories (P <.01), except Education/Other (P = .56). Despite continued gains and increasing female representation in urology, these data highlight significantly fewer female first-authors at the regional Mid-Atlantic section meetings. Larger studies are necessary to identify contributing factors and further areas for improvement toward decreasing gender imbalances within the academic community. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Association testing for next-generation sequencing data using score statistics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skotte, Line; Korneliussen, Thorfinn Sand; Albrechtsen, Anders

    2012-01-01

    computationally feasible due to the use of score statistics. As part of the joint likelihood, we model the distribution of the phenotypes using a generalized linear model framework, which works for both quantitative and discrete phenotypes. Thus, the method presented here is applicable to case-control studies...... of genotype calls into account have been proposed; most require numerical optimization which for large-scale data is not always computationally feasible. We show that using a score statistic for the joint likelihood of observed phenotypes and observed sequencing data provides an attractive approach...... to association testing for next-generation sequencing data. The joint model accounts for the genotype classification uncertainty via the posterior probabilities of the genotypes given the observed sequencing data, which gives the approach higher power than methods based on called genotypes. This strategy remains...

  14. American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Position Statements Publications Bookstore American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Legislative & Regulatory Agenda AAGP eNews (Members Only) Tools ... Funding Training Resources and Curricula For Clinicians >> Geriatric Psychiatry Identifier Webinar: Billing and Coding Consumer Material Clinical ...

  15. Contemporary management of high-grade renal trauma: Results from the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Genitourinary Trauma study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keihani, Sorena; Xu, Yizhe; Presson, Angela P; Hotaling, James M; Nirula, Raminder; Piotrowski, Joshua; Dodgion, Christopher M; Black, Cullen M; Mukherjee, Kaushik; Morris, Bradley J; Majercik, Sarah; Smith, Brian P; Schwartz, Ian; Elliott, Sean P; DeSoucy, Erik S; Zakaluzny, Scott; Thomsen, Peter B; Erickson, Bradley A; Baradaran, Nima; Breyer, Benjamin N; Miller, Brandi; Santucci, Richard A; Carrick, Matthew M; Hewitt, Timothy; Burks, Frank N; Kocik, Jurek F; Askari, Reza; Myers, Jeremy B

    2018-03-01

    The rarity of renal trauma limits its study and the strength of evidence-based guidelines. Although management of renal injuries has shifted toward a nonoperative approach, nephrectomy remains the most common intervention for high-grade renal trauma (HGRT). We aimed to describe the contemporary management of HGRT in the United States and also evaluate clinical factors associated with nephrectomy after HGRT. From 2014 to 2017, data on HGRT (American Association for the Surgery of Trauma grades III-V) were collected from 14 participating Level-1 trauma centers. Data were gathered on demographics, injury characteristics, management, and short-term outcomes. Management was classified into three groups-expectant, conservative/minimally invasive, and open operative. Descriptive statistics were used to report management of renal trauma. Univariate and multivariate logistic mixed effect models with clustering by facility were used to look at associations between proposed risk factors and nephrectomy. A total of 431 adult HGRT were recorded; 79% were male, and mechanism of injury was blunt in 71%. Injuries were graded as III, IV, and V in 236 (55%), 142 (33%), and 53 (12%), respectively. Laparotomy was performed in 169 (39%) patients. Overall, 300 (70%) patients were managed expectantly and 47 (11%) underwent conservative/minimally invasive management. Eighty-four (19%) underwent renal-related open operative management with 55 (67%) of them undergoing nephrectomy. Nephrectomy rates were 15% and 62% for grades IV and V, respectively. Penetrating injuries had significantly higher American Association for the Surgery of Trauma grades and higher rates of nephrectomy. In multivariable analysis, only renal injury grade and penetrating mechanism of injury were significantly associated with undergoing nephrectomy. Expectant and conservative management is currently utilized in 80% of HGRT; however, the rate of nephrectomy remains high. Clinical factors, such as surrogates of

  16. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY PROTOCOL FOR STANDARDIZED PRODUCTION OF CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES, ALGORITHMS, AND CHECKLISTS - 2017 UPDATE.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mechanick, Jeffrey I; Pessah-Pollack, Rachel; Camacho, Pauline; Correa, Ricardo; Figaro, M Kathleen; Garber, Jeffrey R; Jasim, Sina; Pantalone, Kevin M; Trence, Dace; Upala, Sikarin

    2017-08-01

    Clinical practice guideline (CPG), clinical practice algorithm (CPA), and clinical checklist (CC, collectively CPGAC) development is a high priority of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and American College of Endocrinology (ACE). This 2017 update in CPG development consists of (1) a paradigm change wherein first, environmental scans identify important clinical issues and needs, second, CPA construction focuses on these clinical issues and needs, and third, CPG provide CPA node/edge-specific scientific substantiation and appended CC; (2) inclusion of new technical semantic and numerical descriptors for evidence types, subjective factors, and qualifiers; and (3) incorporation of patient-centered care components such as economics and transcultural adaptations, as well as implementation, validation, and evaluation strategies. This third point highlights the dominating factors of personal finances, governmental influences, and third-party payer dictates on CPGAC implementation, which ultimately impact CPGAC development. The AACE/ACE guidelines for the CPGAC program is a successful and ongoing iterative exercise to optimize endocrine care in a changing and challenging healthcare environment. AACE = American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists ACC = American College of Cardiology ACE = American College of Endocrinology ASeRT = ACE Scientific Referencing Team BEL = best evidence level CC = clinical checklist CPA = clinical practice algorithm CPG = clinical practice guideline CPGAC = clinical practice guideline, algorithm, and checklist EBM = evidence-based medicine EHR = electronic health record EL = evidence level G4GAC = Guidelines for Guidelines, Algorithms, and Checklists GAC = guidelines, algorithms, and checklists HCP = healthcare professional(s) POEMS = patient-oriented evidence that matters PRCT = prospective randomized controlled trial.

  17. American Association of Tissue Banks

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Committees Accreditation American Board of Tissue Banking Bylaws / Ethics Communications Donor Family Services Ad Hoc Committee Education Finance ... Bureau Accredited Bank Search Bookstore Bulletins Global Topics Communications & Media Job Center News Releases Patients and Community Useful ...

  18. American Association for Clinical Chemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Find the answer to your question IN CLINICAL CHEMISTRY Hs-cTnI as a Gatekeeper for Further Cardiac ... Online Harmonization.net Commission on Accreditation in Clinical Chemistry American Board of Clinical Chemistry Clinical Chemistry Trainee ...

  19. The 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association vs Hypertension Canada High Blood Pressure Guidelines and Potential Implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goupil, Rémi; Lamarre-Cliche, Maxime; Vallée, Michel

    2018-05-01

    In this report we examine the differences between the 2017 Hypertension Canada and 2017 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) blood pressure (BP) guidelines regarding the proportions of individuals with a diagnosis of hypertension, BP above thresholds for treatment initiation, and BP below targets using the CARTaGENE cohort. Compared with the 2017 Canadian guidelines, the 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines would result in increases of 8.7% in hypertension diagnosis and 3.4% of individuals needing treatment, with 17.2% having a different BP target. In conclusion, implementing the 2017 ACC/AHA hypertension guidelines in Canada could result in major effects for millions of Canadians. Copyright © 2018 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Care and outcomes of Asian-American acute myocardial infarction patients: findings from the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qian, Feng; Ling, Frederick S; Deedwania, Prakash; Hernandez, Adrian F; Fonarow, Gregg C; Cannon, Christopher P; Peterson, Eric D; Peacock, W Frank; Kaltenbach, Lisa A; Laskey, Warren K; Schwamm, Lee H; Bhatt, Deepak L

    2012-01-01

    Asian-Americans represent an important United States minority population, yet there are limited data regarding the clinical care and outcomes of Asian-Americans following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Using data from the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG-CAD) program, we compared use of and trends in evidence-based care AMI processes and outcome in Asian-American versus white patients. We analyzed 107,403 AMI patients (4412 Asian-Americans, 4.1%) from 382 United States centers participating in the Get With The Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease program between 2003 and 2008. Use of 6 AMI performance measures, composite "defect-free" care (proportion receiving all eligible performance measures), door-to-balloon time, and in-hospital mortality were examined. Trends in care over this time period were explored. Compared with whites, Asian-American AMI patients were significantly older, more likely to be covered by Medicaid and recruited in the west region, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, and smoking. In-hospital unadjusted mortality was higher among Asian-American patients. Overall, Asian-Americans were comparable with whites regarding the baseline quality of care, except that Asian-Americans were less likely to get smoking cessation counseling (65.6% versus 81.5%). Asian-American AMI patients experienced improvement in the 6 individual measures (P≤0.048), defect-free care (PAsian-Americans and whites. Compared with whites, the adjusted in-hospital mortality rate was higher for Asian-Americans (adjusted relative risk: 1.16; 95% confidence interval: 1.00-1.35; P=0.04). Evidence-based care for AMI processes improved significantly over the period of 2003 to 2008 for Asian-American and white patients in the Get With The Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease program. Differences in care between Asian-Americans and whites, when present, were reduced over time.

  1. Fusing Data Mining, Machine Learning and Traditional Statistics to Detect Biomarkers Associated with Depression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dipnall, Joanna F.

    2016-01-01

    Background Atheoretical large-scale data mining techniques using machine learning algorithms have promise in the analysis of large epidemiological datasets. This study illustrates the use of a hybrid methodology for variable selection that took account of missing data and complex survey design to identify key biomarkers associated with depression from a large epidemiological study. Methods The study used a three-step methodology amalgamating multiple imputation, a machine learning boosted regression algorithm and logistic regression, to identify key biomarkers associated with depression in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (2009–2010). Depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and 67 biomarkers were analysed. Covariates in this study included gender, age, race, smoking, food security, Poverty Income Ratio, Body Mass Index, physical activity, alcohol use, medical conditions and medications. The final imputed weighted multiple logistic regression model included possible confounders and moderators. Results After the creation of 20 imputation data sets from multiple chained regression sequences, machine learning boosted regression initially identified 21 biomarkers associated with depression. Using traditional logistic regression methods, including controlling for possible confounders and moderators, a final set of three biomarkers were selected. The final three biomarkers from the novel hybrid variable selection methodology were red cell distribution width (OR 1.15; 95% CI 1.01, 1.30), serum glucose (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00, 1.01) and total bilirubin (OR 0.12; 95% CI 0.05, 0.28). Significant interactions were found between total bilirubin with Mexican American/Hispanic group (p = 0.016), and current smokers (p<0.001). Conclusion The systematic use of a hybrid methodology for variable selection, fusing data mining techniques using a machine learning algorithm with traditional statistical modelling, accounted for missing data and

  2. Fusing Data Mining, Machine Learning and Traditional Statistics to Detect Biomarkers Associated with Depression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joanna F Dipnall

    Full Text Available Atheoretical large-scale data mining techniques using machine learning algorithms have promise in the analysis of large epidemiological datasets. This study illustrates the use of a hybrid methodology for variable selection that took account of missing data and complex survey design to identify key biomarkers associated with depression from a large epidemiological study.The study used a three-step methodology amalgamating multiple imputation, a machine learning boosted regression algorithm and logistic regression, to identify key biomarkers associated with depression in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (2009-2010. Depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and 67 biomarkers were analysed. Covariates in this study included gender, age, race, smoking, food security, Poverty Income Ratio, Body Mass Index, physical activity, alcohol use, medical conditions and medications. The final imputed weighted multiple logistic regression model included possible confounders and moderators.After the creation of 20 imputation data sets from multiple chained regression sequences, machine learning boosted regression initially identified 21 biomarkers associated with depression. Using traditional logistic regression methods, including controlling for possible confounders and moderators, a final set of three biomarkers were selected. The final three biomarkers from the novel hybrid variable selection methodology were red cell distribution width (OR 1.15; 95% CI 1.01, 1.30, serum glucose (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00, 1.01 and total bilirubin (OR 0.12; 95% CI 0.05, 0.28. Significant interactions were found between total bilirubin with Mexican American/Hispanic group (p = 0.016, and current smokers (p<0.001.The systematic use of a hybrid methodology for variable selection, fusing data mining techniques using a machine learning algorithm with traditional statistical modelling, accounted for missing data and complex survey sampling

  3. 75 FR 73088 - Medicare Program; Application by the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS-2332-PN] Medicare Program; Application by the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery... Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) for recognition as a national...

  4. Comparison of factors associated with occludable angle between american Caucasians and ethnic Chinese.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ye Elaine; Li, Yingjie; Wang, Dandan; He, Mingguang; Lin, Shan

    2013-11-21

    To determine if factors associated with gonioscopy-determined occludable angle among American Caucasians are similar to those found in ethnic Chinese. This is a prospective cross-sectional study with 120 American Caucasian, 116 American Chinese, and 116 mainland Chinese subjects. All three groups were matched for sex and age (40-80 years). Gonioscopy was performed for each subject (occludable angles = posterior trabecular meshwork not visible for ≥2 quadrants). Anterior segment optical coherence tomography and customized software was used to measure anterior segment biometry and iris parameters, including anterior chamber depth/width (ACD, ACW), lens vault (LV), and iris thickness/area/curvature. In both Chinese and Caucasians, eyes with occludable angles had smaller ACD and ACW, and larger LV and iris curvature than eyes with open angles (all P gonioscopy-determined occludable angle was significantly associated with LV, iris area, and sex (all P < 0.03) in Chinese; and with LV, ACD, iris thickness, age, and sex (all P < 0.04) in Caucasians. Several factors associated with occludable angle differed between Caucasians and Chinese, suggesting potentially different mechanisms in occludable angle development in the two racial groups. This is the first study to demonstrate that lens vault is an important anterior segment optical coherence tomography parameter in the screening for angle closure in Caucasians. In addition, iris thickness was a significant predictor for occludable angles in Caucasians but was not in ethnic Chinese.

  5. How Is Postsecondary Education Associated with Membership in the American Corporate Elite?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ott, Molly C.

    2011-01-01

    This study contributes to the discussion around the value of a college degree and associated career advantages by considering how postsecondary education contributes to the attainment of the most powerful and prestigious positions in the American corporate world. Guided by a conceptual framework informed by status attainment, power elite, and…

  6. Automated statistical modeling of analytical measurement systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacobson, J.J.

    1992-01-01

    The statistical modeling of analytical measurement systems at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) has been completely automated through computer software. The statistical modeling of analytical measurement systems is one part of a complete quality control program used by the Remote Analytical Laboratory (RAL) at the ICPP. The quality control program is an integration of automated data input, measurement system calibration, database management, and statistical process control. The quality control program and statistical modeling program meet the guidelines set forth by the American Society for Testing Materials and American National Standards Institute. A statistical model is a set of mathematical equations describing any systematic bias inherent in a measurement system and the precision of a measurement system. A statistical model is developed from data generated from the analysis of control standards. Control standards are samples which are made up at precise known levels by an independent laboratory and submitted to the RAL. The RAL analysts who process control standards do not know the values of those control standards. The object behind statistical modeling is to describe real process samples in terms of their bias and precision and, to verify that a measurement system is operating satisfactorily. The processing of control standards gives us this ability

  7. The Role of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviors in Explaining the Association Between Acculturation and Obesity Among Mexican-American Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murillo, Rosenda; Albrecht, Sandra S; Daviglus, Martha L; Kershaw, Kiarri N

    2015-01-01

    We investigated associations of acculturation with various types of activity (moderate-vigorous leisure-time physical activity [LTPA], moderate-vigorous work- and transportation-related physical activity, and sedentary activity), and whether these activities mediated the acculturation-obesity association among Mexican-Americans. Cross-sectional. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2010. Mexican-American NHANES participants aged ≥20 years (n = 1902). Demographic characteristics, physical activity, sedentary behavior, acculturation, and body mass index. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate associations of acculturation with categories of self-reported activity. Path analysis was used to test whether the activity measures mediated acculturation-obesity associations. In adjusted models, compared to U.S.-born Mexican-Americans, foreign-born Mexican-Americans living in the United States for less than 10 years were significantly less likely to be in the highest LTPA and sedentary activity categories, and more likely to be in the highest total and transportation activity categories. Foreign-born Mexican-Americans living in the United States for 10 years or more were significantly less likely to engage in high sedentary activity but more likely to engage in high transportation activity. Sedentary behavior was the strongest mediator of the acculturation-obesity association, accounting for 40.7% and 57.1% of the total effect of acculturation on obesity among foreign-born Mexican-Americans living in the United States for less than 10 years and for 10 years or more, respectively, compared to U.S.-born Mexican-Americans. Reducing sedentary behavior may lower the negative impact of acculturation on obesity.

  8. Socioeconomic and nutritional factors account for the association of gastric cancer with Amerindian ancestry in a Latin American admixed population.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Latife Pereira

    Full Text Available Gastric cancer is one of the most lethal types of cancer and its incidence varies worldwide, with the Andean region of South America showing high incidence rates. We evaluated the genetic structure of the population from Lima (Peru and performed a case-control genetic association study to test the contribution of African, European, or Native American ancestry to risk for gastric cancer, controlling for the effect of non-genetic factors. A wide set of socioeconomic, dietary, and clinic information was collected for each participant in the study and ancestry was estimated based on 103 ancestry informative markers. Although the urban population from Lima is usually considered as mestizo (i.e., admixed from Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans, we observed a high fraction of Native American ancestry (78.4% for the cases and 74.6% for the controls and a very low African ancestry (<5%. We determined that higher Native American individual ancestry is associated with gastric cancer, but socioeconomic factors associated both with gastric cancer and Native American ethnicity account for this association. Therefore, the high incidence of gastric cancer in Peru does not seem to be related to susceptibility alleles common in this population. Instead, our result suggests a predominant role for ethnic-associated socioeconomic factors and disparities in access to health services. Since Native Americans are a neglected group in genomic studies, we suggest that the population from Lima and other large cities from Western South America with high Native American ancestry background may be convenient targets for epidemiological studies focused on this ethnic group.

  9. Subjective Socioeconomic Status Moderates the Association between Discrimination and Depression in African American Youth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shervin Assari

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Most of the literature on the association between socioeconomic status (SES and health is focused on the protective effects of SES. However, a growing literature suggests that high SES may also operate as a vulnerability factor. Aims: Using a national sample of African American youth, this study compared the effects of perceived discrimination on major depressive disorder (MDD based on SES. Methods: The current cross-sectional study included 810 African American youth who participated in the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent supplement. The independent variable was perceived discrimination. Lifetime, 12-month, and 30-day MDD were the dependent variables. Age and gender were covariates. Three SES indicators (subjective SES, income, and poverty index were moderators. We used logistic regressions for data analysis. Results: Perceived discrimination was associated with higher risk of lifetime, 12-month, and 30-day MDD. Interactions were found between subjective SES and perceived discrimination on lifetime, 12-month, and 30-day MDD, suggesting a stronger effect of perceived discrimination in youth with high subjective SES. Objective measures of SES (income and poverty index did not interact with perceived discrimination on MDD. Conclusion: While perceived discrimination is a universally harmful risk factor for MDD, its effect may depend on the SES of the individual. Findings suggest that high subjective SES may operate as a vulnerability factor for African American youth.

  10. Admixture mapping and subsequent fine-mapping suggests a biologically relevant and novel association on chromosome 11 for type 2 diabetes in African Americans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janina M Jeff

    Full Text Available Type 2 diabetes (T2D is a complex metabolic disease that disproportionately affects African Americans. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS have identified several loci that contribute to T2D in European Americans, but few studies have been performed in admixed populations. We first performed a GWAS of 1,563 African Americans from the Vanderbilt Genome-Electronic Records Project and Northwestern University NUgene Project as part of the electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE network. We successfully replicate an association in TCF7L2, previously identified by GWAS in this African American dataset. We were unable to identify novel associations at p5,000 African Americans. We identified 13 independent associations between TCIRG1, CHKA, and ALDH3B1 genes on chromosome 11 and T2D. Our results suggest a novel region on chromosome 11 identified by admixture mapping is associated with T2D in African Americans.

  11. Prospective associations of coronary heart disease loci in African Americans using the MetaboChip: the PAGE study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nora Franceschini

    Full Text Available Coronary heart disease (CHD is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in African Americans. However, there is a paucity of studies assessing genetic determinants of CHD in African Americans. We examined the association of published variants in CHD loci with incident CHD, attempted to fine map these loci, and characterize novel variants influencing CHD risk in African Americans.Up to 8,201 African Americans (including 546 first CHD events were genotyped using the MetaboChip array in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC study and Women's Health Initiative (WHI. We tested associations using Cox proportional hazard models in sex- and study-stratified analyses and combined results using meta-analysis. Among 44 validated CHD loci available in the array, we replicated and fine-mapped the SORT1 locus, and showed same direction of effects as reported in studies of individuals of European ancestry for SNPs in 22 additional published loci. We also identified a SNP achieving array wide significance (MYC: rs2070583, allele frequency 0.02, P = 8.1 × 10(-8, but the association did not replicate in an additional 8,059 African Americans (577 events from the WHI, HealthABC and GeneSTAR studies, and in a meta-analysis of 5 cohort studies of European ancestry (24,024 individuals including 1,570 cases of MI and 2,406 cases of CHD from the CHARGE Consortium.Our findings suggest that some CHD loci previously identified in individuals of European ancestry may be relevant to incident CHD in African Americans.

  12. Association between smoking cessation and weight gain in treatment-seeking African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Marcia M; Okuyemi, Kolawole S; Resnicow, Ken; Dietz, Noella A; Antoni, Michael H; Webb Hooper, Monica

    2018-06-01

    Research has shown that African Americans gain more than average weight after smoking cessation. However, African Americans have been underrepresented in post-cessation weight gain research. The current study examined 1) the pattern of weight gain and 2) the association between smoking status and weight gain in a sample of African Americans seeking smoking cessation treatment. Data were drawn from a randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of a 4-week culturally specific smoking cessation cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention among African American smokers (N = 342). Weight was measured and self-reported smoking status was biochemically verified at baseline, end of counseling, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. Random effects multilevel modeling was used to examine weight gain over twelve months post CBT, and a fully unconditional model tested the pattern of weight gain over time. Smoking status was included as a time-varying factor to examine its effect on weight gain, controlling for potential confounding variables. Weight significantly increased among those who remained abstinent over 12 months post CBT [average gain of seven lbs. (three kg)]. Controlling for covariates, abstinence was predictive of the rate of weight gain for those with high weight concern. Weight gain among African American abstainers was comparable to the average post-cessation weight gain observed among the general population. It is possible that exposure to CBT (culturally specific or standard) may have mitigated excessive weight gain. Future research should assess predictors of weight gain in African American smokers to inform future smoking cessation interventions and help elucidate factors that contribute to tobacco- and obesity-related health disparities. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Use of statistical procedures in Brazilian and international dental journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ambrosano, Gláucia Maria Bovi; Reis, André Figueiredo; Giannini, Marcelo; Pereira, Antônio Carlos

    2004-01-01

    A descriptive survey was performed in order to assess the statistical content and quality of Brazilian and international dental journals, and compare their evolution throughout the last decades. The authors identified the reporting and accuracy of statistical techniques in 1000 papers published from 1970 to 2000 in seven dental journals: three Brazilian (Brazilian Dental Journal, Revista de Odontologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo and Revista de Odontologia da UNESP) and four international journals (Journal of the American Dental Association, Journal of Dental Research, Caries Research and Journal of Periodontology). Papers were divided into two time periods: from 1970 to 1989, and from 1990 to 2000. A slight increase in the number of articles that presented some form of statistical technique was noticed for Brazilian journals (from 61.0 to 66.7%), whereas for international journals, a significant increase was observed (65.8 to 92.6%). In addition, a decrease in the number of statistical errors was verified. The most commonly used statistical tests as well as the most frequent errors found in dental journals were assessed. Hopefully, this investigation will encourage dental educators to better plan the teaching of biostatistics, and to improve the statistical quality of submitted manuscripts.

  14. Conceptual and statistical problems associated with the use of diversity indices in ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrantes, Gilbert; Sandoval, Luis

    2009-09-01

    Diversity indices, particularly the Shannon-Wiener index, have extensively been used in analyzing patterns of diversity at different geographic and ecological scales. These indices have serious conceptual and statistical problems which make comparisons of species richness or species abundances across communities nearly impossible. There is often no a single statistical method that retains all information needed to answer even a simple question. However, multivariate analyses could be used instead of diversity indices, such as cluster analyses or multiple regressions. More complex multivariate analyses, such as Canonical Correspondence Analysis, provide very valuable information on environmental variables associated to the presence and abundance of the species in a community. In addition, particular hypotheses associated to changes in species richness across localities, or change in abundance of one, or a group of species can be tested using univariate, bivariate, and/or rarefaction statistical tests. The rarefaction method has proved to be robust to standardize all samples to a common size. Even the simplest method as reporting the number of species per taxonomic category possibly provides more information than a diversity index value.

  15. How To Prepare Program Proposals for the American Psychological Association Annual Convention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tentoni, Stuart C.

    The purpose of this paper is to dispel myths about preparing program proposals for the American Psychological Association's annual convention. The report's goal is to increase the number of student presenters at future annual conventions. It has been determined that, for a variety of reasons, psychology graduate students participate more in poster…

  16. Policing the social boundaries of the American Medical Association, 1847-70.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haynes, Douglas M

    2005-04-01

    In May 1870 the American Medical Association (AMA) voted to deny the admission of black delegates and their white colleagues to the national meeting in Washington, D.C. Historians of race and medicine have customarily viewed this decision as marking a crucial milestone in the formation of the nexus between racism and the development of the American medical profession in the era after the Civil War (1861-64). This study recasts this narrative by locating the 1870 decision in relation to the antebellum practices of the association and their social consequences for American medicine. It argues that the viability of the AMA as the national voice of the profession was critically dependent on rejecting racial equality. Indeed, at a moment when the question of the abolition of slavery polarized the nation, the AMA was founded in 1847 to create a voluntary professional organization, national in scope, dedicated to raising the standards of medical training and practice. To this end, the AMA elected presidents and selected host cities for annual meetings in the North, South, and West. Seven out of the fourteen meetings and six out of fourteen presidents were from slave and/or border states. These institutional practices together with the representation of blacks as different and enjoying an appropriate status as slaves grounded the national identity of the profession in black subordination. Similarly, the gendered discourses about healing and practices of female exclusion privileged medical authority as male by drawing on and reinforcing patriarchy. In the wake of the war, leaders hoped to restore the national character of the organization by resuming antebellum practices. In response to the new possibilities for blacks in medicine--as represented by the biracial National Medical Society--the AMA took steps to vigorously police the racial boundaries of the national profession. As this study will show, the 1870 decision reflected the logic of the racial politics at the heart

  17. Prospective associations of coronary heart disease loci in African Americans using the MetaboChip : The PAGE study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    N. Franceschini (Nora); Hu, Y. (Yijuan); A. Reiner (Alexander); S. Buyske (Steven); M.A. Nalls (Michael); L.R. Yanek (Lisa); Y. Li (Yun); L.A. Hindorff (Lucia A); Cole, S.A. (Shelley A.); Howard, B.V. (Barbara V.); J.M. Stafford (Jeanette M.); C. Carty (Cara); P. Sethupathy (Praveen); Martin, L.W. (Lisa W.); D.Y. Lin (Dan); Johnson, K.C. (Karen C.); L.C. Becker (Lewis); K.E. North (Kari); A. Dehghan (Abbas); J.C. Bis (Joshua); Y. Liu (YongMei); P. Greenland (Philip); J.E. Manson (Joann); Maeda, N. (Nobuyo); M.E. Garcia (M.); T.B. Harris (Tamara); D.M. Becker (Diane); C.J. O'Donnell (Christopher); G. Heiss (Gerardo); C. Kooperberg (Charles); E.A. Boerwinkle (Eric)

    2014-01-01

    textabstractBackground: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in African Americans. However, there is a paucity of studies assessing genetic determinants of CHD in African Americans. We examined the association of published variants in CHD loci with incident CHD,

  18. Contributions to statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Mahalanobis, P C

    1965-01-01

    Contributions to Statistics focuses on the processes, methodologies, and approaches involved in statistics. The book is presented to Professor P. C. Mahalanobis on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The selection first offers information on the recovery of ancillary information and combinatorial properties of partially balanced designs and association schemes. Discussions focus on combinatorial applications of the algebra of association matrices, sample size analogy, association matrices and the algebra of association schemes, and conceptual statistical experiments. The book then examines latt

  19. Association between copy number variation losses and alcohol dependence across African American and European American ethnic groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulloa, Alvaro E; Chen, Jiayu; Vergara, Victor M; Calhoun, Vince; Liu, Jingyu

    2014-05-01

    Copy number variations (CNVs) are structural genetic mutations consisting of segmental gains or losses in DNA sequence. Although CNVs contribute substantially to genomic variation, few genetic and imaging studies report association of CNVs with alcohol dependence (AD). Our purpose is to find evidence of this association across ethnic populations and genders. This work is the first AD-CNV study across ethnic groups and the first to include the African American (AA) population. This study considers 2 CNV data sets, one for discovery (2,345 samples) and the other for validation (239 samples), both including subjects with AD and healthy controls of European and African ancestry. Our analysis assesses the association between AD and CNV losses across ethnic groups and gender by examining the effect of overall losses across the whole genome, collective losses within individual cytogenetic bands, and specific losses in CNV regions. Results from the discovery data set showed an association between CNV losses within 16q12.2 and AD diagnosis (p = 4.53 × 10(-3) ). An overlapping CNV region from the validation data set exhibited the same direction of effect with respect to AD (p = 0.051). This CNV region affects the genes CES1p1 and CES1, which are members of the carboxylesterase (CES) family. The enzyme encoded by CES1 is a major liver enzyme that typically catalyzes the decomposition of ester into alcohol and carboxylic acid and is involved in drug or xenobiotics, fatty acid, and cholesterol metabolisms. In addition, the most significantly associated CNV region was located at 9p21.2 (p = 1.9 × 10(-3) ) in our discovery data set. Although not observed in the validation data set, probably due to small sample size, this result might hold potential connection to AD given its connection with neuronal death. In contrast, we did not find any association between AD and the overall total losses or the collective losses within individual cytogenetic bands. Overall, our study provides

  20. Sunspot activity and influenza pandemics: a statistical assessment of the purported association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Towers, S

    2017-10-01

    Since 1978, a series of papers in the literature have claimed to find a significant association between sunspot activity and the timing of influenza pandemics. This paper examines these analyses, and attempts to recreate the three most recent statistical analyses by Ertel (1994), Tapping et al. (2001), and Yeung (2006), which all have purported to find a significant relationship between sunspot numbers and pandemic influenza. As will be discussed, each analysis had errors in the data. In addition, in each analysis arbitrary selections or assumptions were also made, and the authors did not assess the robustness of their analyses to changes in those arbitrary assumptions. Varying the arbitrary assumptions to other, equally valid, assumptions negates the claims of significance. Indeed, an arbitrary selection made in one of the analyses appears to have resulted in almost maximal apparent significance; changing it only slightly yields a null result. This analysis applies statistically rigorous methodology to examine the purported sunspot/pandemic link, using more statistically powerful un-binned analysis methods, rather than relying on arbitrarily binned data. The analyses are repeated using both the Wolf and Group sunspot numbers. In all cases, no statistically significant evidence of any association was found. However, while the focus in this particular analysis was on the purported relationship of influenza pandemics to sunspot activity, the faults found in the past analyses are common pitfalls; inattention to analysis reproducibility and robustness assessment are common problems in the sciences, that are unfortunately not noted often enough in review.

  1. Antibiotic Use in 2016 by Members of the American Association of Endodontists: Report of a National Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Germack, Mark; Sedgley, Christine M; Sabbah, Wael; Whitten, Brian

    2017-10-01

    This study surveyed the antibiotic prescribing practices of endodontists, and data were compared with previous surveys conducted in 1994 and 1999. A 17-question survey was sent via www.surveymonkey.com to 3000 active members of the American Association of Endodontists for responses about antibiotic prescribing practices and demographics. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and linear regression analyses. Six hundred eighty-six participants (22.86%) completed the survey. The most frequently prescribed antibiotics were amoxicillin (60.71%) followed by penicillin V (30.43%) and clindamycin for patients with allergies (95.4%). Respondents reported prescribing antibiotics for irreversible pulpitis with mild symptoms (1.75%), irreversible pulpitis with moderate symptoms (6.41%), necrotic pulp with symptomatic apical periodontitis (43.59%), chronic apical abscess without (10.50%) or with symptoms (29.74%), acute apical abscess (95.92%), avulsion (70.26%), endodontic surgery (41.69%), retreatment (silver point [23.76%] or gutta-percha [15.60%]), postoperative pain after instrumentation or obturation (12.39%), and perforation repair (5.98%). The type of practice (solo/group) and geographic region (Southeast) were significant predictors of increased antibiotic prescribing; 36.89% of respondents reported prescribing antibiotics that are not necessary, most commonly because of patient expectations. Since 1999, there has been a significant shift from prescribing penicillin V to amoxicillin as endodontists' first choice of antibiotic and a significant increase in the use of clindamycin for penicillin-allergic patients. Antibiotics continue to be prescribed in clinical situations for which they are typically not indicated, most commonly because of patient expectations. Regional differences in antibiotic prescribing practices by endodontists exist in the United States. Copyright © 2017 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier

  2. Obesity is associated with breast cancer in African-American women but not Hispanic women in South Los Angeles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarkissyan, Marianna; Wu, Yanyuan; Vadgama, Jaydutt V

    2011-08-15

    Obesity is considered a risk factor for breast cancer. Modifying life styles that reduce obesity offers the potential for prevention and improved outcomes from cancer. The effects of obesity and breast cancer among African-American women and Hispanic women have been explored in a limited number of studies. The objective of the current study was to investigate the association of obesity with breast cancer in a minority cohort. This was a cross-sectional study of 471 African-American and Hispanic women with and without breast cancer in South Los Angeles. Data regarding body mass index (BMI) and clinical factors were obtained by medical record abstraction. Data were assessed using logistic regression with multivariate analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to assess disease-free survival. Women with breast cancer were more likely to be obese (BMI >30 kg/m(2)) than women without breast cancer (odds ratio [OR], 2.0; P = .01). There was a significant association of being overweight or obese and breast cancer among postmenopausal women (OR, 2.3 [P = .03] and 2.9 [P obesity and breast cancer was significant only among African-American women (OR, 2.70; P American women (OR, 4.8; P obesity and later disease stage at diagnosis (P = .06). An association also was observed between higher BMI (for cutoff points of both 30 kg/m(2) and 28 kg/m(2)) and poorer disease-free survival (P = .045 and P = .019, respectively). The current data suggested an association between obesity and breast cancer, especially among postmenopausal women and most significantly in the African-American cohort. Copyright © 2011 American Cancer Society.

  3. Self-reported heart disease among Arab and Chaldean American women residing in southeast Michigan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamil, Hikmet; Fakhouri, Monty; Dallo, Florence; Templin, Thomas; Khoury, Radwan; Fakhouri, Haifa

    2008-01-01

    This study estimates the prevalence of heart disease among Arab and Chaldean American women and examines the association between Arab and Chaldean ethnicity and heart disease among a sample of women. This was a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 2084 Arab, Chaldean, and African American women aged > or = 18 years who completed a survey that was distributed at churches, mosques, and small businesses in southeast Michigans. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association between ethnicity and self-reported heart disease before and after adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic status, health care, chronic conditions, and health behavior variables. A sample of 2084 Arab, Chaldean, and African American women 18 years of age and older. The overall prevalence of heart disease was 5.1%. Estimates were higher for Arabs (7.1%), lower for Chaldeans (6.6%), and lowest among African Americans (1.8%). In the unadjusted model, Chaldeans and Arabs were four times more likely to have heart disease than were African Americans. However, in the fully adjusted model, the association between Chaldean or Arab ethnicity and heart disease was no longer statistically significant. Arab or Chaldean ethnicity was not significantly associated with self-reported heart disease among women, which suggests that other factors account for this relationship. Future studies should collect more detailed socioeconomic status, acculturation, and health behavior information.

  4. The "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" in Graduate Social Work Education: Then and Now

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newman, Bernie S.; Dannenfelser, Paul L.; Clemmons, Valarie

    2007-01-01

    Social workers recognize the necessity of using the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" ("DSM"; American Psychiatric Association) but question its compatibility with social work education. The data in this study were compared with the data from P. R. Raffoul and K. A. Holmes (1986) regarding the extent to which the "DSM" was…

  5. Association of diabetes and cancer mortality in American Indians: the Strong Heart Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Best, Lyle G; García-Esquinas, Esther; Yeh, Jeun-Liang; Yeh, Fawn; Zhang, Ying; Lee, Elisa T; Howard, Barbara V; Farley, John H; Welty, Thomas K; Rhoades, Dorothy A; Rhoades, Everett R; Umans, Jason G; Navas-Acien, Ana

    2015-11-01

    The metabolic abnormalities that accompany diabetes mellitus are associated with an increased risk of many cancers. These associations, however, have not been well studied in American Indian populations, which experience a high prevalence of diabetes. The Strong Heart Study is a population-based, prospective cohort study with extensive characterization of diabetes status. Among a total cohort of 4,419 participants who were followed for up to 20 years, 430 cancer deaths were identified. After adjusting for sex, age, education, smoking status, drinking status, and body mass index, participants with diabetes at baseline showed an increased risk of gastric (HR 4.09; 95% CI 1.42-11.79), hepatocellular (HR 2.94; 95% CI 1.17-7.40), and prostate cancer mortality (HR 3.10; 95% CI 1.22-7.94). Further adjustment for arsenic exposure showed a significantly increased risk of all-cause cancer mortality with diabetes (HR 1.27; 95% CI 1.03-1.58). Insulin resistance among participants without diabetes at baseline was associated with hepatocellular cancer mortality (HR 4.70; 95% CI 1.55-14.26). Diabetes mellitus, and/or insulin resistance among those without diabetes, is a risk factor for gastric, hepatocellular, and prostate cancer in these American Indian communities, although relatively small sample size suggests cautious interpretation. Additional research is needed to evaluate the role of diabetes and obesity on cancer incidence in American Indian communities as well as the importance of diabetes prevention and control in reducing the burden of cancer incidence and mortality in the study population.

  6. The Japanese and the American First-Line Supervisor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryan, Leslie A., Jr.

    1982-01-01

    Compares the American and Japanese first-line supervisor: production statistics, supervisory style, company loyalty, management style, and communication. Also suggests what Americans might learn from the Japanese methods. (CT)

  7. The relationship between momentary emotions and well-being across European Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Eunsoo; Chentsova-Dutton, Yulia E

    2017-09-01

    Cultural differences in the emphasis on positive and negative emotions suggest that the impact of these emotions on well-being may differ across cultural contexts. The present study utilised a momentary sampling method to capture average momentary emotional experiences. We found that for participants from cultural contexts that foster positive emotions (European Americans and Hispanic Americans), average momentary positive emotions predicted well-being better than average momentary negative emotions. In contrast, average momentary negative emotions were more strongly associated with well-being measures for Asian Americans, the group from a cultural context that emphasises monitoring of negative emotions. Furthermore, we found that acculturation to American culture moderated the association between average momentary positive emotions and well-being for Asian Americans. These findings suggest the importance of culture in studying the impact of daily emotional experiences on well-being.

  8. American Association for Dental Schools Curricular Guidelines for Microscopic Anatomy (General and Oral).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Susi, Frank; Mundell, Robert

    1980-01-01

    Guidelines developed by the Section on Anatomical Sciences of the American Association for Dental Schools are presented. These guidelines were drawn up as an effort to provide a general criterion-referenced standard against which a school can measure its course content in histology. (MLW)

  9. Comparison of statistical tests for association between rare variants and binary traits.

    OpenAIRE

    Bacanu, SA; Nelson, MR; Whittaker, JC

    2012-01-01

    : Genome-wide association studies have found thousands of common genetic variants associated with a wide variety of diseases and other complex traits. However, a large portion of the predicted genetic contribution to many traits remains unknown. One plausible explanation is that some of the missing variation is due to the effects of rare variants. Nonetheless, the statistical analysis of rare variants is challenging. A commonly used method is to contrast, within the same region (gene), the fr...

  10. An Analysis of Independent, Non-Academic Characteristics of Chinese and American Business Students Associated with Emotional Intelligence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margavio, Thomas M.; Margavio, Geanie W.; Hignite, Michael A.; Moses, Duane R.

    2014-01-01

    In a continuation of their prior research which focused on the differences in Emotional Intelligence (EI) levels between Chinese and American business students and the academic variables associated with those scores, the authors extend their efforts to investigate those personal (non-academic) characteristics of both American and Chinese business…

  11. A genome-wide association study meta-analysis of clinical fracture in 10,012 African American women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kira C. Taylor

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Osteoporosis is a major public health problem associated with excess disability and mortality. It is estimated that 50–70% of the variation in osteoporotic fracture risk is attributable to genetic factors. The purpose of this hypothesis-generating study was to identify possible genetic determinants of fracture among African American (AA women in a GWAS meta-analysis. Methods: Data on clinical fractures (all fractures except fingers, toes, face, skull or sternum were analyzed among AA female participants in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI (N = 8155, Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS (N = 504, BioVU (N = 704, Health ABC (N = 651, and the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project (JoCoOA (N = 291. Affymetrix (WHI and Illumina (Health ABC, JoCoOA, BioVU, CHS GWAS panels were used for genotyping, and a 1:1 ratio of YRI:CEU HapMap haplotypes was used as an imputation reference panel. We used Cox proportional hazard models or logistic regression to evaluate the association of ~2.5 million SNPs with fracture risk, adjusting for ancestry, age, and geographic region where applicable. We conducted a fixed-effects, inverse variance-weighted meta-analysis. Genome-wide significance was set at P < 5 × 10−8. Results: One SNP, rs12775980 in an intron of SVIL on chromosome 10p11.2, reached genome-wide significance (P = 4.0 × 10−8. Although this SNP has a low minor allele frequency (0.03, there was no evidence for heterogeneity of effects across the studies (I2 = 0. This locus was not reported in any previous osteoporosis-related GWA studies. We also interrogated previously reported GWA-significant loci associated with fracture or bone mineral density in our data. One locus (SMOC1 generalized, but overall there was not substantial evidence of generalization. Possible reasons for the lack of generalization are discussed. Conclusion: This GWAS meta-analysis of fractures in African American women identified a potentially novel

  12. Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Asian American Students' Suicidal Ideation: A Multicampus, National Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Y. Joel; Brownson, Chris; Schwing, Alison E.

    2011-01-01

    Risk and protective factors associated with suicidal ideation among 1,377 Asian American college students across 66 U.S. campuses were examined. The results indicated a variety of factors were associated with morbid thoughts: medication for mental health concerns, gender, GPA, undergraduate status, religious affiliation, living with a family…

  13. Factors Associated With American Indian and White Adolescent Drug Selling in Rural Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eitle, David; Eitle, Tamela McNulty

    2014-01-01

    Relatively few studies have examined the correlates of adolescent drug selling in America, with most of these studies focusing on urban settings. The present study examines the risk and protective factors associated with drug selling among American Indian and white adolescents residing in a rural Northwestern state in the United States. Using survey data collected in 2010-2012, we conduct logistic regression analyses exploring the correlates of drug selling (n=568). Generally, we found support for prior explanations of drug selling, but identified some important race-specific differences. Specifically, we found that stress exposure was a risk factor for American Indians, but not whites. Conversely, academic achievement served as a protective factor for white adolescents but not American Indians. Our findings suggest that the race gap in rural drug selling can be explained by considering differences in social bonds, stress exposure, and exposure to substance using family and friends. PMID:26120365

  14. Periodontal disease early in pregnancy is associated with maternal systemic inflammation among African American women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horton, Amanda L; Boggess, Kim A; Moss, Kevin L; Jared, Heather L; Beck, James; Offenbacher, Steven

    2008-07-01

    Maternal periodontal disease is a chronic oral infection with local and systemic inflammatory responses and may be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. This study determined whether maternal periodontal disease in early pregnancy is associated with elevated serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and whether maternal race influences the relationship between maternal periodontal disease and systemic inflammatory responses. A secondary analysis of prospectively collected data from the Oral Conditions and Pregnancy study was conducted. Healthy women at Periodontal disease was categorized by clinical criteria, and maternal serum was analyzed for CRP levels using highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. An elevated CRP level was defined as >75th percentile. Demographic and medical data were obtained from the women's charts. Chi-square and multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine maternal factors associated with an elevated CRP. An adjusted odds ratio (OR) for elevated CRP levels was calculated and stratified by race and periodontal disease category. The median (interquartile) CRP level was 4.8 (0.6 to 15.7) microg/ml, and an elevated CRP level (>75th percentile) was 15.7 microg/ml. African American race and moderate/severe periodontal disease were significantly associated with elevated CRP levels. When stratified by race, moderate/severe periodontal disease remained associated with an elevated CRP level among African American women (adjusted OR: 4.0; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2 to 8.5) but not among white women (adjusted OR: 0.9; 95% CI: 0.2 to 3.6) after adjusting for age, smoking, parity, marital status, insurance status, and weight. Among African American women, moderate/severe periodontal disease is associated with elevated CRP levels early in pregnancy.

  15. Factors Associated With Increased Cesarean Risk Among African American Women: Evidence From California, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doctor, Jason N.

    2015-01-01

    Objectives. We studied if both observed and unobserved maternal health in African American women in hospitals or communities were associated with cesarean delivery of infants. Methods. We examined the relationship between African American race and cesarean delivery among 493 433 women discharged from 255 Californian hospitals in 2010 using administrative data; we adjusted for patient comorbidities and maternal, fetal, and placental risk factors, as well as clustering of patients within hospitals. Results. Cesarean rates were significantly higher overall for African American women than other women (unadjusted rate 36.8% vs 32.7%), as were both elective and emergency primary cesarean rates. Elevated risks persisted after risk adjustment (odds ratio generally > 1.27), but the prevalence of particular risk factors varied. Although African American women were clustered in some hospitals, the proportion of African Americans among all women delivering in a hospital was not related to its overall cesarean rate. Conclusions. To address the higher likelihood of elective cesarean delivery, attention needs to be given to currently unmeasured patient-level health factors, to the quality of provider–physician interactions, as well as to patient preferences. PMID:25790391

  16. Critical Consideration of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual": Importance of the Inclusion of Cultural and Contextual Factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Jennifer R.; Quartiroli, Alessandro

    2010-01-01

    The authors note that although the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (4th ed., text rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) provides a useful tool for assessment and treatment planning, there has been debate over the lack of attention to issues of diversity. The elements of this debate are presented, along with…

  17. Relationships between Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Statistics and Bibliometric Indicators: A Principal Components Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendrix, Dean

    2010-01-01

    This study analyzed 2005-2006 Web of Science bibliometric data from institutions belonging to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and corresponding ARL statistics to find any associations between indicators from the two data sets. Principal components analysis on 36 variables from 103 universities revealed obvious associations between…

  18. 125 years of the American Psychological Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Christopher D; Cautin, Robin L

    2017-11-01

    The American Psychological Association (APA) began 125 years ago as a small club of a few dozen members in the parlor of its founder, G. Stanley Hall. In the decades since, it has faced many difficulties and even a few existential crises. Originally a scientific society, it spent the decades between the world wars figuring out how to accommodate the growing community of applied psychologists while still retaining and enhancing its scientific reputation. After World War II, with an expanded mandate, it developed formal training models for clinical psychologists and became an important player in legal cases pertaining to civil rights and other social justice issues. With practitioners taking an ever-greater role in the governance of the organization in the late 1970s, and the financial viability of the association in doubt in the 1980s, many psychological scientists felt the need to create a separate organization for themselves. The 1990s and early 2000s brought more challenges: declining divisional memberships; a legal dispute over fees with practitioners; and a serious upheaval over the APA Board of Directors' cooperation with governmental defense and intelligence agencies during the "war on terror." These clashes appear to have precipitated a decline in the association's membership for the first time in its history. The APA has faced many storms over its century-and-a-quarter, but has, thus far, always ultimately found a way forward for itself, for its members, and for the wider discipline of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Joint association of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor variants with abdominal obesity in American Indians: the Strong Heart Family Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yun; Yang, Jingyun; Yeh, Fawn; Cole, Shelley A; Haack, Karin; Lee, Elisa T; Howard, Barbara V; Zhao, Jinying

    2014-01-01

    Cigarette smoke is a strong risk factor for obesity and cardiovascular disease. The effect of genetic variants involved in nicotine metabolism on obesity or body composition has not been well studied. Though many genetic variants have previously been associated with adiposity or body fat distribution, a single variant usually confers a minimal individual risk. The goal of this study is to evaluate the joint association of multiple variants involved in cigarette smoke or nicotine dependence with obesity-related phenotypes in American Indians. To achieve this goal, we genotyped 61 tagSNPs in seven genes encoding nicotine acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in 3,665 American Indians participating in the Strong Heart Family Study. Single SNP association with obesity-related traits was tested using family-based association, adjusting for traditional risk factors including smoking. Joint association of all SNPs in the seven nAChRs genes were examined by gene-family analysis based on weighted truncated product method (TPM). Multiple testing was controlled by false discovery rate (FDR). Results demonstrate that multiple SNPs showed weak individual association with one or more measures of obesity, but none survived correction for multiple testing. However, gene-family analysis revealed significant associations with waist circumference (p = 0.0001) and waist-to-hip ratio (p = 0.0001), but not body mass index (p = 0.20) and percent body fat (p = 0.29), indicating that genetic variants are jointly associated with abdominal, but not general, obesity among American Indians. The observed combined genetic effect is independent of cigarette smoking per se. In conclusion, multiple variants in the nAChR gene family are jointly associated with abdominal obesity in American Indians, independent of general obesity and cigarette smoking per se.

  20. Same-sex parenting and children's outcomes: A closer examination of the American psychological association's brief on lesbian and gay parenting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, Loren

    2012-07-01

    In 2005, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued an official brief on lesbian and gay parenting. This brief included the assertion: "Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents" (p. 15). The present article closely examines this assertion and the 59 published studies cited by the APA to support it. Seven central questions address: (1) homogeneous sampling, (2) absence of comparison groups, (3) comparison group characteristics, (4) contradictory data, (5) the limited scope of children's outcomes studied, (6) paucity of long-term outcome data, and (7) lack of APA-urged statistical power. The conclusion is that strong assertions, including those made by the APA, were not empirically warranted. Recommendations for future research are offered. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Position statement and guidelines on support personnel in audiology. American Speech-Language Hearing Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-01-01

    This policy document of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) reflects the Association's position that the Certificate of Clinical Competence-Audiology (CCC-A) is a nationally recognized quality indicator and education standard for the profession. The following statement includes the CCC-A as the appropriate credential for audiologists supervising support personnel. The consensus panel document's exclusion of the CCC-A conflicts with ASHA's policy. Member organizations that composed the consensus panel on support personnel in audiology included: Academy of Dispensing Audiologists (ADA), American Academy of Audiology (AAA), ASHA, Educational Audiology Association (EAA), Military Audiology Association (MAA), and the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA). Representatives to the panel included Donald Bender (AAA) and Evelyn Cherow (ASHA), co-chairs; James McDonald and Meredy Hase (ADA); Albert deChiccis and Cheryl deConde Johnson (AAA); Chris Halpin and Deborah Price (ASHA); Peggy Benson (EAA); James Jerome (MAA); and Lloyd Bowling and Richard Danielson (NHCA). ASHA's Legislative Council and Executive Board elected not to adopt the consensus panel document because it excluded the CCC-A. In all others aspects, the documents remain similar. This position statement and guidelines supersede the audiology sections of the Guidelines for the Employment and Utilization of Supportive Personnel (LC 32-80).

  2. Characteristics of American Psychological Association Division 40 (clinical neuropsychology) Fellows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson-Greene, Doug; Collins, K C

    2011-11-01

    Fellow status is an honor bestowed on American Psychological Association (APA) members who have made unusual and outstanding contributions to the field of psychology that have had a national impact. Thus far no studies have examined the characteristics of the individuals who have received this honor. This study examined publicly available data for 157 Division 40 Fellows. Fellows comprise 3.7% of the 4273 members of the division compared to 5.7% of the entire APA membership. Fellows are predominantly male (73%). All but two fellows had earned a Ph.D. with the average time since granting of the doctoral degree of 17.1 ± 6 years (median=16 years) with a range of 7-40 years post-degree. Slightly over half of the fellows hold board certification (53%) in the American Board of Professional Psychology. The largest group of fellows reports their primary employment currently as a university-affiliated medical setting (48%). These data serve to characterize current Division 40 Fellows for the field of neuropsychology and may provide useful information to assist prospective fellow applicants.

  3. Common and Unique Factors Associated with DSM-IV-TR Internalizing Disorders in Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higa-McMillan, Charmaine K.; Smith, Rita L.; Chorpita, Bruce F.; Hayashi, Kentaro

    2008-01-01

    With the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association. "Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV Fourth Edition-Text Revision". Author, Washington, DC. 2000) ahead, decisions will be made about the future of taxonomic conceptualizations. This study examined the…

  4. Facts and Statistics about Food Allergies

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... and Statistics with References What Is a Food Allergy? A food allergy is a medical condition in ... an emerging concern. How Many People Have Food Allergies? Researchers estimate that up to 15 million Americans ...

  5. Podiatry Manpower: Characteristics of Clinical Practice United States--1970. Vital and Health Statistics--Series 14, No. 11.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Center for Health Statistics (DHEW/PHS), Hyattsville, MD.

    The report on the clinical practice of podiatry is the product of a national survey of podiatrists conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics with the cooperation of the American Podiatry Association during the period January--March 1970. The survey was conducted by a self-administered questionnaire (a facsimile of which comprises an…

  6. Standardizing Clinically Meaningful Outcome Measures Beyond HbA1c for Type 1 Diabetes: A Consensus Report of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the American Diabetes Association, the Endocrine Society, JDRF International, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, and the T1D Exchange.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agiostratidou, Gina; Anhalt, Henry; Ball, Dana; Blonde, Lawrence; Gourgari, Evgenia; Harriman, Karen N; Kowalski, Aaron J; Madden, Paul; McAuliffe-Fogarty, Alicia H; McElwee-Malloy, Molly; Peters, Anne; Raman, Sripriya; Reifschneider, Kent; Rubin, Karen; Weinzimer, Stuart A

    2017-12-01

    To identify and define clinically meaningful type 1 diabetes outcomes beyond hemoglobin A 1c (HbA 1c ) based upon a review of the evidence, consensus from clinical experts, and input from researchers, people with type 1 diabetes, and industry. Priority outcomes include hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, time in range, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). While priority outcomes for type 1 and type 2 diabetes may overlap, type 1 diabetes was the focus of this work. A Steering Committee-comprising representatives from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the American Diabetes Association, the Endocrine Society, JDRF International, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, and the T1D Exchange-was the decision-making body for the Type 1 Diabetes Outcomes Program. Their work was informed by input from researchers, industry, and people with diabetes through Advisory Committees representing each stakeholder group. Stakeholder surveys were used to identify priority outcomes. The outcomes prioritized in the surveys were hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, time in range, DKA, and PROs. To develop consensus on the definitions of these outcomes, the Steering Committee relied on published evidence, their clinical expertise, and feedback from the Advisory Committees. The Steering Committee developed definitions for hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, time in range, and DKA in type 1 diabetes. The definitions reflect their assessment of the outcome's short- and long-term clinical impact on people with type 1 diabetes. Knowledge gaps to be addressed by future research were identified. The Steering Committee discussed PROs and concluded that further type 1 diabetes-specific development is needed. The Steering Committee recommends use of the defined clinically meaningful outcomes beyond HbA 1c in the research, development, and evaluation of type 1 diabetes

  7. Retrospective chart review for obesity and associated interventions among rural Mexican-American adolescents accessing healthcare services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Champion, Jane Dimmitt; Collins, Jennifer L

    2013-11-01

    To report a retrospective analysis of data routinely collected in the course of healthcare services at a rural health clinic and to assess obesity incidence and associated interventions among rural Mexican-American adolescents. Two hundred and twelve charts reviewed; 98 (46.2%) males and 114 (53.8%) females. Data extracted included Medicaid exams conducted at the clinic within 5 years. Equal overweight or obese (n = 105, 49.5%), versus normal BMI categorizations (n = 107, 50.5%) documented overall and by gender. Female obesity higher (25.4%) than national norms (17.4%); male rates (25.5%) were within national norm. Interventions provided by nurse practitioners (94%) for 34.8%-80% of overweight/obese had limited follow-up (4%). Obesity incidence markedly increased between 13 and 18 years of age without associated interventions; 51.4%-75.6% without interventions. Obesity is a healthcare problem among rural Mexican-American adolescents accessing care at the rural health clinic. Obesity intervention and follow-up was suboptimal within this setting. Rural and ethnic minority adolescents experience health disparities concerning obesity prevalence and remote healthcare access. Obesity prevention and treatment during adolescence is a national health priority given physiologic and psychological tolls on health and potential for obesity into adulthood. Obesity assessment and translation of evidence-based interventions for rural Mexican-American adolescents at rural health clinics is implicated. ©2013 The Author(s) ©2013 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

  8. Genome-wide association study of coronary heart disease and its risk factors in 8,090 African Americans: the NHLBI CARe Project.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillaume Lettre

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Coronary heart disease (CHD is the leading cause of mortality in African Americans. To identify common genetic polymorphisms associated with CHD and its risk factors (LDL- and HDL-cholesterol (LDL-C and HDL-C, hypertension, smoking, and type-2 diabetes in individuals of African ancestry, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS in 8,090 African Americans from five population-based cohorts. We replicated 17 loci previously associated with CHD or its risk factors in Caucasians. For five of these regions (CHD: CDKN2A/CDKN2B; HDL-C: FADS1-3, PLTP, LPL, and ABCA1, we could leverage the distinct linkage disequilibrium (LD patterns in African Americans to identify DNA polymorphisms more strongly associated with the phenotypes than the previously reported index SNPs found in Caucasian populations. We also developed a new approach for association testing in admixed populations that uses allelic and local ancestry variation. Using this method, we discovered several loci that would have been missed using the basic allelic and global ancestry information only. Our conclusions suggest that no major loci uniquely explain the high prevalence of CHD in African Americans. Our project has developed resources and methods that address both admixture- and SNP-association to maximize power for genetic discovery in even larger African-American consortia.

  9. Hypoglycemia and diabetes: a report of a workgroup of the American Diabetes Association and the Endocrine Society.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seaquist, Elizabeth R; Anderson, John; Childs, Belinda; Cryer, Philip; Dagogo-Jack, Samuel; Fish, Lisa; Heller, Simon R; Rodriguez, Henry; Rosenzweig, James; Vigersky, Robert

    2013-05-01

    To review the evidence about the impact of hypoglycemia on patients with diabetes that has become available since the past reviews of this subject by the American Diabetes Association and The Endocrine Society and to provide guidance about how this new information should be incorporated into clinical practice. Five members of the American Diabetes Association and five members of The Endocrine Society with expertise in different aspects of hypoglycemia were invited by the Chair, who is a member of both, to participate in a planning conference call and a 2-day meeting that was also attended by staff from both organizations. Subsequent communications took place via e-mail and phone calls. The writing group consisted of those invitees who participated in the writing of the manuscript. The workgroup meeting was supported by educational grants to the American Diabetes Association from Lilly USA, LLC and Novo Nordisk and sponsorship to the American Diabetes Association from Sanofi. The sponsors had no input into the development of or content of the report. The writing group considered data from recent clinical trials and other studies to update the prior workgroup report. Unpublished data were not used. Expert opinion was used to develop some conclusions. Consensus was achieved by group discussion during conference calls and face-to-face meetings, as well as by iterative revisions of the written document. The document was reviewed and approved by the American Diabetes Association's Professional Practice Committee in October 2012 and approved by the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors in November 2012 and was reviewed and approved by The Endocrine Society's Clinical Affairs Core Committee in October 2012 and by Council in November 2012. The workgroup reconfirmed the previous definitions of hypoglycemia in diabetes, reviewed the implications of hypoglycemia on both short- and long-term outcomes, considered the implications of hypoglycemia on treatment outcomes

  10. Siblings, Birth Order, and Cooperative-Competitive Social Behavior: A Comparison of Anglo-American and Mexican-American Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knight, George P.; Kagan, Spencer

    1982-01-01

    Tested the hypothesis that differences in cooperative-competitive social behavior between Anglo-Americans and Mexican Americans is a result of larger family size among the latter group. Found that, even after controlling for number of siblings and birth order, statistically significant differences in such behavior remained between the two groups.…

  11. Digest of Education Statistics, 2008. NCES 2009-020

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Thomas D.; Dillow, Sally A.; Hoffman, Charlene M.

    2009-01-01

    The primary purpose of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The "Digest" includes a selection of data from both government and private sources, and draws especially on the results…

  12. Mitochondrial DNA G10398A variant is not associated with breast cancer in African-American women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setiawan, Veronica Wendy; Chu, Li-Hao; John, Esther M.; Ding, Yuan Chun; Ingles, Sue A.; Bernstein, Leslie; Press, Michael F.; Ursin, Giske; Haiman, Christopher A.; Neuhausen, Susan L

    2009-01-01

    Mitochondria play important roles in cellular energy production, free radical generation and apoptosis. In a previous report in Cancer Research, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) G10398A (Thr → Ala) polymorphism was associated with breast cancer risk in African-American women. Here, we seek to replicate the association by genotyping the G10398A polymorphism in three established population-based case-control studies of breast cancer in African-American women. The 10398A allele was not significantly associated with risk in any of the studies [San Francisco study (542 cases, 282 controls, odds ratio (OR) = 1.73; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87, 3.47, P = 0.12); Multiethnic Cohort (391 cases, 460 controls, OR = 1.08; 95% CI: 0.62, 1.86, P = 0.79); CARE/LIFE study (524 cases, 236 controls, OR = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.43, 1.52, P = 0.50)]. When pooling the data across the three studies (1456 cases and 978 controls), no significant association was observed with the 10398A allele (OR = 1.14; 95% CI: 0.80, 1.62, P = 0.47, P heterogeneity=0.30). In analysis of advanced breast cancer cases (n=674), there also was no significant association (OR = 1.18; 95% CI: 0.76, 1.82, P = 0.46). Our results do not support the hypothesis that the mtDNA G10398A polymorphism is a marker of breast cancer risk in African Americans as previously reported. PMID:18262047

  13. The association of self-rated health and lifestyle behaviors among foreign-born Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tran, Thanh V; Nguyen, Duy; Chan, Keith; Nguyen, Thuc-Nhi

    2013-03-01

    This study employed the 2009 California Health Interview Survey to examine the association of self-rated heath status and lifestyle behavior variables such as smoking at least 100 cigarettes or more in an entire lifetime, alcohol consumption, and physical activity level among foreign-born Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans aged 18 and older. The total study sample consisted of 3,023 foreign-born adult Chinese (n = 812), Korean (n = 857), and Vietnamese (n = 1,354) Americans. Logistic regression via Stata 12 was employed. Odds ratios (OR) along with confidence intervals (CI) were reported in the results. Results revealed that smoking at least 100 cigarettes or more in an entire lifetime had a negative association with good health status (OR = 0.74, 95 % CI = 0.59, 0.94), while alcohol consumption had a positive association with good health status (OR = 1.20, 95 % CI = 1.00, 1.44). Moderate physical activity (OR = 1.26, 95 % CI = 1.05, 1.50) and vigorous physical activity (OR = 1.68, 95 % CI = 1.31, 2.15) had a similar positive association with good self-rated health status. The results also revealed that the predicted probability of self-rated health status based on ethnicity and lifestyle variables was more favorable for foreign-born Chinese Americans than their Korean and Vietnamese American counterparts. This study's results corroborated the findings reported in previous research on the association of lifestyle behaviors and health status. Regardless of racial or ethnic backgrounds, good lifestyles have an important role in the prevention of poor health status. However, health education and lifestyle intervention programs should take cultural differences among racial and ethnic populations into consideration.

  14. Do Psychology Department Mission Statements Reflect the American Psychological Association Undergraduate Learning Goals?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warchal, Judith R.; Ruiz, Ana I.; You, Di

    2017-01-01

    This study focuses on the inclusion of the American Psychological Association's learning goals in the mission statements of undergraduate psychology programs across the US. We reviewed the mission statements available on websites for 1336 psychology programs listed in the Carnegie classification. Results of a content analysis revealed that of the…

  15. Signal Detection Analysis of Factors Associated with Diabetes among Semirural Mexican American Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanni, K. D.; Ahn, D. A.; Winkleby, M. A.

    2013-01-01

    Signal detection analysis was used to evaluate a combination of sociodemographic, acculturation, mental health, health care, and chronic disease risk factors potentially associated with diabetes in a sample of 4,505 semirural Mexican American adults. Overall, 8.9% of adults had been diagnosed with diabetes. The analysis resulted in 12 mutually…

  16. Association of urinary KIM-1, L-FABP, NAG and NGAL with incident end-stage renal disease and mortality in American Indians with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fufaa, Gudeta D; Weil, E Jennifer; Nelson, Robert G; Hanson, Robert L; Bonventre, Joseph V; Sabbisetti, Venkata; Waikar, Sushrut S; Mifflin, Theodore E; Zhang, Xiaoming; Xie, Dawei; Hsu, Chi-Yuan; Feldman, Harold I; Coresh, Josef; Vasan, Ramachandran S; Kimmel, Paul L; Liu, Kathleen D

    2015-01-01

    Kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1), liver fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP), N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) are urinary biomarkers of renal tubular injury. We examined their association with incident end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and all-cause mortality in American Indians with type 2 diabetes. Biomarker concentrations were measured in baseline urine samples in 260 Pima Indians who were followed for a median of 14 years. HRs were reported per SD of creatinine (Cr)-normalised log-transformed KIM-1, NAG and NGAL, and for three categories of L-FABP. During follow-up, 74 participants developed ESRD and 101 died. Median concentrations of KIM-1/Cr, NAG/Cr and NGAL/Cr and the proportion of detectable L-FABP were highest in those with macroalbuminuria (p associated with ESRD (HR 1.59, 95% CI 1.20, 2.11) and mortality (HR 1.39, 95% CI 1.06, 1.82); L-FABP/Cr was inversely associated with ESRD (HR [for highest vs lowest tertile] 0.40, 95% CI 0.19, 0.83). Addition of NGAL/Cr to models that included albuminuria and glomerular filtration rate increased the c-statistic for predicting ESRD from 0.828 to 0.833 (p = 0.001) and for death from 0.710 to 0.722 (p = 0.018). Addition of L-FABP/Cr increased the c-statistic for ESRD from 0.828 to 0.832 (p = 0.042). In Pima Indians with type 2 diabetes, urinary concentrations of NGAL and L-FABP are associated with important health outcomes, but they are unlikely to add to risk prediction with standard markers in a clinically meaningful way given the small increase in the c-statistic.

  17. Symptoms of Anxiety and Associated Risk and Protective Factors in Young Asian American Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Sabrina; Calzada, Esther; Brotman, Laurie Miller

    2014-01-01

    Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in young children but there has been a dearth of studies focusing on Asian American children. This study examines the patterns and the predictors of childhood anxiety and related symptoms in young children in a diverse Asian American (ASA) sample (n = 101). Findings indicate that ASA children are at higher risk for anxiety, somatization, and depressive problems than their peers. Parents’ level of acculturation (i.e., American identity, English competence), parental negative emotion socialization, conflicted parent–child relationship, child emotional knowledge and adaptive skills, as well as teachers’ ethnic background and school class types were all associated with ASA children’s anxiety. A combination of cultural, family, and school factors explained from 17 to 39 % of the variance in anxiety symptoms. Findings inform prevention services for young ASA children. PMID:22410755

  18. Digest of Education Statistics, 2005. NCES 2006-030

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Thomas D.; Tan, Alexandra G.; Hoffman, Charlene M.

    2006-01-01

    The 2005 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 41st in a series of publications initiated in 1962. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The "Digest" includes a selection of data…

  19. Evaluation Use: Results from a Survey of U.S. American Evaluation Association Members

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleischer, Dreolin N.; Christie, Christina A.

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents the results of a cross-sectional survey on evaluation use completed by 1,140 U.S. American Evaluation Association members. This study had three foci: evaluators' current attitudes, perceptions, and experiences related to evaluation use theory and practice, how these data are similar to those reported in a previous study…

  20. Subjective cognitive concerns are associated with objective memory performance in Caucasian but not African-American persons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Jonathan D; Rentz, Dorene M; Aghjayan, Sarah L; Buckley, Rachel F; Meneide, Tamy-Fee; Sperling, Reisa A; Amariglio, Rebecca E

    2017-11-01

    subjective cognitive concerns (SCC) have been proposed as a means of identifying individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the utility of SCCs has not been well-explored for African-Americans, who are twice as likely to develop AD dementia as Caucasians. We investigated whether race affects the association between SCCs and objective memory performance. we used a composite of three SCC questionnaires, and three challenging episodic memory tests. We studied 289 (61% female; African-American n = 47) clinically normal older individuals. Two hierarchical linear regressions assessed the modifying role of race on the association between SCC and objective memory performance. The first regression was conducted on the full sample, while the second matched the racial groups on age, estimated verbal IQ and socioeconomic status. in the full sample, both groups reported similar levels of SCCs, P = 0.10, although African-Americans performed worse on the memory tasks, P memory among Caucasians, r = -0.401, the correlation was not found among African-Americans, r = -0.052. results suggest that the dissociation between SCCs and memory performance in African-Americans may indicate qualitative differences in how diverse groups endorse cognitive concerns, even after considering socioeconomic and educational factors. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  1. Albinism in the american mink (Neovison vison) is associated with a tyrosinase nonsense mutation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Anistoroaei, Razvan Marian; Fredholm, Merete; Christensen, Knud

    2008-01-01

    Albino phenotypes are documented in various species including the American mink. In other species the albino phenotypes are associated with tyrosinase (TYR) gene mutations; therefore TYR was considered the candidate gene for albinism in mink. Four microsatellite markers were chosen in the prodicted...

  2. 77 FR 38378 - Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers; Revision of Exemption; American Pyrotechnics Association (APA)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-27

    ...-28043] Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers; Revision of Exemption; American Pyrotechnics Association (APA... Pyrotechnics Association (APA) that were granted an exemption from FMCSA's prohibition on driving commercial...-July 8, inclusive, in 2011 and 2012. The exemption covered renewal of 53 APA-member motor carriers and...

  3. ADIPOSITY-BASED CHRONIC DISEASE AS A NEW DIAGNOSTIC TERM: THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY POSITION STATEMENT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mechanick, Jeffrey I; Hurley, Daniel L; Garvey, W Timothy

    2017-03-01

    The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and American College of Endocrinology (ACE) have created a chronic care model, advanced diagnostic framework, clinical practice guidelines, and clinical practice algorithm for the comprehensive management of obesity. This coordinated effort is not solely based on body mass index as in previous models, but emphasizes a complications-centric approach that primarily determines therapeutic decisions and desired outcomes. Adiposity-Based Chronic Disease (ABCD) is a new diagnostic term for obesity that explicitly identifies a chronic disease, alludes to a precise pathophysiologic basis, and avoids the stigmata and confusion related to the differential use and multiple meanings of the term "obesity." Key elements to further the care of patients using this new ABCD term are: (1) positioning lifestyle medicine in the promotion of overall health, not only as the first algorithmic step, but as the central, pervasive action; (2) standardizing protocols that comprehensively and durably address weight loss and management of adiposity-based complications; (3) approaching patient care through contextualization (e.g., primordial prevention to decrease obesogenic environmental risk factors and transculturalization to adapt evidence-based recommendations for different ethnicities, cultures, and socio-economics); and lastly, (4) developing evidence-based strategies for successful implementation, monitoring, and optimization of patient care over time. This AACE/ACE blueprint extends current work and aspires to meaningfully improve both individual and population health by presenting a new ABCD term for medical diagnostic purposes, use in a complications-centric management and staging strategy, and precise reference to the obesity chronic disease state, divested from counterproductive stigmata and ambiguities found in the general public sphere. AACE = American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists ABCD = Adiposity

  4. The associations of perceived neighborhood disorder and physical activity with obesity among African American adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dulin-Keita, Akilah; Kaur Thind, Herpreet; Affuso, Olivia; Baskin, Monica L

    2013-05-04

    According to recent research studies, the built and socioeconomic contexts of neighborhoods are associated with African American adolescents' participation in physical activity and obesity status. However, few research efforts have been devoted to understand how African American adolescents' perceptions of their neighborhood environments may affect physical activity behaviors and obesity status. The objective of the current study was to use a perceived neighborhood disorder conceptual framework to examine whether physical activity mediated the relationship between perceived neighborhood disorder and obesity status among African American adolescents. The data were obtained from a cross-sectional study that examined social and cultural barriers and facilitators of physical activity among African American adolescents. The study included a sample of 101 African American adolescents age 12 to 16 years and their parents who were recruited from the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area. The primary outcome measure was obesity status which was classified using the International Obesity Task Force cut off points. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was assessed via accelerometry. Perceived neighborhood disorder was assessed using the Perceived Neighborhood Disorder Scale. Mediation models were used to examine whether the relationship between neighborhood disorder and obesity status was mediated by physical activity. Perceived neighborhood disorder was significantly and positively related to obesity status and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was inversely associated with obesity status. However, there was no evidence to support a significant mediating effect of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on the relationship between neighborhood disorder and obesity status. Future studies should longitudinally assess perceived neighborhood disorder characteristics and childhood adiposity to examine the timing, extent, and the mechanisms by which perceived neighborhood

  5. Multilevel Associations of Neighborhood Poverty, Crime, and Satisfaction With Blood Pressure in African-American Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coulon, Sandra M; Wilson, Dawn K; Alia, Kassandra A; Van Horn, M Lee

    2016-01-01

    African-American adults experience the highest rates of elevated blood pressure (BP), and this disparity may be linked to socioeconomic and neighborhood-related disadvantage. Based on a bioecological stress-buffering framework, relations of poverty and neighborhood environmental perceptions with BP were assessed using multilevel regression in at-risk African-American adults. This cross-sectional study used baseline data that were collected in 2008 as part of the Positive Action for Today's Health (PATH) trial (N = 409), a community-based intervention to increase walking in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods. BP and perceived neighborhood crime and satisfaction were investigated as individual-level indicators of health and neighborhood environment. Census block groups (N = 22) served as geographic proxies for neighborhoods, and poverty was obtained using 2010 U.S. Census data, to characterize the neighborhood-level socioeconomic environment. There were no individual-level direct associations. Significant cross-product interactions demonstrated that with higher perceived crime, high satisfaction was associated with lower systolic (γ = 3.34) and diastolic (γ = -1.37) BP, but low satisfaction was associated with higher systolic (γ = 15.12) and diastolic (γ = 7.57) BP. Neighborhood-level poverty was associated with diastolic (γ = 11.48, SE = 4.08, P = 0.008) and systolic BP (γ = 12.79, SE = 6.33, P = 0.052). Variance in BP across block groups was low (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.002-0.014) and there were no significant random effects. Results supported hypotheses, with greater neighborhood satisfaction linked to lower systolic and diastolic BP when perceived crime was high. Neighborhood poverty was also linked to higher systolic and diastolic BP. Prevention efforts should further investigate whether attending to issues of poverty and related neighborhood perceptions reduces high BP in at-risk African-American communities. © Published by Oxford

  6. A study of statistics anxiety levels of graduate dental hygiene students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welch, Paul S; Jacks, Mary E; Smiley, Lynn A; Walden, Carolyn E; Clark, William D; Nguyen, Carol A

    2015-02-01

    In light of increased emphasis on evidence-based practice in the profession of dental hygiene, it is important that today's dental hygienist comprehend statistical measures to fully understand research articles, and thereby apply scientific evidence to practice. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate statistics anxiety among graduate dental hygiene students in the U.S. A web-based self-report, anonymous survey was emailed to directors of 17 MSDH programs in the U.S. with a request to distribute to graduate students. The survey collected data on statistics anxiety, sociodemographic characteristics and evidence-based practice. Statistic anxiety was assessed using the Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale. Study significance level was α=0.05. Only 8 of the 17 invited programs participated in the study. Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale data revealed graduate dental hygiene students experience low to moderate levels of statistics anxiety. Specifically, the level of anxiety on the Interpretation Anxiety factor indicated this population could struggle with making sense of scientific research. A decisive majority (92%) of students indicated statistics is essential for evidence-based practice and should be a required course for all dental hygienists. This study served to identify statistics anxiety in a previously unexplored population. The findings should be useful in both theory building and in practical applications. Furthermore, the results can be used to direct future research. Copyright © 2015 The American Dental Hygienists’ Association.

  7. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY GUIDELINES FOR MANAGEMENT OF DYSLIPIDEMIA AND PREVENTION OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jellinger, Paul S; Handelsman, Yehuda; Rosenblit, Paul D; Bloomgarden, Zachary T; Fonseca, Vivian A; Garber, Alan J; Grunberger, George; Guerin, Chris K; Bell, David S H; Mechanick, Jeffrey I; Pessah-Pollack, Rachel; Wyne, Kathleen; Smith, Donald; Brinton, Eliot A; Fazio, Sergio; Davidson, Michael

    2017-04-01

    The development of these guidelines is mandated by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Board of Directors and American College of Endocrinology (ACE) Board of Trustees and adheres with published AACE protocols for the standardized production of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Recommendations are based on diligent reviews of the clinical evidence with transparent incorporation of subjective factors, according to established AACE/ACE guidelines for guidelines protocols. The Executive Summary of this document contains 87 recommendations of which 45 are Grade A (51.7%), 18 are Grade B (20.7%), 15 are Grade C (17.2%), and 9 (10.3%) are Grade D. These detailed, evidence-based recommendations allow for nuance-based clinical decision-making that addresses multiple aspects of real-world medical care. The evidence base presented in the subsequent Appendix provides relevant supporting information for Executive Summary Recommendations. This update contains 695 citations of which 203 (29.2 %) are EL 1 (strong), 137 (19.7%) are EL 2 (intermediate), 119 (17.1%) are EL 3 (weak), and 236 (34.0%) are EL 4 (no clinical evidence). This CPG is a practical tool that endocrinologists, other health care professionals, health-related organizations, and regulatory bodies can use to reduce the risks and consequences of dyslipidemia. It provides guidance on screening, risk assessment, and treatment recommendations for a range of individuals with various lipid disorders. The recommendations emphasize the importance of treating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in some individuals to lower goals than previously endorsed and support the measurement of coronary artery calcium scores and inflammatory markers to help stratify risk. Special consideration is given to individuals with diabetes, familial hypercholesterolemia, women, and youth with dyslipidemia. Both clinical and cost-effectiveness data are provided to support treatment decisions. 4S

  8. The American Heart Association Ideal Cardiovascular Health and Incident Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Among Blacks: The Jackson Heart Study

    OpenAIRE

    Effoe, Valery S.; Carnethon, Mercedes R.; Echouffo‐Tcheugui, Justin B.; Chen, Haiying; Joseph, Joshua J.; Norwood, Arnita F.; Bertoni, Alain G.

    2017-01-01

    Background: The concept of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH), defined by the American Heart Association primarily for coronary heart disease and stroke prevention, may apply to diabetes mellitus prevention among blacks. Methods and Results: Our sample included 2668 adults in the Jackson Heart Study with complete baseline data on 6 of 7 American Heart Association CVH metrics (body mass index, healthy diet, smoking, total cholesterol, blood pressure, and physical activity). Incident diabetes me...

  9. American Telemedicine Association: First China (Tianjin International Telemedicine Technology Exhibition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jordana Bernard

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available With the support of Tianjin Municipal People’s Government and the People’s Government of Binhai New Area, the “First China (Tianjin International Telemedicine Technology Exhibition” hosted by the American Telemedicine Association (ATA, will be held October 28- 30, 2014 at the Tianjin Binhai International Convention and Exhibition Center. The three day event will feature keynote sessions, concurrent discussion forums, exhibits (e.g., telemedicine, information technology, mHealth, a venture summit, meet-and-greet sessions for international and domestic companies for potential business collaboration, and policy discussions on China healthcare. For registration information: http://www.atacn.org/en/

  10. Longitudinal associations between social support and physical and mental health in African American adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    African Americans report a greater number of modifiable risk factors, such as overweight/obesity, physical inactivity and poor dietary habits, putting them at increased risk of developing and dying from chronic diseases. These risk factors are also associated with poorer health-related quality of li...

  11. 78 FR 17679 - Implementation of the Updated American Veterinary Medical Association Guidelines for the...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-22

    ... Updated American Veterinary Medical Association Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 Edition... for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 Edition (Guidelines). The NIH is seeking input from the public on... updated AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 Edition must be submitted electronically at...

  12. Perceived Social Support Trajectories and the All-Cause Mortality Risk of Older Mexican American Women and Men

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Terrence D.; Uchino, Bert N.; Eckhardt, Jessica L.; Angel, Jacqueline L.

    2016-01-01

    Although numerous studies of non-Hispanic whites and blacks show that social integration and social support tend to favor longevity, it is unclear whether this general pattern extends to the Mexican American population. Building on previous research, we employed seven waves of data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to examine the association between perceived social support trajectories and the all-cause mortality risk of older Mexican Americans. Growth mixture estimates revealed three latent classes of support trajectories: high, moderate, and low. Cox regression estimates indicated that older Mexican American men in the low support trajectory tend to exhibit a higher mortality risk than their counterparts in the high support trajectory. Social support trajectories were unrelated to the mortality risk of older Mexican American women. A statistically significant interaction term confirmed that social support was more strongly associated with the mortality risk of men. PMID:26966256

  13. Factors Associated with Hepatitis C Knowledge before and after an Educational Intervention among Vietnamese Americans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sunmin Lee

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV is a major cause of chronic liver disease and cancer. Vietnamese Americans are at high risk of HCV infection, with men having the highest US incidence of liver cancer. This study examines an intervention to improve HCV knowledge among Vietnamese Americans. Study Seven Vietnamese community-based organizations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey recruited a total of 306 Vietnamese participants from 2010 to 2011. Results Average knowledge scores for pretest and posttest were 3.32 and 5.88, respectively (maximum 10. After adjusting for confounding variables, age and higher education were positively associated with higher pretest scores and having a physician who spoke English or Vietnamese was negatively associated with higher pretest scores. Additionally, after adjusting for confounding variables, household income, education, and having an HCV-infected family member significantly increased knowledge scores. Conclusions Promotion and development of HCV educational programs can increase HCV knowledge among race and ethnic groups, such as Vietnamese Americans. Giving timely information to at-risk groups provides the opportunity to correct misconceptions, decrease HCV risk behaviors, and encourage testing that might improve timely HCV diagnosis and treatment.

  14. Phenotypic and familial associations between childhood maltreatment and cannabis initiation and problems in young adult European-American and African-American women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, Julia D; Agrawal, Arpana; Werner, Kimberly B; McCutcheon, Vivia V; Nelson, Elliot C; Madden, Pamela A F; Bucholz, Kathleen K; Heath, Andrew C; Sartor, Carolyn E

    2017-10-01

    Childhood maltreatment is a known risk factor for cannabis initiation and problem use, but the extent to which this association is attributable to shared familial influences is unknown. We estimate the magnitude of associations between childhood maltreatment, timing of cannabis initiation, and cannabis-related problems, in European-American (EA) and African-American (AA) women, and parse the relative influence of additive genetic (A), shared environmental (C), and individual-specific environmental (E) factors on these constructs and their covariation. Data were from diagnostic telephone interviews conducted with 3786 participants (14.6% AA) in a population-based study of female twins. Logistic regression analyses and twin modeling were used to test for associations, and estimate the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences to childhood maltreatment and cannabis outcomes and their covariation. Maltreatment was significantly associated with increased likelihood of cannabis initiation before age 15 among EAs (OR=6.33) and AAs (OR=3.93), but with increased likelihood of later initiation among EAs only (OR=1.68). Maltreatment was associated with cannabis problems among both groups (EA OR=2.32; AA OR=2.03). Among EA women, the covariation between maltreatment and cannabis outcomes was primarily attributable to familial environment (rC=0.67-0.70); among AAs, only individual-specific environment contributed (rE=0.37-0.40). Childhood maltreatment is a major contributor to early initiation of cannabis as well as progression to cannabis problems in both AA and EA women. Distinctions by race/ethnicity are not in the relative contribution of genetic factors, but rather in the type of environmental influences that contribute to stages of cannabis involvement. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. ACC/AATS/AHA/ASE/ASNC/HRS/SCAI/SCCT/SCMR/STS 2017 Appropriate Use Criteria for Multimodality Imaging in Valvular Heart Disease : A Report of the American College of Cardiology Appropriate Use Criteria Task Force, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, American Heart Association, American Society of Echocardiography, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doherty, John U; Kort, Smadar; Mehran, Roxana; Schoenhagen, Paul; Soman, Prem

    2017-12-01

    This document is 1 of 2 companion appropriate use criteria (AUC) documents developed by the American College of Cardiology, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, American Heart Association, American Society of Echocardiography, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons. This document addresses the evaluation and use of multimodality imaging in the diagnosis and management of valvular heart disease, whereas the second, companion document addresses this topic with regard to structural heart disease. Although there is clinical overlap, the documents addressing valvular and structural heart disease are published separately, albeit with a common structure. The goal of the companion AUC documents is to provide a comprehensive resource for multimodality imaging in the context of valvular and structural heart disease, encompassing multiple imaging modalities.Using standardized methodology, the clinical scenarios (indications) were developed by a diverse writing group to represent patient presentations encountered in everyday practice and included common applications and anticipated uses. Where appropriate, the scenarios were developed on the basis of the most current American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines.A separate, independent rating panel scored the 92 clinical scenarios in this document on a scale of 1 to 9. Scores of 7 to 9 indicate that a modality is considered appropriate for the clinical scenario presented. Midrange scores of 4 to 6 indicate that a modality may be appropriate for the clinical scenario, and scores of 1 to 3 indicate that a modality is considered rarely appropriate for the clinical scenario.The primary objective of the AUC is to provide a framework for the assessment of these scenarios by practices that will

  16. CONSENSUS STATEMENT BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY ON THE COMPREHENSIVE TYPE 2 DIABETES MANAGEMENT ALGORITHM--2015 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garber, Alan J; Abrahamson, Martin Julian; Barzilay, Joshua I; Blonde, Lawrence; Bloomgarden, Zachary T; Bush, Michael A; Dagogo-Jack, Samuel; Davidson, Michael B; Einhorn, Daniel; Garber, Jeffrey R; Garvey, W Timothy; Grunberger, George; Handelsman, Yehuda; Hirsch, Irl B; Jellinger, Paul S; McGill, Janet B; Mechanick, Jeffrey I; Rosenblit, Paul David; Umpierrez, Guillermo E

    2015-12-01

    This document represents the official position of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American College of Endocrinology. Where there were no randomized controlled trials or specific U.S. FDA labeling for issues in clinical practice, the participating clinical experts utilized their judgment and experience. Every effort was made to achieve consensus among the committee members. Position statements are meant to provide guidance, but they are not to be considered prescriptive for any individual patient and cannot replace the judgment of a clinician.

  17. Gun violence in Americans' social network during their lifetime.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalesan, Bindu; Weinberg, Janice; Galea, Sandro

    2016-12-01

    The overall burden of gun violence death and injury in the US is now well understood. However, no study has shown the extent to which gun violence is associated with the individual lives of Americans. We used fatal and non-fatal gun injury rates in 2013 from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) and generally accepted estimates about the size of an American's social network to determine the likelihood that any given person will know someone in their personal social network who is a victim of gun violence during their lifetime. We derived estimates in the overall population and among racial/ethnic groups and by gun-injury intent. The likelihood of knowing a gun violence victim within any given personal network over a lifetime is 99.85% (99.8% to 99.9%). The likelihood among non-Hispanic white, black, Hispanic and other race Americans were 97.1%, 99.9%, 99.5% and 88.9% respectively. Nearly all Americans of all racial/ethnic groups are likely to know a victim of gun violence in their social network during their lifetime. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Parental Factors Associated with Mexican American Adolescent Alcohol Use

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Mogro-Wilson

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to further the understanding of how parenting and the relationship between the parent and the youth influence adolescent alcohol use in Mexican American families, with particular attention to acculturation. Results indicated that parental warmth is a strong factor in predicting adolescent alcohol use among Mexican adolescents. The parent-youth relationship played an important role in lowering alcohol use for Mexican American youth. Acculturation has an impact on the level of warmth, control, and the parent-youth relationship for Mexican American families. Findings indicate that there are unique family mechanisms for Mexican American families that should be considered when developing prevention and treatment options.

  19. The Hispanic Americans Baseline Alcohol Survey (HABLAS): the association between acculturation, birthplace and alcohol consumption across Hispanic national groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaeth, Patrice A C; Caetano, Raul; Rodriguez, Lori A

    2012-09-01

    Acculturation to U.S. society has been associated with an increase in drinking and binge drinking among Hispanics. This paper examines the association between acculturation and three drinking-related outcomes: average number of drinks consumed, binge drinking, and drinking 12 drinks or more in a single day in four major Hispanic national groups. The 2006 Hispanic Americans Baseline Alcohol Survey used a multistage cluster sample design to interview 5224 adult Hispanics (18+ years) in five selected U.S. metropolitan areas: Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Houston, and Los Angeles. The four national groups interviewed were: Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans, and South/Central Americans. The survey response rate was 76%. Data on drinking behavior were collected and the analyses include bivariate and multivariate regression techniques. Multivariate analysis did not show an association between acculturation and volume of drinking, binge drinking, or drinking 12 or more drinks in a single day among men. Acculturation stress, however, was associated with drinking 12 or more in a day among men. Among women, high acculturation was associated with a higher volume of drinking, and it also interacted with national group to increase the likelihood of binge drinking. Acculturation does not have a homogeneous effect on drinking across gender and Hispanic national groups. The results confirm that acculturation has a more consistent association with increased drinking and binge drinking among women than among men. The effect of acculturation is therefore gender-specific. This heterogeneity across Hispanic national groups must be considered in future research, treatment, and prevention efforts. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Mini-Digest of Education Statistics, 2010. NCES 2011-016

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Thomas D.

    2011-01-01

    This pocket-sized compilation of statistical information covers prekindergarten through graduate school to describe the current American education scene. The "Mini-Digest" is designed as an easy reference for materials found in detail in the "Digest of Education Statistics". These volumes include selections of data from many…

  1. Mobile Digest of Education Statistics, 2013. NCES 2014-086

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Thomas D.

    2014-01-01

    This is the first edition of the "Mobile Digest of Education Statistics." This compact compilation of statistical information covers prekindergarten through graduate school to describe the current American education scene. The "Mobile Digest" is designed as an easy mobile reference for materials found in detail in the…

  2. Mini-Digest of Education Statistics, 2009. NCES 2010-014

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Thomas D.

    2010-01-01

    This compilation of statistical information covers prekindergarten through graduate school to describe the current American education scene. The "Mini-Digest" is designed as an easy reference for materials found in detail in the "Digest of Education Statistics, 2009". These volumes include selections of data from many…

  3. DNA hybridization evidence for the Australasian affinity of the American marsupial Dromiciops australis.

    OpenAIRE

    Kirsch, J A; Dickerman, A W; Reig, O A; Springer, M S

    1991-01-01

    DNA hybridization was used to compare representatives of the major groups of marsupials and a eutherian outgroup. Because of the large genetic distances separating marsupial families, trees were calculated from normalized percentages of hybridization; thermal-melting statistics, however, gave identical topologies for the well-supported clades. The most notable results were the association of the only extant microbiotheriid, Dromiciops australis, an American marsupial, with the Australasian Di...

  4. Testing statistical hypotheses

    CERN Document Server

    Lehmann, E L

    2005-01-01

    The third edition of Testing Statistical Hypotheses updates and expands upon the classic graduate text, emphasizing optimality theory for hypothesis testing and confidence sets. The principal additions include a rigorous treatment of large sample optimality, together with the requisite tools. In addition, an introduction to the theory of resampling methods such as the bootstrap is developed. The sections on multiple testing and goodness of fit testing are expanded. The text is suitable for Ph.D. students in statistics and includes over 300 new problems out of a total of more than 760. E.L. Lehmann is Professor of Statistics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of honorary degrees from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands and the University of Chicago. He is the author of Elements of Large-Sample Theory and (with George Casella) he is also the author of Theory of Point Estimat...

  5. Using Microsoft Excel to teach statistics in a graduate advanced practice nursing program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiMaria-Ghalili, Rose Ann; Ostrow, C Lynne

    2009-02-01

    This article describes the authors' experiences during 3 years of using Microsoft Excel to teach graduate-level statistics, as part of the research core required by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing for all professional graduate nursing programs. The advantages to using this program instead of specialized statistical programs are ease of accessibility, increased transferability of skills, and reduced cost for students. The authors share their insight about realistic goals for teaching statistics to master's-level students and the resources that are available to faculty to help them to learn and use Excel in their courses. Several online sites that are excellent resources for both faculty and students are discussed. Detailed attention is given to an online course (Carnegie-Mellon University Open Learning Initiative, n.d.), which the authors have incorporated into their graduate-level research methods course.

  6. Modeling of aqueous electrolyte solutions with perturbed-chain statistical associated fluid theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cameretti, Luca F.; Sadowski, Gabriele; Mollerup, Jørgen

    2005-01-01

    The vapor pressures and liquid densities of single-salt electrolyte solutions containing NaCl, LiCl, KCl, NaBr, LiBr, KBr, NaI, LiI, KI, Li2SO4, Na2SO4, and K2SO4 were modeled with an equation of state based on perturbed-chain statistical associated fluid theory (PC-SAFT). The PC-SAFT model...

  7. Novel Somatic Copy Number Alteration Identified for Cervical Cancer in the Mexican American Population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alireza Torabi

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Cervical cancer affects millions of Americans, but the rate for cervical cancer in the Mexican American is approximately twice that for non-Mexican Americans. The etiologies of cervical cancer are still not fully understood. A number of somatic mutations, including several copy number alterations (CNAs, have been identified in the pathogenesis of cervical carcinomas in non-Mexican Americans. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate CNAs in association with cervical cancer in the Mexican American population. We conducted a pilot study of genome-wide CNA analysis using 2.5 million markers in four diagnostic groups: reference (n = 125, low grade dysplasia (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN-I, n = 4, high grade dysplasia (CIN-II and -III, n = 5 and invasive carcinoma (squamous cell carcinoma (SCC, n = 5 followed by data analyses using Partek. We observed a statistically-significant difference of CNA burden between case and reference groups of different sizes (>100 kb, 10–100 kb and 1–10 kb of CNAs that included deletions and amplifications, e.g., a statistically-significant difference of >100 kb deletions was observed between the reference (6.6% and pre-cancer and cancer (91.3% groups. Recurrent aberrations of 98 CNA regions were also identified in cases only. However, none of the CNAs have an impact on cancer progression. A total of 32 CNA regions identified contained tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Moreover, the pathway analysis revealed endometrial cancer and estrogen signaling pathways associated with this cancer (p < 0.05 using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG. This is the first report of CNAs identified for cervical cancer in the U.S. Latino population using high density markers. We are aware of the small sample size in the study. Thus, additional studies with a larger sample are needed to confirm the current findings.

  8. ABCA7 frameshift deletion associated with Alzheimer disease in African Americans

    OpenAIRE

    Cukier, Holly N.; Kunkle, Brian W.; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Rolati, Sophie; Hamilton-Nelson, Kara L.; Kohli, Martin A.; Whitehead, Patrice L.; Dombroski, Beth A.; Van Booven, Derek; Lang, Rosalyn; Dykxhoorn, Derek M.; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Vance, Jeffery M.; Gilbert, John R.

    2016-01-01

    Objective: To identify a causative variant(s) that may contribute to Alzheimer disease (AD) in African Americans (AA) in the ATP-binding cassette, subfamily A (ABC1), member 7 (ABCA7) gene, a known risk factor for late-onset AD. Methods: Custom capture sequencing was performed on ?150 kb encompassing ABCA7 in 40 AA cases and 37 AA controls carrying the AA risk allele (rs115550680). Association testing was performed for an ABCA7 deletion identified in large AA data sets (discovery n = 1,068; r...

  9. Association of depressive symptoms and social support on blood pressure among urban African American women and girls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Chun Yi; Prosser, Rachel A; Taylor, Jacquelyn Y

    2010-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the associations between depressive symptoms and perceived social support on blood pressure in African American women. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 159 African American women from multiple sites in the Detroit Metro area. Results from this study found that both higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure were positively associated with higher depressive symptom scores (r= .20 and .18, p social support scores (r=-.44, p social support scores were not significantly correlated with blood pressure readings. Higher depressive symptom scores were associated with increased systolic blood pressure independent of social support. Findings of the present study suggest the importance of appropriate social support to help alleviate depressive symptoms. However, to effectively control blood pressure in patients with depressive symptoms, other pathophysiologic mechanisms between depressive symptoms and elevated blood pressures independent of social support should be examined in future research. Future studies should consider a cohort design to examine the temporal relationship of depressive symptoms, social support, and blood pressure readings. ©2010 The Author(s) Journal compilation ©2010 American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

  10. Mediators of the childhood emotional abuse-hopelessness association in African American women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamis, Dorian A; Wilson, Christina K; Shahane, Amit A; Kaslow, Nadine J

    2014-08-01

    Although there is an association between experiencing childhood emotional abuse and feeling hopeless as an adult, it is critical to understand the factors that may be protective in this relationship. The goal of this study was to determine if two protective factors, namely spiritual well-being, including both religious and existential well-being, and positive self-esteem, served to mediate the association between childhood emotional abuse and adult hopelessness. The sample for this investigation was low-income African American women suicide attempters who were abused by a partner in the prior year (N=121). A path analysis revealed that in this sample, the childhood emotional abuse-hopelessness link was mediated by existential well-being and positive self-esteem, as well as by the two-mediator path of emotional abuse on existential well-being on self-esteem on hopelessness. Results suggested that existential well-being may be a more salient protective factor for hopelessness than religious well-being among abused, suicidal African American women who experienced childhood emotional abuse. Findings highlight the value of culturally relevant strategies for enhancing existential well-being and self-esteem in this at-risk population to reduce their vulnerability to feelings of hopelessness. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Religious Participation is Associated with Increases in Religious Social Support in a National Longitudinal Study of African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Daisy; Holt, Cheryl L; Hosack, Dominic P; Huang, Jin; Clark, Eddie M

    2016-08-01

    This study reports on the association between religious beliefs and behaviors and the change in both general and religious social support using two waves of data from a national sample of African Americans. The Religion and Health in African Americans (RHIAA) study is a longitudinal telephone survey designed to examine relationships between various aspects of religious involvement and psychosocial factors over time. RHIAA participants were 3173 African American men (1281) and women (1892). A total of 1251 men (456) and women (795) participated in wave 2 of data collection. Baseline religious behaviors were associated with increased overall religious social support from baseline to wave 2 (p social support from baseline to wave 2 in each of the following religious social support subscales: emotional support received (p social support. African Americans who are active in faith communities showed increases in all types of religious social support, even the negative aspects, over a relatively modest longitudinal study period. This illustrates the strength of the church as a social network and the role that it plays in people's lives.

  12. Brief research report: sociodemographic factors associated with HIV status among African American women in Washington, DC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Perkins EL

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Emory L Perkins,1 Dexter R Voisin,2 Kesslyn A Brade Stennis1 1Department of Social Work, Bowie State University, Bowie, MD, USA; 2School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA Introduction: African American women living in Washington, DC have one of the highest Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV incidence rates in the US. However, this population has been understudied, especially as it relates to factors associated with HIV status. Methods: This cross-sectional study examined sociodemographic factors that were associated with having a negative or positive HIV status among a sample of 115 African American women between the ages of 24 and 44 years. We assessed such factors as age, education, sexual orientation, household income, sources of income, number of children, length of residency tenure in Washington, DC, and level of HIV-prevention knowledge. Results: Among the overall sample, 53 women self-identified as HIV-positive and 62 as HIV-negative. Compared to their HIV-negative counterparts, women who reported being HIV-positive were less educated, had lower household income, and had longer residency tenure in Washington, DC. There were no differences in HIV knowledge between HIV-positive and -negative study participants. Conclusion: These findings may provide important directions for targeting specific subpopulations of African Americans for HIV-prevention/intervention programs. Keywords: HIV status, African American women, sociodemographic factors

  13. Sexual Orientation Differences as Deficits: Science and Stigma in the History of American Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herek, Gregory M

    2010-11-01

    This article briefly describes how psychology, psychiatry, and the mental health professions (here collectively referred to as Psychology) treated sexual orientation differences as deficits for much of the 20th century, as well as some of the negative consequences that practice had for sexual minorities. The 1970s witnessed a remarkable turnaround when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the American Psychological Association called for psychologists to work to remove the stigma historically associated with homosexuality. This history illustrates not only how cultural institutions play a central role in legitimating stigma, but also how they can recognize their own complicity in this process and work effectively to undo its harmful effects. It is argued that Psychology still has an important role to play in challenging the differences-as-deficits model in contemporary policy debates. © The Author(s) 2010.

  14. Canadian Petroleum Association statistical handbook

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-04-01

    Statistical data are presented for the Canadian oil and gas industry for 1991, with some historical and background data included. Tables are provided on land sales and holdings, drilling completions, reserves, production, inventories, production capacity, cash expenditures, value of sales, prices, consumption, sales, refinery capacity and utilization, refinery yields, pipelines, imports and exports, National Energy Board licenses and orders, electricity generation capacity, and supply and disposal of electric energy. 112 tabs

  15. 75 FR 63833 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request; the NIH-American Association for Retired Persons (AARP...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-18

    ... Request; the NIH-American Association for Retired Persons (AARP) Interactive Comprehensive Lifestyle... (AARP) interactive Comprehensive Lifestyle Interview by Computer Study (iCLIC). Type of Information... Diet and Health Questionnaire (DHQ), a well-established food frequency questionnaire in a population of...

  16. Reading American Fat in France : Obesity and Food Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Knowlton – Le Roux

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available One of the least flattering images that America is now associated with in France and in other European countries is a ballooning stomach. Pictures of overweight American children and adults are regularly used in French TV news, shows and in the print media. Every campaign against obesity in the land of gourmandise cites the latest statistics on the overweight population in the United States. “Obésité: la France sur la voie des Etats-Unis,” warned Le Monde in the headline of its two-page sprea...

  17. Reading American Fat in France : Obesity and Food Culture

    OpenAIRE

    Roux, Laura Knowlton – Le

    2007-01-01

    One of the least flattering images that America is now associated with in France and in other European countries is a ballooning stomach. Pictures of overweight American children and adults are regularly used in French TV news, shows and in the print media. Every campaign against obesity in the land of gourmandise cites the latest statistics on the overweight population in the United States. “Obésité: la France sur la voie des Etats-Unis,” warned Le Monde in the headline of its two-page sprea...

  18. EEG spectral phenotypes: heritability and association with marijuana and alcohol dependence in an American Indian community study

    OpenAIRE

    Ehlers, Cindy L.; Phillips, Evelyn; Gizer, Ian R.; Gilder, David A.; Wilhelmsen, Kirk C.

    2009-01-01

    Native Americans have some of the highest rates of marijuana and alcohol use and abuse, yet neurobiological measures associated with dependence on these substances in this population remain unknown. The present investigation evaluated the heritability of spectral characteristics of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and their correlation with marijuana and alcohol dependence in an American Indian community. Participants (n=626) were evaluated for marijuana (MJ) and alcohol (ALC) dependence, as we...

  19. Hippocampal Structure Predicts Statistical Learning and Associative Inference Abilities during Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlichting, Margaret L; Guarino, Katharine F; Schapiro, Anna C; Turk-Browne, Nicholas B; Preston, Alison R

    2017-01-01

    Despite the importance of learning and remembering across the lifespan, little is known about how the episodic memory system develops to support the extraction of associative structure from the environment. Here, we relate individual differences in volumes along the hippocampal long axis to performance on statistical learning and associative inference tasks-both of which require encoding associations that span multiple episodes-in a developmental sample ranging from ages 6 to 30 years. Relating age to volume, we found dissociable patterns across the hippocampal long axis, with opposite nonlinear volume changes in the head and body. These structural differences were paralleled by performance gains across the age range on both tasks, suggesting improvements in the cross-episode binding ability from childhood to adulthood. Controlling for age, we also found that smaller hippocampal heads were associated with superior behavioral performance on both tasks, consistent with this region's hypothesized role in forming generalized codes spanning events. Collectively, these results highlight the importance of examining hippocampal development as a function of position along the hippocampal axis and suggest that the hippocampal head is particularly important in encoding associative structure across development.

  20. The toll of the gridiron: damage-associated molecular patterns and hypertension in American football

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, Cameron G.; Webb, R. Clinton

    2016-01-01

    American football has unequivocally been linked to elevations in blood pressure and hypertension, especially in linemen. However, the mechanisms of this increase cannot be attributed solely to increased body weight and associated cardiometabolic risk factors (e.g.,dyslipidemia or hyperglycemia). Therefore, understanding the etiology of football-associated hypertension is essential for improving the quality of life in this mostly young population, as well as for lowering the potential for chronic disease in the future. We propose that inflammatogenic damage–associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) released into the circulation from football-induced musculoskeletal trauma activate pattern-recognition receptors of the innate immune system—specifically, high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) and mitochondrial (mt)DNA which activate Toll-like receptor (TLR)4 and -9, respectively. Previously, we observed that circulating levels of these 2 DAMPs are increased in hypertension, and activation of TLR4 and -9 causes endothelial dysfunction and hypertension. Therefore, our novel hypothesis is that musculoskeletal injury from repeated hits in football players, particularly in linemen, leads to elevated circulating HMGB1 and mtDNA to activate TLRs on endothelial cells leading to impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation, increased vascular tone, and hypertension.—McCarthy, C. G., Webb, R. C. The toll of the gridiron: damage-associated molecular patterns and hypertension in American football. PMID:26316270

  1. Perceived Discrimination and Suicide Ideation: Moderating Roles of Anxiety Symptoms and Ethnic Identity among Asian American, African American, and Hispanic Emerging Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheref, Soumia; Talavera, David; Walker, Rheeda L

    2018-05-03

    Suicide is a leading cause of death for vulnerable ethnic minority emerging adults in the United States (Web-based injury statistics query and reporting system [WISQARS], 2015). Perceived discrimination (Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 2011, 1465) and anxiety symptoms (Asian American Journal of Psychology, 1, 2010, 18) are two predictors that are theoretically and conceptually related, but have yet to be examined in a simultaneous model for suicide ideation. Existing theory and research suggest that these variables activate similar pathways (American Behavioral Scientist, 51, 2007, 551). This study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining the simultaneous relationship between perceived discrimination and anxiety symptoms as predictors of suicide ideation. The moderating effect of anxiety symptoms on the relationship between perceived discrimination and suicide ideation was examined in a multiethnic sample of emerging adults. Results indicated that anxiety symptoms moderated the perceived discrimination-suicide ideation relationship for Hispanic emerging adults, but not for their Asian American and African American counterparts. Furthermore, ethnic identity has been shown to mitigate suicide risk in the face of other stressors (Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 14, 2008, 75). Ethnic identity emerged as a protective factor for Hispanic emerging adults by further interacting with perceived discrimination and anxiety symptoms to negatively predict suicide ideation. The implications of these findings are discussed. © 2018 The American Association of Suicidology.

  2. Mini-Digest of Education Statistics, 2008. NCES 2009-021

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Thomas D.

    2009-01-01

    This publication is the 14th edition of the "Mini-Digest of Education Statistics," a pocket-sized compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from kindergarten through graduate school. The "Mini-Digest" is designed as an easy reference for materials found in much greater detail in the…

  3. America: AGA [American Gas Association] initiative aims to boost gas demand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fraser, K.M.

    1992-01-01

    This article focuses on the aim of the American Gas Association to increase natural gas demand in the key areas of gas electric generation, natural gas vehicles, gas cooling, and conversion of oil burning facilities, electric water heaters and household appliances such as space heating, stoves, washers and lighting. The need to improve the reliability of natural gas supplies is discussed. It is anticipated that natural gas will not replace coal as the main energy source for power generation, but that it will help utilities to meet environmental regulations. (UK)

  4. Recognizing team formation in american football

    KAUST Repository

    Atmosukarto, Indriyati

    2014-01-01

    Most existing software packages for sports video analysis require manual annotation of important events in the video. Despite being the most popular sport in the United States, most American football game analysis is still done manually. Line of scrimmage and offensive team formation recognition are two statistics that must be tagged by American Football coaches when watching and evaluating past play video clips, a process which takesmanyman hours per week. These two statistics are the building blocks for more high-level analysis such as play strategy inference and automatic statistic generation. In this chapter, we propose a novel framework where given an American football play clip, we automatically identify the video frame in which the offensive team lines in formation (formation frame), the line of scrimmage for that play, and the type of player formation the offensive team takes on. The proposed framework achieves 95% accuracy in detecting the formation frame, 98% accuracy in detecting the line of scrimmage, and up to 67%accuracy in classifying the offensive team’s formation. To validate our framework, we compiled a large dataset comprising more than 800 play-clips of standard and high definition resolution from real-world football games. This dataset will be made publicly available for future comparison.

  5. Horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism-collectivism: a comparison of African Americans and European Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komarraju, Meera; Cokley, Kevin O

    2008-10-01

    The current study examined ethnic differences in horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism among 96 African American and 149 European American college students. Participants completed the 32-item Singelis et al. (1995) Individualism/Collectivism Scale. Multivariate analyses of variance results yielded a main effect for ethnicity, with African Americans being significantly higher on horizontal individualism and European Americans being higher on horizontal collectivism and vertical individualism. A moderated multiple regression analysis indicated that ethnicity significantly moderated the relationship between individualism and collectivism. Individualism and collectivism were significantly and positively associated among African Americans, but not associated among European Americans. In addition, collectivism was related to grade point average for African Americans but not for European Americans. Contrary to the prevailing view of individualism-collectivism being unipolar, orthogonal dimensions, results provide support for individualism-collectivism to be considered as unipolar, related dimensions for African Americans.

  6. Media exposure, internalization of the thin ideal, and body dissatisfaction: comparing Asian American and European American college females.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nouri, Mahsa; Hill, Laura G; Orrell-Valente, Joan K

    2011-09-01

    Internalization of the thin ideal mediates the media exposure-body dissatisfaction relation in young adult European American females. There is little related research on Asian Americans. We used structural equations modeling to test: (1) whether media exposure was associated with body dissatisfaction in Asian American young adult females, (2) internalization of the thin ideal mediated any such association, and (3) whether the mediational model provided equivalent fit for European American and Asian American samples. Participants were 287 college females (154 Asian Americans, 133 European Americans). Internalization of the thin ideal explained the media exposure-body dissatisfaction association equally well for both groups. Results suggest that Asian Americans may be employing unhealthy weight control behaviors, and may be prone to developing eating disorders, at rates similar to European American young adult females. Clinicians need to screen carefully for body dissatisfaction, unhealthy weight control behaviors, and eating disorders in Asian American females. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in African Americans provides insights into the genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maggie C Y Ng

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Type 2 diabetes (T2D is more prevalent in African Americans than in Europeans. However, little is known about the genetic risk in African Americans despite the recent identification of more than 70 T2D loci primarily by genome-wide association studies (GWAS in individuals of European ancestry. In order to investigate the genetic architecture of T2D in African Americans, the MEta-analysis of type 2 DIabetes in African Americans (MEDIA Consortium examined 17 GWAS on T2D comprising 8,284 cases and 15,543 controls in African Americans in stage 1 analysis. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs association analysis was conducted in each study under the additive model after adjustment for age, sex, study site, and principal components. Meta-analysis of approximately 2.6 million genotyped and imputed SNPs in all studies was conducted using an inverse variance-weighted fixed effect model. Replications were performed to follow up 21 loci in up to 6,061 cases and 5,483 controls in African Americans, and 8,130 cases and 38,987 controls of European ancestry. We identified three known loci (TCF7L2, HMGA2 and KCNQ1 and two novel loci (HLA-B and INS-IGF2 at genome-wide significance (4.15 × 10(-94association (2.2 × 10(-23 < locus-wide P<0.05. These novel and previously identified loci yielded a sibling relative risk of 1.19, explaining 17.5% of the phenotypic variance of T2D on the liability scale in African Americans. Overall, this study identified two novel susceptibility loci for T2D in African Americans. A substantial number of previously reported loci are transferable to African Americans after accounting for linkage disequilibrium, enabling fine mapping of causal variants in trans-ethnic meta-analysis studies.

  8. Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies in African Americans Provides Insights into the Genetic Architecture of Type 2 Diabetes

    OpenAIRE

    Ng, Maggie C. Y.; Shriner, Daniel; Chen, Brian H.; Li, Jiang; Chen, Wei-Min; Guo, Xiuqing; Liu, Jiankang; Bielinski, Suzette J.; Yanek, Lisa R.; Nalls, Michael A.; Comeau, Mary E.; Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J.; Jensen, Richard A.; Evans, Daniel S.; Sun, Yan V.

    2014-01-01

    Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more prevalent in African Americans than in Europeans. However, little is known about the genetic risk in African Americans despite the recent identification of more than 70 T2D loci primarily by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry. In order to investigate the genetic architecture of T2D in African Americans, the MEta-analysis of type 2 DIabetes in African Americans (MEDIA) Consortium examined 17 GWAS on T2D comprising 8,284 case...

  9. Childhood Sexual Abuse and Two Stages of Cigarette Smoking in African-American and European-American Young Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sartor, Carolyn E.; Grant, Julia D.; Duncan, Alexis E.; McCutcheon, Vivia V.; Nelson, Elliot C.; Calvert, Wilma J.; Madden, Pamela A.F.; Heath, Andrew C.; Bucholz, Kathleen K.

    2016-01-01

    Objective The aim of the current study was to determine whether the higher rates of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) but lower rates of cigarette smoking in African-American vs. European-American women can be explained in part by a lower magnitude of association between CSA and smoking in African-American women. Methods Data were drawn from a same-sex female twin study of substance use (n=3,521; 14.3% African-American). Cox proportional hazards regression analyses using CSA to predict smoking initiation and progression to regular smoking were conducted separately by race/ethnicity. Co-twin status on the smoking outcome was used to adjust for familial influences on smoking (which may overlap with family-level influences on CSA exposure). Results After adjusting for co-twin status, CSA was associated with smoking initiation in European Americans (hazards ratio (HR)=1.43, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.26–1.62) and with smoking initiation ≤16 in African Americans (HR=1.70, CI: 1.26–2.29). CSA was associated with regular smoking onset ≤15 in European Americans (HR=1.63, CI:1.21–2.18), with no change in HR after adjusting for co-twin status. In the African-American subsample, the HR for CSA was reduced to non-significance after adjusting for co-twin status (from HR=3.30, CI:1.23–8.89 to HR=1.16, CI:0.71–1.92 for regular smoking ≤15). Conclusions CSA is associated with moderate elevation in risk for initiating smoking among African-American and European-American women. By contrast, CSA is associated with elevated risk for (adolescent onset) regular smoking only in European-American women. Furthermore, there is significant overlap between risk conferred by CSA and familial influences on regular smoking in African-American but not European-American women. PMID:27131220

  10. Asian and European American cultural values and communication styles among Asian American and European American college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Yong S; Kim, Bryan S K

    2008-01-01

    The present study examined the relationships between adherence to Asian and European cultural values and communication styles among 210 Asian American and 136 European American college students. A principal components analysis revealed that, for both Asian Americans and European Americans, the contentious, dramatic, precise, and open styles loaded onto the first component suggesting low context communication, and interpersonal sensitivity and inferring meaning styles loaded onto the second component suggesting high context communication. Higher adherence to emotional self-control and lower adherence to European American values explained Asian Americans' higher use of the indirect communication, while higher emotional self-control explained why Asian Americans use a less open communication style than their European American counterparts. When differences between sex and race were controlled, adherence to humility was inversely related to contentious and dramatic communication styles but directly related to inferring meaning style, adherence to European American values was positively associated with precise communication and inferring meaning styles, and collectivism was positively related to interpersonal sensitivity style. 2008 APA

  11. Neighborhood Disadvantage, Neighborhood Safety and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in African Americans: Biosocial Associations in the Jackson Heart Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Cheryl R.; Ommerborn, Mark J.; Hickson, DeMarc A.; Grooms, Kya N.; Sims, Mario; Taylor, Herman A.; Albert, Michelle A.

    2013-01-01

    Objective We examined associations between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, perceived neighborhood safety and cardiometabolic risk factors, adjusting for health behaviors and socioeconomic status (SES) among African Americans. Methods Study participants were non-diabetic African Americans (n = 3,909) in the baseline examination (2000–2004) of the Jackson Heart Study. We measured eight risk factors: the metabolic syndrome, its five components, insulin resistance and cardiovascular inflammation. We assessed neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage with US Census 2000 data. We assessed perceived neighborhood safety, health behaviors and SES via survey. We used generalized estimating equations to estimate associations with a random intercept model for neighborhood effects. Results After adjustment for health behaviors and SES, neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with the metabolic syndrome in women (PR 1.13, 95% CI 1.01, 1.27). Lack of perceived safety was associated with elevated glucose (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.03, 1.80) and waist circumference (PR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02, 1.11) among women, and with elevated glucose (PR 1.30, 95% CI 1.02, 1.66) and insulin resistance (PR 1.25, 95% CI 1.08, 1.46) among men. Conclusions Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and perceived safety should be considered as targets for intervention to reduce cardiometabolic risks among African Americans. PMID:23691005

  12. 2015 American Thyroid Association Management Guidelines for Adult Patients with Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: The American Thyroid Association Guidelines Task Force on Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

    OpenAIRE

    Haugen, Bryan R; Alexander, Erik K; Bible, Keith C; Doherty, Gerard M; Mandel, Susan J; Nikiforov, Yuri E; Pacini, Furio; Randolph, Gregory W; Sawka, Anna M; Schlumberger, Martin; Schuff, Kathryn G; Sherman, Steven I; Sosa, Julie Ann; Steward, David L; Tuttle, R. Michael

    2016-01-01

    Background: Thyroid nodules are a common clinical problem, and differentiated thyroid cancer is becoming increasingly prevalent. Since the American Thyroid Association's (ATA's) guidelines for the management of these disorders were revised in 2009, significant scientific advances have occurred in the field. The aim of these guidelines is to inform clinicians, patients, researchers, and health policy makers on published evidence relating to the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules and d...

  13. Faculty application of the American Psychological Association style.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morse, Gwen Goetz

    2009-10-01

    This article explores current faculty methods with the application and evaluation of the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Specific aims were to determine concerns related to APA style, review faculty grading practices, identify institutional resources, and report potential solutions for improving application of APA style. A survey with an exploratory descriptive research design was developed and distributed online to academic chairs and deans, requesting their support in distributing the survey to their faculty. Responses (N = 704) were grouped into five categories: departmental and personal concerns; faculty grading practices; institutional resources; format, writing style, and grammar; and suggestions and potential solutions. Sixty percent reported that application and evaluation of APA style is a concern in their department. Content analysis identified four categories as proposed solutions: consistency, education, resources, and dialogue. On the basis of the feedback of the participants, the CRED program is proposed for the issues that were identified. Copyright 2009, SLACK Incorporated.

  14. American Indian and Alaska Native Heart Disease and Stroke

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. The poverty rate of people who report American Indian and ... I11, I13, 120–151. Data Sources: National Vital Statistics System, CDC, and the U.S. Census Bureau. American ...

  15. Contemporary Management of Cardiogenic Shock: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Diepen, Sean; Katz, Jason N; Albert, Nancy M; Henry, Timothy D; Jacobs, Alice K; Kapur, Navin K; Kilic, Ahmet; Menon, Venu; Ohman, E Magnus; Sweitzer, Nancy K; Thiele, Holger; Washam, Jeffrey B; Cohen, Mauricio G

    2017-10-17

    Cardiogenic shock is a high-acuity, potentially complex, and hemodynamically diverse state of end-organ hypoperfusion that is frequently associated with multisystem organ failure. Despite improving survival in recent years, patient morbidity and mortality remain high, and there are few evidence-based therapeutic interventions known to clearly improve patient outcomes. This scientific statement on cardiogenic shock summarizes the epidemiology, pathophysiology, causes, and outcomes of cardiogenic shock; reviews contemporary best medical, surgical, mechanical circulatory support, and palliative care practices; advocates for the development of regionalized systems of care; and outlines future research priorities. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  16. Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS): 1995. Selected Papers Presented at the Meeting of the American Statistical Association (Orlando, Florida, August 13-17, 1996). Working Paper Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Center for Education Statistics (ED), Washington, DC.

    The papers were presented at the Social Statistics Section, the Government Statistics Section, and the Section on Survey Research Methods. The following papers are included in the Social Statistics Section and Government Statistics Section, "Overcoming the Bureaucratic Paradigm: Memorial Session in Honor of Roger Herriot": "1995…

  17. GWAPower: a statistical power calculation software for genome-wide association studies with quantitative traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Sheng; Wang, Shengchu; Chen, Chia-Cheng; Lan, Lan

    2011-01-21

    In designing genome-wide association (GWA) studies it is important to calculate statistical power. General statistical power calculation procedures for quantitative measures often require information concerning summary statistics of distributions such as mean and variance. However, with genetic studies, the effect size of quantitative traits is traditionally expressed as heritability, a quantity defined as the amount of phenotypic variation in the population that can be ascribed to the genetic variants among individuals. Heritability is hard to transform into summary statistics. Therefore, general power calculation procedures cannot be used directly in GWA studies. The development of appropriate statistical methods and a user-friendly software package to address this problem would be welcomed. This paper presents GWAPower, a statistical software package of power calculation designed for GWA studies with quantitative traits, where genetic effect is defined as heritability. Based on several popular one-degree-of-freedom genetic models, this method avoids the need to specify the non-centrality parameter of the F-distribution under the alternative hypothesis. Therefore, it can use heritability information directly without approximation. In GWAPower, the power calculation can be easily adjusted for adding covariates and linkage disequilibrium information. An example is provided to illustrate GWAPower, followed by discussions. GWAPower is a user-friendly free software package for calculating statistical power based on heritability in GWA studies with quantitative traits. The software is freely available at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10502931/GWAPower.zip.

  18. ACC/AATS/AHA/ASE/ASNC/HRS/SCAI/SCCT/SCMR/STS 2017 Appropriate Use Criteria for Multimodality Imaging in Valvular Heart Disease: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Appropriate Use Criteria Task Force, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, American Heart Association, American Society of Echocardiography, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doherty, John U; Kort, Smadar; Mehran, Roxana; Schoenhagen, Paul; Soman, Prem; Dehmer, Greg J; Doherty, John U; Schoenhagen, Paul; Amin, Zahid; Bashore, Thomas M; Boyle, Andrew; Calnon, Dennis A; Carabello, Blase; Cerqueira, Manuel D; Conte, John; Desai, Milind; Edmundowicz, Daniel; Ferrari, Victor A; Ghoshhajra, Brian; Mehrotra, Praveen; Nazarian, Saman; Reece, T Brett; Tamarappoo, Balaji; Tzou, Wendy S; Wong, John B; Doherty, John U; Dehmer, Gregory J; Bailey, Steven R; Bhave, Nicole M; Brown, Alan S; Daugherty, Stacie L; Dean, Larry S; Desai, Milind Y; Duvernoy, Claire S; Gillam, Linda D; Hendel, Robert C; Kramer, Christopher M; Lindsay, Bruce D; Manning, Warren J; Mehrotra, Praveen; Patel, Manesh R; Sachdeva, Ritu; Wann, L Samuel; Winchester, David E; Wolk, Michael J; Allen, Joseph M

    2018-04-01

    This document is 1 of 2 companion appropriate use criteria (AUC) documents developed by the American College of Cardiology, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, American Heart Association, American Society of Echocardiography, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons. This document addresses the evaluation and use of multimodality imaging in the diagnosis and management of valvular heart disease, whereas the second, companion document addresses this topic with regard to structural heart disease. Although there is clinical overlap, the documents addressing valvular and structural heart disease are published separately, albeit with a common structure. The goal of the companion AUC documents is to provide a comprehensive resource for multimodality imaging in the context of valvular and structural heart disease, encompassing multiple imaging modalities. Using standardized methodology, the clinical scenarios (indications) were developed by a diverse writing group to represent patient presentations encountered in everyday practice and included common applications and anticipated uses. Where appropriate, the scenarios were developed on the basis of the most current American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines. A separate, independent rating panel scored the 92 clinical scenarios in this document on a scale of 1 to 9. Scores of 7 to 9 indicate that a modality is considered appropriate for the clinical scenario presented. Midrange scores of 4 to 6 indicate that a modality may be appropriate for the clinical scenario, and scores of 1 to 3 indicate that a modality is considered rarely appropriate for the clinical scenario. The primary objective of the AUC is to provide a framework for the assessment of these scenarios by practices that will

  19. Statistical representation of a spray as a point process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Subramaniam, S.

    2000-01-01

    The statistical representation of a spray as a finite point process is investigated. One objective is to develop a better understanding of how single-point statistical information contained in descriptions such as the droplet distribution function (ddf), relates to the probability density functions (pdfs) associated with the droplets themselves. Single-point statistical information contained in the droplet distribution function (ddf) is shown to be related to a sequence of single surrogate-droplet pdfs, which are in general different from the physical single-droplet pdfs. It is shown that the ddf contains less information than the fundamental single-point statistical representation of the spray, which is also described. The analysis shows which events associated with the ensemble of spray droplets can be characterized by the ddf, and which cannot. The implications of these findings for the ddf approach to spray modeling are discussed. The results of this study also have important consequences for the initialization and evolution of direct numerical simulations (DNS) of multiphase flows, which are usually initialized on the basis of single-point statistics such as the droplet number density in physical space. If multiphase DNS are initialized in this way, this implies that even the initial representation contains certain implicit assumptions concerning the complete ensemble of realizations, which are invalid for general multiphase flows. Also the evolution of a DNS initialized in this manner is shown to be valid only if an as yet unproven commutation hypothesis holds true. Therefore, it is questionable to what extent DNS that are initialized in this manner constitute a direct simulation of the physical droplets. Implications of these findings for large eddy simulations of multiphase flows are also discussed. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics

  20. Hispanics/Latinos & Cardiovascular Disease: Statistical Fact Sheet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Statistical Fact Sheet 2013 Update Hispanics/Latinos & Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) (ICD/10 codes I00-I99, Q20-Q28) (ICD/9 codes 390-459, 745-747)  Among Mexican-American adults age 20 ...

  1. Generation and acculturation status are associated with dietary intake and body weight in Mexican American adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ji-Hong; Chu, Yong H; Frongillo, Edward A; Probst, Janice C

    2012-02-01

    Mexican American children are disproportionately affected by obesity. Data on how the acculturation process influences diet and body weight among adolescents are limited. We used the data from the 1999-2004 NHANES, restricting to 2286 Mexican American children between 12 and 19 y old. Acculturation was measured by generation status and language preference. Diet was assessed using 24-h diet recall. Multiple linear, Tobit, logistic, and quantile regression models were used. We found, after adjusting for socio-demographic factors, health, dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors compared to the first generation, second and third generations had greater odds of overweight and obesity. Adolescents in the second generation had higher BMI Z-scores than adolescents in the first and third generations. Both second and third generation adolescents consumed less fruit, whole fruit, vegetables, grains, and meats but more sweetened beverages, whole grains, saturated fat, sodium, oil, and energy from discretionary foods. Higher language acculturation was associated with poorer diet and greater body weight. Our findings suggest that Mexican American adolescents face challenges in terms of poorer diet and excessive weight gain associated with their immigration experience.

  2. The Native American Holocaust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thornton, Russell

    1989-01-01

    Describes the American Indian "Holocaust," decimation of Indian populations following European discovery of the Americas. European and African diseases, warfare with Europeans, and genocide reduced native populations from 75 million to only a few million. Discusses population statistics and demographic effects of epidemics, continuing infection,…

  3. Improved score statistics for meta-analysis in single-variant and gene-level association studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jingjing; Chen, Sai; Abecasis, Gonçalo

    2018-06-01

    Meta-analysis is now an essential tool for genetic association studies, allowing them to combine large studies and greatly accelerating the pace of genetic discovery. Although the standard meta-analysis methods perform equivalently as the more cumbersome joint analysis under ideal settings, they result in substantial power loss under unbalanced settings with various case-control ratios. Here, we investigate the power loss problem by the standard meta-analysis methods for unbalanced studies, and further propose novel meta-analysis methods performing equivalently to the joint analysis under both balanced and unbalanced settings. We derive improved meta-score-statistics that can accurately approximate the joint-score-statistics with combined individual-level data, for both linear and logistic regression models, with and without covariates. In addition, we propose a novel approach to adjust for population stratification by correcting for known population structures through minor allele frequencies. In the simulated gene-level association studies under unbalanced settings, our method recovered up to 85% power loss caused by the standard methods. We further showed the power gain of our methods in gene-level tests with 26 unbalanced studies of age-related macular degeneration . In addition, we took the meta-analysis of three unbalanced studies of type 2 diabetes as an example to discuss the challenges of meta-analyzing multi-ethnic samples. In summary, our improved meta-score-statistics with corrections for population stratification can be used to construct both single-variant and gene-level association studies, providing a useful framework for ensuring well-powered, convenient, cross-study analyses. © 2018 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

  4. Evaluating genome-wide association study-identified breast cancer risk variants in African-American women.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jirong Long

    Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS, conducted mostly in European or Asian descendants, have identified approximately 67 genetic susceptibility loci for breast cancer. Given the large differences in genetic architecture between the African-ancestry genome and genomes of Asians and Europeans, it is important to investigate these loci in African-ancestry populations. We evaluated index SNPs in all 67 breast cancer susceptibility loci identified to date in our study including up to 3,300 African-American women (1,231 cases and 2,069 controls, recruited in the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS and the Nashville Breast Health Study (NBHS. Seven SNPs were statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05 with the risk of overall breast cancer in the same direction as previously reported: rs10069690 (5p15/TERT, rs999737 (14q24/RAD51L1, rs13387042 (2q35/TNP1, rs1219648 (10q26/FGFR2, rs8170 (19p13/BABAM1, rs17817449 (16q12/FTO, and rs13329835 (16q23/DYL2. A marginally significant association (P<0.10 was found for three additional SNPs: rs1045485 (2q33/CASP8, rs4849887 (2q14/INHBB, and rs4808801 (19p13/ELL. Three additional SNPs, including rs1011970 (9p21/CDKN2A/2B, rs941764 (14q32/CCDC88C, and rs17529111 (6q14/FAM46A, showed a significant association in analyses conducted by breast cancer subtype. The risk of breast cancer was elevated with an increasing number of risk variants, as measured by quintile of the genetic risk score, from 1.00 (reference, to 1.75 (1.30-2.37, 1.56 (1.15-2.11, 2.02 (1.50-2.74 and 2.63 (1.96-3.52, respectively, (P = 7.8 × 10(-10. Results from this study highlight the need for large genetic studies in AAs to identify risk variants impacting this population.

  5. The Association of Panic Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Major Depression With Smoking in American Indians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawchuk, Craig N; Roy-Byrne, Peter; Noonan, Carolyn; Bogart, Andy; Goldberg, Jack; Manson, Spero M; Buchwald, Dedra

    2016-03-01

    Rates of cigarette smoking are disproportionately high among American Indian populations, although regional differences exist in smoking prevalence. Previous research has noted that anxiety and depression are associated with higher rates of cigarette use. We asked whether lifetime panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and major depression were related to lifetime cigarette smoking in two geographically distinct American Indian tribes. Data were collected in 1997-1999 from 1506 Northern Plains and 1268 Southwest tribal members; data were analyzed in 2009. Regression analyses examined the association between lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders and odds of lifetime smoking status after controlling for sociodemographic variables and alcohol use disorders. Institutional and tribal approvals were obtained for all study procedures, and all participants provided informed consent. Odds of smoking were two times higher in Southwest participants with panic disorder and major depression, and 1.7 times higher in those with posttraumatic stress disorder, after controlling for sociodemographic variables. After accounting for alcohol use disorders, only major depression remained significantly associated with smoking. In the Northern Plains, psychiatric disorders were not associated with smoking. Increasing psychiatric comorbidity was significantly linked to increased smoking odds in both tribes, especially in the Southwest. This study is the first to examine the association between psychiatric conditions and lifetime smoking in two large, geographically diverse community samples of American Indians. While the direction of the relationship between nicotine use and psychiatric disorders cannot be determined, understanding unique social, environmental, and cultural differences that contribute to the tobacco-psychiatric disorder relationship may help guide tribe-specific commercial tobacco control strategies. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on

  6. Access to health care and religion among young American men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillum, R Frank; Jarrett, Nicole; Obisesan, Thomas O

    2009-12-01

    In order to elucidate cultural correlates of utilization of primary health services by young adult men, we investigated religion in which one was raised and service utilization. Using data from a national survey we tested the hypothesis that religion raised predicts access to and utilization of a regular medical care provider, examinations, HIV and other STD testing and counseling at ages 18-44 years in men born between 1958 and 1984. We also hypothesized that religion raised would be more predictive of utilization for Hispanic Americans and non-Hispanic Black Americans than for non-Hispanic White Americans. The study included a national sample of 4276 men aged 18-44 years. Descriptive and multivariate statistics were used to assess the hypotheses using data on religion raised and responses to 14 items assessing health care access and utilization. Compared to those raised in no religion, those raised mainline Protestant were more likely (p Religion raised was not associated with testicular exams, STD counseling or HIV testing. In multivariate analyses controlling for confounders, significant associations of religion raised with insurance coverage, a physician as usual source of care and physical examination remained which varied by race/ethnicity. In conclusion, although religion is a core aspect of culture that deserves further study as a possible determinant of health care utilization, we were not able to document any consistent pattern of significant association even in a population with high rates of religious participation.

  7. Report of the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Session 2017, Anaheim, California.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, Yoshihiro

    2018-01-25

    On November 11-15, the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2017 were held in Anaheim, California, for the first time in 16 years. The annual sessions attracted nearly 18,000 attendees, with a global presence from more than 100 countries, and featured 5 days of programming for cardiovascular basic scientists, clinicians, and researchers. As usual, activities of participants from Japan were prominent. From the exciting sessions, I report the topics and key presentations including the late-breaking clinical trials.

  8. Factors Associated with Toothache among African American Adolescents Living in Rural South Carolina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiegand, Ryan E.; Hill, Elizabeth G.; Magruder, Kathryn M.; Slate, Elizabeth H.; Salinas, Carlos F.; London, Steven D.

    2012-01-01

    Objective The aim of this study is to explore behavioral factors associated with toothache among African American adolescents living in rural South Carolina. Methods Using a self-administered questionnaire, data were collected on toothache experience in the past 12 months, oral hygiene behavior, dental care utilization, and cariogenic snack and non-diet soft drink consumption in a convenience sample of 156 African American adolescents aged 10-18 years old living in rural South Carolina. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to assess the associations between reported toothache experience and socio-demographic variables, oral health behavior, and snack consumption. Results Thirty-four percent of adolescents reported having toothache in the past 12 months. In univariable modeling, age, dental visit in the last two years, quantity and frequency of cariogenic snack consumption, and quantity of non-diet soft drink consumption were each significantly associated with experiencing toothache in the past 12 months (all p-values cariogenic snacks, and number of cans of non-diet soft drink consumed during the weekend significantly increased the odds of experiencing toothache in the past 12 months (all p-values ≤ 0.01). Conclusion Findings indicate age, frequent consumption of cariogenic snacks and number of cans of non-diet soft drinks are related to toothache in this group. Public policy implications related to selling cariogenic snacks and soft drink that targeting children and adolescents especially those from low income families are discussed. PMID:22085328

  9. Integration of association statistics over genomic regions using Bayesian adaptive regression splines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Xiaohua

    2003-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In the search for genetic determinants of complex disease, two approaches to association analysis are most often employed, testing single loci or testing a small group of loci jointly via haplotypes for their relationship to disease status. It is still debatable which of these approaches is more favourable, and under what conditions. The former has the advantage of simplicity but suffers severely when alleles at the tested loci are not in linkage disequilibrium (LD with liability alleles; the latter should capture more of the signal encoded in LD, but is far from simple. The complexity of haplotype analysis could be especially troublesome for association scans over large genomic regions, which, in fact, is becoming the standard design. For these reasons, the authors have been evaluating statistical methods that bridge the gap between single-locus and haplotype-based tests. In this article, they present one such method, which uses non-parametric regression techniques embodied by Bayesian adaptive regression splines (BARS. For a set of markers falling within a common genomic region and a corresponding set of single-locus association statistics, the BARS procedure integrates these results into a single test by examining the class of smooth curves consistent with the data. The non-parametric BARS procedure generally finds no signal when no liability allele exists in the tested region (ie it achieves the specified size of the test and it is sensitive enough to pick up signals when a liability allele is present. The BARS procedure provides a robust and potentially powerful alternative to classical tests of association, diminishes the multiple testing problem inherent in those tests and can be applied to a wide range of data types, including genotype frequencies estimated from pooled samples.

  10. Management of Cardiac Involvement Associated With Neuromuscular Diseases: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feingold, Brian; Mahle, William T; Auerbach, Scott; Clemens, Paula; Domenighetti, Andrea A; Jefferies, John L; Judge, Daniel P; Lal, Ashwin K; Markham, Larry W; Parks, W James; Tsuda, Takeshi; Wang, Paul J; Yoo, Shi-Joon

    2017-09-26

    For many neuromuscular diseases (NMDs), cardiac disease represents a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The management of cardiac disease in NMDs is made challenging by the broad clinical heterogeneity that exists among many NMDs and by limited knowledge about disease-specific cardiovascular pathogenesis and course-modifying interventions. The overlay of compromise in peripheral muscle function and other organ systems, such as the lungs, also makes the simple application of endorsed adult or pediatric heart failure guidelines to the NMD population problematic. In this statement, we provide background on several NMDs in which there is cardiac involvement, highlighting unique features of NMD-associated myocardial disease that require clinicians to tailor their approach to prevention and treatment of heart failure. Undoubtedly, further investigations are required to best inform future guidelines on NMD-specific cardiovascular health risks, treatments, and outcomes. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  11. Experiences of discrimination and their impact on the mental health among African American, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Latino men who have sex with men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Kyung-Hee; Paul, Jay; Ayala, George; Boylan, Ross; Gregorich, Steven E

    2013-05-01

    We examined the associations between specific types and sources of discrimination and mental health outcomes among US racial/ethnic minority men who have sex with men (MSM) and how these associations varied by race/ethnicity. A chain-referral sample of 403 African American, 393 Asian and Pacific Islander (API), and 400 Latino MSM recruited in Los Angeles County, California completed a standardized questionnaire. Data were obtained from the Ethnic Minority Men's Health Study from May 2008 to October 2009. Past-year experiences of racism within the general community and perceived homophobia among heterosexual friends were positively associated with depression and anxiety. Past-year homophobia experienced within the general community was also positively associated with anxiety. These statistically significant associations did not vary across racial/ethnic groups. The positive association of perceived racism within the gay community with anxiety differed by race/ethnicity, and was statistically significant only for APIs. Perceived homophobia within the family was not associated with either depression or anxiety. Higher levels of experiences of discrimination were associated with psychological distress among MSM of color. However, specific types and sources of discrimination were differentially linked to negative mental health outcomes among African American, API, and Latino MSM.

  12. Financial hardship, unmet medical need, and health self-efficacy among African American men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker-Seeley, Reginald D; Mitchell, Jamie A; Shires, Deirdre A; Modlin, Charles S

    2015-06-01

    Health self-efficacy (the confidence to take care of one's health) is a key component in ensuring that individuals are active partners in their health and health care. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between financial hardship and health self-efficacy among African American men and to determine if unmet medical need due to cost potentially mediates this association. Cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from a convenience sample of African American men who attended a 1-day annual community health fair in Northeast Ohio (N = 279). Modified Poisson regression models were estimated to obtain the relative risk of reporting low health self-efficacy. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, those reporting financial hardship were 2.91 times, RR = 2.91 (confidence interval [1.24, 6.83]; p financial hardship and low health self-efficacy was no longer statistically significant. Our results suggest that the association between financial hardship and health self-efficacy can be explained by unmet medical need due to cost. Possible intervention efforts among African American men with low financial resources should consider expanding clinical and community-based health assessments to capture financial hardship and unmet medical need due to cost as potential contributors to low health self-efficacy. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.

  13. Factors associated with work-family conflict stress among African American women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Portia L; Secret, Mary C

    2012-01-01

    Job demands and workplace culture variables associated with work-family conflict stress, in addition to workplace racial bias, were examined for a national sample of 607 African American women in 16 Fortune 1000 companies. Similar to other studies, women in this sample who had dependents were younger, had supervisory responsibilities, and experienced a less positive workplace culture, and those in professional job positions with high job demand were most likely to experience work-family stress. Married women who experienced a more subtle form of workplace racial bias reported more work-family conflict stress. Implications for social work policy, practice, and research are considered.

  14. Statistical theory applications and associated computer codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prince, A.

    1980-01-01

    The general format is along the same lines as that used in the O.M. Session, i.e. an introduction to the nature of the physical problems and methods of solution based on the statistical model of the nucleus. Both binary and higher multiple reactions are considered. The computer codes used in this session are a combination of optical model and statistical theory. As with the O.M. sessions, the preparation of input and analysis of output are thoroughly examined. Again, comparison with experimental data serves to demonstrate the validity of the results and possible areas for improvement. (author)

  15. Residency program characteristics that are associated with pass rate of the American Board of Pediatrics certifying exam.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atsawarungruangkit, Amporn

    2015-01-01

    The US is home to almost 200 pediatrics residency programs; despite this, there is little information about the relationship between program characteristics and performance in the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) certifying exam. To evaluate the relationship between pass rate of the ABP certifying exam with the characteristics of categorical pediatrics residency programs. This retrospective, cross-sectional study used publicly available data from the ABP website and the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database. All programs that reported pass rates were included. The analysis, comprising univariate and multivariate linear regression, involved determining how 69 factors (eg, general information, number of faculty and trainees, work schedule, educational environment) related to the pass rate. Of 199 programs, 194 reported pass rates. The univariate analysis revealed 20 program characteristics with P-values program characteristics: ratio of full-time equivalent paid faculty to positions, percentage of US medical graduates, and average hours per week of regularly scheduled lectures or conferences. Unlike in previous studies, location and program size were not significantly associated with the pass rate in this multivariate analysis. The finding regarding the ratio of full-time equivalent paid faculty to positions highlighted the benefits of a well-supervised training environment, while that regarding the percentage of US medical graduates indicated the necessity of high competition in residency programs. Finally, longer hours per week of regularly scheduled lectures or conferences were associated with better academic outcomes, both statistically and intuitively.

  16. The American Psychiatric Association's resource document on guidelines for psychiatric fitness-for-duty evaluations of physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anfang, Stuart A; Faulkner, Larry R; Fromson, John A; Gendel, Michael H

    2005-01-01

    The psychiatric evaluation of a physician's fitness for duty is an undertaking that is both important to patients' well-being and to the physician-subject of the evaluation. It is necessary that psychiatrists who agree to perform such evaluations proceed in a careful and thorough manner. This document was developed to provide general guidance to the psychiatric evaluators in these situations. It was prepared by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Council on Psychiatry and Law and Corresponding Committee on Physician Health, Illness, and Impairment, of which the authors are members. The Resource Document was approved by the APA Joint Reference Committee in June 2004. APA Resource Documents do not represent official policy of the American Psychiatric Association. This Resource Document was edited to conform to Journal style and has therefore been modified slightly from the original document approved by the APA.

  17. African American adolescents and new media: associations with HIV/STI risk behavior and psychosocial variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whiteley, Laura B; Brown, Larry K; Swenson, Rebecca R; Romer, Daniel; DiClemente, Ralph J P; Salazar, Laura E; Vanable, Peter A; Carey, Michael P; Valois, Robert F

    2011-01-01

    Cell phones and online media are used frequently but we know little about their use among African American adolescents. This study examines the frequency of such use and its relationship to psychosocial variables and STI/HIV risk behavior. 1,518 African American, aged 13-18 years, from 2 Northeast US cities (Providence, RI; Syracuse, NY) and 2 Southeast US cities (Columbia, SC; Macon, GA), were assessed from 2008-2009. Participants were assessed on frequency of cell phone and Internet use, psychological constructs (ie, depression, life satisfaction, impulsivity) and HIV/STI risk behaviors (ie, history of intercourse, sexual sensation seeking attitudes, peer sexual risks norms) with reliable scales and measures using an audio computer-assisted self-interview. Over 90% of African American adolescents used cell phones every day or most days and 60% used social networking sites every day or most days (96% used Myspace). Greater frequency of cell phone use was associated with sexual sensation seeking (P = .000), riskier peer sexual norms (P = .000), and impulsivity (P = .016). Greater frequency of Internet use was associated with a history of oral/vaginal/anal sex (OR = 1.03, CI = 1.0-1.05) and sexual sensation seeking (P = .000). These findings suggest that riskier youth are online and using cell phones frequently. The Internet and cell phones may be useful platforms for targeted health promotion and prevention efforts with AA adolescents.

  18. The American Medical Association's Section on Surgery: The Beginnings of the Organization, Professionalization, and Specialization of Surgery in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rutkow, Ira

    2017-01-01

    To explore the founding of the American Medical Association's Section on Surgery in 1859 and how it represented, on a national basis, the beginnings of organized surgery and the formal start of the professionalization and specialization of surgery in the United States. The broad social process of organization, professionalization, and specialization that began for various disciplines in America in the mid-19th century was a reaction to emerging economic, political, and scientific influences including industrialization, urbanization, and technology. For surgeons or, at least, those men who performed surgical operations, the efforts toward group organization provided a means to promote their skills and restrict competition. An analysis of the published literature, and unpublished documents relating to the creation of the American Medical Association's Section on Surgery. During the 1850s and through the 1870s, a time when surgery was still not considered a separate branch of medicine, the organization of the American Medical Association's Section on Surgery provided the much needed encouragement to surgeons in their quest for professional and specialty recognition. The establishment of the American Medical Association's Section on Surgery in 1859 helped shape the nationwide future of the craft, in particular, surgery's rise as a specialty and profession.

  19. American Telemedicine Association: 18th Annual International Meeting & Tradeshow

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin Forstag

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available For 18 years, the American Telemedicine Association (ATA Annual International Meeting & Exposition has been the premier forum for professionals in the telemedicine, telehealth and mHealth space -- one of the fastest growing meetings in the country. ATA 2013 is on course to be the largest ATA meeting ever, with over 6,000 projected attendees.  The program will include 500 educational sessions and posters, highlighting the latest innovations, applications and research in telemedicine. The 2013 exhibit hall will feature nearly 300 of the leading vendors in remote healthcare technologies. With over 6000 projected attendees, from all around the world, there's no better place to meet and network with your peers and thought leaders in the field. Detailed program information--including courses, sessions and CME information--will be available January 2013 at:http://www.americantelemed.org.

  20. metaCCA: summary statistics-based multivariate meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies using canonical correlation analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cichonska, Anna; Rousu, Juho; Marttinen, Pekka; Kangas, Antti J; Soininen, Pasi; Lehtimäki, Terho; Raitakari, Olli T; Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Salomaa, Veikko; Ala-Korpela, Mika; Ripatti, Samuli; Pirinen, Matti

    2016-07-01

    A dominant approach to genetic association studies is to perform univariate tests between genotype-phenotype pairs. However, analyzing related traits together increases statistical power, and certain complex associations become detectable only when several variants are tested jointly. Currently, modest sample sizes of individual cohorts, and restricted availability of individual-level genotype-phenotype data across the cohorts limit conducting multivariate tests. We introduce metaCCA, a computational framework for summary statistics-based analysis of a single or multiple studies that allows multivariate representation of both genotype and phenotype. It extends the statistical technique of canonical correlation analysis to the setting where original individual-level records are not available, and employs a covariance shrinkage algorithm to achieve robustness.Multivariate meta-analysis of two Finnish studies of nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics by metaCCA, using standard univariate output from the program SNPTEST, shows an excellent agreement with the pooled individual-level analysis of original data. Motivated by strong multivariate signals in the lipid genes tested, we envision that multivariate association testing using metaCCA has a great potential to provide novel insights from already published summary statistics from high-throughput phenotyping technologies. Code is available at https://github.com/aalto-ics-kepaco anna.cichonska@helsinki.fi or matti.pirinen@helsinki.fi Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  1. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY POSITION STATEMENT ON MENOPAUSE-2017 UPDATE.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cobin, Rhoda H; Goodman, Neil F

    2017-07-01

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE)/American College of Endocrinology (ACE) Position Statement is designed to update the previous menopause clinical practice guidelines published in 2011 but does not replace them. The current document reviews new clinical trials published since then as well as new information regarding possible risks and benefits of therapies available for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. AACE reinforces the recommendations made in its previous guidelines and provides additional recommendations on the basis of new data. A summary regarding this position statement is listed below: New information available from randomized clinical trials and epidemiologic studies reported after 2011 was critically reviewed. No previous recommendations from the 2011 menopause clinical practice guidelines have been reversed or changed. Newer information enhances AACE's guidance for the use of hormone therapy in different subsets of women. Newer information helps to support the use of various types of estrogens, selective estrogen-receptor modulators (SERMs), and progesterone, as well as the route of delivery. Newer information supports the previous recommendation against the use of bioidentical hormones. The use of nonhormonal therapies for the symptomatic relief of menopausal symptoms is supported. Newer information enhances AACE's guidance for the use of hormone therapy in different subsets of women. Newer information helps to support the use of various types of estrogens, SERMs, and progesterone, as well as the route of delivery. Newer information supports the previous recommendation against the use of bioidentical hormones. The use of nonhormonal therapies for the symptomatic relief of menopausal symptoms is supported. New recommendations in this position statement include: 1. the use of menopausal hormone therapy in symptomatic postmenopausal women should be based on consideration of all risk factors for

  2. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY 2018 POSITION STATEMENT ON INTEGRATION OF INSULIN PUMPS AND CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITORING IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grunberger, George; Handelsman, Yehuda; Bloomgarden, Zachary T; Fonseca, Vivian A; Garber, Alan J; Haas, Richard A; Roberts, Victor L; Umpierrez, Guillermo E

    2018-03-01

    This document represents the official position of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American College of Endocrinology. Where there are no randomized controlled trials or specific U.S. FDA labeling for issues in clinical practice, the participating clinical experts utilized their judgment and experience. Every effort was made to achieve consensus among the committee members. Position statements are meant to provide guidance, but they are not to be considered prescriptive for any individual patient and cannot replace the judgment of a clinician. AACE/ACE Task Force on Integration of Insulin Pumps and Continuous Glucose Monitoring in the Management of Patients With Diabetes Mellitus Chair George Grunberger, MD, FACP, FACE Task Force Members Yehuda Handelsman, MD, FACP, FNLA, MACE Zachary T. Bloomgarden, MD, MACE Vivian A. Fonseca, MD, FACE Alan J. Garber, MD, PhD, FACE Richard A. Haas, MD, FACE Victor L. Roberts, MD, MBA, FACP, FACE Guillermo E. Umpierrez, MD, CDE, FACP, FACE Abbreviations: AACE = American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists ACE = American College of Endocrinology A1C = glycated hemoglobin BGM = blood glucose monitoring CGM = continuous glucose monitoring CSII = continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion DM = diabetes mellitus FDA = Food & Drug Administration MDI = multiple daily injections T1DM = type 1 diabetes mellitus T2DM = type 2 diabetes mellitus SAP = sensor-augmented pump SMBG = self-monitoring of blood glucose STAR 3 = Sensor-Augmented Pump Therapy for A1C Reduction phase 3 trial.

  3. Assessment training for practice in American Indian and Alaska Native settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, James

    2002-10-01

    The collaborative assessment model is extended as a training model. The experience of psychological assessment in American Indian and Alaska Native communities is often negative due to culturally inappropriate services and test interpretation. It is productive to address this negative experience, using it as a catalyst for learning. Training in measurement and construct validation provides initial basis for critique of negative experience. Training in collaborative assessment procedures then focuses on culturally appropriate assessment service practices, cultural orientation's affect on test interpretation, and multicultural assessment ethics. Writing skills are emphasized, including procedures in report writing for description of local adaptations, norms, and interpretative rules, and integration of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) cultural formulation. Development of local norms and emic tests are emphasized.

  4. Associations of racial discrimination and parental discrimination coping messages with African American adolescent racial identity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Bridget L; Macon, Tamarie A; Mustafaa, Faheemah N; Bogan, Erin D; Cole-Lewis, Yasmin; Chavous, Tabbye M

    2015-06-01

    Research links racial identity to important developmental outcomes among African American adolescents, but less is known about the contextual experiences that shape youths' racial identity. In a sample of 491 African American adolescents (48% female), associations of youth-reported experiences of racial discrimination and parental messages about preparation for racial bias with adolescents' later racial identity were examined. Cluster analysis resulted in four profiles of adolescents varying in reported frequency of racial discrimination from teachers and peers at school and frequency of parental racial discrimination coping messages during adolescents' 8th grade year. Boys were disproportionately over-represented in the cluster of youth experiencing more frequent discrimination but receiving fewer parental discrimination coping messages, relative to the overall sample. Also examined were clusters of adolescents' 11th grade racial identity attitudes about the importance of race (centrality), personal group affect (private regard), and perceptions of societal beliefs about African Americans (public regard). Girls and boys did not differ in their representation in racial identity clusters, but 8th grade discrimination/parent messages clusters were associated with 11th grade racial identity cluster membership, and these associations varied across gender groups. Boys experiencing more frequent discrimination but fewer parental coping messages were over-represented in the racial identity cluster characterized by low centrality, low private regard, and average public regard. The findings suggest that adolescents who experience racial discrimination but receive fewer parental supports for negotiating and coping with discrimination may be at heightened risk for internalizing stigmatizing experiences. Also, the findings suggest the need to consider the context of gender in adolescents' racial discrimination and parental racial socialization.

  5. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY COMPREHENSIVE CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR MEDICAL CARE OF PATIENTS WITH OBESITY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garvey, W Timothy; Mechanick, Jeffrey I; Brett, Elise M; Garber, Alan J; Hurley, Daniel L; Jastreboff, Ania M; Nadolsky, Karl; Pessah-Pollack, Rachel; Plodkowski, Raymond

    2016-07-01

    Development of these guidelines is mandated by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Board of Directors and the American College of Endocrinology (ACE) Board of Trustees and adheres to published AACE protocols for the standardized production of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Recommendations are based on diligent review of clinical evidence with transparent incorporation of subjective factors. There are 9 broad clinical questions with 123 recommendation numbers that include 160 specific statements (85 [53.1%] strong [Grade A]; 48 [30.0%] intermediate [Grade B], and 11 [6.9%] weak [Grade C], with 16 [10.0%] based on expert opinion [Grade D]) that build a comprehensive medical care plan for obesity. There were 133 (83.1%) statements based on strong (best evidence level [BEL] 1 = 79 [49.4%]) or intermediate (BEL 2 = 54 [33.7%]) levels of scientific substantiation. There were 34 (23.6%) evidence-based recommendation grades (Grades A-C = 144) that were adjusted based on subjective factors. Among the 1,790 reference citations used in this CPG, 524 (29.3%) were based on strong (evidence level [EL] 1), 605 (33.8%) were based on intermediate (EL 2), and 308 (17.2%) were based on weak (EL 3) scientific studies, with 353 (19.7%) based on reviews and opinions (EL 4). The final recommendations recognize that obesity is a complex, adiposity-based chronic disease, where management targets both weight-related complications and adiposity to improve overall health and quality of life. The detailed evidence-based recommendations allow for nuanced clinical decision-making that addresses real-world medical care of patients with obesity, including screening, diagnosis, evaluation, selection of therapy, treatment goals, and individualization of care. The goal is to facilitate high-quality care of patients with obesity and provide a rational, scientific approach to management that optimizes health outcomes and safety. A1C = hemoglobin A1c AACE = American

  6. Gender-specific association of functional prodynorphin 68 bp repeats with cannabis exposure in an African American cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuferov, Vadim; Butelman, Eduardo R; Kreek, Mary Jeanne

    2018-01-01

    Cannabis use disorders (CUDs) cause substantial neuropsychiatric morbidity and comorbidity. There is evidence for gender-based differences in CUDs, for instance, a greater prevalence in males than in females. The main active component of cannabis is delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta 9-THC), a partial agonist of the cannabinoid type 1 receptor. Preclinical studies show that genetic or pharmacological manipulation of the kappa opioid receptor/dynorphin system modulates the effects of delta 9-THC. In this case-control study of adult African Americans (n=476; 206 females, 270 males), we examined the association of the functional prodynorphin 68 bp ( PDYN 68 bp) promoter repeats with categorical diagnoses of cannabis dependence ( Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria), as well as with a rapid dimensional measure of maximum lifetime cannabis exposure (the Kreek-McHugh-Schluger-Kellogg cannabis scale). The PDYN 68 bp genotype (examined as short-short [SS], short-long [SL], or long-long [LL], based on the number of repeats) was not significantly associated with categorical cannabis-dependence diagnoses, either in males or in females. However, in males, the PDYN 68 bp SS+SL genotype was associated with both greater odds of any use of cannabis ( p cannabis use, compared to the LL genotype (ie, 15 versus 16.5 years of age; p cannabis, compared to the LL group ( p cannabis. Overall, this study shows that PDYN 68 bp polymorphisms affect behaviors involved in early stages of nonmedical cannabis use and potentially lead to increasing self-exposure. These data may eventually lead to improvements in personalized medicine for the prevention and treatment of highly prevalent CUDs and neuropsychiatric comorbidities.

  7. Genomic regions associated with susceptibility to Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma in African Americans: The cross BETRNet admixture study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiangqing Sun

    Full Text Available Barrett's esophagus (BE and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC are far more prevalent in European Americans than in African Americans. Hypothesizing that this racial disparity in prevalence might represent a genetic susceptibility, we used an admixture mapping approach to interrogate disease association with genomic differences between European and African ancestry.Formalin fixed paraffin embedded samples were identified from 54 African Americans with BE or EAC through review of surgical pathology databases at participating Barrett's Esophagus Translational Research Network (BETRNet institutions. DNA was extracted from normal tissue, and genotyped on the Illumina OmniQuad SNP chip. Case-only admixture mapping analysis was performed on the data from both all 54 cases and also on a subset of 28 cases with high genotyping quality. Haplotype phases were inferred with Beagle 3.3.2, and local African and European ancestries were inferred with SABER plus. Disease association was tested by estimating and testing excess European ancestry and contrasting it to excess African ancestry.Both datasets, the 54 cases and the 28 cases, identified two admixture regions. An association of excess European ancestry on chromosome 11p reached a 5% genome-wide significance threshold, corresponding to -log10(P = 4.28. A second peak on chromosome 8q reached -log10(P = 2.73. The converse analysis examining excess African ancestry found no genetic regions with significant excess African ancestry associated with BE and EAC. On average, the regions on chromosomes 8q and 11p showed excess European ancestry of 15% and 20%, respectively.Chromosomal regions on 11p15 and 8q22-24 are associated with excess European ancestry in African Americans with BE and EAC. Because GWAS have not reported any variants in these two regions, low frequency and/or rare disease associated variants that confer susceptibility to developing BE and EAC may be driving the observed European ancestry

  8. Recasting the American Dream and American Politics: Barack Obama's Keynote Address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowland, Robert C.; Jones, John M.

    2007-01-01

    This essay draws upon the work of Northrop Frye to show that stories enacting the American Dream contain elements associated with romance, and briefly traces how Ronald Reagan and conservatives utilized the romance of the American Dream to the point that many Americans associated it exclusively with conservatism. The essay then details how Barack…

  9. Recommendations for managing patients with diabetes mellitus in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation: an American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation statement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Jimenez, Francisco; Kramer, Valerie Carroll; Masters, Barbara; Stuart, Patricia Mickey W; Mullooly, Cathy; Hinshaw, Ling; Haas, Linda; Warwick, Kathy

    2012-01-01

    Diabetes mellitus is a highly prevalent condition in patients participating in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation. However, research and subsequent guidelines specifically applicable to patients with diabetes, participating in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, are limited. Recognizing this limitation, the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR) initiated this statement, with the goal of developing a template that incorporated recommendations provided in the AACVPR Core Components and the American Association of Diabetes Educators 7 Self-Care Behaviors. This statement describes key processes regarding evaluation, interventions, and expected outcomes in each of the core components for the management of patients with diabetes in a cardiopulmonary rehabilitation program.

  10. Developing a Measure of Stigma by Association with African American Adolescents Whose Mothers Have HIV

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Sally; Berger, Barbara; Ferrans, Carol Estwing; Sultzman, Vickey; Fendrich, Michael

    2010-01-01

    Objectives: African American urban adolescents are one of the fastest growing groups of children affected by their mother's HIV status. These children experience HIV stigma by association with their HIV-positive mothers. Stigma may contribute to adverse outcomes for these teens. Methods: The authors describe a multistage process of scale…

  11. Factors Associated with Depression Among Mexican Americans Living in U.S.-Mexico Border and Non-Border Areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaeth, Patrice A C; Caetano, Raul; Mills, Britain A

    2016-08-01

    Factors associated with CES-D depression among Mexican Americans living on and off the U.S.-Mexico border are examined. Data are from two studies of Mexican American adults. The Border Survey conducted face-to-face interviews in urban U.S.-Mexico border counties of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas (N = 1307). The non-border HABLAS survey conducted face-to-face interviews in Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Miami (N = 1288). Both surveys used a multistage cluster sample design with response rates of 67 and 76 %, respectively. The multivariate analysis showed that border residence and higher perceived neighborhood collective efficacy were protective for depression among men. Among men, lower education, unemployment, increased weekly drinking, and poor health status were associated with depression. Among women, alcohol-related problems and poorer health status were also associated with depression. Further examinations of how neighborhood perceptions vary by gender and how these perceptions influence the likelihood of depression are warranted.

  12. Health seeking behavioral analysis associated with breast cancer screening among Asian American women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ma GX

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Grace X Ma,1 Wanzhen Gao,1 Sunmin Lee,2 MinQi Wang,3 Yin Tan,1 Steven E Shive,1,41Department of Public Health, Center for Asian Health, College of Health Professions, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 2Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA; 3Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, MD, USA; 4East Stroudsburg University, East Stroudsburg, PA, USAObjective: The purpose of this community-based study was to apply a Sociocultural Health Behavior Model to determine the association of factors proposed in the model with breast cancer screening behaviors among Asian American women.Methods: A cross-sectional design included a sample of 682 Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese women aged 40 years and older. The frequency distribution analysis and Chi-square analysis were used for the initial screening of the following variables: sociodemographic, cultural, enabling, environmental, and social support. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted on factors for breast cancer screening using multinomial logistic regression analysis.Results: Correlates to positive breast cancer screening included demographics (ethnicity, cultural factors (living in the United States for 15 years or more, speaking English well, enabling factors (having a regular physician to visit, health insurance covering the screening, and family/social support factors (those who had a family/friend receiving a mammogram.Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that breast cancer screening programs will be more effective if they include the cultural and health beliefs, enabling, and social support factors associated with breast cancer screening. The use of community organizations may play a role in helping to increase breast cancer screening rates among Asian American women.Keywords: breast cancer screening, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, breast

  13. Position statement. The right to accept or reject an assignment. American Nurses Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-01-01

    The American Nurses Association (ANA) believes that nurses should reject assignment that puts patients or themselves in serious, immediate jeopardy. ANA supports the nurses obligation to reject an assignment in these situations even where there is not a specific legal protection for rejecting such an assignment. The professional obligations to the nurse to safeguard clients are grounded in the ethical norms of the profession, the Standards of Clinical Nursing Practice and state nurse practice acts.

  14. Association Between Playing American Football in the National Football League and Long-term Mortality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkataramani, Atheendar S; Gandhavadi, Maheer; Jena, Anupam B

    2018-02-27

    Studies of the longevity of professional American football players have demonstrated lower mortality relative to the general population but they may have been susceptible to selection bias. To examine the association between career participation in professional American football and mortality risk in retirement. Retrospective cohort study involving 3812 retired US National Football League (NFL) players who debuted in the NFL between 1982 and 1992, including regular NFL players (n = 2933) and NFL "replacement players" (n = 879) who were temporarily hired to play during a 3-game league-wide player strike in 1987. Follow-up ended on December 31, 2016. NFL participation as a career player or as a replacement player. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality by December 31, 2016. Cox proportional hazards models were estimated to compare the observed number of years from age 22 years until death (or censoring), adjusted for birth year, body mass index, height, and position played. Information on player death and cause of death was ascertained from a search of the National Death Index and web-based sources. Of the 3812 men included in this study (mean [SD] age at first NFL activity, 23.4 [1.5] years), there were 2933 career NFL players (median NFL tenure, 5 seasons [interquartile range {IQR}, 2-8]; median follow-up, 30 years [IQR, 27-33]) and 879 replacement players (median NFL tenure, 1 season [IQR, 1-1]; median follow-up, 31 years [IQR, 30-33]). At the end of follow-up, 144 NFL players (4.9%) and 37 replacement players (4.2%) were deceased (adjusted absolute risk difference, 1.0% [95% CI, -0.7% to 2.7%]; P = .25). The adjusted mortality hazard ratio for NFL players relative to replacements was 1.38 (95% CI, 0.95 to 1.99; P = .09). Among career NFL players, the most common causes of death were cardiometabolic disease (n = 51; 35.4%), transportation injuries (n = 20; 13.9%), unintentional injuries (n = 15; 10.4%), and neoplasms (n = 15

  15. Genome-wide association analysis confirms and extends the association of SLC2A9 with serum uric acid levels to Mexican Americans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venkata Saroja eVoruganti

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Increased serum uric acid (SUA is a risk factor for gout and renal and cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to identify genetic factors that affect the variation in SUA in 632 Mexican Americans participants of the San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS. A genome-wide association analysis was performed using the Illumina Human Hap 550K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP microarray. We used a linear regression-based association test under an additive model of allelic effect, while accounting for non-independence among family members via a kinship variance component. All analyses were performed in the software package SOLAR. SNPs rs6832439, rs13131257 and rs737267 in solute carrier protein 2 family, member 9 (SLC2A9 were associated with SUA at genome-wide significance (p <1.3×10-7. The minor alleles of these SNPs had frequencies of 36.2%, 36.2%, and 38.2 %, respectively, and were associated with decreasing SUA levels. All of these SNPs were located in introns 3-7 of SLC2A9, the location of the previously reported associations in European populations. When analyzed for association with cardiovascular-renal disease risk factors, conditional on SLC2A9 SNPs strongly associated with SUA, significant associations were found for SLC2A9 SNPs with BMI, body weight and waist circumference (p < 1.4 x 10-3 and suggestive associations with albumin-creatinine ratio and total antioxidant status. The SLC2A9 gene encodes an urate transporter that has considerable influence on variation in SUA. In addition to the primary association locus, suggestive evidence (p<1.9×10-6 for joint linkage/association was found at a previously-reported urate quantitative trait locus (Logarithm of odds score = 3.6 on 3p26.3. In summary, our GWAS extends and confirms the association of SLC2A9 with SUA for the first time in a Mexican American cohort and also shows for the first time its association with cardiovascular-renal disease risk factors.

  16. Association between Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, Ancestry and Aggressive Prostate Cancer among African Americans and European Americans in PCaP.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susan E Steck

    Full Text Available African Americans (AAs have lower circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OHD3] concentrations and higher prostate cancer (CaP aggressiveness than other racial/ethnic groups. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between plasma 25(OHD3, African ancestry and CaP aggressiveness among AAs and European Americans (EAs.Plasma 25(OHD3 was measured using LC-MS/MS (Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry in 537 AA and 663 EA newly-diagnosed CaP patients from the North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project (PCaP classified as having either 'high' or 'low' aggressive disease based on clinical stage, Gleason grade and prostate specific antigen at diagnosis. Mean plasma 25(OHD3 concentrations were compared by proportion of African ancestry. Logistic regression was used to calculate multivariable adjusted odds ratios (OR and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI for high aggressive CaP by tertile of plasma 25(OHD3.AAs with highest percent African ancestry (>95% had the lowest mean plasma 25(OHD3 concentrations. Overall, plasma 25(OHD3 was associated positively with aggressiveness among AA men, an association that was modified by calcium intake (ORT 3vs.T1: 2.23, 95%CI: 1.26-3.95 among men with low calcium intake, and ORT 3vs.T1: 0.19, 95%CI: 0.05-0.70 among men with high calcium intake. Among EAs, the point estimates of the ORs were <1.0 for the upper tertiles with CIs that included the null.Among AAs, plasma 25(OHD3 was associated positively with CaP aggressiveness among men with low calcium intake and inversely among men with high calcium intake. The clinical significance of circulating concentrations of 25(OHD3 and interactions with calcium intake in the AA population warrants further study.

  17. Understanding the Association of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Breast Cancer Among African American and European American Populations in South Carolina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samson, Marsha E; Adams, Swann Arp; Orekoya, Olubunmi; Hebert, James R

    2016-09-01

    In South Carolina, the co-occurrence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and breast cancer (BrCA) is much more prevalent among African American populations than among European American populations. The underlying relationship between diabetes and breast cancer may influence breast cancer survival. The purpose of this investigation is to examine the effect of diabetes on developing breast cancer and to reduce racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes. Study participants included women of European American (EA) and African American (AA) ethnicity from both the Medicaid ICD-9 designations and the South Carolina Central Cancer Registry (SCCCR). A historical prospective cohort design was used to determine the risk of developing breast cancer among women of different ethnicities with and without DM. The chi-square test was used to determine the significance of the association; the logistic model was used to assess the relationship between breast cancer and other factors among EA and AA women. Menopause may have protective properties for AA compared to EA women. AA women have twice the odds of not surviving from each breast cancer stage compared to EA women with respect to their breast cancer stage. Adherence to diabetes medication may contribute to lower breast cancer death in EA. This study illustrates the discrepancy between EA and AA women in terms of breast cancer survival. AA women bear a higher disease burden than EA women. To create ethnic-appropriate public health policies, it is imperative that we understand the effect of comorbidities on breast cancer and how we can prevent them from occurring.

  18. Practice parameters for the treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea with oral appliances. American Sleep Disorders Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-07-01

    These clinical guidelines, which have been reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors of the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA), provide recommendations for the practice of sleep medicine in North American with regards to the use of oral appliances for the treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. Oral appliances have been developed for the treatment of snoring and have been applied to the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, a syndrome associated with morbidity. Based on a review of the relevant scientific literature, the Standards of Practice Committee of the ASDA has developed guidelines describing the use of oral appliances for the treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea in adults.

  19. Characteristics, quality of care, and in-hospital outcomes of Asian-American heart failure patients: Findings from the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qian, Feng; Fonarow, Gregg C; Krim, Selim R; Vivo, Rey P; Cox, Margueritte; Hannan, Edward L; Shaw, Benjamin A; Hernandez, Adrian F; Eapen, Zubin J; Yancy, Clyde W; Bhatt, Deepak L

    2015-01-01

    Because little was previously known about Asian-American patients with heart failure (HF), we compared clinical profiles, quality of care, and outcomes between Asian-American and non-Hispanic white HF patients using data from the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) program. We analyzed 153,023 HF patients (149,249 whites, 97.5%; 3774 Asian-Americans, 2.5%) from 356 U.S. centers participating in the GWTG-HF program (2005-2012). Baseline characteristics, quality of care metrics, in-hospital mortality, discharge to home, and length of stay were examined. Relative to white patients, Asian-American HF patients were younger, more likely to be male, uninsured or covered by Medicaid, and recruited in the western region. They had higher prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and renal insufficiency, but similar ejection fraction. Overall, Asian-American HF patients had comparable quality of care except that they were less likely to receive aldosterone antagonists at discharge (relative risk , 0.88; 95% confidence interval , 0.78-0.99), and anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation (RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85-0.97) even after risk adjustment. Compared with white patients, Asian-American patients had comparable risk adjusted in-hospital mortality (RR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.91-1.35), length of stay>4 days (RR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.95-1.08), and were more likely to be discharged to home (RR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.06-1.11). Despite some differences in clinical profiles, Asian-American patients hospitalized with HF receive very similar quality of care and have comparable health outcomes to their white counterparts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Probability, statistics, and associated computing techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    James, F.

    1983-01-01

    This chapter attempts to explore the extent to which it is possible for the experimental physicist to find optimal statistical techniques to provide a unique and unambiguous quantitative measure of the significance of raw data. Discusses statistics as the inverse of probability; normal theory of parameter estimation; normal theory (Gaussian measurements); the universality of the Gaussian distribution; real-life resolution functions; combination and propagation of uncertainties; the sum or difference of 2 variables; local theory, or the propagation of small errors; error on the ratio of 2 discrete variables; the propagation of large errors; confidence intervals; classical theory; Bayesian theory; use of the likelihood function; the second derivative of the log-likelihood function; multiparameter confidence intervals; the method of MINOS; least squares; the Gauss-Markov theorem; maximum likelihood for uniform error distribution; the Chebyshev fit; the parameter uncertainties; the efficiency of the Chebyshev estimator; error symmetrization; robustness vs. efficiency; testing of hypotheses (e.g., the Neyman-Pearson test); goodness-of-fit; distribution-free tests; comparing two one-dimensional distributions; comparing multidimensional distributions; and permutation tests for comparing two point sets

  1. Harsh voice quality and its association with blackness in popular American media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moisik, Scott Reid

    2012-01-01

    Performers use various laryngeal settings to create voices for characters and personas they portray. Although some research demonstrates the sociophonetic associations of laryngeal voice quality, few studies have documented or examined the role of harsh voice quality, particularly with vibration of the epilaryngeal structures (growling). This article qualitatively examines phonetic properties of vocal performances in a corpus of popular American media and evaluates the association of voice qualities in these performances with representations of social identity and stereotype. In several cases, contrasting laryngeal states create sociophonetic contrast, and harsh voice quality is paired with the portrayal of racial stereotypes of black people. These cases indicate exaggerated emotional states and are associated with yelling/shouting modes of expression. Overall, however, the functioning of harsh voice quality as it occurs in the data is broader and may involve aggressive posturing, comedic inversion of aggressiveness, vocal pathology, and vocal homage. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  2. Adjuvant and Salvage Radiation Therapy After Prostatectomy: American Society for Radiation Oncology/American Urological Association Guidelines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Valicenti, Richard K., E-mail: Richard.valicenti@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Davis, California (United States); Thompson, Ian [Department of Urology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas (United States); Albertsen, Peter [Division of Urology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut (United States); Davis, Brian J. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Medical School, Rochester, Minnesota (United States); Goldenberg, S. Larry [Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Wolf, J. Stuart [Department of Urology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (United States); Sartor, Oliver [Department of Medicine and Urology, Tulane Medical School, New Orleans, Louisiana (United States); Klein, Eric [Glickman Urological Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio (United States); Hahn, Carol [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Michalski, Jeff [Department of Radiation Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri (United States); Roach, Mack [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California (United States); Faraday, Martha M. [Four Oaks, Inc (United States)

    2013-08-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this guideline was to provide a clinical framework for the use of radiation therapy after radical prostatectomy as adjuvant or salvage therapy. Methods and Materials: A systematic literature review using PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane database was conducted to identify peer-reviewed publications relevant to the use of radiation therapy after prostatectomy. The review yielded 294 articles; these publications were used to create the evidence-based guideline statements. Additional guidance is provided as Clinical Principles when insufficient evidence existed. Results: Guideline statements are provided for patient counseling, use of radiation therapy in the adjuvant and salvage contexts, defining biochemical recurrence, and conducting a restaging evaluation. Conclusions: Physicians should offer adjuvant radiation therapy to patients with adverse pathologic findings at prostatectomy (ie, seminal vesicle invastion, positive surgical margins, extraprostatic extension) and salvage radiation therapy to patients with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or local recurrence after prostatectomy in whom there is no evidence of distant metastatic disease. The offer of radiation therapy should be made in the context of a thoughtful discussion of possible short- and long-term side effects of radiation therapy as well as the potential benefits of preventing recurrence. The decision to administer radiation therapy should be made by the patient and the multidisciplinary treatment team with full consideration of the patient's history, values, preferences, quality of life, and functional status. The American Society for Radiation Oncology and American Urological Association websites show this guideline in its entirety, including the full literature review.

  3. Adjuvant and Salvage Radiation Therapy After Prostatectomy: American Society for Radiation Oncology/American Urological Association Guidelines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valicenti, Richard K.; Thompson, Ian; Albertsen, Peter; Davis, Brian J.; Goldenberg, S. Larry; Wolf, J. Stuart; Sartor, Oliver; Klein, Eric; Hahn, Carol; Michalski, Jeff; Roach, Mack; Faraday, Martha M.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this guideline was to provide a clinical framework for the use of radiation therapy after radical prostatectomy as adjuvant or salvage therapy. Methods and Materials: A systematic literature review using PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane database was conducted to identify peer-reviewed publications relevant to the use of radiation therapy after prostatectomy. The review yielded 294 articles; these publications were used to create the evidence-based guideline statements. Additional guidance is provided as Clinical Principles when insufficient evidence existed. Results: Guideline statements are provided for patient counseling, use of radiation therapy in the adjuvant and salvage contexts, defining biochemical recurrence, and conducting a restaging evaluation. Conclusions: Physicians should offer adjuvant radiation therapy to patients with adverse pathologic findings at prostatectomy (ie, seminal vesicle invastion, positive surgical margins, extraprostatic extension) and salvage radiation therapy to patients with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or local recurrence after prostatectomy in whom there is no evidence of distant metastatic disease. The offer of radiation therapy should be made in the context of a thoughtful discussion of possible short- and long-term side effects of radiation therapy as well as the potential benefits of preventing recurrence. The decision to administer radiation therapy should be made by the patient and the multidisciplinary treatment team with full consideration of the patient's history, values, preferences, quality of life, and functional status. The American Society for Radiation Oncology and American Urological Association websites show this guideline in its entirety, including the full literature review

  4. CONSENSUS STATEMENT BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY ON THE QUALITY OF DXA SCANS AND REPORTS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Licata, Angelo A; Binkley, Neil; Petak, Steven M; Camacho, Pauline M

    2018-02-01

    High-quality dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans are necessary for accurate diagnosis of osteoporosis and monitoring of therapy; however, DXA scan reports may contain errors that cause confusion about diagnosis and treatment. This American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists/American College of Endocrinology consensus statement was generated to draw attention to many common technical problems affecting DXA report conclusions and provide guidance on how to address them to ensure that patients receive appropriate osteoporosis care. The DXA Writing Committee developed a consensus based on discussion and evaluation of available literature related to osteoporosis and osteodensitometry. Technical errors may include errors in scan acquisition and/or analysis, leading to incorrect diagnosis and reporting of change over time. Although the International Society for Clinical Densitometry advocates training for technologists and medical interpreters to help eliminate these problems, many lack skill in this technology. Suspicion that reports are wrong arises when clinical history is not compatible with scan interpretation (e.g., dramatic increase/decrease in a short period of time; declines in previously stable bone density after years of treatment), when different scanners are used, or when inconsistent anatomic sites are used for monitoring the response to therapy. Understanding the concept of least significant change will minimize erroneous conclusions about changes in bone density. Clinicians must develop the skills to differentiate technical problems, which confound reports, from real biological changes. We recommend that clinicians review actual scan images and data, instead of relying solely on the impression of the report, to pinpoint errors and accurately interpret DXA scan images. AACE = American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists; BMC = bone mineral content; BMD = bone mineral density; DXA = dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; ISCD = International

  5. AERA Code of Ethics: American Educational Research Association Approved by the AERA Council February 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Educational Researcher, 2011

    2011-01-01

    The Code of Ethics of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) articulates a common set of values upon which education researchers build their professional and scientific work. The Code is intended to provide both the principles and the rules to cover professional situations encountered by education researchers. It has as its primary…

  6. Aspects of statistical model for multifragmentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhattacharyya, P.; Das Gupta, S.; Mekjian, A. Z.

    1999-01-01

    We deal with two different aspects of an exactly soluble statistical model of fragmentation. First we show, using zero range force and finite temperature Thomas-Fermi theory, that a common link can be found between finite temperature mean field theory and the statistical fragmentation model. We show the latter naturally arises in the spinodal region. Next we show that although the exact statistical model is a canonical model and uses temperature, microcanonical results which use constant energy rather than constant temperature can also be obtained from the canonical model using saddle-point approximation. The methodology is extremely simple to implement and at least in all the examples studied in this work is very accurate. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society

  7. Validation of a dietary intake tool for african-american dialysis patients with low literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffrin, Christopher; Carraway-Stage, Virginia G; Briley, Alexis; Christiano, Cynthia

    2015-06-01

    This study analysed the validity and reliability of a food frequency questionnaire designed for African-American patients with low literacy. This instrument was designed specifically to meet the need for a tool that was short, easy to understand, and met clinical reliability and validity standards. Assessing patient nutritional status and dietary intake is crucial to the care of patients in end stage kidney disease. The development of a quick and reliable nutritional assessment tool for patients with low literacy could increase nutritional counselling effectiveness and improve patient outcomes. The renal food frequency questionnaire (RFF) and a standard 24-hour recall were administered to a general population of African-American patients undergoing dialysis. Registered Dieticians and statistical analyses were used to validate the content and structural validity and reliability of the RFF to adequately measure dietary intake. The study sample consisted of 30 African-American patients who received dialysis treatment at a regional teaching hospital facility. The RFF was found to be a simple, easy to understand instrument with low reading complexity (grade level 4.4). Inter-rater reliability was found to be high (.81-1.00), and statistical analysis determined a high level of clinical validity. The RFF was found to be a valid dietary recall tool that is appropriate for patients with limited literacy. It was found to have acceptable reliability and validity when compared with a standard 24-hour recall and has potential for use as a dietary intake and monitoring tool in patients undergoing dialysis. © 2014 European Dialysis and Transplant Nurses Association/European Renal Care Association.

  8. Phylogenetic analysis of algal symbionts associated with four North American amphibian egg masses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Eunsoo; Lin, Yuan; Kerney, Ryan; Blumenberg, Lili; Bishop, Cory

    2014-01-01

    Egg masses of the yellow-spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum form an association with the green alga "Oophila amblystomatis" (Lambert ex Wille), which, in addition to growing within individual egg capsules, has recently been reported to invade embryonic tissues and cells. The binomial O. amblystomatis refers to the algae that occur in A. maculatum egg capsules, but it is unknown whether this population of symbionts constitutes one or several different algal taxa. Moreover, it is unknown whether egg masses across the geographic range of A. maculatum, or other amphibians, associate with one or multiple algal taxa. To address these questions, we conducted a phylogeographic study of algae sampled from egg capsules of A. maculatum, its allopatric congener A. gracile, and two frogs: Lithobates sylvatica and L. aurora. All of these North American amphibians form associations with algae in their egg capsules. We sampled algae from egg capsules of these four amphibians from localities across North America, established representative algal cultures, and amplified and sequenced a region of 18S rDNA for phylogenetic analysis. Our combined analysis shows that symbiotic algae found in egg masses of four North American amphibians are closely related to each other, and form a well-supported clade that also contains three strains of free-living chlamydomonads. We designate this group as the 'Oophila' clade, within which the symbiotic algae are further divided into four distinct subclades. Phylogenies of the host amphibians and their algal symbionts are only partially congruent, suggesting that host-switching and co-speciation both play roles in their associations. We also established conditions for isolating and rearing algal symbionts from amphibian egg capsules, which should facilitate further study of these egg mass specialist algae.

  9. Phylogenetic analysis of algal symbionts associated with four North American amphibian egg masses.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eunsoo Kim

    Full Text Available Egg masses of the yellow-spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum form an association with the green alga "Oophila amblystomatis" (Lambert ex Wille, which, in addition to growing within individual egg capsules, has recently been reported to invade embryonic tissues and cells. The binomial O. amblystomatis refers to the algae that occur in A. maculatum egg capsules, but it is unknown whether this population of symbionts constitutes one or several different algal taxa. Moreover, it is unknown whether egg masses across the geographic range of A. maculatum, or other amphibians, associate with one or multiple algal taxa. To address these questions, we conducted a phylogeographic study of algae sampled from egg capsules of A. maculatum, its allopatric congener A. gracile, and two frogs: Lithobates sylvatica and L. aurora. All of these North American amphibians form associations with algae in their egg capsules. We sampled algae from egg capsules of these four amphibians from localities across North America, established representative algal cultures, and amplified and sequenced a region of 18S rDNA for phylogenetic analysis. Our combined analysis shows that symbiotic algae found in egg masses of four North American amphibians are closely related to each other, and form a well-supported clade that also contains three strains of free-living chlamydomonads. We designate this group as the 'Oophila' clade, within which the symbiotic algae are further divided into four distinct subclades. Phylogenies of the host amphibians and their algal symbionts are only partially congruent, suggesting that host-switching and co-speciation both play roles in their associations. We also established conditions for isolating and rearing algal symbionts from amphibian egg capsules, which should facilitate further study of these egg mass specialist algae.

  10. The association of breast density with breast cancer mortality in African American and white women screened in community practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shengfan; Ivy, Julie S; Diehl, Kathleen M; Yankaskas, Bonnie C

    2013-01-01

    The effect of breast density on survival outcomes for American women who participate in screening remains unknown. We studied the role of breast density on both breast cancer and other cause of mortality in screened women. Data for women with breast cancer, identified from the community-based Carolina Mammography Registry, were linked with the North Carolina cancer registry and NC death tapes for this study. Cause-specific Cox proportional hazards models were developed to analyze the effect of several covariates on breast cancer mortality-namely, age, race (African American/White), cancer stage at diagnosis (in situ, local, regional, and distant), and breast density (BI-RADS( ® ) 1-4). Two stratified Cox models were considered controlling for (1) age and race, and (2) age and cancer stage, respectively, to further study the effect of density. The cumulative incidence function with confidence interval approximation was used to quantify mortality probabilities over time. For this study, 22,597 screened women were identified as having breast cancer. The non-stratified and stratified Cox models showed no significant statistical difference in mortality between dense tissue and fatty tissue, while controlling for other covariate effects (p value = 0.1242, 0.0717, and 0.0619 for the non-stratified, race-stratified, and cancer stage-stratified models, respectively). The cumulative mortality probability estimates showed that women with dense breast tissues did not have significantly different breast cancer mortality than women with fatty breast tissue, regardless of age (e.g., 10-year confidence interval of mortality probabilities for whites aged 60-69 white: 0.056-0.090 vs. 0.054-0.083). Aging, African American race, and advanced cancer stage were found to be significant risk factors for breast cancer mortality (hazard ratio >1.0). After controlling for cancer incidence, there was not a significant association between mammographic breast density and mortality, adjusting

  11. A genome-wide association study in American Indians implicates DNER as a susceptibility locus for type 2 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanson, Robert L; Muller, Yunhua L; Kobes, Sayuko; Guo, Tingwei; Bian, Li; Ossowski, Victoria; Wiedrich, Kim; Sutherland, Jeffrey; Wiedrich, Christopher; Mahkee, Darin; Huang, Ke; Abdussamad, Maryam; Traurig, Michael; Weil, E Jennifer; Nelson, Robert G; Bennett, Peter H; Knowler, William C; Bogardus, Clifton; Baier, Leslie J

    2014-01-01

    Most genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have been identified through genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in Europeans. The current study reports a GWAS for young-onset T2DM in American Indians. Participants were selected from a longitudinal study conducted in Pima Indians and included 278 cases with diabetes with onset before 25 years of age, 295 nondiabetic controls ≥45 years of age, and 267 siblings of cases or controls. Individuals were genotyped on a ∼1M single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, resulting in 453,654 SNPs with minor allele frequency >0.05. SNPs were analyzed for association in cases and controls, and a family-based association test was conducted. Tag SNPs (n = 311) were selected for 499 SNPs associated with diabetes (P associated with T2DM (odds ratio = 1.29 per copy of the T allele; P = 6.6 × 10(-8), which represents genome-wide significance accounting for the number of effectively independent SNPs analyzed). Transfection studies in murine pancreatic β-cells suggested that DNER regulates expression of notch signaling pathway genes. These studies implicate DNER as a susceptibility gene for T2DM in American Indians.

  12. Statistical significance versus clinical relevance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Rijn, Marieke H C; Bech, Anneke; Bouyer, Jean; van den Brand, Jan A J G

    2017-04-01

    In March this year, the American Statistical Association (ASA) posted a statement on the correct use of P-values, in response to a growing concern that the P-value is commonly misused and misinterpreted. We aim to translate these warnings given by the ASA into a language more easily understood by clinicians and researchers without a deep background in statistics. Moreover, we intend to illustrate the limitations of P-values, even when used and interpreted correctly, and bring more attention to the clinical relevance of study findings using two recently reported studies as examples. We argue that P-values are often misinterpreted. A common mistake is saying that P < 0.05 means that the null hypothesis is false, and P ≥0.05 means that the null hypothesis is true. The correct interpretation of a P-value of 0.05 is that if the null hypothesis were indeed true, a similar or more extreme result would occur 5% of the times upon repeating the study in a similar sample. In other words, the P-value informs about the likelihood of the data given the null hypothesis and not the other way around. A possible alternative related to the P-value is the confidence interval (CI). It provides more information on the magnitude of an effect and the imprecision with which that effect was estimated. However, there is no magic bullet to replace P-values and stop erroneous interpretation of scientific results. Scientists and readers alike should make themselves familiar with the correct, nuanced interpretation of statistical tests, P-values and CIs. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved.

  13. A functional ABCA1 gene variant is associated with low HDL-cholesterol levels and shows evidence of positive selection in Native Americans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acuña-Alonzo, Víctor; Flores-Dorantes, Teresa; Kruit, Janine K.; Villarreal-Molina, Teresa; Arellano-Campos, Olimpia; Hünemeier, Tábita; Moreno-Estrada, Andrés; Ortiz-López, Ma Guadalupe; Villamil-Ramírez, Hugo; León-Mimila, Paola; Villalobos-Comparan, Marisela; Jacobo-Albavera, Leonor; Ramírez-Jiménez, Salvador; Sikora, Martin; Zhang, Lin-Hua; Pape, Terry D.; de Ángeles Granados-Silvestre, Ma; Montufar-Robles, Isela; Tito-Alvarez, Ana M.; Zurita-Salinas, Camilo; Bustos-Arriaga, José; Cedillo-Barrón, Leticia; Gómez-Trejo, Celta; Barquera-Lozano, Rodrigo; Vieira-Filho, Joao P.; Granados, Julio; Romero-Hidalgo, Sandra; Huertas-Vázquez, Adriana; González-Martín, Antonio; Gorostiza, Amaya; Bonatto, Sandro L.; Rodríguez-Cruz, Maricela; Wang, Li; Tusié-Luna, Teresa; Aguilar-Salinas, Carlos A.; Lisker, Ruben; Moises, Regina S.; Menjivar, Marta; Salzano, Francisco M.; Knowler, William C.; Bortolini, M. Cátira; Hayden, Michael R.; Baier, Leslie J.; Canizales-Quinteros, Samuel

    2010-01-01

    It has been suggested that the higher susceptibility of Hispanics to metabolic disease is related to their Native American heritage. A frequent cholesterol transporter ABCA1 (ATP-binding cassette transporter A1) gene variant (R230C, rs9282541) apparently exclusive to Native American individuals was associated with low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, obesity and type 2 diabetes in Mexican Mestizos. We performed a more extensive analysis of this variant in 4405 Native Americans and 863 individuals from other ethnic groups to investigate genetic evidence of positive selection, to assess its functional effect in vitro and to explore associations with HDL-C levels and other metabolic traits. The C230 allele was found in 29 of 36 Native American groups, but not in European, Asian or African individuals. C230 was observed on a single haplotype, and C230-bearing chromosomes showed longer relative haplotype extension compared with other haplotypes in the Americas. Additionally, single-nucleotide polymorphism data from the Human Genome Diversity Panel Native American populations were enriched in significant integrated haplotype score values in the region upstream of the ABCA1 gene. Cells expressing the C230 allele showed a 27% cholesterol efflux reduction (P< 0.001), confirming this variant has a functional effect in vitro. Moreover, the C230 allele was associated with lower HDL-C levels (P = 1.77 × 10−11) and with higher body mass index (P = 0.0001) in the combined analysis of Native American populations. This is the first report of a common functional variant exclusive to Native American and descent populations, which is a major determinant of HDL-C levels and may have contributed to the adaptive evolution of Native American populations. PMID:20418488

  14. Hyperparameterization of soil moisture statistical models for North America with Ensemble Learning Models (Elm)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinberg, P. D.; Brener, G.; Duffy, D.; Nearing, G. S.; Pelissier, C.

    2017-12-01

    Hyperparameterization, of statistical models, i.e. automated model scoring and selection, such as evolutionary algorithms, grid searches, and randomized searches, can improve forecast model skill by reducing errors associated with model parameterization, model structure, and statistical properties of training data. Ensemble Learning Models (Elm), and the related Earthio package, provide a flexible interface for automating the selection of parameters and model structure for machine learning models common in climate science and land cover classification, offering convenient tools for loading NetCDF, HDF, Grib, or GeoTiff files, decomposition methods like PCA and manifold learning, and parallel training and prediction with unsupervised and supervised classification, clustering, and regression estimators. Continuum Analytics is using Elm to experiment with statistical soil moisture forecasting based on meteorological forcing data from NASA's North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS). There Elm is using the NSGA-2 multiobjective optimization algorithm for optimizing statistical preprocessing of forcing data to improve goodness-of-fit for statistical models (i.e. feature engineering). This presentation will discuss Elm and its components, including dask (distributed task scheduling), xarray (data structures for n-dimensional arrays), and scikit-learn (statistical preprocessing, clustering, classification, regression), and it will show how NSGA-2 is being used for automate selection of soil moisture forecast statistical models for North America.

  15. Nursing students' attitudes toward statistics: Effect of a biostatistics course and association with examination performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiekkas, Panagiotis; Panagiotarou, Aliki; Malja, Alvaro; Tahirai, Daniela; Zykai, Rountina; Bakalis, Nick; Stefanopoulos, Nikolaos

    2015-12-01

    Although statistical knowledge and skills are necessary for promoting evidence-based practice, health sciences students have expressed anxiety about statistics courses, which may hinder their learning of statistical concepts. To evaluate the effects of a biostatistics course on nursing students' attitudes toward statistics and to explore the association between these attitudes and their performance in the course examination. One-group quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design. Undergraduate nursing students of the fifth or higher semester of studies, who attended a biostatistics course. Participants were asked to complete the pre-test and post-test forms of The Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS)-36 scale at the beginning and end of the course respectively. Pre-test and post-test scale scores were compared, while correlations between post-test scores and participants' examination performance were estimated. Among 156 participants, post-test scores of the overall SATS-36 scale and of the Affect, Cognitive Competence, Interest and Effort components were significantly higher than pre-test ones, indicating that the course was followed by more positive attitudes toward statistics. Among 104 students who participated in the examination, higher post-test scores of the overall SATS-36 scale and of the Affect, Difficulty, Interest and Effort components were significantly but weakly correlated with higher examination performance. Students' attitudes toward statistics can be improved through appropriate biostatistics courses, while positive attitudes contribute to higher course achievements and possibly to improved statistical skills in later professional life. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Added Sugars and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Children: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vos, Miriam B; Kaar, Jill L; Welsh, Jean A; Van Horn, Linda V; Feig, Daniel I; Anderson, Cheryl A M; Patel, Mahesh J; Cruz Munos, Jessica; Krebs, Nancy F; Xanthakos, Stavra A; Johnson, Rachel K

    2017-05-09

    Poor lifestyle behaviors are leading causes of preventable diseases globally. Added sugars contribute to a diet that is energy dense but nutrient poor and increase risk of developing obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity-related cancers, and dental caries. For this American Heart Association scientific statement, the writing group reviewed and graded the current scientific evidence for studies examining the cardiovascular health effects of added sugars on children. The available literature was subdivided into 5 broad subareas: effects on blood pressure, lipids, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and obesity. Associations between added sugars and increased cardiovascular disease risk factors among US children are present at levels far below current consumption levels. Strong evidence supports the association of added sugars with increased cardiovascular disease risk in children through increased energy intake, increased adiposity, and dyslipidemia. The committee found that it is reasonable to recommend that children consume ≤25 g (100 cal or ≈6 teaspoons) of added sugars per day and to avoid added sugars for children added sugars most likely can be safely consumed in low amounts as part of a healthy diet, few children achieve such levels, making this an important public health target. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  17. Best practices within operations and engineering of the American Gas Association; Meilleures pratiques en exploitation et en ingenierie. American Gas Association

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ingels, L. [American Gas Association (United States); Kaphing, W. [Northem States Power (United States)

    2000-07-01

    Since 1994, the American Gas Association's Operating Section has undertaken a 'best practices' benchmarking program involving their gas distribution company members. In general, four to six operating and engineering subjects, such as leak surveying or gas main and service renewals, have been studied each year to identify how well an activity is done and what the labor cost is. Topics are repeated every 4 or 5 years. The program goes beyond traditional benchmarking, which usually ends after data is compared. In 'best practices', we analyze the benchmark data from Phase I and select one of the top performing companies to host a detailed round table on the subject, which is Phase II. Here content experts from participating companies share practices. The top 20 or so money saving practices and contact names at each round table are selected, recorded and distributed to program participants. One company has saved almost $8 million dollars (US) over a 5-year period from implementation of Best Practices ideas. (authors)

  18. Associations of Early Kidney Disease With Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Cognitive Function in African Americans With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freedman, Barry I; Sink, Kaycee M; Hugenschmidt, Christina E; Hughes, Timothy M; Williamson, Jeff D; Whitlow, Christopher T; Palmer, Nicholette D; Miller, Michael E; Lovato, Laura C; Xu, Jianzhao; Smith, S Carrie; Launer, Lenore J; Barzilay, Joshua I; Cohen, Robert M; Sullivan, Mark D; Bryan, R Nick; Wagner, Benjamin C; Bowden, Donald W; Maldjian, Joseph A; Divers, Jasmin

    2017-11-01

    Relationships between early kidney disease, neurocognitive function, and brain anatomy are poorly defined in African Americans with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Cross-sectional associations were assessed between cerebral anatomy and cognitive performance with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urine albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR) in African Americans with T2DM. African Americans with cognitive testing and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the African American-Diabetes Heart Study Memory in Diabetes (AA-DHS MIND; n=512; 480 with MRI) and Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) MIND (n=484; 104 with MRI) studies. eGFR (CKD-EPI creatinine equation), spot UACR. MRI-based cerebral white matter volume (WMV), gray matter volume (GMV), and white matter lesion volume; cognitive performance (Mini-Mental State Examination, Digit Symbol Coding, Stroop Test, and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test). Multivariable models adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, scanner, intracranial volume, education, diabetes duration, hemoglobin A 1c concentration, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, smoking, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease were used to test for associations between kidney phenotypes and the brain in each study; a meta-analysis was performed. Mean participant age was 60.1±7.9 (SD) years; diabetes duration, 12.1±7.7 years; hemoglobin A 1c concentration, 8.3%±1.7%; eGFR, 88.7±21.6mL/min/1.73m 2 ; and UACR, 119.2±336.4mg/g. In the fully adjusted meta-analysis, higher GMV associated with lower UACR (Passociation with higher eGFR. Higher white matter lesion volume was associated with higher UACR (Passociated with either kidney parameter. Higher UACR was associated with lower Digit Symbol Coding performance (Passociation with higher Stroop interference; eGFR was not associated with cognitive tests. Cross-sectional; single UACR measurement. In African Americans with T2DM, mildly high UACR and mildly low e

  19. Impact of the New American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Definition of Stroke on the Results of the Stenting and Aggressive Medical Management for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Kasab, Sami; Lynn, Michael J; Turan, Tanya N; Derdeyn, Colin P; Fiorella, David; Lane, Bethany F; Janis, L Scott; Chimowitz, Marc I

    2017-01-01

    An American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) writing committee has recently recommended that tissue evidence of cerebral infarction associated with temporary symptoms (CITS) lasting Management for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis (SAMMPRIS) trial. We compared outcomes in the medical (n = 227) and stenting (n = 224) groups in SAMMPRIS using the following primary end point (new components in bold): any stroke, CITS, or death within 30 days after enrollment or within 30 days after a revascularization procedure for the qualifying lesion during follow-up; or ischemic stroke or CITS in the territory of the qualifying artery beyond 30 days. We also compared the use of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) in both treatment groups. By considering CITS as equivalent to stroke, the number of primary end points increased from 34 to 43 in the medical group and from 52 to 66 in the stenting group of SAMMPRIS. The Kaplan-Meier curves for the primary end points in the 2 groups were significantly different (P = .009). The percentage of patients with reported TIAs who underwent brain MRI was 69% in the medical group and 61% in the stenting group (P = .40). Using the AHA/ASA definition of stroke resulted in a substantially higher primary end point rate in both treatment groups and an even higher benefit from medical therapy over stenting than originally shown in SAMMPRIS. The higher rate of CITS in the stenting group was not due to ascertainment bias. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  20. Examining the Use of a Social Media Campaign to Increase Engagement for the American Heart Association 2017 Resuscitation Science Symposium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leary, Marion; McGovern, Shaun; Dainty, Katie N; Doshi, Ankur A; Blewer, Audrey L; Kurz, Michael C; Rittenberger, Jon C; Hazinski, Mary Fran; Reynolds, Joshua C

    2018-04-13

    The Resuscitation Science Symposium (ReSS) is the dedicated international forum for resuscitation science at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions. In an attempt to increase curated content and social media presence during ReSS 2017, the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) coordinated an inaugural social media campaign. Before ReSS, 8 resuscitation science professionals were recruited from a convenience sample of attendees at ReSS 2017. Each blogger was assigned to either a morning or an afternoon session, responsible for "live tweeting" with the associated hashtags #ReSS17 and #AHA17. Twitter analytics from the 8 bloggers were collected from November 10 to 13, 2017. The primary outcome was Twitter impressions. Secondary outcomes included Twitter engagement and Twitter engagement rate. In total, 8 bloggers (63% male) generated 591 tweets that garnered 261 050 impressions, 8013 engagements, 928 retweets, 1653 likes, 292 hashtag clicks, and a median engagement rate of 2.4%. Total engagement, likes, and hashtag clicks were highest on day 2; total impressions were highest on day 3, and retweets were highest on day 4. Total impressions were highly correlated with the total number of tweets ( r =0.87; P =0.005) and baseline number of Twitter followers for each blogger ( r =0.78; P =0.02). In this inaugural social media campaign for the 2017 American Heart Association ReSS, the degree of online engagement with this content by end users was quite good when evaluated by social media standards. Benchmarks for end-user interactions in the scientific community are undefined and will require further study. © 2018 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.

  1. Position of the American Dietetic Association: total diet approach to communicating food and nutrition information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nitzke, Susan; Freeland-Graves, Jeanne

    2007-07-01

    It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that the total diet or overall pattern of food eaten is the most important focus of a healthful eating style. All foods can fit within this pattern, if consumed in moderation with appropriate portion size and combined with regular physical activity. The American Dietetic Association strives to communicate healthful eating messages to the public that emphasize a balance of foods, rather than any one food or meal. Public policies that support the total diet approach include the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, MyPyramid, the DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), Dietary Reference Intakes, and nutrition labeling. The value of a food should be determined within the context of the total diet because classifying foods as "good" or "bad" may foster unhealthful eating behaviors. Alternative approaches may be necessary in some health conditions. Eating practices are dynamic and influenced by many factors, including taste and food preferences, weight concerns, physiology, lifestyle, time challenges, economics, environment, attitudes and beliefs, social/cultural influences, media, food technology, and food product safety. To increase the effectiveness of nutrition education in promoting sensible food choices, food and nutrition professionals should utilize appropriate behavioral theory and evidence-based strategies. A focus on moderation and proportionality in the context of a healthful lifestyle, rather than specific nutrients or foods, can help reduce consumer confusion. Proactive, empowering, and practical messages that emphasize the total diet approach promote positive lifestyle changes.

  2. Statistical study of seismicity associated with geothermal reservoirs in California

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hadley, D.M.; Cavit, D.S.

    1982-01-01

    Statistical methods are outlined to separate spatially, temporally, and magnitude-dependent portions of both the random and non-random components of the seismicity. The methodology employed compares the seismicity distributions with a generalized Poisson distribution. Temporally related events are identified by the distribution of the interoccurrence times. The regions studied to date include the Imperial Valley, Coso, The Geysers, Lassen, and the San Jacinto fault. The spatial characteristics of the random and clustered components of the seismicity are diffuse and appear unsuitable for defining the areal extent of the reservoir. However, from the temporal characteristics of the seismicity associated with these regions a general discriminant was constructed that combines several physical parameters for identifying the presence of a geothermal system.

  3. Leptospirosis in American Samoa 2010: epidemiology, environmental drivers, and the management of emergence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Colleen L; Dobson, Annette J; Smythe, Lee D; Fearnley, Emily J; Skelly, Chris; Clements, Archie C A; Craig, Scott B; Fuimaono, Saipale D; Weinstein, Philip

    2012-02-01

    Leptospirosis has recently been reported as an emerging disease worldwide, and a seroprevalence study was undertaken in American Samoa to better understand the drivers of transmission. Antibodies indicative of previous exposure to leptospirosis were found in 15.5% of 807 participants, predominantly against three serovars that were not previously known to occur in American Samoa. Questionnaires and geographic information systems data were used to assess behavioral factors and environmental determinants of disease transmission, and logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with infection. Many statistically significant factors were consistent with previous studies, but we also showed a significant association with living at lower altitudes (odds ratio [OR] = 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03-2.28), and having higher numbers of piggeries around the home (OR = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.52-4.40). Our findings support a multifaceted approach to combating the emergence of leptospirosis, including modification of individual behavior, but importantly also managing the evolving environmental drivers of risk.

  4. Utility of Nontraditional Risk Markers in Individuals Ineligible for Statin Therapy According to the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Cholesterol Guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeboah, Joseph; Polonsky, Tamar S; Young, Rebekah; McClelland, Robyn L; Delaney, Joseph C; Dawood, Farah; Blaha, Michael J; Miedema, Michael D; Sibley, Christopher T; Carr, J Jeffrey; Burke, Gregory L; Goff, David C; Psaty, Bruce M; Greenland, Philip; Herrington, David M

    2015-09-08

    In the general population, the majority of cardiovascular events occur in people at the low to moderate end of population risk distribution. The 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guideline on the treatment of blood cholesterol recommends consideration of statin therapy for adults with an estimated 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk ≥7.5% based on traditional risk factors. Whether use of nontraditional risk markers can improve risk assessment in those below this threshold for statin therapy is unclear. Using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a population sample free of clinical CVD at baseline, we calibrated the Pooled Cohort Equations (cPCE). ASCVD was defined as myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease death, or fatal or nonfatal stroke. Adults with an initial cPCE statin eligible: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≥160 mg/dL; family history of ASCVD; high-sensitivity C-reactive protein ≥2 mg/dL; coronary artery calcium score ≥300 Agatston units or ≥75th percentile for age, sex, and ethnicity; and ankle-brachial index statin eligible. Of 5185 participants not taking statins with complete data (age, 45-84 years), 4185 had a cPCE risk statin eligible) by at least 1 of the additional risk marker criteria. In this generally low-risk population sample, a large proportion of ASCVD events occurred among adults with a 10-year cPCE risk 7.5% who may warrant statin therapy considerations. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

  5. The first men in leadership positions in the american association of nurse anesthetists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arndt, Margarete

    2015-01-01

    This exploratory study focuses on the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. It sheds light on the process by which men gain access to leadership positions in a female-dominated setting. It also expands the narrative of the professional association's history. As soon as men became eligible for membership in 1947, they gained access to leadership positions in disproportionate numbers and at a faster pace than women at the national level and in a number of states. The specific pattern of findings is consistent with volitional relational practices, suggesting that women facilitated the integration and empowerment of male colleagues who constituted a small minority in the association. The paper discusses the need to understand and manage the interactions between relational practices that are gendered female and views of leadership as male-gendered. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Infective Endocarditis in Adults: Diagnosis, Antimicrobial Therapy, and Management of Complications: A Scientific Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baddour, Larry M; Wilson, Walter R; Bayer, Arnold S; Fowler, Vance G; Tleyjeh, Imad M; Rybak, Michael J; Barsic, Bruno; Lockhart, Peter B; Gewitz, Michael H; Levison, Matthew E; Bolger, Ann F; Steckelberg, James M; Baltimore, Robert S; Fink, Anne M; O'Gara, Patrick; Taubert, Kathryn A

    2015-10-13

    Infective endocarditis is a potentially lethal disease that has undergone major changes in both host and pathogen. The epidemiology of infective endocarditis has become more complex with today's myriad healthcare-associated factors that predispose to infection. Moreover, changes in pathogen prevalence, in particular a more common staphylococcal origin, have affected outcomes, which have not improved despite medical and surgical advances. This statement updates the 2005 iteration, both of which were developed by the American Heart Association under the auspices of the Committee on Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis, and Kawasaki Disease, Council on Cardiovascular Disease of the Young. It includes an evidence-based system for diagnostic and treatment recommendations used by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association for treatment recommendations. Infective endocarditis is a complex disease, and patients with this disease generally require management by a team of physicians and allied health providers with a variety of areas of expertise. The recommendations provided in this document are intended to assist in the management of this uncommon but potentially deadly infection. The clinical variability and complexity in infective endocarditis, however, dictate that these recommendations be used to support and not supplant decisions in individual patient management. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

  7. An Investigation of the Variety and Complexity of Statistical Methods Used in Current Internal Medicine Literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narayanan, Roshni; Nugent, Rebecca; Nugent, Kenneth

    2015-10-01

    Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education guidelines require internal medicine residents to develop skills in the interpretation of medical literature and to understand the principles of research. A necessary component is the ability to understand the statistical methods used and their results, material that is not an in-depth focus of most medical school curricula and residency programs. Given the breadth and depth of the current medical literature and an increasing emphasis on complex, sophisticated statistical analyses, the statistical foundation and education necessary for residents are uncertain. We reviewed the statistical methods and terms used in 49 articles discussed at the journal club in the Department of Internal Medicine residency program at Texas Tech University between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013. We collected information on the study type and on the statistical methods used for summarizing and comparing samples, determining the relations between independent variables and dependent variables, and estimating models. We then identified the typical statistics education level at which each term or method is learned. A total of 14 articles came from the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, 11 from the New England Journal of Medicine, 6 from the Annals of Internal Medicine, 5 from the Journal of the American Medical Association, and 13 from other journals. Twenty reported randomized controlled trials. Summary statistics included mean values (39 articles), category counts (38), and medians (28). Group comparisons were based on t tests (14 articles), χ2 tests (21), and nonparametric ranking tests (10). The relations between dependent and independent variables were analyzed with simple regression (6 articles), multivariate regression (11), and logistic regression (8). Nine studies reported odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals, and seven analyzed test performance using sensitivity and specificity calculations

  8. Genome-wide local ancestry approach identifies genes and variants associated with chemotherapeutic susceptibility in African Americans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heather E Wheeler

    Full Text Available Chemotherapeutic agents are used in the treatment of many cancers, yet variable resistance and toxicities among individuals limit successful outcomes. Several studies have indicated outcome differences associated with ancestry among patients with various cancer types. Using both traditional SNP-based and newly developed gene-based genome-wide approaches, we investigated the genetics of chemotherapeutic susceptibility in lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from 83 African Americans, a population for which there is a disparity in the number of genome-wide studies performed. To account for population structure in this admixed population, we incorporated local ancestry information into our association model. We tested over 2 million SNPs and identified 325, 176, 240, and 190 SNPs that were suggestively associated with cytarabine-, 5'-deoxyfluorouridine (5'-DFUR-, carboplatin-, and cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity, respectively (p≤10(-4. Importantly, some of these variants are found only in populations of African descent. We also show that cisplatin-susceptibility SNPs are enriched for carboplatin-susceptibility SNPs. Using a gene-based genome-wide association approach, we identified 26, 11, 20, and 41 suggestive candidate genes for association with cytarabine-, 5'-DFUR-, carboplatin-, and cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity, respectively (p≤10(-3. Fourteen of these genes showed evidence of association with their respective chemotherapeutic phenotypes in the Yoruba from Ibadan, Nigeria (p<0.05, including TP53I11, COPS5 and GAS8, which are known to be involved in tumorigenesis. Although our results require further study, we have identified variants and genes associated with chemotherapeutic susceptibility in African Americans by using an approach that incorporates local ancestry information.

  9. The Association of Resilience with Mental and Physical Health among Older American Indians: The Native Elder Care Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schure, Marc B.; Odden, Michelle; Goins, R. Turner

    2013-01-01

    We examined the association of resilience with measures of mental and physical health in a sample of older American Indians (AIs). A validated scale measuring resilience was administered to 185 noninstitutionalized AIs aged greater than or equal to 55 years. Unadjusted analyses revealed that higher levels of resilience were associated with lower…

  10. Survival and hepatitis status among Asian Americans with hepatocellular carcinoma treated without liver transplantation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hassan Manal M

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV are established causes of HCC. HCC patients are often diagnosed late and receive palliative therapies, however, the survival of Asian American patients with HCC treated without transplantation has not been well studied. We reviewed our institution's experience to determine predictors and rates of survival in Asian American HCC patients treated without transplantation. Methods We identified Asian American patients with HCC referred to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Patients were tested for HBV and HCV. Survival curves were generated by Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression was used to test the relationship between prognostic factors and survival. Results Of 82 Asian American HCC patients, most had advanced disease (65% and received treatment (68%; however, only 11% had surgical resection. 94% had positive anti-HBc and 61% had positive HBsAg. 20% had positive anti-HCV. There were no significant changes in the rates of HBV and HCV over time. Male gender, high alpha-fetoprotein levels, and stage IV disease were associated with shorter survival Overall median survival was 9.2 months (95% CI 6.5–11.9, and the survival of HCV and HBV patients was not statistically different. Conclusion The survival rate of Asian American patients with advanced HCC, for whom transplantation was not available, was low. Timely hepatitis screening and interventions by primary care physicians may be the most logical solution to reduce the burden of hepatitis-associated HCC among Asian Americans.

  11. Parenting and Perceived Maternal Warmth in European American and African American Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson-Newsom, Julia; Buchanan, Christy M.; McDonald, Richard M.

    2008-01-01

    Traditional conceptualizations of parenting style assume certain associations between parenting practices/philosophies and parental warmth. This study examines whether those links are similar for European American and African American adolescents. Two hundred and ninety-eight early adolescents and their mothers reported on discipline and control…

  12. Residential Proximity to Major Roadways Is Not Associated with Cardiac Function in African Americans: Results from the Jackson Heart Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne M. Weaver

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Cardiovascular disease (CVD, including heart failure, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly among African Americans. Exposure to ambient air pollution, such as that produced by vehicular traffic, is believed to be associated with heart failure, possibly by impairing cardiac function. We evaluated the cross-sectional association between residential proximity to major roads, a marker of long-term exposure to traffic-related pollution, and echocardiographic indicators of left and pulmonary vascular function in African Americans enrolled in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS: left ventricular ejection fraction, E-wave velocity, isovolumic relaxation time, left atrial diameter index, and pulmonary artery systolic pressure. We examined these associations using multivariable linear or logistic regression, adjusting for potential confounders. Of 4866 participants at study enrollment, 106 lived <150 m, 159 lived 150–299 m, 1161 lived 300–999 m, and 3440 lived ≥1000 m from a major roadway. We did not observe any associations between residential distance to major roads and these markers of cardiac function. Results were similar with additional adjustment for diabetes and hypertension, when considering varying definitions of major roadways, or when limiting analyses to those free from cardiovascular disease at baseline. Overall, we observed little evidence that residential proximity to major roads was associated with cardiac function among African Americans.

  13. Improving American Innovation,

    Science.gov (United States)

    1984-03-01

    Why has Jap~m succeeded: western technology and the Japanese ethos. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. (NC 462 MO634 Norman , Colin...productivity growth. Review of Economics and Statistics 64:627-34, N~ovember 1982. Smith, G. W. and W. N. Smallwood . Preparing for breakthroughs: the rewards of...recommendations. Edited by Charles E. Larsen and WI. Novis Smith. Washington: American Chemical Society, 1980. Kobert, Norman . Agressivn management style

  14. African American Adolescents' Future Education Orientation: Associations with Self-Efficacy, Ethnic Identity, and Perceived Parental Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerpelman, Jennifer L.; Eryigit, Suna; Stephens, Carolyn J.

    2008-01-01

    The current study, using data from 374 African American students (59.4% female) in grades 7-12 attending a rural, southern county public school, addressed associations of self-efficacy, ethnic identity and parental support with "future education orientation." Both gender and current level of achievement distinguished adolescents with…

  15. Social anxiety and perception of early parenting among American, Chinese American, and social phobic samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, A W; Heimberg, R G; Holt, C S; Bruch, M A

    1994-01-01

    Emotionally distant and controlling child-rearing attitudes have been reported to characterize the parents of American or western European social phobics in previous research. However, the notion that these parental attitudes may be associated with social anxiety only in some cultures has not been investigated. The present study examined social anxiety among American social phobics and American and Chinese/Chinese American volunteer samples and how it may relate to their parents' child-rearing attitudes. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed overall group differences. Both volunteer samples reported lower levels of anxiety than social phobics. Parents of Chinese/Chinese Americans and social phobics were reported to be similar in their (1) isolation of children from social activities; (2) over-emphasis of others' opinions; and (3) use of shame tactics for discipline (more so than American volunteers' parents). However, parents of nonsocial phobics were more likely to attend family social activities than social phobics' parents. Overall, the association between a reported parenting style emphasizing others' opinions and shame tactics and social anxiety in their adult children was more evident in both American samples than among Chinese/Chinese Americans.

  16. 2nd International Conference on Mathematics and Statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Jarrah, Abdul; Kallel, Sadok; Sulieman, Hana

    2017-01-01

    This work presents invited contributions from the second "International Conference on Mathematics and Statistics" jointly organized by the AUS (American University of Sharjah) and the AMS (American Mathematical Society). Addressing several research fields across the mathematical sciences, all of the papers were prepared by faculty members at universities in the Gulf region or prominent international researchers. The current volume is the first of its kind in the UAE and is intended to set new standards of excellence for collaboration and scholarship in the region.

  17. Statistical review of US macronutrient consumption data, 1965-2011: Americans have been following dietary guidelines, coincident with the rise in obesity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Evan; Cragg, Michael; deFonseka, Jehan; Hite, Adele; Rosenberg, Melanie; Zhou, Bin

    2015-05-01

    For almost 50 y, the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) has measured the caloric consumption, and body heights and weights of Americans. The aim of this study was to determine, based on that data, how macronutrient consumption patterns and the weight and body mass index in the US adult population have evolved since the 1960s. We conducted the first comprehensive analysis of the NHANES data, documenting how macronutrient consumption patterns and the weight and body mass index in the US adult population have evolved since the 1960s. Americans in general have been following the nutrition advice that the American Heart Association and the US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services have been issuing for more than 40 y: Consumption of fats has dropped from 45% to 34% with a corresponding increase in carbohydrate consumption from 39% to 51% of total caloric intake. In addition, from 1971 to 2011, average weight and body mass index have increased dramatically, with the percentage of overweight or obese Americans increasing from 42% in 1971 to 66% in 2011. Since 1971, the shift in macronutrient share from fat to carbohydrate is primarily due to an increase in absolute consumption of carbohydrate as opposed to a change in total fat consumption. General adherence to recommendations to reduce fat consumption has coincided with a substantial increase in obesity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Food Insecurity, Not Stress is Associated with Three Measures of Obesity in Low-Income, Mexican-American Women in South Texas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salinas, Jennifer J; Shropshire, William; Nino, Ana; Parra-Medina, Deborah

    2016-01-01

    To determine the relationship between obesity, food insecurity and perceived stress in very low income Mexican American women. Cross-sectional baseline data analysis of a randomized clinical trial. Texas-Mexico border region of South Texas. Very Low Income Mexican American Women. The relationship between obesity and food insecurity in a sample of very low income Hispanic women living in South Texas depends on the measure of obesity and the dimension of food insecurity. The only measure of food insecurity associated with all measures of obesity was often not having enough money to afford to eat balanced meals. Waist circumference was associated with the most dimensions of food insecurity, while BMI had the least associations. Finally, perceived stress was not significantly associated with BMI, waist circumference or percent body fat when adjusted for other covariates. We have found a strong and significant relationship between food insecurity related to having enough resources to eat a balanced diet and BMI, waist circumference, and percent body fat in low-income Mexican American women. While behavioural change is an important strategy for reducing obesity, consideration may need to be made as to how food access with high nutritional value, may be in and of itself a contributing factor in obesity in low income populations.

  19. PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS - A CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR NURSES OF THE AMERICAN NURSES FOUNDATION/ASSOCIATION

    Science.gov (United States)

    The American Nurses Association/Foundation will develop online, in print and pre conference continuing education (CE) children's environmental health protection programs to meet the objective of the program. The first CE program is on school environments, the second on home and ...

  20. Thermodynamic properties of particles with intermediate statistics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joyce, G.S.; Sarkar, S.; Spal/ek, J.; Byczuk, K.

    1996-01-01

    Analytic expressions for the distribution function of an ideal gas of particles (exclusons) which have statistics intermediate between Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein are obtained for all values of the Haldane statistics parameter α element-of[0,1]. The analytic structure of the distribution function is investigated and found to have no singularities in the physical region when the parameter α lies in the range 0 V of the D-dimensional excluson gas. The low-temperature series for the thermodynamic properties illustrate the pseudofermion nature of exclusons. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

  1. Exclusion Statistics in Conformal Field Theory Spectra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schoutens, K.

    1997-01-01

    We propose a new method for investigating the exclusion statistics of quasiparticles in conformal field theory (CFT) spectra. The method leads to one-particle distribution functions, which generalize the Fermi-Dirac distribution. For the simplest SU(n) invariant CFTs we find a generalization of Gentile parafermions, and we obtain new distributions for the simplest Z N -invariant CFTs. In special examples, our approach reproduces distributions based on 'fractional exclusion statistics' in the sense of Haldane. We comment on applications to fractional quantum Hall effect edge theories. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

  2. THE ANALYSIS OF STATISTICAL DATA ON MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS ASSOCIATED WITH HUMAN P APILLOMAVIRUS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. A. Kostin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study of statistical data for the first time in Russia the analysis of the morbidity and mortality of patients with malignant neoplasms that may be associated with human papilloma virus (HPV is performed: cervical cancer (cervical cancer, cancer of the vulva and vagina, cancer of penis, cancer of the rectum, anal canal and rectosigmoid junction cancer, cancer of the pharynx and larynx.

  3. Say "adios" to the American dream? The interplay between ethnic and national identity among Latino and Caucasian Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devos, Thierry; Gavin, Kelly; Quintana, Francisco J

    2010-01-01

    In three studies, implicit and explicit measures were used to examine the interconnections between ethnic and national identities among Latino Americans and Caucasian Americans. Consistently, Latino Americans as a group were conceived of as being less American than Caucasian Americans (Studies 1-3). This effect was exhibited by both Caucasian and Latino participants. Overall, Caucasian participants displayed a stronger national identification than Latino participants (Studies 2 and 3). In addition, ethnic American associations accounted for the strength of national identification for Caucasian participants, but not for Latino participants (Study 2). Finally, ethnic differences in national identification among individuals who exclude Latino Americans from the national identity emerged when persistent ethnic disparities were primed, but not when increasing equalities were stressed (Study 3). In sum, ethnic American associations account for the merging versus dissociation between ethnic and national identifications and reflect a long-standing ethnic hierarchy in American society. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

  4. American Association of Orthodontists Foundation Craniofacial Growth Legacy Collection: Overview of a powerful tool for orthodontic research and teaching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumrind, Sheldon; Curry, Sean

    2015-08-01

    This article reports on the current status of the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation (AAOF) Craniofacial Growth Legacy Collection--an AAOF-supported multi-institutional project that uses the Internet and cloud computing to collect and share craniofacial images and data for orthodontic research and education. The project gives investigators and clinicians all over the world online access to longitudinal information on craniofacial development in untreated children with malocclusions of various types. It also is a unique source of control samples for testing the validity of consensually accepted beliefs about the effects of orthodontic treatment or of failure to treat. Copyright © 2015 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Examining the Associations of Racism, Sexism, and Stressful Life Events on Psychological Distress among African American Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens-Watkins, Danelle; Perry, Brea; Pullen, Erin; Jewell, Jennifer; Oser, Carrie B.

    2013-01-01

    African American women may be susceptible to stressful events and adverse health outcomes as a result of their distinct social location at the intersection of gender and race. Here, racism and sexism are examined concurrently using survey data from 204 African American women residing in a southeastern U.S. urban city. Associations between racism, sexism, and stressful events across social roles and contexts (i.e., social network loss, motherhood and childbirth, employment and finances, personal illness and injury, and victimization) are investigated. Then, the relationships among these stressors on psychological distress are compared, and a moderation model is explored. Findings suggest that racism and sexism are a significant source of stress in the lives of African American women, and are correlated both with one another and with other stressful events. Implications for future research and clinical considerations are discussed. PMID:25313434

  6. University of Central Florida and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities: Blended Learning Toolkit

    Science.gov (United States)

    EDUCAUSE, 2014

    2014-01-01

    The Blended Learning Toolkit supports the course redesign approach, and interest in its openly available clearinghouse of online tools, strategies, curricula, and other materials to support the adoption of blended learning continues to grow. When the resource originally launched in July 2011, 20 AASCU [American Association of State Colleges and…

  7. Advancing Multicultural and Diversity Competence in Art Therapy: American Art Therapy Association Multicultural Committee 1990-2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potash, Jordan S.; Doby-Copeland, Cheryl; Stepney, Stella A.; Washington, Brittney N.; Vance, Lindsey D.; Short, Gwendolyn M.; Boston, Charlotte G.; Ballbé ter Maat, Mercedes

    2015-01-01

    For 25 years the Multicultural Committee of the American Art Therapy Association has provided education, networking, and mentoring activities for all art therapists, as well as support for art therapists of color. The formation of the committee demonstrates increasing cultural competence within the profession, and its continuation promises future…

  8. Genetic association analysis of 30 genes related to obesity in a European American population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, P; Tiwari, H K; Lin, W-Y; Allison, D B; Chung, W K; Leibel, R L; Yi, N; Liu, N

    2014-05-01

    Obesity, which is frequently associated with diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, is primarily the result of a net excess of caloric intake over energy expenditure. Human obesity is highly heritable, but the specific genes mediating susceptibility in non-syndromic obesity remain unclear. We tested candidate genes in pathways related to food intake and energy expenditure for association with body mass index (BMI). We reanalyzed 355 common genetic variants of 30 candidate genes in seven molecular pathways related to obesity in 1982 unrelated European Americans from the New York Cancer Project. Data were analyzed by using a Bayesian hierarchical generalized linear model. The BMIs were log-transformed and then adjusted for covariates, including age, age(2), gender and diabetes status. The single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were modeled as additive effects. With the stipulated adjustments, nine SNPs in eight genes were significantly associated with BMI: ghrelin (GHRL; rs35683), agouti-related peptide (AGRP; rs5030980), carboxypeptidase E (CPE; rs1946816 and rs4481204), glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R; rs2268641), serotonin receptors (HTR2A; rs912127), neuropeptide Y receptor (NPY5R;Y5R1c52), suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3; rs4969170) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3; rs4796793). We also found a gender-by-SNP interaction (rs1745837 in HTR2A), which indicated that variants in the gene HTR2A had a stronger association with BMI in males. In addition, NPY1R was detected as having a significant gene effect even though none of the SNPs in this gene was significant. Variations in genes AGRP, CPE, GHRL, GLP1R, HTR2A, NPY1R, NPY5R, SOCS3 and STAT3 showed modest associations with BMI in European Americans. The pathways in which these genes participate regulate energy intake, and thus these associations are mechanistically plausible in this context.

  9. Mobile Phone Use and its Association With Sitting Time and Meeting Physical Activity Recommendations in a Mexican American Cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chrisman, Matthew; Chow, Wong-Ho; Daniel, Carrie R; Wu, Xifeng; Zhao, Hua

    2016-06-16

    The benefits of physical activity (PA) are well-documented. Mobile phones influence PA by promoting screen-based sedentary time, providing prompts or reminders to be active, aiding in tracking and monitoring PA, or providing entertainment during PA. It is not known how mobile phone use is associated with PA and sitting time in Mexican Americans, and how mobile phone users may differ from nonusers. To determine the associations between mobile phone use, PA, and sitting time and how these behaviors differ from mobile phone nonusers in a sample of 2982 Mexican-American adults from the Mano a Mano cohort. Differences in meeting PA recommendations and sitting time between mobile phone users and nonusers were examined using chi-square and analysis of variance tests. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between mobile phone use, PA, and sitting. Mobile phone users were more likely to be obese by body mass index criteria (≥30 kg/m(2)), younger, born in the United States and lived there longer, more educated, and sit more hours per day but more likely to meet PA recommendations than nonusers. Males (odds ratio [OR] 1.42, 95% CI 1.16-1.74), use of text messaging (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.03-1.56), and having a higher acculturation score (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.07-1.52) were associated with higher odds of meeting PA recommendations. Sitting more hours per day was associated with being male, obese, born in the United States, a former alcohol drinker, and having at least a high school education. Among nonusers, being born in the United States was associated with higher odds of more sitting time, and being married was associated with higher odds of meeting PA recommendations. Mobile phone interventions using text messages could be tailored to promote PA in less acculturated and female Mexican American mobile phone users.

  10. Association of adiponectin and socioeconomic status in African American men and women: the Jackson heart study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharon K. Davis

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent emphasis has been placed on elucidating the biologic mechanism linking socioeconomic status (SES to cardiovascular disease (CVD. Positive associations of inflammatory biomarkers provide evidence suggestive of a biologic pathway by which SES may predispose to CVD. African Americans have disproportionately lower SES and have a higher prevalence of CVD risk factors compared to most ethnic/racial groups. Adiponectin (an anti-inflammatory marker is also lower. The objective of this study was to assess the association of adiponectin with SES among African American men and women using the Jackson Heart Study. Methods Study sample included 4340 participants. Linear regression was performed separately by SES and stratified by sex. Annual household income and level of education was used as proxies for SES. Crude, age, health behavior and health status adjusted models were analyzed. The main outcome was log-transformed adiponectin. Results Men in the lowest income group had significantly higher adiponectin than those in the highest income group in the fully adjusted model (ß/standard error [se], p value = .16/.08, p = .0008. Men with < high school level of education had significantly higher adiponectin in the crude and age adjusted models than those with ≥ college degree (.25/.05, p < .0001; .14/.05/ p = .005, respectively. Women with some college or vocational training in the crude and age adjusted models had lower adiponectin compared to women with ≥ college degree (−.09/.03, p = .004; −.06/.03, p = .04, respectively. Conclusion Findings suggest a potential inverse biologic pathway between annual household income and adiponectin among African American men. There was no such finding among women. Findings suggest interventions should be targeted for higher SES African American men to improve adiponectin levels.

  11. The American Association for Thoracic Surgery 2016 ethics forum: Working virtues in surgical practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Churchill, Larry R

    2017-05-01

    Moral virtues are the complement to ethical principles. They constitute the elements of character that drive habits and daily routines. Certain virtues are especially important in surgery, shaping surgical practice even when no big decisions are at hand. Eight virtues are described and the work they do is explored: trustworthiness, equanimity, empathy, advocacy, compassion, courage, humility, and hope. Copyright © 2016 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Association of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) population density with climate variables in Montes Claros, an area of American visceral leishmaniasis transmission in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michalsky, Erika Monteiro; Fortes-Dias, Consuelo Latorre; França-Silva, João Carlos; Rocha, Marilia Fonseca; Barata, Ricardo Andrade; Dias, Edelberto Santos

    2009-12-01

    In the present paper, we evaluate the relationship between climate variables and population density of Lutzomyia longipalpis in Montes Claros, an area of active transmission of American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL) in Brazil. Entomological captures were performed in 10 selected districts of the city, between September 2002-August 2003. A total of 773 specimens of L. longipalpiswere captured in the period and the population density could be associated with local climate variables (cumulative rainfall, average temperature and relative humidity) through a mathematical linear model with a determination coefficient (Rsqr) of 0.752. Although based on an oversimplified statistical analysis, as far as the vector is concerned, this approach showed to be potentially useful as a starting point to guide control measures for AVL in Montes Claros.

  13. Association between Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, Ancestry and Aggressive Prostate Cancer among African Americans and European Americans in PCaP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steck, Susan E.; Arab, Lenore; Zhang, Hongmei; Bensen, Jeannette T.; Fontham, Elizabeth T. H.; Johnson, Candace S.; Mohler, James L.; Smith, Gary J.; Su, Joseph L.; Trump, Donald L.; Woloszynska-Read, Anna

    2015-01-01

    Background African Americans (AAs) have lower circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] concentrations and higher prostate cancer (CaP) aggressiveness than other racial/ethnic groups. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between plasma 25(OH)D3, African ancestry and CaP aggressiveness among AAs and European Americans (EAs). Methods Plasma 25(OH)D3 was measured using LC-MS/MS (Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry) in 537 AA and 663 EA newly-diagnosed CaP patients from the North Carolina-Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project (PCaP) classified as having either ‘high’ or ‘low’ aggressive disease based on clinical stage, Gleason grade and prostate specific antigen at diagnosis. Mean plasma 25(OH)D3 concentrations were compared by proportion of African ancestry. Logistic regression was used to calculate multivariable adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for high aggressive CaP by tertile of plasma 25(OH)D3. Results AAs with highest percent African ancestry (>95%) had the lowest mean plasma 25(OH)D3 concentrations. Overall, plasma 25(OH)D3 was associated positively with aggressiveness among AA men, an association that was modified by calcium intake (ORT3vs.T1: 2.23, 95%CI: 1.26–3.95 among men with low calcium intake, and ORT3vs.T1: 0.19, 95%CI: 0.05–0.70 among men with high calcium intake). Among EAs, the point estimates of the ORs were <1.0 for the upper tertiles with CIs that included the null. Conclusions Among AAs, plasma 25(OH)D3 was associated positively with CaP aggressiveness among men with low calcium intake and inversely among men with high calcium intake. The clinical significance of circulating concentrations of 25(OH)D3 and interactions with calcium intake in the AA population warrants further study. PMID:25919866

  14. Lactose intolerance and health disparities among African Americans and Hispanic Americans: an updated consensus statement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Rahn K; Fileti, Cecelia Pozo; Keith, Jeanette; Tropez-Sims, Susanne; Price, Winston; Allison-Ottey, Sharon Denise

    2013-01-01

    Dairy foods contribute nine essential nutrients to the diet including calcium, potassium and vitamin D; nutrients identified by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans as being "of public health concern" within the U.S. population. Milk and milk product intake is associated with better diet quality and has been associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases or conditions including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes and osteoporosis. Some research also indicates dairy food intake may be linked to reduced body fat, when accompanied by energy-restriction. On average, both African Americans and Hispanic Americans consume less than the recommended levels of dairy foods, and perceived or actual lactose intolerance can be a primary reason for limiting or avoiding dairy intake. True lactose intolerance prevalence is not known because healthcare providers do not routinely measure for it, and no standardized assessment method exists. Avoiding dairy may lead to shortfalls of essential nutrients and increased susceptibility to chronic disease. This updated Consensus Statement aims to provide the most current information about lactose intolerance and health, with specific relevance to the African American and Hispanic American communities. Topics covered include diagnostic considerations, actual and recommended dairy food intake and levels of consumption of key dairy nutrients among African Americans and Hispanic Americans; prevalence of self-reported lactose intolerance among various racial/ethnic groups; the association between dairy food intake, lactose intolerance and chronic disease; and research-based management recommendations for those with lactose intolerance.

  15. Parenting Behaviors, Association with Deviant Peers, and Delinquency in African American Adolescents: A Mediated-Moderation Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowman, Marvella A.; Prelow, Hazel M.; Weaver, Scott R.

    2007-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to examine a model positing that association with deviant peers mediates the relation between adolescent perceived parenting behaviors (maternal monitoring and involvement), the interaction of these parenting behaviors, and delinquency in a sample of 135 urban African American adolescents (13-19 years of age).…

  16. Evaluation of genetic susceptibility to childhood allergy and asthma in an African American urban population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hudgens Edward E

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Asthma and allergy represent complex phenotypes, which disproportionately burden ethnic minorities in the United States. Strong evidence for genomic factors predisposing subjects to asthma/allergy is available. However, methods to utilize this information to identify high risk groups are variable and replication of genetic associations in African Americans is warranted. Methods We evaluated 41 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP and a deletion corresponding to 11 genes demonstrating association with asthma in the literature, for association with asthma, atopy, testing positive for food allergens, eosinophilia, and total serum IgE among 141 African American children living in Detroit, Michigan. Independent SNP and haplotype associations were investigated for association with each trait, and subsequently assessed in concert using a genetic risk score (GRS. Results Statistically significant associations with asthma were observed for SNPs in GSTM1, MS4A2, and GSTP1 genes, after correction for multiple testing. Chromosome 11 haplotype CTACGAGGCC (corresponding to MS4A2 rs574700, rs1441586, rs556917, rs502581, rs502419 and GSTP1 rs6591256, rs17593068, rs1695, rs1871042, rs947895 was associated with a nearly five-fold increase in the odds of asthma (Odds Ratio (OR = 4.8, p = 0.007. The GRS was significantly associated with a higher odds of asthma (OR = 1.61, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.21, 2.13; p = 0.001. Conclusions Variation in genes associated with asthma in predominantly non-African ethnic groups contributed to increased odds of asthma in this African American study population. Evaluating all significant variants in concert helped to identify the highest risk subset of this group.

  17. Maternal BMI, IGF-I Levels, and Birth Weight in African American and White Infants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana C. Vidal

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available At birth, elevated IGF-I levels have been linked to birth weight extremes; high birth weight and low birth weight are risk factors for adult-onset chronic diseases including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. We examined associations between plasma IGF-I levels and birth weight among infants born to African American and White obese and nonobese women. Prepregnancy weight and height were assessed among 251 pregnant women and anthropometric measurements of full term infants (≥37 weeks of gestation were taken at birth. Circulating IGF-I was measured by ELISA in umbilical cord blood plasma. Linear regression models were utilized to examine associations between birth weight and high IGF-I, using the bottom two tertiles as referents. Compared with infants with lower IGF-I levels (≤3rd tertile, those with higher IGF-I levels (>3rd tertile were 130 g heavier at birth, (β-coefficient=230, se=58.0, P=0.0001, after adjusting for gender, race/ethnicity, gestational age, delivery route, maternal BMI and smoking. Stratified analyses suggested that these associations are more pronounced in infants born to African American women and women with BMI ≥30 kg/m2; the cross product term for IGF-I and maternal BMI was statistically significant (P≤0.0004. Our findings suggest that the association between IGF-I levels and birth weight depends more on maternal obesity than African American race/ethnicity.

  18. Beyond parenting practices: extended kinship support and the academic adjustment of African-American and European-American teens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pallock, Linda L; Lamborn, Susie D

    2006-10-01

    This study examined adolescents' perceptions of parenting practices and extended kinship support in relation to academic adjustment for 104 African American and 60 European American 9th and 10th graders (14 and 15 year olds). For African-American teens, parental acceptance was associated with school values, teacher bonding, and work orientation. Higher levels of behavioral control and lower levels of psychological control were associated with a stronger work orientation. After accounting for the demographic variables and the three parenting practices, higher levels of extended kinship support related to stronger school values, higher teacher bonding, and a stronger work orientation. For European-American teens, parental acceptance related to academic adjustment, including stronger school values, higher teacher bonding, and a stronger work orientation. European-American adolescents with stronger extended kinship networks reported higher teacher bonding and a stronger work orientation. Results indicate the importance of extended kinship support for both African-American and European-American adolescents.

  19. Acculturative stress is associated with trajectory of anxiety symptoms during pregnancy in Mexican-American women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preciado, Andrea; D'Anna-Hernandez, Kimberly

    2017-05-01

    Over half of pregnant women report anxiety symptoms and these symptoms may be precipitated by stressful experiences. Anxiety rates may be higher in Mexican-American women who experience sociocultural stressors, such as acculturation, acculturative stress and discrimination. However, the role of such stressors on the trajectory of anxiety symptoms across pregnancy is not yet known. Mexican-American women (n=151) completed surveys across pregnancy about acculturation, acculturative stress, perceived discrimination, and state anxiety. Multilevel modeling found that acculturation (Anglo orientation, b=0.050, SE=0.379, t (137.561)=0.134, p=0.894; Mexican orientation, b=0.775, SE=0.692, t (133.424)=1.121, p=0.264) and perceived discrimination (b=-1.259, SE=0.921, t (137.489)=-1.367, p=0.174) were not associated with the trajectory of anxiety symptoms. However, acculturative stress, even while controlling for perceived stress, was associated with high levels of anxiety symptoms that were elevated early in pregnancy (b=-0.045, SE=0.022, t (135.749)=-2, p=0.047). This work highlights the unique role of acculturative stress in risk for prenatal anxiety in early pregnancy. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  20. REV-ERB-ALPHA circadian gene variant associates with obesity in two independent populations: Mediterranean and North American.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garaulet, Marta; Smith, Caren E; Gomez-Abellán, Purificación; Ordovás-Montañés, María; Lee, Yu-Chi; Parnell, Laurence D; Arnett, Donna K; Ordovás, José M

    2014-04-01

    Despite the solid connection between REV-ERB and obesity, the information about whether genetic variations at this locus may be associated with obesity traits is scarce. Therefore our objective was to study the association between REV-ERB-ALPHA1 rs2314339 and obesity in two independent populations. Participants were 2214 subjects from Spanish Mediterranean (n = 1404) and North American (n = 810) populations. Anthropometric, biochemical, dietary, and genotype analyses were performed. We found novel associations between the REV-ERB-ALPHA1 rs2314339 genotype and obesity in two independent populations: in Spanish Mediterranean and North American groups, the frequency of the minor-allele-carriers (AA+ AG) was significantly lower in the "abdominally obese" group than in those of the "nonabdominally obese" group (p obesity than noncarriers, and the effect was of similar magnitude for both populations (OR ≈ 1.50). There were consistent associations between REV-ERB-ALPHA1 genotype and obesity-related traits (p obesity was also detected in the Mediterranean population. This new discovery highlights the importance of REV-ERB-ALPHA1 in obesity and provides evidence for the connection between our biological clock and obesity-related traits. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  1. Association of Contextual Factors with Drug Use and Binge Drinking among White, Native American, and Mixed-Race Adolescents in the General Population

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hsing-Jung; Balan, Sundari; Price, Rumi Kato

    2012-01-01

    Large-scale surveys have shown elevated risk for many indicators of substance abuse among Native American and Mixed-Race adolescents compared to other minority groups in the United States. This study examined underlying contextual factors associated with substance abuse among a nationally representative sample of White, Native American, and…

  2. Short sleep duration is associated with eating more carbohydrates and less dietary fat in Mexican American Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Short sleep duration is a risk factor for childhood obesity. Mechanisms are unclear, but may involve selection of high carbohydrate foods. This study examined the association between estimated sleep duration and macronutrient intake as percentages of total energy among Mexican American (MA) 9-11 yea...

  3. FastStats: Health of Mexican American Population

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Submit Button NCHS Home Health of Mexican American Population Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir Data are ... Source: Summary Health Statistics Tables for the U.S. Population: National Health Interview Survey, 2015, Table P-1c [ ...

  4. Is expressive suppression always associated with poorer psychological functioning? A cross-cultural comparison between European Americans and Hong Kong Chinese.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soto, José A; Perez, Christopher R; Kim, Young-Hoon; Lee, Elizabeth A; Minnick, Mark R

    2011-12-01

    The habitual use of expressive suppression as an emotion regulation strategy has been consistently linked to adverse outcomes in a number of domains, including psychological functioning. The present study aimed to uncover whether the suppression-health relationship is dependent on cultural context, given differing cultural norms surrounding the value of suppressing emotional displays. We hypothesized that the negative associations between suppression and psychological functioning seen in European Americans would not be seen among members of East Asian cultures, in which emotional restraint is relatively encouraged over emotional expression. To test this hypothesis, we asked 71 European American students and 100 Chinese students from Hong Kong to report on their use of expressive suppression, life satisfaction, and depressed mood. A moderation analysis revealed that expressive suppression was associated with adverse psychological functioning for European Americans, but not for Chinese participants. These findings highlight the importance of context in understanding the suppression-health relationship. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

  5. Coparenting experiences in African American families: an examination of single mothers and their nonmarital coparents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Michelle; Jones, Deborah; Parent, Justin

    2014-03-01

    African American youth from single-mother homes continue to be overrepresented in statistics on risk behavior and delinquency, a trend that many be attributed to father-absence, socioeconomic disadvantage, and compromises in parenting more typical of single than two-parent families. Yet, this risk-focused perspective ignores a long-standing strength of the African American community, the involvement and potential protective impact of extended family members in childrearing. This study describes the experiences of 95 African American single mothers and their nonmarital coparents who participated in a study of African American single-mother families with an 11-16-year-old child. Specifically, the study examines: (a) the extent to which nonmarital coparents are involved in childrearing; (b) the relative levels of risk (i.e., depression, mother-coparent conflict) and protective (i.e., parenting) associated with maternal and coparent involvement; and (c) how similarly and/or differently coparent and mother variables operate with regard to youth externalizing problems. Findings reveal that a range of family members and other adults actively participate in childrearing in African American single-mother families, coparents do not differ from mothers on certain study variables (i.e., depression and mother-coparent conflict) but do for others (parenting), and coparent involvement is associated with youth adjustment in ways that are similar to our more established understanding of maternal involvement. The potential clinical implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are highlighted. © 2014 FPI, Inc.

  6. THE MILKY WAY PROJECT: A STATISTICAL STUDY OF MASSIVE STAR FORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH INFRARED BUBBLES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kendrew, S.; Robitaille, T. P.; Simpson, R.; Lintott, C. J.; Bressert, E.; Povich, M. S.; Sherman, R.; Schawinski, K.; Wolf-Chase, G.

    2012-01-01

    The Milky Way Project citizen science initiative recently increased the number of known infrared bubbles in the inner Galactic plane by an order of magnitude compared to previous studies. We present a detailed statistical analysis of this data set with the Red MSX Source (RMS) catalog of massive young stellar sources to investigate the association of these bubbles with massive star formation. We particularly address the question of massive triggered star formation near infrared bubbles. We find a strong positional correlation of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) and H II regions with Milky Way Project bubbles at separations of <2 bubble radii. As bubble sizes increase, a statistically significant overdensity of massive young sources emerges in the region of the bubble rims, possibly indicating the occurrence of triggered star formation. Based on numbers of bubble-associated RMS sources, we find that 67% ± 3% of MYSOs and (ultra-)compact H II regions appear to be associated with a bubble. We estimate that approximately 22% ± 2% of massive young stars may have formed as a result of feedback from expanding H II regions. Using MYSO-bubble correlations, we serendipitously recovered the location of the recently discovered massive cluster Mercer 81, suggesting the potential of such analyses for discovery of heavily extincted distant clusters.

  7. THE MILKY WAY PROJECT: A STATISTICAL STUDY OF MASSIVE STAR FORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH INFRARED BUBBLES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kendrew, S.; Robitaille, T. P. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Simpson, R.; Lintott, C. J. [Department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Bressert, E. [School of Physics, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QL (United Kingdom); Povich, M. S. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Sherman, R. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Schawinski, K. [Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208121, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States); Wolf-Chase, G., E-mail: kendrew@mpia.de [Astronomy Department, Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605 (United States)

    2012-08-10

    The Milky Way Project citizen science initiative recently increased the number of known infrared bubbles in the inner Galactic plane by an order of magnitude compared to previous studies. We present a detailed statistical analysis of this data set with the Red MSX Source (RMS) catalog of massive young stellar sources to investigate the association of these bubbles with massive star formation. We particularly address the question of massive triggered star formation near infrared bubbles. We find a strong positional correlation of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) and H II regions with Milky Way Project bubbles at separations of <2 bubble radii. As bubble sizes increase, a statistically significant overdensity of massive young sources emerges in the region of the bubble rims, possibly indicating the occurrence of triggered star formation. Based on numbers of bubble-associated RMS sources, we find that 67% {+-} 3% of MYSOs and (ultra-)compact H II regions appear to be associated with a bubble. We estimate that approximately 22% {+-} 2% of massive young stars may have formed as a result of feedback from expanding H II regions. Using MYSO-bubble correlations, we serendipitously recovered the location of the recently discovered massive cluster Mercer 81, suggesting the potential of such analyses for discovery of heavily extincted distant clusters.

  8. Cigarette smoking and the association with serous ovarian cancer in African American women: African American Cancer Epidemiology Study (AACES).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelemen, Linda E; Abbott, Sarah; Qin, Bo; Peres, Lauren Cole; Moorman, Patricia G; Wallace, Kristin; Bandera, Elisa V; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S; Bondy, Melissa; Cartmell, Kathleen; Cote, Michele L; Funkhouser, Ellen; Paddock, Lisa E; Peters, Edward S; Schwartz, Ann G; Terry, Paul; Alberg, Anthony J; Schildkraut, Joellen M

    2017-07-01

    Smoking is a risk factor for mucinous ovarian cancer (OvCa) in Caucasians. Whether a similar association exists in African Americans (AA) is unknown. We conducted a population-based case-control study of incident OvCa in AA women across 11 geographic locations in the US. A structured telephone interview asked about smoking, demographic, health, and lifestyle factors. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (OR, 95% CI) were estimated from 613 cases and 752 controls using unconditional logistic regression in multivariable adjusted models. Associations were greater in magnitude for serous OvCa than for all OvCa combined. Compared to never smokers, increased risk for serous OvCa was observed for lifetime ever smokers (1.46, 1.11-1.92), former smokers who quit within 0-2 years of diagnosis (5.48, 3.04-9.86), and for total pack-years smoked among lifetime ever smokers (0-5 pack-years: 1.79, 1.23-2.59; >5-20 pack-years: 1.52, 1.05-2.18; >20 pack-years: 0.98, 0.61-1.56); however, we observed no dose-response relationship with increasing duration or consumption and no significant associations among current smokers. Smoking was not significantly associated with mucinous OvCa. Associations for all OvCa combined were consistently elevated among former smokers. The proportion of ever smokers who quit within 0-2 years was greater among cases (23%) than controls (7%). Cigarette smoking may be associated with serous OvCa among AA, which differs from associations reported among Caucasians. Exposure misclassification or reverse causality may partially explain the absence of increased risk among current smokers and lack of dose-response associations. Better characterization of smoking patterns is needed in this understudied population.

  9. Examining the associations of racism, sexism, and stressful life events on psychological distress among African-American women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens-Watkins, Danelle; Perry, Brea; Pullen, Erin; Jewell, Jennifer; Oser, Carrie B

    2014-10-01

    African-American women may be susceptible to stressful events and adverse health outcomes as a result of their distinct social location at the intersection of gender and race. Here, racism and sexism are examined concurrently using survey data from 204 African-American women residing in a southeastern U.S. urban city. Associations among racism, sexism, and stressful events across social roles and contexts (i.e., social network loss, motherhood and childbirth, employment and finances, personal illness and injury, and victimization) are investigated. Then, the relationships among these stressors on psychological distress are compared, and a moderation model is explored. Findings suggest that racism and sexism are a significant source of stress in the lives of African-American women and are correlated with one another and with other stressful events. Implications for future research and clinical considerations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. A Descriptive Study of Individual and Cross-Cultural Differences in Statistics Anxiety

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baloglu, Mustafa; Deniz, M. Engin; Kesici, Sahin

    2011-01-01

    The present study investigated individual and cross-cultural differences in statistics anxiety among 223 Turkish and 237 American college students. A 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was performed on the six dependent variables which are the six subscales of the Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale.…

  11. Multi-modality Imaging: Bird's eye view from the 2015 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Einstein, Andrew J; Lloyd, Steven G; Chaudhry, Farooq A; AlJaroudi, Wael A; Hage, Fadi G

    2016-04-01

    Multiple novel studies were presented at the 2015 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions which was considered a successful conference at many levels. In this review, we will summarize key studies in nuclear cardiology, cardiac magnetic resonance, echocardiography, and cardiac computed tomography that were presented at the Sessions. We hope that this bird's eye view will keep readers updated on the newest imaging studies presented at the meeting whether or not they were able to attend the meeting.

  12. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY POSITION STATEMENT ON THYROID DYSFUNCTION CASE FINDING.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hennessey, James V; Garber, Jeffrey R; Woeber, Kenneth A; Cobin, Rhoda; Klein, Irwin

    2016-02-01

    Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can be readily diagnosed and can be treated in a safe, cost-effective manner. Professional organizations have given guidance on how and when to employ thyroid-stimulating hormone testing for the detection of thyroid dysfunction. Most recently, the United States Preventive Services Task Force did not endorse screening for thyroid dysfunction based on a lack of proven benefit and potential harm of treating those with thyroid dysfunction, which is mostly subclinical disease. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) is concerned that this may discourage physicians from testing for thyroid dysfunction when clinically appropriate. Given the lack of specificity of thyroid-associated symptoms, the appropriate diagnosis of thyroid disease requires biochemical confirmation. The Thyroid Scientific Committee of the AACE has produced this White Paper to highlight the important difference between screening and case-based testing in the practice of clinical medicine. We recommend that thyroid dysfunction should be frequently considered as a potential etiology for many of the nonspecific complaints that physicians face daily. The application and success of safe and effective interventions are dependent on an accurate diagnosis. We, therefore, advocate for an aggressive case-finding approach, based on identifying those persons most likely to have thyroid disease that will benefit from its treatment.

  13. Vasomotor symptoms among Japanese-American and European-American women living in Hilo, Hawaii.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sievert, Lynnette Leidy; Morrison, Lynn; Brown, Daniel E; Reza, Angela M

    2007-01-01

    The Hilo Women's Health Survey was designed and administered to gather baseline data on women's health in Hilo, HI. This randomized, cross-sectional study allowed for a focus on ethnic differences in symptom reporting. The results presented here focus on hot flash and night sweat experience among Japanese-American and European-American women. Survey packets were mailed to street addresses associated with parcel numbers pulled randomly from Hilo tax maps. Of the 6,401 survey packets delivered to households, 1,824 questionnaires were completed and returned. The results reported here are based on 869 women aged 40 to 60, of whom 249 described themselves to be 100% Japanese and 203 described themselves to be 100% European-American. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine whether the relationship between ethnicity and vasomotor symptoms persisted after controlling for other variables. European-American participants were more likely to have ever experienced a hot flash as compared with Japanese-American participants (72% vs 53%, P<0.01). During the 2 weeks before the survey, European-American participants were more likely to have experienced hot flashes (P<0.05) and night sweats (P<0.01). In logistic regression analyses, after controlling for age, body mass index, menopause status, level of education, financial comfort, smoking habits, alcohol intake, exercise, use of hormone therapy, and soy intake, European-American women were still significantly more likely to have experienced hot flashes (odds ratio=1.858) and night sweats (odds ratio=2.672). The results, based on self-reporting of menopausal symptoms, indicate that Japanese-American women report fewer hot flashes and night sweats than European-American women. Japanese-American women reported a higher intake of soy, but soy intake was not associated with fewer vasomotor symptoms.

  14. The American Heart Association Ideal Cardiovascular Health and Incident Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Among Blacks: The Jackson Heart Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Effoe, Valery S; Carnethon, Mercedes R; Echouffo-Tcheugui, Justin B; Chen, Haiying; Joseph, Joshua J; Norwood, Arnita F; Bertoni, Alain G

    2017-06-21

    The concept of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH), defined by the American Heart Association primarily for coronary heart disease and stroke prevention, may apply to diabetes mellitus prevention among blacks. Our sample included 2668 adults in the Jackson Heart Study with complete baseline data on 6 of 7 American Heart Association CVH metrics (body mass index, healthy diet, smoking, total cholesterol, blood pressure, and physical activity). Incident diabetes mellitus was defined as fasting glucose ≥126 mg/dL, physician diagnosis, use of diabetes mellitus drugs, or glycosylated hemoglobin ≥6.5%. A summary CVH score from 0 to 6, based on presence/absence of ideal CVH metrics, was derived for each participant. Cox regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios. Mean age was 55 years (65% women) with 492 incident diabetes mellitus events over 7.6 years (24.6 cases/1000 person-years). Three quarters of participants had only 1 or 2 ideal CVH metrics; no participant had all 6. After adjustment for demographic factors (age, sex, education, and income) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, each additional ideal CVH metric was associated with a 17% diabetes mellitus risk reduction (hazard ratio, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74-0.93). The association was attenuated with further adjustment for homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.79-1.00). Compared with participants with 1 or no ideal CVH metric, diabetes mellitus risk was 15% and 37% lower in those with 2 and ≥3 ideal CVH metrics, respectively. The AHA concept of ideal CVH is applicable to diabetes mellitus prevention among blacks. These associations were largely explained by insulin resistance. © 2017 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.

  15. STATISTICS. The reusable holdout: Preserving validity in adaptive data analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwork, Cynthia; Feldman, Vitaly; Hardt, Moritz; Pitassi, Toniann; Reingold, Omer; Roth, Aaron

    2015-08-07

    Misapplication of statistical data analysis is a common cause of spurious discoveries in scientific research. Existing approaches to ensuring the validity of inferences drawn from data assume a fixed procedure to be performed, selected before the data are examined. In common practice, however, data analysis is an intrinsically adaptive process, with new analyses generated on the basis of data exploration, as well as the results of previous analyses on the same data. We demonstrate a new approach for addressing the challenges of adaptivity based on insights from privacy-preserving data analysis. As an application, we show how to safely reuse a holdout data set many times to validate the results of adaptively chosen analyses. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  16. Structural and sociocultural factors associated with cervical cancer screening among HIV-infected African American women in Alabama.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Michelle; Moneyham, Linda; Kempf, Mirjam-Colette; Chamot, Eric; Scarinci, Isabel

    2015-01-01

    African American women have disproportionately high prevalence rates of HIV and cervical cancer. HIV-infected women are significantly less likely to obtain recommended cervical cancer screenings than HIV-uninfected women. The purpose of this study was to examine sociocultural and structural factors associated with cervical cancer screening among HIV-infected African American in Alabama. The PEN-3 Model and the Health Belief Model were used as theoretical frameworks. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty HIV-infected African American women to identify perceptions, enablers, and nurturers, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived benefits related to cervical cancer and screening. The most common positive perceptions, enablers, and nurturers that contributed to cervical cancer screening included internal motivation and awareness of the importance of HIV-infected women getting Pap tests due to their weakened immune system. Negative perceptions, enablers, and nurturers included lack of knowledge about cervical cancer and screening, and lack of perceived susceptibility to cervical cancer. The results of this study can be used to guide the development of culturally relevant cervical cancer and screening education interventions aimed at increasing cervical cancer screening adherence among HIV-infected African American women.

  17. On the Use of Running Trends as Summary Statistics for Univariate Time Series and Time Series Association

    OpenAIRE

    Trottini, Mario; Vigo, Isabel; Belda, Santiago

    2015-01-01

    Given a time series, running trends analysis (RTA) involves evaluating least squares trends over overlapping time windows of L consecutive time points, with overlap by all but one observation. This produces a new series called the “running trends series,” which is used as summary statistics of the original series for further analysis. In recent years, RTA has been widely used in climate applied research as summary statistics for time series and time series association. There is no doubt that ...

  18. Update on Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Light of Recent Evidence: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, Caroline S; Golden, Sherita Hill; Anderson, Cheryl; Bray, George A; Burke, Lora E; de Boer, Ian H; Deedwania, Prakash; Eckel, Robert H; Ershow, Abby G; Fradkin, Judith; Inzucchi, Silvio E; Kosiborod, Mikhail; Nelson, Robert G; Patel, Mahesh J; Pignone, Michael; Quinn, Laurie; Schauer, Philip R; Selvin, Elizabeth; Vafiadis, Dorothea K

    2015-08-25

    Cardiovascular disease risk factor control as primary prevention in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus has changed substantially in the past few years. The purpose of this scientific statement is to review the current literature and key clinical trials pertaining to blood pressure and blood glucose control, cholesterol management, aspirin therapy, and lifestyle modification. We present a synthesis of the recent literature, new guidelines, and clinical targets, including screening for kidney and subclinical cardiovascular disease for the contemporary management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

  19. Utilization of the American Telemedicine Association's Clinical Practice Guidelines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antoniotti, Nina; Bernard, Jordana

    2013-01-01

    Abstract Background: The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) Standards and Guidelines Committee develops practice standards and guidelines. Key to the Committee's mission is dissemination so the standards can be used in the practice of telemedicine. Over a 2-year period, when a standards document was accessed from the ATA Web site, a short survey was completed, but it did not assess how the documents were used once downloaded. A more formal survey was conducted to determine the impact ATA standards and guidelines are having on healthcare delivery via telemedicine. Materials and Methods: A survey was developed and distributed via SurveyMonkey to 13,177 ATA members and nonmembers in November 2011. Results were compiled and analyzed after a 90-day open period for responses to be submitted. Results: The majority of respondents (96%) believe the practice of telemedicine/telehealth should have standards and guidelines and that the ATA and other professional societies/associations should be responsible for developing them. The top uses of guidelines include guidance for clinical practice, training, gaining reimbursement, and research. Respondents indicating a need for standards and guidelines said the ATA (78.7%) and other professional societies/associations (74.5%) should be responsible for development. When asked to list specific practice guidelines or standards they are using for telehealth, the majority (21.5%) are using in-house (e.g., hospital, company)-developed guidelines, followed by those from professional associations/societies (20.4%) and those developed by the ATA (18.2%). Conclusions: Overall, the survey results indicate guidelines documents developed by the ATA and other professional societies and those developed in-house are being regularly accessed and used in both public and private sectors. Practitioners of telemedicine believe that standards and guidelines are needed for guidance for clinical practice, training, gaining reimbursement, and research

  20. Investigating the American Time Use Survey from an Exposure Modeling Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    This paper describes an evaluation of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey (ATUS) for potential use in modeling human exposures to environmental pollutants. The ATUS is a large, on-going, cross-sectional survey of where Americans spend time and what activ...

  1. Daily Stress and Emotional Well-Being among Asian American Adolescents: Same-Day, Lagged, and Chronic Associations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiang, Lisa; Buchanan, Christy M.

    2014-01-01

    Daily-diary data from 180 Asian American 9th-10th graders (58% female, 75% second generation; "M" age = 14.97 years) were used to investigate how family, school, and peer stress are each associated with same-day and next-day (lagged) well-being, and vice versa. Hierarchical linear modeling provided support for reciprocal links when…

  2. A variational Bayes discrete mixture test for rare variant association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Logsdon, Benjamin A; Dai, James Y; Auer, Paul L; Johnsen, Jill M; Ganesh, Santhi K; Smith, Nicholas L; Wilson, James G; Tracy, Russell P; Lange, Leslie A; Jiao, Shuo; Rich, Stephen S; Lettre, Guillaume; Carlson, Christopher S; Jackson, Rebecca D; O'Donnell, Christopher J; Wurfel, Mark M; Nickerson, Deborah A; Tang, Hua; Reiner, Alexander P; Kooperberg, Charles

    2014-01-01

    Recently, many statistical methods have been proposed to test for associations between rare genetic variants and complex traits. Most of these methods test for association by aggregating genetic variations within a predefined region, such as a gene. Although there is evidence that "aggregate" tests are more powerful than the single marker test, these tests generally ignore neutral variants and therefore are unable to identify specific variants driving the association with phenotype. We propose a novel aggregate rare-variant test that explicitly models a fraction of variants as neutral, tests associations at the gene-level, and infers the rare-variants driving the association. Simulations show that in the practical scenario where there are many variants within a given region of the genome with only a fraction causal our approach has greater power compared to other popular tests such as the Sequence Kernel Association Test (SKAT), the Weighted Sum Statistic (WSS), and the collapsing method of Morris and Zeggini (MZ). Our algorithm leverages a fast variational Bayes approximate inference methodology to scale to exome-wide analyses, a significant computational advantage over exact inference model selection methodologies. To demonstrate the efficacy of our methodology we test for associations between von Willebrand Factor (VWF) levels and VWF missense rare-variants imputed from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Exome Sequencing project into 2,487 African Americans within the VWF gene. Our method suggests that a relatively small fraction (~10%) of the imputed rare missense variants within VWF are strongly associated with lower VWF levels in African Americans.

  3. Gratitude is associated with greater levels of protective factors and lower levels of risks in African American adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Mindy; Kibler, Jeffrey L; Sly, Kaye

    2013-10-01

    The literature suggests gratitude is associated with positive youth development. The current study examined the relationship between gratitude and protective/risk factors among African American youth. Adolescents (N = 389; 50.4% males) ages 12-14 completed measures of gratitude (moral affect and life-orientation), protective factors (e.g., academic and activity engagement, family relationship), and high-risk behaviors (e.g., sexual attitudes and behaviors, drug/alcohol use). Results indicated greater moral affect gratitude was the only variable significantly associated with greater academic interest, better academic performance, and more extra-curricular activity engagement. Greater moral affect and life-orientation gratitude both significantly correlated with positive family relationship. Greater life-orientation gratitude was the only variable significantly associated with abstinence from sexual intimacy, sexual intercourse, likelihood of engaging in sex during primary school, and abstinence from drug/alcohol use. The findings suggest that moral affect gratitude may enhance protective factors while life-orientation gratitude may buffer against high-risk behaviors among African American youth. Copyright © 2013 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Relational Variables and Life Satisfaction in African American and Asian American College Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkel, LaVerne A.; Constantine, Madonna G.

    2005-01-01

    The authors explored associations among relationship harmony, perceived family conflicts, relational self-concept, and life satisfaction in a sample of 169 African American and Asian American college women. As hypothesized, higher relational self-concept, or the extent to which individuals include close relationships in their self-concepts, and…

  5. Meta-analysis of loci associated with age at natural menopause in African-American women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Christina T.L.; Liu, Ching-Ti; Chen, Gary K.; Andrews, Jeanette S.; Arnold, Alice M.; Dreyfus, Jill; Franceschini, Nora; Garcia, Melissa E.; Kerr, Kathleen F.; Li, Guo; Lohman, Kurt K.; Musani, Solomon K.; Nalls, Michael A.; Raffel, Leslie J.; Smith, Jennifer; Ambrosone, Christine B.; Bandera, Elisa V.; Bernstein, Leslie; Britton, Angela; Brzyski, Robert G.; Cappola, Anne; Carlson, Christopher S.; Couper, David; Deming, Sandra L.; Goodarzi, Mark O.; Heiss, Gerardo; John, Esther M.; Lu, Xiaoning; Le Marchand, Loic; Marciante, Kristin; Mcknight, Barbara; Millikan, Robert; Nock, Nora L.; Olshan, Andrew F.; Press, Michael F.; Vaiyda, Dhananjay; Woods, Nancy F.; Taylor, Herman A.; Zhao, Wei; Zheng, Wei; Evans, Michele K.; Harris, Tamara B.; Henderson, Brian E.; Kardia, Sharon L.R.; Kooperberg, Charles; Liu, Yongmei; Mosley, Thomas H.; Psaty, Bruce; Wellons, Melissa; Windham, Beverly G.; Zonderman, Alan B.; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Demerath, Ellen W.; Haiman, Christopher; Murabito, Joanne M.; Rajkovic, Aleksandar

    2014-01-01

    Age at menopause marks the end of a woman's reproductive life and its timing associates with risks for cancer, cardiovascular and bone disorders. GWAS and candidate gene studies conducted in women of European ancestry have identified 27 loci associated with age at menopause. The relevance of these loci to women of African ancestry has not been previously studied. We therefore sought to uncover additional menopause loci and investigate the relevance of European menopause loci by performing a GWAS meta-analysis in 6510 women with African ancestry derived from 11 studies across the USA. We did not identify any additional loci significantly associated with age at menopause in African Americans. We replicated the associations between six loci and age at menopause (P-value < 0.05): AMHR2, RHBLD2, PRIM1, HK3/UMC1, BRSK1/TMEM150B and MCM8. In addition, associations of 14 loci are directionally consistent with previous reports. We provide evidence that genetic variants influencing reproductive traits identified in European populations are also important in women of African ancestry residing in USA. PMID:24493794

  6. Guidelines in electrodiagnostic medicine. American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-02-01

    The American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AAEM) is committed to the development of sound and clinically relevant guidelines through review of literature, expert opinion and consensus. In 1979, with the assistance of its Professional Practice Committee and association leaders, the association published its initial guidelines, Guidelines in Electrodiagnostic Medicine, covering the practice of electrodiagnostic medicine. The committee is charged with ongoing revision of the document, as needed, and the current version includes standards of practice in clinical electromyography, risks in electrodiagnostic medicine, basic equipment requirements, and the role of paramedical support. In 1988, Educational Guidelines for Electrodiagnostic Training Programs (Appendix A) was prepared by the AAEM Training Program Committee and added to aid training program directors in establishing new training programs or in reviewing the current status of the educational aspects of existing programs. In 1986, the AAEM charged its Quality Assurance Committee with the responsibility for the development of guidelines pertinent to electrodiagnostic medical consultations. The impetus for the charge was the requests received from members of the AAEM and other interested parties for educational material on indications for and conduct of electrodiagnostic medical consultations. As a result of the committee's efforts, Suggested Guidelines for Electrodiagnostic Medical Consultations (Appendix D), was published in 1989 and additional sections added subsequently. The current document includes (1) general indications for an electrodiagnostic medical consultation for patients with suspected myopathies, neuromuscular junction disorders, polyneuropathies, mononeuropathies, plexopathies, radiculopathies, neuronopathies and central nervous system disorders, (2) specific indications for patients with suspected lumbosacral or cervical radiculopathies, (3) general principles of electrodiagnostic

  7. The Effect of Public and Private Decisions on University Governance on the Transnational Relations of American-Associated Universities in the Middle East

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rasmus Bertelsen

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the effect of public and private decisions on university governance on how historic and current American-associated universities in the Middle East have and continue to connect as transnational actors with a multitude of public, private and civil society actors in American society. These universities are the classic missionary universities in Beirut and Cairo (the American University of Beirut, Lebanese American University and the American University in Cairo as well as the many branch campuses and new universities with American accreditation or partnership which have appeared especially in the Gulf States. The ability of these universities to engage with actors in American society and the Middle Eastern host society is explained by their model of governance highlighting public and private decisions on primarily owner-ship structure and non- or for-profit status. Affiliated, non-profit status explains academic reputation, while proprietary, for-profit status is detrimental. Academic reputation is the basis of the relationships these universities maintain with American private, public and civil society actors.

  8. American Diabetes Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... for Association Events Messaging Tools Recruiting Advocates Local Market Planning Training Webinars News & Events Advocacy News Call ... and their name will be included in our digital book of remembrance. Donate Today Limited time MATCH ...

  9. Nonparametric statistics for social and behavioral sciences

    CERN Document Server

    Kraska-MIller, M

    2013-01-01

    Introduction to Research in Social and Behavioral SciencesBasic Principles of ResearchPlanning for ResearchTypes of Research Designs Sampling ProceduresValidity and Reliability of Measurement InstrumentsSteps of the Research Process Introduction to Nonparametric StatisticsData AnalysisOverview of Nonparametric Statistics and Parametric Statistics Overview of Parametric Statistics Overview of Nonparametric StatisticsImportance of Nonparametric MethodsMeasurement InstrumentsAnalysis of Data to Determine Association and Agreement Pearson Chi-Square Test of Association and IndependenceContingency

  10. TRANSCULTURALIZATION RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DEVELOPING LATIN AMERICAN CLINICAL PRACTICE ALGORITHMS IN ENDOCRINOLOGY--PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2015 PAN-AMERICAN WORKSHOP BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mechanick, Jeffrey I; Harrell, R Mack; Allende-Vigo, Myriam Z; Alvayero, Carlos; Arita-Melzer, Onix; Aschner, Pablo; Camacho, Pauline M; Castillo, Rogelio Zacarias; Cerdas, Sonia; Coutinho, Walmir F; Davidson, Jaime A; Garber, Jeffrey R; Garvey, W Timothy; González, Fernando Javier Lavalle; Granados, Denis O; Hamdy, Osama; Handelsman, Yehuda; Jiménez-Navarrete, Manuel Francisco; Lupo, Mark A; Mendoza, Enrique J; Jiménez-Montero, José G; Zangeneh, Farhad

    2016-04-01

    The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and American College of Endocrinology (ACE) convened their first Workshop for recommendations to optimize Clinical Practice Algorithm (CPA) development for Latin America (LA) in diabetes (focusing on glycemic control), obesity (focusing on weight loss), thyroid (focusing on thyroid nodule diagnostics), and bone (focusing on postmenopausal osteoporosis) on February 28, 2015, in San Jose, Costa Rica. A standardized methodology is presented incorporating various transculturalization factors: resource availability (including imaging equipment and approved pharmaceuticals), health care professional and patient preferences, lifestyle variables, socio-economic parameters, web-based global accessibility, electronic implementation, and need for validation protocols. A standardized CPA template with node-specific recommendations to assist the local transculturalization process is provided. Participants unanimously agreed on the following five overarching principles for LA: (1) there is only one level of optimal endocrine care, (2) hemoglobin A1C should be utilized at every level of diabetes care, (3) nutrition education and increased pharmaceutical options are necessary to optimize the obesity care model, (4) quality neck ultrasound must be part of an optimal thyroid nodule care model, and (5) more scientific evidence is needed on osteoporosis prevalence and cost to justify intervention by governmental health care authorities. This 2015 AACE/ACE Workshop marks the beginning of a structured activity that assists local experts in creating culturally sensitive, evidence-based, and easy-to-implement tools for optimizing endocrine care on a global scale.

  11. History of Asian American psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leong, Frederick T L; Okazaki, Sumie

    2009-10-01

    An overview of the history of Asian American psychology is provided by reviewing the context for the development of the field as well as the early founding of the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA). The presidents of AAPA as well as key events and conferences are noted. The involvement of AAPA leaders in national mental health policies and activities are reviewed. The substantive areas of Asian American psychology and the education and training of Asian American psychologists are also discussed. The article ends with some comments about the future of Asian American psychology. Copyright 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

  12. Associations between language acculturation, age of immigration, and obesity in the Mexican American Mano A Mano cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chrisman, Matthew; Chow, Wong-Ho; Daniel, Carrie R; Wu, Xifeng; Zhao, Hua

    As Mexican immigrants to the U.S. become acculturated, they face worsening health outcomes such as obesity. The role of language acculturation in the development of obesity has not been thoroughly examined. To examine associations between language acculturation and obesity, data were drawn from the Mexican-American Mano A Mano cohort study. Participants aged 20 years and over (n=18,298) completed baseline questionnaires on socio-demographic and behavioural factors, including physical activity and sitting time. The Bi-dimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics assessed language acculturation. Multivariate-adjusted logistic regression was conducted to investigate associations between language acculturation, immigration age, and obesity, and whether sitting time and physical activity mediated these associations. Individuals with obesity were more linguistically acculturated than individuals who were normal weight or overweight (Pobesity (OR=1.35, 95% CI: 1.12-1.62) in U.S.-born participants and lower risk in Mexico-born participants (OR=0.90, 95%CI=0.81-1.00). For Mexico-born participants, arrival in the U.S. as an adult (≥20years old) was associated with a reduced obesity risk (OR=0.74, 95% CI: 0.67-0.80). Sitting time mediated the association between language acculturation and obesity. Language acculturation may influence obesity development among the U.S.-born Mexican Americans in this cohort, but not their Mexico-born counterparts. Sitting time could be targeted in obesity prevention efforts in this population. Copyright © 2017 Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Analysis of SLC16A11 Variants in 12,811 American Indians: Genotype-Obesity Interaction for Type 2 Diabetes and an Association With RNASEK Expression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Traurig, Michael; Hanson, Robert L; Marinelarena, Alejandra; Kobes, Sayuko; Piaggi, Paolo; Cole, Shelley; Curran, Joanne E; Blangero, John; Göring, Harald; Kumar, Satish; Nelson, Robert G; Howard, Barbara V; Knowler, William C; Baier, Leslie J; Bogardus, Clifton

    2016-02-01

    Genetic variants in SLC16A11 were recently reported to be associated with type 2 diabetes in Mexican and other Latin American populations. The diabetes risk haplotype had a frequency of 50% in Native Americans from Mexico but was rare in Europeans and Africans. In the current study, we analyzed SLC16A11 in 12,811 North American Indians and found that the diabetes risk haplotype, tagged by the rs75493593 A allele, was nominally associated with type 2 diabetes (P = 0.001, odds ratio 1.11). However, there was a strong interaction with BMI (P = 5.1 × 10(-7)) such that the diabetes association was stronger in leaner individuals. rs75493593 was also strongly associated with BMI in individuals with type 2 diabetes (P = 3.4 × 10(-15)) but not in individuals without diabetes (P = 0.77). Longitudinal analyses suggest that this is due, in part, to an association of the A allele with greater weight loss following diabetes onset (P = 0.02). Analyses of global gene expression data from adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and whole blood provide evidence that rs75493593 is associated with expression of the nearby RNASEK gene, suggesting that RNASEK expression may mediate the effect of genotype on diabetes. © 2016 by the American Diabetes Association. Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered.

  14. Systematic review of studies on measurement properties of instruments for adults published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2009-2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuen, Hon K; Austin, Sarah L

    2014-01-01

    We describe the methodological quality of recent studies on instrument development and testing published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT). We conducted a systematic review using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist to appraise 48 articles on measurement properties of assessments for adults published in AJOT between 2009 and 2013. Most studies had adequate methodological quality in design and statistical analysis. Common methodological limitations included that methods used to examine internal consistency were not consistently linked to the theoretical constructs underpinning assessments; participants in some test-retest reliability studies were not stable during the interim period; and in several studies of reliability and convergent validity, sample sizes were inadequate. AJOT's dissemination of psychometric research evidence has made important contributions to moving the profession toward the American Occupational Therapy Association's Centennial Vision. This study's results provide a benchmark by which to evaluate future accomplishments. Copyright © 2014 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  15. Statistics of wind direction and its increments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doorn, Eric van; Dhruva, Brindesh; Sreenivasan, Katepalli R.; Cassella, Victor

    2000-01-01

    We study some elementary statistics of wind direction fluctuations in the atmosphere for a wide range of time scales (10 -4 sec to 1 h), and in both vertical and horizontal planes. In the plane parallel to the ground surface, the direction time series consists of two parts: a constant drift due to large weather systems moving with the mean wind speed, and fluctuations about this drift. The statistics of the direction fluctuations show a rough similarity to Brownian motion but depend, in detail, on the wind speed. This dependence manifests itself quite clearly in the statistics of wind-direction increments over various intervals of time. These increments are intermittent during periods of low wind speeds but Gaussian-like during periods of high wind speeds. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics

  16. Coparenting Experiences in African American Families: An Examination of Single Mothers and their Non-Marital Coparents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Michelle; Jones, Deborah J.; Parent, Justin

    2015-01-01

    African American youth from single mother homes continue to be overrepresented in statistics on risk behavior and delinquency, a trend that many be attributed to father-absence, socioeconomic disadvantage, and compromises in parenting more typical of single than two-parent families. Yet, this risk-focused perspective ignores a long-standing strength of the African American community, the involvement and potential protective impact of extended family members in childrearing. This study describes the experiences of 95 African American single mothers and their non-marital coparents who participated in a study of African American single mother families with an 11 to 16 year old child. Specifically, the study examines: 1) the extent to which nonmarital coparents are involved in childrearing; 2) the relative levels of risk (i.e., depression, mother-coparent conflict) and protective (i.e., parenting) associated with maternal and coparent involvement; and 3) how similarly and/or differently coparent and mother variables operate with regard to youth externalizing problems. Findings reveal that a range of family members and other adults actively participate in childrearing in African American single mother families, coparents do not differ from mothers on certain study variables (i.e., depression and mother-coparent conflict) but do for others (parenting), and coparent involvement is associated with youth adjustment in ways that are similar to our more established understanding of maternal involvement. The potential clinical implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are highlighted. PMID:24479612

  17. Correlates and Predictors of Binge Eating among Native American Women

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Julie Dorton; Winterowd, Carrie

    2012-01-01

    Obesity and being overweight, as determined by body mass index (BMI), each continues to be of concern for many Native American/American Indians (NA/AI). According to the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders," binge eating is excessive eating or consuming large quantities of food over a short period of time and has been associated…

  18. In Asian americans, is having a family member diagnosed with cancer associated with fatalistic beliefs?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolee Polek

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Cancer can evoke long-held cultural beliefs which either facilitate or impede efforts to expand the health literacy of families. Among these beliefs is fatalism which holds that controlling ones′ outcome is not possible, and that ones′ outcome is predestined. Some fatalistic beliefs are broadly held within the Asian American (AA community and may be challenged or reinforced by the experience of having a family member diagnosed with cancer. This study evaluated the relationship between having a family member diagnosed with cancer and selected demographics in AAs on fatalistic beliefs. Methods: Data from 519 AA subjects from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health Information Trends Survey were used to complete a secondary analysis. Descriptive statistics characterize fatalistic beliefs. Four models using four questions assessed fatalistic beliefs as dependent variables and independent variables of having or not having a family member diagnosed with cancer, completing college or not, sex, and age were assessed using ordinal regression. Results: All of the fatalistic beliefs examined were endorsed by large portions of the subjects. When considering the role of being exposed to having a family member with cancer, it was associated with an increase in the likelihood in a belief that one is likely to get cancer, and everything can cause cancer. Being exposed to a family member diagnosed with cancer was not significantly associated with believing, there was little one could do to control their cancer risk. This belief was broadly rejected. While the belief that there are so many different recommendations about preventing cancer, it is hard to know what to do, was broadly endorsed and not associated with having a family member diagnosed with cancer. Conclusions: The major practice implications within oncology nursing suggest the importance in assessing cancer health literacy and providing corrective knowledge in families

  19. The Effects of the Physical Features Associated with Albinism on the Self-Esteem of African American Youths.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gold, Moniqueka E.

    2002-01-01

    This study explored the effects of the physical features associated with albinism on three groups of African American youths (ages 14-19) with albinism: those with no disabilities, those with visual impairments, and those with oculocutaneous albinism. No significant differences in self-esteem were found among the three groups. (Contains…

  20. The Policy Recommendations of the Association of American Geographers as Reflected In the Ventura County Community College.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDannold, Thomas A.

    A survey was conducted to identify the degree to which the Association of American Geographers (AAG) 1970 recommendations on geography programs in two-year colleges were reflected in geography programs offered in the Ventura County Community College District (California). Results indicated that the recommendations were followed to a great extent,…