Longitudinal change in the neural bases of adolescent social self-evaluations: effects of age and pubertal development.

Self-evaluations undergo significant transformation during early adolescence, developing in parallel with the heightened complexity of teenagers' social worlds. Intuitive theories of adolescent development, based in part on animal work, suggest that puberty is associated with neural-level changes that facilitate a "social reorientation" (Nelson et al., 2005).

Diabetes self-management in a low-income population: impacts of social support and relationships with the health care system.

Objectives: This article reports on results of a qualitative study of social supports and institutional resources utilized by individuals living with diabetes in a high-poverty urban setting. The goal was to examine how access to social capital among low-income populations facilitates and impedes their self-efficacy in diabetes self-management.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 patients with diabetes from a safety net primary care practice in Buffalo, New York.

Soil moisture influences the development of Haemonchus contortus and Trichostrongylus colubriformis to third stage larvae.

Two climate chamber experiments were conducted to determine the effect of varying initial soil moisture (0, 10 and 15%), simulated rainfall amount (0, 12 and 24 mm) and simulated rainfall timing (days -1, 0 and 3 relative to faecal deposition) on development (day 14) of Haemonchus contortus and Trichostrongylus colubriformis to the third stage larvae (L3) and faecal moisture (FM). Increasing initial soil moisture content from 0 to 10 or 15% led to higher recovery of total L3 (P<0.001).

Measurement of phenotypic resilience to gastro-intestinal nematodes in Merino sheep and association with resistance and production variables.

A cross-over experiment was conducted to compare six different phenotypic measures of resilience to gastro-intestinal nematodes (predominantly Haemonchus contortus) in Merino sheep and their association with resistance and production levels. On each of six farms, 120 ewes born in 2006 and 120 older mixed age ewes were selected at shearing in 2007. Of these, 60 in each mob were serially treated with long-acting anthelmintics to suppress worm populations.

'Like me?': ventromedial prefrontal cortex is sensitive to both personal relevance and self-similarity during social comparisons.

Social comparisons are an important means by which we gain information about the self, but little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying comparative social judgment, as most prior functional magnetic resonance imaging research on this topic has investigated judgments of self or others in isolation. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has routinely been implicated in social cognitive tasks that rely on such absolute judgments about the self or others, but it is unclear whether activity in this region is modulated by personal relevance of social stimuli or self-similarity of judgment targets. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we demonstrate that these forces interact to determine vmPFC response during social comparisons, as well as neural activity in the bilateral anterior insulae.

A community-academic partnership to adapt a curriculum for people with serious mental illnesses and diabetes.

Background: Individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMI) represent a high-risk health disparities population disproportionately affected by diabetes and obesity.

Objectives: This paper describes a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to adapting a well-known evidence-based behavioral change protocol, the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle intervention, for individuals with diabetes and SMI in the community setting.

Methods: A committee composed of university researchers and representatives from the recovery community modified the DPP following three criteria: Person centeredness, practicality, and empowerment.

Transforming community members into diabetes cultural health brokers: the Neighborhood Health Talker project.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a community-based diabetes education pilot project. The Neighborhood Health Talker project aimed to train and implement cultural health brokers primarily targeting communities of color to improve community members' diabetes knowledge and diabetes self-management skills. A secondary aim was to establish diabetes resource libraries accessible to communities that normally experience barriers to these resources.

Effect of simulated rainfall timing on faecal moisture and development of Haemonchus contortus and Trichostrongylus colubriformis eggs to infective larvae.

Three climate-controlled chamber experiments were conducted to determine the effect of 32 mm simulated rainfall applied prior to (days -4 to -1) or after (days 0-7) faecal deposition and as a single (32 mm) or split (2 × 16 mm) application on faecal moisture (FM) and development of H. contortus and T. colubriformis to third stage infective larvae (L3).

Medial prefrontal lesions in mice impair sustained attention but spare maintenance of information in working memory.

Working memory and attention are complex cognitive functions that are disrupted in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Mouse models of such human diseases are commonly subjected to maze-based tests that can neither distinguish between these cognitive functions nor isolate specific aspects of either function. Here, we have adapted a simple visual discrimination task, and by varying only the timing of events within the same task construct, we are able to measure independently the behavioral response to increasing attentional demand and increasing length of time that information must be maintained in working memory.

Supercharged end-to-side anterior interosseous to ulnar motor nerve transfer for intrinsic musculature reinnervation.

Functional motor recovery after peripheral nerve injury is predominantly determined by the time to motor end plate reinnervation and the absolute number of regenerated motor axons that reach target. Experimental models have shown that axonal regeneration occurs across a supercharged end-to-side (SETS) nerve coaptation. In patients with a recovering proximal ulnar nerve injury, a SETS nerve transfer conceptually is useful to protect and preserve distal motor end plates until the native axons fully regenerate.

Utilization of Savannah Harbor river sediment as the primary raw material in production of fired brick.

A laboratory-scale study was conducted to assess the feasibility of the production of fired bricks from sediments dredged from the Savannah Harbor (Savannah, GA, USA). The dredged sediment was used as the sole raw material, or as a 50% replacement for natural brick-making clay. Sediment bricks were prepared using the stiff mud extrusion process from raw mixes consisted of 100% dredged sediment, or 50% dredged sediment and 50% brick clay.

Does the home environment and the sex of the child modify the adverse effects of prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos on child working memory?

Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphorus insecticide, has long been associated with delayed neurocognitive development and most recently with decrements in working memory at age 7. In the current paper, we expanded the previous work on CPF to investigate how additional biological and social environmental factors might create or explain differential neurodevelopmental susceptibility, focusing on main and moderating effects of the quality of the home environment (HOME) and child sex. We evaluate how the quality of the home environment (specifically, parental nurturance and environmental stimulation) and child sex interact with the adverse effects of prenatal CPF exposure on working memory at child age 7years.

Primary perivascular epithelioid cell neoplasm (PEComa) of bone: report of two cases and review of the literature.

Primary perivascular epithelioid cell neoplasms (PEComas) of bone are rare mesenchymal tumors. Histologically, they are composed predominantly of perivascular epithelioid cells and have the capacity to metastasize. PEComas have been reported within intra-abdominal and intra-pelvic organs.

Living with diabetes on Buffalo, New York's culturally diverse West Side.

Objectives: This study explores the perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs that inform how people live with diabetes in a high poverty, ethnically diverse neighborhood with a growing population of refugees. The specific research objective was to examine participants' explanations of how their diabetes began, understandings about the illness, description of symptoms, as well as physical and emotional reactions to the diagnosis.

Methods: Qualitative design using semi-structured interviews.

Disseminated germinoma in the brain and cervical spinal cord 10 years after radiographic resolution of pineal germinoma.

Intracranial germinoma, a radiosensitive tumor, is seldom recurrent following initial treatment. When it does recur, it is usually soon after initial treatment and secondary to inadequate radiation field coverage of the tumor. Rarely, there have been case reports of late recurrence many years after initial therapy.

The influence of reproductive physiology and nutrient supply on the periparturient relaxation of immunity to the gastrointestinal nematode Trichostrongylus colubriformis in Merino ewes.

A pen experiment was conducted to investigate the interaction of early-weaning and nutrient supply on the periparturient relaxation of immunity to the gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) Trichostrongylus colubriformis in Merino ewes. Mixed-age pregnant and non-pregnant (dry) ewes were infected with 8,000 T. colubriformis L(3)/week, and fed either a high or low quality diet.

Integrated parasite management: products for adoption by the Australian sheep industry.

The increasing cost of production loss caused by gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) highlights the importance of good control programs. However, the endemic nature of anthelmintic resistance also reminds of the need for nonchemical options. Both chemical and nonchemical control options need to be integrated into regional parasite management programs (IPM) with the emphasis on component options determined by factors such as major GIN species, regional climate, property size and enterprise structure.

The impacts of "growing our own": a pilot project to address health disparities by training health professionals to become certified diabetes educators in safety net practices.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of incorporating certified diabetes educator trainees into medical practices on patient diabetes outcomes.

Methods: This was a mixed methods practice-based evaluation study undertaken in 2 primary care practices in high-poverty neighborhoods in Buffalo, New York. The evaluation entailed a physician-referred patient cohort with pre- and postanalysis of chart review data corresponding to the American Diabetes Association's diabetes indicators.

Flexible visual processing of spatial relationships.

Visual processing breaks the world into parts and objects, allowing us not only to examine the pieces individually, but also to perceive the relationships among them. There is work exploring how we perceive spatial relationships within structures with existing representations, such as faces, common objects, or prototypical scenes. But strikingly, there is little work on the perceptual mechanisms that allow us to flexibly represent arbitrary spatial relationships, e.

No loss of production due to larval challenge in sheep given continuous anthelmintic treatment via a controlled release capsule.

This study aimed to quantify production loss due to larval challenge in sheep administered a controlled release albendazole capsule (CRC) and thus determine the suitability of CRC treated sheep as a proxy for worm-free sheep in grazing experiments. The experiment used an incomplete 2 × 3 latin square design with 81 Merino wethers. Sheep were either infected (INF) with mixed oral infection of albendazole-susceptible Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, and Teladorsagia circumcincta (initial bolus then thrice weekly maintenance) or remained uninfected (UINF).

High prevalence of undetected vitamin D deficiency in an urban minority primary care practice.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among patients in an inner-city practice with a large African American population, and to evaluate the efficacy of vitamin D replacement as part of routine care.

Methods: A chart review was undertaken to identify patients aged 18 years and more with at least one 25-hydroxyvitamin D level. When patients were found to be deficient (vitamin D < 20) they were placed on 50000 units ergocalciferol monthly or over-the-counter calcium supplements with vitamin D.

Fasting Blood Glucose and Depressive Mood among Patients with Mental Illness in a Medicaid Managed Care Program.

Objective. This study explores the relationship between depressive symptoms, as measured by the PHQ-9 depression screen and blood glucose levels among patients with diabetes enrolled in Gold Choice, a Medicaid managed care program for individuals with mental illness and/or substance abuse. Methods.