Publications by authors named "Katherine Novak"

Bacterial populations are highly adaptive. They can respond to stress and survive in shifting environments. How the behaviours of individual bacteria vary during stress, however, is poorly understood.

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First-year students of traditional college age often drink irresponsibly, especially if they believe that alcohol use is integral to the college experience. Individuals who subscribe to this view embrace their transitional status, recognize that they have relatively few role obligations, and thus regard the college years as the timeframe for drinking. Volunteerism, which places additional constraints on students' behaviors by facilitating their integration into mature adult society and increasing social responsibility, may be an avenue for reducing levels of alcohol consumption among this subgroup.

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Young adult cancer survivors (YAs) are confronted with immense financial challenges in the wake of their treatment. Medical bills and loss of savings may cause YAs to forgo recommended medications or follow-up appointments. Young survivors with financial concerns also report depression, stress and anxiety.

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Unlabelled: The angiogenic switch, a rate-limiting step in tumor progression, has already occurred by the time most human tumors are detectable. However, despite significant study of the mechanisms controlling this switch, the kinetics and reversibility of the process have not been explored. The stability of the angiogenic phenotype was examined using an established human liposarcoma xenograft model.

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In this article we examine the effects of public self-consciousness (PSC) and a cross-situational reactivity to embarrassing encounters (EMB) on college students' levels of alcohol consumption by levels of perceived peer drinking. The analysis of self-report data from two undergraduate samples (n = 118 and n = 195) yielded virtually identical results and suggests that PSC and EMB affect alcohol use primarily among students with friends who drink heavily. Among these individuals, our findings are consistent with a protective self-presentational model.

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The purpose of this study is to assess the extent to which locus of self (institutional versus impulse), measured using the Twenty Statements Test (TST), moderates the relationship between beliefs about alcohol and the college experience (BACE) and alcohol use among college undergraduates. Although the majority of our respondents listed more idiosyncratic personal characteristics and preferences than consensual social roles in response to the TST, the number of students classified as institutionals was notably higher than what has been reported within the literature. In opposition to our hypothesis that BACE would affect levels of alcohol consumption primarily among these individuals, our results indicated that the perception that alcohol use is integral to the college experience had a relatively minimal effect on drinking among respondents who defined themselves in terms of institutional roles.

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Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a leading cause of acute tubular necrosis (ATN) and delayed graft function in transplanted organs. Up-regulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) propagates the microinflammatory response that drives IRI. This study sought to determine the specific effects of Marimastat (Vernalis, BB-2516), a broad spectrum MMP and TNF-alpha-converting enzyme inhibitor, on IRI-induced ATN.

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Objective: To determine the effects of sunitinib, a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) antagonist, on intra-abdominal adhesions.

Background: In the United States, complications from adhesions cost $1 billion and account for 846,000 inpatient days annually. Endothelial mitogens, such as VEGF, are up-regulated during adhesion formation.

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Background: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) are mediators of liver regeneration. To determine whether MMPs are required for normal hepatic regeneration, we performed 67% hepatectomies on mice treated with a broad-spectrum MMP-inhibitor, and assessed the effect on liver regeneration and urinary MMP activity.

Methods: Mice were subjected to sham operations, 67% hepatectomy, or 67% hepatectomy plus treatment with the broad-spectrum MMP inhibitor Marimastat.

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Qualitative studies of alcohol's ritual influences indicate that college undergraduates who drink heavily tend to view alcohol use as integral to the student role and feel entitled to drink irresponsibly. Our analyses, based on a standardized measure of these beliefs administered to approximately 300 students, confirmed these findings. Among our sample, beliefs about alcohol and the college experience had an effect on levels of alcohol consumption similar in magnitude to that of other variables commonly associated with a risk for heavy drinking.

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The analysis of self-report data from 147 college undergraduates suggested that alcohol expectancies moderate the effect of a dispositional susceptibility to embarrassment elicited by undesired conspicuousness [center-of-attention-induced embarrassability (CAE)] on drinking behavior. Individuals unlikely to experience embarrassment when they engage in behaviors that make them stand out in a crowd, a common occurrence when one drinks to excess, drank heavily if they expected alcohol to make them more assertive socially. Students with similar beliefs about the effects of alcohol on social interaction who were high in CAE consumed substantially less alcohol than the latter individuals.

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