Tetrachloroethylene exposure and neurobehavioral performance among children living near multiple contamination sites.

Background: Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) is a known neurotoxicant mainly observed in populations with high level occupational exposure. Health effects of low-level community exposure are poorly understood. This study evaluated PCE exposure and neurobehavioral performance in 6 to 11-year-old children living in a community with multiple PCE contamination sites.

Effects of a Yoga-Based Stress Intervention Program on the Blood Pressure of Young Police Officers: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Despite improvements in health education and treatment, arterial hypertension remains a major health problem of increasing epidemiological importance. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to determine the impact of regular yoga breathing exercises on blood pressure, work-related stress, and the prevalence of arterial hypertension in young police academy trainees with no existing comorbidities. A single-center, prospective, randomized controlled trial.

Catastrophic health expenditures arising from out-of-pocket payments: Evidence from South African income and expenditure surveys.

This study examines catastrophic health expenditures and the potential for such payments to impoverish South African households. The analysis applies three different catastrophic expenditure measurements, and we apply them across four South African Income and Expenditure Surveys. Since households have limited resources, they are also limited in their capacity to purchase health care.

The effect of tobacco expenditure on expenditure shares in South African households: A genetic matching approach.

This paper examines whether tobacco expenditure leads to the crowding out or crowding in of different expenditure items in South Africa. We apply genetic matching to expenditure quartiles of the 2010/2011 South African Income and Expenditure Survey. Genetic matching is a more appealing approach for dealing with the endogeneity of tobacco expenditure that often plagues studies using systems of demand equations.

Assessing changes in social determinants of health inequalities in South Africa : a decomposition analysis.

Background: Despite various policy interventions that have targeted reductions in socio-economic inequalities in health and health care in post-Apartheid South Africa, evidence suggests that not much has really changed. In particular, health inequalities, which are strongly linked to social determinants of health (SDH), persist. This study, thus, examines how changes in the SDH have impacted health inequalities over the last decade, the second since the end of Apartheid.

Catastrophic health payments: does the equivalence scale matter?

We present a revised method for estimating equivalence scales. Such scales are used to adjust household welfare to account for the size of the household, and are used extensively in the application of the World Health Organization's (WHO) methodology for the evaluation of catastrophic health payments. Applications of the WHO method are underpinned by early estimates that do not control for household income, and, therefore, are likely to overstate equivalence.

Assessing regional variations in the effect of the removal of user fees on facility-based deliveries in rural Zambia.

Background: Maternal health remains a concern in sub-Saharan Africa, where maternal mortality averages 680 per 100,000 live births and almost 50% of the approximately 350,000 annual maternal deaths occur. Improving access to skilled birth assistance is paramount to reducing this average, and user fee reductions could help.

Objective: The aim of this research was to analyse the effect of user fee removal in rural areas of Zambia on the use of health facilities for childbirth.

Quasi-experimental evidence on tobacco tax regressivity.

Tobacco taxes are known to reduce tobacco consumption and to be regressive, such that tobacco control policy may have the perverse effect of further harming the poor. However, if tobacco consumption falls faster amongst the poor than the rich, tobacco control policy can actually be progressive. We take advantage of persistent and committed tobacco control activities in South Africa to examine the household tobacco expenditure burden.

An assessment of the effect of user fee policy reform on facility-based deliveries in rural Zambia.

Background: Improving maternal health outcomes by reducing barriers to accessing maternal health services is a key goal for most developing countries. This paper analyses the effect of user fee removal, which was announced for rural areas of Zambia in April 2006, on the use of public health facilities for childbirth.

Methods: Data from the 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey, including birth histories for the five years preceding the survey, is linked to administrative data and geo-referenced health facility census data.

Effect of (2)H and (18)O water isotopes in kinesin-1 gliding assay.

We show for the first time the effects of heavy-hydrogen water ((2)H2O) and heavy-oxygen water (H2 (18)O) on the gliding speed of microtubules on kinesin-1 coated surfaces. Increased fractions of isotopic waters used in the motility solution decreased the gliding speed of microtubules by a maximum of 21% for heavy-hydrogen and 5% for heavy-oxygen water. We also show that gliding microtubule speed returns to its original speed after being treated with heavy-hydrogen water.

Utilization of focused antenatal care in Zambia: examining individual- and community-level factors using a multilevel analysis.

Objectives: We examine the individual- and community-level factors associated with the utilization of antenatal care, following the adoption of the focused antenatal care (FANC) approach in Zambia.

Methods: Using the 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey, linked with administrative and health facility census data, we specify two multilevel logistic models to assess the factors associated with (1) the inadequate use of antenatal care (ANC) (defined as three or fewer visits) and (2) the non-use of ANC in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Results: Although all women in the selected sample had at least one ANC visit, 40% did not have the minimum number required (four), whereas more than 80% of the initial check-ups did not occur in the first trimester.

Deep brain stimulation of the globus pallidus suppresses post-traumatic dystonic tremor.

Dystonic tremor is an unusual movement disorder that is highly disabling and difficult to treat medically. We describe an 18-year-old patient with dystonic tremor whose medical treatment failed, and was considered for surgery. The patient had a long-standing dystonic tremor and was recommended for globus pallidus (GP) deep brain stimulation.

Effects of surface passivation on gliding motility assays.

In this study, we report differences in the observed gliding speed of microtubules dependent on the choice of bovine casein used as a surface passivator. We observed differences in both speed and support of microtubules in each of the assays. Whole casein, comprised of α(s1), α(s2), β, and κ casein, supported motility and averaged speeds of 966±7 nm/s.

Lessons learned from 14 years of outcomes: the need for collaboration, utilization, and projection.

In 1995, the Indiana Association of Residential Child Care Agencies (IARCCA), an association of children and family services, responded to a request to demonstrate effectiveness of residential care. The organization developed a vision for evaluating outcomes that incorporated collaboration with others, use of data and projection toward the future. This guiding vision led to an ongoing project for IARCCA member agencies across Indiana.

On health insurance and household decisions: a treatment effect analysis.

In developing countries, where health insurance is not a commonly purchased financial instrument, recent debates have revolved around extending health insurance coverage to a wider range of the population, primarily via compulsory insurance schemes. However, these debates rarely consider the competing demands placed on the family budget, which will influence the acceptability of the program by the populace. In this paper, we draw on data from the 2000 income and expenditure survey to examine treatment effects associated with household insurance status, providing a detailed examination of expenditure substitution patterns within South Africa.

Observe, listen, wonder, and respond: A preliminary exploration of reflective function skills in early care providers.

Parents' behaviors demonstrating reflective capacity towards their children, parental reflective functioning, have been identified as central to both the formation of a secure attachment and therapeutic efforts to remediate attachment problems (Fonagy & Target, 2005; Sadler, Slade, & Mayes, 2006). We hypothesize that reflective skills in providers may be key elements in effecting change through the parent-professional relationship. As a first step, the present study examined early care and intervention providers' self-report of the importance of reflective practice skills in their work with families of young children.

Addressing the disproportionate representation of children of color: a collaborative community approach.

The state of Indiana recommended a committee be formed to address the disproportional representation of black youth in out-of-home placements. In response, the Indiana Disproportionality Committee (IDC) was established. This article presents the development, objectives and future of the IDC.

Fever-range whole-body thermal therapy combined with cisplatin, gemcitabine, and daily interferon-alpha: a description of a phase I-II protocol.

Purpose: The purpose of the Phase I component of this study was to find the maximally tolerated dose (MTD) of cisplatin administered within a regimen of fever-range whole body thermal therapy (FR-WB-TT), cisplatin, gemcitabine, and low-dose interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha). The Phase II component aimed to assess which cancer diagnoses responded to the regimen, the response rate, and response duration.

Materials And Methods: The protocol design derived from a schedule-optimized preclinical regimen.

DNA transport in hierarchically-structured colloidal-nanoparticle porous-wall nanochannels.

We report a simple approach to the formation of 3D colloidal nanoparticle structures incorporating enclosed mesoscopic structures through a simple process of spin-coating-driven directed self-assembly onto lithographically defined polymer templates. Removal of the buried polymer patterns by high temperature calcination results in the formation of hierarchically enclosed channels, continuous networks, isolated cavities, and multilayered structures with high stability and environmental resistance. These channels are used to investigate the transport of DNA molecules in constrained geometries.

Temperature dependent properties of a kinesin-3 motor protein from Thermomyces lanuginosus.

Kinesins are cytoskeletal motor proteins that share a common mechanochemical motor domain, and are responsible for trafficking macromolecules. Here we report the cloning and characterization of a monomeric, kinesin-3 (TKIN) from Thermomyces lanuginosus. TKIN displayed a maximum rate of ATP hydrolysis at approximately 55 degrees C; the K(m)(ATP) was also significantly greater at 50 degrees C.

Dynamic force spectroscopy of protein-DNA interactions by unzipping DNA.

We demonstrate the first site-specific single-molecule characterization of the prominent activation barrier for the disruption of a protein-DNA binding complex. We achieved this new capability by combining dynamic force spectroscopy with unzipping force analysis of protein association and used the combination to investigate restriction enzyme binding to specific DNA sites. Analysis revealed lifetimes and interaction distances for three protein-DNA interactions.

Probing protein-DNA interactions by unzipping a single DNA double helix.

We present unzipping force analysis of protein association (UFAPA) as a novel and versatile method for detection of the position and dynamic nature of protein-DNA interactions. A single DNA double helix was unzipped in the presence of DNA-binding proteins using a feedback-enhanced optical trap. When the unzipping fork in a DNA reached a bound protein molecule we observed a dramatic increase in the tension in the DNA, followed by a sudden tension reduction.