Sociodemographic risk, parenting, and effortful control: relations to salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol in early childhood.

Early sociodemographic risk, parenting, and temperament were examined as predictors of the activity of children's (N = 148; 81 boys, 67 girls) hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system. Demographic risk was assessed at 18 months (T1), intrusive/overcontrolling parenting and effortful control were assessed at 30 months (T2), and salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase were collected at 72 (T3) months of age. Demographic risk at T1 predicted lower levels of children's effortful control and higher levels of mothers' intrusive/overcontrolling parenting at T2.

Familism, Interparental Conflict, and Parenting in Mexican-Origin Families: A Cultural-Contextual Framework.

The present investigation examined the relations between the cultural belief of familism and various aspects of family functioning and child adjustment, including interparental conflict, parenting, and children's attachment to school, in a sample of 549 two-parent Mexican-origin families. The results indicated that parents' familistic values were negatively associated with interparental conflict for both mothers and fathers. Parents' familistic values were also indirectly associated with parenting through the marital relationship.

Independently controlling protein dot size and spacing in particle lithography.

Particle lithography is a relatively simple, inexpensive technique used to pattern inorganics, metals, polymers, and biological molecules on the micro- and nanometer scales. Previously, we used particle lithography to create hexagonal patterns of protein dots in a protein resistant background of methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)-silane (mPEG-sil). In this work, we describe a simple heating procedure to overcome a potential limitation of particle lithography: the simultaneous change in feature size and center-to-center spacing as the diameter of the spheres used in the lithographic mask is changed.

In vivo terahertz imaging of rat skin burns.

A reflective, pulsed terahertz (THz) imaging system was used to acquire high-resolution (d(10-90)/λ~1.925) images of deep, partial thickness burns in a live rat. The rat's abdomen was burned with a brass brand heated to ~220°C and pressed against the skin with contact pressure for ~10 sec.

Dispositional optimism: a psychological resource for Mexican-origin mothers experiencing economic stress.

Dispositional optimism is believed to be an important psychological resource that buffers families against the deleterious consequences of economic adversity. Using data from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin families (N = 674), we tested a family stress model specifying that maternal dispositional optimism and economic pressure affect maternal internalizing symptoms, which, in turn, affects parenting behaviors and children's social adjustment. As predicted, maternal optimism and economic pressure had both independent and interactive effects on maternal internalizing symptoms, and the effects of these variables on changes over time in child social adjustment were mediated by nurturant and involved parenting.

Development of patient-specific biomechanical models for predicting large breast deformation.

Physically realistic simulations for large breast deformation are of great interest for many medical applications such as cancer diagnosis, image registration, surgical planning and image-guided surgery. To support fast, large deformation simulations of breasts in clinical settings, we proposed a patient-specific biomechanical modelling framework for breasts, based on an open-source graphics processing unit-based, explicit, dynamic, nonlinear finite element (FE) solver. A semi-automatic segmentation method for tissue classification, integrated with a fully automated FE mesh generation approach, was implemented for quick patient-specific FE model generation.

Microsatellite genetic structure and cytonuclear discordance in naturally fragmented populations of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus).

The Great Lakes impose high levels of natural fragmentation on local populations of terrestrial animals in a way rarely found within continental ecosystems. Although separated by major water barriers, woodland deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus gracilis) populations on the islands and on the Upper Peninsula (UP) and Lower Peninsula (LP) of Michigan have previously been shown to have a mitochondrial DNA contact zone that is incongruent with the regional landscape. We analyzed 11 microsatellite loci for 16 populations of P.

THz Medical Imaging: Hydration Sensing.

The application of THz to medical imaging is experiencing a surge in both interest and federal funding. A brief overview of the field is provided along with promising and emerging applications and ongoing research. THz imaging phenomenology is discussed and tradeoffs are identified.

Terahertz sensing in corneal tissues.

This work introduces the potential application of terahertz (THz) sensing to the field of ophthalmology, where it is uniquely suited due to its nonionizing photon energy and high sensitivity to water content. Reflective THz imaging and spectrometry data are reported on ex-vivo porcine corneas prepared with uniform water concentrations using polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions. At 79% water concentration by mass, the measured reflectivity of the cornea was 20.

A reduced order explicit dynamic finite element algorithm for surgical simulation.

Reduced order modelling, in which a full system response is projected onto a subspace of lower dimensionality, has been used previously to accelerate finite element solution schemes by reducing the size of the involved linear systems. In the present work we take advantage of a secondary effect of such reduction for explicit analyses, namely that the stable integration time step is increased far beyond that of the full system. This phenomenon alleviates one of the principal drawbacks of explicit methods, compared with implicit schemes.

Terahertz imaging of biological tissues.

A reflective THz imaging system sensitive to small variations in water concentrations has been developed. Biological tissues such as skin, eyes and teeth were imaged to ascertain the systems response to tissue hydration. Difference in water concentrations translated to contrast in the THz images.

Laser induced shockwaves on flexible polymers for treatment of bacterial biofilms.

Bacterial biofilm-related infections are a burden on the healthcare industry. The effect of laser generated shockwaves through polycarbonate, a flexible polymer, is explored for its ability to generate high peak stresses, and also for its ability to conform to complex wound surfaces. Shockwave pulses in Al coated polycarbonate substrates and a resulting peak stress of greater than 60 MPa was measured which should provide sufficient pressure to kill bacteria.

MR to ultrasound registration for image-guided prostate interventions.

A deformable registration method is described that enables automatic alignment of magnetic resonance (MR) and 3D transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images of the prostate gland. The method employs a novel "model-to-image" registration approach in which a deformable model of the gland surface, derived from an MR image, is registered automatically to a TRUS volume by maximising the likelihood of a particular model shape given a voxel-intensity-based feature that represents an estimate of surface normal vectors at the boundary of the gland. The deformation of the surface model is constrained by a patient-specific statistical model of gland deformation, which is trained using data provided by biomechanical simulations.

Increased incidence of sacroiliac joint infection at a children's hospital.

Background: Pyogenic sacroiliitis (PSI) is an uncommon type of osteoarticular infection. A study is undertaken to confirm an observed increase in incidence of PSI at our pediatric institution and to evaluate any associations with increasing incidence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infection and other factors.

Methods: All inpatients with osteoarticular infection were identified from the periods of 1992 to 1996 and 2004 to 2007.

Bacterial biofilm disruption using laser generated shockwaves.

A system was built to test the efficacy of bacterial biofilm disruption using laser generated shockwaves. The system is based on a Q-switched, ND:YAG pulsed laser operating at a rep rate of 10 Hz with 1500 mJ pulses centered at 1064 nm. The laser pulses were used to create shockwave pulses in Al coated polycarbonate substrates and a resulting peak stress of greater than 50 MPa was measured.

A reduced order finite element algorithm for surgical simulation.

We present a reduced order finite element (FE) algorithm suitable for real-time nonlinear simulation of soft tissues. A dynamic FE formulation with explicit time integration is employed. We demonstrate significant computation acceleration by performing the time integration in a low-dimensional generalised basis, generated from a set of a priori training simulations.

Terahertz sensing of corneal hydration.

An indicator of ocular health is the hydrodyanmics of the cornea. Many corneal disorders deteriorate sight as they upset the normal hydrodynamics of the cornea. The mechanisms include the loss of endothelial pump function of corneal dystophies, swelling and immune response of corneal graft rejection, and inflammation and edema, which accompany trauma, burn, and irritation events.

Patterning of quantum dot bioconjugates via particle lithography.

We present a simple technique to fabricate hexagonally ordered quantum dot bioconjugate (QDBC) dot arrays on glass coverslips. We used particle lithography to create periodic holes in a layer of methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)-silane and then adsorbed QDBCs into the holes. To demonstrate the versatility of this technique, we made separate periodic arrays of quantum dots (QDs) conjugated to three different biologically important molecules: biotin, streptavidin, and anti-mouse IgG.

Real-time surgical simulation using reduced order finite element analysis.

Reduced order modelling, in which a full system response is projected onto a subspace of lower dimensionality, has been used previously to accelerate finite element solution schemes by reducing the size of the involved linear systems. In the present work we take advantage of a secondary effect of such reduction for explicit analyses, namely that the stable integration time step is increased far beyond that of the full system. This phenomenon alleviates one of the principal drawbacks of explicit methods, compared with implicit schemes.

A comparison of the accuracy of statistical models of prostate motion trained using data from biomechanical simulations.

Statistical shape models (SSM) are widely used in medical image analysis to represent variability in organ shape. However, representing subject-specific soft-tissue motion using this technique is problematic for applications where imaging organ changes in an individual is not possible or impractical. One solution is to synthesise training data by using biomechanical modelling.

Life stress, maternal optimism, and adolescent competence in single mother, African American families.

Although research demonstrates many negative family outcomes associated with single-parent households, little is known about processes that lead to positive outcomes for these families. Using 3 waves of longitudinal data, we examined how maternal dispositional optimism and life stressors are associated with parenting and child outcomes in 394 single mother African American families. Confirming prior research, we found that mothers' childhood adversities, current economic pressure, and internalizing problems were associated with lower levels of maternal warmth and child management and with lower child school competence.

Heat Stress and Injury Prevention Practices During Summer High School Football Training in South Texas.

The purpose was to describe practice conditions influencing the risk of heat stress to athletes in summer football training in South Texas high schools, and to compare these conditions to ACSM recommendations for heat stress/injury risk reduction in this population. Thirty (=30) high school summer football practices were observed. Wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was measured before/after practices and practices were observed for: duration/structure; athlete clothing; and rest break frequency/duration/content.

Prescribing competence of junior doctors: does it add up?

Background: Prescribing errors complicate a significant number of paediatric admissions. Ongoing training and monitoring of prescribing competency in junior doctors has occurred in Cardiff since 2001, alongside national measures aimed at improving training and competency.

Aim: Ongoing monitoring of junior doctors' prescribing competency to assess the effect of these national and local initiatives.

Toward a 1550 nm InGaAs photoconductive switch for terahertz generation.

We report a terahertz (THz) photoconductive switch made from a composite of metal ErAs nanoparticles embedded in In(0.53)Ga(0.47)As and coupled to a square spiral antenna.