The comparative efficacy of lifestyle intervention and metformin by educational attainment in the Diabetes Prevention Program.

Objective: Educational attainment is inversely associated with type 2 diabetes risk, but it is unknown whether education impacts individuals' diabetes prevention efforts. We examined the comparative efficacy of intensive lifestyle intervention and metformin by educational attainment among participants in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), an ongoing U.S.

The feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a Promotora-Led Diabetes Prevention Program (PL-DPP) in Latinas: a pilot study.

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study is to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a Promotora-Led Diabetes Prevention Program (PL-DPP) in Hispanic women (Latinas).

Methods: Twenty Latina adults with prediabetes were enrolled in this single-arm pilot trial of PL-DPP. Participants underwent a year-long lifestyle intervention consisting of 24 sessions divided into 14 weekly core sessions and 10 post-core sessions offered either biweekly or monthly.

Development of a composite outcome score for a complex intervention - measuring the impact of Community Health Workers.

Background: In health services research, composite scores to measure changes in health-seeking behaviour and uptake of services do not exist. We describe the rationale and analytical considerations for a composite primary outcome for primary care research. We simulate its use in a large hypothetical population and use it to calculate sample sizes.

Virus-induced dormancy in the archaeon Sulfolobus islandicus.

Unlabelled: We investigated the interaction between Sulfolobus spindle-shaped virus (SSV9) and its native archaeal host Sulfolobus islandicus. We show that upon exposure to SSV9, S. islandicus strain RJW002 has a significant growth delay where the majority of cells are dormant (viable but not growing) for 24 to 48 hours postinfection (hpi) compared to the growth of controls without virus.

Genomic and phenotypic differentiation among Methanosarcina mazei populations from Columbia River sediment.

Methanogenic archaea are genotypically and phenotypically diverse organisms that are integral to carbon cycling in anaerobic environments. Owing to their genetic tractability and ability to be readily cultivated, Methanosarcina spp. have become a powerful model system for understanding methanogen biology at the cellular systems level.

Neurological level at birth predicts survival to the mid-40s and urological deaths in open spina bifida: a complete prospective cohort study.

Aim: To conduct a 50-year complete, community-based, prospective cohort study to investigate long-term survival, causes of death, and influence of level of the lesion in treated open spina bifida.

Method: The cohort comprised 117 consecutive cases whose backs were closed non-selectively at birth between 1963 and 1971 in Cambridge, UK. In 2013 we surveyed the survivors (n=39, 18 males, 21 females; mean age 46y, range 43-49y) by postal questionnaire and telephone interview.

How Do Small Things Make a Big Difference? Activities to Teach about Human-Microbe Interactions.

Recent scientific studies are providing increasing evidence for how microbes living in and on us are essential to our good health. However, many students still think of microbes only as germs that harm us. The classroom activities presented here are designed to shift student thinking on this topic.

Care staff and family member perspectives on quality of life in people with very severe dementia in long-term care: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Little is known about the quality of life of people with very severe dementia in long-term care settings, and more information is needed about the properties of quality of life measures aimed at this group. In this study we explored the profiles of quality of life generated through proxy ratings by care staff and family members using the Quality of Life in Late-stage Dementia (QUALID) scale, examined factors associated with these ratings, and further investigated the psychometric properties of the QUALID.

Methods: Proxy ratings of quality of life using the QUALID were obtained for 105 residents with very severe dementia, categorised as meeting criteria for Functional Assessment Staging (FAST) stages 6 or 7, from members of care staff (n = 105) and family members (n = 73).

Extracting changes in air temperature using acoustic coda phase delays.

Blast waves produced by 60 high-explosive detonations were recorded at short distances (few hundreds of meters); the corresponding waveforms show charge-configuration independent coda-like features (i.e., similar shapes, amplitudes, and phases) lasting several seconds.

Acculturation and the prevalence of diabetes in US Latino Adults, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2010.

Introduction: US Latinos are growing at the fastest rate of any racial/ethnic group in the United States and have the highest lifetime risk of diabetes. Acculturation may increase the risk of diabetes among all Latinos, but this hypothesis has not been studied in a nationally representative sample. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that acculturation was associated with an increased risk of diabetes in such a sample.

Training medical students in the social determinants of health: the Health Scholars Program at Puentes de Salud.

Purpose: Given the large influence of social conditions on health, physicians may be more effective if they are trained to identify and address social factors that impact health. Despite increasing interest in teaching the social determinants of health in undergraduate medical education, few models exist.

Participants And Methods: We present a 9-month pilot course on the social determinants of health for medical and other health professional students, which is based at Puentes de Salud, Philadelphia, PA, USA, a community health center serving a Latino immigrant population.

"Snacks are not food". Low-income, urban mothers' perceptions of feeding snacks to their preschool-aged children.

Snacking has become more frequent among US preschool-aged children in recent decades and represents a significant proportion of daily energy intake. Social influences on snacking among children, however, are not well understood. This qualitative research described low-income, urban mothers' perceptions of feeding snacks to their preschool-aged children using data from 7 focus groups with 32 participants.

Architecting the Finite Element Method Pipeline for the GPU.

The finite element method (FEM) is a widely employed numerical technique for approximating the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs) in various science and engineering applications. Many of these applications benefit from fast execution of the FEM pipeline. One way to accelerate the FEM pipeline is by exploiting advances in modern computational hardware, such as the many-core streaming processors like the graphical processing unit (GPU).

Adverse childhood experiences, dispositional mindfulness, and adult health.

Objective: To determine whether greater dispositional mindfulness is associated with better adult health across a range of exposures to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

Methods: In 2012, a web-based survey of 2160 Pennsylvania Head Start staff was conducted. We assessed ACE score (count of eight categories of childhood adversity), dispositional mindfulness (Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised), and the prevalence of three outcomes: multiple health conditions (≥ 3 of 7 conditions), poor health behavior (≥ 2 of 5 behaviors), and poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) (≥ 2 of 5 indicators).

Well-being, health and fitness of children who use wheelchairs: feasibility study protocol to develop child-centred 'keep-fit' exercise interventions.

Aim: To undertake the pre-clinical and modelling phases of the Medical Research Council complex intervention framework to underpin development of child-centred 'keep-fit', exercise and physical activity interventions for children and young people who use wheelchairs.

Background: Children who use wheelchairs face many barriers to participation in physical activity, which compromises fitness, obesity, well-being and health. 'Keep-fit' programmes that are child-centred and engaging are urgently required to enhance participation of disabled children and their families as part of a healthy lifestyle.

A stepped wedge cluster randomized control trial of dried blood spot testing to improve the uptake of hepatitis C antibody testing within UK prisons.

Background: The prevalence of hepatitis C (HCV) is elevated within prison populations, yet diagnosis in prisons remains low. Dried blood spot testing (DBST) is a simple procedure for the detection of HCV antibodies; its impact on testing in the prison context is unknown.

Methods: We carried out a stepped-wedge cluster-randomized control trial of DBST for HCV among prisoners within five male prisons and one female prison.

Folate Augmentation of Treatment--Evaluation for Depression (FolATED): randomised trial and economic evaluation.

Background: Folate deficiency is associated with depression. Despite the biological plausibility of a causal link, the evidence that adding folate enhances antidepressant treatment is weak.

Objectives: (1) Estimate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of folic acid as adjunct to antidepressant medication (ADM).

Improving Well-being and Health for People with Dementia (WHELD): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: People with dementia living in care homes often have complex mental health problems, disabilities and social needs. Providing more comprehensive training for staff working in care home environments is a high national priority. It is important that this training is evidence based and delivers improvement for people with dementia residing in these environments.

CRISPR-induced distributed immunity in microbial populations.

In bacteria and archaea, viruses are the primary infectious agents, acting as virulent, often deadly pathogens. A form of adaptive immune defense known as CRISPR-Cas enables microbial cells to acquire immunity to viral pathogens by recognizing specific sequences encoded in viral genomes. The unique biology of this system results in evolutionary dynamics of host and viral diversity that cannot be fully explained by the traditional models used to describe microbe-virus coevolutionary dynamics.

RNA-Seq transcriptome profiling identifies CRISPLD2 as a glucocorticoid responsive gene that modulates cytokine function in airway smooth muscle cells.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory respiratory disease that affects over 300 million people worldwide. Glucocorticoids are a mainstay therapy for asthma because they exert anti-inflammatory effects in multiple lung tissues, including the airway smooth muscle (ASM). However, the mechanism by which glucocorticoids suppress inflammation in ASM remains poorly understood.

Phytoplankton succession affects the composition of Polynucleobacter subtypes in humic lakes.

Phytoplankton influence the composition of bacterial communities, but the taxonomic specificity of algal-bacterial interactions is unclear due to the aggregation of ecologically distinct bacterial populations by community characterization methods. Here we examine whether phytoplankton seasonal succession affects the composition of subtypes within the cosmopolitan freshwater bacterial genus Polynucleobacter. Changes in the composition of Polynucleobacter subtypes were characterized in samples collected weekly from May to August in 2003 and 2008 from three humic lakes using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting of the protein-encoding cytochrome c oxidase ccoN gene.