The robotic lumbar spine: dynamics and feedback linearization control.

The robotic lumbar spine (RLS) is a 15 degree-of-freedom, fully cable-actuated robotic lumbar spine which can mimic in vivo human lumbar spine movements to provide better hands-on training for medical students. The design incorporates five active lumbar vertebrae and the sacrum, with dimensions of an average adult human spine. It is actuated by 20 cables connected to electric motors.

Innovative approaches to promote a culturally competent, diverse health care workforce in an institution serving Hispanic students.

The underrepresentation of minorities among health care providers and researchers is often considered one of the contributing factors to health disparities in these populations. Recent demographic shifts and the higher proportion of minorities anticipated among the newly insured under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act make the need for a more diverse and culturally competent health care workforce an urgent national priority.The authors describe current and future strategies that have been developed at the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at the University of Texas-Pan American (an institution with 89% Hispanic students in 2012) to prepare a culturally competent and ethnically diverse health care workforce that can meet the needs of a diverse population, especially in the college's own community.

Prepubertal exposure to arsenic(III) suppresses circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) delaying sexual maturation in female rats.

Arsenic (As) is a prevalent environmental toxin readily accessible for human consumption and has been identified as an endocrine disruptor. However, it is not known what impact As has on female sexual maturation. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the effects of prepubertal exposure on mammary gland development and pubertal onset in female rats.

Pharmaceuticals, political money, and public policy: a theoretical and empirical agenda.

Why, when confronted with policy alternatives that could improve patient care, public health, and the economy, does Congress neglect those goals and tailor legislation to suit the interests of pharmaceutical corporations? In brief, for generations, the pharmaceutical industry has convinced legislators to define policy problems in ways that protect its profit margin. It reinforces this framework by selectively providing information and by targeting campaign contributions to influential legislators and allies. In this way, the industry displaces the public's voice in developing pharmaceutical policy.

Causes, consequences, and treatment of osteoporosis in men.

Men undergo gradual bone loss with aging, resulting in fragile bones. It is estimated that one in five men will suffer an osteoporotic fracture during their lifetime. The prognosis for men after a hip fracture is very grim.

Cloning and characterization of EF-Tu and EF-Ts from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

We have cloned genes encoding elongation factors EF-Tu and EF-Ts from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and expressed and purified the proteins to greater than 95% homogeneity. Sequence analysis indicated that P. aeruginosa EF-Tu and EF-Ts are 84% and 55% identical to E.

Development of a quality ranking model for home health care providers.

This research aims to increase transparency and simplify consumer decision-making regarding the selection of a home health care provider. Currently, quality information on home health care providers is fragmented and difficult to interpret. In this study, a quality-ranking model is developed by selecting multidimensional quality indicators across multiple sources and respective weights using expert judgment.

A green approach toward quinoxalines and bis-quinoxalines and their biological evaluation against A431, human skin cancer cell lines.

Background: The objective of this study was to develop a practical green procedure to synthesize quinoxalines and bis-quinoxalines and evaluate their inhibitory effects on the viability of A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells.

Method: A series of quinoxaline and bis-quinoxaline derivatives have been designed and synthesized following a microwave-assisted and bismuth nitrate-catalyzed eco-friendly route. A detailed comparison has been made between microwave-induced protocol with the reactions occurred at room temperature.

The importance of hydrogen bonding and aromatic stacking to the affinity and efficacy of cannabinoid receptor CB2 antagonist, 5-(4-chloro-3-methylphenyl)-1-[(4-methylphenyl)methyl]-N-[(1S,2S,4R)-1,3,3-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-yl]-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide (SR144528).

Despite the therapeutic promise of the subnanomolar affinity cannabinoid CB2 antagonist, 5-(4-chloro-3-methylphenyl)-1-[(4-methylphenyl)methyl]-N-[(1S,2S,4R)-1,3,3-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-yl]-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide (SR144528, 1), little is known about its binding site interactions and no primary interaction site for 1 at CB2 has been identified.

A novel Bacillus thuringiensis Cry-like protein from a rare filamentous strain promotes crystal localization within the exosporium.

Mutation of a novel cry-like gene (cry256) from Bacillus thuringiensis resulted in a protein crystal, normally located within the spore's exosporium, being found predominately outside the exosporium. The cry256 gene codes for a 3-domain Cry-like protein that does not correspond to any of the known Cry protein holotypes.

A novel approach to fabricate silk nanofibers containing hydroxyapatite nanoparticles using a three-way stopcock connector.

Electrospinning technique is commonly used to produce micro- and/or nanofibers, which utilizes electrical forces to produce polymeric fibers with diameters ranging from several micrometers down to few nanometers. Desirably, electrospun materials provide highly porous structure and appropriate pore size for initial cell attachment and proliferation and thereby enable the exchange of nutrients. Composite nanofibers consisting of silk and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAp) (NPs) had been considered as an excellent choice due to their efficient biocompatibility and bone-mimicking properties.

Health care access and utilization among Hispanic manufacturing workers along the Texas-Mexico border.

Disparities in health care access, including utilization of preventive health services, are well-documented among ethnic minority populations. This study examines factors associated with health care access and utilization among Hispanic manufacturing employees along the Texas-Mexico border. A cross-sectional survey was administered in 2010 to 228 mostly male (71%) workers.

Contact with gays and lesbians and same-sex marriage support: The moderating role of social context.

Empirical research on the contact hypothesis has paid inadequate attention to the broader social and normative context in which contact occurs. Using data from the nationally representative Portraits of American Life Study, I test whether individuals' core networks moderate the effect of personal contact with gays and lesbians on same-sex marriage attitudes. OLS regression results demonstrate that, though contact is strongly associated with greater support for same-sex marriage, the effect is attenuated for individuals with a higher proportion of religious conservatives in their core network.

Seniors, health information, and the Internet: motivation, ability, and Internet knowledge.

Providing health information to older adults is crucial to empowering them to better control their health, and the information is readily available on the Internet. Yet, little is known about the factors that are important in affecting seniors' Internet search for health information behavior. This work addresses this research deficit by examining the role of health information orientation (HIO), eHealth literacy, and Internet knowledge (IK) in affecting the likelihood of using the Internet as a source for health information.

Carbon monoxide adsorption on platinum-osmium and platinum-ruthenium-osmium mixed nanoparticles.

Density functional calculations (DFT) on carbon monoxide (CO) adsorbed on platinum, platinum-osmium, and platinum-ruthenium-osmium nanoclusters are used to elucidate changes on the adsorbate internal bond and the carbon-metal bond, as platinum is alloyed with osmium and ruthenium atoms. The relative strengths of the adsorbate internal bond and the carbon-metal bond upon alloying, which are related to the DFT calculated C-O and C-Pt stretching frequencies, respectively, cannot be explained by the traditional 5σ-donation/2π*-back-donation theoretical model. Using a modified π-attraction σ-repulsion mechanism, we ascribe the strength of the CO adsorbate internal bond to changes in the polarization of the adsorbate-substrate hybrid orbitals towards carbon.

The mitochondrial nucleoid: integrating mitochondrial DNA into cellular homeostasis.

The packaging of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into DNA-protein assemblies called nucleoids provides an efficient segregating unit of mtDNA, coordinating mtDNA's involvement in cellular metabolism. From the early discovery of mtDNA as "extranuclear" genetic material, its organization into nucleoids and integration into both the mitochondrial organellar network and the cell at large via a variety of signal transduction pathways, mtDNA is a crucial component of the cell's homeostatic network. The mitochondrial nucleoid is composed of a set of DNA-binding core proteins involved in mtDNA maintenance and transcription, and a range of peripheral factors, which are components of signaling pathways controlling mitochondrial biogenesis, metabolism, apoptosis, and retrograde mitochondria-to-nucleus signaling.

Magnetic properties of double perovskite La2BMnO6 (B = Ni or Co) nanoparticles.

Double perovskite La2BMnO6 (B = Ni and Co) nanoparticles with average particle size of ~50 nm were synthesized using a facile, environmentally friendly, and scalable molten-salt reaction at 700 °C in air. Their structural and morphological properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Their magnetic properties were evaluated and compared using dc magnetic M-T and M-H, and ac magnetic susceptibility versus frequency, temperature, and field for the first time.

A case study of the de novo evolution of a complex odometric behavior in digital organisms.

Investigating the evolution of animal behavior is difficult. The fossil record leaves few clues that would allow us to recapitulate the path that evolution took to build a complex behavior, and the large population sizes and long time scales required prevent us from re-evolving such behaviors in a laboratory setting. We present results of a study in which digital organisms-self-replicating computer programs that are subject to mutations and selection-evolved in different environments that required information about past experience for fitness-enhancing behavioral decisions.

Study of the thermodynamics of chromium(III) and chromium(VI) binding to iron(II/III)oxide or magnetite or ferrite and magnanese(II) iron (III) oxide or jacobsite or manganese ferrite nanoparticles.

Removal of chromium(III) or (VI) from aqueous solution was achieved using Fe3O4, and MnFe2O4 nanomaterials. The nanomaterials were synthesized using a precipitation method and characterized using XRD. The size of the nanomaterials was determined to be 22.

Working with Hispanic women who are deaf: recommendations from the literature.

The authors used the hermeneutics approach within social cognitive career theory to explore employment trends and issues over the past 20 years relevant to Hispanic women who are deaf. Barriers to employment were discovered including discrepancies due to gender, race/ethnicity, and severity of hearing loss. Recommendations for policymakers and professionals suggest a need for research that addresses the unique experiences of Hispanic women who are deaf within vocational rehabilitation, the use of social cognitive career theory as it relates to career development and choices, and an increase in education and training to better prepare vocational rehabilitation counselors to work with individuals from multiple minority backgrounds.

Three-dimensional ZnO@MnO2 core@shell nanostructures for electrochemical energy storage.

Three-dimensional (3D) ZnO@MnO2 core@shell branched nanowire arrays exhibit five times higher areal capacitance, better rate performance and smaller inner resistance than their nanowire array counterparts. These novel 3D architectures offer promising designs for powering microelectronics and other autonomous devices on exceptionally small geometric scales.

A Practical Green Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Benzimidazoles Against Two Neglected Tropical Diseases: Chagas and Leishmaniasis.

Antimicrobial resistance is an ever-increasing problem throughout the world and has already reached severe proportions. Two very common neglected tropical diseases are Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis. Chagas' disease is a severe health problem, mainly in Latin America, causing approximately 50000 deaths a year and millions of people are infected.

Localization of function in anterior cingulate cortex: from psychosurgery to functional neuroimaging.

Early localizationists linked anterior cingulate cortex (ACC: Brodmann's area 24 and adjacent regions) with emotional behavior, paving the way for bilateral cingulotomy psychosurgery in severe, treatment resistant, cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic pain, depression, and substance abuse. Neuropsychological follow-up of such cases demonstrated executive function impairment. Abnormal neuroimaged activity in ACC has been found in many psychiatric conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic pain, substance abuse, and schizophrenia.

How are false memories distinguishable from true memories in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm? A review of the findings.

This article reviewed the literature comparing true and false memories. Although false memory experience is typically characterized as compellingly similar to true memory experience, research also indicates many distinctions between these two types of memory. The primary focus of this article was on comparing these two types of memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm on a number of independent and dependent measures.

Health insurance coverage, income distribution and healthcare quality in local healthcare markets.

We develop a theoretical model of a local healthcare system in which consumers, health insurance companies, and healthcare providers interact with each other in markets for health insurance and healthcare services. When income and health status are heterogeneous, and healthcare quality is associated with fixed costs, the market equilibrium level of healthcare quality will be underprovided. Thus, healthcare reform provisions and proposals to cover the uninsured can be interpreted as an attempt to correct this market failure.