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An upward trend in suicide rate among Hong Kong adolescents is a major cause for concern and therefore, a study intended to investigate the simultaneous relationships of family relationships, school support and peer support to suicidal ideation, as well as the mediating relationships of self-esteem and depression is conducted. Within the adolescents' psychological system feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness are contributory to depression, which leads to suicidal thoughts as a way out.

Few African countries have the resources to provide optimal cardiac surgery care. We explored needs at cardiac surgery centers in Namibia, Zambia, and Uganda. Our objectives were (1) to determine the key variables to be included in a cardiac surgery needs assessment tool and (2) to highlight the current initiatives, challenges and opportunities, and future goals for cardiac surgery in these 3 countries. We conducted in-depth interviews with stakeholders in each country as well as surveys of surgical facilities. We synthesized our findings using a health systems conceptual framework. Each program's current capacity was compared with a standardized definition of "adequate" surgical capacity. On the basis of these findings, we developed a formal needs assessment questionnaire for use in resource-constrained countries. Although each of these countries has adequate facilities and surgical expertise, they still lack key support staff and material resources. Training and mentorship programs are being built, and the sites participate in cardiovascular research. Yet a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach—including palliative care and rehabilitation—is lacking, and patients in remote areas are not being served. These observations allowed us to define the variables in our needs assessment tool. Our study demonstrates the great potential that exists to expand cardiac surgery in Africa and highlights some of the major resource bottlenecks that may hinder the scale-up of surgical programs. Our needs assessment questionnaire will assist ministries of health in building sustainable cardiac surgery programs using innovative Afro-centric solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a preventable heart condition that remains endemic among vulnerable groups in many countries. After a period of relative neglect, there has been a resurging interest in RHD worldwide over the past decade. In this Scientific Expert Panel, the authors summarize recent advances in the science of RHD and sketch out priorities for current action and future research. Key questions for laboratory research into disease pathogenesis and epidemiological research on the burden of disease are identified. The authors present a variety of pressing clinical research questions on optimal RHD prevention and advanced care. In addition, they propose a policy and implementation research agenda that can help translate current evidence into tangible action. The authors maintain that, despite knowledge gaps, there is sufficient evidence for national and global action on RHD, and they argue that RHD is a model for strengthening health systems to address other cardiovascular diseases in limited-resource countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The base of the Campanian Stage does not have a ratified Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP); however, several potential boundary markers have been proposed including the base of the Scaphites leei III ammonite Zone and the base of the paleomagnetic Chron C33r. Calcareous nannofossil assemblages from the Smoky Hill Member of the Niobrara Formation in the central Western Interior Seaway, USA were analyzed from two localities to determine relevant biohorizons and their relationships to these potential boundary markers. In a previous study, the Aristocrat Angus 12-8 core (Colorado) was astrochronologically dated and constrained using macrofossil zonations and radiometric ages. The Smoky Hill Member type area (Kansas) provides an expanded interval with good to excellent nannofossil preservation. Five biohorizons are useful for recognition of the Santonian/Campanian transition within the Smoky Hill Member type area, and three are useful in the Aristocrat Angus 12-8 core. The first occurrences (FOs) of Aspidolithus parcus parcus and Aspidolithus parcus constrictus , as well as the last occurrences (LOs) of Zeugrhabdotus moulladei , Helicolithus trabeculatus specimens larger than 7 μm, and Zeugrhabdotus biperforatus are in close stratigraphic proximity to the base of the Scaphites leei III Zone and the base of Chron C33r. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent history of planning policy in England leaves the treatment of housing supply in a confused position. Much depends on the analysis of evidence on the current and future need and demand for housing for groups of inter-related localities. Arguably the most appropriate spatial scale of analysis of market adjustment processes is the functional urban sub-region, and this article discusses the development and application of an economic market model at this level, applied to c. 100 functional housing market areas across England. This goes beyond most previous analyses of UK housing markets, which have lacked explicit treatment of land-use planning and the supply process, while also recognising the economic and supply influences on demographic change. Based mainly on short-medium panel datasets and some micro surveys, component models for migration, household formation, prices, rents, and new construction are estimated and combined with simpler labour market and demographic accounting to build a simulation model which can explore the potential impacts of economic, demographic and planning policy scenarios. Through a range of examples applied to groupings of sub-regions, and two local case studies, this paper focuses on the way housebuilding, demographics and markets adjust to local decisions and the implications of this ‘outcome-oriented’ approach for planning. The results confirm a wider literature in showing that planning restriction raises housing costs, but underlines that the effects are quite gradual, particularly given the rather partial response of new housebuilding itself to planning decisions. They also show the interdependence between nearby sub-regions, and the likely adverse effects of leaving decisions to the local level, as well as the somewhat mixed impact of different levels of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Since 1975 cells lines from patients with suspected inborn errors of vitamin B12 metabolism have been referred to our laboratory because of elevations of homocysteine, methylmalonic acid, or both. Design: Cultured fibroblasts from patients were subjected to a battery of tests: incorporation of labelled propionate and methyltetrahydrofolate into cellular macromolecules, to test the functional integrity of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase and methionine synthase, respectively; uptake of labelled cyanocobalamin and synthesis of adenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin; and, where applicable, complementation analysis. Results: This approach has allowed for the discovery of novel steps in the cellular transport and metabolism of vitamin B12, including those involving cellular uptake, the efflux of vitamin B12 from lysosomes, and the synthesis of adenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin. For all of these disorders, the responsible genes have been discovered. Conclusion: The study of highly selected patients with suspected inborn errors of metabolism has consistently resulted in the discovery of previously unknown metabolic steps and has provided new lessons in biology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Competitiveness has usually been viewed as a negative trait as it leads to suboptimal outcomes. However, research in cross-cultural psychology has indicated that competitiveness may hold different meanings for people from individualist and collectivist cultures. The current study investigates the effects of competitiveness on different educational outcomes in the collectivistic Chinese cultural context. Utilizing the hierarchical model of achievement motivation, this study aims to examine the relationships among individual differences (trait mastery and trait competitiveness), achievement goals (mastery and performance goals), and learning strategies (deep and surface learning strategies). Six hundred ninety-seven secondary school students from Hong Kong answered questionnaires assessing the relevant variables. Path models indicated that there were important differences in the pattern of relationships among the variables in our study compared to previous findings in the West. First, contrary to Western studies, trait competitiveness was predictive of mastery goals and not only of performance goals. Second, performance goals positively predicted the adoption of deep learning strategies but were not significantly related to surface learning strategies. Results are discussed in light of current findings in cross-cultural psychology. The findings hold substantive theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand achievement motivation of students from more collectivist cultures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Skillful streamflow forecasts at seasonal lead times may be useful to water managers seeking to provide reliable water supplies and maximize hydrosystem benefits. In this study, a class of data mining techniques, known as tree-structured models, is investigated to address the nonlinear dynamics of climate teleconnections and screen promising probabilistic streamflow forecast models for river–reservoir systems. In a case study of the Lower Colorado River system in central Texas, a number of potential predictors are evaluated for forecasting seasonal streamflow, including large-scale climate indices related to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and others. Results show that the tree-structured models can effectively capture the nonlinear features hidden in the data. Skill scores of probabilistic forecasts generated by both classification trees and logistic regression trees indicate that seasonal inflows throughout the system can be predicted with sufficient accuracy to improve water management, especially in the winter and spring seasons in central Texas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This is a longitudinal study of the level and normative stability of self-concept clarity and its possible causal relationship with self-esteem. The participants were Hong Kong Chinese adolescents aged 12–21years. Self-concept clarity was found to be a fairly stable construct over a period of one year. As expected, self-concept clarity associated positively and moderately with self-esteem. Both directions of causal flow gained support but that from self-esteem to self-concept clarity was found to be the stronger. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This review explores developments in the construct of learned hopelessness, which originated in the clinical literature dealing with depression. In that context, the model developed by Abramson, Metalsky, and Alloy [Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358–372] has been particularly influential. The purpose of this review is to reformulate this model in the context of academic outcomes and to consider its relevance to learning and achievement. As a means of specifying the variables and paths in the reformulated model of academic learned hopeless, correlates from relevant motivational theories and research, including value-expectancy, self-efficacy, and learning strategies, will be considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: To describe 3 patients with the cblD disorder, a rare inborn error of cobalamin metabolism caused by mutations in the MMADHC gene that can result in isolated homocystinuria, isolated methylmalonic aciduria, or combined homocystinuria and methylmalonic aciduria. Study design: Patient clinical records were reviewed. Biochemical and somatic cell genetic studies were performed on cultured fibroblasts. Sequence analysis of the MMADHC gene was performed on patient DNA. Results: Patient 1 presented with isolated methylmalonic aciduria, patient 3 with isolated homocystinuria, and patient 2 with combined methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria. Studies of cultured fibroblasts confirmed decreased synthesis of adenosylcobalamin in patient 1, decreased synthesis of methylcobalamin in patient 3, and decreased synthesis of both cobalamin derivatives in patient 2. The diagnosis of cblD was established in each patient by complementation analysis. Mutations in the MMADHC gene were identified in all patients. Conclusions: The results emphasize the heterogeneous clinical, cellular and molecular phenotype of the cblD disorder. The results of molecular analysis of the MMADHC gene are consistent with the hypothesis that mutations affecting the N terminus of the MMADHC protein are associated with methylmalonic aciduria, and mutations affecting the C terminus are associated with homocystinuria. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]