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Twenty-four hours of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is recommended in several guidelines as the best method for diagnosing hypertension. In general, the prognostic value of ABPM is superior to single office blood pressure (BP) measurements. Unfortunately, some patients experience considerable discomfort during frequently repeated forceful cuff inflations. In this study we investigated the difference in mean daytime systolic BP (SBP) between low-frequency ABPM (LF-ABPM), measuring once every hour, and high-frequency ABPM (HF-ABPM), measuring three times an hour during daytime, and two times an hour during night-time. Seventy-one patients were included in the analysis. All included patients had an HF-ABPM performed first and within a few weeks they underwent an LF-ABPM. The average day time difference in SBP between the two frequencies was 3.8 mmHg (p-value = 0.07) for mild, 8.2 mmHg (p-value < 0.01) for moderate and 15 mmHg (p-value < 0.001) for severe hypertension. A similar pattern was seen for night-time SBP. This study suggests that mean BP is similar between the two measuring frequencies for normotensive and mild hypertensive patients, while HF-ABPM results in a higher 24-h mean BP for moderate- and severe hypertensive patients. LF-ABPM may more correctly reflect the resting blood pressure in patients with moderate and severe hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this report, we present a challenging case of a 63-year-old Caucasian woman with an extreme stress response to blood pressure (BP) measurements. Office- and ambulatory BP measurements consistently found systolic BP above 200 mmHg. However, antihypertensive medication made her dizzy and extremely unwell, and she could barely tolerate treatment with a moderate dose of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. Finger-cuff-based measurements (Finapres Finometer®) revealed extreme hypertension in relation to contact with medical professionals, but hypotension when the patient was seated alone unobserved. Months after, the patient suffered a hemorrhagic stroke possibly related to her extreme BP-fluctuations in stressful situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Maternal diet and gestational weight gain (GWG) influence birth weight and infant adiposity, which are important predictors of lifetime health. To better understand these relationships, we studied associations between maternal diet and GWG, adiposity, and birth weight in a well characterized cohort of pregnant women.Study Design: Data were obtained from 41 term (>37 weeks), uncomplicated, singleton pregnancies according to pre-pregnancy BMI categories of normal (n = 11), overweight (n = 15), or obese (n = 15). Daily consumption of protein, fat, and carbohydrates and a Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2010) score were determined from 24 h food recall collections. Associations were modeled using multinomial logistic and linear regression.Results: Neither the third trimester maternal diet quality nor the macronutrient consumption was associated with GWG after adjusting for pre-pregnancy BMI, maternal age, and parity. A ten-point lower HEI-2010 score was associated with 200 g higher infant birth weight and a 1.0 cm longer length. However, maternal HEI-2010 and macronutrient composition were unrelated to infant percent body fat, ponderal index, or abdominal circumference.Conclusions: Poorer third trimester maternal diet quality was associated with higher birth weight and longer length, but was unrelated to markers of infant adiposity. GWG was independent of third trimester maternal diet composition and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, retailers have been investing in technology-based platforms such as mobile applications to involve more of their customers in logistical value co-creation activities. Therefore, it would be important to guide these efforts by providing the retailers with a list of various consumer logistics value co-creation activities and help them better organize their technological investments by categorizing these functions. The objective of this study is to explore the logistics activities through which the end users can contribute to co-creation of value based on the notions of Service-Dominant Logic. A series of 4 exploratory survey studies revealed 10 end-user logistics functions and important implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exercise as an important part of life for the health and wellness of children and adults. Inducible laryngeal obstruction (ILO) is a consensus term used to describe a group of disorders previously called vocal cord dysfunction, paradoxical vocal fold motion, and numerous other terms. Exercise--ILO can impair one’s ability to exercise, can be confused with asthma, leading to unnecessary prescription of asthma controller and rescue medication, and results in increased healthcare resource utilization including (rarely) emergency care. It is characterized by episodic shortness of breath and noisy breathing that generally occurs at high work rates. The present diagnostic gold standard for all types of ILO is laryngoscopic visualization of inappropriate glottic or supraglottic movement resulting in airway narrowing during a spontaneous event or provocation challenge. A number of different behavioral techniques, including speech therapy, biofeedback, and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, may be appropriate to treat individual patients. A consensus nomenclature, which will allow for better characterization of patients, coupled with new diagnostic techniques, may further define the epidemiology and etiology of ILO as well as enable objective evaluation of therapeutic modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defining the full complement of substrates for each ubiquitin ligase remains an important challenge. Improvements in mass spectrometry instrumentation and computation and in protein biochemistry methods have resulted in several new methods for ubiquitin ligase substrate identification. Here we used the parallel adapter capture (PAC) proteomics approach to study βTrCP2/FBXW11, a substrate adaptor for the SKP1-CUL1-F-box (SCF) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. The processivity of the ubiquitylation reaction necessitates transient physical interactions between FBXW11 and its substrates, thus making biochemical purification of FBXW11-bound substrates difficult. Using the PAC-based approach, we inhibited the proteasome to "trap" ubiquitylated substrates on the SCFFBXW11 E3 complex. Comparative mass spectrometry analysis of immunopurified FBXW11 protein complexes before and after proteasome inhibition revealed 21 known and 23 putatively novel substrates. In focused studies, we found that SCFFBXW11 bound, polyubiquitylated, and destabilized RAPGEF2, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor that activates the small GTPase RAP1. High RAPGEF2 protein levels promoted cell-cell fusion and, consequently, multinucleation. Surprisingly, this occurred independently of the guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) catalytic activity and of the presence of RAP1. Our data establish new functions for RAPGEF2 that may contribute to aneuploidy in cancer. More broadly, this report supports the continued use of substrate trapping proteomics to comprehensively define targets for E3 ubiquitin ligases. All proteomic data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001062. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumorigenesis and invasive and metastatic growth, respectively. How RalB may promote PDAC invasion and metastasis has not been determined. In light of known Ral effector functions in regulation of actin organization and secretion, we addressed a possible role for RalB in formation of invadopodia, actin-rich membrane protrusions that contribute to tissue invasion and matrix remodeling. We determined that a majority of KRAS mutant PDAC cell lines exhibited invadopodia and that expression of activated K-Ras is both necessary and sufficient for invadopodium formation. Invadopodium formation was not dependent on the canonical Raf-MEK-ERK effector pathway and was instead dependent on the Ral effector pathway. However, this process was more dependent on RalB than on RalA. Surprisingly, RalB-mediated invadopodium formation was dependent on RalBP1/RLIP76 but not Sec5 and Exo84 exocyst effector function. Unexpectedly, the requirement for RalBP1 was independent of its best known function as a GTPase-activating protein for Rho small GTPases. Instead, disruption of the ATPase function of RalBP1 impaired invadopodium formation. Our results identify a novel RalB-mediated biochemical and signaling mechanism for invadopodium form [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is some evidence to suggest patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) may be less physically active than their healthy peers, and there is increased interest in how to measure physical activity patterns accurately in CF. Objectives: The purpose of this review is to explore the use of motion sensors and review their clinimetric properties and feasibility in CF, and make some suggestions for their future use. Major findings: A search of the literature identified six key articles that investigated the clinimetric properties (reliability, validity, and responsiveness) of motion sensors in CF. There is little data available with regard to the clinimetric properties of motion sensors in CF. Further research is required to collect data on normal values, variability and a clinically meaningful change in people with CF. Information on feasibility shows that patients find the devices acceptable to wear and that data capture is acceptable. Conclusions: Improving physical activity is important in CF; however, there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend the use of motion sensors as clinical assessment tools or as endpoints in clinical trials of interventions to improve physical activity. Motion sensors should only be used as a research tool where their effectiveness can be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the optimum resolution where differences in corn (Zea mays L.) grain yields are detectable could theoretically improve nitrogen (N) management, thereby resulting in economic and environmental benefits for producers and the public at large. The objective of this study was to determine the optimum resolution for prediction of corn grain yield using indirect sensor measurements. Corn rows, 15-30 m long, were randomly selected at three locations where the exact location of each plant was determined. In 2005 and 2006, four of eight rows at each location were fertilized with 150 kg N ha-1 as urea ammonium nitrate (28% N). A GreenSeeker™ optical sensor was used to determine average Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) across a range of plants and over fixed distances (20, 40, 45.7, 60, 80, 91.4, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, and 240 cm). Individual corn plants were harvested and grain yield was determined. Correlation of corn grain yield versus NDVI was evaluated over both increasing distances and increasing number of corn plants. Then, the squared correlation coefficients (rcc2) from each plot (used as data) were fitted to a linear plateau model for each resolution treatment (fixed distance and number of corn plants). The linear-plateau model coefficient of determination (rlp2) was maximized when averaged over every four plants in 2004 and 2006, and over 11 plants in 2005. Likewise, rlp2 was maximized at a fixed distance of 95, 141, and 87 cm in 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. Averaged over sites and years, results from this study suggest that in order to treat spatial variability at the correct scale, the linear fixed distances should likely be <87 cm or <4 plants as an optimum resolution for detecting early-season differences in yield potential and making management decisions based on this resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study characterizes households' participation in the distribution of physical products. Here, the segments that are recognized reflect shoppers' typical performance of marketing functions adapted from previous scholarly work involving the distribution/supply functions of business firms. This study tests the proposed framework using grocery-shopping behavior of 476 shoppers. The empirical findings identify six characteristic patterns of participation in ten functions performed by shoppers, as elaborated using patterns of shoppers' self-perceptions, food preparation activities, and demographic characteristics. The report shows how these joint patterns of behavior and personal characteristics define segments in the retail grocery market that have meaningful implications formarketing strategy. From a conceptual perspective, an attempt is made to further our understanding of the distribution/supply chain process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper extends research in the area of biologically inspired, discrete dynamical basis networks (DDBNs). While similar to locally recurrent globally feed forward (LRGF) networks (Tsoi and Back 1994). DDBNs operate at a lower level of abstraction and were inspired by research in the areas of Control Systems. Artificial Intelligence and Neurobiology, As described previously, DDBNs can approximate data sequences and consist of networks of simple, bounded mathematical operators (Jones and Olmsted 2003). This paper examines the characteristics of genetically designed DDBNs and compares them with tree-based genetic programs (TBGPs), biological neural networks, and backpropagation neural networks (NNs). Experimental evidence indicates that DDBNs are capable of computing simple logic functions in addition to approximating data sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Skin Shows , her study of gothic horror, Judith Halberstam argues that '[m]onsters are meaning machines'. Narratives about monsters create meaning by defining the border between normal and monstrous desire. This essay offers a close reading of horror films from three very different periods of the genre's history-- Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Haunting , and Scream --to demonstrate how these films represent queer desire as monstrous, disruptive and violent. Reading these cinematic representations alongside Christian discourses of sodomy demonstrates that the study of religion and the study of popular culture can inform each other, that theological meaning can be found in the artifacts of popular culture and that these artefacts can only be fully understood by attending to their theological meanings. The essay concludes with suggestions regarding how such artifacts can be engaged to support queer political projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers a look at a variety of issues associated with security agreements and confidence building in India. Principles of cooperative engagement; Examples of security treaties and agreements for India; Political issues relevant to security agreements.

An experiment is reported that compared expandable indexes providing full menu context with sequential menus providing only partial context. Menu depth was varied using hierarchies of two, three and four levels deep in an asymmetric structure of 457 root level items. Menus were presented on the World Wide Web within a browser. Participants searched for specific targets. Results suggest that reducing the depth of hierarchies improves performance in terms of speed and search efficiency. Surprisingly, expandable indexes resulted in poorer performance with deeper hierarchies than did sequential menus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on freeze drying data for oligonucleotides which are used to treat various viral diseases and cancers through and antisence mechanism. Benefits of antisence technology which targets the production of the disease-causing protein at the genetic level; Methods and materials; Results and discussion.

Answering questions on surveys involves the access of internal knowledge structures, the retrieval of records from external databases and the navigation of items on the interface. In this study a number of alternative designs for online questionnaire presentation were investigated. A long heterogeneous survey was partitioned in four ways: whole form, semantic sections, screen pages and single items. Questionnaires were presented with or without an index, resulting in eight versions. Neither initial completion times nor subjective assessments differed among the eight versions due to the highly linear navigation of the surveys. Respondents were asked to revisit 16 questions based on the topic of the question or on the question number and to change their answers. Revision times reflected ease of finding items in the structure of the survey and the use of an index to the sections of the questionnaire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which showed that demographics make a moderate contribution to explaining buy domestic behavior of consumers in the United States and Portugal. Account of related studies; Method; Results; Summary and conclusions.

Evaluates the influence of diet, temperature and stocking density in the success of training pond-reared walleye fingerlings to formulated feed in intensive cultures. Survival rate of the cultures; Reduction of the occurrence of columnaris disease and cannibalism; Recommendations for the training of fingerlings in an intensive culture environment.

Presents a study which determined the relationship between a nation's level of economic development and vertical integration in its marketing channel. Significance of channels of distribution to the economic activities of a country; Methodology; Results; Implication of the findings for the developmental aspects of marketing and public policy decisions.

Examines the patterns and variations characterizing the support group involvements of 25 gay men with HIV/AIDS. Effects of long, brief and non participation in support groups; Benefits from interaction with peers.

In two experiments subjects were given information about how one person in a dyadic interaction had allocated outcomes to self and the other participant. The interaction was depicted as competitive in Experiment 1 and noncompetitive in Experiment 2. Subjects made judgments about the allocator's intentions and the recipient's liking for the allocator and desire to reciprocate outcome distribution. Subjects were instructed to respond toward the recipient in either an objective or empathic manner. Subjects logically utilized disparity in outcome distribution in determining the allocator's intent to benefit him/herself. Overall, equitable distributions led to the highest judgments of recipient liking; as inequity increased, ratings about liking decreased. However, empathic subjects in Experiment 2 showed different patterns of rated recipient liking as a function of the direction of the inequity. Judgments about intent to reciprocate were also affected by the orientation of the observer. The results were discussed with particular reference to differential thresholds for advantageous versus disadvantageous inequity. In addition, mathematical models describing the dependent measures were derived and validated, providing results consistent with past research utilizing ratio models of judgment within the context of equity theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent societal changes toward heightened interest in health and nutrition indicate consumers' health- and nutrition-related attitudes and behaviors may be important for segmenting the market for fast-food restaurants (FFR's). This research conducted a recent survey of 387 consumers to investigate the extent to which these variables, as well as demographics, predict patronage of FFR's. Findings indicate that consumers who do not patronize FFR's have the strongest involvement with health-related issues, while frequent patrons have the weakest involvement. Thus, marketers could use a combination of general health- and nutrition-related attitudes and behaviors to supplement demographic information when plotting their marketing strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars in marketing have advocated that economic planners use their nation's marketing system as a device for fostermg economic development. To help determine the suitability of this strategy, this study investigated the relationship between governmental involvement in the nation's food distribution system and the level of economic development. The empirical results of the study found the extent of governmental involvement within a country related to seven of eight conceptualized dimensions of economic development. Both high and low governmental involvement appear beneficial to development, while moderate involvement was associated with a relatively low standard of living. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether participants of environmental groups can be identified and targeted. The three forms of group participation investigated are: making monetary contributions, attending group meetings, and performing volunteer work for environmental groups. Participation in environmental groups is best understood by considering aspects of the helping process, and in terms of personal values. Demographics provided relatively weak results. The empirical findings of this study provide group promoters insights into how group participation can be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The emergence of global markets now ensures consumers the opportunity to purchase products from around the world. The success of imported products in the United States attests to their growing popularity among American consumers. While imports often lead to increased consumer satisfaction, the resulting global competition has also brought the loss of jobs for many American workers. Consequently, labor unions and other industry groups have urged American consumers to "Buy American." This study uses constructs taken from prosocial literature to provide an explanation for consumers' willingness to purchase domestically produced items as a way to support threatened American workers. Data correlation and regression analysis and also cluster and discriminant analysis. Results showed willingness to buy Amerian is explained by the consumers' perceived salience of the problem, social concern, perceived deservingness of the workers, ethno-national tendencies, pereived inequity of the situation, sense of similarity with the workers, felt empathy with the workers, and the projected benefits of helping workers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is based on the premise that terrorist organizations are a special class of political interest groups. What separates terrorist organizations front most interest groups is that terrorists use violence in stead of lobbying to try to achieve their goals. Terrorist organizations will face the same kinds of organizational problems as other interest, i. e., recruitment of members. competing groups, political cohesion, leadership contests, etc. This paper focuses on how these organizational processes inside the terrorist organizations affect the outcome of bargaining between authorities and terrorist organizations. The effects of the internal organizational situation of the terrorist group will be manifest most clearly in the likelihood of achieving a peaceful resolution of a terrorist event and in the amount of the risk premium required to achieve the peaceful resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-six participants used a static version of either LifeLines, a graphical interface, or a tabular representation to answer questions about a database of temporal personal history information. Results suggest that overall the LifeLines representation led to much faster response times, primarily for questions which involved interval comparisons and making intercategorical connections. A 'first impression' test showed that LifeLines can reduce some of the biases of the tabular record summary. A post-experimental memory test led to significantly (p< 0.004) higher recall for LifeLines. Finally, simple interaction techniques are proposed to compensate for the problems of the static LifeLines display's ability to deal with precise dates, attribute coding and overlaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies used survey data to characterize the market for snack foods. Findings indicate the segment of frequent snackers holds attitudes that are generally antithetical to activities that constitute a health-oriented lifestyle. Their involvement in acquiring and consuming healthful foods lags behind that of other persons. Their more general food-related behaviors and attitudes show that their lifestyle stands in relative opposition to sound nutritional practices. In contrast, the lifestyle of rare snackers is more nutrition-oriented. The characteristics of the occasional snackers lie intermediate to the other two segments. Demographics provide less hlep than lifestyle variables to understanding these segments of the market for snack foods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The analysis of the genetic basis of phenotypic traits is moving towards the complex diseases prevalent in wealthy populations. There is an increasing requirement for the detection of different types of sequence variation, particularly single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). SNPs occur about once every 100 to 300 bases. High-density SNP maps will help to identify the multiple genes associated with complex diseases such as cancer, diabetes, vascular disease, and some forms of mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Maternal diet and gestational weight gain (GWG) influence birth weight and infant adiposity, which are important predictors of lifetime health. To better understand these relationships, we studied associations between maternal diet and GWG, adiposity, and birth weight in a well characterized cohort of pregnant women.Study Design: Data were obtained from 41 term (>37 weeks), uncomplicated, singleton pregnancies according to pre-pregnancy BMI categories of normal (n = 11), overweight (n = 15), or obese (n = 15). Daily consumption of protein, fat, and carbohydrates and a Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2010) score were determined from 24 h food recall collections. Associations were modeled using multinomial logistic and linear regression.Results: Neither the third trimester maternal diet quality nor the macronutrient consumption was associated with GWG after adjusting for pre-pregnancy BMI, maternal age, and parity. A ten-point lower HEI-2010 score was associated with 200 g higher infant birth weight and a 1.0 cm longer length. However, maternal HEI-2010 and macronutrient composition were unrelated to infant percent body fat, ponderal index, or abdominal circumference.Conclusions: Poorer third trimester maternal diet quality was associated with higher birth weight and longer length, but was unrelated to markers of infant adiposity. GWG was independent of third trimester maternal diet composition and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]