Partition of parinaroylphosphatidylethanolamines and parinaroylphosphatidylglycerols in immiscible phospholipid mixtures.

Partitioning of two parinaroyl phosphatidylethanolamines and two parinaroyl phosphatidylglycerols between solid and fluid phase phospholipids was examined. Fluorescence quantum yields and fluorescence polarization measurements were used to calculate Ks/fp, the solid to fluid partition coefficient of each probe (Sklar, L.A., Miljanich, G.P. and Dratz, E.A. (1979) Biochemistry 18, 1707-1716). In the immiscible mixture dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and dilinoleylphosphatidylcholine, both 1-palmitoyl-2-trans-parinaroylphosphatidylethanolamine and 1-palmitoyl-2-transparinaroylphosphatidylglycerol partitioned preferentially into solid phase lipid with mean Ks/fp values (calculated from quantum yields) of 3.4 +/- 1.5 and 2.1 +/- 0.7, respectively. In contrast, 1-oleoyl-2-cis-parinaroylphosphatidylethanolamine and 1-oleoyl-2-cis-parinaroylphosphatidylglycerol partitioned preferentially into fluid phase lipid in the same model system with mean Ks/fp values (calculated from quantum yields) of 0.44 +/- 0.26 and 0.16 +/- 0.07, respectively. Fluorescence polarization data on the same four parinaroyl phospholipids in mixtures of solid-phase dimyristoylphosphatidyl ethanolamine and fluid-phase dilinoleoylphosphatidylglycerol were similar to those obtained in the immiscible phosphatidylcholine system, demonstrating that the partitioning of these probes is not strongly dependent on head group. Knowledge of the partition properties of these fluorescent probes is relevant to use of these probes in investigation of the phase behavior of Escherichia coli inner membrane lipids, since phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol species account for approximately 95% of these lipids.

Transfer of preventive health programs to physicians' practices through medical organizations.

BACKGROUND: Transferring new information to practicing physicians is a complex and often faulty process. Effective transfer is a challenging goal that requires a strategy for reaching large numbers of physicians throughout the country in a short time. However, methods for disseminating preventive health techniques such as smoking cessation have not been well organized. Smoking is the single most important preventable cause of premature mortality, so dissemination of research-based smoking-cessation techniques to physicians' practices is a priority for the National Cancer Institute (NCI). METHODS: NCI recruited national, professional medical organizations to collaborate in disseminating smoking-cessation techniques. The goal was to co-sponsor 50 Train-the-Trainer (TT) seminars that would prepare 2,000 professionals as volunteers to instruct their colleagues in smoking-cessation techniques. NCI provided all materials, faculty (nine professionals), advance logistics, CME credits, and follow-up. The co-sponsor organizations helped develop the training plan, promoted training among their members, enrolled professionals to be trained, and made logistical arrangements for the training sites. RESULTS: During the 4 years of the program, NCI recruited 11 national organizations as co-sponsors; conducted 53 TT seminars in 22 states and Washington, DC; and trained 2,098 professionals as smoking-cessation trainers, who practice nationwide. The many lessons learned provide the basis for recommendations that can assist others who want to work with professional organizations. CONCLUSION: The National Cancer Institute demonstrated that national organizations of medical professionals can help to disseminate effectively a research-based smoking-cessation program. Twelve recommendations are presented to help others disseminate preventive health techniques nationwide.

An archival prospective study of mental health and longevity.

The relationship between mental health status and longevity was examined in an archival prospective cohort study (N = 1,103) derived from work begun by Lewis Terman in the 1920s. Degree of psychological maladjustment, cumulatively rated by Terman and his colleagues as of 1950, was found to be related to higher risk of all-cause mortality over a 4-decade follow-up period. The differences among causes of death were nonsignificant, but there was some indication that mental health problems were more strongly related to deaths from injury and cardiovascular disease. The overall relationship was significant for men but weaker for women. The effect was not substantially mediated by alcohol consumption, obesity, or cigarette smoking.

Childhood conscientiousness and longevity: health behaviors and cause of death.

Previous research showed that conscientiousness (social dependability) in childhood predicted longevity in an archival prospective cohort study of bright children first studied by Terman in the 1920s (H. S. Friedman et al., 1993). Possible behavioral mechanisms for this robust association are now examined by gathering cause of death information and by considering the possible mediating influences of drinking alcohol, smoking, and overeating. Survival analyses (N = 1,215) suggest that the protective effect of conscientiousness is not primarily due to accident avoidance and cannot be mostly explained by abstinence from unhealthy substance intake. Conscientiousness may have more wide-ranging effects on health-relevant activities.

Parental divorce: effects on individual behavior and longevity.

Using an archival prospective design, the authors studied associations among parental divorce occurring during participants' childhood, adult psychosocial mediators, and mortality over the life span of a subgroup of participants (N = 1,261) in the Terman Life Cycle Study (1921-1991). Children from divorced families grew up to show a higher risk of premature mortality across the life span. The higher mortality risk for men was explained, in part, when 3 mediating factors were controlled: Men who had experienced parental divorce were more likely to have their own marriages end in divorce, obtained less education, and engaged in fewer service activities. Women who had experienced parental divorce smoked more and were more likely themselves to divorce, both of which predicted higher mortality risk. The findings extend previous work on the negative sequelae of parental divorce to long-term effects on personality and longevity.

Psychosocial and behavioral predictors of longevity. The aging and death of the "termites".

Impulsive, undercontrolled personalities and major family stresses are known predictors of impaired adjustment, but long-term health effects are unclear. In an archival prospective cohort design, we followed up on L. M. Terman's (Terman & Oden, 1947) sample of gifted children by collecting and coding death certificates for the half of the sample that is now dead. Statistical survival analyses were used to predict longevity and cause of death as a function of parental divorce during childhood, unstable marriage patterns in adulthood, childhood personality, adult adjustment, and possible mediating health behaviors. Psychosocial factors emerged as important risks for premature mortality.

Playing with pets and longevity among older people.

Models of the relations between contact with pets and better health are examined in an archival prospective study using data derived from the longitudinal study initiated by Terman in 1921 (current N = 343 men, 300 women). In survival analyses of documented longevity, playing with pets in 1977 (M age = 67 years) was not associated with mortality risk through 1991 for the total sample nor for those who were unmarried or those who were less satisfied with their human relationships. Playing with pets was not associated with health-prone attributes or healthy behaviors such as personality, social ties, education, and smoking.

Postpartum uterine motility measurements in dairy cows retaining their fetal membranes.

Postpartum uterine contraction variables were measured in 15 parturient Holstein dairy cows and heifers: 8 assigned to dexamethasone (DEX) treatment and 7 to control (CON) treatment. The DEX animals were induced to calve early with an injection of dexamethasone and estradiol benzoate, administered on days 270 to 274 of gestation. At this time, the CON animals were injected with sterile saline and allowed to calve at term. Six of the eight DEX animals and one of the seven CON animals retained their fetal membranes longer than 12 hours postpartum. The uterine contraction variables determined were: the number of contractions over a 10 minute period (C/10), the average amplitude of contractions (AMP), the average duration of contractions (DUR), Montevideo units (MONT) and Alexandria units (ALEX). Recordings were taken at 1 hour, 6 hours and 48 hours postpartum, for a period of 20 minutes each. The contraction variables were measured using a catheter which was fluid-filled and inserted into the pregnant horn and connected to a pressure transducer, amplifier and recorder. The data were analyzed in terms of DEX vs. CON animals and animals with retained fetal membranes (RET) vs. animals with a normal release (NRET). Treatment with dexamethasone and estradiol benzoate resulted in an increase in C/10 at 48 hours (P<.05). The AMP, MONT and ALEX variables were also higher in the DEX animals, as compared to controls at that time. Significant differences (P<.01) were observed at 48 hours postpartum between the RET and NRET animals in terms of AMP, MONT and ALEX variables, and at that time the RET animals had a higher rate of uterine contractility than the NRET animals. No significant differences in the amount of uterine work between either the DEX and CON animals or the RET and NRET animals were observed, at 1 and 6 hours postpartum. The treatment with dexamethasone and estradiol benzoate prolonged uterine motility up to 48 hours postpartum, and the retention of the fetal membranes was not a result of the lack of uterine contractility during the early stages postpartum.

A longitudinal study of religiosity and mortality risk.

The relation of adult religiosity to longevity was studied in 993 participants from Terman's 70-year Life-Cycle Study. Key social and behavioral variables of physical health, psychological well-being, socioeconomic status, social support, and health behaviors were also considered. Results indicate that women who viewed themselves as more religious in adulthood (approximately age 40) had a lower risk for premature mortality than those who were less religiously inclined. These women had healthier behaviors, more positive feelings about their futures, and reported being somewhat happier than their less religiously inclined peers. In this bright, middle-class, 20th century sample, religiosity among women seems to be part of a generally healthy lifestyle, but not necessarily a direct cause of it.

Facilitation of patient involvement in care: development and validation of a scale.

The authors describe the development and validation of the Facilitation of Patient Involvement Scale, a 9-item measure of the degree to which patients perceive that their physicians actively facilitate or encourage them to be involved in their own healthcare. They first assessed the unidimensionality of the measure, conducting factor analysis in a pilot study of 236 individuals. Subsequently, they assessed the scale's reliability and validity with additional samples of 333, 338, 44, and 84 participants. Reliability of the scale was very high, with average Cronbach's alpha levels of .91. To test the validity of the scale, they used correlational and multiple regression analyses. The findings indicated that patients' satisfaction with their medical encounters was associated with patients' perceptions of facilitation; that perceptions of facilitation were also moderately correlated with general adherence patterns and preferred communication styles; and that patient age, gender, and education level were not relevant to perceptions that healthcare professionals promote patients' involvement in their own care.

The use of audiovisual procedures in evaluating oral diagnostic and treatment planning skills of dental students.

In the belief that an examination testing the diagnostic and treatment planning capabilities of junior dental students should involve more than the traditional paper and pencil test, a new test was developed at the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry. Interesting and varied stimuli, such as a videotape, visual aids, and relevant dental data were included as part of this exam. The test was administered, and the degree of student anxiety before, during, and after the examination was measured. In general, students performed well; the majority indicated a preference for this type of examination over the usual paper and pencil test. As expected, anxiety levels increased until the examination was completed and then decreased. Student evaluations were not affected by the degree of anxiety. The inclusion of a variety of materials in a test measuring diagnostic and treatment planning skills resulted in a more challenging examination; the use of a videotaped segment simulating a case history provided consistency in the test material.

The CR Alpha Diagnostic Coding System for ambulatory care.

A three-digit code system for patient encounters in ambulatory care was constructed to meet the criteria of integrity, retrievability, flexibility, and acceptability. The system is distinguished from other comparable codes by the use of an alphabetical letter as a category designator, the provision of "open" areas within each category for the addition of new rubrics in appropriate sequence, and the availability of "open" categories for use in research or expansion. The system has the capacity to expand from 22 primary categories to 97 subheadings and to a maximum of 3,200 rubrics. The system uses both diagnostic and symptom-oriented rubrics. The diagnostic terms are adopted from the International Classification of Diseases, Adapted, Eighth Revision (ICDA-8) and the symptoms from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Symptom Classification.

A competency-based curriculum in business practice management.

Business management skills are an essential part of an efficient medical practice, but they are largely neglected or ignored in residency training programs. In order to realistically prepare physicians for their future community practices, the Family Practice Residency Training Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, includes a business practice management curriculum based on 12 behavioral objectives. Through observation, seminars, consultation, and practice design, the resident becomes competent in the skills and behaviors necessary for effective management. Over the three-year period, the resident completes a handbook with research findings, and designs elements of his/her own future practice. The instructor's manual is included to illustrate and clarify methods of implementation and evaluation of the curriculum.

Parish nursing: keeping body and soul together.

"So what exactly is parish nursing?" I eagerly asked Ann Solari-Twadell when she introduced herself in our nurses networking group at the National Wellness Conference in Wisconsin. The Director of the National Parish Nurse Resource Center in Illinois, Ann described a unique, innovative role of promoting health, healing and wholeness of individuals, families and churches.

Matrix-valued Boltzmann equation for the nonintegrable Hubbard chain.

The standard Fermi-Hubbard chain becomes nonintegrable by adding to the nearest neighbor hopping additional longer range hopping amplitudes. We assume that the quartic interaction is weak and investigate numerically the dynamics of the chain on the level of the Boltzmann type kinetic equation. Only the spatially homogeneous case is considered. We observe that the huge degeneracy of stationary states in the case of nearest neighbor hopping is lost and the convergence to the thermal Fermi-Dirac distribution is restored. The convergence to equilibrium is exponentially fast. However for small next-nearest neighbor hopping amplitudes one has a rapid relaxation towards the manifold of quasistationary states and slow relaxation to the final equilibrium state.

Matrix-valued Boltzmann equation for the Hubbard chain.

We study, both analytically and numerically, the Boltzmann transport equation for the Hubbard chain with nearest-neighbor hopping and spatially homogeneous initial condition. The time-dependent Wigner function is matrix-valued because of spin. The H theorem holds. The nearest-neighbor chain is integrable, which, on the kinetic level, is reflected by infinitely many additional conservation laws and linked to the fact that there are also nonthermal stationary states. We characterize all stationary solutions. Numerically, we observe an exponentially fast convergence to stationarity and investigate the convergence rate in dependence on the initial conditions.