Beliefs and interests in physical activity programs of cancer survivors and their romantic partners.

PURPOSE: Physical activity is associated with improved health outcomes for cancer survivors and their romantic partners, yet it is unclear if joint exercise programs for survivor-partner dyads are acceptable. This study examined demographic, relationship, exercise, and cancer history correlates of survivors' and their romantic partners' couples-based exercise beliefs and their preferences for program designs. METHODS: All participants (survivors n=209, partners n=155, couples n=143) completed an online survey. Correlations and linear regression analyses were used to examine correlates of participants' importance of and interest in couples-based exercise and their likelihood of joining a couples-based exercise program. Intraclass correlations estimated shared variance at the couple level. RESULTS: Most participants believed that couples-based exercise was highly important (51.8%) and were interested in a couples-based exercise program (61.5%), but fewer survivors believed their partner would be interested or would likely join a couples-based program. Across all outcomes, partner support for exercise was most strongly associated with participants' couples-based exercise beliefs (r = 0.19-0.54, p<.05), and couples were significantly aligned in their beliefs (ρ=0.20-0.31, p<.01). Participants were interested in exercise programs involving exercising together (67.3%) as well as exercising separately while sharing activity data on an app or website (48.0%). CONCLUSIONS: This novel understanding of couples-based exercise beliefs provides a strong foundation upon which future exercise programs may be designed for survivors and their romantic partners. IMPACT FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Survivors' adoption and maintenance of exercise may be enhanced by the inclusion of romantic partners in exercise programs, and partners' inclusion is appealing to couples.

A novel sensor kinase is required for Bordetella bronchiseptica to colonize the lower respiratory tract.

Bacterial virulence is influenced by the activity of two-component regulator systems (TCSs), which consist of membrane-bound sensor kinases that allow bacteria to sense the external environment and cytoplasmic, DNA-binding response regulator proteins that control appropriate gene expression. Respiratory pathogens of the Bordetella genus require the well-studied TCS BvgAS to control the expression of many genes required for colonization of the mammalian respiratory tract. Here we describe the identification of a novel gene in Bordetella bronchiseptica, plrS, the product of which shares sequence homology to several NtrY-family sensor kinases and is required for B. bronchiseptica to colonize and persist in the lower, but not upper, respiratory tract in rats and mice. The plrS gene is located immediately 5' to and presumably cotranscribed with a gene encoding a putative response regulator, supporting the idea that PlrS and the product of the downstream gene may compose a TCS. Consistent with this hypothesis, the PlrS-dependent colonization phenotype requires a conserved histidine that serves as the site of autophosphorylation in other sensor kinases, and in strains lacking plrS, the production and/or cellular localization of several immune-recognized proteins is altered in comparison to that in the wild-type strain. Because plrS is required for colonization and persistence only in the lower respiratory tract, a site where innate and adaptive immune mechanisms actively target infectious agents, we hypothesize that its role may be to allow Bordetella to resist the host immune response.

Prenatal toluene exposure impairs performance in the Morris Water Maze in adolescent rats.

Volatile organic solvent abuse continues to be a worldwide health problem, including the neurobehavioral teratogenic sequelae of toluene abuse during pregnancy. Although abuse levels of prenatal toluene exposure can lead to a Fetal Solvent Syndrome, there is little research examining these effects on memory. Consumption of toluene can have detrimental effects on the developing hippocampus which could lead to specific spatial learning and memory deficits. This study used a rat model to determine how prenatal exposure to abuse levels of toluene would affect performance in a spatial learning and memory task, the Morris Water Maze (MWM). Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 0, 8000 or 12,000ppm (ppm) of toluene for 15min twice daily from gestation day 8 (GD8) through GD20. Male and female offspring (N=104) were observed in the MWM for 5days beginning on postnatal day (PN) 28 and again on PN44. While prenatal toluene-exposed animals did not differ in initial acquisition in the MWM, rats prenatally exposed to 12,000ppm toluene displayed performance deficits during a probe trial and in reversal learning on PN44. Overall, this study indicates that prenatal exposure to repeated inhaled abuse patterns of high concentrations of toluene can impair spatial memory function that persists into adolescence.

Changes in developmental body weight as a function of toluene exposure: A meta-analysis of animal studies.

Inhalant abuse is a globally prevalent health issue with particular concerns about substance-abusing pregnant women. In both animal models and clinical case reports of toluene exposure, the primary physiological outcome measure of prenatal inhalant exposure is low birth weight (BW). However, the effect of prenatal toluene exposure on animal BW varies widely in the literature. To clarify this effect and investigate possible design moderators of pup BW, a systematic review and meta-analytic techniques were applied to the existing peer-reviewed animal literature of prenatal and postnatal exposure models to the inhaled solvent toluene. Of 288 studies screened, 24 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. Evaluation of these studies indicated that toluene exposure was negatively associated with pup BW (d = -0.39), with external inhaled concentration, route of administration, day of weighing, and toluene exposure magnitude moderating this association. Investigators doing animal studies should be cognizant of these factors before investigating the reproductive and developmental outcomes associated with prenatal and postnatal toluene exposure.