Exercise intervention for fatigue-related symptoms in Thai women with breast cancer: A pilot study.

The purpose of this pilot study was to preliminarily examine the effects of an exercise program on the symptoms of fatigue, sleep disturbance, mood disturbance, symptom distress, and physical fitness for Thai women with breast cancer. Twenty-three eligible women were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 11) or to a control group (n = 12). Data were collected and analyzed at baseline and again at 4, 7, and 10 weeks. At each time point, fatigue was measured at an expected high point during treatment. Participants in the exercise group demonstrated a trend toward improving the symptoms with mean score changes. Using generalized estimating equations analysis, a significant decrease in mood disturbance was found in the exercise group compared with control at 10 weeks (ß = 0.03, P = 0.04). The participants exhibited significantly longer 12-minute walk distance at 10 weeks than those in the control group (t = 2.28, P = 0.04). These results indicate that exercise during adjuvant chemotherapy may be beneficial for Thai women with breast cancer.

A true challenge for any superhero: an evaluation of a comic book obesity prevention program.

The purpose of this study was to pilot test the Comics for Health program, a theory-based nutrition and physical activity intervention for children. Twelve after-school programs were randomized to either a theory-based (n = 37) or a knowledge-based (n = 34 children) version of the intervention. Pretests, posttests, and 3-month follow-up tests were administered to evaluate the programmatic effects on body mass index percentile, obesity-related behaviors, and constructs of social cognitive theory. Both interventions found significant, yet modest effects for fruit and vegetable consumption (P < .005), physical activities (P < .004), and water and sugar-free beverage consumption (P < .001) and self-efficacy for fruit and vegetable consumption (P < .015) and physical activities (P < .009).

Polarization bistability and resultant spin rings in semiconductor microcavities.

The transmission of a pump laser resonant with the lower polariton branch of a semiconductor microcavity is shown to be highly dependent on the degree of circular polarization of the pump. Spin dependent anisotropy of polariton-polariton interactions allows the internal polarization to be controlled by varying the pump power. The formation of spatial patterns, spin rings with a high degree of circular polarization, arising as a result of polarization bistability, is observed. A phenomenological model based on effective semiclassical equations of motion provides a good description of the experimental results. Inclusion of interactions with the incoherent exciton reservoir, which provides spin-independent blueshifts of the polariton modes, is found to be essential.

Effect of interactions on vortices in a nonequilibrium polariton condensate.

We demonstrate the creation of vortices in a macroscopically occupied polariton state formed in a semiconductor microcavity. A weak external laser beam carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) is used to imprint a vortex on the condensate arising from the polariton optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The vortex core radius is found to decrease with increasing pump power, and is determined by polariton-polariton interactions. As a result of OAM conservation in the parametric scattering process, the excitation consists of a vortex in the signal and a corresponding antivortex in the idler of the OPO. The experimental results are in good agreement with a theoretical model of a vortex in the polariton OPO.

Impact evaluation of Enabling Mothers to Prevent Pediatric Obesity through Web-Based Education and Reciprocal Determinism (EMPOWER) Randomized Control Trial.

BACKGROUND: The family and home environment is an influential antecedent of childhood obesity. The purpose of this study was to pilot test The Enabling Mothers to Prevent Pediatric Obesity through Web-Based Education and Reciprocal Determinism (EMPOWER) intervention; a newly developed, theory-based, online program for prevention of childhood obesity. METHOD: The two-arm, parallel group, randomized, participant-blinded trial targeted mothers with children between 4 and 6 years of age. Measures were collected at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks to evaluate programmatic effects on constructs of social cognitive theory (SCT) and obesity-related behaviors. Process evaluation transpired concurrently with each intervention session. RESULTS: Fifty-seven participants were randomly assigned to receive either experimental EMPOWER (n = 29) or active control Healthy Lifestyles (n = 28) intervention. Significant main effects were identified for child physical activity, sugar-free beverage consumption, and screen time, indicating that both groups improved in these behaviors. A significant group-by-time interaction was detected for child fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption as well as the SCT construct of environment in the EMPOWER cohort. An increase of 1.613 cups of FVs (95% confidence interval = [0.698, 2.529]) was found in the experimental group, relative to the active control group. Change score analysis found changes in the home environment accounted for 31.4% of the change in child FV intake for the experimental group. CONCLUSIONS: Child physical activity, sugar-free beverage consumption, and screen time improved in both groups over the course of the trial. Only the theory-based intervention was efficacious in increasing child FV consumption. The EMPOWER program was robust for inducing change in the home environment leading to an increase in child FV intake (Cohen's f = 0.160).

Characterizing active transportation behavior among college students using the theory of planned behavior.

Physical inactivity poses concern for health risks among all groups in the United States. Active transportation (AT) (e.g., bicycling) is one way of being physically active and may be helpful in promoting physical activity. This study characterized active transportation behavior among college students using the Theory of Planned Behavior. This study sought to describe predictors, including Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs, of AT behavior among college students at a large Midwest university. Students were recruited through the university registrar's office and e-mailed an electronic survey. Differences among AT users were determined using t-tests, and predictors of AT were identified using regression analysis. Significant differences between AT users for all TPB constructs were observed. Regression analysis using only TPB constructs accounted for 11.58% explained variation in AT use. Other variables added to the model resulted in 44.44% explained variation in AT use. The final model included subjective norms, age, perceived behavioral control, and transportation type and destination. The results of this research are insightful in explaining AT behavior. Perceived norms and the level of control students had regarding their method of transportation were important contributions to AT use. These results may be applied to promoting physical activity in community health.

Science, statistics, and paired comparisons.

A prologue on science and statistics focuses attention on the role of statistics in science. Statisticians must be trained as scientists and to meet the needs of science. Those needs surely involve the formulation, modification and verification of stochastic models designed to represent natural phenomena. The method of paired comparisons provides a simple experimental technique but one with a literature rich in model development.

General approach to bacterial nutrition: growth factor requirements of Moraxella nonliquefaciens.

A general procedure was devised for the determination of growth factor requirements of heterotrophic bacteria based upon identification of individual nutrients as they are successively depleted from a limited quantity of complex medium. By using this approach, it was possible to develop a defined medium for growth of Moraxella nonliquefaciens that contained nine amino acids and three vitamins. Three of the amino acids, proline, serine, and cysteine, were required in unusually high concentrations to obtain optimal growth. Methionine had a sparing action on the requirements for serine and cysteine. Glycine could substitute for serine. Although a required nutrient, cysteine was inhibitory for growth, but this inhibitory action was antagonized by valine or leucine. The requirement for cysteine was satisfied by cystine, glutathione, or sodium sulfide. M. nonliquefaciens could not use ammonia as a nitrogen source but could use glutamate or aspartate for this purpose. With the exception of 1 auxotrophic strain, the growth factor requirements of 23 independently isolated strains of M. nonliquefaciens were essentially the same.

Automated leukocyte differentials in trisomy 13.

We have reported a case of a 4-month-old girl who died with trisomy 13. Nuclear projections in polymorphonuclear leukocytes are diagnostically important in this syndrome and are not identified by automated leukocyte differential counting. The presence of polymorphonuclear leukocyte nuclear projections on the blood smear was identified only after the results of karyotyping were known. Recently, the importance of physician review of blood smears in anemia has been challenged. We believe this case, however, reaffirms the importance of physician blood smear review in suspected cytogenetic disease.