The Protecting Strong African American Families Program: a Randomized Controlled Trial with Rural African American Couples.

This study presents results from a randomized controlled trial of the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) program, a family-centered intervention designed to promote strong couple, coparenting, and parent-child relationships in two-parent African American families. A total of 346 African American couples with an early adolescent child participated; all families lived in rural, low-income communities in the southern USA. Intent-to-treat growth curve analyses involving three waves and spanning 17 months indicated that ProSAAF participants, compared with control participants, reported greater improvements in relationship communication, confidence, satisfaction, partner support, coparenting, and parenting. More than 80% of the couples attended all six of the in-home, facilitator-led sessions; costs to implement the program averaged $1739 per family. The findings inform the ongoing debate surrounding prevention programs for low-income and ethnic minority couples.

Decreasing Substance use Risk among African American Youth: Parent-based Mechanisms of Change.

African American couples (N = 139; 67.7 % married; with children between the ages of 9 and 14) were randomly assigned to (a) a culturally sensitive, couple- and parenting-focused program designed to prevent stress-spillover (n = 70) or (b) an information-only control condition in which couples received self-help materials (n = 69). Eight months after baseline, youth whose parents participated in the program, compared with control youth, reported increased parental monitoring, positive racial socialization, and positive self-concept, as well as decreased conduct problems and self-reported substance use. Changes in youth-reported parenting behavior partially mediated the effect of the intervention on conduct problems and fully mediated its impact on positive self-concept, but did not mediate effects on lifetime substance use initiation. Results suggest the potential for a culturally sensitive family-based intervention targeting adults' couple and parenting processes to enhance multiple parenting behaviors as well as decrease youths' substance use onset and vulnerability.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis type VII secreted effector EsxH targets host ESCRT to impair trafficking.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) disrupts anti-microbial pathways of macrophages, cells that normally kill bacteria. Over 40 years ago, D'Arcy Hart showed that Mtb avoids delivery to lysosomes, but the molecular mechanisms that allow Mtb to elude lysosomal degradation are poorly understood. Specialized secretion systems are often used by bacterial pathogens to translocate effectors that target the host, and Mtb encodes type VII secretion systems (TSSSs) that enable mycobacteria to secrete proteins across their complex cell envelope; however, their cellular targets are unknown. Here, we describe a systematic strategy to identify bacterial virulence factors by looking for interactions between the Mtb secretome and host proteins using a high throughput, high stringency, yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) platform. Using this approach we identified an interaction between EsxH, which is secreted by the Esx-3 TSSS, and human hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (Hgs/Hrs), a component of the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT). ESCRT has a well-described role in directing proteins destined for lysosomal degradation into intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) of multivesicular bodies (MVBs), ensuring degradation of the sorted cargo upon MVB-lysosome fusion. Here, we show that ESCRT is required to deliver Mtb to the lysosome and to restrict intracellular bacterial growth. Further, EsxH, in complex with EsxG, disrupts ESCRT function and impairs phagosome maturation. Thus, we demonstrate a role for a TSSS and the host ESCRT machinery in one of the central features of tuberculosis pathogenesis.

Sex differences in dominance relationships in Syrian hamsters.

Dominance relationships are identified by changes in agonistic behavior toward specific individuals. While there are considerable individual and species differences in dominance relationships, sex differences are poorly understood in rodent models because aggression among female rodents is rare. The aim of this study was to characterize sex differences in the formation and maintenance of dominance relationships in same-sex pairs of male and female Syrian hamsters. We pooled data from multiple projects in our lab to evaluate dominance interactions in 68 male dyads and 88 female dyads. In each project, animals were matched with a partner similar in age, sex, and estrous cycle and we exposed animals to daily social encounters for two weeks in a resident-intruder format. We found that female hamsters were quicker to attack and attacked at higher rates compared to males regardless of dominance status. In addition, resident female hamsters were quicker to attack and attacked at higher rates than intruder females, but aggression in males did not depend on residency status. Female subordinates were quicker to submit and fled at higher rates from their dominant counterparts compared to male subordinates. Intruder subordinate females were quicker to submit and fled at higher rates than resident subordinate females. Females were also more resistant than males to becoming subordinate in that they fought back more consistently and were more likely to reverse their dominance status. These findings indicate that dominance relationships are less stable in females compared to males and that residency status has a larger impact on agonistic behavior in females than males. Overall, differences in how males and females display territorial aggression can lead to sex differences in the establishment and maintenance of dominance relationships.

Neuraxial Anesthesia and Lower Extremity Peripheral Nerve Blocks for Ankle Surgery in a Patient With Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy: A Case Report.

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a rare autoimmune disease that targets the peripheral nervous system. The literature on the use of regional anesthesia in CIDP is limited. We report a patient with CIDP who received a combined spinal-epidural (CSE) and saphenous and popliteal peripheral nerve blocks (PNBs) for ankle surgery. The CSE and PNBs resolved without incident. On approximately the fourth postoperative day, the patient reported a worsening of baseline CIDP symptoms in all extremities. Given the diffuse presentation, the CIDP exacerbation was attributed to the perioperative stress response. The exacerbation improved by 4 months postoperatively.

Heparin Resistance due to an Acquired Antithrombin Deficiency in a Patient With Sickle Cell Disease During a Pregnancy Complicated by Bilateral Pulmonary Emboli: A Case Report.

We report a 31-year-old woman with sickle beta thalassemia zero who presented at 21 weeks gestational age with multiple bilateral pulmonary emboli and no hemodynamic instability. Acquired antithrombin deficiency was suspected due to a refractory response to therapeutic anticoagulation with enoxaparin, unfractionated heparin, and fondaparinux, and a reduced antithrombin antigen level. At 26 4/7 weeks, she developed signs concerning for increased pulmonary clot burden. To avoid the use of alternative anticoagulants that may cross the placenta and impact the fetus, a planned cesarean delivery was performed without complication at 27 weeks gestation. Both mother and child experienced successful long-term outcomes.

Concordance Among Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Measures of Percent Body Fat in Athletic Young Adults.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the agreement among three bioelectrical impedance analysis devices (BIA) in athletic young adults. Fifty-one participants (26 men and 25 women) were assessed for percent body fat (PBF) using an arm-to-arm bipolar single-frequency device (ABIA), a leg-to-leg single-frequency device (LBIA), and an octopolar multi-frequency BIA device (MFBIA). PBF was measured with the three devices in a randomized, counterbalanced order. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant (p < 0.001) differences in PBF estimates among all devices (ABIA = 19.1 ± 7.2%, LBIA = 21.6 ±7.5%, and MFBIA = 22.9 ± 8.8%). Pearson's Correlations revealed a strong relationship between ABIA and MFBIA in both men (r = 0.948) and women (r = 0.947) and a moderately-strong relationship between LBIA and MFBIA (r = 0.870 and 0.679, respectively). Lin's concordance coefficient revealed moderately-strong concordance between ABIA and MFBIA in men (ρ c = 0.800) and women (ρ c = 0.681) and between LBIA and MFBIA (ρ c = 0.846 and ρ c = 0.651, respectively). These data indicate a strong agreement among all three devices, suggesting that any of them could be used to track changes in PBF over time. However, the significant differences in PBF values among devices imply that best practice for monitoring body composition should be to use one device consistently over time for a reliable assessment.

The influence of ankle dorsiflexion and self-reported patient outcomes on dynamic postural control in participants with chronic ankle instability.

We investigated the influence of ankle dorsiflexion range of motion (DF-ROM) and self-reported patient outcomes on dynamic postural control assessed with the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) in individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI). Twenty-nine participants with self-reported CAI volunteered. The primary outcome measurements were categorized into clinician-and patient-generated. Clinician-generated outcome measurements included anterior (SEBT-A), posteriormedial (SEBT-PM) and posteriorlateral (SEBT-PL) reach distances (cm) normalized by leg length (cm) of the SEBT, maximum weight-bearing dorsiflexion (WB-DF) (cm), and open-chain DF-ROM (°). Self-reported patient-generated outcome measures included the foot and ankle ability measure and the level of perceived pain, stiffness, stability, and function of their involved ankle on a 10-cm visual analog scale (VAS). Pearson product moment correlations were used to examine the relationship of the SEBT performances with DF-ROM and self-reported patient outcome measures. A multiple linear regression was performed to determine the influence of patient- and clinician-generated measures on the SEBT. SEBT-A performance was significantly and fairly correlated with WB-DF (r=0.410, p=0.014), perceived ankle stiffness (r=0.477, p=0.014), and open-chain DF-ROM (r=0.404, p=0.015). The strongest predictor of the variance in SEBT-A was the combination of the variance in WB-DF and VAS-stiffness (R2=0.348, p=0.004). There were no significant correlations with the SEBT-PM and SEBT-PL. WB-DF and VAS-stiffness may represent targets for intervention that need to be addressed to produce the best outcome in participants with CAI when altered dynamic postural control is detected on the SEBT-A.