Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) presents two urgent health problems: the illness caused by the virus itself and the anxiety, panic and psychological problems associated with the pandemic. Both ...problems present substantial challenges for our patients, their families, our multidisciplinary teams and our psychiatrist colleagues. We need good psychiatry, now more than ever.
Testosterone and obesity Kelly, D. M; Jones, T. H
Obesity reviews,
July 2015, Volume:
16, Issue:
7
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Testosterone is a key hormone in the pathology of metabolic diseases such as obesity. Low testosterone levels are associated with increased fat mass (particularly central adiposity) and reduced lean ...mass in males. These morphological features are linked to metabolic dysfunction, and testosterone deficiency is associated with energy imbalance, impaired glucose control, reduced insulin sensitivity and dyslipidaemia. A bidirectional relationship between testosterone and obesity underpins this association indicated by the hypogonadal–obesity cycle and evidence weight loss can lead to increased testosterone levels. Androgenic effects on enzymatic pathways of fatty acid metabolism, glucose control and energy utilization are apparent and often tissue specific with differential effects noted in different regional fat depots, muscle and liver to potentially explain the mechanisms of testosterone action. Testosterone replacement therapy demonstrates beneficial effects on measures of obesity that are partially explained by both direct metabolic actions on adipose and muscle and also potentially by increasing motivation, vigour and energy allowing obese individuals to engage in more active lifestyles. The degree of these beneficial effects may be dependent on the treatment modality with longer term administration often achieving greater improvements. Testosterone replacement may therefore potentially be an effective adjunctive treatment for weight management in obese men with concomitant hypogonadism.
p53 is a transcription factor that suppresses tumor growth through regulation of dozens of target genes with diverse biological functions. The activity of this master transcription factor is ...inactivated in nearly all tumors, either by mutations in the TP53 locus or by oncogenic events that decrease the activity of the wild-type protein, such as overexpression of the p53 repressor MDM2. However, despite decades of intensive research, our collective understanding of the p53 signaling cascade remains incomplete. In this review, we focus on recent advances in our understanding of mechanisms of p53-dependent transcriptional control as they relate to five key areas: (1) the functionally distinct N-terminal transactivation domains, (2) the diverse regulatory roles of its C-terminal domain, (3) evidence that p53 is solely a direct transcriptional activator, not a direct repressor, (4) the ability of p53 to recognize many of its enhancers across diverse chromatin environments, and (5) mechanisms that modify the p53-dependent transcriptional program in a context-dependent manner.
Although marketers increasingly rely on customer data, firms have little insight into the ramifications of such data use and do not know how to prevent negative effects. Data management efforts may ...heighten customers' vulnerability worries or create real vulnerability. Using a conceptual framework grounded in gossip theory, the authors link customer vulnerability to negative performance effects. Three studies show that transparency and control in firms' data management practices can suppress the negative effects of customer data vulnerability. Experimental manipulations reveal that mere access to personal data inflates feelings of violation and reduces trust. An event study of data security breaches affecting 414 public companies also confirms negative effects, as well as spillover vulnerabilities from rival firms' breaches, on firm performance. Severity of the breach hurts the focal firm but helps the rival firm, which provides some insight into mixed findings in prior research. Finally, a field study with actual customers of 15 companies across three industries demonstrates consistent effects across four types of customer data vulnerability and confirms that violation and trust mediate the effects of data vulnerabilities on outcomes.
Parallels in biological, psychological, and behavioral systems have led to the hypothesis that an addictive process may contribute to problematic eating. The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) was ...developed to provide a validated measure of addictive-like eating behavior based upon the diagnostic criteria for substance dependence. Recently, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) was released, which included significant changes to the substance-related and addictive disorders (SRAD) section. In the current study, the YFAS 2.0 was developed to maintain consistency with the current diagnostic understanding of addiction and to improve the psychometric properties of the original YFAS. In a sample of 550 participants, 14.6% met criteria for food addiction. The YFAS 2.0 demonstrated good internal consistency, as well as convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. Elevated scores on the YFAS 2.0 were associated with higher rates of obesity and more severe pathological eating (e.g., binge eating). The YFAS 2.0 also appeared to capture a related, but unique construct relative to traditional eating disorders. In a separate sample of 209 participants, the YFAS and YFAS 2.0 were directly compared. Both versions of the YFAS were similarly associated with elevated body mass index, binge eating, and weight cycling. However, exceeding the food addiction threshold was more strongly associated with obesity for the YFAS 2.0 than the original YFAS. Thus, the YFAS 2.0 appears to by a psychometrically sound measure that reflects the current diagnostic understanding of addiction to further investigate the potential role of an addictive process in problematic eating behavior.
Seven decades after the discovery of collective spin excitations in microwave-irradiated ferromagnets, there has been a rebirth of magnonics. However, magnetic nanodevices will enable smart ...GHz-to-THz devices at low power consumption only, if such spin waves (magnons) are generated and manipulated on the sub-100 nm scale. Here we show how magnons with a wavelength of a few 10 nm are exploited by combining the functionality of insulating yttrium iron garnet and nanodisks from different ferromagnets. We demonstrate magnonic devices at wavelengths of 88 nm written/read by conventional coplanar waveguides. Our microwave-to-magnon transducers are reconfigurable and thereby provide additional functionalities. The results pave the way for a multi-functional GHz technology with unprecedented miniaturization exploiting nanoscale wavelengths that are otherwise relevant for soft X-rays. Nanomagnonics integrated with broadband microwave circuitry offer applications that are wide ranging, from nanoscale microwave components to nonlinear data processing, image reconstruction and wave-based logic.
Cavernous malformations (CMs) are angiographically occult, low-flow vascular malformations of the central nervous system. They are acquired lesions, with approximately 80% of patients having the ...sporadic form and 20% the familial form of the disease. The lesions may also develop years after radiotherapy. At the microscopic level, they consist of endothelium-lined cavities (or "caverns") containing blood of different ages. The endothelium proliferates abnormally, and tight junctions are absent or dysfunctional, resulting in leakiness of the endothelium and clinical manifestations in some patients. Cavernous malformations can be an incidental finding or can present with focal neurologic deficits, seizures, or headache, with or without associated hemorrhage. Management of the CM lesion requires knowledge of the natural history of the disease compared with the risk of surgical intervention. Surgery is often considered for symptomatic patients with lesions in a noneloquent location. Medical management is warranted for symptoms related to the CM. Research aimed at understanding the genes and signaling pathways related to CMs have provided potential drug targets, and clinical trials are underway to determine whether medications reduce the risk of future bleeding without surgery or modify the disease course. In addition, recent epidemiologic data have aided practitioners in determining how to treat comorbid conditions in patients with a potentially hemorrhagic lesion. This review provides an overview of the epidemiology, presentation, and clinical management of CMs.
The role of data privacy in marketing Martin, Kelly D.; Murphy, Patrick E.
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
03/2017, Volume:
45, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This paper captures the current state of privacy scholarship in marketing and related disciplines. We examine theoretical perspectives and empirical findings about data and information privacy ...grouped according to privacy’s role in society, the psychology of privacy, and the economics of privacy. Although a coherent subset of research themes provide deep understanding, theoretical and empirical findings show this narrow focus also has constrained our view of privacy to consumer, organizational, ethical, or legal silos. In response, we take a necessary step toward expanding the privacy domain across these borders, emphasizing the compelling synergies that span multiple interests. We conclude by highlighting future research themes that embody a multidimensional approach, which blends the many interconnected concerns that feature in contemporary privacy questions in marketing. Since internal and external stakeholders are affected in multiple and potentially unforeseen ways by data privacy issues, additional work in this space remains critical and needed.
Study objective We seek to collect, review, evaluate, and synthesize the current literature focusing on all published methods of pediatric weight estimation. Methods We conducted a literature review ...using PubMed and Web of Science databases, and the Google Scholar search engine, with the “similar articles” feature, as well as review of the bibliographies of identified studies. We excluded studies estimating weight of neonates, predominantly adults without separate information for children, child self-reported weight, and studies estimating outcomes other than weight. Quantitative outcomes of accuracy (proportion within 10% of actual weight), mean percentage error, and mean bias were preferred. Results Eighty studies met inclusion criteria with predominant methods: parent or health care worker weight estimation, age-based formulae, and length-based estimation without (eg, Broselow) or with adjustment for body habitus (eg, Pediatric Advanced Weight-Prediction in the Emergency Room, Mercy). Parent estimation was the most accurate at predicting total (actual) body weight, with length-based methods with habitus adjustment next. Length-based methods outperformed age-based formulae, and both tended to underestimate the weight of children from populations with high obesity rates and overestimate the weight of children from populations with high malnourishment rates. Health care worker estimation was not accurate. Conclusion Parent estimation and length-based methods with adjustment for body habitus are the most accurate methods to predict children’s total (actual) body weight. Age-based formulae and length-based methods without habitus adjustment likely tend to predict ideal body weight.
This paper investigates the effect of food environments, characterized as food swamps, on adult obesity rates. Food swamps have been described as areas with a high-density of establishments selling ...high-calorie fast food and junk food, relative to healthier food options. This study examines multiple ways of categorizing food environments as food swamps and food deserts, including alternate versions of the Retail Food Environment Index. We merged food outlet, sociodemographic and obesity data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Environment Atlas, the American Community Survey, and a commercial street reference dataset. We employed an instrumental variables (IV) strategy to correct for the endogeneity of food environments (i.e., that individuals self-select into neighborhoods and may consider food availability in their decision). Our results suggest that the presence of a food swamp is a stronger predictor of obesity rates than the absence of full-service grocery stores. We found, even after controlling for food desert effects, food swamps have a positive, statistically significant effect on adult obesity rates. All three food swamp measures indicated the same positive association, but reflected different magnitudes of the food swamp effect on rates of adult obesity (
values ranged from 0.00 to 0.16). Our adjustment for reverse causality, using an IV approach, revealed a stronger effect of food swamps than would have been obtained by naïve ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates. The food swamp effect was stronger in counties with greater income inequality (
< 0.05) and where residents are less mobile (
< 0.01). Based on these findings, local government policies such as zoning laws simultaneously restricting access to unhealthy food outlets and incentivizing healthy food retailers to locate in underserved neighborhoods warrant consideration as strategies to increase health equity.
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